The Sword of the Daughter of the Sun.
A streak of golden light pierced Ymir’s chest.
Carried forward by the momentum of my thrust, I plunged straight into the giant’s chest—and burst through the other side. I emerged from Ymir’s back more than twenty meters above the ground as he’s falling.
With a clear “chiiing”, a gold coin peeled away from the short sword. I clenched the coin in my hand, and golden magic power enveloped me, slowing my descent until I was gently drifting toward the ground.
Bathed in the morning sunlight, I looked back.
“Ymir…!”
The Primordial Titan had dropped to one knee, completely motionless. A massive hole had been punched straight through his body, from his back to his chest.
The Sword of the Daughter of the Sun had pierced through the body he had created from magic power.
Then—
Thump.
A heartbeat reverberated through the air.
Using the Blessing of the God of Hunting, I activated Wild Heart to sense the flow of magic power. Inside the enormous hole in Ymir’s body, a brilliant crimson light was flickering.
『Rion 』
Solana’s voice echoed inside my head.
“…Yeah! His heart is inside that hole!”
The body he had created had been blasted straight through, exposing the source of his power—the Heart of Frost and Flame.
This is my only chance.
“Wake-up!”
I summoned the wind spirit Sylph from the short sword. The power of the wind lifted me upward, and I dove through the enormous hole in Ymir’s back.
The morning sunlight streamed inside, making it a little hard to see. Ymir’s body was hard and cold. Its interior looked less like the inside of a living creature and more like a cavern that had been carved out with perfect precision.
Floating in midair was a heart encased in ice.
I reached out my hand. As though responding to my touch, it began to beat. I took it in my hands. Just as some god had done thousands of years ago, I am going to steal the Power of Creation from this titan.
—Ooooh
A sound reached my ears. It was somewhere between the howling of wind and a low, anguished groan.
Then a scream came from outside.
“It’s fallinggggg!”
The ground beneath me suddenly tilted.
If I got caught beneath that collapsing body, I’d be crushed to death!
Still clutching the Heart of Frost and Flame, I leaped toward the exit on the titan’s chest. I kicked off its massive chest, slipped beneath an arm that seemed to reach for me, and jumped down onto the snowy plain.
Behind me, the enormous body crashed to the ground with a thunderous roar, sending clouds of snow billowing into the air.
I somehow managed to land safely, but my heart refused to stop racing.
Eventually, the cloud of snow began to clear.
Ymir’s body, which had grown to nearly forty meters tall, lay on its side with its right half pressed against the ground. His enormous left eye was wide open, glaring into empty space. His right eye was buried beneath the snow.
No one spoke.
There should have been around a hundred adventurers here. And Gods too. Yet no one said a word. The snowy plain had fallen completely silent.
“…Is he dead?”
Even with the Blessing of the Hunting God, the red glow of magical power now barely clung to Ymir’s enormous body.
Solana’s voice came from the gold coin.
“Ymir was already weakened to begin with. He did manage to reclaim the Heart of Frost and Flame once, but…”
The goddess fell silent.
The Heart of Frost and Flame in my arms gave another beat, and I tucked it safely into my pouch so I wouldn’t lose it.
“Rion, you held out. Meanwhile, the adventurers, Freyja, and the others carried their magical power all the way to the Celestial Realm. Because of that, before he could fully draw out the heart’s power—we were able to unleash all of our strength against him.”
The reason we won.
I wasn’t sure if I could really sum it up with words like that.
“A battle of attrition…”
“You endured until your allies arrived. That kind of strength is so very like you.”
The morning sun had risen completely now, bathing Ymir and all of us in its light.
Perhaps because we had spent so long within the void of Ginnungagap, the wind blowing against me felt strangely warm.
Then Solana spoke softly.
“Well… the greatest threat has now passed. The gods and humanity alike will surely change even more from this point onward.”
“Huh?”
The words slipped from my mouth before I could stop them.
What did she mean?
Solana’s voice trembled slightly.
It sounded faint. Weak.
If a voice hadn’t suddenly descended from the heavens, I think I would have asked Solana what she meant.
| Everyone. |
A familiar voice echoed through the sky, which was still painted with the colors of dawn.
The adventurers and the gods all looked up at once.
It was a global message from the Celestial Realm.
| Ymir has been defeated. The apocalypse has come to an end. The heroes—no, every single person—has driven back the monsters. |
The adventurers looked at one another.
I think the battle had been so overwhelming that none of us could quite grasp the reality of the word victory.
By now, back in the Royal Capital, Mother, the princess, and Safi were probably breathing sighs of relief. Perhaps the sky had even returned to its normal color, fading back from twilight.
And ever since Ymir had fallen, the bitter cold of the snowy plain seemed to have eased as well.
—We won!
—The monsters are gone!
Cheers rang out from above.
Come to think of it, I’d heard distant voices earlier, too. Could this be some kind of service from the gods—letting us know about the joy spreading throughout the kingdom?
No.
It wasn’t just that.
The global message was being used to share that joy with one another. The corners of my mouth curled upward.
“Thank you, Norn.”
『 You’re welcome.』
The words echoed inside my head.
Voices continued to rain down from the sky.
—Thank you.
—You saved us.
—We’re alive because of you.
Encouraged by that downpour of gratitude, cheers began to fill the snowy plain as well. My legs finally gave out, and I sank to the ground. The snow felt wonderful against my overheated body.
“Ah…?”
“Good work, Rion.”
Solana’s voice was warm and gentle.
“You really did your best. Not just for your family and friends. In the end, you managed to protect everything.”
“…It’s all thanks to you and the others, Solana.”
“You always say things like that.”
The goddess emerged from the gold coin.
Her white dress and long golden hair, reaching all the way down her back, fluttered in the gentle breeze. Her sparkling eyes narrowed softly as Solana bent down and peered at me.
“Good work. Just this once, let me be proud of you.”
As always, the goddess was surrounded by a faint radiance. But if her usual glow was like sunlight, the light surrounding her now was as frail as a candle flame.
And then I noticed something else. Tiny particles of light were drifting away from her. Almost as if her body itself were coming undone.
Looking closely—
I could faintly see the scenery behind her through her body.
“…Solana?”
My chest tightened. She had come all the way to that freezing void to save me. And it wasn’t just that. From the moment I received that gold coin until the moment Ymir was defeated, she had been there for me. The gods must have been battered and exhausted themselves by now.
“Thank you.”
Still sitting there in the snow, I reached out and hugged Solana.
I couldn’t think of any other way to express everything I was feeling.
My gratitude.
How much I loved her.
Our eyes met—her golden eyes gazing into mine.
“Mm. And thank you, too.”
Solana smiled. She looked even more beautiful than usual, and this time, my heart felt completely full.
The goddess whispered,
“Thank you.”
Before I knew it, my body was moving.
I pressed my lips against Solana’s.
A moment later, we pulled back and stared at each other.
I could still feel the sensation on my lips. As I realized what I had just done, both my cheeks grew hotter and hotter.
Solana’s face had turned bright red, too.
“Ah…”
“Eh…?”
What am I doing?!
We both hurriedly scrambled away from each other.
“S-Sorry! I just—out of nowhere…!”
“N-No, it’s fine…!? L-Luisia told me that if you wanted to express something beyond just saying ‘thank you,’ then… that was something people did…!”
L-Lu…!
She taught the goddess about going on dates and everything, but did she really teach her “that”, too!?
I had no idea what I was supposed to do. Still sitting there in the snow, I covered my face with my hands in gauntlet.
At a time like this, in a place like this…
Am I really the kind of person who would do something like that…?
Then the goddess spoke.
“I-I didn’t dislike it.”
“—!”
A cold breeze brushed against my cheek.
Once again, golden particles of light scattered from the goddess’s body, carried away by the wind. The pounding in my chest suddenly went cold.
I looked at her and asked—
“…Are you going to be okay?”
The warm magical presence I had felt until now was growing weaker.
Solana smiled.
“To be honest, I do not know.”
She had already been wounded to begin with.
And yet all the gods had summoned the last of their strength for the sake of humanity.
That thought suddenly struck me, making me freeze.
The last…?
Why had I instinctively sensed that this might be the “last”?
“Oniichan!”
A voice called out from behind me. Lu came down onto the snowy plain from the sky alongside the other gods. They must have brought my little sister here from the Grand Staircase.
Mia-san and the others came running toward us as well.
I planted my feet firmly and forced myself to stand.
Thor raised his thick eyebrows.
“…Hmm? Rion, why’s your face all red?”
My heart skipped a beat.
“What!? I-Is it!?”
I desperately looked away.
My eyes darted from one place to another, and I could tell I was being painfully obvious. Beside me, Solana lowered her head, her face bright red as well.
Felix-san cleared his throat.
Then, all at once, every god except Lu and Mia-san, started jabbing the God of Thunder. Thor’s eyes went wide as he looked around in confusion. Completely overwhelmed by the other gods, he was gradually herded away and isolated toward the back.
While I sighed at the whole spectacle, Lu walked over to me and stood at my side, looking up at Ymir’s body.
“It’s over, isn’t it, Oniichan?”
“Yeah.”
That was when I noticed something different about Lu. Her eyes had returned to their usual sky-blue color. Before the battle with Ymir, her left eye had been green—the same color as Freyja’s magical power.
Perhaps noticing me staring, Lu lowered her chin.
“…Freyja-sama is no longer inside me.”
Lu told me what had happened at the very end of Freyja’s life.
After that, she had somehow managed to recover a tiny amount of her magical power and helped us.
“I see.”
“I think… even though it was only at the very end, I’m glad the two of them were able to talk.”
I nodded at Lu’s words.
In my mind, I pictured the goddess who had taught me the sword—and the resolve to wield it. At the very least, I would never forget her.
Solana pointed toward the titan’s body.
“Rion, look.”
Ymir’s body was gradually turning black. Starting from the edges—his toes, his fingertips, and the other extremities—his flesh crumbled into black ash and dissolved into the air.
The monster was dead.
“The titan’s final moments.”
I nodded to the goddess. His body would turn to ash and disappear, dissolving away just like any other monster.
But when the disintegration reached his chest—
The adventurers erupted into murmurs.
I found myself holding my breath.
The nearly forty-meter-tall giant still had more than half of his body intact. Black ash swirled upward from his body, carried into the air. And somewhere along the way, white light began to mingle with it. The light gathered around Ymir’s chest, beginning to form a sphere of radiance above his enormous body.
Lu let out a small gasp.
“That…?”
The sphere of light grew to more than thirty meters in diameter. White radiance poured down from it, dyeing the snowy plain even whiter.
We had seen it before.
“Oniichan. That’s in the Celestial Realm…”
“Yeah. The Light of Creation!”
Now that Ymir had died, had the magical power he had consumed been released once more?
Or was this simply the way a magic stone manifested for a Primordial Titan?
The sphere of light slowly rotated, drawing in the black ash and magical power around it. The presence of its power was overwhelming. I felt as though every adventurer here—even the gods themselves—had been left holding their breath.
Then a voice descended from above.
“As I expected. Just as I had predicted.”
An old god clad in robes descended onto the snowy plain.
Odin.
He rested the spear in his hand against the ground like a staff. Beside him stood a beautiful woman dressed in green.
“Freyja-sama…”
Lu whispered the name.
Her golden hair swayed in the wind, glittering brilliantly beneath the light of the sphere.
Odin planted his spear firmly in the snow and looked around at the gathered gods.
“Thor. Loki. Uru. Sigris.”
Then he continued.
“And Solana, Daughter of the Sun.”
The goddess stood there, growing weaker as particles of light leaked from her body.
Odin narrowed his eyes at her.
But his expression quickly returned to its usual blankness. He looked up at Ymir as the giant continued to crumble—and at the enormous sphere of light above him.
“As gods, let us carry out our final task.”
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeneijiworks.com
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