Chapter 41:
Brought into my Unfinished Game World
Hope flooded through Dave's chest, burning away the resignation that had paralyzed him moments before.
He was responsible for the fate of the demons. For Aion Moraisa's endless deaths and rebirths. For Aristi's suffering. For the hatred coded into the foundation of this world.
But giving his life away would not fix any of that. It would not redeem anything. It would just be running away again, the same way he had run from his old world into this one.
The only way to truly make things right was to live. To stay. To put in the work with his own hands.
Life.
The word echoed through his mind with sudden clarity.
For the first time since entering this world, since dying in his old one, since creating Harksol in the first place, Dave felt like he understood. Not just what he was, but why he was.
He existed because people needed him to exist. Alpha needed a friend. This world needed someone who could change what had been written wrong. Aristi needed someone to free her from the burden of her husband's impossible dream.
He was the cause of all their suffering, yes. But that also made him the key to resolving everything. Only he could rewrite what he had coded. Only he could fix the hatred he had programmed into their existence.
Dave had spent his entire existence wondering if he deserved to be alive, if he was worth anything at all.
But that was the wrong question.
The right question was what he would do with the life he had been given.
And he refused to waste it by letting Aristi absorb him into the Horizon Canvas.
Dave's grip on her wrist tightened. His legs kicked harder against the empty air. His translucent form blazed with renewed determination.
— I'm not going anywhere! he shouted. Not until I make this world better! Not until I change what needs to be changed! I want this world to be one where anyone can live their grand adventure!
Aristi's eyes widened with surprise at the sudden resurgence of his struggle.
Bolg lay on the sand, his body still locked by the status effects. But something shifted inside him.
Dave's words. Suzaku's words. They resonated through his consciousness and touched something deeper. The souls trapped within him stirred. Before, he had moved only with the sheer will of the first demon lord pushing him forward. But now the voices changed. They stopped fighting each other. They worked in unison, their combined strength flowing through him.
The paralysis began to break. His fingers twitched. His jaw unclenched.
Bolg forced his head to turn toward Kuria, who was barely standing.
— Do you have enough left to purify my body? he called out, his voice strained but clear.
Kuria raised her staff one final time. Golden light flickered weakly around the crystal.
— [dispel_curse_9]!
The spell washed over Bolg. The remaining status effects shattered like glass. His limbs responded instantly. He pushed himself to his feet, grabbed his spear from the sand, and threw it with all his strength toward Aristi.
The weapon streaked through the air. Bolg activated his dash ability and shot forward along its trajectory. Mid-flight, he grabbed Alpha around the waist and pulled him along in the rush.
— Ready your sword! Bolg shouted.
Alpha's eyes widened, but his hands moved on instinct. He raised his blade as they hurtled toward the Demon Lord.
Aristi saw them coming. Her free hand rose, dark energy coalescing around her palm.
— [void_lance_9]!
The spell erupted toward them. Bolg twisted his body, positioning himself between the attack and Alpha. The dark magic struck his back and shoulder, tearing through his armor. He grunted in pain but held on.
As they reached Aristi, Bolg grabbed Alpha's feet with both hands. He spun in a full circle, building momentum, then released.
Alpha flew forward like a launched projectile, his sword extended.
The blade cut cleanly through Aristi's arm at the elbow.
Her severed hand released Dave's throat. Both Dave and Alpha tumbled through the air, past the edge of the desert where sand met white void, and fell into the Horizon Canvas.
Aristi's scream echoed across the wasteland as she clutched her bleeding stump.
Silence reigned for a moment. The white void pulsed and shifted.
An egg-like shape emerged from the emptiness. Its surface rippled with streams of data and threads of code that wove together in patterns too complex to follow. Cracks appeared across the shell. Light leaked through the fractures.
The egg shattered.
Dave floated in the air above the desert, his form more solid than it had ever been. He could feel the weight of his own body now. The sensation of existing.
He looked down at his hands. Then around at the faces staring up at him.
Kuria. Suzaku. Bolg.
But not Alpha.
Dave's chest tightened.
— Why... me?
Alpha's voice echoed in his mind, warm and familiar.
— Because I was never meant to be in the first place.
Dave's eyes widened.
— When we fused in the Horizon Canvas, Alpha's voice continued, I felt nostalgia. Like I returned where I belonged. I realized I was a part of you all along.
Images flashed through Dave's consciousness. Alpha as the test character. The countless hours Dave had spent controlling his movements, testing every feature, every skill, every interaction through that pixelated avatar.
— In the game, I was the character you used to experience everything you created, Alpha said. And when the anomaly showed your memories, I could feel the same loneliness you felt. The same desire to have a place to belong. Because those feelings were mine too. They always were.
Tears rolled down Dave's face.
— But I wanted you to experience your own life. Not live through mine.
— As long as you continue to help your friends, this world's people, then I will be satisfied. We will be satisfied.
The voice grew fainter.
— Now finish this.
The words resonated through Dave's soul. He looked down at Aristi, who was still clutching her severed arm. Her face twisted with rage and pain.
Dave raised his hand toward her. A data panel materialized before his eyes, displaying her code in intricate detail.
His breath caught.
Hundreds of souls. Thousands perhaps. All woven into her essence through repeated trips to the Horizon Canvas. Fragments of demons who had volunteered to become stronger, who had sacrificed their individuality for power. Their voices screamed silently within her, their memories and hatred blurring together into an incomprehensible storm.
No wonder she had lost sight of her original goal. No wonder peace seemed impossible to her. She carried the accumulated rage of an entire army inside her consciousness.
Dave's fingers moved through the interface. He began pulling away the enhanced stats. The stances. The abilities. Everything she had gained through modification. One by one, the numbers decreased. The skills vanished. The power drained away.
Aristi screamed in frustration as she felt her strength leaving her body.
— No! What are you doing?! I need that power! I need to—
But as the remnants of foreign souls began to release their grip on her consciousness, something changed in her expression. The rage faltered. The tension in her shoulders eased.
The weight lifted.
Aristi collapsed to her knees, gasping. Her stats settled at average levels. Normal. Unremarkable. Just another person in a world of people.
She looked up at Dave with eyes that were clear for the first time in years.
Then her eyelids grew heavy. Her body swayed, and she fell sideways onto the sand. Her face, once twisted with rage and pain, relaxed completely as she slipped into a deep sleep.
Dave floated down to the sand, his feet touching solid ground for the first time since entering this world. The sensation felt strange but real. He raised his hands and focused on the power flowing through him.
Golden light spread from his palms, washing over Kuria first. The exhaustion drained from her face as her mana reserves replenished. Then Suzaku, who gasped as vitality returned to her body. Finally Bolg, whose wounds closed and armor repaired itself.
The three companions stood and gathered around Dave. Kuria opened her mouth, her expression conflicted. Suzaku took a breath, clearly about to ask something.
— Now what—
Before Suzaku could finish, Kuria lunged forward and wrapped her arms around Dave. Then she pulled Suzaku in. Then Bolg. She held them all together, her grip tightening until they could barely breathe.
No one spoke. Kuria's arms squeezed harder, as if she could hold this moment forever through sheer force of will.
Because they all knew. Every single one of them understood without needing to say it.
This was goodbye.
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