A dark light, fluttering like a curtain, draped over the land.
It obscured the sun of Lilith, deceiving the elves’ eyes and ears, leading them to battle one another.
But that wasn’t all.
The light of the black sun began to raise the corpses strewn across the battlefield.
A winged, headless corpse danced across the battlefield, picking up its mashed-up head like some dough.
A short body, with limbs torn off, rolled on the ground, shoving things into its severed stumps.
A human whose innards had been emptied stuffed himself with chunks of flesh stuck to the ground, bloating his body.
Thus, beings shaped indiscriminately, regardless of their races, slaughtered one another in a horror ignited by Sirin’s breath, reminiscent of hell itself.
In such hell, the elves, controlling spirits.
The light embraced by Laila grew more intense.
Overpowering the blind elves following her, she charged at the resurrected corpses, as if performing a noble act.
Yet, even Laila’s radiant light was insufficient to illuminate the entire world.
Because Jong-eon’s complete awakening had occurred.
It was an impossibility.
For Jong-eon to reveal himself in a world where Sirin existed was a deviation from the regulation.
It was an act that thoroughly deceived the regulation established by Lilith and Sirin.
Yet, why did the regulation not restrain Jong-eon?
Why did it bind itself instead of Jong-eon, dragging him out into the world?
It was incomprehensible.
The Nameless One, who engulfed Lilith, was too early to wield her powers fully.
If Jong-eon acted on his own, he would merely be a part, devoid of feelings, intended to manipulate the world.
This meant that, in this situation…
Was the world moving toward destruction a situation desired by Lilith?
Why? What was she hoping for?
Hadn’t she ordered the regulation to lead those living on the earth to Paradise?
Hadn’t she died to save them from the Nameless One?
If that weren’t the case, then what had I been doing until now, and for what reason did I exist?
Dark emotions swirled in Sirin’s mind, a concept that had felt foreign.
Yet, Sirin did not doubt Lilith.
She didn’t question that warmth directed towards her.
Rather, she denied the emotions flooding her mind and recalled what she could do now.
And then.
Sirin’s “eyes” beheld it.
The world she believed would be swallowed by Jong-eon, returning for the first time by the Nameless One infused with Lilith’s powers.
In that, she saw the mournful yearning of the ash tree, shaking desperately for her to notice.
Thus, Sirin broke the chains of regulation binding her and soared upward.
—Kwarung!
The chains of regulation struck down like lightning, constricting Sirin’s body. The fetters pierced her soul, ripping away her essence.
Yet, Sirin did not stop.
She knew that if she halted now, she would never realize Lilith’s intent.
Thus, in a world where the sky vanished and the earth crumbled, where everything was dissolving.
Sirin’s desperate flapping of wings touched the ash tree’s yearning.
At that moment.
Laila’s voice resonated throughout the world.
[The price is to become the subordinate of the Nameless One, bound by regulation.]
[What is desired—]
*
“Ugh… Hah, hah… Huh…”
As the suffocating grip on her breath loosened, intense breaths exploded out.
Even before she could compose herself.
She opened her eyes and looked down. There was a small hand. Wiggling it back and forth allowed her to precisely feel that she had returned.
She raised her hand and slapped her cheek—slap—slap—.
Then, she tossed off her shoes. Stretching her short legs, she felt the earth beneath her. Rubbing her feet against the coarse sand.
Feeling sensations gradually returning, she glanced around. The familiar scenery of the wilderness appeared. The dry smell of earth pierced her nostrils. A breeze brushed her cheeks, cooling her sweat.
“Ah… Ahh.”
Only after confirming that her voice was coming out.
“Hah…”
She was finally able to catch her breath.
That was close, she almost died.
The moment Sirin’s emotions surged into her mind, she felt her presence fading.
That sensation grew stronger as Sirin’s emotions intensified, ultimately threatening to erase her existence.
Yet she managed to hold on.
Because the ring on her left ring finger, of unknown origin, was continuously searching for her presence.
The ring she promised to give to Rubia, as per the request of the older Rubia she met during the trial.
However, she had forgotten about the ring until now.
…Why had she forgotten something so important?
It wasn’t due to low intelligence stats.
The intelligence stat hadn’t particularly affected her, and even if there was a one in a million chance of it being so, she would never forget about Rubia.
Nor had she been too busy to forget.
It just… It simply vanished from her thoughts right after the trial ended.
So what caused this…?
Could it be that Lilith made it so?
Even if Lilith perished, if her will remained in this world… If that were truly the case.
She gently caressed the ring on her hand.
What was the reason for placing her in Sirin’s past and providing her with this ring?
What did Sirin hope for after witnessing her past?
Enough already.
Stop thinking.
Right now, she had to finish this illusion and get out as quickly as possible.
She vigorously shook her head and stood up.
Taking a deep breath to awaken her senses.
She set off—tap tap—toward where Sirin was.
The sandstorm brushing her cheeks stung. Sand rolling between her toes tickled and the grains sneaking into her mouth made her tongue feel gritty.
After a while of walking, searching for a little discomfort.
Crack— In the distance, a sound echoing from tightly bound chains reached her ears.
Quickening her pace, she approached the sound, traversing the empty wilderness until she could see a golden sphere rising like the sun.
Finally, where my steps came to a halt.
Sirin, drenched in pain, lay motionless.
And the golden sphere had darkened more than before.
Before her, Jong-eon, now with somewhat clearer form, stood.
She cautiously stepped towards Jong-eon opposite Sirin.
Just in case, she kept her head down.
She might get sucked into Jong-eon’s consciousness if she locked eyes.
So, about five Noahs away, she slowly lifted her head.
Whether from afar or close by, she still couldn’t see the form properly.
Its size was indeterminate.
Its color was unknown.
To be honest, she couldn’t even tell if she was near or far.
As she approached that Jong-eon—squelch.
A sinister sound of something dropping behind her reached her ears. She immediately turned her head to gaze at the source of the sound.
“Uh…?”
From the source of the sound, she saw Sirin rising from her position, tearing away the chains binding her.
At a glance, there seemed to be more than ten severed chains.
Of course, the chains binding Sirin’s body were easily in the thousands.
However, if she continued ripping them like that, it was evident that in no time at all, Sirin’s existence would vanish.
Consequently, her body hurriedly dashed toward Sirin.
Even knowing she couldn’t stop Sirin as a mere illusion, she couldn’t just stand idly by.
The sight of Sirin tearing apart the chains, trapped as if wedged in leather, was too desperate.
Thus, as she approached right in front of Sirin.
All of her emotions, thoughts, began to jostle in her mind.
Self-denial.
Blind faith in Lilith.
Anger toward the Nameless One.
Despair.
As the sticky emotions rushed into her from Sirin, she gripped the ring on her finger tightly.
Then she shifted her gaze toward the golden sphere that captured Sirin’s attention.
“…Ah, ugh…”
Inside the orb was a world completely different from the one filled with happiness she had seen first—only despair unfolded.
And.
—Crack.
Every time a chain binding Sirin’s body snapped.
—Thud.
In that world of only despair.
—Kwaduk.
A greater despair descended.
—Crash!
Thus, when a total of twenty-seven chains shattered.
An ordinary demon race was brutally slaughtered by the celestial race.
The tongue was ripped out. The eyeballs were gouged, limbs were torn, and ultimately, the neck, along with the spine, rolled on the ground, crushed under the celestial’s feet.
The girl who had been hiding behind a wardrobe and watching until the end.
Became the queen leading the demon race in the future, eventually tearing apart the celestial who had slain her parents and hanging them upon the castle gates.
This acted as the trigger for the great war, leading to the annihilation of all races.
Thus, a long time passed.
The great war that unfolded over an unfathomable duration of time concluded with the demon race’s victory.
However, that wasn’t the end.
—Crack!
Released from regulation, the apostle of the Nameless One.
Laila, now Jong-eon’s claw, manifested into the world.
She revealed the truth of the world to the demon race, adorned in flames.
Upon realizing everything, the demon race cried out toward the sky.
Listening silently to the melancholic screams of despair, Sirin spoke to the raging demon race.
[Everything is my doing.]
[All of it was merely a process to complete the world.]
[So, kill me.]
[Kill me to avenge yourself.]
Thus, the demon race ignited flames to shatter the heavens.
They kindled the flames of Pacheon (破天), incinerating even themselves.
