The Great Sword is not the Main Body!
Chapter 221 – Ancient Dragon, Sirinias (6)

My eyelids, clenched shut by the blinding flash, slowly lifted.

“…Where…?”

A completely different landscape spread out before me.

A place so familiar, so vividly etched into my memory.

Following instinct, I held my breath and scanned my surroundings.

As I suspected, this was the place where I had sparred with Sirin.

The wasteland where I kept coming back to life, no matter how many times I died.

And, the map used for the Sirinias raid in the game.

Did Sirin… bring me here?

Gulp, I swallowed dryly and recalled what had just happened.

I didn’t want to watch my friends die. I wanted to save them. So I stood and raised my greatsword.

Then, just as I cut through that strange orb Sirin had summoned, a familiar yet unfamiliar light enveloped me.

And when I opened my eyes…

I saw someone who looked so much like Rubia, Lilith, and Sirin, bowing before her.

At that moment, I was sure Lilith… Rubia… was crying.

No, maybe she was smiling? I don’t know.

It happened so fast. I was too stunned to see it clearly…

Wait?

“I… can see?”

I looked down at my body.

The small frame, marked with scars, was visible. The ribbon tied at my waist was firm, and my clothes were neatly arranged.

Strangely, the bandages I used in place of underwear were gone, but there was no time to dwell on that.

Boom, A massive presence stirred not far away.

That had to be Sirin, in her dragon form.

I took a deep breath and looked around again.

The wasteland stretched out, empty, no sign, no trace of Serr or the others.

Actually… this might be a good thing.

It meant I could focus solely on the battle, without worrying about anything else.

I tried to reassure myself and took a slow step forward.

Ssshh, The gritty sand blew in the lonely wind.

“Ugh…”

I squinted against the gust and kept walking.

Eventually, 

Boom! 

The heavy sound echoed again, letting me know I had arrived.

I exhaled and reached forward.

To summon my greatsword’s hilt, 

“…Huh?”

But I couldn’t grasp it.

I thrust my hand forward again, harder this time.

Still, my greatsword didn’t appear.

The other… hand?

This time, I extended my left, 

“Gh… W-what’s happening?”

Even stretching out my left hand, nothing happened.

I reached with both hands. Stretched upward.

“F-Frey…!”

I whispered the sword’s name. Even shouted it.

“Yah…!”

I rubbed my eyes, searched all around, but the greatsword was nowhere to be found.

I stood frozen for a while until, 

Boom! 

A heavier thud rang out right in front of me.

…Guess I’ll settle for a rock.

Trying to steady my trembling breath, I picked up a stone from the ground.

Then, 

Boom!

A thunderous sound erupted directly ahead of me.

Gritting my teeth, I got ready to charge and lifted my head.

There she was, so massive she filled my entire vision.

Sirin, exactly as I had seen her in the game.

With a trembling hand, I clenched the stone.

Crack!

The moment I did, the stone shattered without a trace, scattered by the wind.

Perhaps hearing it, Sirin turned her head toward me.

Her overwhelming golden eyes fixed on me, pressing down on me just by being seen.

Eyes devoid of emotion.

Eyes hollow like the lonely wind, 

No.

She wasn’t looking at me.

She was looking, past me.

I slowly turned my head, following her gaze.

“…Huh?”

A golden orb.

Not the same one she had launched into the sky earlier, but a smaller version, was floating behind me.

And inside it, 

“…Elves?”

I could see elves, seated on a massive tree, laughing brightly.

And that wasn’t all.

Angels chatting with kind expressions. Demons fistfighting inside cages. Dwarves smelting metal. Humans farming their fields.

Heavenly beings and devils, who shouldn’t coexist, all living together, and yet, the world looked peaceful. Happy.

“…What is this?”

I turned back and looked at the massive Sirin behind me.

Whether I picked up another rock, slowly approached, dashed at her, or mimed an attack, 

Sirin did nothing. She just stared blankly at the golden orb.

Could it be…

A chill ran down my spine as I crawled slowly toward her.

Then, reaching out, huff, 

“Eek…”

My hand swept through empty air.

As I thought, this Sirin can’t see me. And this place… isn’t real.

Since I can see, this must be a vision, like during a trial. But unlike back then, it seems I don’t “exist” here.

Then how… did Ruby, no, Lilith, see me earlier? Was it Lilith, not Sirin, who brought me here?

Then what is this place?

Why did Lilith bring me here?

Just as I blinked and tried to gather my thoughts, 

A section of the brilliantly glowing golden orb darkened into black.

[Krrrr…]

Sirin growled fiercely and unfurled her wings.

At the same time, 

Clink! 

Chains identical to those that once bound ‘Rubia’ burst from Sirin’s back.

Clank! 

My vision blacked out.

* * *

Fwoosh!

The darkness vanished, and light flooded back in.

So sudden and intense, I couldn’t even scream, I just squeezed my eyes shut.

Only after the pounding behind my eyelids subsided did I slowly open them.

I was still in the same place.

The location… hadn’t changed.

“…C-chains…?”

Chains, just like the ones that burst out earlier, were now tightly wrapped around Sirin’s body. Her massive form had curled inward, her head bowed and pressed into the earth. But her ominously glowing eyes still gleamed.

Those feral, flickering eyes were fixed on the end of the chains that bound her.

Dangling in long, dragging lengths, at the end of those chains, 

Was a figure bound in the same way as Sirin.

Neither human, beastkin, angel, demon, elf, dwarf, nor monster.

A formless figure that was none of the above.

And yet, I instinctively knew what it was.

The [End].

What bound Sirin and the [End] together, 

Was the [Law].

I turned to face Sirin’s eyes.

At the same time, fragments of information, memories far beyond my understanding, pierced my mind.

[Lilith’s Apostle cannot manifest unless the ‘End’ has been set in motion.]

[The Apostle of ‘Lilith’ cannot appear unless the world nears its end.]

[We cannot exert direct influence upon the world.]

[We are both the end and the beginning of this world; the gate and the key to paradise.]

[Those who walk the land shall not gaze upon the heavens, nor touch them, nor surpass them.]

[Only when the ones of the land are able to gaze, to touch, and to cross the sky, opening a new one, ]

[Only then shall the gate to paradise be opened.]

It was a [Law] designed to complete the world.

It was a [Law] to protect the world.

It was Sirin herself.

It was the first [Law].

It was the final [Law] left behind by Lilith.

And the power born of that [Law] was absolute.

Even Sirin, being the [Law] itself, would face degradation of her soul and complete erasure if she broke it.

Thus, Sirin, 

Clank!

Began to act within the boundaries of the [Law].

First, she created beasts imbued with her own mana.

Second, she created unending war.

Third, she brought forth countless deaths.

Fourth, she scattered despair endlessly across the land.

Then, on the fifth, 

To allow those who walked the land to break free of the [Law].

To let them approach the foundation of the world.

She granted them each a special power.

A unique ability.

Thus, a great war erupted across the world.

A war with no cause or purpose.

Watching the mindless slaughter driven only by the [Law] made me feel sick.

But Sirin simply watched in silence.

She could not feel emotions to begin with, and to her, this war was not meaningless.

To Sirin, this war was a necessary step toward completing the world.

Eventually, 

Crack!

The souls of those lost in endless war were drawn out. They reached Sirin’s domain and were absorbed into the golden orb that reflected the world.

A natural current, like a stream returning to its origin, grew into a vast ocean, slowly filling the orb.

Time passed.

Humans were wiped out.

Angels were wiped out.

Demons were wiped out.

Dwarves were wiped out.

Beastkin were wiped out.

On the land remained only the victorious elves, 

And the spirits created by one of them.

That elf, Laila, 

Raised her eyes to the sky.

Her outstretched hand reached it.

Her step ascended into it.

Thus, the [Law] binding Lilith’s Apostle was released.

The curled body straightened.

The head, once pressed to the earth, lifted high.

Her still-emotionless golden eyes flickered.

Whoooosh! 

With wings stretched wide enough to shroud the wasteland, she beat them and soared.

[KRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAA!]

Crack, crunch.

Her violent roar tore the sky apart.

A rift opened, a passage connecting the world to the land where a new hero awaited.

As she thrust herself into that passage, for the first time, emotion surfaced in Sirin’s eyes.

And in that moment, I felt it too.

That emotion.

It was joy.

Pure, unbounded joy.

Whether it came from fulfilling her master’s command, 

Or witnessing the birth of a new hero, I didn’t know.

But that joy, 

Was eclipsed.

By the black sun that rose above the heavens.