Chapter 247 - Episode 31. Big Brother (12)
Chapter 247: Episode 31. Big Brother (12)
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The lance 「World Breaker」, once used by Behemoth, Lord of Hell.
The wings 「Kaiser Wing」, once used by Kairos, God of Wandering.
The Part 「Soul That Never Returns」, belonging to Becht, God of Travel.
The shield 「Guardian Iron Wall」, belonging to Schindler, Lord of Strictness.
...
Countless Parts contained within the tanks flew toward Mulack all at once.
Fortunately, it seemed the dead 《Big Brothers》 had not truly come back to life. Only the weapons they had used had awakened.
[Kid, this isn't fortunate. The situation is worse.]
8741 spoke after seeing the 《Big Brother》 weapons held in Mulack's hands. Jaehwan was also gradually grasping the situation through the Understanding shared by his left and right hands.
Those were no ordinary weapons. They were Parts containing the power of the 《Big Brothers》 who had controlled the entire 《Tree of Illusion》.
And now that Mulack had obtained them, Mulack could perfectly reproduce the abilities of every 《Big Brother》 throughout history.
[Are you prepared to witness the power of the 《Big Brothers》?]
Each weapon far surpassed even the Three Divine Artifacts.
What was more, every one of them contained a level of Transcendence equal to Mulack's.
3751 spoke.
[It's coming.]
The moment Jaehwan tensely nodded, Mulack was already right in front of him.
Lightning from 「World Breaker」 pierced through Jaehwan's opening, while flames from 「Kaiser Wing」 sealed off his range of movement.
The effect of 「Soul That Never Returns」 threw Jaehwan's sense of time and space into confusion, while 「Guardian Iron Wall」 created a barrier sturdy enough to withstand Jaehwan's Stabs and Slashes striking home.
All those weapons contained profound principles of time and space.
Mulack even possessed Deus's prototype, 「Deus Ex Machina」.
Rumbleeeee!
When 「Plausibility Destruction」, the phase added to 「Deus Ex Machina」 after Deus became a 《Big Brother》, activated, every nearby link was temporarily severed. Its effect was so powerful that even the link between Jaehwan and his two hands became unstable for a moment.
It was a wave of World Force powerful enough to disrupt the bond between the main body and its Clothes.
3751 and 8741 seemed impressed as well.
[That's insane. How many of those does he have?]
[Bad luck, kids. This won't work.]
[That's what I thought.]
[Maybe the others will help.]
[Probably. They're all idiots like you.]
Even as Jaehwan's mind swayed on the verge of collapse, he wanted to cover his ears. Yet the conversation continued.
[Stab kid. Should we try that?]
[That?]
[It looks like there are some sleeping ones. Other than you and me, everyone seems to be asleep.]
[Wait. You're saying you'll wake them all up? If this goes wrong, that one might wake up too.]
At the mention of that one, a heavy silence fell.
After thinking for a moment, 8741 snickered.
[Then this might get even more interesting.]
[Hey! Wait!]
At the same time as that shout, a bright light began shining from Jaehwan's left hand.
After hesitating for a moment, 3751 muttered through gritted teeth.
[Damn it. I don't know anymore.]
As if responding, his right hand began glowing brightly as well.
The overlapping hands soon began producing a bizarre sound, as though playing an instrument. It was not a sound any living thing could make. A discord without order or rules. A painful tone that felt capable of breaking his soul apart molecule by molecule just by hearing it.
Swept up in the sudden sea of discordance, Jaehwan could not even let out a groan.
[What are you doing?]
Mulack, who had sensed that something strange was happening, shouted back.
A moment later, voices began rushing in from somewhere.
[Goddamn it. Who set off the alarm?]
[I was sleeping so well. Why wake me up?]
[Ah, what the hell? You're already fighting?]
[If something like this was happening, you should've called me sooner.]
A violent flood of information poured into Jaehwan's mind. If his brain had possessed a physical capacity, it would have burst long ago beneath those memories.
Jaehwan lost consciousness for a moment.
* * *
...
6981.
9612.
11471.
12753.
17831.
...
54121.
59812.
61010.
63123.
...
The Clothes that had been called only by numbers.
The memories of the ten billion years those Clothes had lived were tangled in Jaehwan's mind, running wild.
[W-what is this...?]
Mulack screamed in bewilderment.
By the time Jaehwan barely came to his senses, an indescribable catastrophe of time and space was unfolding before him.
Of course, the same catastrophe was taking place inside his soul.
[I'm the left foot. I called it first.]
[Then I'm the right foot.]
[I was going to take the right foot.]
[Go over there. You can descend into the nipple.]
[Do you want to die?]
[Now, now. Don't fight.]
Jaehwan blankly looked down at his right foot tearing at his nipple.
From his little toes to the crown of his head, unknown things had descended into every part of him.
When he lowered his head, he saw his nipple twitching and beginning to speak.
[What are you looking at? You want your eyes ripped out?]
A kick containing a profound 「Setting」 erupted from his left foot, while dazzling 「Magic」 manifested from his right. His right eye released an energy beam containing the ability of 「Deus Ex Machina」, and his left eye spun 「Gestalt's Eye」 at a speed beyond comparison to before, expanding the outer bounds of the world.
World Force containing the mysterious truths of time and space even poured from his armpits like concealed weapons.
[Krrrrgh! Kyaaaaaah!]
Mulack retreated while wildly flailing at empty space.
These bizarre attacks could not be overcome even with weapons containing the powers of the 《Big Brothers》. Before the advance of the transcendent Clothes, the 《Big Brother》 Parts began smoking and exploding across the area.
There was a Jaehwan who had studied every aspect of 「Setting」 for two hundred million years, and another who had practiced only kicking for four hundred million years. One Jaehwan had focused solely on 「Deus Ex Machina」, while another had focused only on 「Gestalt's Eye」.
Every one of those Jaehwans had reached a realm within the world of Transcendence.
[Is anyone left? Is there anyone who still hasn't descended?]
[Hey. I haven't gotten in yet.]
Another transcendent one spat out a string of curses. He was the 63,123rd Jaehwan, a Jaehwan who had endlessly trained only the Setting 「Naked」.
[If someone has descended even into the armpit hair, where the hell am I supposed to descend?]
At his desperate cry, 8741 snickered and added,
[Don't worry, Naked kid. We left you exactly one spot.]
[What? Where?]
A moment later, Jaehwan felt powerful strength enter his lower body.
[It's the perfect spot for you.]
[Y-you bastards!]
Seeing his lower body shine brightly in gold, Jaehwan went pale.
The other transcendent ones each added a comment.
[Just stand straight there. You're in the way.]
[Looks good.]
Despite the teasing around him, 63123 did not seem particularly upset. If anything, satisfied World Force spread throughout Jaehwan's body, as though 63123 had settled into exactly the place he wanted.
Jaehwan felt his lower body twitch uncomfortably.
No way.
Jaehwan tried desperately to control his soul form. The transcendent ones had already seized control of his limbs, though. All that remained for Jaehwan himself was a last shred of humiliation.
Recalling the composure of one million eight hundred thousand years, Jaehwan calmly closed his mind's eye.
The next moment, golden World Force surged from Jaehwan's core alongside a fierce gust.
[I'll send you flying to the end of the universe! This is the true power of 「Naked」.]
A blast containing the power of the Setting 「Naked」.
Golden World Force shot toward Mulack and the entirety of 〈Panopticon〉. A terrifying golden storm swallowed the surrounding time and space whole.
[This paltry thing. Something this paltry...]
Mulack flailed within the golden storm.
Even Mulack, who had maintained a detached expression from beginning to end, could not remain calm this time.
[H-how can such a low-grade attack...!]
[Low-grade? Were you someone who couldn't even transcend such a filthy concept?]
The soul forms of the 「Masters」 crumbled inside the shattered tanks. Cracks spread across the screens decorating 〈Panopticon〉's inner walls, and darkness fell around them.
Amid the pitch-black darkness, 63123's booming laughter rang out.
[N-no!]
Mulack turned deathly pale, like someone who had lost everything in an instant.
[Why are you doing this? Aren't you transcendent ones? Why are you clinging so pitifully to the purpose of a mere ‘existence’?]
At that moment, Jaehwan's attack stopped.
Mulack's words had made several of the transcendent ones question themselves.
Come to think of it, why are we doing this?
We're no longer human, are we? We're not even beings.
[You don't need to help him! You have neither reason nor purpose to do so! Then why...]
Words like reason and purpose. They had long forgotten the meanings humanity had once given those words.
Even so, they were helping Jaehwan.
Why?
Why were they still moving to help the main body's purpose?
Because the main body was their master?
No.
They had never listened to the main body's words from the beginning.
Then because they would die if the main body died?
That was not it either. Most of them could not feel the fear of death.
Yet they were helping Jaehwan, almost compulsively, or perhaps instinctively.
Why?
Jaehwan had a vision of every part of his body, from head to toe, looking at him.
It felt as if all sixteen transcendent ones were staring at him.
Jaehwan could not understand the meaning of those gazes, but he felt a distant emotion.
It was, quite literally, a transcendent sorrow.
No transcendent one was a being.
But when he thought about it, they had never once been beings.
They had been Jaehwan's Clothes from the beginning.
They had been nothing more than Clothes, not the main body.
[Don't think that.]
[You've never treated us as Clothes.]
[You always asked us for advice.]
[You asked us for help.]
[Kid, we've always helped you of our own will.]
Jaehwan tried to shake his head. His neck would not move, though. Another Jaehwan had descended into his neck.
[Because of you, we met Companions.]
[Because of you, we gained memories.]
[Because of you, we lived lives.]
[We became you.]
Jaehwan felt like crying, but he could not shed tears. Other Jaehwans had descended into his eyes.
The Jaehwans continued speaking.
[We are you.]
[We transcended.]
[We lost our purpose.]
[We lost our emotions.]
[We left humanity behind.]
[We discarded Definition.]
[But we are you.]
All sixteen Jaehwans turned their gazes at once.
Precisely toward Mulack.
[Why do we help with this?]
The terrified Mulack backed away.
It was pressure enough to recreate the emotion of Fear in a transcendent one.
The sixteen Jaehwans made that possible.
[Because we are Jaehwan.]
They had always been Jaehwan. They were always Jaehwan, and there had never been a single moment when they were not Jaehwan.
Something like a drumbeat sounded in the distance. Jaehwan felt an emotion quietly seep into the depths of his soul.
It was a fragment of the stories left behind by those who had once been beings.
The discarded shells left behind by Clothes that were Jaehwan, yet not Jaehwan.
Jaehwan wept without a sound.
Yes. That was the reason. A reason more like him than anything else.
As if comforting him, the Jaehwans said,
[Because that alone makes us into beings.]
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