Chapter 198: Miracle (8)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 198: Miracle (8)
Hmm? Not what we agreed on? I haven’t the slightest idea what you mean.
Yes, I promised to return that boy to your side exactly as he was. Conversely, that is the entirety of our contract.
Don’t worry. I will fulfill your twisted wish to the letter.
Besides, you won’t even remember this conversation when you wake up. By the time you come to your senses, all your doubts will have vanished.
Then, we shall return to our cooperative relationship.
What? A scam? Haha, you say the funniest things. I warned you from the very beginning.
I am one who grants wishes in a twisted fashion.
You were the one who made the wish despite hearing that, and you were the one who agreed to pay whatever the price might be.
Therefore, you are the one who must bear the responsibility for your choice.
And, of course, the regret that follows.
* * *
I put on a brave face.
I acted as if I had overcome my past, claiming that even though I had regressed, it didn’t mean those events never happened.
But in the end, that was only because my filthy past couldn’t follow me here.
It seems my confidence was nothing more than a bluff, a luxury afforded to me by the unique circumstance of regression.
Is this all I am as a human? To think I would be shaken so easily by the appearance of a single ghost from my past.
The thought that this specter might say the wrong thing and reveal my hideousness to the others made my skin crawl.
Not yet.
If they were to remember my original sin—if they were to despise and loathe me for it, pouring out their grievances and seeking to judge me—I would never be able to resist. I would give up once again.
That itself was something I had once desperately craved, but at the very least, it cannot happen until I have completely prevented the destruction of this place.
So.
Go back to hell, you ghost.
Stop making me so anxious.
I heard the voice of the Will of the Saint strengthening my mental fortitude, and Sun Wukong’s voice telling me to calm down.
Yet, the strength in my hands didn’t waver in the slightest.
I was far too weak to resist the past with such voices.
I felt as if I would crumble if I didn’t snuff out this woman’s life right this instant.
I tightened my grip on her throat.
I was strangling her with everything I had, but the fact that she was stubbornly clinging to life just because she was a superhuman—as if determined to drag my past into the light—irritated me.
Ah, no. I was being stupid. If I wanted to kill her for sure, I should have used my Talent.
The light of Reinforcement enveloped my body. The woman, who had been resisting until the end, could no longer even struggle against the sudden surge of strength.
And just before her breath was cut short by my hand—
[-The Witch of the Time Flower admonishes you.]
[-Is this truly the right thing to do?]
[-Due to excessive intervention, the Witch of the Time Flower pays the price and withdraws.]
The voice I heard was one I missed so dearly that the strength drained from my hands.
It was as if the venom had been purged from me in an instant.
…Mom?
Perhaps I had misheard, but the voice admonishing me was so vivid that I couldn’t possibly dismiss it as an illusion.
The world, which had been filled with malice and submerged in terror, brightened in a single moment as if it had all been a lie.
A single sentence. It was only one sentence, but it was enough to remind me of my promise, of what I truly desired.
As my senses returned and my head cleared, my disrupted Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils stabilized, and the things I couldn’t see before began to enter my vision one by one.
My companions were rushing toward me, leaving the suppressed Lightning Villain behind, and I saw the sorcery placed upon the woman I had been strangling.
Is the activation condition the death of the medium?
It looks like it’ll take time to figure out the exact formula. Well, regardless, the important thing is that this was a trap.
Ah, seriously. What is this? I said I wouldn’t make any more mistakes.
And yet, here I am, failing again.
And once again, I’ve moved past it only because I received help.
What is wrong with me?
To be honest, I’m still terrified that she might say something she shouldn’t.
I’ve regained my senses, but that doesn’t mean I can instantly overcome a fear that was paralyzing enough to make me lose my mind.
Still, I’ve recovered enough presence of mind to identify my priorities.
I wiped away the tears that had been falling without my realization and stepped away from the coughing woman.
The others, who had been running toward me in shock, seemed bewildered by my sudden return to sanity, but what could I do? I was already back.
However, there was one thing that bothered me.
I didn’t know who the culprit was.
At first, I naturally assumed it was Seo-ha since this involved regression, but this wasn’t her style.
No matter what, Seo-ha didn’t have the personality to do something like this to me.
Of course, a spiteful Seo-ha might have intentionally tried to cause an accident, but for some reason, I felt this wasn’t such a simple matter.
* * *
“…Doing unnecessary things, I see.”
Sitting alone in an empty room, watching the scene unfold, Chae Yu-jin spat out a complaint with a look of slight annoyance.
She looked like a director whose meticulously crafted script had been ruined by a sudden ad-lib or an intruder.
Her trump card—prepared solely to hear his screams, to once again trample the flower trying to bloom in a barren land—had been neutralized by the intervention of a dead ghost. It was only natural for her to feel unpleasant.
“This won’t do. It’s no fun if things go like this.”
Strictly speaking, it was like robbing the protagonist of a trial he rightfully deserved to face.
If he had resolved to take the place of this world’s protagonist, shouldn’t he also bear all the trials that the protagonist must endure?
If he desired to atone even at the cost of his own ruin, shouldn’t he rightfully weep, break, and regret before reaching the end?
[-Stop it. This isn’t what I wanted.]
“No, this is exactly what you wanted. Don’t worry. The man you love so dearly won’t be broken by something of this level. The man I love so dearly will eventually stand up again.”
Satisfied by the prospect of new screams, Chae Yu-jin—or rather, the entity in her form—smiled brightly as if her foul mood from a moment ago had been a lie. She slowly began to manifest her Authority.
Since the other side had played dirty first, she told herself with a laugh that a prank of this magnitude would be perfectly fine.
“When you come to your senses, this too will have become your sin.”
Praying that these sweet screams would continue, she intervened in the world.
To make the story a bit more to her liking.
* * *
I didn’t kill the woman.
However, as if that wasn’t the ‘correct’ future, something black and viscous like sludge twisted the world and activated the sorcery planted within her.
The Authority of the Creator.
The way she was swallowed by the sludge was reminiscent of the time it tried to twist and break Professor Cathy.
The sludge that swallowed her stole her life, and in exchange, the sorcery manifested, emitting an ominous light.
Sinister mana drew circuits, and a curse imbued with Authority came surging out from the completed sorcery.
The terrible foul energy caused everyone else to start coughing.
No matter how much Authority was added, a curse fueled by the sacrifice of only one or two people could never produce this kind of power.
Her death was merely the trigger; it was more accurate to say the curse had already been completed beforehand.
It was as if all the curses and malice in the world had been gathered and woven into one.
Back in the days when I was foolish enough to try and destroy the world, when I didn’t view people as human beings…
Something was there that rivaled the foul energy I felt back then, as I stole the lives of countless heroes and marched forward under the weight of their curses.
And it had to happen right when Lilac had just awakened his Demonic Sword?
Right now, Lilac wouldn’t be used to switching between the Demonic Sword and the Holy Sword.
The Demonic Sword is a power specialized for tearing and crushing; it’s not suited for purifying or protecting things like the Holy Sword is.
However, this is something that no one knows—not even Lilac himself—except for me and Seo-ha, who possess knowledge of the original work.
In fact, he looked incredibly flustered when the light of the Holy Sword wouldn’t manifest as he willed. He was trying to cut through the foul energy with his Demonic Sword, but naturally, it had little effect.
Now, strangely enough, this scene felt artificial to me.
It was as if someone was intentionally trying to claim they were Seo-ha, which actually made me more suspicious.
Unfortunately, the curse was growing in size, and I didn’t have enough time to flesh out my suspicions.
If Lilac couldn’t stop it, I had to. The problem was that I wasn’t sure if I could remain sane after swallowing that curse with my Black Shadow.
No, I probably wouldn’t be able to endure it.
Even so, I couldn’t hesitate.
The curse was becoming more virulent and vast by the second.
Just as I was about to reluctantly summon the Black Shadow—
As if mocking my resolve, the vast curse began to converge into a single point.
Staggering to its feet was the villain, who had lost an arm.
The creature, now covered in curses and sludge, began to gather Lightning Qi in its remaining arm while emitting unintelligible sounds.
Authority swallowed the blue lightning, and a black lightning—Heuk-roe—that looked dangerous even at a glance, swirled around the villain.
It can’t be stopped.
No one here could stop that.
It was no longer just powerful lightning; it was a mass of curses inflated by Authority.
Even if I mobilized all the Authority I currently possessed, I couldn’t stop that.
But agonizing over it wouldn’t change anything. The black lightning imbued with the curse only grew larger while I hesitated.
If absurdity or despair were to take form, would they look like that?
Yet, even though it was a scene that should have been terrifying, for some reason, it didn’t feel that scary.
Was it because the sight of that calamity radiating lightning while unconscious looked strangely familiar?
Where had I seen that before?
I pondered for a brief moment, but the answer came to me immediately.
The thing it resembled was none other than myself.
It looked exactly like the foolish version of me before the regression—the one who used everything available and even used powers that shouldn’t be touched as weapons due to brainwashing.
Then it made sense why I wasn’t afraid.
Why would I be afraid of my past self, or a power that resembled such a fool?
“It’s okay.”
Perhaps because I realized the source of the déjà vu, I found myself saying those words to the others who were struggling against the curse.
They’ll worry if I say that.
“So-hyun?”
Yeah, but I have no choice.
I can’t run away from something that resembles my past self. If I don’t stop it, no one else here will.
There were plenty of reasons why I had to stop it even if I had to overexert myself, but the reasons to hesitate were far too flimsy.
The absurdity that once drove you all to your deaths… this time, I intend to use it to crush another absurdity and protect your future.
Since I had plenty of Innate True Qi left thanks to being resurrected by the Double Coin, I put my plan into action without hesitation.
I sent the light of the Innate True Qi, carved from the deepest part of my body, back into the depths of my soul.
Light shrouded the Talent at my core, boundaries crumbled, and the rank of my soul ascended.
As my Talent was enhanced, I gained a power from a realm I shouldn’t have been able to reach yet.
Multiple Reinforcement.
My Talent, having devoured a massive amount of Innate True Qi, was freed from the restriction of only being able to perform one reinforcement at a time. Temporarily, it awakened as an omnipotent Talent in the truest sense.
The power I had used temporarily after eating the High-tier Species fruit felt like child’s play compared to this vast strength.
Right. If no one here, including myself, can stop that thing, then I just have to make myself into someone who can stop it.
Reinforcement.
My Talent was a power that made the impossible possible, provided the price was paid.
Reinforcement.
It had been a while, but it didn’t feel awkward. This was a combat method I had favored back before the regression, when I didn’t have to worry about my soul or body. It felt almost nostalgic.
Reinforcement.
The amount of Innate True Qi consumed with each stack exploded, but the return was equally certain.
Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement. Reinforcement.
Even so, it was still not enough to face that despair, so I scraped together every bit of my life force and poured it into the reinforcement.
Beyond the wall, to the next, and the next, and the next, and even the next after that.
Even after reaching a realm that humans were never meant to attain, I pushed further.
My heart pounded violently, and everything in my vision began to flow slowly.
In a world where everything moved in slow motion, the sensation of being the only one moving normally felt like the omnipotence of being able to do anything.
This should be enough.
The moment I was complete, the black lightning—the curse, the manifested absurdity, the despair—reached out toward us, but I was no longer afraid.
The slowly approaching malice was no longer a threat to me.
“Seriously, please.”
A brilliant light, like life force itself, swirled around my fist, which had been reinforced to its limit.
“Let’s take it easy.”
This is far too cruel for kids to endure.
I’m telling you, this is crossing the line. Because you crossed the line first, I keep having to cross it too.
I’m forced to respond to an insurmountable absurdity with an absurdity of my own.
For a moment, I saw the worried expressions on the others’ faces, but I clenched my fist tighter and charged toward the absurdity to show them I was fine.
I will shatter it.
At the moment of impact, my fist, extended with the light of life, smashed every approaching curse and resentment into pieces. It erupted, temporarily erasing even the Authority of the Creator.
The fist that split the black lightning slammed directly into the villain’s jaw, creating a massive crater as it pinned the creature to the ground.
That sight looked so much like a hope that shatters all absurdity.
Those watching could only stare blankly, unable to say a word.
“…Ah. Shit.”
At least, until I started spraying blood from every orifice in my body while coughing violently.