Act 1: Chapter 64: 《Dream Sand》
「OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!」
Zorophilia’s body started to collapse and turn into rainbow-colored sands. The size of the mask floating midair had become significantly smaller since the first time I laid eyes on it.
「Impossible… How can the 《Progenitor Dragon; Drigvesha》 be defeated so easily? H-How can it be… how can our clan’s lifelong mission be defeated so easily!!! I-I-I, for what reason…. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」
Notes was crouching on the floor with a look of disbelief on his face. And then, he started bawling like a child.
Something was strange here.
Zorophilia… just what was its body made of?
I grabbed a handful of that rainbow-colored sand and took out the 《Akashic Record》 from my magic pouch.
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【Dream Sand】《Value : Phantasmal》
It was something that was created by a certain royal alchemist clan more than 5000 years ago. One of its ingredients was a melted down shield given by the Gods to a otherworlder. It was the ultimate alchemy catalyst which was said to be able to create any creation. Additionally, 《Dream Sand》 reacts to human wishes and can grant all kinds of wishes regardless of their nature.
But, a human who’d lost to their own desires shouldn’t be able to use 《Dream Sand》 to its maximum capabilities. The greedy merchant who wished for wealth turned into gold and the hero who wished for power turned into a monster.
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I-is this… Zorophilia’s true nature?
But, according to the 《Akashic Record》, humans shouldn’t have the abilities to be able to completely control the 《Dream Sand》. And yet, Zorophilia having taken the form of a dragon to fight me seems to be in direct contradiction of its nature as the grantor of the wish.
In the first place… let’s say that the 《Dream Sand》 has the power to grant a wish, then… whose wish was it that created the current Zorophilia’s form?
Suddenly, I recalled the name of Zorophilia’s race.
《Dream Heart》.
I felt the color drain from my face as I arrived at an extremely terrifying hypothesis.
「Don’t tell me…! They used humans as its core in order to control the 《Dream Heart》!」
「… To be exact, a homunculus who resembles a human… according to the legend, they destroyed the homunculus personality and ego to perfect the image of God of Fear.」
Notes spoke quietly from the corner of the room.
「Such thing…」
「And yet, even though we went that far… we were eventually betrayed by the king we served under and people we protected… and after it finally saw the light of the day again after thousands years of darkness… such a thing…」
Notes was practically crying tears of blood. His face had already wrinkled as if he was aging rapidly.
At that moment, the malice that should’ve dispersed suddenly started gathering again in this place.
「No way… it’s still alive!!!」
Dammit, I let my guard down after seeing Zorophilia’s body crumble down and Notes crying tears of blood.
That dragon wasn’t Zorophilia’s final form.
「… Eh?」
I saw myself wearing Zorophilia’s mask standing in the middle of the room. With a wave of “his” hand, an imitation of the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》 appeared in “his” hand.
「O Zorophilia… does that mean you recognize that man as the strongest lifeform to eliminate the outsiders!」
Zorophilia came at me.
I blocked “his” attack with my sword. But, my sword easily sliced through Zorophilia’s sword along with “his” fingers
Zorophilia retreated as it regrew the fingers that were cut off by my sword.
I’m still superior in terms of swordcraft and status. The strength of “his” sword is also below the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》. However, “his” status is higher than before.
But, of course, “his” strength pales in comparison to the real thing.
「A-A-A…」
Zorophilia groaned eerily as “he” looked at its still regrowing fingers.
「Please die already. I don’t want to hurt you more than I already have.」
「AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!」
Zorophilia’s fingers had completely regrown at that point and “he” pointed “his” finger towards me.
「… 《Graviburn》」
Zorophilia unleased “his” magic.
Dammit, to think that “he” could use my magic too.
But, of course, since “he” is an imitation of myself, he’s bound to have the same weaknesses I do.
My mastery of 《Graviburn》 has yet to reach perfection.
It’s an extremely complex magic and thus a gap is bound to occur the moment “he” or even I unleashed that magic. Surely, I have a lot more useful offensive magic, but even the slightest gap can be fatal in the midst of deadly combat like this. Due to this, I’m mainly using more practical low-rank magic.
I closed in until I was right in front of Zorophilia and slashed with the iai of the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》. The clean slash separated Zorophilia’s upper half from its lower half.
Somehow, it felt strange looking at my imitation bisected by my own hands.
Zorophilia’s figure vanished and turned into rainbow-colored sands.
And then, just when I thought this was the end, another four clones of myself wearing Zorophilia’s ominous-looking mask appeared as if surrounding myself.
「It can even clone itself huh…」
Three of the fake imitations attacked me with a sword in their hands.
I kicked the floor and ran against the wall to dodge their attack, waiting for a chance to counterattack.
The last one of the quartet of clones, the only one staying behind, was pointing “his” finger towards me. It seems to be trying to sacrifice its other three clones for a chance to attack me with 《Graviburn》.
I took a breath and then launched a fierce attack towards the three as I prepared to unleash magic.
The advantages of mastering the 《Twin Mind Model》 weren’t just limited to allowing me to cast two different magic in parallel. It also allowed me to focus on my sword while preparing magic at the same time.
Even though the three swords grazed me a few times, I somehow managed to round them up in one place.
The fourth Zorophilia then unleashed “his” magic.
Here it comes; 《Graviburn》.
Thanks to the long time lag during the invocation, it wasn’t that hard for me to match my timing with “him.”
「Time-Space Magic, 12th Rank;《Slow World》」
I locked off the three who had attacked me in the purple light barrier of 《Slow Word》 before leaping back to escape from the purplish light prison.
《Graviburn》’s black light started to tear the space around it.
「《Short Gate》」
I unleashed another low-rank magic and moved away as far as possible from my previous position using 《Short Gate》.
Thanks to the effects of 《Slow Word》, the three clones of Zorophilia couldn’t escape from the effects of 《Graviburn》.
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Zorophilia
Race ：Dream Heart
Ｌｖ ：3122
ＨＰ ：2746/14049
ＭＰ ：952/14049
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As expected, it seems that Zorophilia’s’ absurd power does have its limits.
Even though “he’s” still gripping the sword in “his” hand, “his” breathing is disordered. “He” is full of openings.
Maybe “his” body parts were related to “his” stamina and magical power.
「First… be a good boy and die in peace.」
I spun a magic circle.
Though I still had poor mastery over this magic, I felt that it was safe to use this magic against the currently exhausted Zorophilia.
「Time-Space Magic, 20th Rank; 《Karma Breaker》」
I pointed the 《Hero Sword; Gilgamesh》 at Zorophilia as I unleashed my magic.
Zorophilia’s body was wrapped in blinding white light.
《Karma Breaker》 was a magic that attacked the target with holy light while also intervening with the karma of the target through cutting off any curse or reinforcement magic placed on the target.
Though Zorophilia’s personality was snatched away by the humans who turned it into the God of Fear, the real Zorophilia had always been inside that chaos and fear.
According to what I heard from Notes, it was sealed away for a few thousand years while in that state. Though it might be impossible to turn it back into a human being, I wanted it to at least feel some peace in the last moments of its life.
Zorophilia’s limbs were starting to crumble down and “he” was bathed inside the holy light. Cracks were also appearing on the surface of that eerie mask.
Though I knew that the face hidden behind that mask was similar to mine, “his” expression was pure and innocent, like that of a child.
「Let’s pla-」
“His” eyes were closing slowly like that of a child falling asleep as “he” muttered those unfinished words.
And then… Zorophilia’s figure vanished along with the holy light.
「O-OOOOOOOOOOOH… ZOROPHILIA, ZOROPHILIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! ZOROPHILIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! OUR DEAR GOD OF FEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!」
Notes let out loud cries as he fell to his knees.
At that moment, Garland’s mansion, which had long since reached its limits, finally started to collapse.
「He’s not running away…」
I leaped towards the nearest window and looked back at the devastated battlefield where Notes had yet to move from.
Did he not realize that the palace was crumbling down? Or else, he knew, but didn’t care about it.
「… Poor guy.」
I looked away from Notes and left him behind as he cried alone inside the crumbling mansion.