Chapter 245

Chapter 243 – Brightest Darkness – 1

“So, you were preparing to greet me in the most splendid way possible to maintain whatever dignity you have left?”

Nod, nod, nod. The goddess who introduced herself as Eclipse was vigorously nodding her head. Well, it looked like I overheard her mumbling to herself.

Her face was red as a tomato. Seriously, it was like someone smeared tomatoes all over her cheeks and ears.

“I understand your intent, but…”

I perched on the chair, propping my chin with my left hand, while tapping the table with my right index finger. The sound echoed beautifully, probably because it was marble.

With the tapping rhythm, the goddess flinched. Her face was turning scarlet, her whole body was coiling up, and she was peering at my expression. It was obvious to anyone that she was embarrassed.

“Don’t you think you’ve come too far to reclaim your dignity?”

“……”

“I mean, you were almost tourist bait for that lizard… uh, can I say that? Anyway, you had your soul stripped and your entire world devoured. You’ve been through a lot.”

“……”

“Now, trying to act all dignified and heavy with atmosphere wouldn’t impress me even a little, have you ever thought about that?”

What I said was the truth. I didn’t know the details, but on the surface, Eclipse had no words to say to me, not even with a hundred mouths.

We were already too far gone to feel any awe now. Perhaps that’s why the goddess sat quietly, unable to retort.

‘How many messes has she left unsorted?’

Thank goodness she at least fixed the hole in my abdomen. I gently touched my now healed belly.

If she had said she couldn’t fix it with her power, I almost showed her that my trust in her was non-existent.

When I asked why she didn’t fix it right after our battle, she said she used up her remaining power to create that brilliance. What a truly incompetent goddess all around.

“I’m sorry, you…”

The goddess timidly apologized, her voice small.

“Apology accepted, I guess. You were the one who acted thoughtlessly. Your embarrassment is your own, and I have no reason to accept an apology for it.”

Her face, which had started to regain some color, turned bright red again at my words.

“I won’t even care why you were welcoming me in that posture. If you think your body is perfect and have no issue with exposure, what can I do?”

The reason for the clothing and common sense of women in this world traced right back to Eclipse. Since she believed her body was perfect, she was unbothered by revealing it.

Amidst all this, she created humans based on her body and instilled the same twisted sense of common sense into them. It was inevitable that this world would end up like that.

The stunning physiques of the women were because they were made in Eclipse’s image, and their outrageous outfits came from the belief that they had nothing to hide.

She was the starting point of all this.

‘She is perfect, so I can’t argue with that.’

Honestly, she had every right to feel proud. Her body was so perfect that no other words could describe it except for ‘perfection’.

If she had been a tad thinner or a tad plumper, or if any part of her body had been slightly more or less pronounced, the title of perfection wouldn’t have stuck.

But she achieved that rare feat. Therefore, I didn’t really want to argue against her pride in her body.

“First, you understand what I want to ask, right?”

“……Yes, you.”

“Then I’d like to hear your answer first. Why have you called me not once, but four times? If you give me a ridiculous answer like I was more useful as a seasoned veteran, I swear I’ll smack you.”

“……Are you not going to get angry?”

Eclipse wiggled her hands between her thighs and asked with her eyes wide open.

“Not right now. I haven’t heard a proper reason yet. If I hear something utterly unbelievable, then yeah, I can get angry then.”

Who knows? There might be an inevitable reason to call me here four times. If there’s no particular reason, I’d just have a showdown with the goddess.

“Yes. Understood.”

Eclipse spoke with a determined look on her face.

First, she explained the actions she had taken in the past, the birth of the creature that devours worlds, and how by the time she realized it, it was far too late.

She went on to say that twisted beings began to emerge that consumed worlds, and the souls of those who accidentally died in other dimensions were brought in and given immortality to deal with those beings.

That was somewhat comprehensible. If I had died accidentally, in the end, it meant giving a second chance to someone who should have already been dead.

Reincarnating after death in another world was a cliché that could be exemplified by the ‘isekai truck.’ So, it was perfectly normal.

“And what happened after that? Let’s say Brightest Darkness 1 is fine, how about the ones after?”

“You accepted the immortal mission and continued your journey, eventually burning your own body to protect the world. However, due to experiencing countless deaths, your soul was utterly broken.”

That was what that lizard had told me. I gestured for her to continue.

“I wanted to transfer your soul to a new body and return you to the dimension you originally resided in, but… your soul’s condition was so severe that it couldn’t withstand interdimensional movement.”

“How severe was it?”

“Even using teleportation to move your physical form could shatter your soul from the impact.”

“……”

Teleportation? Isn’t that what the Pope and Minerva and Nix use? If moving bodies through that could shatter the soul, then the condition must have been extremely dire.

“So I gave up on the plan and sealed the area where your body was. This was to allow you to sleep and slowly heal your soul. Once your soul was healed enough to endure interdimensional travel, I intended to send you back to your original world.”

“Couldn’t the goddess heal it directly? It doesn’t make sense that someone who creates worlds can’t fix a human soul.”

“The types of abilities are different. Just like when you float hundreds of tons of steel into the sky and build skyscrapers without using an umbrella, my abilities work the same way. You can’t compare them as if they’re on the same scale.”

“……”

It was a bizarre explanation that seemed like it wouldn’t make sense but did.

“Then how did I wake up in the time frame of Brightest Darkness 2?”

“Because of your instincts.”

“Instincts?”

“Yes.”

The goddess nodded her head again.

“Your soul that had been extremely damaged healed somewhat while you were at rest in the seal, but it had its limits as well. Thus, you instinctively broke the seal and woke up.”

“You’re saying the goddess broke the seal herself? Me?”

“I couldn’t come from the outside, but I made it easy for you to leave from the inside. If you couldn’t leave easily even from the inside, then I would have trapped you instead. I didn’t want to do that.”

That explained why the starting point of Brightest Darkness 2 felt like a deserted house. That was the seal set by the goddess.

“Awakened, you slaughtered the distorted beings that began to resurge due to the growing power. You continued to heal your soul by absorbing that power.”

That didn’t seem to be the story of Brightest Darkness 2 as I remembered it.

But then again, they probably needed to adapt the story appropriately when making it into a game. Even Brightest Darkness 4 had a completely different position for the creature that devours worlds.

“After piecing together the shattered world due to the distortion, you returned to the sealed location and fell into a deep sleep again.”

“Couldn’t you have sent me back then?”

“If I had intervened while you were healing your soul, it could have made things worse. More than that…”

Eclipse trailed off her words.

“At that time, the speed of the world being devoured had begun to escalate rapidly. It would have been possible if you weren’t interrupted, but it was tricky to deal with that while conducting a delicate operation on a human soul.”

“So ultimately, you couldn’t do it.”

“……Yes.”

The goddess affirmed with a sulky expression.

‘So it turns out it wasn’t that I was called four times after all?’

The ending of Brightest Darkness 1 indicated I couldn’t return because my soul was too damaged, and then after a bit of sleep, I woke up and reclaimed my soul, coincidentally witnessing the ending of Brightest Darkness 2.

Even after seeing the ending of Brightest Darkness 2, I still couldn’t return completely since my soul was healing. Naturally, rolling around in the world of Brightest Darkness 3 didn’t mean I was called a third time either.

I simply hadn’t been able to go home.

‘…And speaking of, Nix didn’t mention that I was called multiple times.’

She just told me that I was the main character of Brightest Darkness 3. In the end, she only gave a vague hint that I was the main character of 1 and 2.

It was all just my assumptions.

“After a long time, your soul was completely healed. But before I could return you to your original world… an unforeseen incident occurred.”

As I sat in shock, the goddess continued.

“It was the immortal centipede.”

“That’s right. The immortal centipede broke the seal and invaded your body, trapping your soul in that world.”

“Didn’t you say you made sure it couldn’t be easily broken from the outside?”

“I had over half of my power taken. Because of that, the seal weakened as well. That’s why the cracks you sealed began to reopen.”

A pair of golden and silver odd eyes gazed at me with nostalgia.

“However, you had absorbed countless distorted beings, which significantly raised the quality of your soul, allowing you to block the immortal centipede’s absorption.”

That explained why the protagonist of Brightest Darkness 3 maintained his consciousness even after his body was taken. I had thought he was just ‘the game’s protagonist.’

“Wait a minute. Couldn’t the goddess have used True Death to kill that damned lizard?”

“I have nothing that could be called essence or soul. Therefore, I can’t use True Death, which is a concept that touches upon essence. Just like I can’t understand the concept of a fish moving its legs or a human moving its fins, I too am the same.”

Then, conversely, it meant that the creature that devours worlds, which had its essence chopped off, could use it, right? Suddenly, a chill ran down my spine.

“You used True Death on the last immortal centipede to get rid of it, and I managed to gather whatever remained intact and barely send you back to your original world. In that process, all memories of this world sank deep within your heart.”

“Something feels off. That lizard said that the goddess ruined me…”

Before I could finish, I shut my mouth. I felt like I started to connect the dots. Eclipse looked slightly angry, as if she anticipated my next words.

“That’s a lowly wordplay. It is indeed true that you were broken when you first received the immortal mission. It was not the case for the second and third times.”

In other words, she hadn’t lied. She was crafty to the end.

“I’m sorry, my dear. Because of my incapacity… because of my lack of power, I troubled you so much. I truly have no words for it…”

After finishing her apology, Eclipse fell silent, and I quietly organized my thoughts. A cool night breeze came through the window, cooling my head.

Contrary to what I had thought until now, Eclipse didn’t call me a total of four times as a pawn.

It was practically just once at the beginning and once now, a total of two times. She had been trying to send me back to my original world while I was in this one.

But that had all failed due to her lack of ability.

‘…What’s left is Brightest Darkness 4.’

I pondered why the storyline from Brightest Darkness 1 to 3 flowed as it did and turned my eyes toward my next question. About why I was summoned again, especially amidst such a grand Closed Beta Test bait for Brightest Darkness 5.

“…Before I wrap up my thoughts, can I ask one more question?”

“Yes, you. What is it?”

“What in the world was that damn blue steam locomotive?”