Chapter 518
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 518
Chapter Title: I Am the Master of This Abyss
Before that wondrous sight, everyone fell silent, holding their breath.
That was when Park Chan-woo moved.
He quietly extended his hand toward the empty air.
A gesture utterly natural, devoid of any force or intent.
As if calling something that rightfully belonged right there.
And then.
Hwaaaaa...
Beyond the pitch-black Abyss, the single light that all participants had gazed upon like a beacon of hope, yet could never reach.
The 'Primeval Light'.
It streaked toward him in a trajectory of ecstatic radiance, as if it had finally found its long-awaited master.
The light settled softly into his palm.
It was warm.
A fundamental pulse of life, infused with all the warmth of the world.
Park Chan-woo gazed at the brilliantly shining object in his hand, confirming that his suspicions had been correct.
The Primeval Light was indeed the light lost by Ahe, the God of Light and Life.
The Abyss of the 'Third Night'.
The god who had been stripped of both light and life, degenerating into the Death Commander Anubis.
In his final moments, he had sacrificed himself to end Aheta's night and entrusted Park Chan-woo with a plea.
For his son, 'Bokssil', the Radiant Anubis.
To reclaim his lost divinity of 'Light' and 'Life'.
And to guide Bokssil wholly into becoming the being he was meant to be: Urvis, the God of Light and Life.
That was the last will he left as a father, and his final promise as the God of Light.
Park Chan-woo had never once forgotten that promise.
From the moment the Sovereign of the Pitch-Black opened the primeval darkness and mentioned the 'Primeval Light' as an escape condition, he had already intuited it.
This was one of the two wings Ahe had lost.
But Ahe's power surpassed even his expectations.
Even the perfect world of darkness crafted by the Sovereign of the Pitch-Black—hailed as the Great Lord—could not fully devour or extinguish this single point of light.
This was no mercy or flaw granted by the Sovereign of the Pitch-Black.
Ahe's light was the very incarnation of the concept of 'hope'.
It was the primeval flame that no darkness, however thick, and no despair, however deep, could ever snuff out.
It had become the beacon of salvation for everyone trapped in this Abyss.
'Now, only one remains.'
In Park Chan-woo's mind surfaced the final piece of information Aheta had left through Ahe's soul just before vanishing.
The lost life was held by Greymory, the Grief-stricken Demon God.
In the breathless chaos of the unfolding mayhem, he still hadn't had a proper chance to confront Greymory.
But not anymore.
A new order had been established, and the balance of the Abyss had shifted.
It was time to settle the overdue business.
But for now, more than that.
"...Mm."
A faint groan escaped from Park Chan-woo's embrace.
It was Adora.
She was slowly awakening from her long, deep slumber.
Her eyelashes trembled faintly, like the wings of a butterfly.
At last, she slowly opened her eyes.
In that instant, the light of the world returned to her deep, void-like pupils.
Her gaze first turned to the face of Park Chan-woo, who held her.
"..."
Adora simply stared up at him blankly, wordless.
Her eyes held a bewildered confusion, as if she remembered nothing of where she was or what had happened.
The memories of him sealed deep within her soul had yet to fully surface.
Park Chan-woo smiled quietly at her.
"Are you alright?"
His voice.
His smile.
His warmth.
Forgotten sensations began to revive one by one within Adora's muddled consciousness.
Like puzzle pieces scattered about, her memories finally clicked into place, forming a grand picture.
From their first meeting at the Tower of Pride to the final moment in this pitch-black darkness when she had cast aside everything to save him.
"Ah..."
Everything came flooding back.
And with it, the horrifying realization of the undignified spectacle she had made.
Attacking him with only instinct left after losing her memories.
Falling into a mindless sleep in his arms.
All of it was utterly unbecoming for the Witch Sovereign and Queen of the Night.
Adora's pale face flushed beet red in an instant.
"I, I..."
She wriggled frantically to escape his embrace.
But her wounded body refused to obey, and her clumsy movements only burrowed her deeper into his arms.
"Made such a... disgraceful display."
She mumbled in a voice as tiny as a mosquito's, bowing her head deeply.
Adora's hair tickled his chin.
Park Chan-woo couldn't help but laugh out loud.
At the end of all this grueling battle, he had finally reclaimed this peace.
"No. You were magnificent, Adora."
Park Chan-woo said, gently stroking her hair.
"You saved me. You saved everyone in this darkness."
Adora couldn't lift her head.
She desperately tried to hide the pounding of her heart threatening to burst.
It was then, in the midst of their quiet, warm moment alone.
The veil of the Abyss lifted completely.
With the Sovereign of the Pitch-Black's annihilation and the collapse of his cursed world, this insidious masked ball finally reached its end.
The scattered festival scenery of Valhalla unfolded before their eyes once more.
And before everyone's eyes floated the promised system message.
Kwarrrrrr!
A massive rift tore open in the sky once more.
Beyond the rift, landscapes of thousands of different worlds flashed by like a montage.
A hell of boiling lava, an ice planet in eternal blizzards, a poisonous forest teeming with bizarre plants.
All of it was the vast demonic territories ruled by the Sovereign of the Pitch-Black for eons.
Those territories now lay spread before Park Chan-woo, awaiting their new master.
The subjugated demons screamed as they vanished.
This was on a whole different level from the rewards when two Sovereigns fell in the previous Racial War.
Back then, the fallen Sovereigns' territories and powers had returned to nothingness under the Abyss's laws.
But this time was different.
The most primal and brutal law of plunder applied: the victor takes all from the loser.
In a single battle, Park Chan-woo had claimed everything one Great Sovereign had amassed over a lifetime.
Park Chan-woo drew a deep breath.
Before he knew it, they were back in Valhalla.
The space-time-warping Pitch-Black Abyss had vanished without a trace.
But its aftermath still weighed heavily on the plaza.
Not a shred of the festival remained.
Silence had replaced merry music, wariness the cheers.
The peaceful scene of diverse races mingling and laughing had shattered into pieces from a single demonic provocation.
All eyes in the plaza fixed on one person: Park Chan-woo.
Fear, awe, and faint anticipation.
They were waiting.
For their new god to pronounce judgment on this chaos.
Park Chan-woo silently surveyed the ruined festival grounds.
The demons who had disrupted the festival of peace.
'Kicking away your last chance, demons.'
He had somewhat anticipated this.
Those arrogant ones would never meekly accept defeat in the Racial War.
Sooner or later, they would flaunt their power like this to shake the new order.
So he had waited.
He hadn't drawn his blade first.
He gave them a chance until they crossed the line themselves.
Even so.
They ruined the arena of peace.
They trampled the possibility of coexistence in the new era he dreamed of, where all races lived together.
In this very moment, with the most eyes upon them, in this sacred festival ground.
They spilled blood and sowed terror.
A blatant 'declaration of war'.
A malicious protest to prove to all under heaven how shallow and fragile the peace they dreamed of truly was.
If he stayed silent even now.
If he forgave their arrogant provocation with silence.
As Humanity's Sovereign and the host leading this grand alliance, he would lose all dignity.
Cracks would form in the trust of the countless races who believed in and followed him.
The notion that even this great god was helpless before demonic madness would spread.
The new order would shake before it could even take root.
Peace requires power.
And sometimes, that power must be shown.
There are moments when blood must be spilled to prevent a greater bloodshed.
Park Chan-woo resolved himself.
He quietly closed his eyes.
And activated his new authority, 'Transcendence'.
The power to imprint his will upon every existence in the Abyss.
When he opened his eyes again, his voice no longer lingered only in Valhalla's plaza.
His will spread through the World Tree across the entire Abyss, into every race's territory, resounding directly in every soul.
The dragon mountains, the giants' lands, the twilight shadow cities.
And even to the deepest thrones of the remaining six Sovereigns.
"I desired peace.""An era where we transcend race, bloodline, and past grudges to respect and grow together. I held this festival to show you that possibility, and you answered the call."But the demons rejected that peace.They stained our festival with blood and trampled our pact of coexistence with terror. They chose war over dialogue, betrayal over trust. The Sovereign of the Pitch-Black paid the price with annihilation, and all he owned became mine. But it is not enough.
"Therefore, as Humanity's Sovereign, the new god of dragons, and the successor to the Creator's will—as the new master of this Abyss—"
"I declare total war on the demons."
"Races who cooperate with us will receive boundless grace. Those who do not must prepare to return to the primeval void."
"Demons. Do not forget—you started this war."