Chapter 227 - Episode 30. Lone World (2)
Chapter 227: Episode 30. Lone World (2)
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Maiad looked out the office window and murmured quietly.
“You have come, Jaehwan.”
Explosions rang out one after another beyond the window. Maiad silently watched the battlefield Jaehwan had created.
The Pathfinder of an impossible path.
The name suited the scene perfectly.
The Awakened Ones of 「Rupture」 who approached were being torn apart by Jaehwan’s World Force like moths flying into a flame. It was like a massive wave sweeping through the city. Power that came close to a disaster. Rupture’s agents cried out in despair, unable to believe what they were seeing. They were clearly both Awakened Ones, so how could the difference be this great?
Of course, Maiad knew the answer.
‘Because they are looking in different directions.’
Awakening was the beginning of another path, not its end. An Unique World was only a small ferryboat for traveling through Chaos. Those who sought comfort before the oncoming waves regressed, while those who pressed forward gained even greater strength. Only the endless act of overcoming oneself could make Awakening truly worthy of its name.
Watching Jaehwan rampage outside, Maiad reflected on old memories for the first time in a long while. Maiad had once lived through a time much like Jaehwan’s.
For countless ages, Maiad had fought for many great causes.
At first, Maiad had fought for “humanity.” Later, Maiad had fought for “existence.” It was a time when Maiad had gone on and on about fighting for something without even truly knowing what it was.
“We are almost there. We can do this.”
Many things had happened. Maiad remembered the countless Vicegerents who had followed.
A struggle to reclaim the “right to exist” from the gods. A revolution that had never succeeded even once.
“The right to exist? What is that supposed to be? Does it even raise your World Force?”
To the gods, souls were no more than consumables used to increase World Force. In a world where everyone devoured and was devoured, who would care about something like existence? Where human rights had collapsed, how pitiful and insignificant was the word “existence”?
Around the time Maiad realized that nothing could be changed through individual strength alone, some people came looking.
Buddha and Pierre.
They were Awakened Ones who had lived even longer than Maiad.
“So you are the one who can see stars in the sky?”
Maiad still remembered the day 「Rupture」 was first founded.
At the time, Buddha had said this:
“Up to three thousand years is fine. You can overcome that with youth. But once you pass five thousand or ten thousand years, it becomes difficult. From then on, neither humans nor gods can be brought back. No one tries to climb any higher.”
They were the beings closest to the Three Ancient Gods, the first Awakened Ones. They were Maiad’s old friends, who had revealed the secrets of 《Big Brother》 and the 《System》, and taught Maiad to dream of the distant sky.
“Raaaaaah!”
For a moment, Maiad saw the shadow of an old friend through the explosions rising one after another.
Buddha, Rupture’s First Division Commander, fighting Jaehwan.
Rather than a Buddha, Buddha’s form was closer to that of a vicious fiend, howling and screaming as World Force poured forth.
Once again, Maiad felt the weight of time. The old friends Maiad remembered had long since vanished.
That was what thousands of years did.
Pierre had despaired before a wall that could never be climbed, abandoned the name Pierre, and left 「Rupture」. Buddha, who had fought for Rupture at the very front, had been broken after countless reincarnations.
“Maiad, you can do it. We are too old, but you can. Your soul is among the strongest and healthiest of all Awakened Ones. That is why we made you the Rupture Lord.”
It had already been a long time since Maiad heard those words.
The passion once spoken in a youthful voice had disappeared long ago. All that remained was stubbornness, and rage toward an ideal that could never be reached.
Maiad quietly looked up at the sky.
It was a cruel sky.
A sky no one could climb, and one that permitted no one.
When was the first time Maiad gave up on that sky?
Maiad could no longer remember.
‘Well, it will no longer matter from this point on.’
A bitter smile formed on Maiad’s lips.
‘If we cannot climb to the sky, then we can create a new sky.’
Rumble.
As Maiad raised World Force, the sky across the entire 《Abyss》 began to turn red.
There was truly not much left.
Soon, 「Lone World」 would begin.
* * *
Jaehwan frowned as he watched Cheongheo cut through the Awakened Ones from the front.
“I slipped out on purpose, but you have made things difficult.”
“I am the only one who came to help you, brat. The others stayed at the Seventh Site. Should you not be a little more grateful? Hm?”
Cheongheo glanced at the airship embedded in the walls of the Eighth Site. It was the result of Cheongheo’s poor piloting.
“The old man and Karlton should have stayed too. At least you two could have bought us time.”
“Nameless and Yu Seolha are there too. Buying time will not be a problem.”
Once Cheongheo finished speaking, he sprinted forward and slashed sideways. Along the line carved by the sword, the Awakened Ones’ formation split apart in a spray of silver.
Cheongheo seemed to have grown stronger as well. Jaehwan could tell at a glance that Cheongheo’s World Force exceeded one billion.
Then two figures dropped down through the gap between the divided Awakened Ones. One was a middle-aged man with a massive axe slung across his back. The other was a bald man with his bare upper body exposed.
The middle-aged man spoke first.
“It has been a long time, Elder Cheongheo.”
“You have aged badly, Kasim.”
Rupture’s Fourth Division Commander Kasim twisted his lips at Cheongheo’s teasing.
“Is Seolha well?”
“She is doing very well. She eats well, sleeps well, and has put on plenty of weight.”
Their gazes met for a moment. In that brief silence, Cheongheo realized what Kasim wanted to ask.
“How did Imai meet the end?”
“It was an end fitting for him.”
“Was it an honorable death?”
“From your side’s perspective, perhaps.”
The words, your side, drove a painful line between Kasim and Cheongheo. Hundreds of years ago, their relationship had been different.
Kasim said, “I learned swordsmanship from you.”
“And yet you ended up using an axe.”
“Were you the one who led Seolha astray?”
“Was she ever the sort of woman anyone could lead astray?”
“「Rupture」 always repays its debts. You were once part of Rupture, so you know that well.”
“You sound awfully confident. Looks like you have been practicing your cuts diligently.”
For an instant, old memories passed through Kasim’s eyes.
A billion cuts.
The time when every Division Commander of 「Rupture」 had still been alive. The time before they had become Division Commanders.
“The fraudulent Awakening method you devised is no longer used. Now everyone uses 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」.”
With those words, Kasim kicked off the ground and charged.
His bulging muscles swelled as though they might burst. A reckless charge that lived up to the nickname Tyrant. Kasim’s unique weapon, the 「Blood Wolf Axe」 that he always carried on his back, flashed.
Dark-red World Force streamed from the axe, whose bloodstains rose like veins.
「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」
The true realm of Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood, brought to its limit through orthodox training.
A dark-red crescent resembling an axe blade scattered through the air. The earth split helplessly in every direction, throwing up dirt.
Its speed and destructive power were both first-rate. Unless one was at the level of a Great Lord, there was no way to receive that strike.
“Leave that one to me.”
Cheongheo’s form vanished with those words. In terms of speed alone, Cheongheo did not lag behind Kasim in the slightest.
Clang, clang, clang!
Several exchanges carrying tremendous force collided, and the intervals between the crashing sounds grew shorter and shorter.
Before long, the area was filled without a gap by the sound of axe and blade colliding. Dozens of exchanges crossed in an instant.
Kasim also seemed surprised by Cheongheo’s World Force, which did not yield easily. Kasim might have ranked fourth among the Division Commanders, but that ranking was only among Division Commanders. Kasim was never someone to compare with ordinary Awakened Ones.
Kasim had no extraordinary talent, but he had endlessly trained and retrained 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」. That was Rupture’s Fourth Division Commander Kasim.
Several layers of World Force wrapped around Kasim’s axe blade. Enormous crescent-shaped World Force. Its destructive power was on an entirely different level from the techniques Kasim had shown so far.
Cheongheo’s expression hardened as he responded at once.
Rumble!
Another explosion erupted. The collision of intense World Force gouged chaotic holes throughout the ground. Neither side yielded an inch.
Kasim’s shocked voice came from within the acrid smoke created by World Force.
“I cannot believe it. Before you left Rupture, you did not even have a proper Unique World. Do not tell me you gained one? Through a new Awakening method?”
“Yes.”
“How could you possibly...?”
As the dust cleared, blue World Force wrapped around Cheongheo’s body.
Twelve swords floated around Cheongheo.
“That is...”
“Heh heh, you noticed?”
“Sword Manipulation through Qi?”
Kasim knew that technique as well.
According to what was known, people from World 12,764, the so-called martial world, possessed considerable combat ability even without borrowing the power of the 《System》.
Sword Manipulation through Qi was a technique used only by martial artists who had reached the very pinnacle. There had even been a being who turned it into a skill and rose to the rank of Great Lord. That was Huh Yu, the Lord of Steel, who had once ruled the Fifth Zone.
Kasim had fought Huh Yu before.
“You... returned to being an Adapter?”
“As if that could be true.”
“Then how can you possibly use Sword Manipulation through Qi...?”
Confusion swept across Kasim’s face.
Sword Manipulation through Qi without being made into a skill was still a useful technique. But if pure Sword Manipulation through Qi had truly been that powerful, no Cultivator could have dared set foot in the martial world of World 12,764.
“I do not know where you keep your eyes. Does this look like ordinary Sword Manipulation through Qi to you?”
At those words, Kasim narrowed his eyes.
The twelve swords, each engraved with ancient patterns, had taken the stances of entirely different sword arts.
Different sword arts?
Cheongheo’s Unique World shimmered around his body through faint particles.
A groan finally escaped Kasim’s lips.
“Do not tell me...!”
Cheongheo’s blazing swords began tracing different sword paths.
Twelve swords of Sword Manipulation through Qi, surrounded by brilliant auras as they formed complex sword forms.
It was a scene beautiful enough to leave anyone entranced. Perhaps Kasim was overwhelmed by the sight. Kasim noticed too late that one sword was flying in to strike from behind.
It was an emperor’s strike, filled with grand World Force.
The sword art of the Great Family once called the greatest in the Central Plains poured from Cheongheo’s first sword strike.
“Urgh!”
Kasim let out a groan as he barely received the powerful World Force.
A heavy strike, like a massive lion charging forward.
Back when Kasim had analyzed various sword arts to devise a Setting that could accompany 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」, Kasim remembered witnessing a sword art with a form like this.
“Emperor Sword Form.”
There was no doubt.
This was the Namgung Great Family’s Emperor Sword Form.
The heaviest and most domineering sword art used by martial artists.
Yet Kasim had heard that all martial artists who used Emperor Sword Form had died long ago. Then how had Cheongheo restored this sword art?
‘No, this is beyond restoration...’
Kasim could not continue that thought. Before the Emperor Sword Form’s assault had even ended, a second sword form flew in.
This time, it contained the profound principles of endless transformations.
There even seemed to be something like the scent of flowers in the air.
Mount Hua.
Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique.
Kasim could not regain his senses amid the illusion created by flower petals scattering into tens of thousands of paths.
Cheongheo’s voice came through the drifting wind.
“While searching for Ancient God Parts hidden in forbidden zones, I happened to acquire these secret manuals. It seems quite a few members of the Abyss Expedition Force in the past came from my world.”
“I see. Your Unique World is...”
The South Sea Thirty-Six Swords of the Hainan Sect, the Dharma Thirteen Swords of Shaolin, and at last the Taiji Wisdom Sword of Wudang. It was a dazzling display of sword arts.
Cheongheo nodded.
“Do you recognize it?”
Under the barrage of hardened energy carrying compressed World Force, Kasim began to be driven completely onto the defensive.
Unable to block every attack, Kasim had to focus World Force into his eyes and deflect the sword forms little by little.
Perhaps because Kasim’s vision had improved, Kasim soon saw the shadow of Cheongheo’s Unique World behind him.
Why had Kasim failed to realize it upon seeing Sword Manipulation through Qi?
Cheongheo’s world was one created from the blood and souls of dead martial artists.
Sanctuary Manifestation
「Martial World」
It could not compare to the 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」 that Rupture’s executives had spent countless years creating, but it was an Unique World far too magnificent to believe one person had completed it.
A world filled with infinite potential, one that might someday surpass Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood given enough time.
Looking up at the vast sky of the Martial World, Kasim thought:
How grueling must the years have been for Cheongheo to open this world? How blessed were the martial artists who had given their lives to complete this beautiful world?
Watching the essence of a world fly toward him, Kasim, who had been purely admiring it, began to amplify World Force as well.
Kasim’s axe burned dark red against the twelve incoming blades.
* * *
As red and blue World Force mingled, Jaehwan slowly drew Dokbul. He immediately knew who the bare-chested man before him was.
This had to be the rumored First Division Commander, Buddha.
“Then shall we begin too?”
As if he had been waiting, Buddha smiled and gathered World Force in both hands.
「Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara」
A Buddha statue with a grotesque smile extended a massive palm toward Jaehwan.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion