A vast space darker than the night sky fills my vision.
Was this the view Neil Armstrong had when he first set foot on the moon?
Of course, I’m not on the moon right now, but in the middle of space.
“…”
I mumble to myself, startled by the sudden change in location.
I was clearly flying around to avoid the dragon, and when I realized I couldn’t keep going like this, I turned around to prepare for an attack.
I must have been too distracted.
This is why the traffic department keeps emphasizing the importance of keeping your eyes on the road.
Just before I arrived here, I caught a glimpse of someone with golden hair.
The image of a certain figure who once took me to the pyramid through a portal comes to mind.
It didn’t seem like they were targeting me, but rather aiming at the dragon.
‘I’ll give them an earful later.’
The situation was actually favorable, but my feelings were another matter.
Even if it wasn’t intentional, throwing someone into space out of nowhere?
I deeply sympathize with the unjust citizens from that spaceship impostor game.
I stare at the dragon, frozen and immobilized by the surrounding darkness.
“Grrrr.”
‘Behold the dragon, now turned into a taxidermy.’
In the pitch-black void of space.
Yet, the area around me and the dragon was even darker.
Even during a solar eclipse, it only happened in the sky, not out here in space.
Was that the reason?
As I gently stroke the dense darkness clinging to me with my fingertips, I open my palm towards the dragon.
“Let’s finish this quickly and go back.”
I clearly entered the pyramid aiming for a hidden item.
But instead of an easy grab, I ended up being chased by a dragon.
Channeling my frustration, I slowly clench my fist.
Simultaneously, around the motionless, petrified dragon.
A particularly dark spot in space transforms into hundreds of spikes, piercing through the dragon.
The dragon, now full of holes, turns into a perforated dragon.
Clang-
“Ugh…”
A metallic clashing sound.
The black spikes fail to pierce the scales and dissolve back into darkness.
As if proving that its resilience against countless bombardments and beams wasn’t a lie.
The dragon’s scales remain intact, only slightly scratched, protecting its body.
‘That thing even cut through Gigantes’ arm.’
How can scales be harder than a rock weighing tens of kilograms?
I can’t help but wonder what material they’re made of.
But.
Using the darkness of space as paint, the black brush moves.
The faint light from the stars fades, and the dragon’s massive body begins to be eroded by the encroaching darkness.
The scales lose their luster and crumble away.
Sensing this, the dragon struggles more fiercely.
But there’s no way it can break free.
One of the dragon’s wings begins to lose its form.
Just as it seems to be nearing its end.
“Kwaaaaaaah!”
“Ugh?”
A roar that fills the vastness of space.
Despite the vacuum, the sound somehow reaches me, echoing all around.
Frowning, I cover my ears with my hands.
A swirling vortex of red light surges.
The darkness recedes, and a bright light illuminates the surroundings in an instant.
Whoosh-
Flames scatter in multiple directions from the dragon’s jaws.
Taking the shape of a fiery orb, it begins to grow in size.
“Don’t go spitting your saliva at others!”
[Distortion (EX)]
Is this the third time?
The space between me and the dragon.
It stretches infinitely, twisting into a spiral-hook shape.
The flames spewed out immediately return to the dragon itself.
But undeterred.
The dragon gradually intensifies the flames.
Crack
With a sharp bite, it shatters the glowing orb within its mouth.
Boom-
Instantly, flames burst out in all directions.
A fierce blaze sweeps through the area.
I hastily block the inferno with black wings, staring at the dragon in disbelief.
“Grrr…”
“…Dual attributes are a pain.”
Whoosh-
With a crackling sound, the darkness surrounding the dragon recedes.
Bright light fills the previously dark space.
Sssss-
Red flames engulf the dragon’s entire body, incinerating everything in its path.
Even the darkness is no exception, as the universe is bathed in light from the dragon.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
Beyond the dragon, in the distant darkness, a blazing star shines brightly.
The ancient dragon, clad in its calamitous breath, releases its presence into the cosmos.
Before the mass of light, the black blades I controlled melt away.
The dragon’s eyes gleam as its massive body moves.
Crunch
Its claws tear through the darkness that had immobilized it.
Flap-
The dragon’s wings beat powerfully, breaking free from the black threads that bound it.
In the face of this absurd spectacle, I quickly leap backward.
“Ugh, what on earth is that?”
Like a star burning in the universe.
The dragon, using itself as fuel, begins to charge towards me with a gleam in its eyes.
With the mindset that I just need to hold out, I quickly jump back.
I raise my hand to suppress it, but.
[Darkness Control (EX)]
Sssk-
[Distortion (EX)]
Clang!
The star shines as always, pushing back the darkness.
The endless darkness floating in space is scattered by the mass of light.
As if determined to end it here.
The fiery dragon, now before me.
With its blazing breath, it incinerates the darkness.
Whoosh-
And.
I am standing before it.
“…Why does nothing ever come easy?”
I slowly look around.
Even as the darkness fades away, it still surrounds me protectively.
Amidst the countless stars in the distance, the darkness remains, watching over me.
I recall a fleeting memory from a science class in my childhood.
The universe is filled with countless stars, but their proportion is minuscule compared to the vastness of space.
Most of it is made up of dark matter and dark energy, invisible to the eye.
But until now, I’ve only managed to handle a fraction of it, not even a handful.
Perhaps I’m still not accustomed to controlling the darkness.
No, I know the answer.
“…I didn’t want to do it because it felt strange.”
Whoosh-
The breath of an ancient dragon, existing for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, reaches me.
The heat is so intense that it feels like my entire body will burn just by being near it.
In the face of it, I relax my body and let myself float in space.
I move the black brush.
But in the opposite direction.
Using the universe as paint, I cover myself with the black brush.
For a brief moment, I erase the various colors within me that resisted the darkness.
For a brief moment, I dip the painting that is me into black paint.
A tingling sensation.
Within that sensation.
I feel myself dissolving into the universe.
The whispers I couldn’t hear in the silent universe begin to reach me.
The chirping of the things that form the fabric of the universe brushes against my ears.
I recall the image of a smiling girl from a game.
The boundary between the universe and me blurs, and my senses expand.
I hear the pulse of celestial bodies.
Earth.
Sun.
Nebula.
Galaxy.
.
.
.
And finally.
When the black-haired girl opens her eyes.
The ancient dragon, once blazing with light, is no more.
Only a small matchstick remains.
“Wow, what a strange lizard… Nice to meet you?”
***
Meanwhile, inside the massive spaceship.
Baek Ayun stares blankly into the void at the sudden appearance of the black-haired girl.
“Eclipse?”
The girl, lightly smiling in front of the blazing dragon.
Her outfit is slightly different from the game.
At some point, dressed in gothic lolita fashion, with amber eyes shining brightly, she is undoubtedly the 7th boss of Another World, Aria Eclipse.
Baek Ayun quickly displays the girl’s image on the monitor and hurriedly manipulates the communication system to Earth.
‘We need to return to Earth immediately.’
A massive dragon, unseen even in the game, emerging from a mysterious dungeon.
And Eclipse, the darkness-attribute boss known for its extreme difficulty among the 7 bosses.
It’s obvious that getting caught in their fight would be like a shrimp caught in a whale’s battle.
Even if we’re in the mothership, the entire hull could be destroyed.
Zing-
The sound of lasers focusing at a single point, and a portal opens.
But.
‘This is…’
The mothership is frozen, as if fixed in place.
A phenomenon experienced before.
She quickly realizes the answer.
Baek Ayun urgently looks at the screen being transmitted.
“Hehe.”
On the monitor, Eclipse, looking delighted, reaches out towards the dragon.
“Now, let me make you pretty.”
Simultaneously.
Beep-
[Large energy reaction detected ahead. Prepare for impact.]
An emergency alarm echoes throughout the ship.
A red window appears before Baek Ayun’s eyes.
On the transmitted screen, the darkness begins to thicken, making it hard to distinguish shapes.
Suddenly, the dragon’s form twists into a geometric shape.
Perspective collapses, as the dragon’s body becomes both smaller and larger.
Witnessing this, a chill runs down Baek Ayun’s spine.
‘That’s definitely…’
One of the three skills in Eclipse’s second phase.
A black hole that pulls in everything around it, a wide-area instant kill skill.
“…Deploy the ship’s shield. Maximum output.”
Don’t think about the aftermath.
As quickly as possible.
Using all available power, Baek Ayun deploys the ship’s shield.
And the dragon doesn’t remain idle, taking action.
“Kwaaaaaah!”
With a roar, the dragon’s massive body moves.
The ancient dragon, once called a calamity for slaughtering countless humans in the past.
The evil Dragon’s sharp claws tear through the darkness, taking a step forward.
Simultaneously, the dragon’s jaws open, and the flames of hell once again engulf the universe.
But.
Crack-
The sound of something breaking.
Blink
In the blink of an eye, the dragon is still at the center of the hole.
For a brief moment, the flames disappear as if they never existed.
Distorted.
Distorted.
Everything surrounding the dragon begins to distort.
“Kwaaaaaaah!”
The dragon’s roar.
But the cry no longer carries its former intimidation.
As if frightened, the dragon struggles within the black hole.
But every time it tries to escape, it inevitably returns to the hole.
Before long, the dragon disappears from Baek Ayun’s sight.
Even light cannot escape that space.
Baek Ayun recalls the various titles given to Another World Saga.
A world where time and space are distorted.
A mass of errors in the universe.
Black hole.
[Barrier damage rate 55%.. Damage rate 77%.. Damage rate 89%..91%..97%]
[Presence of a small black hole detected ahead. It is recommended to escape as soon as possible.]
“We’ll force our way through. Return to Earth as quickly as possible.”
Perhaps it hasn’t taken an interest in us yet, as the impact on the ship is minimal.
Well, considering the shield is completely shattered, maybe minimal isn’t the right word.
Still, grateful for being unharmed, Baek Ayun commands the ship.
A powerful light shines from the massive spaceship, pushing back the darkness.
Crack-
At the cost of part of the ship being destroyed, but she ignores it.
Finally, the moment arrives to enter the portal and return to Earth.
Blink blink-
Inside the room where she is.
The ship’s lights, always bright, begin to flicker.
“Huh?”
A white-haired, red-eyed woman urgently checked the monitor screen.
It was definitely there.
But Eclipse was nowhere to be seen.
A chilling sense of foreboding rose to the top of her head.
At that moment, just as she was about to push her speed to the limit—
“Unni, where are you going?”
A slightly youthful voice came from behind her.
She turned her head slowly, her white hair shimmering.
There, standing behind her—
“You have to come back with me.”
Hehehe, The girl smiles innocently, her amber eyes shining.
Beep beep-
The pure white interior of the cabin was dyed red by the alarm lights.
Just as the alarm sounded, signaling the presence of an intruder.
At the same time, the girl’s pale hand reached out toward the frozen, white-haired woman.
A cold bead of sweat ran down the white-haired woman’s cheek.