With a blurred consciousness, Yang In-hyun recalled some unpleasant memories.
– A world that was wiped out and destroyed, the seeds that were planted in that devastated world, and the flowers that bloomed after a long time… Then what would the next form be?
The reason they were unpleasant was simple and childish.
-Do I want to put destruction or regeneration into my sword? Can I answer that? No. I can’t.
What he said went right through the heart of it.
And it seemed that he was more upset because he had pierced the heart of it.
“…hoo.”
He tried to wipe blood off of his face, but it didn’t come off easily.
The Demon King’s blood smelled worse than that of a human, and it was disgustingly sticky.
[Understood. So that was your final form.]The Demon God possessed the body of the Demon King.
His limbs had been severed, and his body was carved with countless sword scars. Rather than being cut by a sword technique, he looked as if he had been butchered by countless small blades.
[It’s incomplete.]
“…”
[But it’s strong. In fact, because it is incomplete, it is the form that suits you the best right now.]
The Demon God grinned.
[The power of the Twelve Void Lords. It’s a bit higher than I expected. Or maybe you are special. That’s one more interesting thing to consider.]
Then the body gradually began to lose vitality.
[That’s a pretty good killer move.]
Tuk, his head fell.
The body of the Demon King, which had become a corpse, soon scattered into ashes. Yang In-hyun watched on indifferently before murmuring.
“…right now, I am stronger than I was right after coming to the Three Thousand Worlds. If it wasn’t for that, I would have lost to you.”
Yang In-hyung started walking away, but he collapsed after taking a few steps.
“Cough.”
The blood that he had been suppressing until then finally came up. Not caring that his clothes would get dirty, Yang In-hyun spat it out.
Bleeding any further would put his life at risk, but forcibly swallowing it wouldn’t change anything.
With blurred vision, Yang In-Hyun looked up at the sky.
He could see the shape of the [Next Stage]. He was vaguely aware of what was happening there.
Subconsciously, he reached out his hand, but his vision soon faded.
“…”
Why did he fight so desperately, to the point of foolishness? He…
Yang In-hyun asked himself.
He had never used the last form of the Everlasting Plum Sword in actual combat. There were very few opponents that could cause him to use it, and even then, he hesitated to do so.
As the Demon God said, this form is still incomplete. It wasn’t just because of the burden on his body, but also because the consumption of mental strength was greater than he expected. Since it was a blow that truly changed the power of existence, it had even created the illusion that ‘his own’ existence was fading.
The last form of the Everlasting Plum Sword could be called Yang In-hyun’s final act of desperation, something he would only take out when he was ready to risk his life.
‘Why?’
Was the fight with the Demon God really worth that much?
To be honest, it wasn’t.
‘That would have been true if he wasn’t involved.’
He kept his promise.
Thanks to this, he felt strangely satisfied before death.
However, the regret was greater.
The Everlasting Plum Sword was an expression of Yang In-hyun’s inner world in the form of swordsmanship.
Past, present, and future.
What Yang In-hyun wanted to add to the last form of the Everlasting Plum Sword was the future he wanted to paint. The reason it was incomplete until now was because he still wasn’t clear about what future he wanted to paint.
Nevertheless, something had changed.
Did he have a future that he wanted to paint now?
-For me, human nature is being able to toast a glass of wine under the moonlight.
…I see.
So he was calling him a human, like him.
Was that the answer he got after seeing him like that?
If that was the case, then there was something he wanted to tell him. Things he wanted to show, and conversations he wanted to have.
‘How about it? Let’s have a chat over a glass of wine.’
He said that he had something to tell him about Lee Jong-hak.
Right.
It would be nice if it was a day that was a little cold, a day when you had to adjust your collar because of the chill, and a day when the moonlit night was especially beautiful.
Yang In-hyun forcibly got to his feet. Then, he tried to use his sword as a cane to walk, but he collapsed once again before he could get too far. He didn’t expect that not having a leg would be so uncomfortable. This was not the Void World, so there was no way to regenerate the severed leg.
He might have to continue living like this, so he would probably have to develop martial arts that were suitable to be used with one leg.
Kneeling on the ground, he leaned against his sword.
His eyelids were heavy and his body couldn’t move well.
He decided to take a break for a while and think up a name for the new form.
‘…the moon reflected in the wine glass.’
A name like that should be fine.
…Everlasting Plum Sword, Third Form, Glass Moon.
With a faint smile, Yang In-hyun went stiff.
And he could not move any longer.
* * *
Even when faced with his future death, Lukas didn’t feel despair.
He just tried to push away the feeling of resignation that came in like a wave.
…Did a way to change a fixed future really not exist?
Lukas struggled to find hope.
However, the sea of stars, which had once been filled with countless possibilities, had lost all colour. The great sea of possibilities had stopped moving and become stagnant.
What did you see, Lukas Trowman?”
He heard the Lightning God’s voice.
“…I don’t even need to ask such a stupid question.”
He clicked his tongue in irritation.
He must have felt the way the battle situation changed more clearly than anyone else.
To borrow the words of the Lightning God, the ‘momentum’ had been grasped by the opponent. Pale, who had been taken over by her emotions, showed off her ridiculous martial might as she overwhelmed the Lightning God.
“Is this the result of the crazy thing you wanted to do? You really are annoying. To make this Lightning God suffer a defeat, even indirectly.”
[Sorry.]
“Hmph. It’s your body anyway.”
Suddenly, the Thunder wrapped around his body was cut apart by Pale’s blade.
This situation was no different from having a warrior having his armour, shield and sword destroyed. But instead of being surprised or shocked, the Lightning God only clicked his tongue once.
“Tch.”
Pale didn’t miss the opening and darted in. After narrowing the distance till she was just below his chin, with the hilt of her sword held in both hands, she raised the sword and slashed.
At that moment, even Lukas, who was looking at the future, could see nothing but blue flashes covering his sight.
“…mm.”
Then the Lightning God let out a short grunt.
His one remaining arm was cut off in an instant.
“This is it.”
The moment he uttered those words in a calm voice.
Puk, a blade pierced the Lightning God’s-
No, Lukas’ body.
“…”
Lukas’ ego returned at almost the same time. But since their senses had been shared from the beginning, the pain was not sudden.
However, the place the blade pierced was his abdomen, not a vital point. This was because the Lightning God was able to twist his body at the last moment.
Thanks to that, he was allowed a very small amount of time.
Pale was in front of him.
Since the beginning of the fight, this was the closest she’d come.
A place where he could stretch out and touch her, no, even closer than that.
“What will you do after you kill me? You’ve already killed everyone that annoyed you.”
“I haven’t.”
Pale sneered coldly.
“There is still the Black Knight, the Rulers, and VIP. There is a mountain of trash that needs to be cleaned up.”
“You will kill all of them by yourself? Do you really think that is possible?”
“Who do you think I won’t?”
Pale’s smile gradually took on a dangerous colour.
“I know what you want.”
“No. Lukas doesn’t know.”
“Secret friend.”
The smile stiffened.
A bewildered light flashed in her eyes, followed by calm rage.
“Who did you hear that from? The White Knight? Was that idiot the one that said it?”
Now that he thought about it, in this life, she had never said those words.
But it didn’t matter. Lukas smiled dejectedly.
“For you, the secret must be a sin. You can only love and be close to those who have committed sins like you.”
A good being, a being who wouldn’t let off a speck of dust even if they were to shake, could not get close to Pale. Instead, they would only earn her hate.
However, if the other person committed a terrible sin, especially if it was a sin close to hers…
Pale would not be able to help loving such a being.
“If you know that.”
Rather than flow, the voice that came out afterwards sounded like it was squeezed.
“If you know what I want, why didn’t you do that for me?”
Pale withdrew her sword. As he felt the cool sensation of the blade cutting through his skin, Lukas let out a soft groan.
“You know. What you should do.”
“…”
“Now. Come along.”
Pale guided Lukas by the hand. He could feel the softness of the hand on the other side of the gauntlet. With an angelic smile on her face again, she slowly dragged Lukas to a certain place.
To a place where a corpse lay.
“Eat.”
“…”
Iris’ corpse,
Which was growing ever colder on the ground.
“That is the beginning. If you eat that, I’ll forgive you for everything you’ve done until now. The Ruler in your body? I’ll get rid of it. The Demon King and Diablo? As long as they are in VIP, as long as they borrowed the power of a Ruler, they cannot escape my eradication. However, uncle… Lukas, is different.”
“…”
…He knew now.
Just how special Pale’s offer was.
And how much she cared about him now.
For a moment, he pictured a future where he accepted this offer. She would probably do exactly as she said.
“Come on.”
Smiling brightly, Pale urged him.
All that remained was the final step.
Eating Iris,
A corpse that was already dead. He had already experienced eating cold meat that had already lost its vitality.
“…”
Lukas walked towards Iris.
His body was a mess, so it took quite a while for him to move just those few steps.
“Ahaha.”
Pale giggled.
Lukas looked down at Iris’ corpse, closed her eyes.
Then, turned around again.
“…what are you doing?”
“I had been thinking about it since before. Her eyes were still open.”
“That’s not what I’m asking.”
A roar rang through the air.
Just the pressure from it alone was enough to make Lukas cough up a mouthful of blood.
“Did you already forget what I said?”
“Pale, I used to consider you a monster.”
“…”
Pale’s expression didn’t change despite the unexpected words.
“I was always wary, afraid. However, there is one thing I can say with confidence.”
“What’s that?”
“I never stopped trying to understand you.”
“…”
“From the first time we met until now. I’ve been trying to figure out who you are.”
Regardless of if it was because of fear or something else, the trigger was no longer important.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Did you ever do that?”
For a moment, Pale froze.
“Have you ever tried to understand me? Did you ever try to figure out what I was thinking?”
“…”
“I don’t think you did. You wouldn’t have been interested in something like that. You… just kept trying to change someone, anyone. You didn’t care what other people thought.”
“…you seem certain.”
“Right. Because if you had even the slightest understanding of me, you wouldn’t have made such a disgusting offer.”
At the words ‘disgusting offer’, Pale’s expression changed once again.
“Am I, disgusting?”
This word could be considered Pale’s reverse scale.
Lukas knew about her past.
So he also knew how much it hurt Pale.
“Yeah.”
That’s why he said it even more clearly.
“It’s so disgusting that I don’t want to look at it with my own eyes.”
Puk.
A short sound was heard once again.
Lukas looked into Pale’s eyes, instead of the sword that pierced his throat.
So he was able to capture the sight of those shaking and unsteady blue eyes.
‘…if you want to understand a person, you have to first know what they dislike.’
The stab to the throat should have been an expression that she didn’t want to hear what he wanted to say anymore.
Pale withdrew her sword. Lukas stumbled, feeling the sensation of bloody tears flowing down.
However, Lukas, nodded in agreement with the strongest voice in his heart.
He would never, no matter what, want to eat Iris Peacefinder.
Thunk.
Falling to the ground, he looked up at the sky.
Then, he realised that his current state was the same as the future he’d seen through the authority of omniscience.
—Up to here.
The future that Lukas had looked very carefully at before was ‘until this moment’.
Although he grandiosely called it the authority of omniscience, the Lightning God was right.
He wasn’t capable of fully understanding every past, present and future that occurred in this space. Most of it was accumulated in his brain as prototypes of unprocessed information.
Therefore, the scene that was about to unfold was ‘after that’.
“…”
Through his blurred vision and clouded mind, he could see someone standing in the sky.
It was a man, who was slowly coming towards him.
The expression of Pale, who realised this after, stiffened.
‘[Lukas Trowman]…’
A being who he had been paying attention to since learning of his existence, but whose true identity he was still unable to uncover.
That person was looking at Lukas with a bitter expression.
‘You, who the hell are you…?’
Looking at the sloppy face that seemed to mimic him, Lukas asked one last question, but his voice wasn’t able to come out.
Then, his vision went dark.
Lukas Trowman, died once again.
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