Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: The One Who Was the Observer III
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Shin Noah
5
There was one hypothesis I'd been suspecting for a long time.
—Perhaps certain monsters, certain anomalies, were actually born from humans?
It wasn't a thought I'd held since ancient times.
The turning point where I began to seriously consider this hypothesis was when I uncovered the true nature of the World Tree Udumbara.
As everyone knows, the Udumbara sprouted in Asan, Chungcheongnam-do, from the corpses of a mother and child presumed to have starved to death. The source of that unprecedented virus was none other than humans.
Logically speaking, it made no sense for an anomaly to be born from ordinary human bodies. But if I just shifted my perspective a little, it became entirely plausible.
Assuming, from the start, that they were awakeners with "such abilities," everything fell into place.
I didn't know which of the mother or child was the awakener. By the time we found them, they had already starved. But what if one or both were awakeners?
What if the Udumbara itself was an ability?
—If an awakener's ability was, upon objective examination, no different from the abilities of monsters and anomalies.
In theory, any awakener had the potential to degenerate into an "anomaly." No, it couldn't even be called degeneration. It meant that awakeners and anomalies were essentially the same from the beginning.
[The ability for two hearts to grow in the body, with tentacles endlessly regenerating.]
Thus, the being called the Ten Tribes, a monster.
[The ability to freely observe a range vast enough to encompass the entire Korean Peninsula, and to freely broadcast telepathy to all awakeners.]
Thus, the Saintess, who called herself an awakener.
If viewed from the perspective of someone completely unrelated to humanity—like an alien—which of the two would be the more dangerous creature?
Whether it took the "form of a human" or not was merely a superficial difference—both were terrifying existences, weren't they?
"...Saintess."
"Yes. I killed them."
A refreshingly straightforward affirmation.
But considering it came from the Saintess's mouth, it felt less refreshing and more chilling.
"Why...?"
"Undertaker. That's a strange question. I simply took the same stance as always."
The Saintess had remained expressionless throughout.
"I created constellations that don't exist in this world, so that awakeners wouldn't dare commit crimes recklessly. I imitated them. The operating principle of the constellation system is the possibility that [someone might be watching my every move]. Anxiety. It stems from the view that people restrain themselves when others are watching, but let go of reason when they're not."
The Saintess tilted her head.
"Is the Wheel Murderer any different?"
"......"
"The constellation system could control the rampages of awakeners. But it couldn't reach ordinary people, civilians. Unfortunately, my telepathy only works on awakeners. So, all I did was create another possibility for ordinary people to fear."
Snow was falling.
Snowflakes drifted down onto the Saintess's head, onto her double coat. The cold from the sky melted away the moment it touched her body.
The Saintess's eyes narrowed.
"There are too many pieces of trash in this world. No, calling them trash isn't appropriate. There are far too many beasts pretending to be human."
"So...?"
"So I killed them. Are you worried there might have been innocents among them? Don't worry about that, Undertaker. Over and over. I confirmed it over and over before killing them. I have never once regretted my killings."
Why was that?
Even though I was clearly conversing with the Saintess, the presence emanating from the person before me felt alien. It wasn't just that the person had changed or her personality had shifted.
Her existence had changed.
Sweat seeped from the palm of my right hand for no reason.
"You're too kind, Undertaker."
"...Me? I never expected to hear that from you, Saintess."
"You're giving infinite chances to everyone."
Rustle.
The Saintess took a step forward. The snow crunched softly underfoot. Reflexively, I took a step back, maintaining distance from her.
Even if the Saintess was a murderer, there was no reason for me to avoid her. We were blood allies. Even if she burned the whole world down, I would stand by her side.
So the reason I moved my foot wasn't logic, but instinct.
The instincts built over the life of the 107th cycle controlled my toes.
"Chances?"
"Yes. What do you think of your [regression] ability, Undertaker? You must believe you're endlessly receiving chances yourself. But from my perspective, from the position of watching you by your side, my opinion differs slightly."
"What opinion is that?"
"You're not the only one receiving chances. Everyone else, excluding you, receives the exact same chances every time the world regresses."
One step.
"The villain who killed an innocent girl in the last cycle got a chance to change in this cycle. The wicked one who stole the food a child had saved until the end, tied the child up, and deliberately watched them starve to death also got a chance to choose differently. Once. Twice. Ten times. Twenty. Thirty. Forty. Fifty."
"......"
"But how many of them hesitated before their own evil deeds? How many killed and tortured the same people over forty, fifty times?"
"...Those people don't know the world regresses."
"You're right. Ignorance. Not knowing is always a good excuse. When it comes to killing, people always hide behind ignorance. I understand. I'll understand. But what about the victims?"
"......"
"Why must those people endure countless unjust deaths and wrongful suffering?"
One step.
"You will eventually succeed in saving the world, Undertaker. Yes, without a doubt. In that future world, even the wicked will be granted new chances at life. Perhaps in a more abundant world, a more peaceful era, even villains won't need to commit sins. I think that's—terribly wrong."
Another step.
"Undertaker. If someone kills, they should be punished."
The Saintess said softly.
"They shouldn't get chances."
At some point.
In a gap I hadn't noticed, a small, sleek hand axe was already gripped in the Saintess's hand. It meant she had armed herself at a speed beyond my perception.
More sweat trickled down my nape.
"No matter how many times you regress to save this world, the sins committed by villains within those cycles won't vanish. No. I'll make sure they don't vanish."
"What do you mean...?"
"I'll eternally inflict suffering on sinners."
Steam rose from the Saintess's mouth.
It was white smoke rising toward the endless sky.
"Regress whenever you want. A hundred times. Two hundred. A thousand, if you must, to save this world. But I won't let villains benefit from your efforts."
"......"
"Every time you regress, I'll execute the punishments that this world deserves. If villains commit crimes eternally, I'll torture them eternally."
The steam from the Saintess's lips twisted sideways.
That was her sneer.
"Though I'm too incompetent to create heaven on earth, I have the ability to craft a small hell."
When the Saintess took her final step, I drew my sword aura in a flash.
My target was the hand axe in her grip.
I didn't know why the Saintess had drawn a weapon against me. But I didn't doubt her intellect for a second. If she armed herself, there was a reason she had to.
What was the Saintess's picture? After subduing me, the regressor, what did she intend to do?
It was hard to guess, but it surely wouldn't end well for me.
Suppressing my ominous feeling, I attacked the Saintess.
"What...?"
But she dodged my sword aura all too easily. With just one step sideways.
A simple motion, as if she knew in advance where the attack came from and where it was headed.
Clang-!
Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass rang from my body. Not from one spot. My left arm, right arm, left leg, right leg—sword aura collided simultaneously across my limbs, vibrating.
Four hand axes had struck my body and bounced off in all directions.
I hadn't even noticed when or from where the hand axes had flown.
It felt like an illusion, as if they had suddenly appeared right in front of me.
"Urk?"
If I hadn't made a habit of wrapping my body in sword aura like armor, that blow would have seriously injured my limbs.
I immediately widened the distance from the Saintess. Kicking off the snow, I leaped back in one bound.
—But the gap didn't widen.
"You're strong. As expected of the Undertaker."
I had surely jumped dozens of meters at once, yet she was already standing before me.
"......!"
That wasn't all. Clang, the hand axes bounced off my body again. This time, six of them. I barely managed to react to two, swatting them away with my sword.
'How? No matter how talented in martial arts, it wasn't to this extent. This has to be an ability...'
That was when it hit me.
Seeing the Saintess casually tracking my movements, a memory from quite a while ago surfaced.
Cycle 36. The conversation when I first met the Saintess.
-How did you create the constellations?
-Thanks to my ability. I can use [Clairvoyance] and [Telepathy].
-But isn't it impossible to impersonate constellations with just Clairvoyance and Telepathy? You have to observe multiple people simultaneously and send messages. Don't you have another ability?
-Oh, that's...
She had laughed lightly then.
-Th, that's a secret. I'll tell you later.
An old memory.
Now, I thought I knew what that secret was.
"Time Stop...?"
"......"
The Saintess hesitated.
"You knew?"
"Just a hunch. One of several possibilities. To impersonate multiple constellations and observe multiple awakeners at once, you'd need something extraordinary. Multi-vision or multiple personalities... But Time Stop, of all things."
Time Stop. The joker card I'd considered the least likely.
If she truly had the [Time Stop] ability as well, it meant the Saintess was practically the strongest awakener.
Forgetting I was cornered, I let out a hollow laugh.
"Clairvoyance, Telepathy, and now Time Stop? Ridiculous. Monopolizing three top-tier abilities that would each qualify as S-rank on their own. Cut the cheating, Saintess."
"Overpraise. No matter how much I puff myself up, I can't compare to an infinite regressor."
...Finally, everything made sense.
She had used [Time Stop] to observe so many awakeners simultaneously and impersonate constellations at the same time.
Dodging my attack, throwing hand axes from four directions suddenly—it all checked out.
With time stopped, she could calmly judge the attack's trajectory and plan her counter.
And that was just the beginning. Using [Clairvoyance] on me allowed her to sync her vision with mine. She could instantly guess which direction I was looking and targeting.
As long as she didn't let her guard down, she was virtually invincible.
"My abilities weren't this strong from the start. Even when I stopped time, I could only let my thoughts flow or move my eyes at best. But as time passed, they grew stronger. Now, I can even hunt down villains across the country with time stopped."
"Impressive. So, what do you plan to do after subduing me?"
"Hmm."
The world froze in an instant.
In the next blink, I had no choice but to widen my eyes.
The snow, marked only by a few footsteps, was now covered in countless prints. None were mine. Only the pattern of the Saintess's shoes surrounded me in hundreds, thousands, like a kaleidoscope.
It meant my instants were eternities to her.
The Saintess didn't waste time.
Now, thousands of bullets flying toward me from all directions in my field of vision proved her diligence.
And it wasn't just bullets. Dozens of hand axes appeared between them. Unlike the mere gunfire bullets, each axe was meticulously infused with sword aura.
[A secret.]
The countless bullets surged toward me.
Boss battle.
Danger level: Oceanic.
Awakener. Alias: Saintess.
Fallen One. Alias: Executioner.
Combat begins.
Infinite Regressor Tells a Story