Extra in a Romance Fantasy

199 – The End

Swoosh—

Wade’s sword finally cut through the man.

His body, stained black, surely harder than any metal in this world, split in an instant.

The body was cleaved in two.

It was an injury that no ordinary human could survive.

Yet, Wade did not stop the sword.

Swish!

Wade’s sword traced another arc, and soon the man’s body shattered into pieces, scattering everywhere.

Watching this, Wade thought.

Finally, it was all over.

Since hearing the voice, since being able to draw out true power, Wade had been able to sever the man’s regeneration.

Just moments ago, the man had been unable to fully regenerate the arm that Wade had severed.

And now, the man had just been shattered by Wade’s sword.

In other words.

“It’s over.”

Wade sensed the end approaching.

It was that moment.

– Is it still too early to feel at ease?

The voice came through.

“……!”

At that voice, Wade hurriedly turned his head.

However, the man’s body remained shattered.

What had happened last time was not repeating itself.

Then, where on earth was this voice coming from?

He soon realized the answer.

– Indeed, it is Ferdion.

This voice was coming from the sky.

No, to be precise, it was resonating from all directions simultaneously.

– I had some expectations, but I never thought you would incapacitate my doppelganger.

“……!”

At the voice that came again, Wade’s eyes widened.

Within those words, there was a term he could not afford to overlook.

Doppelganger, the man was saying.

There was no need to ask what it referred to.

Wade’s gaze returned once more.

Toward the shattered corpse of the man.

The only thing that could be indicated by the term doppelganger was that.

To think that what he had barely managed to bring down was merely a doppelganger.

It was a word he wanted to deny.

Yet, he could not deny it.

After all, the man’s voice was audibly clear.

– Even if I took a part of the source, moving with my true self would incur significant losses.

The man’s voice, coming from an unknown source, continued.

– So, I tried to handle things with a doppelganger as much as possible… but seeing your strength, it seems that won’t do.

The man, no, the demon.

No, the ‘king’ said.

With that voice.

Kuwung—

The surroundings began to shake.

It was not a simple earthquake.

The ground shook, and the air shook.

Everything shook.

The world shook.

Wade soon realized the cause of that tremor.

The sky was moving.

No, to be more precise.

What he had thought was the sky until now was moving.

*

“Who is that person?”

Ethan asked, looking at Beluid.

The identity of the ‘Connected One’ who had summoned Wade into this world.

“…That is—”

At that question, Beluid was finally about to speak.

Thud—

Footsteps were heard.

At the same time.

“There’s no need to ask.”

A voice came through.

A soft voice.

It was not a loud voice, yet strangely, it was clear and distinct enough to be heard by everyone.

Everyone had no choice but to turn their heads toward the direction of the voice.

Those who turned their heads could see.

A woman with long black hair cascading down to her waist, with a gentle demeanor.

Seeing her, several people in the crowd widened their eyes.

—

To be precise, it was Mary and Rachel, Ira and Estelle.

It was because they knew.

The identity of that woman.

With slightly trembling eyes and a dazed voice, Rachel spoke the name of that person.

“…Lunia, senior…?”

The identity of the woman who had appeared so suddenly was Lunia.

A student of the academy and the president of the club ‘History Research Society,’ which included Rachel and the other women.

Upon hearing Rachel’s voice, Lunia turned her gaze toward her and smiled gently.

A soft smile, just as she usually showed.

“…Why is senior Lunia here…? And what do you mean by that…?”

Rachel displayed a confused reaction to her sudden appearance.

To both her unexpected arrival and her cryptic words.

It was then.

“What does that mean?”

A fierce voice interrupted their conversation.

It was Ethan.

“There’s no need to ask unnecessarily.”

A completely unfamiliar face had suddenly appeared and intruded into their dialogue, yet Ethan seemed to care little about that, looking at Lunia with unwavering eyes as he asked.

With that sharp gaze and fierce voice, one might feel somewhat intimidated.

However, Lunia opened her mouth without a hint of tremor on her face.

“Just as you said. There’s no need to ask.”

With a gentle smile on her face, she spoke.

“The person you’re looking for is none other than me.”

At that sudden declaration.

“……?”

“…What…?”

A sense of bewilderment swept over the room.

They didn’t even know what conversation Ethan and Beluid were having in the first place.

Thus, they could only respond with confusion to Lunia’s unexpected words.

In contrast, Ethan frowned.

With a scrutinizing gaze, Ethan was about to open his mouth, intending to ask something of Lunia.

Kugugung─

The ground, no, the world began to tremble.

“What…?”

In response to this anomaly, the people, with bewildered expressions, looked around in search of the cause.

“Th-that…!”

Soon, they noticed the strange occurrence.

In the sky, what had appeared to be merely black began to move.

And within that black sky, suddenly, eyes emerged.

*

Chjeok─

The black sky split apart.

And there, an enormous red eye rose.

As I gazed at that eye, I swallowed hard.

That red eye, that incomprehensibly vast eye.

It was undoubtedly looking at me.

– When I fought you in the past, I did not move my true form.

A man’s voice echoed.

– Moving my true form would be too costly, and I knew that another opportunity would arise.

However.

– If I miss this chance, it seems there will be no next time. So…

Let me face you with my true form.

Crackling!

A noise like the twisting of heaven and earth resounded.

And soon, the sky split open.

The black sky was torn apart.

And from it emerged a deeper, darker darkness, an unfathomable void.

And then.

Crackle!

Light began to emerge from within that darkness.

A light imbued with destructive power, enough to make one’s entire body tremble just by looking at it.

– I cannot move in this world for long in my true form, so I will end it all at once.

As if in response to that voice, the beam of light began to swell rapidly.

What was once a faint glimmer had, after a few blinks, grown to the point of covering the sky.

– Ferdion. With this, I will erase all humans from this world along with you.

With that calm declaration.

The light began to fall toward the earth.

*

“What is that…!!”

“What on earth…?!”

The people on the ground gaped in shock at the suddenly moving sky, and the enormous eye that had appeared there.

The soldiers, who had been fiercely battling, were no exception.

In the midst of their intense fight, they looked up at the sky, at the giant eye glowing red.

It was a perilous act that could easily cost them their lives in the heat of battle, yet they did not perish.

Because their foes, the monsters, had also ceased their movements.

Countless monsters, who had already died in the conflict between the two empires, were still numerous enough to fill the academy, but as the sky began to move, they curled up in place and stopped.

Then, one and all, the monsters began to gaze up at the sky.

Their posture resembled that of subjects before an emperor… no, it evoked the image of worshippers facing a god.

It was a bizarre and mystical sight that no one could tear their gaze away from, yet no one on the ground paid it any mind.

Not the countless soldiers, nor the residents of the great city of Ferdion, nor even Mary and her companions standing in the midst of the battlefield.

They too stood there, staring blankly at the moving sky.

And they trembled.

Though it was not fully conveyed, they vaguely sensed it.

The presence of that sky.

That power.

They instinctively realized that it was an existence they could not oppose with their own strength… no, one they could not even comprehend.

Thus, they lost their words and stared blankly at the sky, trembling.

In the midst of their gaze.

Crack—

The sky split apart.

And.

Crackle!

A red light appeared there.

The beam of light, born from that moment, grew in size with a noise that shook the heavens and the earth, and soon began to fall toward the ground.

“…It’s over.”

Someone said upon witnessing the scene.

On their face was a deep sense of despair.

It wasn’t just them.

On the faces of everyone around, despair settled in, accompanied by a thick layer of fear.

Even on the face of the elite soldier who had never flinched in the face of countless monsters, even on the face of Alexis, who always maintained his composure, even on the face of Beluid, who was always calm.

Even, indeed.

“…Damn it.”

Even on Ethan’s face.

It was because everyone present felt it.

The absurd power contained within that beam of light.

Thus, they had no choice but to despair.

And so, silence descended upon the gathering, upon the ground.

“…No! Not yet…!”

However, not everyone fell silent.

Mary, as if trying to hold onto the last thread of hope, opened her mouth to persuade everyone.

But she couldn’t finish her words.

No one responded to her plea.

No, beyond that, no one even cast a glance in her direction.

They stared blankly, with eyes dimming of hope, at the beam of light falling from the sky.

Powerlessly, they watched the end descending toward the ground, accompanied by profound despair.

It was then.

“Mary’s words are right.”

Once again, a gentle voice settled in their ears.

It was Lunia.

“It’s not over yet.”

—

There was not a hint of wavering in her voice as she spoke.

Looking at the split sky, where hope sparkled brightly in her eyes, at the beams of light that had begun to fall, and at the mountain peak finally revealed as the clouds parted, she said,

“He hasn’t given up yet.”