Chapter 2420 - Mynoghra 13

Chapter 6: The Result of Freedom

"SHIT! Shit! Holy shit! This world has such a flamin' awesome boss monster?! This world has such an effed-up denizen?! Hell yeah!"

Flamin shuddered with what could only be described as boyish glee.

Had he ever experienced such excitement, such a thrill in the many repeat lifetimes he'd lived through? Was there any emotion to be felt when he was stuck fighting the same enemies and doomed to taste the same exact death a thousand times over?

This man, who'd come to the unfounded conclusion that all battles were essentially worthless, was now thrust into the fight of his life that was nothing like any battle before it. The instincts screaming at him to avoid incoming attacks and the throbbing rage telling him to defeat his enemy invigorated him.

"How rude. You must never call a lady a monster, young 'un," Isla chided.

"Nah, you're a monster, all right. You're as monstrous as they come."

Flamin wasn't exactly wrong about her.

Isla's body was a hundred times bigger than any bug and her strength could only be described as monstrous. Plus, her abilities were still a huge unknown, and it was easy to tell that she was born out of some pretty whacked-up laws of nature. On top of all that was her personality. She normally behaved like a proper lady, but as a Hero, she had a certain fondness for battle too. When she fought with delight for nation and king, she became a true monster.

And then there was Flamin, another picture-perfect example of a real monster. Inexhaustible flames lashed out from his body at his enemy, and his cunning turned into poisonous fangs that ripped into any weakness they found.

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In the world of Brave Questers, Flame Demon Flamin is said to be responsible for the destruction of countless kingdoms, and the Hero's party is required to make a great sacrifice to defeat him. In fact, many players hate his character…a lot.

The madness and malice he harbored within made him far more of a monster than looking like someone had lit a man at death's door on fire.

"Only a naughty man would keep calling a lady a monster… Oh, I know, why don't I seal that yapping trap of yours? You'll purr for me if I crush your throat, won't you?"

A torrent of power destroyed the massive trees as easily as snapping a stick.

The hellfire Flamin released as he agilely danced around twisted about like a giant dragon, burning all in its wake.

"Oooh, hot damn, somebody's impatient! Sounds like you want to put a quick end to things, so let me make that wish come true—by roasting you up nice and fine!"

The fight was at a stalemate, but the damage to the surrounding area was increasing at an accelerating rate.

Trees fell and erupted in flames.

Infinite Larva burst from their eggs and swarmed Flamin to aid their queen. After burning them out of existence with a light wave of his hand, Flamin spread his arms wide in an exaggerated gesture, his face distorted with euphoria.

"KUAHAHAHAHA! It ain't fair if you're the only one using pawns!"

Flamin summoned monsters.

Fire-spewing dogs answered his call.

Burning straw dolls dancing a strange little jig answered his call.

Red-skinned orcs with flame-tipped spears answered his call.

Various monsters appeared from the void and took formation to protect him.

But a second later, they left his side as if they were repelled.

"Dammit! I'm playing with the giant mantis! Y'all can torch those pesky gnats! Use whatever method, fire magic included! I don't give a damn 'bout anything anymore. Burn it all to hell!"

"My precious children, please play with those monsters. Make mama proud by taking the lot of them down."

The opposing monsters began their own battles, accelerating the destruction of the Accursed Lands. Inhuman battle cries echoed through the woods, followed by the loud reverberations of things being destroyed left and right. The area had been so desolated that it went beyond simple deforestation, making it a tragic sight to behold.

Trees were completely knocked over or burned until they toppled and spread the conflagration, and the ground had cratered as if a bomb had gone off. The whole area was covered in charbroiled Larva corpses and permeated by the stench monsters gave off in their final moments as they spilled their innards before turning into glittering gold coins.

"I must say, being able to summon without any cost is cheating," Isla said.

"Don't blame me. It's your fault for not bein' able to do it. Weaklings die. The incapable die. Isn't it the way of the world for only the strong and capable to make it?" "I have to agree with you there," Isla replied.

The world is cruel.

There's no kindness or lenience for the weak, just those who rob and are robbed.

There are no rules to protect the powerless, just violence.

Both Isla and Flamin came from such twisted worlds.

No matter how they won or lost, it'd always be brushed under the rug with the reasoning that the loser lost simply because they were weaker.

However, nothing in their worlds was so convenient as to allow the infinite summoning of underlings without any limitations whatsoever…

"Oh dear, it looks like the rules governing you come with some annoying side effects…" Isla observed.

"…Dammit!"

With every positive comes a negative… In Brave Questers, only a set number of monsters can participate in any single battle. In other words, there were no melee mechanics in their world—they had to select a specific target to fight—and that restriction wouldn't be lifted until some unknown mechanic determined their battle was over.

This was why Flamin's summoned monsters had immediately left his side. Fighting Isla wasn't allowed because of the limit on the maximum number of enemy groups. Being able to summon an infinite number of monsters was actually a fatal drawback against Mynoghra's forces.

Not even Flamin himself could escape from this deadly constraint. Worst yet, he was locked out of being able to escape because he was a boss character. Ultimately, he was stuck fighting Isla until the battle ended.

Isla, on the other hand, was free to choose her combat actions. Since the characters of Eternal Nations typically fight alongside armies against other armies, the descriptions of their individual battles are vaguer, placing fewer combat constraints on them compared to the characters from Brave Questers.

"…That's why they keep getting in your way like this."

"Dammit! You little pieces of shit!"

Even now, endless batches of newly born Larva swarmed Flamin, stealing his ability to see anything but black. Isla took that momentary lapse in his defenses to join her Larva in battle and grab one of the monsters rendered defenseless by their game constraints with her raptorial foreleg in a lightning-fast pounce, then she drove her stinger into her prey. The monster convulsed, its eyeballs swelling like balloons as they began to flash in warning, like a countdown.

"Hahaha! C'mon, what the hell was that?! You'll deposit your eggs on the nearest warm body? Anyone will do for you? How slutty can you get, you giant botfly?!"

Flamin's face betrayed his lack of calm as he ridiculed her. His quick mind instantly realized that her ability allowed her to create an endless army of her own—using his monsters. If he continued to summon his forces, she'd pick off the ones rendered defenseless by their game mechanics, parasitize them, and give birth to new infested soldiers. Flamin was essentially building his enemy's army for her.

It didn't matter that he could summon an infinite number of monsters from Brave Questers when he had his own limitations. The fire spells he used to attack also cost MP. As a boss character, he normally wouldn't ever deplete his MP in battle, but that rule went out the window when the fight was lasting longer than anything against the Hero.

On the other hand, it'd be just as difficult to entirely stop summoning his minions. They may've just been squishy bugs that took a moment to squish, but the constant flood of Larva swarming Flamin definitely made the battle lean in Isla's favor.

Hence why he found his hands tied, and emotion akin to panic began to dominate his thoughts. Whether or not his enemy knew his mental turmoil, a torrent of power on par with a storm knocked down all the trees as it assailed him.

But then the relentless gusts of power coming from all directions eased a little.

"May I ask you a question?" Isla suddenly said.

"Huh? Don't put out the flames of adrenaline pumping through this fight. You and I are destined to kill each other. There's no need for excess chitchat."

"Now, now. Don't shut it down before you hear me out. My king is telling me to ask you this no matter what."

At that remark, Flamin jumped back to put distance between them, his flames still burning strong to repel any surprise attacks.

This gives me a second to come up with another plan… he thought, internally relieved. He'd come off as opposed to talking, but the situation was gradually deteriorating…for him. He was grateful for the chance to take a breather and recover. Not to mention, he was deeply curious about the people he was up against.

They're clearly from similar origins as us, he thought. So what world did they come from? What were they fighting and with what motive did they come to this world?

Flamin had the curiosity and the intelligence necessary to want to gather more information on his opponents.

"Why are you attacking us and the town of Dragontan?" Isla asked. "You may be the Demon Lord's Army that brings darkness to the world, but we still can't find any rational meaning behind your sudden and illogical attack."

At that question, Flamin felt something other than the desire to be cunning and ruthless. The first new emotion he experienced was surprise. The other was contempt of the highest level.

"…Oh. PUHAHAHA! I see. You don't know a thing, do ya? Or is that puny king of yours hiding it from you? I see! I see now! You poor, poor, puppet!"

This was the instant Flamin realized he had an overwhelming advantage on the information front. Although the sad fact was that such information wouldn't aid him one bit in this battle.

"Thanks for your generous warning," Isla said with feigned gratitude. "However, my loyalty won't be swayed by such pitiful baiting."

"As if I didn't know that."

Isla spoke the truth. Her loyalty was unwavering, and her trust in the king would never stay her actions. She'd never once doubted Takuto, and she'd gladly offer her life even on the off chance he was deceiving her.

Isla harbored but one concern: that their opponent knew something important that Mynoghra did not.

Does this mean they know something not even Master Takuto does? she wondered. What caused us to come to this world is still unknown, and the underlying phenomenon behind it is an even greater mystery. I don't know how they caught a glimpse of the elusive truth, and it's even more frustrating that he's not the type to easily spill his guts.

Isla felt ashamed of herself. She obviously couldn't seek Takuto's opinion while in combat. Just because she had the upper hand didn't mean she could underestimate her opponent. Letting her guard down for even a fraction of a second to overthink things could very well be the moment he took her life.

"What do you people…think of yourselves?"

Flamin almost seemed to be imploring her with that question.

Isla also found herself puzzled by his sudden query, but she still gave a clear answer in response.

"Are you having doubts about your existence? I am Mynoghra's Hero, Isla. King Takuto Ira's loyal servant. I am nothing more and nothing less than that."

"Ha! HaHAHHA! You're a damn PUPPET! You're arrogant, excessively proud, and stick to your convictions. You're an effin' yesman puppet who can only do as they're told!"

Isla gave a big nod in response to his observations, almost as if his words summed up the one truth that defined who she was and that she actually took pride in that fact.

"You disgust me," he hissed.

But her answer ran contrary to what Flamin wanted to hear.

"Ahh, now I get it… I get why you piss me off so much," he quietly began to say, his measured words seething with palpable anger. "When it comes down to it, you guys are free. You serve your king of your own volition, and you're standing here fighting out of your own damn free will. You can betray your king, yet you still choose to support him. Because you WANT to."

Isla had a vague idea of what had incited his rage. Takuto had summarized what the game of Brave Questers was all about for her. And from that summary, she'd discovered the fatal and terrifying flaw built into the genre of games called role-playing games. No, perhaps it was going too far to call it a flaw. After all, the point of role-playing games is to play a certain role…

"So? How's it feel, puppet?" Flamin asked with a sneer. "How do you like serving someone of your own will?"

And so, Isla looked down on her opponent with a derisive gaze for the first time.

"I'm swathed in supreme bliss daily. So, let me ask you, how does it feel to have no freedom whatsoever as you're forced to play out your role, you pathetic string-puppet?"

"I feel like shit!"

The battle resumed.

The same scene repeated as if their battle had been rewound like a videotape as their minions and the terrain continued to be obliterated, except the battle now included a war of words too.

"But ya know what? I'll be freed if I kill you here! I'll finally be free! For the first time!"

"I see! So that's what you're after?! That's your desire?! Oh my darkness! Whatever shall I do? You have become quite appealing now!"

"Shut the hell up, you buzzing botfly! Burn up and disappear already!"

The battle was progressing in Isla's favor.

If you boast the strength of a hundred warriors, then you are bound to be tripped up by your own arrogance at times. But Isla's strong force of will as a Hero never allowed for such mistakes. Meanwhile, the enemy she was cautious of was confused and panicked by the mysterious rules governing his incomprehensible foe.

Dammit all to hell! She just won't burn! Why isn't it working? Is there some sorta element affinity at play here too?

Flamin had been unloading fire damage on Isla with his constant flame spells. Each spell packed a mighty punch, even from an objective view, and had enough firepower to instantaneously melt even the hardiest fire-resistant armor. On top of that, he was fighting a big ass bug. Although she appeared to be a subspecies that far exceeded the size of a normal insect, she didn't fall under any other classification than that, and fire was typically the weakness for most bug-type monsters.

And yet, Flamin's flames failed to penetrate the defense offered by Isla's hard carapace. Actually, he had to be damaging her if the black smoke smoldering from his direct hits was any indication. But he was doing far less damage than he thought possible.

Don't tell me…even elemental affinities function differently for us too?! Can this battle get any more annoying?! Flamin had come up with a hypothesis he seriously didn't want to be true. Unfortunately, he'd hit the nail on the head with his guess.

In the world of Brave Questers, each character can have a weakness or resistance to any element. Their elemental affinity determines the damage they'll take from offensive skills of the same element. For example, if the target is weak against fire, the damage of attacks from that element will be increased, and if the target is resistant, the damage will be lowered. Characters can even be weak against physical attacks. These weaknesses are built into the game system, and even Flamin was designed as being weak to water and ice.

Basically, the weakness or resistance applied to the character themselves, whereas Eternal Nations applied the same thing to the attack. It worked like this:

"This unit causes 10% more damage to ice units."

"This spell is 1.5x more effective on evil-aligned units."

Moreover, Eternal Nations doesn't emphasize weaknesses because of the wide variety of skills and their complexity. It has no system that allows another player to steal the win from a stronger opponent simply by exploiting their weaknesses.

Strong units are just that—strong. They have no convenient weaknesses or strategies to exploit. Unparalleled beings reign in that position because of their overwhelming strength. If you want to overcome the difference, you either have to hit them with an equally outrageous unit or use good tactics to steadily wear them out.

That difference in game mechanics took what looked like the worst match-up and flipped it on its head. And to them, being strong meant overwhelming the loser.

"Tch! Monsters, get out here already!" Flamin shouted.

More monsters answered his call.

"I don't have enough firepower! Gimme a hand, pipsqueaks!

Take turns attacking her! Attack until we wear her down to zero HP!"

Flamin forced his newly summoned minions into his limited party size and had them attack Isla from every angle. But the moment they tried, they were snatched up and devoured until they filled her belly. Her sizzling forearm that'd been seared by their fire spells rapidly regenerated as she snacked on his monsters.

He'd witnessed her Regeneration skill throughout the battle. As long as she had this skill, he'd never be able to end her no matter how many powerful spells he unloaded on her. He'd hoped that it'd stop if he filled her up with a buffet of monsters but regenerating by eating was caused by a skill…no way was there an upper limit to what she could eat.

Flamin was out of cards to play. In every battle until now, he had consigned his enemies to oblivion with his overwhelming firepower. He had no Ultimate Attack he could whip out at the last second like Frost General Ice Rock. His greatest skill was using cunning strategies to ensnare his enemy before the battle began. Of course, as one of the Four Generals, he had high-level stats, and his abilities weren't inferior in any way.

Things might have been different if he was up against Atou. She had no Regeneration skills and was prone to provocation when it came to Takuto, which would've given him more opportunities to damage her and bring the battle to a draw, at least. But the Hero unit he was up against wasn't Sludge Atou but Isla, Queen of Bugs.

What it all came down to was that…he was paired up with the worst opponent. In every possible way.

"Do you know why I, Isla, am called the ultimate Defense Hero?" Isla asked in a sonorous voice.

Flamin thrust out his palm to cast a special fire spell on her ugly, buggy mug, but then he noticed nothing was happening and realized that he'd completely depleted his MP. In other words—

"Not only do I have abilities for defending cities, but I can also regenerate by using Predation, increase labor and combat forces with Larva, and, while I didn't have the time to make them for this battle, I can produce traps as well. And if that wasn't enough, I also grow stronger by gaining experience with every enemy I defeat. It's a general rule that an invading force needs three times the strength of the defender to take a city, but if you want to get past me, then… "…You need to bring at least five times my strength, or it's not even worth my time."

—that was also the moment Flamin's fate was sealed.

"Ha! You sound damn proud of yourself! Think you've got this in the bag already? Huh?"

Perhaps depleting his MP also affected his energy levels, because Flamin felt unsteady on his feet as he put on a false show of power with less oomph than he had throughout their battle.

Once Isla confirmed there was still a little fight left in him by the light of life gleaming in the depths of his eyes, she let out a gichigichi cackle and imparted an unavoidable truth as her lips curled up in a ghastly cruel smile that shouldn't be possible for an insect.

"Mynoghra's king sees all that goes on within his domain. To spell it out for you, that means the second you set foot within this cursed land, your every move was already in the palm of his hand."

Flamin's eyes bulged with surprise. Isla ate up his reaction like it was a feast for the eyes and gave a delighted nod.

"Yes, yes. That's right. Surprise attacks, subversion, sabotage, and cloak-and-dagger activities are all pointless within Mynoghra. His Majesty even knows his citizens' intimate interactions at night, so he knew about how you sent your elite forces on a separate mission to assassinate and take our most important people hostage."

"Damn you, you overgrown botfly!"

"It was a good try. All of your forces have been cleanly picked apart."

From that comment, Flamin understood that the final ace he had up his sleeve was rendered useless from a very early stage. She only revealed it to him now out of spite. Flamin gnashed his teeth and gnawed on his lip.

He had ordered the elite minions he'd summoned to invade and raid the capital, but he didn't think they would be dealt with in this way. The more powerful a nation is, the more important it becomes to defend. Flamin was confident that his opponent would show some sort of weakness he could exploit if they learned their capital was being invaded. And even if his opponents continued to fight with an iron will after that, he could still inflict massive damage to their city and citizens.

From their conversations during this battle, Flamin inferred that his opponent hinged the meaning of her existence on belonging to the nation called Mynoghra, and he'd planned to win indirectly by destroying the source of her explosive strength. But…all his plans had come to naught.

Who in their right mind would ever think that his enemy's commander possessed the ability to see all that went on within his domain while giving real-time orders to his subordinates? There should be a limit to possessing such an overpowered, unfair ability. Isla had accused Flamin of cheating, but that was a case of the pot calling the kettle black.

This was the obvious outcome resulting from the difference in strategy games, which progress in terms of moving around empires and armies, versus role-playing games, which progress simply by following a linear story.

Flamin let out a long-suffering sigh. His MP had run out, and he was covered in injuries. It was a miracle he'd even lasted this long with how many high-tier spells he'd cast in succession.

He slowly moved one foot back, then another, until an invisible force locked his feet in place.

You can't escape from boss monsters in Brave Questers. Put another way, bosses have no means of fleeing either.

The battle had reached its end.

The loser was one of Brave Questers' Four Generals, Flame Demon Flamin.

The winner was one of Mynoghra's Hero units, Isla, Queen of Bugs.

And in accordance with the laws governing them, the winner is granted everything, while the loser is robbed of everything.

"I have a message for you from our king, Takuto Ira." Isla elegantly raised her raptorial forearms like a noblewoman lifting the sides of her skirt in a curtsy. "'Your strategy wasn't bad—you were simply out of your league,' says the king."

"Ha! HahaHAHAHAHA! Is that so? Is it?! HAHaHA!" …I wanted freedom.

Flamin knew all too well that he'd been tossed out on a dinghy in the middle of a stormy sea. He finally had a reason for everything that had happened in his life after he was told the truth about the world in that mysterious space just before arriving in this new land. He also knew about the fate he was destined never to escape… …I wanted freedom.

He wanted to be free of following someone else's orders, someone else's will, even free of his own will. He wanted the freedom that would allow him to break the shackles that bound him to what it meant to be Flamin. He believed that was possible if he could only conquer this new world. If he could only topple the empire of Mynoghra, if he could annihilate those strange and mysterious people…

He was promised his wish would come true if he destroyed this one world.

But his wish didn't come true. He'd forever lost the chance to make it happen.

Aaah, now I see. In the end, I'm… Flamin smirked.

It was somehow refreshing.

As soon as he accepted the fact that he was a puppet, he felt like a fool for stubbornly seeking freedom. No matter where he went in the universe, he was still the cunning and ruthless Flame Demon Flamin, one of the Demon Lord's Four Generals who opposed the Hero. He was nothing more and nothing less than that.

Then I'll play that role perfectly, he thought. I'll play it out to the very end. I'll show them what it really means to be me…

"Then deliver a message to that Takuto Ira of yours for me."

"What do you wish to say?"

A ginormous sickle-shaped claw loomed over his head. He was already so covered in fatal wounds that he could barely make out that incoming attack, much less dodge it. But Flamin hurled those words at her with the last vestiges of heat within him, as if making it known to all the world.

"Go to hell!"

The scythes swept in from the left and right, splitting Flamin's torso in half.

──Flame Demon Flamin was defeated.

"Phew…"

No one was left to respond to Isla's lengthy sigh. The surrounding area was so deathly still, it'd be hard to believe a battle just took place there if not for the scarred landscape and the mountain of corpses silently attesting to the horrors that had taken place.

"Good… Defending the capital was a success," Isla muttered to herself after taking in the scenery and confirming everything had come to an end without a hitch. "Losing so many Larva is a setback, but my level did go up as a result. I'll be able to use more powerful abilities from now on, so I'd say we broke even with our gains and losses on this one. I do feel sorry for my precious little ones, though…"

Mynoghra had suffered a slight blow with the damage dealt to its Larva numbers and the parts of their territory that had been turned into battlefields. But this was about as perfect an outcome as they could hope for coming out of a surprise attack on their capital. The Larva and land could be replenished and repaired in due time, and they even got the extra benefit of Isla leveling up from her battle. Of all the things to be gained from this battle, her level-up was the most delightful achievement.

Isla thought over the various new abilities she could obtain from her level-up. Most Hero units like Isla acquired new abilities by leveling up, unlike Atou, who mainly acquired new abilities by stealing them from her enemies.

I can contribute even more to Mynoghra's overall strength if I acquire the skills Gregarious Phase, Traps, and Demise of the Crown.

With that in mind, Isla focused her mind to immediately send Takuto a telepathic message. Consulting her master came before making any decisions.

The battle was long over—there was nothing left to stay on high alert for. She didn't sense any enemies in the area, so it should be fine to let her guard down. She did just accept a telepathic message from Takuto to pass his final remark onto Flamin, so there shouldn't be anything on his end that would make it problematic for her to connect with him.

Or so she thought…

But she had failed to remember something important. It wasn't just her either, even Takuto had forgotten that key factor. They had forgotten what game event had made everyone hate Flamin so much. Forgotten the nature of what makes a role-playing game different.

"Master Takuto, can you hear me?" Isla sent Takuto a telepathic message. "I disposed of the problem without an issue and would like to discuss something with you. I leveled up during this battle and was debating which skill to acquire first…"

As she relayed her message, she was filled with pride and joy to present victory to her master and was brimming with the hope that he would lavish her with praise for a job well done…

"Master? Did you hear me? Master Takuto? Is something the mat—"

[〈!〉COMMUNICATION ERROR

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"…What?"

Flame Demon Flamin is a boss character that is extremely infamous among the players of Brave Questers, and many of them mention his name first when asked about the game. Not only that, but he has scored first place as the most hated enemy in every questionnaire given out by the game developer.

The reason for this is simple:

He's directly responsible for taking the life of someone important to the Hero.

Takuto's fatal mistake was about to rear its ugly head.

The time had come for him to pay for his optimism and take responsibility for his arrogance. The bill was going to be collected for him turning a blind eye to a rule, an event he actually knew about.

The wheels of fate spun at an accelerated speed.

Unbearable despair had crept up on him from behind.

<-x-X-x->

Chapter 7: Crime and Punishment

SOMETHING strange and indescribable hung in the air. It was an abnormal presence that Isla struggled to define, but if she had to put it into words, it was like all organic matter throughout the world had been stirred together and left to rot. This disgusting presence wafted in from every direction.

Something bad is happening. That deadly premonition screamed nonstop from the depths of her very being, but she couldn't do anything about it without knowing what that something was.

What in…the world is going on?

Silence reigned. There was nothing strange near her. But the warning bells blaring in Isla's head since she'd defeated Flamin and lost the ability to contact Takuto had submerged her in a sea of panic, unlike anything she'd experienced before.

"…Huh?"

"Um, where are we?"

Two sweet voices that didn't belong suddenly broke the silence.

"…You girls! Why did you come here?!" Isla cried.

"Dunno."

"We were with His Majesty until a second ago… H-How did we get here?"

The Elfuur Sisters were standing where they shouldn't be. They were the Dark Elf twins who looked after Takuto and the young girls with a tragic past who Isla deeply cared for. They should have been evacuating with the other civilians. This was the last place they should be.

Isla suspected they were an illusion or fakes for a moment, but the information she received from her inhuman senses told her they were the real Elfuur Sisters.

They had been forcefully summoned to this spot by some game mechanic. Isla had no doubt they were in the middle of a fatal, ongoing event. As soon as she came to that conclusion, she was quick to make her next move.

"All my little children, protect the twins!"

Isla called for all the Larva and reserve Long-legged Bugs in the area. She also forced the unhatched eggs that had escaped being destroyed in the last battle to awaken.

But nothing happened.

"Brain Eaters! If you hear me, come to me now!!"

Isla tilted her head back to roar toward the skies for the Medics to come. She was trying to call them back from where they were dealing with other enemy forces within the forest.

But nothing happened.

"Great and mighty king! O wise Commander of our forces,

Takuto Ira! Please answer me! Please respond to my call!"

Isla sent both a telepathic and an audible message to the person she trusted the most in the world and the only soul capable of getting them out of this pinch.

But nothing happened.

"Wh-Why?! Why can't I get in touch with anyone?!" "Are you hurting?" Maria asked.

"Oh no… What should Cary and Big Sista do…?" Caria asked.

Every action Isla took ended up futile, as if the very spot they stood had been ripped out of space and time. She tried to pull the twins close to escape with them, but when she moved her arm, some invisible force reset the movement, making it so it never happened.

Isla's unease ballooned. She didn't know what was happening, but she was certain that if she let things progress unchecked, she'd come to regret it.

Put simply, she was unable to take any action. She was locked into a forced standby state until the event continued.

The twins anxiously looked up at her. Just as Isla reached out to pat them reassuringly on the heads with her forearms— "Kuhehe! Kuhahaha! GYAHAHAHAHA!"

Jarring laughter forced the stagnated time to move once more. The owner of that grating voice was right before her. It was the same annoying voice she'd conversed with not that long ago. Immediately assessing her situation, Isla pierced the laugher—pierced Flamin— with the same agility of a praying mantis pouncing on its prey, her movements more fluid than seemingly possible for such a large body.

"Yeeaaaah, sorry, this thing can't die."

The man who should've died answered her.

As it was, his torso had been split clean in half, and Isla's subsequent attack completely destroyed his skull. And yet, despite that, Flamin was talking just the same as before. Isla instinctively stepped back from the anomaly happening before her.

"How…? I know I killed you!"

In this single moment, she was so astonished at what happened that she lost her normal calm. She was in a situation where she couldn't obtain instructions from Takuto. Without a clear course of action, time just passed by, frustrating her.

This was the moment it became clear just how powerless units from Eternal Nations are when they are completely isolated from their Commander.

"Yeah, I died. I'm as dead as can be. So dead, there's no room for debate, botfly," Flamin's corpse spoke. His skull was cracked, his brains were spilling out, and his bulging eyeballs stared into empty space.

Death is inevitable for all living things. Even the undead will eventually find themselves stopped dead in their tracks.

And yet, that very dead man was talking about his unique situation as calmly as someone commenting on the weather.

"But daaaamn…it's exactly as it said. This is a shitty world. A hella shitty world where clumps of shit believe they're alive and live out shitty lives."

Isla ignored his monologue and stabbed Flamin's corpse with yet another decisive move that should've finished him off.

[〈!〉Auto-defend Enabled

Protects key characters to continue the event.

]

But an invisible force field activated, preventing the attack as if to imply further destruction of the corpse wasn't allowed.

"Buahaha! You can't kill me… Since y'know, I'm already dead! HAHAHA!"

Flamin laughed. The mutilated corpse laughed.

For the first time since coming to this world—no, for the first time ever, including her experiences within Eternal Nations—Isla couldn't grasp the true nature of the event taking place. Perhaps

Takuto could've made an educated guess about what was

happening, but her options were limited while she was locked out of communicating with her Commander.

"Mama…"

"Wh-What should we do? Um, is there anything we can do to help…?"

The Dark Elf twins anxiously clung to Isla. They were both noncombatant civilians—they didn't have an astounding defense or exorbitant regeneration abilities like Isla. They were fragile little lives that could get hurt and die from the most trivial things. That fact worried Isla more than she had ever worried before.

But as their mother figure, she concealed all her worries behind a gentle smile as she soothingly addressed her girls.

"Goodness me, aren't you the most precious little worrywarts?" she cooed. "It's going to be all right, darlings. You are safe with me. Your Mama Isla will never let anything bad happen to you…"

But we can never fully protect our children from the cruelty of reality. Even more so when your reality is fodder for a story, and stories always seek out tragedy and misery to make their narrative all the more engaging…

Their situation was harrowing, to say the least.

"Somebody get me a tissue, you're making my rotting corpse tear up!" Flamin sneered. "So heartwarming! Now that's love for you! Okay, I've decided! It's gotta be those two! Won't that strike the best chord with ya? Wouldn't ya say, monster?"

At first, Isla didn't understand what he meant, but the events that followed made it abundantly clear. For some reason, the twin sisters staggered away from Isla's bosom in the direction of Flamin's corpse. It seemed so natural at first, that even Isla temporarily blanked out that it was a bad thing despite being on full alert to anything unusual.

"What are you girls doing?!" Isla shouted. "Hide behind me! Why are you walking that way?!"

"Ah… Huh? I didn't mean to…" Maria said in a daze.

"Eh? Wh-Why?! My feet aren't listening to me!" Caria cried.

Isla reached for them. The girls dug their feet into the ground and tried to retreat back to her.

But all their attempts to stop ended in vain.

Flamin's shattered jaw clattered in a distorted laugh as his eyeless eye sockets fixed on the approaching girls.

"You can't fight it, can ya? You can't defy it, can ya? I'm about to tell you something good, so you'd better listen while you can. Your precious ones will die. They will absolutely, positively die. No matter how strong, mighty, or important they are, they will die. Yes, ya heard me right. They WILL die. Get it? Make sure to lemme know with a smile once your buggy pea brain processes that part."

This was the moment Isla was convinced this was a forced game event. Mynoghra's characters were influenced by Eternal Nations' game mechanics. Those mechanics could also affect beings outside the game, as proven by Takuto accepting the Dark Elves into Mynoghra as refugee citizens and then switching them from neutral to evil alignment.

With that in mind, the same should be true for other games in this world.

Clearly, something was causing the game mechanics from Flamin's Brave Questers to have complete control over what was happening to them. But even though Isla knew what was happening…

"Impossible! How is this happening?! It doesn't make sense! It just doesn't! This can't be happening!"

…she just couldn't accept the unreasonableness of it all.

In their worlds, might made right. Power was everything. This power could be anything from the basic concepts of military might and physical prowess to more indirect forms, such as knowledge and wealth. The only one and true rule was that the people with the power acquire everything and have their way in the end, while the powerless experience the agony of being robbed of all they have. It was an absolute rule because of its simplicity.

And that was exactly why she couldn't accept the event happening now.

Isla immediately came to the conclusion that this event was triggered by Flamin's death. But she was the one who'd won their battle. If winning meant she was forced to face such a dire crisis, then what was the point of power in the first place? Was there even a point in winning when her fate was sealed regardless of her actions?

"Yeaaaah, I get how you're feelin'. There are some things you just can't change no matter how hard you struggle. But I ain't too upset knowing that I can see your ugly mug twist with your suffering at the end like this."

Isla paid no attention to the gleeful gloating coming from Flamin's smashed face. His baiting was the least of her concerns now. For Isla was the only one capable of saving the two girls from the brink of death now that they'd all been cut off from their Commander and king, Takuto.

Isla struggled against the invisible force binding her in place with all her might and then some. But it was futile.

"GUUH! GAH! GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!! Don't think you can restrain me with something like thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!!"

"Okay, botfly, I'll give you one last tip. Make sure you hear this.

You see…I call this shitty mechanic…"

In this world, there are some things that can't be overturned or changed no matter how hard you try. Those are called… "…Forced Story Events," Flamin finished.

The true nature of this hopeless situation was steadily proceeding against their will.

"…I don't know what world you came from, but I can tell it was freer than the world I'm from."

Flamin almost sounded philosophic as he spoke. Isla found herself intuitively listening to him despite her intense impatience and explosive emotions because there was an echo of sympathy within his voice that resounded clearly in her ears.

"But did ya know? There are these events that are scripted to be unavoidable no matter how hard you try to get around them. Puppets like us can never escape from that destiny. There's but one thing we can do—give up."

Isla didn't know what he had seen and lived through before now. She didn't know how he'd struggled and eventually came to give up on resisting at all. But she could never accept having that same fate forced upon her. She could never just nod and give up because someone said she was destined to.

"Mama… Wh-What do we do?"

"Mama Isla! H-Help us…!"

There was no way in hell she was going to give up in front of her girls.

Because Isla was a mother, and her beloved daughters needed her help.

"AaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Her muscles rumbled like beating drums. Massive amounts of power rampaged within her body with no way to be released, her carapace that was stronger than steel cracked, and green blood poured out. And still, Isla didn't stop fighting the invisible force.

"Yeah! That's right! They're important to you, aren't they? You want to protect them, don't you?! You can't let this happen, can you?! Good luck! Fight back! Maybe a miracle will happen! Though it's never happened before!"

The distance between Flamin's corpse and the twins was like grains of sand falling in an hourglass counting down to the guillotine, and with each step the girls took, the greater the sense of doom became.

"It's impossible. It's damn impossible to stop… Once you get this far, it's game over. Bang, you're done. I typically get the Hero when he lets down his guard thinking I'm dead, but it seems like this world doesn't care about the small details."

The girls turned just their heads toward Isla and exchanged looks with her. Was that something enforced by the game event? Or did they realize they could move their upper bodies and did so as a last means of resistance?

Isla offered the terrified girls the sweetest, most motherly smile in the world.

"It's all right, sweeties… I will save you. No matter what it takes. I will."

Isla strained power through her immobilized body and tried every skill at her disposal. She frantically racked her brain for a way out but only became further frustrated by the lack of ideas.

"Aaaah, every last one of them's a friggen idiot!" Flamin raved. "They're all functioning under the false assumption that they've got a will of their own, a conviction to fight for, that they're acting based on what they want!"

The girls took one step closer.

"The Hero, the Demon Lord, and everyone and everything else think that way, never realizing that they're being deceived! They haven't the damnedest clue that they're pawns on a game board that'll be tossed into the trash the moment they don't work how they're supposed to!"

Another step closer.

"Haven't I done enough?" he continued with a hint of pleading in his tone now. "Can't I be put to rest now? I did my best. I did enough.

I fulfilled my damn role!" Another step closer.

"You can all just go to hell! Stop making me the butt of your jokes! Does my life only exist as a bump along the way in the Hero's story? That's friggen screwed up!"

Each step brought them ever closer to the end of the road.

No one was listening to Flamin's monologue anymore. Isla, the Elfuur Sisters, and even Takuto Ira, who'd detected the anomaly there, were doing their best to avert the tragedy that would soon come.

Did Flamin understand no one was listening to him, or was he just too angry to think straight? Whatever the reasoning, he directed his hissed curses at something not there.

"You too! I know you're listening, dammit! You're watching, aren't you?! Why the hell did you say 'You will become free if you conquer the world' when you never planned on keeping your damn promise! Huuuuuuh?!"

There wasn't anyone around with the wherewithal to pay Flamin and his comments any attention. Or perhaps…there was one person who had, but there was no way to know for sure. At the very least, the actors participating in this event couldn't have.

"And there you have it! This is the closing act!" Flamin shouted at them again. "I'm draggin' the lot of you down the road to hell with me. Your precious little kiddos are comin' with me too! You can hear me, can't you, King Takuto Ira? You're a bloody player too, aren't you? You read all about our story somewhere just like that person, didn't you? Did you have fun thinking stuff like 'Oh, I'd better craft some new equipment after defeating this boss' while you watched me fighting for my life against the damn Hero?" No one answered him.

"Screw you! I exist! This is where I live! I'm friggen alive! That's why I'm gonna make you pay in the worst way I can! I'll kill the ones you care about most! Because that's the kind of screwed up event this iiiiiiiiiissssssss!"

Flamin was laughing. He roared with laughter like a madman. There wasn't even a shell of the man known for his cunning ruthlessness—only the grief of a pitiful creature who cursed his fate and despised his life was left. He didn't even know if this was how he really wanted to behave. All he knew for sure was that the event was playing out how he'd hoped it would.

At long last, the two girls arrived in front of the cackling corpse. Their faces had crumpled with the fear of dying, and tears poured from their big eyes. Not only Caria but even Maria, who rarely showed an emotional reaction to anything, was reduced to frightened sobs.

The sisters who'd cursed their lot in life and always longed for death found themselves paralyzed with fear when they were finally faced with it. Or rather, they had grown terrified of dying now that they'd experienced the warmth and affection of their new family and mother. Their experience starkly contrasted with the man before them, who also cursed his lot in life but never found someone who understood him. Not even once.

There was a clicking noise as a flag was raised. It wasn't heard by anyone or understood by anyone, it just signaled that the end had come and that their fate had been sealed.

Death comes equally to all.

Despair comes equally to all.

Even monsters existing outside the realms of the imaginable are equally susceptible. Those two things can never be escaped.

"Wait! Please! Don't!" Isla screamed at the top of her lungs with a sliver of hope that it'd do something.

"Nu-uh! Ain't waiting! Not for you! I hate you! I hate all of you!

That's why this is my parting gift! You'd better enjoy it!

GyahahaHAHAHAHAHA!!"

Hope as we may, reality is ruthless.

"Mama Is—" the girls cried for their mother.

Flamin's corpse shined for a moment before an explosive flame with an indescribable amount of heat and destructive power consumed everything. The whole area turned to ash, and the burning hot wind became a storm that blew everything away. The already devastated land was further razed to the ground like a bomb had gone off for the second time in the same spot, and a mushroom

cloud of dust blocked out the sun, bringing about night during the day.

Splintered chunks of charred wood rained down, and the scorched air quietly swayed.

Eventually, true stillness reigned with no one claiming victory…

The story event came to a close, with everything happening exactly as it was scripted without the slightest deviation whatsoever.

-x-X-x-

Chapter 8: That which can Never Return

"YOU don't have to come with me…you know?" Atou crabbily told Elder Moltar and Mynoghra's soldiers, who followed behind her as she bounded through the craggy wasteland strewn with the occasional jagged boulder.

She ran at superhuman speeds. The power unleashed from her slender legs was enough to crack the dry ground under her feet, and each stride took her across vast distances. Although the Dark Elves had become evil beings with Mynoghra's blessing, they were still Humanoid at their core. They were only able to somewhat keep up with Atou because she was slaughtering every Brave Questers' monster along the way.

Her tentacles had a much wider attack range than met the eye. Not to mention the number of enemies they could lock onto at once… Dozens of monsters were split in half with a single flick of the tentacle, and even more were skewered through the skull by a single thrust. Elder Moltar felt a pinch of pity for his enemy as Atou knocked the monsters around the field to vent her anger.

"…You're still here?"

She directed her irritation toward Elder Moltar next. She spun toward him with a look that could kill and an intimidating air that warned one wrong word, and he'd end up with one of those swaying tentacles through his heart. This was the intense pressure emitted by the inhuman—by beings known as Hero units.

Gut twisting with nervous tension, Elder Moltar answered her deadly query with a measured tone that wouldn't incite her wrath.

"His Majesty ordered me to advance with you. I may not be of any use, but I cannot defy the king's orders."

"Hmph. Then don't slow me down."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Did Atou lose interest in skewering him? Or did more entertaining prey catch her eye? Either way, she moodily looked away from Elder Moltar and stormed down the road per her instructions. It seemed there was no shortage of enemies for her to take her anger out on if the endless chorus of monster death throes coming from up ahead was any indication.

"E-Elder Moltar…"

"Don't say it. I know."

One of the Mage apprentices under Elder Moltar whispered his name. Elder Moltar knew exactly what the apprentice wanted to say and quickly cut him off before he uttered such dangerous words. It didn't matter if they spoke in barely audible whispers—the person they were talking about could hear them. Elder Moltar didn't have a hobby of earning unwarranted wrath that ended in his death as a miserable punching bag.

What anger… I feel like I'll get burned alive just standing beside her… Elder Moltar contemplated what he wouldn't allow to be said aloud. Atou's mood grew caustic after she'd defeated the enemy general, Ice Rock. Or, to be more precise, it soured after she'd delivered the news to their king, Takuto Ira.

From that conversation, they learned about the enemy's violent invasion of Mynoghra's Imperial Capital. The news was enough to shock all of Mynoghra's forces in Dragontan and fill them with a strong sense of impending crisis.

Mynoghra was still a far cry from being a powerful empire yet, and that was coupled with the detrimental fact that a good portion of its military forces were currently deployed to Dragontan. Just because Isla, another Hero unit, was handling the capital's defenses didn't guarantee they were out of the woods yet. To make matters worse, there were a lot of civilians there too. If their defenses were overrun by sheer numbers, then not only would harm come to their defenseless citizens, but it could even endanger their king.

These personally insulting events transformed Atou's fanatical loyalty and concern for Takuto into unbridled rage.

"I need to hurry to King Takuto's side right away, but this filth keeps getting in my WAY!"

Atou effortlessly cut down the Hill Giant that grimly approached them with the knowledge that escape was futile. She'd already grown so strong that Hill Giants couldn't even get close enough to land an attack, and all the monsters she was actively slaying were surrendering their strength to her in the form of experience points. These very monsters were what had caused her to fly into a fit of rage.

After being shaken by the news that Mynoghra's main base was under attack, Atou had offered to immediately return home to join Isla in defending the capital and eliminating their enemy, but Takuto rejected her proposal. He instead commanded her to hunt down the retreating enemy forces to the far south of Dragontan, where she was to defeat the Demon Lord and the remnants of his army that they believed had spawned from that location.

With his knowledge of Brave Questers, Takuto thought it'd be possible for Atou to completely annihilate the Demon Lord's Army, given the difference in strength between her and the Demon Lord's Four Generals.

Ultimately, he had prioritized eliminating the Demon Lord's Army sooner rather than later to avoid any unexpected developments that might occur by letting them live longer. How did Atou feel when he told her, "I'm placing Isla in charge of defending Mynoghra and me"?

Naturally, there was no room for her to argue. After hearing his explanation, she'd determined there was nothing wrong with his strategy based on his choice of Hero or allocation of forces. However, just because she understood the reasoning behind his strategy didn't mean she agreed with it.

As it was, the Hero Atou was far more attached to Takuto Ira than to her empire. She was strongly against operating separately when her master was in danger because Takuto mattered more to her than anything else. Even if it was he himself who had ordered her away…

She wanted nothing more than to immediately return to her king, protect him with her own hands, and crush their vile enemies herself. She wanted to fulfill her role as Hero alongside Isla.

But reality didn't coincide with her wishes. Takuto had chosen a different strategy. Takuto had chosen a different Hero.

Her mental turmoil and frustration over that decision manifested as pure rage, and the pitiful monsters were mercilessly slaughtered as an outlet for her unbridled anger.

There are no IFs in history.

Redoes are possible in games but not in real life.

So it's a moot point to rehash what's already transpired. No one can ever say for sure whether things would've been completely different IF Takuto had ordered Atou back to Mynoghra instead…

"I-It can't be…"

It happened suddenly—really, really suddenly.

Atou stopped dead in her raging tracks and started to tremble. "…Hrm? Lady Atou, is something wrong?"

Elder Moltar was obviously the first to sense something was wrong. He'd been keeping a decent distance from Atou to avoid becoming an outlet for her anger, so he didn't know what exactly had happened, but he knew something had changed.

The sun had already begun to set and the hour was approaching dusk. The orange sunlight illuminated Atou in red from behind, almost making her look like she'd just bathed in blood.

Elder Moltar took a step closer to the inhuman girl and was about to speak to her again, when—

"Everyone, get down! Hide behind the rocks!"

—he noticed the danger a second before it was too late.

"It just can't be! It can't be! It can't be! It can't be! That's impossible! That can't possibly happen!" The ground exploded.

Atou's tentacles whipped around wildly to express her outrage. They whooshed around furiously, smashing everything that had shape with the same ease as a child playing jump rope.

"She's a Hero! Mynoghra's Hero! How could she?! At this point in the game?!"

The Dark Elves who dove behind the nearby boulders in the nick of time were lucky. It almost seemed like a blessing from the Spirits that there were even boulders around this particular area for them to hide behind.

As the stones swept into the air rained down like bullets, Elder

Moltar thanked the Spirits for his luck while he loudly admonished

Atou's outburst. It was obvious that if he didn't do anything, even the rocks protecting them would eventually be carved away, leaving them exposed to her violent attacks.

"Please quell your anger, our great hero! Your power is meant to be wielded for Mynoghra's King Takuto Ira, not wasted on something like this!"

Atou's fury had ballooned to the point where she would've destroyed everything around her. One wrong word could've resulted in not only Elder Moltar but every Dark Elf with him being erased from existence.

Only two words had stopped the rampaging Hero—Takuto Ira.

The name of her one true master, to whom she devoted her everything, pulled her out of her fit of rage and returned her to the edge of calm.

"…I lost my composure a moment there," she weakly muttered and relaxed as if her outburst had never happened. Her rampaging tentacles now hung limply in the air until they eventually slithered back within her.

After cautiously observing that Atou was once again in control of her rage, Elder Moltar determined they had escaped certain death, let out a sigh, and signaled his subordinates closer. Calm had returned to her crimson eyes, meaning it was safe to assume that Mynoghra's Hero wouldn't recklessly take out her wrath on her allies now. That being said, none of them would ever be able to forget the carnage they had just witnessed…

Awkward silence reigned as the gathered Dark Elves anxiously stared at Atou.

"What…in the Spirits happened?" Elder Moltar bravely asked her.

Tension filled the air.

This was the first time he'd ever seen Atou lose control this badly, and it was also the first time he'd witnessed her in such depressed spirits. It was obvious that something terrible had happened. It was possible to guess what that was from some of the words she'd uttered during her outburst. But just because his intelligence had led him to that conclusion didn't mean that his heart had accepted it.

He needed to hear it directly from Atou to believe it.

"Isla has…"

The name of the Hero every person present knew slipped from her lips, and just like that, everyone knew what words would follow.

"Isla has died."

She finally squeezed those three words out, her expression twisting with anguish.

The death of Isla, one of Mynoghra's Heroes.

The defeat of a Hero who was the empire's sword and a symbol of power for the King of Ruin.

Not a single soul standing there could accept that news.

◇◇◇

"…WHAA?"

Takuto let out an awfully stupid-sounding croak. He was in one of the recently constructed houses turned into a temporary command center since it didn't have a tenant yet. He'd moved his base of operations to this house near the evacuation center because it was hard to defend the Palace where he usually resided. Fortunately, no one overheard him.

"No way…this can't be happening…"

Change came suddenly, like a bolt out of the blue.

Takuto had been watching the course of events with the twins. He fully demonstrated his ability as a 4x strategy game player by checking the status of each battle, assigning soldiers tasks, informing Isla of her opponent's characteristics and skills, and then laying out the path to victory for her. The battle played out exactly how he'd simulated it, and the moves he'd made like a master solving a chess problem eventually came together in the form of Isla's victory.

Just when he was about to contact Isla to reflect on what they could've done better after reaching the obvious result with no problems whatsoever after taking the safest route… His connection to Isla was severed, and the two girls at his side had vanished.

It was already too late by the time he'd realized something had gone wrong.

"Isla, answer me…"

All communication was severed. He couldn't share Isla's vision, which was normally as easy as seeing with his own two eyes. The last image he'd received was of the twins being summoned to her location. He could tell the conversation was a turbulent one. Next, he tried to send telepathic messages and connect his vision with the Larva and Brain Eaters in the area, but that failed too.

Mynoghra's Commander Takuto Ira could see through the eyes of all his citizens, including the twins who served as his caretakers… He hastily tried connecting with the older sister.

No response.

Then he tried the younger sister.

No response.

"C-Come on… This can't be real. What's going on? Why…? Is something jamming our connection? Agh, but they're in a pinch. I-I need to send reinforcements first…"

His voice quivered. He hoped he was wrong and tried reconnecting.

He attempted to send another telepathic message to Isla.

He attempted to send a telepathic message to the units under his command.

He attempted to send a telepathic message to the sisters.

He kept telling himself it'd be okay. That there was no way they'd die in such an unreasonable way.

First, I need to confirm they're okay, then I'll apologize, he thought. Then I need to earn their forgiveness for letting them get hurt because I'm such a feckless fool who let his guard down. And then I'll immediately send reinforcements to save them. I'll save them…

[ 〈!〉Communication Error

Unit does not exist.

]

"You gotta be kidding me…"

The past can't be changed. The decision he made came back to bite him.

"Isla, Caria, Maria…"

He pathetically uttered their names as that was all he could do.

This world wasn't a game.

It wasn't Eternal Nations.

There was no reset or loading.

If you die, you're dead. That's it.

And because of that, this was a reality Takuto had to accept.

A reality he couldn't change. A route he couldn't divert.

On this day, someone Takuto loved was lost from the world.

<-x-X-x->

Chapter 9: Lamentation

BEFORE the Demon Lord's Army invasion event took place, two young girls gazed up at the night sky from the top of a giant tree.

"What a biiiiiiig moon."

"It feels like forever since we last saw the moon, huh?"

Mynoghra's forest had become Cursed Terrain under the influence of the civilization's Distinct Traits. The gnarled trees twisted in unnatural directions, making it difficult to climb or secure satisfactory footholds. But climbing such trees was child's play to the Children of the Forest—Elves and the closely related Dark Elves.

Climbing the tallest giant trees on the city outskirts was like going for a stroll through the neighborhood for them.

…That being said, given the age and government position the two young girls held, it was a serious problem for them to be loafing around in the treetops at this late hour. They were in for a real scolding if the overprotective, worrywart Hero Isla, who'd become an adoptive mother to them, found out. So sneaking out like this was a small but thrilling adventure for the sisters. The peaceful and happy lives they'd been living recently had made the girls brave, and just a little daring.

The scenery seen from the treetops was drastically different from what they saw on the ground. A poisonous-looking sea of trees spread out in every direction, blanketing the land, while the cloudless night sky shimmered and sparkled like a child had emptied the contents of a treasure chest on a black rug.

The most remarkable sight was the huge moon that illuminated the whole area like the sun and shone down on them with a mercifully tender light. They had set out on this little nighttime adventure to find that light from Mynoghra's Palace.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

Caria was captivated by the beauty of the moon she hadn't seen in a long time, when her older sister made that confusing comment. The moon was certainly smiling at them encouragingly with its bright and beautiful light. But Maria's comment sounded more like a set phrase than a casual remark.

"The moon is beautiful, but…what did you mean by that, Big Sista?" she asked.

"Mm? His Majesty told me that if you say 'The moon is beautiful, isn't it?' that it can mean 'I love you.'" Maria faced her younger sister with a rare, tender smile.

When did those two have that conversation? It was sparked by their king gazing up at the moon and muttering "Huh, the moon is here too" like it was a curious thing to him. Already on friendly terms with King Takuto by this point, Maria let her curiosity lead her into asking him about it, and she got that anecdote in place of an answer.

He dodged the question, she understood in her own way, but the story he'd told her was so interesting and entertaining that it stayed with her positively rather than leave her dissatisfied. And that was exactly why those words had spilled from her lips when she looked upon such a gorgeous moon.

"Wow! I've never heard that before!" Caria exclaimed. "His

Majesty's a walking dictionary!"

"Yeah. I learned about it for the first time from him. His Majesty knows everything."

The secret moment she had shared with her precious king, she then shared with her equally precious little sister. Seeing her sister's eyes sparkle with glee the same way hers had when she first heard that anecdote brought a real smile to Maria's usually unreadable face. Her cherubic smile was like any other girl her age, and it seemed to make the twins forget that they had survived till this day, harboring a sad and painful past.

The twins were gradually starting to heal from their trauma since becoming Mynoghra's citizens and the king's caretakers… It wasn't easy to overcome the trauma of having eaten their mother in order to survive their endless journey on the run from the other species who'd chased the Dark Elves out of their own land.

Their mother had suggested it herself as a way to save her people from starvation. It was both a self-sacrificial act for her people and also a kind of transaction she'd made to ensure her blighted children would have their position secured within the clan rather than just leaving them to die because they would slow down the group.

The girls had realized the darker, bleaker reason for their mother's sacrifice because they were wiser than their years. Ultimately, it resulted in Maria closing off her heart and Caria boldly showing off the deep scars left by the plague as a way of forever punishing herself.

It's no surprise then why Elder Moltar and the other Mynoghra empire-management council members were reluctant to introduce the twins to Takuto as caretaker candidates. The young twins were living proof of the abominable sins the Dark Elves had committed by eating their clansmen, and they felt too guilty to display those sins in front of their king by introducing the girls to him. And more than anything else, those girls were beyond broken at the time.

However, those painful events were already a thing of the past.

The twins, who were finally able to feel at peace under the king's patronage, gradually came to terms with the past and became capable of living in the present. This was, of course, thanks to the efforts of King Takuto Ira and the rest of his council.

However, for the two girls who wanted nothing more than to die to atone for what they believed were their sins, it was the existence of none other than the Hero Isla that helped them to recover in the truest sense of the word.

"Hey! Big Sista! When did you get the chance to hear such a lovely thing from His Majesty without me?!" Caria whined.

"Hm? When was it? That's my little secret!"

"Ahh! You won't tell me? You big meanie!"

Giggling over her sister's cute protests, Maria shifted her gaze back to the moon. How wonderful it was to comment on the beauty of the moon and one's love in the same statement. How kind and great their king was to secretly tell her about it.

Just looking up at the giant moon seemed to grant the twins a mysterious new strength, and a smile spread across their faces as happy feelings bubbled up within them. They had no doubt they were going to become even happier from here. They thoroughly believed the world would smile upon them for all the suffering they'd been through. How could they think otherwise when the moon was so beautiful?

They were certain this was proof the world was telling them that it loved them. They were going to live happily forever and ever with their loved ones—King Takuto, Mama Isla, the Dark Elves—in their favorite land of Mynoghra. They were going to live life to its fullest for all the people who'd died and their deceased mother, who told them they must survive.

They were going to live happily ever after, just like the ending line in all the fairy tales their mother used to tell them…

When she thought about it like that, Maria's heart, which had been frozen by past events, steadily defrosted, leaving her feeling like she was on cloud nine for the first time.

"Caria, the moon is beautiful, isn't it?"

So she took her younger sister's hand in hers and told her that special phrase. Caria looked a little surprised by the abruptness, but a smile blossomed on her face like a sunflower the moment she realized the double meaning behind her words, and she squeezed her big sister's hand with rosy red cheeks.

"Ehehe, the moon is very beautiful, Big Sista!"

"Tehehe."

"Ehehe."

The two girls burst into giggles.

The double meaning behind that phrase was usually reserved for men and women who were romantically attracted to each other, but girls their age didn't typically catch onto the subtleties of it until later in life. Although it was mostly Takuto's fault for skimping on the explanation because it was embarrassing…

At any rate, although they weren't using it quite as it was originally intended, the phrase was still perfect for conveying how much the sisters loved each other. And comparing the beauty of the moon to one's love for a family member was perfectly apt in this place where only the starry sky and a sea of trees were around to hear them.

"I know!" Caria clapped her hands together, the moon's tender light delivering a marvelous idea to her. "Let's bring Mama Isla with us next time. And then! And then we can tell her 'The moon is beautiful, isn't it?!'"

"Ooooooh! Let's! Let's!"

Their eyes sparkled as if they'd just struck upon the most wonderful of ideas. Just the look on their faces showed what telling Isla that phrase meant to them. Isla was their second mother. Of course, they never forgot the mother who gave birth to them. They were able to survive and find such happiness because their first mother gave up her life for them.

Never for a moment would they forget her warmth and love. At the same time, they weren't blind to the sheer amount of love and affection Isla poured into them and their broken, closed-off hearts. They didn't know why a powerful Hero like Isla cared for them so. But there was no denying the warmth they felt when they were gently hugged by those monstrous forearms that should've only known how to reap death and destruction.

"Tehehe! I just know it'll be an even better day than today!"

When was the next full moon? They couldn't wait for that day to come.

How much more beautiful would the moon be when all three of them looked upon it together? Just imagining it got Caria so excited that she couldn't sit still, and she stood up.

"Keep it a secret till then, 'kay?"

"Okay, Big Sista!"

"…Tehehe."

"…Ehehe."

The girls giggled some more.

They were going to bring their beloved mother to this spot on the next full moon. They might get scolded for staying up late, but this was Mama Isla they were talking about—she would forgive them no matter how much she nagged them.

The sisters were going to take in the moon together with their mother. And the girls were going to tell their dear, dear mother those all-important words.

"I love you."

They believed that day would become the most special of all days.

◇◇◇

WHEN the twin sisters next opened their eyes…they were surrounded by a sea of blood.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"MAMA!!"

Even after the enormous blast from Flamin's self-destruct blew everything away, including the very ground, the twins and their mother were still alive.

No, that wasn't quite right—it was a bittersweet miracle that Isla was still breathing as she was so far gone, death was inevitable. Her carapace, which was stronger than steel, had been burnt to the point it was melting off her body like wax dripping from a burning candle. About half of her giant body that had produced so much power to break free of the event's shackles had been destroyed beyond recognition.

It was too tragic a sight to call fortunate, but at the very least, her head had escaped injury, and a weak gichigichi moan came from her chattering jaw. Her consciousness seemed to have finally returned as she raised her head with painfully slow movement compared to usual and dropped her gaze to confirm the wellbeing of the girls she held protectively in her arms like a mother shielding her children from a bomb blast.

.

----------------------->

.

"A-Are you…okay…Mama?"

What she received in response was a sobbing question from her girls. Their faces were covered in soot, and their expressions were crumpled with messy tears, but Isla was able to confirm they were safe and sound. That fact alone filled her with the greatest sense of relief any mother can feel.

Isla felt she needed to save these two girls no matter the cost. Because to her…they were daughters in all the ways that matter.

Why? Isla had never had a child before now.

Isla was a being who existed within the game of Eternal Nations. The Larva she spawned were indeed her children, but that was a part of the game system. They were simply assigned to her by the game's settings—that was different from real children.

Even the Larva she spawned after being summoned to this world were more like insentient robots than children, and the fact was that they were more like drones with a swarm-mentality than thinking and feeling organisms. Putting it in terms that appeal to human sensibilities: they were far from anything that could be compared to a real feeling and breathing child.

…Isla fully understood that she was just game data. Even if she was given a cool-sounding name like Isla, Queen of Bugs, she was just a fictional existence created by "ones and zeroes."

Was that why, as a character written with queenlike, mothering qualities, she searched high and low for an object to truly mother since coming to this world? She sought a weak existence she could protect and love, who would respond to her when she gave it attention.

So it made sense why the twin girls, who relied on her and loved her like she was their real mother, had become her irreplaceable treasures. So precious, she would lay down her own life to protect them.

"You are safe, little ones? I'm glad…truly glad… So…please…listen to wh-what I'm about…to tell you…"

"Talk later! You're bleeding—!"

"Y-Yeah! We need to hurry and have His Majesty and the Birdbrains heal you!"

"I am…f-fine…"

Isla wrung the last vestiges of her strength to speak to the girls while the phantom of death walked ever closer to claim her. The cold, hard truth was that Isla could have survived if she'd surrendered the girls to their death. All she had to do was immediately put distance between them with her extraordinary abilities and enter defense mode. If she had, Eternal Nations' system would've intervened and made it so she only took limited damage regardless of how powerful and vicious Flamin's event was in Brave Questers.

But very few mothers are okay with surviving at the cost of their own children.

Does blood prove the bond between parent and child? Does the amount of time spent together prove the bond between parent and child? No, even if they weren't blood-related, even if their time together was short…those girls were Isla's daughters, and Isla was absolutely a mother to them.

"You girls are smart enough to know that…it's t-too late…for me. That's why…there's something I want to entrust to you…"

She had too little time left. And too few options available to her. Suppressing her desire to scream and cry that this wasn't how things were supposed to end, Isla frantically anchored her consciousness for as long as necessary to pass on the things her girls needed to survive without her.

"No, no, NO!! We'll be good! We'll do everything you tell us! So, so, please, Mama! Mama!!"

"I-Isn't there anything we can—"

"Unfortunately, t-time is not on our side…m-my dears."

"It's because Cary and Big Sista are too weak! Because we tried to become happy! We're being punished again for trying to be happy!"

"Why? Why does everybody die? All we want is to be together. Is it such a bad thing to say we wanna be with our mommies? Did we do such a bad thing? Are we bad girls?"

Isla wanted to scream to the high heavens that that wasn't true.

But she no longer had the strength to do even that much for them. Her life was already as fleeting as a flickering flame before a powerful gust of wind, and she had something she must do before her light was extinguished.

"Let us die with you, Mama. We can't take it… We can't take the pain anymore…"

"There's no reason to keep on living. There's nothing good about being alive. Just pain and more pain and more pai—"

"Please…listen to m-my…last words…"

"..."

Isla's greatest wish was to keep her girls alive. She needed to do whatever it took to send them somewhere safe—somewhere away from this hopeless situation they found themselves in. The three of them were currently standing at the frontlines of the war between the Demon Lord's Army and Mynoghra's army.

Flamin might've blown everything away by self-destructing, but that didn't guarantee the Brain Eaters and the Dark Elves would show up before forces from Brave Questers did. If anything, there was a greater danger of some of Brave Questers' infinitely respawning monsters coming there first to investigate.

That was why Isla had only one risky move left to rely on.

"I have a favor to ask of you two—"

"Eeyaugh!"

The girls screamed at the top of their lungs because their mother suddenly stabbed her remaining raptorial forearm into her chest and gouged out her own heart. They immediately understood what Isla wanted them to do…

"BLEAAAAAAAAGH!!"

"Heee, haaaahhh, pheee, haaaahhh…"

Caria retched and Maria began hyperventilating. What Isla was asking them to do brought back their greatest trauma and most horrific, haunting memories.

They had once heard about how, among the many skills Isla could acquire, there was one that allowed her to pass her abilities on to another…and how the inheritor of those abilities had to first eat her heart for it to work…

In Eternal Nations, it was just an immemorable subskill that could heroize another nearby unit when Isla was defeated. But the emotional toll it would have on the successor in reality was indescribable. Their pain would be even greater the more they loved her…

"Please forgive your mother for leaving this world before you…and, this is my final request… Please eat me and live long strong lives."

"No! No, no, NO, NO, NOOOO!"

"Why? *Sob, hiccup, sob*… Whyyyyy…?"

Isla understood how deep of a wound her actions were going to cause them. But she had no other choice despite knowing she was scarring her daughters. Even though she understood she was hurting them, she wanted her precious children to survive regardless.

"You will be all right, for you are my adorable daughters…"

Master Takuto…I'm sorry. Please forgive me for acting without your permission.

Isla acquired a skill without the king's approval.

[ 〈!〉

Isla, Queen of Bugs has leveled up and acquired the following skills:"Demise of the Crown"

]

Demise of the Crown is a skill that allows the unit to pass on the Hero trait to another unit from the same empire upon their demise. A final gift to be passed on before they die.

"Demise of the Crown, to my precious daughters, Maria and

Caria. To you, I bequeath all of my power."

Isla handed over her still-beating heart. Its pale, flickering magic luminance shined all the brighter when placed in the girls' hands. Before long, the light grew dimmer like a candle about to be extinguished…

"…Live free, my dear daughters."

…and with her final words, the light of life that had been Hero Isla went out.

"…I love you."

"MAMAAAAAAAAAA!!" both girls wailed.

The twins knew just how miserable and painful it was to live at the expense of a mother. They'd already experienced the suffering of a lifetime going through it once before, and yet now they had to experience it all over again.

But their beloved mothers told them, wished of them, to live. To go on living because they are loved.

And so, the two young girls…

…yet again found themselves feasting upon their mother…

◇◇◇

…FOR all intents and purposes, the event from Brave Questers was still playing out.

There was more to the story than Flamin could've known because he was always defeated by the Hero and died in the process. In the game, it's the Hero's teacher who raised him like his own child, who dies at the hands of Flamin's wicked plan. This father figure is a brave and noble man who constantly joins and leaves the Hero's party from the very beginning of his adventures, and it's his powerful abilities that occasionally lead the Hero to impossible victories.

And he's the one who gives up his life to protect the Hero, who he loves like a son.

The Hero laments his loss and despairs. But the words his teacher imparts in his dying moments help the Hero stand back up again. Just like that, he inherits his teacher's will and strength, inciting even stronger resolve within him to save the world. The strength he inherits at this stage prepares him to eventually defeat the Demon Lord and bring peace to the world once more.

His is a tale of love, courage, and carrying on the wishes of those who were lost along the way.

Then what would happen if an evil person was put in the Hero's shoes?

What if that person was already despondent over their circumstances and had the peace and tranquility they'd finally grasped cruelly ripped from them?

What if, in a moment of helplessness and despair, they were forced not just once but twice to eat their mother?

What if it were young girls who were blessed by the King of Ruin and inherited the will and wishes of the queen of monsters?

The event couldn't be stopped.

If no one was allowed to save them, then it only makes sense that there was no convenient way to save the world from giving birth to something so…lethal.

The chaos of various thoughts and feelings jumbling together became a huge, unstoppable swell that filled the world.

[ 〈!〉

The Hero—ERROR—has awakened to true power!!

Promoting the status of the target character.

...…

The target character's profile settings are abnormal.

Canceling promoti—

The proCEss has bEEn intERvened by ■■■■ Continuing status promotion.

Activating <>

Granting the Distinct Trait <> to the target.

—ERROR— Awakening process has been duplicated.

—ERROR— Process cannot be executed normally.

—EHRRRRRR… Awakening is complete. ]

Even if there were someone out there who knew everything there is to know about the world, they would've had a hard time predicting this result. Even if there were a godlike being out there, they would've struggled to prophesize this. Things had become so intertwined by this point that the world was about to give birth to an abomination of unknown origins.

──And just like that, the eggs of hatred had hatched.

Was it a mother's love that made it happen? Or was it a mother's insanity? Phenomena that would normally be impossible continued, overwhelming the world's warning system to push through a mother's greatest wish. The purity of that wish made it unstoppable.

The world is always cruel.

It always hated those girls and wished misfortune and despair upon them. But it is also cruelly fair. Thus, that cruel, cruel world fairly granted the twins the power to plunge everything equally into hell with them…

◇◇◇

TWO small shadows sat in that place where everything had ended. They slowly stood and gazed up at the night sky. It blessed their rebirth from little weaklings who always needed to be protected to beings with the power to see their desires through and spread their hatred throughout the world.

The first time these girls tasted utter despair, it broke them.

The second time they tasted the bitterness of despair…

<-x-X-x->