**387. Service Termination**
—
“…… Knight *Isabella* of the Round Table has claimed victory!”
Kasim frowned.
He had been certain he would never lose.
Certain—utterly convinced—that even if he wanted to lose, it would be impossible!
…And yet, this was already his third consecutive defeat.
*Why?*
He could not understand it.
Every member of the Radiant Order was the same as Kasim himself.
They possessed strength equal to his—meaning that in the human realm, they should have no equal.
And in truth, this woman called *Isabella* did not surpass him in raw ability.
And yet……
He lost.
Despite the overwhelming gap in power, he was defeated.
What was even more absurd was that he did not know *why*.
Strength, reflexes, even the depth of swordsmanship—by every measure, he was incomparably superior.
“Three wins already!”
“Isabella? I’ve never heard that name before.”
“She’s beating knights even Serengeti couldn’t defeat, one after another……!”
“Hah, seems the Round Table had a hidden ace.”
The people marveled.
Everyone gathered in the Holy Capital Adrium did.
Because Isabella’s heavy sword kept producing miracles.
But that was not the only reason for their admiration.
“She’s…… beautiful.”
“I can’t take my eyes off her……”
“It’s like looking at a flower blooming on a cliff.”
It wasn’t only Isabella’s disposition that had changed.
Everything about her had.
She could not even be compared to the days when she had lived in the desert city as the Snake Princess.
Ruling the desert city of Faisalmer had bestowed upon her a dignity none dared encroach upon, and through countless trials and awakenings, her body had completed its metamorphosis.
Bone and muscle were balanced in flawless symmetry.
Her clear, unblemished skin and bearing surpassed even that of the noblest aristocrats, and after saving her friend Sonora, even her gaze had come to hold a relaxed composure.
There was nothing left that could trouble her.
Likewise, nothing she could not overcome.
—*You have become a star yourself, child.*
Her Named Star, *Jörmungandr*, spoke.
That Isabella herself had become a star.
A radiant star whose bright light embraced the world.
In Pangaenia, there was likely no one who shone brighter than she did.
Her exterior and interior alike had matured, and at last, she had become whole.
—*You are truly beautiful.*
Perhaps that was why.
Isabella had acquired a peculiar allure that drew all eyes to her.
Not only humans—even Jörmungandr acknowledged the powerful aura she now possessed.
Yet it was not an allure one could easily approach.
Unreachable—truly a flower on a cliff.
“……”
So much so that even the Demon of Pride was affected.
Frederich, King of the Iron Kingdom.
At some point, he found himself staring at Isabella as though bewitched.
This should have been impossible.
Because he was *Pride* itself.
A being who regarded himself as supreme and looked down on all others.
He loved himself too deeply to ever hold another in his gaze.
*That I…… had my eyes stolen……*
Coming to his senses belatedly, Pride furrowed his brow.
He could hardly believe that he—himself the Demon of Pride—had been staring endlessly at a human woman.
As though entranced.
Even for one who had lived through countless eons, this was an unfamiliar experience.
Was it because she was winning consecutive victories against the Radiant Order?
No. That wasn’t it.
The reason was simple.
……Because she was beautiful.
Because she possessed what he did not.
*I want…… her.*
He wanted to corrupt her.
To break her and make her his.
As Isabella continued her matches, that desire only grew stronger.
“Next, Knight *Alberto* of the Radiant Order will enter the arena!”
The moment the announcer called the name—
The instant Sir Alberto stepped forward—
“Ah, Alberto? Isn’t he the vice-commander?”
“The one who severed the left arm of that evil god……!”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
If no other names were remembered, Kasim and Alberto were names that would certainly appear in the history books.
Everyone began to focus, wondering what outcome would emerge.
“……Ah.”
That was when it happened.
The moment Isabella faced Alberto, vice-commander of the Radiant Order—
Suddenly.
Her body began to tremble.
The anomaly did not stop there.
Clang!
Isabella’s grip loosened, and she dropped her sword.
The moment the blade hit the ground, everyone gasped in shock.
A knight dropping her sword before her opponent!
Had she been frightened?
Or had her strength finally been exhausted after so many matches?
“No……!”
Crunch!
Isabella clutched her own arms tightly.
Lowering her stance, she stared at the ground as her trembling worsened, fear evident in her posture.
The unbelievable—something that should never happen—had occurred.
The person who had made the present Isabella possible.
She had always felt his presence.
She had been aware of a thread—like fate, or a bond—connecting them.
And because of that, she had been able to overcome every trial and find stability.
She had only just emerged from a dark world of isolation, begun to express herself more, begun to see the light—
And yet now—
…the thread had been severed.
There was only one reason that thread could break.
“N-no……”
Tears welled in Isabella’s eyes.
Even so, she could not bring herself to accept reality.
The cruel reality…… of Park Hyun-myung’s death.
A few steps ahead of the others, she realized it.
And—
Her world was dyed in darkness once more.
*
*
The power possessed by the Golden Spirit was overwhelmingly immense.
Even without absorbing all of it, Mammon was no longer the Mammon of before.
“Basara! I’ve always hated you the most!”
Drunk on power, the Third Lord Mammon pressed down upon the Seventh Lord Basara.
However, Basara was invincible.
She could only be harmed by those toward whom she felt emotion.
And yet—
*The conditions are being forcibly Release.*
The power held by that *Golden Spirit* was of such a transcendent order.
It was analyzing her—and forcibly Releasing even her conditions.
That was no mere spirit.
*The Golden Spirit is a monster of Main-God rank.*
Main Gods.
Beings referred to as the central, ruling gods even among gods themselves.
It was said that even Destruction could not easily kill a Main God.
Take, for example, the two goddesses.
Of course, the goddess *Pina*, who met her end at the hands of the Demon King, had already lost most of her rank and was weaker than an ordinary god.
But the Golden Spirit before them was different.
It possessed a complete Main-God rank—true power.
Thus……
It could not even be imitated.
Analyzing that power was no simple task.
A monster beyond Basara’s capabilities.
That was the Golden Spirit.
And yet—she was the Seventh Lord Basara.
…One who never surrendered.
“You always looked down on me. As a lofty Dragon God, how insignificant must I—a mere spirit—have seemed to you?”
“…So you remember even that.”
The Golden Spirit.
It forced one closer to truth.
Originally, the Third Lord Mammon had been an ordinary spirit.
It was the Demon King who had turned him into a Primordial Spirit.
But Mammon had not remembered that.
There was no benefit in remembering.
“I have approached truth. I am truth itself.”
Mammon’s eyes shone with golden light.
Countless *Golden Spirits* floated around him, ceaselessly emitting light that pressed down upon Basara.
And each time that light touched her, Basara’s *conditions* were gradually Released.
“Ghk—ghgggggh—!”
Then suddenly, Mammon’s body began to writhe.
Having absorbed more power than his capacity allowed, he began to run wild.
Kuuurrrr!
Kwakwakwakwakwa—*BOOM!*
Kwaaaaaa—*BOOM!*
The amount of light being discharged increased exponentially.
Power that destroyed and erased everything.
“I—I-I-I-I—!”
How could a mere Primordial Spirit contain the full power of a Main God?
Basara expanded her mana.
*At this rate…… everything will vanish.*
Not just this Abyssal world.
Earth would vanish as well.
It was questionable whether there was anything capable of stopping that Golden Spirit.
So it had to be stopped.
At the very least, it had to end here.
Kwarang!
That was when it happened.
From beneath the underground cavern, someone broke through the wall and appeared.
A figure mounted on a steed.
Seeing him, Basara tilted her head.
“…… The *Sunken Emperor*?”
Why would the Sunken Emperor be here?
He should never have been able to enter the domain of the Golden Spirit.
—…….
The Sunken Emperor said nothing.
He simply looked calmly at Mammon and Basara.
As if he had known this would happen.
And he was not the only one who appeared.
—F-Forgive us, Golden Spirit!
—Please quell your wrath!
—We are here……!
The Spirit Kings.
Agnis, King of Fire.
Uhm, King of Earth.
Shandi, King of Wind.
And Shandi also carried within him the essence once held by Iquerel, the Water Spirit King.
The problem was that most of them were not in a normal state.
Agnis and Uhm, in particular, had shrunk endlessly, on the verge of vanishing.
Drip!
And just like that—
The rampage stopped, as if nothing had happened.
“……So this was your plan from the beginning, Sunken Emperor.”
Only then did Basara realize why the Sunken Emperor had attacked the Lord of the Grave in the Mountain of Earth.
He had been aware of this situation from the start.
He had intended to extract the Spirit Kings from every mountain and use them to stabilize the Golden Spirit.
He had attacked only because the entrance was blocked.
Most likely, it was also the Sunken Emperor who had released Shandi’s seal.
At that moment, the Sunken Emperor slowly opened his mouth.
“It is not over yet.”
“Then?”
“Now it begins. The contractor—*he*—is dead.”
“*He*……?”
“The one contracted with the Fire and Earth Spirit Kings.”
“……”
Park Hyun-myung…… was dead?
In this chaos, dying was not strange.
If anything, even multiple lives might not have been enough.
And yet, for some reason, it was hard to accept.
“Soon, the two Spirit Kings will vanish. And the Golden Spirit will rampage again.”
Once it rampaged, it could not be stopped.
And with the contractor dead, the disappearance of the two Spirit Kings was inevitable.
At best, they could only buy a little time.
But at the words *Park Hyun-myung is dead*, Basara found herself unable to regain her composure.
She did not even understand why her chest hurt.
Biting her lip, Basara asked,
“……What should I do?”
“Ask as one qualified as a Dragon God. If you do, it will answer now.”
The qualification of a Dragon God?
Hearing that, Basara shook her head.
She no longer possessed such qualification.
She had been a mutant from the start—and had never truly had the qualification of a Dragon God.
Nor did she bear the lofty duty of protecting the world like the Dragon Gods did.
More than anything, she herself had never considered herself a Dragon God.
And yet—what could she ask the Golden Spirit?
Even so, Basara spoke again to the Sunken Emperor.
“What should I ask?”
The Sunken Emperor lifted his gaze upward.
His eyes were unreadable.
Among all the lords of the Abyss present, he was the most enigmatic.
His thoughts, his motives—nothing about him could be predicted.
Yet, he knew far more than one would expect.
He seemed to know what needed to be done next.
Then, looking at Basara, the Sunken Emperor said,
“The way to resurrect *Park Hyun-myung*.”
He spoke a name he should not have known.
