Chapter 191 - Episode 25. Deus Ex Machina (6)
Chapter 191: Episode 25. Deus Ex Machina (6)
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Jaehwan had met beings with bodies exactly like X’s before.
The Factory Masters who guarded the 「Strange Factory」 in 《Chaos》 had been the same.
Apostles who had once served an Ancient God, but had now lost their god.
Perhaps that ‘X’ was someone connected to the Three Ancient Gods’ ‘Deus,’ like the Factory Masters of the Strange Factory.
“Hey, wait, let’s talk for a second...”
But X was in no state to listen to Jaehwan.
The fierce battle continued without even a moment to exchange words. Maiad’s sneering voice rang out.
“If it were someone you could talk to, that would have worked long ago.”
Screams were erupting in real time from the direction Maiad had taken as well.
Enemies fled Maiad’s blade, or were struck by bundles of aura forged from World Force and dropped where they stood. Even Dark Heaven, who had displayed astonishing martial prowess against Jaehwan, had gone pale and was too busy swinging a sword to do anything else.
“Stop, Rupture Lord! I have no intention of fighting you!”
Maiad’s swordsmanship was simple. A plain chain of vertical and horizontal cuts. Yet gods and Vicegerents were being chopped to pieces by that simple chain of attacks.
Just as Jaehwan had repeated Stab for so long, perhaps Maiad had trained those cuts for just as long. Even from the basics alone, Jaehwan could clearly tell Maiad was a powerhouse on an entirely different level.
Why had someone like that struggled against this thing?
X was certainly a powerful enemy, but no matter how generously Jaehwan judged it, it could not be compared to Maiad.
Then a strange mechanical sound came from X.
[Combat pattern analysis complete. Activating System ‘Deus.’]
A blue aura frosted over X’s entire body, and terrifying World Force began to erupt from it.
[Ex Machina: Phase 1]
The same strange sensation Jaehwan had felt when he first faced the Seven Divine Thrones sounded an alarm in his head.
X rushed in at a speed so fast it was nearly invisible and sent a blade flying at Jaehwan’s jaw.
There was only one Setting that could answer that abnormal speed.
Long, long ago, in a distant age,
there lived a god stripped bare.
He hated Clothes,
so he lived naked all his life.
Jaehwan’s naked fist collided head-on with X’s steel fist.
Crack-crack-crack!
X’s blue World Force shattered apart.
Crash!
The power of 「Naked」 drove X’s World Force back.
With the urgent blare of a mechanical alarm, X’s figure sprang far to the rear.
‘I almost died. If I’d activated it even a little later...’
“You can sing on your own now too?”
Andersen’s pleased voice rang out. She seemed deeply happy that he had activated the Setting without her help.
“But you got the lyrics wrong. If you’re going to do it, shouldn’t you do it properly?”
‘What did I get wrong?’
“Not ‘a god stripped bare.’ It’s ‘the Naked God.’ You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”
She kept nagging at him point by point, but Jaehwan ignored her and swung his fist. This was no time to be playing with words.
X was right in front of him, continuously pouring out threatening World Force.
Even at a conservative estimate, its World Force had increased five or sixfold compared to before. It was bizarre.
‘What exactly is this thing?’
Until just moments ago, X’s average World Force had not been all that different from Jaehwan’s. But ever since it activated this so-called Phase 1, its World Force had surpassed Jaehwan’s several times over.
Boom!
It was terrifying destructive power, enough to wipe out a small Site with a single punch.
Andersen spoke.
“It’s a Gigantes with a sense of self.”
‘Can a Gigantes really amplify its World Force that much?’
“I don’t know how something like that exists, but it’s not an enemy you can’t handle. My 「Naked」 is invincible against ‘Gigantes.’”
Jaehwan had fought Gigantes just moments ago, so he knew Andersen was telling the truth.
But.
‘Isn’t 「Naked」 only strong against opponents wearing Clothes?’
“That’s right.”
‘Then can that really be said to be wearing Clothes?’
“Why?”
‘Wouldn’t it be more accurate to say its body itself is a Gigantes?’
The reason 「Naked」 exerted such powerful force was limited, in the end, to the concept of ‘Clothes.’ Even the Part known as Gigantes could be recognized as the concept of the ‘strongest Clothes,’ which was why 「Naked」 could display such overwhelming force against it.
But this X’s body itself was a Gigantes.
In other words, even if that Gigantes armor were broken, no true body would appear underneath.
Could that still be called ‘Clothes’?
[Hey! The Setting’s wavering because you’re thinking weird things!]
‘...’
[Stop thinking nonsense! That’s Clothes! It’s just living Clothes!]
Andersen was right. This was no time for a headache-inducing philosophical game.
That was when X showed an unusual reaction.
[You... that Setting?]
It was a voice like muddied machine noise.
The pronunciation twisted in on itself, as though it were suffering some kind of computational error.
[Gestalt?]
‘Gestalt?’
[Gestalt! Gestalt! Gestalt!]
Pssh, pssh.
Something like white steam began flowing from X’s head.
[Gestalt! Gestalt! Gestalt!]
Jaehwan had a bad feeling. Andersen shouted.
“Dodge!”
With a tremendous roar, Jaehwan was swept up in a storm of World Force. An enormous tide of World Force burst from X’s entire body like a tsunami. The gods milling nearby fled in horror, but the storm’s range was far wider than expected.
“Kraaaagh!”
Vicegerents torn to shreds burst apart like silver spray.
Jaehwan bit down hard on his lip and endured the storm. The gap in World Force was so immense that even with the 「Naked」 Setting, it was difficult to hold out.
Rumble!
The storm was still going strong, but Jaehwan’s World Force was rapidly dropping. At this rate, the 「Naked」 Setting would come undone in an instant.
Jaehwan made his choice.
The Naked God crossed the hill.
At last, he met his third friend.
The last World Force he wrung from himself wrapped Jaehwan’s entire body in a golden aura.
It was as if X’s logic circuits had shut down. There was no longer any pattern to its attacks. Enormous World Force was still pouring out, but Jaehwan saw an opening within it instead.
‘Now.’
After grasping the storm’s pattern, Jaehwan charged straight into it.
Blades of wind scraped across his skin.
It was only possible because he trusted the 「Naked」 Setting.
Jaehwan hammered X’s torso with 「World Stab」 packed into his fist.
X was sturdy. Unlike the other Gigantes, it had tremendous durability.
But.
Crack!
Even X’s solid armor had its limits.
‘One more time.’
With the next barrage, fine cracks began spreading across X’s armor.
Jaehwan gathered every last scrap of World Force he had left.
This was the finish.
The moment Jaehwan’s final strike slammed into X’s power core, a tremendous wave burst out from X’s entire body.
[Ex Machina: Phase 2]
A wave of World Force that felt as if it were stripping his flesh right off.
It was not a World Force storm like before, one with simple physical destructive force.
A violent ringing crashed through his ears, and his head spun.
It did not directly damage the soul, but it was a force that touched more fundamental laws.
Jaehwan barely regained his senses and staggered back.
He had definitely been struck, and something had changed, yet he could not tell what it was.
The light pouring from X’s body flickered. X’s power unit, having taken a heavy blow, was losing strength.
With a mechanical sound, X’s body sank to the floor.
Jaehwan too felt his World Force running dry and collapsed where he stood.
X stared at Jaehwan’s arm and muttered.
[…’s Brand… Gestalt’s Setting… Who are you…?]
With those final incomprehensible words, X completely ceased functioning.
Had he won?
Fortunately, X’s last attack did not seem to have had much effect on Jaehwan. Once he finally let out a breath, a strange emptiness washed over him.
‘Andersen.’
Andersen did not answer. It did not feel as if she had fallen asleep as usual, or collapsed from exhaustion. It was a complete and utter severance, as though Andersen had vanished from his world forever.
He had a bad feeling. A bleak, chilling sensation.
Something had gone wrong.
The surroundings were unnaturally quiet.
Jaehwan staggered back to his feet and looked around.
The gods’ Vicegerents who had been fighting just moments ago had all sunk to the ground where they were. The same was true not only of the high-grade and supreme-grade gods, but even of the Seven Heavens who had been locked in fierce battle. The Vicegerents of the Seven Divine Thrones, who had been clashing in the sky, were nowhere to be seen either.
The Vicegerents sitting on the ground all wore confused expressions.
“God! My god!”
“God! Where are you?!”
“U-uaaaarghhh!”
Faces soaked in fear, as if they had lost the whole world.
The World Force that had been overflowing from their bodies had dried up as though struck by drought.
Vicegerents who had lost their gods were there.
Jaehwan could not understand why they had suddenly become like that.
What was certain was that just as Jaehwan had lost Andersen, the Vicegerents too had been completely severed from their gods.
Perhaps it was connected to the wave X had unleashed in Phase 2.
A Setting that severed the link between gods and Followers.
At a glance, it resembled 「Soul Erasure」, but it had a far wider range.
Maiad’s voice came from behind him.
“Deus’s 「Plausibility Destruction」. I had heard it temporarily drives gods out of their ‘Sanctuary.’ It truly is remarkable power. Beyond even legend.”
Vicegerents whose gods’ power had been sealed away were, for the most part, nothing more than powerless mortals.
On the other hand, Maiad, an Awakened One, seemed to have been barely affected by the wave at all.
“P-please spare me!”
With a light swing of Maiad’s sword, the Vicegerents’ bodies split in half.
Jaehwan barely held up his staggering body and forced himself to stand.
His instincts were telling him that Maiad, right now, was absurdly dangerous. Perhaps more dangerous than any enemy Jaehwan had faced until now.
“Hmm. Jaehwan, you still have the strength to stand?”
Though his link to Andersen had been severed, Jaehwan, like Maiad, was an Awakened One, so he had not lost his Unique World or his Setting.
The problem was that he had almost no World Force left.
“But it would be best if you just sat there. That is, if you want to watch something interesting.”
Maiad had only lightly brushed his shoulder, yet Jaehwan rolled across the ground several times as though he had taken a tremendous impact. Boundless World Force shook through his body like an electric shock. When he barely managed to brace himself on the floor and lift his upper body, Jaehwan saw something being torn out of X’s body.
Crack.
“I finally got it. Do you have any idea how much trouble I went through to obtain this...?”
Jaehwan stared at the fist-sized core in Maiad’s hand.
A blue core marked with the letter ‘X.’
It was X’s heart.
Maiad took the heart and immediately started walking somewhere.
Jaehwan knew he had to stop Maiad. But after the shock he had just taken, it was difficult even to stand.
Damn it.
He could not sense a single trace from the countless gods. Everyone nearby had had their link to a god severed by the attack X had used earlier.
“You have no idea how happy I was when I learned that Jaehwan possessed the 「Naked」 Setting.”
Whistling, Maiad passed Jaehwan and stopped at the place he had been heading for.
The ‘fake’ Deus Ex Machina was there.
The elaborate counterfeit Maiad had entered into the auction to create this situation.
Maiad turned toward Jaehwan and smiled.
“I truly enjoyed talking with you, Jaehwan. The whole time I listened, I could not help admiring your deductions, and feeling tense because of them. In the end, I had no choice but to admit it. To answer your question, you were right.”
Maiad leaped up and landed on the counterfeit divine artifact’s left shoulder.
“I was the one who put this ‘Deus Ex Machina’ up for auction. I was the one who created this situation, and the one who deliberately brought Jaehwan here. Just as Jaehwan guessed, it was all to lure that X here.”
Why was Maiad suddenly admitting all of it?
Going by experience, this reaction from Maiad did not mean anything good.
With only the slightest recovery in his World Force, Jaehwan rose to his feet with Solitary Existence driven into the ground.
Maiad was looking down at him with cold eyes.
“But there is one thing you got wrong in that deduction.”
Maiad lightly stroked the armor of the Gigantes he was sitting on.
On the Gigantes’ shoulder, the word Deus was scrawled in an ancient script.
“This is not a ‘fake.’”
With a hiss of escaping air, the Gigantes’ cockpit opened.
Maiad drove X’s heart into the center of the cockpit.
“Strictly speaking, not anymore.”
The Gigantes’ cockpit closed, and World Force began pouring out from the counterfeit divine artifact’s colossal body.
It was the very same World Force Jaehwan had felt from X earlier, or perhaps something even greater.
Jaehwan saw the words written across both shoulders of the Gigantes connect with the words written on the cockpit and flare with a brilliant blue light.
Deus X Machina.
Deus Ex Machina.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion