“Ugh…”
I opened my eyes.
The first things I felt as soon as I got up were confusion and dizziness.
“…What in the world?”
What happened?
Grabbing my head, I checked my condition and stood up.
It’s a ruin.
The floor was made of sand, and strange murals were painted on the walls.
As I looked at the murals one by one, long-forgotten memories started to surface.
‘After being abandoned, I wandered around and arrived in the desert. There, I discovered a great body… and then…’
…!
‘…That woman!’
That celestial race woman definitely showed up out of nowhere and knocked me out with a hammer.
Then this place must be…
“Huh?”
“Kiik?”
Claw?
KWAANG!!
The sand floor shattered, and a golden claw aimed at my neck.
Squeak!
Even though it merely grazed me, blood flowed down my neck.
The Forgotten Emperor barely dodged the attack, unable to hide his confusion, and spread his golden wings to fly up.
Only then did I see the existence that attacked me.
A gigantic…
“…Scorpion?”
“Ki yiii!”
“Filthy creature!”
The sand soldiers rose.
Paladins in holy armor lined up, spearing toward the scorpion.
How dare a filthy creature wound this body? Impossible.
Especially for a transcendent being that gained both a great body and the holy.
With two powers, the Forgotten Emperor could have been the strongest. Though defeated, it was merely a matter of time.
‘Someday I’ll be able to defeat that woman…’
“Ki yiii!!!”
“Struggling…?!”
The paladins scatter.
As if the master was different from the start, the powers that formed the paladins crumbled, except for the holy, and all moved to one place.
The golden shine of the scorpion intensified.
Familiar power emanated from the familiar symbol engraved on its head.
“How do you have that power…”
“You. Are like. Me.”
“What?”
“I, Scorpio.”
CHURK.
The claw of the scorpion, claiming to be Scorpio, pointed somewhere.
Turning my gaze, my expression involuntarily soured.
“…Damn it.”
“It’s been a while.”
It’s that woman.
The one who once again broke my soaring wings.
“Great being. I decide. You and I.”
“…Huh? You compare me to a filthy creature?!”
“The past. Doesn’t matter. What’s important is the sun.”
Woom.
“I’ll take that body.”
“That’s ridiculous. Even if I fell, you filthy…”
My mouth closed.
No, it had no choice but to close.
A sandstorm arose, and a tail swooped in like lightning, striking my body.
Despite being a powerful body, I was sent flying and slammed into the sandy ground.
I smash into the ground.
The sand that has been trampled on constricts the Emperor’s body as if to reveal its hostility.
There’s no way to escape…
“Scorpio? Still, the Emperor will win, right? What happens if he loses?”
Well…
“He’d be taken by the other side.”
“…Don’t make me laugh!”
This body is mine!
“Take all that power too!”
The battle has begun.
■
There are two Heritage Successors.
I’ll just say two, even though they’re technically not ‘people.’
Anyway, Scorpio, ‘Scorpio,’ and the Celestial Race, ‘Forgotten Emperor,’ are the two Heritage Successors who have obtained the legacy left by the Pharaoh.
After meeting the Forgotten Emperor in the second time frame, I was planning to move on to the third after some proper training, but there was a variable.
‘Lily Elbrite.’
Confronting the past Lily consumed too much of my interference power.
In this state, even attempting to touch the Forgotten Emperor will leave me vastly short of interference power for the third time frame.
In the end, I decided to put the Forgotten Emperor into a deep sleep before moving on to the next time frame.
Until just before moving on, the past Lily didn’t come to me.
I thought she would try to catch me by any means when I was gritting my teeth and attacking, but seeing this, it seems like she’s given up.
‘…I don’t know.’
As I said before, the past Lily is at the end of a transition period.
I really have no idea where she’ll bounce off to, and even if I did, there wouldn’t be much I could do about it.
The third time frame would be far enough in the future, probably hundreds to thousands of years later.
I was at the ruins.
■
The ruins built ten underground floors centered around the sleeping Forgotten Emperor.
I thought about going up, but Scorpio appeared and approached the Forgotten Emperor.
That guy stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw me before reaching out.
‘Great One. One more.’
Lowering his head, he said he had come to obtain what he had long desired.
What Scorpio wanted was a part of the power remaining in the Pharaoh’s body.
The future Pharaoh needs a body, so a portion of power could be given, but Scorpio surely won’t extract that power gently.
He’ll probably ruin the body in the process.
Having that power isn’t strictly necessary; it’s just nice to have.
However, I lack the interference power to subdue Scorpio and control both of them, so I made a suggestion.
“Shouldn’t the strong one seize the power?”
At my words, Scorpio nodded, albeit begrudgingly, saying, “Strong one. Understood.”
Thus, the Forgotten Emperor awakened, and their fight ensued.
No matter who wins between the two, I intend to keep my promise.
I watched them fight while checking the chaotic chat window.
Since I made my bombshell declaration, the viewer count has exceeded a million again.
With just two or three managers, it wasn’t enough, so the editors got involved as well, but it’s such a mess that it’s hard to manage.
The editors are getting involved, but it’s such a mess that it’s hard to sort it out.
In the first place, unless it’s a really serious issue, they don’t usually ban or temporarily block chats, so there aren’t many problems, but things have escalated this time.
“Gah…!”
“Pretty impressive. Truly the great one.”
“This little punk…!”
“As I said before, it was an unavoidable secret. It’s a secret mission, so how could I talk about it publicly?”
[Hahahahahaha]
[Why are you saying it’s a secret then?]
[Alien Lily;;]
[Looks like the penalty hit hard.]
[This is hilarious.]
[Stop with the concept play, Lily.]
[This concept is so funny lol.]
[It’s nuclear, right?]
[So, is she really the chairman’s daughter? Is she really the chairman’s daughter? Is she really the chairman’s daughter?]
[Seriously, Lily is an alien, right?]
[Lily never lies.]
[Pay attention to their fight, they’re battling fiercely lol.]
[Great Lily]
Though some don’t really believe I’m an alien or anything. It’s not that my past actions have been exceptional or unique.
“It’s just too unrealistic.”
Even if Deoen is said to be a game made from actual aliens, and it’s a second world where you can experience real senses, at the end of the day, Deoen is still a virtual reality game.
A world somewhat detached from reality.
No matter how Deoen claims to be real and from another dimension, its influence does not extend to reality.
To be precise, only a few rankers are affected, and it’s really a tiny number.
“Maybe 100 at most?”
Even that is quite minimal, and less than ten actually feel it directly, so it doesn’t resonate much with ordinary people.
It’s more plausible to believe “Lily is like a nuclear bomb or an NPC!” than to buy into the claims about being from another dimension.
There are quite a few who think it’s a penalty too.
[Is it real? What’s going on?]
[Lololololol]
[Whoa]
[Great Emperor Lily]
[For now, there’s nothing official out.]
[It seems that ‘Lily Elbrite’ is a job? Since it’s been seen in the past as well.]
[Since it’s been opened, let’s just lay it all out.]
[I’m dizzy, Lily!]
[What happened to Past Lily?]
[Who made the ruins?]
So many questions.
Squeak!
Aaaah!!
Be that as it may, the two main characters of this ruin are engaged in a bloody fight.
As their battle intensifies, the wounds on their bodies increase, but it doesn’t matter.
I’m here, and I can easily heal Pharaoh’s body.
Moreover, he’s a celestial.
He possesses holiness on his own and will likely show even greater recovery abilities in response to my holiness.
Anyway…
“You fight really well.”
The scorpion, Scorpio, who has gained power from Pharaoh’s body and abilities.
He’s not a special race, nor was he born with a body befitting an ancient beast.
“He’s just a scorpion.”
A being regarded as ‘vermin, bug’ by the strong is holding his own against the Forgotten Emperor, who possesses the body of a Pharaoh and a celestial status.
En is showing a fight on par with the Forgotten Emperor.
Slash!
“Ugh?”
He’s even pushing him back, accumulating continuous damage in the situation.
No matter how weak the Forgotten Emperor’s abilities have become, it’s still a basic stat difference.
In that regard, Scorpio’s existence is quite an unusual outcome.
It must be the influence of the Pharaoh’s powers honed over hundreds, thousands of years.
“Hah… Hah…”
“End.”
Finally, the match has concluded.
The Forgotten Emperor clenches his torn wings in anger, while Scorpio, with only slight cracks appearing on his armor, looks down at him with the eye of the sun.
His sharp tail pierces through the Emperor’s body… but instead looks at me.
Waiting for my command.
The side with intelligence is the Forgotten Emperor, yet Scorpio is surprisingly better at assessing the situation.
“Stop. You’ve won.”
“Great one. My victory.”
“Right. Let’s give you a reward.”
[Current Intervention Power – 12.5%]
The sun’s power bursts forth from the Pharaoh’s body.
[Current Intervention Power – 0%]
Using the holy power, I heal the Pharaoh’s body.
It’s recovering pretty well, but perhaps due to the shock, he doesn’t seem to want to move.
There might be a possibility of damage to the Forgotten Emperor’s body later, but I’ve mixed in a little restriction with the power I’m about to give, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
A small sun rises in the sky, and the Forgotten Emperor looks at it with a vacant stare.
Snap! Scorpio instantly devours it.
Woosh!
Scorpio’s armor glows, and cracks begin to form.
Molting.
Like the power of the sun that transformed his once insignificant self.
Once again, having acquired the shattered power of the sun, Scorpio forces his way through the ‘door’ that was blocking him.
Ding!
Ding!
[World Boss, Scorpio’s growth has reached its limits.]
[All intervention power has been spent.]
[The intervention dungeon will end. From this point forward, the interventions made to the Heritage Successors will influence the future.]
[Measuring rewards…]
[Measuring rewards…]
[Measuring rewards…]
[Reward measurement is delayed. Please wait a moment…]
[Measurement completed.]
[Lily Elbrite (False) wishes to speak with you.]
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