C442. Temple (5)
As soon as the world was tinged with light, Alon’s body began to plummet toward the ground.
“Eya-diya.”
Alon was surprised for a moment, but immediately understood his own condition.
‘As I thought… I maintained Reverse Heaven longer than I should have.’
In essence, Reverse Heaven imposed a tremendous burden on the user.
Even having gotten used to it, it remained the same.
Familiarity only increased efficiency and usage time, but it didn't eliminate the weight it entailed.
‘…Maybe I really did use it too much.’
As he fell, Alon looked up into the void.
The countless copies he had spread across the sky vanished as if they had never existed the moment Reverse Heaven ended.
It was natural.
Those copies—illusions of Oversee, new and perfect like real bodies—could not be maintained without Reverse Heaven.
‘It turns any mana core or matter with enough power into pure illusion.’
Alon remembered the hundreds of copies.
Copies with a mana amount similar to what he showed in external appearance.
Thanks to those copies, Alon managed to deceive the eyes of The Night That Leads In, inducing a “false conclusion.”
By minimally reducing the mana level of the rest, he made him believe that Alon was hiding his presence to the maximum.
That he knew nothing, that he was desperately firing hundreds of attacks to land just one and win by pure obstinacy.
That illusion generated the perfect crack in the enemy’s finely maintained defense.
With that, Alon was able to take the advantage.
‘I’m exhausted.’
Even as he descended, tiredness invaded him.
The magic he used against The Night That Leads In far exceeded a hundred.
Exhaustion was inevitable.
But he couldn't crash into the ground so, after a deep sigh, he twisted his body to activate Reverse Heaven once more by sheer force of will—
Tuk—
Someone caught Alon’s body in mid-fall.
[Kkyu~!]
It was Blackie.
Perhaps because he had fed on the mana of Reverse Heaven, Blackie still retained the form of Poison Eater when he caught him in the air to then descend gently to the ground.
“Alon-nim!”
“Are you okay?!”
When Blackie took the form of a cat again and set Alon on the ground, Penia and Evan ran toward him from the distance.
Just as Alon raised his hand to reassure them, his vision was tinged with red and blue.
He instinctively looked down.
The light emanated from the inner pocket of his clothes.
[Kkyu!?]
Even Blackie was startled, while Alon took out the object with almost automatic movements.
In that instant, he understood what it was.
‘This is…’
The gem Yutia had given him.
More exactly: the gem that appeared after the disappearance of the Father of Maggots.
Now it radiated a shining light.
“…Yes.”
“Alon-nim!”
Penia and Evan, realizing something was wrong, accelerated their run even more—
Tak.
The world… stopped.
Blackie, who had been startled by the light, remained motionless.
Penia and Evan, who were running while calling his name, froze.
The debris falling from the sky after the death of The Night That Leads In suspended in the air.
Everything stopped.
Alon tried to move his body.
‘No… I can’t move.’
Useless.
Only his consciousness kept working, but his body was trapped in that stopped time.
‘What… is this?’
A slight anxiety sprouted on his face.
Tok—
A small sound reached his ear.
Very faint.
But crisp.
Tok—
Alon understood it was the sound of footsteps approaching.
Tok—
And when it became a bit clearer, he understood they were heels.
A strange sound… vaguely familiar.
Tok—
It was getting closer and closer.
But Alon couldn't do anything. In the stopped time, he could only listen.
When the footsteps arrived right behind him—
Ssshh—
He felt a hand stroking his head.
Not once.
Several times.
A caress full of inexplicable nostalgia.
He wanted to turn around, but he remained motionless. And then, a soft voice whispered in his ear:
[…Whatever you choose, it will be the right thing.]
A voice drenched in longing.
Of emotions too dense.
And—
Pajik—!
The world, which had been stopped, started moving again.
And Alon heard:
[One who has obtained the Qualification of Rhythm, say which path you wish to follow.]
Meanwhile…
Yutia watched in silence the gigantic eye in front of her.
A strangely alive eye, moving restlessly as if absorbing everything around it.
[I expected you to come.]
“Oh, really?”
[Of course. You interfered in my affairs before.]
“Then it will be easier to talk.”
Her calm tone provoked a stifled laugh from the Gazing Void.
[What is easy about it? Are you spouting nonsense like if I stay still you’ll kill me comfortably? Huh?]
He let out a shrill laugh.
[Too bad, monster. You fell into my trap.]
“……Trap?”
[Of course. It is already too late.]
Crack—! Crrrk—!
The space around her began to shatter like glass.
And what appeared on the other side was—
[I already absorbed all the sacrifices. Unlike last time.]
—A completely empty night meadow.
Empty to the extreme.
But the red blood accumulating in the depths of the abyss told well what had happened there.
Yutia directed her gaze forward.
There he was.
The figure of the Gazing Void, with his long black hair falling to his waist, dark skin, and inverted eyes.
She let out a brief gasp upon understanding it.
“My… so you decided to devour everything without waiting for the fourth level.”
[Yes, because I expected you to come.]
“But if you do that, you won’t recover your original strength.”
He laughed.
[You are right. Although I have devoured thousands of sacrifices and dozens of Divine Bloods, I have barely reached level 3. But it doesn’t matter.]
“Why?”
[Because on this continent there is no one stronger than me.]
A twisted smile.
[There is a long time before the others descend. I have plenty of time to turn this entire continent into my domain.]
“So you plan to unify everything before the other Divine Bloods fall?”
[Correct. And you, who entered here… will die miserably.]
His eyes shone, fixed on Yutia.
She replied without losing her smile.
“Do you really think you can kill me?”
[Do you think I can’t?]
Yutia meditated for a moment. Then she took something out of her chest.
An old pocket watch.
Click.
She opened it, observing it for a moment.
The Gazing Void blinked, confused.
But before he could formulate any thought, Yutia looked up.
“It is true… beating you right now would be difficult.”
He smiled broadly.
[Good. At least you understand that.]
“Since we are here, can I ask you a couple more things?”
[I will allow it. Although I would prefer to tear you apart right now, I am generous, unlike you.]
Laughing, he accepted.
Yutia spoke calmly.
“If I had come a day earlier, would everything have changed?”
[Oh… in that case I couldn’t have handled your presence. I hadn’t absorbed the sacrifices sent from there yet. But I regret nothing.]
“Why not?”
[Because…]
A smile.
[…that was never going to happen.]
Yutia thought about it, then asked:
“Okay, one more. You say you are going to unify the continent, but isn’t it difficult to do it with level 3 power? Someone stronger will descend soon.”
The cold light of the night enveloped her.
[Don’t worry, monster. Although I descended by my own will to hasten my arrival, I have already absorbed all the sacrifices. I am not a simple level 3.]
“…My. Then I really did fall into the trap.”
A small light fell on her face.
The Gazing Void, seeing that, decided the conversation was over.
He took a step forward.
[I will tear you apart right here.]
“Aren’t you being too confident?”
[What?]
“It’s just that… you don’t know my abilities well.”
[And does that matter now?]
Her face, previously tinged with red, began to light up.
In that instant—
The Gazing Void felt something strange.
An uncomfortable sensation.
“Of course it matters.”
Her face shone more and more.
“It is true that I fell into your trap…”
And not just her face. Her black attire began to shine.
The discomfort grew.
And then—
“…But you also fell into mine.”
Tick.
The Gazing Void understood.
That strange uneasiness—
[…Ah?]
It wasn’t her face that was shining. It wasn’t her clothing.
It was simply—
Light.
The light of a sun that didn’t belong to the night. The warmth of noon illuminating her completely.
And he understood something else:
The sun that had appeared over Yutia’s head…
Was moving toward the east.
At impossible speed.
No—
It was going backward.
Her face was tinged red again.
Tick.
[Wh… at?]
The red disappeared.
The twilight returned.
And finally, the night.
The night with a blue moon.
The night where tens of thousands of sacrifices were still there—
[Ah?]
—Just like a day ago.
“What a pity,” Yutia said. “Something that should never happen… happened.”
The Gazing Void looked at her without understanding.
Or rather, he contemplated the scene.
It was too absurd to process.
But he knew, instinctively, that it wasn’t a dream.
Nor an illusion.
It was real.
The sacrifices were there.
The power he had obtained by devouring them… had disappeared.
As if—
—Time had turned back.
[Ah.]
With that revelation, he let out a sound between surprise and despair.
Yutia was there, with her reptilian pupils glowing red as she synchronized with the sacrifices.
She extended a single finger forward.
“The sacrifices…”
Tok.
“I will eat them.”
Pasek—!
That was the last memory of the Gazing Void.
