“Hmm, seems to me that this is the end,” the Wood ouroboros muttered to himself in the midst of battle, seeming to have given up.
He had not yet been defeated. Though he was a little disadvantaged, there was still room for a comeback. However, he still looked up to the sky, seeming to have realized his own end. He could tell that the gigantic amount of mana that had made up the Ouroboroses of Heaven and Earth had moved somewhere. The Fire ouroboros, who was already pretty much dead anyway, had started to turn into particles as well. The Wood ouroboros figured it was only a matter of time for him.
“What?” asked Pollux.
“The curtains have closed...” the Ouroboros of Wood said. “The curtains on this story of ours, that is.”
The end was here. It was the end of the world, as well as the destruction of the story that lay beyond that. The time had finally come. After so many ridiculous events, the plot had gone so far off the rails that it could no longer be considered a story. All that was left was for her to tear the script apart.
Though he was loath to end this encounter with his children, the Wood ouroboros still had one last job to complete before he disappeared. He looked at Pollux and Castor. Then, a faint light emitted from the ouroboros’s eye, which entered the twins’ bodies.
“Th-This is...?” Castor asked, trailing off.
“I-I can feel the power...” Pollux paused. “I’m overflowing with strength!”
Pollux’s SP was infinite once again, and her stats had gone up as well. On top of that, there was now something in her skill column that she’d never seen before—the skills of the ouroboroses, the arbitrators of the world, had been added to her list. At the same time, the Wood ouroboros’s body weakened, and he started to dissolve into particles of light.
“Wh-What did you do?!”
“I transferred as much of my power and authority as an ouroboros as I could to you two before severing our connection. With this, you two are no longer my avatars... Even if I disappear, I will not take you two with me.”
The Wood ouroboros’s mouth twisted upwards as he grinned at them.
Seeing that, Pollux realized something. As I thought. He alone was somehow strange from the start... He alone had never wanted to kill Pollux and the others. He had simply been messing around with them. In the end, all he’d done was tease and play around with his children. If it hadn’t been for that, the Argo would have been long sunk. In actuality, there had been many chances for the Wood ouroboros to have done so. To him, Pollux’s rebellion and everything else had been akin to young children play-fighting with sticks. It was something to smile warmly at, not kill over.
“Don’t you mess with me!” yelled Pollux. “We’re your enemies! Why did you...?!”
“Because I was happy. The two of you, who should have just been my clones, started to hold your own thoughts and opinions, and in the end, you chose a different path from me... That made me so happy, and seeing all that was so much fun...”
Ever since Pollux’s birth, the Wood ouroboros had been watching over her. Even through his slumber, he could feel her pain and anguish, and now, she stood in front of him as an enemy. She had chosen her future with her own will. As a parent, there was no way that wouldn’t fill him with joy.
“The Goddess’s story has ended, so from now on, the story is all yours.” The Wood ouroboros paused. “Sorry for never doing anything befitting of a parent. Live well, you two.”
“This isn’t a joke! What are you even saying this late in the game?! If you say that... I... I... I never... You...”
I never even got to call you father.
Pollux didn’t know if those words had gotten through to the Wood ouroboros or not. Her enemy and parent turned into particles of light and disappeared fully, vanishing in front of Pollux and the others anticlimactically. All that was left were his last words.
“How amusing...”
After watching him fully disappear, Pollux fell to her knees.
“What the hell. That’s so one-sided...” she eventually said. “If that’s how you felt, why didn’t you just say so in the beginning?! Why did you have to suddenly start sounding like a good person at the end...? How am I even supposed to react?!”
“He probably didn’t want to have his determination waver. I...kind of understand how the Wood ouroboros, our father, thought,” Castor admitted.
“Brother...”
“Men are just selfish creatures.”
Castor rested his hand on his little sister’s head, stroking her hair in an attempt to console her.
With this, all the ouroboroses were done for. The Fire ouroboros was the last one left, screaming, “Nooo! I don’t wanna disappeaaaarrr!” in an unsightly fit as he turned into light. However, he was quickly dealt the finishing blow by Benetnasch.
Mizgarz was dying, the ouroboroses had disappeared, and the story was no more. All that was left was a brawl that would be a part of no story. The last rites were up to the Goddess and the Black-Winged Conqueror.
As Castor kindly comforted his crying little sister, he quietly looked towards the direction in which his master probably was.
＊ ＊
Kill stealing is one way of griefing in MMOs that is viewed as an active problem. The act of kill stealing specifically refers to when a third party suddenly swoops in to finish off a weakened enemy, thus taking the experience, materials, and money dropped by defeating it. Of course, doing so is considered extremely rude and not something good people should do.
That was what I had just done. I’d changed the directionality of the experience, or mana, that was trying to flow into the kid, Sei. Since he had refused what had originally been intended for him, there was no one who had a claim over the mana. Therefore, I activated Aigokeros’s skill, and all the experience flooded into me.
“A— Whoa, whoa, whoa... Level 4300... 4600... 4800... 5000... I-It’s still going up... How far are you planning to go?!”
Given that this was experience from the ouroboroses, which were agents of divinity, the amount was on an entirely different scale from normal monsters. Not to mention, there were four of them. The Wood ouroboros was weirdly light on mana for some reason, but my level still shot up like a rocket. No, wait a second. It seemed the Fire ouroboros’s experience hadn’t come to me, so I only had three ouroboroses’ worth, but... Well, whatever. Even then, my level reached 5100. I’d gotten a big boost, and it was still going up.
Now then, how will you respond, Goddess? You won’t be able to deal with me while in Dina’s body anymore. You get it now, don’t you? The only way to stop me is to fight me yourself.
“Exgate.”
As a finishing touch, I activated Exgate, setting the entire world as the target. This world was already done for. It would soon disappear, so before that happened, I had to evacuate all the living things left here to the other side for a while. I was pretty sure that after all this, no one would insist on staying.
As expected, I succeeded in sending them off, only leaving a small number of people still with me. From what I could sense, those who had stayed behind were Benetnasch and Orm. Oh, and the Twelve Heavenly Stars and Terra.
Benet and Orm flew through the air before landing next to me, and a little bit behind them came the Twelve Stars. For some reason, Benetnasch was now level 2700. So it was you who took the Fire ouroboros’s experience! I suppose I should have expected it. As I thought... She also has the right to challenge the Goddess.
Orm was level 1500. It seemed he had also grasped how to break through the limits of the world.
“It seems I’m not alone, Alovenus.”
“Grrr... Anyone and everyone is just ignoring the rules I set...”
I reached into a pocket and touched the Key to Reach the Heavens. It was about time for it to take the stage. I’m going to use it, Dina. The final hand that you prepared, that is. With this, I’ll put the king in check.