Chapter 432
Chapter 432
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 432
Chapter Title: Racial War (71)
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Arcana's voice was trembling.
But it wasn't the quiver of hesitation or fear.
It stemmed solely from absolute faith in the master who had shaped her, and a resolute determination to overcome this desperate situation.
Park Chan-woo fell silent for a moment.
To use Arcana as an offering.
He had never even considered it.
Yet Arcana conveyed her will once more, even more fervently.
-My lord. I have memories.
Primal Dragon Arcana.
She was a new being forged by Park Chan-woo, but her core originated from the 'original' Arcana's heart.
That heart bore the full imprint of the solitary dragon's every memory, despair, and unfulfilled hope from eons of battling alone.
-I saw it. Myself, seduced by the false promises of the Great Evil's master, walking the path of corruption. A cursed 'True Dragon,' doomed to suffer eternally in the Forgotten Tower of the Gods—that horrific future.
A deep sorrow colored the Primal Dragon's voice.
She remembered the miraculous moment when Park Chan-woo had saved her from the Tower of the Gods.
But she also knew how long she had floundered in the swamp of despair before that miracle occurred.
-I am afraid, my lord. Afraid of returning to that time of despair. Afraid of becoming like that Outer God Diam, reduced to a plaything for the Great Evil's master in this mad battlefield, doomed to spend another eternity without hope.
His words were far from a mere confession of fear.
They were the desperate cry of a being who instinctively sensed that this 'Great War' scenario was a reenactment of her past—and an inescapable wheel of fate.
There was no escaping it.
She knew it had already happened.
The 'original' Arcana was merely treading a predestined path.
Regardless of her own will, she marched toward ruin along the flow of fixed history.
-This battlefield may be a false place. Everything here might vanish like a dream, a mirage. But, my lord. To me, this pain and despair feel all too vividly real.
Primal Dragon Arcana turned her head toward Park Chan-woo.
Her gaze brimming with desperate longing.
-Please, save me. Even in this false world, grant me the chance to right my fate. Not to be tainted by the Great Evil's master and waste another eternity in despair, but to fade in the most radiant light—by your hand, for your great deed.
How could this be called a sacrifice?
It was closer to a fervent prayer seeking the meaning of her existence.
Wasn't the reason she was reborn as the 'Dragon of Hope' precisely for this moment?
-You gave me the name 'Hope,' my lord. Then my end must also be one of hope. Use me as your offering to surpass this wave of despair. That is the only way to prove I existed as the Dragon of Hope.
Park Chan-woo peered deeply into her eyes.
In them, he saw his own past—countless failures and despair.
He saw the solitary soul who had shouldered everything alone, only to crumble in the end.
Arcana knew.
Park Chan-woo would never leave her to face it alone.
He would never let her sacrifice be in vain.
With that absolute faith, she could willingly cast herself into the abyss.
Finally, in a very small voice, Primal Dragon Arcana revealed the deepest wish she had kept hidden within.
-Just as you granted new dreams to your comrades...
Her gaze seemed to briefly turn toward humanity's warriors slumbering inside the train.
-I, too, want to dream.
It was such a simple wish—and all the more heartbreaking for it.
A being who, through eons of despair, had never once slept peacefully.
A solitary dragon forever locked in battle with nightmares.
Now, she longed to lay down everything, just once, and dream in peace.
-A dream of the new world you open. A dream sung by dragons of hope, not despair. If I could dream that dream—if you would allow it—then becoming your offering here and now is what I truly desire.
At that fervent plea, Park Chan-woo could no longer remain silent.
Park Chan-woo nodded quietly.
"...I permit you to dream."
He promised.
"You will dream alongside me."
Park Chan-woo accepted Arcana's sacrifice.
But it was not a sacrifice for oblivion. It was a sublime metamorphosis—a transcendent process to ascend to a higher plane, forever etched in memory.
-...Thank you.
Primal Dragon Arcana's colossal form began to dissolve into particles of radiant light.
As her existence unraveled, all her memories, will, and the divinity of hope bestowed by Park Chan-woo manifested as pure energy.
Even as she faded, she offered her final obeisance to her creator.
-Born from your hands, to serve you—it has been the greatest honor.
Her will was utterly pure and transparent.
No resentment or regret lingered.
Before meeting Park Chan-woo, her existence had been nothing but a record of despair.
But now, she could fade under the name of hope.
Primal Dragon Arcana knew.
Park Chan-woo was not the true Dragon God Sepiro.
But it didn't matter to her.
True divinity wasn't defined by bloodline or name.
The one who showed her hope, opened a new path, and freed her from the chains of despair.
That was the only god she needed to follow.
-My one true Dragon God.
That final confession was Primal Dragon Arcana's true enlightenment.
Her pure soul flowed like a river of light, gathering at Park Chan-woo's fingertips.
Feeling the weight of that noble will, Park Chan-woo closed his eyes tightly.
"...God of Offerings."
At his call, the chalice of the Demon-Sealing God within his soul resonated faintly.
"I offer Arcana—my most loyal sword, my greatest hope—as sacrifice."
His gaze turned to the distance.
Toward the countless demons charging at him.
Toward Diam, now an Outer God unleashing dragons in vast numbers through the great rift.
And beyond, he sensed every race slithering in the shadows, seizing this 'Great War' as a chance to slay him.
Therefore.
"Open the way."
As Park Chan-woo's declaration ended, all of Primal Dragon Arcana's essence, condensed at his fingertips, finally took its ultimate form.
Arcana's soul, her noble will, and her entire saga as the 'Dragon of Hope' fused into one.
The particles of light no longer erupted with destructive force.
Instead, at their center, a single, utterly pure and clear 'wish' was born.
Wish.
Arcana did not vanish.
She became true 'hope.'
A single wish: to offer herself as sacrifice and clear her lord's path.
The dream of hope over despair that she so longed to have.
She herself had become that 'dream.'
Hwaaaaa—!
The light of Arcana's fulfilled wish blazed with the brilliance of billions of exploding suns, swelling infinitely to engulf not just 'Shriveled Truth Station'—but the entire Racial War battlefield, and ultimately the whole Abyss.
The onrushing demon legions halted before that light.
Outer God Diam's roars froze mid-motion.
Even the chaos of the great rift fell silent before its majesty.
The light was not destructive.
It was neither hot nor cold.
It simply existed.
A manifestation of absolute, pure 'hope'—driving out all darkness, quelling all chaos, nullifying all malice.
Every being beheld within that light.
The purest wishes they had forgotten.
The peace of warless days, the warm sunlight of home, the smile of a loved one.
The kindest memories slumbering deep in their souls resonated with Arcana's wish, bringing their advance to a halt.
Gradually, the light that had blanketed the world converged into a single form.
It was a 'path.'
A golden path crossing the heart of this chaotic battlefield, meant for one person alone.
The path began at Park Chan-woo's feet and stretched endlessly toward the distant source—and endpoint—of all threats.
No enemies or obstacles lay upon it.
An absolute sanctuary forged by Arcana's sacrifice.
The one true path to salvation, walkable only by Park Chan-woo.
Park Chan-woo took his first step onto that path.
Tak.
A small footfall, yet the only sound that silenced all the battlefield's clamor.
All watched in silence.
The demon legions, Outer God Diam, even the unknown entities crawling from the great rift's cracks.
As if by pact, every movement ceased, staring blankly at the impossible miracle.
They knew the instant they saw it.
That path was beyond their reach.
Their blades could never touch the one who walked it!
In the midst of this hell of despair and chaos, a path named 'hope' had been forcibly carved.
Awe.
An absolute emotion shaking the core of their existence, transcending fear.
Only now did they truly grasp, bone-deep, that the being they sought to challenge lived by laws of a wholly different dimension.
Park Chan-woo began to walk.
Quietly, without hesitation.
At his side, Arcana's soul—in the faint form of light—silently accompanied him, guiding the way.
Like the most devoted knight, illuminating his lord's path to the very end.
All beings on the battlefield could only watch, holding their breath.
No one knew what awaited at the path's end.
But Park Chan-woo did.
At this path's end waited the two absolutes who had started it all.
The culprit binding his fate: Dragon God Sepiro.
And the master of this false historical stage: the Lord of the Void.
Little by little, in the distance, their forms began to emerge.