A deafening impact had ripped through the chamber moments earlier, sending a violent shockwave roaring across the stone hall. Dust exploded from shattered pillars, broken fragments skidding across the marble floor as the air filled with drifting clouds of grey.
For a moment, everything was quiet.
Then the dust began to settle.
Through the haze stood the towering figure of the humanoid ant.
Its massive frame loomed at the base of the throne's staircase, chitin armor gleaming faintly beneath the dim light that filtered through cracks in the ceiling above. One of its blade-like claws was extended forward, the serrated edge meant to deliver the final strike.
The killing blow.
But something was wrong.
The creature's head tilted slightly.
Its compound eyes widened.
Because the blade had stopped.
Not against armor.
Not against magic.
But against a hand.
Blood dripped slowly onto the cracked marble floor.
Haruto's fingers were wrapped tightly around the ant's blade.
The serrated edge had cut deep into his palm, crimson running down his wrist and dripping from his fingertips.
Yet his grip did not loosen.
Not even slightly.
The ant froze.
Its instincts screamed at it.
Something had changed.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
Haruto lifted his head.
His face was bruised, streaked with blood and dirt. Strands of dark hair clung to his forehead where sweat and dust had mixed together.
But his eyes...
His eyes had changed.
The black void that once filled them had vanished.
Color returned.
Deep blue irises, sharp and cold, burned beneath the dim light of the shattered hall.
Majestic.
Authoritative.
The kind of gaze that did not look at an enemy...
But down on one.
The ant felt it instantly.
A chill crawled through its exoskeleton.
Without hesitation, it leapt backward.
Its powerful legs slammed against the stone floor as it retreated several meters down the staircase, creating distance between itself and the boy seated on the throne.
Haruto didn't move.
He simply remained there.
Unarmed.
Wounded.
Covered in blood.
Yet somehow...
Untouchable.
From the top of the throne's steps, his gaze slowly followed the creature.
Then he spoke.
His voice was calm.
Cold.
"It's round two."
The words echoed across the ruined throne room.
The ant's entire body stiffened.
A shiver ran through its limbs before it could stop it.
The creature glared at him, fury twisting across its monstrous face.
"You..."
Its voice rumbled like grinding stone.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
It didn't make sense.
Moments ago, the boy had been finished.
His Astrons were nearly gone, barely regenerating from the earlier battle.
By all logic...
He should have been helpless.
But the confidence in those blue eyes told a different story.
This wasn't the confidence of someone hoping to win.
This was certainty.
The certainty of someone who had already decided the outcome.
Then—
BOOM.
A violent explosion tore through the throne room wall.
Stone shattered outward as a massive hole erupted through the ancient structure, sending fragments raining across the floor like meteor debris.
The ant's head snapped toward the blast.
Haruto's gaze shifted slightly as well.
From the darkness beyond the broken wall...
Black flames surged into the chamber.
They crawled across the ground like living shadows, devouring the scattered rubble as heat distorted the air above them.
Then came footsteps.
Slow.
Confident.
A figure emerged from the swirling darkness.
Black fire curled around her fingers like obedient serpents.
Hana stepped into the ruined throne room.
But she no longer resembled the small slime creature from before.
Her body had taken a humanoid form.
Her skin carried the same soft translucence as her natural slime body, shimmering faintly with healthy hues of blue and pink beneath the surface like light passing through crystal-clear water.
Golden eyes glowed brightly within the dim hall.
Sharp.
Alive.
Her short hair flowed behind her as she walked forward, strands flickering faintly with traces of dark flame.
She wore the attire of a warrior noble. A sleek combat outfit layered with elegant armor pieces that shimmered with faint magical energy.
Black fire danced in her palm as she rolled her shoulder lazily.
Then she grinned.
The kind of grin that meant trouble had just doubled.
Her gaze landed directly on Haruto.
"You really thought you could get rid of me by dying like that?"
She scoffed.
"Well too bad."
Her grin widened.
"That's not how things work around here."
Only then did her golden eyes slide toward the ant.
And the grin sharpened.
---
Hana narrowed her eyes at the towering insect.
"Who the hell are you—"
She paused.
Recognition flashed across her face.
"—Ah."
Her golden eyes sharpened.
"So you're the one who ran through the dungeon with your presence hidden."
She stepped out of the shattered rubble, black flames curling lazily around her fingers as she examined the creature.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Behind her, Haruto watched quietly.
A faint smile tugged at his lips when he saw her new form.
Then his gaze shifted back to the enemy before him.
Slowly, he rose from the throne.
Pain immediately surged through his body.
His muscles protested, his ribs burned, and every step sent a dull ache through his bones.
But he stood anyway.
Haruto glanced down at himself, eyes scanning his own body with calm precision.
Most of the damage was already healing.
Bruises fading.
Cuts closing.
Astrons quietly repairing what had been broken.
But one injury remained.
His left arm hung slightly wrong.
Dislocated.
Haruto grabbed his shoulder.
Then he twisted.
CRACK.
The joint snapped back into place with a sharp sound that echoed through the ruined hall.
Pain surged through his nerves.
He endured it without a word.
He had lost once.
But this time...
He had another chance.
And he intended to use it.
Turning his head slightly, he looked toward Hana.
"I don't care if you came to help," he said casually.
"This one's my kill."
Hana blinked.
Then snorted.
"Oh yeah?"
She pointed at him with a flaming finger.
"Who was just dying alone a minute ago?"
She tilted her head mockingly.
"Let me think..."
Her grin widened.
"Oh right."
"It was you."
Haruto rolled his eyes.
"Nobody asked."
He extended his right hand.
A faint spark of black lightning flickered between his fingers.
For a split second it danced like a living current.
Then it solidified.
Not into a weapon.
Into something else.
The fountain pen.
His mother's gift.
Haruto pointed it toward the ant.
His blue eyes pulsed faintly with ambition.
"You said you work for the Crimson Empress, right?"
A dangerous smile crept across his face.
"Ever since I heard about your people... I've been curious what kind of creatures you were."
His grip tightened slightly.
"Guess you answered that pretty well."
He lifted the pen.
"Hana."
Black ink gathered at the nib.
Hana sighed.
"Yeah, yeah."
She waved a hand dismissively and stepped backward.
"Go ahead. Do your thing."
Haruto smiled faintly.
Then he began to write.
The pen moved through empty air.
Yet the ink remained suspended behind it.
Each stroke hung in the air like glowing calligraphy, black symbols forming one after another.
They were not any language Hana recognized.
Nor any script from Earth.
Yet Haruto understood them perfectly.
The words began circling him slowly.
Orbiting.
Like rings around a planet.
Then Haruto raised the pen.
Its tip leveled with his eye.
His blue eyes flashed.
Every floating symbol collapsed inward at once.
The letters compressed together, spiraling toward the nib of the pen.
Ink condensed violently.
Circulating.
Thickening.
Then the red ribbons tied near the pen's base loosened and unraveled.
The ink surged upward.
Stretching.
Thinning.
Sharpening.
Within seconds, the liquid darkness hardened into a long, elegant blade.
Absolute black.
The hilt formed naturally around the pen itself, the red ribbons twisting together to create a grip perfectly fitted to Haruto's hand.
A sword born from writing.
Haruto swung it once through the air.
The blade hummed softly.
Its surface reflected the crimson eyes of the ant.
Eyes now filled with something new.
Shock.
And something dangerously close to fear.
Haruto began walking down the staircase.
Step by step.
The ant instinctively retreated.
Its legs scraping across broken stone.
Every instinct screamed at it.
Run.
But just as it turned to flee...
It stopped.
Slowly, it reached toward a crack in its chest armor.
The chitin there had shattered during the earlier explosion.
Without hesitation, the ant pushed its hand into the wound.
When it pulled it out again...
Something rested in its palm.
A small orb of crimson blood.
No larger than a marble.
The ant's expression twisted into a grin.
"Such an unfair fight..."
It laughed harshly.
Then it opened its hand fully.
"It's a shame."
Its eyes burned with hatred.
"And you will pay for what you've done."
Before either Haruto or Hana could react—
The ant swallowed the orb.
For a moment...
Nothing happened.
Silence stretched across the throne room.
Even Hana frowned.
"Uh... What's supposed to happen?"
Then—
A violent surge of energy erupted from the ant's body.
The creature shrieked.
A horrific screech that tore through the air like rusted metal grinding together.
The shockwave blasted outward.
The floor cracked.
Stone pillars trembled.
Haruto's eyes widened slightly.
His analysis skill activated instantly.
He could see it.
Invisible streams of pheromones bursting outward alongside the ant's aura.
A signal.
A call.
A message.
And strangely...
He felt something else.
The pheromones moved like threads through the air.
Threads he felt he could grab.
Control.
Command.
But he didn't.
If this creature wanted to call its kin...
Then let them come.
Let them witness what happened here.
Let this arrogant fool's defeat become a message.
His gaze sharpened.
The ant's body began to change.
Its aura surged wildly.
Hana staggered slightly as the pressure filled the room.
Haruto felt it too.
The creature's power was multiplying at an alarming rate.
The gap between them was closing.
Fast.
But Haruto didn't move.
He already knew the truth.
Either the ant will die here.
Or both of them will.
He exhaled slowly.
Then closed his eyes.
Astrons flowed through him like rivers of light.
With his new understanding, he reached deeper.
Far deeper than before.
Beyond surface energy.
Beyond muscle and bone.
Down to something smaller.
Molecules.
Atoms.
Particles.
Astrons...
Information flooded his mind.
Enough to destroy an ordinary brain.
For a moment his vision fractured.
Pain surged through his skull.
Then something inside him adapted.
His mind expanded.
Adjusted.
Accepted the data.
Haruto opened his eyes.
He glanced toward Hana.
Toward the black flames dancing around her body.
His gaze sharpened.
Now he could see them.
Not just flames.
But the structure of the energy itself.
The movement.
The reaction.
The hidden rules beneath it.
It was fascinating.
But his attention snapped back to the real threat.
The ant.
Its body was shedding.
Chunks of chitin armor cracked and fell away, scattering across the floor like broken shells.
Its frame expanded.
Muscles tightening beneath new layers of hardened armor.
Its mandibles clicked sharply.
Two enormous wings tore free from its back.
Translucent.
Deadly.
Every injury from the previous battle vanished.
Its claws elongated.
Sharper.
Longer.
Even more vicious than before.
The creature rose to its full height.
A new being.
An evolved predator built specifically for one purpose.
To kill him.
Its crimson eyes locked onto Haruto.
Pure hatred burning within them.
The monster flexed its new wings.
The air trembled.
The final phase of the battle had begun.
---
Hana planted her feet firmly against the shattered floor, black flames rippling along her arms as the pressure in the throne room continued to rise.
The air itself trembled from the ant's evolving power.
Yet the grin on her face didn't fade.
Because she knew exactly what had happened.
Just minutes earlier...
---
The tunnel had been silent.
Hana was racing through it at terrifying speed when a sharp chime echoed inside her mind.
A system window flashed before her eyes.
<
<
Her heart stopped.
Moments ago she had felt it.
That clash of power.
Wild.
Violent.
Unstable.
Her worst fear had just become reality.
"HARUTO—!"
Panic exploded through her chest.
Without hesitation, Hana unleashed her magic.
A tornado of blazing fire erupted from her body, spiraling through the tunnel like a raging dragon. Stone walls blackened instantly as the inferno devoured everything in its path.
The flames roared forward, clearing the path ahead.
But she didn't stop.
Her body accelerated again, moving even faster than before.
The speed was unstable.
Dangerous.
But she didn't care.
There was no world where she would let him die alone.
Either they would survive together.
Or they would die together.
Nothing else was acceptable.
The massive stone doors of the boss chamber appeared ahead.
Hana surged forward—
And slammed into them.
The doors shuddered violently but refused to open.
Another system window appeared.
<
<
Her eyes widened.
"No... no, no, no—!"
Her hands ignited again.
If the door wouldn't open...
Then she would destroy the entire wall.
Black flames spiraled around her arm as she prepared another vortex.
But before she could release it—
A new notification appeared.
<
<
"Huh?"
The message continued.
<
"Wait— not now!" Hana shouted.
"I have to get through—!"
Her words cut off mid-sentence.
Her slime body suddenly melted.
Literally.
Her form collapsed into liquid and spilled onto the stone floor.
"H-Hey—!"
Her voice became muffled as her consciousness sank into the ground.
Then—
She opened her eyes.
Rain was falling.
Cold droplets tapped against the surface of a black umbrella.
Hana blinked slowly.
She stood at the edge of a quiet cemetery.
A funeral.
The sight struck her like a distant memory.
She looked down at herself.
Her human body.
The one she had before she died.
For a moment... she simply stood there.
Feeling something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Familiarity.
Then her eyes moved toward the crowd.
And they landed on him.
Haruto.
Younger.
Standing beside a small girl.
His sister.
Hana immediately understood what she was looking at.
"...So this is it."
Her gaze softened.
"The turning point."
She watched the girl silently adjust the umbrella over her brother.
Watched him wrap an arm around her shoulders.
Watched the quiet grief in his eyes.
Hana lowered her own gaze slightly.
The heaviness of the memory pressed against her chest.
Then something strange caught her attention.
Another figure stood nearby.
Older.
Watching the grave.
Haruto.
The present one.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"...He's here too?"
The realization struck her instantly.
She wasn't just seeing the memory.
She was inside it.
Inside his past.
Inside his mind.
Hana immediately began moving.
First walking.
Then running.
"Haruto!"
But before she could reach him—
Everything vanished.
The cemetery disappeared.
The rain vanished.
The world dissolved into pure white.
Hana looked around in confusion.
There was nothing.
An endless white void.
Then she noticed something else.
Her body had disappeared.
She couldn't see her hands.
Her feet.
Nothing.
"...THEN WHY?!"
Voices echoed through the empty space.
"...WHY CAN'T YOU JUST DESTROY THEM ALL?!"
Hana froze.
Her attention snapped forward.
Two figures stood within the void.
Haruto.
And a younger version of him.
She watched silently.
Neither of them noticed her presence.
"...If we do that," Haruto said calmly, "wouldn't we end up the same as the trash who killed her?"
The younger Haruto clenched his fists.
"...Then what are you going to do?"
Silence followed.
Then Haruto smiled faintly.
"Why don't we try one more time?"
Hana blinked in surprise.
But a moment later she shook her head with a quiet smile.
Of course.
That was the Haruto she knew.
The boy she had fallen for.
When the younger Haruto finally took his hand...
When the golden light consumed him...
Something changed again.
Hana felt her body return.
She looked down.
Her new form.
The translucent skin.
The faint mix of blue and pink beneath it.
Her humanoid slime body.
But she barely noticed it.
Because Haruto was speaking again.
Holding the pen.
"...I think I'm finally ready... to write my own story."
His voice was quiet.
But filled with determination.
"By Zero, the author."
A confident grin spread across his face.
"My greatest masterpiece."
"Origin: Zero."
And suddenly—
Hana stood directly in front of him.
Fully visible.
Haruto flinched slightly.
"...Hana?"
His eyes widened in confusion.
He studied her new form for a moment.
But the colors.
The presence.
The feeling.
He knew immediately.
"Hana...?"
She didn't answer.
Her legs trembled slightly.
Her heart pounded violently inside her chest.
But she gathered her courage.
And ran.
Straight into him.
Her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
And before Haruto could even react—
---
---
She kissed him.
Soft.
Warm.
Yet filled with every emotion she had been holding back.
Fear.
Relief.
Love.
Haruto froze completely.
His mind blanked.
The world seemed to pause for a single heartbeat.
Then Hana finally pulled away.
But she didn't step back.
Instead she buried her face into his chest in embarrassment, gripping his shirt tightly.
Haruto still hadn't recovered.
"...I..."
No words came.
He had just...
Actually kissed her.
Hana tightened her arms around him.
Then she muttered softly against his chest.
"You really thought you could get rid of me by dying like that?"
Her voice carried a teasing warmth.
"Well too bad."
She lifted her head slightly, meeting his stunned gaze with a small victorious smile.
"That's not how things work around here."
---
Back in the present.
The throne room shook as the ant's new form finished evolving.
Hana stood calmly at a corner of the large chamber.
Her black flames burned darker than ever.
Yet her cheeks still carried a faint tint of red.
Because now that she thought about it...
That moment hadn't been a dream.
It had really happened.
And somehow...
That made it far more embarrassing.
Still...
Her grin slowly returned.
The flames at her heart burned hotter.
Excitement.
Anticipation.
Desire to see what came next.
Their new lives had only just begun.
But first...
They needed to survive this trial.
And together—
They would.
...