Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Humanity Reduction Scenario (5)
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Creation is the simplest way to most truthfully glimpse the world as the artist sees it.
Works are born from the artist's hands. The inspirations that can move an artist stem solely from the things and beings born in this world.
Depending on the life the artist has lived and the people they've met, the content, atmosphere, and even the quality of their work can vary wildly.
A wealthy person who has never experienced the life of the poor common folk cannot create the everyday struggles of the masses. Even if they try to make something on that theme, it's just mimicry—there's no true soul infused into their creations.
At least, that's what I thought.
The authenticity of someone who hasn't experienced or felt something versus those who have is as different as heaven and earth.
Let me use the extreme example of a sunset over a fading sea.
Everyone might think they'd feel the same awe gazing at the same scene, but reality is different.
Could a colorblind person feel the same deep emotional impact as we do?
Could they share our sentiments while watching the orange flames flicker out across the sky?
Could a deaf person, born without hearing from the beginning, ever capture the heaving breath of crashing waves?
Just as someone who has never felt true awe in their life can imitate it but never create the real thing...
Creations from those who haven't lived or felt it are mere illusions.
People's gazes upon the world are all unique to each individual.
Even in the same space, breathing the same air, identical humans would see it differently.
To me, a wardrobe is just a long box for storing clothes.
But to some girl, it might be the horrific place and object where she helplessly watched her parents die.
To some, this world is a place of endless happiness and beauty, while to others, it's an infinite hell of misery and horror.
The worlds we each see and feel are far too different.
I believe that's why creation endures as the foundation of culture.
It's the most universal and accessible way to experience other lives, other sensations, and the heterogeneous beauty of worlds others behold.
"Zero One."
The world you see and the one I see must be worlds apart.
A grand mage born with the power and talent to rule this world.
You must possess a unique worldview meaningfully different from others.
Now, I intend to show you art.
✨ EROSION STAR ACTIVATED ✨ Countless stars from the vast cosmos beyond etched themselves into my eyes. The star eroding reality reduced all scenery—except Zero One and me—to nothingness. The top floor of the skyscraper became a black canvas in an instant.
"......"
Regrettably, this is reality.
My demonic eyes, which once created mere illusions, had now reached the realm of eroding reality itself.
No matter that they revealed all truths—if what was happening was real and not illusion, they were meaningless.
Even if irrational events unfolded in the future, I could never deny them.
"Interesting."
With Zero One's sneer, the void began to take shape through imagination.
Fresh white snow blanketed everything. Frozen waters formed massive glaciers.
A blizzard raged in. Vision blurred into white.
The world transformed into a hell of piercing cold, where flesh flayed from bone like blue lotuses—utpala.
In this skin-stripping cold like hell, Zero One cast his magic.
With a simple gesture, he conjured a miniature star—no lengthy incantation like Mimir's.
He stared at me impassively, as if it were as natural as breathing.
The snow covering the ground melted powerlessly. The cold receded, and soon sweltering heat spread across the world.
"A impoverished imagination. Allow me to embellish it."
The melted snow flowed as liquid. Waters gathered in deep channels to form rivers, and rivers converged into seas.
"You've got talent."
Gazing at the barren landscape Zero One had eroded, I smirked.
"But true beauty eludes it."
"I think it's beautiful enough."
I summoned life in abundance.
Grass and trees sprouted from the soil where snow had melted.
As the world became a great nature teeming with potential for life, small creatures began scampering about.
"Hoo......"
"Your landscapes are too barren. Even this one, compared to the real world."
A world controlled by a colossal overseer is utterly desolate.
War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength—the twisted common sense that would rule this world.
Zero One's miniature star burned even whiter.
Rivers and seas evaporated. Trees and grass blazed fiercely.
The world heated up in an instant and began to crumble.
"Even if the world I've designed is barren, if it can serve as an ark leading many into the future, that's enough."
Zero One raised his staff.
The other world, created by eroding this one, began to collapse under Zero One's immense magic.
I gazed at the most fiercely burning sun in this world.
Two suns cannot rise under the same sky.
Here and now, one of us—Zero One or I—would fall beneath the earth.
Though the void had crumbled, I hadn't yet shown all my art.
In fact, this was only the beginning.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Having dispatched the shadows, Lee Gyeo-ul lightly shook the blood from her hands over the puddle.
Her opponent wielded a sword like her own. But those shadow blades could cleave the Red Sea—immensely powerful and sharp.
And they struck with wind-like speed. Without her infinite regeneration, it would have been Lee Gyeo-ul lying defeated.
She looked up at the ceiling. The upper floors, where the group had gone ahead, were silent.
The surroundings weren't exactly quiet—through the windows, lights flashing far into the distance suggested the battle had moved elsewhere.
Lee Gyeo-ul climbed the stairs. There, slumped against the floor, Aria heaved ragged breaths.
The werebeast, covered head to toe in blood and riddled with wounds, looked up at Lee Gyeo-ul in human form with labored effort.
"Good work."
"You too."
Lee Gyeo-ul and Aria weren't close.
Lee Gyeo-ul despised Aria for endangering Han Cheong-ah and Academy City.
They were merely gathered by Baek Do-hyun for the common goal of dismantling the society.
A temporary alliance—nothing more, nothing less.
The two, reeking of blood, turned to the windows.
Baek Do-hyun and Zero One were fighting.
"So that's the real deal behind Zero One? Younger and handsomer than I expected. I figured he'd be some wrinkled old Merlin type."
"I've heard mages' appearances get fixed the moment they first contact mana."
"Heh. Maybe I should ask Mimir to teach me some magic too......"
"Even if you awaken to mana at your age..."
"Want to settle things here?"
"......"
Lee Gyeo-ul and Aria exchanged smiles.
A temporary alliance—they were closer to hating each other—but banter still flowed naturally.
Soon, they wiped the smiles from their lips.
"Beyond imagination. I never thought the gap would be this vast."
Zero One and Baek Do-hyun's clash recreated a scene from myth. Each blow they exchanged crumbled the city's landscape.
It felt like a massive earthquake. The shaking that rattled their bodies reached even Lee Gyeo-ul and Aria.
"Just a little while ago, he was a small, handsome boy. When did Do-hyun grow so much?"
"Agreed. Honestly, it's hard to believe even seeing it. Back at the docks, I thought he was my equal at best—or less."
Lee Gyeo-ul recalled Baek Do-hyun fleeing from school. No matter how she thought about it, his growth was abnormal.
If heaven-sent blessings existed, Baek Do-hyun surely possessed them.
"Can he win?"
The battle between Zero One and Baek Do-hyun had transcended Lee Gyeo-ul's reach.
Even she—a special-class hunter hailed as a hero—was no different from the crumbling city in this fight.
"We have to hope so."
All they could do was believe.
Believe that Baek Do-hyun would defeat Zero One.
"Huh?"
While spectating the mythic battle, Lee Gyeo-ul blinked.
For a moment, she thought the stinging lights had tricked her eyes.
"Han Cheong-ah?"
Aria's confirmation made it real.
"Crazy......"
Han Cheong-ah was running through the collapsing city.
Plunging vigorously right into the heart of the massive disaster.