Chapter 103 - The Price of Victory
Far below the battlefield, Volt looked toward the sky before noticing something unusual.
"...Hey."
He slowly raised a trembling finger.
"Look..."
Ryze and SK followed his gaze.
The endless golden sky...
Was breaking apart.
Tiny fractures spread across the heavens like shattered glass.
Every collision between Blaze and Orion caused another crack to appear.
Golden fragments drifted endlessly into the void beneath the Domain.
Even the floating islands had begun collapsing.
Large chunks of earth slowly crumbled away before dissolving into streams of code.
Volt's face paled.
"...The Domain."
"It's falling apart..."
SK immediately understood.
Her eyes widened.
"...Administrator Orion..."
"He's overusing his Authority."
She tightened her grip on her scythe.
"If he keeps forcing the System..."
"...this entire Dimension won't survive."
"The code is becoming unstable."
"The Domain is collapsing."
Ryze stared upward.
Then...
She smiled.
"...Good."
Volt looked at her in disbelief.
"...Good?"
Ryze never looked away from the battle.
"Blaze doesn't need to beat him."
"He only needs to keep forcing him to use his Authority."
"That's enough."
SK hesitated.
"...Are you really certain?"
"Sir Blaze is fighting an Administrator."
"Can he really win?"
Ryze answered without hesitation.
"...Of course."
"I trust him."
High above...
The battle intensified.
Blue and gold repeatedly clashed across the sky.
BOOM!!
Every collision split the heavens apart.
The Domain shook violently.
Entire waste land vanished beneath the pressure of their attacks.
Orion watched Blaze carefully.
Every movement.
Every swing.
Every dodge.
He recorded all of it.
"...Interesting."
"Even now..."
"You're still adapting."
Blaze smiled.
"You talk too much."
BOOM!!
He vanished.
A sonic boom echoed behind him.
The blue sword descended.
CLANG!!
A golden barrier instantly formed.
The impact shook the entire Domain.
Another barrier.
Another.
Another.
Orion continuously generated layers of golden force fields.
Each one stronger than the last.
Blaze never stopped attacking.
One slash.
Two slashes.
Ten.
Twenty.
Hundreds.
Blue streaks completely surrounded Orion.
The Administrator calmly blocked every strike.
"...Let's see."
"How much longer your Player body lasts."
His smile slowly widened.
"I've already analyzed your movements."
"You're enhancing your body through some kind of acceleration skill."
"You've been pushing beyond your natural limits since the beginning."
"You won't last forever."
Blaze laughed.
"...Neither will your Domain."
Orion's smile disappeared.
Another crack spread across the heavens.
CRACK...
Another.
CRACK...
Then dozens more.
The Administrator glanced upward.
"...Impossible."
BOOM!!
A massive golden barrier exploded outward.
The resulting shockwave swallowed Blaze whole.
CRASH!!
He slammed into the earth.
A crater hundreds of meters wide formed beneath him.
Dust filled the air.
Orion slowly descended.
His coat fluttered behind him.
"So..."
"Have you finally reached your limit?"
He looked down into the crater.
"Your body are tearing apart."
"Your breathing has become uneven."
"Your reactions are slowing."
"You've exceeded every safe limit your body possesses."
He slowly spread both arms.
"I told you."
"Victory belonged to me from the start."
"I merely allowed you to struggle."
"I wanted to observe."
"I wanted to understand."
"I simply let you believe..."
"...that you had a chance."
Silence.
Dust slowly settled.
A figure stood once again.
Blaze.
Blood trickled from his forehead.
His clothes were torn.
His breathing had become noticeably heavier.
Yet...
He smiled.
"...No."
His voice remained calm.
"The plan..."
"...was never to defeat you."
Orion frowned.
"...What?"
Then...
CRACK!!
The sky split apart.
A massive section of the Domain shattered.
Golden code poured endlessly into the void.
Part of the sky beginning to disappeared.
Then another.
The Administrator's eyes widened.
"...No..."
He looked around.
"...No..."
His Domain...
His Authority...
Everything was collapsing.
Blaze pointed his sword toward the sky.
"You finally figured it out."
"I wasn't trying to beat you."
"I was making you beat yourself."
Every barrier.
Every command.
Every rewrite.
Every impossible miracle.
Each one consumed Authority.
Each one damaged the very code maintaining the Domain.
Orion had destroyed his own battlefield.
"...Damn you..."
For the first time...
The Administrator lost his composure.
His calm smile vanished.
His breathing became uneven.
His fists trembled.
"...DAMN YOU!!"
An explosion of golden Authority erupted.
The collapsing Domain responded violently.
Lightning made from pure code tore across the heavens.
The sky screamed.
Reality itself began tearing apart.
Below—
Volt instinctively stepped backward.
"...He's lost it."
SK stared upward.
"...He's forcing more Authority..."
"...even now."
Ryze clenched her rifle.
"...He's desperate."
Orion slowly turned toward the three
Hatred filled his golden eyes.
"If I cannot preserve this Domain..."
"...then I will at least preserve my pride."
Golden code gathered around his hands.
Every remaining fragment of the collapsing Dimension answered his call.
The broken sky.
The floating lands
The collapsing ground
Everything dissolved into pure Authority.
The energy condensed.
Compressed.
Smaller.
Brighter.
Denser.
Volt's heartbeat quickened.
"...Ryze..."
"...Tell me he can't actually throw that."
Ryze couldn't answer.
Even Blaze stopped smiling.
He understood immediately.
That attack...
Would erase everything.
Administrator Orion laughed.
It wasn't the playful laughter from before.
It was bitter.
Broken.
"...Very well."
"I admit it."
"You outplayed me."
"But..."
He slowly raised the sphere above his head.
"...Every victory..."
"...demands a sacrifice."
The miniature sun expanded.
Its light swallowed the heavens.
Even Blaze's blue aura looked insignificant before it.
SK instinctively stood before Ryze.
Volt drew both pistols despite knowing they were useless.
Blaze tightened his grip around his sword.
His expression became serious.
"...Ryze..."
His voice carried across the collapsing Domain.
"...Don't die."
Orion smiled.
"...Goodbye."
He thrust both hands forward.
The miniature sun descended.
The Domain collapsed.
The sky shattered.
The earth disappeared.
A blinding white light consumed everything.
There were no screams.
No explosions.
Only...
Silence.