Chapter 233
Chapter 233
New Order (1)
In truth, Rudian had never thought he would develop such deep relationships with the original characters.
Despite having twisted the original flow of events to this extent, somewhere in his heart he had firmly nailed down the belief that he was an 'outsider' who didn't belong to this worldview.
But last night... that psychological barrier had shattered.
—Master, please get your head together now.
'Ah, sorry.'
Rudian scratched his cheek with a foolish expression.
The events of yesterday had been so intense that even after a day had passed, the afterglow hadn't faded.
—The continent-wide scanning using terminal Elysion's power has been completed as you ordered, Master.
At Adi's report, Rudian finally snapped back to reality and got to work.
"Right, what are the results?"
—It was a bust. The combat AI Shambhala and recovery AI Eden don't exist anywhere on this planet, at least.
"...Ugh!"
Somehow, Chapter 3, the space war, had ended without major damage.
The continent's situation was stabilizing day by day, and the continent's order was being reorganized anew with the Morian Empire at its center.
In this situation, Rudian had deployed Elli's bodies to command the search for Adi's final terminals.
—We found a total of 364 locations with sealed beings of unknown identity, divine legacies, and treasure-filled dungeons... but none of them contained sleeping terminals of mine.
"Then the remaining possibilities are... either the terminals exist in subspace or other dimensions, or someone has already gotten their hands on them."
—If we combine Elysion and Dilmun, searching other dimensions would be sufficiently possible.
Rudian shook his head.
"But there's no guarantee how long it would take. It's also questionable whether the rulers of other dimensions would tolerate Elli's exploration."
Above all, this brief vacation was coming to an end, so time was running short.
"The Heaven's Fall plan will begin in earnest soon. We need to join them before that time comes."
—Even though we owe them a debt this time, strictly speaking, if it hadn't been for Archangel Gabriel's betrayal, we could have avoided the war entirely. Is there really a reason to help them?
Unexpectedly, Adi seemed dissatisfied with Rudian's plan and expressed a different opinion.
—Rather, I think informing the heavens about the archangels' betrayal and guaranteeing the safety of the middle realm would be more helpful for Master's stable future.
"Hmm, your words make sense too."
Adi's top priority was protecting his master, 'Kim Seong-jun'.
The core of Heaven's Fall was to catch the heavens off guard and induce collapse.
This was a strategy that could only emerge when the power difference between both sides wasn't extremely severe from the start.
Given Adi's disposition, it wasn't unreasonable for such a conservative opinion to emerge.
"But with the situation organically connected like this, it's impossible to easily cut them off."
The Abel group that appeared in this era is connected to Berus.
Though they had suddenly attacked their present-day selves, the problem was that their true purpose remained shrouded in mystery.
"Moreover, it seems certain that they're connected to Berus..."
Abel's presence appeared at the heavenly main god council, as Gabriel had mentioned.
"Above all, there's no way Berus wouldn't have noticed the archangels' rebellion in the current situation."
In the original work, Berus was defeated by the released Avatar of Destruction and vanished pathetically.
Actually, Rudian had always found that puzzling.
In the original , Berus was practically like air in terms of screen time compared to his status.
But just because it wasn't depicted in the novel didn't mean it wasn't there - in the current situation, he was acting as the mastermind behind almost every incident, showing a different course from the original.
"Now there's only one thing I need to achieve. Completely separating this middle realm from other dimensions."
If that happened, this world would truly escape from threats.
After that, whether they fought among themselves and perished or caused their own destruction through foolish actions would be their own karma, not something Rudian needed to take responsibility for.
—The side effects won't be trivial, will they?
"Right. Most spirit magic will disappear from this world, and religion will also decline."
Religion that lost its divine power would decline far more than even the 'modern era' that Kim Seong-jun had lived in.
From the Death King's perspective, who had contracted with Rudian, it would be like getting stabbed in the back.
Also, once the door was closed, spirit king-level spirits couldn't enter this world.
In that case, only mid-level and low-level spirits that had already established themselves in the middle realm, or indigenous spirits distant from the spirit realm, would remain.
"But magic will still be intact, and there are psychic powers too. In terms of supernatural abilities, this world still has many replacements."
83 bad endings created under the name of IF endings.
Of course, bad endings meant the protagonist's death, but a significant portion of those endings involved not just the protagonist's death but the world's destruction as well.
'As long as the heavens remain intact, some of those endings could still be realized...'
The decisive reason Rudian thought of closing off this world.
It was to prevent this middle realm from disappearing by getting caught up in such endings.
—If that's what Master desires, I'll follow you to the end.
At Adi's reassuring words, Rudian chuckled.
"Yeah, the fact that I could come this far is all thanks to you."
This was an undeniable fact.
—That's obvious.
"Learn a little humility..."
Looking at Adi's gently curved eyes, Rudian pursed his lips slightly.
Adi didn't stop there and began teasing Rudian.
—By the way, it's a bit regrettable that you didn't go all the way yesterday. Don't you think so, Master?
"......"
Though it had been a dreamlike time, Rudian and the women hadn't crossed the final 'line'.
It was Rudian's will, but it was also their will.
'The rest is after everything ends...'
Luciella, who had kissed Rudian, smiled gently and said that.
—She told you to be prepared when that time comes.
'That was somewhat spine-chilling to hear.'
—It was like saying "I'll confess to her when this war ends"... that kind of statement.
'...No, not that. In a somewhat different sense.'
Rudian, who had been picturing that future for a moment, eventually sighed again and shook his head.
"The problem is... whether I'll be able to stay in this position even after everything ends."
—What... do you mean by that?
Adi's voice hardened.
Though Adi usually grasped every single move of his master Rudian, these kinds of statements he occasionally made were beyond even Adi's understanding, outside his comprehension.
Rudian casually asked Adi.
"Adi, do you know what happens when all seven colored worlds are gathered?"
—You said you could meet the Dragon God and make one wish come true.
"...You still remembered that?"
Rudian coughed slightly to cover up the random joke he had made in the past.
"Ahem! Forget about that..."
—......
"When all seven colored worlds are gathered and a special ritual is performed... you can meet the Creator God just once."
—......!
"And you can decide the fate of the world. Whether to destroy the existing world and open a new genesis, or to let the existing world continue."
If a new genesis was opened, Rudian would gain part of the Creator God's power and be able to create a new world.
In other words, he would become an existence like the current Berus or the original work's Abel.
—Master... what are you planning to do?
But the path Rudian would take was naturally only one.
"What do you mean what? Obviously the world's continuation. However..."
Rudian roughly scratched his hair.
"After that, I don't know what will happen to me."
—Wh-why?
"Because I'm not a person of this world."
'Outsider.'
The qualification condition to become Adi's master, and perhaps a title given to figures from outside this worldview.
'Whether I can stay attached to this world, or whether I'll return to the original world again, whether it'll happen just because I want it to... there are many variables in various ways.'
That's why he had drawn psychological lines with the women until now.
—Even if something unfortunate happens and Master returns to the original dimension, I will definitely prevent that.
"That's not the issue but... well, thanks."
Rudian chuckled.
Whether he could stay with this guy until the end - now that the real end was approaching, he felt a bit wistful.
"By the way... Diablo has been quiet lately. Hey, are you listening?"
Rudian tapped his scabbard and called out to Diablo.
—......
"What, are you sleeping?"
For some reason, Diablo didn't respond to Rudian's call.
Normally he would have retorted with "What is it, brat?" but whether he was deliberately ignoring him or there was another reason, Diablo remained silent.
"...What's really going on?"
Rudian felt an inexplicable anxiety at Diablo's behavior.
***
Same time.
Northern part of the Kingdom of Rohans.
"This war has essentially eliminated the demon realm's highest ranks. Really... a crisis has come to the demon realm."
"At least Agares has recovered and the other high-ranking demons are intact... but that alone isn't enough."
"Too many skilled individuals have died. Like this... our demon realm can never again challenge the heavens' supremacy."
A space where subtle demonic energy emanated from the surroundings.
Dozens of beings, each clearly at Demon King level, were present.
"Moreover, Agares made a humiliating agreement with that Rudian fellow and expelled us from the territory. As long as Baal doesn't exist, we can no longer trust and follow him."
The 72 Demon Kings of the demon realm who had united under Baal's absolute charisma.
When Baal disappeared due to Abel's attack, their relationships began to fracture quite simply.
"Barbatos, that's too hasty an opinion."
"In the current situation, discord is only a shortcut to self-destruction."
Moderate faction, radical faction, conservative faction.
The Demon Kings, divided into three groups, each put forward their opinions trying to gain the upper hand.
"But hasn't Agares never shown a political side even once?"
"We should choose another Demon King as leader instead of that empty-headed fellow."
"Nonsense! Are you going to ignore the demon realm's law of survival of the fittest?"
"That law of survival of the fittest has been practically meaningless since Baal's reign anyway. Everyone knows that the now-extinct Marbas was originally virtually second in hierarchy."
The Demon Kings' voices, which had initially gathered to find a solution to the current situation, gradually grew louder and more emotional as time passed.
"So what are you suggesting? Are you planning to wage war against the middle realm in this situation?"
"Do you think we can't handle something like the middle realm!"
"You idiotic fool who can't even read the times...! Do you know what the middle realm's current strength is before spouting such nonsense?"
Demon King Balefor, who had gained insight following Baal around, criticized Barbatos who advocated for war.
Several Demon Kings agreed with Balefor's words.
"Those words are correct. The middle realm's current strength is no less than the human empire from 10,000 years ago. If not, they couldn't have won the war against Outer space."
"Besides, if we wage war now, the flow of causality we gained from the heavens' blunder will immediately disappear."
"Damn! Then what are we supposed to do!"
Barbatos glared at Balefor and his faction with anger.
Balefor held up two fingers with a calm expression.
"In the current situation, there are two methods."
"...Two methods?"
"One is to unseal the only remaining Seven Seats... Lord Diablo."
"That's..."
There was no demon who didn't know that Diablo was currently trapped in sword form and subordinated to Rudian.
Since Rudian had been rampaging everywhere using Diablo, this fact was known not only among demons but also among most people.
"What's the other one?"
At Barbatos' question, Balefor hesitated for a moment.
Then, as if he had made up his mind, he spoke again.
"...According to Lord Baal's previous plan, eliminate the current 72 Demon Kings system."
"...That means."
The new order that Baal had cautiously planned after setting foot in the middle realm.
"Rebecca Bloodrain, Lord Baal's blood relative and arranged successor - we make her the new pinnacle of the demon realm."