Chapter: 218
The world ignored Lian.
It neither hated him nor loved him. It simply overlooked him.
He was the God-chosen ‘Saint,’ yet due to some reason where the God had vanished, he was treated as a bug or an error that should not exist.
Rejected by the world, Lian wished, desired, and prayed to survive.
“Please let me blend into the world and live like an ordinary person.”
Thus, the power born from this wish sought to ‘adapt’ to the world, in order to survive all the hatred and indifference.
Thanks to that, even when humanity was on the brink of extinction due to abominations, Lian managed to survive — and even caught the attention of the Comedy God amidst the world’s complete ruin.
For Lian, the Power of Adaptation was as natural and essential as the heart or lungs.
The past versions of Lian, who desperately wished for that power, smiled while embracing an affection that ran deep and mysterious.
“That’s okay.”
Someone’s words could hurt. One could despair at the cruel reality. But it was alright.
“Because I’m not alone anymore.”
Voices of a child, a boy at the cusp of puberty, and a mature man all echoed together. In that moment, Lian realized.
“I was lonely.”
He had simply closed his eyes and ears because his life felt so isolated in another world.
Just like how past Iris had closed her heart, how Noah had turned away from the cruel reality, how Jess had ignored the sad plight of the slaves with a charming smile, and how Ellensia had succumbed to overwhelming power and just cried in dark rooms.
Reaching out to countless people wasn’t just because of the original work — it was because he couldn’t just watch his past self cry tears of loneliness.
His outstretched hand of salvation embraced the past him, who couldn’t even say he was lonely and just shouted that it was okay.
The warmth from Noah protecting him, the affection from Jess always by his side, and the whispers of endless love from Iris poured in, and with overwhelming emotion, his true heart rose.
“I wasn’t okay; I was lonely because I was alone.”
As if it were a truth he felt would bring divine retribution if spoken out loud, his sincerity spilled out. His loneliness was now enveloped by a pain that felt like a distant warmth.
In that cozy warmth, Lian whispered once again toward his blood-soaked heart.
“It’s okay now.”
Because he wasn’t alone anymore.
The solid ‘power’ that had been protecting Lian like a bird’s egg began to shatter.
*
Crack.
Thanks to the power breathed into him by the Comedy God, Lian’s body, which had barely found itself, started to split even more severely than before.
‘Lian’ and the Power of Adaptation were intertwined like two trees growing together. In that state, as the power withered, Lian’s body, naturally glued to it, began to wither alongside.
“This is troublesome.”
In this state, even if she infused her power, it wouldn’t do much good. In fact, it might even result in a shattered soul. Just as she playfully smiled and muttered, “What now?”
Crack, clang! Crash!
A crack formed in the endless white void, and with a sound that seemed to shatter everything, a part of the space broke apart like a glass that had been dropped. Through the gap, a grotesque existence began to emerge.
“I found… it… grrhh!”
A displeasing voice, mixing the tones of children, adults, and the elderly, resonated in the space. The wind that flowed in from the gap wildly tousled her hair.
With a blank expression, she brushed back her disheveled hair behind her ear.
Crack, crack!
Something that looked like a monster’s claw or a wing burst out, grabbing the edges of the tear in the air. With sounds reminiscent of glass crunching underfoot, the space continued to fracture.
As the gap widened, a colossal creature too large to be taken in all at once began to squeeze itself into the white space.
“Wow… It’s mixing better than I expected?”
She clapped her hands in a mix of admiration like she was watching some bizarrely fascinating creature. Then, the Outsider – more specifically, a bizarre being born from a fusion of the Demon God and Dark Fantasy God made its grand entrance.
With a calm expression, she gently tapped Lian on the shoulder. An unseen force protected his crumbling body.
“How dare you… make me look like this?!”
The horrendous voice would have made any human bleed from every orifice if they heard it. The powers of the Comedy God and the Power of Adaptation so immense, they couldn’t be engulfed, but they had become horrifically intertwined within Lian’s mind.
“It’s your own fault for crawling in here. If you plan to hurt others, you should be prepared to get hurt yourself.”
Said the Comedy God, smiling in satisfaction as she held her thumb and forefinger to her chin.
“That line… was really cool.”
As she muttered something that felt like a treat for herself, the bizarre being began to unleash tremendous power in rage.
“Die… perish now!”
With the ‘Divine Decree’ triggered by the merging of the powers of the two gods, a colossal force appeared with a roar, like the sun emerging right before them.
Amidst a noise that felt like it could deafen them,
Snap.
A light sound of fingers snapping echoed.
Whoosh.
And with it, the great force and the distant regime of the incoming red light disappeared like dust.
“What is… this?”
She raised her finger, beckoning the opponent to come, indicating for them to come closer and see.
Booosh!
Like a gigantic balloon bursting, the enormous entity, which couldn’t be contained, began to rise with a weak whimper.
When the entity, previously flitting about erratically like a deflating balloon, finally came to its senses, it had shrunk down to the size of a baseball, pinned in her hand.
“I told you before. If you think things are going too smoothly, be sure to watch your surroundings.”
She raised the limp creature up, gazing into its eyes with a bright smile.
“The chances of it being a trap are very ~ high.”
Creeeak?!
That line was exactly what the Dark Fantasy God had heard when she fell into the trap laid by the Comedy God. (A trap set to send Lian to the buffet of Dark Fantasy.)
The reduced god began to sweat profusely, quickly darting its eyes around. The dimensional hole it had bravely crashed through had disappeared without a trace.
The very entrance that had seemed so easily breakable had been a bait to catch them.
“How fortunate, just what I needed.”
She quipped cheerfully as she began feeding the conveniently shrunk god to Lian. The god struggled to survive, but it was futile.
The hand clutching the tiny god pierced through Lian’s chest as if passing through a translucent wall. The Power of ‘Gluttony’ established via the Power of Adaptation greedily swallowed the tender divine being whole.
Whooosh!
The god’s essence quickly filled the cracks that had split Lian’s soul like a dry tree. Along with this, his once-damaged body returned to its original state.
“Aah… What will Lian do if he wants to stay human because of love?”
Lian wanted to live alongside the one he loved from a perspective that matched hers, spending every ounce of his strength and even tearing down his powers to do so. Even if the end was death, he wanted to die while still human.
It was akin to saying the Comedy God’s plan to elevate Lian to the rank of a god had completely failed. The sliver of light that saved this Comedy God was the nourishment (the Outsider) that Lian had wished to feed him when he became a god.
As the divine essence mixed with Lian’s precariously splitting soul, Lian was forcibly turned into a god.
“….”
Just as she had been seated forcibly in the divine position once before, Lian too had been forcibly granted divinity. She felt joy at the birth of a ‘real family’ like herself while simultaneously experiencing a simmering discomfort deep within her heart.
Boom!
While she was lost in thought, a visual change occurred in Lian’s body. Three pairs of snow-white wings formed majestically behind him, composed of shimmering feathers.
The first pair spread elegantly near his shoulders, the second pair sprouted from the middle of his back, and the last pair erupted from just below his waist. Like stars dancing on the tips of the wings, silver light flowed out.
A brilliantly shining halo floated above his head. The halo formed a shape with elongated lines radiating elegantly from a central circle. A dazzling flow of light could be seen, as if a part of the Milky Way had been sliced out.
The light pouring from the halo gently illuminated Lian’s white hair, making him appear even more of a divine being, almost impossible to look away from.
Finally, it was the moment her family was born.
“Lian.”
When she called out in her gentle voice, Lian’s eyelids fluttered, slowly opening. Like capturing a piece of the sun, a brilliant and clear light danced within his pupils. The enchanting gleam of his eyes, more dazzling than any jewel, met hers.
“…”
There was nothing inside now. The faint smile of the Comedy God seemed to wash away entirely. The newly born deity was no longer the ‘Lian’ she had known.
Realizing this, she felt a burning pain. The past wounds she thought she had forgotten began to throb painfully.
‘…Even if I’m resented, Lian, I wanted you to be my family.’
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