He didn’t attempt to dodge Routier’s flaming titan. The massive, blazing fist crashed into him with thunderous force. And when the dust settled, he stood exactly where he had been, utterly unscathed.
“Hmph. Foolish girl,” he sneered, brushing nonexistent debris from his shoulder. “Did your dear father not explain it properly? I am invincible upon this land. Invincible!”
As his arms spread wide, the darkness around us responded like a living beast. It twisted and condensed in midair, forming into dozens of black spears. A heartbeat later, they rained down from above like a lethal storm.
“Tch.” I stepped forward without hesitation.
“Seiichi!” Routier shouted in alarm.
I drew the Rapier of Festering Hatred and gave it a casual sweep through the air. The black spears shrieked toward us, then scattered into mist as my blade sliced through them, dissolving into nothingness.
The Night King’s face twisted with irritation.
“Cursed wretch! A mere insect deflecting the might of my power! If I could just consume that girl’s father entirely… then I would become complete!”
“Complete?” I asked warily.
“Yes!” he spat. “That man and I… we are light and shadow. Once I devour him, I will inherit his ‘light’ as well. And when that pathetic remnant of the Demon King vanishes with him, the seal will break, and I’ll no longer be bound to this world!”
“You think we’re gonna let you buy time for that?”
I didn’t wait for an answer.
Just as I’d done back in Zola’s dungeon, I raised my rapier toward the sky and unleashed a slash—precisely calibrated to skirt the edge of this world’s structural integrity. A colossal arc of destruction carved upward through the heavens, disappearing into the black beyond with a sound like the sky itself tearing open.
“Huh,” I muttered.
The Night King froze. His posture slackened. Then, with a helpless sputter, he collapsed into a sitting position, visibly pale.
“D-Did no one tell you?!” he shrieked. “Th-This is no dungeon! This is an entirely separate planet!”
So it really is another planet, huh…
Then, couldn’t we at least have gotten something cooler than a flight of stairs as our portal? Some cosmic scenery? A wormhole? Starlight reflecting on crystal walls? No? Just… mossy stone bricks all the way down?
Yeah. Definitely felt like a missed opportunity.
If I didn’t have to worry about the rules of this world, I could probably slice through a dimension on a bored afternoon. The thought brushed my mind as casually as a fly; then, another popped up. Wait… did that slash I just sent into the sky even matter? Was that all for nothing?
“Uwaa… that’s a shock…” Al murmured, still sitting on her rear.
“W-What are you? Are you even human?!” the Night King sputtered, eyes wide and unblinking.
“I-I am human!” I snapped, affronted on principle. Seriously, rude.
Still, it was weird. For an entity who claimed invincibility, he looked uncomfortably frightened of me. Maybe there’s something to this? I decided to test it.
“Hey, there is one thing I want to check,” I said, stepping forward.
“W-What?!” he warned.
“Could I maybe… beat you even if it wasn’t morning?”
Silence swallowed him, then spread to everyone. Dead silent.
Wait, seriously? So that’s what Routier’s father meant when he looked at me like I might be the answer.
“Is that so? Then let’s end this,” I said, already making the decision before the room could start arguing.
“W-Wait… no!” Al scrambled to her feet and lunged, but the Night King moved fast, putting distance between us like a cornered animal.
“You really intend to kill me?! You’d squash me like an insect?!” he howled.
“Yeah. Your plan was to consume Routier’s father, right? He told us killing him would end the seal. And honestly, after all the trash talk—don’t lecture me about morals!” I shot back.
“Silence! I am no mere creature! I am the rightful ruler of this world! Do not compare me to you filth! And… do you even realize what you’d do? If you destroy this body, the faint remnant of that girl’s father will die too!”
“?!” The words hit me like a blunt instrument. For a second, I hesitated.
The Night King’s grin widened, venomous and triumphant. “Ha-ha-ha! See? You can’t bring yourself to strike, can you? To truly annihilate me, you must obliterate this vessel. Do that, and the part of her father you cling to will vanish. Will you still attempt it? Huh?!”
“That’s—” I started, the implications coiling cold in my gut.
Damn it… After hearing that, how the hell was I supposed to strike?
The moment I hesitated, the Night King immediately sensed it. Emboldened, he puffed out his chest and launched into a self-congratulatory monologue, laughing like a Saturday morning cartoon villain.
“Ha-ha-ha-ha! Of course, it is I who shall prevail! Had morning arrived, the girl’s father would’ve overtaken me. The mental balance would’ve shifted, and I would have been extinguished! But the fools who call themselves the Cult of the Wicked One… they used the man’s seal to create me, tethering me to this world where night is eternal! Here, there is no celestial body to bring dawn. No sun. No morning. In this place, morning will never come!”
His voice boomed across the grasslands, mocking, arrogant, triumphant. It was clear he believed nothing could threaten his victory now. That infuriating sneer said it all: You’ve lost, and there’s nothing you can do about it.
I thought of activating my Synchronization Skill to merge our minds, force unity of spirit, just like I’d done before in other desperate moments. But the moment I seriously considered it, I realized the horrifying consequence: the skill would latch onto the vessel—the body—and in this case, the one in control of that vessel was the Night King. If I activated it now, it would be Routier’s father who would be erased.
And worse still, my current version of the skill had no way of singling the Night King out. No workaround. No precision targeting.
Maybe there was a way to separate them that I just hadn’t figured out yet… but if I couldn’t think of it now, when it mattered most, then it was as good as nonexistent.
Saria and the others clearly saw the same problem. They stood frozen in place, jaws clenched in frustration, eyes blazing with helpless fury. Every muscle in Saria’s body was taut, trembling with the need to act, but like me, she couldn’t move without risking Routier’s father.
And then—
“I’ve decided,” Routier said softly, stepping forward.
We all turned to look at her.
She wasn’t crying. Her expression wasn’t twisted in pain or grief. She was calm, frighteningly calm. But behind that calm… was resolve. The kind that makes your stomach sink.
✦ ✦ ✦
