His ears were deafened by a beating sound. His lips were dry and his throat burned. Cold and hot sensations ran down his spine at the same time.
The feeling of death.
When was the last time he’d felt it?
[There were two.]
The Demon King stretched out two thick fingers. After grabbing Yang In-hyun’s sword, the flesh and bones of his fingers had been damaged, but now not even a speck of blood was visible.
[In the beginning, there were only two worlds. Each world reflected the other like a mirror, and although they could never be separated, they also couldn’t interfere with each other. If there was a difference… it would be that only one world had endless possibilities. It’s a bit old fashioned, but if you wanted, you could call it the ‘World of Light’.]
Yang In-hyun silently listened to what the Demon King was saying.
This was for two reasons.
One was because he expected his physical condition would improve even slightly over time, and the other was because he couldn’t ignore what he was talking about.
[However, how many possibilities could one universe really contain? I’m sure you know. Yang In-hyun. The appearance of even a few Absolutes would be enough to make it creak.]
“…”
[The ‘certain being’ who first realised the situation had to come up with a countermeasure. However, there was no time to explore the many possibilities. The energy of destruction was already nibbling away at the universe, so the being adopted a not so perfect method.]
“Not so perfect method?”
[Duplication.]
The corner of the Demon King’s mouth twisted.
[Infinite duplicates of a single universe! In other words, the source of all of the three thousand worlds is the same! Worlds that developed magic, worlds that developed swordsmanship, and even worlds that developed science! From the start, they are all ‘the same universe’…!]
“…!”
[Hahaha! No one would ever notice! However, just one small event would be enough to determine the rise or fall of a universe! ‘A little urchin brat was going out on a rainy day but stopped’, such an insignificant thing is enough to determine whether a universe disappears or not! Much more than tens of thousands, millions and even trillions of years have passed since they were duplicated! So it’s no surprise that there’s nothing in common between the universes!]
“…then the Great Fusion occurred.”
[Right. It’s not really a Great Fusion. In fact, it’s perfectly normal. Currently, the universe is returning to its original state. Because the being who duplicated the universe is dead!]
“…”
[What type of being do you think I was at the beginning? What do you think the name 0th Demon means?]
The Demon King’s smile had already calmed.
[The concept of ‘evil’ stems from me. Every demon can be considered my child. Even the Black Horned Demon God, who acts as if he is invincible in the outside world, is nothing more than a being derived from me.]
Yang In-hyun,
Felt that he’d just heard an important detail. No. It wasn’t a ‘feeling’, he actually had.
Perhaps, even in all of the universes, there were no more than ten individuals who knew what the Demon King had just said.
The feeling of knowing the truth.
Of course, it was amazing. He was a bit taken aback. However, there was something.
‘The person to hear this shouldn’t have been me.’
—A faint thought.
Yang In-hyun looked at the Demon King. He’d been boasting about all kinds of things, but he had yet to mention the most important thing.
“What is your goal?”
[My goal? I’ve already accomplished it… I simply had the ‘role’ to come out. I got an ego. Then, I roamed the world as I pleased according to my own will. So I’m happy now.]
“That’s a funny joke.”
[…]
Yang In-hyun raised his sword again. It seemed that he’d been wrong. He’d thought that the feeling of his body becoming heavier was an illusion, but it probably wasn’t.
At this rate, instead of improving, it would only get worse as time passed.
[What’s funny?]
“Your own will? You think that is your will? It’s not. You’re just so hell-bent on roleplaying that it’s horrendous. Keep this in your empty head.”
Still with a smile, Yang In-hyun said.
“You can’t steal more than an ideal.”
[…]
“The reason you will lose to me is because you don’t even know that.”
[Hmm. Those last words aren’t that impressive.]
Seeing the Demon King take a stance, Yang In-hyun forcibly raised his heavy hands.
He managed to get into a stance.
“-huuu.”
As he took a deep breath, he couldn’t help but think.
After a long time, he was going to fight for his life again.
* * *
Lukas was moving quickly..
If he could use space leap, he would have arrived at his destination in an instant, but he couldn’t.
‘The spatial coordinates have twisted once again.’
It was completely incomparable to its previous state. The reason might be because of several overlapping problems that Lukas couldn’t identify, but one of them was definitely Pale going out of control.
The Four Knights, those guys were monsters.
It was hard to imagine that they could make space like this simply by revealing their true strength.
‘Can I stop her?’
Lukas couldn’t answer that question. His current relationship with Pale… compared to his past few lives, could be called the best. However, that and whether or not he could convince Pale were two different things. It was the same in the case of Yang In-hyun. The more powerful a being was beyond the standard, the more they carried a belief to never yield.
It was something that could not be touched, their so-called reverse scale.
…Butterfly.
It was very likely that the red-skinned girl that Pale had allowed into her heart had died. No, she was definitely dead. And that girl’s death had destroyed Pale’s ego.
If he were to go convince her now.
What was he supposed to say?
—His thoughts were interrupted.
Lukas stopped running and stepped back. Taking a step back was an act that he should never have committed as it was a situation where every minute and every second were urgent, but it couldn’t be helped.
Crack crack crack!
Hundreds of skeletal hands protruded from the ground.
The fingers on each palm wriggled, looking as disgusting as wriggling white maggots.
“-what the hell do you want?”
Lukas’ voice was filled with irritation.
As if to answer, a being wrapped in black cloth fell from the sky.
Lukas’ chilly gaze was directed at him.
“Do you need me to explain to you what it means to bother me in this situation, Diablo?”
[No.]
With a brief response, Diablo straightened his back after landing.
[I know you’re worried about the Blue Knight’s rampage. First of all, it’s fine. I’ve already sent a much better expert than you.]
Lukas’ expression changed strangely.
[I was hoping that you’d hear an explanation from Iris Phisfounder. Because I thought that it would be better than if I were to say it myself. But it seems that she has more thoughts than I expected. Right. Then it can’t be helped. I guess I can only say it myself.]
“What are you thinking?”
Since he was really curious, he couldn’t help but ask.
“You sent the Black Knight to Pale. Don’t you know what the current situation means?”
He pointed a finger at Diablo.
“Do you think it would take more than a second for me to kill you here?”
Diablo was completely defenceless.
He had observed him for a few seconds to be certain of that fact. Of course, he might have some means of protecting himself, but those wouldn’t be too much of a problem. His defences would be weaker than water soaked paper.
That’s why he couldn’t understand.
Why did Diablo show up defenceless?
Was it because he hadn’t grasped void?
Was it because he determined that Lukas was really weak the last time they met so he could protect himself even in this situation?
No. That was a sloppy thought.
Diablo knew that Lukas had been to the ‘World of Void’.
[You have the right to be my death.]
There was even a hint of willingness in his voice.
He kept silent because he wasn’t convinced.
…Was it right to continue a conversation with this man?
Would it just be better to kill him?
Crackle, dark red energy formed on his outstretched finger.
The King of Undead, Elder Lich, Undead.
He was a death-defying being with several titles, but that wasn’t a problem for Lukas.
[Listen.]
Suddenly, the Lightning God spoke.
…His tone was different from usual.
After a while, Lukas realised that there wasn’t any amusement in his voice.
[This is a crossroad.]
‘What?’
The Lightning God’s voice cut off.
Biting his lip, Lukas looked at Diablo.
“You have no choice but to say it yourself? What more conversation needs to be had between you and me?”
[About death.]
It was a statement that made him want to grit his teeth.
Death, death, death.
Diablo seemed obsessed with the word. It even felt like he was bound by it.
It was a word that he always had in his mouth. And he didn’t have even the slightest hesitation in his planning and execution in spreading death across the continent.
When it came to the subject of committing genocide, he even had a slight feeling of nobility.
That was why Lukas thought Diablo was twisted. He thought that he was obsessed with false justice.
However, for the first time, this thought showed signs of cracking.
If that was the case, then why?
Lucid, Iris, and his other past companions.
Why did they all agree with Diablo?
[What do you think is the difference between death and vanishing*?](*:Still haven’t found a better word for ‘ceasing to exist’. But I like this more than ‘disappearing’ or ‘extinction’?)
A seemingly random topic was raised.
Lukas didn’t respond hastily.
[My assumption is that there would be neither a soul nor an afterlife, that is my standpoint. To vanish is to completely disappear without any observation. No one would remember you, and there would be no traces of you left in the world. In that case, then what is the difference between that and not existing in the first place?]
“…what are you talking about?”
[There has never been a complete vanishing in this world. Anything that once existed still exists in some form. In other words, there was always a ‘next’.]
He didn’t understand what he was talking about.
But Lukas lowered his outstretched finger and listened to his words.
[After a mortal dies, the soul remains. And the ‘next’, such as the afterlife, resurrection, or reincarnation, is guaranteed. As it turns out, there is even a ‘next’ for Absolutes called the ‘World of Void’. It’s the same for you, Lukas Trowman. Even when all the beings in your home universe forgot you, some Absolutes and other beings in the multiverse, and above all, the Void Records, still remembered your existence.]
Green death energy swirled behind Diablo’s back. It wasn’t to attack.
The death energy soon condensed to form a shape.
It was a fairly large jar.
[Nothing vanishes, yet new life continues to be born and fill the multiverse.]
Death energy in the form of water poured into the jar.
[Filling. Filling. Slowly but surely, until it’s completely full. The world has been filled. This is the core, the truth of the world. In this world we live in, nothing has ever been ‘taken out’.]
A full jar.
A place where nothing else could fit.
[What happens if you try to forcibly put something into a space that has been filled? Normally, it would probably overflow. Or stick out on the outside. However, this jar doesn’t have an ‘outside’. Likewise, the Three Thousand Worlds doesn’t have an outside.]
Crack, crack.
The jar began to crack.
[Infinity is a concept that couldn’t exist.]
Clink-
The jar broke
(TL: Question for the maths/physics whizzes, can an infinite number be contained within a finite number(space)?)
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