Chapter 396
Chapter 396
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 396
Chapter Title: Racial War (35)
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Ever since becoming the King of Rifts, Signus had poured every effort into maintaining the balance of the distorted rifts.
He absorbed the 'Inscrutable Fragments' floating within the rifts and devoted himself fully to sealing the Great Rift.
All to prevent Sepiro's avatar from emerging from the Great Rift until his father, Park Chan-woo, completed his transformation within it.
But Sepiro emerged from the 'Great Rift' as if to flaunt his presence.
"Father. I'm sorry. I couldn't stop Sepiro."
Even after becoming the King of Rifts and the 'Sanctuary,' he had failed to prevent Sepiro's appearance.
Signus bowed his head as he gazed at Park Chan-woo, locked away in the void.
Of course, there was a reason he couldn't stop him.
"Sepiro... seems to have been chosen by the Great Rift itself. He emerged into the Abyss with the authority to refine all sorts of errors into 'Outer Gods.'"
The Great Rift.
It was a world of the reverse side, speckled with every kind of error.
Within it, Sepiro should have been annihilated alongside the super Outer Gods or suffered equivalent damage.
Yet instead, he had embraced that chaos as part of himself, emerging outward as an even more powerful and corrupted being.
It was as if the Great Rift itself had bizarrely selected Sepiro as its 'proxy' or 'apostle.'
"Forgive me. At present, I must exert all my power just to prevent the creation of the 'Infinite Great Rift.' I have no spare capacity to handle Valhalla or Father's comrades either."
Signus seethed with frustration.
At himself, who could only watch.
He had to maintain balance within the rift to prevent the Infinite Great Rift from forming.
But there was another critical reason Signus remained inside the rift.
Namely...
"...Father. There's no time."
Park Chan-woo.
He was fading away.
Like disassembling everything, he was relinquishing his own influence bit by bit.
His equipment, Baal, Chronos... even Signus himself.
Completely separated.
Naturally, even the very concept of 'father' should have vanished.
But as a human existence rather than a divine beast, Park Chan-woo was completing himself on his own terms.
Yet Signus still called him 'Father.'
Because he firmly believed that what Park Chan-woo was attempting now was a process transcending all such concepts.
"We must stop Sepiro. He's corrupted. That arrogant transcendent being is trying to染 the Abyss with the Great Rift."
The problem remained 'Sepiro.'
The Sepiro who reemerged from the Great Rift was utterly different from before.
He had always been arrogant and self-centered, but now he was brazenly attempting to directly link the 'Great Rift' with the Abyss.
His progress was too swift and overwhelming for Signus alone to halt.
Even with the Sanctuary's authority, the Great Rift's encroachment on the Abyss was advancing too rapidly.
"Father. The Racial War has begun. What exactly are you trying to become?"
Signus grew anxious.
He couldn't even guess what form Park Chan-woo's 'existence' would take upon completion.
Once the Racial War ended, Sepiro's true moves would begin in earnest.
And the only one who could stop him was Park Chan-woo.
Signus gazed at his father, Park Chan-woo, who was transcending material form, morphing into a pure thought-body, preparing to plunge into the sea of infinite possibilities.
A profound void stretched around him, where even the concepts of time and space grew faint.
Within that void, his father was beginning the process of deconstructing and reconstructing everything that formed his existence.
'Non-Nirvana' and 'With-Nirvana.'
Simultaneously pursuing these two opposing enlightenments was beyond Signus's comprehension.
It was like trying to grasp light and darkness in the same hand—success would lead to an unimaginable realm, but failure could mean the annihilation of his very existence, an exceedingly perilous path.
"Father..."
Signus called softly, but his voice failed to reach the void.
His father had already sealed off all external stimuli, sinking into deep meditation.
The thought-body vibrated faintly, emanating waves of mana purer and more potent than ever before.
Those waves shifted unpredictably—sometimes like a warm light embracing all, other times like a cold darkness reducing everything to nothingness.
Signus held his breath, watching the scene.
The path his father had chosen.
Though he couldn't understand it, he believed in him.
In the father who had never abandoned hope amid countless despairs, turning the impossible into possible.
Yet deep in his heart lingered profound unease.
The corrupted Sepiro.
Chosen by the Great Rift, he had already emerged into the Abyss and begun revealing his black ambitions.
His power was so immense that even with Signus mobilizing the Sanctuary's full authority, it was a struggle to contain him—and the speed at which he sought to corrupt the entire Abyss with the Great Rift was horrifyingly fast.
'Until Father completes himself... I must hold out.'
Signus reaffirmed his role.
Though he couldn't directly aid Valhalla's comrades or others, maintaining the balance of this distorted rift to prevent the Infinite Great Rift's creation—that was the best he could do, the only way to guard the stage for his father's return.
At that moment, the light and darkness waves pouring from Park Chan-woo's thought-body clashed violently for an instant, spewing unstable energy.
Signus's heart sank.
"Father!"
The enlightenment process was far from smooth.
Handling two opposing forces simultaneously would be exceedingly difficult even for a god.
Instinctively, Signus drew upon his power to aid his father but soon withdrew his hand.
His father had to overcome it with his own strength.
External interference would only disrupt enlightenment.
He could only pray fervently here for his father to safely conquer all trials and return, focusing solely on suppressing the rift's fluctuations.
How much time passed?
Park Chan-woo's thought-body was now submerged in a vortex of infinite light and darkness, its form unrecognizable.
Signus couldn't even guess what changes were occurring within.
He could only vaguely sense that the vortex was growing larger, the power's intensity shifting moment by moment.
It was like witnessing the birth of a new universe or the dissolution and reconfiguration of an old one—a grand yet terrifying sight.
'The boundary between nothing(無) and something(有)... the cycle of existence and non-existence... Father is now probing its origin.'
Signus faintly perceived what Park Chan-woo was attempting.
It transcended mere strength or new authorities—it was an attempt to redefine the essence of existence itself.
But the danger was equally unimaginable.
A single moment's loss of balance, and he might disintegrate in the light-dark vortex, forever adrift in the void.
When it would complete, or even if it could, remained unknown.
Then it happened.
The churning vortex of light and darkness suddenly halted.
In the tense silence, at the vortex's center, a tiny yet utterly pure and condensed point of light began to emerge.
The light slowly but surely expanded, pushing back the surrounding darkness.
Eventually, it took on a human silhouette.
Not a solid flesh body, but a translucent outline seemingly made of light.
"Father...!"
Signus's voice trembled.
Park Chan-woo's thought-body—no, what must now be called his 'divinity'—slowly opened its eyes.
His pupils held an empty void yet simultaneously contained the starlight of the entire universe, emanating a mystical glow.
He was not yet complete.
He had attained divinity, but lacked the 'vessel' and 'link' to fully manifest it in reality.
Like a temple with perfect blueprints but no construction materials gathered yet.
-Signus.
Park Chan-woo's will transmitted directly to Signus's soul.
His voice was serene, yet carried a depth encompassing the entire world.
-The time has come.
Signus instantly grasped the meaning.
The Racial War.
It was the stage his father had chosen to descend his divinity into reality, the means to fill the missing 'vessel.'
But it was also the most dangerous path.
In his current state—Level -30—even with the 'Blessing of First Racial War Participation' granting a temporary Level 0 upon entry, it was like a castle built on sand.
For it wasn't true self-achieved Level 0.
Yet Park Chan-woo paid it no mind.
Having refined his vessel through the racial relic, he had firmly established his existence.
'Ah.'
His form was truly awe-inspiring.
The realm that one with talent surpassing the heavens would spend a lifetime honing to reach.
The 'zero point' domain he had thought unreachable for decades or centuries—Father had stepped into it in one leap, as if compressing time itself, via the racial relic medium and the serendipity of the 'Blessing of First Racial War Participation.'
Of course, it wasn't a perfect zero-point state.
A precarious sandcastle reliant on temporary blessing and external power.
Not truly fixed in reality, unstable enough to vanish like foam at the slightest shock.
Merely pulling future potential into the present.
Yet even so, the aura Park Chan-woo emanated now was no different from that of a true god.
No— it seemed to harbor purer, more potent potential than any god.
"Father...! You've done it!"
Signus couldn't hide his bursting joy and admiration.
Temporary though it might be, Park Chan-woo had finally breached the wall of limits.
Even within the despair of Level -30, using the irregular stage of the Racial War as a foothold, he had elevated his existence another step.
The moment his very rank of being transformed.
Around Park Chan-woo's translucent, light-composed silhouette, an aura of divinity—far more potent and refined than before—whirled like a storm.
Even the void's darkness seemed to lose power and retreat before that light.
-Sepiro must not learn that I'm not in a complete state right now.
Park Chan-woo's intent was clear.
On the limited time and irregular stage of the Racial War...
...to maximally exploit this temporary zero-point state, pressure Sepiro, and drive a wedge to prevent him from rashly corrupting the entire Abyss via the Great Rift.
"He won't know. I'll devote all my power to concealing your manifestation and deceiving Sepiro's eyes!"
Signus responded immediately.
To make Sepiro realize Park Chan-woo as his true arch-nemesis.
To prevent him from easily summoning the Great Rift.
To showcase this state even more dramatically.
Such was Park Chan-woo's will, providing Signus clear direction.
Above all, preventing the Dragon Race from taking first place in the Racial War was paramount.
Park Chan-woo nodded.
And then...
-I have returned. O World.
Having realized his existence and essence, he ascended to the stage of the 'Racial War.'
