Chapter 80: End; Death dancing in the Masquerade (8)
The boss room was an astonishingly large place. The ceiling felt like a sky and the distant sculpture appeared like the pyramid in a desert.
Everything was of a dumbfounding scale. The surroundings were oddly quiet, which added to the strangeness of the size.
‘Dream Eater’
Noah raised his sword and pointed it at Yu Jitae.
“Had we met before?”
“…”
“Really is strange. It’s my first time seeing you, but you appear to be familiar with me.”
“…”
“Isn’t that the case? You apparently know how my senses travel through the ground and thus climbed up to a high place in order to avoid my gaze, and the reason for dodging my senses was to seal the door easily.”
Yu Jitae remained silent as Noah’s eyebrows twitched.
While he was inside the headquarters of undetectables, there was the story of X being told everywhere.
He is dangerous; we have to give up on gaining control over Lair; how about we revert our organisation back to small local groups.
No, we can catch him as long as a catastrophe-rank moves personally.
Just like that, there were contrasting opinions even inside undetectables, in a 5:5 ratio. That was how fine of a line X was walking on.
“How come you know so much about me? Your face says you would have been sucking on your mother’s breasts during the Great War.”
If X had appeared slightly more threatening, they would have disintegrated their groups in order to avoid being targeted by him.
However, X was menacing without crossing the bottom line.
He’s strong and secretive, but have we received enough damage to warrant us giving up on the Grand Schema that we had been planning dozens of years for? Were there any organisations that had been wiped out?
No, that wasn’t the case.
Thus, Noah had two theories regarding X. Starting off, it was certain that he was fairly strong.
1. He’s an extremely lucky bastard.
If that wasn’t the case, then…
2. He is an incredible bastard that has a tremendous understanding of cause and effect.
In the past, Noah had thought that X was the former because what the demon organisations showed on the outside was different from their true form.
There was no way that a human that fully understood their behavioural patterns could exist and it was impossible for there to be a traitor amongst the top executives who had been fully demonised.
That’s why Noah thought he was a lucky guy but after reaching this point, a bitter smile unconsciously appeared on his face.
“You see, I have just come up with a hypothesis.”
“…”
“About that ability of yours.”
Noah had encountered countless superhumans and had come across even more monsters. He had lived roughly 750 years in the other world, and another 50 years ever since he fell on Earth. The number of blessings, authorities, skills, magic, stigmas and curses he had seen reached tens of thousands.
Among those were also astonishing ones that allowed one to twist the dimension at will, or live on without an end.
However, there were still some abilities which undoubtedly didn’t and shouldn’t exist in his opinion.
“Even I am aware that it makes zero sense but…”
Noah gave out a hollow laugh, as if it was ridiculous.
Right, it was ridiculous.
There was no way it could exist.
His life was the history itself and he had never seen the likes of it throughout his history. However, all the incomprehensible things made sense if that was true.
“…Can you see the future?”
It was none other than the ability to see the upcoming future.
“…”
“Preparing a device that could destroy the dungeon’s fissure and privately moving a bigshot like BM – those should have required more than a day or two of preparation. How did you know this would occur; how did you prepare for it and how…”
How can you be this strong?
Until then, Yu Jitae had not said a single word and Noah gave a scornful smile.
“How arrogant are those eyes of yours. How dare you look down on the world in front of me…”
Yu Jitae did not reply back.
All the conversations that were to be had were already shared in the previous iterations. After reaching the seventh iteration, a communication through language became meaningless to him. Therefore, he was thinking back on something while Noah was blabbering by himself.
It was the memory of a past not so distant.
A very painful one, which had required him to discard countless things.
“…”
Only now did all those memories of the past vividly float back up to the surface. His hazy gaze became sharp and clear.
Slowly, he raised his body, placed his hand on his neck and twisted it. He then slowly carried his thumb to his mouth, before crunching on it and ripping the skin. Blood could be seen flowing out.
“Ha.”
Noah realised something from his movements and sneered. At the same time, the air of the enormous room started becoming heavier.
“Did you notice it or perhaps you were already aware of it, but it seems your future sight is only half useful.”
“…”
“How unfortunate. I am not an existence that can be overcome by having a sloppy prediction.”
With a tone as arrogant as an absolute being, Noah raised his sword in a straight line with his body. Demonic aura dispersed out from the ground and started creating a tornado with Noah in the centre.
[Ignite]
Artifacts that exceeded a certain standard needed to be sealed, in order to hide its destructive power in its unused state. The seal on Dream Eater began being lifted.
Kugugugugung…
The dimension of the ‘boss room’ which was vastly greater and stabler than other rooms – the ground, the walls and the ceiling started shaking from the influence of the ignition.
Before long, the middle portion of the greatsword was torn apart and the metals elongated themselves. They soon became eyes and the red eyes quickly glanced through the surroundings.
[Synchronisation]
The Third Lord of the Abyss, Ny-ar-la’s authority began flooding out of Noah’s body and the enormous room had already turned into achromatic colours before anyone could have realised it.
“You will die here.”
It was different from when he was fighting BM.
Somehow, it felt like the place had originally been of black and white, with the filter called ‘colour’ rightfully taken away. The only existence that retained its colour within that place was Noah and his sword.
“This is the world only for me, permitted by my lord–”
In response to his words, the eyes on Dream Eater began being tainted in crimson.
Then, the world turned upside down.
*
– This is the 156th room. We can feel a demonic aura.
“Got it. Everyone, gather at the 156th room!”
– Yes!
After turning off the radio, Minamoto grumbled.
“They’re finally coming… these disgusting demon trash.”
When the original plan changed, Minamoto had received a new command from Yu Jitae.
– What? You want me to stop the oncoming demons? Are you telling me to just stand on the sidelines or what?
It was a place where bigshots like Ysayle Khalifa, Noah and Wei Yan would be showing themselves. Minamoto, who originally had intense hatred against demons, wasn’t content with Yu Jitae’s orders.
– I would rather just send two or three of my soldiers to that place.
But Yu Jitae shook his head.
– They won’t be able to handle it.
– …Huh? Are you looking down on our Special Forces right now?
– If you want to kill all your subordinates, then do what you want.
– Ridiculous. Do you know how strict of a test the superhumans under the Royal Family… go through… damn it…
Feeling a strange sense of anxiety from Yu Jitae’s gaze, Minamoto stopped her words. It felt like she was back to being a child, caught red-handed while lying to an adult.
Left with no other choice, Minamoto had to stand in the 156th room.
“They’re coming!”
The agents of the Special Forces unsheathed their swords in nervousness. Before long, demons started rushing forth from the dimensional gap with red, upturned eyes. They began running at Minamoto’s group as if they had gone insane.
And after 5 minutes, Minamoto understood what Yu Jitae had meant.
‘How are they…!’
The half-senseless demons were strong to a point that couldn’t be logically understood.
“STAY ON GUARD ALL OF YOUUU—!!”
Minamoto shouted from the bottom of her lungs.
*
Noah lived in a dream.
He swallowed the dreams of superhumans and changed it to nutrition. With that, he built up power and extended his life. That was the reason he was the only human that had lived for 800 years.
Sometimes, he made superhumans be swallowed in their own dreams. They, who would then be controlled by their unconsciousness, would move in reality according to Noah’s consciousness.
Due to that, there had been superhumans who had suffered from mental illnesses like group hallucinations in Africa during the Great War, and a group of local rankers in the Cameroon area had all been controlled by him as they destroyed their own country.
The world had been completely coloured in ash and the 180th room – the Room of the Esteemed Noble Lady, had already disappeared without leaving a trace behind.
Yu Jitae was floating in the air, while Noah was floating at a place slightly higher than him and gazed down at Yu Jitae.
Noah had been [extricated] from the very start.
This was Noah’s dream and Noah was like a god in this place.
Ironically, since Noah lived in a dream, one had to kill Noah inside his dream in order to kill the real Noah.
“Now that’s the correct eye level.”
In a world with an unclear shade of grey, Noah’s words were like thunders striking Yu Jitae’s ears.
“It won’t be a comfortable dream.”
Straight after that, the world changed.
The sky was slightly dark while the setting sun was colouring the clouds in red. Yu Jitae was standing inside a forest.
“…”
Kicking off the ground, Yu Jitae rose up. His target was Noah floating in mid-air. The moment he thought of ripping Noah into pieces, thin strings of killing intent stacked on top of another and revealed itself.
[Shapeless Sword (SS)]
Kwaduk–
Yu Jitae pierced Noah’s head.
However, Noah who should have had a hole in his head, was still as far as he had originally been. The ‘Noah’ he had stabbed had already vanished into nothingness.
“Did you not foresee my Immortality?”
Noah held his hands together.
Then, tens of thousands of winged beasts showed up from behind the mountains and covered the sky. They quickly shortened the distance and flew towards Yu Jitae, having chisel-like beaks and sword-like claws.
[Raptors]
Yu Jitae quickly distanced himself while slicing the birds with his killing intent. [Shapeless Sword (SS)] changed into a long shape and killed dozens with one slash. Some of them lost legs while others lost their heads as they fell in groups.
“Shocking. How shocking!”
After finding a gap, Yu Jitae jumped the dimension and slashed his sword at Noah’s head. He had understood the principle and direction that Noah had jumped in at the start, so this time, his [Shapeless Sword (SS)] spreaded across like a thorny bush and covered several hundred metres around them.
It was a rapid attack which even Noah would find it hard to follow.
But after changing his location, Noah clenched his teeth and hurriedly placed his palms together.
“You dare!”
Slap–!
This time, the sky and the ground turned upside down.
“…”
He was still standing still, but the top and the bottom of the dimension had been turned. Suddenly, Yu Jitae was looking at the world in an upside down manner.
That wasn’t the end – his sense of directions changed. Left became right and front became back.
“It’ll be confusing. Up and down, front and back, left and right, far and close. Everything is changed in this world.”
Of course, he had experienced it once and was well aware.
Yu Jitae thought of pushing his Shapeless Sword to the back, and it then came forward until he retrieved it.
“…”
He stood still for a bit and closed his eyes.
It felt shit.
This thing called Omnipotence.
It was his third time experiencing it, but it was still hard to get used to. Before being a transcendent he was a human, and was an existence that had to incorporate himself into the general framework of the world.
When the world’s framework changed like this, it was very difficult for a human to adapt. Besides, this was Noah’s existing world and everything was therefore true. He couldn’t use [Eyes of Equilibrium (SS)] here either.
That wasn’t the end.
Noah’s words contained some falsehood.
It wasn’t merely up and down, front and back, left and right, far and close that had changed. The moment he placed his palms together, the standard of ‘I’ and the ‘world’ had also changed.
I became the world.And the world became me.
This downright interfered with his senses and the sixth sense which comprehended the flow of the world. The only thing Yu Jitae could feel right now, was himself.
Comparatively speaking, he felt like he had turned blind.
“How obnoxious…” the world murmured. He would require some time to adapt.
However, there was no reason for Noah to wait until he could adapt to it. When the demon gestured with his hands, tens of thousands of birds flew in at Yu Jitae from all directions.
Of course, it was possible to handle it. The only things upturned were his senses analysing the world.
Changing the form of the Shapeless Sword into a ball, Yu Jitae thought of walking forward. He thus walked backwards and the ball of thorns protected Yu Jitae from the raptors. The monster birds that crashed into it all crumbled into pieces and fell.
He thought to himself.
Even omnipotence had its limit. It was like a machine that required a petrol called ‘imagination’. It required time for the world inside the dream to change.
However, Noah’s next imagination was faster than Yu Jitae’s adaptation.
[This will be the end.]
A voice resonated Yu Jitae’s body from within – it was Noah’s voice that had been thrown at the world. Soon, the sky under his feet began roaring.
Kugugugung…
Something appeared from the sky as it shoved everything away. It appeared like several apartment buildings had been stuck together, and had a blunt circular end. It was like a thorn that had increased several thousand times in size.
[Divine Spear of Pairan]
Red sparks of lightning flashed around the large thorn as if to protect it. It then began distancing itself from the world. In other words, it was flying forward with Yu Jitae as the target.
Ku gu gu gu gu gu gu–
The air itself was being pushed away.
That was an object of another world.
It was a totem protecting the temple of the Lightning Spirit King. Naturally, there was no way it could exist in a place like this, if not for Noah’s imagination in his dream.
Yu Jitae stared at the Divine Spear of Pairan roaring on.
Slowly, he was getting used to his senses, and it seemed that he had to start moving seriously now.
“…”
In the sixth iteration, Yu Jitae had realised that his strength had reached a level that could not be controlled as a human.
A slight mistake in control caused his killing intent to stretch forward on its own accord. Buildings were destroyed, mountains disappeared and thousands died on the spot.
Thus, towards the end of the sixth iteration after realising that his judgment had been wrong, Yu Jitae decided to seal a portion of his strength in order to live normally.
He achieved it by shoving an artifact into his body.
While feeling the enormous thorn gradually distancing itself from him.
Yu Jitae closed his eyes.
[Ignite]
The world began fiercely beating its heart.