Chapter 601
“Cough...!”
A strange hollowness spread through his chest as he staggered back.
Completely caught off guard, Se-Hoon could only watch as the black blade that had emerged from within him—having completely blown open the area around his heart and chest—returned to Ludwig.
What....
The thin, razor-sharp blade was formed from some compressed.... Void?
Just how had that blade pierced his heart and emerged from inside him? Where did it come from—Se-Hoon figured out the answer the moment the question reached his tongue.
“The Aeon Sphere....”
The inheritance Ludwig had left, a sealing device for the Void that had been created using fragments of power. If Ludwig had hidden some kind of mechanism inside it, everything made sense. If that truly was the case, it didn’t matter that it had been in the Dream Storage in his solar plexus.
But while that did, Se-Hoon was still filled with questions—predominantly one.
“Why...?”
Why was he trying to kill him? How could he handle the Void so skillfully? Did those words “Destroyer of Heavens” really mean that?
Countless questions swirled through Se-Hoon’s mind, making him stare straight at Ludwig to demand answers.
Woong-
The Void blade in Ludwig’s hand trembled, seemingly resonating with something. A moment later, the atmosphere started changing little by little.
From a presence no different from a figure inside a recording, the projection left behind by the Ludwig of the past started feeling alive.
“Tsk. Didn’t I tell you, Ludwig? This one could never stand with us.”
An alien voice flowed from the projection’s mouth, as if Ludwig’s body had been taken over.
“What... are you?”
Hearing that question, Ludwig—or rather, the being occupying his body—met Se-Hoon’s narrowed gaze.
“I am Ascension. That is what Ludwig once called me.”
“Ascension...” Se-Hoon muttered, frowning.
Not the Destroyer of Heavens, but Ascension?
Upon seeing Ascension freely wielding a blade made of Void, Se-Hoon had instinctively assumed that it was something akin to that Harbinger of Destruction. After all, both before and after his regression, Ludwig’s deaths had been tied either to the Destroyer of Heavens or to the Garden of Void, where its source lingered.
It was only natural that Se-Hoon thought there was some connection. However, as it turned out, the being that claimed to be Ascension had said that Ludwig had given it that name himself.
What kind of relationship did Ludwig and Ascension even have?
Names of beings like Perfect Ones and Harbingers of Destruction were never given without reason. In other words, if a being that wielded the power of Void and destruction insisted on calling itself Ascension instead of the Destroyer of Heavens, then there had to be a proper reason and purpose behind it.
Ludwig said he would destroy the Ring and liberate humanity.
Se-Hoon’s mind raced, trying to find the answer. Back then, when Ludwig had spoken of a wish that was practically no different from the destruction of the world, he had added a certain disclaimer: This is not the same as destroying the world.
Se-Hoon hadn’t noticed a contradiction when he first heard them. But unlike then, he could see the glaring inconsistency.
If humanity could survive, then to us it might truly not be destruction. But would the Ring see it that way?
When he had fought the Seeker near the Abyss of Demons, Se-Hoon had released the Void within the Aeon Sphere and created a hole leading outside the world. At that time, the Golden Ring had immediately intervened and blocked it.
That by itself was sure proof that the Golden Ring, though devoid of selfhood, possessed a fundamental defense mechanism to protect itself—and by association, the world.
Ludwig never would have been able to destroy the Ring—or even consider it, for that matter.
As beings who became part of the world’s laws and were subordinated to the Golden Ring, the Perfect Ones by nature were physically unable to go against that defense mechanism. Ludwig himself had even said so, which was why he gave up on ascension overall.
Yet he had changed his mind and was talking about the destruction of the Golden Ring again, even claiming that he could help? If Se-Hoon had thought about it, the answer would have been obvious from the start.
“Ascension... no, Chairman. You aren’t possessed or corrupted at all, are you?”
“...”
“The Perfect One who wields the power of space and you, Ascension, who wields the power of the Destroyer of Heavens... both of them were beings born from Ludwig Schubert himself.”
Like the Seeker who had become a demon in order to escape the Golden Ring’s subjugation, Ludwig had become a Harbinger of Destruction to gain the authority to destroy the Golden Ring.
The Emperor of Ascension—that was the true identity of the Destroyer of Heavens, a Harbinger of Destruction which had never once been revealed.
“...Tsk. You’re as quick to catch on as ever.”
Ascension’s reaction all but confirmed it.
“Ludwig met the Elder Lord in order to achieve ascension, and upon obtaining a Harbinger Shard, he successfully proved the possibility of destruction. But that was an act that violated the laws of the Golden Ring.”
A Perfect One could not become a Harbinger of Destruction, and a Harbinger of Destruction could not become a Perfect One. That was a core law of the world, and so Ludwig had no choice but to separate his new power from himself.
“The power of the Harbinger of Destruction was sealed away by creating an artificial island like Babel, and the enlightenment of destruction was divided off into Whitespace. Thus were born the Garden of Void and I, who was named Ascension.”
“...”
“If you’re asking whether we are the same being, you’d be right. Whether in the past, present, or future, we have always been one.”
The declaration resounded in the air as Ascension’s presence changed once more, returning to the gentle expression from before.
“The wish of Ludwig Schubert, who longed for ascension for the sake of humanity. We are the projections of that wish. Do you understand now?”
“...Yes. I can at least tell now that your mind was never entirely sound, Chairman.”
“If you put it that way, I have nothing to say,” Ludwig replied, an awkward smile on his face.
“...”
Gazing at Ludwig. Se-Hoon felt his fingertips trembling faintly. The chill that accompanied it came from the wound in his chest, where the Void blade had pierced through. It was still widening, devouring both his blood and mana in the process.
It’s not regenerating.... This is bad.
If he used Dream Manifestation, he might somehow be able to recover, but Ludwig would never stand by and simply watch him do it. For now, all he could do was clutch the chest wound that was slowly dragging him toward death and look straight ahead.
“There’s one thing I want to ask.”
He now understood how Ludwig could wield the Void and what method existed to destroy the Ring. That left one glaring question he still could not understand.
“Why exactly are you trying to kill me?”
If the goal was genuinely to destroy the Ring and liberate humanity, then shouldn’t they simply work together to find a method that would work without deaths? Why was he acting now, when the ascension of humanity was at risk, to kill him?
Ludwig calmly met Se-Hoon’s gaze.
“Because of your potential to become the new calamity that stands in humanity’s way.”
A heavy silence followed. Se-Hoon was flabbergasted, unable to believe what he had heard.
“Me...? Becoming a new calamity...?”
“So you’ve never thought about it. Well, it is difficult to evaluate oneself as objectively as one would another.”
Looking at Se-Hoon, Ludwig indifferently asked, “What do you think would happen if, in the distant future, those precious to you were to leave one by one?”
“...”
“I do not mean accidents or deaths from illness that can be prevented through the Blessing of the Eternal. I am talking about them departing after fully living out the lifespan given to them. Faced with those deaths, would you really be able to let them go?”
Imagining the scenario, Se-Hoon hesitated for a moment, then steeled himself.
“I can.”
Ludwig nodded.
“Yes. You would say that you can. And perhaps you truly could. But what if you could not?”
What would happen to the world if Se-Hoon, of all people, were to act?
Knowing the answer, Se-Hoon couldn’t bring himself to say anything.
“You are neither a Perfect One nor a Harbinger of Destruction. You have attained the realm of transcendence, yet your synesthetic mindscape remains unfinished. In other words, you are a being who could still change at any time.”
“...”
“That peculiarity is a great strength in that it lets you adapt flexibly to changes in the world. However, put differently, it also means that you could turn at any moment from a blessing that guides humanity into a calamity.”
The ability to correct past mistakes was the same as denying the past self. That couldn’t be denied. And that was why Ludwig believed Se-Hoon, as he was now, was humanity’s greatest threat.
“Suppose you do fail to accept the deaths of those precious to you—or your own death—how would you act? Naturally, you would regress to the past. You would turn back hundreds, thousands of years of time, tearing down everything humanity had built like a sandcastle.”
“What are you talking about...!” Refusing to accept that accusation, Se-Hoon forced the shout through gritted teeth. “There’s no way I would ever—”
“Of course, perhaps you would not. You are someone who even extends warmth to complete strangers. But again, as I said before, that is the you of now.”
Ludwig gazed at Se-Hoon coldly.
“There is no guarantee how the future you may change, nor any guarantee that anyone could stop you then. That is why I intend to deal with you now. While you are sustaining humanity’s ascension, it should be difficult for your regression to activate.”
Se-Hoon’s eyes twisted. Ludwig had seen straight through his situation.
“...You’ve prepared thoroughly.”
“This is a situation where the world could be trapped in an endless loop. It is a matter where I have no choice but to prepare thoroughly.”
“...”
“Also... you know it too, don’t you? That I had no choice but to do this.”
Regardless of whether one showed malice, so long as they possessed the ability to destroy the world, they could do nothing but remain perpetually on guard until the moment of their death.
Yes, it was an extreme assumption. Yet Se-Hoon could not refute it. After all, he too had held the same assumption when it came to the Perfect Ones. Like Ludwig now, he had been preparing all along for that supposed moment.
“I had believed in your drive to improve. I thought that if you learned the Ring was suppressing humanity’s potential, you would stand with me.
“But I doubted your resolve. Seeing how much you valued your ties to others, I thought you would reject any choice that required accepting someone’s sacrifice. And so, I prepared for this moment.
“I will not ask you to understand. Nor do you need to accept it. Resist until the very end. I will do the same.”
Ludwig leveled the Void blade at him, full of resolve. Staring back, Se-Hoon swallowed the full truth: Ludwig was still the same man he had been when they first met.
In the past, Ludwig had helped him for the sake of destroying the Golden Ring to protect humanity’s future from it. In the present, Ludwig had drawn his sword in order to once again protect humanity’s future, except it was from the wave known as regression.
Whether then or now, it was for humanity.
“I see... then I guess there’s nothing left aside from settling this once and for all.”
Se-Hoon understood him. He, too, had fought enemies with values and convictions not unlike Ludwig’s. Thus he also understood one fact: there was no room for compromise between the two protectors. All that was left was a bitter fight to the end.
“...”
“...”
The two looked at one another.
Preparing, Se-Hoon suppressed the wound in his chest as he drew together what little strength he had left. Then, to block Ludwig’s next slash, he activated Celestial Infinity Blade and forged sword aura—
Slash!
Se-Hoon’s vision spun. Ludwig’s sword... had already moved?
By the time he processed the attack, the sensation below his neck vanished, and the sky became the ground in his eyes.
Swoosh-
A gray ring appeared beneath the feet of the two men right as Se-Hoon’s severed head was about to fall.
“This is...!”
The moment Ludwig’s eyes widened at the sight of that ring—the power of Regression activating—Se-Hoon’s head, which had been suspended in midair, returned to its place. On top of that, even the wound in his chest had vanished cleanly.
“...”
Ludwig fell silent, mulling over the new set of memories that had abruptly appeared in his mind.
“Amazing.... As expected, you have been preparing for a situation like this from the moment you got your hands on the research journal.”
He could tell that the regression that had just occurred wasn’t triggered by Se-Hoon. Rather, from what he could tell, destroying the Aeon Sphere—which he had done himself by pulling out the Void Blade—had spread the circulating power of Regression dwelling within it through the surroundings.
In other words, the lingering power had reacted to Se-Hoon’s death and automatically regressed time back to the limited extent of its abilities.
“I got hit badly in the back of the head not too long ago, so I prepared it just in case. Well... I didn’t expect it to be used like this.”
Originally, he had prepared it for the possibility that the Seeker might have stubbornly survived and interfered with the Ascension Project. Either way, though, thanks to that, he had all the information he needed and reset the situation back to the beginning.
Thus, Se-Hoon began preparations anew, reviewing the death he had just experienced, while Ludwig looked around.
The spatial coordinates around the central plaza are slightly distorted. Only the area enclosed by the Ring regressed?
Was it because there had not been enough power to rewind the entire world? Or had Se-Hoon deliberately done it that way so that his allies outside its range could still come to support him?
Deliberating over what Se-Hoon was intending, Ludwig soon put an end to those thoughts.
It changes nothing.
If the entire world had not regressed, that meant humanity’s great undertaking—ascension—was still active. Nothing had changed from before.
Either way, I need to settle things with Se-Hoon.
Focusing back on the stage created for the two of them, Ludwig lightly loosened his body.
“Your preparedness is admirable, but your advance investigation was lacking.”
“Is that so? If you’d be so kind as to tell me what I overlooked, I’ll use it as reference and make improvements.”
Se-Hoon’s sarcasm didn’t make Ludwig bat an eye.
“So you’re going to buy time with regressions then? Does that mean you are confident that, no matter what happens, you will not die before you find a chance to reset the stage?”
Once again the Void Blade was leveled at Se-Hoon, and Ludwig’s eyes turned cold.
“I have no intention of letting you live that long.”
Slash!
Along the black trajectory drawn by the Void Blade, everything split apart.
It was the ultimate form of spatial swordsmanship, one that omitted even the motion of connecting the start and end points of the sword’s path before swinging. Previously, Se-Hoon had failed to react in time and lost his head.
It’s coming...!
Having experienced it once, however, Se-Hoon could feel the killing intent shooting toward his throat; to dodge, he narrowly tilted his head back just before Ludwig’s slash crossed space and arrived, barely avoiding it.
Moving forward, Se-Hoon tried to close the distance by finding the gap between intervals before Ludwig could swing again—
This!
His vision flipped upside down.
Swoosh!
The inverted sky returned to normal. Regressing to the moment before his throat was cut, Se-Hoon stared at Ludwig in shock.
How?! I definitely dodged it...
Just what had happened? Unfortunately, there was no time to think. Se-Hoon immediately rushed forward.
For now, I have to keep clashing with him until I figure it out...!
Ordinarily, he would have used the power of Space to close the distance, but using that against Ludwig?
Because of that, instead of leaping across space, Se-Hoon pushed his mind to its limit to search for a gap through which he could break into Ludwig’s range. Once he found one, then he could invoke the power of Premotion and attack faster than Ludwig’s unfathomable slash...?
...There isn’t one?
Among the hundreds of fragments from a split fleeting, where every gap in the world was laid bare, there was not even one leading to Ludwig. It didn’t matter how much he pushed the speed of his brain, how finely he divided time.
There was no gap.
Ludwig had a perfectly flawless state, as though gaps themselves did not exist around him. Se-Hoon was so flabbergasted that his movement froze for the briefest moment in surprise—
Slash!
The slash crossed space once again to sever Se-Hoon’s head.
Swoosh-
Dying twice in the blink of an eye, Se-Hoon abandoned the idea of closing in and instead launched dozens of sword aura blades at once.
Whoosh!
The blades shot through the air like streaks of light, flying in a pattern that covered every direction. Like that, they reached Ludwig’s immediate vicinity in the blink of an eye and were on the verge of piercing him through.
That was when a bizarre sight unfolded. The blades of sword aura, which had been streaking across the sky at blistering speeds, abruptly slowed without warning until they all stopped in place...?
Watching that utterly uncanny scene, Se-Hoon’s brow furrowed upon realizing the source of the anomaly.
That’s not... them stopping.
In fact, the blades of sword aura were moving at the same speed as before—in fact, they were even speeding up. Then why did the information conveyed through the blades and what his eyes saw not match?
Space... Ludwig warped his surroundings with the power of Space.
Though it appeared to be only about a meter away, the swords were actually in an infinite stretch of space that had been endlessly compressed, forming a blank zone that no one could cross.
That was also why, no matter how hard Se-Hoon searched for a gap, he could not find one.
Bloom of Whitespace: Voidless Horizon
A nearly invincible barrier created with the power of Space. Its only weakness was that one could simply leap across it in a single bound, but there was no way Ludwig—who governed the laws of space—would stand by and allow that.
So this is Ludwig... the true power of the Emperor of Ascension.
It was at that moment that Se-Hoon actually understood exactly what Ludwig had meant when he said Se-Hoon’s advance investigation had been insufficient.
He, who had thought he had grasped Ludwig’s abilities to some extent upon grasping the power of Space himself and through experimenting with the Void, was in fact a frog stuck in a never-ending well.
If that’s the case...
Ordinary attacks would never break through Ludwig’s defense, and there was no time to use other methods. So, thinking through the best thing he could do now, Se-Hoon immediately detonated all the sword aura blades surrounding Ludwig at once.
Crack-
Compressed sword aura tore through the entire central plaza, scattering razor-sharp intent everywhere. Even Se-Hoon himself was caught in the blast and slashed all over.
Yet, in stark contrast, Ludwig—wrapped in Voidless Horizon—stood completely unscathed. But Se-Hoon paid that no mind and instantly took up a shooting stance.
Woong!
A white light gathered in his outstretched left hand and transformed into a longbow, while in his drawn right hand appeared a black arrow compressed from the Netherworld’s mana—two usages of powers, Perception and Boundaries respectively, in one breath.
With both prepared, Se-Hoon once more searched Ludwig for a gap.
There... it is!
He could see a way to pierce Ludwig’s heart by crossing the boundary between reality and Whitespace.
In truth, however, the chance of success was almost impossibly small. Still, as long as such a possibility existed, he could make it into reality.
Wasting no time, Se-Hoon drew the bowstring back even harder and, through Dream Manifestation, released the Netherworld Arrow at that gap—
Bloom of Whitespace: Celestial Evasion Sword
An invisible slash split Se-Hoon’s body in two.
