Chapter 30 - Epilogue 1
“That mask... You are Void, aren’t you? (The founder of the mysterious organization Nihil. I do not know why you appeared here, but... to slip behind me unnoticed, you must be no ordinary man.)”
While Zova’s wariness sharpened, Nia was struck by an overwhelming sense of déjà vu.
That masked man... my Heat Detection didn’t pick it up at all. As if he had simply teleported here... Could it really be...?
One possibility flashed through her mind.
No... impossible. He only acts out of profit and loss. He isn’t the type to help me. And besides... not even he could possibly defeat Zova...
The Grand Elder was a genuine monster.
She had tasted his overwhelming power with her very flesh and blood, more than enough to sicken her of it.
What’s more, Zova was now being supplied with a colossal flow of mana from the children. His strength at this point could easily be ranked on par with a “national military force,” even as a single man.
And yet... why was it?
She couldn’t imagine that masked man ever losing.
“Void... I do not know what business brings you here, but... I would prefer you not spoil such a fine night.”
With a flick of his finger, Zova launched a massive icicle like a great tree.
Receiving external mana supply had sent his spells’ power, scale, and construction speed skyrocketing to ridiculous levels.
The enormous ice pillar, capable of piercing even thick steel plates, however, vanished like a magician’s trick before Void’s eyes.
“...What?”
Zova furrowed his brows and immediately began constructing the next grand spell.
“—<Frost Lance>!”
A gigantic spear of ice shot forth at supersonic speed.
Void, however, did not defend or dodge.
He simply stood there.
And with only that, the spear of ice vanished.
“W–what?!”
Zova’s agitation grew.
“...”
Void, silent, began to walk forward at a steady pace.
Clack.
Clack.
Clack.
The sharp sound of leather shoes striking the frozen ground echoed in perfect rhythm.
It was quiet.
“Take this—<Frost Crash>!”
Too quiet to even call it a battle.
“Gh... then how about this—<White Storm>!”
No clash of ferocious blades.
“W–why... <Freeze Chain>!”
No collision of mighty spells.
“Haah... Cold Slash!”
No contest of cunning schemes.
“D–damn you... <Origin Glacier>!”
There was nothing here.
Nothing but a pitiful clown, performing a one-man play.
“Wh–what is happening?!”
Void only walked forward, gracefully.
And with that alone, Zova’s grand magic dissolved into nothing.
What is his Unique Skill...?!
Three hundred years of wisdom strained to find the answer.
...No, even without such effort, deep down he already knew.
He wanted to deny it.
He refused to accept it.
And yet, there was only one Unique Magic capable of such a feat.
“No... could it be... <Void>?”
It was his ideal, his dream pursued for three centuries—the “strongest Unique Magic,” <Void>.
By fusing the two Factor, <Primordial Flame> and <Primordial Ice>, and pushing them to the brink of criticality, he sought to resurrect <Void> in this era. That had been Zova’s cherished wish.
He had lived solely for the sake of seizing that Factor of Void.
Deciphering ancient grimoires. Mastering his <Primordial Ice>. Sharpening his magical techniques to perfection. Waiting for the birth of <Primordial Flame>. Stealing the Power of Plunder from Nia. Draining mana from the children.
And today, at long last, every piece had fallen into place.
And yet—the very embodiment of his dream had suddenly appeared before his eyes.
That reality was something he could never accept.
“D-D-Don’t you dare mock meeeeeeee! That is mine! My lifelong wish! It is not a toy for some nameless wretch like you to use so lightly!”
The Grand Elder flew into a frenzy, unleashing a howling blizzard.
But it never reached.
Not that <Primordial Ice> failed—
No attack reached at all.
Blades of snow, spears of ice, titanic frozen boulders—all were swallowed and erased by the void.
Before Void, every attack was rendered equally into “nothing.”
Truly a Transcendent—that masked man stood outside the very laws of the world.
“Gh... grghh... ughhh...”
Seized by maddening frustration, Zova clawed and raked at his white hair, forcing himself desperately to think.
Xeno the Calamity’s <Void> was a power of annihilation, capable of erasing all existence... Unbelievable though it was, and utterly unforgivable though it should be—Void had mastered it completely...!
The difference in strength between them was undeniable.
To fight Void was no different from suicide.
Even Zova’s survival instinct screamed at him.
Run. Run now.
But after coming this far...! When at last everything was finally within my grasp...!
And while he clutched his head in despair, Void never stopped walking. The distance between them dwindled, now no more than five meters.
“Kh... <Whiteout>!”
Making a bitter choice, Zova cast a dense smokescreen of snow—and fled in disgrace.
“Hah... hah... hah... Damn it, damn it, damn it! What is that masked guy?! Where has such a monster been hiding all this time?!”
He turned his back on the enemy, his feet pounding desperately as he rushed toward a hidden escape route.
“Ngh?!”
Suddenly, his balance gave way, and he toppled helplessly across the frozen ground.
Looking down, he realized the truth—everything below his right knee was simply gone, erased into the void.
Blood gushed from the missing limb, and a heartbeat later, searing agony burned through his brain.
“Agghhhhhhhaaahhhhhhhhhh!”
A crimson carpet spread outward as the old man’s scream echoed through the vast underground.
“My... leg... my leg, my...!”
Standing above the diminished elder, Void looked down upon him.
“—You disappoint me, Zova.”
A voice like a blade of ice slid down his spine.
Honestly, I expected better. And yet this is the pathetic thing I agonized over all day? Hah... it isn’t even worth a joke.
In silence, Void raised his right hand, ready to end it—
Wait. If I recall correctly, in the original Ronzolkia, the protagonist, enraged, went on a rampage and destroyed Zova’s entire research facility...
The Ainsworth underground was like an ant nest, riddled with passages, with Zova’s laboratories scattered everywhere.
Hmm...
A vivid CG scene from that “event” flickered through his mind:
[Rooms that bring Nia sorrow have no place in this world...! These wretched labs—I’ll tear them all down!]
Awakening to the “Power of the Champion,” the protagonist had smashed Zova’s facilities one after another.
Since the Grand Elder was one of the most loathsome characters in the story, that moment had gone down as one of Ronzolkia’s most famous and cathartic scenes.
It’s better to keep divergence from the main route to a minimum... Besides, there’s no point in preserving Zova’s labs. I might as well vent some stress while I’m at it.
Void’s lips curled into an evil smile as he unleashed a flood of jet-black mana.
It surged outward from the Chamber of Fusion, spreading past the Ainsworth domain, and enveloped the entire royal capital.
S-Such mana... This isn’t something a single being should possess...!
Nia shook her head faintly.
...I’m scared. Scaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscaredscared...!
Allen shrank into himself, overwhelmed by primal fear.
Impossible... This is no different from Xeno the Calamity himself...!
Zova’s eyes widened in pure horror.
The next instant, more than a hundred obsidian spheres materialized.
“—<Void Spiral>.”
The massive spheres, imbued with the “gravity of the Void,” darted about at impossible speed, devouring everything in their path.
Deafening roars and shattering echoes tore through the air as Zova’s underground laboratories, research rooms, and archives were swallowed whole in the blink of an eye.
It was a calamity incarnate—black ink splattered across a canvas, painting all creation into nothingness.
“St–stop! Stoooopppp! Please, I beg you, stopppppp!”
The Grand Elder’s anguished cries resounded.
And truly, who could blame him?
Three centuries of painstakingly built glory—his castle of ambition—was being trampled underfoot by an unreasonable force: Void.
Yet this was nothing less than karma, paid in full.
Zova had abused Nia’s power, drained mana from sickly children, and committed countless inhuman experiments that toyed with the lives of innocents.
Now, the weight of his sins had come crashing back upon him at the worst possible moment—the very instant his dream was about to bear fruit.
“M–my dream... my three hundred years of toil...!”
Zova sobbed, heavy tears streaming down his wrinkled face.
And seeing that, Void felt it—an indescribable wave of ecstasy.
“Pfft... haha... bwahahahahahahaha...!”
The laughter would not stop.
The mocking laughter refused to be silenced.
From the depths of his gut, a black ecstasy welled up without end.
The malignant core of Hollow von Heisenberg, the villainous noble, erupted to the surface in full.
“Ahh... why... why has it come to this...?”
While Zova was crushed by despair, Nia felt a liberation unlike anything she had ever known.
“...”
The birdcage that had bound her for so many years—
To see it shattered into pieces filled her with an indescribable exhilaration.
“Haa...”
In less than ten seconds, Void had reduced everything to rubble, and now exhaled with an oddly refreshed air.
Meanwhile, Zova, forced to witness the violent death of his dream, boiled with hatred.
“Wh–what are you...? What is your goal?! That power, where did you obtain it?!”
Void gave no reply. He simply extended his right hand.
From the hollow sockets of his mask, a pair of crimson eyes gleamed, colder than ice.
Wh–what kind of eyes are those...
They were not even looking at him.
No emotion lingered within them.
It was as though they gazed upon nothing more than an insect crawling in the dirt.
And instinct told him—this man would not be moved by begging for mercy.
Zova’s eyes darted frantically, searching for any chance of survival.
And then—he found the faintest glimmer of hope.
“N–Nia! I was wrong, I admit it, I apologize for everything! Please, I beg you, save me...!”
Without a shred of hesitation, he pleaded to Nia.
That was Zova’s way of life.
When pushed into a corner, he would use anything, anyone.
Shame and pride meant nothing to him—he was possessed only by the urge to survive, a hopeless wraith of greed and cowardice.
Nia’s eyes narrowed, as if she were looking upon something pitiful.
Void raised his hand, palm outstretched.
“—Farewell, Zova le Ainsworth.”
“Wa–wait! I still... I don’t want to—”
The void swallowed everything.
The wraith who had clung to life for three centuries met an end so abrupt, it was almost anticlimactic.
“...He’s on a different level...”
The words slipped from Allen’s lips, heavy with despair.
Between himself and the masked man stood a gulf far too vast, far too insurmountable.
Enemy or ally—
Amidst the suffocating tension, the mysterious masked man vanished into the void.
■
Late that night, in the Ainsworth estate—
After washing away the day’s exhaustion in the bath, Nia draped a thin negligee and lace robe over her frame. At that moment, a swirling black vortex appeared in the corner of her chamber.
Out from it stepped the very masked man that had earlier displayed overwhelming might.
“What business do you have in a maiden’s bedchamber... Hollow?”
The mysterious man removed his hood and lifted away the mask, revealing crimson eyes beneath wine-colored hair.
“I came to silence you.”
“Well, of course you did.”
Perhaps expecting this very development, Nia remained perfectly composed.
“You know the terms. My identity, and <Void>—you will speak of them to no one. If you ever breathe a word—”
“—Do with me as you like. But I’m no ingrate.”
“...Good. That’s all I need to hear.”
“My, how trusting of you. Aren’t you going to insist on a <Contract>?”
“I trust my judgment of people. You aren’t the type of woman to lie.”
“O–oh... is that what you really think of me...?”
Nia turned her gaze aside, her slender fingers twirling her golden hair in circles.
It was the little gesture she always made when flustered.
The original Nia was a character who never broke a promise. Her word could be trusted.
Even in one route where she was captured by the enemy and subjected to brutal interrogation, Nia had never once revealed the protagonist’s side.
Her secrecy ranked among the strongest in the entire story. Information would never leak from her lips.
Besides, while <Contracts> are powerful, they’re not unbreakable.
It was better to bind her with trust than with chains of magic.
Hollow judged with cold reason—and found it sound.
“Hey, Hollow, why did—”
But before she could voice her question—
“—Don’t move.”
The very same command as during the mock battle.
Back then, fear had frozen her body still.
But now—things were different.
This time, she accepted it naturally.
The fear she had felt back then was nowhere to be found.
Hollow’s large hands slid around her shoulders, as his crimson eyes slowly drew closer.
...Beautiful.
Her eyes shone like the sunset, like blazing flames—so mesmerizing that one could be drawn right into them.
Nia quietly closed her eyes and entrusted her body to Hollow.
On the other hand, Hollow stared deeply into the depths of her gaze.
If I remember correctly, it should be around here... ah, found it.
Deep within her eyes lingered the Great Elder’s Magic Factor.
It had been implanted into her through a Factor modification procedure, twisting the power of the <Primordial Flame> and rewriting the control of its “Power of Plunder” over to Zova.
I’ll have to expand an ultra-microscopic Void so it won’t damage the surrounding neural tissue... there. That should do it.
Blowing away the Great Elder’s Magic Factor and finishing up his “aftercare,” Hollow said,
“...It’s done.”
He released the command seal and let Nia go, just like that.
“Huh... y-you’re not going to...?”
There was a faint loneliness in her voice.
“What do you mean?”
Hollow tilted his head curiously.
“N-no, it’s nothing...! (Ugh, this makes it sound like I was actually expecting something...!)”
Nia turned away with a flushed face, pouting in embarrassment.
“I’ve no idea what you’re sulking about, but... never mind. I erased the Great Elder’s Magic Factor inside you. The control of the <Primordial Flame>’s Power of Plunder should’ve returned to you. Try checking it.”
“What? N-no way...”
Nia immediately pressed her hand against her chest and focused on the <Primordial Flame>.
And indeed—she could feel the power that Zova had stolen flowing back into her.
“Y-yes... it’s back! With this, those children... they’ll all truly be freed...!”
Even after Zova had perished, the power hadn’t returned to her. She had been worrying over what to do, but now everything was resolved.
She clenched her fist tight and rejoiced from the bottom of her heart.
Watching her relief, Hollow turned on his heel and activated <Void Step>.
As he was about to leap straight toward the Heisenberg estate, Nia hurriedly called out in a panic.
“W-wait...!”
“What is it?”
Hollow glanced back with a look of mild annoyance.
His tone and demeanor were utterly calm—so natural, it was hard to believe this was the very same man who had just defeated the Great Elder.
Nia, however, straightened her posture and spoke earnestly from the heart.
“Hollow... truly, thank you. I can never repay this debt, no matter how much I try. I’ll spend my whole life making it up to you.”
“Hmph. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that little promise—that you’d ‘do anything I said.’”
“Of course not. If it’s your request, I’ll do anything... absolutely anything.”
Her cheeks tinged pink, Nia repeated her words softly, lowering her gaze while sneaking an upward glance at him.
And in that instant, the flames of desire roared within Hollow.
Damn it, stop—! My body is already... at its ‘limit’...!
He marshaled every ounce of willpower he had, struggling to quell the surging emotions.
But—
God, she’s so cute... I want to kiss her properly this time. No—calm down. That big chest of hers... damn it, no, not that! There’s even a bed right there, if I just kept going until morning—idiot, wait, don’t rush into this
Her damp hair still glistened from her bath, her skin faintly flushed, her ample chest obvious even through her clothes. From beneath her thin negligee peeked out her healthy, pale thighs. Her lips looked soft, inviting, her body radiating a sweet, intoxicating fragrance—Hollow’s rationality was already on the verge of collapse.
His body might’ve been the most powerful in the world—but when it came to desire, he was hopelessly weak.
Haa... haa... damn it, I can’t hold back much longer...! Not even the invincible Void can erase this craving...!
Hollow von Heisenberg was now facing the harshest, most grueling battle since his reincarnation in Ronzolkia.
“...”
“...”
A heavy silence hung in the air. And in that silence, Nia finally voiced the question she had been holding back.
“Hey, Hollow... can I ask you something?”
“...What is it?”
“Why did you save me?”
“I didn’t save you. I just wanted to save myself.”
“...Huh?”
Nia blinked rapidly in confusion.
She understood the words individually, but not the meaning behind them.
“No… You’re a monster. Just what exactly could you possibly need saving from?”
Hollow von Heisenberg—possessor of the same <Void> as the most feared mage in history, Xeno the Calamity. A man who wielded overwhelming mana that surpassed the limits of humanity, blessed with divine strength, and hailed as a peerless genius.
The thought that such a monster could fear anything at all was incomprehensible.
Yet, to Nia’s completely reasonable question, Hollow answered with a deadly serious look.
“From what else, of course—the scenario, my fated death.”
Leaving those words behind, he vanished into the void.
No matter how strong he became, no matter how much he prepared, he could never let his guard down.
Because Hollow von Heisenberg, the infamous villainous noble, was nothing less than a “walking death flag,” a man despised by the world itself.
If he wanted to survive the brutal “Hollow Route” and reach a happy ending, there was only one path forward: the complete success of his Protagonist De-MC-ification Plan.
The “First Chapter: Zova the Great Elder Arc” of Ronzolkia had been cleared in what could be called the ideal way. But I can’t get complacent. I have to bury “Arrogance and Sloth,” and live with “Humility and Prudence” instead—or I’ll end up the same as the original Hollow!
Now then—time to go break the next one, the “Second Chapter Death Flag.”
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