It was becoming harder for him to breathe.
Since he had always been living a life that had a ‘next time’, he was never nervous about anything, but this time around, he couldn’t settle his heart.
Calmly he waited for the signal.
As he was sitting in the corner with his legs crossed gazing at the banquet hall with a hazy pair of eyes,
Kwanng—!
Lugiathan pushed the door wide open at the other side of the banquet hall and walked inside. Like an angered lioness, she shouted.
“Our [Demonic Sword of Grief] has been stolen.”
Yes. It was here. As soon as she finished her words, 80% of the black dragons in the banquet hall stood up in alarm.
“W, what!”
“Your Majesty. When was this?”
“Just then! Hurry up and find it no matter the cost!”
After the shout, she turned around and jumped through the dimension as adult black dragons began leaving the banquet hall like a tide on the ebb.
[Demonic Sword of Grief] was the greatest treasure the black dragons had. Such an item being stolen meant there could be an attack or a systematic infiltration and thus the hatchlings were also guided to a safer area.
As such, only the grand-master level protectors that guarded the banquet and Lugiathan were left behind at the hall.
“Who might you be?”
One of the protectors who had been doubtfully looking at him the whole time came up and asked him.
“Tutor.”
He gave a curt reply before standing up.
Shrrrrrkkk—
The second signal echoed in his ears, followed by a large explosion.
Because there were no dragons here unlike the previous iteration, the commotion created by the attack was nowhere near that. Furniture was broken and glass ornaments were shattered but there were only protectors inside the room.
Entering the building with the [Shapeless Sword] in hand, ‘he’ immediately looked for Yu Jitae.
The fallen angels that entered with him halted,
As immediately, ‘his’ gaze changed.
Even though he had definitely attacked under the same condition, at the same time at the same place, there were no dragons in this place.
Yu Jitae gave a faint smile.
After noticing a variable in the regression, ‘he’ was about to quickly escape this place.
[Spatial Severance (S+)]
But the escape was made impossible due to Yu Jitae activating what he had prepared beforehand, as an invisible wave travelled down the walls of the banquet hall.
It was obvious that Yu Jitae could also use the authority which ‘he’ could use, but ‘he’ seemed quite flustered as the one on the receiving end of it. Because Spatial Severance was an ability that was gained by hunting a sovereign, ‘his’ eyes turned ferocious. There would probably be hundreds of hypotheses surging in ‘his’ mind.
Soon, the man opened his mouth.
“Who are you.”
Yu Jitae’s fingertips answered his question.
[Shapeless Sword]
Grasping on the handle of killing intent, Yu Jitae dashed in like a lightning bolt.
.
.
.
Their strength had already reached the limit of an existence. Fighting method, manipulation of mana, number of authorities and abilities and their usage – all those elements had reached the limit within Providence, and they were at a level where learning other things in the world would not result in any increase in their strength.
The only difference between them was the possession of [Conceptualisation] after killing Lugiathan, and whether they still had all the killing intent or not.
Because of that, the fight between the current Yu Jitae and ‘Yu Jitae of the 6th iteration’ was that of two killing machines heading to ruin with every variable restricted.
They attacked with the Shapeless Sword. Block and that would increase the duration of the battle, and not blocking would require both of them to sacrifice their flesh. In order to get a bone, one also had to give a bone.
‘His’ shoulder turned hazy. Following that, the Shapeless Sword that was now as big as 10 metres drew a perfect line aiming for Yu Jitae’s chest.
Even if he were to dodge it, the Shapeless Sword would immediately change its shape and try to skewer him like a fishing hook. Therefore, Yu Jitae parried the attack with all his might.
Kwanngg—!
Indescribably enormous killing intents collided as sparks flickered from the strike. Like the crash of two electric chainsaws, excess killing intent bouncing off the strike splattered to the surroundings and scratched the hall.
Each and every strike created large claw marks on the floor and walls of the banquet hall, but the overall damage to the weapon-like building wasn’t too big.
After dozens of clashes that went nowhere, the enemy roared like a beast.
“Who are you–!”
Without replying, Yu Jitae simply attacked back.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 2nd Form]
He shifted it to the form that crushed the main gates of the Demon Archduke’s castle.
[Chainsaw Form]
The killing intent formed into chains followed the blade and began rapidly turning itself.
Yu Jitae jumped through the air in the blink of an eye and aimed at ‘his’ head. Because of the shout, ‘his’ reaction speed had been slowed down by a fraction of a fraction of a second.
Kigigiging–!!
‘His’ killing intent was milled. A wound that was seemingly created by a saw was made all the way from the wrist to the shoulder.
While bleeding an armful of blood, ‘he’ attacked back.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 3rd Form]
[Forked Lightning Form]
In an instant came thunder. The will to tear something to pieces without stopping at cutting them changed the sword into lightning forks. Like how electricity travelled through the atmosphere looking for the best path, it seeked for the path that would allow a complete destruction of the enemy.
They were too close, and it was impossible for Yu Jitae to avoid it completely.
Kajikk–
One of the lightning bolts struck his shoulder, erupting his muscles, the bone and the flesh.
After seemingly seeing that as an opportunity, the man ran in carrying the shapeless aura in his hands that could dare suppress the heavens into a dot.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 4th Form]
It turned into the form that ended the life of the Demon Archduke in one slash.
[God Slaying Form]
‘He’ was trying to bisect the dimension Yu Jitae was in into two vertical pieces. Yu Jitae had to raise his sword to stop it but there wasn’t enough killing intent.
—-!
A deafening thud shook both the ground and the air.
The leftover killing intent that he couldn’t completely block created a cut going down one of his eyes to his cheeks, and also created wounds on his neck, collarbones and his chest.
However, his arms were still there and that was more than enough. While his enemy had yet to fully recover ‘his’ posture, Yu Jitae gripped onto ‘his’ neck despite the buckets of blood leaving his body.
“Kuhk—”
Then, he gathered killing intent into his right hand. The remaining killing intent that he still had was about 900. By permanently sacrificing a half of it, Yu Jitae added immense power to his attack.
[Shapeless Sword (SS) – 5th Form – Final Form]
The emotions of innumerable existences that wished to die, to kill, or to end the repetition of life was interpreted into a spear at his hand.
That was the final form of his Shapeless Sword.
[Punishment]
Yu Jitae stabbed the spear forward aiming at ‘his’ heart.
—–!!!
An exploding aftershock echoed the banquet hall once again as a hole appeared in ‘his’ chest. It was such an intense attack that it ended up breaking half of the Spatial Severance as every window inside the room shattered down.
An amount of power that should be unable to exist in a world interpreted into a concept reached thousands of metres beyond the boundaries of the palace and shook the world.
“Kuuuhk—!”
There was a large hole in the enemy’s chest and his dangling jaws were barely holding on.
However, ‘he’ was still not dead. Even though it was an attack that could have killed Lugiathan in one strike – which was obvious because Yu Jitae had permanently consumed his strength for the attack – it was still not enough to completely kill ‘him’.
“What are youu–!”
Drenched in blood, ‘he’ shouted but Yu Jitae remained silent.
In a hurry, he grabbed ‘him’ by the neck and pushed him into the [Primal Time] located behind the throne. ‘He’ tried to retaliate by not going inside, so he kicked ‘him’ by the head and shoved the man all the way in.
It was just to buy some time. After soon recovering himself, the man would crawl out again like a cockroach.
Then, Yu Jitae who had consumed 450 desires to kill would be helplessly slaughtered by him. He knew that, and that was okay. What he needed was this short moment for ‘him’ to be neutralised.
All Yu Jitae needed was time.
He checked the surroundings. Most of the protectors had been defeated by the fallen angels. Taking out the [Chains of Hell] from his chest, he began to walk.
But suddenly, his feet halted to a stop. Something strange had entered his sight.
Why was she here right now?
“Girl!”
***
After stealing [Demonic Sword of Grief],
Baby Bom realised while running around everywhere that she was surprisingly not that anxious. It might be because her first ever freedom upon leaving the palace just tasted too sweet.
Actually, she did feel slightly nervous thinking about being told off after being caught, but she recalled her tutor’s advice whenever that happened. Looking at the constellations, she hardened her heart.
This was to save her race.
Carrying the sword she diligently escaped as her mind calmly ruminated on the situation. The young Bom tilted her head from a strange line of thought that suddenly struck her mind.
Her tutor had definitely said that he was weaker than the devil. But didn’t he say the ‘loop of regression’ had to be cut off to completely kill ‘him’?
Cutting the ‘loop of regression’ would be done by shoving the enemy into the Non-Providential World. It would be physically pushing the devil into [Primal Time], but how was he supposed to stop ‘him’ from coming out considering his lack of strength?
She thought of multiple hypotheses but could not come up with anything decent. The best of the best would still be dying together.
Thinking of it like that made her heart drop an inch. Even though she had just met him today, she was greatly fond of him and desperately wished he would stay alive.
That was when suddenly, the young Bom remembered how her tutor had taken the [Chains of Hell],
And also remembered how he had constantly been staring at the pillars of the banquet hall, calculating something.
“Ah…!”
She felt goosebumps crawling up her skin.
Baby Bom realised what her tutor was trying to do…
***
“Why in the world are you here!”
“W, where is the devil?”
“He’s stuck inside the Primal Time. Hurry up. Leave!”
“You have too many wounds!”
“Leave!”
He ferociously roared at her as blood dripped out of all of his wounds. Feeling like she would faint, the young Bom looked into his eyes.
“I can help you! I learned a lot of magic!”
“I don’t need it. Can’t you tell? You are helping me by getting away from this place as much as possible!”
He shouted like there was now a problem in his plan. Baby Bom knew that she would be a hindrance to his plan if his plan was the same as what she had thought of. Everything was a part of his plan so she shouldn’t obstruct him, but she just could not leave.
“You, you are trying to die–!!”
It was because she realised her tutor’s goal.
“Why would I die, huh? Why!”
He yelled back as the child began to cry.
“Think about it again! If you do that to cut off the devil’s timeline, you won’t be able to live!”
“How is that related to you?”
“You’re also doing this to save me who has nothing to do with you!”
“Bom!!”
Grabbing her shoulders with his hands soaked in blood, he shouted. Only then did the young Bom realise that the name of herself, whom he had met at a different place was ‘Bom’.
“Stay outside. We don’t have time. You have to survive and achieve the Grand Schema of your race, right?”
“But…”
He grabbed her with the might of a giant. The young Bom just could not retaliate against him as he sat her down on the windowsill that hadn’t crumbled down yet.
“You will die at this rate. For sure…!”
After resolutely shaking his head, her tutor said, ‘No’ before whispering to her.
“I will not die.”
It was the voice of a man who had given up on something but baby Bom couldn’t persuade him anymore – he pushed her out of the windowsill and blocked the window with [Spatial Severance].
While shouting, the child struck the dimensional wall with her fists. Yu Jitae turned around after pulling the curtains over the window.
However, because his mind was at a different place, he appeared to have missed the hole in the curtain.
Baby Bom covered her mouth.
The moment he turned around, she saw more than ten arrows and blades stuck in his back. Those were the weapons of the fallen angels.
Soon, Yu Jitae moved as she had predicted. Taking out the [Chains of Hell], he started tying them around the large pillars supporting the banquet hall.
“Please don’t do that!”
As if he couldn’t hear her shout, he ignored her and silently surrounded the four pillars with the chains.
He then stood at the middle of them all, as his chest caved up from his deep breath. Standing still, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath out.
The young Bom felt goosebumps.
His hands started to tremble, as if his determination had been shaken.
“Please, stopp—!”
.
.
.
Yu Jitae did not want to die anymore.
He wanted to live.
He wanted to be happy.
However, what he was now going to do was unfortunately not much different from the last words [Sin] had left him.
The moment the four pillars supporting all the weight crumbled down, it would destroy the ceiling above the banquet hall.
This weapon of a building that could crush a dragon’s head according to the interpretation of [Conceptualisation] would magnificently cover the [Primal Time], and remain firm until the debris gets removed.
‘Yu Jitae of the 6th iteration’ will in fact not die even though he was locked in the Non-Providential World. Since there was no way Vintage Clock would discard its keeper, he would somehow be returned to the Earth’s timeline.
Originally, [Vintage Clock] was very opposed to the idea of Yu Jitae heading to the outer dimensions, so Yu Jitae had to stubbornly persuade the white bird.
Even though the white bird was also extremely against his idea just like the main authority, the bird couldn’t help but listen to his request after receiving his fierce temper. Back then, he had fought a lot with the white bird.
Since ‘he’ was experiencing such a mishap after leaving like that, ‘Yu Jitae of the 6th iteration’ would not be able to return to this place ever again.
Lugiathan, Bom and Myu would come back to life.
It was thus a perfect plan.
…Except for his own death.
“…”
Killing intent was creeping out of the veil.
‘He’ was drawing near.
Ever since he came up with the plan to this day, he did not doubt it a single time. He was aware that he would definitely survive and be happy. But now that he was close to the very end, cunningly so, like a human, his heart started to waver.
〚You will regret it!〛
Sin’s curse echoed in his ears.
〚You will definitely die–!!〛
Will I really die like this?
He was scared.
Yu Jitae didn’t want to die.
He wanted to see Gyeoul. If that precious child called him daddy, would he dare be able to call that child ‘my daughter’?
He wanted to hear Kaeul’s giggling voice. He wanted to see her smile and chuckle that used to brighten up Unit 301, and wanted to buy her more delicious food.
He wanted to give Yeorum a good present to make up for her hard work. He wanted to teach her how to play with a comfortable heart instead of worrying about fighting all the time.
He wanted to draw a happy future with Bom who would soon come back to life. Even if those romantic emotions were to become fake in the new timeline, that was still okay. He simply wanted to live with her.
As such thoughts appeared in his mind, he started to hesitate.
Even though the enemy was slowly drawing near, his heart started to waver like crazy. The umbrella shared together in those rainy streets, sweet desserts, shared concerns, warmth of touching skins, chuckling voices and crying gasps. Those existences that needed him, and those children that taught him so many things – he missed their faces so much, and wanted to live. He wanted to live, do everything he couldn’t do and become happy.
However, he had to stop his line of thought.
Raising his head, he gazed outside the window.
“…”
While remembering the last words of the white bird that he would definitely become happy, he etched the constellation made by baby Bom into his eyes.
[You will. Definitely. Become happy.]
He,
Finally,
Pulled his mind back together.
.
.
Each of his hands gripped onto the chains.
.
.
He consumed all the leftover desire to kill.
.
.
Slowly curling his body inward, he pulled the chains.
.
.
Although the pillars had been weakened from the constant powerful attacks, they still tried to withstand his pull.
The pillars were staying still so he clenched even harder.
.
.
Fallen angels with crushed legs twitched and wriggled, as if they realised what laid in front of them.
.
.
Those large pillars that looked immovable slowly began to curve.
.
.
A girl who was watching all that happen sobbed out loud. Her small fists struck the severed dimension until they bled.
.
.
It happened in an instant. The huge pillars slowly started to crumble. As the pillars supporting the weight above wobbled near the ground, the ceiling of the large banquet hall of the palace started to crumble down. Falling down, the large weapon covered everything inside the hall.
The big banquet hall was thus reduced to the ground.
.
.
<The Authority, [Conceptualisation (EX)] is deactivated.>
<The target, [Sin] is eradicated.>
<The modification to cause and effect from the Primal Time is applied to the [Time Providence].>
<[Great Hostility] is eradicated.>
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.
“…”
A black dragon that had been straying near the outer dimension slowly began to open her eyes.
The power of the restrictive transcendent authority was transmitted over to her, and the parallel timeline where she had killed herself was already long gone.
When the memories and information stemming from the modified Providence started seeping into her head like a wave,
And when all those memories with him were conveyed to her brain.
Bom crumbled down on the spot.