White shockwaves spread again and again. In the sky, powerful Magical Power and impact bursts kept erupting and scattering as the two figures clashed.
"Why?! Why?! Why can't I reach that ultimate realm? Aren't you and I supposed to be the same person?!"
The enemy's roar rang beside his ears. Cid looked at "Sherry's" beautiful face, now completely ruined by rage and unwillingness, and effortlessly dodged the strike that came at him with astonishing speed and power. Then he countered with an even faster, stronger kick, blowing apart the dark figure's head.
"That's what I'm saying. Why force yourself to reach for something you don't have? How does that saying go again? Right, it's like a bunch of eunuchs visiting a brothel."
Expressionless, Cid watched Sonki regrow her head with Magical Power and sighed in regret. Honestly, he had been looking forward to seeing how strong another version of himself would be. But in reality, she had been solo-killed by him seven times in three minutes.
Their martial arts were the same. Their memories were the same. In terms of Magical Power, Sonki was even above him. But how should he put it? The gap in realm was too large. No, it was more accurate to say she had none at all.
Martial arts had no true endpoint. Above one peak was an even higher peak. But aside from the level of martial arts itself, there was something else. Realm… or perhaps control.
Cid had no idea whether anyone else in the world had grasped this thing. After all, it was something he had stumbled into by accident while thinking that if magic could take a shortcut through the Core, then maybe martial arts also had a "Core."
Cid dodged every one of the dense blades. Immediately after, he spun around and clashed kicks with Sonki's whip kick as she appeared behind him. One strike was filled with vast Magical Power, while Cid's strike was silent and carried no fluctuation at all. The difference between them should have been as vast as heaven and earth, yet the two were locked in place.
"Rumble, rumble, rumble…"
Powerful Magical Power erupted from where they collided, crashing into the churning sea a thousand meters below. The ocean instantly roared like thunder, and the entire sea boiled over at once, raising a tsunami like an apocalyptic flood that began sweeping across the globe.
In the sky, the clash between Cid and Sonki had already reached its result. Unexpectedly, despite such an enormous difference in power, the one at a disadvantage was Sonki.
Why? That was realm. One of the ultimate realms, "effortless control."
Had they ever heard the story of an old woman lifting a car to save a child? In moments of crisis, people could often break past their limits and unleash physical strength beyond what they normally possessed. But in truth, that was merely drawing out the body's latent potential and releasing its full strength.
Even martial artists did not use all their strength in battle. They had to keep power in reserve for defense. Just like fully releasing the body's strength could damage bodily functions, the side effects were massive.
Unless it was a guaranteed one-hit kill, if someone threw a punch with one hundred percent of their strength and failed to finish the opponent, they would be unable to pull the force back or change moves. If the enemy dodged, they would be wide open, just waiting to get knocked out by a counterpunch.
So how much force should go into a punch, and how much should be held back? The answer depended on the person.
If someone only defended and never attacked, then unless the gap was too large, they would never expose an opening.
Once they attacked, the openings they exposed in the enemy's eyes would depend on how much force they used and the difference in perception between both sides.
Then for someone who had mastered the realm of "effortless control," how much force was best? The answer was to strike with all of it.
Cid's ultimate control meant he did not need to worry about holding back or changing moves. When he attacked, it was with one hundred percent of his power. When he defended, it was with one hundred percent of his power. It was an ultimate realm that completely ignored the time needed for power to transfer.
Every strike used his full strength, yet his body revealed not a single opening. Ultimate offense and ultimate defense. Control over both extremes.
"To be honest, I'm bored."
He spoke softly, tilting his head and twisting away from all of Sonki's attacks. At the same time, he gathered strength, once again concentrating all his Magical Power into a single point and piercing through his opponent's chest.
It really was boring. Sonki supposedly had all his combat techniques, along with Magical Power and a body stronger than his own, yet the gap in realm was absurdly huge.
Especially now that Sonki had been provoked into completely abandoning defense and doing nothing but attack. The result was that Cid dodged every attack, while she took every one of his counterattacks. That made it even more boring.
Cid's evaluation: a bot match. Worse than Bronze. At least Bronze players could pull off a few flashy moves.
"Tap!"
Two fingers caught the white blade. Cid, who had been dodging like a phantom all this time, stood before the other dark figure and looked at her coldly.
"You actually have plenty of potential. But if you still can't recognize your own true heart, then forget it."
Disordered, chaotic words. Greed, depravity, cowardice, arrogance, and every other negative emotion fought to seize control of her mind. Cid had played along with her long enough, but he still could not sense Sonki's true heart at all. All he could say was that this fight had not made him happy from beginning to end.
"You want to escape me, or replace me, but you've overlooked one thing. You were never me. You have things I don't.
Your life may be brief, but I still respect your personhood. Independent consciousness born from the things I discarded, I hope you'll think carefully about which one is the real you."
Pitch-black slime tentacles extended from Cid's body and grabbed Eta in his right hand, freeing one of his hands so he could place a finger on Sonki's head. A faint blue-purple light gathered at his fingertip.
"Goodbye. The next time we meet, I hope you're using something that isn't my power, but something that truly belongs to you. If there is a next time."
The faint but unmistakable light pierced through Sonki's body and shot into the ocean. The dark figure that had maintained "Sherry's" appearance finally could not keep that form after the flash. She turned into a black silhouette and fell into the raging sea below.
"Splash!"
...
So this was the ending after all…
As if falling into an endless abyss, bone-piercing cold wrapped around "Sherry," making her feel as though she were sinking forever.
How should she put it? As for this ending, "Sherry" felt it was only natural. She had expected it from the beginning.
She was nothing more than a discarded part that had gained sentience. Even after plundering most of his power, she still could not change the enormous fundamental gap between herself and Cid. She had known that perfectly well while inside Cid's body. Even now, after being defeated, she still did not know what that gap truly was.
You were never me. You have things I don't.
Cid's words seemed to echo faintly beside "Sherry's" ear, but they only made her want to laugh. She had been born from Cid's body. How could she possibly have something Cid did not?
Mm, so be it. She would browse through the original's memories one last time, go through the whole pre-death flashback routine, and then disappear completely.
Recognize her own true heart…
"..."
Fine. She really was a little unwilling. Even if she knew this ending was only natural, she still could not accept it. If things ended like this, then what meaning had there been in her existence?
She bit her lip hard. A great many negative emotions appeared around "Sherry" and circled her, but after a flash of white light, those negative emotions rushed one after another into "Sherry's" body.
I'll admit for now that the original was right. The original and I really aren't the same person…
It was as if a slideshow had begun before her eyes. Cid's figure appeared in the dark space, but what played were facts that had never existed.
Greed. Cid seized the entire world and stripped everyone of their freedom…
Depravity. Cid gave up on his dream of becoming an Eminence in Shadow and used absolute power to achieve a lifetime of happiness…
Cowardice. Cid stopped getting stronger because he feared the pain of his body being crushed and that terrifying one hundred-thousandfold agony…
And…
Cid sealed a powerful force inside his body, grew up being bullied by everyone, then finally transformed into an agent of justice, saved the entire world, and became a great hero…
Cid set out to sea in search of legendary treasure, met new companions along the way, grew through death and separation, and overthrew a rotten government…
Cid got caught up in some kind of conspiracy, gained supernatural power after being stabbed, defeated the mastermind, and became the hero who saved the world…
All of these were illusions born from the desires and thoughts Cid had discarded…
In the world of fate, somewhere at the site of a vast rupture in severed fate lines, a faint light began to shine as the power of fate gathered.
"Original… no, Shadow. It looks like you've discarded quite a lot."
When people interact with one another, they often put on masks of their own to hide their true selves. But in reality, the self beneath the mask is only another mask.
In a certain sense, her moral bottom line was higher than Shadow's, because she really did have morals. But if asked what she had that Cid did not, unfortunately, nothing came to mind…
She was Cid's garbage heap given sentience, but that did not mean Cid would stop producing garbage in the future.
"Well, that's Shadow for you, the king of cryptic nonsense. He spends every waking moment talking in riddles no one understands, and even in the middle of a fight, after basically psychoanalyzing his opponent down to their great-great-grandparents, he still talks like a mystery novel. Knowing someone like that is my original self is honestly humiliating.
Forget it. Since I've figured out what my true heart is, and you've shown up too, please help me run through the resurrection procedure."
"Sherry" casually turned her head and looked at the orb of light that had appeared in the pitch-black space at some point, speaking with a sweet, shallow smile.
"Mm-hmm, mm-hmm… I still can't beat Shadow right now, so you want me to touch the fate line where I might beat Shadow before I go out. I didn't expect you to be this useful. Fine, fine, I'll think about it a little more… Did you really think I'd say that?!"
Looking at the large orb of light, Sonki seemed to hear the other party's voice. She nodded as if in agreement, then her expression abruptly changed. Black tentacles shot out and wrapped tightly around the orb.
"You may not compare to that inhuman freak Shadow, but for me, peeling apart your birth and thoughts only takes a few more looks."
Sonki slowly walked up to the orb of light after it stopped shining and placed one hand on it. The sphere that had lost its glow began to break down.
"Instead of reviving while Shadow is weakened and beating him, you want me to believe in your broken fate line? That's hilarious. If you really had that kind of ability, would you have needed to run so fast in front of me?"
As if struck where it hurt, the large orb of light being gradually devoured lit up faintly.
"Arguing back? Are you better than if?"
Watching the orb go completely dark, Sonki curled her lip in disdain.
"Still, I have to thank you. I don't know what I have that Shadow doesn't, but you are one of the realms Shadow doesn't know. So I'll use you to defeat Shadow!!!"
...
Watching the dark shadow sink, Cid took Eta from the slime tentacle and prepared to leave.
"Huff…" "Boom!"
The sky, where faint starlight could still be seen, was covered layer upon layer by thick black clouds. Winding lightning descended from the heavens like dancing dragons and serpents, rumbling within the dark clouds, while the ocean below, which had nearly calmed, once again turned violent.
Sensing the powerful airflow erupting from somewhere behind him, Cid looked at the sky covered in black clouds. Below, the ocean formed from black water reflected his figure under the violent golden glow of the surrounding golden lightning pillars. He stopped and slowly turned around.
"Boom!"
White wave trails whipped through the air. Cid raised his head and saw Sonki blocking in front of him, golden pressure covering her like invisible flames. Her black hair had been dyed gold and now fluttered in the air. An excited smile appeared on Cid's face as two tentacles extended from him and caught Sherry and Eta as they fell below.
A black vortex erupted, tearing the whole sky in half together with the golden pressure. Black eyes met that pair of emerald-green eyes.
"Now this is a real clash between the strong!!!"
...
A black gale rose, and the surging air currents swept up all the dark clouds high in the sky, moving them across the entire world. A rumble that truly resounded throughout the world exploded beside everyone's ears. Like a doomsday flood, pitch-black waves flecked with white foam began to reverse and gather force, while the planet let out a wail as it began to break apart.
"Damn it, what's going on?!"
Giada stopped in her tracks and looked up in shock at the sky, which had been clear only a few minutes ago but now looked like the end of the world.
"Rumble…"
Another roar sounded. The entire crust shifted violently, making Itogami Island shake. Buildings all around began to collapse, cracks in the ground swallowed passersby, and fallen boulders started rolling.
Giada's face turned pale. In the repeated rumbling just now, she had sensed it. Somewhere on the planet beneath her feet, one or more unknown objects were moving at high speed, constantly destroying the planet.
"What do I do?"
Giada closed her eyes. She never could have imagined running into something like this after ganging up on and killing the three-headed dragon, right on her way to retrieve the Fourth Primogenitor.
"Huff…"
A few seconds later, Giada exhaled and decided to follow the original plan and go find the Fourth Primogenitor. As for the task of stopping the individual currently destroying the world… she would leave that to someone else.
There was no helping it. How was she supposed to stop a crisis like this? She had to hurry and obtain the Star-Bound Beast Vassal inside the Fourth Primogenitor. That way, even if the planet broke apart, she could still escape.
As for Cid's blood… priorities mattered. If there was still time after obtaining the Star-Bound Beast Vassal, she would take Cid with her too.