On the other side of the battlefield, Noah and Miasma were in close quarters, dishing out devastating blows to each other.

Miasma's arms flew into the air and crashed behind him after Noah swiped his sword.

"Such power..."

The difference between the current Hero and the one from his memories was like night and day.

His arms regrew just as fast as he lost them. At the same time, four other arms composed of pure malicious energy grew behind his back.

Noah's sword crumbled in his hands, and just as fast as Miasma, grabbed another piece of ore.

But his enemy was faster. Before Noah could defend, Miasma grabbed his shoulders and headbutted him, sending him fumbling backward for a brief instant.

"..."

They glared at each other while Noah swiped a speck of blood on his forehead down on the grass.

His wound healed instantly, and as if nothing had happened, they returned to their dogfight.

Still, the one having the upper hand in this fight was Noah, just like it happened in the past.

What was strange to him was that he could move however he wanted, but only concerning the fight itself. His legs refused to move away from the battle, which locked him in this deadly encounter that sent him straight toward a definite loss.

But he didn't care. The faster this was done, the better it would be. Miasma was already waiting for the next part of his plan.

The many quiet years incoming, where he would manipulate his son into doing his heinous deeds, would be perfect to send more invasions into the future.

"Thinking in the middle of battle?"

Noah's blade pierced his chest, exploding a large part of his body away in a blast of light.

"So you have a death wish? How lame."

The blade, covered in light, vanished from inside the gaping hole in Miasma's chest.

"Keep barking. You'll ultimately die."

Healing completely in just a second, the hole absorbed the corruption in the air.

Miasma threw a punch toward him, which he instantly deflected with another sword. Then, after a brief exchange, he took a blow to the head.

Occasionally, for reasons that escaped Noah, his body refused to move. At those moments, he was unable to defend properly and took powerful blows to the face.

Luckily, this time, he had light magic to heal the damage.

Pushed back by the attack, Noah felt slightly frustrated.

'The power of 'Fate' is quite troubling. Now, I get it.'

With the hands of 'Fate' manipulating the strings of him and Miasma into the written ending, all he could do was hold until the end drew near.

His heart thumped loudly in his chest. The relief of his duty was near.

All of it was in the hands of Orion. With one mistake, he would lose his life, and never be granted his wish to see his family again.

But as he and Miasma glared at each other through each attack, the trust in Orion never faltered.

The amount of thinking he gave to help Noah return to his home world wasn't normal, which confirmed that he seriously wanted to help him.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"Why aren't you fighting your fate?"

Another sword of brittle ore crumbled in his hand, and a glaring contest began as Noah asked a question.

"Are you expecting an answer from me?"

Miasma's six arms lowered slightly.

"Since you believe so strongly in my death, you could at least entertain my inquiry."

Shrugging lightly, Noah smirked.

"You Heroes are all the same, always so full of yourselves. Two dipshits that try so hard to get information out of my mouth at each encounter."

He growled with anger.

"Is insulting others the only thing that you can do? Really, that's pathetic. If it was enough to affect us, we would have died a long time ago."

"O~h please! Shut up. The ones who're standing in my way are you and Orion. Without you two existing, I would have completed my vengeance a long time ago."

Miasma plunged one of his hands into the ground and ripped a piece of it forcefully before throwing it at Noah.

With an effortless jump to the side, Noah avoided it.

"It appears to me that this vengeance was never meant to be. When you realized that, you stopped caring about fighting back..."

"I get it."

Behind his back, the light and dark elements began to revolve gradually faster. Aiming his right hand at Miasma, Noah returned the favor.

Magic bullets were fired at the Remnant, who immediately protected his body with his arms.

The dark bullets sank into his body, exploding parts of the corruption away, while the light bullets devoured large chunks of his skin on contact.

After firing a hundred of those, Noah stopped and grabbed another piece of ore.

With a smile, Noah turned around and ran away.

When Miasma dropped his arms and noticed the Hero was gone, he suddenly noticed the shadow over the area.

He looked over to the sky, where the head of a gigantic elephant came crashing on him.

Orion, who was fighting the beasts further away, inadvertently sent the head of his enemy flying toward Miasma and Noah.

While the latter managed to see the incoming body part, Miasma wasn't unable to after defending against Noah's attack.

Crushed under hundreds of tons of biomass, Miasma disappeared.

As Orion wasn't done fighting, he barely reacted to this, while Noah prepared for the return of his opponent. He knew that this wouldn't be enough to kill Miasma.

'Fate' wouldn't make it happen.

And as expected, black smoke began to seep under the giant head, forming the dark mass that was the Remnant of Corruption.

"For fuck's sake."

Miasma cracked his neck and turned around. He placed his hand on the tusk of the beast, and as he did, a dark wave of energy began to devour the entire mass.

"Powering up? You think I would let you?"

Noah, a sword made of light magic in his hand, suddenly appeared half-crouched in front of his enemy.

Right before the dark energy made contact with the skin, Noah cut the tusk. At the same time, he pulled back his other harm, and focused on his fist.

The five elements behind his back flashed out of existence, only to reappear in front of his fist. They each imbued a large amount of magic into his fist, and, with a devastating punch, Noah smashed the elephant's head.

*SPLAT*

Everything turned red for an instant, as the gigantic head entirely exploded into a red mist. Not even a bone shard remained, only blood pushed in the direction of the impact.

Miasma, who watched this almost in slow motion, was forced to take a step back in shock.

His purple eyes trembled at this savage display of power.

'If I were to take that hit... I...'

Even the bead forming the source of his existence would be shattered, and his life would end.

'I'd die.'

The Remnant's face turned neutral, free of fear.

'That wouldn't be so bad, all things considered.'

He grabbed the tusk halfway corrupted that was stuck upward from the ground, and lifted his arm to pull it out.

The three-meter-long item, grabbed with all six hands, was over Miasma's head.

In swift action, he slammed downward to pierce Noah with it.

But Noah slid his right foot behind him and, with a rapid movement of his waist, kicked the side of the incoming object.

The two were pushed back by the force of the exploding tusk, which sent fragments everywhere. Some pierced Noah's thighs and arms, while many ripped parts of Miasma's body apart.

"Agh!"

Pain coursed through Noah's body as the sharp bone fragments were pushed out of his muscles. Light covered his entire body, matching Miasma's own recovery.

Forced to kneel on the ground, he breathed roughly.

'So that's what fighting the enemy of the world means...'

'This is nothing like fighting a mindless beast.'

At any moment, Noah could kill Miasma with the power he obtained thanks to Orion.

Using the light Elemental Mastery, this fight would have been over from the very beginning.

But each time he wanted to, an unknown force snuffed out the idea. The punch he threw at the elephant's head was originally meant for Miasma, but at the last second, it deviated toward the head.

'This world won't let me destroy the reason it called me to get rid of.'

Having healed his wounds, Noah stood up.

"Haha~ My God."

Moving his legs to see if anything was wrong with them, he began to walk toward Miasma shortly after.

"Why are you laughing?"

Confused by the man's sudden laughter, Miasma frowned.

"I simply fell like a moron. Nothing against you."

With a smile, a claymore of light appeared in his hands.

'Being a pawn is really frustrating.'

His eyes changed entirely. The surrounding mood also changed.

"I'm pissed off."

"Let's see how far this world wants to test my patience."

Miasma recoiled in shock.

A bubble of darkness formed in response to Noah's dark element, while bright light stars popped up into the air.

Noah crouched down, grabbed the claymore with both hands, and, pushed at a tremendous speed by the five elements on his back, he cut through Miasma's body.

He turned around, watching the stars following him pierce his enemy. Without waiting, he let go of the sword, and lifted his hand above his head, and before Miasma could recover, light rained down on him.

Suffering constant attacks, Miasma grunted as his body began to be eaten by the light.

"Don't..."

Seeing his arms disintegrate in front of his eyes, Miasma clenched his sharp teeth.

"Don't fuck with me!"

An explosion of corrupting energy fought back the light, emanating from Miasma as a response.

"Let's see how 'Fate' decides to spare your life through this!"

While the light kept pouring over Miasma, Noah fired volleys of light bullets. His entire body flashed white.

He decided to see how far his will to revolt against his ending would push him.

...

Orion watched with a smile as his older friend finally released the pent-up frustration that built up during the past ten years.

'I have never seen Noah like this.'

Tetra was shocked. Her tone conveyed a feeling of surprise, and it was for a good reason.

Not once, from her memory, could she recall a moment when Noah lost his composure.

'I can understand his feelings. Being played with isn't a gratifying sensation.'

Orion pulled out a large hammer out of the tiger's side. A large cone-like opening revealed its insides, starting from the impact point and leaving a truly grotesque wide opening on the other side.

Blood gushed from the opening as the tiger twitched, the last of his life withering away.

'What time is it?'

Orion asked Tetra with a neutral tone.

'Look at the sun.'

Doing as told, he looked at it while squinting slightly.

'Five minutes...'

The cloud that was about to pass in front of the sun was the sign of their end.

'Then, we'll wait until Noah starts losing control.'

'Yes.'

Stepping down from the tiger-bear corpse, Orion slowly made his way toward his last battlefield.