Chapter 127: Holding the Lamp of Ambition, Part 13

The needle hidden in my right fist pierces Lycaon's lower jaw simultaneously with the uppercut's impact. Written out, it's simple—slamming super firepower with defense penetration—but the actual scene is quite stimulating.

The energy injected from the needle invades and shatters even the materialized night. The feeling of use is close to a pile bunker, but the needle is strictly preparation for the destructive power. Centered on the piercing point, Lycaon's lower jaw crystallizes, and after making any armor easier to shatter, the accumulated destructive power is released.

"Ooraa!!"

An eruption of energy sufficient to lift Lycaon's jaw, which is large enough to crush a human, from below explodes at point-blank range. The golden explosion shatters Lycaon's lower jaw, and cracks run through my right fist.

"Uo, guuuuuuu!?"

My right fist tries to rampage against my will; the golden destruction released from below tries to push my right fist back. I panic and try to support my right fist, but at that timing, an exceptionally large explosion scatters shockwaves to both me and Lycaon.

"Bu!?"

If I had to compare, it's like suddenly taking a hit from a giant electric fan at maximum output all over my body. The restricted expression of pain becomes a "Pressure" that temporarily erases sensation, slapping my entire body.

Unfortunately, I am only fixing my body with two legs, so I cannot maintain a stance strong enough to resist the pushing impact, and like a trash mob blown away by a playable character in a Musou game, I was blown straight back.

"Sunraku-san!"

"I'm fine! Smash him!!"

My whole body feels heavy, as if locked. I remember this sensation; proof that my HP is a candle in the wind.

"Even at 80%, it's this much..."

At 200%, wouldn't my body be blown away?

If I fail the landing, even the HP remaining by a millimeter will be lost, and I'll be the only one waking up in bed despite coming this far.

"But with this level of operability!!"

Compared to the terrible operability of Trash Games in the dawn of Full Dive, which I jumped on for being cutting edge but couldn't handle, this is nothing! At least the operability is far more comfortable than experiencing lag offline!!

Forcibly bending my body in mid-air, I shift my center of gravity forward. Simple sandals push aside grass and dig up soil, carving two lines into the ground to reduce backward inertia. The forward-tilted center of gravity tries to blow me backwards if I lose focus, so I'll change my approach.

"In short, if I recover enough not to die even if I tumble...!"

Placed recovery, thrown recovery, mouth-held reserve recovery, bathed recovery, soaked recovery, sucked recovery, explosive recovery, flying recovery, falling recovery, recovery update, stacked recovery, delayed recovery, dodge recovery, betrayal recovery, recovery disguised as HP adjustment self-harm, HP adjustment self-harm disguised as recovery... Drinking type, crushing type, praying type; for me, who has covered all recovery situations and methods, recovering while being blown away is a piece of cake. Forget boiling tea with my navel; I can make fried rice on high heat.

Bending my legs that were preventing a fall in a form like clumsy backward running, I twist the backward momentum upward. Taking out a recovery potion before landing, I forcibly pour it over my mask to soak in... Ah, even if it's a Bird Mask, my current one is metal. Did wearing a bird mask too much make my brain a bird brain?

"Did I die... Hm?"

Someone is coming this way, and adding to that, catching me with that avatar and stats is impossible, Akitsu Akane...

"Ugoa!?"

"Ouch!"

Gori, with the sensation of the fox mask crashing into my back, Akitsu Akane and I were blown away together. Fortunately, thanks to Akitsu Akane herself becoming a cushion absorbing most of the impact, we overcame the damage judgment, avoiding the goofy punchline of dying from a landing mistake, but...

"Th-Thanks..."

"I-I'm honored..."

In a gal game, this might have been a posture like pinning her down, but unfortunately, we are in the middle of a fierce battle, so there is zero sex appeal. Thanking the spirit of Akitsu Akane who landed on her knees on top of me as we both rolled and I fell face down, I gesture for her to move quickly.

Now, everyone set the table... Show us the highest firepower that stands above all players in ShanFro.

"I am the one who reels in chaos. Existing in the heavens, I soar to the ends of the sky; existing in the abyss, I dive to the bottom of the deep."

This Secret Art (Skill) is given the name "Trump Card" due to the setting coloring the worldview. Although power and effect decrease, unlike magic where chanting can be skipped, it is a rather troublesome Secret Art that forces a long chant in addition to complex activation conditions, but its power can be summed up in one word: immense.

"Two-Faced Demon, still reaching out to the zenith."

"Catastrophe" of Heavenly Emperor Demon Lord (Satan) and "Apocalypse" of Demon Lord Heavenly Emperor (Satanael). A chaotic strike fusing holy and evil, unveiled only against a great enemy that cannot be defeated even with two Secret Arts. The sword and armor obtainable by clearing the two Unique Scenarios "Demon Lord Reaching for the Hegemonic Heavens" and its counterpart "Heavenly Emperor Stepping into the Hegemonic Abyss" begin to transform. When the "Divine Demon Greatsword (Antinomy)" takes on an attribute, the "Armor of Two Faces," which isolates the opposing attribute hindering it, abandons its role, rapidly returning to its original rusted red-earth form. Conversely, light and darkness swirl in the Divine Demon Greatsword, and the collision of opposite energies births further power.

"O Great Enemy blocking my path of hegemony, no one but I is needed to lead my path. Thus, my single blow shatters all phenomena blocking the way."

The intersection of white and black aims for the jet-black wolf. The Fire Bird pinned it down, the Vorpal Magic Rabbit shook it. The Fox-Masked Ninja illuminated it, the Vorpal Samurai Rabbit held it back. And the terrible jaws were shattered by the Bird Head carrying the Wolf's Curse. Darkness overflowing from the wound forms the skeletal structure of the lower jaw, creates fangs, constructs muscles and skin, rapidly reconstructing the lower jaw, but Lycaon, now completely on the back foot, stares at Psyger-0, Akitsu Akane, the two Vorpal Bunnies, and Sunraku with eyes harboring a kind of resolve.

"My body is Satanael in heaven, Satan in evil. Executing chaos in one dual face."

For Psyger-0, this Secret Art was recognized as rather useless due to "being troublesome to learn and having almost no situations to use," but now she feels it existed for the realization of this moment. To fulfill Sunraku's expectations, the accumulation until now, and the assigned role, she brings the curtain down on the long battle. Psyger-0 swings down the greatsword with the end of the chant.

"Sing the End of the Beginning ......... 'Armageddon'!!!"

The unleashed intersection of white and black, a chain where unleashed destructive power bites and crushes subsequent destructive power, a torrent of energy increasing in strength step by step slams into Lycaon in a spiral. A genuine "Ultimate Attack" slamming in damage judgment by Multiplication of ten stages starting from the 1.0x "First Strike" shaves away Lycaon's resources with tremendous momentum.

When the last wave dispersed and the brilliance of white and black disappeared into the night sky where the moon also began to set, there was the figure of Lycaon with its left half missing. Its appearance seems about to collapse as maintaining its original form itself is difficult, and in fact, standing should be impossible since the left half is cleanly gone, yet the jet-black wolf was standing.

"Still... not enough...?"

"I'd like to be spared from loss time from here..."

Sunraku, Akitsu Akane, Emul, and Ceecrue stand in front to protect Psyger-0, who lost color and power from her sword and armor as the price for activating "Armageddon" and turned into the wreckage of a rusted, decaying knight. Lycaon distorts the corners of her mouth in heartfelt amusement at the tiny existences confronting him............ and finally let his body collapse. Only Suzaku pierced into the ground remained in that place.

"Did we, do it...?"

"That's a flag... No seriously, stop with the flags..."

"W-We did it, you two! We defeated Lycaon!"

Psyger-0 looking anxious, Sunraku concerned about the meaning of words, and Akitsu Akane rejoicing in victory. While each thinks about the current situation, the three players notice it later than the two rabbits.

"Su, Sunraku-san... s-she is looking desu wa! L-Lycaon is!!"

"Akitsu Akane-dono, Lycaon is still There-de gozaru...!"

There is no form, but the conviction that he is certainly there makes the three humans and two rabbits direct their senses to a single point in the darkness where nothing should be. The presence existing where nothing should be simply stared quietly at the Pioneers who defeated her clone, and laughed. At least, Psyger-0 felt so.

[Title: Piercer of the Shadow Wolf acquired]

[Special State: Lamp of Guidance acquired]

[Do you wish to start Unique Scenario EX "The Lamp of Courage Dispels the Night Darkness"? Yes / No]

Author's Afterword
In this single chapter "Holding the Lamp of Ambition, Part 13," I crammed in foreshadowing for important settings in the worldview of the game Shangri-La Frontier, especially regarding Heroine-chan's equipment and Lycaon's characteristics.

Armageddon
Can only be activated when skills "Apocalypse" and "Catastrophe" have been used five times on the same target, and the target's HP has not run out. As written in the text, it is the ultimate trump card slamming in a total of eleven damage judgments with ten stages of multiplication from 1.1x to 2.0x starting from the first strike.
1.0x attack -> 1.1x attack -> (omitted) -> 1.9x attack -> 2.0x attack; since it multi-hits, simply put, the opponent dies.
After use, the sword and armor are weakened to junk level for a while; in other words, a literally sure-win trump card that refuses further combat. If one were to lose using this, the user would be imposed with a penalty more terrible than death... specifically, the sword and armor become cursed equipment covered in status ailments, leading to a terrible situation.