Ku-gugugugu-ng!
A strong vibration shook the heavens and earth.
In the face of the supernatural phenomenon that literally made the sky scream, the people trembled.
It was a calamity.
The sky turned a dark purple hue.
That light gradually approached the earth.
It was the end.
It was a disaster.
Some howled in despair, while others clutched each other’s hands and fervently prayed.
“The Holy See has issued an official document. Everyone, let us pray devoutly to overcome the calamity…”
“What good is prayer in this situation! We’re all going to die anyway!”
“The Priestess must have a plan. We need to prove our devotion and lend her our strength—”
“That’s all pointless lies! I know everything! I know!”
Just hours ago, the world was fine, but in an instant, chaos erupted.
The world was on the brink of destruction.
In a crisis that spread chaos throughout the current world, the governments swiftly responded as if they had been waiting for this.
The citizens of the Holy Kingdom gathered their hands in prayer for sacred power.
The beast people of the Northern Region strengthened their guardian totems rooted in their land.
The elves gathered around the newly sprouted World Tree, adding their strength.
The dwarves quietly hammered iron and wound gears in their respective places.
One common directive came down to them.
Through the already dismantled communication lines of the old alliance.
A simple and clear directive flowed in from beyond the heavens, from a distant universe.
“Do not look up at the sky?”
What does that even mean?
Without any reason or explanation, just a vague order to not look up at the sky.
It felt like a hint of urgency.
As the leaders of various countries pondered how to spread this directive, what they feared began to manifest in the sky.
“······?!”
The purple light shattered.
A brilliant flash spread out as if the stars were exploding.
From that, a massive cloud emerged, resembling a gigantic galaxy.
Heads turned one by one towards the sky.
Those who looked up once could never lower their heads again.
Forgetting the pain of bloodshot eyes, they gazed up without blinking.
Intense power seeped into their eyes, causing some sort of chemical reaction.
Overwhelming terror shattered everything that made a human a human.
It felt like their brains had broken, releasing bizarre hormones.
Thus, what was completed was a monster moving solely by fear and the desire to survive, devoid of reason.
“Ku-aahh!”
“People are going insane!”
“Calm down, everyone! Please! This isn’t the time for fighting!····· Aaah! Aah!”
The current world was turning into a hellscape.
…
An urgent telegram was sent down to the ground.
Despite the already severed communication network.
The command authority of the alliance had been lost, so its execution was uncertain, but…
They couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
“Hey, is it going well?”
“Yeah. It’s going well. Don’t worry. There are no problems.”
Patting the shoulder of the Nameless, I couldn’t stop the cold sweat flowing down.
Mi Jeong’s expression was also far from bright.
“······This.”
By the Nameless’s touch, the soul gradually extracted from the body.
In my eyes, which could see the soul, it appeared.
A beautiful cloud shimmering like a milky way was creeping out from the tentacles.
It was gigantic and magnificent.
If that were all it were, it would have been wonderful…
“·····That’s Clann, isn’t it?”
“······.”
The problem was that it wasn’t just the soul that was being pulled out.
From the passage from which the soul was extracted, an enormous amount of power leaked out.
It spewed forth like oppressive fog, threatening to cover the current world.
The sense of pressure was on a whole different level than what I had just experienced.
I could even sense a clear malice wanting to harm people, a dark power.
Those murky things had already spread to the current world.
It was evident what might be happening down on the ground.
“Crazy… ”
But the wave that had just reached the ground was only the faint first wave.
If the heavy second wave that is now beginning to spill out, along with the third wave, hit the ground, it would be unimaginable chaos.
Could I handle all of that?
Yes, I could.
It was entirely possible.
But the problem was, by the time I managed to deal with it all, the current world would have already been colored by that power, driving everyone mad.
By the time we headed down to the surface, no one who could be called a person would be left on the continent.
‘Damn it. If I had swung my blade recklessly, it would have been the end, right?’
It was then that I finally realized the identity of the unease I felt all this time.
Thanks to the Nameless’s careful control, the soul was being extracted without much damage to the body.
Still, the amount of power leaking from that tiny gap was significant.
If I had cut the core of Draken with one swing…
It would have erupted explosively, bursting forth like an egg yolk.
In a heartbeat, this whole dimension would have been overwhelmed by Draken’s power.
Our dimension would have met obliteration along with Draken.
And I would have watched the final moments of this current world I had destroyed with my own hands while the [Conquest Successful] system window popped up.
It would have been a more horrifying conclusion than death.
Just imagining it made my legs tremble.
“······Yoo Jin, do you now have a bit of… assurance?”
“Yeah. It feels a little better knowing that the path I chose wasn’t wrong.”
“······Then, is there any reason for you to hesitate?”
Mi Jeong, looking up at me with a blank expression, asked.
That question brought my hazy mind back.
It wasn’t just because of the pressure from Draken’s overpowering presence.
One choice I made could mean life or death for countless people.
The fate of a continent that had blossomed civilization for thousands of years hung in the balance.
The thought of the smiles of those I love, and those who love me filled my head, pressing down on me.
It felt a bit odd to say now, but.
I bore the fate of the current world on my shoulders.
The weight of what I’d forced myself to think lightly in order to forget this burden now pressed heavily on me.
My battle was no longer a fight for return.
While pretending to be selfish, saying it was for my sake.
In the end, it was a fight for everyone, including myself.
But as Mi Jeong said, what gets resolved by being crushed under that burden?
I was told to face the monumental responsibility, not to tremble in fear.
“······Yoo Jin isn’t, but I know. Yoo Jin is a hero.”
I am not a hero.
I’ve always believed that.
Divinely chosen, born with talents, progress without a doubt on the path they walk.
That’s what I believed a hero was.
I’ve always feared, been confused, and hesitated.
And thus, I thought, I was far from being a hero.
“······You’re my hero.”
But was being a hero ever a grand existence?
Since when exactly?
Crack!
Feeling the power gradually swell in my body, I sensed the determination had finally set in.
It wasn’t the petty strength that showed itself only when cornered.
Nor was it the strength that wanders around out of fear and terror.
A hero is someone who is made.
If Mi Jeong believes I am a hero.
If the people think of me as a hero.
Then, at this moment,
For just this fleeting instant.
I could perhaps become that hero.
Ku-gugugugu!
The light of the ultimate technique that had covered the airship multiplied and spread in all directions.
What had only barely covered a radius of a few kilometers now extended into dozens and hundreds of kilometers.
Even so, compared to the encroaching black smoke threatening to cover the current world, it felt like a drop in the bucket.
The giant golden light, inflated as it was, was merely a small star in this vast universe.
…But that was enough.
“Thank you, Jill.”
A small shining golden star.
That alone was enough.
In a realm shrouded in darkness, that small star would shine brightly.
If you looked up at the sky, you could easily find this light.
I could feel the gazes converging.
From the current world, I sensed countless intentions rising toward me.
Those intentions transformed into power through the dagger Jill had embedded within me.
And the light grew even brighter.
The light of the ultimate technique exploded outward.
Its speed had already surpassed the speed of sound, transcending perception.
As people’s gazes focused, the light grew larger.
The larger the light became, the more focused the people’s gazes were.
Through this synergy, the light of the ultimate technique, exponentially expanded, finally dyed the entire current world.
The encroaching thick fog was stopped in its tracks by the light, unable to approach anymore.
“Mr.! We did it! I compressed the soul! Can I open my eyes now? Huh?”
“······.”
Meanwhile, the endless extraction of the soul by the Nameless had been compressed into a small bead.
It fitted perfectly into the slot prepared inside the winding machine, and the machine started to operate.
It was all over.
It was finished, but…
“Mr.! Why is there no response? Can I remove my hand? Huh?”
“You… worked hard… ”
“Mr.! What’s wrong!”
Perhaps because the light of the ultimate technique covered too vast an area.
Or perhaps because it had absorbed so much fundamental information.
I felt sleepy.
A sleep so intolerable, my eyes slowly began to close, and my strength drained away from my body.
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