As anticlimactic as it was, my final attack against the archbishop wasn’t flashy at all. There were no explosions, no bursts of flames or other magical effects.
It was simply that: a final blow.
Due to the nature of [Fa Jin], the damage that was done was mostly internal, and with my current strength, the archbishop’s innards had been completely disintegrated, leaving behind a corpse that was naught but hollow.
He didn’t even get to say his final words.
But even so, he’d accepted death readily enough. The moment I placed my palm on his chest, there was a look of frustration on his face that was immediately replaced by calm.
To be frank, it was unexpected. I imagined that he was the type that’d go out with a delusionally inflated sense of self-importance. The type that would scream “Impossible!” and “No! I cannot be killed by the likes of you!” or other cheesy lines like that.
Instead, he simply closed his eyes and accepted death.
I suppose I had to give him at least a measure of respect for that.
As his corpse collapsed onto the ground, I felt a great sense of release. I had finally come to the end of this journey. For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had achieved something.
I felt satisfied.
[Congratulations! You have leveled up!]
That familiar screen popped up several times as if to agree with me.
I breathed out a long sigh and threw my head back, staring up at the black ceiling that hung above us. It was the closest approximation of a night sky that I could stare into right now.
You see this, asshole? I’m comin’ for your ass.
That’s right. I haven’t forgotten about our debt, “God.” Satisfied as I may be, I still couldn’t get it out of my mind.
It was the whole reason that I aspired to strength in this world. The reason that I came here in the first place instead of picking a world that was the furthest thing from a generic fantasy novel.
My revenge.
My revenge that had been neglected in favor of escorting Lucrezia to find her sister. But now, all of that was done, and it would be time for me to begin in earnest.
As strong as the archbishop was, he was still only nothing more than an ant in the face of that terrifying “God.” Just like me.
“Ryuuko...” Priya approached me hesitantly, as if she didn’t fully believe what had just happened. “You... You really did it!”
“Oof!” I exclaimed as Priya rammed into me with a full-force hug. I didn’t really know how to respond seeing as I’d never actually been hugged before so I just patted her on the head awkwardly.
Thankfully, she didn’t seem to mind.
Antenora gave me a look of approval and a nod—which I returned—before heading over to Lucrezia and Aurelia.
I should probably go and check on them as well, but I didn’t know whether it’d be taboo to break away from Priya’s embrace or not. The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel like she’d overstepped her boundaries.
Luckily for me, Priya probably sensed that I was mentally floundering about the whole situation, so she released the hug after a few more seconds. Her smile afterward made all of my effort thus far more than worth it.
The two of us made our way over to Antenora, Lucrezia, and Aurelia. The latter two were still unconscious on the smooth black tiles which lined the room.
Incidentally, this was the only area of the room that was undamaged save for the long gash that ran across the floor due to the one attack that I’d redirected.
“Let’s get the hell out of here first,” I suggested. “I’ll open a hole in the ceiling.”
“Do not do that. We are currently inside of a mountain, Ryuuko.”
“Oh. Right.”
My battle-addled mind had somehow allowed that fact to slip, and we were narrowly saved from a cave-in thanks to Antenora’s interjection. However, my mistake had brought something important to the forefront.
“Where the hell’s Liandra?”
It seemed that in the heat of the moment, everyone had forgotten about her. I wasn’t blameless in that regard either, but after all the shit that just happened, she wasn’t exactly the main priority in my mind.
Antenora clicked her tongue in annoyance. “She escaped in the chaos. I had to drop her during the fight and when it was all over, she was already gone.”
Priya nodded, as if to confirm the fact. “We tried chasing her down, but she disappeared behind a hidden door.”
I sighed. “Well, the archbishop’s dead, so I don’t think there’s anything else to worry about. The Black Constellation was never our problem, anyway.”
That much was true at least. The only reason why we even got involved with them was because they were the ones who were holding Aurelia captive. If I’d succeeded in saving Aurelia the first time around, we’d probably be at the Zaltsel clan’s territory by now.
I easily hefted both sisters on my shoulders and the five of us booked it out of the Precipice of Night. The room that I’d left Antenora and Priya in with the Shades was practically rubble now.
Corpses of the Shades lay strewn across the ground in awkward and unnatural positions. Blood coated the walls, and hardly any of the corpses could really be called “human.”
I couldn’t help but spare a glance toward Priya and Antenora.
“Just what the hell did the two of you do?”
“What we had to.” Antenora answered simply.
“I got a lot stronger thanks to training with you, Ryuuko!” Priya began before pausing in thought. “Actually, I might be stronger than my teacher now, ehehe!”
When the three of us finally made it out of the Precipice of Night, the sun had already begun to set, and only the upper half was still visible above the horizon despite our elevation.
I used one of my levels to increase [Devouring Healing]’s skill level to 3, allowing me to now use it on other people. I promptly used it on Lucrezia and Aurelia, causing them to gradually become conscious again.
“Lady Lucrezia, Lady Aurelia. It warms my heart to see that the two of you have finally reunited safely.” Antenora was the first to greet them. A warm smile was on her face.
“...Antenora? Sister...?” Aurelia pressed a hand to her head. [Devouring Healing] could cleanse [Detriments], but not fatigue apparently. “This... isn’t a dream, right?”
Lucrezia immediately threw her arms around Aurelia, startling her with the sudden gesture of affection. Tears of joy began flowing from her eyes as she basked in the warmth of her sister’s body.
“Aurelia! I...! I was so worried! They didn’t do anything to you, did they!?”
Aurelia shook her head slowly, a gentle smile spreading across her lips as she pat Lucrezia on the back. “No... They said a lot of weird things, but most of all they were waiting for you, I think.”
Lucrezia shook her head. “T-There’s no need to remember anything about them anymore! We’re gonna go back home and put all of it behind us!”
Priya, Antenora, and I let the sisters have their moment for a bit longer. It was dangerous to remain here in front of the Precipice of Night, but we also couldn’t just break them from their well-deserved embrace.
It was only when the moon had risen that the two finally left the safety of the personal world they’d created for just themselves.
Aurelia was rather level-headed and soft-spoken compared to Lucrezia. Of the two sisters, she was certainly more mature, but even she was surprised when she learned that it was I who had saved her.
However, it had been my turn to be surprised when she had readily accepted my inclusion into her family as a result of the crest Lucrezia had given to me. It was strange having a girl you just met call you “sister,” but I didn’t dislike it.
With the two sisters united once more, Antenora seemed to have mellowed out greatly. I don’t think I could ever completely see her as “friendly,” but she was at least an ally for now. At the very least, I could be sure of that.
Aside from the occasional encounter with beasts and a few bandits, our journey toward the Fissure was peaceful and uninterrupted. I found that Priya hung around me a little more than usual now, possibly due to the fact that she’d seen me so close to death.
Lucrezia expressed some jealousy at the fact, which I thought was quite cute until Aurelia began egging her on and causing her to start taking things to extremes. It wasn’t anything bad, but Lucrezia started insisting that she had to be the one to make me breakfast and stuff like that.
As mature on the surface as she was, Aurelia certainly had a more mischievous side, though she was never mean-spirited. I truly enjoyed my conversations with her and she was rather keen to teach me things about the eastern tribes. Her energetic and bright personality coupled with her looks told me that she’d probably be a frighteningly popular normie back on Earth.
The exact type of person that I hated. But here, I found myself rather appreciative of her presence.
As for Antenora, she was content to stand back and assume the role of a servant for the sisters. It was there that she felt most comfortable, though she sometimes joined me during night watches and we had a few conspiratorial conversations regarding our plans to defeat “God.” It was comforting to know that someone else was aware of his existence and shared the same goal as me, even if I couldn’t completely confirm Antenora’s intentions.
But then again, that was life. If I didn’t have [Complete Analysis], I never would’ve been able to even think of the phrase “completely confirm” when it came to the intentions of others anyway. Though, I was still pretty paranoid and I used a good chunk of levels to boost [Psychic Citadel] all the way to level twenty.
Based on what I’d seen from other people that I’d analyzed using [Complete Analysis], level ten was already ridiculously high when it came to skill levels, and twenty was the stuff of legends, so I wasn’t too worried.
And so it came to pass that we made it to the edge of the Fissure. There, Lucrezia used her blood to activate one of the hidden portals nestled away in a cave.
I watched as the others stepped through. Lucrezia, Aurelia, and Antenora all entered the swirling mass of white-purple, but Priya stopped just before she would’ve taken her first step inside.
“Ryuuko, aren’t you coming?”
Almost simultaneously, Lucrezia’s head popped out of the portal. “What’s taking so long, Ryuuko?”
“C’mon! We’re gonna be late for the festival that I wanna show you!” Aurelia’s voice was quickly followed by the upper half of her body poking out from the portal.
“Stop wasting time, Ryuuko.” Antenora hadn’t bothered coming through the portal even partially, but there was no malice in her tone. She was just impatient to get the sisters home at last.
I hesitated, but not because I didn’t want to go. It was just too good to be true. Not a single one of them had any thoughts of abandoning me.
All this time... Was it just me who doubted them? I need to apo—
“W-Whoa!” I exclaimed as I was tugged forward.
All of them had seized my arm, with Antenora included this time. I was helpless to resist their pull as they dragged me toward the portal and through it.
“Let’s go, Ryuuko!” Lucrezia grinned at me.
With the combined might of the four of them and Lucrezia’s radiantly beautiful smile, I found myself in a beautiful new world at last.
But more than that, I’d finally done the impossible.
I, Mikado Ryuuko, found friends.
Congratulations 🎉👏
I was hoping she would leave them tho, but oh well.
Thank you!
I am considering having Ryuuko be separate in the next volume as a tentative idea so far, but I've got next to no material to work with yet XD
@HungrySheep oof here's hoping it really happens
I'm worried now. I'm pretty sure Ryuuko and Lucrezia are basically engaged, but it feels like Priya is the main romance?
Congratz on completing the first volume!
i really liked the story it was refreshing.
I'll be back for the next installment.
Thank you for your kind words! I'll try my best in volume 2 as well!
I sighed. "Well, the archbishop's dead, so I don't think there's anything else to worry about. The Black Constellation was never our problem, anyway."
Errr weren't the princesses captured by the constellation in demon held terrority? Unless Lucrezia is no longer suitable to be the 'offering vessel' (or what ever the vessel becomes after the ritual) they will be motivated to come back... Also the archbishop cheated death before our eyes once already, even if his body is destroyed are we sure that he's dead, and not UNdead now? Anyone down for a Lich?
but she was at least an ally for now.
Hehe our girl is learning again
Antenora clicked her tongue in annoyance. "She escaped in the chaos. I had to drop her during the fight and when it was all over, she was already gone."
*sigh*
Congrutlations on Volume one here's some cookies
Yeah, the princesses were captured in demon territory, so they'll still be a problem. Granted, that was mentioned once a while back and it has completely slipped Ryuuko's mind for now.
Thank you for sticking with "I Am the Greatest" thus far (and the cookies)!
Congratulations on sticking it out for (at least!) a whole volume! An unfortunately large number of authors never do. Interested to see what your fanfic project is, even if it turns out to be not my cup of tea.
Thank you for not ending the volume on an evil cliffhanger. While nothing is really fully resolved yet, this felt a nice, wholesome, heartwarming send-off.
Edit: Oh and thank you for taking the time to respond to people's comments. It's been fun chatting with you, both about the novel and about random other things. Getting a response, even when it's "Teehee, I can't talk about that" makes the speculation and the effort of putting words to my thoughts and feelings feel like it was worth it.
Don't worry, the evil cliffhanger is coming in the epilogue!
I'm really glad that you and other readers have taken an interest to even think up theories and speculate about what the future holds. Honestly, it's super touching and one of the things that kept me going.
Once again, thanks for reading! I Am the Greatest will be continuing, and hopefully the second volume will be able to answer a lot of the questions that were posed in this volume!
@HungrySheep
Don't worry, the evil cliffhanger is coming in the epilogue!
Since you talked about speculation and questions posed, I'm not expecting any answers, but here are all the ones I could think of that I forgot to ask at the time, in no particular order:
- If the Hero was reborn as Antenora, who did the former Demon Lord become? If it's Ryuuko, how come she doesn't remember that life, and Antenora does?
- Do the Black Constellation worship the "God" Ryuuko wants to kill, or something else entirely? What is it they're actually hoping to get from (presumably) creating an avatar of their object of worship?
- Why did the God of Reincarnation choose Ryuuko? Is there something special about her that she doesn't even know/remember herself? Is that why her Darkness is... weird? Or does that really just happen to anyone who buys Forbidden skills?
- What's special about Lucrezia? What's an "offering vessel"?
- The existence of resurrection magic was briefly discussed, but seems to go largely ignored when people are actually dying. Is it safe to assume the Rulebook isn't currently offering it to Ryuuko, because there's some weird prerequisite she doesn't meet, or it's incompatible with something she already has?
- What were the Black Constellation leaders fighting to get that strong? Even if they can level up through contacts in the nobility, they'd still need to get the levels from somewhere. Where does their funding and labor come from? "Nobles" and "Magic"?
- There are so many questions regarding [Breakthrough Permission] that I don't even know where to start, so I think I'll save them for once it actually comes up.
- What can Antenora and Priya actually do? They've seemingly gotten a lot stronger from training on Ryuuko, so they must have pretty decent stats and some pretty devastating skills, but I don't think we've ever seen either of them fight. There are a lot of unanswered questions surrounding Antenora's telepathy and time rewinding, but I think Golanth and I already discussed most of those.
- Is there a reason Ryuuko is that worried about mental attacks, even though the only telepath she's met is on her side for now? Is it just that she knows they're one of the few forms of attack she can't block or dodge? Does she have a subconscious feeling of hostility toward Antenora because they're the current/former Hero and Demon Lord?
- What were Antenora and Lucrezia talking about that one time while Ryuuko and Priya went shopping?
- Why is [Fa Jin] treated as a Skill, albeit one unlocked by performing it instead of spending points on it, where everything else Ryuuko does is just... an action? What's the rule that determines that behavior?
we had a few conspiratorial conversations regarding our plans to defeat "God."
For a throwaway half-sentence in the middle of the chapter, that seems kind of important, so I'm surprised we didn't get to see any of it. With Antenora knowing so much about the world, and having actually tried once before, she must at least have a much better idea of what she actually needs to do than Ryuuko. I mean, you'd think...
@Crowthorne A few of these questions have now been answered in the epilogue! As for Ryuuko's Darkness, that's unique to her.
As for Resurrection Magic, recall that Cyrus specifically mentioned he'd need the permission of royalty in order to even consider it. Theoretically, Ryuuko could acquire Resurrection Magic through [Rulebook] so long as she meets its prerequisites, but it is a branch of magic that can't be easily used.
As for the Shades and the Archbishop being strong, most of the Shades were already strong before they were coerced into the Black Constellation or before they joined willingly. However, at the very beginning, there was a mention of levels being used as currency. This will be explored much more in volume 2 since Ryuuko will be in more civilized areas instead of just traveling around, but nobility is far stronger than than the common folk for a reason.
An important note to remember is that the God of Ryuuko's Earth (an absolute capitalist dystopia) is the one who is currently managing this world. A lot of the systems function in the same way (such as levels pretty much replacing money). For example, if you're born into a wealthy family, your parents can probably just buy levels from people and then give them to you. Whether or not that actually translates properly in combat is up to the individual.
Priya's main weapons are a dagger and a shortsword. She can also use enhancement magic, though she isn't shown doing so. One of the side stories I intend to write is Antenora and Priya's side of the final fight, but I don't know when that's coming out. Honestly, it's probably one of the easier ones to write so it shouldn't be too long after I get the ball rolling on volume 2.
Priya also has some sort of resistance of mental interference. Whether that's a skill or just innate remains to be seen. Races still have racial bonuses here!
As for Antenora, she primarily uses daggers, but she's got a whole slew of skills. As the former Hero, she's pretty well-versed in combat and how the world works. She just hasn't been grinding for a multitude of reasons. Her [Telepathy] is not a "cheat" skill, though. It still follows the rules of the world.
Ryuuko's paranoia mainly stems from not being able to just tank through mental attacks, yeah. Also, as every TRPG player knows, mind control SUCKS. You lose player agency for like half the initiative and it blows ass. She also feels like Antenora might've just been lying and is instead the reincarnated Demon Lord. Since Antenora can block [Complete Analysis], there's no way for Ryuuko to confirm or deny her theory.
Also, Lucrezia and Antenora's conversation was pretty much revealed by Lucrezia in chapter 38, I believe. It mostly focused around the first time Lucrezia and Antenora spoke privately, but she also touched on that as well. Antenora mainly wanted Lucrezia to stay put and not move around because in the previous loop, the two of them and Aurelia were caught out at Juryez when looking for the library.
Although the patrol routes could've changed this loop (and they did), Antenora had no way of knowing that and didn't want to take a chance on what could've been a loop-ending risk. They mainly just made small talk when Lucrezia's dizziness subsided. Stuff like:
"D-Do you think last night's dinner was a little off? I shouldn't be getting dizzy all of a sudden..."
"It is probably fatigue from travel, my lady."
"Is that so? Well, I'm feeling a lot better now, so let's go scout around!"
"...Your propensity for endangering yourself worries me, Lady Lucrezia."
"Eh? Ahaha, what's that supposed to mean, Antenora?"
And so on. Antenora really tried her best to keep Lucrezia in one place. Though, I wasn't entirely sure that it'd be interesting to read about.
As for [Fa Jin], it was a specific technique that was directed by a conscious will with a clear-cut objective. Not only that, but it was a special ability that needed to be learned. Everything else Ryuuko has been doing do not qualify as they are merely punches and kicks even if there is a flow or form to them. Skills are specific abilities, so there wouldn't be a separate skill for each martial art present in the world.
Antenora has fought "God" once, yeah. However, "fought" is very generous as she pretty much got demolished in one shot. I'm not sure whether or not I want to include their conversations as a side story or just have Ryuuko recall snippets of these conversations during appropriate times in volume 2. As for starting points, Ryuuko and Antenora are pretty much on the same page when it comes to defeating "God." I suppose the only edge that Antenora has is she knows "attempting to derail 'God's' plans will inevitably summon him."
@HungrySheep I think that probably answers every question I had that's not obviously a long-term story spoiler. Thanks for the extremely detailed response!
I indeed missed or forgot a few important details, like levels as currency, and I think I either missed Lucrezia's explanation in chapter 38 or thought Lucrezia might be deflecting the question by just saying it wasn't that important, but the explanation makes sense. The exchange between Antenora and Lucrezia really made me wish we got to see a bit more of what people do when Ryuuko's not around and important things aren't happening, though, because now that I've seen it, it's actually rather cute.
I can see how it would slow down the pace of the story if you often included conversations which aren't that important and aren't in the middle of fights, and there are definitely novels which go too far in that direction, showing every minute detail of the characters' lives and actions, but I feel like some of the conversations and interactions we've skipped over would have been very cute, genuinely interesting, or both (Antenora and Priya's fight with the Shades, Lucrezia and Antenora's awkward conversation, Antenora and Ryuuko's chat about killing God, and probably some more I'm not thinking of).
Right now we barely get to see anything except Ryuuko's relationships, from Ryuuko's perspective. I think there might be a happy middle ground where one sees some of the normal everyday conversations and the happiness everyone is fighting to protect, but not all of it. Having said that, I've never actually written a novel, I only really know second-hand (and from some attempts to run tabletop RPG campaigns) how hard pacing can be.
There's no obvious way to show some of that from Ryuuko's perspective, either, I guess, which is tricky with the generally single-perspective storytelling. It might be cool to see some optional side-stories or something which explore the other characters' perspectives and relationships further, but I know writing this is meant to be for fun; if driving the story forward to get to the big moments you have planned is what excites you the most, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that instead.
(Priya and Antenora's weapons of choice seem like Ryuuko would definitely have seen them by now, though, both while travelling/training and when they burst in during Chapter 53, and I had no idea [edit: other than a brief mention of Antenora teleporting a dagger in from somewhere at one point]. Maybe I just missed that too, or maybe Ryuuko just doesn't remark on it?)
Even though my only response to a lot of what you said is "yeah, that makes sense; it'd be cool to see some of that brought up in the story, even if it's not super important to the main plot", I did read it all. I'm also still reading through the volume epilogue, but I'll leave my comments about that on that chapter.
@Crowthorne I don't think Ryuuko ever remarked on Priya's weaponry, but Antenora's daggers were mentioned a few times.
That said, the truth is I'm not entirely sure how to include those moments as well since I'm writing from a first-person perspective
In the end, I just figured I'd add them all in the side stories since it's easier that way.