?


    The walls crushed for onest time as I stretched my hands in front of me.


    At the very edges of the cave, behind a tombstone sticking out of the ground was a small tree. Its leaves fell gently on the top of a helmet.


    Near the tombstone was a man sitting peacefully, like a gentle kiss, the leaves of the tree kept falling on him.


    Unlike the others I had seen, his size was just like a normal person''s maybe even a little shorter than me now.


    With one hand on his de and the other on his ground, the man, the boss of this dungeon, Goemon, slowly stood up.


    It was things like these that made us believe that dungeons were natural urrences. A fable of Goemon existed in the minds of the old of the East.


    A lover on war that returned home to a dead wife. He vowed before he had left to never leave her alone again.


    And when he came back, she was gone.


    Unable to forgive himself, Goemon sat next to his wife''s grave, not moving to drink or eat or for anything else. Even in death, he was never ready to break his promise.


    Try as one might. Every time someone killed Goemon, he woulde back, as if he was never gone. The dungeon remained a mystery and Goemon remained a legend.


    Goemon''s armor nked as he turned to face me. There was no skin, no eyes, no ghoulish features to describe.


    Just a skeleton, a hunk of the dead.


    Goemon alone remained next to his dearest''s tombstone. Which had be his own.


    "Leeeeave..."


    Goemon''s voice reached my ears.


    "What are you?" I asked, unable to hold back. "Are you a fable? Or are you a fabrication? A phenomenon, or a conspiracy?"


    Goemon clenched his sword.


    And so did I.


    "Is this just a dungeon… or a gate to the outer gods?"


    "You know he can''t answer you, right?"


    Titania interrupted at just the worst possible time. I heaved a sigh and turned toward her. "Come one, man, we had such a mncholy and sombre mood going—"


    "LEAVE!"


    Goemon unsheathed his sword. An atomizing sh of the de cut through the walls of the dungeon and came tumbling my way.


    Even the air was cut apart and glistened as the strike came toward me. I swung my sword with all my might, but the strike barely stopped as a ng rang out.


    "Hoh?"


    I jumped up and avoided the brunt of the attack as it swept further behind.


    The sword was sheathed once more.


    This guy…


    He seemed stronger than he was described. No, he was definitely stronger.


    Just a year away from the appearance of the Outer Gods. A supposedly weaker dungeon had grown rather alright.


    Intriguing. It seemeding here was a great decision.


    "Catene, you alright?"


    —WHIRRRR


    The sword hummed in my hands as if saying it had never been better as I charged it with my demonic energy. Perfect, splendid.


    I gripped the de once more and charged ahead.


    "Rainnning…. sh…"


    The man unsheathed his sword and sheathed it again. Like a falling hailstorm, shes of the sword came tumbling down the air.


    A rain of shes that could even atoms apart.


    "[Azure Dragon Dance]"


    Ki filled the ck de and swung outward. The azure dragon shed with the hailing shes as small explosions rang all around me.


    Right in front of the monster, I swung the sword.


    "Leave—"


    Its words fell empty as the armors on its hands crushed apart. Goemon''s de was unsheathed and sheathed again.<novelsnext></novelsnext>


    A cross sh.


    Spirits were too few in dungeons, in and beyond their control, relying on them was difficult.


    "Tsk."


    I kicked off of Goemon''s armor and jumped back. That sh was not good news.


    The man reached for his de again.


    "No, you don''t." I snapped and kicked his hand, keeping the sword sheathed.


    The sword in my hands turned into chains again as I whipped its head to the side. Next, I grabbed its armor and pulled it along before tossing it away.


    Goemon, whilst flying, scowled.


    "You dare."


    He was away from the damned tomb. And he was not happy.


    For the first time, the de that had barely shown a glint came out of its sheath.


    The entire dungeon began to tremble as the man raged. His swings came shooting at me one after the other, my shields could not hold up at all and I was forced to evade them all.


    Mana, Ki, or Demonic energy. Whichever I killed him with, it was going to be all a waste if he just came back.


    "I want to mix all three."


    "You''re insane, Eugy…"


    Not the existence…


    I wanted to end this things cycle.


    Like mixing oil and water, Mana and Ki were already pretty against each other.


    The amount of control needed was simr to holding each and every molecule in both the oil and the water together through sheer force in order to keep them mixed.


    But to do add demonic energy in the mix as well.


    It was nothing other than insanity.


    But…


    I was a demon now! Being insane was part of it.


    "Catene, back off…" The de turned into a chain and turned toward Titania as I red at Goemon.


    The mix of the two formed in my hands as a purple glow took over my fists. Crawling up the mixture was the deep, dark, damning demonic energy that swallowed everything in its path.


    Rot.


    Devastation.


    Famine. Nothingness.


    A deste strength that culled from within joined the path of the two. My hair flew back, my eyelids shed open.


    Goemon concentrated all his strength in his sword as I charged toward it. My fist stretched out.


    And then.


    "Barrier, barrier barrier! Alfheim, help, BARRIER!"


    Titania''s screams kept ringing.


    A name. Before it copses.


    This mass of three.


    This was, beyond END.


    Beyond a stationary existence, it was malicious.


    It was mine.


    The demon lord''s.


    "[Cataclysm]"


    Everything stopped.


    —BOOOOOOM