I’m going to lose it. Seriously.
“Kim Sinhwa! Stop resisting! I’ll kill you right now! This is the only way!”
Did he just reset to the start?
I don’t know what kind of delirium happened or how, but the line about my house being gone is something I can safely ignore.
[Blink]
I dodged his attack and used the [Night Veil Wing Cloak] to open distance.
“Die right now! Kim Sinhwa! Hurry!”
“Senior. I don’t know what I did a moment ago that made you this angry— but I’ll apologize on his behalf, so could you let it slide just once?”
Have mercy for the sake of cute me?
I sent a heartfelt apology, but that alone couldn’t soothe Gong Isu.
He let out a horrible shriek and raged like a beast—
“Ah, damn— after all that looping we’re back to the kieeek routine?”
I hurled a few spells at Gong Isu— testing his condition.
[Left Hand of the Destroyer-God]
[Right Hand of the Creator-God]
Changing heads again?
Huh? What’s that head?
An hourglass floating at a slant in midair. And behind it, a halo blasting radiant light.
“What is that? An hourglass and a halo? Did you pick a dual class all of a sudden?”
“So the singularity’s power hasn’t vanished completely...”
“What did you say? What did you do?”
Wait.
There’s one more thing that’s different from before.
“Hey. Answer me, senior. Where did the Golden Hairpin go?”
“I got rid of it.”
“Got rid of it?”
“I erased it. In exchange I obtained this power. But I burned far too much of it...”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
You “obtained power”?
I get it. A way to yank in power that wasn’t there? It’s very simple.
Grinding my teeth, I said to Gong Isu:
“Hey, senior. You... you sold my Golden Hairpin— my only way to escape this world— to an Abyssal being?”
“...”
He has no facial expressions.
With those various objects in place of a head, he can’t make a human expression anyone could empathize with.
So I can’t know what emotion he’s wearing as he looks at me.
But for some reason I felt like he was making some kind of face.
Before I could press him again, Gong Isu spoke.
“Think what you want, Kim Sinhwa. But you can’t go back where you thought you could.”
As he said it, he reached out his hand.
[System : Trait [Heightened Vigilance] activates.]
Crunch—
What? That’s an impossible sensation.
There was plenty of distance— yet I was caught in Gong Isu’s left hand!
I didn’t shrink, and he didn’t grow.
It feels like my sense of space and scale twisted together in some bizarre way.
No—this isn’t the time to be surprised!
I don’t know the method by which I was grabbed— but the hand that has me is his left hand!
[Left Hand of the Destroyer-God]
[Intangibility]
At the instant he invoked a talent, I cast the wall-phasing spell and slipped out of his grip.
“Kim Sinhwa! Don’t escape! This is the only way!”
“A minute ago you said you’d cut off my limbs, and now the only way is to die outright? If you talk like that how am I supposed to trust you!”
“Die without knowing! Just die without understanding!”
“What are you even saying! Lunatic!”
Gong Isu isn’t even a madman anymore.
He’s a cultist.
He offered a sacrifice to an Abyssal entity— gained power in return, and lost the ability to think straight.
[Meteor Summon]
[Spell Boost: Multi-Cast]
[Crown of Earth]
[Spell Boost: Maximize]
Rrrrrrrr-BOOM!
Gigantic meteors ripped the night sky and slammed for the ground. At the same time, massive stone pillars surged up, shoving aside the metallic crystals of the earth.
But Gong Isu lifted his left hand— swept above his own head— and reached for me.
“Ha!”
I could not believe my eyes.
A surreal sensation too hard to explain in words to anyone else.
If I hadn’t obtained the [Spatial Dominion] trait, I wouldn’t even understand what power he’s using or how.
Right now he is pushing his space-manipulation to the limit.
And everything is operating centered on his perception.
Those meteors incoming from far away? If you ignore perspective, they’re still smaller than the rocks in his palm.
He just needs to swish his hand and shake them off.
The horizon visible in the distance?
Why not grab and pull it?
Exactly with that feel, he used the motion to “fly” right up to me—
Again: this movement transcends the concepts and common sense of the real world. Gong Isu just moved by “pulling the horizon.”
No—Gong Isu didn’t move. Everything except Gong Isu moved toward him.
But in one sense this is better than before.
It’s an amazing power— but not a rational choice.
Gong Isu can pull on time as well as space.
For a moment, when he collapsed sobbing, I lost my will to fight. If he rewinds to that point and attacks— I probably won’t counter.
Must be the delirium, right? He’s lost the capacity to judge which choice is better.
As long as it isn’t a full rewind, I have plenty of ways to subdue him.
Still, if possible...
I compressed my sensing to the limit— and kept launching it in the direction I’d been fleeing.
As expected— it’s still there.
It hasn’t been centuries— just half a year. Of course it remains.
I don’t know how many rewinds he’s run, but I’ve kept fleeing in a consistent direction.
If only I could just teleport there in one go.
I can’t.
The instant I expose a clear target destination, Gong Isu will rewind time.
And not just that.
Tz-z-z-z—
His hand streaks in, ignoring distance—
Damn, that’s hardcore!
His power changing is a problem, but the bigger problem is his purpose changing. He really does intend to kill me.
The positions have completely flipped.
Conversely, the instant I land a lethal strike on Gong Isu— he’ll rewind time.
I don’t know what happened earlier, but there hasn’t been a loop with a better chance for me than now.
I have to make him feel like this time, at last, he can kill Kim Sinhwa— like “Ah, such a shame. I think I can still catch him right now?” As long as that hope remains, he won’t rewind.
Gong Isu had lost hope.
Stop. Please. Stop. Please.
Despair.
With neither sound judgment nor proper strategy, he’s attacking Kim Sinhwa on beastlike instinct alone.
Please let me go. Please let me go.
He said he would kill Kim Sinhwa— but he knows it’s impossible.
What he’s doing now is a meaningless short dance.
The clown chasing a mirage he can almost grasp but never quite catch.
He runs, turns—
Reaches out—
But the time their hands can meet is only a fleeting instant.
At some point the other slips through his fingers and is gone.
“Please! Stop! Don’t go! Please die for me!”
It isn’t even the first time he’s danced like this.
Even if it wasn’t Kim Sinhwa, Gong Isu has danced like this with many others.
I hate it. I want to stop now.
How delightful you are, Bubble Head.
But you can’t stop this dance just because you want to.
Do you know the fairy tale about the red shoes?
You are cursed.
You cannot stop dancing unless you cut off your legs.
...
And one more thing for you, Bubble Head.
Gong Isu suddenly recalled what Kim Sinhwa had said.
I don’t want to remember. Go away! Disappear!
“The future you said we’ll meet five times.”
“Ah...”
Gong Isu only remembers meeting that Kim Sinhwa three times so far.
He will meet him two more times.
Only then did he know the full shape of the curse upon him.
The Feast’s Offering—
Kim Sinhwa—
With those guileless eyes, with that innocent bewitchment that lures a dull-witted insect, he will ensnare you again.
Even if you cut your legs off— Kim Sinhwa will weep honest tears and put them back on for you.
And you will dance this awful dance again.
“Ah... uhhh...”
Yes, there is only one way to change that future.
You cannot kill Kim Sinhwa.
But there is a way to kill him in one stroke together with the whole world.
By your will— erase this world at once.
No! That’s not the answer! Get away!
It’s already too late anyway. Kim Sinhwa has already found a way to subdue you. You will die by his hand.
So hurry—
Stop it! Shut up!
Kill yourself.
I arrived.
So long— so, so long.
Now I can finally do something about this problem too. Not right this instant, of course.
Kzzz-zz-zz-CRACK!
Scenery vanished wherever Gong Isu’s hand reached.
“Wow, talk about environmental destruction!”
“Ah... uhhh...”
“Hey? Senior?”
“Uuugh... no... stop...”
He can no longer tell reality from delirium. Not that it’s stopped him attacking.
“Wah—!”
[Blink]
KRAA-THOOM!
Hoo— that was truly dangerous. Even without the ability to rewind, Gong Isu possesses tremendous power.
If he hadn’t fallen into delirium— or if he’d intended to kill me from the start— I would never have made it this far.
“Senior, I’ll let you rest now.”
I turned my head to where I’d arrived.
To Jangmyeong Mountain.
Jangmyeong Mountain, overflowing with hideous contamination and curses— whatever happened here.
Kik—
The shadow of a Saturn-cat laughing at me from the dark.
Uwooooo—
Wraiths howled, sensing my mana.
And from the gloomy fog, a starving mansion revealed itself.
Bubble Head.
Now you realize what Kim Sinhwa is about to do to you.
“Yes... kill me quickly.”
Do you remember the hound?
Kim Sinhwa fed his familiar the [Hound of Tindalos].
It still remains in that mansion.
“The hound...”
Yes. The hound!
He will unleash those accursed monsters to attack you. You will become a vagrant of time again— wandering time forever.
Do you grasp Kim Sinhwa’s intention?
To shake the hound off, you’ll have no choice but to return to him and bow your head.
A life of humiliation.
Do you remember your future, trapped in a hospital? From now on, Kim Sinhwa will use you only as a tool for ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) his purposes.
And—
What you proudly set in motion before you rewound time— will happen again.
“N-no... I don’t want that...”
Then— there’s nothing for it but suicide.
Come, lift your left hand and touch your heart.
Does Watch Head die now?
No. The instant his heart stops, he will return to the past.
Splendid. An astonishing development. I’m eager to hear what kind of scream he’ll make facing the Feast’s Offering. As expected, after managing Watch Head for so long, you know perfectly how to handle him.
You’re too kind.
I will grant one free resource to blind Watch Head’s eyes.
Thank you.
Look— Kim Sinhwa is undoing the seal on the mansion.
Can’t you feel that viscous mana?
Kill yourself! If not now, there won’t be time.
“Ha-ha... heh-heh-heh...”
Hurry, while Kim Sinhwa is off guard— this is your last chance. Now is the time to take revenge and wreck his plan!
“Senior, wait!”
I unraveled the seal sustaining the mansion— and released what was trapped inside.
Someone sobbing. Someone laughing madly.
Clammy darkness. Bones rolling.
“You bastard! Fight me with some sense!”
KZZZ-zz-zz-CRACK!
KRAAAK!
I shouted again at Gong Isu.
“I don’t know what delirium you’re stuck in right now—!”
His left hand aimed at his heart.
Ah, damn. The instant a lethal blow lands, time jumps back!
[Chains of Dominion]
I wrapped him in chains of mana to restrain him and unleashed a spell.
[Demon-Sealing Array]
Gong Isu came to himself quite a long time later.
“Kim Sinhwa...?”
He sounded crackly, but far better than when he’d been saying things like “cut off your limbs” and “better off dead.”
Facing Gong Isu, trapped within a large silver barrier, I said:
“Are you clear now?”
“What did you do? Didn’t you unleash the hound?”
“Well, I thought about it at first— but it felt like a trap.”
The hourglass stared at me in silence. No eyes— so I can’t read the emotion.
“How did you know?”
So I was right. I don’t know the method, but an Abyssal being was pulling Gong Isu’s strings.
“You didn’t know? I’m kind of smart.”
“Hah—”
A dumbfounded snort slipped out.
“Good. At least now we can have a conversation.”
