Chapter 456
Chapter 456
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 456
Chapter Title: The Former Master of the Great Rift
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Chapter 456. The Former Master of the Great Rift
The words "The Former Master of the Great Rift" were seared into the Reaper King's mind like a brand.
His body trembled faintly, without him even realizing it.
The Abyss was divided into several realms.
The Middle Realm, where mortals lived.
This place, the Reaper Realm, where dead souls were judged and managed.
And then, the countless "errors" born from the twisting of the world's laws.
The "rifts" were purification devices that devoured those errors to maintain balance.
But if the errors overflowed beyond what the rifts could handle...
The final safeguard activated.
The Great Rift.
The Great Rift was another device that appeared to process errors.
It was like an extreme prescription, carving out a wound on the verge of festering.
But the price was enormous.
Because the Great Rift summoned beings from outside the Abyss—Outer Gods.
Unknown chaos. An uncontrollable catastrophe.
The Reaper King knew it all.
Every world had its master.
He ruled the Reaper Realm, just as King Sanctuary ruled the rifts.
Demons claimed the Middle Realm as theirs.
And the Great Rift had a master too.
Long ago, in an era so distant it defied comprehension, there was a being who oversaw it all.
The Reaper King's gaze turned to the small girl standing at the center of the light.
Her appearance was utterly different, but the aura emanating from her core was unmistakable.
She had grown weak, small, and unremarkable, but her essence hadn't changed.
Long ago, at the dawn of the Abyss's awakening, the empress who dominated the Great Rift—that was undoubtedly her, the former master.
But the current master of the Great Rift had changed.
There was no way to confirm it without the Creator's presence, but the shift was certain.
That meant the former master had died and vanished. So how was she alive?
To be precise, she had been revived by the primordial light.
As if reading the Reaper King's wariness, the girl spoke.
"Do not be on guard."
Her voice was clear like a child's, yet it carried the weight of eons.
"I have simply returned to reclaim my rightful place."
The girl looked down at her tiny body and grumbled in dissatisfaction.
"It's just that this form doesn't sit well with me."
Her gaze shifted to Park Chan-woo.
Her eyes held satisfaction, mingled with anticipation for something greater.
"Park Chan-woo. My contractor. I require more offerings."
She addressed him directly.
"You have done well thus far. But you must strive even harder."
It was praise and a whip in one.
A sign that the primordial light alone wasn't enough for her full revival.
The girl glanced around.
Endless wandering souls.
And the reapers mechanically slicing them down, empty shells of their former selves.
"The Reaper Realm is crumbling too."
Her gaze turned to the Reaper King.
"You've held on remarkably well until now, Reaper King."
Her tone was ambiguous—praise or mockery, it was hard to tell.
"The rifts endure somehow with a new king installed, but the Abyss and Reaper Realm need a purge as well."
Her voice grew cold.
"If things continue like this, everything will perish."
She added,
"The Destroyer who became the Great Rift's master will sweep you all away."
At those words, the Reaper King's very existence wavered.
His will was trembling.
The girl nodded.
The playful smile vanished from her face.
In its place was a piercing gaze that seemed to see through everything.
"He dislikes this world. The one crafted by the Creator."
She murmured softly.
"He plans to reduce it all to nothingness and forge his own world anew."
The Reaper King asked,
Nearly a scream in his question, but the girl merely shrugged.
"How should I know?"
Her tone was casual, as if discussing someone else's tale.
"That old man has always been like that. Willful to the end."
The Reaper King fell silent, unable to respond.
He pressed on.
His doubt was natural.
In the database accumulated over eons, there was no variable that could evade the absolute end known as the Destroyer.
Instead of answering, the girl poked Park Chan-woo with her finger.
"I hid within the Grail."
Her voice echoed through the Reaper Realm.
"And for eons, I searched for beings with potential."
It wasn't mere waiting.
It was a long, arduous quest in the darkness to find a single spark of hope.
She had watched the birth and demise of countless worlds, races, and heroes through the narrow window of the Grail.
Most were disappointing.
They grew arrogant in power, knelt before despair, or succumbed all too easily to the sweet whispers of ruin.
Her gaze fixed on Park Chan-woo.
Her eyes gleamed with the thrill of a explorer who had finally unearthed treasure.
"And the potential I finally found... is this one."
She added,
"The one who can see the wavelengths of souls."
Her eyes sparkled with interest.
"This one's ability is even more potent than the Lord of the Void."
The Lord of the Void sought to "dominate" souls.
To crush them with force and twist them to his will.
But Park Chan-woo was different.
He "understood" them.
Their sorrows and joys, the trajectories of their stories—like reading the score of beautiful music.
It was not domination, but communion.
At those words, Park Chan-woo, who had been silent, finally spoke.
"You said I possess the qualities to become the greatest mage."
He met her gaze head-on.
Even before this monumental truth that shook his very being, his voice remained steady.
"What exactly is mana wavelength?"
A faint, enigmatic smile curved her lips at the fundamental question.
As if she had been awaiting it for ages.
Instead of replying, she surveyed the empty Reaper Realm.
The landscape of wandering souls and reapers mechanically cutting them down.
"The Abyss as it stands now is no different from a dead world."
Her voice sank low.
It carried deep compassion and sorrow.
"Souls can't reincarnate. They're lost, wandering eternally. The river of life has dried up, leaving stagnant, rotting pools."
Her gaze returned to Park Chan-woo.
"And in such a world, one who can see soul wavelengths has appeared."
She asked,
The question was directed not just at him, but at the laws of the world itself.
"What do you think that signifies?"
"...Is my ability related to reincarnation?"
A faint tremor mixed into Park Chan-woo's voice.
A premonition that the thread connecting his entire journey—his strange luck and miracles—was finally within grasp.
"Yes."
She affirmed resolutely.
"That's why you were able to regress."
At that answer, the Reaper King's existence shook violently once more.
His colossal form rippled like a heat haze.
Astonishment laced his will.
The authority said to have been used when the Creator shaped the world.
The eye that pierced the grand cycle of all life's beginnings and ends.
For a mere mortal to wield such absolute power?
This transcended mere miracle—it was an aberration that upended the world's foundation.
Ignoring the Reaper King's reaction, the girl continued.
"This Abyss has festered too long. It's stagnant, rotting water. We need fresh flow. You, me, the Abyss—all of it."
Her gaze shifted back to Park Chan-woo.
"And in this time, one with the Reincarnation Eye appears."
A meaningful smile played on her lips.
"Perhaps even the Creator hasn't simply vanished."
She paused, staring into the void as if reminiscing on her past.
The billions of despairs and that one hope she had witnessed from within the Grail.
"At first, I thought I was just hiding from the Destroyer. But after meeting Park Chan-woo here, I changed my mind."
She patted his shoulder.
"That's why I staked my life to rewind time each time we failed."
She shrugged, her voice tinged with profound exhaustion.
"Though I can't do it anymore."
Only then did Park Chan-woo understand it all.
The reason he could turn back time.
This small goddess slumbering in the Grail of the Demon-Sealing God had performed miracles, wagering her own existence.
"What are the beings inside the Grail of the Demon-Sealing God?"
Park Chan-woo asked.
Czarpam, Heavenly Demon, and Azathoth.
He had to know why those primordial chaos entities lay dormant within the Grail.
As if she had been waiting, the girl grinned.
"The former masters of the Grail—and my secret weapons."
Her eyes twinkled mischievously.
"You had your suspicions, didn't you?"
Park Chan-woo remained silent.
He had dimly suspected as much.
That the Grail was no mere prison.
Then.
"Just how many weapons are stored inside?"
Counting on her fingers, she replied,
"Hmm... not that many. Exactly thirteen entities."
Thirteen entities.
Excluding Czarpam, Heavenly Demon, and Azathoth, ten more primordial beings slumbered ahead.
Park Chan-woo swallowed dryly.
"Azathoth is merely third in there."
If the primordial Dragon God Azathoth ranked only third, what horrors lay above?
"If you prove worthy, you'll be able to wield those weapons."
She added,
"Of course, not in your current state."
Park Chan-woo didn't deny it.
Manifesting even 1% of Azathoth had nearly worn his divinity to nothing.
To handle greater beings would require a vessel incomparable to his present one.
Finally, he unearthed the question buried deepest within.
The root of the primal fear that had bound him.
"What is death?"
Park Chan-woo's voice sank low.
"That 'death' that sought to kill me in 500 days—what is it?"
For the first time, the smile faded from her face.
Her playful eyes hardened coldly.
The air of the Reaper Realm seemed to freeze.
After a long, heavy silence, she finally spoke with effort.
"That is..."