Because I Am Surtr

"What right does she have? What gives her the power to defeat me!?"

"What right does she have to involve so many innocent people for such a ridiculous reason!?"

"You truly disappoint me, Talulah," Surtr's pupils contracted slightly. "I thought after eliminating that talkative snake, you would grow into a better person. I believed with that Enferia by your side, you, a Draconic, would not stray from the path. Yet now, you have disappointed me immensely."

The power stored within Laevateinn intensified threefold with this strike. A faint, dark red giant silhouette flashed across the battlefield. The air was torn, incinerated, the ground shattered. Groundwater, natural gas, and thousands of tons of building debris were unceremoniously ripped from the earth and hurled in any random direction. At the tip of the sword, a humanoid figure engulfed in Draconic flames shot into a building like a meteor flying in reverse.

The building was pierced, flames extending from one side to the other. Then the second building met the same fate as the first. And then the third, the fourth. By the time the fifth building was covered in cracks like a spiderweb, the Dragon Girl, directly hit by Laevateinn, barely managed to stabilize herself. Her body was cracked, blood gushing from countless wounds, only to be forced back into place and healed by some unknown power. Meanwhile, the giant's will had already reached directly above the fifth building.

And so, the fifth building shattered.

As if the sky itself was falling, the sturdy building was crushed and twisted like fragile building blocks, like pounded clay, like wrung-out rags. The giant's silhouette solidified, and the flames and uncontrolled energy turned the industrial product of mortals into wasteland.

The buildings collapsed, like mountains crumbling.

The ruins and crushing weight of the mountains prevented the Draconic from regrouping. She was pinned to the ground by hundreds, thousands of tons of construction waste and the faceless hand of a giant. Apart from the sword still clutched in her hand and her deliberately relaxed lips, no muscle fiber could move.

"I'll give you one last chance."

Surtr's form appeared before her. The flame-haired Sarkaz was expressionless. Her pupils, erect and narrow, held only fire. Her skirt fluttered, and the moment her black boots touched the ground, the earth beneath them turned to lava. The pool of flames then expanded outwards. Even a true dragon would not dare to underestimate the intense heat gathering with her breath, like a volcano accumulating its power.

"Put down your sword and come with me to Rhodes Island. I will find a way to heal your arrogance and madness. As for the innocent citizens who suffered due to your atrocities and your followers, you will spend the rest of your life atoning for this sin."

The flame-haired woman's tone was devoid of fluctuation, and her gaze remained unchanged.

"However, I do bear some responsibility for you becoming this way. If I had stayed by your side longer, if I hadn't taught you those unrealistic ideals, perhaps you wouldn't be like this now. I will accompany you on your journey of atonement. Until it is all repaid with the inevitable new era, I will ensure you do not stray from the right path a second time."

She repeated once more.

"Put down your sword."

Yet, the white-haired Dragon Girl was laughing.

"You see? What immense power you wield. There is no one else in this world as strong and invincible as you. And you continue to grow stronger, every hour, every minute, every second. You become stronger than you were before."

"The Reunion Movement, seen as the banner of the Infected, disintegrated upon hearing they were to oppose you. Bodegard, who never retreats or compromises, the terror of the frozen lands, speaks reasonably before you instead of remaining stubborn. Rulers fear you, calling you a demon, a god. Heroes fear you, weaving your deeds into fairy tales and legends to instill fear and respect for you in their descendants. Your methods of hiding your identity are not subtle, but the wise people of the world pretend not to see through your mask. Because they are afraid, they know, they understand that one should fear Cataclysms and gods and demons."

"So? You're coming after me for this reason?" The Sarkaz tilted her head slightly, the tangible giant phantom silently dissipating. The suppressed cries of fear from the city boomed, amplified. Then, the survivors in the city fled towards the outskirts at several times the previous speed.

"Using a trap with no chance of success. Setting up a game of chess that is useless except to provoke my anger? A futile effort. You are merely discarding the lives of your followers."

But the Dragon Girl's smile grew wider. It even transformed from her expression to her voice, like tinkling bells, yet also like a roar.

"But are you truly angry?" She tilted her head back, her spine still straight despite being pinned by the ruins. "Even a little, even a tiny bit. Do you truly have even a sliver of anger?"

"Of course I—"

"Do you? Have you ever truly trusted anyone?"

"..." Silence.

The piled-up rubble began to tremble. The suppressed Talulah broke free. She still held her sword, but she knew that as long as she didn't swing it, she would have the chance to continue speaking.

"You have never trusted anyone. You have never been willing for anyone to earn your trust... I recognized this essence of yours during the time I spent with you. And in the long years that followed, I confirmed the truth of this guess."

"You just save people on your own, do good deeds on your own. As if it were just a job, a responsibility, an obligation... You have always been alone. But you don't know, nor do you care, how many people have tried their best to keep up with you and offer you help. But you pushed them away, you moved too fast. You never even gave them a chance to get close to you."

"You have no sense of justice in your heart, but neither do you have evil. You are simply completing a task—even a player using Terra as a chessboard focuses on victory or defeat. But you don't even care about victory or defeat—you are just playing."

Miss Surtr frowned deeply. She gripped Laevateinn's hilt. Then—

She listened as Talulah continued.

With a touch of sadness, she realized that what the white-haired Dragon Girl was saying might be the truth. And what was even sadder was...

...No, she couldn't even feel sadness. She simply wanted to hear Talulah finish speaking—because Talulah wasn't trying to resist at this moment.

So Talulah took a gentle breath.

"Yet, a you like this, wields the world's most supreme military power... You don't trust anyone. And this means that at some point in the future, you will crush those who stand in your way like a wheel. Even if the people of Terra, as you once taught me, usher in equality and liberation. You will crush them, like crushing dust—you will have no hesitation then, because you will deem it necessary to do so."

"You are a machine, you will fulfill wishes without regard for how many people die. You can, and you might, revert future Terra back to its original state at any time, even if it has reached a new era with your assistance."

Surtr tilted her head. She found her own heart had calmed down instead. Isn't it natural to discard a tool once it's used up? It was merely a fabricated accusation, judging herself with grand justifications based on events that hadn't happened. Such a scenario had already been predicted countless times in her mind.

She just hadn't expected that the one standing here saying such things to her would be Talulah.

"I always thought the person who would say such things to me would be Kal'tsit, or Amiya, or... And then I could logically leave Rhodes Island, which had reached its ideal state, and go somewhere else. But I never expected to hear it from your lips first."

She shook her head, watching the white-haired Dragon Girl finally break free from her restraints. Laevateinn in her hand ignited with flames, and she awaited the Dragon Girl's next move.

"So be it, it was bound to happen sooner or later."

"Since this is a trap set for me, since you burned everything the Reunion Movement stood for to defeat me, then I will give you a chance. Talulah, use whatever means you have. I have prepared time for you, and I allow you to choose the battlefield."

However, the white-haired Dragon Girl before her was still smiling. She could feel a power erupting, spreading, and diffusing from within the Dragon Girl.

Then, Originium crystals broke through her skin.

"Defeat you? No, not even the most arrogant would dare to think of defeating a Cataclysm, defeating a god. Everything I have done, everything I have sacrificed, is only to let you know. The price those who chase your shadow are willing to pay to stand by your side, to ensure you are no longer alone."

She winked playfully.

"When you walked into the main control tower, I swallowed a whole piece of purified Originium. This allowed me to last a little longer in front of you..."

"...allowing me to unleash a sword strike that would capture your attention, even if only for a moment, at the right time—the people of Rhodes Island have already arrived in this city. If you try to dodge, they will surely die by my sword."

Substantialized flame-elemental energy erupted wantonly from her body.

"Have you ever seen someone commit suicide right in front of you, Miss Surtr?"

Chapter 28: Light and Darkness Upon the Land

Flames expanded, spread, and contracted.

Then, the overflowing heatwave engulfed everything.

Surtr was not omnipotent; no matter how strong she was, there were things beyond her power.

She could not stop Talulah's sword strike, even if she were fast enough to sever the latter's arm before she could even raise it. But Originium energy would still erupt from Talulah's body, ultimately leaving the white-haired Dragon Girl with nothing but bones.

So, she did not stop it.

She merely responded with equal force the moment the sword was swung, directing the excess heat towards the sky—the Cataclysm's cloud layers were shattered by this. A hole resembling an iris opened up in the massive vortex of clouds. The stars of the dark cosmos flickered within the opening, but they quickly vanished into nothingness beneath the violently reacting cloud cover.

Talulah was not dead yet.