My past suddenly came to mind. Am I going to die now?

.

.

.

"Hmm...?"

My consciousness returned. The distinctive oily smell of the Weaverpool territory stung my nose.

I only heard the Goddess calling out urgently. I stood up again.

But I was already standing.

"Huh? Why am I...?"

The Goddess bombarded me with questions as if she had been waiting. She must have been very worried. I felt unnecessarily sorry.

"I think I fainted for a moment."

I glared straight ahead. Lao raised an eyebrow, provoking me.

"You’re holding up pretty well, but I’ll go all out! Heheheh!"

Ziiing, shiiiiiing!

Lao fired an endless barrage of incredibly powerful beams.

I held my breath and charged. I ran straight ahead, closing the distance. Just as I was about to draw my sword, guards intervened between me and Lao.

"Protect the Lord!"

"Protect him!"

Damn it.

I couldn’t kill innocent people. If I tried to go around, a beam would inevitably fly at me.

Shiiiiing, kyaaaang!

Smoke billowed up. This much smoke, at night, in this dark place.

I gasped for breath and somehow moved. Using the smoke as cover, I approached Lao from behind.

[Vane Severing Sword Style - Nameless Thrust]

The fastest strike I could perform!

But Lao’s necklace looked at me like and fired a beam. Not only did it nullify my attack, but it also sent me flying backward again.

"Heheheh, thank you. Really, thank you, Lucian! Is it because of your pressure that my talent has bloomed? I can see right through your thoughts!"

Bullshit. What thoughts can you see?

"Bullshit, what thoughts can you see? I can see everything, I tell you! Heheheh!"

For a moment, I was speechless. Can he really read thoughts?

So that’s why he nullified everything, no matter how I found an opening.

"This... is the worst."

Lao unleashed a barrage of beams. The best I could do was barely deflect them or narrowly dodge them.

Neither direct attacks nor irregular tactics worked.

Even trying to use Lynn to distract him at the right moment didn’t work. Instead, I was countered.

"Kih-hee-hing!"

As Lynn returned to the ring, Lao whistled.

"Hoo, you. You have a strange ring, don’t you?"

There was no way. I had faced an enemy who could read my thoughts.

No, isn’t that just cheating from the start?

Moreover, that necklace he has is completely overpowered.

"Ah, Lucian... please!"

"No, Hero!"

The women were already caught by the guards. They looked at me in despair.

My heart ached seeing those women.

I actually wanted to. But unlike other times, using the Goddess’s power now was dangerous.

When the Goddess uses her power, I feel almost completely one with her. What if I get hit by a beam while using her power in this situation?

"What if that causes great damage to the Goddess? She’s already lost her power and memories from when she was a goddess, could she endure that...?"

If I took another beam like the one before, I wasn’t confident I’d survive.

Even if I died, wouldn’t it be truly miserable if the Goddess died too?

So what should I do?

Suddenly, a fragment of the past came to mind.

I had been frustrated. It felt like a hell I couldn’t even imagine had descended.

"Haa, fuck."

A curse word escaped me naturally. I shook my head and glared at Lao.

"No... this is different from back then. I have talent, and I’m not alone. Why give up, Lucian, you dumbass!"

If there’s no other way, the answer has always been a frontal assault.

"I’ll reach the ultimate technique of the Vane Severing Sword Style."

I charged at Lao. I poured all my strength into launching a fierce assault.

Lao dodged everything, as if to prove he could read my thoughts.

"I see it, I see it! And—!"

Zuuung, shiiiiiing! Shiiiiiing!

Lao, instead, mocked me and counterattacked with beams. I tried to clear my mind and moved to his flank.

[Vane Severing Sword Style - White Lightning Strike]

A strike that only needed a moment’s time. Lao easily dodged that strike.

But the real one is this!

[Vane Severing Sword Style - Branch Pruning]

Huuk, taetaetaetaetaetang!

Surprisingly, he created multiple beams through his necklace, instantly nullifying my attack.

"With the power of the mind!"

And then a beam flew from over his shoulder, striking my chest and disappearing.

"Cough...!"

"Let me ask you one thing I’m truly curious about. Do you honestly think you can beat me? Really...?"

Lao tilted his chin up, looking down at me arrogantly. This bastard who mind-controlled countless people and killed the Lord to impersonate him.

Yes, I admit it.

Until now, I’d fought battles I could win. I had a plan to win, and the opponent was someone it would work against, right?

This is the first time it’s not. This is a completely different kind of problem.

I can’t defeat an opponent who reads thoughts. Then...?

"I will reach the pinnacle of Vane."

It’s fine if I collapse here. It’s fine if I die! After all, I’m a guy who lives only for today, not tomorrow.

That was the Debauched Hero, and that was the human named Lucian.

I decided to live that way after opening my eyes in this world and discovering my talent, didn’t I?

So let’s go with that. I’ll stick to my path as a man.

"Haaaaa!"

I let out a battle cry and rushed at him. Lao sighed and fired a beam.

I narrowly dodged the visible beams. I barely avoided a beam coming from his blind spot and slid.

I sprang up and got behind Lao. I raised my sword with all my might.

"I’ll stake everything, to protect those precious to me!"

My heart pounded as if it would burst. As if warning me that this moment might be my last.

I thought of the women I had formed bonds with, and shared my body with.

Angela, Aunt, Fiora, Dinora, horny rabbit Lumina, cool partner Zara Ravenscoft, bitch slave Anya, lewd nun Lorel, interesting woman Piery.

And... even Goddess Isis, who smiled shyly at me.

The faces of countless women flashed by in quick succession. Remembering the passionate moments I shared with them, I brought my sword down.

"It’s fine to die, if it’s to fight to protect you all. Show and Prove!"

My sword bounced off. Lao had already nullified it.

"That won’t work, you dumbassssssss!"

He prepared a beam. I couldn’t dodge it now.

"Thanks for closing the distance for me. Goodbye, hypocrite!"

Up close, the energy felt even more overwhelming and unavoidable.

My entire body trembled, and my heart pounded as if it would burst.

If that hit me directly, I’d die.

As the endlessly expanding mana was finally about to be discharged as a beam.

Even then, I felt pity for Lao. Because if I were you, I would have been similar.

"Villains aren’t born, they’re made in the end. I hope you live a human life in some multiverse too... I wish it for you."

I smiled lightly.

My sword felt light.

The hand holding the sword felt like a feather too.

The sword that had been repelled, impossibly wavered and blurred.

As if causality itself was distorted, the tip of the blade moved towards Lao, not me. As if time was rewinding, as if drawn by a magnet.

And the blade seemed to split into two, then three.

Lao was horrified by the sight.

"What? What is this...!"

Lao’s bewildered face. His eyes widened as if they would pop out.

The split blade instantly enveloped Lao. His entire upper body.

[Vane Severing Sword Style Ultimate Technique - Sparrow Drop]

His lower jaw was severed, his chest was pierced, and his abdomen was split open, spilling his intestines.

Even in this situation, Lao seemed not to know what had happened, only staring at me. Even though he could read my memories.

"Uh-eh? Uh-heh?!"

Lao, whose lower jaw was severed, couldn’t even speak properly. He collapsed, spraying blood.

I turned my back on Lao and returned my sword to its sheath. Then I slumped down as if my soul had left me. I could hear Lao’s wailing from behind, close to sobbing, but.

[Enemy defeated!]

[Acquired 25000 Collector Points (CP)!]

Like most sword styles, the Vane Severing Sword Style also has techniques close to ultimate moves.

The Ultimate Technique. A name given because it "cuts the life" without fail.

Using it directly on a person felt strange.

"Lucian, are you okay? Lucian!"

"Lucian, Hero! Ugh, h-huh!"

The women rushed over and embraced me. The surrounding guards looked around, bewildered.

"What happened? Why are we...?"

"Something happened just now... right?"

"What’s wrong with the mansion? Huh? Isn’t that the Hero?"

Finally, I could breathe.

The guards’ expressions also looked complex, as if their memories were mixed up.

Regardless, I looked up at the night sky and collapsed spread-eagled.

"I did it. That’s enough. I did well, didn’t I, everyone?"

I silently conveyed the words I wanted to tell the women I had thought of, and then closed my eyes.