Adrium, Land of Ruin
“······!!!”
In that instant, the Outer God’s eyes trembled violently, filled to the brim with pure shock.
“H-how do you know my name?!”
Impossible. Learning the true name of an Outer God hidden within a vessel was something even Ruin itself should never have been able to do. And yet this creature had uncovered it merely by looking?
“I have nothing left to learn from you.”
Of course, that was Tara-Shy’s misunderstanding. Lilith had not learned the name by staring; the information had come through the doll. More importantly, the reason Outer God Tara-Shy had been forced to crawl up from the floor was not simply because that was the only way to climb the tower.
It was because there was truly nothing left to learn from Tara-Shy.
She had already absorbed everything. She had mastered every principle. She had peered into every last detail from first to last—
······and still it fell far short of challenging the authority of Ruin. Far short of reaching her master, that great and dignified being!
“This cannot be! I am a goddess!”
The Outer God resisted with desperate fury. But against Lilith, who had already learned everything, nothing it did mattered. Within Lilith’s authority—the Book of Principles—every detail she had grasped about her opponent was recorded. Moreover, any power she had already comprehended simply did not work on her. It could not even touch her.
The only one who could ever reach her was her master alone.
Hidden Scenario.
World Tree Community.
There, countless question posts began flooding in.
Everyone was asking the same thing. The message that had suddenly appeared—that the Tower of Ruin had manifested—left them all speechless the moment they saw it.
Ruin was the existence that, long ago, had driven Pangenia to the very brink of annihilation. Stories about it were so common you didn’t even need to go looking for them. But because it was a name that should never have appeared again, no one could bring themselves to believe it. A Demon King, or at least some new enemy—those they could accept. But Ruin?
The problem was that even the Constellations could not give proper answers. They themselves clearly did not understand the current situation. They were gathering every scrap of information they could, yet not a single Constellation had accurately grasped what was unfolding inside Adrium.
One thing was certain: no one must go near Adrium. They, too, felt instinctive terror. That was why every Constellation was uniformly guiding people to avoid the Tower of Ruin.
The Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations. They were gods who had forgotten their own names, and with those names their memories had faded as well—yet the fear of Ruin remained etched into every one of them. So did the knowledge that if they failed to stand together, they would be annihilated in a single stroke.
“······Everyone is in chaos.”
The Most Brilliant Hero’s Constellation shook his head as he spoke.
The Holy City was sealed. Neither Constellations nor any other power could observe Holy City Adrium. Even the Constellation privilege of reading “stories” was impossible. All that could be seen was a sky filled with black storm clouds. No one knew what was happening inside.
But he knew.
Park Hyunmyung. That he was Another Ruin. That he was the one who had summoned the Tower of Ruin through Randolph’s authority.
“Hero’s Constellation, if you revealed the truth, you could minimize the chaos, could you not?”
The Constellation of Purity, a question mark floating over its face, approached from the side and spoke. The Most Brilliant Hero’s Constellation only shook his head again.
“I am merely a single reader of his story. Spreading that story is not my place.”
“Even if he drives the world toward Ruin, you intend to do nothing?”
“······.”
Was that truly the case? He could not answer with certainty. No one knew Park Hyunmyung’s intentions. Even the Most Brilliant Hero’s Constellation had never expected him to suddenly raise the Tower of Ruin in Holy City Adrium. He had thought the man would grow the power of Light alongside the Outer God’s feather. Instead he had erected the Tower of Ruin and begun amplifying the power of Ruin······.
Frankly, it was a complete checkmate. There had been no time to understand why Park Hyunmyung was suddenly doing this. Perhaps he had decided to turn completely toward Ruin.
Does he mean to make the entire world his enemy?
Announcing the appearance of Ruin was, after all, a declaration of war against the world. No god would stand on Ruin’s side, and no one living in Pangenia would line up with it either. They would desperately try to eliminate it. At best, only the demons would rejoice and add to the chaos.
I believed he would not use the authority of Ruin until he achieved balance······.
The Most Brilliant Hero’s Constellation had trusted Park Hyunmyung. He had believed the man would keep the power of Ruin sealed, grow the capacity of Light, restore balance, and set the world right. But this was far too soon. Amplifying an already overwhelming power of Ruin any further would make it uncontrollable. And of all places, he had manifested that power in the Holy City of the Goddess Church—Adrium. If that place became a Land of Ruin······.
Balance with Light would become forever impossible.
Just imagining it was horrifying. And so he could not understand. It was far too different from every path Park Hyunmyung had walked until now. The achievements he had built as Randolph had all been honorable, had they not? Then why?
Suddenly the Constellation of Purity spoke.
“Are you not afraid?”
“Afraid of what?”
“Of him becoming Ruin.”
“······.”
“If he decides to become Ruin, this world will truly be destroyed this time.”
So if they were going to stop him, it had to be now. It was not yet too late. Yet the Most Brilliant Hero’s Constellation still could not reach any conclusion. All he could do was hope that it would not happen. All he could do was pray that the man would not grow disappointed in this world······.
Forty-eight hours passed.
At the same time—
48 hours have passed since the ‘Tower of Ruin’ rose.
Holy City Adrium transforms into the ‘Land of Ruin’.
The ‘Goddess (Outer God)’ loses her authority and dominion.
“N-no······!”
The Outer God was stripped of the Goddess’s authority. The moment the Goddess’s power vanished, the brainwashing across all of Adrium was undone. And that was not all.
“So this is your true form?”
Lilith covered her mouth and laughed. A single book floated open before her. The moment the Book of Principles—containing everything she had grasped about her opponent—unfolded, the records of Outer God Tara-Shy appeared.
Barely two pages. On one of them, Tara-Shy’s true appearance was drawn. Lilith clicked her tongue at the picture.
“Pathetic.”
······A mass of tentacles reeking of foul stench, a form so grotesque it defied description. It was so wretched that no one could ever have mistaken it for a goddess. The idea that such a thing had aspired to become a goddess was simply laughable. It was pure garbage.
No—truthfully, everyone in this world except her master was garbage. So repulsive she could barely stand to be near them.
“After all the chances I clawed for······ Aaaaaah!”
The Outer God screamed. How tirelessly it had struggled to seize this vessel and steal the Goddess’s authority. Just as it was about to claim everything, Ruin had appeared—together with the vassals of Ruin.
Yet the Outer God soon cooled its expression.
“There is nothing you can do anyway. The scales have already begun to tip!”
“What exactly has tipped?”
“······!!!”
In that moment, the Outer God’s eyes filled with panic once more at the being who had suddenly appeared. Lilith’s reaction was the complete opposite.
“Ah! My great Master!”
An embarrassingly fervent welcome. The faintly flushed eyes that gazed at him were almost burdensome.
······I deliberately looked away from Lilith and fixed my gaze on the Outer God. It bit its lip and spoke.
“Fine. I admit it. I never expected Ruin to be here. But even if you kill this body, I will not die. I need only wait for another opportunity.”
This body was nothing more than a vessel. Killing the vessel would not annihilate Tara-Shy. It need only wait for a new vessel to appear and be summoned. The wait might span eons, yet even so, there was only so much Ruin could do in the present.
“But can you even kill this body? This body is also very close to your companion, is it not?”
Above all, could he freely kill Sonora’s flesh? Having seized the body, the Outer God had also stolen Sonora’s memories. The recollections with Isabella were sweet and beautiful. And the Ruin standing before it counted Isabella as a companion.
Its voice brimmed with confidence. But there was something it did not know.
“Now I can finally see it.”
The moment the Outer God lost the Goddess’s authority, something became visible at last. The decisive reason I had raised the tower. The symbol hidden within its authority!
I stretched out my hand.
“Wh-what······?!”
The Outer God reeled in shock. It had never imagined anyone would not only see its symbol but actually seize it. I was surprised as well. I had never expected this to be an “Outer God’s Symbol.”
It was completely different from the symbols of the forgotten gods I had seen in the World Tree’s dungeon. Looking at the symbol, I murmured quietly.
“So the ‘Longinus’s Spear Fragment’ is its symbol······.”
“S-stop! I will help you! The others will not fall as easily as I did! Now that they know Ruin exists, they will prepare far more thoroughly!”
Only now did its own death seem to register. But it was unnecessary. Completing “Longinus” was far more important.
The power to cross dimensions.
The reason I, Park Hyunmyung, could remain in Pangenia was precisely because of the Longinus’s Spear Fragment. It seemed the Outer Gods could enter and leave Pangenia for the exact same reason. And at the same time, these were their symbols.
What I had to do was now crystal clear. Hunt the Outer Gods, collect the fragments of Longinus’s Spear, and complete it. They were nothing more than my prey.
“Aaaagh! Please! Tremendous beings have taken an interest in this place! I am nothing! But if I help you, it would be more than enough······!”
“You talk too much.”
“Noooooooo—!”
Rrrrip!
I tore the symbol—the Longinus’s Spear Fragment—straight out of its chest.
In that instant—
Thud!