Chapter 235 - Episode 30. Lone World (10)
Chapter 235: Episode 30. Lone World (10)
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Following the massive construction project some time ago, Gorgon, now integrated with the central fortress 〈Carpe Diem〉, had become a colossal fortress with well over a billion souls.
The villages beyond the Outer Fortress had divided the central district among themselves, and a statue of Jaehwan raising a sword toward the sky stood at each village entrance.
It was no longer unusual in 《Chaos》 to find young souls in every village practicing Stabs before those statues, dreaming of becoming the next ‘Sole King.’
“One, two! One, two!”
The chant continued, followed by the trainees’ quiet whispers.
“Hey, how many Stabs did you do today?”
“Me? I think I did about a hundred thousand today alone.”
“You’re lying again.”
“I’m serious.”
“Hey, even if you didn’t eat or sleep and did one Stab every second, you couldn’t reach a hundred thousand. What, do you think you’re some novel protagonist who eats Plausibility for breakfast?”
“They say Jaehwan did it.”
“Are you Jaehwan?”
Grumbling chatter mingled with the instructors’ shouts. Then the chant resumed.
“Light Stab! Normal Stab! Hard Stab!”
Among the aspiring Stab users were trainees so immersed in Jaehwan that they shouted the names of techniques he was said to have used.
“What kind of name is Light Stab? He could’ve called it something cooler.”
“I heard the Divine Doctor of Despair named it.”
“No, I heard he just couldn’t be bothered to name it.”
The trainees’ complaints faded beneath the next series of shouted commands.
“World Stab! World Stab!”
That was when one of the trainees, repeatedly stabbing toward the sky, suddenly screamed.
“Uaaah?”
Everyone turned toward the trainee.
Trembling, the trainee shouted, “I-I did World Stab! The world just tore a little!”
“Huh?”
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about?”
Without another word, the trainee pointed at the sky.
The other trainees looked up and gasped. Their shock spread, soon swallowing the entire training ground. Even the instructors stood with their mouths hanging open as they stared upward.
“T-the sky...?”
The sky was splitting apart.
* * *
Yulhen, Chief Internal Administrator of Fortress 〈Carpe Diem〉, held their throbbing head and tapped their pen against the desk.
“It’s only a name. What is so important about a name?”
“It is important! A name is all we have left!”
Much time had passed since the four great fortresses of 《Chaos》 were united. Yet 《Chaos》 was still plagued by endless disputes, both large and small.
The scene in this conference room was a perfect example.
“It should be Gorgon Fortress.”
“No, Garuda.”
“Obviously, it should be Dryad.”
“M-Manticore cannot be left out either!”
Needless conflicts had arisen when the leadership of the four great fortresses merged into Fortress 〈Carpe Diem〉.
The recent proposal to change the fortress’s name had made the confrontation even fiercer.
“Doesn’t ‘Carpe Diem-Garuda’ sound better?”
“No, ‘Carpe Diem-Dryad’ sounds more elegant and impressive!”
“Um, ‘Carpe Diem-Manticore’...”
“What makes those who got beaten by Geumcheon Hall think they can join this discussion?”
Everyone agreed that Carpe Diem should be the fortress’s first name, but what followed was the problem. Each side insisted that the name of the fortress they had once lived in should be attached after Carpe Diem.
Watching the chaotic conference room, Yulhen let out a quiet sigh.
Taken individually, they were all good people. They believed in the ideals Jaehwan had left behind and had become Awakened Ones through long, devoted training in the Tower Jaehwan had left behind.
And it was not only them. Including first-stage Awakened Ones, Fortress Carpe Diem already possessed nearly a million Awakened Ones. A million Awakened Ones. It was a force that did not need to fear even ordinary Lords attacking together.
Yet the disappearance of external enemies also meant corruption was beginning to take root within the fortress.
Yulhen scratched the beard on their chin.
‘Things were better when the Fortress Lord was here.’
If Jaehwan had been there, everyone present would have been put through Stab punishment. Or perhaps he would have suddenly held a tournament over the fortress’s name.
Then, a few days later, he would have turned every participant to pulp by telling them all to attack him at once, leaving them unable to understand why he had held the tournament in the first place.
‘I miss him.’
A faint smile touched Yulhen’s lips.
They did not like violence or tyranny. Even so, Yulhen liked that fierce side of Jaehwan.
The world needed people like Jaehwan.
Yulhen looked at Cayman, who had been standing quietly beside them. As Carpe Diem’s Outer Chief Administrator and chief instructor, Cayman was now truly the strongest figure in 《Chaos》.
“Cayman, how about you step in at this point?”
“In what way?”
“Hmm. Like the Fortress Lord would.”
“Are you telling me to smash them all?”
“That is not quite what I mean...”
Yulhen considered how to convey their meaning more gently without losing their dignity.
“C-Chief Internal Administrator!”
Ministers with pale faces burst through the conference room doors. Yulhen realized something had happened. Whatever it was, it had to be more urgent than deciding the fortress’s name.
Looking almost relieved, Yulhen asked, “What happened?”
Instead of giving a report, the ministers threw open the curtains covering the windows.
Then.
“What in the world is that?”
Sighs and screams rose from all over the fortress.
Something like an enormous screen was appearing in the black, swirling sky.
“That is...”
Only after some time did people realize what they were seeing.
A world suited to the phrase 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」. In that terrible world, a man was facing the sun.
The man was spilling silver blood. A man whose will would never break stood there. He drove his sword relentlessly toward the sun, as though he alone were fighting a star.
“That person is...”
They could not clearly tell what enemy he was fighting. Yet they could clearly feel the man’s desperation and pride.
“Ah...”
Some remembered his face, while others shed tears.
Some clutched their shoulders and trembled in joy.
Even those who did not know him recognized him.
There was not a single village without a statue of him.
“Jaehwan.”
Yulhen stared at the battle with their mouth open. There was no context to help them understand it, yet they knew.
That was an important battle. Important enough that they had to see it. That was why they were witnessing this scene, and why they had to witness it.
“Is that the 《Abyss》?”
“How could he possibly...”
“How can he fight an enemy like that?”
People murmured everywhere. Their thoughts were nearly identical. Yet none of them knew how to handle the despair in their hearts, or the heat rising in their chests.
A voice rang out through the air shortly afterward.
“It seems there is no longer a place called Gorgon.”
Yulhen knew whose welcome voice it was.
“Karlton. Is that you?”
After a brief pause, Karlton’s voice rang out again.
“The name does not matter. Please help us.”
The crowd stirred loudly at those words.
Help. But how?
A few people shouted toward the sky.
An answer came back.
“Please believe in Jaehwan.”
The people looked at one another.
“Believe in him?”
They stared at each other as though asking what that meant. But looking at one another could not give them an answer.
“Even if we believe in him, what are we supposed to do...?”
“Please. Give him your belief.”
Karlton could not hear their side of the conversation and only repeated the same words.
By then, the people of 《Chaos》 looked troubled as well. Giving belief was one thing, but how could mere belief help?
Still, rather than doubting Karlton’s words, some responded.
They were people without strength or possessions. People who had gained their own Unique Worlds through Awakening.
The souls who inherited Jaehwan’s legacy each raised a hand toward the sky.
The first to raise her hand was a woman.
“I believe.”
Mino raised her fist high and spoke loudly enough for everyone to hear, as though showing them how simple it was to find the courage, however embarrassing, to say that she believed in someone.
“I believe! I believe in you!”
A moment later, something like a silver thread suddenly flowed from her fist. The thread swayed like a tail, scattering silver dust as it soared high into the sky.
Startled, Mino let out a small cry.
No one explained it to her, but Mino understood what it was.
It fluttered its beautiful tail as it shot toward the sky.
It was flying toward Jaehwan, who was fighting far away.
It was strange.
‘Something like that still remained in me.’
Holding back tears that threatened to spill, Mino shouted.
“What are you all doing?”
Startled by Mino’s rebuke, people began raising their hands one after another.
Their voices followed.
“M-me too!”
“I believe!”
“I believe too!”
“I believe!”
Across all of Fortress 《Carpe Diem》, people raised their hands one after another. Silver threads rose into the sky.
It looked as though snowflakes were scattering upward.
It felt as though winter had suddenly arrived.
As though time were being rewound.
Or as though pure white snow were falling in reverse.
The people’s belief rose toward the sky. Faint silver particles flowed beyond the sky and into the 《Abyss》.
How much time passed?
Yulhen, who had been watching the scene outside the window, finally spoke.
“I’ve never offered a prayer before.”
The ministers had gathered by the window without anyone noticing.
Yulhen looked at each of them. The ministers who had avoided their gaze with embarrassed faces finally found the courage to look back at them.
Cayman nodded.
Yulhen smiled faintly.
They extended their hands toward the sky.
* * *
Jaehwan felt World Force warmly enveloping his entire body.
A confidence so complete that no attack could shake him rose within him.
The strength of those who believed in him.
Countless souls believed in what he believed and saw what he saw.
In the distance, Karlton was staggering as he struggled to remain standing.
‘He finally opened his Unique World.’
He had not expected it, but Gorgon.
It could not have been a more fitting Unique World for Karlton.
「Fortress Gorgon」
Through his Unique World, Karlton had opened a passage between the real 《Chaos》 and the 《Abyss》.
A massive portal wavered behind Karlton. Within it, the scenery of 《Chaos》 could be seen. Enormous masses of World Force flowed toward Jaehwan.
[What is this...]
Maiad’s voice was thick with shock.
[It cannot be... There is no way it can surpass the population of the Abyss.]
The density of the overflowing World Force made the Eighth Site swell as though it were about to burst.
Jaehwan looked down at his hand, which had glowed so brightly with silver that it had become silver itself.
This World Force was not coming from a single fortress. Souls throughout 《Chaos》 were sending World Force to Jaehwan.
‘Of course. There is no place with more people than 《Chaos》.’
No matter how many souls existed in the 《Abyss》, only the chosen could come there.
《Chaos》, on the other hand, was simply where the dead came. Naturally, there was no comparison in their number of souls.
Kwoooooo!
Maiad’s blazing flash rushed toward Jaehwan as though it would burn him alive, but not even a small scorch mark appeared on his body.
Jaehwan walked proudly through the world of 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」, a bitter smile passing across his lips.
‘Could I not do this alone?’
Mulack had said that the latter half of Awakening contained three stages of 「Creation」.
「Hypothesis」, which established one’s Unique World, was the first stage of that Creation.
Then what was the second stage?
Jaehwan felt that he finally knew the answer.
The fifth stage of Awakening.
「Proof」
A world that became reality at last because countless beings believed in it.
Jaehwan raised his sword high.
It was time to prove their belief, in every sense of the word.
The sky of the 《Abyss》, dyed by Maiad’s 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」, split apart. Red storm clouds burst open, revealing the black night sky of 「Fall」 between them.
A massive eye hung in that night sky.
The eye looked directly at Maiad.
As crows cawed, Maiad’s trembling Gigantes shook in fear.
Complete Sanctuary Manifestation.
「The World After the Fall」.
Jaehwan’s Unique World, now a single ‘reality,’ ran wild.
One world was attacking another.
The enormous mouth of 「Fall」 swallowed 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」. 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」 struggled in agony like a herbivore caught by a beast. Cracks spread through the sky, and earthquakes raced across the ground.
Amid pressure that felt as though his ego would burst apart, Jaehwan accumulated Stabs.
One, ten, one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, ten million...
One billion, ten billion, one hundred billion...
「Fall」, stretching forth through his Stabs, opened its mouth wide and ravenously devoured the blood-red world. With a grinding crunch, space itself screamed.
Kyaaaaaa!
At last, beyond numbers, the System of 「Mountain of Corpses, Sea of Blood」 began to collapse.
The Three Divine Artifacts were shattered. Beyond the cockpit of 「Deus Ex Machina」, Maiad’s eyes were filled with despair.
Black rays poured from Jaehwan’s Dokbul. A flash that covered the entire 《Abyss》 dyed the night sky.
Those who had raised blades at one another, those who writhed in pain after losing their worlds, and those whose life force had been stolen after being betrayed by their worlds, for that moment, all of them forgot themselves and looked toward the sky.
An age was truly coming to an end.
Those who believed in 《Big Brother》 and those who called it a lie had no choice but to accept it this time.
So this was it. This time, it was real.
A red star was falling from the sky.
Footnotes:
Chapter discussion