Chapter 1431: The Power to Defy Fate (5)
KWWAAAAAAA!!!!
Paradise Lost crumbled, and the sky tore open.
Beyond the sundered heavens, the Sea of Darkness unfolded as a void of space descended.
Amidst the chilling spectacle of the world being dyed in darkness, Lennok immediately grasped the situation.
‘As Paradise Lost vanished, a part of the world has been semi-permanently lost. Is the Outer Sea revealing itself as a result of that…?’
Jinwa’s Paradise Lost was an Ascendant’s Ideological Domain that had been completed decades ago, semi-permanently altering the world.
In and of itself, it was a conceptual domain, no different from another small world existing within the Third World.
Because Paradise Lost had been altering and replacing a part of the world for so long, the moment it vanished, the Outer Sea was immediately revealed.
Fwoooooosh!!!
The endlessly expanding Sea of Darkness. A void of space filled only with darkness, despite the countless shining stars.
What had Lennok thought when he first learned that the starlight in the night sky was but a residual image of a past that existed hundreds of millions of light-years ago?
And when he learned that all those stars were gods of the sea, breathing for all eternity, and at the same time, the apocalypse that would destroy the world.
A sea of silence. A void where not even the sound of wind could be heard. A vast galactic cluster radiating darkness amidst a swarm of stars.
Just like that time he had first witnessed the Outer Sea, the moment he stepped through the [Gate] via the Well of the Codex.
As he looked up at the Outer Sea, Lennok had an intuition.
‘…They’re coming.’
He could hear the resonant hum of ruin, echoing from beyond the infinitely dark and vast cosmos.
From beyond the distant galaxy, he could feel the eternally dreaming gods descending.
Ooooooooh—
An angel, wearing a white dwarf like wings, traversed the galactic cluster, stirring up a scorching wind.
The integrated artificial intelligence of a ruined civilization roamed the nebula to annihilate all organic life.
A beetle that devoured dark matter crawled across the sun’s surface, and the one who drags a coffin planted a tombstone on a star.
An egg-like something, mimicking the shape of the moon, formed from the fusion of hundreds of millions of corpses, crouched and let out a cry.
Beings that existed as cosmic disasters from birth, or had transcended as gods in some other world or civilization.
Pan-cosmic concepts and forms that would drive a human mad just by looking at them were now looking this way from beyond.
The moment he received their gazes, Lennok also knew.
The moment Jinwa’s spirit was annihilated and her memories flowed into him.
The instant the sky of Paradise Lost opened and the Outer Gods began to cast their gazes here.
He knew that just by them ‘observing’ this place, an impossible event had occurred as past memories and the present time-space were forcibly overlapped.
And even that they had been waiting for this very moment for a long, long time.
“…I see. So, in the end, my future self failed to achieve her goal and was defeated?”
The moment he realized this, a voice came from behind Lennok.
Jinwa’s spectral form stood at the boundary line where the gazes of the sea gods fell.
Her entire body was engulfed in a deep blue lightning glow, as if she were being shattered and annihilated by the radiance of Ultimate Lightning.
The ‘Jinwa of the past’ looked down at her own disintegrating hands as if it were a strange sight, and spoke.
“Shattered memories… are flowing in. They are nothing but painful and agonizing memories.”
‘……’
“Though the moment I so desperately wished for was right before my eyes, you killed me, leading to an unwanted conclusion.”
The moment he saw her, he understood.
It wasn’t that the power and authority of Ultimate Lightning hadn’t worked on her properly.
The lightning, which supersedes all causality and affinity, had definitely annihilated Jinwa.
What stood here was the Jinwa of the past, who existed in a distant memory. She was nothing more than a residual image of the past, left behind upon her annihilation.
But even so, she, who should have existed only in memory, was present as a single entity on the boundary line of the world, where all standards and concepts become ambiguous.
Seeing her, Lennok also realized.
That in the infinite cosmos, cause and effect are chaotically intertwined, and even the order of time is meaningless.
The Jinwa before him was both her past self who had sought to summon the gods by developing the Absolute Script, and the present Jinwa who had just met her end in the battle with him.
In this moment, distinguishing between past and present was meaningless; only will alone could define each other’s existence.
Therefore—
“I understand. This is not the future timeline you and I designed or prepared for.”
Jinwa, a mixture of past and present, raised her gaze in her faint spectral form.
“It seems this was a miracle, granted by those gods of the sea… looking down upon this place.”
‘I can… hear her properly.’
Jinwa’s voice, which had resounded like a bizarre Spell-Word, for the first time sounded like a normal human voice.
Here, where even Lennok could not speak aloud, Jinwa was using her voice as if it were nothing.
In that moment, Lennok understood why he had been unable to comprehend the Absolute Script he saw in the Cradle.
‘From the beginning… was the Absolute Script designed to function as a normal language only beyond the Outer Sea?’
“I thought you would have already known, if you had been watching my research in the Cradle.”
Jinwa laughed coldly.
“I threw humans into the Outer Sea one by one, and collected the screams of the insects. I needed to understand how the cries of the insects sounded in the sea, not in this world.”
‘……’
“For that research, I had to expand Paradise Lost more than necessary, making it cross the boundary line and reach the edge of the Outer Sea. In the process, I had to offer up quite a lot of humans.”
Listening to Jinwa’s explanation, which was chilling just to hear, Lennok felt a coldness sink into a corner of his chest.
Despite the sorrow that was etched throughout her entire life, which he had felt while looking into her memories.
That single statement made him realize just how corrupted she had become.
Because he had caught a glimpse of what her life was like—one that, despite her efforts to eliminate discrimination by creating a common language, had been discriminated against until the very end.
In this moment, her corruption, as she confessed to having mercilessly killed other humans while crushing them underfoot as ‘insects’, struck him all the more poignantly.
‘The reason there were so many corpses in Paradise Lost… was all because of that.’
“Why are you so surprised? Compared to what was done in the Imperial Palace, this is not even a drop in the bucket.”
‘……’
“The Ars Nova Empire’s Imperial Palace was one of the civilizations that had the deepest contact with the Outer Sea across all three cycles.”
Jinwa, stopped at the boundary between past and present, spoke.
“After long research, the Imperial Palace discovered that there were beings from other dimensions who had survived their own end. That was possible because they constantly came, aiming for the Navel of the Star where the Imperial Palace was located.”
‘Alien specters. Is she talking about the aliens who fled their own destruction?’
“For a long time… the six Grand Generals of the Empire were tasked with defending the Imperial Palace against invasions from other dimensions.”
Jinwa raised her gaze.
Ooooooooh—!!!
The gods of the sea cast their gazes upon the boundary line from an immense distance.
Responding to Jinwa’s call, the gods who had come from all directions gathered their wills and moved.
“They defended the Empire under the pretext that a Fourth World did not exist, even after earning the right to challenge ascension.”
‘……’
“All of it was to gain the opportunity to move on to the next stage, as the Emperor had promised. But, even so—”
Jinwa’s Spell-Word was momentarily twisted in a bizarre way.
“The Emperor merely used us all as tools and walked the great path alone.”
The end of the Emperor, who transcended the world and left to become an Outer God himself.
Had Jinwa pledged loyalty to that Emperor, taking on the role of a Grand General to protect the Imperial Palace?
Only then did Lennok understand the words of the Yaksha from the Order Alliance, whom he had met in the Four Archangel Demonic Mirrors.
The Yaksha’s kin, who had met their end, were destroyed, and eternally bound to an immortal ship, wandering the cosmos until they discovered this world.
What the Yaksha’s words had implied when he said they were ultimately defeated in the war with the Empire and became slaves, soul and all.
The Ars Nova Empire’s Imperial Palace had made Ascendants into Grand Generals for no other reason.
The inner workings of the central city, which had prospered more than any other civilization, were not widely known for any other reason.
The fundamental reason why the Imperial Palace, sunk beyond the Demonic Realm, had turned into a hellscape.
It was because the very coordinates where the Imperial Palace was located was a secret place in this world, directly exposed to the Outer Sea.
“The Emperor hid from us the most fatal and dangerous secret of this world.”
“He sacrificed everything for the twilight of this insignificant world, and then abandoned the world himself.”
Jinwa’s Spell-Word, whispered as if boiling over.
It gave a glimpse of how intense, venomous, and twisted the emotions she harbored were.
Watching the meteor shower falling from beyond the dark cosmos, Jinwa slowly took a step.
In the same state as her body was being pierced by Ultimate Lightning and annihilated by the deep blue glow. She moved her own spirit, fixed as if time had stopped, and advanced.
Looking down at the meteor shower pouring from beyond the cosmos, she walked on.
“Yes… it shouldn’t be surprising. That’s the kind of person the Emperor was.”
“He never bothered to hide or conceal that he was such a being. He believed there was no need to explain, as no one would understand him anyway.”
“He was a being cruel enough to be arrogant, and possessed the qualifications for it. I once resented him, but I realized that even that was a meaningless act.”
At the boundary of time where past and present are mixed, only Jinwa’s monologue flows and fades away.
All the memories and causality that had led her, as a being, to this place.
Lennok realizes that the life of Jinwa he had looked into was no coincidence.
And at the same time, the reason why Jinwa is telling him all this at this very moment.
It is not some sentimentality or intoxication faced at the moment when everything is ending.
“Jinwa. The fight is already over.”
The moment he materialized his will in his mind, it naturally flowed out as words.
Lennok, who had regained his ‘speech’ in the infinite cosmos, looked straight at Jinwa.
“Your soul has already been annihilated, and it will never be able to return to its original state.”
“….”
“Once this moment passes, where the Outer Gods are directly observing this place, your existence will completely disappear. And yet….”
Lennok slowly looked up at the Outer Sea and asked.
“Until the very end, do you intend to continue pursuing the answer you sought?”
Lennok had used the causality of Gabihaeng to fix Jinwa’s existence in place, and used Ultimate Lightning to annihilate her.
Her spirit, shattered by the lightning of Prescience, would have been burned away without a trace, never to regain its original form.
Yet, Jinwa had not given up her wish to reach that sea and be reborn as a god until the very end.
If her present self cannot do it, then it is fine if some other self of some other time does it.
If not now, then in the future; if not even in the future, then as her past self.
Even if she is nothing more than a residual image in memory, until the very end, she chases the ‘next’ that she had so desperately wished for—
“For us, death is not the end, and annihilation is not the conclusion.”
Jinwa said.
“For those who have realized the truth of the world, there is no such thing as rest. Only a future of being devoured by the gods of that sea, and sharing a terrible dream with them for all eternity, awaits.”
Ooooooooh—
The cosmos distorts, and from beyond, the gods descend.
In this moment, when the Ascendant’s spirit is irreversibly burning and being annihilated by the radiance of Ultimate Lightning.
They read the light emitted by burning the existence of a qualified Transcendent from beyond the Outer Sea, and cast their gazes.
With that alone, spacetime was engulfed in a transcendent spiritual pressure and crushed, dimensions were torn apart, and everything lost its meaning and wavered.
“Some would say that irreversible annihilation and ruin are the only solace, and some would say that advancing to the non-existent fourth is the answer.”
“….”
“But I am different. If the end of being devoured by the Outer Gods cannot be avoided, then the only answer is to become their equal.”
In the quiet cosmos, Jinwa declared, as if whispering with a chillingly cold transmission.
“Just as the Emperor did, I will kill myself here… and be reborn as a new god.”
Guooooooh…!!!!
At the boundary line where the timelines of past and present overlap, the gods descend.
A pan-cosmic evil. The end of the Outer Sea. A god of the sea and the dream of the outer cosmos. Entropy that has gained intellect.
An incarnation of a concept that simply exists in that place for all eternity, returning everything that has gained order back to chaos.
Puuuuuuuuuuuuuu—!!!!!!
A giant manta ray, large enough to embrace a star, swims through the outer cosmos.
A giant, crouched with a ring of meteors around its entire body, raised its gaze.
A giant tree that grew through the galaxy spread its branches, and the sound of a trumpet, loud enough to burst eardrums, was heard.
He knew, even though the true bodies that swallowed stars, caused scorching winds, and incinerated civilizations had not descended.
From beyond the cosmos, the gods who deliver the end are watching this place together.
The moment they sent their will, they existed simultaneously beyond the Outer Sea and here.
That they, who transcend time and the speed of light, and exist beyond the order of the universe, are the true gods.
That even though only their gazes are falling on this boundary line, it is the same as witnessing them right beside him—
“Come, O gods of the sea…!”
Surrounded by the ominously flickering gazes of the Outer Gods, Jinwa took a step without hesitation.
“Everything was for this moment. I am ready to burn everything for a moment of ruin and birth—”
“….”
“You will devour me and take that magician as an offering, and from this place, you will forge a great destiny.”
Ooooooooh!!!!!
As if they had understood Jinwa’s Spell-Word echoing through the cosmos, the Outer Gods send their gazes.
Their gazes, sent from beyond the galaxy, become their very existence and settle on the boundary line of the world.
A great evil, with a bizarre form that is unbelievable even when seen with one’s own eyes, descends before Jinwa.
“The gods of the sea… are listening to my words.”
Jinwa, slowly turning to look at Lennok, said with an indescribable expression.
“They understand my Spell-Word, and are communicating with me… Do you see?”
“….”
Oooooooohh!!!!
In the endless cosmos, an incomprehensible and ominous resonant hum echoes.
The Outer Sea vibrates and plays a bizarre melody, a sinister sound as if all are singing together.
At its center, the Outer Gods surrounded Jinwa, silently listening to her words.
As if they were waiting for something while listening to her, as if they were sending their gazes down from the far side of the cosmos.
Was she convinced that this incomprehensible silence was proof that the Outer Gods were listening to her message?
“At last, I have achieved it. I have finally reached this point.”
Jinwa whispered, looking at the Outer Gods slowly approaching her.
“This time… I will surpass you and reach the gods of that sea.”
“Yes… I understand.”
Watching the scene, Lennok closed his eyes.
“Your final wish remains unchanged until the end. It must be proof that too much time has passed for us to change each other’s direction.”
“O gods of the sea, devour that magician. Devour that great talent and destiny, and raise me high—”
“Then I, too, will show you one last thing.”
Lennok, slowly raising his gaze, answered.
“That the fate you so cursed was never a blessing.”
“Nonsense…!! Your words won’t get through. In this place, the only one who can communicate with them is me!!”
She wasn’t wrong.
In this moment, where she has made contact with the Outer Gods by designing an Absolute Script that functions as a language only in the Outer Sea.
Normally, the answer she had pursued and obtained throughout her life should have been the only channel here.
But, knowing this, Lennok didn’t explain any further.
Beyond Jinwa’s impassioned cry, the moment he wordlessly extended his hand toward the Outer Sea.
Wooooooong…!!!
The gazes of the Outer Gods that had been surrounding Jinwa changed direction all at once, as if by agreement.
As if they had been waiting for this very moment, the gazes that had descended from beyond the cosmos passed by Jinwa with sublime indifference.
The moment the Outer Gods, who had transcended past and reality to descend from the cosmos, casually ignored her and stopped before Lennok.
Jinwa, left alone in the darkness, muttered with a frozen expression.
“…Ah?”