Chapter 288

Side Story 21

Nothing held any meaning before the man.

It was literally meaningless.

It was a one-sided slaughter that could scarcely be called a fight. And before that presence, the improved Type 2 armor, the technology of the old empire, the cause of the revolution—none of it held any meaning. Not a single thing was spared. Revolution, struggle, justice, cause, the things of Samra, all forms of ‘meaning’—they collapsed like sandcastles, unable even to form the morphemes of meaning.

The god of meaninglessness was there.

“Monster… monster… you monster…!”

And before that existence, human struggles were, quite literally, utterly meaningless.

“Did you call me a monster?”

And to the terrified, trembling Type 2 Magic Armor Soldiers, the man retorted.

“Hee, heeek!”

The Night Crow’s robe fluttered like a living creature, its hem splitting into countless tentacles. Just as Shub had done before, pitch-black tentacles writhed beneath the robe, taunting his enemies.

With the cruel indifference of a child toying with ants, yet possessing an indescribable innocence, the tentacles of the shadow cloak slid and coiled around the improved Type 2 armor.

“How clumsy of you to meddle.”

The magic armor wasn’t even a weapon of the revolutionary army to begin with. It was forged by the Fourth Empire’s mages for the heavy infantry directly under the imperial court, once known as the ‘Black Armor Company’.

The very essence of magic accumulated by the Great Mage Empire—yet ultimately, it was nothing more and nothing less. That was why Dale sneered.

“Did you truly believe such armor, meant for my foot soldiers, could do anything to me?”

The demon god moved forward, merely commanding the tentacles of shadow.

The magic armor soldiers were bound by the tentacles, unable to move a finger. And Dale calmly crossed between them.

Beneath the jet-black night crow’s robe, writhing lakes of immeasurable shadows and tentacles.

“Die, you monster…!”

Amidst the chaos, one armored soldier bound by tentacles desperately reached out. An arm wrapped in black metal twisted like 21st-century armored weaponry, forming the shape of a cannon.

Boom!

An explosion erupted. And within that explosion, Dale calmly took another step. As expected, it meant nothing.

“Meaningless.”

“Monster, you… you monster brat…!”

Right before his very eyes.

The armored soldier who fired the gun muttered in horror, and Dale tilted his head again, unable to comprehend.

“Do I look like a monster to you?”

“Look at yourself! Can you truly call yourself human after seeing that sight?”

“I am unquestionably human.”

Dale’s shadow tentacles slithered and coiled around the armored soldier’s limbs and neck. Simultaneously, he glimpsed the truth within his shadow. It wasn’t even a truth he wished to hide. There had been a massacre carried out in the name of revolution.

“As an undeniable human and monster, he wandered the world’s wilderness throughout his life, seeking the form of meaning.”

The god of meaninglessness spoke.

“I ask you, humans. Does your revolution hold ‘meaning’? Can the era that dawns at the revolution’s end become your meaning?”

Swoosh!

Shadow tentacles tore apart the soldier’s limbs, armor and all, finally coiling around his neck.

The fate awaiting the Iron Guard there.

Even the cause or value of the revolution held no meaning before the baptism of futility scattered by that god of meaninglessness.

And so, terror finally descended.

“I remember those who once wandered in earnest seeking truth and meaning, each finding their own answer.”

Among them, Dale recalled the image of a certain man.

Frederick the Immortal, and his father, who still awaited him at the castle in Saxony. The blue Arachne who gave Dale her all and vanished.

And Rize, who awakened in Dale the futility of sacrifice by offering her own life.

Each of them held their own answer.

“My immortal ancestor said that transience itself is our truth and meaning.”

Therefore, Dale continued.

“But my father said that the things that do not fade even in the face of death are what give meaning to this world.”

Just as Dale now denied their meaning, so too did the immortal craftsman Frederick.

But the Iron Guard present could not hear what Dale said next. That was why he soon gave a bitter smile.

“I too found my own answer to ‘meaning,’ and at the same time, that blindness and obsession plunged those I loved into suffering.”

He said this after the bitter smile.

“That journey… it’s become utterly tiresome now.”

Dale waved his arm dismissively. Like a child bored with a toy, utterly indifferent.

“Gold and shadow, emperor and revolution—the meaning you pursue is so utterly fleeting and insignificant, I simply cannot bear it.”

The god of meaninglessness spoke. And the standard-bearers of revolution there, enveloped by the apocalyptic chill that would engulf the world’s end, faded away.

Their cries for revolution, their lives spent desperately struggling for revolution—all were swallowed up into the absolute void.

The Ninth Empire, the Revolutionary Army, gold and shadows—this land still overflowed with meaning in every conceivable form.

And for the man, it was nothing but the tedious, endless cycle of history.

The only fact humans can learn from history is that humans learn nothing from history.

Even if it was a history built upon blood and war, nothing would change.

Therefore, what Dale must accomplish was clear.

He would seize the entire world and bring it down for himself and those he loved.

There is no need to sacrifice for the world, nor to atone for anything by turning away from the suffering of loved ones.

──Simply so he and those he loves may live happily ever after.

No matter what stands in their way.

Dale set his sights on the heart of the Ninth Empire, and those who stood in his way.

Sometimes it was the revolutionary army, and sometimes it was those of the Ninth Empire desperately struggling to protect the Emperor. Each of them stood in the man’s way, each clinging to their own cause.

And each time, there was a god of meaninglessness that robbed them of their significance.

“Why did you stand in my way?”

Countless soldiers lay scattered as corpses in every direction. A war had erupted against a single man, and at its end, the man calmly retorted as he stepped over the bodies of his enemies.

“No, I cannot let you advance to where His Majesty the Emperor resides…!”

“And that’s why you gathered this vast army?”

One nobleman remained unyielding to the very end, and Dale sneered.

“Did you think you could gather every last noble, knight, mercenary, and serf to desperately block my path?”

“You… you monster…!”

“From this moment on, I shall tell you the meaning your actions will hold.”

With those words, Dale flicked his finger coldly.

A whirlwind of pitch-black darkness surged from beneath his feet, and light faded from the sky.

Immediately after, it happened.

Countless corpses scattered across the land rose, enveloped in the pitch-black darkness.

“Ah, ahh, ah…!”

“Did you gather them to offer me troops? At least your actions weren’t meaningless.”

Beyond the horizon, mountains of corpses stretching endlessly, a sea of blood, each took shape and rose.

Countless souls of the dead and knights of death, blood golems made of blood, and innumerable immortals all knelt before their ruler and bowed their heads.

Simultaneously, as if an invisible force acted between the dead and the dead, their flesh began to cling together. Flesh and blood and bone, the armor and blades of the dead, all manner of things began to be drawn and cling together as if swept into a black hole.

Abomination.

An immortal colossus stood there, so utterly horrific it defied description in this world’s language.

The end of one who dared to stand firm and fight before the god of meaninglessness.

The noble made his final desperate struggle, and that was the end of it.

Dale raised his head impassively. Despite the vast distance beyond the horizon, he could sense it clearly.

The one who once bore his name, the Emperor of the Ninth Empire who called himself the Shadow Lord. And the heart of the empire he ruled.

“Welcome to the House of Saxon, Miss Yupi.”

Riza opened her arms wide with a smile. But Yufi didn’t embrace her readily; she hesitated for a moment.

“Oh dear, why are you like that?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Upy herself couldn’t understand her own actions, and she swallowed hard for a moment. Seeing this, Riza smiled quietly.

“Miss Yufi, it seems you don’t quite like me after all.”

“No, that’s not it!”

Riza smiled bitterly, and Yupi shook her head immediately.

“There’s no need to be flustered. You are already a member of our Saxon family, Miss Yupi, and a beloved person my brother must protect.”

“……!”

And at Rize’s following words, Yupi’s face flushed bright red.

Dale’s sister, Rize. Whenever she recalled her image, she remembered Dale’s expression, filled with sorrow.

And she also remembered the look on his face when he saw her, and when he was reunited with his loved ones.

Rize said that the Uncle Dale of the past was someone Yupi could never even imagine now. And what had brought that Dale back to his present state was, above all, the sacrifice and scheme of his younger sister, Rize.

And thanks to Rize, Yupi also came to know Dale, and it was only with him that she could finally reach this place.

Yet despite that, what was this uneasy feeling she sensed in his presence?

It was an unnerving feeling, like a spider creeping slowly across her skin.

There it was—that ‘repulsive thing’ where flesh, blood, and bone fused with sword, shield, and armor.

Thud, thud!

With each step he took, the earth trembled violently, and soldiers scattered in all directions in panic. Moreover, the high fortresses, strongholds, walls, and cannons erected before him were utterly meaningless.

Therefore, no one dared to stand in the way of that existence, that loathsome giant. No, they could not stand in its way.

And atop that very giant’s shoulder, a man stood.

His black robe, embroidered with a raven, fluttered as he lifted his head toward the horizon.

A being who reduced any meaning in blocking his path to nothingness. A man who did not love mankind.

To put an end to history’s endless cycle of repetition, the man took a step forward.

Toward the Shadow Lord and the heart of the Ninth Empire he ruled.