Chapter 506
The star of the Martial God, Tuseong.
[Now the blue administrator will come.]
The red-eye, red administrator said joyfully while looking at the displayed battletube.
[He must have finished his training with visible results. Martial God, can you handle him in your current state?]
At those words.
Sssss...
The Martial God, who had been hiding himself in darkness, slowly raised his snake-like head.
The snake form, with the Sun King's son's emblem now gone,
was emitting an ominous aura.
[What are you trying to say?]
[Shouldn't you break out of your Devil's Intrusion?]
Round and round.
As he spoke, the red pupils spun around.
[You'll need to give 20 Constellation relics. To remove the Devil's Intrusion.]
[I refuse. I can't give you any more.]
[Oh? Even in this situation?]
The Martial God's power, stored in the Constellation relics, originally overwhelmed Seong Jihan.
But the Devil's Intrusion that Dongbang Sak planted before dying had perfectly sealed his power.
Moreover, if Seong Jihan were to pull out the Taiji Sword that he had stuck in the sealing site,
The Martial God didn't have much chance of winning in his current state.
So naturally, he thought the Martial God would have to accept the offer to hand over the weapons.
But the Martial God's choice was unexpected.
[I see...]
Flash!
A red light sparkled in the Red Administrator's eyes,
And it quickly spread in all directions.
Soon after.
[I see. You're planning to escape. Tuseong is moving rapidly.]
The Red Administrator realized what the Martial God was doing.
[There's no need to fight him right now. I can still move Tuseong in my current state. I'll change location to avoid his pursuit.]
[The title of Martial God must be weeping.]
A snake, desperately avoiding battle while bearing the title of Martial God.
However, to the Red Administrator's remark, the Martial God replied nonchalantly.
[Martial God? That no longer holds any meaning for me. No, it never had any meaning to begin with... It was just a title I used because it was convenient for commanding the Constellation relics.]
[Is that so.]
[Red Administrator. Why are you so obsessed with the Constellation relics? Can't you get help from your 'great sponsor'... the White Administrator?]
[Hehe, you noticed?]
[Yes. My power may be sealed, but I haven't lost control over Tuseong.]
On the outskirts of Tuseong.
Streams of pure white light flickered repeatedly, communicating with the Red Administrator.
Their communication was conducted very secretly, but,
The Martial God, who was on high alert towards the Red Administrator, was barely able to detect it.
[I wonder why you're interested in the Constellation relics when you could receive direct support from the White Administrator.]
[That's right.]
[The Constellation relics are more valuable treasures than you think.]
Sssss...
With those words, 7 Constellation relics appeared near the red eyes.
The weapons that the Martial God had handed over to the Red Administrator.
They had already turned red.
[How did you make these?]
[That...]
[When humanity received an invitation to the BattleNet, was demoted, and the species went extinct. At the time when everything was perishing, you descended to Earth and stored power inside the weapons, didn't you?]
[...You're asking even though you know.]
[After storing the power, you turned the Golden Wheel to go back to the past...]
Swoosh.
The pupils looked up at the sky.
Where they gazed was filled with Constellation relics in the sky.
[You've repeated this infinitely, haven't you? To the point where there are so many Constellation relics.]
[That's right.]
[But. Didn't you find it strange?]
[...What do you mean?]
[How. This was possible.]
[That's...]
[The BattleNet's detection system is very advanced. It incorporates all species with the possibility of immortality into the BattleNet system, no matter how far away they are. So why wasn't infinite regression detected?]
The BattleNet system that sent invitations even at the mere possibility of immortality.
Yet, while within the BattleNet system, the Martial God's infinite regression wasn't restricted at all.
What he did was a critical bug that could shake the BattleNet world.
Yet neither the black and white administrators nor anyone else detected the Martial God's actions.
[...To avoid detection, I minimized my external activities. And I didn't absorb power myself but stored it in the Constellation relics. That's why I wasn't caught until now.]
[Do you really think so?]
Thud. Thud.
The red pupils absorbed power from the Constellation relics,
And began to grow in size.
[Alright. How did you figure out how to create Constellation relics? The means to store power while perfectly avoiding BattleNet detection.]
[That... I devised it. I knew how the system detected things, so I cleverly twisted it.]
[Is that so? But you know...]
Paaak...!
The greatly swollen eyeball burst,
And a head popped out from inside.
A face with red skin and multiple eyes embedded.
It was exactly the same as what the Blood clan had, but.
The eye in the center, with its entire eyeball dyed blood-red, differentiated him from other beings.
And, the mouth moved.
"How did you know that?"
[What...]
"You don't have such abilities, do you?"
[...]
"You possess these powerful Constellation relics, yet you can't even break out of Devil's Intrusion on your own."
Puk! Puk!
The 7 Constellation relics were simultaneously stuck under the emerged head.
Sssss...
Below that, the Red Administrator's body began to form.
The Red Administrator, similar in size to the Martial God.
Although he regained his body, his power itself was no match for the Martial God's.
Now would be the perfect time to subdue him.
However.
[...You don't have such abilities, do you, he said.]
The Martial God, repeating the Red Administrator's last words,
Was blankly recalling the past.
The infinite regression that Asoka had proposed.
This, in fact, had many problems.
The absolute beings of the BattleNet would never have allowed the Martial God to grow power in this way.
But.
'I knew how to avoid detection.'
How the Battle Net would detect such things.
And how to avoid it.
The moment the Martial God heard Asoka's proposal,
He rapidly figured this out.
It was clearly information he didn't have before.
From the moment the clue to infinite regression appeared,
A method to store power through this suddenly came to mind.
Something was created from nothing.
'...Why didn't I feel it was strange?'
The Martial God's eyes trembled.
Thinking about it now, that realization at that time,
Was as if someone had urgently injected information out of necessity.
And.
That someone was...
[Don't tell me... it was you?]
"Hehe... There's something else strange, isn't there?"
Ziiing...
The Red Administrator opened his palm.
Then, a pure white sphere floated above his hand and created a form.
A form resembling the sun.
It was something the Martial God knew well.
[The Sun King's... laboratory.]
"Yes. How did you escape from here?"
Siiik.
While saying this, the Red Administrator smiled.
"How did you, who had just been born, manage?"
Hearing those words,
The strength drained from the Martial God's body.
The memory of escaping from the Sun King's laboratory using every means possible,
Was being shaken from its roots.
If until now, the original memory was of a being just born in a test tube,
Barely escaping the laboratory through a series of coincidences,
Now.
[That too... don't tell me it was you?]
"That's right."
As the past escape story all disappeared, becoming an illusion,
Only those blood-red eyes appeared in his memory.
"You are my creation."
And those blood-red eyes, just like now,
[You are my creation.]
Had called him, inside the test tube,
A 'creation' in exactly the same way.
* * *
In the center of the West Sea.
Around the place where Dongbang Sak's Taiji Sword was stuck, with pure white light stretching up to the sky,
Dozens of passenger ships were stopped.
From huge cruise ships to small boats, all had gathered at the scene,
Where people were busy taking pictures.
"...It's become a tourist spot. Just great."
Seong Jihan wore an exasperated expression as he watched people treating the Taiji Sword's light as a tourist attraction.
Weren't these people scared?
They saw everything that happened here on the battletube, yet they were taking selfies.
"Oh... There!"
"It, it's Seong Jihan-nim!"
"Are you here to retrieve the sword?"
"Wow, jackpot. We came on the right day!"
"It must be ending today! Let's take more pictures quick, honey!"
As Seong Jihan appeared, people realized this was their last chance and became even more eager to take pictures.
"Alright. Please step back. If anything happens when I pull out the sword, I won't compensate for damages."
"Okay!"
"Oh. Did you record that?"
"We're actually hearing Seong Jihan-nim's voice. Amazing..."
Besides Korean, Chinese and Japanese could be heard.
Hearing various languages mixed in, Seong Jihan sighed.
They were really excited about this, weren't they.
'I've warned them, so I've done my part.'
Thinking this, Seong Jihan,
Whoosh!
Moved to the underwater sealing site where the light was soaring.
'Thankfully, it's still intact.'
The Taiji Sword stuck in the shrunken Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation.
Although it had been left alone for quite some time due to the unity of Blue and Martial Soul,
This sword was still emitting a vigorous aura without losing a bit of its light.
Instead, perhaps because the Red World Tree had been acting as the source of this power,
The sealing formation of Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation seemed to have shrunk even more than before.
'I should absorb some life force from the World Tree one last time before the battle.'
Although the cracks on his face could now heal on their own,
Still, more was better, so it would be good to gain more life force.
Thinking this, Seong Jihan entered the Nine Palaces Eight Trigrams Formation.
And there,
"...Wow, it's really almost over?"
The Red World Tree, split in half by the white light, was completely withered and twisted.
It wasn't this bad the last time he saw it.
Perhaps due to maintaining the Taiji Sword, its life force had been drained tremendously.
'If I had been late with my training, the World Tree would have disappeared and the Taiji Sword would have lost its power.'
He had kept telling Yoon Seah to give up on being a candidate for Arena's owner,
But regardless of that, he had benefited greatly from the training ground.
Seong Jihan thought that if he had been even a little late, the Taiji Sword might have disappeared too, looking at the Red World Tree that seemed about to vanish.
'Well then, let's take out the transformer first.'
Seong Jihan took out Gilgamesh from his inventory.
Then,
[Ugh, uwaah...! O-Outside!!]
An intense reaction burst out from him.
"Hey, try using the Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit."
[Y-You... Are you trying to use me as that transformer again?]
"Yeah. That thing is almost finished now. Let's drain it one last time and end this."
[N-No! To think the World Tree would disappear like this...!]
"Disappointing, right? That's why let's absorb it one last time and finish this."
As Seong Jihan said this and approached the World Tree with the skull,
Gilgamesh shouted angrily.
[Y-You... You're just going to suck out all the power and stuff me back in the inventory, aren't you!]
"No, I won't. I'll let you live."
[Can you promise on your name?]
"Yeah, I'll bet my name on it."
What's the big deal about betting a name?
When Seong Jihan answered halfheartedly, Gilgamesh quickly caught on to his true intentions.
[...This won't do. Your family. Bet on your family!]
"Are you crazy? Why would I involve my family in something like this?"
[As I thought... You're planning not to keep your promise! T-Then I won't do it!]
"Hmm, you're being quite rebellious."
Maybe it's because he had been too generous until now.
This guy had become perceptive.
'Should I just not absorb it?'
Rather than letting Gilgamesh loose, it might be better not to eat the life force.
"Inventory."
As Seong Jihan thought this and opened his inventory,
Gilgamesh's words became faster.
[W-Why are you opening the inventory?]
"To put you back in. I'm giving up on the life force."
[D-Don't do that! I'm not just asking to be saved for nothing...!]
"Then?"
[I-If I recover my power, I can detect traces of the Tower of Babel in Tuseong! Yes. That means I can find Tuseong's location!]
"Ah, Dongbang Sak said I could know that if I held the sword."
[W-What...?]
Offering to reveal Tuseong's location seemed to have been his trump card for persuasion.
When this was blocked, Gilgamesh was at a loss for words, flustered.
Seong Jihan looked at the skull and thought.
'Hmm. Just in case, should I keep him alive for a bit as a backup plan?'
It might be dangerous to rely only on Plan A.
"Alright, I got it. I'll let you live for a while. Try absorbing the power."
[...What about your oath?]
"Inventory."
[A-Alright! I'll do it, so please stop opening that damned inventory...!]
Gilgamesh trembled at the mention of the inventory.
Seong Jihan smirked and brought the skull to the Red World Tree.
"Okay, it's the last time so absorb it all."
[Understood. You'll... let me live?]
"We'll see how you do."
[You're still not giving a clear answer until the end...]
Though grumbling at Seong Jihan's words, Gilgamesh faithfully extended his chains.
As those chains touched the Red World Tree.
Sssssss...
Gilgamesh's skull began to regenerate rapidly.