-----
"How did this bastard get here? What could have changed the story's flow so much? Was it me surviving instead of becoming a zombie controlled by the Vultarn High Dominion?"
Soma Ferrera was a distinguished late-game antagonist and boss in Sinners Academy: Love At The End of the World. Though he appeared late as a true threat, he had been part of the story for quite a while, mostly posing as a harmless priest of the Abyssal Mother Church. It was, of course, all a complete lie.
He was a support character, not playable, who offered services to the player such as reviving dead party members for a fee, dispelling curses from equipment, and even serving as a save point. However, in most routes near the end, he revealed his true nature as utterly insane.
The characters revived through his help would suddenly turn against the protagonist, mutating into monstrous creatures. This twist horrified many players experiencing the game blindly for the first time.
In the final chapters, he became an enemy who raided the entire Sinners Academy, seeking to let everyone receive the "embrace" of his "beloved mother"—a monstrous deity who was once a human woman, one of only two reported Spiralwalkers to have reached Tier Zero.
He was the Apostle of the One-Hundred Limbed Fallen Abyssal Mother, a god-like entity whose true name could induce madness and transform listeners into monsters. She was the Tier Zero Spiralwalker of the Spiral of Compassion who fully altered reality by imposing her Fantasy upon it, forming The Weeping Nest from what remained of the African Continent.
"You're an Apostle of the Abyssal Bitch, aren't you?" Louis confronted the man as his group finally caught up.
Soma Ferrera's smile remained unfazed even when Louis insulted his goddess. From the giant black Dimensional Rift behind him, space began to warp, and dozens of creatures made of black hands and red eyes poured out.
Selene was chained at the center of a strange formation that used corpses of nearly every race, fused into a pentagram of grief and pain. It generated an Attraction Force that pulled The Weeping Nest into the Frostbane Kingdom, using the Dimensional Rift as its catalyst.
"So this is your plan, you bastard…!" Helena muttered. "The Vultarn High Dominion was never involved! It was you! The damned Cult! Agh, damn it! Why did I let you roam freely?! I never should have! This is my fault…"
"Oh please, we are so grateful for the open-mindedness the people of the Frostbane Kingdom have shown us so far! We only wish to reward your great kindness by bringing our beloved mother here. Don't worry. Once she emerges, she will embrace the entire kingdom in her Weeping Nest, where everyone will be forever free of pain, grief, and despair."
"That's bullshit. You just want to sacrifice the entire country to your monster goddess so she can feed," Catrine roared furiously. "Before she fell ill, my Queen told me the true nature of the Venerables! They were once humans who lost control of their Spirals after reaching Tier Zero, becoming monsters dominated by their own power rather than mastering it. Your goddess is nothing but a representation of her Spiral. There's no person left!"
"We know," Soma said with a gentle smile. "Our goddess sacrificed her humanity to ascend and become truly invincible, immortal, and unrelenting. Today, at long last, she will embrace all of you. Please, let's not fight. Shall we simply wait for her arrival in silence?"
"No."
Helena's Aura erupted. The ground beneath her shook, the ceiling above fractured, and space itself began to warp and glitch. Her Psychic Power reached maximum output, manifesting as a sea of ethereal starlight.
"Oh?!"
Soma's mouth fell open in surprise as he rubbed his chin. Then Helena acted, opening her palms before closing them.
"Dimensional Domain."
Dimensions warped and sealed. Soma laughed and sent dozens of monsters after her, but with a single thought, Helena crushed them into small stars and redirected them at him.
Dozens of explosions bombarded Soma. Yet he stood unscathed, protected by strange black energy that slowly took the form of a giant hand as dark as night, covered in blinking red eyes.
"Our Weeping Mother Goddess protects us from all harm!" Soma declared, spreading his arms. "We are her beloved children, shielded and cared for! In exchange, what are you to your goddess? Mere slaves, obeying whatever her son commands! Why not join us? Endless happiness and soothing ease await you!"
"We don't believe baseless lies, especially from someone who summons those monstrosities so casually," Louis said, stepping forward after checking his Status one last time.
♢♢♢♢
Name: Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil
Classification: Sinner (Dragon–Human–Anomaly)
Spiral: Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm, Desecrated Soul Spiral Fragment, Self-Flagellation Spiral Fragment
Tier: 9 – Flicker of Ash
Fantasy Heart: Level 11/20
Vitality: 183
Strength: 148
Intelligence: 121
Dexterity: 171
Fantasium: 1500
Fantasium Affinity: 99%
Madness Index: 83%
Bonds:
Dragon Family Bond – Mother Benladra (Level 10/10)
Friendship Bond – Mirai (Level 2/10)
Elemental Affinities:
Ash Element: A Rank
Ice Element: A Rank
Void Element: S Rank
Incarnation:
Gravewalker – Tier 9 (Growth: 95%)
Necromancer Fragment – Tier 9
Pugilist Fragment – Tier 9
Known Abilities:
Ashen Frost – Tier 9 (Growth: 89%)
Soul Enslavement Fragment – Tier 9
Iron Body Fragment – Tier 9
♢♢♢♢
This was as strong as he could become in the time given and with the opportunities available. Of course, he was still nothing, but an insect compared to Soma Ferrera. The powerful Oracle of the Abyssal Mother possessed the Spiral of Compassion at Tier 4. However, Louis could tell he wasn't as strong as in the game, likely because he had yet to reach Tier 4 and remained at Tier 5.
"This entire sacrificial ritual—it's all so you can ascend to Tier 4, right?" Louis asked, narrowing his eyes. "I know your cult draws power from your goddess to climb higher. You preach salvation, but the only thing you seek is power… Hah, we're not so different! Not at all, priest!"
"Hahaha! You're hilarious, my dear son!" the priest laughed, opening a grimoire in his hands. "Shall we begin, then? I suppose we can give our beloved mother a great show to entertain her as she emerges into this world. The Weeping Nest will finally claim another territory, saving more people from the cruel hands of destiny. Poverty, starvation, famine, disease—none of those exist in the Weeping Nest. She takes all our suffering upon herself!"
"OOOOHHHHH!"
As the priest spoke, a woman's weeping cry echoed from the Dimensional Rift, so loud and immense that most people fell to their knees, Louis included. It was a cry of incredible sorrow and pity for all living beings, from an entity that wished only to relieve them of their burdens.
But it was all a lie. Louis knew she literally devoured everyone. That monster's idea of salvation was to become one with all things and absorb their agony. The reason a master of the Spiral of Compassion became such an aberration was because she had taken in the pain, anguish, and negative emotions of millions.
Those whose negative emotions were stripped away became "pure" and ultimately mutated into multi-limbed, multi-eyed creatures. Their method of spreading was by absorbing such emotions from others as well.
"Gaaaahhhh!"
"D-Damn it!"
"Ugh, my head! My head! She's there!!!"
Several soldiers screamed and went mad, black miasma bleeding from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. Catrise stepped forward, unleashing powerful magic through a Divine Sigil hidden in her right hand. A shield of holy light manifested, protecting everyone from the Abyssal Mother's cry. She clenched her teeth, resisting while praying to the Holy Dragon Mother.
"May Lady Benladra be with us! May her bright light open the path to victory!!!"
As she shouted, the light grew immense, gathering into a single point and forming the figure of a giant dragon of light. It shocked even Helena and the priest, who smiled with fascination at the dragoness manifesting. This shook Louis even more—he had never known Catrise possessed such magic.
"Mother?!"
"Not quite, young prince. This is a manifestation of your mother's Divine Protection—a Fragment of her Divinity entrusted to me and a few other Priestesses of her Church!"
Catrise glanced at the laughing priest. His dark aura intensified as creatures rushed from the Dimensional Rift. Helena used her Domain to crush them instantly and began expanding it further. The Esper planned to close the Dimensional Rift with her Domain as she had done many times before, but the priest resisted fiercely, using his magic and grimoire to conjure black light from his hands. Hundreds of layered barriers formed, shaped like the endless black hands of the Abyssal Mother.
"Please, don't be so hasty. She's almost here!"
He laughed, pointing his hand forward and unleashing dozens of gigantic black hands toward Helena, slowly pushing her Dimensional Domain back.
RUMBLE!
At the same time, Catrise unleashed her Divine Sigil's power. The manifestation of Benladra's Divinity Fragment roared, rushing forward. Each step the dragoness took spread bright light everywhere, battling the abyss produced by the evil goddess.
Caught between the chaos, Louis, Belladine, and Fernand moved forward with Melisa to reach Selene and convince her to join them. The beast girl screamed and cried in pain, calling her friend's name repeatedly.
"We're almost there, Selene! Hang on!"
Melisa ran as fast as she could. Fernand used his Aura to connect to her barrier, pulling her along as he navigated the warped space. The four avoided giant boulders, incoming monsters, and distortions in space and time—cracks that would swallow them whole if touched.
"SHYAAAAH!"
The Abyssal Mother would not allow them to take Selene away. The girl was the sole reason she could manifest here. Removing her from the Domain would end everything.
Giant hands of black darkness emerged, rushing toward Louis, who led the group. The prince clenched his teeth and bit his lip, drawing blood. His Mana Aura surged as he activated his three mastered Mana Methods: Mana Breathing, Mana Body Reinforcement, and Mana Consciousness, forcing them to merge.
It was too early for him to develop a unique Method, but he didn't care. He pushed his body to its limits, bleeding as Mana fractured and exploded within him, surging with power.
Ashen Runes spread across his pale skin, forming frail gray scales around his hands, neck, and legs. A crumbling tail and decaying wings sprouted from his back. Belladine, Fernand, and Melisa watched in awe as his small white horns grew long and completely gray.
"HAAAAH!"
Louis roared. His golden eyes turned deep red, resembling the eyes of a dragon. He charged the giant monsters, fusing Ashen Frost into his body and layering Iron Body on top, reinforcing his strength to its utmost limits.
CLASH!
An explosion of ashes and dark energies erupted as the giant black hand clashed against Louis's most powerful strike. It resisted his swing of Ashen Frost. Louis, however, wasn't shocked. His sharp dragon teeth flashed in a smile as he amassed Despair from the environment, channeling it into his blade while unleashing consecutive Blade Storms.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Dozens of slashes covered the creature's body. Each barely damaged it despite Louis using all his power at once. But that didn't matter. Ash Runes glowed within every wound. Louis seized a black soul harvested from a slain monster and implanted it into a small cut.
"Go to hell."
BOOOM!
The entire hand inflated like a balloon and exploded into countless pieces of black flesh and flames, releasing an agonizing cry. The other equally powerful hands reached Louis, punching, slapping, and pinning him down with overwhelming force.
"Gravewalker! Necromancer! Pugilist!"
Louis summoned his Incarnation and the two fragments. They emerged together. The Gravewalker roared at his call, opening draconic jaws to bite and tear through the hands with sharp claws. The Pugilist absorbed Fantasium and punched holes through them. The floating skeletal hand of the Necromancer harvested souls from each hand—independent living beings of human origin—and detonated them instantly.
"G-Go! Save Selene! GO!!!"
Louis roared, grasping his spear and unleashing Dragon Fang Spearmanship. He fought dozens of hands while bleeding profusely. His body turned to literal ashes and crumbled as he battled. His dragon transformation was nothing but fake—an illusion, his broken dream of becoming a true dragon manifesting in this frail, pathetic imitation.
Yet even an imitation of such a powerful entity was strong.
"Y-Your majesty!"
"Let's go, hurry!"
Belladine pushed Fernand, using her Spirit Wind Magic to propel herself and Melisa toward the screaming Selene.
While watching them, Louis stood again. His body bled heavily, several bones broken, hallucinations constant.
He heard whispers everywhere. He heard her too.
Yes, HER.
"My dear child, you've been torn apart by the world, haven't you?"
"Mistreated, terribly bullied, trampled."
"Please, let me take that pain away."
"Everything is going to be okay."
"Get away from me! I only have one mother! And I'm fighting to protect what she built, you damn Abyssal Bitch!"
Louis furiously attacked the hands, combining swordsmanship with Spearmanship, Dragon Fang with Sword Aura. He constantly pushed these techniques, forcing them to evolve and transform alongside his crumbling body.
"Gravewalker! Fight for me!"
"ROOAAAAARRRR!"
Absorbing his Despair, the Gravewalker roared, growing more monstrous and draconic. It charged the countless hands, tearing them apart bite by bite.
"The Gravewalker's true nature is the Ashen Wyrm! He is the incarnation of my broken dreams of becoming a Dragon…! As long as there's anguish, despair, and pain, he can keep growing!"
"Oh dear me, what is that thing over there?"
"…?!"
Louis's eyes widened as he heard Priest Soma's voice drawing closer. The priest stood atop a giant black hand, moving toward him. Helena and Catrise, fighting the priest, were swarmed by hundreds of black hands from every direction.
"No! Louis!"
Helena screamed, her Psychic Powers surging further. Her white skin turned silver, hair transforming into tentacles. Her face changed, leaving only a single golden eye. Her clothes vanished, revealing a strange, alien body.
"I'm the one you should fight, bastard!"
With a mighty roar, Helena unleashed her True Esper Form—a transformation only the highest-level Espers could achieve after cultivating and absorbing Esper Energy from the Alien Entities of the Esper Dimension. There was another reason for her aberrant form, but her power had skyrocketed regardless.
"Psychic Apocalypse!"
With a furious scream, the world around her collapsed. Space and time bled. Black hands exploded with the dozens. Soma glanced at Helena in awe as a giant psychic hand seized him before he could reach the prince and dragged him back.
"You're fighting me, Soma!"
"Ohoho! Hahahaha! How incredible! Hohoho! I'm so happy you show such desire to greet her, my dear child!"
"Silence, you madman!"
Helena unleashed a barrage of invisible psychic fists, striking Soma's body dozens, hundreds, then thousands of times. Each punch shook spacetime and generated cracks across the warped area where the Dimensional Rift began merging with reality.
"Prince Louis!"
Catrise ran toward Louis amid the chaos, finding him barely alive. Her healing magic rapidly mended his worst wounds, but the prince's transformation had turned two legs and one arm to dust—something even she could not restore.
"W-What did you do to yourself?!"
"I… for a moment… I was a dragon… hahah…"
"L-Louis…!"
Louis laughed as he looked into the distance, seeing Melisa finally reach Selene. Melisa cried, hugging her friend while Belladine used her Spirit Saber Art to cut the weakened chains, which had shrunk as Helena's Domain consumed the Dimensional Shift Domain.
"M-Melisa…!"
"Selene! Are you okay?"
"Melisa… uwaahh…"
Selene cried while hugging her friend. Fernand and Belladine had no time to linger. They grabbed the children and rushed back to Louis. Giant black hands emerged, chasing them. Catrise sent the giant Holy Dragon Spirit to shield them, though it was growing faint.
"Mother…"
Louis gazed at the giant dragon battling. His Fantasy Heart beat slowly. He was dying. But he smiled, realizing he had fought with everything he had and, for a moment, had become a dragon too.
"You're not… a failure… you did give birth to a dragon…"
"Prince Louis?"
Catrise glanced back at Louis speaking to nobody, as if hallucinating. She quickly lifted him onto her back, joining the others and escaping while leaving the rest to Helena.
"Hahah… Hahahaha!"
Meanwhile, Priest Soma couldn't stop laughing at everything unfolding. Helena grew frustrated, fighting him with all she had, yet Soma always matched her strength.
"Just how strong is this bastard?!" she thought. "With this power, I even stopped the Mad God Loki when he tried to destroy Yggdrasil, buying time for my Uncle, the Dragon King, to kill him…! Is he stronger than Loki?! No… he's definitely weaker than even Uroboros! Then what is this?!"
"Oooh! Mother! Oohh my beloved mother!!! She's here…! She's here! Your efforts were in vain, my beloved children! MOTHER IS HERE!!! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
"What?!"
RUMBLE!
The entire world trembled. Catrise stopped moving, unable to advance or breathe. Everyone she carried felt the same.
Darkness.
All they could see was pure darkness, shadows, nothing but the abyss itself.
This eternal darkness had swallowed everything around them.
On the surface.
The people of Nameless Street looked at the darkening sky. Some wondered why night had come so prematurely.
The starving, the poor, the abandoned were the first.
"Ugh...!"
"Aaagh!"
"What is this?!"
Giant black hands emerged from the sky and the ground, beginning to embrace everyone in warm, encompassing hugs.
Their pain vanished.
Their anguish vanished.
Their hunger vanished.
Their suffering vanished.
They felt endless bliss, free of any negative emotion.
They reunited together, holding hands, walking across an endless green field.
Even as their bodies outside squirmed and mutated into multi-limbed aberrations.
Those were merely discarded shells. Their souls had ascended and now rested by her side.
At the end of the grassland, someone waited for them.
As the Frostbane Kingdom fell into the Weeping Nest where all sorrow was devoured by the Abyssal Mother, and where every soul could live in eternal bliss.
"...Huh?"
Louis opened his eyes, finding himself in this eternal grassland.
"What...."
He looked around, noticing Catrise, Fernand, even Elises... Melisa, Selene, Helena, and his father too. Everyone was here.
No...
"...?"
He gazed at the blue sky, the white clouds, the bright sun.
It was a beautiful day, something so rare in a world contaminated by Fantasium.
"Come on, prince! Our mother is waiting for us!" Catrise said, holding his hand.
"Mother?" Louis wondered as he began walking barefoot through the grass.
It felt nice. Everything felt so nice.
All the negative emotions he carried, all those voices, stopped.
He felt clear-headed, free of pain and suffering.
It was paradise.
Louis reached a large gathering of people—hundreds, thousands. He recognized many faces: some of the starving beggars he had given bread and milk, even the criminals he had slain, and fellow scientists.
They happily ate from food served on large wooden tables. Louis walked around, seeing Melisa and Selene enjoying a delicious fruit cake. They looked so happy.
Then he saw his father, smiling, laughing, and talking with everyone in a way Louis had never witnessed.
"Father?"
"Hm? Louis! Welcome! How have you been?"
"...?"
His father ran to him, hugged him tightly, kissed his forehead, and looked at him with a face full of emotion, showing happiness and hope.
"I am sorry for everything I did before, my dear son... I love you more than anything."
"...What?"
"I was a bad father. I couldn't give you the attention you needed. It's all my fault."
"..."
"But it's different now. We're all in a better place, right? No longer do we have to worry about anything. Mother provides."
"Mother... provides?"
"Yes, mother! She's there. Can't you see?"
"...?"
Louis looked into the distance. Seated on a throne made of trees, surrounded by flowers and beautiful elves and spirits, she sat with a gentle, warm smile.
She gazed at him the moment he looked her way.
Yet even though he saw her clearly, he could not remember her.
Who was this woman?
He had never seen her in his life.
Her appearance was strange, hazy, shifting constantly.
Until it settled into one form.
Blue skin, long white-blonde hair, golden eyes, and a beautiful warm smile.
"Come here, my child... Come to your mother."
"M-Mom?"
Louis walked toward her slowly. His body regressed in age, becoming a child.
Tears fell from his eyes as he ran faster and faster.
He hugged her, and she embraced him in a tight, loving hug.
"Mother! I thought you were ill...! Are you okay now?"
"Yes, my beloved son. I will be all right now, forever with you..."
"Mom...!"
Louis hugged his mother, and she hugged him back, comforting him.
"Mom, do you remember the name of Grandpa?" Louis asked.
"...?" His mother tilted her head. "A-Ahaha, you mean my father? No, I don't remember... It must have been so long."
"I see..." Louis nodded, looking down. "And do you remember my birthday?"
"I will remember," she smiled, caressing his head. "As long as you give your love to me, I will... remember? Louis?"
"..."
Louis's innocent face changed. The child stared at the woman with cold eyes.
"You're not my mother."
"...! What... what are you saying? Of course I am your dear mother. Who else could I be?"
"My mother would never forget the name of her father, the Dragon King Drake."
"...Ah."
"And she would never forget my birthday!"
"..."
"So this is what you do, Abyssal Mother? You take over people's bodies and trap their souls in this eternal illusion?"
Realizing she had been discovered, "Benladra" dropped her smile, looking sorrowful.
"It's not an illusion... I genuinely wish to give happiness to everyone... This world is too painful. It's full of suffering, my son. Don't you understand?"
She begged Louis to understand.
But he did not.
"The only thing I understand is that you've completely lost your mind to the Spiral, becoming a Soul-Devouring Monstrosity."
At his words, "Benladra's" face twisted. Black tears streamed from her eyes.
"No... please...! Don't say that... I... I am..."
"Father! Wake up! This is not the real world! Father!"
"A-Ahaha, what are you saying, son? Don't make your mother cry..."
"Why?! Just why, of all people, did you fall for this?! Mom is not here! She has been excluded because this bitch hates her!"
"...?"
Gustaf stepped back, shaking his head, looking at "Benladra." She was right there.
"No... she's... your mother is..."
"Mom is sick! She's dying! You've been researching all this time for her!"
"A-Ah...! No...! That's not right!"
Gustaf grabbed his head and fell to the ground. Countless people ran to help him.
The child Louis looked at "Benladra," who stood up, gazing at him with a stern expression.
"You're a bad child... I will have to discipline you."
"I reject your illusion, Abyssal Mother. You will not claim my soul! I will die by my own rules if I must!"
At that declaration, the world around Louis began to decay. The beautiful scenery rotted. The people mutated into black specters, screaming at him.
"WHY WON'T YOU ACCEPT HER?!"
"YOU'RE SO HEARTLESS!"
"BAD CHILD!"
"ACCEPT HER!"
"No! Let me go! I will never accept her! Never...! NEVER!!!"
FLASH!
Louis clutched his heart with his small hands and screamed, rejecting this Fantasy.
His own Fantasy Heart beating faster and faster.
Ashes began raining from the sky.
"...?"
"Benladra" looked upward, her face filled with disbelief.
How could someone so weak like this child disrupt her own Fantasy?
What sort of terrifying view of "Fantasy" did he hold that he could impose it on someone of her caliber?
Ashes, pain, despair, grief, and sorrow rained down.
The people who had lived in eternal bliss screamed, experiencing all the emotions she had taken from them.
"No...! Stop! STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING!!!"
The Abyssal Mother screamed, mutating Benladra's form into an aberrant creature with thousands of black hands and red eyes, crawling toward Louis.
"Come to me, Gravewalker!"
As her hand reached for him, a small figure emerged—crumbling, made of gray ash, with the faint appearance of a dragon and human hybrid.
BOOOM!
Her hands tried to extinguish the child's resistance, only for a long spear of Ashen Frost to pierce her giant hand. Blood poured from the wound.
"A-Ah...! AAAAHHHHH!"
She screamed in agony, crying. Each tear turned into countless black hands and creatures made of such hands, rushing toward Louis.
"Do you want to know what my Fantasy is?!"
"...!"
"My Fantasy is... becoming a dragon."
"...?! That's it?"
"Yeah. There's nothing special, nothing philosophical about it. I desire nothing else but to become a dragon. Life has denied me this privilege. I desire nothing but to become one, so I can finally join my mother and family in Yggdrasil."
"...How foolish."
"However, I've discovered what makes my Spiral different from yours. It was forged through my own feelings of ineptitude, my own Despair! I am your complete opposite, Abyssal Mother. I am someone who feeds and grows through Despair, Anguish, Pain, and Agony!"
"I will cure you. I will bless you with eternal happiness!"
"I accept the world for what it is instead of trying to create something new. My Fantasy Heart is merely the embodiment of my own truth! But what is your truth, Abyssal Mother?!"
Louis and the Gravewalker clashed against the Abyssal Mother. The child ran through her giant hands, his body rapidly growing back to its former size.
The Gravewalker began overlapping with Louis as he manifested an even longer spear, impaling the Abyssal Mother's heart with all the accumulated Despair and Pain he held.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
As she screamed, the world fractured and shattered.
When Louis opened his eyes, he found himself covered in dust.
"..."
He was surrounded by ruins, corpses, bones, and ashes.
Catrise, Fernand, Belladine, Helena, Melisa, Selene—they were all dead.
Only a few pieces of bone remained, their clothes torn, covered in ashes.
These ashes now bathed Louis's body.
In that final moment, Helena had likely protected him from the darkness that swallowed everything.
From the Abyssal Mother's endless hunger.
"Everyone... is already dead..."
Louis's remaining hand trembled, clutching his face as tears streamed from his eyes.
No, there was someone still alive.
Right in front of him.
The Dimensional Rift remained open—a fractured black domain of countless hands and red eyes.
At its center stood a man, smiling.
"Ohoho, what do we have here? You must be the first to ever survive and escape the Abyssal Mother's Eternal Paradise."
"Soma!"
Louis roared with fury, glaring at the priest now covered in black tendrils. His body had merged with a pitch-black giantess of many eyes, hands, and heads, all weeping sorrowfully.
"Oh, mother... Has he rejected your love? How pitiful of him. How foolish."
Louis couldn't fully discern what she was. It was strange, bizarre. His eyes bled, and his mind twisted. He heard countless voices of those he had failed.
"Failure of a prince!"
"You let everyone die!"
"Bastard!"
"How could you do this?!"
"We all died because of you!"
"I know..."
Louis smiled bitterly. The Gravewalker held him in its arms, slowly walking toward Soma.
The prince clenched his teeth, gripping his spear tightly, infusing it with whatever Ashen Frost he had left.
The ashes of those he cared for and loved covered his body. His Spiral reacted.
"To think it would react now... I see... So this is the condition for my Spiral to ascend."
Louis smiled bitterly once more, unable to maintain it.
Even amidst this suffering, even in this barren ruin of what was once his glorious Kingdom.
He was smiling.
"You smile even before your Kingdom's ruins? You are indeed a wicked child of that demon. Worry not. She has already been taken care of."
"...I won't forget this."
"Oh? Now that you're willingly walking toward death, you say this?"
"Soma... I will make sure to kill you, no matter what."
"Hohoh, you're so adorable, my son."
Soma's palm opened wide. A giant black hand emerged, pointed at Louis.
From its palm, a giant red eye gathered energy.
"Unlike the rest who achieved salvation and now enjoy eternal happiness, you rejected mother's goodwill and even dared to stab her... I shall erase you from this world."
"Heh..."
"Hm?"
"Heheh... hahah..."
"..."
"Hahahahahaha!"
Louis laughed while the priest, who always smiled, shifted to a very serious expression.
Both stared at one another. The prince who lost everything laughed, while the priest who had everything could no longer smile.
"I made you stop smiling! I did that! Hahaha! And look at your stupid mother! She's crying! Is she really a Tier Zero Spiralwalker?! So pathetic! If she's such a mess, why won't she give me her power instead? I could use it much better!"
"Blasphemous! Perish this instant!"
The giant eye fired a red laser, aiming to erase Louis completely.
But it felt slow.
It advanced at a snail's pace.
"Gravewalker... become my legs."
The Gravewalker merged with Louis. The prince grew a pair of crumbling ash legs.
They helped him walk.
He moved left, avoiding the beam.
BOOOM!
"...?"
Soma's face twisted in disbelief.
"What?"
Did he just dodge that?
That slow, weak, arrogant child avoided an attack from him?
Not just from him, but from his body fused with the Abyssal Mother herself!
"I must have aimed wrongly."
Louis kept walking forward.
Another red beam reached him.
He avoided it too, dodging just in time.
"...What are you doing?"
Soma's face grew increasingly irritated.
A second, third, and fourth hand emerged. Their red eyes glowed and fired four lasers at once.
Yet...
Louis walked past them. They barely grazed him.
But they missed.
"Haa... I can feel it... My Fantasy Heart is at Max Level, likely from killing all those hands before. My Fantasium Affinity is at 100% too, and now... my Tier is rising by one."
The condition to reach Tier 8 was the most malevolent of all.
To bathe in the ashes of those he loved.
It was cruel, perhaps crueler than the Desecrated Soul Spiral's requirement of sacrificing a family member.
Someone could kill a family member they didn't love.
But this condition demanded the ashes of those truly cherished.
Louis himself couldn't believe it.
"So I loved them... Catrise... Aunt Helena... Fernand... even those two brats..."
As he walked forward, Louis cried.
A strange, invisible energy emerged from his dying body.
His Spiral expanded.
A new Circle formed as Louis descended further into insanity.
"Ah... mother..."
He looked at the sky, crying without end.
"I'm sorry... for not saving you this time either... Your son is truly a failure."
He smiled bitterly. Dozens of red beams tried to annihilate him, but none struck true.
Soma, at this point, foamed at the mouth in disbelief.
"W-What the fuck is going on?! How can I miss him?! Is he a ghost?!"
"You could say that."
"...?!"
In that moment, he heard Louis's voice approaching rapidly.
"Ah!"
Soma screamed as the prince skipped through space, moving faster and faster.
"What sort of Ability is that?! What even is your Spiral?!"
"I told you, didn't I? That I swore I would kill you."
"G-Get away from me!"
Louis avoided more attacks. Soma couldn't move, fused with the Abyssal Mother to expand her Domain across the land and invade the North American Continent.
The prince drew closer, step by step. A strange, ghostly figure materialized behind him.
Louis suddenly stood over one of the hands, pointing his spear at the priest, whose face twisted in fear and horror.
Soma tore his body from the mother, keeping only a small umbilical cord connecting them, and attacked Louis with a sword of darkness.
"Why won't you die, Prince Louis?!"
"The truth is, Soma..."
"I might already be dead..."
Louis's voice grew more ghostly and somber as he approached.
The strange figure behind him continued to form.
It was not the Gravewalker.
It resembled Louis more closely, humanoid, wearing a broken crown.
Holding a spear made of wailing souls.
"What?! Y-You're... you're a ghost…"
"Yes, I am. I am a Graveborn."
Louis had achieved it.
The Hollow Spiral of the Ashen Wyrm.
Tier 8.
Graveborn.
The Incarnation, meant to appear at Tier 6, manifested briefly as he reached 100% Fantasium Affinity during his ascension.
It was the Crownless Heir.
While the Graveborn could harbor resentment and move after death, the Crownless Heir severed the threads of Fate.
It was incredible power. Louis, while dying, tasted what he could achieve in the future.
Now.
"Die!"
Soma screamed, conjuring dozens of black swords and firing them at Louis.
Louis drew closer. The Crownless Heir manifested, severing the threads of Certain Death.
Each severance cost Fantasium.
But in Fantasium Overload, his body exploded and died repeatedly, releasing energy everywhere.
Only now could he avenge his Kingdom and those he loved.
"Soma Ferrera, I will take your life no matter what!"
"You damn, insolent, blasphemous child! You're burning your own life for this?! How foolish!"
Soma and Louis clashed. Explosions of darkness and gray ashes erupted.
Louis's remaining arm exploded, but the Gravewalker's arm replaced it, gripping the spear.
Countless swords stabbed his body, but the Gravewalker removed them and covered the wounds with ashes, delaying death for a few more seconds.
"Nnngh! Aaahhh!"
Soma succumbed to Fear and Despair.
As he did, he rapidly lost power. His Spiral of Compassion couldn't allow Fear.
"No...! This can't happen to me!"
Soma screamed, dodging a powerful impaling strike aimed at his head and punching the prince into the ground.
BOOOM!
"Gaaahh?!"
Louis screamed. A giant hole pierced his stomach.
Yet ashes filled it. The Gravewalker helped him stand.
Louis used his own Incarnation to puppet his lifeless body.
"SOMAAAA!"
He charged like a mad ghost. The priest stepped back and summoned another sword of darkness, piercing the prince's chest.
His Fantasy Heart.
"G-Guh...?"
Louis vomited blood, looking at the ashes and bones of those consumed.
"No..."
"That's enough. Rest, Prince Louis! Give up already!"
"No... not yet!"
Louis roared, moving forward as the sword sliced through his chest. The Gravewalker and Crownless Heir converged. Louis materialized a crumbling claw of ashes.
"Enough! That's— Aaagh?!"
Soma screamed as the claw punched him down, delivering power far beyond Tier 8.
The claw transformed into another spear, rushing toward his chest and piercing his Fantasy Heart.
CLASH!
"Kuaaaaagh!"
Soma screamed, reaching for his mother. His hands stretched toward her.
Yet she didn't intervene, gazing down with empty red eyes.
"M-Mother...? My beloved mother...! Why... have you abandoned me...?"
Soma's eyes widened as he saw Louis's furious gaze. The prince's body was completely lifeless.
The prince was dead.
Vomiting blood, he stared at the prince, eyes filled with horror.
"M-Monster...! Get away from me...! G-Get...! Get off me!"
"RAAAAAH!"
The Gravewalker's roar echoed. Ashen Frost gathered around Soma, absorbing his Despair. Dozens of ashen swords pierced both his body and Louis's.
"My beloved... mother..."
"Why... have you abandoned... me...?"
"Ahhh... so this is... the cold embrace of death..."
"Prince Louis Drakeheart Yggdrasil... what a terrifying man you are..."
Soma Ferrera died, impaled by thirty-one ashen swords.
The world stood still. The Abyssal Mother stared in silence, shedding black tears.
Her hands cradled both corpses as her jaws opened, devouring them.
Thus, Prince Louis Drakeheart's 4th Life came to an end.
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