Lee Sungmin couldn’t answer because it was such a proud and enjoyable introduction that also defied anything Lee Sungmin could possibly have associated with the title the man had just given himself.
All kinds of questions swirled in Lee Sungmin’s head.
The Predator of Massacre.
Lee Sungmin had heard the name several times. The strongest monster of all time that was more like a concept and belief that all monsters held and hoped would one day appear.
In fact, didn’t that confirm that Lee Sungmin was also in fact, the Predator of Massacre, himself?… He had questioned himself over and over after time and time again on whether he was such a figure.
As Volander said, all the signs seemed to point towards Lee Sungmin being the closest being in existence to becoming the Predator of Massacre.
Lee Sungmin had this anxiety racking his brain the entire time and desperately wanted to deny the possibility that he could in fact become the Predator of Massacre, the one to bring forth the Final Catastrophe : the Apocalypse.
“Isn’t it confusing?”
The Predator of Massacre asked with a smile. The existence that was hiding all along inside of Lee Sungmin’s consciousness….
It was the same man Heoju had first felt fear from back when he and Lee Sungmin were trapped in the world of Lee Sungmin’s subconscious. That man was the Predator of Massacre.
“Why… You…… why are you here……?”
“It’s because I am you.”
The Predator of Massacre raised his sitting body and grinned. He walked slowly past Lee Sungmin.
“The moment you grabbed onto the Stone of Previous Lives in your past life and regressed into this one, this world started to have its fate shifted by you towards the Apocalypse.”
Lee Sungmin had already heard this hypothesis from Abel before, but it seemed the Predator Massacre was someone- something that could confirm this.
“The condition under which the Apocalypse begins is when it is judged that the world is no longer of use to us. When a certain limitation of growth is exceeded, the Apocalypse eventually starts in earnest as well. I’m sure you already have heard enough from those around you.”
“…… What do you mean…….”
“It was indeed because of your master, Sima Ryunju, that the fate that would bring the end of this world, began.”
The Predator of Massacre’s footsteps stopped in front of Lee Sungmin as he turned his head to show him something.
Another scene was emerging from the direction the Predator of Massacre was looking in. It was the appearance of Sima Ryunju when he fought against both Musin and Wolhu and exhibited a power beyond any kind of comprehension.
“He was so strong even though he was human. 400 years ago, Heoju had reached a level of strength that was strong enough to shake the very foundations of Eria, but in Heoju’s case, it was taken into account that he was a monster and not a human being. However, Sima Ryunju was different. He was a pure-blooded human being, but he had reached too high a level with martial arts to be called a human anymore. It’s different from Heoju’s case.”
‘Hold on….’
Lee Sungmin’s eyes shook as he understood what the Predator of Massacre was saying. But the one thing he didn’t quite understand… was how Sima Ryunju was the reason the Apocalypse’s fate was sealed.
“The world of Eria has a single purpose : to develop more completed forms of technology, martial arts, and magic. Eria’s purpose is to change numerous humans and gain more advanced technology than ever before by grouping all these humans into a singular planet from different dimensions. But Sima Ryunju went too far.”
“But, didn’t you say that it was my regression that started the fate of the Apocalypse from entering this timeline?”
“The strength of Sima Ryunju went too far for this world’s constraints, which ultimately sealed the fate of the Apocalypse to begin in earnest. And you also played a part in starting the flow of fate to distort towards the fate of the end because you regressed. But if you want to look at it this way… you and Sima Ryunju hahahaha! Both master and disciple were the ones to cause everything to happen!”
At the words, Lee Sungmin lost strength in his legs and fell to his knees.
“Completion of martial arts, technology and magic….”
When Lee Seongmin muttered that to himself in defeat, the Predator of Massacre nodded.
“The population of this world is made of transmigrators from across all the dimensions. Those brought from this world easily learn martial arts and magic through the system incorporated into this world known as the status window. If there are hundreds of thousands of people, hundreds of thousands of people are talented in having hundreds of thousands of ideas. All of that is to lay the groundwork in order to make martial arts and magic better than ever before. This was the significance of Eria’s existence.”
A Laboratory, a breeding ground. That was what Kim Jonghyun had called Eria. Lee Sungmin felt the reality of those words at that very moment.
“The form of the Apocalypse is different every time. However, there is something that never changes from the several Apocalypses that have happened over the different timelines : my existence.”
The Predator of Massacre would always be the one to bring about the end of Eria.
“The Predator of Massacre becoming the one to bring forth the Apocalypse is determined at the moment the regressor possessing the stone of past lives returns to the past. Naturally, anyone who regresses becomes eligible to become the Predator of Massacre. It doesn’t matter if they are human or not, or whichever timeline they regress to. The power of regression will inevitably twist the fate around everything in this world and more likely than not will end up making the regressor have a terrible fate in the end.”
But this time, there were quite a few variables.
The Predator of Massacre turned around as he muttered those words. In front of him, the scenes of Lee Sungmin’s present life were still on display.
“Strictly speaking, there were quite a few variables before you regressed, but they only shone especially so in this timeline.”
The Predator of Massacre raised its hand and the scene changed.
Lee Sungmin in his previous life was displayed in the scene before them.
“Of course the regressor won’t just always be blindly chosen. In every timeline, the regressor must possess certain qualifications. They should be motivated. They must have an appropriate level of a vessel for the Predator of Massacre to enact their powers. There must also be a definitive purpose to their actions. Do you know what qualifications you had? The only thing you had was to live a different life than your previous one. Only in instances when you acted on that belief, did the fate of the Apocalypse become drawn more and more clear. But the thing is…. you were different. Your size as a vessel and level of internal energy was weak, and your purpose and motivation was rather obscure or undefined. The same goes for your motivation. You were a common failure of a life that only had to improve from nothing. You regressed, and unlike any other regressor, your fate and circumstances were so undefined that the fate around you twisted and was morphed to be given a definition or purpose by the Gods and Demons of Eria.”
The reason Lee Sungmin’s fate had been so twisted and morphed was because of their intervention.
“There are numerous gods in Eria, but only two of them are able to control the fate of this world. A single Dod and a single Demon. Like both sides of a coin, they have been faithfully managing Eria so far. But a few of them betrayed the promise they had made with myself and the other creators of Eria. After so many times of seeing this world being reset, it looks like a few of them grew fed up with it.”
‘Betrayal?’
Lee Sungmin’s thoughts, which were already spiraling, felt even more lost once again.
The Gods and Demons of Eria. A few of them had betrayed the oath and promise they had kept with the creators of this world. From what was known, Lee Sungmin knew of only one God that claimed to be preventing the Apocalypse with Beyond the Heavens. But the organization’s goals and claims seemed to be rather hypocritical.
But what they were trying to accomplish seemed nothing much different as their actions were almost hypocritical and were trying to set the fate of the Apocalypse in stone.
The Devil of Maryeong Pavilion had granted strength to Yana to attain the nine tails she had lacked as a demon fox and had wanted to converse with Wijihoyeon. To Lee Sungmin, the Devil’s actions and intent was still rather unknown.“From the moment the stone of past lives was grabbed, you , yourself were the largest variable. It was because you were probably the most unqualified of all people to use the stone. You were too weak. That doesn’t mean you weren’t motivated to live a new life or find a purpose. It was just obvious that unless an outside force interfered, your life would continue to be as miserable as the one you had lived before.”
It made sense. A stronger fate protected Lee Sungmin and had given him the aura of favorability.(T/N : previous tls tled it as the god of ghosts but I’m like 2000000 percent sure they did not tl it correctly- will check raws laters and tell you next chapter what I find.)
“Which… which of them betrayed you?”
“The Devil of Maryeong Pavilion.”
‘What?’It sounded ridiculous to Lee Sungmin but the Predator of Massacre just laughed and shrugged its shoulders.
“In this timeline, the power of fate has grown more tangled up due to the influence of the Devil from Mareyong Pavilion. Thanks to this, it became a complete mess. The Minor Heavenly Demon, Wijihoyeon, has acquired a talent that is even more absurdly broken than her previous life. The Devil came into contact with Wijihoyeon and began to protect her. In the protection of fate given to you, the Devil gradually raised you up in a protected set of encounters and adventures. The Devil even used an alias as ‘The Heavenly Spirit’ and controlled Beyond the Heavens to pursue you. But in fact, they used Beyond the Heavens to simply make you grow stronger.”
It had always been like that. If Beyond the Heavens had truly tried to get rid of Lee Sungmin faster, they would have already been able to do so countless times.
However, Beyond the Heavens did not do so. They may have thought they were being given prophecies from the Divine Maiden from their Heavenly Spirit, but they had in fact been doing nothing but following the orders of the Devil in disguise that used them to help Lee Sungmin grow stronger.
It was all contradictory. The group known as Beyond the Heavens was being led around by their noses and the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion was in fact, trying to help Lee Sungmin grow stronger. But why?
“In this world, the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion and the other Gods that rebelled with it, clashed against fate many times. The Devil tried to secure a safe line of fate through manipulating the group known as Beyond the Heavens. However, there were too many variables. It is fundamentally impossible to control all humans and the huge stream of fate that encompasses an entire world. You and the Minor Heavenly Demon were never meant to even meet or establish a relationship with each other. It wasn’t in the grand scheme of fate for Sima Ryunju to intervene in the several situations that he did and favor you. Eventually, with these minor changes that the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion brought, the grand flow of fate was starting to grow more and more distorted.”
Sima Ryunju was one individual who was greatly affected by these changes in the world’s fate.
“Sima Ryunju was too strong. The fate of Eria tried to correct itself by sending out Wolhu, and even the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion realized its blunder that Sima Ryunju had become too strong. But in the end, it was impossible to kill Sima Ryunju unless a God or True Transcendent being directly intervened. Eventually, the Devil used its own powers to fix and correct the mistake it made and gave Wolhu its powers. But the Apocalypse had already started at that time and there was nothing the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion could do to alter fate within the boundaries of mortality to stop it from happening.”
And then there was you.
Adding those words, the Predator of Massacre pointed at Lee Sungmin.
“When the Apocalypse was set on happening when you regressed, the Predator of Massacre was bound to be awakened in one form or another.”
So at the beginning of Lee Sungmin’s regression, everything was set.
“You were the biggest variable in all of this. The fate that surrounds this world is like a giant river. As I said earlier, it is impossible to control all of the humans and their actions within that river of fate. Thus, the variable of your existence grew to be much larger than normal. Your relationships with others, your bonds, and everything close to you became a giant variable. It was the result of you and everything you did to change the life you would live. And because of these actions and thoughts, the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion went wild with their alterations of fate. You had the fate of somehow surviving and becoming slaughter. It’s too weak for you to get a black heart. Meeting Heo Joo in the sleeping forest. Absorbing the vestiges and fear-based mana in the City of Endless Night, meeting Heoju, inheriting the power of your master… All of it… yes, all of it, was to make you the Predator of Massacre.”
‘I might have passed away just in order to meet you.’
What Heoju said to Lee Sungmin a while back immediately came to mind. And it was correct. Lee Sungmin meeting Heoju that day was something that had played a large part in Lee Sungmin becoming the Predator of Massacre. Still, Lee Sungmin wanted to confirm it.
“Then… what about Heoju’s death?”
“His death was also a big variable. He also had too much power, like your master, and was deprived of his powers by the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion and ultimately died. Originally, Heoju should have just been extinguished and erased completely. But it was different in this timeline. The Devil of Maryeong Pavilion decided to keep Heoju’s soul intact and leave him in a deep slumber within the Sleeping Forest.”
As a result, it resulted in a bigger picture becoming whole as Heoju had essentially been the one to bring forth the most power within Lee Sungmin.
If Lee Sungmin became the prophesied Predator of Massacre, then he would ultimately become the strongest Predator of Massacre to exist between any and all timelines.
“Then what happens to me?”
Lee Sungmin asked in a voice boiling with rage and anger. In terms of unexpected variables, becoming a complete monster was something Lee Sungmin did not expect to happen so suddenly. It means that Lee Sungmin was now to become the Predator of Massacre, resulting in him becoming the Final Catastrophe to bring the Apocalypse.
“As long as there are no more variables, then you will be trapped in this state of unconsciousness forever.”
But you know what? The Predator of Massacre clicked its tongue holding back these thoughts.
“……There are too many variables in this world that are running wild, however. Thanks to the betrayal of the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion, even some of the other gods started to have different thoughts about this world. Some of them you even know, like Mush and Denir. The two are some of the most important gods as well since their powers are largely responsible for the refining of magic, martial arts, and technology.”
Lee Sungmin thought back to when he was training on the Mountain of Mush and the mental world he lived in thanks to Denir’s Trial.
“They had to conform to having the Apocalypse ending this world, but in this timeline, they chose a different set of choices. They chose to silently rebel along with the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion and alter this world’s fate slowly.”
Lee Sungmin was still confused with all the new information, but he couldn’t just think of those words as a coincidence.
“The Devil of Maryeong Pavilion altered fate many times and even tried to remove you from the fate of becoming the Predator of Massacre. However, it was inevtiable for you to become the Predator of Massacre in the end. So in exchange with the other variables it had created, it decided to change Wijihoyeon’s fate after realizing that your fate as the regressor and Predator of Massacre was set in stone. What the Devil decided to do, was to turn Wijihoeyon into an absolute figure that would kill the Predator of Massacre in the end. So yes… the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion practically abandoned you.”
Thanks to him being extremely weak in his previous life, Lee Sungmin was protected by the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion as the power he had around him subconsciously altered fate to make things favorable for him and to help him live.
The relationships Lee Sungmin made, the fact that he had grown through fighting Beyond the Heavens, his friend Wijihoyeon… all of them were things that helped him grow to his strength so that he could overcome the inevitable fate of becoming the Predator of Massacre.
But in the end, it was all for naught as Lee Sungmin could not overcome it. All the variables and alterations in fate did nothing to stop him from inevitably becoming the very being that brought the Apocalypse.
For the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion, Lee Sungmin was now nothing but a piece of trash that had wasted all of its efforts and there was no need to invest any further in him. So instead, the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion went with another method and approached Wijihoyeon who had become a huge variable that it had created through its alterations of fate.
“Was it because the Devil from Maryeong Pavilion knew of Wihihoyeon’s talent…. That Wijihoyeon was pursued by Beyond the Heavens in order to ‘bend the laws of this world’?”
“Of course! Didn’t I say that Beyond the Heavens were nothing but puppets? Not even a True Transcendent being like Devils or Gods can control all the humans involved in a world’s fate. Isn’t it obvious that in order to control humans in the way that it needed to, the Devil resorted to incitement and lies?”
Musin, the man known as the Martial God, was nothing but a poor puppet. The Predator of Massacre laughed at this.
“…… I…… No, the regressor is bound to become the Predator of Massacre…? Then, what is the future that Geniella saw? Who exactly was the Predator of Massacre that she saw in her future……?”
“It could be you, or it could be a completely different being that is equivalent in power to the Predator of Massacre. I can’t know because I can’t even see the future she sees.”
“Why didn’t you come out last time when I was in the City of Endless Night?”
At that time, Lee Sungmin woke up as a monster in the City of Endless Night. However, the Predator of Massacre just clicked its tongue at his question.
“It wasn’t the time, so it just happened to be this way. At that point, the Apocalypse had yet to begin in earnest. It was too early for me to come out. Isn’t that what I just said?
The Predator of Massacre turned their back to Lee Sungmin as if they had finished talking.
“You… What are you going to do…?”
“I’m the Predator of Massacre. I’ve been inside of you ever since you were born. Now that you’ve become a complete monster, I…… as one of the Catastrophes of the Apocalypse, have to do what I was made to do. I wonder if the Devil of Maryeong Pavilion will be faster with making Wijihoyeon strong enough to face me, or if I will be faster and kill every living being before then….Hahahaha!”
The Predator of Massacre raised its hand with a smile. He was about to leave the world of darkness within Lee Sungmin’s mental world. But before he could leave….
Unlike what the Predator of Massacre had thought, there was still one variable it had not taken into account.
Relationships and bonds that Lee Sungmin had built in his life so far were not useless or for naught.
Craaaaaaack!
Within the darkness, the space was suddenly and violently torn apart. A large and white hand that looked clearly inhuman, protruded from the tear in space and grabbed the Predator of Massacre by the neck.
Boom!
As the Predator of Massacre raised it’s eyebrows in surprise, Heoju walked out of the tear within the darkness with a sinister purple aura of internal energy wrapped around his body.
“I made a promise.”
Heoju’s eyes were bloodshot as he spoke.
“If you become a monster that loses your sanity…. This old man would protect you and make you remember again.”
….Even if my soul disappears after this.
Heoju did not say those words as he stopped talking and stared at the Predator of Massacre with ferocious eyes.