I Became The Tyrant Of A Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 700

I stood in a pure white space where nothing existed.

It was a pattern I was getting used to, so I muttered calmly.

“Is this your mental world?”

Turning my head to look, I quickly found it.

In the very center of this pure white space.

There, where only a single throne stood forlornly.

《…….》

Scattering black energy like ink on the floor right in front of the throne, the Night Bringer was dying, collapsed in human form.

I walked towards him, my footsteps echoing.

The Night Bringer, who was constantly spitting out black blood, looked at me.

The light in his golden eyes was already fading.

《Play, er…….》

Immediately after, a bitter smile appeared on his lips.

《No, now I should call you Dawn Bringer, I suppose.》

“……”

《Tenacious, strong, and above all… that you never give up, it really… it’s just like your great ancestor…….》

The Night Bringer closed his eyes tightly and murmured in a much more relaxed voice.

《I have lost.》

“You’re surprisingly cool about admitting it.”

I had died and come back so many times, I was expecting him to grumble about not accepting the result.

Unexpectedly, the Night Bringer calmly accepted his defeat.

《We fought using every means at our disposal, and in the end, I was the one who fell. I have no choice but to accept it.》

The Night Bringer took a labored breath and looked up at the sky.

《I am not resentful about losing to you. What I am resentful about is…….》

I followed his gaze and looked at the sky.

《That I couldn’t ruin this world’s repeating tragedy, their game of destruction.》

Saaah…….

The white ceiling of his mental world became transparent, and the sky of the real world was reflected.

《They are there. Now that you have gained divinity, you should be able to see them.》

The Night Bringer glared at the sky and growled.

《Face their malice as they enjoy my death, and your futile struggles…!》

In the dazzling morning sunlight, within the now completely dissipating veil of darkness.

“……!”

I could see them clearly.

The countless ‘eyes’ that had opened in the darkness.

Those huge, otherworldly eyes, which I was now even used to, were looking down at us.

《Looking down on the world’s destruction, observing the tragedy, and finding joy in the process…….》

The Night Bringer recited each word with seething hatred.

《The watching Outer Gods, the observing Constellations, the lovers of tragedy – ‘The Gazers’.》

I repeated the name.

“The Gazers……”

《Yes. They are the ones who turned this land into a world on a chessboard, the ones who enjoy watching us be toyed with by fate… the ones who orchestrate this game of destruction.》

In the fading darkness, countless huge eyes were desperately staring at me and the Night Bringer.

《Look, you who have newly gained the right to sit on the throne. You who are patched together with divinity.》

The Night Bringer seemed to have decided to persuade me instead of accepting defeat.

《Look at this world that has become nothing more than a game! Are you okay with this world where you are mocked as a clown?》

“……”

《If this world is just going to be toyed with by external forces for eternity, against your own will, wouldn’t it be better to just let it disappear?》

The Night Bringer’s logic was consistent.

From the moment we first met until now, or perhaps from the moment he was born in that distant mythical era… it seemed like he had been running towards one goal.

《We are ultimately just actors dancing on a stage set up by them, following a story they have written. How futile and empty is this life?》

“……”

《I wanted to rebel against this fate. That’s why I wanted to close this world. So, Dawn Bringer, if you have realized the truth of this world, it’s not too late.》

In this world that is nothing more than a playground for the Outer Gods, rather than living as toys of the Outer Gods.

He would rather destroy the world with his own hands and end this game of destruction.

A being who came this far with such a consistent will, that he would rather commit suicide than be mocked.

That was the Night Bringer.

《You can end this contradictory world, Dawn Bringer…!》

“……”

But, I…….

I looked up at the sky again.

I met the eyes that were desperately staring at me.

Was it because I had gained divinity and the right to stand in the same position as them? For some reason, I felt like I could understand those Outer Gods a little.

Certainly, they were overflowing with pure malice, like the eyes of a child looking down at an ant colony-

But why?

Those eyes felt familiar to me.

‘Ah.’

Immediately after, I realized.

Of course, they had to be familiar.

The way those Outer Gods looked at this world, at me, was exactly…….

It was not fundamentally different from the way viewers had looked at me when I was broadcasting as a ‘Classic Otaku’ [a person with a deep passion for older anime, manga, and games].

‘Full of malice, but…’

There was also a hint of goodwill mixed in.

I could definitely feel it.

Somehow, I started to laugh. I smiled without realizing it.

And I said.

“What’s wrong with being a game piece?”

《……What?》

The Night Bringer was puzzled. I continued.

“What’s wrong with being mocked as a clown?”

《What are you talking about… now?》

My main personality is made up of that of the Classic Otaku.

The streamer who loved games.

The clown who danced while playing.

“If I’m not ashamed of my life, what does it matter if I’m a clown or a game piece?”

If someone is happy to use me as a game, if someone laughs at my clowning.

That’s not so bad either.

《What… what are you saying…?》

The Night Bringer stammered, genuinely unable to understand.

I straightened my shoulders and looked straight up at the sky.

“Even if my whole life is just a futile story shouted by a nameless actor on a stage, it doesn’t matter.”

Even if life is just a ridiculous dance performed by a nameless clown on a stage.

It’s okay.

“Because that is also definitely a life.”

No matter what kind of life I live.

Because there was someone who acknowledged that my life was beautiful from the very beginning.

“Don’t you dare judge my life as futile and unhappy just because I was born as a clown to be mocked on a stage.”

I lowered my gaze from the sky and looked at the Night Bringer.

“I am the only one who can define my life.”

I placed my hand on my chest, feeling the warm flame pulsating within.

And I spoke with conviction.

“And this is beautiful.”

Anger flashed across the Night Bringer’s dazed face.

《You…! Dawn Bringer! Does that mean you condone their game of destruction?!》

“That is not the case.”

I shook my head.

“This play called the game of destruction, which only views tragedy while destroying the world, is flawed from the very first design.”

《Then why…》

“But your decision to destroy the stage just because the play is flawed is even more wrong.”

I grinned.

“You are small-minded, Night Bringer.”

The Night Bringer stammered, momentarily unable to follow the sudden change in the conversation.

《Wh-what…?》

“I will not destroy the stage (Stage)……”

I raised one hand, paused it in the air, and then.

I clenched my fist tightly.

“I will destroy the system (System) itself, the game of destruction.”

《……?!》

The Night Bringer’s golden eyes widened in shock. I continued.

“I will rebel against that great will that repeats all these tragedies, against this entire universe.”

I ran my fingertips over the leather necklace around my neck… the necklace I received after clearing Stage 0.

[Necklace of the Rebel]

– A ‘Player’s’ necklace that rebels against fate.

Why is a player someone who rebels against fate?

I now truly understood its meaning.

Both I and the Night Bringer were rebels.

All of us who wanted to defy the fate of destruction were players.

But he and I had different directions.

He tried to destroy the world that was the stage to ruin the game of destruction.

But I will destroy the game of destruction itself.

“So, even though we are the same actors, the same rebels, the same players… I can say that I am a little more broad-minded than you.”

The Night Bringer, who was now staring blankly at me with his mouth slightly open, stammered.

《How… how are you going to destroy the game of destruction? How are you going to rebel against this universe?》

“It’s a pity that I can’t show you that, Night Bringer.”

At my words, the Night Bringer’s shoulders twitched.

The tips of his hands and feet began to turn into black dust and disappear, and the speed rapidly increased.

The Night Bringer’s end was near.

《Through the resonance between dragon species, I was able to have a brief conversation before dying… but it seems like it’s over now.》

The Night Bringer, who had calmly accepted his death, looked at me with trembling eyes.

《Dawn Bringer. If you truly intend to carry out such a great rebellion. If you intend to walk the path of a true king… to establish a new dynasty.》

He placed his hand on his chest and took out a black flame, handing it to me.

《Take my flame as well.》

“……”

《If your will is true, my blood and my soul… will also help you.》

I stared at the flame the Night Bringer had given me for a moment.

He is my enemy.

He killed my people, destroyed my city, and tried to destroy the world.

I will never forgive him.

But…….

I reached out my hand and slowly accepted his flame.

Because I knew that this flame was necessary for the path I would take in the future. I took his flame as a trophy.

The Black Dragon’s flame was not absorbed into my body, but revolved around my body as if orbiting it… and then combined with the ‘Necklace of the Rebel’ around my neck.

“I’ll give you one last word.”

After absorbing his essence like this.

I spoke dryly.

“Go to hell, you evil dragon.”

The Night Bringer burst into a hearty laugh and muttered bitterly.

《There’s nowhere else for me to go anyway.》

“……”

《Thank you… for talking to me until the end, even though you must hate me.》

“There’s no need to thank me.”

I whispered to him coldly… and with a hint of vague pity.

“I only talked to you in order to remain human. And… to gain even a little more clue to conquer this world.”

The Night Bringer laughed heartily again.

《I have no regrets about my life, but it’s a pity that I can’t watch the path of rebellion you will walk until the end…….》

He muttered with a dreamy, dazed look on his face, his body already mostly turned into black particles.

《By the way, it’s strange…….》

His blacked-out golden eyes slowly closed.

《That woman who was supposed to follow me soon, even after I was revived once and died again… she hasn’t appeared…….》

The last piece of the Night Bringer turned into black dust and disappeared.

In the empty white space, in front of the lonely throne, the scepter he had been carrying had fallen.

The scepter that symbolized the royal authority of the Lake Kingdom… the rights held by the King of Nightmares.

After picking it up, I slowly raised my head.

In the sky, the veil of darkness had almost completely disappeared. In the last remaining piece of the veil, the ‘eyes’ were briefly visible for the last time.

“Watch carefully from there.”

With gritted teeth, I smiled with my lips curled up.

“Because I’m going to show you the greatest rebellion in the universe.”

After declaring that, I turned my back on the throne.

And I took a step to leave this lonely space.

***

I was about to leave the mental world like that.

But at the edge of this white space that was beginning to collapse… someone was standing there.

“……”

I slowly approached him.

His whole body was shattered like a broken ceramic, his empty interior clearly visible. Scattering white ash from his whole body.

His face, cracked and broken with holes, still held an inexplicable, relaxed smile…….