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Davion gazed at the Emperor's chest.
His right hand clutched at his chest.
He was clutching so hard that his knuckles were digging into his flesh.
The pressure was so intense that the veins all over his body were swollen as if they would burst at any moment.
His eyes were also bloodshot, as if they were about to explode.
"Why... why are you doing that?"
"This hand? If I don't do this, my heart feels like it's about to burst. My heart, pierced by your attack."
Emperor Kaiser Lapax.
A man who could even seize death with his own hands.
"So, why were you holding onto it? Were you waiting for me to wake up?"
"Of course. Shouldn't we celebrate together?"
"Celebrate what, exactly?"
"First. That the battle between the two strongest is over."
Well, that's something to celebrate.
The Emperor's heart was completely pierced by Davion's final attack.
It seemed he had been forcibly holding onto his heart, preventing it from bursting and ending his life, until now.
...It's all over now.
The duel between the two.
And the damn game, 'Elton Academy's' final event.
"Second. Your victory."
Davion tilted his head.
"You held onto your heart and waited until now just to celebrate my victory? That looks pretty painful."
"Pain I've never felt before. I'm just enjoying it to the fullest now."
Davion looked at the Emperor's face.
He must be in pain.
But he was smiling.
"You're serious."
"Indeed. It's the most alive I've felt."
"Is there a third?"
"Of course. Third. My life is finally complete."
Davion tilted his head again.
"Life is complete?"
"Of course, I would have been happy if I had defeated you. But..."
Ah...
Davion understood what the Emperor meant.
He was born as the strongest being in humanity, or perhaps even on earth.
Even in the imperial family.
He was stronger than anyone else and had everything.
As all those who carried the imperial bloodline died, Kaiser Lapax grew even stronger.
A man who could rule the empire alone.
It wasn't just a metaphor.
It was only after meeting Davion that he picked up the family's sacred artifact, the Sword of Destruction, and practiced swordsmanship.
For someone so drawn to strength to have never even held a sword meant that the world was that boring to him.
"Two years ago. That's why you spared me."
"I wouldn't have spared you if you weren't such a young man. I heard you had only been using magic for two years since you got scared and started using it."
Strictly speaking, he had been using magic for much longer.
But that's what was known to the world in this playthrough, so let's just go with that.
"You saw my potential for growth and spared me?"
"So that you could become the existence that could give meaning to my life."
But there was still something he didn't understand.
"Is dying like this the meaning of your life?"
"Of course not. What kind of person would have dying as the meaning of their life?"
"Then?"
The Emperor, with great difficulty, raised his left arm and pointed at Davion.
"To meet a rival and have a life-or-death battle. That was my only purpose. It doesn't matter who wins or loses. The stronger one remains, and the weaker one dies."
"It didn't matter which one was stronger? From the beginning?"
The Emperor, who hadn't lost his smile despite the terrible pain, frowned for a moment.
Then, he began to inhale laboriously.
He inhaled for a long time.
"Kuhahaha."
Could there be a more hearty laugh than this?
"Thanks to you, it was enjoyable. Davion Onuhine. My rival, and the existence that was the meaning of my life."
Hoo, hoo.
Emperor Kaiser Lapax began to breathe roughly.
The veins in his right arm, which were already swollen as if they would burst, became even more prominent.
"What are you doing?"
"Just as I held onto death with this hand to stop it. I will also face my death directly with this hand."
The Emperor's right hand trembled.
Crack!
It completely pierced through his chest muscles and ribs.
And burst his heart.
Tring.
=====
[Event 'Win a One-on-One Duel with the Emperor' Completed]
=====
A short notification window appeared before Davion's eyes.
A few months later.
Peace had come to the Pax Continent.
And the first semester of Elton Academy came to an end.
As they did every year, Elton Academy held graduation ceremonies for each grade.
It was not only to declare the vacation but also to celebrate that they had survived this semester without being expelled.
It was best to graduate, but for those who couldn't, the range of career choices varied depending on how many grades and semesters they had completed.
But this semester, there was one more special event taking place.
All students from all grades who had finished their vacation ceremony gathered in the main auditorium, the largest building where all the students could fit.
Today, a special graduation ceremony will be held here.
It was the day the first early graduate in Elton Academy's history was born.
The protagonist was...
Graduates, please come to the stage today.
Step, step.
A student walked out from the crowd.
Each step was relaxed, and each step was filled with dignity.
All the students, seniors, and juniors alike, and even all the assistants and professors, looked at the graduate with envy.
Ten minutes ago.
Professor Stella Cloud insisted on having Davion stand at the very back.
When Davion asked why she was making him stand at the back when he was about to go up on stage, she simply replied, "Because it will look cooler."
And now, Professor Stella Cloud's intention was being properly reflected in the main auditorium.
Davion stood in front of the stage.
President Hugo Molton, who was sitting on the stage, stood up.
President Hugo Molton, who had walked out a few steps, unfolded a diploma bound in thick leather.
"Davion Onuhine has completed 9 of the 14 regular semesters. However, with the honor of the President of Elton Academy, it is certain that the student's skills have already surpassed the entire continent and reached the pinnacle of all humans, so the Academy has decided to award Davion Onuhine a diploma. Davion Onuhine, come up here."
Davion went up the steps to the stage.
"Davion Onuhine was the most outstanding student in Elton Academy's history, and he has always been a role model, protecting the Kingdom of Alkanzia from various dangers, large and small, dozens of times. He even defeated the Demon King who appeared in the human world and won the duel with the Emperor of the Marino Empire, personally taking the continent out of the whirlwind of war."
While Hugo Molton paused, Nuves, who was below the stage, fiercely clashed two hands as big as pot lids.
Clap clap clap.
The applause, which started with Nuves, soon filled the main auditorium.
Cheers erupted from all directions.
President Hugo Molton, waiting for the applause and cheers to subside naturally, continued speaking.
"Recognizing his skills and the above merits, Elton Academy acknowledges Davion Onuhine's early graduation and presents this diploma with infinite joy and gratitude."
Hugo Molton, covering the diploma, stood facing Davion.
"Thank you for being with us. And thank you for saving us all. Davion Onuhine."
Hugo Molton held the diploma with both hands and bowed deeply, handing it to Davion.
Surprised, Davion whispered in a low voice.
"President!"
"Receive it quickly."
"Even so, this is a bit..."
"This much for a hero who saved the continent."
Delaying any longer would only make President Hugo Molton look more pathetic.
Davion also quickly bowed and accepted the diploma that President Hugo Molton was handing him.
President Hugo Molton, who straightened his back again, pointed to the students below the stage.
"Say a few words, Davion Onuhine."
Davion stepped forward.
More than a thousand students were looking at him all at once.
Davion looked at the diploma in his hand for a moment.
To get this diploma...
He had died four times and come all the way here.
"Everyone has a purpose in life. For some, it may be social success, and for others, it may be making a lot of money. It doesn't matter what the purpose is. If it's a purpose decided after a thorough conversation with your inner self, no one can evaluate your purpose in life. Someone I know had the purpose of meeting an equal opponent and having a proper fight. And my purpose is..."
Davion held up his diploma.
"This was it. What is your purpose? It doesn't matter if it's an achievable purpose or an unachievable purpose. I will support everyone here in achieving their purpose in life."
Wow!
The students, intoxicated by the grand words of the purpose of life, were busy shouting and cheering for Davion.
Almost no one questioned that Davion, who was said to be the strongest in the continent, or even among humans, had the mere academy graduation as his purpose.
What did that matter?
Senior Davion Onuhine, junior Davion Onuhine, disciple Davion Onuhine, was saying that he would support them.
Latia, who was looking at Davion, smiled faintly.
"What, you always said that graduating was your goal. Was it real?"
And then.
She muttered in a very small voice.
"You definitely said that you would support the purpose of everyone here, Davion Onuhine."
Meanwhile.
Davion Onuhine, who was on the stage, heard a familiar notification sound.
Tring.
Davion couldn't help but feel nervous at that moment.
The notification window that the final event had ended had already appeared on the day he defeated the Emperor.
'Just try to pop up with some kind of notification window like entering a new quest...'
=====
[Main Quest 'Graduation' Completed]
You have been freed from all quests and events in the game 'Elton Academy'.
The ending is entirely up to the player's discretion. Enjoy the vast open world to your heart's content.
However, depending on the results of the 'Prom Partner Selection' event, there are people who have decided their 'Ending' in this place today.
=====
Davion slowly walked down the stage.
A vast open world.
Now he was even confused as to whether this place was in the game or if the memories of the place where he originally lived were a kind of side effect caused by inheriting the 'Divine Bloodline'.
After opening his eyes in the carriage, he had been spending hectic days in the events and quests that kept coming.
There was no time to look for a way back to that place, whether it was reality or a fabricated memory.
In order not to die, he had to complete the main quest, 'Graduation'.
It was all over now.
So, should he slowly look for a way to go back now?
...But why should he go back?
He had been living in this place for more than a dozen years.
He had become a hero who had protected the continent and was about to go straight to the royal family to receive a title.
The king had promised that Davion could have anything he wanted.
He had gone through all that hardship to get here.
Shouldn't he just relax and live comfortably now?
A few years later.
East of the Bure Plains in the southern continent.
Today was the day to send meat to the Sea-Bure Restaurant in Elton City.
Whoosh.
A small gust of wind seemed to rise beneath his feet.
Davion, who had floated into the air, rose high into the sky.
Below, well-arranged rice paddies could be seen.
It was a place where various seeds from different continents had been planted.
He purposely chose only those that did not grow well in the Pax Continent because the climate was not right.
He could easily control the temperature and humidity with magic.
When the seasons changed and the fields had to be plowed, he used the Staff of Authority, which could freely adjust in size.
Thanks to this, Davion's crops were sold to various parts of the Alkanzia Kingdom at very high prices.
It wasn't that he needed to make a lot of money, but he was tired of ordinary crops and collected crops from all over the continent.
As he rose higher, the vast Bure Plains beyond Davion's territory came into view.
"What kind of beast should I catch and send today..."
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