Chapter 208: Choice and Renunciation
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 208: Choice and Renunciation
[Quest "Causality Disruption Due to the Use of the 'Evil Eye of the Loop'" has been completed.]
[As an aftermath of the readjustment, past history has been slightly recalibrated.]
[Additionally, the 'location' of the Fifth Fragment has been discovered.]
[The location of the Fifth Fragment of 【???】 is……]
[……]
[……]
[…the region near the Demon Realm Gehenna Gate.]
[Synchronization rate and the three 'Ranks' have increased significantly.]
[In addition, proficiency in 'Blessing of Borrowed Power' has also increased.]
[※ A new ability of Borrowed Power has been unlocked.]
* * *
The moment my eyes snapped open, before I could even gather my senses, the status window notified me of new updates.
"Dammit, at least give my head a minute to cool down..."
Clutching my throbbing forehead, I impatiently dismissed the status window. A low groan escaped my lips as the headache persisted for a few minutes.
Thanks to my Mental Rank, I was usually immune to shocks like this. Even so, this phenomenon plunged me into a state of panic. My mind was completely tangled up from the sheer influx of information.
"I'm already dead tired from barely sleeping for four days..."
Harsh curses rolled inside my mouth. My body was already exhausted beyond belief. And yet, it had forced a chapter of history right into my brain.
And a bloody battle that gave me a headache just remembering it, no less. No, calling it 'seeing' wasn't accurate—I experienced it. I had possessed the body of 1st Corps Commander Lycan and actually traded blows. Perhaps because of that lingering sensation, my fingertips still felt numb and tingling.
I stared blankly at my palms. It felt as though if I recited a lightning spell right now, electrical currents would crackle instantly—bzzzt. That was how unpleasantly vivid the sense of unity with 1st Corps Commander Lycan had been.
"It's as if... we were one body to begin with..."
Snapping back to reality, I hurried to the bathroom and splashed cold water on my face. Then I looked up and stared into the mirror.
The reflection showed me, Kang Geomma, with black hair and dark eyes. These black features were something I had believed only I possessed in this world.
Just in case, I had asked Weapon before, and he said he had never seen black eyes and black hair prior to meeting me. He even admitted he was secretly terrified when he first saw me—that he felt something akin to cosmic horror. That was how completely isolated black features were from this world.
"Well, considering how uniquely alien it was, it makes sense people firmly believed the story about Yoo Se-in and me being cousins."
Saintess Yoo Se-in, the only other person in this world with black hair and eyes. She was no ordinary person either. She was deeply connected to the status window and had revealed herself to be a conduit for communicating with 'Outer Gods'.
Presumably, in this world, 'black physical traits' belonged to those linked to the Outer Gods. At first, I thought it was a hasty assumption. However, the quest just now lent credibility to this theory.
I wiped away the condensation on the mirror. I quietly pondered the name of the man whose face bore a subtle resemblance to mine.
"Balor Joaquin."
My first master was the Hero of the Origin. The thumping headache was likely due to the shock of this truth. For me, his former disciple, there was no twist greater than this. And that wasn't all.
The power Master manifested by burning away his left arm was unequivocally the 'Blessing of the Sword God'.
And am I not the current owner of that blessing? Overwhelming speed and sword strikes capable of cutting through magic itself. There was no room for doubt. It was definitely the Blessing of the Sword God.
Another surge of dizziness tormented my mind.
"Damn it, how on earth did things get so twisted?"
The previous wielder of my blessing used the 'Evil Eye of the Loop' to cross over to Earth, the world I lived in. Afterward, I—his disciple—was dropped into this world.
For a mere coincidence, far too many details raised suspicion. Yet calling it fate felt strange as well.
When we first met, didn't Master try to kick me out? If he had been actively looking for me, he would have welcomed me with open arms instead of coldly shutting the door in my face.
And above all, the time gap between meeting Master and my arrival here—the interval was simply far too long.
Even during those twenty years, I wasn't with him; I was wandering here and there. Starting 'Miracle Blessing M' was purely coincidental as well.
Did he really lay out a grand twenty-year plan? If all of this had been calculated, the old man would be a god. But the Master in my memory was by no means a meticulous person.
Having spent five years bumping shoulders with him, I knew him inside and out. The guy who couldn't even pick what to eat for dinner devised all this? Not a chance in hell. That man was utterly useless at everything except wielding a sword and teaching.
'If, by some crazy stretch, he really did plan everything... that raises just as many questions on its own.'
Could "That Person" 1st Corps Commander Lycan told me to find be...
Just then.
"Ugh."
An excruciating pain twisted my brain like a wrung-out dishcloth. It was similar to the agony that surfaced when activating the 'Blessing of the Sword God' without the 'Blessing of Painlessness'. An artificial force blocked the flow of my thoughts like a dam, as if warning me not to pry any further.
"Fuck, seriously..."
Spatting out a curse, I rubbed my face vigorously again. Dragging my exhausted body, I stumbled over and perched on the window frame.
Outside was still bustling with noise—the lingering aftermath of the Succession Ceremony. Thanks to that, Joaquin Academy was filled with an unexpected festive atmosphere.
"I'm the main party involved and my mind is in knots, yet everyone out there looks so carefree."
Even as I grumbled, a slight chuckle escaped my lips. A memory of what Master used to say suddenly surfaced.
'You... make sure you go to school.'
Words Master would say to me whenever he had the chance. I didn't even need to ask to know how deeply sincere he had been.
Currently, I belonged to his vast legacy. And right now, his legacy was filled with countless people and fervency.
Perhaps the 'school life' the old man talked about was something like this.
As I stared endlessly out at the scenery, frost formed on the windowpane. The night air must have turned bitter cold.
"It's going to get chilly now."
From here on out, I'd be busy as one of the Seven Stars. On top of that, I had to visit the Gehenna Gate to search for the Fifth Fragment. So until then, there was only one thing I needed to do for a while: get plenty of rest.
I hopped down from the window frame and threw myself onto the bed to catch up on the sleep I hadn't finished.
* * *
A promenade within the academy grounds. Unlike the bustling center, sound was dead here. Someone was walking down this winding path shrouded in silence.
"Whew... Crowds really are exhausting."
Abel wiped the beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Still, the cool night breeze helped cool her clammy forehead. She then looked around to gauge her current location.
"This place is..."
Intermittent streetlights and benches. It was where she had first met Kang Geomma.
Having walked continuously to escape the crowds, she seemed to have drifted to this deserted spot. Abel let out a soft, amused chuckle.
She had merely walked aimlessly, yet she ended up in the very spot where she first saw Kang Geomma. Considering what day it was, it was quite a fascinating coincidence.
...Or perhaps it wasn't coincidence, but an unconscious desire that guided her steps here.
Her face flushed hot. Abel shook her head back and forth. Calming her heart, which fluttered without tact, she sat down on a bench for the time being. This was a suspiciously deserted place—the only people who ever came here were herself or Kang Geomma.
'Just in case...'
Abel took a seat at the edge of the bench, leaving the middle open, and took a breather. Being bumped around by crowds for hours since the afternoon had drained an insane amount of mental energy.
She was someone who didn't tire even after swinging a sword all day. Yet when shoved into a crowd, her stamina drained away like magic.
Still, breathing in the fresh night air felt like recharging her depleted body and mind. Only then did Abel untie her bundle of lingering thoughts and organize them.
"Geomma became a new Seven Stars Hero..."
Half a day had passed, but it still didn't feel real. The shock of learning that the dim-witted-looking guy at the start of the first semester was top of the grade had barely settled before he, while still a cadet, became a supernova in the hero world.
In the beginning, she strove to narrow the gap between herself and Kang Geomma. But at some point, she readily acknowledged and accepted his abilities. It was around then that she felt both a huge debt and gratitude toward him.
The rescue of her father, Orion von Nibelung, as well as the subjugation of the S-rank magical beast Draugr.
This news, too, was publicly announced today through the mouth of her grandfather, the Sword Emperor. Gifted with such an unexpected scoop, reporters frantically clacked away on their keyboards. They used their respective platforms to broadcast Kang Geomma's achievements far and wide.
『Heavenly Sword Kang Geomma. Is He Truly a God?』
In less than half a day, the vast ocean of the internet was flooded with 'Kang Geomma'. Among all the talk, discussions about his epithet were the most prominent.
Heavenly Sword.
A sword granted by the heavens, a sword that slashes the sky, a sword that encompasses the heavens. An epithet open to various interpretations.
Those two words were more than enough to set the world ablaze. Though some tossed petty slurs like, "So arrogant," "Who do you think you are, the Heavenly Sword?", or "If a sashimi knife is the Heavenly Sword, is a Chinese cleaver the Cosmic Sword?",
the vast majority went wild over the moniker. The reason was simple: it was cool. It rolled off the tongue easily and resonated instantly with everyone.
Furthermore, being open to multiple interpretations meant it possessed great room for expansion. How to put it? Just the epithet alone stirred anticipation for his future path.
'It's definitely way better than Grandfather's epithet.'
Even in the eyes of Siegfried's granddaughter Abel, 'Heavenly Sword' beat 'Sword Emperor'.
Emperor of the Sword? An epithet radiating institutional vibes felt slightly anachronistic.
On the other hand, Heavenly Sword... Honestly, she had shivered the moment she first saw it. An epithet so magnificent it made her jealous as a fellow swordsman. Yet apart from that envy, it was a title so fitting that no one suited it better than Kang Geomma.
"If you pull ahead this far, what is the person chasing you supposed to do?"
Though complaining softly, a smile lingered on Abel's lips. The girl who used to be busy feeling jealous was no longer there, nor was any resentment over him taking her grandfather's place.
While Abel was soaking in that pure sense of pride, footsteps approached from the side.
She reflexively turned her head. First, dark eyes entered her sight. At that, Abel's complexion flushed light pink, like a puppy sensing its owner's arrival. However, it took less than two seconds for the color of her emotions to instantly cool down.
"Oh, you are..."
Abel's voice trailed off. Like a wagging tail suddenly tucking away, disappointment leaked into her voice unbidden.
At this, the owner of the footsteps pulled up one side of her mouth into a smirk. It was Yoo Se-in.
"Isn't that a little too obvious a disappointment?"
Se-in's words didn't just hit the nail on the head; they gouged it in. Abel's pupils trembled slightly.
As Abel showed clear embarrassment, Se-in narrowed her eyes. Then she said in a sly tone:
"Just kidding."
"..."
Se-in naturally claimed the spot next to her. She then spoke like a fortune teller:
"Girl, you need to practice your acting. Behaving that transparently makes you prime scam material in this day and age. Your face looks so innocent, which makes it even worse."
For a moment, Abel felt a strong sense of deja vu. Was this what they called deja vu? She felt like she had experienced a situation similar to this before.
'Besides that, how did Se-in know I was here?'
She had brushed it off back at the training ground, but reflecting on it now, it was strange. Se-in always appeared like a ghost whenever Abel was thinking about Kang Geomma, as if she could see right through her inner mind.
As Abel's suspicion grew, Se-in added another remark, as if cutting off her train of thought.
"Can I ask you something?"
"All of a sudden? What...?"
"Nothing much. Just curious about what you think of my cousin, Kang Geomma. Do you have personal feelings for him or something?"
Abel nibbled on her lower lip. Then she gave a small nod and spoke softly.
"Yeah."
Se-in was Kang Geomma's distant relative. If she couldn't be honest even with her, who could she be honest with? Since things have come to this, let's at least open up to Se-in, Abel resolved.
"Hmm. I'm actually a bit surprised you're being so straightforward."
Se-in looked at her with a steady, searching gaze. It almost resembled a mother-in-law scrutinizing a potential daughter-in-law.
"...But if things deviate any further from the main story, this world itself will become far too dangerous."
Abel reflexively swallowed her dry spit. At that, Se-in offered a soft smile and finally spoke.
"Do you know what a 'Balance Game' is?"
"That... choosing one out of two options?"
"Wanna play a round?"
"...?"
Again, so suddenly? Abel's face filled with even greater bewilderment than before.
Her fluster at the abrupt proposal lasted only a moment before Abel nodded meekly. Looking into those deep black eyes, her head moved on its own.
"Then let's start right away."
"Ah, u-uh-huh."
Abel agreed in her bewilderment. Without beating around the bush, Se-in posed the question.
"If you and Kang Geomma end up together, the world will be destroyed. What will you do?"
Abel's expression turned strange. Without breaking her stoic face, Se-in pressed her.
"Get together with him, or cleanly give him up. Make your choice."