When the plot-skips players into the game world

Upon hearing that voice, Isabel finally exhaled a sigh of relief, feeling the weight she had been bearing on her shoulders abruptly lighten.

...The death knell did not sound again; how wonderful.

As she watched the sunrise begin to brighten the sky, Isabel's eyes momentarily became moist.

She did not know what dangers Aiwass had faced after their separation. She couldn't help him, and had she misunderstood Aiwass's intentions or missed a signal, she might have caused the death of someone she cared for.

The sense of helplessness and tremendous pressure made her stomach feel as if it were being tightly clenched, and she would have vomited if she spoke any louder.

"...Huh?"

Isabel looked down, down at her hands becoming translucent.

They were crackling and trembling, blurring for a moment.

...So the dream had not immediately shattered and vanished this time?

Isabel too was surprised, and she looked up.

Shafiya, who had been keeping an eye on Isabel's condition, noticed this as well.

"You are…"

Shafiya's eyes widened as she looked at Isabel, and she quickly realized.

She smiled wryly, "So all of this was a dream…"

Indeed, wanting to see Isabel grow stronger...probably could only be experienced in a dream.

Realizing that the ritual was over and that there was no longer any need to keep her ascended identity a secret,

Isabel shook her head and said what she had long wanted to say, "Although I am an ascender, I am also Isabel. However, I am an Isabel from another completely different world.

"In our world, Miss Meg didn't die but became young again. Grandmother wasn't assassinated nor did she have a fallout with my teacher; she passed away peacefully. Minister Drost died early, and I successfully inherited the throne and gained the approval of the Round Table Knights... Avalon wasn't attacked by the Star Antimony either... or rather, we are the ones waging war against the Star Antimony.

"...I am truly sorry for deceiving your feelings."

Isabel crossed her hands in front of her and bowed to apologize to Shafiya.

There had been no chance to do so during the ascension ritual before. But now, as her body was gradually becoming transparent, she had the time to say goodbye and could finally speak these words.

But Shafiya didn't blame Isabel.

Her gaze was incredibly tender and even a touch melancholic.

"How wonderful...compared to my situation, your world seems more like a dream," she said.

Shafiya wasn't concerned about Isabel deceiving her; instead, she gently patted Isabel's head, brimming with satisfaction and sincerely remarked, "It doesn't matter that I am a fake. The disasters and tragedies being false... that is truly a relief.

"By the way, Your Highness... no, Your Majesty. That is the proper address for you, right?"

She playfully winked at Isabel, "I wish you happiness—with Bishop Moriarty."

Isabel instinctively wanted to reply with "I wish you happiness too," but she quickly realized... once the ritual ended, everything within this Dreamland would dissipate into nothingness.

So she took a deep breath and said with utmost sincerity, "I will be happy."

—Including the happiness you deserve.

On the other side.

Olive also sighed in relief.

He wasn't like Vinesse, standing there foolishly, waiting for something.

The moment Olive realized something had gone wrong with the Ceremony of Avalon's Shadow, and that Aiwass and Lancelot had been drawn into it, his experience and instincts as a Ritualist made him run away without hesitation.

...Luckily, the deaths that followed were only those killed by the Flame Butterfly—"Sherlock."

Until the ritual was over, Aiwass had not been harmed, which was a great relief.

As he vanished, he thought he saw a massive brightness from not too far away.

It was the middle of the night, yet for a moment the world lit up as if it were daylight—

...Was it a hallucination?

That was Olive's last thought.

Of course it wasn't.

It was the self-destruction of the Defiant Flame Butterfly.

At the fourth power level, her explosive power could seriously injure a Penalty Demon; and now, having reached the peak of the fifth power level... She didn't make it to the sixth power level only because Aiwass didn't want her to reach it.

Arriving at the sixth power level would limit her actions in the Material Realm. With Night Fiend Vinesse already being enough, Aiwass now needed stable combat strength.

And in this moment, the Defiant Flame Butterfly, using the Dawnfire Skill and burning all her life force, unleashed her most powerful strike—

Without a doubt, it could deal a heavy blow to "Lancelot" who found it hard to escape.

—Finally, "Lancelot" managed to break free from Aiwass's control.

Without any hesitation, "Lancelot" rushed to the Defiant Flame Butterfly's side.

The invisible hammer fell, and the sky seemed to tear apart from the force of the blow—winds howled, instantly shattering the Defiant Flame Butterfly's body!

The storm, condensed to a point, shattered the Defiant Flame Butterfly's body and screamed out in all directions.

It was a visible tempest. And at the center of the storm, only a few butterfly wings were left fluttering in the air.

—But even so.

The Defiant Flame Butterfly had already compressed the flames to their extreme limit.

Even if "Lancelot" shattered her body in time, the flames ultimately erupted.

It could be said, precisely because it was actively shattered, that Dawnfire could thoroughly devour that last bit of life which could not be ignited voluntarily.

This was the strongest attack that the Defiant Flame Butterfly would have trouble executing under normal circumstances!

In that instant, "Lancelot" felt a sudden lightness within her.

This strong and healthy body now finally belonged to her alone!

Aiwass's soul had disappeared.

And not just that.

——Even Lancelot's soul had disappeared along with it!

...Wait?!

The Breaker of Sieges suddenly widened his eyes, realizing something was amiss.

Why had all those being elevated left...

but the elevation ceremony hadn't ended?

That instant, the Breaker of Sieges guessed the truth.

...From the very beginning, this was a trap!

The Lord of Scalefeather had guessed that he would come here; the elevation ceremony had already been tampered with... Everything executed here, every ceremony, was real!

The moment he was battling with the emissaries under the Lord of Scalefeather's command, he was directly sucked in.

"You——"

——You scale-stealing, feather-thieving mongrel! As a high and mighty Pillar God, you stoop to ambushing an Angel Envoy of mine!

The curses in the Breaker of Sieges's heart had not had the chance to be spoken.

A question lingered in the heart of the Breaker of Sieges.

...Was the Lord of Scalefeather so certain that Aiwass would use the Ceremony of Avalon's Shadow? And that he would alter it to draw him in?

After all those being elevated had left.

After an extremely brief delay, a white light lit up.

As miraculous as the bright light of day——

At this moment dawn had arrived, but that light shone even brighter than ten thousand suns.

The exceedingly blistering flames vaporized the rocks within a radius of several hundred meters almost instantly, transforming the roaring atmosphere into shockwaves that released outward in an instant.

Within the rolling flames, a small pitch-black mushroom cloud pulsed and rose.

——The shockwave accompanied by an earthquake roared towards them!

They were now near the Hall of Silver and Tin. And this palace, devoured and controlled by the Flame Demon, was finally completely obliterated. Even the lake where the Hall of Silver and Tin was located dried up, and the Gryphon Bridge also burst apart.

About one-fifth of the Red-White Queen District's buildings were instantly shattered by the sweeping shockwave. Because of the Flame Demon's intimidation and the small number of combatants remaining here, they were all instantly killed by the shockwave that passed over them——even the indestructible Rune Colossus turned black and ceased to advance amidst the crackling of continuous explosions.

Immediately after came the searing storm that howled outward.

The naked eye could see the shockwave sweeping across all directions, causing large swathes of brick and stone buildings to burst.

The entire earth shook, undulating like trembling soft jelly.

——The next instant, the pitch-black mushroom cloud slowly rose. Two rings of white smoke spread outward.

"Heh."

That rough, hoarse voice reporting the end of the ceremony scoffed.

Finally, the entire fictitious world had completed its mission and shattered in an instant.

However, the Breaker of Sieges who died within it, her soul did not return to the Dream Realm.

All those being elevated were suddenly illuminated by a light——that was the pure white glow that burst forth as the world collapsed and disintegrated.

Including those who were already dead and those who were still alive, images in succession, continuously changing, appeared before the participants' eyes:

A knight in silver armor roared atop a banquet, fighting to the death with those around him;

Facing the Defiant Flame Butterfly with overwhelming pressure, Sherlock showed no fear on his face as he stepped slowly away from those near him;

An old Ritualist raised a heart and a Ritual Dagger high, chanting in front of a coffin;

A ship taking flight and Gryphons descending crossed right in the middle of the newly risen sunrise;

An old Alchemist wearing strange glasses, clutching the Guardian's waist, charged at a dense horde of Gargoyles while riding atop a Gryphon...

A lengthy delay passed before the last moving image appeared.

A pitch-black mushroom cloud slowly rose.

Aiwass's eyes suddenly widened.

...Ah?

——Wait, was that scene just now?