Second World

2005  Final Chapter. New Adventure

"Huh…? What? Why me?" Jack asked.

"I'm confident everyone here agrees that if it's not for you, we will now be living under Master's tyranny," John answered. "This button is designed to be pushed by a single person. So, only one person is needed to decide the fate of this world. You, my friend, are the one with the most justification to bear that privilege."

"It's more of a burden than a privilege if you ask me," Jack protested. "We defeated Master by working together. It's not my own merit."

"But you pulled the most weight," Four Winds put his hand on Jack's shoulder. "If it is you, I won't resent whichever option you take. Destroy the machine or bring us back to the old world. I will accept your decision."

The others nodded, expressing that they agreed with Four Winds' sentiment.

"This is your world. You decide about it," Domon told Jack. "We old geezers only have a few years left. It doesn't matter which world we spent the rest of our days."

"Speak for yourself. I still have at least a hundred years left in me," Jet said.

Grace came to Jack's side and squeezed his hand, encouraging him.

Jack turned to Chris and asked, "What about you? You are a native of this world. If I press the red button, you will cease to exist."

Chris shrugged. "I've died. What I now have is a second chance. Even if it is only a short two years, I'm already happy with this extra time and the chance to experience this world I designed."

Jack looked around. Everyone showed an expression that they believed in him and would follow whatever decision he made.

He sighed. "All right."

He turned to face the machine. He closed his eyes. All the memories of his life in the past world flashed before him, followed by the two years in this new world.

He couldn't deny that although he preferred this new world, the old world had its charms. He had many good memories of the old world. He bet a lot of people, as John mentioned, wished they could return to how it was. If he destroyed this machine, he would also destroy that opportunity.

Not to mention, if he pressed the red button, John and Linda didn't need to go around the worlds looking for Jonn. That search might go on for years for all he knew. There was even a chance they might never find him. If he returned everything to the old world, they didn't need to go through that trouble. It was the same with many people who were still missing the people they loved. These people didn't know the ones they were looking for were in another world. If he pressed the red button, he would reunite these people.

It was a heavy choice to make. For an instant, he felt it was unfair everyone pushed this responsibility onto him, but then he remembered when he was a king. He made a lot of decisions that concerned a lot of people. He never liked that feeling. That's why he chose to resign from being a sovereign. Yet, he was also not a person who shirked when such a responsibility was placed on him.

He opened his eyes. He turned to his right and saw Peniel looking back at him. Like the others, the fairy trusted his decision. She didn't try to persuade him to make one decision over another. He turned to the left and saw Darmos silently gazing at him.

He looked back at the machine and chuckled. He was no longer a sovereign. The time of heavily thinking about something had passed. He was back to a simple adventurer who enjoyed freedom. There was no need to overthink this!

Storm Breaker appeared in his hand. With one quick slash, a thin black light sliced through the machine. He was performing the Void-tearing Slash with form manipulation. The machine let out a banging sound and a hiss. A thin gap was visible in the middle of the machine, splitting it in two. Smoke and Sparks came out of this gap. The machine was broken.

No one was surprised about Jack's decision. Neither did they comment about it. Everyone simply started walking toward the exit.

"So, you and your mother will be leaving today?" Jack asked John.

"Yes, and we got extra baggage with us," John answered.

"It's not cool referring to someone as extra baggage," Spring Crown protested.

"You are going with them?" Jack asked Spring Crown.

"Of course! Didn't I mention I have a friend I can't find in this world?"

"How did you find out that John will be traveling between worlds?"

"I told him," Jeanny said.

"As any good friend will. Shame on you, Jack! Shame on you!" Spring Crown said.

"What is this about traveling between worlds?" Four Winds asked.

Before Jack could say anything, Chris yelled, "I will only let three people go. No more extra! I mean it!"

Jack told Four Winds and everyone there about the existence of the server worlds.

"Interesting…," Four Winds muttered.

"You can be interested in it all you want. I'm not opening the pathway for more people!" Chris stressed it again.

"There are still a lot of matters that need my attention," Four Winds said. "Maybe once Verremor is more stable, I will give these other worlds a look."

"Hey! Did you hear what I said?" Chris yelled.

Four Winds didn't respond. Chris shook his head and forgot about the orc. He turned to Jack, "Wilted said you plan to adventure around this world."

"That's the plan," Jack confirmed. "I had only ever done true adventuring in Themisphere. Even that was only partial. As for the other countries, I went from one place to another most of the time due to necessity. I never had the chance to roam around. I can finally do that now."

"With your level and ability, I doubt anything in this continent is a challenge to you, but I have a place where you might still feel the thrill of danger."

"Really?"

"Yes. If you venture out to the outer sea and go NorthEast, you will chance upon another continent. Not as big as the one we are in right now. It's around one-third in size, but the monsters roaming that place are all top notches."

"There is another continent?" Wilted turned to Chris. "I thought we only designed one continent for this world."

"I developed another in secret. I plan to have it as the first DLC. Then, Apollyon happened. So, I just rushed it and secretly implemented it into the system. I even added another main race in that continent."

"Another main race?" Jack's ears perked up hearing that.

"Yes. The new continent is not just filled with monsters. You will find a city there. But I must warn you, the race living inside that city is not so friendly to outsiders. You will have a hard time convincing them to let you enter. Not impossible, but it will be a chore."

"What race is there?" Wilted asked.

"True angel," Chris replied.

"Like our guild hero, Thanael?" Jeanny asked.

"You have a guild hero with the angel race? Impressive," Chris remarked. "Well, then you know what the race looks like. The theme I designed for the DLC is paradise. The entire continent is floating above the sea. So, if you are going by ship, you must leave the ship behind. Not to mention crossing the outer sea by ship is next to impossible."

"I see, that's why you build that thing. You want to give it to Jack," Wilted said.

"Give what to me?" Jack asked.

"You will see it once we are out of this cave," Wilted answered.

"See wha–Holy crap…," Jack uttered. They were already close to the exit. When they came out, a large structure was floating above the cave entrance.

"This… It's the mobile fortress!" Jack exclaimed. "But… floating."

"I didn't see this when we entered the cave," Jet said.

"It was hidden above the clouds," Chris said. "I sent the command for it to descend when we are walking out."

08:48

"This… This is for me?" Jack said as he flew up to check the floating mobile fortress. "It looks exactly like my old… Hey! It is my old mobile fortress! There is a rune tree inside there!"

Everyone flew after him and entered the mobile fortress' courtyard.

"It is indeed your mobile fortress," Chris confirmed. "I came to the wreckage after everyone left the battlefield. I used a tool to reconstruct the destroyed fortress. The same goes for the rune tree. I also upgraded it to its final form, the sky fortress."

"How many God-defying tools do you have with you?" Jet asked, to which Chris answered with a chuckle.

"This sky fortress is no longer linked to the Themisphere system," Chris informed. "It becomes my property after I reconstruct it. I now transfer that property to you."

A holographic box appeared in front of Jack, asking him if he would accept the ownership of this sky fortress.

"Thank you!" Jack told Chris as he clicked the Accept option.

"You can use your status window to input destination coordinates. The sky fortress will automatically move in that direction. I have also messaged you the coordinates of the True Angel's city. You just follow those coordinates, and you will reach the second continent."

"Excellent. Thank you very much!" Jack exclaimed.

"No, I should be thanking you. This world might be the creation of Wilted and me… And Apollyon too, I guess, but you are its savior. Take it as my thank-you-gift."

They chatted for a while longer while touring around the sky fortress. It was similar to the old mobile fortress except for a few upgrades. Jack again placed the Chalice of Blood inside the keep. This artifact magically returned to his inventory when the mobile fortress was destroyed. He used it again to bind the past Themisphere kings.

His archmage disguise was still wearing the regal outfits. Even though he was no longer a sovereign, he was registered as the thirteenth Themisphere King. If Jeanny didn't demand the regal outfit back, his disguise could continue to wear them.

"Wow! You told us you are free to see the world after you resign. I never expect you to bring us with you," Thebalder said after getting summoned.

"Thank you for remembering us, Young King," Theridan said.

"Hehe, I don't want this huge fortress to feel so empty," Jack said. He offered the others to join his adventure, but everyone had their own things to do. Only Grace came with him.

Everyone was ready to leave. They hovered outside the fortress' battlement.

"So, I guess this is a goodbye. I will miss you all," Jack said. n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

"We will miss you too," Jeanny returned.

"Good luck," Paytowin said.

"Afei, stay safe and be good to Grace," Domon said.

"When you return, Domon and I want to see a few little ones," Jet uttered. Grace's cheek turned red hearing that. Domon slapped Jet's arm for his remark while Paytowin performed a low-five with Jet.

"I hope you find your brother," Jack said to John.

"I will, don't worry. You take care of yourself," John returned.

Everyone said their farewell. After they were done, Jack input the coordinates into the status window. The sky fortress started moving.

Jack pointed his finger into the horizon.

"Let's go! It's time for a new adventure…!!!"

 ~ FIN ~

Thank you, everyone!

It has been a long three years… Well, four years for me. I started writing Second World around a year before I started publishing the first chapter. There was a sense of surrealism when I wrote the last word in this last chapter. I will miss Jack and the others. But then again, this book is always meant to end this way. Perhaps one day, I might revisit this world. Maybe. I don’t know. I have a lot of ideas for other stories, but I don’t think I will ever put them all down in writing in my lifetime. For now, I’m going to focus on my second book.

About Second World, I need your help. If you’ve read it until this point, I’m pretty sure you enjoy it, right? I mean, there is no way someone goes through hundreds of thousands of words if they don’t enjoy the story, is there? If you don’t, and you still torture yourself to read through it all. I hate to tell you, but there is something seriously wrong with you. You should probably get a thorough medical check-up. But, of course, I don’t believe there is. For you to reach this final chapter, I’m pretty sure it’s because you enjoy the story. For that, I thank you again! Both for the time you spent reading this story and for your *ahem* resources.

Now, if you don’t mind helping me further, please leave a review with five stars. Yes, that’s right, five stars! Goddmanit! God knows I need it. And, if it is not too much trouble, please let your friends know about this book on your social media, so it can get more readers. It will be much appreciated!

If you enjoy my work, I invite you to read my second book, Rise of the Demon General. This book is very different from Second World, considering the MC is a villain, and the story is rather dark. But if you enjoy the pace and action of Second World, I’m confident this book will entertain you as well.

However, I will take a one-month break first. I will resume publishing Rise of the Demon General in September. I hope you can lend me your support again.

As ever, thank you for reading…!!!

UnrivaledArcaner