Chapter 423
Chapter 423
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 423
Chapter Title: Inter-Species War (62)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
A crack formed in the Heavenly Emperor's will.
It was a variable beyond calculation.
The faint aspirations of billions of mortals.
They had gathered to form a single mighty river.
The river flowed across space-time, pouring into this sealed realm.
Solely toward one man: Park Chan-woo.
Swaaaaaah—
Particles of light enveloped Park Chan-woo's body.
It was warm.
Pure energies that comforted and acknowledged him, like a mother's embrace.
His unstable divinity slotted into place like puzzle pieces fitting together.
The precarious sandcastle he'd built began to solidify at last atop a massive foundation of faith.
Park Chan-woo opened his eyes.
His body felt light.
The world looked different.
The crushing weight of all causality pressing down on him felt a little lighter now, shielded by humanity's immense faith.
—...Impressive.
The Heavenly Emperor's will echoed once more.
The previous regret had vanished, leaving only pure admiration.
—I underestimated you. You weren't just a candidate walking the path of creation. You're a true 'king'—one who forges his own path, creates laws, and bears the fate of your entire race.
The Heavenly Emperor saw Park Chan-woo's new potential.
The sandcastle remained.
But now, beneath it stretched a vast earth that no typhoon could shake.
—Your vessel is still small. But your foundation is infinite. You now have the qualifications to battle the other candidates.
Qualifications.
Something he hadn't possessed moments ago.
Something the Heavenly Emperor had been certain he lacked.
They had manifested in his body through Earth's humanity's aspirations.
Park Chan-woo.
He was finally functioning as a Species Lord.
True to the name 'Species Lord,' it meant the master of a race.
Those who inscribed their divinity based on absolute faith.
Divinity obtained and transcended on the foundation of belief.
Park Chan-woo had instinctively internalized that most fundamental law.
What other races had achieved over tens of thousands of years, he had accomplished in mere days—no, mere minutes.
However.
'This faith is a sandcastle too.'
Park Chan-woo's inner self remained coldly rational.
If humanity's faith vanished, his qualifications as Species Lord would be stripped away again.
This divinity would shine explosively in the Inter-Species War, but there was no guarantee it would endure afterward.
The other Twelve Species Lords—like Dragon God Sepiro—had built rock-solid foundations of faith through long ages of inheritance and domination.
But the faith he had gained was precarious, piled up in an instant and liable to crumble at any moment.
—Even so.
The Heavenly Emperor's will echoed once more.
—You've found a way to place that sandcastle on bedrock. It's a rare, delightful sight. So long ago I can scarcely remember, I too walked a path like yours.
This implied that the Heavenly Emperor had once been a god and Species Lord of a race, in the distant past.
But now it was a faded memory.
A shattered fate.
A perished truth.
Futile, perhaps, but seeing this new 'candidate' named Park Chan-woo had stirred forgotten recollections.
—I grant you the qualifications of one who has passed the final trial.
The Heavenly Emperor gestured.
A glowing ticket materialized in the empty space.
It shone like a miniature sun in its own right.
All of reversal's authorities seemed compressed within it.
—This is not a ticket to the 'False Reversal,' but to the 'True Next Reversal'—proof of your feat. But remember, little god. You can no longer hide in the shadows. Your existence will be known to all candidates. They will test you, destroy you, and seek to take everything.
Laughter tinged the Heavenly Emperor's will once more.
Park Chan-woo silently grasped the ticket.
A real ticket, not a fake.
Crack!
At the same moment, the surrounding space began shattering like glass.
—Prove it. Show how far your divinity, built on mortal faith, can withstand the Abyss's ancient predators.
Park Chan-woo hurled one final question at the fading Heavenly Emperor.
"What do you mean by the 'truth' you speak of?"
It wasn't mere curiosity.
As a mage, Park Chan-woo had pursued 'truth' his entire life.
The law at the root of all phenomena, the single answer piercing the world's principles.
But the Heavenly Emperor's 'truth' carried a subtly different nuance from what he knew.
In the crumbling space, the Heavenly Emperor's final will echoed like a reverberation.
—Truth is the final story that remains after all else ends.
With those words, everything was swallowed in light.
Park Chan-woo's vision returned to reality.
A golden ticket was clutched in his hand.
And the atmosphere around him had changed.
"……."
"……."
Everyone gazed at Park Chan-woo with strange looks in their eyes.
The aura emanating from his body was on an entirely different level now.
His once unstable and precarious divinity now gleamed like the light of dawn.
Park Chan-woo's eyes flickered faintly.
New Truth Station.
The ticket from the Heavenly Emperor wasn't just proof for the next station.
It was absolute authority to veer from the fixed track, guiding the train to an unknown, uncharted station.
'It'll be there.'
The 'deeper truth' the Heavenly Emperor wanted to show him.
The being who had pierced the essence of Easter Eggs and the Creator.
Perhaps there, Park Chan-woo could find the clue to the answer he hadn't discovered across countless regressions.
He nodded slightly toward Darkan and the Dusk Race, who awaited him.
"We're heading back."
At that single word, everyone silently parted the way.
Park Chan-woo slowly returned to the train.
'No way! This can't be happening!'
Host Hoot tore at his hair, his body trembling violently.
Three in a row.
Humanity had claimed the 'ticket' from every station they'd passed.
This unprecedented event transcended mere winning streak for one race.
It was clear proof that the train's flow—the entire Inter-Species War—was being reshaped around a single human.
But that wasn't the problem.
'It's no fun!'
Host Hoot and the other hosts bore the duty to turn this Inter-Species War into a more spectacular, stimulating show.
This show was for the Abyss's great beings.
They craved bloody battles, betrayals, and unpredictable chaos.
But what was this?
Stagnation.
Other superior races weren't daring to rush in against the incomprehensible string of miracles from Park Chan-woo.
Not a one-sided slaughter, not a fierce clash—just a bizarre procession of silence.
This wouldn't satisfy the audience.
'I can't let this stand. I have to shake things up.'
Host Hoot began plotting schemes.
He'd force them to clash at the next station, no matter what.
Conveniently, the train was heading toward the track with 'Blood and Chaos Station'.
A station where combat was mandatory.
There, neither Park Chan-woo nor the other races could pass without fighting.
Host Hoot accessed the system to twist the next station's rules even more cruelly.
But then.
Screeeeech—!
The Eternal Train emitted a bizarre metallic screech as it veered off the track.
Not the scheduled path.
'What?'
Host Hoot's eyes widened in bewilderment.
The train wasn't following any track he knew.
As if an invisible hand had seized the entire train, dragging it onto a new path.
"W-What's going on?! What is this?!"
The train had deviated from the track.
It was supposed to arrive at random stations, but it never broke the 'flow'.
Yet now, it was heading down a path no one had ever taken.
Host Hoot urgently summoned the other hosts.
The faces of the hosts gathered in the control room were filled with bewilderment and confusion.
"What the hell is happening? Ha."
"No idea! I can't modify the path with my authority! Kek!"
"Look at the scenery outside the train! The flow's messed up! Time and space are warping!"
The view from the train windows was no longer the familiar Abyss flow.
Rainbow-colored space swirled, fragments of shattered worlds streaking past like shooting stars.
A bizarre path none of the hosts had ever experienced.
Utterly unforeseen.
Their minds went blank.
There was nothing they could do.
Out of control.
Then, one host spoke up in a trembling voice.
"Crown of the Weakest Station. Something anomalous happened at that final trial."
All eyes turned to one person.
On their central monitor: a face far too composed.
In humanity's car, a man calmly gazing at the bizarre scenery outside the window.
Park Chan-woo.
He had to be the cause.
Humanity's car.
Undisturbed by the train's eerie vibrations or the chaotic scenery outside, Park Chan-woo showed no agitation.
As if he'd foreseen it all, he quietly stared at the system message floating before his eyes.
He smiled faintly.
'The Easter Egg Han Shin was supposed to get in the Inter-Species War.'
In the past, humanity had acquired two Easter Eggs.
This was the one Han Shin had held.
Originally, Han Shin should have kept it and grown its power.
But by upending the Inter-Species War and altering the station's flow, Park Chan-woo had claimed it instead.