Chapter 496
Chapter 496
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 496
Chapter Title: Realm of the Creator (1)
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Amalgam's consciousness began to trace back to the distant past, ascending the river of time.
The genesis of the Abyss.
A time when the world hadn't even taken proper form.
The Creator forged order from chaos and brought forth his first children.
They were the Transcendents.
They were living "standards" and "laws" in their respective domains.
Through the Transcendents, the Creator erected the framework of the world, and their very existence became the unshakable pillars of this realm.
But they were too strong and too perfect from the moment of their birth.
They had no concept of "growth."
They possessed ultimate mastery that mortals yearned for their entire lives, right from the instant they came into being.
Having obtained everything without effort, they harbored no desire to improve or any sense of lack that drove them to fill a void.
They simply reveled eternally in the perfection bestowed upon them.
They sought no greater meaning.
The Creator loved these Transcendents as his greatest creations, yet he felt a profound pity at the same time.
One day, the Creator spoke to them.
His voice carried boundless affection for his children, mingled with an indelible sorrow.
The Transcendents couldn't comprehend his words.
What was a lack? What were limits?
Failure, frustration, and the ecstasy of rising above them—such words were utterly alien and unnecessary to them.
Why yearn for imperfection when they were already perfect?
And soon after, the Creator departed.
Without explanation or farewell.
As if he had never existed at all.
One day, they awoke to find their world bereft of their father's enveloping warmth.
At first, the Transcendents were bewildered.
But that bewilderment soon twisted into uncontrollable rage.
That was their conclusion.
Weary of their perfection, he had left in search of more intriguing, novel toys.
They were mere failed experiments born of his capricious creative whims.
And he had imprisoned them in this gilded cage called transcendence, this inescapable eternal life.
A thick sense of betrayal and loss—the first "lack" etched into their flawless souls.
The Transcendents stopped searching for the Creator.
Instead, they strove to erase his traces.
They crafted forgotten myths, tabooed his language, and pretended they were the true masters of the Abyss.
It was the only way to safeguard their wounded pride and ignore the vast void of their father's absence.
But... was it not?
Were all the resentment and fury they had harbored across eons nothing more than the arrogant, foolish delusions of immature children?
The Creator hadn't abandoned them.
Rather, he had left alone to fight and protect them.
Shouldering everything so their immature souls wouldn't be swept into the horrors of that war.
For the first time in eons, something hot trickled from Amalgam's eyes.
He truly hadn't known. Or perhaps he hadn't wanted to know.
Maybe he lacked the courage to face the truth that they hadn't been abandoned.
Maybe he didn't want to blame their own weakness for their father's absence.
So they did nothing.
They didn't search.
Even though he had left so many traces throughout the Abyss.
Countless anomalies that Amalgam had ignored and dismissed under the name of "balance" flashed through his mind.
For instance, the "Tower of the Gods" that the Transcendent Lil had risked her life to steal.
He had seen it only as her foolish rebellion, a seed of chaos disrupting their perfect world.
But all of it was actually "paths" left by their father.
Desperate signposts hoping they would find him, silent warnings to prepare for the coming threat.
They had ignored every signal.
Hiding behind thick walls of arrogance and wounded pride, they had shut out the truth, closing their ears and eyes.
Amalgam couldn't continue.
Vicious regret and guilt began to gnaw at his mind.
"It's not too late yet, Amalgam."
Park Chan-woo's voice anchored his wavering will.
Amalgam looked up at Park Chan-woo.
...This human. This mortal.
Because Park Chan-woo bore the same weight as the Creator.
The solitude of a father fighting alone in the shadows for children who believed themselves abandoned.
Park Chan-woo instinctively understood that weight.
Amalgam murmured softly.
Sepiro too was filled with endless lack and desire to seize everything for himself.
Sepiro's lack was directed solely toward his own completion.
He used everything as stepping stones, exploited them, and discarded them to climb higher.
Park Chan-woo was different.
He turned his lacks into a driving force to understand others, heal their wounds, and advance together.
He wasn't one who emptied others to fill himself; he completed himself by filling others.
Just like the Creator.
Exactly like their father.
Amalgam slowly clasped Park Chan-woo's hand in return.
All sounds ceased.
The mana waves of Park Chan-woo and Amalgam resonated perfectly, spreading out as one massive echo.
Soul synchronization.
Through Park Chan-woo's consciousness, Amalgam witnessed his entire journey; through Amalgam's soul, Park Chan-woo felt the solitude and regret accumulated over eons.
It felt like an eternity had passed, yet only a fleeting moment.
Amalgam released his hand first.
No doubt or wariness lingered in his eyes.
Amalgam's voice was soft and calm, unlike before.
Park Chan-woo nodded silently at the warning.
Amalgam's gaze locked straight onto Park Chan-woo's eyes.
To a Transcendent, that was punishment worse than death.
Amalgam asked one final time.
Park Chan-woo didn't care.
He had already lost everything once.
His very life was a journey of advancing beyond loss.
What more was there to fear losing?
"Doesn't matter."
A faint smile touched Amalgam's lips at the resolute reply.
He asked no more.
Instead, he extended his hand toward the void.
At his will, a gate of alien light amid the sea of stars—in the midst of it all—began to creak open with a heavy groan.
Amalgam's voice echoed like a blessing for the hero of a new era.
Park Chan-woo stepped toward the gate, then paused and looked back.
"What about you?"
As Park Chan-woo gave him a puzzled look, Amalgam continued.
Park Chan-woo's brow furrowed slightly.
"Isn't that dangerous?"
Entering another Transcendent's domain was the riskiest gamble for them.
Not only was their power severely weakened, but their fate was uncertain within the opponent's realm.
Those not yet ready to accept the truth wouldn't heed Amalgam easily.
Yet Amalgam smiled serenely.
He declared.
Solemn resolve gleamed in his eyes.
Park Chan-woo said no more to dissuade him.
"...I'll root for you."
A brief word.
Park Chan-woo turned again.
And without hesitation, he stepped through the gate of light into the unknown world.
To find Lil—his master.