Shortly before Zero’s arrival to the Holy City, the Demon Lord had left Dona’s fort to Quick Travel from settlement to settlement, following a trail of smoke across the country. Now he was bandaging a local who’d managed to survive the burning of his village. “Who did this?” the Demon Lord asked.
“Tzardom... Knights...”
“All right. Get some rest. Your burns will heal soon,” the Demon Lord said with knitted brows. Not a second later, the man’s burns, which had covered most of his body, healed almost instantaneously. The Demon Lord stood and followed the series of hoofprints on the ground with his eyes, then the tendrils of smoke that shrank into the horizon. Beyond that trail was the Holy City, the center of Holylight.
How many times has the Tzardom spat in our face? the Demon Lord pondered. If they wanna play rough, we can play rough... And I’ll make them regret it.
The Demon Lord Quick Traveled to the Holy City and was dumbstruck by the devastating aftermath. Bodies both ally and enemy filled the streets, smoke rising from nearly every block. The Tzardom had waged a full-on war.
When he flew up to a clocktower that offered a good vantage point, the severity of the battle became even more clear.
Is that the Holy Maiden with the quick hands? Where’s Luna? The Demon Lord looked to and fro, taking in more information than his brain could handle. Since he had no part in the power struggle or the grudges that had taken place in the city tonight, of course he hadn’t a clue what was happening. It was tragically ironic how blind he was to the big picture, considering he was—albeit inadvertently—at the center of it all.
The snow fennec—still riding on the Demon Lord’s shoulder—let out a dismayed whine.
“Of course, you wouldn’t know either...” the Demon Lord muttered.
The divine beast let out another sound, as if it was raising a brow and saying “You and your advisors did much worse than this...”
The Demon Lord turned to the fight taking place in front of the Holy Castle. “Oh,” he blurted. “Is that Jack...?!”
The Demon Lord had just watched him be taken away near the border of Euritheis. As to why Jack was back in Holylight, he was clueless. As he watched, it seemed that Jack the Hellbeast was about to secure victory.
“Doesn’t matter,” the Demon Lord decided. “Since they want to fight us so badly, I’ll show them what a professional badass looks like!”
The snow fennec cried curiously.
“You’re small and weak,” the Demon Lord said. “Go play somewhere safe.”
The divine beast squeaked as if to protest being treated like a youngling, but the Demon Lord paid it no mind while he opened the admin screen and tapped the Change Character button. Silver light enveloped the top of the clock tower.
It was a familiar sight for the denizens of the Holy City who’d witnessed the standoff between Zero and the Duke of Darkness, Allit. The city had been jeopardized back then, but the damage done today was far more devastating.
What’s worse, when Zero emerged from the beacon of light, he was alarmingly despondent, to the surprise of the Demon Lord.
“Me...? The bad guy?” Zero let out a dry chuckle. “I’m worthless...”
How fragile is your ego?! Get over it, already! the Demon Lord’s consciousness demanded, but Zero was in no shape to fight, too wounded from the words Allit’s maid had stabbed him with like a dagger.
Zero’s entire identity hinged on beating the crap out of serial killers and the greater evils of the world in a spectacular fashion...and she had called him a villain for it. Hyperbolically, he was having an identity crisis.
People of the Holy City had congregated to the silver beacon, erupting in deafening cheers when they found Zero atop the tower.
“D-Dragonborn!”
“Tell everyone! Lord Zero is here!”
“Lord Zero! Save us, please!”
Zero stood stupidly, showered by their pleas. Gradually, his wounded ego healed, light returned to his hollow eyes, and he turned to the crowd to be met with an exhilarating welcome.
“Save Lady Queen, Lord Zero!”
“Please save us... Please save the Holy City!”
“A dragon protects this city! It’s time to rise up and fight!”
Zero’s spine straightened with every cheer and color returned to his cheeks. A crowd’s adoration was a very effective remedy for this simpleminded—and purehearted—bosozoku.
“Th-That’s right...” he muttered to himself. “I’m the hero who defeats the villain. Everyone always cheers for me...”
Back in the Game, Zero had always hunted Players known for PKing. He had been minmaxed for defeating bad guys—he fought his targets with godlike powers, but generally sucked against anyone else. He was well-known for it too, as a sort of performer.
Desperate cries for help fueled his soul. “Yeah, this is it! This is what I’m all about!”
Like flipping a switch... Why’d I design him to be so stupid?! the Demon Lord lamented, far too late to do anything about it.
Without a trace of gloominess or self-deprecation, Zero leaped off of the clock tower, aiming for the Holy Castle. Mid flight, he spotted the badly injured Queen being carried by a man who was clearly running as fast as he could...because he was being pursued by a Hellbeast. Zero landed on the castle walls, then jumped high again, for some reason. After performing a completely unnecessary vertical 360, Zero landed a kick on Jack’s face. Zero had only wanted to do a flying kung fu kick, but it was powerful enough to send Jack flying, his face caved in. The enormous Hellbeast carved a path through the street until he collided with a cathedral.
The crowd had fallen pin-drop silent, exactly the moment Zero had been waiting for. Showing off the dragon on his back with enough self-assuredness to put anyone to shame, he shouted, “I am the dragon that blooms above, ain’t no mountain high enough that you can’t climb it with courage and love!”
The Demon Lord’s spirit cringed so hard that it nearly cracked. Stop with the nonsensical incantations! Are you trying to embarrass me to death?!
Yet the crowd loved it. They threw their fists in the air, chanting and cheering for the dragon’s mighty roar. To them, Zero’s showmanship had given them much needed inspiration of courage to lift them from the pit of despair.
Then Queen’s cry reached him, urging him to achieve the pinnacle of heroism. “Leave the rest to me. Blink and you’ll miss it... A mano a mano with yours truly, the undefeated!”
The Demon Lord’s heart sank at the corny line, but he was powerless to stop Zero, who went charging at Jack.
The Hellbeast rose to his feet, pushing rubble out of the way. As if to swat a spider, he brought his fist down...but it only hit pavement. Flustered, Jack looked for his opponent in every direction, then heard a voice calling from above. Zero was squatting on the roof of the cathedral. The dragon soared much faster than Jack’s eyes could follow, especially now that his end was so near.
Jack grunted, picking up on what the cheering crowd called his enemy. “You’re the Dragonborn...?!” He, of course, knew that the leader of the Anima was called that.
Zero had initially been dubbed “Silver Dragon,” so being called “Dragonborn” wasn’t a stretch. He proudly boasted, “No one but me can carry a dragon on his back...”
Zero landed on the street once more, quietly wondering why his Mad Flurry—the core Skill of his fighting tactics—had only been half effective, not realizing that Jack was half human.
The half Hellbeast smirked, as if to relish his last fight. “Slaying a dragon isn’t too shabby for my final act.”
“Never gonna happen.”
“Then I’ll show you...what a king with the power of chaos can do!”
“Show me who’s stupid enough to piss off the silver dragon!”
As if he was using what little morsel of his life that remained as fuel, Jack exploded into a barrage of attacks that combined his Hellbeast strength with the martial arts techniques he’d used in the Colosseum. He moved faster and stronger than before, but Zero still dodged them all while slamming him with powerful counters.
From the day he was born, Zero was destined to fight great evil. As the ultimate player-killer killer, his dexterity and instinct were unmatched.
Zero punched his palm and stanced up against Jack. Mad Flurry allowed him to reach stats comparable to the Demon Lord’s when facing any of the three forces that Zero recognized as hostile. That alone made him as destructive as a natural disaster. Furthermore, drawing first blood triggered Righteous Hero and every counterattack triggered Storm Blow. In a single exchange of blows, Zero’s skills dealt 100 additional damage. An Ancient Devil from the days of myth might just be the only worthy opponent he could hope to find.
Considering that the Arena was littered with Players who had skill sets far exceeding his own, the Game really was a place for the bloodthirsty and battle-addicted.
Still, Jack couldn’t help but smile against his foe. He really did seem like a dragon in human form, and in Jack’s book, that made him a worthy opponent for the finale of his life.
The final battle of Holylight’s civil war would end on a bittersweet note.
Jack swung his fist, only for Zero to close in on him, uppercut his jaw, and batter him with hard-hitting punches...but Jack didn’t yield, wildly throwing his fists as if he could stop his death clock by punching it. No matter how many hits he took, he kept on fighting, like a tank plowing through a tumultuous battlefield, determined to savor the battle until his last breath.
Jack’s zeal seemed excessive, even to Zero. “What’s the hurry? You got a date in Hell today?”
“Something like that,” Jack answered without slowing his assault.