Chapter 519

Drip- Drip- Drip-

The darkness surrounding the two flowed downward, trickling down to reveal a new landscape hidden within: a clear night sky without a single cloud and a vast, vast land blanketed in black mud.

In the impermanent world, even a single ray of descending light would be swallowed by the swamp.

Woong!

Beyond the horizon, a full moon so massive that its silver-tinged, pale moonlight could illuminate even the once-empty world, rose.

Bathed in its light, Ryuuma—no, the Destroyer of Ruin—underwent a change.

Swish-

A pure white hand of concentrated moonlight wrapped around the Destroyer of Ruin’s forehead. Then, when a black cloth descended to cover its face, red blood slowly trickled from between the hand’s fingers to draw the character “Seal” on it.

Rumble!

Gazing at the “Seal” character eerily glowing between the brilliant full moon and ominously boiling swamp, Se-Hoon scanned the rest of the world that had been restructured around Destroyer of Ruin.

Is it another Harbinger of Destruction...? No, not quite.

Although the Destroyer of Ruin had momentarily connected to the Abyss of Demons and accepted the power of Ruin, he felt similar yet distinct from the Harbingers of Destruction Se-Hoon had fought before.

If the Perfect Ones were akin to the color white and the Harbingers of Destruction to black, then the Destroyer of Ruin was akin to gray—which was something Se-Hoon was sure he had seen before.

...He’s just like Heaven Eye when he transformed into the Observer.

Heaven Eye, who had absorbed the Visionary’s power into his demonic body; Ryuuma, who had simultaneously accepted the Seeker’s power and the power of Ruin.

After Heaven Eye, now Ryuuma had ascended to the realm that hadn’t existed before Heaven Eye’s miracle.

I thought it was just a coincidence... but maybe it wasn’t.

Conflicting powers of a Perfect One and Harbinger of Destruction coexisting not once but

twice

meant it could no longer be dismissed as mere chance or miracle. Se-Hoon had to admit it was now a tangible phenomenon.

A lot of thoughts are crossing my mind... but I’ll deal with those later.

Given that the Observer had become able to halt time, it was highly likely that the Destroyer of Ruin also awakened a new power. Given the near-infinite potential of the power of Omniscience as well... it was best to be ready for anything.

“...”

Feeling Se-Hoon’s wary gaze, the Destroyer of Ruin touched the black cloth covering his face.

𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

“You have two paths open in front of you,” he began normally, like they were having a typical conversation.

“...”

“The first is to complete the ritual by any means necessary and return safely. The second is...”

Rumble-

Jet-black pillar-gates surged up from various parts of the black swamp, each showing completely different landscapes through them. Thunderstorms, lava, tidal waves, and blizzards—a cacophony of natural disasters could be seen. On top of those, writhing glyphs resembling insects and violet mist brimming with curses shimmering ominously could also be seen.

Glancing over them all, Se-Hoon realized what he was looking at: the sources of every spell the Destroyer of Ruin had gotten were now linked directly to reality.

“...To die by my hand and be used as fodder for the ritual.”

Rumble!

The Destroyer of Ruin’s killing intent flared, causing what were essentially countless spells to erupt from the pillar-gates. Only a few had triggered, yet the sheer pressure had been enough to shake the world where it almost seemed as if it were on the verge of collapse.

Yet, despite being confronted with power on a completely different scale than before, Se-Hoon scoffed.

“Two choices? Isn’t this practically just forcing me to choose the first one?”

Did the Destroyer of Ruin honestly think Se-Hoon would believe him if he claimed he’d help complete the ritual now?

Se-Hoon’s mockery was clear, but the Destroyer of Ruin didn’t flinch.

“They’re entirely different. If you choose to complete the ritual, I will

aid

you.”

“...What?”

Never expecting the reverse, Se-Hoon was completely taken aback.

“I said it earlier. You inherited my memories, my synesthetic mindscape, and her curse.”

“...”

“Her... Mitsuki’s curse was the role itself: ‘to complete the ritual.’ Since you’ve inherited that, we are bound to act toward its completion.”

At those words, Se-Hoon looked up at the full moon floating behind the Destroyer of Ruin. The pale moonlight filled his gaze, and soon, the will embedded within echoed faintly in his mind.

“Complete... the ritual...”

“Fulfill... the mission...”

“Record... of omniscience...”

Mitsuki’s endless whispers about the role filled his ears, and not long later, his own synesthetic mindscape began responding.

“So even after becoming... what you are right now, your purpose hasn’t changed,” Se-Hoon muttered with an incredulous expression.

Even after connecting to the Abyss of Demons, accepting the power of Ruin, and experiencing the corruption of his body, Ryuuma’s—and Mizuki’s—goal remained the same. Their resolve to complete the ritual at any cost had merely shifted from simply using any means necessary to outright destroying the world for it.

Even the Ephemeral Moonlit Curse world the Destroyer of Ruin constructed was a kind of barrier meant to impose that role forcibly as a curse.

I thought I was pulled into its synesthetic mindscape, but I guess it was actually a large-scale reality-altering barrier?

However, the barrier was far too perfect for it to be something created on the fly. Mulling it over briefly, Se-Hoon realized

he

likely had unconsciously contributed power to complete the formation of the barrier when they were synchronizing during their shared vision.

I’m not in the greatest situation.

If that was the case, and if the realm functioned as he feared, then merely fighting inside would place him at a massive disadvantage.

He fell deep into thought.

Seeing that, the Destroyer of Ruin calmly opened his mouth again. “If you’ve understood what the Ephemeral Moonlit Curse is, then you should also realize that I wasn’t lying. If you help complete the ritual, I will assist you with all my power—and I will never harm you again.”

Help and he could avoid the disadvantageous battlefield altogether. Considering the offer, Se-Hoon hesitated for a moment.

“...Can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“If I complete the ritual, what’s going to happen to you?”

Mitsuki’s curse only designated the completion of the ritual. What, then, would the Destroyer of Ruin become once it fulfilled that role?

“I...”

The Destroyer of Ruin’s words faltered—

“Call forth... the end...”

“From the end... let it begin...”

“The world’s... ruin...”

Rumble!

The voice came from beneath the black swamp like a wailing scream, calling out in unison with the whispers of the full moon.

Listening to them both, a wave of madness surged and threatened to devour Se-Hoon. His eyes twisted in pain.

So that’s... how he maintained both powers simultaneously... ugh

Whereas Heaven Eye had forcibly bound the two powers through his synesthetic mindscape to become the Observer, Ryuuma had done... nothing. Aside from just offering his body as a vessel and accepting both, Ryuuma allowed them both to wreak havoc—thus making them coexist through mutual opposition canceling.

Which means... the moment one side weakens...

Crack-

The black swamp rose to the Destroyer of Ruin’s waist and began trying to take hold of his consciousness.

“Destroy everything... that is the only way... to complete... the ritual... the role... I...”

Drip-

Black tears trickled from beneath the cloth covering his face.

Seeing him unable to finish even a sentence, Se-Hoon sighed.

“So you’re not even in a state where I can make a deal.”

If he helped complete the ritual, he would unseal the monster bound by its role. If he refused, the monster would still try to destroy the world to fulfill its purpose. Either way, the only thing left for the Destroyer of Ruin... was ruin.

With his choice basically made for him, Se-Hoon conjured Stellar Radiance through the Celestial Infinity Blade.

Slice-

And with a single stroke, he cut off the Destroyer of Ruin’s head.

Splatter!

The severed head, still hidden by black cloth, flew into the sky. But Se-Hoon didn’t stop there. He furiously swung the Stellar Radiance at the body repeatedly, not letting it regenerate.

Zing- zing- zing-

Even though the Destroyer of Ruin didn’t really belong to any category, standing at the boundary between a Perfect One and a Harbinger of Destruction, it was no foe to be taken lightly.

That was why Se-Hoon conjured dozens of sword projections, trying to shred the Destroyer of Ruin’s regenerating body before it could reassemble—

BOOM!

Hundreds of spells rained down from all directions. Recognizing Se-Hoon’s hostility, the Ephemeral Moonlit Curse had belatedly activated its pillar-gates to launch spells in a frenzy.

Yet, glancing at the barrage, Se-Hoon simply invoked the power of Premotion and struck first.

Screee!

Thousands of slashes of sword aura unfolded in an instant. And in the next, the afterimages of his attacks cleaved through the spells filling the night sky.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Sheer force and speed simply crushingly overwhelmed the wave of arcane arts. With the power of Premotion, which didn’t require the same conceptual mastery as other powers, Se-Hoon could easily achieve such feats.

Faster... I need to move faster...!

Surpassing space, outrunning time—his sword aura slashed through every inch of the surrounding space before anything could happen. Furthermore, his mind and body were united, thus allowing Se-Hoon to accelerate his swordplay further into volleys of shockwaves and slashes that shook the entire Ephemeral Moonlit Curse like a radiant storm.

Then, he raised Stellar Radiance to deliver the finishing blow—

Distorted Law: Ephemeral Observation

Flash!

All of Se-Hoon’s sword aura turned to black mud and scattered.

“?!”

Se-Hoon’s eyes widened at the incomprehensible scene. There had been no sense of interference—no warning. Yet Stellar Radiance was nullified in an instant?

How...?

When one’s power reached its peak, there should have been a recoil from it being canceled, even if it was they themselves that did it. How had the Destroyer of Ruin’s spell deleted everything as if it were surgically removed?!

No, I don’t have time to think about this right now.

Se-Hoon refocused. The Destroyer of Ruin’s original body—presumably destroyed by the earlier strikes—was nowhere in sight. However, if it had been so easy, then that meant somewhere else, the true body must still exist.

Seeking it out, Se-Hoon narrowed his focus—

“...!”

The full moon above opened thousands of eyes that all turned to stare at him.

Distorted Law: Ephemeral Projection

Swoosh!

Instinctively reacting, Se-Hoon immediately wrapped himself in a Veil of Whitespace—the blood in his body went cold. It felt as though he was falling... no, floating downward as if his sense of self had been ripped out of his body.

And at the end of that sensation... was a strange liberation... Se-Hoon’s eyes grew faint—

Squelch!

His left hand, moving on its own, had pierced his own solar plexus.

“Ugh... Kugh!”

Coughing up black blood, Se-Hoon staggered. He then yanked out his left hand, taking his heart out with it and leaving a gaping hole that black blood poured out of.

He stared at the black heart in his palm.

“...Projecting the Abyss of Demons into my heart and forcibly merging it...

kugh...

that’s completely insane...”

A technique that bypassed any type of resistance, corrupting both the body and the synesthetic mindscape by forcibly merging it with the Abyss of Demons. Even the Veil of Whitespace, which had once shrugged off the attacks of other Harbingers of Destruction as well, had been nullified—and that was what shocked Se-Hoon most.

I know nothing is invincible... but the timing couldn’t be worse... ugh.

The Destroyer of Ruin’s technique—based on the Seeker’s power of Omniscience—must have held a power capable of countering Ludwig. Grimacing at the bad matchup, Se-Hoon crushed the corrupted heart.

I need to stay calm.

He’d taken a heavy blow, but he could still fight. Taking a deep breath, he regenerated his heart as he steadied himself.

In the meantime, the swamp churned in the distance. From it, the Destroyer of Ruin then rose once again.

“Even for a Perfect One, that blow must have been critical.... You really are absurd.”

The Destroyer of Ruin reappeared completely unscathed.

Glancing between him, the moon, and the swamp, Se-Hoon then slowly spoke. “So... the real Ryuuma is already dead, huh?”

“...”

“I thought maybe at least his head had remained intact, but I guess my standards were too high.”

Back then, when Se-Hoon crushed Ryuuma’s head, he had indeed died instantly—as just a normal sorcerer. However, the Heaven’s Well had absorbed Ryuuma’s corpse and gained Mizuki’s curse and Succession’s spells, which triggered an unforeseen reaction: the creation of an artificial lifeform that inherited Ryuuma’s memories and role.

“Erika must have been created the same way.”

Knowing better than anyone, perhaps Ryuuma had foreseen such an event and willingly used himself as a sacrifice to activate the ritual.

Se-Hoon gazed directly at the Destroyer of Ruin.

“So... what are you exactly?”

Just as Erika was distinct from Mizuki, the Destroyer of Ruin was likely also someone entirely separate.

“...”

The Destroyer of Ruin gazed back through the black cloth. Then...

“It doesn’t matter who I am.” Its voice was even.

“...”

“Completing the ritual and fulfilling the role... that is my sole reason to exist.”

Rumble!

More Destroyers of Ruins emerged from the swamp, each performing mudras in preparation to cast the next wave of attack.

“I will not abandon my role like those failures.”

The ones “he” had raised for decades—Ren and Erika—had been dismissed as mere failures without hesitation.

“...”

Se-Hoon stared at the Destroyer of Ruin with a curious look. To remember all the former family heads’ sins yet walk the same path... was Ryuuma truly so far gone that he could no longer reflect on himself?

What a pitiful end,

Se-Hoon thought briefly before turning his attention to examining the spells being prepared.

I can deal with those... but the real problem is the spells that come from the moon and the swamp.

Although he had figured out that the spells respectively emanated from the Seeker’s eyes, he couldn’t devise a definitive solution. The only hint was that they seemed to trigger based on line of sight as a result, but in such an enclosed space, that ‌wasn’t much help.

I guess it all comes down to luck in the end...

While he had a few contingency plans, those naturally weren’t guaranteed.

Still, I’ll push as far as I can.

If the Destroyer of Ruin was as unstable as it seemed, it wouldn’t last long. Wrapping up his thoughts, Se-Hoon re-summoned Stellar Radiance—

Seal Gate

Woooosh-

Eight pillar-gates shot out from the swamp around Se-Hoon, each releasing golden cords that wrapped around his entire body and began tightening around even the space Se-Hoon existed in.

“!”

Se-Hoon had never experienced such a ridiculous interference technique before. It not only canceled his attempt to retaliate, but it even shattered his very will to cast a consecutive one?!

As Se-Hoon struggled to respond, thousands of eyes on the full moon lit up wickedly.

Damn it...!

There was no time left for hesitation. Se-Hoon forced the seed he had been suppressing [1] within him to bloom—

BOOM!

His freshly regenerated solar plexus was abruptly pierced from within. A silver light had shot out and snapped the golden cords before going through all eight pillar-gates.

Woong-

Shocked by what looked like a living silver arrow, Se-Hoon wondered if it was the Visionary’s intervention. As if to answer him, the silver light flew toward him.

“You... no way...”

Recognizing the silver-feathered crow that appeared, its expression both stoic and dignified, Se-Hoon opened his mouth in disbelief.

“Yes. It’s me.”

Erika spread her wings triumphantly as she crashed onto the battlefield.

1. This is the “seed” of possibilities that the Observer mentioned in ch 491, if you don’t remember. ☜