Ch.18160. Original Creator RedLake (3)

Memories of godhood, unbearable for a human.

Yet by existing in this space with Arel, I was gradually becoming accustomed to my existence as an avatar.

And those vast memories finally began to reveal the truth.

The scenery of the room, once filled with nothing but white, began to transform in an instant.

‘This landscape…’

The world was burning.

Skyscrapers soaring into the sky. Cars and modern buildings visible everywhere.

This was undoubtedly Earth, not Ailetan. And all the buildings were familiar.

This was Seoul, the capital of Korea.

“P-please save me…!!”

“Ah… Lord Ayel! P-protect us from those demons… *cough*…”

Seoul was burning.

Monsters and villains had taken over the city. As if the Red Lake had launched a full-scale offensive, large forces had seized Seoul.

They were indiscriminately massacring the city’s citizens.

Hunters stood against the villains, but they were overwhelmingly outmatched.

‘What on earth happened…’

I tried to jump into the battle.

But I couldn’t directly intervene in what was happening around me. I could only watch as the world burned.

That’s when it happened.

Blood sprayed everywhere at once, and dozens of people became corpses.

“Haa… So many fresh sacrifices. A blood festival to celebrate Setanus’s revival… kukukuk.”

Demonic energy swirled as if squeezing those corpses. The energy seemed to be stealing their souls.

‘Could that be… Soul Stealer Seo Mun-yeom?’

A villain known as one of the Four Demons, famous for extracting life force from human corpses.

The man we had killed was alive. And judging by his six arms, he had already summoned the great demon Amon into his body.

“Well done, Soul Stealer. Keep rampaging.”

Hearing those words, Seo Mun-yeom dashed off somewhere.

And beside him, I saw a familiar face—a white man with blonde hair and tanned skin, the villain Juan Soriano.

I also noticed a skinny man approaching him to report something.

“The hunters who were resisting have begun fighting among themselves. They’re killing each other. My mind manipulation worked perfectly! Kukukuk.”

“Well done. Your title of ‘Doubt Demon’ is well-deserved. Haha! Good… Let’s continue… this festival of villains for Setanus!”

And I couldn’t believe my eyes.

The very culprit who had created Ains’s tragedy, the Doubt Demon, was alive.

‘What on earth is going on?’

To be precise, the true culprit behind that tragedy was Juan Soriano, who commanded the Doubt Demon as his subordinate.

My enemies were now destroying a massive city.

Around Juan Soriano, the corpses of hunters were scattered everywhere. But then:

“Juan Soriano! Your plans will never succeed!”

Lightning flashed around him with a thunderous roar.

BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!

In the midst of that flickering light, I spotted a familiar face. The president of the Korean Hunter Association, Jeon Tae-hyun.

“The Lightning Emperor, is it? But it’s already too late. Setanus’s blessing has long since made me… an apostle transcending humanity. Hahah!”

As Soriano spoke, his body underwent a grotesque transformation.

His entire body began to change into something like scale armor. Those scales, resembling a dragon’s, completely enveloped Soriano.

“The fame of the Lightning Emperor ends today. If you die, the hunters will stop their futile struggles! Kukuk. Kuhahaha!”

The Doubt Demon, who had moved away from the two, laughed maniacally as he watched.

Thus began the battle between the two transcendent beings.

Yellow lightning and pitch-black demonic energy intertwined for a long time.

Humanity’s strongest, Jeon Tae-hyun. Even Juan Soriano, who had become Setanus’s apostle, couldn’t quickly gain the upper hand against him.

But ultimately, time was on Soriano’s side. The Lightning Emperor exhausted all his strength.

Even he couldn’t stop Juan Soriano, who had become the chief apostle of Setanus—a being who had transcended divine beasts to become an evil god.

“Haa… Haa… Lightning Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun! In the end, before the blessing of the great Setanus… Yes. You were just an ordinary human. Kukuk… My victory!”

I closed my eyes tightly.

And a moment later, Soriano gleefully picked up someone’s head.

“Lightning Emperor Jeon Tae-hyun. Now that he and his elites are all dead, there’s no one left to stand against us. Kukuk.”

Juan Soriano, his eyes filled with red madness, grabbed Tae-hyun’s severed head and shook it violently.

“Soon Setanus will descend to earth! The foolish creations of Ayel and Arel will all receive divine punishment under His name! And they will become sacrifices for our new world of the new humanity! Kuhahah…!!”

Simultaneously, I began to see scenes from another location. Seo Mun-yeom appeared before my eyes again.

There, I saw a familiar brown-haired figure facing off against Seo Mun-yeom.

***

A young hunter with brown hair was standing against Seo Mun-yeom.

‘Is that man… Kwon Si-woo?’

I was shocked. Ains’s classmate. And the original protagonist, Si-woo, was confronting Seo Mun-yeom.

But he was no match for Seo Mun-yeom.

“Huh?”

After exchanging a few sword strikes. With that final word, a massive hole was punctured through Si-woo’s abdomen.

And the young woman in nun’s clothing beside him, Chae Min-ah, screamed.

“S-Si-woo!! N-No!!!”

At the same time, other hunters rushed toward Seo Mun-yeom. I saw familiar faces. Yuri and Soso.

‘Don’t rush in now!’

Somehow my voice wouldn’t come out, but at that moment, the image of their backs flashed in my mind.

‘That Seo Mun-yeom is dangerous! Just the two of them can’t…’

Strangely, the two looked weak. For those who had awakened as Eastern Sages, their aura seemed too ordinary.

CLANG-CLANG!

Soon, Yuri and Soso attempted an attack together. Seo Mun-yeom easily blocked it.

“Hahah! Little minnows who aren’t even among the Five Celestial Stars…”

But Yuri’s ice spell and Soso’s aura sword couldn’t even create a small crack in the demonic shield Seo Mun-yeom had created.

“Still, they say you’re the daughters of that arrogant Andrei and Yeon Se-hwi? Kukukuk… And all of you have such pretty faces. So I won’t kill you, but make you my concubines instead!”

Despite his vulgar words like a third-rate villain,

Yuri and Soso alone couldn’t properly face Seo Mun-yeom, crushed by the overwhelming demonic energy surrounding them.

“But first I need to break your spirits just enough so you don’t die! I don’t like feisty women!!”

He swung his burning aura sword at the two.

I sensed it. The two couldn’t block that sword strike.

But then:

“Both of you, escape this place with your comrades!”

Someone blocked their path.

“Father!”

“Fa…ther…”

“You two are our last hope! If you die too… no one will be able to stop the resurrected Red Dragon!”

They were saved by the Heavenly Demon Yeon Se-hwi and Grand Duke Andrei.

Yuri and Soso tried to fight together, but their subordinates evacuated them from Seo Mun-yeom.

‘Thank goodness…’

But even if they survived, it wouldn’t matter.

I could read the surrounding demonic energy. I had never felt such energy even when a great demon was summoned.

The air itself resonated violently with that energy, making tearing sounds. And the sky was already dyed with red clouds.

“Now… now the great One descends to earth! The false gods will be driven out, and the true god will open a new world!”

And from far away, I heard Juan Soriano shouting.

I was certain. The scene unfolding before me was undoubtedly the moment of the apocalypse. It was truly the worst reality with not even a glimmer of hope remaining.

Even I trembled at the demonic energy just before Setanus was summoned.

‘This is… yes… memories from the previous cycle… from the regression. Yes. Otherwise… such an impossible thing…’

I denied the scene before my eyes.

The Doubt Demon. Seo Mun-yeom who had become Amon. I had killed them all.

And Yuri and Soso had left Earth with me to find Epitheus in Ailetan. Arel had clearly said they were with me.

I had merely entered this space similar to the divine realm with Arel for a moment. So the scene before me couldn’t possibly be reality.

The memories of countless regressions I had experienced. This must be part of those regressions.

– Why are you showing me these scenes! The memories of everyone dying… I’ve experienced them countless times in the regression memories I’ve recalled…

I shouted at Arel with an angry voice. But he remained silent.

In fact, since I was Arel, I could understand his intentions even without him speaking. Arel shook his head.

‘That’s… no way… it can’t be…’

And Arel was conveying an unbelievable truth to me.

At that moment, I saw a man standing on the rooftop of a building.

A man with dark black hair. And he was looking at the doomed city with a desperate expression.

“Setanus… in the end, I couldn’t stop his revival. Even the Sages, who were the only possibility to prevent destruction… at this rate, Earth and Ailetan will surely…”

And that man’s face was very familiar to me.

‘Who is that person?’

It was the face of a young man who was terribly familiar. That man was me.

More precisely, he resembled the Arel I had just seen.

At that moment,

Involuntarily, as if possessing that man, I began to perceive everything that man was seeing.

And even his thoughts. They all harmonized in my mind. It was as if I had become that man.

– Yes. It seems all memories have returned now.

At the same time, Arel spoke to me. And at that moment,

I understood the meaning of the landscape this young man was looking at and the reality he belonged to.

Arel said:

– That’s right. This man standing on the rooftop is the real Lee Min-soo, the avatar of Arel.

He continued:

– And all this scenery you’re now witnessing is the true reality.

At that moment, the surroundings turned white again.

***

I returned to the white space with Arel.

The hellish Seoul where thousands, no, tens or hundreds of thousands of people were dying—that scenery disappeared as if it had been a dream.

But I didn’t forget Arel’s words.

‘And all this scenery you’re now witnessing is the true reality.’

I understood the full meaning of those words.

No. From that moment on the rooftop of a building in Seoul on the brink of apocalypse.

The young man standing there was me. So rather than understanding, I simply recalled all the memories.

“The scene from earlier… that time… is frozen, isn’t it?”

As I spoke, Arel appeared before me again.

“That’s right. The external reality still exists, but its time is momentarily paused, so to speak.”

I couldn’t deny Arel’s words.

The real Earth was undoubtedly on the brink of destruction, just as I had seen earlier. And in the worst possible way, with no apparent possibility of stopping Setanus.

I briefly organized that confusing reality in my mind.

If, as Arel said, all those scenes I just witnessed were reality,

Then that reality is A.

But from the moment I became aware of my possession in the novel, crossed over to the otherworld Ailetan, arrived at the Sacred Lake, and met Arel,

The reality I experienced was a completely different reality B from A.

“That’s right. Right now, as you and I are talking, we are in reality B. Strictly speaking, it’s not reality. Yes… to use a somewhat similar analogy, you could call it the world of a novel. One that I created.”

Arel’s words weren’t surprising.

From the beginning, I had thought of myself as someone who had possessed a character in a novel’s world.

But that alone couldn’t explain everything.

I shared memories with Arel. I understood to some extent, but I couldn’t organize it myself.

I shouted at him in an angry voice:

“So you’re saying you’ve paused a world on the brink of destruction and are leisurely writing some alternative history novel, Arel!”

But Arel remained calm.

“Yes. That analogy isn’t bad either. But it’s not the correct answer.”

“Then tell me quickly! The reality I’ve experienced… the reality where I met you in Ailetan like this… if that reality is just a novel, what meaning does it have!”

I couldn’t contain my rising anger.

Certainly, I thought this reality was inside a novel.

But I had accepted that novel as my reality. So I had vowed to sincerely accept the bonds I had formed with my lovers.

So it wasn’t a novel to me. Even if there was a real reality A, this novel reality B was more important to me.

This reality where I had come to love all those who loved me.

“Answer me!”

When I shouted like that, Arel replied:

“Meaning…? Your words are correct. You are my avatar. If this novel reality has no meaning, then it’s the same for me. Yes. You and I have been doing all this to make this novel reality meaningful!”

Arel’s divine power, a blue-white light, spread to me.

And once again, his memories began to flow into me.

“The external reality we’ve paused. The future of that reality has no choice but to accept the end created by Setanus. In that reality…”

The scene of Seoul I had just witnessed flashed in my mind again.

Most of the Red Lake’s executives were still alive. And they had successfully resurrected Setanus.

And Jeon Tae-hyun, said to be humanity’s strongest, was dead. Yuri and Soso didn’t seem to have awakened as Eastern Sages.

Above all, a man whose power as an awakened one felt pathetically insignificant.

In that reality A, I was a bystander. I couldn’t intervene at all in that reality where the world was being destroyed.

“That’s right. Lee Min-soo, you had long since lost all your power as an avatar. In the external reality, you were a being who couldn’t intervene at all in the world’s destruction.”

But in the returning memories, that external reality version of me had regained all memories as an avatar.

And on that building’s rooftop, I awakened Arel’s will residing within me.

“So you and I vowed in that external reality. If there was even one possibility, smaller than cosmic dust, we would rewrite the future of a world where destruction was certain.”

I finally understood the whole story.

“With my power of creation and your power of destruction, we endlessly created and destroyed very small worlds.”

I closed my eyes.

And in my mind, memories of the parallel worlds that Arel and I had created began to flow in.

Those parallel worlds were very small worlds. So small that the analogy of a novel wasn’t inappropriate.

Arel and I, as the world’s creators and destroyers, as the original author Red Lake, had been writing and destroying countless novels.

It was an endless remake, so to speak.

To prevent the end of the world.