Chapter 476
'For now, I'll focus on severance.'
Swooosh...
The blue energy rising from Seong Jihan's hand soon took a form.
What he created was a blue longsword.
'For cutting, a sword is indeed the best.'
The longsword created by condensing blue energy seemed to lack great power compared to Seong Jihan's Eclipse or Phoenix Spear at first glance.
Even when the blue sword struck down on the execution grounds from his hand,
Swish.
The sword only sank into the stage of Void without much change.
However,
'The fuse of the explosion... is this it?'
Seong Jihan's eyes glowed blue.
Until now, he could only detect the distortions of red, but
it seemed that even the self-destruct command of the execution grounds fell into the category of a rather significant distortion.
The violet lines were clearly visible inside.
'Let's see.'
Seong Jihan detected the line he needed to sever inside the execution grounds and,
Slice!
He cut it off with a single strike.
Then,
Swooosh...
The stage of the execution grounds that had been swelling up
instantly collapsed like a deflating balloon.
"Hmm... You canceled the self-destruct command. The execution grounds have nothing to do with red..."
The Arena Owner expressed bewilderment as the Blue ability, which he thought only applied to red,
caused the self-destructing execution grounds to subside.
"If it's an ability that can only be used on red, can it be called the symbolic ability of an Administrator?"
Seong Jihan calmly responded on the surface while checking the state of the sword.
'It's different from when I cut the red lines. It consumed quite a bit of power.'
When cutting the red lines, the Blue stat increased,
but the Void lines consumed a considerable amount of energy in the opposite manner with a single cut.
Of course, this wasn't a permanent consumption to the point of reducing the stat.
'It will take some time to recover to its original state.'
It seemed impossible to infinitely sever distortions like cutting through red.
'Still, it's at this level even at C-grade. When the grade rises, it will become more useful.'
Swish.
As Seong Jihan pulled out the blue sword from the execution grounds,
"Oh my... Did you figure something out? How troublesome. However,"
Swooosh...
The entire body of the Arena Owner disappeared,
and only his cosmic face remained, starting to expand greatly.
"Since you've come inside the execution grounds, I will personally greet you."
Whoosh!
Once again, strands of Void were created inside the execution grounds.
Although the explosion of the execution grounds was prevented, from their perspective,
as long as they could blow the Void into Seong Jihan, it was a success, so they seemed to continue the same attack method.
Seong Jihan looked at the Void rising above the execution grounds.
'This level isn't enough to make the lines visible.'
The Void rising a bit from the execution grounds wasn't a distortion that an Administrator could cut with a sword.
After all, one couldn't kill an ant with a cow-slaughtering knife.
'Then I'll just slaughter the cow.'
Seong Jihan looked deeper into the execution grounds.
Below where he had cut off the Void line earlier,
there were 7 Void lines intersecting and extending.
'The execution grounds unfolded by the top hat... That's something that can be called a distortion.'
Rather than the trivial Void lines rising up like that,
the Arena's execution grounds itself was something worth nullifying.
Swish.
The blue longsword grasped by Seong Jihan grew larger.
Screech...!
The blade of the enlarged sword touched the 7 intersecting Void lines.
Unlike the lines he had cut before, the violet lines resisted quite a bit.
However,
[5 points of 'Blue' stat are consumed.]
As power was concentrated to the point of consuming the stat,
Snap...!
The 7 lines could no longer endure and were severed all at once.
Then, the risen Void subsided.
Swooosh...
The Void that formed the execution grounds began to gather at a single point.
What appeared there was the top hat the Arena Owner always wore.
"Ah, no..."
The Arena Owner was startled to see this and tried to retrieve the hat, but
Swish!
Seong Jihan quickly took the hat first.
'I used 5 precious stat points for this.'
Unlike the red lines, the Void lines definitely had strong resistance.
Especially since the execution grounds unfolded by this top hat had 7 lines intersecting,
its durability was high, resulting in a heavy consumption of Blue.
There was no way he could hand this back to them.
Swish.
As Seong Jihan held the hat like that,
"G-Give that back right now...!"
The Arena Owner revealed his urgency, speaking informally unlike his usual self.
"What did you hide in here that's making you speak informally?"
Seong Jihan, who had no intention of returning it, examined the hat while sneering.
Inside the hat's opening, there was a cosmic space like the Arena Owner's face.
And inside, Void energy constantly rose up.
'These Void guys really love the universe.'
As Seong Jihan looked inside the top hat with curiosity,
[The Black Administrator proposes to retrieve the top hat to punish the traitor, asking if it's alright with you.]
A message suddenly popped up from the Black Administrator.
* * *
No, this guy is too much.
"...Why didn't you punish him until now, and you're retrieving it only now?"
Seong Jihan asked back with a displeased face.
[The Black Administrator says if he had descended, Earth would have been destroyed.]
The Black Administrator explained the reason why he couldn't intervene until now.
'...Is that all?'
The Black, being the permanent Administrator, would naturally be strong,
but does Earth get destroyed just by him coming to beat up that guy?
"Seong Jihan...! G-Give it back!"
"I'm talking with your former boss. I'll play with you in a bit."
While avoiding the Arena Owner who rushed at him, having lost his reason,
Seong Jihan asked the Black Administrator,
"Well, fine. Let's say Earth would have been destroyed, so you didn't descend... Then, in exchange for retrieving this top hat, what will you give me?"
[The Black Administrator asks again if you want compensation from him.]
"Yes. I want it."
Seong Jihan immediately answered the Black Administrator's question.
-Seong Jihan is really amazing...
-He's using "Give it to me" even on the Black Administrator.
-What kind of guts is this?
-He has nothing to lose, so...
-Isn't a permanent Administrator like a superior to a temporary one...?
-There's no such thing for him.
The extraterrestrial viewers showed a mixture of admiration and bewilderment upon seeing this, but
"Ah. Not items or anything, give it to me with Administrator authority."
Seong Jihan was even specifying what he wanted to receive from him, regardless of their reactions.
'I'll receive it and raise the Blue stat grade.'
It was too much for the stat to drop by 5 just for cutting 7 Void lines.
No matter how he looked at it, it seemed to be because the Blue grade was only C.
Since they wanted this top hat despite having an abundance of Administrator authority,
he had to hand it over and receive authority.
"What do you think?"
To Seong Jihan's proposal,
[The Black Administrator accepts your proposal.]
[1 million Administrator authority is given.]
The Black Administrator immediately shot 1 million authority.
'1 million... Well, not bad.'
No one else would buy the top hat the Black Administrator wanted.
With 1 million authority, and the Black Administrator saying he would also take care of the Arena Owner,
This much was enough to be satisfied and hand it over.
"I accept the deal."
As Seong Jihan tried to end the deal like that,
"Y-You can't hand that over...!!"
The Arena Owner, who had completely engulfed the atmosphere with his face, shouted loudly, but
Swooosh...
the top hat had already turned pitch-black, and the ownership had been transferred.
And then,
'Oho.'
Inside the hat that floated up into the air on its own,
hundreds and thousands of Void lines that he had seen earlier were drawn in an instant.
'I wouldn't be able to cut that even if I used all my stat points.'
It took 5 stat points just to cut 7 lines.
No matter how much the Blue authority could sever distortions, it was impossible to put the blade to that.
As expected, one needed to be at this level to be a permanent Administrator.
While Seong Jihan was thinking that,
"R-Red Administrator. Please spare me! Didn't I only follow you...?! Didn't you say you would hand over Hell to me?!"
The Arena Owner, realizing his end, was appealing to the red eyes.
However,
[...You've worked hard until now. I won't forget your efforts.]
Swish.
Leaving only those words, the Red Administrator turned his eyes.
-Wow, what a personality...
-Is he mocking him by saying he worked hard? LOL
-Why did the Arena Owner come out of the Void and end up like this instead of just living carefree there?
-He said it's because he didn't want to die.
-Someone at that level would have already lived for a very long time, no??
-No matter how long you live, you wouldn't want to die... You'd want to live even longer.
When the human viewers heard the Red Administrator's answer and were dumbfounded,
"Y-You...!"
The Arena Owner couldn't finish his words and,
Swooosh...!
He was sucked into the top hat.
'That's why you should have kept working at a good job, why did you change jobs?'
As the Arena Owner and the Void were completely sucked into the top hat,
Seong Jihan now advanced toward the Red Administrator without any burden.
'I should raise the Blue grade on the way.'
Having figured out the usefulness of Blue, he was disappointed that it was only C-grade.
Before confronting the Red Administrator, he first raised the ability grade.
[1 million Administrator authority is consumed.]
[The grade of 'Blue' stat rises to A-grade.]
'1 million for A-grade... It's slowly not increasing anymore.'
As the ability grade rose, the required amount of authority definitely increased.
However, with the Blue grade rising from C to A, the development of the ability was clearly felt.
'With this much, I think I can test not only the severance of Blue but also the restoration...'
While stroking his cracked left face like that, Seong Jihan stood in front of the red eyeball.
[...Blue Administrator. You are truly my opposite. An authority that nullifies change.]
The red pupils flickered intensely as they looked at him.
[If I escaped from the oppression of the existing system through the red authority and newly constructed the rules,]
The red eyes glinting with a red light.
[You protect the old system by breaking the reformed system through Blue.]
Seong Jihan snorted upon hearing this.
As if his actions were some kind of reform.
"Anyone who hears you would think you're a revolutionary. Hey. You just created bugs, didn't you?"
Swish.
Seong Jihan drew the blue longsword again and aimed it at the Red Administrator.
"This sword is a means to slay bugs."
[Bugs? Even after seeing this Hell system, you judge it as a mere error?]
"Yeah."
[The current method of processing Void players is a wasteful act of resources. The Hell system is a more advanced processing method than the annihilation function of the Void... This is not an error but an upgrade. As an Administrator, you should also understand, right?]
At those words, Seong Jihan's eyes flashed with a blue light.
'So this eyeball was Hell...'
The Red Administrator, who attributed the afterlife of humanity and extracted energy from it.
From birth to death.
Meticulously operating it, the processing method itself could indeed be seen as an upgrade in some ways compared to the Void that completely deleted it.
However,
'That's from the ruler's perspective.'
From the standpoint of those subjected to it, it was a terrible system that extracted energy even after death and further attributed them to it.
Swish.
Seong Jihan greatly enlarged the blue longsword.
"You're just a complicated bug. You need to be cut down immediately."
[Seong Jihan. You're an Administrator now. How long will you view the system from the perspective of the ruled?]
"Hmm... Until today."
The blue sword that soared high into the sky,
"Only until today. I'll view it from humanity's perspective."
Slash!
It cut the red eye in a single stroke.