A Promise at the Edge of Destruction

"We can discuss the details later! All of Elysium is about to be destroyed! Please, hurry!"

It was impossible to know exactly why they were here or what their circumstances were. Regardless, they were the only two survivors left alive, and they had to be saved. When ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Yunjae sent her a silent look of agreement, Rozamy opened a portal.

"W-what is this?!" At that moment, the man stared at them with eyes full of wariness.

"I know you must have so many questions, but we really don't have the time! Please, hurry!" At Rozamy's desperate plea, the beastman nodded, seemingly realizing they meant no harm. In truth, he simply had no other choice.

"My name is Kuhn. Ashbal Kuhn."

"Ah! Ah-ah!" Yunjae flinched at the name.

"Why so suddenly...?"

"No, it's nothing! Please, escape quickly!" Urging them once more that now was not the time for such discussions, Kuhn nodded and picked up Harin, the young cat-girl.

"Thank you so much for saving us, regardless."

"Don't mention it! Just hurry as fast as you can!" The polite Kuhn stepped through the portal with the other beastmen. Left alone with Rozamy, Yunjae looked at her and spoke.

"You should head back now too, Miss Rozamy."

Rozamy's eyes widened at his implication that he would handle the rest alone. "B-but you need me! The portal...!"

"It's alright. Earth is just a stone's throw away."

"B-but!"

"And the beastmen just went through. If someone doesn't explain the situation to the people on the other side, there might be a huge misunderstanding." Rozamy bit her lower lip. He wasn't wrong. Although Mia and Akemi had already crossed over, they had no idea there were survivors left in Ashbal.

"Don't worry too much. I absolutely won't die before I get to have a sweet office romance at a cafe!" Yunjae chuckled, shouting with a bright, cheerful face. At his words, Rozamy threw her arms around him, hugging him with all her might.

"You must come back..."

Smooch.

Rozamy pressed her lips to his first. There was no trace of experience in the kiss, but its very clumsiness carried a pure, heartbreaking tenderness. Yunjae nodded, his face flushing bright red.

"Because you promised you wouldn't abandon me..." Yunjae nodded at her plea to keep that promise.

"Yes, Miss Rozamy!" He stood before the portal and gently let her go.

"...Ah." As she hesitated to take a step away, Yunjae urged her on with a reassuring nod. "We're out of time, Miss Rozamy."

"You must come back! You must! I'll do whatever you want!" With a desperate look, Rozamy caressed his arm one last time before leaping into the portal. Left entirely alone on the crumbling continent of Elysium, Yunjae took a deep breath.

"...If you put it that way, I'm really going to have to think about what to ask for." Chuckling as if he had no other worries in the world, he drew Slaida once more. Soon, he cast Blood-stained Soul to amplify his damage. As a crimson light enveloped his entire body, he murmured with a shy expression.

"There's really only one thing left I want her to do for me!"

"Whew!" Even for a max-level player like Yunjae, attempting to stop an entire dimension being thrown as a weapon was a first. Perhaps that was why his face looked more tense than usual as he sprinted toward the portal's entrance. While he was absolutely certain he would never lose in a normal hunt or a direct clash with Mamon, this was a completely different matter.

"Reality really isn't easy." If he failed to stop this, everything would end. His modest dreams, Lupinus's efforts to defeat Mamon and restore peace to all dimensions, and the countless dreams and hopes of ordinary people—all of it would vanish. The weight resting on the tip of his blade felt heavier than ever before.

Unlike the quests he had repeated countless times inside Mamon Saga, this was a one-time-only event! Realizing this was a critical quest with absolutely no second chances, a smile involuntarily tugged at the corners of Yunjae's lips. Perhaps all those decades had been spent ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠preparing him to execute this single moment without a single mistake. Just like those days in his youth, repeating the same choreography over and over to prepare for his debut!

With that sudden thought, Yunjae's eyes grew calm once more as he sprinted toward the boundary between dimensions. He closed the distance in an instant using Blink, and now, the dark expanse of space and Earth itself came into view. The continent of Elysium, pulled toward the portal at an incredible speed, already had a quarter of its mass protruding through to the other side. He couldn't afford to waste another second.

"Why don't you just give up now?" At that moment, Poe materialized beside him. Flying through the air at a speed that perfectly matched his ground-shattering sprint, she didn't seem to have appeared merely to mock him; she clearly had another purpose.

"Who on earth are you?" The girl, wearing a smirk, possessed a face identical to Rozamy, who had just returned to Earth. The only differences were her silver hair and purple eyes, which gave her an even more mystical aura. He wondered if she might be a Saintess from another dimension, but they looked far too identical for that to be a simple coincidence. As Yunjae dismissed that theory, Poe flashed him an alluring smile.

"Poe."

"Poe?"

"The true messenger, unlike that failure, Rozamy." Yunjae's brow furrowed in confusion. Without slowing his pace, he looked at Poe, who showed no intention of attacking him, and asked,

"What do you mean by that?"

"There's no need for me to explain everything to an enemy."

"Well... I suppose that's true!" Poe looked slightly taken aback by how easily he conceded the point.

"Anyway, just give up. You can't stop this no matter what you do."

"And what do I get if I give up?" Knowing that people rarely approach others without an agenda—and almost never out of pure goodwill—Yunjae asked his question. She let out a soft chuckle.

"I will give this world to you." It was an entirely unexpected offer.

"Think about it. Lupinus is a failure. She failed three times, and now she's weaker than even the human hunters on Earth. It's just her, all alone, against the great Demon God Mamon. There's no reason for you to oppose Lord Mamon for the sake of someone like her, is there?" At those words, Yunjae came to a halt.

"...Does that mean you won't invade our world anymore?"

"Essentially, yes. Furthermore, Lord Mamon will give me to you as a gift. You can do whatever you want with me, however you wish. If there's anything you dislike doing, I can do it in your stead. I'm on a completely different level compared to that clueless Rozamy."

For some reason, Poe harbored an immense hostility toward Rozamy. Though Yunjae didn't know why, she constantly displayed a fierce sense of rivalry, casting seductive glances as if to prove she could offer him far more than Rozamy ever could.

"Look around us." But he paid no heed to her temptation. He merely looked back at the ruined, lifeless continent of Elysium with a bitter expression. "Even if a ruin like this becomes mine, it has absolutely no meaning."

"No, that's not what I mean. I'm telling you to stop opposing Lord Mamon. Give up being Lupinus's sword. If you do, Elysium won't fall ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to Earth. Your precious daily life and your friends will all remain safe. And on top of that, you get to have me."

Poe swiped a finger over the blood seeping from the abdominal wound Mia's arrow had left, then stuck out her tongue to taste it. Watching her provocative display, there was absolutely no way she could be considered a Saintess. Though she shared Rozamy's face, her personality was undoubtedly the polar opposite.

"Well? All you have to do is discard Lupinus—that useless, troublesome nuisance. You won't even have to become a Demon King like Gainax or Domian." Poe whispered, her voice growing sweeter as she leaned in, wrapping her arms around Yunjae like a lover. He looked at her with a slightly complicated expression.

"I'm sorry, but I must decline your offer."

"What?" Poe's eyes widened, completely blindsided by his refusal.

"If I give up now, some other world will eventually end up just like this. I've already reached my maximum potential. But Mamon hasn't. Eventually, the balance will break. When that moment comes, the outcome is obvious, isn't it?"

He was already max-level. Having reached the absolute peak, Yunjae could grow no stronger. But Mamon was different. The more dimensions the Demon God invaded and destroyed, the more powerful he would become.

"...That's a sharp insight, but you still can't defeat Lord Mamon as you are now anyway!" At Poe's agitated shout, Yunjae offered a gentle smile.

"The very fact that you're making this offer tells me that you're actually quite worried about me." No, the gap in their power was by no means vast! I definitely possess power that rivals, or perhaps even surpasses, Mamon's! At the absolute certainty in Yunjae's voice, Poe's pupils trembled.

"If you just give up, everything becomes so much easier! You've already lost your chance at a normal life because of a failure like Lupinus! For a normal human, you're at an age where you should have seen your children and grandchildren before closing your eyes! And yet, you still want to protect Lupinus, that shameless failure, so badly?"

Her sharp question—asking if he hadn't lost everything because of those fifty-seven years trapped in Mamon Saga—cut deep. It was a truth Yunjae couldn't entirely deny. If he had never met Lupinus, he would have lived out a normal life, completely oblivious to any of this.

"But I don't want to leave someone who has been abandoned by the world all alone."

"What?"

"Even if that someone isn't a human, but a god."

"You idiot! You're just being used by Lupinus!"

"No, this is my choice. But what about you, Miss Poe? Is what you're doing right now truly your own choice?" Yunjae countered, turning the tables on her.

"W-what did you say?"

"The choice is mine, and so is the responsibility. So, I will do everything I can and never give ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up. That is what my parents taught me." His conviction was absolute. Born to parents who were mentally disabled, he had acted as the head of the household since childhood. Driven by a desperate desire to succeed, he had entered the entertainment industry at a young age. Though his career had been highly successful, it had also left him deeply scarred. When he was a fourteen-year-old boy, crushed by the harshness of reality, his mother and father had told him never to give up. With their simple, clumsy words, they had helped him stand back up.

"I will never turn my back on those who are left all alone!" Later, his benefactor, Jiyeon, who had reached out to his struggling family, had met a tragic end, dying in utter isolation just a year later. Having been powerless to save her back then, that tragedy became a defining turning point for Yunjae. I made up my mind then! He resolved that if anyone ever reached out to him for help, he would never ignore them.

"Besides, 'giving up' is only for when you're counting heads of cabbage for kimchi!" Chuckling as he declared he could delay no longer, Yunjae sprinted back toward the boundary between dimensions. Thoroughly rejected, Poe's expression hardened completely.

"How incredibly annoying! 'Giving up is only for counting cabbage'?" A simple rejection was irritating enough, but to hear such nonsense! "You're going to fail anyway! You'll crumble to pieces!" Perhaps because his question about whether this was truly her own choice kept echoing in her mind, Poe flew into a far more violent rage than usual.

"Want to make a bet?" Yunjae called out, glancing back at her as he ran. Thump! Seeing his bright, confident smile even in this dire situation, it was clear he hadn't even considered the possibility of failure.

"T-the outcome is already obvious!" That smile burned itself deeply into Poe's mind. Hissing her reply in irritation, she summoned a portal and threw herself into it, deciding there was no longer any point in talking to him.

"She feels somewhat unstable." Poe was certainly different from Rozamy. She didn't possess the sorrowful eyes or deep emotions Rozamy had shown, yet despite her mockery and derision, she seemed strangely anxious. She felt just as restless as Rozamy had when she was forced to lead the massive portal invasion.

"Whew." But now was not the time to ponder such things. Seeing that even more of Elysium's massive landmass had pushed through the portal while they were talking, Yunjae accelerated. My target is...! There was only one point he was aiming for. The portal! He didn't need to obliterate the entire continent of Elysium. If he could just destroy the portal itself, the rest of Elysium wouldn't fall to Earth! As for the debris that had already crossed over, he had more than enough power to destroy it before it hit the atmosphere!

Having maximized his damage at the cost of leaving himself with only a sliver of health through Blood-stained Soul, Yunjae unsealed the demonic sword Slaida. "Release!" Just as Gae Bolg, which he used as a sword, was originally a spear, the demonic sword Slaida was a formless mass of pure mana. The moment its seal was released, his damage would skyrocket in proportion to the magic resistance he sacrificed! It was a weapon designed entirely for absolute offense.

Vroooom! Simultaneously, Slaida's thin, long blade began to vibrate violently. As the blade, writhing like a ferocious black dragon, grazed the ground—*Crash!*—the stacked effects of Blood-stained Soul carved deep, jagged scars into the earth from its mere presence.

"Behave!" Yunjae began to rein in Slaida's rampaging blade. As he focused his mind entirely on a single target, the thrashing blade straightened out, taking the shape of an exceptionally long nodachi. Hummm! Though it still flickered occasionally, the now-stabilized blade stretched out for dozens of meters. The distance to his target was now barely a few hundred meters! For Yunjae, with his overwhelming stats, this was well within striking range.

One Flash! Along with his strongest single-target offensive skill, *flash!* His body erupted in a crimson light. The red glow of Blood-stained Soul wrapped around Slaida's dozens-of-meters-long black blade, and—*flash!*—in that split second, a slash faster than light struck the black portal.