I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 469

Flash-!

Kugwagwagwang!

Lightning crashed, and the wind howled.

Junior and Reina continued their battle.

Junior fought to suppress the ache in her chest, swallowing the blood that rose from within, and relentlessly unleashed her attacks.

Reina’s mastery of combat was still overwhelming. To face her, Junior squeezed out every last bit of her magic.

As if there was no time after this, she held nothing back.

“Haa, haa, huff!”

Her breath grew ragged.

The intense magic usage felt like it was burning her entire magic circuit. But Junior stubbornly endured.

…Junior thought.

Why is living such a painful thing?

The world is always unfair and sometimes resentful.

Even after overcoming one hardship, the next one appears.

Without a clear answer sheet or a plausible explanation… you have to face it directly, get hurt, and move forward.

Everything is difficult.

Life itself is burdensome and harsh.

“Haa, huff, khh…!”

But because of that,

This life has value.

Because she had struggled through a path that was never easy, because she had crawled here with her body covered in wounds…

Because the hills of adversity she had overcome had piled up to become a tall peak.

– I’ve come this far.

Looking back, she could feel proud of herself.

At the same time, she could look at the path ahead and not give up.

– I’ve overcome all sorts of hardships, so why would I not be able to overcome this one hill in front of me?

She recalled the enemies she had faced in the past.

The Wolf King, the Goblin God King, the Ghost Ship Captain,

The Vampire King…

Numerous monsters. Endless hardships. She remembered them.

She had overcome all those harsh times.

What reason was there not to overcome the adversity before her?

Thud! Thud!

Kwagwagwang-!

“Khh!”

Junior, thrown back by Reina’s gale, quickly regained her stance and shot out lightning.

“Huuup!”

Reina dodged the lightning and fired a wind magic bullet from her fingertips.

Junior coughed up blood violently. She had already reached her limit long ago.

Despite that, she squeezed out her magic and continued the bloody battle, and Junior suddenly smiled.

Perhaps the world might be destroyed someday.

It might be easier to give up fighting, accept defeat, and hide.

But-

‘Rather than hiding in fear, I’d rather die fighting.’

That was the way of life that Jupiter Junior had chosen.

To burn everything to the last drop, to the last piece.

Clank, clank, clank-!

The staff in Junior’s hand, [Rod of Crimson], emitted irregular mechanical sounds and transformed haphazardly.

The [Rod of Crimson], which had just been purified, had gained several new functions.

Among them, the one she was about to use now was this-

One of the unique powers of the Vampire King Selendion, Ultra-High-Speed Chanting!

Woo-oong!

Emitting a red magical glow, the [Rod of Crimson] finished its preparations.

“…?!”

Reina, sensing an ominous energy, widened her eyes.

From the beginning, Junior had been pouring magic into this staff. The battle with Reina was merely a way to buy time.

And when it had absorbed enough magic, the [Rod of Crimson] completed one spell in an instant with its ultra-high-speed chanting function.

Clang-!

The sound of space cracking echoed in the air.

A brilliant halo rose in the sky, and light flowed down along the broken space.

[Elemental Disassembly].

Junior’s ultimate skill, the strongest mana-burn skill, which reduced the target’s magic to a negative value.

But [Elemental Disassembly] had one fatal weakness. It was the overwhelmingly long casting time.

In a battlefield where lives were at stake every second, [Elemental Disassembly], which took more than ten minutes to cast, was an ultimate skill that was difficult to use except in a siege situation.

But Junior was able to use her ultimate skill without giving Reina a chance to react, thanks to the new function of the Nightmare Slayer.

‘This is bad, I’ve been had…?!’

Reina, knowing the power of [Elemental Disassembly], gritted her teeth. She thought that all the magic in her body would soon evaporate.

But, it wasn’t.

From the beginning, Junior had not used her ultimate skill on Reina.

What Junior was aiming for… was the shutdown protocol magic circle behind Reina.

Its center.

Clang! Clang-!

Sounds like glass breaking echoed continuously, and the magic that had been concentrated in the center of the huge magic circle evaporated all at once.

From the material magic prepared to use the shutdown protocol, to the reserve magic that made up the basic magic circle.

Everything evaporated without discrimination under Junior’s ultimate skill.

“…Huh.”

Reina opened her mouth slightly, dumbfounded by this sight.

The shutdown protocol had now become like an airship that had lost its fuel.

If the outer magic circle was normal, she could have drawn magic from the outer circle to recharge it, but currently, the outer magic circle was also being attacked and was being neutralized one after another.

In this situation, the central magic circle, which was the operating part, had been discharged.

In fact, the shutdown protocol was now completely neutralized.

“…If I had been hit directly by an attack spell, there would have been a chance to reuse it.”

Reina let out a hollow laugh as she looked down at the facility, which was no longer a magic circle but just meaningless lines and symbols engraved on the floor, where all the magic had evaporated.

“This is unusable. It’s completely… over.”

“…”

“But you made a mistake, Junior. The order is reversed.”

Reina glared at Junior. Junior was leaning against the wall, breathing heavily.

She had used a powerful ultimate skill in a fierce battle, which had consumed an extreme amount of magic.

Junior was now completely depleted of magic. Seeing Junior, who was pale and bleeding from her nose, Reina bit her lip.

“If you were going to aim, you should have aimed for me first. Then you could have destroyed the magic circle.”

“…”

“Even if you neutralized the magic circle first, if I’m still in this perfect condition…”

Reina gathered wind magic at her fingertips and strode towards Junior.

“I’ll still have enough to kill you.”

“…”

“You made a fatal mistake, Junior. You should have been more cold-blooded as a mage. If you had just changed the order of the magic, it would have been much-”

Without listening to Reina’s growling words any further.

Junior, staggering forward, spread her arms wide to both sides and then…

Whump.

She embraced Reina, hugging her.

With a face as calm as could be. With even a faint smile on her lips.

“…”

Reina’s whole body stiffened.

Junior whispered softly.

“It’s okay.”

“…”

“We’re, okay with this…”

Reina couldn’t understand the meaning of this hug.

What was okay?

Who did ‘we’ refer to?

She couldn’t understand anything at all.

…Looking back, Jupiter was like that too.

On days when they had fought fiercely, she would silently come and hug her without warning, and wouldn’t let go until her anger subsided.

She said that one hug could convey more than a hundred words.

The woman who smiled…

“…”

Reina, with her eyes wide open as if she couldn’t believe it, stood still like a statue, and then.

“…Idiot.”

She placed her magic-filled fingertips on Junior’s chest,

“Really… you’re just like your mother.”

And shot it without hesitation.

Thud-!

The magic that Reina had gathered from the deepest part of her heart pierced Junior’s heart.

***

Junior’s heart was pierced by Reina’s magic.

Junior thought that death would come now. But it didn’t.

“…?”

Opening her trembling eyes, she was still alive.

Junior, blinking at this incomprehensible phenomenon, finally discovered it.

Reina, who had fired the magic, was instead lying on the floor.

“Reina-sama…?!”

Junior, flustered, staggered towards Reina. Reina was pale and bleeding from her mouth.

“…When you use all your magic until your magic circuit is empty. Residual elements are revealed at the bottom.”

“Huh?”

“It was a good environment to perform the last surgery.”

Reina coughed up blood roughly.

“Cough! Haa… I removed all the residual elements left in your magic circuit and transferred the ‘source magic’ of my heart to your magic circuit.”

“What is that…?”

“Now… even if residual elements reappear, there will be no more digging into your magic circuit. My source magic will absorb it…”

Source magic.

For human mages, it was like a magic core, a kind of innate true energy.

It was the source of life, so a mage who lost it would naturally… die.

Reina had transplanted her own into Junior’s heart.

“Why? Why… did you do this?”

When Junior asked, unable to understand, Reina smiled faintly with her blurred eyes.

“Don’t get the wrong idea. It’s not because of any guilt towards you, or some ridiculous sense of justice.”

“…”

“I failed my mission, and if I live, I’ll be captured as a traitor who tried to massacre the citizens of the Imperial Capital. Before that, I’m just committing suicide cleanly as a soldier.”

Reina’s breathing grew weaker. Reina mumbled in a fading voice.

“But you just happened to be in front of me… Since I was going to commit suicide anyway, I just indulged in a whim at the end.”

“…”

“The residual elements were engraved in your heart because of my magic bombardment in the first place…”

With blood-stained, trembling lips, Reina barely managed to smile.

“That’s all.”

“…”

Junior didn’t bother to ask.

Why she had continued to hold back, even though she had several chances to kill her during the battle.

Why she had continued to delay, even though she had several chances to activate the magic circle.

Why she had continued to act as a mentor until the end, teaching her the attitude of a mage.

She didn’t bother to ask the reason.

Because she was a villain.

Because she had decided to meet her end like a villain.

Reina, who had fallen to the floor, raised her hand, trembling faintly. Junior took her hand.

“Don’t forgive me.”

“I won’t.”

Junior nodded.

“For the rest of my life, I will never forgive you.”

“…”

“And… for the rest of my life, I will never forget you.”

A satisfied relief crossed Reina’s wrinkled face.

“That’s enough.”

Junior, even though Reina hadn’t asked, found a cigarette in her pocket and put it in her mouth. And lit it for her.

Reina, after taking one last puff, whispered.

“Hey, Jupiter’s daughter.”

“Yes?”

“Someday, when the world is peaceful, and you’re old enough, build a villa with a swimming pool in the warm south… and live a great retirement life.”

Suddenly, a scene from the distant past flashed before Reina’s eyes.

“…It’s a life that your mother and I only promised to live, but never got to.”

The image of the lightning fire, wearing the same military uniform, smoking the same cigarettes, joking and giggling together.

“Since I’ve extended your life, make sure…”

Reina’s eyes slowly closed.

“To live long and happily…”

Thud.

The cigarette fell from Reina’s mouth.

Junior held her cold hand and stared at her fallen face.

She would remember.

She had neither forgiven nor avenged her in the end.

The face of this sinful soldier who had taken her life and returned it at the end.

Until the end of this life, Junior would remember.

Junior laid Reina’s body straight and staggered to her feet.

She leaned on her staff, straightened her trembling back, and looked at the sky.

It was still raining – but the sky was shining more brightly than ever.

Having risked death, life had begun again.

And because she was alive, she had to keep running.

Junior looked up at the thorn tree palace that was constantly rising towards the sky.

Now, only the final showdown remained in this Imperial Capital Conquest.

***

Above New Terra.

Inside the ‘Final Ark,’ the Thorn Tree Palace. The Audience Chamber.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

“…”

“…”

Fernandez and I were dumbfounded as we looked at the person who had suddenly appeared at the entrance of the audience chamber.

I called out the other person’s name hesitantly.

“…Lark hyung [older brother]?”

Even though he was in a terrible state, having lost all his limbs, how on earth did he get here?

With his half-remaining arm, he wiped the sweat from his pale face,

“I’ve come to pick you up, my brothers.”

The First Prince of the Empire, Lark ‘Avalanche’ Everblack, smiled brightly.

“Let’s go home together.”