Chapter 220 - Episode 28. Rupture (14)
Chapter 220: Episode 28. Rupture (14)
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At the dispatched soldier’s signal, the Generals and Rupture’s mid-ranking officers rushed over.
The body of a dying Deadman, fragments of weapons once wielded by dead Great Lords. Deep craters scattered across the area and traces of soul extinction made it clear just how fierce the battle here had been.
“Four Great Lords died. That is truly remarkable.”
“Has Catastrophe definitely been sealed?”
“I heard they will be unable to move for at least a hundred years.”
“Only a hundred years, even after four of them died...”
Sighs rose from every side.
Even weakened, Catastrophe had killed four Great Lords. It was impossible to imagine how powerful they must have been in their prime.
“Shh, be quiet. One Great Lord is still here.”
“They are still here?”
“I heard the Lord of Gold is guarding Catastrophe’s grand seal. We will carry out the plan as soon as we meet them.”
Yet ten minutes later, the situation had become a mystery.
There was no trace of the Lord of Gold anywhere in the 《Palace of the Dead》.
It made no sense. Could the World Force of a Great Lord truly go undetected?
“It seems they are not inside. Should we go outside the 《Palace of the Dead》 first?”
When an impatient General shouted, the General acting as captain stiffened.
“But our orders...”
“We have waited long enough. We risked our lives just getting in here. Do you think anyone will make an issue out of this?”
“That is true. We have earned some leeway ourselves.”
“Is cleaning up 《Chaos》 not our final goal anyway? Perhaps the Lord of Gold has already gone out ahead of us.”
That was what they said, but they only had one purpose. To relieve the stress that had built up over so long. To smash, destroy, and unleash their unrestrained desires upon weak, lesser life-forms.
Then, in the distance, space distorted and brilliant light poured forth.
“Oh, that presence?”
There was no mistaking it.
The World Force of a Great Lord who ruled one of the twelve zones.
It was undoubtedly the Lord of Gold.
Thud!
The owner of that immense World Force sprawled across the ground, battered beyond recognition.
“Great Lord!”
The startled Lords hurried over and supported the Lord of Gold. Yet the Lord of Gold’s World Force was already close to extinction.
Who could have done this?
At that moment, someone walked toward them from ahead.
It was not one person. Ten, twenty, thirty.
A crowd of nearly a hundred. Broad-shouldered and powerfully built, every one of them possessed World Force far beyond that of the Generals.
The figure at the very front, in particular, possessed strength that could contend with a Great Lord.
No, was it even proper to call that figure human?
Who in the world were they?
“Wh-what are those things?”
Someone muttered in a terrified voice.
Neither the Lords nor the Rupture agents could find words to describe the beings before them. An incomprehensible sight beyond all reason had thrown their minds into confusion. They had never seen beings like them before.
One General gathered their courage and asked, “What are you? Why are you all naked?”
The imposing figure at the very front nodded and spoke.
[Ouroboros.]
A magical word that explained nothing, yet explained everything.
.
.
.
A short while later.
The Generals and Rupture agents, thoroughly defeated by the Longevity Clan’s merciless Ouroboros, crawled along the ground with miserable groans.
“Guhhh... How did this...”
When even the last General fell, silence once again filled the 《Palace of the Dead》.
La-Hamad, the Great Warrior and leader of the Longevity Clan, stood tall and quietly stared into that silence. Then a voice began to emerge from somewhere within it.
[Who are you?]
It was a voice that carried tremendous presence, yet sounded exhausted after losing most of its World Force. The voice asked again.
[Who are you? Could you be Gestalt?]
La-Hamad gazed quietly toward a point in the empty air, then replied in their naturally deep voice.
[Ouroboros.]
The air trembled.
How much time passed before the voice came again?
[One of their Clothes.]
The voice contained many meanings.
La-Hamad looked up into the empty air with calm eyes. There was no expression to be found anywhere in that emptiness, yet La-Hamad could sense Catastrophe’s agitation.
The emotions of the oldest god in the world, remembering their oldest friend.
Without realizing it, La-Hamad opened their mouth.
[Ouroboros. Thank you.]
Thank them? For what?
La-Hamad was suddenly startled to hear such a “human” expression come from their own mouth. It was not something that suited Gestalt, nor one of Gestalt’s Clothes or Followers. Had they been influenced by something? La-Hamad did not know.
Catastrophe, who had remained silent, spoke.
[How did you get here?]
La-Hamad returned to their usual manner and replied.
[Ouroboros.]
[That damned verbal habit is the same whether it is the first or one of its Clothes.]
[Ouroboros.]
Catastrophe seemed to be considering something. Silence settled in, as though Catastrophe were carefully savoring every hidden meaning within the word “Ouroboros.”
After a while, Catastrophe spoke.
[So that is it. That one asked you to come. That one... has finally obtained 「Gestalt’s Eye」.]
The Three Ancient Gods’ ability to understand was truly deep and exceptional.
La-Hamad silently pressed their lips together.
Rumble.
The World Force of La-Hamad and the Longevity Clan began to envelop the 《Palace of the Dead》. The seal placed upon Catastrophe by the Great Lords faded, and the severed link began returning to its proper place.
Catastrophe spoke.
[It seems many things have happened.]
[Ouroboros.]
[How strong has that one become now? Strong enough to face a Great Lord?]
[Ourobo...]
[Say Ouroboros one more time, and I will kill you all.]
La-Hamad answered.
[He will accomplish what we could not.]
The unexpected reply caused the particles in the air to stir violently. A voice touched by strange disbelief came from the emptiness.
[Really? You think he can do it? Truly?]
[Catastrophe. Did you not make a contract with him because you thought so as well?]
[...]
[He can do it. He can destroy the worst “invention” we created.]
An invention.
Several memories suddenly came to mind.
The full story of the war between the Three Ancient Gods, two hundred and ten thousand years ago.
The beginning of all this tragedy...
[Does he know as well?]
[Probably.]
Catastrophe laughed bitterly.
[What a pathetic state I have fallen into. To rely on nothing more than a human.]
La-Hamad looked into the empty air with an odd expression.
[Catastrophe. We were human once as well.]
Catastrophe replied.
[We were. Once.]
* * *
Jaehwan slowly closed and opened his eyes. He felt the fullness of World Force flowing through his entire body.
The preparations were complete. His Clothes were speaking within him.
Jaehwan looked ahead again. Fifty angry Jeromes stood there.
“Catastrophe has been sealed. Do you think I was lying?”
“Of course you were not lying.”
“So you checked the link just now.”
The Jeromes burst into loud laughter.
“Then you know what I said was true. We made preparations in advance. Things could become troublesome if you were able to use 「Void Sword」.”
The Jeromes continued.
“We had already gathered enough information about you through 《Little Brother》. Your growth has exceeded our expectations, but without 「Void Sword」, you could never face the Great Lords.”
“...”
It was the thoroughness one would expect from a Great Lord. Jerome had already completed every investigation into Jaehwan beforehand. Clearly, not just anyone could become a Great Lord.
Yet Jaehwan still looked relaxed.
“Void Sword.”
Kiiiiing!
The sight of fifty Jeromes turning pale one by one was truly spectacular.
One of the grotesque Three Divine Artifacts, an artifact that infected souls: Catastrophe’s 「Void Sword」.
The Void Sword gave off a dark sword light in Jaehwan’s hand.
“How?”
Jaehwan did not know exactly how it had happened either. Only moments ago, intense vitality had surged through his soul, the link had reconnected, and he had suddenly become able to use 「Void Sword」.
Since he could use a Part without even being in a state of Descent, Catastrophe must have given him special permission.
It seems La-Hamad kept their promise.
Jaehwan threw the Void Sword in his hand into the air. It dissolved into powder in midair.
The Jeromes’ expressions changed again.
“What are you doing?”
“If I used this, the fight would be too boring.”
The truth was that the link was not stable enough for him to use it yet, but Jerome had no way of knowing that.
“You arrogant little brat.”
Jaehwan’s provocation properly enraged Jerome. Jerome’s eyes, mixed with confusion and fury, became a terrifying pressure.
Who had ever dared provoke Jerome like that?
All fifty Jeromes used Bash at once.
Overwhelming World Force gathered as every Jerome rushed toward Jaehwan simultaneously. It was enough power to reduce the entire Seventh Site to ruins.
Yet Jaehwan did not retreat.
It was not simple bravado. It was the result of a cold calculation.
The only Skills he can use are Bash and Shadow Substitute. Just those two.
Even those two alone held tremendous power.
Jerome’s World Force was powerful enough to rank among the three strongest opponents Jaehwan had ever faced.
Jaehwan slowly blinked.
I did not train this power to face someone at this level, but it will do.
“Die alone in the world you believe in.”
“Die in loneliness.”
The fifty shadows tore through the air and crowded around Jaehwan. Sharp warnings came from all sides, and Jerome soon covered every direction around him.
A darkness of certain death, without even the smallest gap to escape through.
The world was being swallowed by pitch black.
Within the complete darkness, Jaehwan’s left eye blinked.
The shadow of a serpent writhed across his retina. Ouroboros, biting its own tail, spun violently as Jaehwan’s eye gave off a dazzling radiance.
Gestalt’s Eye.
Innate Setting, 「Cognitive Dissonance」.
The flow of time slowed, and the voices of his Clothes began pouring into Jaehwan’s mind with explosive force.
「No.」
「That many is impossible.」
「What are you thinking?」
「What the hell are you...!」
At the center of those endlessly negative voices, Jaehwan shook his head.
Then he said,
“It is possible. Believe.”
Voices from Clothes that resonated with him followed.
「It is possible.」
「Of course it is.」
「It can be done.」
「It certainly can.」
「Why even ask something so obvious?」
「I believe.」
Possibility and impossibility.
The boundary between will and reality.
Something was born within that fierce gap.
Kwwwaaaaaaah!
With a dazzling storm of World Force, countless Jeromes who had charged at Jaehwan were thrown back simultaneously. A stunned Jerome rolled across the dirt and opened his eyes wide.
Jaehwan’s World Force was rising explosively.
One billion...
Three billion...
Five billion...
World Force that rose without end.
The Jeromes’ mouths hung open.
How had he gained that much World Force? They had heard he only had one Follower.
The Ouroboros serpent spun fiercely within Jaehwan’s iris.
Jerome’s body shuddered after noticing the symbol too late.
Could it be?
Jaehwan glanced toward the sky and spoke.
Eyes in the blazing heavens were looking down at him.
“Like you said, perhaps I really am the only one living while believing in ‘this world.’”
Seven billion...
Eight billion...
Nine billion...
“Even so, it does not matter.”
As Jerome staggered backward, he noticed that every one of his doppelgangers wore the exact same expression.
A chill slowly rose and paralyzed his limbs. Terror ran through his mind.
Even for a Great Lord who had lived for so long, finding fear in his own expression was unfamiliar.
Jerome, protected by the System.
A Great Lord stronger than anyone else within the System.
Jerome unconsciously rubbed his eyes because he thought this could not be reality.
Yet it was reality. Another reality agreed upon beyond the existing one.
Jerome saw it clearly.
Countless “Jaehwans” standing behind Jaehwan. Thousands upon thousands of Jaehwans.
Was that not already a world of its own?
A vision of thousands of Jaehwans pointing their sword tips at Jerome at once.
World Force far beyond ten billion had finished gathering.
“Go.”
A wave of Fall swallowed Jerome.
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