The Valkyrie of Holy Fire

“Zetsumei… what is the meaning of this?” I demanded, my voice trembling.

He looked at me—at all of us—and spoke with calm resolve.

“Ayane… Kurogane, Tsukihana, Tsukiyami… I’m sorry. The truth is, Nihilwalker is a faction created by the game’s developers to observe you. And I… I am the CEO of Meta World Company. I am also the Game Master.”

He raised his sword, pointing it toward the raging Coreas, who was preparing another strike.

“We come from this world. We were loyal to it… to Yoka-sama. Building this game was our dream. But everything changed when GOD 404 hijacked the system. He destroyed our plans, seized control of the game, opened gates to another world, and dragged players from Earth into this nightmare.”

I didn't understand who he meant by Yoka-sama. None of us did.

Zetsumei turned back toward us, his eyes clear.

“I never agreed to turn this into a death game. None of us did. So my staff and I decided to fight back—to protect you, our players—even if it meant gambling our lives. If I must die, so be it. This is our responsibility… and this moment is my atonement.”

Zetsumei and his staff closed in on Coreas, their EtherCode Void abilities clashing against his overwhelming gravity.

“You’re joking… ZETSUMEI!!!” I shouted, my voice breaking.

He turned one last time, smiling faintly at me.

“Ayane-san… you’ve fought harder than anyone. Even as a GM, I couldn’t best you fairly. You are one of the strongest players I’ve ever known… second only to Azure Reaper.”

Hearing the name Azure Reaper brought back memories of him. The strongest player before me. But he mysteriously disappeared.

“I’ll leave the rest to you, Ayane. You carry the blessing of the gods. Strike with all your strength!!!”

With that, he and his staff threw themselves at Coreas, desperately holding back his attack.

One by one, the staff members fell. Zetsumei himself began to break under the pressure, his body eaten away by the very Void he commanded.

“NOOO!!!” I screamed as I watched him fade, my chest twisting with grief.

I had known Zetsumei for so long. Since the moment I’d reached Level 5, he had fought at my side along with the other faction leaders. We had become friends, comrades-in-arms. Even if he had been the Game Master, I knew his bond with us had been genuine.

I could feel it. He considered us his friends. And he was willing to die for us.

“My apologies… Yoka-sama… this task you gave me was heavy. But I was happy—happy to have met friends like these…”

Zetsumei’s final words were spoken through a smile—pure, sincere.

“[EtherCode Void Etherium: Maximum Void Prison!]”

He unleashed his last skill, dissolving into the Void itself, binding and crushing Coreas’s attack.

BAM!!!

The battlefield shook violently. Coreas’s strike was sealed, and the great boss collapsed to the ground.

But Zetsumei… and every single member of Nihilwalker… had vanished.

Dead.

Kurogane, Tsukihana, and Tsukiyami stood frozen, tears running down their faces. They couldn’t accept it. Betrayal, grief, anger—it all mixed together.

“Damn you, Zetsumei… you chuuni idiot…” Tsukihana sobbed, collapsing to her knees.

I clenched my blade tighter. Then I stepped forward toward the fallen Coreas.

“…Thank you, Zetsumei. Your sacrifice won’t be in vain.”

I lifted my sword, my heart burning with determination.

“Your sacrifice will not be wasted… I, Akabane Ayane, will end this! BURN BRIGHTER! [Exclusive Title: Valkyrie of Holy Fire!]”

Golden flames engulfed my body, forming radiant armor around me. My sword expanded, wreathed in eternal fire. From my back, blazing wings unfurled, granting me the power of flight.

I became light itself—divine fire blazing against the endless night.

This skill fused me completely with my EtherCode. I was the holy flame. Evil could not withstand me—I would burn it to ashes.

Coreas spread his gravity once more, pinning everyone else down. But it didn’t matter. I burned away his gravity itself, defying his control.

“HAHAHAHA! MAGNIFICENT! YOU ARE A REMARKABLE HUMAN! TELL ME YOUR NAME, HUMAN! I SHALL GRANT YOU THE GREATEST DEATH!”

He laughed, wild with excitement.

I spread my fiery wings and launched forward.

“I am Akabane Ayane! Leader of Scarlet Sanctum! Commander of this raid! The strongest player in this game! And I will defeat you!!”

“Interesting… But you shall die all the same! [Final Graviton: GAEBOLG!!!]”

Coreas hurled his spear, charged with a crushing 10,000 tons of gravitational force. The air itself warped as the weapon tore toward me.

I poured every last drop of my strength into my skill. My ST, EP, and CT drained rapidly. My HP burned away, pain tearing through my body like fire—but I felt Ayaka-sama’s healing light from afar, keeping me standing.

I could do this.

“I will end you here. BURN, WITH HEAVENLY FLAME! [Holy Fire Valkyrie: Phoenix Slash!!!]”

My slash took the form of a phoenix, blazing golden, colliding with Coreas’s attack. The dungeon floor shook violently as fire met gravity in a titanic struggle.

But in the end… my flames devoured his gravity.

BAM!!!

Coreas screamed as holy fire engulfed him, burning his HP bar down to zero. His body crumbled, his armor peeling away until it turned white. Then, slowly, he dissolved into glowing particles of data.

With his last breath, he smiled bitterly. “I hate to admit it… but you vermin have won. Truly… a magnificent battle.”

As he awaited deletion, suddenly—

[ANOMALY DETECTED IN DUNGEON!]
[BOSS DEFEAT ON FLOOR 6 HAS BEEN SUSPENDED!]
[FORCED TELEPORTATION TO FLOOR 9 INITIATED!!]

“What?!”

Everyone gasped in horror.

Coreas’s HP bar refilled to maximum. A circle of data swirled beneath all of us.

Fear spread like wildfire. My faction members trembled. Even the hardened raid leaders fell silent in dread.

In the next instant, we were all dragged away.

Teleportation complete.

We found ourselves on Floor 9—a place none of us had ever set foot before.

The space was vast, surreal. It was like standing on the surface of the moon, with stars glimmering in the distance. In the center stood an empty throne, cold and unyielding, yet undeniably ominous.

Then… we looked up.

And we saw it.

Earth.

Our Earth. Hanging directly above us, so close it felt unreal. But surrounding it was something worse—a dark aura spreading across the void, devouring everything in its path.

My chest tightened. “What is this…? That’s… that’s really Earth?”

“Yes,” Coreas’s voice answered.

I spun, shocked to see him still standing, unharmed.

“That is your world. And it will be destroyed soon. GOD 404 grows impatient. He’s accelerating his plan. It seems he’s grown bored of his own game.”

“YOU’RE STILL ALIVE?!” I lunged at him, as did the other faction leaders. We surrounded him, weapons drawn.

But Coreas only raised his hand.

“I won’t fight you anymore. I’ve regained my awareness. My enemy is not you.”

He looked toward the empty throne.

“You should prepare yourselves… for the two troublesome ones about to arrive.”

“What do you mean?!” I pressed my blade to his throat.

Calmly, Coreas pointed at the throne.

“The ninth-floor boss is not here. This floor was designed to remain sealed until its master returned. But that one despises GOD 404 and refuses to play his game. So instead… you’ve been thrown here unnaturally. That can only mean one thing.”

Suddenly, two massive data circles ignited on the battlefield.

“No…”

“Yes. You will face them—two bosses at once. The guardians of Floor 7 and Floor 8!”

The ground shook violently as two colossal monsters emerged from the circles.

Our raid gasped, many collapsing in terror. Despair spread across the battlefield.

I lowered my sword from Coreas’s throat and stepped forward. My blazing wings spread wide as I raised my sword high.

“Hear me, brave raid members! As long as my fire still burns—we will win!!”

The surviving faction leaders took their places at my side.

“We’ll stake our lives with you, Ayane!” Kurogane roared, summoning hundreds of plasma cannons with his SystemCore.

“I don’t care anymore! This has gone beyond reason—let’s go insane together!!” Tsukihana yelled, fury burning in her eyes.

“I’ll fight beside you until my last breath,” Tsukiyami said, lifting his bloodied blades once more.

Then, to our shock, Coreas stepped forward and stood with us.

“I will aid you… until he arrives. This is the only way I can atone for the countless humans I’ve slain.”

The raid froze.

A former enemy. Now an ally.

Our morale surged. We still had a chance.

I narrowed my eyes, flames burning hotter. “If you betray us, I’ll burn you again—this time until nothing remains.”

Coreas chuckled softly. “Fair enough.”

And so… the endless battle continued.

Together, we would survive. Together, we would fight our way to the final floor, Floor 10.

We would finish this game.
And we would return home to Earth.