The Great Sword is not the Main Body!
Chapter 222 – Ancient Dragon, Sirinias (7)

A dark shimmer, like a curtain, draped over the earth.

It blocked out Lilith’s sun, deceiving the elves’ eyes and ears into fighting one another.

That wasn’t all.

The Black Sun’s light began raising the corpses scattered across the battlefield.

Winged, headless corpses ran across the field, picking up crushed skulls like lumps of dough and attaching them back on.

Short, dismembered bodies rolled along the ground, jamming whatever parts they could find into their severed stumps.

Humans with hollowed-out torsos stuffed their bodies with chunks of meat glued to the ground, swelling themselves grotesquely.

These indiscriminately assembled beings, with no regard for race, killed one another amidst the flames of Sirin’s breath, painting a scene straight out of hell.

And within that hell, an elf who commanded spirits.

The light that Laila carried burned even brighter.

Suppressing the blind elves who once followed her and butchering the risen corpses, she charged at Sirin, a figure so noble, she seemed almost sacred.

Yet even Laila’s noble radiance was not enough to illuminate the world.

Because the complete awakening of the [End] had come.

It was impossible.

For the [End] to appear in a world where Sirin existed, this defied the laws.

It was a complete betrayal of the laws that Lilith and Sirin had established.

Then why? Why did the laws not bind the [End]?

Why was it that the laws sought to shackle her body and drag her out instead?

She could not understand.

The Nameless One who had consumed Lilith, it was too soon for her to wield Lilith’s authority fully.

And the [End]… the [End] was supposed to be a lifeless cog, incapable of emotion, a part of the world’s machinery.

If that’s the case, then this situation, 

Was the destruction of the world something Lilith had desired?

Why? For what reason?

Had she not commanded them to establish order, to guide those dwelling upon the earth to paradise?

Had she not died at the hands of the Nameless One to save them?

If not for that, then what had she been doing all this time, and what was the purpose of her existence?

Dark emotions swirled through Sirin’s mind, unfamiliar as she was with the concept of feelings.

Even so, Sirin did not doubt Lilith.

She did not doubt the warmth that had once been directed at her.

Instead, she denied the emotions flooding her mind and focused on what she could do now.

And then, 

Sirin’s ‘eyes’ saw it.

A world thought to be devoured and doomed by the [End], turning back for the first time, thanks to the Nameless One, who had absorbed Lilith’s authority.

Within it, the earnest plea of the ash tree swaying desperately, begging to be seen.

Thus, Sirin broke the chains of law binding her body and took flight.

KWA-RRUNG!

The chains of law struck her like lightning, constricting her body. The seal that pierced her soul ripped her apart and stole her [Aura].

Yet Sirin did not stop.

She knew that if she stopped now, Lilith’s remaining will would never come to fruition.

So, in a world where the sky disappeared and the land crumbled, where everything was vanishing, 

Sirin’s desperate flapping reached the ash tree’s wish.

At that moment, 

Laila’s voice echoed across the world.

[The price is to become a servant of the Nameless One, bound by law.]

[What I wish for… ]

* * *

“Hrgh… haa, haa… huu…”

As the suffocating pressure finally eased, a ragged breath burst out.

And before she could even catch it, 

She opened her eyes and looked down. A small hand came into view. Clenching and unclenching it repeatedly, she could now clearly feel that she had returned.

She raised her hand and slapped her cheek, smack, smack.

Then kicked off her shoes. She stretched her short legs to touch the ground, stomping and grinding the coarse sand beneath her feet.

As her senses gradually returned, she looked around. The familiar wasteland came into view. The dry scent of earth invaded her nose. The breeze brushed her cheek, cooling her sweat.

“Ah… aah.”

Only after confirming that her voice came out, 

“Haa…”

Could she finally catch her breath.

Just now, she’d truly been on the verge of death.

From the moment Sirin’s emotions poured into her mind, she had felt her own existence fading.

That sensation only grew more intense as Sirin’s emotions surged, swelling until it felt like her very self would be erased.

Yet she endured.

Because of a ring on her left ring finger, one she didn’t know when or who had slipped onto her, that continuously helped her find herself.

The ring she’d promised to give Rubia, at the request of the other Rubia she met during the trial.

A ring she’d completely forgotten about until now.

…Why had she forgotten something so important?

It couldn’t be because of a low Intelligence stat.

Her Intelligence stat didn’t affect her much, and even if it did, no matter what, it was unthinkable that she’d forget something related to Rubia.

It wasn’t because she was too busy either.

It was just… just that the moment the trial ended, the ring had completely slipped from her thoughts.

Then what caused it…

Could it have been Lilith’s doing?

Though Lilith had perished, if her will still lingered in this world… if that were truly the case, 

She slowly brushed the ring on her finger.

Why had she placed this ring on her, bringing her into Sirin’s past?

What did she hope she would do after seeing Sirin’s past?

Enough.

Stop thinking.

Right now, she had to end this illusion and get back outside as quickly as possible.

She shook her head hard and stood up.

Taking another deep breath to regain clarity,

I walked, crunch, crunch, toward where Sirin was.

The sand-laced wind that brushed past my cheek stung. The grains caught between my toes pricked and tickled, while those sneaking into my mouth dulled my tongue with grit.

Walking for a long while, letting the faint discomfort guide me, 

Clink,  A sound of tightly bound chains rattled not far ahead.

I hastened my steps toward the sound. Across the empty wasteland, until I reached the place where a golden sphere hovered like a sun.

There, where my footsteps came to a stop, 

Was Sirin, limp and drowned in agony.

A golden sphere now stained darker than before.

And the [End], its form now slightly more distinct.

I carefully stepped toward the [End], positioned opposite of Sirin.

Just in case, I didn’t raise my head.

If our eyes met, I might be sucked into its consciousness.

Only when I was about five ‘Noahs’ away did I slowly lift my gaze.

Whether from afar or up close, the shape was still incomprehensible.

I couldn’t tell its size.

I couldn’t tell its color.

Honestly, I couldn’t even be sure if I was close to it or still far away.

And as I took one more step toward the [End], 

Chrrkk.

A sinister tearing sound echoed behind me. I immediately turned toward the source.

“…Huh?”

There, Sirin was rising to her feet, tearing away the chains of law bound to her body.

Even at a glance, more than ten chains had already been severed.

Of course, the chains wrapped around Sirin easily numbered in the thousands.

But at that rate, if she kept ripping them out, her existence would soon be erased.

So, my body rushed toward Sirin.

Even knowing that, as a mere illusion, I couldn’t stop her, I couldn’t just stand still.

She was tearing off chains buried into her very flesh. It was too heartbreaking to watch.

And as I reached her, 

All of her emotions and thoughts began to tear through my mind.

Denial of herself.

Blind faith in Lilith.

Rage toward the Nameless One.

Despair.

As those sticky emotions poured in from Sirin, I gripped the ring on my left ring finger tightly.

Then turned my gaze to the golden sphere she was staring at.

“…Ah… urgh…”

Inside the orb, a world completely unlike the one filled with joy I’d first seen, only despair stretched out endlessly.

And then, 

Sllsh.

Each time a chain binding Sirin was torn off, 

Crunch.

Greater despair fell upon the world.

Crack.

Until, 

Clatter.

The twenty-seventh chain was severed.

A lowborn demon was brutally murdered by an Angel.

Her tongue ripped out. Eyes scorched. Limbs torn apart. Her head, with spine attached, rolled across the ground and was crushed beneath the Angel’s foot.

A girl, hiding behind a wardrobe, witnessed it all.

Later, she became queen of the demons, and after tearing apart the Angel who had murdered her parents, she hung the body on the city gate.

That event lit the spark of the Great War, leading to the destruction of all races.

And so, time passed.

Time beyond measure in human reckoning, and the Great War finally ended with the demons’ victory.

But that was not the end.

Shraaak!

Freed from the laws, the Apostle of the Nameless One.

Laila, now a puppet of the [End], appeared in the world.

She revealed the truth of the world to the demon cloaked in flames.

And the demon, now knowing everything, screamed at the heavens.

As Sirin silently listened to that wail of grief, she spoke to the demon shouting in rage.

[Everything was my doing.]

[It was merely part of the process to complete the world.]

[So kill me.]

[Kill me, and claim your revenge.]

Thus, the demon, 

Ignited a flame to break the heavens.

A Heavenbreaker flame that would burn even itself away.   

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