Chapter 412: Episode 78 – Climax/轉 (4)
While stuck inside the fog that blocked their view, Yu Jung-Hyeok addressed his companions first. “I shall be the one to save him.”
The [Dark Heavenly Demon Sword] in his hand began emitting the pure-blue light.
“All of you are too exhausted. So, it’s only correct that I continue on. Transfer your remaining magical energy to me.”
That prompted Jeong Hui-Won to unsheathe the [Sword of Judgement] and speak. “Your own condition is just as messy as ours. I should be the one to go, instead.”
His brows quivered slightly. This would be the first time she came out this forcefully.
“Both of you better get out of my way! I alone am more than enough!”
And now, even Han Su-Yeong butted in.
The gazes of the two locked in a staring contest shifted over to her. Their eyes so clearly implied, “We get why we want to go, but what’s up with you now?” causing her to pout unhappily.
“Why are you staring at me like that for? What, I shouldn’t rescue Kim Dok-Ja?”
“I thought you didn’t like Dok-Ja-ssi?”
“Ah, of course I don’t like him.”
Now normally, she’d have dumped such annoying responsibility on Yu Jung-Hyeok’s shoulders. Unfortunately, she had a reason to step up this time around.
Just as Kim Dok-Ja rushed forward aboard Surya’s train, a message from him flew in at her, that was why.
– Hey, you’re going to rescue me, right?
....If only she didn’t hear that message.
Han Su-Yeong grumbled inwardly and was about to open her lips to speak, only for Jeong Hui-Won to snatch the initiative away. “I’m sorry, but Dok-Ja-ssi personally asked me to save him. So, I can’t yield to you nor to this guy, not this time.”
“What rubbish are you talking about? Kim Dok-Ja asked me to save him.”
“Stop lying. There’s no way he’d ask you to do that.”
“Argh, I’m not lying, it’s the truth! You think I’m a habitual liar just because my job was a writer?”
Their gazes collided in mid-air.
And at that very moment, Han Su-Yeong was overcome with this rather strange feeling.
Initially, she thought that Jeong Hui-Won was lying in order to save that moron up there. But when she thought about it some more, this woman wasn’t the type to lie about stuff like that.
She abruptly turned her head to the side, only to find Yu Jung-Hyeok forming a scary scowl.
“Hey, by any chance, you....”
With indescribable rage filling up his expression, he then began glaring at the distant star. It was at this point that Han Su-Yeong finally realised something.
....Hang on, could this be?
“Could that bastard Kim Dok-Ja....?!”
The star continued to faintly shine in the distance. It was almost as if she could glimpse Kim Dok-Ja’s smirking face there.
*
Ku-gugugu....
The hole in the sky the Great Sage had opened up was gradually filling back up. The clones hesitating in fear regained themselves and the fog of darkness was blanketing the world once more.
And then, the noise from the Apocalypse Dragon’s shockwave reverberated around like crashing waves. Constellations were jolted wide awake and they all looked up at the Great Sage.
[My bad, but I can’t do that for the second time. I’m already breaking the rules as is.]
The Great Sage spun the Ruyi Bang around, and as if he found it all rather annoying, shrunk the pole to store it inside his ear.
[Nebula <Emperor>’s ‘Promise’ has been invoked against the Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Headband’!]
The Great Sage that was pressuring the ‘Indescribable Distance’ until now began scattering away. As if his body was being torn into several pieces, his clear-as-day Status began crumbling away – and right before the end, he issued one final message.
[Hey, you lot. If you keep standing around looking dazed, you’ll all die soon.]
[Everyone, attack! If we’re pushed back now, we’ll all die for sure!]
Dionysus and the Constellations of <Olympus> had replenished their energy by then, and unleashed their Statuses towards the sky. Those from <Underworld> also stopped preserving their strengths and made their move, as well. The Korean Peninsula’s Constellations concentrated their powers on Yi Ji-Hye, and soon, [Turtle Dragon]’s cannons fired blinding rays of energy. Some began fighting, while some began resisting.
It was not the same for everyone, however.
Like falling meteors, stars from the sky continued to fall.
Constellations from <Vedas> and <Papyrus> trying to escape – stars with their Modifiers already known, and those who weren’t, were caught up in the battle for supremacy between the Apocalypse Dragon and an Outer God, and were crashing to the ground – as if to announce that the age of the stars was coming to an end.
Metatron was looking up at the sky.
The information Jopiel, the Commander of the Crimson Cosmos, had sent from the 1863rd turn didn’t mention any of this.
Currently, both of his hands were occupied with creating the sealing tool to seal away the Apocalypse Dragon. This tool, created by gathering every Fable of <Eden> as well as those belonging to Absolute Good.
Jopiel said as thus:
– Scribe, you’ll die using this, but the world will remember the ‘Good’ once more.
She definitely said that. So how come....
[The target cannot be sealed.]
Even though the sealing tool was almost complete, the Apocalypse Dragon couldn’t be sealed away. He didn’t know why. He couldn’t even figure out how and from where things went wrong, either.
Was it due to reviving the Dragon too early?
Or, could it be because the ‘Indescribable Distance’ had interfered?
Was the ‘Demon King of Salvation’ the main culprit as he suspected?
....If they were all wrong, then maybe, Jopiel....?
At the end of his vision, he saw Michael, inching closer to his death with half of his Incarnation Body gone. As long as <Eden> existed, he’d be able to revive, but with this, the Nebula would disappear. Not just it, though, but even the entirety of <Star Stream> would start crumbling away.
[Have you already given up? That’s quite unlike you.]
Metatron looked back and his expression hardened instantly. [Did you come here to kill me?]
[You’d die anyway even if I don’t do anything, so why should I even bother?]
The Ruler of East Hell, Agares, cackled raucously before frowning a bit.
[Most Ancient Evil has begun its storytelling.]
With that message, Metatron realised why Agares had come back here.
The Archangel spoke. [....For a short while there, I was envious of you. Envious of the fact that you could so easily abandon the Fable of ‘Evil’ and leave, just like that.]
[Lying is one of the virtues of ‘Evil’. Have you forgotten that already?]
Agares laughed again, sounding as if he was sick and tired of it. Metatron understood the meaning of that laughter better than anyone.
The ‘Good and Evil’; they might be on the opposing sides, but they understood each other better than anyone else in this world.
They would not be able to escape from this ‘Fable’ until their dying moments. Because, this Fable was already ‘them’ by now.
[Most Ancient Good has begun its storytelling!]
[Most Ancient Evil has....!]
[Shut up. Just how long will this stinking story continue its ‘beginning’ crap?] Agares scowled after seeing the Fables rise up.
[Most Ancient Evil is quietly staring at the ‘Ruler of East Hell’.]
[It’s about time you stop, don’t you think?]
Agares shoved his hand into his inner pocket and pulled out a rolled cigarette. Accompanied by the ‘chi-eeck’ noise, the cigarette was lit on fire and the smoke spread around in the air. The number of stars falling continued to increase and the clones of the ‘Indescribable Distance’ began to devour all the fallen Constellations. And from afar, the Apocalypse Dragon’s roar could be heard, too.
[What a spectacular scenery this is. It’s the ideal stage to end this long, dragged-out fight.]
The leaders of the ‘Good’ and the ‘Evil’ stared at this spectacle. The tragedy taking place here all began with these two.
It was around then that they heard a bizarre noise coming from behind. A clone had snuck closer without being detected and had its maw wide open in Metatron’s direction.
[Demon King, the ‘Ruler of East Hell’, is revealing his Status!]
Ku-dududu!
The clone rushing in to rip and devour the Archangel at any second faltered and stopped moving. Agares’s hands reached out and grabbed hold of the clone’s mouth trying to shut close.
He was none other than the Demon King ranked second in the hierarchy. Out of the current crop of Demon Kings, he was the only one capable of contending for supremacy against a Myth-grade Constellation.
Agares spoke while chewing on the cigarette. [What are you blankly looking at? Were you planning to become a martyr or something?]
[Although it was only for a brief moment, I did think that maybe that’s not such a bad idea.]
[You should finish the things you’ve started first. I’m telling you to finish the ‘Great War of Saints and Demons’ properly as befitting the high-and-mighty ‘Scribe of Heaven’.]
[It’s impossible. The power of the Apocalypse Dragon is far greater than I expected.]
[Using the Wall’s power should be sufficient.]
[Even resorting to that power isn’t enough to seal the Apocalypse Dragon away.]
[I figured as much. However, you’ll still be able to save the ones here. After all, the ‘Wall’ exists to protect something, doesn’t it?]
Those words caused Metatron’s eyes to tremble. [....What are you talking about?]
[You always needed to be told twice before you could understand.]
Agares was there, still pouring out the vicious Status towards the clones. Metatron had fought against that Demon King for a very long time.
Even then, he had never seen that kind of an expression from the latter before.
⸢At that moment, Good and Evil looked at each other.⸥
The Demon King’s eyes looked at the other dying Demon Kings and Archangels. [Wouldn’t ‘Good and Evil’ be able to carry on to the next generation only after these fools are saved from this mess?]
[That is a funny thing for a Demon King to say.]
[I’m only saying it now, but to me, you don’t look much like an Archangel yourself.]
Metatron heard Agares’s sullen voice and couldn’t help but feel strange. Why did the demon he fought against for such a long time feel so, so close today?
Were their current actions for the sake of Good or for Evil? Metatron couldn’t tell.
But, he was sure of one thing.
[Fable of the Most Ancient ‘Good and Evil’ is looking at you.]
Even if they had become the Fable itself, what they chose to do now wasn’t because Fables told them to do so.
[I can’t do this alone.]
[I know.]
[‘Wall that Divides Good and Evil’ is violently shaking!]
With one wall between them, the representatives of ‘Good’ and ‘Evil’ extended their hands towards each other.
[Even if we save them here, we still can’t stop the Apocalypse.]
[I also know that.] Agares placed his hand on top of the sealing tool Metatron had created. [But then, that’s not a problem we should worry about.]
The Archangel and the Demon King held each other’s hands. With that, the sealing tool emitted blinding rays of light and began expanding at a rapid pace.
And soon, it couldn’t be called a tool anymore, but a large ship, instead.
Ku-gugugugu!
It was an ark that once upon a time protected all beings above ground from the destruction of a world. A mythical vessel that descended to the world in order to protect life itself against the Great Flood.
Metatron spoke. [Evacuate the Constellations.]
[Understood, Scribe.]
The ‘Master of the Ark’ standing among the Constellations heard Metatron’s call and took command of the vessel. The surviving Valkyries began helping the Constellations and Incarnations in the near vicinity to board the ark one by one.
However, Metatron and Agares had to support the Ark’s Fable and couldn’t board it themselves. It wasn’t only those two who knew that fact, unfortunately.
[You’ve done something quite foolish, oh Ruler of the East Hell.]
[Asmodeus.]
Not even giving him time to say something, Asmodeus’s claws penetrated deeply into Agares’s heart. Even then, the latter’s expression remained unflustered as he stared at the face of impending death.
Looking displeased by that expression, Asmodeus spoke. [Why don’t you give up the ‘Wall’ to me now? You no longer have the qualifications to represent ‘Evil’.]
The claws sunk in even deeper and dug out Agares’s innards. Pitch-black Fables dripped out as the Demon King spoke. [What a persistent bastard you are. Why do you desire the ‘Wall’ this badly anyway? Do you honestly believe that you can become a god by possessing the ‘Wall’?]
[I know very well that possessing it won’t turn me into a god. However, at the bare minimum, I’d become one of the cowards belonging to the ‘Final Scenario’.]
[I see. So, you knew about the ‘Final Scenario’, didn’t you...]
Agares chuckled bitterly, but then, madness suddenly brushed past his eyes.
[Sorry, but you can’t become the owner of that ‘Wall’.]
[That’s not for you to decide. Besides, when you die, your ‘Wall’ will....]
[You see, I’ve already handed my ‘Wall’ over to someone else.]
[That sort of a....]
It was then, Asmodeus’s shoulders suddenly flinched. Through the instincts of a Demon King, it realised that what Agares had said was true.
[....Just to who?]
[Well now, that’s something for you to find out.]
Asmodeus roared out in anger and its claws pierced into Agares’s neck. As the fragments of Fables splattered around like real blood, the latter looked up into the sky.
[Isn’t this quite beautiful, Metatron? This is our end.]
The duet of ‘Good and Evil’ dimly continuing on was now flowing within the night sky of the apocalypse.
He saw the cascading meteor shower and grinned brightly.
*
[Constellation, ‘Demon King of Salvation’, is currently activating ‘Sacrificial Will Lv.9’!]
“That’s really pissing me off. Seriously. I can’t even switch that off, either.”
Han Su-Yeong panted angrily and shouted out loudly. Still stuck inside the ever-expanding fog of darkness, the three of them were fighting against the clones that seemed to increase in number with every passing second.
They knew that Kim Dok-Ja was just beyond here.
But it was impossible to break past this fog of darkness with the remaining magical power each of them had. So, the best thing they could do under the circumstances was to concentrate their energy into one person right now.
Even though they knew that, the trio didn’t want to yield.
If it was simply about Kim Dok-Ja’s sake, then it wouldn’t have mattered who went there. While looking at the distant star faintly flickering away, all three of them were thinking the same thing.
The odds of the one heading towards that star dying were very high.
The fog of darkness was getting heavier and thicker, and the Apocalypse Dragon’s shockwave was also getting more violent as well.
Kim Dok-Ja was still alive. However, the odds of saving him were low. And even if he was rescued, they’d still die alongside him, anyway.
And so, this bickering wasn’t about choosing who gets to save him, but to find the person who’d die for someone else, instead.
“Both of you know this already, but I cannot die,” said Yu Jung-Hyeok first.
Jeong Hui-Won knew what he meant by ‘Cannot die’ and was about to get angry, but then, Han Su-Yeong was a step faster than her. “You need to think about this carefully, Jeong Hui-Won. You aren’t going to die alone, remember that.”
Right then, Jeong Hui-Won felt the weight of the cross on her back. She had nothing to retort back with.
If she died here, then the person on her back would die as well.
“In that case, you take over Hyeon-Seong-ssi for a....”
“Jeong Hui-Won! Behind you!”
She reflexively looked behind her after hearing Han Su-Yeong’s yell. However, there was nothing there. The moment she went, ‘Ah!’, someone pushed her from behind, and while staggering ungainly, she fell back towards the ground below.
By the time she unfurled the Archangel’s wings to stop her fall, the figures of both Yu Jung-Hyeok and Han Su-Yeong had grown so far away.
“Damn it! What’s the mea.... Stop, both of you!”
After seeing the two hurriedly grow distant without even bothering to receive her magical energy, she instantly figured out what they were trying to do here. And because she knew now, there was simply no way that she’d suppress her emotions welling up.
Kim Dok-Ja asked her to save him. However, in order to do that, she couldn’t chase after those two.
“Uriel.”
She swallowed back her boiling emotions and extended her hand out. The magical power of an Archangel reaching out from her hand pierced past the darkness and formed blinding wings on the backs of the flying duo.
It was right then, she felt a powerful throb on her back, coming from a certain someone’s heart. It palpitated powerfully, as if he had something to say.
Jeong Hui-Won replied. “Me too, Hyeon-Seong-ssi.”
She watched the two arrows of light traverse through the space and get further away, and then, at the faint, weak starlight waiting for them just beyond their reach. She bit down on her lower lip as if she was enduring against something.
“But, I think it’s not our turn yet.”
<Episode 78. Climax (4) > Fin.