"I'M AT A CLIMAX FROM THE START!"
Although he had just spouted a whole string of baffling lines that made the atmosphere feel a lot less serious, the red DenGasher Sword Mode blade remained pointed at the steadily collapsing DESTRUDOS.
"CHARGE, CHARGE!"
With that battle cry, Sora rushed straight toward DESTRUDOS at high speed.
[WHAT A RACKET.]
Faced with Sora, who had changed into a new set of equipment, DESTRUDOS could only offer that assessment after a long silence.
For THEM, an existence that represented stillness and death, everything Sora had just done was far too noisy.
And from THEIR perspective, THEY could also clearly sense something unusual.
Inside Sora's body alone, there were actually five other distinct life energies dwelling there.
In other words, although he looked like only one person on the surface, the current Sora was in fact a six-in-one state.
[DO YOU INTEND TO OPPOSE MY POWER BY HUDDLING TOGETHER FOR WARMTH LIKE THIS?]
When people gathered in small groups, they could indeed resist the death instinct to a certain extent.
But…
An overly powerful death instinct could change the nature of a group.
The cults and terrorists that appeared within civilizations had already proven that point.
Sora's idea—joining together with other living beings in an attempt to contend against THEM—was truly:
[WISHFUL THINKING.]
Although THEY were continuously collapsing, THEY were absolutely not something such a hastily assembled little group could stand against.
Then all of you could seek stillness in death!
DESTRUDOS waved a hand, and countless masses of black fog surged in from every direction, completely surrounding Sora.
Unfortunately, this move had no effect on him at all.
He merely leapt into the air, and the wings on his back transformed in the wind into enormous wings several meters wide.
Their crystalline, gemstone-like feathers radiated a strange light even in the darkness.
With one light beat of those broad wings, the gale they stirred up scattered all the surging black fog.
Sora himself turned into a seven-colored radiance, dancing through the air as he charged upward.
Only, as he flew, his body suddenly changed direction.
"What filth. The very existence of something like you here is an insult to my eyes!"
Sieg's words carried a trace of irritation. "Retainers, hurry up and clean away this mess!"
And with that, the body that had been flying straight ahead suddenly began careening uncontrollably left and right.
"You stupid bird, don't move around on your own!"
Momotaros hurriedly seized control back.
And in Sora's ears, it seemed as if a crisp, decisive "Man!" echoed.
If he crashed now, he wouldn't really end up meeting that particular contestant, would he?
Then, as if to make the impression even stronger, after they broke through the black fog, DESTRUDOS's next method of interception was actually…
Summoning helicopters that were making a rapid TATATATATATATATA sound!
The helicopters immediately fired several tracking missiles at them, and the machine guns mounted above also began spraying sharp bullets.
Sora fell silent for a moment before forcing a few words out through gritted teeth.
"Good!"
Well done, DESTRUDOS!
Now he had no choice but to let THEM experience what a true god's elbow was!
As Sora's emotions surged, the ability of "belief" also took effect.
Waves of inexplicable power surged out from within his body.
Sensing that power, Momotaros cried out in surprise. "Oh, oh, oh! Power! The power's surging up!"
His body became even more dazzling, and the feathers on his wings also emitted a razor-sharp radiance.
Cold light flashed across the helicopter ahead. With only a light flap, they crossed an immeasurable distance in an instant, like a bullet leaving the barrel.
And that was not all.
With a series of cracking sounds, the helicopter was split straight down the middle.
"Wow, Birdie's wings are amazing!"
"A trifling matter!"
Sieg accepted Ryutaros's praise without the slightest hesitation.
This time, however, his words did not interfere with their charge.
Right now, he wanted very much to sweep away this eyesore called DESTRUDOS completely.
With this boost, the defensive helicopters DESTRUDOS sent to intercept them naturally failed to do anything.
They were all sliced cleanly in half by those sharp wings, turning into smoke and dissipating in midair.
This wave of interception had served no purpose at all.
Naturally, Momotaros could not resist mocking THEM. "You call yourself a god when that's all you've got? Hurry up and roll down here already!"
DESTRUDOS did not answer him directly.
At this moment, THEY were doing everything THEY could to stabilize THEIR condition.
Although the influence caused by the past meant THEY were no longer at THEIR full strength, the moment the Great Septimus was born, THEIR appearance had already become certain.
It was precisely because of that that Flesh DESTRUDOS was rampaging through Penacony on the other side.
Unless the Great Septimus could be erased from time itself, THEY could not possibly dissipate.
But becoming an AEON meant possessing a certain degree of uniqueness across time and space.
Even if someone went back now to interfere with the timeline, it would be impossible to affect the birth of the two AEONS of ORDER.
This was a paradox.
As long as an AEON of ORDER had appeared at a certain point in time, THEY would exist independently outside the timeline.
So even though the train just now had prevented the Embryo of Philosophy from creating ORDER's dream, THEY would not vanish because of that.
It had merely delayed the time of THEIR birth and greatly reduced THEIR power.
Aside from that, THEY had not suffered any more serious injuries.
But if THEY fell here and now, that would be another matter entirely. Therefore, faced with Sora's rapid advance, DESTRUDOS was indeed intercepting him seriously.
However, THEIR current weakness made THEM understand one thing.
[USE ALL THE POWER THAT CAN BE MOBILIZED NOW, AND CRUSH YOU COMPLETELY.]
That was what THEY should be doing most right now.
The helicopters just now had merely been a countermeasure specially condensed after THEY sensed the emotions leaking from the other side.
[THIS IS THE TRUE ENEMY YOU MUST FACE.]
After the palm of the DESTRUDOS puppet opened, a pitch-black little sphere flew out from THEIR hand.
This was the strongest weapon THEY had discovered in the memories of those who had died on Penacony over thousands of years.
Its name was:
IMAGINARY IMPLOSION PULSE.
This was something DESTRUDOS had found in the memories of a person on Penacony named Calderon Chadwick.
That person was already dead. He had lost his physical body, leaving only Memoria behind as he lived muddleheadedly within Penacony.
Even if Chadwick himself had remained muddleheaded the entire time he was on Penacony, that was not the case for DESTRUDOS.
THEY clearly understood the theories he had upheld and the insights of his research, and THEY also learned how much harm the unfinished weapon had caused.
A single unfinished shell had annihilated more than a dozen vanguard units of the Antimatter Legion in one stroke.
And that was not all. The weapon's effective range had even covered twenty-four celestial bodies of moon-class or higher, including three planets hosting Grade-D-or-above civilizations.
One could say that a single shot had caused massive casualties among hundreds of millions of innocent people.
That was the youthful high spirits of a young man, and also the disaster a genius had brewed under the drive of the death instinct.
Did Chadwick not know the weapon's power?
How could that be possible?
As the person who proposed the theory and conducted the research, he understood the weapon's power better than anyone.
With an intellect that far exceeded ordinary people's, he could also understand that something like this was absolutely not something a mere mortal body with no other abilities could control.
And yet, even with so many prerequisites in place…
In the end, he still forged ahead without hesitation and created this thing that could destroy most civilizations and kill civilizations throughout the universe.
Although he later discovered his conscience, fled with all the research materials, and then asked the other geniuses to erase that portion of his memory…
Once the button of destruction had been pressed, it could no longer be stopped.
The IPC feared that other forces would obtain such a weapon, while some forces opposing the IPC also wanted it in order to increase their own deterrence.
Thus, both sides reached a strange balance.
And breaking such a balance was very simple. If one side produced an even stronger weapon, the balance would be broken.
But once the balance was broken, the side that had fallen behind would climb toward weapons of even greater power.
This was the death instinct that existed within civilization.
This was also why DESTRUDOS could create the Imaginary Implosion Pulse.
[WITH YOU ALONE, HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY STOP CIVILIZATION FROM MARCHING TOWARD EXTINCTION?]
A single grain of dust from an era, when it fell upon a person, became a mountain. The footsteps of civilization were absolutely not something one person could evade or stop by throwing himself in front of the cart.
Your strength was indeed great, but so what?
Before Penacony's hundreds of millions of lives immersed in the death instinct, what could you possibly do?
Just as DESTRUDOS voiced THEIR doubt, the little sphere, darker than the night sky, activated.
Imaginary Energy was drawn from the void by that small sphere.
The speed at which it gathered was so fast that faint energy tides even rose in this place.
If those geniuses saw this, they would definitely be shocked.
Imaginary Energy was extremely difficult to control and hard to gather. To collect even a small amount required billions' worth of cutting-edge technology.
That was to say nothing of stirring up an energy tide.
This was something that should never appear anywhere in the entire universe.
Chadwick had sought out the IPC precisely because of this.
Because he needed the help of the force with the greatest funding in order to complete this bomb.
However, the weapon he had spent so long developing could be casually pinched into existence before DESTRUDOS.
DESTRUDOS did not need mechanical assistance. THEY only needed to understand its principle and structure, and THEY could create the effect through THEIR own power.
That was to say nothing of the fact that those Imaginary energies could actually be controlled by THEM with a wave of THEIR hand.
And so, the Imaginary Implosion Pulse, which had appeared in the universe only once before and was then classified by countless forces as a top-level strategic weapon, condensed once more in this place.
DESTRUDOS watched the speeding Sora and remained utterly calm.
[THE INDIVIDUAL IS FAR TOO SMALL BEFORE CIVILIZATION.]
Even if you were powerful, even if you gave everything you had, before civilization, it was still not enough.
[LET THIS FINAL LIGHT CARRY YOU INTO DARKNESS.]
At the very end, THEY showed Sora respect.
Putting aside all else, as an individual facing THEM, Sora had already done more than enough.
Not only had he stubbornly delayed THEM for so long, he had also inflicted severe damage upon THEM from the past.
For an individual, that accomplishment was absolutely sufficient.
The only pity was that he had encountered THEM.
Imaginary Energy gradually condensed, and the surrounding space twisted beneath it.
DESTRUDOS had originally been right before him, close enough to touch, but in the end, he was still caught by this powerful energy tide.
In just a short while, the energy tide would reach its final moment.
At that time, the Imaginary Implosion Pulse, which had fallen silent in the universe for several Amber Eras, would bloom with its radiance once more.
And this time, the radiance of the pulse, absent from the universe for so long, seemed to be burying only a single person.
This bomb, which had once caused countless deaths, was now being used against one person alone.
Such treatment could only be called lavish.
Unfortunately…
"Sorry, but it's not time for the exit yet!"
In a cartoon, this was practically the final moment already—and a moment like this was precisely when the true savior would arrive.
Think back to it: the longest-running cartoon in Penacony.
When Nightmareville and Boss Stone attacked, who was it who stood before the people and thwarted their schemes?
"Huh?!"
Misha let out a cry of surprise.
Mikhail's eyes also widened unconsciously. Their somewhat similar yet different faces clearly saw the unknowable thing that had appeared within the energy tide.
It was…
A strange creation even DESTRUDOS had failed to perceive!
At this moment, he had both hands on his hips, announcing his glorious entrance!
"Ta-da! Clockie's here!"
The extremely tiny Clockie was, at this moment, flying all the way up from the ground to here just like in a cartoon, gripping slips of paper in both hands.
His appearance was beyond everyone's expectations, and his actions shocked countless people.
"Before Boss Stone's dangerous scheme has been thwarted, before the real Dreamville has been built!"
Clockie waved both arms as he flew to Sora's side.
"Clockie will absolutely never lose!"
"Clock-chan…"
Ryutaros's voice was a little low.
He seemed to have foreseen what would happen next.
"It's okay. I've already gone on the most beautiful adventure with all of you!"
Clockie stood on Sora's back, chuckled, and raised his thumb.
After getting on the train, he had made new friends and gone through a new adventure.
He had ridden a new train, witnessed old friends meeting and parting, and witnessed the birth of new bonds.
Clockie was already very satisfied.
"And when my friends are in danger, how could Clockie possibly sit back and do nothing?"
He lifted the hat above him. The constantly turning gears above were slowly moving the hour and minute hands on his face.
"Then now, let me, Clockie, show everyone the Clockwork I'm best at!"
What trick could a clock perform?
Of course, it was his most original function as a clock.
Clockie had always aired in the mornings on Penacony.
Why in the morning?
Of course, because he was the alarm bell that reminded children and companions to step into a new day together!
And as the spring on top of his head turned, after the hour and minute hands on his face reached a certain angle…
RING-A-LING~
A clear ringing sound echoed throughout all of Penacony!
The echoing bell was a signal. It was a signal reminding people to begin a new day of trailblazing.
The old days had passed, and a new day had arrived. It was time for everyone to set out on a new day of trailblazing in their lives!
Misha looked toward Penacony and discovered that the places where the sound came from were actually the areas he and Clockie had once walked through.
The places they had once visited were ringing with clock bells that woke people from sleep.
"Tick-tock. This is Clockie's best Clockwork. You all have to…"
Before Clockie could finish speaking, he lost his humanoid form.
He turned into a clock, lying quietly on Sora's back.
Yet the noisy ringing below did not stop in the slightest.
It seemed to be paying tribute to Clockie.
At the same time, the silence throughout all of Penacony was no longer the stillness from moments ago.
Clockie had begun airing!
Everyone gathered before their televisions.
They put down the sorrows and pains of the past, watched Clockie thwart Boss Stone's scheme, and welcomed a brand-new day.
"This is what the people of Penacony should do…?"
Sunday stared blankly at what was happening before him, listening to the bell ringing in his ears.
At this moment, he seemed to hear the sound of something shattering.
But those shattering sounds were soon covered by another sound.
"Clockie hasn't disappeared."
As the bell rang, DESTRUDOS's power weakened at an extraordinary speed.
This also meant the gathered Imaginary Energy, no longer sustained by THEIR power, could no longer maintain its earlier state.
The energy field disappeared, and Sora directly gripped the clock on his back tightly in his hand.
He said quietly, "He'll live on forever in Dreamville because of the promise."
How could the protagonist of a cartoon disappear?
He had merely stepped offstage for a while!
So!
"Let me show you exactly what a tiny individual can do!"
His wings beat, and with a burst of light, Sora charged once more toward DESTRUDOS ahead!
This time, nothing could bind him anymore.
If you have a dream you wish could come true~♪
You've got to believe in the day you made that wish~♪
Catch the wave When you think you are lost, I'm sure...♪
The strength of your feelings will guide you~♪
The future you wish for is already in your hands~♪
Even though DESTRUDOS had already fallen into a disadvantage, THEY remained utterly calm.
[THOSE WHO WAKE WILL EVENTUALLY SLEEP WHEN NIGHT FALLS.]
If necessary, THEY could help those people close their eyes as well.
DESTRUDOS, representing death and stillness, raised a hand and summoned countless missiles and beams, intending to give all of Penacony a thorough baptism.
But the mouth representing Ryutaros on the front of Sora's body opened directly.
Empowered by belief, by that constantly pounding heart, and by the pocket watch in his hand…
With only one shot, all those missiles and beams were instantly cleared away!
BOOOOOOOOOM!
Brilliant fireworks bloomed in the pitch-black night, and a figure instantly emerged from within.
The DenKamen on Sora's body continuously rotated, finally gathering around his fist.
"BUT ONCE YOU WAKE UP, IT'S ANOTHER NEW DAY!"
Kintaros's axe blade replaced Sora's fist and smashed hard into DESTRUDOS!
BANG!
The instant the two sides made contact, DESTRUDOS's body flew backward a great distance.
A hole also appeared in THEIR body.
Countless fragments were falling from the edges of that hole.
It had been forcibly smashed out by a single punch.
Faced with this situation, DESTRUDOS raised a hand and summoned countless robots.
Only, these robots were not meant to surround and eliminate Sora. Instead, they continuously gathered onto THEIR body.
[BUT EVEN AFTER WAKING, ONE WILL STILL FEEL PAIN AND DESPAIR. THESE THINGS WILL BE PASSED DOWN FOREVER.]
In only a short while, a massive machine several hundred meters tall was completely formed in this place.
One fist alone was larger than Penacony's buildings, and the fierce wind brought by its swing sent grass and plants flying.
Pain and despair would remain entangled forever. The brief comfort sought in sleep could never smooth away grief.
Chadwick had already proven that point.
Even if he slept muddleheadedly for hundreds of years, could his conscience escape condemnation?
No!
The things that entangled him had not vanished, even though his flesh had already perished.
Those things would accompany him and be passed on forever and ever!
"THAT'S WHY THIS IS WHEN THE HERO SHOULD COME SAVE THE DAY!"
Sora held out the pocket watch in his hand, and the fierce wind blowing against him stopped instantly at this moment.
"CLOCKIE WILL ALWAYS ACCOMPANY HIM DOWN THAT ROAD!"
More than ten thousand episodes could cover the majority of a short-life species' life.
Clockie would forever be with you during that time.
He would accompany you as you built the Dreamville of your dreams!
So…
With the sound of machinery operating, the DenKamen gathered on Sora's arm rearranged themselves once again in a certain order, this time around his foot.
'[SUPER BOISTEROUS KICK]!'
Five-colored radiance gathered at his foot. It looked exactly like a finishing move from a cartoon.
He fell from the sky. Even with a robot hundreds of meters tall before him, he showed not the slightest fear.
His wings beat, instead raising his speed by another great margin.
DESTRUDOS controlled the robot and smashed its fist toward the meteor falling from the sky.
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE CARTOON HEROES!"
And that meteor, shouting of friendship, hope, and bonds, fell from the sky.
The contact between the two sides made all of Penacony fall silent for an instant.
But in the next moment, the noisy roar of machinery rang out in this place.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Clusters of firelight erupted across the robot's body.
The order in which the firelight exploded made it clear that something had pierced straight through the entire robot from top to bottom, starting from its arm.
Only after a figure burst out from behind the robot did the blazing flames erupting from its body finally come to an end.
Sora maintained his momentum and carved an extremely long mark across the ground.
Only, at this moment…
"We won!"
With Ryutaros's cheer, Sora's leg shifted uncontrollably a little to the side.
And that little bit caused a problem.
CRACK!
There was a crisp sound, and immediately after, the body that had been maintaining a cool landing pose tumbled into a heap on the ground.
"Huh?!"
Seeing this, Pom-Pom could not help crying out in surprise.
After saying "serves you right," Sunday silently turned his back.
"Huh, huh, huh?!"
Misha cried out in alarm and ran out of the train car. "Mr. Hoshigaki, are you all right?"
Mikhail followed closely behind him.
And the heavy atmosphere that had appeared because of Clockie's disappearance became much livelier because of this incident.
After rolling several times across the ground, Sora finally stopped.
Momotaros clutched his leg. "Ow, ow, ow, ow! You snot-nosed brat, that was such a cool moment! Why'd you move around?!"
"Sorry. We beat that big robot, so I got a little excited."
Ryutaros sounded somewhat downcast.
"But I'm the one who's hurting…"
Sora said, so miserable he could have cried.
Momotaros was only possessing him. Sora was the one actually in pain!
Damn it. He had never expected something like this would actually happen to him.
Sure enough, nothing good ever came from being with these guys!
Sora hurriedly warned Momotaros not to keep holding the injured ankle, in case he made it worse.
After hearing that, Momotaros hurriedly and nervously set his leg down.
"Can you just let me lie here for a while and get some proper rest?"
And it was only at this moment that Sora realized he had actually rolled beneath the Clockie statue in Clockie Plaza in Golden Hour.
The Clockie statue had both hands on its hips, looking impossibly cool.
Looking at him like that, a smile appeared at the corners of Sora's mouth.
"This is nice…"
Urataros felt the same. "Indeed."
Time quietly flowed past them like this, and they all quietly enjoyed the peace of this moment… did they?
Kintaros said, "Why don't we cancel the transformation? I feel so cramped."
Well, that single sentence completely destroyed the mood that had finally gathered just now.
...
In the end, with Kintaros's help, Sora still returned to the train.
And it was also at this moment that he learned something from Sunday.
"DESTRUDOS has only been defeated temporarily."
Although Sunday knew this information spoiled the atmosphere, he still had to say it. "THEY and I are essentially the same, and THEY are far more difficult to grasp than I am."
This could be seen from the fact that THEIR methods consisted of summoning all kinds of mechanical weapons.
After all, Sunday had not done any of those things back then.
However, this was only a reminder. After DESTRUDOS had been frustrated, it would take several thousand years before THEY could recover to THEIR original state again.
Penacony's dreamscape accumulated the emotions of the dead very slowly.
"So, by the standards of the present, you did indeed defeat that thing."
Sunday gave Sora a rare compliment.
"The way you say that makes it sound like you were never beaten by me."
Sunday's eyes immediately widened. He realized he really should not have shown this guy any goodwill just now!
Since the DESTRUDOS inside had disappeared, there was no need for them to do anything else.
The future was slowly merging. They only needed to wait here for the two Penaconys to overlap.
The battle traces on this side would also continuously disappear because of the overlap.
There was not even any need to think about cleanup, which let the currently wounded Sora rest properly for a while.
But before that, there was one thing he had to do.
At the final moment of Den-O's power, he had to send Mikhail, Pom-Pom, and countless versions of himself all back to their original points in time exactly as they were.
If possible, Sora would have liked to do it himself.
But because of the injury to his foot, it seemed he could only entrust it to the Imagin.
When the Imagin heard this, they naturally agreed at once.
They rushed into the bodies of the versions of Sora who had exhausted themselves delaying DESTRUDOS.
"Leave this to us!"
Kintaros patted his chest.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure to send your body properly over there."
Urataros rubbed his fingers together.
At that moment, Sora suddenly thought of something.
"Wait. Leave them a little something good while you're at it!"
He revealed a Tom-like grin.
Although screwing himself over was not exactly kind…
Since he had experienced it, he had to let these people experience it too. Heh-heh-heh!
Sora began creating with a face full of excitement.
When Pom-Pom saw his behavior, they could not help trembling.
What was with this person? In such a short while, he had changed faces several times…
Could this guy actually be…
As Pom-Pom thought about it, they slowly hid behind Mikhail.
Mikhail smiled and said nothing more.
However, when he looked outside at Penacony, which was continuously repairing itself due to the overlapping futures, unease still lingered in his heart.
Especially that giant robot, which was currently turning into smoke and dust as it dissipated.
Why did it feel as though something was not quite right?
Was it just an illusion…?
...
The enormous robot was slowly turning into smoke and dust as it dissipated.
And at its central core was a puppet shattered beyond recognition.
The puppet had lost its controller and had only a pale whiteness left.
Yet that pallid color made it look like an eggshell, while the cracks covering it made it seem as if the egg had split before it was ready.
And the creature born from within that eggshell was…
A mechanical crow.
Its eyes flickered with emerald-green light like camera lenses, and it lurked amid the vast wreckage.
It had gathered the dead from thousands of years.
Death was indeed something that inspired extreme fear, but the desire to live before death was equally intense.
Now, it was like an animal on the verge of death, waiting for an opportunity…
Or perhaps, someone else wanted to give THEM that opportunity.
[HEE-HEE-HEE-HEE. SOMETHING FUN IS HAPPENING AGAIN.]
One corner of a certain mask appeared, completely concealing this thing's aura.
Sunday, who was sweeping the area, frowned.
"Why do I feel… a little uncomfortable?"
---
T/N: AHA WHAT ARE YOU UP TO AGAIN!
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