Chapter 21: The Side Story
Nothing held meaning in the presence of the man.
It was utterly meaningless.
What unfolded was a one-sided massacre, not even worthy of being called a fight. In the face of this being, the advanced Type-2 armor, the old empire’s technology, and the cause of the revolution were all rendered insignificant. Not a single thing was exempt. Revolution, struggle, justice, and all forms of ‘meaning’ crumbled like a sandcastle, unable to even form the morphemes of meaning.
The god of meaninglessness stood there.
“You… you monster…!”
And in front of this being, the desperate struggles of humans were, quite literally, utterly meaningless.
“Did you call me a monster?”
The man asked the trembling Type-2 armored soldiers, who were paralyzed with fear.
“Eek!”
The night raven’s robe fluttered as if alive, its hem splitting into countless tendrils. Like Shub-Niggurath of old, the tendrils writhed beneath the robe, toying with his enemies.
With the cruel innocence of a child playing with ants, the shadowy tendrils slithered towards the advanced Type-2 armor, wrapping around it effortlessly.
“Such a crude attempt.”
The magic armor was never meant to be a weapon of the revolutionaries. It was a weapon forged by the magicians of the Fourth Empire for the imperial heavy infantry once known as the ‘Black Armor Company.’
The essence of magic accumulated by the great magic empire, yet nothing more, nothing less. Hence, Dale mocked.
“Did you truly think you could challenge me with mere trinkets meant for my soldiers?”
The demon lord moved forward, tendrils of shadow trailing behind him.
The armored soldiers were ensnared, unable to move a finger. Dale walked calmly among them.
Beneath the raven-black robe, an unfathomable sea of shadows and tendrils writhed.
“Die, you monster…!”
One of the soldiers, bound by tendrils, desperately reached out. An arm, wrapped in black metal, twisted like a 21st-century armored weapon, forming a gun.
Boom!
An explosion roared. Yet, amidst the chaos, Dale continued his steady pace. It was, as expected, meaningless.
“Meaningless.”
“You… you monster…!”
Right in front of him.
The soldier who fired the gun muttered in shock, and Dale tilted his head, puzzled.
“Do I look like a monster to you?”
“Look at yourself! Do you really think anyone could call you human after seeing that?”
“Undoubtedly human.”
Dale’s shadowy tendrils slithered around the soldier’s limbs and neck. At the same time, he glimpsed the truth hidden within his shadow. It wasn’t even a truth they wished to hide. There was a massacre being carried out in the name of revolution.
“As an undeniable human and monster, I have wandered the world’s wilderness in search of meaning all my life.”
The god of meaninglessness spoke.
“Tell me, humans. Does your revolution have ‘meaning’? Do you think the era that follows will become your meaning?”
Swoosh!
The shadowy tendrils tore the soldier’s limbs from the armor, finally wrapping around his neck.
The fate awaiting the iron-clad soldiers.
Even the cause and value of the revolution held no meaning in the face of the baptism of futility scattered by this god of meaninglessness.
And so, fear descended.
“I remember those who once truly sought truth and meaning, each finding their own answers.”
Among them, Dale recalled a certain man.
The immortal Frederick, and his father, who still awaited him in the castle of Saxon. The blue Arachne who entrusted everything to Dale and vanished.
And Lize, who taught Dale the futility of sacrifice by sacrificing herself.
Each of them had their own answers.
“My ancestor, the immortal Frederick, said that futility itself is our truth and meaning.”
Thus, Dale continued.
“But my father said that things which remain untainted by futility, even in the face of death, are the true meaning of this world.”
Just as Dale now denied their meanings, so too did the immortal Frederick.
Yet, Dale’s words did not reach the ears of the iron-clad soldiers present. So, Dale gave a bitter smile.
“I, too, found my own answer to ‘meaning,’ and in my blind pursuit, I brought suffering to those I love.”
He smiled bitterly and spoke.
“This journey has become so tiresome.”
Dale waved his hand, like a child who had lost interest in a toy.
“Gold and shadows, emperor and revolution, the meanings you pursue are so futile and trivial that I can no longer tolerate them.”
The god of meaninglessness spoke. And the standard-bearers of the revolution, wrapped in the cold of the world’s end, fell.
Their cries for revolution, their desperate struggles for it, all were swallowed into the absolute void.
The Ninth Empire, the revolutionaries, gold and shadows, the land was still overflowing with all forms of meaning.
To the man, it was nothing more than the tiresome idling of history.
The only fact humanity can learn from history is that humanity learns nothing from history.
Even if it was a history built on blood and war, nothing would change.
Thus, what Dale had to do was clear.
He would seize the entire world and bestow it upon himself and those he loved.
He would not sacrifice for the world, nor would he need to atone for the suffering of those he loved.
──Simply so that he and those he loved could live happily ever after.
No matter what stood in his way.
Dale walked towards the heart of the Ninth Empire, and there were those who stood in his path.
Sometimes it was the revolutionaries, and other times it was the people of the Ninth Empire, desperately trying to protect the emperor. Each of them had their own cause for standing in the man’s way.
And each time, there was the god of meaninglessness, who stripped them of their meaning.
“Why do you stand in my way?”
Countless soldiers lay dead around him. A war had been waged against a single man, and at the end of it, the man walked across the bodies of his enemies, asking calmly.
“We cannot let you reach where His Majesty the Emperor resides…!”
“Is that why you gathered this massive force?”
A nobleman, unable to harden his resolve until the end, and Dale sneered.
“Did you think you could stop me by desperately gathering nobles, knights, mercenaries, and even serfs?”
“You… you monster…!”
“Let me tell you the meaning your actions will have.”
With those words, Dale snapped his fingers coldly.
A pitch-black darkness surged from beneath his feet, and the light vanished from the sky.
Then it happened.
The countless corpses strewn across the field were enveloped in the darkness and began to rise.
“A… ah… ah…!”
“Did you gather them to offer me an army? At least your actions weren’t meaningless.”
The mountain of corpses stretching beyond the horizon, the sea of blood, each took form and began to rise.
Countless undead and death knights, blood golems made of blood, innumerable immortals knelt and bowed before their master.
Simultaneously, an unseen force acted between the undead, causing their bodies to merge. Flesh, blood, bone, the armor and blades of the undead, all were drawn together as if swept into a black hole.
An Abomination.
An unspeakably horrific, immortal colossus stood there.
The final fate of those who dared to stand against the god of meaninglessness with resolve.
The nobleman made his last desperate stand, but that was the end.
Dale raised his head calmly. Even from a distance that seemed insurmountable, he could clearly sense it.
The emperor of the Ninth Empire, who once bore his name, the self-proclaimed Lord of Shadows. And the heart of the empire he ruled.
“Welcome to the Saxon family, Miss Yufi.”
Lize spread her arms wide with a smile. But Yufi hesitated, not immediately embracing her.
“Oh my, what’s the matter?”
”…I’m sorry.”
Yufi swallowed, unable to understand her own actions. Lize watched her with a gentle smile.
“It seems you don’t quite like me, Miss Yufi.”
“Th-that’s not true!”
Lize smiled wryly, and Yufi quickly shook her head.
“There’s no need to be flustered. You’re already part of the Saxon family, and someone my brother cherishes.”
”…!”
At Lize’s words, Yufi’s face turned bright red.
Lize, Dale’s sister. Whenever Yufi recalled her, she remembered the sorrowful expression on Dale’s face.
And she also remembered the look on Dale’s face when he saw her, and when he reunited with those he loved.
Lize once said that Uncle Dale was someone Yuffie couldn’t even begin to imagine in his past life. It was Lize’s sacrifice and cunning that transformed Dale into the man he is today.
Thanks to Lize, Yuffie met Dale, and together they managed to reach this point.
Yet, why did she feel this unsettling sensation in his presence?
It was a feeling as ominous as a spider crawling across her skin.
There stood an “abomination,” a grotesque fusion of flesh, blood, bone, sword, shield, and armor.
Thud, thud!
With each step it took, the ground trembled, and soldiers scattered in all directions. Even the towering fortresses, bastions, and cannons were rendered meaningless before it.
No one dared to stand in the way of this monstrous colossus. In truth, no one could.
And atop the shoulder of this giant stood a man.
His black robe, embroidered with the image of a night raven, fluttered as he lifted his gaze beyond the horizon.
A being that reduced all obstacles to nothingness. A man who did not love humanity.
Determined to put an end to the endless cycle of history’s futile repetition, he moved forward.
Toward the Shadow Lord and the heart of the Ninth Empire he ruled.