End game (9)

…Grumble!

The clash between Vikir and Orca smashed and crumbled everything in its path.

Regardless of whether something was touched by human hands or not, it was an equal ending.

Mountains, hills, outer walls, watchtowers, shafts, piers... all collapsed.

And solitary confinement was one of them.

kwaleuleuleuleuleuleuleug-

Numerous solitary confinement cells collapsed. Everything, nothing left.

kwagig- peopeong!

Each time one of Souare's strange structures, such as a cell or a mold, collapsed, skeletal mummies would emerge from within.

...Only one man survived: Marquis de Sade.

The one human being that even the harsh conditions of Level 9 could not contain.

In fact, his presence was so great that it was rumored that the Nouvelle Vague existed solely to imprison Marquis de Sade.

… Jeez!

Vikir took a step backwards at the creepy sensation that shot through his body.

It felt like countless snakes were licking his entire body.

He felt this even though they hadn't made eye contact and were just looking at him.

'...I should have known it when I heard the name Angajumang.'

As he had suspected, the identity of 'Old Man Angajumang' was none other than the Marquis de Sade.

The warmonger who had once incited 47 families to stage a coup, the madman who wanted to return to the days of war, when only the strongest could survive.

He was free again.

"Pushishishi- It's been a while since I've moved my body."

Marquis de Sade moved his skinny arms back and forth.

Each twist of the joint made a dull noise, like something popping and breaking.

Then.

"...Grandfather."

Professor Sady, next to me, called out to Marquis de Sade.

Her voice trembling slightly, unlike her.

Sady and Sade.

"Is that you, Sady? Oh, dear. You've grown up so much since I last saw you."

"Hohoho- I went to great effort to save my grandfather, but you'll still be nice to me, won't you?"

"No matter how, come here and hug this old man."

Sady staggered to her feet, covered in blood, and hugged Marquis de Sade.

Marquis de Sade, too, smiled warmly and stroked Sady's hair.

"Thank God you're alive, my dear."

"I'm glad my grandfather is safe."

"I thought our family line was dead, but now there's a day of sunshine."

"What? I'm not looking for a man."

"I'm only saying that because I'm thinking of meeting a woman."

Sady and Marquis de Sade were laughing heartily and chatting.

The atmosphere was so peaceful and relaxed that, for a moment, one might mistake it for a café terrace in the middle of a quiet morning.

But the peacefulness was short-lived.

"You finally crawled out, Angajumang."

Orca growled, his voice like boiling water.

Marquis de Sade turned his head, a bored expression on his face, and met Orca's gaze.

"Long time no see, old Orca. You live so long without dying."

"That's not what I want to hear from you."

Orca immediately picked up his club.

He swung it with all his might at the Marquis de Sade.

"Oh, you're going to persecute an old man, unarmed and empty-handed? That's really too much."

Marquis de Sade smirked and picked up the whip from the floor.

"Granddaughter, I'll borrow your whip."

And.

peopeong- chalalalag!

He swung it back at Orca's flying club.

The heavy iron on the tip of Orca's club met the heavy iron on the tip of Marquis de Sade's whip.

…kwakwang!

A loud explosion erupted, too loud to be believed to be metal on metal.

Sparks and shards of aura scattered in all directions, upsetting the already devastated landscape once more.

kwakwang! kwang! ujijijijijig! peopeong! peong! uleuleung...

With each stroke of the club and whip, the landscape cracked, rejoined, twisted, minced, and then cracked, crumbled, and shattered again.

Surprisingly, the power and spirit radiated by the Marquis de Sade was not at all inferior to that of Orca.

Who would have thought he'd spent the last few decades in solitary confinement on the 9th floor of the Nouvelle Vague?

"...."

Orca wrapped his trembling arms around himself and lowered his posture.

Marquis de Sade looked down at him, then opened his mouth.

"...Yes, I remember that day. It's been more than 40 years."

'The 47 Man Riot'.

An unprecedented event that occurred when the Empire had just been unified.

It was led by 47 people, but each of them was the head of a single family, which is why it's also known as the 47 Families Rebellion.

They rebelled against the empire and stormed the Imperial Palace, coming close to beheading the emperor.

The official reason given was that they wanted the Imperial Throne, but...

"Actually, they didn't care about the throne at all. Pushishi-"

Marquis de Sade had rebelled for one reason only.

'Fun'.

Since the Empire had been united, there had been no more large-scale wars, no more hundreds of thousands dying a day, no more blood-and-guts fights with the strongest.

Power was no longer something to be wielded at will, and revenge was no longer something to be taken when wronged.

Everything was done according to laws and rules, and the emphasis was on getting things done as peacefully and bloodlessly as possible.

Marquis de Sade hated this change bitterly.

The days of war, killing, plunder, revenge, and the struggle of strength against strength.

A time of endless blood and violence, when only the strongest could survive and prove their lives were worth living.

"I loved those days, those people, those times... pushishishi...."

Marquis de Sade, who had lived his entire life in such a state of warfare, could not adapt to the dull and boring era he was suddenly thrust into at the end of his life.

Or rather, he hadn't had the heart to adapt in the first place.

"Well, whatever. So I stirred things up. A riot. It was fun for a while, yeah. I'm sure the world hasn't been the same since. It's a boring place again, and I can tell by the state of the children who are admitted here. They've been bred for peace and laziness."

Marquis de Sade shook his head as if he was disgusted.

"So I thought it might be better for me to spend some time in solitary confinement here at Nouvelle Vague, to clear my head and organize my thoughts."

" ...Why would someone who did that crawl back out now?"

Orca asked.

Marquis de Sade looked at Orca with a childlike gaze.

"Well, I hear things have gotten quite interesting on the surface lately."

"...."

Orca's already stiff expression hardened even more.

This was one thing he didn't want to be found out about.

The current state of affairs on the surface of the world was something that Marquis de Sade must never know.

Orca had seen the world before returning here to Nouvelle Vague. He saw how it had changed.

And Marquis de Sade had seen it, too, in those eyes. He saw it.

There were things everywhere that Marquis de Sade would have loved to see, things that would have kept his interest piqued and insatiable.

War, killing, slaughter, blood, violence, a brute force world where only the strong survive.

The fiercest days of the Warring States Period.

The greatest, hottest, most violent times, when the great Black Mage Tzersi or the great Swordsman Ornati lived.

An era of great war comparable to the heyday of the Warring States Period is coming.

"Pushishishi! This was such a shameful thing in my later years that my blood got hot. It's been a while since I wanted to go outside? Can you help me, my dear?"

"Of course, Grandpa. I'll escort you to the ground."

Marquis de Sade looked back at his granddaughter, Sady, and spoke in a humorous tone.

It was clearly a friendly conversation between the grandchildren, but somehow a terrifying madness was felt in their smiles.

at that time.

…kung!

Orca struck the ground once with his club.

"You'll never get out. You guys."

Orca's eyes dripped with hatred as he turned to face the criminals.

"Social Evil. It is my responsibility to prevent the chaos and disorder created by your very existence and the anxiety of the common people. Even if I die, you can't leave this place."

"Pushishishi- Come on, my friend. What do you think your life is worth?"

Major General Orca and Marquis de Sade began to face off once more.

"I'm not letting you go. Never. Ever."

"Pushishishi – and you don't even have Winston to assist you this time."

Orca raised his heavy club.

Marquis de Sade curled his whip as well, posturing as if he were about to perform a sword duel.

jjeojeog- jjeojeojeojeog-

The air and ground around them shattered like glass as the two ferocious forces collided.

Meanwhile, just a few feet away from the center of the maelstrom, Aiyen asked Vikir.

"What do you think we should do, run away?"

"...No. In a way, this is good timing."

Vikir shook his head.

Maybe he could take advantage of their fight.

'Timing. I have to get the timing right.'

The confrontation between Orca and Marquis de Sade was indeed frightening.

Simply glaring at each other and exuding momentum is enough to warp the terrain, but what happens when they unleash their full power?

...The results were starting to play out in real time right now.

kwakwang!

Orca kicked the ground and rushed forward.

Marquis de Sade chuckled and took a step back.

Orca charging like an angry killer whale and Marquis de Sade flying like a pale ghost.

Both of them were holding strong power in their hands, as if they were trying to win the battle with one blow.

…Flash!

Orca channeled all of his aura into the tip of his club.

A tidal wave of energy washed over Marquis de Sade.

kwakwakwakwakwakwa...

Marquis de Sade shortened his whip.

And he rotated the aura that was previously immobilized by the BDISSEM restraints.

Tsutsutsutsutsutsuts...

Combination. The explosive power and momentum of a punch, a technique that would settle the match in a single blow, was embodied in the whip.

Just then.

"Now!"

Vikir stepped between them.

kuleuleuleuleug! kwaleuleung!

8th Form of Baskerville. The Black Sun fell between Orca and Marquis de Sade.

"...!?"

"...!?"

Orca and Marquis de Sade were greatly disconcerted by the sudden turn of their one-on-one fight into a three-way battle, but they could not take back the blow that had already cost them their lives.

Then, a tidal wave of black from Orca's club, a serpent of strikes from Marquis de Sade's whip, and Vikir's Black Sun descended upon the same spot in unison.

And there was one who moved swiftly ahead of them.

"West, take it!"

It was Aiyen.

She stretched out her hands with all her might.

Toward the blue glowing orb in front of them, Poseidon!

kwakwakwang!

A ferocious explosion occurred near the root, and the ground shook in the aftermath.

ujijijig!

Poseidon was pulled out of the ground.

It dropped from the ground like an onion with roots sprouting out of it, and soon rolled tumbling down the slope.

Toward the very spot where Orca and Marquis de Sade were gathering for Vikir's blow!

At the same time.

…Flash!

A blinding light and a tremendous roar erupted.

Aiyen barely covered her ears.

Vikir felt his eardrums burst and blood flow.

"Kuhugh!?"

"Kuahh!?"

The explosion was so loud that even D'Ordume and Souare, who were watching, fell to the ground clutching their ears.

And at the same time.

...! ...! ...! ...!

After being hit by three different types of shockwaves, Poseidon's state began to change.

jjeojeog-

The sound of an eggshell cracking.

...It sounded like something was hatching.