When he returned to the Volcano Manor, Arthur didn't go looking for Tanith. Instead, he went straight to the first room on the right side of the guest quarters.
For some reason, there was a corpse lying in the corner.
Sometimes, Arthur really wondered—why did they just leave bodies lying around like this? Did corpses in the Lands Between simply not rot?
But that wasn't why he had come here. What he sought was the passage hidden behind the corpse.
According to the Guiding Spell, the road leading to Rykard's location was right here.
Passing through the narrow corridor, Arthur arrived at the Temple of Eiglay. On the second floor, he found a teleportation portal.
Stepping through, he emerged directly into Rykard's audience chamber—
the very place where Tanith had tricked so-called "heroes" into coming to "meet" the Lord of Blasphemy.
In truth, Tanith could have sent people here directly. But Arthur had come at Rya's request—to uncover the Volcano Manor's darkest secrets.
After telling Rya about the hidden passage, she had gone off to seek the truth of her birth. She was likely somewhere within the Temple of Eiglay now. Arthur planned to kill Rykard first, then go find her.
Through the mist, he entered the audience hall—
and what met his eyes was a gigantic serpent, coiled high into the air, its massive body covered in countless human limbs—skinless, crimson, glistening as if drenched in blood.
The serpent slumbered amid a pool of magma.
On a corpse lying before Arthur, a massive spear was embedded.
He walked up, pulled it free, and through the system saw its name: Serpent-Hunter Spear.
Ah. He immediately understood what it was for.
Arthur gripped it, testing its weapon art.
The spear's tip gathered visible winds, forming a piercing vortex that shot straight forward—slamming into the serpent.
Arthur froze.
Did… did he just accidentally aggro the boss?
The slumbering serpent awoke, magma roaring around its colossal form as it lunged toward him.
Arthur instantly summoned his Mimic Tear, then hopped onto his flying broom to take to the skies.
He wasn't stupid—why fight on the ground when he had air superiority?
(Not that he meant his Mimic Tear was stupid, of course.)
Incidentally, Arthur had already obtained the spell Comet Azur.
With his Mimic holding aggro below, Arthur gripped Lusat's Glintstone Staff in his right hand and the Serpent-Hunter Spear in his left—
and began unleashing a relentless barrage of magic + physical firepower.
Before long, the serpent collapsed, motionless, seemingly lifeless.
But suddenly—
its massive head lifted once more, turning its enormous body to reveal a gigantic human face growing from its back.
That face lay where the serpent's heart should have been—
and it was unmistakably Rykard.
From among the serpent's mass of human limbs, he reached out two enormous hands.
One plunged into the serpent's mouth and drew forth a massive greatsword—tens of meters long—
its blade writhing with the half-digested bodies of humans… the very "heroes" Tanith had spoken of.
"Holy shit! That's disgusting!" Arthur couldn't help but curse aloud.
"Tch… willingly devoured by a serpent, seeking to seize the power of a god-eating creature and become this… revolting thing. Truly vile. My king, end him swiftly."
Even Ranni could not stomach the sight. She quickly severed her consciousness link to her doll body and withdrew to reality.
Arthur, coordinating with his Mimic Tear, unleashed a fierce assault.
Rykard swung his enormous sword in furious arcs, but though its range was immense, it could not strike the nimble Arthur.
Changing tactics, Rykard invoked sorcery—commanding magma to surge from below and strike upward.
Unfortunately for him, Arthur's magma resistance was already maxed out. The attack was completely ineffective.
Under the relentless bombardment of Arthur's dual high-caliber artillery, the serpent's body was gradually torn apart—
until only the fleshy mass of Rykard's face remained, pulsing faintly like a slab of raw meat.
At this point, he could no longer attack.
From his trembling lips came a hoarse whisper:
"I… am bound by none… the serpent is eternal…"
Arthur approached him and said calmly,
"So what you mean is—you can keep coming back by devouring endlessly?"
Rykard glanced at him but didn't answer.
In truth, he pitied the Tarnished—why couldn't such a capable warrior simply surrender himself, become one with the serpent, join his kin?
As a demigod, even abandoned by the Greater Will, he did not fear death by mortal hands.
Had not Ranni and Prince of Death Godwyn both perished only through Destined Death itself?
Even then, one had lost her body, the other his soul—neither truly dead.
But Rykard was about to learn disappointment.
Because Arthur could kill him.
Arthur pulled out a golden magic crystal and drove it into Rykard's face.
This was his second Magic Crystal, crafted to harvest the power of demigods throughout the Lands Between.
"W–what… is this…"
Before Rykard could finish, his remaining flesh disintegrated into ash and scattered.
This upgraded crystal absorbed energy far faster and allowed Arthur to choose whether to take the soul imprint along with it.
This time, he selected no. Without its energy anchor, Rykard's soul imprint dissipated completely—true death.
"…So that's how it ends, my lord."
Tanith's voice came from behind. She had probably come after hearing the battle die down.
"I'm sorry, but Lady Ranni wanted him dead," Arthur said, offering a token apology.
"It's fine. Even without the Moon Princess's command, I would not blame you. In fact, I'm grateful—you've shown me my lord's power was still lacking.
Defeat is not the end. My lord is undying; someday he will rise again, stronger than ever. I must prepare for that day.
Please, make ready to leave. I shall depart as well—to seek my lord once more."
Arthur stood in silence for a while, then decided not to tell her the truth—that Rykard was gone for good.
The woman was pitiful enough already.
Even after her beloved lord had been consumed by greed, she still clung to devotion.
If the thought of his resurrection could give her meaning, so be it.
As he turned to leave, Tanith called after him:
"Wait, hero. My child, Zorayas—I entrust her to you. She was born through forbidden rites, the child of my lord and I.
I have not been a good mother. But since she has opened her heart to you, that is a blessing. Please, take care of her.
She hides somewhere beneath the Temple of Eiglay now, unable to accept her lineage. Please, guide her if you can."
Arthur nodded. He knew the truth—
Tanith's "Zorayas" was none other than Rya.
He had once stumbled upon her true form: not a half-serpent, but a full serpent-person—two arms, two legs, upright like a lizard.
She resembled a creature from the real world—a blue-tongued skink, a type of giant skink.
Worldly as he was, Arthur hadn't been fazed by her appearance.
That gentleness had made Rya trust him, and she told him her true name and story.
Rya was a pure, sheltered girl—protected all her life by Tanith.
Tanith had hidden the truth of her birth. But in the Volcano Manor, secrets could not stay buried forever.
Even Tanith could hear the echoes of Arthur's battle with Rykard from behind the manor's rear walls.
So naturally, Rya heard them too.
One night, she even saw serpentine shadows gliding along the corridor—
and so she had asked Arthur to investigate.
He found the hidden passage, and out of curiosity, Rya entered it herself.
There, she discovered the manor's darkness—and could not bear the truth.
When Arthur found her, she was crouched in a corner, hugging her knees, lost in despair.
He approached. Hearing footsteps, Rya lifted her head.
"Ah… it's you. I suppose I should tell you—I was not born of Lord Rykard's blessing, but through a horrific ritual.
That's why I have two faces. Neither accepted among humans nor serpents… unloved by Lady Tanith…"
"You're wrong," Arthur interrupted gently. "You should call her mother. She did not tell you because she couldn't bear to hurt you."
"Is… that so…?"
She thought back on the secrecy, her naive belief that the Manor's cause was noble and glorious…
and looking at Arthur—who had never lied to her, always gentle—she began to believe it.
"Yes. Tanith loves Rykard deeply. She has her own path to follow, and she wanted to keep you away from the Manor's sins."
Arthur explained softly, hoping she would stop blaming herself.
But Rya looked down at her scaled hands.
"Even so… this body of mine is cursed."
Then, with trembling voice, she pleaded:
"Please… one last request. Kill me. Free me from this body… let me be at peace."
Arthur looked into her eyes and saw it—her resolve to die.
Though she had made peace with Tanith, she could not accept what she was.
After a long silence, Arthur took out the same Magic Crystal he had used on Rykard—
and drove it gently into Rya's heart.
This time, he chose to absorb her soul imprint as well.
If she despised her cursed body, he would simply make her a new one.
With the technology of the Platinums mastered—and the knowledge of the Harry Potter world besides—creating a new vessel was a simple matter.
He didn't even need to create a new soul; he could simply place Rya's imprint inside and infuse it with soul energy.
When it was done, Arthur left the Lands Between and returned to reality.
Ranni was waiting. "Is it over?" she asked.
Arthur nodded.
Ranni said nothing more, though her heart was far from calm. She drew out the Ashen Crystal containing General Radahn's soul imprint and stared at it in silence.
Seeing this, Arthur retrieved his own crystal—the one now holding Rya's soul imprint.
"Little princess," he said, "lend me Radahn's soul imprint."
Ranni handed it over without question.
Arthur pressed the two crystals together, slowly channeling Rykard's soul energy from his crystal into Radahn's.
A demigod's imprint required equivalent energy to sustain itself—that was why he hadn't revived Radahn earlier.
As for why he transferred only soul energy—it was because Rykard's life energy was nearly gone.
He'd been reduced to a single hunk of flesh by the end, his vitality long spent.
And having devoured countless people, his life essence was so tainted that using it would only cause instability.
Even after filtration, the remaining energy might barely be enough to restore Radahn to a newborn state.
Besides, forging a new body for a demigod demanded an immense price.
He had only managed to revive Ranni so easily because he'd used her own slain body…
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