Gray Exile

The residents of the Gray Wasteland, the Divine Race, had been busy for days now, slicing even their sleeping hours apart just to keep moving.

"Most of them don't even know what the Celestial Realm is like."

Atram murmured softly, almost mournfully.

"Migratory beasts move toward places they've never been. They call that instinct. I think the people here long for the Celestial Realm in much the same way."

Looking at Atram, Yoon Sang-hyuk asked, "You seem the most excited of all, am I wrong?"

"Perhaps. No, you've seen right through me. Even if I'm nothing but a pitiful fellow with no divine seat left, Mother would still welcome me and hold me close. I used to dream every day of falling asleep in the embrace of the Great Mother."

"I'm really curious about what the Celestial Realm is like."

He had come all the way to the Demon Realm, and from the world of Eternal World, Roselia Continent, the only place left he had never seen was the Celestial Realm.

"The Celestial Realm is a beautiful place. If I were able, I would invite you there."

Even as they spoke, Atram's eyes were full of longing for the Celestial Realm. Then he gave an awkward smile.

"I was speaking too fondly. You, too, must return to your original world."

"Don't mind me. I'll be going back soon enough."

"Hmm. You still don't seem to know the Abyss of the Void all that well."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"Yes?"

At the abrupt remark, Yoon Sang-hyuk looked at him in confusion.

"The Abyss of the Void is, as its name suggests, an infinite pit whose end no one has ever reached. Searching for something there, for someone there, will not be easy."

It was a problem he had never even considered.

"Even if you know Satan is there, that still doesn't tell you what trials will wait before you can find him in the Abyss of the Void, or how long it will take."

"I see."

"If you're lucky, you may meet him quickly. If not, even after a long time, you may still never find him."

"I understand what you're saying. I hadn't thought of it. Thank you for the advice."

Just as the conversation seemed to be winding down, Atram looked out the window and said with a bright smile, "It seems the preparations are finished."

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

At the center of the Gray Wasteland.

Where a broad square once stood, a raised platform had been built high, and the residents, the Divine Race, gathered around it. They were all dressed in white, a color that did not belong in the Demon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Realm. Before, they had worn drab clothes.

Those white garments must have been precious things, prepared while they waited for the day they would return home.

Every Divine Race member in white wore a happy smile. The children, as always, were only chattering away in excitement. Yoon Sang-hyuk and his group stood a little apart, watching Atram on the platform as he prepared for the final ritual.

A few members of the Divine Race were helping him. It wasn't much of a grand setup, but every one of their movements was reverent beyond measure.

At last, with the preparations complete, Atram descended from the platform and came toward Yoon Sang-hyuk. He smiled brightly without saying a word and held out his hand. A warm light gathered in his palm.

It was the Stigma of Idea.

"The Stigma will change into the shape you desire. You will only have one chance."

Nodding, Yoon Sang-hyuk took the Stigma. Without hesitation, he pulled the Song of Doom from his subspace pocket. Then he sent his will into the Stigma.

- Become one.

The Stigma flared brilliantly. The light, bright enough to blind, vanished. The Stigma that had been glowing in Yoon Sang-hyuk's palm also disappeared. But no one present seemed interested in where it had gone.

Instead, the blade of Yoon Sang-hyuk's beloved sword, the Song of Doom, shone with a dazzling radiance. In that way, the fragment left behind by the star of Idea became one with the Song of Doom.

"Did you get the result you wanted?"

"I'm not sure yet. I don't know."

If he used a perception skill, he could tell right away. But he didn't do that. Yoon Sang-hyuk grinned.

"The best things are meant to be savored."

Atram let out a short laugh, then brought both hands together in a sign of prayer and bowed his head.

"On behalf of all the gods here who have lost their divinity, and on behalf of the children of the Mother, I offer you my sincere gratitude."

"It's nothing. Go on, then. The ones waiting for you are probably about to wear out their eyes."

"Ha ha, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠human jokes are something else indeed."

Still smiling, Atram looked at Yoon Sang-hyuk with visible reluctance before turning away.

"Then I take my leave."

Atram stepped onto the platform.

He knelt and lifted his face to the sky. Behind him, the two lower gods who had lost their divinity took the same posture and stared upward.

Atram raised both hands high and began to pray with solemn devotion.

From Atram's body, and from the platform on which he knelt, sacred light began to spread. That light gently enveloped the Divine Race gathered around the platform. Everyone was trembling with a joy too deep for words.

What happened today would be recorded in the Demon Realm's histories like this:

- The divinity of Idea, bestowed upon the Demon Realm, shone forth.

An event without precedent was taking place.

He wondered whether Baal was watching this scene now. Vassago had said there was nowhere Baal could not go, nothing he could not see. There would be no reason for Vassago to say such a thing unless it were true, so Baal was likely watching from somewhere at this very moment.

"...I earnestly pray, and pray again. Mother, please take pity on these children and gather them once more into your wide embrace."

Rumbleeeeee-

The gray heavens of the Demon Realm split open. From a height beyond sight, a vast pillar of light came pouring down.

Yoon Sang-hyuk had seen a scene like this before. It was the same phenomenon that had occurred when the three gods, including Idea, first revealed their glory on Earth.

The sacred light that pierced the sky of the Demon Realm swallowed the area around Atram's platform in an instant. The aftereffects of that light reached even Yoon Sang-hyuk and his companions, who had withdrawn quite a distance away.

Yoon Sang-hyuk felt as though someone were tugging at him. It was almost as if a system message were echoing in his mind, asking, "Will you go to the Celestial Realm?" If he were to yield to that pull, then perhaps... he might be taken to the Celestial Realm.

Would that make it a little easier to get home?

But Yoon Sang-hyuk shook off the force trying to drag him away.

"That'd be boring."

He had learned that there was a powerful being called Satan, the former Demon King, one whom even Baal did not look down on.

He could simply go to the Celestial Realm from here and return home comfortably. But what would happen once he went back to Earth, now free from the threat of Greed and Baal?

There would be nothing left that could ever truly make Yoon Sang-hyuk tense again.

That was why he had chosen this.

To enjoy the last adventure of his life as the Masked Lord.

The sacred light slowly faded. Yoon Sang-hyuk and his party had already retreated a great distance. If they were directly exposed to the divinity of the Supreme God Idea, they would suffer serious damage.

When the light finally vanished completely, nothing remained.

Atram and the Divine Race were gone. Even the platform they had built, along with the surrounding buildings, had vanished without a trace. It had all changed into a place as though nothing had ever been there in the first place.

Watching the spot where the gray sky he had opened was closing, Yoon Sang-hyuk muttered, "Heh, that's cold. You could've at least left me one house to spend the night in."

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

The specifications of the Song of Doom, fused with the Stigma of Idea, were frankly beyond words. Its attack power and holy attack power had almost doubled compared to before.

Holy attack power added by 200 percent. The four elemental attributes added by 100 percent. Strength, Agility, and Stamina all increased as well.

He had gained, in a single stroke, stats that would not be obtainable even by leveling up past level 100.

No matter how much Yoon Sang-hyuk had surpassed skills, he was still ultimately a player. That meant he was still bound by the system window. In that sense, what he had gained this time was so immense that its value could barely be measured.

But what surprised Yoon Sang-hyuk the most was neither the rise in attack power, nor the increase in stats, nor even the boost in divine power.

"This can't be real."

Cooldown reduction of 100 percent on skill reuse time.

No matter how many cooldown reduction items you hung on yourself, there was always a limit.

Clearly, if he somehow pushed cooldown reduction to 100 percent, he would be able to use that skill immediately regardless of its cooldown. But stacking cooldown reduction items didn't simply add their effects together, and that was the problem.

In the end, the system's built-in limits on cooldown reduction made infinite skill casting nothing more than theory. What's more, cooldown reduction options for all skills were not exactly common.

And yet...

"You're telling me this actually works?"

Every skill's reuse time had truly become zero.

As long as he had enough mana, he could use any skill in rapid succession without restriction.

Even the skills built into the Song of Doom, skills that by rank alone would likely be considered legendary or mythical, could now be used again and again with nothing more than sufficient mana.

"You're a total cheat ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠character. This is ridiculous."

He let out a long sigh and shook his head, but his mouth was smiling brightly.

"Hyung-nim, you look pleased."

Ibrahmut approached, a skewer threaded through a nicely roasted piece of meat in one hand and a wine glass brimming with wine in the other.

"I am."

There was no way he couldn't be.

He had obtained a powerful weapon. He didn't know just how strong Satan was, but at this point he felt like he could cut down even Satan's grandfather if he showed up.

"What on earth happened to the sword for you to be grinning like that?"

"It got stronger."

"Pardon?"

"The sword got stronger, and I got stronger too."

Ibrahmut wore the expression of someone who had no idea what he was talking about.

"To put it plainly..."

Yoon Sang-hyuk leaned toward him with a sly look and whispered, "I'm strong enough now to beat a thousand Ibrahmuts at once."

"That's impossible."

Ibrahmut bristled.

But Yoon Sang-hyuk only kept laughing.

"One Yoon Sang-hyuk is worth a thousand Ibrahmuts."