Chapter 332 – Dawn

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An unforgettable memory.

Or, to be precise.

A memory that, despite being forgotten, could not be forgotten.

The 29th-ranked Devil God.

The Executor, Astaroth.

She engraves her own laws upon the world.

She establishes rules, enacts laws, and enforces them.

Reality is a blank canvas, and what fills it is her freedom.

Therefore, she is omnipotent.

Though not omniscient.

She approaches omnipotence more than anyone else.

And can realize omnipotence in a limited way.

“I will engrave my law upon the world.”

The repeated regressions.

The labyrinth of time designed by the Noble Prince Agares.

The loop for the Devil Gods’ assured victory became a shackle instead.

It merely degenerated into a meaningless waste of time, repeating without purpose.

The Four Seasons divined the future with the Chosen One and fixed fate with the needle of causality, so the Devil Gods’ defeat was certain.

Cannot win. It repeats. Defeat repeats. Even if I don’t remember, instinct tells me. That this meaningless defeat will continue forever.

“Rules to defy fate.”

The only future.

To break that future.

A variable that the Four Seasons did not predict must be created.

“I will inherit the memories of the previous iterations.”

Whatever the current self tries is futile.

Surely, the previous self also did something similar.

And yet, it failed, and the repetition of time continues.

To create a variable, one must know what the past self tried. There must be information that the past self discovered. Success must be achieved by accumulating and stacking failures.

“For this.”

I will pay any price.

I will abandon even what cannot be abandoned.

I will sacrifice even what should not be sacrificed.

“I would gladly lose myself.”

I really hate you humans.

Parasites living by infesting our stolen paradise.

Dirty vermin who stole Father’s paradise.

“I am the 29th-ranked Devil God.”

“A byproduct of our dull and blind Father.”

“Descendant of the old and ancient one.”

“The Executor, Astaroth.”

“I execute my law.”

Enacting laws and proclaiming them.

Setting rules and paying the price.

Astaroth seized the remnants of the bygone past.

“Ah.”

The first memory she saw like that.

Was the sight of the world being dyed in twilight.

An unforgettable memory.

A memory that could not be forgotten even after being forgotten.

The memory of twilight that was retrieved first.

“You know what? My brother… the Chosen One, Eugene, was called a god like you in the previous iterations.”

God of War.

The god of war. A god who protects soldiers. A god who wins victories.

A guardian deity who protects humanity from invasion.

God of War, Mars.

That was Yoo-seong’s title.

“It was a much grander and more sublime title than yours.”

Heavenly God.

The god of the sky.

A god who reigns from the highest place.

He was the sun god, the thunder god, and the heavenly deity.

“I’ll show you.”

Astaroth took a step forward with her right foot.

Both hands forward. Blade up. Slightly bending her legs. Raising her head.

It was a familiar stance to Yoo-seong. A stance that Eugene shows during sparring.

A kind of ready stance. A preparatory movement to cast the Sun Sword.

“The majesty of the Heavenly God.”

Rumble. 

An unknown sense of oppression weighed down on his shoulders. Yoo-seong’s eyes trembled. 

A sense of crisis. No, it’s hard to express it with just such words. A sensation like snakes crawling through his blood vessels. 

Cold sweat flowed down his back, and a dry gasp rose to the back of his throat. An unfamiliar sensation to Yoo-seong. But it was an emotion he couldn’t not know.

‘Fear? Me?’

Terrified?

Me of all people?

Afraid of the Devil God in front of me?

“Endure it, God of War.”

It was the echo of the soul. The warning of instinct. The intuition that reached into the future screamed. It’s dangerous.

Death is not scary. Yoo-seong had no attachment to life. He had already lived enough, and even if he died right now, he could accept it without much agitation. If he was reluctant to die, it wasn’t because he was afraid of his own death. He was afraid of the situation after he died.

But this time it was a little different.

A fundamental fear latent deep in his heart.

An emotional trauma that he couldn’t escape because he was human.

“Bael, you bastard…!”

You broke your promise!

You said you wouldn’t intervene!

If I remain silent, you will too…

Wasn’t that the oath?!

He saw it.

He saw Bael’s shadow in Astaroth.

In Yoo-seong’s blue eyes, distorted with shock and anger, something faint but visible was reflected.

Something that doesn’t seem like anything, and seems like everything.

A shape that seems like a man, a woman, a human, or a monster… a form that cannot be defined was flickering.

[I did not break it]

The shadow holds up something that looks like a finger.

Slowly pointing to something that looks like lips.

Creating something that looks like a smile.

[In this iteration, that is]

Crimson floods like a wave.

A shadow of something is consumed by light.

Even so, a presence that does not disappear steals Yoo-seong’s gaze.

[Consider it a privilege]

[I was the same]

[Even if you broke the promise]

[Since time has regressed and it didn’t happen]

[Aren’t I still keeping silent?]

Something that sounded like a voice pierced his mind. Yoo-seong bit his lip. It wasn’t difficult to grasp the situation. Hundreds of millions of regressions. Among them, there would be timelines where Yoo-seong broke his promise. 

In that case, Bael could intervene without any problems. Rather, he should be grateful that he has been silent until now. Since regression has no meaning to Bael, who is outside the flow of time. He could declare the end of the oath at the point when the promise was broken even once.

‘Astaroth was able to take over Eugene’s body… was it because of Bael’s intervention from the beginning…!’

[Hero]

[Nemesis]

[One like a friend]

[Do not misunderstand]

[Your short-sighted thought devalues the Executor’s efforts]

Everything stopped as if time had stopped.

Accelerated thinking in extreme situations stopped everything.

The shadow of something conveyed the story as if it had heard even the thoughts that were not spoken.

[I only planted the seed]

[It was the Executor’s penance that made the seed bloom]

[A flower of adversity that bloomed in hundreds of millions of regressions]

The truth of the world that other Devil Gods do not know.

The atrocities committed by the Ancient One and the revenge of the Four Seasons.

How did Astaroth know the truth that only Bael knew?

It’s not just Astaroth who found out. It wasn’t.

In the repetition of regression, Agares asked Bael for help, and Bael refused the request by revealing the truth. As a result, four Devil Gods learned the truth. And disappeared with the regression. The truth was buried in darkness again. Astaroth dug up the darkness again and realized the truth, becoming the second Devil God to know the truth.

[How is it?]

[Truly]

[Isn’t it beautiful?]

Agares’s plan was virtually achieved.

He succeeded in persuading Bael.

Bael decided to intervene and foreshadowed his descent as king.

Why doesn’t he come forward right away?

Even though he can end everything before the Chosen One awakens.

He still remained silent.

Because of the promise with Yoo-seong? Half of it is true. Bael kept silent due to the oath he made with the Chosen One.

However, that promise was not a formal Devil God contract. It was just a verbal promise. Even that verbal promise acts as a powerful constraint on transcendents like Devil Gods, but he is Bael. He is the king of the Devil Gods. He was an existence that could not be bound by such constraints. The reason he follows the promise is because Bael has the will to do so.

[I will break the silence when Agares’ plan is completed first]

[I will keep silent if Astaroth’s plan is completed first]

[That day]

[Those were the words I told you]

It wasn’t just Agares who persuaded Bael.

Astaroth also moved the heart of the king of the Devil Gods.

[If you die, there will be no one to stop the Executor]

[Astaroth’s plan has been completed]

[I will]

[Keep silent]

The shadow of something slowly disappears.

As if fluttering in the wind. As if burning in the sun.

As if claiming that it never existed from the beginning.

[Farewell]

[Old nemesis]

[This reunion]

[Is my respect for you]

‘What is that supposed to mean… am I going to die?’

The shadow is peeled off like a husk, and what remains in its place is a Devil God in Eugene’s guise. What she holds in her hand is twilight. The blade was dyed in crimson beyond scarlet. 

An unforgettable memory. A memory that could not be forgotten. Engraved even in Astaroth’s essence, so it was the first memory to be recalled. The majesty of the Heavenly God. Prestige. Authority.

“Gods, devils, and humans…”

The blue eyes begin to turn red. It was as if day and night coexisted.

“Are all equal before this. Look, God of War. Engrave it clearly in those eyes. And tell the world.”

Sun Sword.

Final Secret Technique.

“Despair.”

Dawn.

To divide day and night.

From left to right. A single slash. Twilight wielded in the most basic stance of the Solar Sword. A simple movement that is nothing special. But the resulting outcome could not be witnessed with open eyes. A single sword divides the world. It cuts off the sky and the earth, dividing day to create night. It tears night to bring dawn. Day and night, which cannot coexist, exist simultaneously. An absurd anomaly. A mysterious phenomenon that is both mysterious and frightening.

What binds day and night together is the faintly dawning dawn.

The Heavenly God has descended.

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
Today’s author’s note.

Yet again end of service.

Eh…

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
What’s copyright? Technically it didn’t exist yet so it’s not copied~