Brightest Darkness – 1

With its maw wide open, it was in a stance preparing to unleash a pitch-black breath downwards. It was a sight I had seen somewhere before.

As soon as I realized that fact, my mind reflexively spun. In the game, once a breath-attack pattern appeared, I had to run like hell to get out of its attack range.

‘……It won’t be the same.’

However, it was obvious that the same method wouldn’t work here. Back then, even if the World Eater’s size was enormous, it was still within a reasonable level of enormity.

Now, the scale itself was different. The size of one of its pupils was comparable to the sun floating in the sky, and even if I ran like this, it didn’t seem like I could escape.

Even as I pondered, its maw opened wider and wider, and the black aura gradually intensified. Then, the pitch-black breath was unleashed.

The breath, which could easily be called darkness itself, rapidly approached, crushing and melting the ground from ahead. Flowers, grass, and trees melted in real-time.

The horizontal range was at least several tens of meters. There was no space to escape, so I had to employ a different method.

‘I never thought it would test me this quickly.’

Like when I practiced Dragonic Words, I took a deep breath and took a stance. If this method didn’t work, I too would end up like the nature melting over there.

I put strength into my abdomen and shouted resonantly.

“Scatterㅡ!!!!!!”

It was ‘Scatter,’ one of the five Dragonic Words I had learned from Pareunari. In the game, it merely blocked its breath, but here, it was a technique on an entirely different level.

As the Dragonic Word collided with the black breath, the pitch-black aura literally ‘scattered.’ Every single entity that constituted the concept of the breath completely disintegrated.

The destructive power, having lost its focal point, couldn’t hold on for long. The landscape, which had been stained black and melting, stopped expanding.

‘It worked.’

It worked. I let out a sigh of relief internally.

The moment a concept is imbued into a Dragonic Word, differences in power become meaningless. As long as I issued the command to ‘scatter,’ beings that constitute the world would simply obey, unless it was another Dragonic Word.

I stood my ground and looked up at the red eye floating in the sky. As if surprised by my action, its vertical pupil seemed to contract for a moment, then began to shrink in size.

The red orb, which had been comparable to the sun, shrank to a reasonable size, and soon, the form below its neck also took shape. It was a familiar size, and a familiar appearance.

ㅡI thought it was its last struggle…… but it wasn’t…….

Thoughts swirled. Unlike that time when merely enduring to keep my head from bursting was agony, now I felt no burden at all.

It must be one of two things: either I had regained some of my strength, or I had learned Dragonic Words.

The Goddess glanced at the spot where she had been pushed back, plowing the ground. There was still no sign of her returning, I wondered how far she had been pushed back.

ㅡA familiar aura…… Now I understand…… The human who protected the world…… It sealed memories…… but they are being unsealed…….

“If it’s a familiar aura, then you must know who I am. Tell me. Who am I?”

This was also a question for myself. While the Goddess, who should have originally answered, had disappeared somewhere, that guy seemed to know the answer.

ㅡThe first immortal…… The one who inherited the mission…… The one who suppressed the curse…….

“…….”

ㅡAll of it…… is the path you have walked…….

As soon as I heard the words that came out of the World Eater’s mouth, shivers ran down my spine. All three of those were terms referring to the protagonists of the Brightest Darkness series, in order.

The protagonist of Brightest Darkness 1, the first immortal to appear in the world.

The protagonist of Brightest Darkness 2, who awoke a very long time after the world of Brightest Darkness 1.

The protagonist of Brightest Darkness 3, who suppressed the immortal centipede with their own will and acted while maintaining their sanity.

That is why they are, in order, the first immortal, the one who inherited the mission, and the one who suppressed the curse. Since that guy is calling those three my past, it means I directly experienced those events.

Puzzles that had merely been conjectures were steadily falling into place.

‘Right now, I must be like this because I lost my memories.’

ㅡHowever…… it’s meaningless…….

“Meaningless? What is?”

ㅡBecause it’s already too late.

And, as its pupil glowed red, something struck. My body reacted instinctively, but it was too late to make any move.

“Returnㅡ”

Before I could even use the Dragonic Word, an enormous impact struck. I was slammed back-first into the ground, plowing through all the nearby terrain, and was pushed back a considerable distance.

Plowed-up mounds of dirt poured over my body, dirtying my uniform. As my mind registered the situation, a tingling pain surged through my entire body. My back, in particular, hurt much more.

“Kuek……?!”

I gasped. It hurt like hell because I had almost never experienced such intense pain until now. It was a sensation I hadn’t felt in too long.

I flew back a considerable distance like that, and only after smashing two more large trees, I barely managed to stop by half-destroying a third tree.

Leaves rustled down from above my head.

“……Cough.”

A dry cough escaped my lips. Seeing that I wasn’t coughing up blood, it seemed I wasn’t going to die.

I checked my entire body. My pitch-black uniform was a mess of grass, dirt, and leaves, and there wasn’t a single part of my body that didn’t hurt. At least my bones and flesh seemed intact, which was a relief.

‘Just now…… what was that? I was attacked by something.’

It was certainly the World Eater that did this to me. However, only its pupil had glowed for a moment; no other movements were visible.

It was a relief that I could at least utter half of a Dragonic Word. If I hadn’t reacted to that last attack and had taken it head-on, I would surely have been shattered to pieces.

I stumbled, propped myself up with my hands on the ground, and stood. The World Eater was still standing there in the distance. Its sheer size made it damnably easy to see.

As the pain subsided somewhat, rational thought became possible. That thing that had pushed the Goddess back. It was clear that I had also taken that attack.

‘……Am I still alive?’

As I stood up from the ground, a tingling current flowed through me, as if I had been hit in the elbow. It seemed I hadn’t died, at least.

“Are you alright? You?”

As I was collecting myself, an urgent female voice came from above. Someone landed right beside me. The impact of the landing caused her head-sized breasts to greatly heave.

A woman with pitch-black hair and golden and silver odd eyes, who was clearly this world’s Goddess.

Despite her very urgent movements, the cloth covering her nipples and vulva showed no sign of falling off. It was as if it had been glued on.

Seeing it sway gently in the wind, it didn’t seem fixed, yet it tantalizingly appeared to show, but never actually revealed anything.

“As you can see, I’m alright.”

“I’m sorry. I tried to put up a protective barrier for you, but it was too late…… I was worried about what would happen if you had just died like that.”

The Goddess even had tears in her eyes as she let out a sigh of relief.

“Since you seem to know who I am, I will omit explanations about myself. Are you truly the God of the Holy Nation?”

“For now, yes. But right now, I’ve lost almost everything I had to that guy, so I’m barely anything that could be called a God without embarrassment.”

Your outfit is what’s embarrassing, though. I barely swallowed the words that were about to surge up.

“In that case, I will ask one more question. You, are you the Sun or the Moon?”

“……Huh?”

The Goddess froze in place, still with tears in her eyes.

“I’ve been curious about this for a long time, so this is good. I know that the Gods of the Holy Nation are two, the Sun and the Moon, but where did the other one disappear to, leaving you to face that alone? I asked before, but you glossed over it, didn’t you? This time, I absolutely must hear it.”

“…….”

At my question, the Goddess rolled her eyes around awkwardly. Her expression was less gloomy and more subtly difficult to answer.

Judging by her expression, she hadn’t died to the World Eater or anything. If she had, I would have had to apologize instead.

“W-well…….”

The Goddess continued to prevaricate. At this point, I started to feel that something was off.

She couldn’t answer when I asked if she was the Sun or the Moon last time, two people had never appeared at the same time, and her clothes were half golden and half silver, plus her eyes were odd-colored…….

No way.

“……No way, was it just one person from the start?”

Nod. Her head moved up and down. This, too, was a shock in its own way. I had firmly believed there were two of them all this time, but in fact, the Sun and Moon were one?

“No, then why did you act as if there were two of you?”

“There are circumstances deeper than the ocean here……”

“Answer.”

“It’s because of the creature abandoned by God.”

“……Are you talking about that guy?”

A completely unexpected answer came back. What did a creature abandoned by God have to do with the Goddess playing two roles as one person?

“As it twisted into a grotesque creature, it also corrupted the very concept of a Monotheistic God, so I had no choice. Do you remember the Abyss that was next to that guy? All of it is the result of the faith I received during my time as the Monotheistic God being corrupted.”

“Uh……”

While I was frozen, the Goddess urgently turned her body.

“I’ll explain in more detail later. Now is not the time for this!”

As soon as a barrier made of golden light appeared before us, the breath collided with it. Both sides blocked by the barrier melted mercilessly, sending up ominous black smoke.

“Ugh……!”

The Goddess gritted her teeth and frowned. A groan escaped her lips. Even blocking that breath seemed to be beyond her strength. Cracks appeared all over the barrier, and her hands trembled.

Since it seemed she couldn’t hold out any longer, I shouted resonantly, putting strength into my voice.

“Scatterㅡ!!!!!!”

The barrier and the breath, included within the range of the Dragonic Word, scattered into the air. The Goddess looked at me with surprised eyes.

“You, since when could you use Dragonic Words……? Has your power finally returned?”

“My power returned, what are you talking about? Didn’t you return it to me?”

We were both surprised by each other and stared. Both of us had eyes that said, ‘What on earth is this person talking about?’ Neither of us understood what the other was saying.

“M-me? To you?”

“You said you’d help me when we parted in hell, didn’t you? So I thought you left enough power to fight that guy and helped my awakening with the surplus?”

“W-well, it’s true I said I’d help! But I was already struggling just to stop that guy from rampaging, so I absolutely had no leeway to pay attention to anything else! It’s not that I intentionally didn’t do it, but that I couldn’t help it!”

‘No, the Goddess said she returned it?’

Nyx had definitely said that too. That the Goddess had intervened, but she hadn’t increased my power, but returned it. If so, does that mean Nyx was wrong?

In a situation where we were completely out of sync, we were all bewildered, until the Goddess was the first to exclaim, “Ah!”

“I think I know what happened! It means your body is recalling memories before your mind!”

“……Is that a good thing?”

“If it were in the past, it would have been bad as it would give that thing an excuse…… but now it’s already too late, so we should aim to regain your power as quickly as possible.”

Thump! The conversation was cut short by the sound of a colossal body settling down. A body mixed with black and dark blue approached nearby. Golden and silver divine power was embedded in various places on its scales.

It wasn’t that it kindly waited for our conversation to end; it seemed the Goddess had been creating diversions to buy time in her own way.

ㅡLast struggle…… insignificant…… failed…….

“Shut your maw. We haven’t lost yet.”

ㅡHaven’t lost……?

Instantly, its emotions erupted, and the very ground shook from the aftermath alone.

Giant trees, easily more than an armspan wide, toppled over in a rush in the opposite direction of the World Eater, and all the flowers and grass were plowed up, revealing barren dirt ground.

ㅡEven after committing such acts…… are you trying to use that human…… disgusting…… and repulsive…….

“…….”

The Goddess bit her lower lip slightly. ‘Using me,’ I wondered what that meant. Given that reaction, it seemed the Goddess did have something to feel guilty about.

ㅡHuman…… its last hope…… Do you know what actions it took against you…….

“I know. You sent me to another world, didn’t you? Three times, at that. No, that’s not right. All three times were the same world, just different time periods, so it would be more accurate to say you sent me to one world three times.”

ㅡDo you also know what you experienced in that world…….

“Well. I don’t know about that. I lost all my memories, you see.”

Then, an emotion close to mockery mixed into the thoughts.

ㅡYou experienced countless pains…… and countless deaths…… It broke you…… Human…… Think about the reason your memories were erased…….

Actually, I had somewhat expected it.

Unlike the protagonist of Brightest Darkness 4, who reached the ending without a single death according to the setting, the protagonists of Brightest Darkness 1 through 3 were immortals, so they truly died over and over again.

If I had experienced the same things, then I too must have died an uncountable number of times. It wasn’t particularly surprising.

The fact that the protagonists of the Brightest Darkness series revive as if nothing happened no matter how many times they die is a metaphor that as long as the player doesn’t give up, the character won’t give up either.

I too must not have given up. That’s why I saw the ending.

ㅡThe cause that broke you…… is pretending to be for your sake…… It’s a great hypocrisy…….

“…….”

Just before the Goddess could lower her head, I preempted her.

“So?”

As if my answer was completely different from what it expected, her round, wide odd eyes turned towards me.

And it seemed the vertical pupil was also surprised, just like her.

ㅡDid you not understand…… human…….

“No. I understood it more than enough. The Goddess brought me here, and thanks to that, I suffered like hell. It would be strange if I didn’t understand.”

I drew the Wingless Nightmare. I wasn’t sure if this could wound that guy, but with the Goddess beside me, it would work out somehow.

Even if not, it would at least be enough to show my resolve.

“But what does my suffering like hell have to do with you presumptuously deciding what I think?”

I pointed the tip of my sword at it. Its red vertical pupil contracted slightly.

“Whether I forgive the Goddess-nim or get angry. That’s for me to decide. Not for a lizard bastard like you to decide arbitrarily. Do you understand?”

I turned my head. As my gaze met her, the Goddess flinched.

“Goddess-nim.”

“……Yes.”

“Well, there are many things I want to ask you. I’ll hear the rest after everything is over. Instead, please tell me this one thing now. I’ve failed to get an answer twice, and I’m genuinely dying of curiosity.”

“……I understand. What is it?”

“What on earth was the Brightest Darkness series?”

“That was……”

The Goddess, who had been moving her lips for a long time, quietly opened her mouth.

“……It is what you experienced in my world, created with the concepts of your world.”

“Ah, so what you’re saying is that I wasn’t transmigrated into a game world, but that the Goddess-nim created the world I was transmigrated into as a game. And the game protagonist’s actions were my own actions.”

“Yes, that’s right…….”

Right, somehow something felt off.

It wasn’t that I had transmigrated into a game and acted as the protagonist instead of a player character. The Brightest Darkness series was a game made from the events I had experienced.

Now, I finally understood the true meaning of what Nyx had said. The reason she pointed at me when asked who the protagonist of Brightest Darkness 3 was, must have been because Brightest Darkness 3 itself was a game that dealt with my actions.

As all the puzzles were solved, my mind felt at ease. Recently, there had been nothing but complicated emotional matters, but for the first time in a long while, my head felt clear.

“I don’t know why on earth you made that into a game…… but as I said just now, I’ll postpone that for later.”

I pointed my sword. As if my attitude was greatly displeasing to it, the World Eater growled. The surrounding landscape, which was already a chaotic mess, was once again overturned.

“For now, it seems driving that thing away is a more urgent priority.”