Chapter 409: Episode 78 – Climax/轉 (1)
(TL: The Hanja “轉” is literally “turn/revolve” in isolation; however, it’s actually the third letter of the ‘kishotenketsu/gi-seung-jeon-gyeol’, a classic narrative structure of East Asian literature. This letter signifies “twist” or, in a more modern context, “climax” of the narrative.)
Every muscle on my body ached as if I had been thoroughly beaten up.
I had blacked out for a second but regained my consciousness somehow. I vomited out Fables and opened my eyes within the pitch-black empty space. I couldn’t see a single thing nearby, but I already knew where I was.
[‘Indescribable Distance’ is glancing at you.]
The ‘Indescribable Distance’, also known as the Nameless Mist.
I ran into this guy’s clone back in the 73rd Demon World.
With nothing but the strength of a clone, this guy destroyed my Demon World, and went on to break Fable-grade Constellations and Transcenders alike.
And here I was, right inside the mouth of one Calamity that I dearly wished not to meet again.
⸢Kim Dok-Ja thought to himself. This is the only way to stop the Apocalypse Dragon.⸥
....Right. I was wondering why you were keeping quiet until now.
⸢In order to stop the world’s calamity, summon yet another one. Only someone like the Regressor Yu Jung-Hyeok might come up with such an idea.⸥
I looked at the 4th Wall’s messages floating up in the air and chuckled wryly.
⸢Even then, Kim Dok-Ja simply had to do it.⸥
The effects from the storm of aftermaths still lingered in my vicinity.
– You have distorted far too much Probability.
– You keep this up, and all the Probability’s karma you’ve accumulated so far will blow up in your face. You know what that means, don’t you?
This was the Probability’s karma that I had been accumulating until now. The retribution that Constellations and Dokkaebis had warned me about.
⸢There is no Fable where something precious hasn’t been lost.⸥
Every large, great Fable found in <Star Stream> was a story of loss.
In order to awaken a hero, something must be sacrificed, while lovers and friends must lose something when trying to fulfil their love or friendship.
Someone had to lose something, and with that, Fables would become complete.
⸢Kim Dok-Ja hated that.⸥
I knew that one day, I’d be paying the price for not losing out on anything. That the time to pay for twisting stories around and distorting the Probability would arrive sooner or later.
⸢And that was why Kim Dok-Ja decided to use that.⸥
Tsu-chuchuchuchut!
More lumps of Fable poured out of my mouth.
This wasn’t because the ‘Indescribable Distance’ attacked me; no, it was the distorted Probability’s fault. The distortions of the world, saved up for the purpose of summoning an Outer God, was trying to eliminate me from the scenario itself.
[Fable, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is continuing with its storytelling.]
I managed to endure only because of my Fables. They continued to whisper into my ears – they said that you’re the ‘Demon King of Salvation’. You must save people.
Just like how they did to Metatron and Agares, Fables were whispering to me.
[Fable, ‘King of Kingless World’, is continuing with its storytelling.]
[Great Fable, ‘Demon World’s Spring’, is continuing with its storytelling.]
[Great Fable, ‘Torch that Swallowed the Myth’, is continuing with its storytelling.]
Even though I was inside the quaking fog of darkness, I still could sense what was happening outside.
[‘Final Dragon of the Book of Apocalypse’ is baring its animosity towards the ‘Indescribable Distance’!]
[‘Indescribable Distance’ is making its move.]
Thankfully, everything was unfolding according to the plan. The Outer God showing up to devour me had discovered an even tastier prey and it was now far too focused on preying on the ‘Final Dragon of the Book of Revelation’.
The fight between Calamities had begun. The Final Dragon versus the Nameless Mist.
These two’s mutual destruction was the hope of all the other existences.
The most important thing was to buy enough time. Enough time for the Constellations to reorganise themselves, for those damn stars to reform the nebulas befitting their lofty titles.
[Damage to your Incarnation Body is critical!]
[Indescribable existence’s Status is eating into your ‘Context of Modifier’.]
[Unity between Fables is weakening.]
[<Star Stream> is stunned by your extraordinary achievement.]
[Your own Great Fable is waking up.]
I heard something faintly resembling a song from afar.
It was a melody I heard a long time ago. I wasn’t sure whether that was my mother’s, from my comrades, or from someone else.
Except that, as I listened to that faint song....
[Fable, ‘Comrade of Life and Death’, is continuing with its storytelling.]
....I realised that I didn’t want to die.
*
Ku-gugugugu!
One world was colliding with another. Kim Dok-Ja, completely exposed to the Apocalypse Dragon’s shockwave, was swallowed up by the jet-black fog of darkness.
And now, it was no longer him dealing with the shockwave, but that horrifying Outer God, instead.
The two powers born from Chaos collided, and everything near their vicinity was sucked into nothingness.
[Constellation, ‘Guardian of Mandala’, is gasping out.]
Thankfully, the collision location was much further away than it looked, so the companions still on the ground were spared.
Complexions of most Constellations were incredibly poor after having witnessed both the Apocalypse Dragon and an Outer God.
As if all those days where they roamed the heavens like kings were nothing but illusions, calamities that not even Fable-grade Constellations could handle were engaging in bitter warfare.
Only then did the Constellations of the night sky realise the truth – that the end of the world was indeed right in front of their faces.
For a certain someone, though, a person’s sacrifice was a much bigger tragedy than the end of the world.
“Ahjussssiiiiii!!”
Yi Ji-Hye yelled out in sheer desperation and fired her cannons at the fog of darkness. Of course, none of the cannon shells could damage the main body of the Nameless Mist. One couldn’t even tell where its body started and ended, after all.
Unfortunately, the companions were unable to control their overwhelming emotions.
“No, no, no!!”
Shin Yu-Seung fitfully cried out as if she had been inflicted with an illness of repeating the exact same words. And as if it was resonating with her emotions, the Chimera Dragon spat out one Breath after another in the air.
The eyes of Yi Gil-Yeong standing next to them were half-blurry, unfocused. As his entire body quivered, ominous demonic aura began oozing out from him.
“Contract.... I will.... I won’t.... will....”
And in front of these three, another three stepped forward. Facing the horrifying Calamity that they had been dreading all along, each of the companions lost their reasoning in their own ways. Some let themselves go, falling to a flood of emotions, while others managed to hold on to their broken reasoning in some elaborate manner.
Yu Jung-Hyeok unleashed his transcended form.
Han Su-Yeong was draped by the Black Flame Dragon.
And Jeong Hui-Won had opened the eyes of God-slaying.
Without giving anyone a chance to stop them, the three stepped forward at the same time, and they glanced at each other. Then, someone else did stop them from the front.
It was Anna Croft.
“All of you, please stop! You mustn’t break away from the battlefield!”
[Nebula, <Asgard>, is currently commanding the battlefield.]
Anna Croft’s voice, along with <Asgard>’s Great Fable, managed to tie all three of them to their spots.
Yu Jung-Hyeok’s expression crumpled unsightly. “Get out of my sight.”
“This isn’t what the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ wanted!”
“What the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ wanted?”
Han Su-Yeong’s left arm was lit in black flames as if there was no more need to listen here.
Anna Croft quickly spoke. “I’ve begun seeing bits of the future.”
The Fables were now flowing within her [Eye of the Great Demon].
“It might be that this is because he has really done it.” Anna Croft sounded genuinely impressed. She looked at the fierce battle of the two Calamities taking place in the distant sky and spoke. “To save this world, he really....”
“God damn it! Who cares about saving the world and shit?! We want to....!”
“His sacrifice is truly noble. Do you not understand what that means?”
“You better shut your mouth!”
Han Su-Yeong blew her top and roared out. Her scary aura managed to momentarily shut Anna Croft up.
“Why should Kim Dok-Ja save this world? Why should that bastard sacrifice himself for such a stupid waste-of-time?! Is this stinking world even worth saving?!”
Her voice was cracking up from anger. It was a voice belonging to someone who had been suppressing her rage over and over again. The prophet looked at that face, and listened to that voice, and recalled a story from her past.
“The ‘Demon King of Salvation’ also said the same thing once upon a time.”
– Whether this world is worth protecting or not, one should wait and see first.
Was it back during the Gourmet Association? The ‘Demon King of Salvation’ once said that to her. Anna Croft knew very well what he meant back then.
This world was one being ruled by Dokkaebis and Constellations. She, too, created ‘Zarathustras’ in order to change this world, after all.
Anna Croft raised her head and looked at the sky once more. Even as a prophet, she couldn’t tell if he was still asking that question of this world. However....
“He’s over there right now.”
Some Fables were to be proven not by words, but through one’s actions.
“He has met you people in this world, has he not?”
For the first time ever, the three’s expressions changed to something quite similar to one another after hearing her.
Anna Croft continued on with a cautious tone of voice. “Please, have faith in me, the prophet. We need to save up our strength, and then, aim for the moment when the two Calamities fight each other and destroy themselves. Only then will our survival be guaranteed.”
“Prophet? You think you’re the only one who can tell the future?”
That was when Anna Croft realised something.
Han Su-Yeong’s surrounding vicinity was overflowing with the Fable of [Predictive Plagiarism]. The Regressor Yu Jung-Hyeok was studying and observing the situation without rest through his [Eye of Sage] in the meantime.
It wasn’t only the prophet who could predict the future. These two also possessed insight far superior to others when it came to reading future events.
Even then, they still chose to save Kim Dok-Ja.
Jeong Hui-Won unsheathed her sword and spoke. “I don’t know anything about the future. However, I do know this. You said that you want to save this world? It’s the same for me, too.”
Her determination manifested in the whitish flames billowing on the [Sword of Judgement].
“That man is the world I wish to save.”
At the end of those words, all three of them dashed into the air. Not the Probability of the Great Fable, and not even the pressure from a Nebula could stop them from leaving.
Anna Croft urgently reached out, but by then, they were already soaring towards the distant heavens.
The thing that stopped them, though, was not a Nebula nor Probability.
Han Su-Yeong was the first one to discover that ‘thing’.
“What the hell?! Son of a....!”
Kugugugugu!!
The equilibrium of the heavens was collapsing under the continued battle of the two Calamities. The new problem had to do with the crumbling balance of the broken scale invading into this world.
[Isn’t that.....?]
One of the Constellations muttered out. Something hidden within the fog of darkness blanketing the skies wiggled, and began separating itself.
Not content with pressuring the Apocalypse Dragon, the ‘Indescribable Distance’, AKA the Nameless Mist, had begun creating a clone from itself.
“Ah, ahh, aaaah....”
A sickly-yellow eye of terror revealed itself among the fog of darkness. Shin Yu-Seung’s shoulders began trembling non-stop as if a nightmare of the past managed to creep back into her consciousness.
She had seen that eye before. Incarnations who saw that eye would fail to hold onto their minds and eventually, transform into creatures of the Outer World.
On that day, all existences of the [Industrial Complex] were rendered completely powerless in front of that Calamity.
However, there was someone here who remembered that day’s events quite differently from her.
[It’s slightly smaller than that day, I see.]
It was Cheok Jun-Gyeong.
<Episode 78. Climax (1)> Fin.