Chapter 149
Chapter 149
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 149
Chapter Title: Liberation
-----------------------------------------------------------------
"Liberation."
Just like the Apostles, it was revealing the sin dwelling within him.
Kwaaaaaaaa!
The entire world seemed to be dyed pitch black in an instant.
In the pitch-black darkness, not a single thing could be felt.
'Ah.'
Not even his voice would come out, and the enveloping darkness seemed to infiltrate his mind itself, smothering it.
His body seemed to be moving, but it felt like it might just be an illusion.
'Ah.'
It was an experience even Michael had never felt before.
He had thought he shed his shell long ago, but it felt like he had peeled off yet another layer he hadn't even known about.
Right here, right now.
Kwaak.
If he clenched his hand, it felt like everything unwanted would crumble to dust entirely.
'Ah.'
Was this sin?
Was this the power of a demon?
'No, it's not.'
Saaa!
This was the Goddess.
Paat!
In an instant, Go Yohan's world returned to its original state.
As he felt his senses slowly returning and regained his vision, what Go Yohan saw was.
Illeong.
A shining greatsword made of light.
It was a sword of light befitting the name Holy Sword.
Pasis, passis.
Perhaps from releasing too much power, it flickered like heat haze, crumbling away.
Pahaha!
And soon it faded completely, leaving behind only the Mark of Great Sin.
He could guess as much.
"For the time being... I won't be able to use it."
It was a strange thing.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
His heart pounded fiercely, surely brimming with even more sin than before, yet he couldn't even sustain the Great Sin.
In Go Yohan's gaze like that, his own reflection appeared in something flat and smooth.
Illeong.
His demigod form was stained black, with a single horn majestically protruding from his head.
"......"
The tattoos wriggled, devouring half his upper body, and he was certain his lower body was no different.
And that form.
Wararak.
Felt more demonic than anything Go Yohan had ever seen.
Kwaak.
He seized the sprouted horn.
The moment he grasped it, a prickling sensation coursed through his entire body.
It felt linked to his heart, connected to his brain.
However.
Crack!
Go Yohan shattered it without hesitation.
Because he had sworn.
'I will exterminate all demons.'
Even himself.
That instant.
Hwaaaak!
The darkness swirling around him began to scatter.
He had thought he regained his sight, but it must have been an illusion—now the true world finally came into view.
"...Travania?"
The image that surfaced at that moment was the land where he had battled Balor: Travania.
That vast battlefield where everything had been shattered and eroded into something glossy.
And.
"......"
He understood.
This was not Travania.
'I am not Michael.'
He was Go Yohan, and this was Earth.
Hwaaaaaak!
North Korea—the world's last remaining dictatorship—had most of its territory vanished as if erased.
The same went for the mountains of demon and beast corpses piled high.
Jeobeok.
And if anything remained.
Illeong.
A massive sword scar.
No, a black gash better called a rift.
It stretched from sky to earth, slicing across everything, violently rippling as it spewed demonic energy.
Jeobeok.
Go Yohan began heading toward it.
'I remember.'
The power he had awakened seemed to have obliterated even fragments of his memories.
In the memories slowly surfacing, what Go Yohan had sought from the Demon King's descent in North Korea began to emerge.
Jeobeok.
He had concentrated all the Black Gates appearing across the world in the North Korean region.
And in North Korea, to facilitate the Demon King's descent, that horn had been embedded, corrupting the entire area.
The clash of colossal powers, the collision of coordinates.
When the entity at the center of it all vanished with a power to match.
-Chijik... Chijijik...
One thing he could predict.
"Door."
Go Yohan, now standing before the rift, gazed at it and murmured.
Truly opening the door—that was what Go Yohan had desired.
Jeobeok.
Go Yohan kept walking without pause.
-Chijijik. Chijik... Ca... Cap...
From the rift where his hand made contact, an indescribable torrent of demonic energy and sin poured forth.
It was so overwhelming he felt that if his consciousness slipped even for a moment, he would merge with it.
-Captain!
Ignoring the voice that rang out, Go Yohan stepped forward.
There.
[You have entered the Land of Truth, Astrobitz.]
[Unique Achievement...]
[First Achievement...]
He couldn't focus on the voices.
[Mi...]
He simply stared, drinking in everything.
"Ah."
[Mi...]
Go Yohan spoke.
"You think only you can keep doing this forever?"
Suppressing his body's tremors, he began scanning the world with his divine eyes.
Juruk.
At the world's incomprehensible form, blood trickled from the corners of Go Yohan's eyes.
[Michael]
"Forever!"
Go Yohan's cry seemed to echo across the world.
"I will kill you. Exterminate you all! Me against you! The demons! Even your world...!"
Gritting his teeth, Go Yohan declared.
"I will wipe it all out."
Then.
[Michael, not yet.]
Kurrururung!
The sky began to quake, and within it, something beyond sight seemed to manifest.
"......!"
The instant his gaze locked onto it, Go Yohan knew instinctively.
'I'll die.'
Die? Me?
Michael?
Go Yohan?
No.
[Michael!]
That wouldn't happen.
The moment he tried to shout it.
[You are expelled from the Land of Truth.]
Charruruk!
From the still-open rift behind Go Yohan, a white hand seized him.
He tried to swat it away right then, but its strength exceeded his expectations—and Go Yohan was far too exhausted.
Kwang!
The moment Go Yohan was yanked out, the massive rift snapped shut.
All that lingered was a tiny crack the size of a fingernail.
And.
Thud.
Go Yohan collapsed.
-Captain!
*
*
*
-Captain.
A familiar, itching voice.
-Captain!
Go Yohan's consciousness seemed to sink ever deeper beneath the surface.
'I...'
Then.
"Captain!"
The voice hammered into his ear, and Go Yohan slowly opened his eyes.
"Captain! Are you all right!"
"What in the world is this...!"
"Move him now!"
Amid the clamor, voices assailed his ears.
'Michael.'
Someone calling his name sounded so warm.
'Michael.'
That repeated name was his inescapable past.
-Michael!
Realizing the voice was harshly rebuking him.
"Captain! Are you coming around?"
"Captain!"
"What's the problem!"
"No! This can't be!"
New voices rang out.
"The physical damage is severe! What happened...!"
"Why don't I have any healing powers!"
Who could it be.
"Captain! If the Captain dies..."
His consciousness flickered.
"We'll destroy the world. No point in a world without the Captain."
Then his awareness sank beneath the surface once more.
What he sensed then was an indescribable warmth.
'This... feels like once upon a time...'
A sensation like something he had experienced before.
Like a vast hand enveloping him.
Puuuu!
A beautiful hornpipe melody resounded.
-Michael.
A beautiful voice calling his name.
'Ah.'
It was that day.
'Goddess.'
The day he first heard the Goddess's voice.
The revelation of that day was manifesting once again.
'Goddess, where have You been? Do You know how desperately I searched for You?'
He wanted to scream, to wail.
'Ah, Goddess. My Goddess. With only You, I, Michael..."
In the light, he yearned to see Her figure clearly.
Even if it blinded him forever, just one glimpse—he wanted to etch Her image indelibly.
But.
'Michael.'
Then.
'Kill all the villains tormenting you.'
A chill amid the warmth.
"...If the Captain dies, we'll start by annihilating Korea."
"Envie."
"Don't stop me."
"Who said I'm stopping you? But you need to grasp their true value."
"Value? What nonsense. Even if she's my sister..."
Voices rose as if in argument.
"The entire world—we'll sacrifice those humans to revive the Captain."
"...Can we even do that?"
"We'll make it happen. Greed-filled humans like them... if they can at least serve as fuel..."
"Sis is here?"
Broken phrases.
"I've found a way. The World Tree—it's not impossible. The instant the Captain dies, we'll root the World Tree here and harvest every soul. Then..."
"Fine. I'll trust only you, Sloth Sis."
"Rust? Why... it's too soon?"
"You want me to just watch the Captain dying? The Captain is..."
A warm presence enveloped him.
"The reason I live."
"Ditto."
"You all...!"
Whose voices were these?
'I had no family left.'
Why were they raging and grieving for him like this?
"Should I stop them, Uncle?"
"......How could I?"
"Then stay out of it. We'll spare the sacred bloodlines at least. I don't want to see the Captain grieve."
Sacred?
"Let's build a world. Our world. One for just the Captain, us, and the Captain's kin. Unbreakable. Eternal."
The voices pressed on.
"A world where the Captain never has to sacrifice for anyone."
Then.
"...Me..."
Severed memories reconnected; a voice that wouldn't emerge finally did.
"Captain?"
"Captain!"
"Caaaaptain!"
Beloved voices converged as one.
And with them, fierce motions lunged toward him—but.
Wung.
Those motions halted against some barrier.
"Everyone, stay still."
Right—he knew whose voice that was.
"...Seung-ah."
"......!"
"You all... with me..."
Go Yohan carefully propped up his torso as he spoke.
"...to what lengths are you planning to turn me into the villain?"
"Captain...!"
The Apostles rushed into his embrace.
From each of their forms radiated indescribable caution.
"Ti...me... how long has it been...?"
No way.
"Two years have passed."
A familiar face—Lee Jae-kyung—gazed at Go Yohan as he spoke.
His eyes were already red-rimmed.
"...Uncle. You're joking... right now?"
"Two weeks have passed."
Only then did Lee Jae-kyung smile.