Chapter 145 - Episode 20. God of Yesterday (9)
Chapter 145: Episode 20. God of Yesterday (9)
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Jaehwan slowly looked around. The gods who had remained like bugs until moments ago were vanishing one by one. It seemed that a problem with the Main Plant was severing their links.
The streets were empty.
Jaehwan looked down the avenue, where traces of the gods’ lives remained.
The fiftieth floor of the 《Tower of Nightmares》 had once looked much the same.
After every Walker had regressed or died, Jaehwan had remained alone in the village on the fiftieth floor.
He had clung to time that would never return, remembered the people who had vanished, and repeated Stab every day.
After clearing the ninety-ninth floor, unifying 《Chaos》, and advancing into the 《Abyss》, he had stabbed through every enemy that stood in his way.
Had the days he endured truly been ‘Today’?
[It seems you have finally realized what you have done.]
Arteina’s voice echoed through the air.
[Do you understand now? How many gods’ lives you have trampled on?]
Her voice came from speakers scattered throughout the area.
[Not every god needs your approval to be “living properly.” They had lives of their own as well. You may have found those lives insignificant, but this was not a world that deserved to be trampled like this.]
This was Yesterday, her Sanctuary.
Arteina had to be hiding somewhere nearby.
[You know nothing about how the ordinary gods here lived. You know nothing about the gods who were content with a day in Yesterday and spent each day fully in their own way.]
“Five thousand gold.”
At some point, Jaehwan had approached a nearby shop. He spoke as he looked at the grime worn into a table by countless hands.
Arteina fell silent at his calm words.
“It was what they earned by doing quests, hunting monsters for consumables and materials, then selling off miscellaneous equipment.”
With a crackling sound, Arteina’s Yesterday shook. The scenery around them briefly changed.
It was the result of two different Sanctuaries interfering with each other.
Arteina immediately understood what that scenery meant.
“It was tribute paid to high-level Walkers climbing the Tower.”
[It is amusing to hear that you had a time like that too.]
It was a scene from the 《Tower of Nightmares》 where Jaehwan had lived.
[Did seeing this place make you miss those days?]
“Miss them?”
Jaehwan laughed.
“Every bastard who took that tribute regressed on the seventy-seventh floor.”
[You resent them. Is that why you hate the gods of Yesterday so much?]
Without a word, Jaehwan raised his head toward the royal palace.
Arteina stood on its terrace, looking down at him.
The moment their eyes met, Jaehwan began moving slowly toward the palace.
Arteina spoke.
[This is not the Tower of Nightmares. Join the Alliance. If we work together, we can create the world you want.]
“The bastards back then said something similar while extorting tribute from us.”
Jaehwan leaped onto a nearby roof, then launched himself toward the royal palace. His body, accelerated by World Force, blended into the street like the wind.
[Vanguard.]
At Arteina’s signal, the Anonymous Gods who had been hiding throughout the streets rushed at Jaehwan. They were Arteina’s personal guard, clad in expensive equipment decorated with golden ornaments.
Jaehwan reflexively reached for Dokbul, then stopped.
His sword was planted in the Main Plant outside Yesterday.
He had to fight here without Dokbul.
[Capture him.]
Gods strengthened by the Sanctuary swung their swords and spears at Jaehwan all at once.
「Selflessness」
The power of Awakening resisted the Sanctuary and accelerated Jaehwan’s movements. He blocked the spear flying at him from the front, knocked aside the sword stabbing in from the side by striking the flat of its blade, then punched the enemy sneaking up behind him.
[Urgh...!]
Two or three vanguard guards flew into the air with dying screams.
Arteina commanded them in a cold voice.
[There is only one enemy. Stay calm and respond accordingly.]
Jaehwan watched the gods stagger toward him.
Anonymous Gods who had been trapped here for so long that even the light had vanished from their eyes.
Arteina’s voice rang out.
[I will grant a 100-pull coupon for a new-model Skin gacha draw to whoever kills him.]
Light returned to the gods’ eyes in an instant.
[Gacha! Gacha! Gacha!]
[SSS! SSS! SSS!]
Jaehwan clenched his fist as he watched them.
The power of Fall gathered in it.
He remembered a conversation he had once had with Cheongheo.
「“Brat. I know you’re strong, but weapons will not always be by your side. A true master is not bound by weapons. Heh heh, I have practiced cutting with my bare hands from time to time as well. Look! Like this! ...What is that?”」
This was a technique Jaehwan had created back then.
He instantly cleared space around himself, drew his fist back, and drove it forward.
「World Fist Stab」.
The moment the force of the punch exploded, the gods turned pale and scattered in every direction.
It was too late.
A massive World Force shaped like a fist swept across the entire street and sent every god flying.
Jaehwan ran down the cleared road.
That did not last long. The vanguard guards who had blocked his fist strike rose again and began pursuing him.
He had thought he poured enough World Force into it, but it had not been enough.
Jaehwan steadied his breathing and checked his body.
From head to toe, the sensations throughout his body felt strangely distant. It was probably because he was inside Arteina’s Yesterday. That might have been why his World Force had not fully reached its target.
Still, he did not think this condition would last long.
The unstable scenery of the streets was proof enough.
Even now, Dokbul, planted in the Main Plant outside, was likely destroying Yesterday with the power of his Unique World. Before long, he would take control of the entire Seventh Floor and destroy Yesterday.
In the end, time was on Jaehwan’s side.
Crackle!
A crow appeared in the air amid the static.
“Jaehwan?”
It was Andersen.
“What about the others?”
“Everyone is safe. Looks like you already had one round of fighting.”
Andersen lightly landed on Jaehwan’s head and looked up at Arteina.
The two gods’ eyes met for a moment.
Jaehwan said nothing, but he could vaguely guess at some of the feelings they shared in that brief instant.
Like Ethan and Justice, Arteina had been a Companion who shared five hundred years with Andersen.
“I’ll give you three minutes.”
Andersen nodded as if she understood, then spoke to Arteina.
“Hey, you heard him, right? He says he’ll kill you in three minutes.”
[...]
“Arteina. Stop before you make an even bigger fool of yourself. You don’t want to die like Justice, do you? You know it’s hard enough just maintaining a Sanctuary. The World Force supply from the Plant has been cut off, so how long are you going to keep putting on this act?”
[Andersen. You were kind five hundred years ago, and you are still kind now.]
Arteina smiled quietly. Andersen chirped back in a sharp voice.
“When I heard the rumor that you had become the King of the Seventh Floor, I did not believe it. The Arteina I knew would never lock up and exploit other gods.”
[I was not the one who locked them up. I have never stopped gods from leaving Yesterday.]
“Of course not. They have become too sick to leave on their own.”
[Even if they leave, they will not find the lives they want. Outside Yesterday, there is nothing but 〈Metaverse〉.]
“Then they should leave 〈Metaverse〉 too.”
[It is something neither I nor Justice could do. Do you really think those weak gods can do it?]
Andersen could not answer.
Arteina was right.
Once a god entered 〈Metaverse〉 and set foot in Yesterday, leaving again was not easy.
That was what made 〈Metaverse〉 so frightening.
“Why did you create a world like this?”
[Do you remember what kind of world we wanted to create?]
“That...”
How could she forget?
Even now, the memories of five hundred years ago were vivid.
「“Let us create a world where gods and Followers can truly communicate.”」
There had been a time when they had talked about dreams like that without even knowing what communication was, or what gods and Followers truly meant.
「“That is too grand. Dreams should be realistic.”」
Arteina had said that even then.
「“Then what kind of world are you going to make?”」
「“I... Just a world where people sort their garbage properly? Hey, Justice. Didn’t I tell you to clean up after yourself?”」
Arteina had always cleaned up after the Allies who left messes behind.
The God of Yesterday had liked retracing the paths her Allies had walked and counting their footprints.
“Arteina, you...”
[What do you think will happen if those gods are freed now?]
Sparks flashed. Through the distorted air, the scenery outside became faintly visible.
Gods of Today were destroying Plants and breaking Cocoons outside Yesterday.
“Just kill them. I never liked that bastard anyway.”
“Today really is better.”
The gods were using this chance to settle personal grudges. It was common for them to trample innocent Vicegerents and Dolls or take their lives.
Arteina spoke as she watched them.
[Do you truly believe those gods can be rehabilitated? I do not. Garbage belongs in a dump. This 《Abyss》 needs a place for garbage like them too.]
“Three minutes are up.”
Andersen let out a quiet sigh, flapped her wings, and retreated.
Persuasion had failed.
Now, there was no choice but to leave it to Jaehwan.
Jaehwan stepped forward and clenched a fist filled with quiet World Force.
The real reason he had given Arteina three minutes was to buy time to charge his World Force.
Arteina looked at him and spoke.
[You are stronger than me. The Leader on the upper floors probably knows that as well. My role is to wear you down as much as possible, to hurt you before you fight the Leader. That is where my role ends.]
“You know that, and you still intend to fight?”
[I took out an insurance policy for today.]
“Insurance?”
Arteina took a step back.
Someone stood in front of her as if guarding her.
Jaehwan narrowed his eyes when he saw who it was.
A small child stood in his way, wearing a jumper and a cap pulled low over their face.
Jaehwan knew the child’s name now.
The Awakened One Jin Eunsae.
The child who had been with Yu Seolha on the way up to the 《Abyss》 two years ago.
The one who had saved Runald on the Sixth Floor not long ago.
“Did you turn that child into a Doll?”
Jin Eunsae muttered something with empty eyes.
It seemed that the child had come to help them on the Sixth Floor, then met with misfortune on the way back.
“Jaehwan, be careful. That kid is a really famous ranker too. An Awakened One like you.”
He had heard the rumors.
Jaehwan was not worried.
If anything, because Jin Eunsae was also an Awakened One, Jaehwan could tell.
“It is fine.”
Jin Eunsae was weaker than him.
Jaehwan silently raised his fist.
Arteina spoke.
[This child is from Rupture.]
“Do you think I would fear them?”
[I did not reveal this child’s affiliation because I wanted you to fear Rupture.]
An ominous World Force flowed around Jin Eunsae.
[Rupture has more Awakened Ones than any organization throughout the 《Tree of Illusion》.]
Jin Eunsae began to cry.
The child’s voice was loud enough to tear apart ears and burst eardrums.
Andersen shouted something beside him, but her voice was drowned out by the ringing cries.
[And they are also the group that fears Awakened Ones more than any other.]
An ominous alarm began to ring in Jaehwan’s mind.
He had a feeling that the battle about to begin would be fundamentally different from every battle he had known so far.
[You will never be able to defeat this child.]
The next moment, pure white smoke burst from Jin Eunsae’s mouth.
It was an acrid, fog-like smoke that reminded Jaehwan of the smoke from a fumigation truck.
Jaehwan tried to pull back too late, but strangely, his body would not listen to him.
He could not understand it, but the moment he saw the smoke, Jaehwan felt a strange urge.
He wanted to step into that smoke.
As an old longing devoured the edges of his vision, Jaehwan realized that he had already entered Jin Eunsae’s Sanctuary.
Sanctuary Manifestation.
「World Without Adults」.
His body was gradually scattering apart within the pure white smoke.
Even Jaehwan was surprised this time.
He knew that the 《Abyss》 held many different Worldviews, but he had never expected one this absurd.
His hand, arm, shoulder...
As he watched his soul slowly break apart and scatter somewhere, Jaehwan realized too late that this was a double trap.
From the beginning, Arteina had planned this operation by taking advantage of the moment his 《The World After the Fall》 encroached upon Yesterday.
“Impressive.”
With Jaehwan’s sincere admiration, his body completely vanished into the smoke.
Arteina sensed Jaehwan’s disappearance and could not contain her delighted smile.
A Worldview that erased all adults.
It was a unique and powerful Sanctuary that could only be used against human Awakened Ones, for whom the concept of adulthood existed.
[Andersen. Are you watching? The Awakened One you believed in has been defeated.]
Arteina felt like turning on 《Little Brother》 at once and showing everyone this sight.
She had won.
She had defeated the monster who had routed half of the Metaverse Six Gods.
She had protected Yesterday.
[Ander-]
That was when Arteina stopped speaking.
Why?
A disgusting, sticky sense of wrongness seized her mind.
She turned to the side and saw that Jin Eunsae had still not dispelled the Sanctuary. As if the fight were not over, Jin Eunsae kept spewing smoke, sweat beading across the child’s forehead.
A moment later, Arteina’s pupils trembled.
She had seen Jaehwan disappear with her own eyes.
Then what was that?
As if she had witnessed something she should never have seen, Arteina’s pupils trembled violently.
[What are you?]
A shadow briefly stretched through the smoke.
Someone stood where Jaehwan had been.
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