Chapter 313: Welcome, Nebula
The weapon of the second moon, the Pulverizer, struck the second Sky Castle, which immediately plunged hundreds of meters and shook violently. Demons on the Sky Castle burst forth and were then crushed, and for a while, the hole put into the Sky Castle spewed out remnants that were once demons. Fountains of blood erupted, dirtying the first Sky Castle.
Bifnen Dial Robane looked up at the sky.
Sha-Cha said,
-Take care of Loom.
-Alright. Leave the rest to me.
As Dide nodded, Sha-Cha and three other evil gods jumped toward the Sky Castle. The evil gods had now broken free from the system, and they fought in the ancient way. Hierophany didn’t start out as a skill. The Hierophany body was the true form of the evil gods. It was just that the state demanded too much entropy, so they sealed their own form.
Bwel was the primeval Werewolf. Born in a distant, evil space, having lost its own origin, this being was as large as a Dragon and lived by hunting the massive carnivores residing in the magical space. It was a monster that hunted monsters and the king of monsters, until it got lost and fell into a secluded place called Avartin.
Jeol Woo-Bi was the first Vampire, turned into a giant by an uncontrollable want for blood. Raised somewhere in the evil space as a sacrifice, its overflowing blood crossed a threshold, transforming it into an entirely different being. Had it not fallen into Avartin, it would have remained as the sole god of a world.
Jeolyo was the beginning of Fairies. Jeolyo was born as a living being embodying the possibility of becoming anything, the product of a sage's magical experiment. Guided by the desire that created them, Jeolyo decided to become the very sage who brought them into existence, absorbing and physically projecting every being they ate. Unfortunately, among the sage's knowledge was Avartin.
Sha-Cha was the origin of Deep Ones. This monster, having lived for a very long time in the deep sea of the evil space, was the parent of the scaled beings and the master of the tentacled ones. Sha-Cha came to Avartin by their own will, unable to simply watch as their children fell into the large hole known as Avartin.
The four evil gods stood before the wave of demon corpses pouring down. The apostles of the Pantheon and Angry One also willingly joined them.
Sha-Cha, with an indescribable body, extended their tentacles far.
-Bifnen, come down if you're not afraid.
Bifnen didn’t respond. Instead, he searched for his long-unused weapons and entered his own Sky Castle.
***
In the depths of the demon world, in the first imagery world, Aldin lay still, unaware that the evil gods had returned and the war had taken a new turn.
What Aldin quickly grasped was the authority within the system, while the evil gods had descended upon Avartin from outside the system.
Moreover, Aldin's current focus was on her own body. The shattered Incarnation of Hegemonia, having fallen with her, had pierced her ribs, making breathing difficult. Coughing, blood splattered and spilled onto her face. Aldin thought it unlikely that an old god would die from such wounds, but she realized that if the injuries accumulated in the second, third, and fourth imagery worlds, she would certainly die.
‘Father will revive me anyway.’
Aldin wasn’t afraid of death. Even when the Returner died, and during the subsequent torture, and again when the suffering Returner was used as a weapon in the war against the evil gods before disappearing entirely, Aldin had plunged the Returner's staff into her own heart. More than death, what Aldin feared was being revived.
Her mission was over, and she closed her eyes to focus on her other selves in the other imagery worlds.
***
In the second imagery world, Aldin realized something was wrong. The monster was indeed an illusion, but when she reached the spot where Sung-Woon should have been, following the calculations, Sung-Woon wasn’t there.
Since she had already encountered Sung-Woon in the fourth imagery world, the importance of this second world diminished. However, to strike Sung-Woon more effectively, coordinated attacks from multiple imagery worlds were necessary. In this sense, Aldin's surprise attack had failed.
‘Were my calculations wrong?’
Aldin anxiously looked around. Something had gone wrong.
***
In the third imagery world, Mazdari's spell breath finally emerged. A magenta light beam shot toward Aldin, scraping the inside of the cave following a curved trajectory rather than a straight one, the color one of pure magic. Aldin raised every protective spell she knew in preparation, but she realized there was no way to block the light. Death was coming.
***
In the fourth imagery world, Aldin was quick.
"Don't move."
Before Sung-Woon's guards and even the two apostles could react, Aldin drew her pistol. Having used the Returner's staff for tens of thousands of years, Aldin was more skilled in aiming this pistol than any master of weaponry.
Although she faced defeat in the third imagery world and lost her way in the second, she had achieved her goal in the first imagery world. If she just killed Sung-Woon in this deepest, fourth imagery world, it would be her victory.
Aldin said, "Father is enraged. If things continue this way, you will suffer for a long time. Father does not tire easily."
"So?"
"...So, it's better for you to die now, before the system assimilates you. If possible, tell the other players to kill themselves quickly too. This is my final act of mercy."
Sung-Woon leaned deeply into his chair, bored. Occasionally, such situations arose—where the opponent refused to surrender and exit in the late stage of a game.
Of course, there were times when one had to focus until the very end, but a competent player would know when the game had progressed to a certain point that victory was unattainable, and that they had lost unless the opponent gave up absurdly.
Sung-Woon knew this feeling well and, to avoid wasting each other's time and to quickly win the next game, he would just surrender and exit promptly. Although playing to the end could result in a win in one out of twenty games, Sung-Woon didn’t particularly enjoy such lucky wins.
There were more than a couple of players who threatened Sung-Woon in this game, but the one who truly made it enjoyable and serious was Hegemonia, again and again.
In terms of danger, the evil gods and the old gods were no less than Hegemonia, but the evil gods were more bug players, and the old gods were hack players. Neither knew how to play a proper game. Under the same conditions, they would probably lose to Ovenwave.
The only one Sung-Woon had some expectations for was Aldin, but even at this stage, she seemed less competent, given her boring talk. Of course, Sung-Woon respected Aldin's own accomplishments, but thought that in 40,000 years, he himself could have done something similar.
Sung-Woon said, "I won't accept mercy as an excuse. But I won't hold a grudge either. Shoot."
Aldin became afraid, uncertain if Sung-Woon were being sincere, or just a provocation, and perhaps a psychological ploy to create an opening and seize an opportunity.
Aldin pulled the trigger, aiming at Sung-Woon's forehead.
'This ends destiny.'
But what Aldin pictured didn’t happen. The fired bullet stopped in front of Sung-Woon's face. Sensing something odd, Aldin repeatedly pulled the trigger, emptying the magazine. The bullets all stopped mid-air.
Sung-Woon picked up one of the stopped bullets, examined it, quickly lost interest, and dropped it on the table. The rest of the bullets clattered down after it.
"...Impossible." Aldin pulled the trigger. The magazine was empty. "...Causality turned the staff into a gun. This imagery world mimics external space, so magic...shouldn't exist."
"Is that what you think?"
Aldin considered another possibility. "Even as the creator of this imagery world, you can't touch my belongings."
Sung-Woon, as if he couldn't bear to listen anymore, stood up and lightly flicked his finger. Suddenly, the pistol in Aldin's hand twisted, dropped, and then slid as if being pulled into Sung-Woon's hand, which was resting on the table.
Aldin was belatedly shocked.
Sung-Woon, holding the ivory handle, removed the magazine, placed it on the table, lightly pulled the hammer, disassembled the gun into upper and lower parts, looked inside the barrel, reassembled it, inserted the magazine, checked the slide stop, and then pulled the empty trigger.
"Having the same soul, this is mine." However, contrary to his words, Sung-Woon put the gun down on the table and pushed it back toward Aldin. "I already have another pistol as a gift, so I don't need this one. Keep it."
Aldin, with a frozen expression, picked up the pistol in front of her, but soon realized it was meaningless.
Aldin said, "...It wasn’t only the fourth world that was your creation?"
"That’s right. The third and second too. Oh, and of course, the first. They were all mine."
"That's impossible. The system would..."
"The system has already been destroyed."
"It's still operating."
"I made it appear that way. Partially, at least."
Aldin shook her head. All of that must have been a bluff. Sung-Woon could have reached a level of Tuning, but Aldin didn’t believe his abilities could be that exceptional.
It was a fundamental issue: humans on Earth were a different species from those of Avartin. There were physiological problems, including brain structure, in using magic.
Sung-Woon said, "There's always a way to overcome weaknesses."
Sung-Woon lifted with one hand the black lizard, Kyle Lak Orazen, and with the other, the white crow, Mazdari. The two apostles climbed onto Sung-Woon's shoulders.
"You've been too immersed in magic. That's why you haven't paid enough attention to non-magical things."
"Like what?"
"Capital, for instance."
"We didn't need that. Lacking resources could be created through Faith points in the system."
"That's the problem. Or take technology, for example."
"Again, not needed. The system is the machine."
"That's true. But monopolized technology has clear limits. How much has the system developed over the tens of thousands of years since the Returner died?"
Aldin couldn't answer. The Returner occasionally maintained the system, but they felt limited in updating it. The other old gods didn't know about the system, so they didn't come up with new ideas. They thought it was sufficient as it was.
"That’s what I thought. Even something like the second moon, which appears to be a product of advanced science, is actually a Miracle achieved by consuming Faith points."
"...Right."
The system was an all-powerful machine. By consuming Faith points, it could even bring in future scientific technologies. There was no need to learn or understand technology. Just create it and use it.
Aldin continued, "But machines are just tools. They're not important."
"That's where you're blind, Aldin. You've become short on imagination because you're so focused on the inner space's existing illusions. If the system is a machine, then so are people. Conversely, if they develop enough, machines can become people too."
".....?"
Sung-Woon lightly tapped the table. Then, the table lost its balance and fell to the floor. Startled, Aldin shot to her feet, and the chairs they were sitting on also collapsed. Simultaneously, the small room where they were toppled over. It was just a set.
Aldin looked around the fallen partitions. Under the dim lighting, she realized she was in a space crammed with square machines. The machines were interconnected with wires, and coolers were furiously working to dissipate heat.
Aldin recognized these machines well. They were computers.
"Aldin, this isn’t an imagery world," Sung-Woon said. "This is the Sanctuary."
And the Sanctuary swiftly responded.
"Welcome, player Nebula... You brought a guest?"
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