Final Battle – 4

Almost there. The woman snickered as she watched Aurora mumble strange words. Just a little more pressure, and she could leave her consciousness defenseless.

The woman understood her purpose in existence. She had the mission to kill the original and bring salvation to this world. After that, only the joy of being absorbed by the Creator alongside the world awaited her.

Soon, eternal darkness would descend, and everyone would achieve salvation. The woman’s eyes gleamed. Words slipped through her lips.

“Second stage. Open your heart.”

“Second stage… open your heart…”

Aurora mumbled in response. A smile blossomed on the woman’s face as she confirmed that the resistance was weakening.

“Third stage. Embrace it.”

“Third stage…”

The life in Aurora’s eyes faded completely as she couldn’t even finish repeating the woman’s words.

Her head slowly tilted towards the ground. As if losing strength, her upper body slumped against the backrest. This was the end of the preparations.

The woman sitting sideways on Aurora’s thigh shifted her posture. She turned halfway and sat down, gently opening her legs to face Aurora, resting her thighs against her.

Though the position was quite embarrassing between the two, the woman showed no sign of concern.

All that filled her mind was the salvation named death that would come after everything successfully concluded.

The woman pressed her forehead against Aurora’s. Tap, their foreheads touched. Then, her consciousness began to be gradually sucked into Aurora’s.

The two minds merged into one. The woman became Aurora, and Aurora slowly lost the meaning of her existence. The knowledge of the two blended, intertwining memories and emotions.

As the fusion progressed beyond a certain level, ‘Aurora’ opened her eyes.

Life returned to her golden pupils. With her eyes open, ‘Aurora’ carefully moved her new body. Starting from her toes to her fingertips, everything worked perfectly.

Though her dress clung tightly and she wasn’t wearing any underwear, it didn’t matter. After all, this body would eventually achieve salvation. Would discomfort really matter in the grand scheme of things?

Finally, satisfied, Aurora clenched and unclenched her hand, then pushed the now-empty shell of the woman’s body aside. The body, devoid of a soul, tumbled grotesquely to the floor.

It then transformed into black mud, bubbling and evaporating into thin air. After confirming the woman’s body had completely vanished, Aurora placed her hand on the magic circle next to the throne.

The magic circle shone brightly, and soon, two knights clad in silver armor burst into the Central Hall.

“Did you call for us, Your Majesty!”

“I will be meeting with the Knight Commanders. Prepare at once.”

“…Um, Your Majesty. The Commanders are currently all…”

I know. They either couldn’t bear the memory sharing and died, were killed by a sword in the midst of it, or are fighting replicas. It didn’t matter either way.

As long as Aurora pretended to be in moderate danger beside them, their concentration would falter; that was all she needed. If it came down to it, she could even kill this body for real.

“Are you defying my orders?”

Her golden eyes sharpened. The knights, seeing this, hurriedly shook their heads.

“No, of course not! We will prepare immediately!”

The knights in silver armor disappeared out the door, just as Aurora was about to take a step forward.

“Ugh!”

She halted as a sudden headache struck.

At first, she tried to ignore it and keep walking, but it quickly became unbearable. In the end, Aurora knelt on one knee and clutched her head.

She couldn’t understand why this was happening. The plan was perfect, and hadn’t she smoothly seized control of the consciousness? So why, after the fusion, was this sudden discomfort occurring?

As Aurora writhed in pain for a while, suddenly, words other than her screams slipped from her lips.

“My body… is off-limits… you bastard…!”

It was the persona of the original she had thought was completely absorbed.

Hearing the words spill from her own mouth, ‘Aurora’ struggled with a splitting headache, unable to contain her shock. Was the persona that had been completely fused now separating again?

How was that possible?

“No way…! Ugh…! This shouldn’t be… possible!”

“While I couldn’t help Delta… I won’t just sit back and let you make a mess of my body…! I won’t allow it…!”

“Ahhhh!”

Finally, ‘Aurora’ forgot her decorum, clutching her head and rolling on the floor.

The fight between the two Auroras to drive the other out was simple. It was merely a battle of endurance.

The one who could not bear the pain of merging and then separating their consciousness first would disappear. It was tormenting.

“Just wait, Delta…! That situation that you wish for will NEVER happen…!”

And gradually, the one gaining the upper hand was not the woman but Aurora. After all, her resolve was fundamentally different.

Aurora was preoccupied with the fact that she had not learned the True Death technique, and thus the current pain felt trivial compared to the agony Delta must have felt before his death.

She was also frustrated by the reminders of her inferiority before being stripped of her consciousness. Comments about not being of any help had fueled her determination.

“Just a little… just a little more…! Ugh!”

Aurora struggled but slowly began to rise. In contrast, the persona of the woman that had entered Aurora’s mind was gradually sinking beneath the surface.

The final struggle continued, but it didn’t last long.

“Huff, huff…!”

Finally, as the pain completely subsided, Aurora knelt down, pressed her palms to the ground, and caught her breath. Cold sweat dripped from her forehead. Ragged breaths escaped through her lips.

Not only her forehead, but her entire body was drenched in sweat. The skin-tight dress clung even more closely to her skin. It was as though she were wearing a bodysuit.

“…Haha.”

Aurora let out a hollow laugh. She had won. Even though it would be a fight no one would recognize, knowing that she hadn’t caused trouble for Delta was enough.

Her thoughts turned to the knights waiting for her outside. Aurora wobbled and finally slumped back into her throne. Her legs had completely lost all strength.

She felt guilty but thought they would have to wait a little longer. Just as she thought this, she tried to lean back against the backrest.

—Kwaaaang!

With a thunderous explosion, the ceiling shattered and came crashing down. Startled by the sudden hole in the ceiling, Aurora partially rose.

‘Could it be those guys?’

Since the woman had lost the battle for control and vanished, only the knowledge from that woman remained in her head. It also registered that the same thing had likely happened to others.

Just as Aurora reached out to the magic circle to summon another knight, she quickly realized it was unnecessary. For a very familiar-looking woman emerged through the hole in the ceiling.

“Claudia!”

“Oh, Lord… no, Your Majesty. I apologize. The term ‘Your Majesty’ just doesn’t stick to my tongue.”

“It’s fine. I’m not used to this position either. But what’s with the sudden—”

Aurora paused mid-sentence, stunned. A man stood up amidst the dust cloud created by the collapsed ceiling. Claudia’s expression turned icy upon seeing him.

She quickly understood the situation. The man wore silver armor strikingly similar to that of the Silver Dawn Knights, and he wielded a greatsword perfectly resembling Claudia’s.

‘Is that one of them?’

“You’re still alive, huh?”

Lightning crackled around the greatsword. Yellow lightning danced around the man’s weapon as well. Yet, it seemed he had sustained significant injuries, struggling even just to lift it.

Claudia was the first to move. She dashed with her cherry blossom-colored hair flying, hitting the ground. Boom! The collision of mass and mass resounded.

At first, it seemed like a stalemate, but it didn’t last long. Claudia gradually overpowered the man in silver armor. Upon closer inspection, the armor was already so battered it was on the verge of breaking.

This indicated that even before the fall, Claudia had been pushing him back relentlessly.

Ultimately, the man couldn’t hold out any longer. The lightning-wreathed greatsword shattered the opposing weapon and simultaneously sliced through both armor and the man’s upper body.

The severed body fell to the ground. The corpse and weapon transformed into bubbling black mud before dissipating into nothingness.

Claudia, smirking at the sight of the corpse, looked quite refreshed as she rested her greatsword on her shoulder.

“It’s over, Your…?”

However, upon seeing the now-completely ruined Central Hall, her expression soured rapidly.

“…I’m sorry, Your Majesty. Initially, I intended to use True Death to finish this quickly, but that guy kept resisting with lightning, so I thought I’d just break one thing before killing him…”

“It’s fine. It can be fixed later. Don’t worry about it.”

It wasn’t intentional damage, and it was a situation where she could’ve been caught off guard while trying to control her strength. She had no intention of holding her accountable.

“Will the others be safe…?”

Aurora, who had begun to voice this query, shut her mouth. Something troubling had stirred among the knowledge stored in her mind from that woman.

“Let’s return to the real world, quickly!”

Aurora forced her previously limp limbs to move as she exited the Central Hall. A bewildered Claudia followed behind her.