I Exist

I exist.

"…You've been reduced to minced meat."

Twitch. Twitch.

Raiga stared at the chunks of flesh rolling across the floor.

Something that had been sliced countless times until it lost all form. The body of the one who had once been the Heavenly Demon. Minced hundreds, thousands of times—perhaps more—until even regeneration had become a struggle. This was the end of a monster that had abandoned its humanity.

Yet it was not dead.

It meant he had neither removed nor absorbed the fragment, merely toyed with it like a plaything, over and over.

"What in the world happened here…?"

The Heavenly Demon had been a powerhouse. Strong enough that even Raiga would have needed to give his all. And now that powerhouse was thinly sliced meat tumbling on the ground. Judging by the traces left around them, this had been one-sided violence.

Who?

Who could have reduced the Heavenly Demon to this state?

He's terrified.

Above all, the meat was soaked in fear. So afraid, so utterly terrified, that even though it could regenerate, it refused to do so on its own. Regeneration would only mean being crushed again. Before overwhelming violence, it could only lie there helpless.

But Raiga found it strange. The Heavenly Demon was not the sort whose spirit would break from a mere difference in power. Every being that had endured the Abyss for eons possessed a lofty, unyielding mind.

Helplessness and despair. But what struck even harder than those was the denial of existence itself.

Raiga tasted the thick emotion rising from the flesh. In short, the Heavenly Demon had been denied his own existence. How it had been possible, Raiga did not know—but the Heavenly Demon had been told he was not the Heavenly Demon. Ignored, toyed with, deemed not even worth absorbing the fragment of.

An existence that could instill this much terror in the Demon of Heaven…

And that was not all.

"It isn't just the Heavenly Demon. The entire island is afraid…"

It was trembling. As if something that should never have appeared had appeared. Even Raiga felt a choking tension rise unbidden. Whoever had done this to the Heavenly Demon and pressed down on the whole island…

The Unborn Being came to mind first, but he shook his head. That monster would have swallowed the fragment whole along with everything else.

And most likely, the one who had created this outcome was the man now standing at the island's center.

"Don't tell me… is it you? Goat."

The Golden Goat. The bastard who had suddenly transferred him into the Star's Prison through the Star Expedition. After being locked away and then released, everything had changed. The trial was already in its final stages. Everything was over. He had done nothing, only self-destructing and gnawing away at his own life force.

How hollow and powerless could one feel?

I cannot end it like this.

Raiga shook his head and moved his feet. There was something more urgent than recovering the fragment. If the one at the island's center was the Golden Goat, he had to learn who the bastard was and what he was doing. And if, by any chance, the man posed a threat to the Empire… he would burn the last of his life to stop him.

The closer he drew to the island's center, the more Raiga felt himself sinking into a deep mire.

"…What are these things?"

The scattered chunks were not only the Heavenly Demon's. The Unborn Being had been blown apart. The Star Destroyer was missing its upper body. The Owner of the Tomb lay in pieces, motionless as if broken.

The Multiplier of the Storm was eaten by the Unborn Being, wasn't he?

He had been mid-digestion when the explosion came, turning them both into chunks. A scene of utter carnage. What had happened here?

And more…

The Whale of the Celestial Axis and the Sunken Emperor. The two annihilated each other.

Both had become corpses. The only difference from the others was that they had died fighting each other. Why had they clashed? Why had it come to this?

Raiga sincerely prayed that the Sunken Emperor was not the Emperor of the Empire.

Everyone except me is finished.

It was absurd. Barely a day had passed since his transfer to the Star's Prison. Only one day. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠In that single day, everything had been decided. Had he not been transferred, he too might now be among this pile of corpses.

Raiga had never, in all his life, witnessed a sight more shocking than this. His expression hardened. He moved his feet even faster toward the island's center.

And when he finally arrived…

Looking upon the face of the one standing there, Raiga could only scream a death cry.

"You…!"

—Result Denial?

—You refuse the end?

—Then you will lose everything.

—The power you gained, Isabella's memories, this victory itself!

—All of it will vanish!

I know.

I know full well the consequences of what I am doing now. I intended to return everything to nothing.

"The Abyss truly is the Abyss, isn't it? You never know what will happen."

I offered a small smile. I had steeled myself for this from the moment I first set foot in the Abyss. Anything could happen here. Whatever you imagine, something beyond it always occurs.

"Randolph. You are my other face. The me that focuses solely on Pangenia. The future that abandoned reality."

I acknowledged it. Your form is merely another aspect of me. At the same time, I realized it. Level 10. Perhaps even beyond. The most ideal form is the one standing here now. Because the current me is hopelessly unbalanced. Park Hyunmyung of reality and Randolph of Pangenia do not match. Thus I cannot reach Level 10. I cannot grow stronger. Only by discarding Park Hyunmyung did the balance finally settle.

But… I deny it.

"I will abandon nothing."

Isabella taught me. The preciousness of reality. My name, my existence, everything that is mine. The possibility of going further.

"Park Hyunmyung, Randolph, Wilhelm, Isabella."

I speak the names. A name is existence. The fact of existing.

"Everything connected to me—I will let go of none of it."

So I will let go of nothing.

—Sophistry!

—Returning everything to nothing means abandoning all you have gained, does it not?

—Abandoning everything just to obtain Isabella alone!

—Even if you abandon it all, Isabella will not return!

—Reviving a vanished existence is impossible. She is already gone!

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠other "me" rebutted. The possibility that even after abandoning everything, I would still fail to obtain what I desired.

"She has only hidden herself beyond the Gate."

But I saw it. The Gate of Truth. Beyond it. She has not yet vanished. Until the island's game fully ends, she simply remains behind the Gate. Only when the game completely concludes does she truly disappear. Therefore, before the game ends, I would make the game itself as if it had never been.

—You would bring back what lies beyond the Gate?

—That too is impossible!

—It is on an entirely different level from merely opening the Gate!

—Even if you somehow bring her back, how can you be certain it is "Isabella"?

—You know nothing about the Gate!

—You foolish, dull-witted fool…!

—This way, you will never save Pangenia!

Not wrong. But not the correct answer either. Had discarding the real Park Hyunmyung dulled my mind? Yet the Park Hyunmyung who plays Pangenia in reality always moves with every possibility open.

The Gate of Truth.

The me of this very moment. I opened that Gate once more.

What do you desire? What will you offer in return? The mouth was speaking. If I said I desired Isabella, it would take everything from me. That was what it hoped I would say. As expected, the Gate of Truth did not exist solely for my sake. For every desire, or more, it was an existence that took from me.

"I will bring Isabella back using this Gate as the price."

"The Gate of Eternal Monarch Randolph. That should be more than enough to bring her back."

For a moment there was no answer. But I knew. Every Hidden Trait is a Gate. Truth, and a single completion. I had just declared I would abandon the Hidden Trait of Eternal Monarch Randolph. That price should suffice.

Truth spoke. A human who would abandon his own completion to save another. It had truly never seen such a human before. This went beyond mere sacrificial spirit. It meant discarding even the very caliber of the soul, beyond life itself.

"Can it be done?"

With those words, as if the steam had gone out of it, the "mouth" vanished. Only then could I smile in relief.

KRA-KOOM!

KRA-RRR-KOOM!

Lightning struck across the entire island. One by one, everything began returning to its place.

—You idiot!

—The true power of the Eternal Monarch is Result Denial. In other words, "Nullification of All Rewards."

—A supreme authority usable only once!

—The reason the Eternal Monarch could protect this island from Ruin!

—Look. This is the result. Though he protected it, nothing remains on this island.

God's Island. One of the few uncontaminated lands in the Abyss. In the distant past, the Eternal Monarch had protected this land from Ruin. By manifesting the authority, he left open the possibility of preserving the land and the race. But that was all. The Eternal Monarch himself obtained nothing. In the end he simply perished along with everyone else. The Eternal Monarch's authority was ultimately a power that made one gain one thing and lose another.

—Do you truly not understand what this result means?

—Cheonma Shingong, every memory Isabella held of you, every emotion—all of it vanishes. And that is not all! Every Abyssal monster you barely managed to defeat will all revive!

—Having ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠lost even the Eternal Monarch's power, can you face those monsters?

—Having lost me, can you handle everything alone?

The other "me" sneered to the fullest, as if the future my choice would bring was already clear. Just like the Eternal Monarch who had protected this land in the distant past. A curse that I would revive Isabella yet obtain nothing else.

But it was fine.

—I… I exist.

—The moment you abandon everything… I will appear again!

—From beyond the Gate… Aah!

…No more noise reached me. Before I knew it, the space where I stood had changed. This was no longer God's Island. An empty expanse. A place like an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠endless ocean. The place I had first arrived when I set foot in the Abyss.

The Gate.

Before me stood a gate. Literally a "gate." A door that opens and closes. Two doors, both shut.

Everything was exactly as it had been at the beginning. But that was not all.

Creeeak.

A door opened. The right door for participation swung wide.

"…Hm? Lord Randolph?"

A face I had longed for appeared. I quietly spoke her name.

"…Isabella."

"W-what is going on…?"

Isabella was flustered. As if she could not understand why she had stepped out through the door. I slowly took her hand.

"It's all right."

"All right…?"

"Yes. Everything will be all right."

Truly all right. Even if she no longer yearned for me for eternity. Even if she misunderstood me again and resented me. There would be no more wavering now.

"Let's go."

"Where are we going?"

"The left Gate."

"You mean… you will abandon God's Island?"

"Yes."

I nodded and opened the left door I had never opened. I no longer wished to participate in this game. Everything that could be obtained here, I had already obtained. Without a shred of lingering attachment, I stepped through the left Gate.