Pick Me Up!-Chapter 307.1: Ragnarok (12) (1)

Collapse had begun.

Boom!

The entire city shook as if it were about to fall apart.

And from the black hole, countless fragments came bursting out.

[Fragment of Chaos Lv.113] X 13,253

[Fragment of Despair Lv.108] X 17,643

[Fragment of Resentment Lv.121] X 12,289

KIIIIIEEEK!

A scream that shattered the mind of anyone who ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) heard it.

The Reapers were covering the entire sky as they plummeted down toward Eden.

<Fire! Fire, now!>

The defense forces began their counterattack.

Massive weapons placed on rooftops across the buildings unleashed waves of flame.

Thousands of leading fragments evaporated in an instant. But even more—tens of times more—rushed in to fill the gap.

‘Told you to run.’

They said they could hold for an hour, but that was total crap.

The fragments were pouring out of the hole without end.

[Fragment of Chaos Lv.113] X 113,253

[Fragment of Despair Lv.108] X 117,643

[Fragment of Resentment Lv.121] X 112,289

Already well into the hundreds of thousands.

The city’s night lights were being swallowed by the shadows they cast.

‘And those are just a portion.’

You couldn’t count their numbers in hundreds of thousands, or millions—or even tens of millions.

That was my true enemy. An apocalyptic force so massive it could blanket the entire universe and still have more to spare.

“Are you ready to run?”

<We’ve loaded most civilians onto the evacuation airships. But... to open the server’s gate, we still need time...>

I looked behind me.

At the edge of Eden, a massive airship the size of several hundred meters was waiting to launch.

“Don’t worry. I’ll open the gate.”

I flicked my index finger.

Golden magic began to bloom at the edge of the sky, and a colossal dimensional gate opened.

“Get in through that gate. You’ll be able to escape to Server 2. Get out before the gate closes.”

<...Understood.>

“You can promise me, right? That you’ll bring the world back one more time.”

<On my soul... I swear it.>

“Good.”

The fragments collided with the city’s first defensive line.

Missiles, machine guns, beam weapons—all of it fired in a desperate barrage. But it didn’t last long. The fragments erased several kilometers in a blink, like locusts tearing through a cornfield.

‘A lot of them.’

I looked up at the sky.

[Fragment of Chaos Lv.113] X 763,253

[Fragment of Despair Lv.108] X 587,643

[Fragment of Resentment Lv.121] X 492,289

I couldn’t even see the hole anymore.

At this point, human senses couldn’t grasp it.

[Core of Chaos Lv.322] X 5,843

[Core of Despair Lv.315] X 3,111

[Core of Resentment Lv.311] X 4,289

The city once called Server 1 was vanishing, starting from the front.

<Loki, I brought the juniors!>

Middle of the road.

A manhole cover popped open, and a small girl leapt out.

Frey—the fairy who once managed Townia.

Soon, a pillar of light shot up from the manhole.

A mass of fairies gathered in a single place.

“What about the vault?”

<We just barely found it. It was overflowing with Gems. I’ll deliver them to Cizel!>

Gems.

The crystallized interference power, extracted from the wallets of users.

They’d serve as essential fuel for restoring the world.

<NyaaaAAaaaa!>

The hundreds of thousands of Iselles floated briefly, then began heading toward the evacuation airships.

<It’s... over?>

“Yeah. It’s over.”

Tell was dead, and the company had collapsed.

Another war had reached its final period.

<Now we fight the fragments, huh.>

Frey smiled faintly.

Then, fluttering her wings, she tried to fly toward me.

<Loki, from now on let’s stay toge—>

“No.”

I opened my right hand.

The Dimensional Sword appeared in my grip.

I slashed across the earth behind me.

Wuuuuuum!

A golden barrier rose between me and Frey.

<Huh?>

“You’ve done well, Frey. Now go live your own life. Cizel will help you.”

<What are you talking about, Loki? Loki!>

Frey shot forward, wings wide—but slammed into the barrier.

<Open this! You said... you said you wouldn’t abandon me!>

“......”

<You’re kidding, right? You said you’d give me a real body. You said you wouldn’t leave me! Loki! Loki!! Don’t do this! I’m useful! With you, I... I want to be with you...!>

I gripped the Dimensional Sword tighter.

The golden blade turned black.

<Please, please...>

“I’m sorry.”

<WaaaAAaaaAAaang!>

Frey collapsed, sobbing.

‘What a fool.’

You were deceived by me.

I slashed the Dimensional Sword once more.

The golden barrier darkened into black.

The world behind my back was no longer visible.

The dimension had been completely severed.

GROOOOHH!

The fragments tried to punch through the wall to advance—but they only spun in place.

Of course. Until I die, no one’s getting out of here.

“GYAAAAAH!”

The fragments, having devoured nearly the whole city,

began to spiral in the sky above, like a vortex.

“Two-point-seven million years, huh.”

That was the time it would take me to eliminate the fragments.

But honestly...

“That’s a lie.”

It couldn’t be true.

That’s all the time it would take?

Twenty-seven million?

Two hundred seventy million?

No. No way.

I closed my eyes.

Tell’s whisper echoed in my ears.

‘In infinite time, you will continue an eternal war.’

Until the end of the universe.

‘No one will remember you.’

Forgotten.

Unable to feel anything.

You’ll vanish, a ghost.

‘...Was this really the ending I wanted?’

I don’t know.

Not anymore.

I can’t remember what I was thinking when I set this absurd plan in motion.

The panorama of my life is mostly empty now.

Like a burned album—most of my memories are gone.

“Loki.”

My name.

There used to be another one, didn’t there?

I’ve forgotten it.

“O, you who transcended.”

I turned my head.

From the far end of the alley, an old man stumbled toward me.

“Alpha Zero, huh.”

“That title doesn’t mean much anymore. Call me Lucadis.”

He’d aged a lot.

When I first saw him, he looked like a man in his fifties. Now he looked ready for the grave.

“I told you to run. Why did you stay?”

“I’ve lived long enough. What’s the point of dragging on this ugly life?”

Hack.

The old man coughed.

Blood seeped from between his lips.

‘Now that I think about it, he used to stutter, didn’t he?’

His body had weakened, but his eyes were clearer than ever.

A final burst of energy before death—what they call the light before the end.

It felt like he was using everything he had left.