Mad Hatter's Guide to Clearing The Game
Chapter 168: [Extra - ] - Ch166. [World Quest] (26) - The End and the Beginning

Chapter 168: [Extra Chapter] - Ch166. [World Quest] (26) - The End and the Beginning

The Dungeon Boss died with its maw open, a whisper echoing out like smoke. Half a scream, half what sounded like a prayer. Its massive form began to collapse inward, not into decay but into undoing, as though the system itself were rewriting reality. Chunks of its flesh turned to ash midair, and where its countless eyes had burned like dying stars, only darkness remained.

Diego did not think twice. After confirming that the boss had died, he sprinted back towards Dee, taking him in his arms as tears finally began to pool up in his eyes.

And in Miles’ arms, Diego began dissolving.

Not in ash, like the Dungeon Boss, but in light.

"Miles..." Sarissa whispered, just behind him. Her hand hovered near his shoulder. "Is he-"

"Yes."

The word tore itself free, simple, complete, final. There was no confusion, no denial. Just a boy made of light in Miles’ arms, too broken to hold form, too stubborn to leave without one last blaze.

Miles cradled Diego’s fading body as if it were made of glass.

The damage had been absolute.

When Mara finally arrived, she was torn, tattered, mangled, and bloodied, but as soon as her eyes landed on Dee’s dispersing form, her lips quivered, and after a few brief moments that felt like an eternity to her, she began sobbing uncontrollably.

Miles didn’t speak, he couldn’t.

The last of Diego’s fingers curled around Miles’ sleeve before dissolving into tiny, glimmering sparks. They unraveled like woven dawn, scattering into the dark air of the dungeon.

Then, as if it had respected him, giving him enough time for a quiet goodbye, the system echoed in Miles’ head.

[You have slain the Dungeon Boss]

[Lesser Demon: Aardvark – Son of the Crawling Chaos]

[You have completed the – World Quest 001/365]

[You have received: Ascension Fragment (second half) 001/365]

Miles inhaled sharply. The [Ascension Fragment] shimmered into existence above his head, spinning slowly like a mirror turned toward heaven. The first half, which Miles had recovered from the prison realm called Wonderland, shimmered in Sarissa’s hand as it summoned itself from her inventory, slightly cold, incomplete.

But its second half was warmer, brighter. It felt like Dee, like something kind and uncompromising.

The system echoed once more, as the two separate parts hovered in the air, floating towards each other.

[Two halves meet, becoming one again]

The halves collided in midair. There was no explosion, no fanfare, just a quiet click, like a door unlocking. And then, the system continued.

[Temporary authority detected]

[Possession conflict detected]

[Replicating piece]

The [Ascension Fragment (001/365)] began glowing bright, but even its light felt a bit colder after they witnessed Diego’s final flare. However, as soon as it dimmed down, there were two [Ascension Fragments] where there once was one.

One of them flew towards Sarissa, vanishing into white sparks as it dove into her inventory, the other flew towards Miles, disappearing in the same manner.

[Ascension Fragment (001/366)]

[Possession conflict resolved]

"Did... it just duplicate itself?" Mara stared, her eyes still filled with tears, her voice muffled by sobs.

"Yeah. My system does that sometimes." Miles exhaled, his voice cracked and hoarse as if he had screamed into the void until he was heard.

"That’s not normal." Sarissa blinked.

"I know."

He looked down at his arms, where Dee had just been a moment ago, only the echo of a memory now.

Then, suddenly, there was a pulse.

[The Elusive One takes pity on your soul]

Light fell from whatever sky hung above them in that forsaken place, condensing into a sphere the size of a melon, faintly pulsing. Veins of pale luminescence traced across its shell, a mix of opalescent whites and faint golds, like frost forming over sunlight.

[A life cannot be replaced or reborn]

[Yet, the Elusive One takes pity on your love, choosing to gift you with one last reunion]

[You have received: Familiar’s Egg]

[Category: Artifact]

[Grade: Mythic]

[A soul cannot remember its past life]

[But it will remember how you treat it from now on]

[Take good care of it]

Miles reached out and touched the egg. It was warm. Not hot like a forge, but warm like a heartbeat. His hand trembled.

"Dee..." He said.

"He... He reincarnated?" Sarissa fell to her knees beside him, her breath catching.

"No." Miles said softly. "Not yet. But... Soon, yeah. He will."

He lifted the egg and held it against his chest.

It pulsed in time with his heart.

As if the system was not done with the rewards and the miracles, it echoed one more time, reminding them that there was one more thing until their journey through hell was over.

[You have completed the quest – The End and the Beginning 01/02]

[You have received: Story Fragment]

Miles didn’t know if Sarissa had received the same notification as he did, but it did not matter now.

The next lines of text that filled his vision made his heart feel heavy and light at the same time, and he exhaled a sigh that was more finality than anything else.

***

No one spoke for a long while, and the dungeon around them remained quiet.

No more screeching monsters, no more trembling stone. The floor was broken, but the air was still.

It still felt like it was breathing, like a living being, but the boss was gone.

Miles hesitated, then he said.

"I saw its core."

"Wha-" Sarissa turned to him.

"I don’t know how." Miles went on. "But when Dee... Died... Something cracked open within me. And I was able to see, or read its... Story."

"You saw the boss’s story?" Mara said. "You mean its backstory?"

"Not exactly." Miles’s eyes were distant. "It was more like many stories, threaded into one single, chaotic and abhorrent whole. Almost as if... That was what made it real."

"Maybe it’s something like the notification we received?" Mara frowned. "You know, the ’A story is blooming within your soul’ and all."

"Yeah." Miles said. "Maybe."

"Is it your Attribute? Something like a title?" Sarissa looked at him, brows furrowed.

"I don’t think so." He held Dee’s egg like it was the last sacred thing in the world and drew his knees up, resting his elbows against them. "I think the game is kicking it up a notch, again."

"We should move. Rest later." Sarissa staggered up.

"Agreed." Mara said. "I think we can discuss whatever comes after when we’re out of here."

Miles didn’t move for a long moment. Then, slowly, he stood, his legs unsteady. But the egg was secure, the fragment stored, and his mind had finally gone quiet.

He felt numb, but strangely comforted.

Dee’s light had not gone out.

***

The three of them walked for hours. Not upward, not downward, just forward.

Through twisted corridors and rooms without doors, past statues of weeping angels with hollow eyes, through floors that whispered underfoot. The dungeon had changed again, subtle things, like the curvature of the halls, the depth of the shadows.

Like they were being... Prepared.

Somewhere beyond this shifting place, a new path waited.

And after they finally exited the [Mouth of the Abyss], they sat in silence on the edge of the ruined cathedral.

Time passed like breath. Then, Sarissa asked.

"What was it really? The boss."

Miles looked up.

"Not what the system called it." She added. "What you saw."

He was quiet.

"I saw a story." He finally said. "One of which I still don’t know the language, so I can’t read it, but I have a feeling it wasn’t the first, and won’t be the last..."

He looked down at the egg again, letting out a heavy sigh, looking at his system window, the lines of text flickering before him.

[An end can also be a new beginning, and it is the same for the Ender of Stories]

[Its heart is now yours. It pulses with your blood and power]

[You have unlocked the three aspects of your Story: Harbinger of the End; Earth’s Mad hatter; Ender of Stories]

[You have reached The Real Story]

[The system will now be a guide in your journey, and you are now free from the gods’ restraints]

And the last line of text glowed under the others, as if to reiterate its meaning, its definition.

Its inevitability.

[Slay them all]

Act II: [World Quest I] – End

Book One: Prologue – End