1062 Episode 66. The Wolf That Swallowed a God (10)

There, Yoo Joonghyuk and Yoo Joonghyuk stood. One had lived through scenarios spanning 1,865 rounds, and the other had lived through scenarios reaching the 41st round. Though the histories they lived through differed, the two pointing spear and sword at each other knew. The existence before their eyes right now was unmistakably the 'Supreme King Yoo Joonghyuk'.

1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk spoke. At the same time, the aura of stories subsided from his entire body. The stories of <Kim Dokja Company>, the Giant Stories he built himself, and even the Giant Story of 'Ragnarok' calmed down. Standing there was simply the pure Yoo Joonghyuk who endured two conclusions.

"It seems you are the one showing useless pride."

As if matching him, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk also put his stories to rest. However, putting stories to sleep did not mean they were truly not using stories at all.

Stories accumulated over long ages soon become part of the soul. Difficult memories, sorrowful memories, every moment of overcoming despair and frustration to stand again became their very selves, turning into swinging fists and trajectories of sword and spear. Therefore, the two were clashing with all their stories while not actively using them.

The moment rays of light flashed, the two existences vanished from the air at the same time.

Kudududuk!

As spear tip and sword blade met, fierce sparks flew. Strikes containing the pinnacle of martial arts spoken of by Transcendents. At a glance, they were merely cutting and thrusting movements, but within each simple trajectory lay the story of the life they had lived.

Kugugugu!

At the impact, the Dark Heavenly Moon Spear wavered, and the Black Heavenly Demon Sword creaked. 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk narrowed his eyes and spoke.

"You seem weak for someone who lived through 1,865 rounds."

In that moment, the movement of the sword changed. Breaking the Sky Meteor Strike (破天流星決). A cluster of meteors pouring from the firmament to the ground. In response, the secret technique of the Soul Extinguishing Divine Spear was fired from the spear tip. Ten Thousand Stars Falling (萬星墜落). Two martial arts created to kill stars collided, and once again the trajectories of the two men crossed.

First exchange, second exchange, third exchange. In the offensive and defensive exchange in the blink of an eye, the one pushed back first was 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk.

'He is strong.'

Even while suppressing Giant Stories, the 'Great Disaster' before his eyes was a monster. 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk could not know what kind of time 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk had endured to reach that realm. He could only gauge his story through the faintly seen fragments.

A regressor lives powered by regret. Yet the Yoo Joonghyuk before his eyes was one who had seen the end of a world twice. Even after seeing the landscape he wished to reach, why did he shudder in such profound regret?

"Were you not satisfied even after seeing the end of the scenarios?"

Dodging the slashes slicing through the air, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk asked.

"Why were you not content with the story given to you? Did you not already prevent the destruction of the world?"

After a slight pause, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk answered.

The pouring sword strikes grew fiercer. 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk parried the slashes with all his might and spoke.

"You must have already experienced enough deaths of companions. Don't you know by now? There are things in this world that cannot be undone. Even with our [Regression], we cannot save everything."

"If you lived through 1,865 rounds, you should know that fact better than anyone—"

As two convictions collided, a roaring sound erupted once more.

Certainly, at one time Yoo Joonghyuk lived through scenarios solely for that purpose. He endured all those years to destroy this 'damned Star Stream'.

"Did you meet the 'Oldest Dream'?"

The Oldest Dream. At those words, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's expression hardened for the first time.

41st round Yoo Joonghyuk still did not know much about his sponsor. He only knew that the existence was called the 'Oldest Dream', and that he was regressing through that existence's power. And now, he had vaguely come to know that his sponsor was deeply related to the existence named 'Kim Dokja'.

"My sponsor—"

Perhaps that was a question the original Yoo Joonghyuk would never have asked.

"What did he look like?"

Even so, just this once, he wanted to hear it. His opponent was the 1,865th round. In the eyes of another self who lived through that distant time, what did his sponsor look like?

The moment he uttered those words, there was a story brushing past 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's retina. 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk read a fragment of that story. He read the pure emptiness contained within that tale, and the complicated heart that no story could unravel.

With that single word, an illusion wavered over 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's retina. It was the figure of a child disappearing together with a man.

"He was small?"

Without answering, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk brandished his sword again. As if that was all he could tell him.

Shooting Star Slash. 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's main technique unfolded. Explosive energy so powerful that not even a Myth-grade Constellation could survive. 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk leveled his spear toward the incoming sword aura. A technique that the current him could not properly withstand. Even so, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk did not back down. The sound of dull chains snapping echoed from his entire body.

This was the 'final imprint' among the 'three story imprints' he possessed.

If 'Restriction of Truth' touched his memories and 'Restriction of Emotion' touched his humanity, the final imprint, 'Restriction of Life', was literally a story imprint that staked his life force. Like a moth burning its own life, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk's entire body began to shine like a bright sun.

Tukwang!

His tightly condensed spear aura deflected the flying beams of Shooting Star Slash.

Recognizing the identity of the 'story imprint', 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk frowned.

"No."

41st round Yoo Joonghyuk answered in a voice devoid of falsehood.

"I intend to survive."

And once again, the two Yoo Joonghyuks clashed. The Black Heavenly Demon Sword spewed fire once more, followed by a sequence of slashes far greater than before.

Shooting Star Slash — Two Consecutive Strikes.

The very technique that defeated Odin poured from 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's sword.

Shooting Star Slash — Three Consecutive Strikes.

And surprisingly, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk was continuing the fight by dodging or deflecting the Shooting Star Slashes.

It was truly a desperate life-and-death battle. The pinnacle of martial power an incarnation body could reach. Controlling the martial prowess that reached its absolute limit in an instant, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk continued his thrusts. His entire history exceeded even the trajectories of meteors and surged toward the 1,865th round.

Tzztzztzz!

And for the first time, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk was pushed back a step. A razor-thin match. Every time sword and spear collided, ripples spread across the universe. Before long, both Yoo Joonghyuks were completely absorbed in battle. And ever so slightly, the scale of victory began to tip once more. The one who noticed the omen first was 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk.

"You—"

Stories were flowing from 1,865th round's entire body. No, to be precise, between the two of them—

A new stage was opening. Subsequently, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk spoke in a bewildered voice.

Clearly, neither 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk nor 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk had used stories. Yet between the two, a 'stage' crafted by stories was opening. It was neither the 'Season of Light and Darkness' nor the 'Liberator of the Forgotten'. This was simply their history.

"This is—"

It was the 'history' of the 1,864th round.

41st round Yoo Joonghyuk glared at the stories drifting chaotically before his eyes.

Within the chaotically floating stories was him, and the Yoo Joonghyuk before his eyes. The two men were fighting. 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk opened his mouth as if groaning.

As if refusing to receive something like stage transformation effects, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk spoke in a resentful voice.

The contents of the story were simple. In that story, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk possessed Kim Dokja and fought against the 1,864th round Yoo Joonghyuk. And he lost. But the reason 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk was shocked was not because of the victory or defeat recorded in that story.

"I see."

A worldline in the far distant future. The stage of the 1,864th round. The fact that the '41st round Yoo Joonghyuk' existed on that stage.

"As expected, was this a fight whose end was predetermined from the beginning?"

41st round Yoo Joonghyuk muttered bitterly.

Only after his world is destroyed will other worldlines begin. The 1,864th round and the 1,865th round before his eyes. And the stories of worlds he does not know.

Predetermined despair weighed heavily upon his shoulders. All these worlds, all these stories, were urging a single conclusion upon him.

Toward such a 41st round, the 1,865th round was speaking.

That was advice only Yoo Joonghyuk could give to another Yoo Joonghyuk. The problem was that the one listening to that advice was also Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Don't blabber so haughtily when you failed in the end as well."

Hearing those words, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk felt a strange deja vu. Perhaps once before, they had shared a similar conversation.

"I have no intention of listening to the advice of a failure."

With those words, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk took a step forward.

It was then that the 'Giant Story' which held its breath abruptly resumed its storytelling. The stage of 'Ragnarok' and the stage of the '1,864th round' overlapped, offsetting the stage transformation in an instant. Beyond the offset stage, spear and sword crossed.

Both the 41st round and the 1,865th round knew. This was a battle deciding the end of a story.

Was it coincidence, or was it intention? For a moment, 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk staggered once again. 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk did not miss that opening.

If he thrust into that opening, he could win. Even so, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk could not thrust his spear. Even while watching the blade falling right before his nose.

While time flowed slowly like a revolving lantern, the two empty eyes of 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk were visible.

Strangely, at the final moment, 41st round Yoo Joonghyuk thought of his companion. The guy once called Cheon Inho, and now called Kim Dokja.

Now 1,865th round Yoo Joonghyuk's sword was right in front of him. He had to thrust even now. Only then could he kill him.

Beyond the lingering silence, over the blank space that no story could fill, the sound of flesh tearing echoed.

With a gasp, when I came to my senses, I was back in my own body. The recoil from [Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint] being deactivated ached and rang through my head.

What happened? What about Yoo Joonghyuk? That bastard, what on earth did he—

Turning my head, Mass Production Maker was looking at me. For some reason, his face was full of worry. There was no need to ask why.

Beyond the sky where starlight had disappeared, dawn broke. No, strictly speaking, it was not the sun. Pure white stories wavering beyond the horizon. Disasters following him while emitting pure white light were dyeing the battlefield in a white night.

At last, my brother had arrived at this battlefield.