Chapter 162

Eat It Up!

I could feel a strange hostility from the slanted eyes of the Adgon species.

It could've been just a feeling, but I couldn't just ignore what my guts were telling me.

"What do you mean, commissioner?!"

Bachurka's baffled voice was delivered through interpretation magic.

"What is it that you doubt? I don't seem to understand."

Adgon spoke while maintaining his gaze at me.

"The agenda we're judging right now is whether the Union would support that Awakened individual from Earth or not. And the proof is that only he is said to be free from the influence of Mercadius's mental manipulation."

"Yes, that is what we have discussed.."

"I've been thinking about this from the very beginning, but isn't the evidence too insufficient?"

"?"

"Holy wound on the finger? Well, let's say that it is. But for him to be the future incarnation of the Igras-Sho? From whom did that testimony come?"

It came from the Abanos species, who faced me with authority as the Board of Audit and Inspection and were devastated by the deity.

"Isn't that a testimony of a species that has already been dismissed?"

Bachurka slowly disclosed her displeasure.

"What on Earth do you mean to insist?"

"The insignias on the back of that hand is indwelled only for the incarnation."

"I know."

"And different sacred forces tend to repel each other. However, the sacred scars he's supposed to have received directly from Igras-Sho aren't leaking even a drop of blood in this situation. The same can be said for the Divine Mark."

"Are you claiming the insignias to be fake?"

One of the other commissioners who were listening joined in.

"Just right now, we've run a sacred force scan throughout the conference room just in case..."

The result was predictable.

"We've detected four different types of sacred forces in that Awakened's body. Magic, life, sword, and luck. It matches the divinity that each of those seals represents."

Bachurka looked as if she was saying, 'You heard, didn't you?'

Adgon, however, continued to criticize me with a tone of disapproval.

He was definitely persistent and stubborn.

"The divine power can be indwelled through holy items and blessings. What I'm saying is, in the first place, has the Awakened before us really been chosen to be the incarnation of Igras-Sho? Would the magic god allow that to happen? To let the future incarnate receive three other gods' seals apart of its own?"

He's acting sarcastic as if it was such a ridiculous notion to pass.

"You must have been desperate for our support, haven't you? But you have taken this way too far. Four types of seals!"

He was driving the atmosphere in a manner that painted me as exposing myself with a clumsy 'lie.'

"After all, the presumable truth from the present situation is this. The claim that he is the chosen incarnation of Igras-Sho is false and that that Divine Mark is also fake. Then there's only one question left."

His voice grew louder.

"How the hell can that Awakened being be free from Mercadius's mind domination?"

There was a strange light in his eyes.

"Is there anything he hasn't revealed to us yet? Can't the claim that he was chosen by a god be a lie to hide that truth? Wouldn't this be reasonable doubt?"

That convinced me.

That piece of shit, he knew something about the successor.

At least he seemed convinced that the trait that prevented me from being subject to mental domination was connected somehow.

'But that inference is only half-correct.'

If he doubted my seals, then the situation could be solved by proving it to him.

I spoke with a light sigh.

"I think it's time for me to give my explanation."

"Okay, try me."

Adgon smiled as if to say, 'let's hear what you have to say.'

I held out the back of my hand.

And he spoke with a more distorted expression than necessary.

"I'm baffled that you still are dubious of me after measuring that four kinds of sacred forces are flowing out of here."

The commissioner, who was looking at the measurements, corrected me.

"Wait a minute. It is indeed measured, but its intensity is insufficient. As already pointed out, that divine mark is originally the highest seal awarded only to the incarnation. It doesn't have the corresponding intensity."

Of course.

One had to have his soul subordinated to receive such a mighty power.

To borrow the explanation of the god in my memory, the seal was only but the paint.

If one mixed water with it, one could color the world with the colors of each deity.

Then, where was the water?

'Good thing I had turned a portion of Mana into divine power in advance!'

It was another ability that I was able to gain the moment my [Mana Drain] skill evolved.

2) The absorbed Mana can be converted to a different type of 'power' depending on the user's designation.

Among the possible types that Mana could be converted into, divine power was included.

Just as the basic energy that composed the material world at that moment was Mana, it was said that divine power took the same role in the world before the creation of the material world.

And I had filled my body with pure divine power, which didn't contain any deity's energy.

That was, in comparison, transparent, clear water.

From that moment on, I started mixing some paint here.

"So this would be solved if I prove it right here."

Adgon snorted.

"You'd better not take out any petty tricks."

Since everyone was already looking at the hologram...

As one commissioner said, the scan indicated that four properties of divine powers had been detected in my body: magic, life, sword, and luck.

However, each intensity was extremely weak.

But what's important about that result was that the sacred power I had, which had no properties at the moment, wasn't shown as a part of it.

The concept of divine power that didn't belong to any deity was unknown to the current era's beings.

Therefore, it couldn't be sensed, much less identified, by the detector's scanners.

However, the moment I mixed certain divine attributes into that energy...

Beeeeeeep!

"W-what?!"

As I practiced, I gradually sent the divine power to the back of my hand.

Then, the seals, which symbolized magic, life, sword, and luck... The palette painted with four types of colors started to dye the seeping waterfall of divine power with each of their hues.

They didn't repel each other as agreed by the gods, but they didn't converge and blend either.

Beeeeep!

"The intensity of the divine power levels is-!"

What I did was nothing more than adding color to the originally existing pure divine power. However, the detector responded as if a previously non-existing force had been created and manifested out of nowhere. And it started to raise the indicated values.

As it did so, the noisy sound continued to resonate in the conference room.

The seven commissioners couldn't do anything but look at the hologram with a dumbfounded expression visible on their faces.

As I was checking the values together, I stopped when it had reached the point where I thought it was enough.

"This is...!"

Adgon leaked a voice of desolation.

The sentence he took out more and more trembled and turned loud as he continued, and by the end, it had changed to something similar to a scream.

"This is ridiculous! How can a single mortal... be chosen as the incarnation of four gods!"

The hologram was speaking.

It announced that there were four kinds of divine sacred power that were worthy of being recognized as having the same levels as incarnations!

In fact, it made it seem like four incarnations had been compressed and shoved into the form of one person.

Bachurka asked in a voice mixed with relief and anticipation.

"Oh my, I'm sure until the last time we met, all you had was the power handed down by the god of magic! In that short time, how did you-?"

Her eyes shone.

"Could you explain? It's even more unusual that there's been a change, considering you've just recently upgraded your unique skill of all times. That's where all the altars are gathered!"

It was a natural deduction.

I gave them the explanation I prepared in advance.

"It was when I challenged the second ordeal."

I explained the scramble between the gods over me more gently and piously.

That alone made the commissioners look stunned.

In particular, beyond shock, Adgon expressed his nervousness and even anger, and I kept that fact in my head.

"Wait a minute. To sum it up, in the end...!"

My hands and feet were cringing and made me feel goosebumps to say it, but...

I spoke with the thickest leather spread on my face as much as possible.

"Yes! I kind of guessed it when the god of magic first expressed his interest in me... but I didn't know I was this much."

I sent out a melancholic glance to them as if to say that I belatedly learned of my deadly talent.

At that moment, I was acting like a human being that was born to be possessed by a god.

A man born with a god's blessing.

"Thankfully, I seem to have been born to serve as a vessel that's to be subordinated by the gods! What a holy thing it is."

I continued my explanation with a face full of faith.

"In the end, the four deities who were fighting over me reached an agreement."

They reached an accord wherein they would suppress their temper of repelling each other for a while, and the four of them would be allowed to choose me as their incarnation simultaneously.

However, it wasn't possible to divide the soul into four and subordinate it, so they would wait until the vessel grew.

In the end, I would be raised as an unprecedented "unified incarnation" that served all four gods at once.

'It's so ridiculous even for me.'

However, except for the fact that I wasn't going to become a real incarnation, it wasn't that much different from the truth.

And only then did the Adgon commissioner speak once more.

"... I see."

He seemed to have realized that even if he acted more stubbornly than that and tried to find fault with it, it would only raise suspicions.

He had no choice but to cave in.

However...

'I've already seen it all, you punk.'

I put the opponent's name and species on the top of the blacklist in my head.

'It is said to be the only one of the five species that created the Union that survived without destruction, right?'

That alone was extremely suspicious.

"Then, as promised, the Union will proceed to provide support to Seo Jin-Wook. Everyone who agrees, speak."

The results were unanimous, of course.

*

After the decision to receive assistance was made, the Union's headquarters and each country's governments came forward to plan and prepare ahead of time.

Putting aside the complex branches of the operation and focusing mainly on the final result, the plan was very simple.

In the battlefield that the Union and the Earthlings had laid out numerous traps in a way that 'the intellectual being would not approach by itself,' and set to be prepared to dispatch additional interventions for emergencies, I would lure the Mercadius alone.

It was to prevent the risk of carelessly gathered Awakened individuals being subjected to mental manipulation as a group. It was all to prevent them from being brainwashed all at once and ganging up on me.

Meanwhile, two factors took the longest to decide on.

First, 'where' were we going to lure them?

Swoosh!

I captured the surrounding scenery, where the dry wind was blowing, in my eyes.

It was the Taklamakan Desert.

'China was quite whiny.'

The tsunami bothered me when I thought of carrying out the operation on an island like last time.

Therefore, when I chose the location, I had to choose a place that was far from any densely populated area, and that was okay to be devastated if anything happened.

China had been pushed back in the power game when each country discussed location selection.

'If it were like the old days, that would be unimaginable.'

It was evidently revealed how much China's national prestige and national power fell after the Taiwan incident.

'Anyway, considering reality, there's really no better candidate than here.'

It was a vast area that had already fallen to become a "lost land" 10 years ago.

That was the fate that eventually had to be faced by vast lands with a low population density.

The Chinese government had given up Gate management in that part of their territory a long time ago as the Gates continued to collapse, and it had been quarantined by the barricades erected around the border.

Originally, it was supposed to be packed with monsters, but none could be found now. It was due to the organizations that had been conducted in advance.

'Then, shall we get started?'

The other issue that took time to decide was how I was supposed to lure him into the trap.

The 500 observers eventually found Mercadius's whereabouts. Unlike the observer who was in the dog's body before, they did it more carefully so as not to be caught by the other person.

He sat motionless on an uninhabited island in the Polynesian Islands, which was of a similar environment to the previously discovered island but had a bit of distance.

'It's an unfitting location for a battlefield.'

Then how could I call him out to the desert?

I thought of Bachurka's words.

- Mercadius seems to sow seeds and stay in the world until they bloom.

There were three kinds of timelines of Earth that I knew.

'The first is the unfulfilled future that the prophetic-skilled Han-Seol saw.'

It was the future where Han-Seol and Seo Jin-Wook had never met.

In it, Angelica didn't even appear on Earth because Siheung 8 Dungeon collapsed without being Cleared.

Seo Jin-Wook of that timeline became the 'Demon King,' completely eroded by madness as he bore the seed.

Mercadius would've been quietly observing the scene.

There was no one to stop Seo Jin-Wook.

In the timeline that Han-Seol saw, the future Earth was on the brink of the apocalypse after 40 years, so the trend could not be reversed.

Would the seed have bloomed after completely destroying the Earth that way?

That would remain a mystery.

'Second is my previous life. Life as Choi Seung-Hyun.'

In that timeline, Seo Jin-Wook of my previous life died with seeds borne in him.

It was not even on Earth, but rather in a dungeon where it was likely that Mercadius would not be.

It wasn't known how the "man" responded to the sudden incident.

However, what was certain was that Angelica, the culprit who killed the seed, was not disposed of and left unattended.

The result was also the fall of the Earth.

'The last one is right now. This timeline where I live as Seo Jin-Wook.'

What was the reason why Mercadius hadn't appeared in front of me yet?

Was it because he thought the seed would bloom, dominate me, and lead the Earth to destruction one day?

Then how would he react if something changed to the seed?

"Meooow!"

In my arms, I put down the Iponia, "Cat."

A year had passed since he came to me, but recent attempts had also failed.

It still hadn't become fully matured.

'I'm sorry, but I can't wait any longer. Just for a while... Become an adult.'

I infused pure sacred power into the 'life' mark on the back of my hand.

Whoooong!

What the incarnation and priests got from by offering a prayer to the god was a miracle.

It was a mystery that couldn't be materialized with skill or constrained in the form of a skill.

I prayed in my heart.

The format of the language was not important as long as I had already received the Divine Mark.

'Rom, cause a miracle in here!'

What was important was my will as I prayed.

Shhhhhh!

A blood fog spouted from the back of my hand and covered Iponia.

It was the sign of the deity that was the driving force for life to be conceived, grow, and finally die.

Iponia, as covered by the power, grew larger.

"Meoooow?!"

Its limbs and tail became longer. The round, flat face created a deep outline.

In that instant, it became an adult.

In front of the baffled Iponia, I stimulated the curse in my heart.

The seed of Mercadius.

Geeeeeeeek!

The red Mana rose above my body like a cloud.

Seeing it, the attitude of Iponia changed.

It had the eyes of a predator.

I spoke as if I were rushing the cat.

"Well, I've been waiting for a long time already. Eat it up!"