The change in the Magic Tower’s first spire happened just as the sun was coming up. The earth was still dark and quiet. The Gray Spider, who had spent the night with me, pricked up her ears. Because it was so quiet, I could hear even that small gesture of hers. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the tower. “Hmmm, it seems someone’s calling.” “Is it me...? No, it’s you they’re calling, Death King.” I followed her gaze and looked at the tower. The massive metal gate was still shut. There was no sign of anyone, no sound either. Uburka had gone inside there to get the witches to surrender, but there was no sign of him. Nor were there any Spiders who had decided to show up. I tilted my head, confused. “I don’t see anyone.” “She’s outside the door on her own. I’m not sure what you can do. When you fought me, you probably only used a fraction of your true power, but it’s the same for me. Do you think you know all about the Magic Tower’s millennium history?” I nodded and stood up. “I see. You’re right. It wouldn’t be surprising if a Spider could make her body transparent and erase her presence.” “The good thing about you is that it’s easy to talk to you.” “I’ll be off now. Do you have anything you want me to pass on?” “Thank you for staying in the tower. I’m really annoyed by those traitors, but let’s curse those bastards outside instead.” I went over to the tower. The Magic Tower’s first headquarters had a moat around it. A drawbridge, as clear as glass, connected the gate to the outside. When I stood on the drawbridge, I could make out a faint shadow above the glass drawbridge. “Did you call for me?” I asked. Someone was standing right in front of me. I couldn’t see her, though, but the invisible individual watched me for quite a bit. She finally said, “Don’t move your lips. Use Aura Transmission. Don’t do it too loudly. Just loud enough for me to hear. No one else must overhear our conversation.” “It’s pretty difficult to send Aura Transmission to someone you can’t see.” “Difficult doesn’t mean impossible. Please do it.” I just gave a little shrug. “Okay, it’s done. Even your elder would have a hard time eavesdropping on this conversation. Now, please feel free to speak.” However, the invisible witch couldn’t speak freely. After a long silence, she finally asked, “Are you Uburka’s dad?” “Rather than asking me if I’m the Death King, you asked if I’m Uburka’s dad. It looks like Uburka has made quite an impression on you guys. You could have called him ’that bastard’ or ’pig’ or some other derogatory name, but you used Uburka’s name and even called me his dad.” “It looks like Uburka did a great job of persuading you guys. Or maybe he’s already got you on board, but you’re trying to meet with me in secret instead of sending a proper envoy. It would probably mean there’s a minor issue. Am I wrong?” The invisible witch was quiet for a second. “We listened to Uburka’s story very carefully.” “I’ve heard about you. I was late because I was checking whether that story was true or a lie.” I tilted my head to the side. I could tell she was tense, as if she were afraid of something nearby. Why was she nervous? “We weren’t just sitting around, so we sent an investigation team to the Lion Realm. After following the route Uburka told us, we met the concubi and saw the history you, the Death King, created as a god.” “Why are you so scared?” I asked. “You’re shivering. What’s wrong?” “What’s wrong? Are you serious?” The invisible witch laughed for the first time, but it was more out of disbelief. “Why am I shivering? It’s, of course, because I’m afraid of you.” “In the dream, I saw almost a thousand elite soldiers in black robes under your command. There were also thousands of Asura warriors, the Terras, who followed your orders, regardless of what you told them. Even the Constellation Murderer obeys you. And you’re confused why I’m afraid? Of you? You could easily destroy us, the fiftieth floor, and build your own empire that would last a thousand years. Unbelievable... Well. I’ve ordered the investigation team to be quiet for now. Most of my kids still don’t know how powerful you are as a Hunter.” “So, you’re like the big boss of the first headquarters, right? Have you decided to surrender to us?” “Yeah, but there’s a condition.” Her clear and determined voice rang out clearly through Aura Transmission. “We’ll surrender to you, Death King. Only to you. I’ll never give in to some ragtag like the Anti-Magic-Tower Alliance. You’re the only one who truly treated your species as your friend, or, at least, that’s what you tried to be to them. You even convinced your colleagues to do the same. So I’ll admit that, if we lose to you, it will mean something. But we won’t lose to them!” I still couldn’t see the witch, but I was able to tell she was pointing over my shoulder and grinding her teeth. She continued, “There isn’t a single innocent person among those who set foot on this fiftieth floor! Ah, some committed fewer sins, but those guys readily joined the Magic Tower. Do you get what I’m saying, Death King? Do you get it? We’ll never kneel before those bastards!” Those were the same words the Gray Spider had spoken. After thinking a bit, I asked, “So, you’re going to make sure the Anti-Magic-Tower Alliance gets nothing.” “Yeah, they don’t deserve anything anyway. They only got something thanks to you. We won’t let those bastards feel like they’ve won, even in their delusions.” The invisible witch’s words were resolute. “Yeah, we didn’t exactly live the model life either. I’ll admit it, but the only people who can insult us are Uburka, you, and the warriors of your world! We’ll kneel before you if you want, but not before anyone else. Never.” “What did Uburka say?” I asked. “He said it’s a tricky request and asked us to talk to you, his dad. I’m only here because of Uburka’s advice.” With that thought, I said, “A happy ending is always tricky.” “Protecting something precious to oneself. It could be a grudge, pride, or something else. I don’t think the world is in this state because there are many people who have nothing more precious than their lives. It’s actually because many people have something they value more than their lives.” “What are you talking about? I’m not into riddles.” “I get what’s important to you.” I braced myself. “You don’t have to kneel before the alliance.” A short silence followed. It seemed like she couldn’t believe what I had said. “Yes. Open the gate, cross the drawbridge, and head to the Lion Realm. Once you arrive, my children will show you the way, but I have a condition. Please cross the drawbridge on foot. You can’t teleport to the Lion Realm inside the tower. If you’re only going to surrender to me and can’t kneel before the followers, at least show the courtesy and courage of crossing the drawbridge.” “Don’t tell me someone is going to attack us while we’re crossing the drawbridge.” “I’m the Death King,” I said calmly. “Since you know who I am, you also know what kind of weight my title carries. You can trust my promise.” The invisible witch didn’t say a word, but she agreed in the end. She would have had no choice but to accept. It was just a matter of crossing the drawbridge on foot. What was hard about that? The Spiders who worked at the first headquarters would have crossed that glass drawbridge loads of times. They probably didn’t think it was a big deal. The witch answered, “Then we’ll come out in an hour.” Googlᴇ search NoveIＦire.net “Yes, please do that.” I said my goodbye and went back. The Gray Spider was staring at me impassively. Not paying much heed to that, I sat next to her. “You’re a slippery one. Playing tricks and all,” she said. “You’re the one in charge. You need to know how things are going.” “So you lied to the headquarters director? ‘Even your elder would have a hard time eavesdropping on this conversation.’ Yet you sent me an Aura Transmission at the same time.” From the start, I had sent the Aura Transmission not only to the invisible director but also to the Gray Spider. That was how the elder knew the whole story. “The sound quality was good, wasn’t it?” “Yeah, the reception was too fucking good, you ass,” the Gray Spider grumbled. “Do you have a different impression of me now?” The Gray Spider looked up at me. The look she had given me when I casually mentioned Uburka’s past earlier had now grown a bit more complicated after hearing the invisible director’s story. In a bit of a lamenting tone, the Gray Spider asked, “Is it all true?” I crossed my arms and puffed out my chest. “Yeah, I’m the Death King.” “That’s not what I’m asking, you dick.” “Around a thousand top-notch soldiers in black robes follow my orders without question, with lots of Terra warriors backing them up. I have two rivals. One is a bum with a crappy ponytail and a thousand elite soldiers in white robes, as well as two hundred fifty-six color fighting rangers. The other has no reputation like that, but he’s the original choice of the Sword Emperor. So he’s really strong.” “Nope, not that one either, you freaking rascal.” I puffed out my chest even more. “Then what? I have the Immortal Light as my sword. You want to hear how I beat the Scarlet Blood Demon King and have her under my command? Or are you talking about how I have the notorious Constellation Murderer, the fiftieth floor’s seasonal boss, under my command?” “Ah, forget about those trivial things! Seriously, fuck you and your tongue!” Unlike the invisible witch, who seemed to be scared of my power, the Gray Spider made it clear that my strength was trivial. “The strong. The stronger ones who command the strong... After living for a thousand years, you’ll see loads like that. That’s common. Why do you think my Magic Tower hasn’t staked all Constellations under the spires? Those fucking false gods out there serve Mahos and those higher-ranking false gods. Those peeping starheads look down on the fiftieth floor and eat popcorn. Why do you think that’s possible?” The Gray Spider gritted her teeth. “The only surprising part is that you took the Constellation Murderer under your command, but that’s because he isn’t just some ordinary strong one! The Sword Emperor was also different because he wasn’t ordinarily strong. But you... You know what I’m trying to say, right? Is it true?” “Death King, did you...” The invisible witch was more focused on my power, so she didn’t notice, but she understood it exactly, even from a distance. “From the thirtieth, fortieth floor, and afterward... you never ruled your species as a god?” “I can’t believe it!” the Gray Spider shouted. “I can’t believe that is who you are, or that a person like that even exists! Until now, no one—” “Yeah, you can say that,” I told her. “It’s understandable you think like that. You can believe that I’m a liar and that the Magic Tower’s first headquarters made a mistake while gathering information. You can forget about what you heard. That’s definitely something you can do, Lady Gray Spider, or you can do something completely different.” The Gray Spider gritted her teeth, leaning over toward me, but then she took a step back. She ended up in this awkward position where she wasn’t approaching me or moving away either. I waited. She kept looking at the Magic Tower, the troops surrounding the first spire, and then at the brightening dawn. She looked like a beast cornered on the edge of a cliff as she said, “She said this concubi, or whatever they’re called, showed them your expedition in a dream.” “Yes, she said that.” “Show it to me, too. After seeing it, then... No, just show it to me first.” I nodded. “I can do that for you.” Dawn was breaking. The Anti-Magic-Tower Alliance members stretched in their tents and makeshift shelters. Some followers were already preparing themselves, a child was crying somewhere, livestock mooed, and a witch who had lived for a thousand years broke her silence. The Gray Spider’s eyes were blurry. It wasn’t just because she had a long dream with the concubi’s help. After a bit, she covered her face and murmured, “Yes. I... I never planned to protect my sisters. I just wanted to find the one who impregnated my mother, kill him, burn his village, destroy his entire territory, and burn his country to the ground... At some point, my sisters were around me.” It seemed her tongue wasn’t making those words; they were instead leaking out of her mouth. “It wasn’t like I felt any responsibility, but I did have one. The people who didn’t take responsibility were just like my father, and they were our gods. I became the ruler of my people so I wouldn’t become like them. That is how I built the magic Tower. I never wanted to become something in life. ‘I’m not going to end up like that or him.’ ‘I’ll kill those bastards.’ In hindsight, I think I’ve lived my whole life for those claims alone.” At the promised morning, the Magic Tower’s metal gate creaked open. The alliance followers buzzed, each showing different reactions. “Are they really surrendering?” “Let’s see the look on their faces when they come out.” “It’s all over! We’ve won!” Lots of people were there to watch. Hundreds of Spiders came pouring out of the crack in the iron gate. The Gray Spider said, “It was the first time I wanted to be someone like him, the Sword Emperor. It was the first time in a thousand years.” The Spiders didn’t come out with white flags, and the crowd stopped whispering as they all reached the same conclusion. “There’s no white flag.” The Spiders walked and stared straight ahead, as if they hadn’t been defeated. “What the hell is going on?” As the crowd chattered, the Gray Spider let out a sigh that wasn’t really heavy, but that was because she had nothing left within herself. No anger, disdain, malice, not even the deep hatred that had been bubbling inside her until watching the concubi’s dream. She said, “He was light. That guy didn’t seem to hate anything. He wasn’t pretending. I have enough insight to know that. That doesn’t mean he was particularly good either. He wasn’t the type who was desperate to help others. He was just... light. Like the wind. I wondered if it was possible to live like him.” The alliance followers started shouting. They felt they’d been too easy on the four headquarters when they had surrendered, so the followers shouted without thinking. The followers were dead set on proving that their whole lives were wrong, not just some bits, but their whole existence. “I thought to myself...” the Gray Spider said blankly. “There’s no way that kind of life is possible. It’s not just me. It’d be impossible for anyone.” “So the Sword Emperor is the only exception.” She sighed. “It wasn’t necessarily like that.” The Spiders from the first headquarters reached the glass-like drawbridge. It didn’t waver, even with hundreds of people walking across it. The Gray Spiders and I stood at the end of it. “Even if it’s not quite the same as the Sword Emperor, even if it’s totally different, even if it’s difficult... a different life is also possible.” As we watched, the Spiders from the first headquarters confidently crossed the glass bridge. The closer they got, the angrier the followers became. Some people even tried to throw rotten fruit or filth at them. “There’s no need for that,” I said. “Thank you. I suppose maybe I can do that.” The Gray Spider lowered her hands, revealing her face. “I spent over a hundred years thinking that the Sword Emperor was an exception. I could spend another millennium thinking of you as a similar exception. I wasn’t wrong, and I tried my best with my life, but...” She was crying and laughing at the same time as she asked, “... isn’t that too embarrassing?” And then, the Gray Spider slowly kneeled. The first headquarters’ Spiders crossing the drawbridge stopped in their tracks. Even the Spiders from the second, third, fourth, and fifth headquarters, who’d been anxiously watching the surrender ceremony, also froze. The alliance followers surrounding them had been raging and jeering, and the ordinary Hunters who’d joined the not-so-festive festival had also been booing. However, they weren’t an exception at the moment. “I’m sorry,” the Gray Spider told the followers. “I’m sorry. I was wrong.” Instead of the hundreds of Spiders who wouldn’t kneel, the greatest Spider—the ruler of all witches, the godslayer who’d never bowed to the gods—pressed her forehead to the ground, her body wrapped in bandages. “My millennium was wrong.”