I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 471

Looking back, Lark was always like that.

Every time we met, he would suddenly pull us into a ‘brotherly hug,’ squeezing our waists as if trying to break them.

When it happened before, it was just painful, and I never felt any brotherly affection.

But now, seeing his profile as he jumped between us, risking his life, hugging us and smiling even while spitting blood…

I was bewildered and heartbroken.

I never really considered this person my brother.

Has he always been considerate of us… as his younger brothers?

“I don’t know what you two have been through.”

Lark opened his mouth, coughing up blood.

“I’m indecisive, and all I know how to do is swing a sword… I don’t really know what worries you have, what hardships you’ve overcome.”

Lark looked back and forth between me and Fernandez with his dark blue eyes, then said,

“But, even if we point weapons at each other, even if we hurt and fight… we’re still family, aren’t we?”

To the very end.

He said such things.

“Let’s talk, my brothers.”

“…I’m sorry, brother. We don’t have time for that.”

Fernandez, who had been silent with his head bowed, slowly opened his mouth.

“My mind is made up, and it won’t change.”

“Fernandez…”

“Any conversation between us is meaningless.”

Crack…!

Dozens of thorn spears rose from behind Fernandez.

“Just like Ash, I will eliminate your physical body… and send only your soul to the spirit realm.”

“…”

“I’ll persuade you after that… !”

Lark silently watched his brother, who was determined to kill him, then

“Okay, Fernandez… if that’s what you want, then do it.”

He smiled.

“I’m sorry for always being a useless brother.”

“…”

At that moment, Fernandez’s face crumbled.

But the dozens of thorn spears were already loaded. Fernandez squeezed his eyes shut and shot the thorn spears forward.

“…I’m sorry, brother.”

Whoosh!

A rain of thorn spears poured towards Lark-

“You unfilial, unbrotherly bastard-!”

I stood in front of him.

The gray wall I hastily summoned blocked the thorn spears, crumbling like sand at the same time.

Amidst my collapsing wall, I grabbed Lark and desperately dodged.

“It wasn’t enough that you imprisoned our father in the spirit realm, you cut off our brother’s limbs! And now you’re trying to kill both of us!”

I may be a bit of a hothead when it comes to filial piety! I also stabbed Lark in the side, and fought with Fernandez like we were going to kill each other!

But you’re the real king of unfilial behavior!

“I, a Confucian boy who carries the spirit of the Eastern Land of Courtesy [referring to a traditional emphasis on respect and family], cannot forgive someone like you! I’ll show you what’s what, Fernandez!”

I was yelling, but I was also running away as fast as I could.

Those monstrous thorn spears were not something I could block with my wall summoning.

Fernandez scoffed at my appearance.

“Show me what you’ve got? How are you going to stop me…”

At that moment.

Fernandez’s shoulder twitched.

At the same time, the entire ark shook with a thud.

“…What is it?”

Fernandez looked down with a bewildered gaze.

Thud! Thump! Thump thump!

Large, consecutive explosions echoed, and the ark shook violently.

Fernandez urgently extended his thorns downwards, trying to connect them to the tree branch in the center of the audience chamber to check the overall status of the ark, but.

Crack!

“Ugh?!”

The thorns failed to connect and bounced back.

Fernandez, who was dumbfounded, quickly looked around.

“Could it be…?”

“That’s right, Fernandez. Do you see it now?”

On the floor of the audience chamber… small branches of Everblack were embedded everywhere.

Needless to say, I was the one who planted them.

It was hard to see. After all, the entire audience chamber was surrounded by a giant tree trunk.

There was no way anyone would notice the small branches I had subtly planted in that huge tree trunk during the battle.

“Why do you think I was running around the inside of the audience chamber at first?”

There are no meaningless moves.

“Why do you think I bothered to pull my brother away from the throne and lure him over here?”

Everything was according to plan.

From the beginning, I had planned to install the branches I brought throughout the audience chamber and to pull Fernandez away from the throne, the center of the ark’s control.

“Where did you get these branches?!”

“Where did I get them?”

I scoffed.

“Are you blind? This entire palace is made of Everblack!”

I had been snapping off small branches on my way from the palace entrance to the audience chamber!

Even if they were small branches, they were Everblack. They were as powerful as magic wands.

An ordinary human wouldn’t even be able to touch them, let alone break them. And even if someone was qualified, they wouldn’t be able to do this if they had never handled Everblack before.

But I was qualified, and I had handled the branches that Bai Ye had synthesized. That’s why it was possible.

I took control of the branches I had broken off.

Then, I inserted those branches into the central trunk of this audience chamber—the control unit of the ark—damaging the ark’s system.

In other words!

“How does ransomware taste?!”

I poured a virus into the main computer!

No matter how sturdy the outside of a ship is, if the internal system is damaged, it’s bound to go haywire, right?

I pointed at the dumbfounded Fernandez.

“It’s called the Trojan Horse Operation, you bastard!”

Thump thump thump!

The ark shook violently.

Fernandez gritted his teeth and glared at me, then hurriedly ran to the throne and sat down, trying to regain control of the ship. But.

“Ugh… !”

That was actually a trap.

The Everblack branches I had already planted had deeply penetrated the ark’s central system.

I was also a guardian of the empire and a rightful successor of Everblack.

The command I gave was ‘Stop the ark’.

Fernandez struggled to remove the command I had given, but it was difficult to remove the poison that had already spread through the veins.

The ark began to gradually stop functioning, increasing its vibrations…

“Huuu!”

Whoooooo-!

…It didn’t stop and started rebooting.

Fernandez, sitting on the throne, had assimilated more than half of his body with the thorn tree, and was desperately regaining control of the broken ark.

I was so dumbfounded that my mouth fell open.

Why didn’t you fight the monsters with that indomitable will, seriously…!

“You think I’ll just stand by and watch!”

I took out the last Everblack branch I had kept in my pocket and stabbed it into the central trunk.

Then, I poured my consciousness into it, trying to silence the ark.

Inside the Everblack, my will and Fernandez’s will clashed. Fernandez was trying to restore the ark, and I was desperately trying to stop him.

How long had we been in this tug-of-war?

“Why… why don’t you understand, Ash?”

Fernandez said in a choked voice.

“You don’t know. You must have forgotten. What you’ve been through all this time. What sacrifices you’ve made.”

“…”

“You were so broken that you couldn’t even maintain yourself, and you held on by overlaying other people’s personalities.”

I faced Fernandez. His voice was trembling.

“Even if this world completely collapses, you alone must be saved. That’s why I tried to save you.”

“…”

“But why… why are you trying to break again? Why aren’t you running away… !”

“Why are you asking such an obvious question?”

I don’t really enjoy posing, but if you ask, I have to answer.

“Because this is the path I’ve chosen.”

It’s not just me now.

All the afterimages of ‘me’ engraved on this flag. The trajectory created by the countless attempts.

They are all the results of my choices.

The traces of my struggles to somehow save the world and reach the true ending.

“You’re right, brother. I don’t remember my past self. But.”

I chuckled.

“I think I know now why I’ve been fighting all this time.”

“Why?”

“For myself.”

Fernandez’s eyes widened. I said firmly.

“Not for anything else. I fight for myself.”

Wanting to save the world, that’s me.

This is my wish.

Why am I doing this, even if my soul is shattered and I have to overlay other people’s memories?

“Because I want to! Because I want to do it!”

I’m just being honest with my heart. I’m just being sincere about my own desires.

Because I’m sincere, I’ll do my best to hold on until the end.

No one forced me, and I’m not making a noble sacrifice! All of this is my will!

I’m playing this damn defense game with my own will!

“So don’t look at me with those pitying eyes!”

Don’t be generous on your own! Don’t save me on your own!

“Even if I fight to the end and shatter into pieces… it’s all my choice!”

“… !”

Fernandez’s face froze in shock.

Regardless, I gritted my teeth and poured my will back into seizing control.

“Enough already, just land this damn ark! Like Lark said, we have to go home!”

“…What?”

“Let’s go down to the ground! You’ll be judged by the law! And Lark will go to the temple to get treatment!”

The crime Fernandez committed was extremely serious.

Even if he was a prince, it would be at least life imprisonment, probably the death penalty.

But at least until then, I’ll visit him every day, bring him food, and visit him! I’ll even draw a commemorative portrait with him before he dies!

“Let’s go home!”

“… !”

“Damn it, you bastard! Yes! Anyway, we’re brothers!”

I don’t remember.

I don’t have any memories of the life I spent with you. I don’t have any memories of the previous rounds.

But still, damn it!

“Let’s live together, brother… !”

“… !”

“Not in the afterlife, but here in reality, together… !”

I gritted my teeth.

I’ll take Fernandez and Lark out of here and back to the ground!

Thump thump thump!

But it doesn’t stop.

The ark continued to operate. My will couldn’t reach the deepest part of the ark.

“…Haha.”

Fernandez stared at me, still struggling and not giving up, then said,

“I… I was completely wrong.”

He slowly reached out to the side and clenched his fist.

Crack! Crack! Crack…!

Then,

The walls next to the audience chamber opened all at once, creating a passage.

I looked over there in surprise. The passage led to the sky outside the ark. A strong wind rushed into the audience chamber.

“Go, Ash.”

Fernandez’s face, with his head bowed, was hidden by his disheveled hair.

“In a little while, the ark will be transferred to the spirit realm. Before that… leave.”

“Fernandez… !”

“To only hinder what my brother wants to do, instead of supporting him…”

He had a bitter smile on his face.

“I guess I was a bad brother, too.”

“Let’s go together, brother! If we’re going, we have to go together!”

“…If I leave this throne, the ark will immediately become ethereal and be transferred to the spirit realm. Someone has to stay to control it.”

Fernandez slowly leaned back on the throne.

“I’m sorry. For trying to manipulate you as I pleased.”

“Fernandez… !”

“…I’ll support your last challenge.”

Fernandez waved his hand.

“Make it a last match without regrets.”

“…”

“The transfer will start soon. Take our brother and go quickly.”

I gritted my teeth and turned to the side. On the carpet leading to the throne, Lark was bleeding and breathing heavily.

“I’ll support you, Lark. Let’s get out of here.”

“…No.”

But Lark shook his head.

“I will stay with Fernandez.”

“What…?”

“To be left alone in that spirit realm, in this ark, forever… that’s too much.”

Fernandez also looked at Lark with a surprised expression. Lark smiled calmly with a pale face.

“I’ve left you in solitude all this time, so I’ll join you now, even if it’s late.”

“…”

“So go, my youngest brother.”

Thump! Thump thump!

The vibrations of the ark became even more violent. It seemed like the transfer to the spirit realm was really just around the corner.

Lark put his arm on my shoulder and smiled.

“I’m counting on you to save the world.”