Chapter 41

An entire world, the graveyard of heroes, is being twisted and swallowed by a black hole.

Jet-black spheres emerged from everywhere, along with an unfathomable number of sunspots.

It was no longer done with Aria's black sword. It was happening at the end of her gaze.

A star of gluttony that devours the world just by looking at it.

At the same time, a star's mark was etched on Aria's dark retina.

"Stop, Aria."

I said, as Aria stared at the black star above her pupils, about to devour the world around her. And with that, the sunspots spreaded out before her abruptly disappeared.

"...Why?"

Aria asked, turning her head toward me.

"Wasn't it something you didn't want to see?"

Her eyes, both carved with dark stars, are looking this way. They glowed with a starry radiance.

"That disgusting woman and this cursed landscape-"

Aria had a knowing look on her face.

"They're all things you don't want to see."

The so-called Goddess of Victory in front of them, this place called the Tomb of Heroes.

"Sir, you don't need to see anything."

With an unquestioning shake of her head she revealed a twist and obsession in her eyes that bordered on madness.

"I'll cover your eyes, my brother, so you won't see anything."

Aria said.

"So look away from what you don't want to see, and only see what you want to see."

"Aria."

I said again, standing in front of her as she spoke.

"Since when did I give you permission to say and do whatever you want without my command?"

"...."

"Remember your place."

I said, tersely, as if there was no next time. I didn't want to hear any more words or explanations.

"That's an order."

"Yes, sir."

Aria replied, her voice cold.

She was silent, as if the emotion and excitement she had shown moments before had been a lie.

A silence that seemed blacker and darker than the blackness of her eyes.

"Ah, the creature called woman."

Before I knew it, she, who should have been caught in the first twist and torn to shreds, was there unscathed, proud, and beautiful.

"The Goddess of Victory," said the being who proclaimed herself.

With those words, the landscape warped again.

It was no longer a space station of transparent glass but a musty stone chamber.

The entire room was intricate and elaborate like an ancient ruin filled with reliefs and diagrams of unknown meaning.

It didn't take long for me to realize the meaning of the place.

It was a tomb. Mausoleum, the grave of the heroes I've been searching for.

But the graves are empty of their rightful burials, except for one.

Only one remains, alone, sleeping like a corpse in a stone sarcophagus.

As soon as I saw him, I realized that he was what this world calls a hero.

A hero, one who is born with a human calling, understands the mission, and is forgotten by the world in the end.

The core element that makes up this game, the Heroic Age series.

"Heroes never die, and they never fade away."

The Goddess of Victory smiled. She walked over to the lone hero and placed her soft touch on his cheek.

Then the hero, who should have been sleeping like a corpse in a sarcophagus, opened his eyes.

"Only silent to answer the call of men when the time is right, to fulfill their wishes as they deserve."

"...."

I could recognize the hero's face there. How could I not?

A character I had played and nurtured with my own hands.

Literally, it was a character I had raised.

I had created and nurtured it myself in the work with the 19th numbered title, just before this one.

It was only then that I realized that this place was the Character Lobby, the place where people create and wait for characters in the Heroic Age series.

Literally, this was a game lobby, a place where heroes forgotten by the world are silent, waiting for their time to come.

That's what Mausoleum is, the grave of heroes.

"To answer the call of man, to sacrifice their lives for man, to give their all."

The Goddess of Victory chuckled with pleasure.

"Now I must move for the victory of the gods, the stars, and the world."

Beyond the monitor, the character I've created in Heroic Age is there, bearing the name of a hero.

His appearance, the armor and weaponry he wears, and even his accessories are identical. It's the same equipment setup that the game has customized for me.

Perhaps the same goes for their levels, stats, and learned skills.

"How pathetic."

Nike, the goddess of victory, said with amusement.

I have a former hero by my side, whose appearance I have shaped, nurtured, and raised with my own hands, and who has traveled with me on my journey.

I finished counting the empty sarcophagi there. Nineteen? Twenty? No.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of sarcophagi lay empty, filling the graveyard.

"Still, because of their deeds and sacrifices, this world is not defeated by evil."

The Goddess of Victory said happily.

It was then.

On a single sarcophagus, a second bolt of starlight fell, forming a human form.

Another hero with nowhere to go, heading for the grave.

"For heroes do not die, and justice is not defeated."

At the same time, I realize that the hero looks familiar.

"Just as he is now, freshly awakened."

─A blond knight called Godchild.

Sir Roland, the Godchild, had risen to his feet, but there was no light in his eyes, no glint of the man I remembered.

They were ashen-colored, endlessly empty and hollow.

His eyes devoid of any of the resolve that shone so brightly in those days, devoid of self, will, or soul.

The characters I've created are not the only heroes heading to the mausoleum.

As Sir Roland is there.

"Lord Rain Gray. All the evil in this world and the 'enemy of the world'."

The Goddess of Victory, accompanied by the two heroes, said.

"You will not fulfill the Black Snake purpose of destroying this world."

Her voice was one of unwavering determination and justice, as if she was doing what was right as the Goddess of Justice and Victory.

"I will not allow this world to be destroyed, as you wish."

The goddess's voice spoke my purpose as kindly as anyone could.

The one I'd wanted to know so badly, the one I'd searched so desperately for answers to.

"Because I won't let you."

Rain Gray and the purpose of The Black Snake.

Even the purpose was so outlandish, so absurd, so villainous.

World destruction.

'World destruction?'

The words don't even come out as a laugh.

Beside me, Aria was neither surprised nor perplexed as if she'd known it all along. As if nothing was new to her.

"In this world...."

Then, I asked.

"Do you think it's worth it?"

The voice came out just as casually as before, unbidden and spontaneous.

Unwillingly, as if I were fumbling with Braille, etched deep into my consciousness, and then pronouncing it out loud.

After I spoke, I fell silent, feeling faintly uncomfortable.

"It's not for me or you to decide. No one deserves that."

The goddess replied.

"The arrogance of believing that you alone can decide it's why you are the unquestionable evil and the so-called Enemy of the World."

"...."

I didn't answer; I was just scratching my head. What the hell, why is my character there? Did Rain Gray really mean what he said about "the end of the world"?

What would it physically take to end the world?

For what reason in the first place?

I was silent.

In the place where I believed I had the answer, there lay a new, unraveling thread, one I could barely untangle.

"I will no longer allow you to destroy this world."

The goddess said. Her voice sounding like a declaration of war against me.

"...So, what are you going to do?"

I replied calmly, in my usual cold, emotionless voice.

"A holy war."

The Goddess of Victory smiled and replied.

Immediately, two heroes struck the ground at her side.

Two heroes, one raised by my hand, the other killed by my hand.

*

~At that time in the Breton Empire~

"The Eastern Empire Company has requested the deployment of mainland Imperial troops to colonize the new elven settlement."

"What is the size of the deployment, Prime Minister Oswald?"

The old gentleman there was no longer the head of the Secret Intelligence Service.

And just as he had come to lead and carry more, so had the girl who carried the sun.

"I would also like to take this opportunity to publicly acknowledge Her Majesty the Queen's Spirit of the Sun."

The Sun Spirit.

The Queen of the Land of the Never-Setting Sun, Queen Nike II, frowned slightly at that.

"Prime Minister."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"It is a power bestowed upon me by the Goddess, and I must use it only to 'protect this world'."

The Queen said. Her voice filled with unwavering justice and conviction.

"It is never to be wielded for the selfishness of any one nation."

It sounded like the voice of an idealistic statesman or like the words of a child, unaware of the world.

The young and immature stroke of a queen who has yet to learn the evils and cruelty of the world.

"...."

Oswald realized that now was the time to teach the young queen a lesson about the world's cruelty.

The queen would learn the cruelty of the world. In anticipation of the cold blood and brutality that would run through her veins, the new prime minister steeled his resolve.

For a monarch and a nation must be ruled by iron blood.

As the Queen's Rabbit, he had had enough of getting his hands dirty with blood and evil for his country.

As he did with his own two hands when he murdered Queen Nike I, the mother of a girl who could not be a vessel for a monarch.

The girl before him is different, therefore he had a duty to 'lead' her as another new leader leading this country, the iron-blooded Prime Minister.