Chapter Seven: Soar High, Shooting Star

The Tale of a Star

Monochrome didn’t know its own origin. It wasn’t even aware if it had been birthed by nature or created by someone’s hand.

The name above its head was something it was never conscious of, either.

The world called this monster the “Void of the Black Sky, Monochrome,” but the creature never considered itself any such thing.

To it, the world was made up of only “this” (itself) and “everything else,” so coding things with names was simply unnecessary. All that was important was the fact that it had a set of powers, and it was complete with nothing more than that.

As a being that gained all the energy necessary for its activities by merely absorbing light, Monochrome had no reason to do anything. And thus, ever since its appearance, it had done absolutely nothing. There was no necessity to do anything, so it didn’t even think about doing anything.

In fact, it didn’t think at all — nothing ever made its mind or heart budge.

That was its existence long before it was dubbed the “Void of the Black Sky, Monochrome.”

It merely floated high up in the sky and did nearly nothing but “exist” — just “being there,” so to speak. It ate all the light it needed to survive, and radiated any excesses come nighttime.

Those looking up at the sky would see it as just another star. All that made it different from the rest was the fact that it was slightly brighter than most and that it wasn’t fixed.

That was extent of its existence, presence, and effect on the world.

It would have been entirely possible for it to mindlessly float in the sky as a faux-star for aeons and beyond, but somewhere along the line, it became Monochrome.

The thing that caused the change inside it was a light it saw on the surface several hundreds of years ago: a fire burning throughout a city-state below.

Monochrome — or, rather, what it was before it got the name — looked down upon the scorching flames of war.

Man killed fellow man. Many were hurt, their homes were burned, and their lives were extinguished as the air became dense with anguish and despair.

But despite the horror, someone was looking at the scene while laughing with pure glee.

The commander of the invaders cackled loudly as the enemy nation burned to the ground.

A display of emotion so intense was something that the plant-like creature up in the sky wasn’t familiar with, and looking down at the scene made something within it — something that had been dormant all this time — suddenly stir.

Heart, mind, core — there was no telling what it actually was, but the fact remained that it was moved, and it had no idea why.

Regardless, it was the first change the creature had ever experienced since the beginning of its plain, almost rock-like existence. Due to that, it didn’t find it important whether the horrible scene’s effect on it was positive or not.

It only cared that the presence of despair caused it to change, like it caused change to those in pain and those who laughed.

That realization was so fresh and unknown to it that it quickly took it upon itself to bring new despair.

It had already known that focusing its excess light allowed it to fire a heat beam that could reach the surface, and that was exactly what it did.

Mimicking those fighting in the war below, it used its own power to hurt and burn, starting with the one who laughed at others’ despair.

The result?

The person anguished — showed despair.

“...Kya... ha.”

Watching the sight, the creature felt its core stir once more. Even its voice function, never used before, began to play a sound.

“ＫｙＡ...ｈａ...Ｈａ.”

It fired more beams, creating even more people who drowned in anguish and despair, and they died without even realizing what was happening to them.

As the suffering grew, the creature felt something be born within its core, which had once been akin to rock.

“Ｋ ｙ Ａ ｈ ａ Ｈ Ａ ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ Ｈ ａ Ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ ｈ!”

Eventually, its voice function began releasing a loud laughter.

Pure and innocent, it laughed like an infant it had once heard while looking down at the world, making its joy known far and wide. It found pleasure in its changes and reassessed its consciousness.

Let’s burn more and more. Those are “torches.” When they burn, they light up this heart.

Somewhere down the line, it was given the name “Void of the Black Sky, Monochrome,” but it didn’t care about that in the least. Monochrome simply continued floating in the sky and burning animals to see them despair.

Every now and then, there would be those who’d challenge the creature, but they would all end up burned to death before they could even reach it.

Monochrome realized that its core was stirred the most when the determined faces of those who struggled against it became overcome with despair, and due to that, the entity eventually decided to stay in one place.

If “this” stays here and waits, “this” will get to see torches with determined faces show despair, right?

With that thought, it began nesting in the sky above the place that would come to be called “Torne Village.”

That eventually led to it being hit by a meteor and getting buried underground for 300 years, but those centuries would do nothing to change its nature and modus operandi.

Monochrome continued to stay in place and wait for determined “torches” to challenge it, and it didn’t take long for its wish to come true.

After all, right now, right below it, there was a man who was struggling against it with more determination than anyone ever had before.

◇◆◇

Torne Village

That man, Ray, was using Nemesis in her third form to defend against Monochrome’s beams.

The shield prevented all direct attacks, but part of the heat they carried reached Ray’s hand by conduction and left it hideously burned.

Even so, he did not yield or even consider letting go of his shield. He merely spammed his healing magic while intently listening to Nemesis’s words.

“27,210... 30,635...”

They were nothing but numerical values. Nemesis voiced a greater number with every beam that came. It was much like her usual damage counter, but there were a few differences.

Ray assumed the damage already accumulated was more than enough to defeat Monochrome, but even so, he continued taking the attacks.

Even when reduced by the shield and Paladin’s Aegis, the raining beams still dealt more damage than Ray healed with his magic and BR Armor’s Bloody Regeneration, but the difference wasn’t particularly great, so Ray’s HP was being scorched away only gradually.

“Mister Ray!” Louie cried, looking at him, still protected by Gringham.

Ray was no longer on the beast’s back, for Monochrome had already switched its focus away from Gringham over to the Master fighting it. That was clear because the beams weren’t raining down on the unshielded parts of the beast, but instead following after Ray.

Thus, he’d jumped off Gringham and faced the rain all by himself.

At this point, the beast was damaged so badly that he could barely move, but even so, he continued protecting his dear Louie, who was looking at Ray as he struggled against Monochrome and its beams.

“Ｋ ｙ ａ Ｈ Ａ ｈ ａ Ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ ｈ Ａ Ｈ!” the entity laughed.

Its field of vision captured countless things on the surface.

It saw the armored “torch” running towards the windmill.

It saw the many torches hiding at the shelter built against it.

It saw the beast torch and the little boy torch it was protecting.

It saw the men and women torches hiding within the dark.

It saw a few torches preparing to attack it again from the surface.

It saw the mohawk torch preparing to take to the sky, only to be stopped by another torch.

But none of those torches mattered to it anymore.

Monochrome was now interested in and cared about only one torch: the one that was directing the strongest feelings towards it.

Indeed, that torch had captivated it, and that was something that had never happened before.

Until now, the creature had never paid much attention to torches separately. To Monochrome, the world was just “this” (itself) and “everything else,” where the latter were mere torches that burned in anguish and despair, and thus never had to be differentiated in any way.

This torch was on the verge of being the only exception. From the surface, it looked up at Monochrome with not a hint of fear or despair — only pure rage.

The creature gazed back at the torch that was Ray Starling, and pondered.

Yes. That’s him. He’s the one who came closest to “this.” What’s different about him?

It recognized the man as one of those who’d tried to approach it not too long ago, and despite having been brought down once, the man still looked at Monochrome with a challenging expression, which the creature found highly peculiar.

All of those struggling against it in the past had had something they wholeheartedly relied on. Some had been skilled with the sword, some had had excellent archery skills, while some had fought alongside dragons.

Oftentimes, upon realizing that their favored arts, tricks, and beasts had no effect, their daring expressions would change into those of despair, and those faces were the ones that shook Monochrome’s core more than anything else.

Ray, however, was still struggling. His heart hadn’t yielded after failing to reach it by flight, after having his flesh seared by its beams, and even after having seemingly no moves he could play against it. He just didn’t break.

Thus, he made Monochrome think, Then let’s go all-out.

This would be its first time using its full power since its appearance hundreds of years ago.

It converted light into MP, changed the MP into beam energy, and continuously gathered it within itself.

After repeat converting and charging, Monochrome eventually had the maximum amount of energy it could sustain, and condensed it all in its crystalline body, rather than the tips of its tentacles.

The crack on the crystal began leaking waves of energy that evaporated the surrounding clouds and created a space of clear sky around the creature.

Monochrome’s body began to shine so brightly that it was hard to believe how dark it had been just moments ago.

It was preparing to unleash its trump card — not just a powerful-yet-nameless beam, but a uniquely-titled skill.

The creature spoke its name: “ＳＨＩＮＩＮＧ ＤＥＳＰＡＩＲ!”

For reasons unknown, the pronunciation of the word “despair” was unlike that of Earth’s, being closer to “disappear.”

Nevertheless, the text was honest — the skill was most definitely a light that could end all hope, carrying energy incomparable to all the beams that came before.

Before its might, even the loss of power due to distance was negligible. If it stormed down to the ground, it would not only evaporate people, but destroy and scatter an immense part of Torne itself.

People could feel it in their bones by simply looking up at Monochrome, as proven by all the despairing faces the creature saw.

“Ｋ ｙ Ａ ｈ ａ Ｈ Ａ ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ Ｈ ａ Ｈ ａ ｈ Ａ ｈ!” it cackled. The movement in its core made it far too happy.

Then, it looked at the face it wanted to see the most — Ray’s.

Did ya despair? Hey, did ya? Did ya... Huh?

However, Ray’s face was one of the few that showed no grief. He merely looked up at Monochrome with even more rage in his gaze than before.

Despite the abject dejection around him, his two eyes remained those of an unyielding challenger. If they could speak, they would surely say, “I will defeat you.”

Scary, Monochrome thought, the first time it felt something that wasn’t joy.

However, the sentiment was only momentary, as Monochrome quickly prepared to fire another beam of Shining Despair towards him.

Perhaps the creature was spurred into action by its first taste of fear. Even so, Monochrome was far too clueless. It didn’t know that the man was called “Unbreakable.”

Even when faced with countless tragedies and disasters far exceeding his own power, Ray had never even considered backing down.

Even when dealing with evil and despair that could bring most to their knees, he’d stood tall by the sheer force of anger alone.

And he’d seized miracles for every single one of those disasters.

Monochrome knew none of that, but now, it would become painfully aware of it.

“Gringham!” Ray shouted while looking at Louie. He could tell that the immense sky beam would soon be fired down.

With just that alone, Gringham understood what he had to do. He raised his hurt body, took Louie in his mouth like a parent cat takes a kitten, and dashed away to distance him from what will soon be ground zero of the massive beam strike.

“Gringham! Mister Ray!” Louie called out as he was taken away.

Ray didn’t say anything and instead responded by raising his shield to the sky.

And thus, Ray and Nemesis were the only people left in ground zero.

He wouldn’t run.

Even if he tried to, he’d only be caught up in the destruction, not to mention that the tians in the shelters would fall prey to the beam’s power.

He couldn’t back away.

“That must be the fiend’s ace,” said Nemesis. “I wonder how powerful it is.”

“Well, it’s clear that one won’t be enough,” replied Ray. “Two might do the trick, but I can’t be sure.”

“Do we not have Brooches?”

“I’m all out. I put my last ones on Louie and Gringham.”

Lifesaving Brooches prevented fatal damage, and before heading to Torne, Ray had had three of them in stock. However, having had used one up in yesterday’s battle against Rosa, and handing the rest to Louie and Gringham today, he currently had none left. Nevertheless, he didn’t regret the act at all.

“So... it all depends on us,” he concluded.

“Very well. You may count on me.”

“Yeah. I believe in you.”

They had two more uses of Counter Absorption.

If they, his shield, and his passive defense skills weren’t enough, Ray would surely receive the death penalty.

If that happened, he wouldn’t be able to launch his counterattack, and Monochrome would reduce all of Torne to ash.

Out of all the gambles they’d taken today, this was likely the greatest.

Stats, skills, equipment, Embryo — this moment would test whether all they’d acquired during their time in Infinite Dendrogram would be enough to resist the despair about to rain down from the sky.

“ＳＨＩＮＩＮＧ ＤＥＳＰＡＩＲ!” Monochrome repeated the name of the skill again and launched the devastating beam of light directly from its crystalline body.

It was akin to a pillar linking heaven and earth, and it was dense with a heat so immense it could easily scorch the surface.

Were it to hit the ground, it would surely evaporate the area and turn Torne into a land of death.

The light made the many lives in the village be overcome with despair.

They, however, didn’t break.

“Counter Absorption!” Nemesis shouted, calling forth a different barrier of light.

This new one momentarily stopped the might of the pillar, but then it was shattered. Even so, it was clear that it had an effect — the pillar’s diameter had gotten smaller.

Then the beam was blocked by yet another barrier of light exactly like the one before.

It was a chained Counter Absorption activation — a technique Nemesis had acquired over the last month. One that they’d already used against Rosa.

The second barrier kept the pillar of light at bay longer than the first, but it, too, was shattered, letting the beam reach the surface.

The beam that was supposed to scorch a vast amount of land around it had lost most of its power to the barriers. What could have potentially annihilated the whole village had been reduced so much that it only affected an extremely small area.

Even so, the energy that made it past Ray was nothing to dismiss.

The ground zero of the explosion caused included the nearby windmill, which melted and all but vanished, while the surrounding ground became covered by an insufferable heat and turned red with fire. It looked akin to the depths of hell, and it was hard to imagine that someone could stand there alive.

And yet, there was one.

“We... did it...” Ray muttered, still alive in spite of it all.

His state was such that words like “hurt” or “injured” seemed too lax to describe it. It was a wonder he was even alive.

A person didn’t have enough fingers to count the debuffs he was affected by, while the heat was such that it colored his skin red or even black.

Some pieces of his equipment, too, shattered and fell into the lava below. These included his accessories and the prosthetic on his left arm.

His BR Armor was melting, but it still held well enough to continue bestowing its Bloody Regeneration.

Ray’s hellish state was not enviable in the least.

“...Heh,” Nemesis chuckled. “Its trajectory got knocked slightly off when it passed the second barrier. Most fortuitous. You probably wouldn’t be standing right now if it’d hit you directly.”

“Yeah,” Ray forced a reply. “What a stroke of luck.”

Even if the strike hadn’t been direct, Ray was still exposed to its aftereffects. He was currently surrounded by a molten, heated hell.

Of course, being a Master, he felt no pain, but he could still feel the searing heat touching his skin and taste the throat-scorching air entering his body. The red-hot hell burned his legs, but even then, his knees didn’t give in — and neither did his heart.

“We’re using it, Nemesis,” he uttered, and you could almost picture Nemesis nod in response.

“We have accumulated about 650,000...” she said. “That would be 65,000 metels.”

“Will it reach?”

“I shall make sure it does.”

“I’ll leave it to you, then.”

Following that exchange, Ray began holding the shield in a different manner.

Instead of making its surface face the enemy above, he held it in front — like a weapon.

“Nemesis. Third form β.”

A moment later, the shield changed its shape.

The handle he was holding slid and extended to turn Nemesis into a strange long-handled weapon with a shield at the tip.

The shield itself changed, as well. The five-sided silver pattern on its surface emitted a light and opened up, effectively unfolding the shield.

It looked akin to a flower bud beginning to bloom — no, like a pinwheel spreading its blades. And with five blades in total, it was much like what those from Torne called a “windstar.”

Indeed, this was a convertible weapon that changed from a shield to a star-like pinwheel.

“Form Shift...”

Thus, they declared the name of their new power — the title of Nemesis’s third form.

“...Shooting Wheel!”

Fittingly, it was a mix of “Shooting Star” and “Pinwheel.”

◇

A few minutes before Ray jumped in to protect Louie and Gringham and went on to face Monochrome...

“In short, this skill is basically a ranged, homing Vengeance,” Nemesis said.

Ray was still searching for Louie, and as he did so, Nemesis told him the details of the new skill.

“Ranged and homing...?” Ray asked.

“The damage taken in shield form is stored as propulsive power,” Nemesis continued. “Then, once activated, it chases after even the most distant of enemies, hunting them down and dealing double... no, triple damage.”

It was clearly a strong skill. Not only did it make up for their weaknesses against distant and fast-moving opponents, it also carried more power than the standard Vengeance is Mine.

In fact, it was far too strong, even when you considered the fact that it could only be used once per day.

Due to this, Ray instantly assumed that it had other conditions, and he was correct.

“But there are two problems with it,” said Nemesis.

“Which are?”

“First is the fact that it bases not only its power, but also its speed and distance flown, on the damage dealt by the enemy.”

According to her, the skill used a tenth of the damage taken as the value for its distance and speed. For example, with 10,000 damage taken, it would chase the enemy for 1,000 metels at 1,000 AGI.

“Yeah... that is a gamble,” said Ray.

The highest distance Monochrome had reached during the pursuit was 25,000 metels, meaning that the damage they would have to accumulate to reach it with that condition was at least 250,000.

And that was only assuming that that distance was its absolute limit. For all they knew, the creature could be double that far away, and gathering enough damage to cover that distance would be no small task.

“Second, its activation takes one minute of preparation,” Nemesis continued.

“...Seriously?”

“During this time, you obviously won’t be able to use the shield, nor will you have Counter Absorption as an option. We will have to survive the time in some other way.”

In other words, once they were done gathering the damage, they would be fully exposed to Monochrome’s beams for a whole minute.

Ray instantly remembered the moment of Lang’s head vanishing right before his eyes, but even that wasn’t enough to affect his choice.

Even if the minute would severely endanger him, he would still use the skill, so that definitely wasn’t wasn’t the main issue here.

“Regardless, that’s the only thing we have that can get through to the damn thing, right?” he said.

“Indeed,” Nemesis nodded.

So, what mattered the most was whether the skill would reach it or not.

This would be a battle between two decisive numbers — the maximum amount of damage Ray could gather without dying and the maximum altitude Monochrome could arrive at.

◇

And now, after weathering many beams and the monstrous Shining Despair, the Shooting Wheel accumulated the greatest damage they could possibly expect in the situation.

“Start up,” said Nemesis, causing the damage gathered when she was in third form α — the shield — to become propulsive power for third form β.

The five black blades on the Shooting Wheel slowly began to turn and spin, gradually accelerating as though dancing with the wind.

Despite the air being still just moments ago, a fierce wind began to blow as though summoned or caused by the spinning wheel.

Ten seconds after the start, the blades were turning so fast that it was hard to see them with the naked eye, and Ray used his sole right arm to tighten his grip around the handle, as if to prevent the centrifugal force from taking it away.

The spinning was the very process of converting the accumulated damage into the power needed to reach the target.

Ray’s tooth and nail struggle had led to him gathering somewhere over 650,000 damage, meaning that the attack would be a supersonic seeker boasting a 65,000 metel flight distance and AGI of the exact same number. And upon landing on Monochrome, it would unleash nearly 2,000,000 points of damage.

No doubt, if released, it would be a decisive blow that would surely end the fight.

“Ｋ Ｙ ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ Ａ ａ ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ Ａ ａ!”

Monochrome in the skies above no longer laughed or expressed joy in any way.

After all, Ray had survived the greatest beam it had ever released.

Not only that, but the man was facing the creature with an even stronger spirit while wielding a weapon bearing energy so immense that even Monochrome felt it.

It was overcome by an ominous certainty.

“That” cannot exist. If “that” exists, “this” will be broken. It will be ended.

The entity had given up on trying to make Ray despair. It felt only fear that it would be ended if it didn’t end the man first.

It was the first time that Monochrome, the untouchable sky-dweller, had ever felt the danger of death. That feeling was something not even the meteor from centuries past had been able to give it.

“Ｋ ｙ Ａ ｋ ａ Ｋ Ｙ ａ Ａ ａ ｋ Ｙ ａ Ａ Ｋ ａ Ａ ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ!”

The creature charged energy for more beams.

Having attacked him many times by now, it assumed that weak beams, no matter how many, wouldn’t be enough to defeat Ray. Regardless of what the truth really was, it just didn’t think that the beams it used to light the torches would be enough against someone who hadn’t broken after all the attacks so far.

However, Monochrome didn’t have the time to fire another Shining Despair, so it opted to use the piercing beams it’d fired at Gringham.

They were quite powerful in their own right and charged much more quickly, so it thought to end the fight by firing them a few times.

“The fiend isn’t firing... but it’s gathering power!” yelled Nemesis.

Twenty seconds had passed since the spinning began.

Not a single beam had dropped during this time, but that definitely wasn’t something to be glad about. Just like Nemesis had realized, Monochrome was preparing to instantly kill Ray.

She was also aware that her Master didn’t have the power to avoid it anymore.

Even if they were all out of defensive options, he might have been able to survive if he could just move well enough.

But alas, Ray was far too heavily injured. It wouldn’t be strange if he fainted right then and there, and the fact that he’d even activated the skill was nothing short of miraculous.

“What do we do?!” Nemesis panicked. “The charging will take forty more seconds! We don’t have a means to defend against the beam!”

Just as the Black Shield was a form focused entirely on defense, the Shooting Wheel was a form focused solely on offense.

As she was now, Nemesis had the power to defeat the enemy, but not the power to protect Ray, and thus she thought that it was all over.

Her Master, however, seemed to think otherwise.

“Hey, it’s fine,” he said.

“Ray?”

A single look at Ray’s face was enough to tell her that he wasn’t just putting up a front. Despite being nearly thoroughly drained of power, he still seemed to believe in something.

“What do you mean, ‘fi—’?” Before Nemesis could finish her question, something above them changed.

Monochrome was done charging, and it prepared to release the piercing beams that would obliterate Ray.

“Ray!” Nemesis shrieked.

Ray, on the other hand, showed no fear or pain, and calmly said, “We’re making quite a show here. Anyone would notice this.”

There was no doubt he believed in something. In fact, he was so confident that he put on a smirk.

“And if she noticed... she’ll surely come.”

Then Monochrome fired a number of fatal beams. A single one of them was enough to make short work of Ray’s current HP and make his body evaporate, along with any chances of turning the tide.

Even so, Ray showed no fear, again looking like he believed in something... or someone.

“Right? B3?” he called.

“Ya don’t even gotta ask!” And she brashly answered.

“Fire Resistance! Astro Guard!” the three-metel giant named Barbaroy Bad Burn roared as she jumped in between Ray and the beams, protecting him from harm and becoming his shield by using skills that upped her fire resistance and defense.

“Tch...!” she shouted. “Damn asshole went through the elemental def like it’s paper! But hell if it’ll be enough to break through my defense!”

The hail of fatal beams continued for over twenty seconds, and yet, like an all-enclosing canopy, she shielded Ray from them all.

“Ha,” she chuckled, looking somewhat satisfied in spite of the white smoke coming off of her armor. “There goes almost a third of my HP. That shitty thing has power, I’ll give it that.”

Her words and state made Ray form a wry smile. Nemesis, on the other hand, looked thoroughly confused.

“B3...? Eh? This is B3?” she asked.

“Well, yeah...” Ray replied. “No matter how you look at her, it’s B3.”

“‘No matter how you look at it’?” Nemesis repeated. “But the armor design is the same as... oh, never mind. I must say, though — first Marie, now her. I’m quite impressed by how good you are at recognizing people.”

Despite her perplexity, Nemesis didn’t stop spinning the Shooting Wheel. Only twenty seconds were left until the third form’s power would be unleashed.

“Here ya go,” said Barbaroy.

“Ah...” Ray lightly exclaimed as she poured an HP Recovery Potion of the highest quality on him.

“So that skill’s gonna reach Monochrome, right?” she asked.

“...Yes!”

“Then you just think only about getting the stuff to the damn thing. I’ll eliminate anything that gets in your way.”

“Thank you!”

Ray entrusted his defense to Barbaroy and focused entirely on Nemesis’s skill.

Half-frenzied at this point, Monochrome continued raining down its beams towards the surface.

It had clearly stopped thinking about the balance between power and energy regeneration, and kept on attacking while breaking its limits.

The crystalline tentacles it used to fire were now heated and smoking, but Monochrome continued using them regardless.

Despite that, not one of the beams reached Ray.

“That ain’t enough!” shouted Barbaroy.

She was acting as the best tank Ray could possibly hope for in this situation — the beams couldn’t take his life, no matter much effort the UBM put into it.

Thus came the time.

“Ray! The preparation is done!” Nemesis declared.

“Give it hell, Ray!” Barbaroy encouraged.

“Yeah!” Ray answered.

As the Shooting Wheel stirred the air at supersonic speeds, Ray brandished it behind him as if preparing to throw a ball into the sky and began speaking a set of words.

“Payback...”

It was the Shooting Wheel’s unique skill — the crystallization of Ray and Nemesis’s hopes.

It was their oath to overcome their weakness and the manifestation of their wish.

It was the materialization of their desire to prevent tragedies that were outside their scope, and its name was a prayer to let it reach far and wide.

“...Beyond the Stars!”

And thus it flew.

As Ray swung, the five-bladed star was disconnected from its handle and soared high into the sky.

Being both a shooting star and a windstar, it made you wonder why it was so reminiscent of the legend of Monochrome’s sealing and whether it was a coincidence or not.

Leaving a trail of black aura behind, Nemesis, the supersonic shooting star, rose towards the dark star up in the sky.

“Ｋ ｙ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ ａ Ａ Ａ Ａ ａ ｈ Ａ ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ａ ａ ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ｈ!”

Upon seeing the shooting star flying at it at speeds several times greater than sound, Monochrome shrieked and began soaring higher.

It didn’t even consider shooting it down, for the shooting star’s speed was far too immense for its beams.

The creature flew away at full power — at speeds it had never even tried before — greatly exceeding its previous record.

Both the chaser and the runner stars rose to the sky with supersonic velocity.

To those on the surface, the sight would be akin to seeing two shooting stars fly from the earth to the heavens, rather than the other way around.

But reversed or not, shooting stars all shared the same fate — to flash through the sky, fade, and expire.

“Ｋ ｙ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ ａ Ａ ａ Ｈ ａ Ａ ａ Ａ Ａ ａ ａ ａ Ａ ｈ!”

Monochrome flew upward — soared higher and higher.

It paid no heed to its MP reserves or even considered using any power to convert light into it.

It focused all of its functions and mechanisms solely on speed to escape the black shooting star behind it.

They were already far past the limit any living animal could bear, and yet, the chaser showed no intention of stopping.

The pursuit showed no sign of ending even as Monochrome itself surpassed the greatest height it had ever reached.

The altitude was now over 35,000 metels. The world beyond was alien even to the creature, and there was no telling how long its cracked frame would last. But even so, it continued flying, for stopping meant certain extinction.

Escape, it thought. Escape escape escape! “This” will end if it doesn’t escape!

What it felt right now was perhaps the very same feeling it had been causing all this time.

Despair — the sole source of its joy.

No, it wasn’t despairing quite yet, for it still had some hope.

With that speed, “that” shouldn’t be able to fly too far! “This” has a limit! “That” has to have a limit, too! “This” will not end if “that” reaches its limit first!

That was its hope, and it wasn’t wrong in the least. The Shooting Wheel’s limit was 65,000 metels — the distance it could fly after converting the accumulated damage.

The altitude had now exceeded 50,000 metels.

There were only about ten seconds left until the Shooting Wheel lost all its propulsion power.

The outcome of this chase would surely be decided here in the thermosphere — the place where shooting stars are said to expire.

“Such beauty,” murmured Nemesis as she continued the vehement chase.

As an Arms type, she had a large field of vision, so she could both focus on Monochrome and see the world below.

She could now look at the planet without the horizon cutting off her vision.

Her eyes could now see far beyond the single kingdom she and Ray spent their time in. She could see some activity in the neighboring countries and even catch glimpses of the unique sceneries from those far away.

There was also something gigantic far off in the distant south.

Nemesis could now see both the extent and vibrance of this world, and she found it nothing but beautiful.

She hoped to someday get a good, long look at this scenery with Ray at her side.

“But now... there’s something I must do.”

She had to destroy the tragedy that had appeared before her Master. Ray had entrusted her with the role, and she wanted to do it, too.

The Shooting Wheel’s limit was close, but Nemesis still flew, swearing to make it reach.

“You could have just watched the world from here,” she uttered while looking ahead. The words merely escaped her mouth, but that was probably her final, ultimate sentiment towards Monochrome.

She forced out the last of her power.

The end! Monochrome panicked as the shooting star approached. “This” will be ended!

It had already lost all hope of escaping. With all its core, the centuries-old UBM feared the coming end — the gaze of death.

Because of this, it began to think things it had never considered before.

“This” will be ended! If it ends...! If it ends, then...? it thought and paused as an alien idea came to its mind. Wait... What would happen if “this” ended?

For the first time in its long existence, it thought a question that most minds would come across at their earliest stages.

It had never considered that back when it was plant-like, and ever since becoming Monochrome, it had done nothing but cause ends, but now...

Huh? Why doesn’t “this” want to end?

As a creature that had originally been nothing but a star-like thing hanging in the sky, it shouldn’t have had anything to feel about its own end.

Before becoming Monochrome, it hadn’t even considered whether it existed or not.

By witnessing a human conflict, it had learned of despair, learned that made its core stir, deemed it to be joy, and decided to mass-produce despair to please itself.

Right, if “this” ends, it won’t see more despair. And if it doesn’t see despair, it won’t feel joy.

It didn’t want to end because it wanted to feel more bliss.

But then, it suddenly began to question the centuries-old principle of its behavior.

But then... why did “this” enjoy it?

It finally realized that, in its first exposure to despair... the one who’d found joy in it wasn’t Monochrome, but some human on the surface.

The creature’s own joy was just a borrowed imitation, and it had misinterpreted that by thinking that it had gained a desire, despite the fact that it had absolutely no necessity to derive joy from despair.

Thus, the belated question made Monochrome slightly slow down its ascent, letting Nemesis catch up to it.

One of the Shooting Wheel’s five blades bit into the creature’s crystalline body...

“Farewell, star of the black sky!” she screamed.

...and returned triple the damage it had done to Ray and Nemesis.

The vast amount of damage delivered by Payback Beyond the Stars was too much to bear, even for an Ancient Legendary UBM — especially one that had sacrificed its endurance for other qualities.

Ah, then... Monochrome began to weave a thought, but it was cut off by its own extinction.

No one would ever know the conclusion it came to.

◇

That day, there was a dazzling bright light in the sky.

It was the light stored within Monochrome, now released by its collapse.

However, it was nothing like the scorching beams it had fired when active — it was only a pure shine, much like the one the creature had emitted before becoming Monochrome.

In a certain village in Altar, a boy was looking up at the sky alongside his little sister.

“Wow! It’s so pretty!” she said joyously.

“Yeah! It’s sparkling!” he agreed.

Exposed to the unusual light in the sky, the innocent little children felt nothing but jubilation.

Such exchanges were common among those who saw the light, and there was not a hint of the despair Monochrome had once brought. Those who saw it merely reveled in the joy inspired by the beauty of the sight.

Perhaps this had been a common spectacle back at the age before Monochrome became a creature of despair.

The entity that had spent the last few centuries leading a false existence spent its very final moments lighting up the world as it had originally... and then vanished completely.