Ch.18360. Original Creator RedLake (5)

Meanwhile, at the Sacred Lake. In its depths.

The three members of Flame who crossed the gate in the depths with Lee Minsu.

They were now asleep in a pure white dimensional space. And each was having their own dream.

But in those dreams, all three were meeting the same person.

‘Minsu…’

Yuri Tarkovskaya. In her dream, old memories were unfolding once again.

A dream from her second year at Eins. When the new semester had just begun.

Yuri was speaking to a certain young man.

“What is it? You? Are you a student at Eins? I don’t recognize your face. How dare you stare at someone from so far away!”

He was a student with a very vague impression. Looking closely, he might have been somewhat handsome, but it was the kind of face whose impression seemed likely to fade quickly.

“If you have business with me, come and speak to me directly!”

When Yuri said this, the students surrounding her moved.

The elite students, known as Yuri’s honor guard, glared fiercely at Lee Minsu.

“There’s no need to deal with him, Lady Yuri! It would be a waste of time for someone as noble as you to exchange words with such an unknown student.”

“He should know his place. How dare he so casually…”

“Perhaps he’s planning to secretly give you a love letter? Hehe. At least he has good taste…”

It was an embarrassingly awkward scene that would be unimaginable for the Yuri of today.

Even though it was a dream, and Yuri knew it was a dream, she felt embarrassed by her honor guard.

But back then, Yuri was perfectly playing her role.

To prevent her relatives from the Tarkovsky family from finding her weaknesses, they had even planted undercover students. She had no intention of playing into their hands.

So from the moment she entered Eins.

Yuri thoroughly played the role of a high-ranking noble from the Slavic Kingdom and an elite exchange student.

‘Perhaps I too… became absorbed in such pretense.’

That’s why Yuri deliberately acted extremely displeased in front of her honor guard.

At Eins, she was creating an image of herself as a flower on a cliff that no one would dare approach carelessly.

There were many men who watched her like that. She received countless confessions.

But Yuri never accepted any man’s confession. She had always distrusted men from the beginning.

‘Well, that man too… isn’t he the same?’

But in truth, Lee Minsu was somewhat different from those men.

In front of her honor guard, she pretended not to know anything about Minsu.

But in reality, that black-haired man.

That man who was actually quite handsome if you looked closely—his name was already well known to Yuri Tarkovskaya.

‘His name was… Minsu, for sure.’

Although it was coincidental, she had encountered that man several times.

Even after entering Eins, any man was trivial to her.

But strangely, that man bothered her.

‘Well, he’s probably just annoying.’

She had secretly investigated his name through her maids since her first year. In fact, she was that conscious of him.

But Yuri didn’t know how to approach him.

However, shortly after the second year began, Minsu defeated her in a student duel.

Moreover, she was ranked first among students, while Minsu was at the very bottom.

‘W-why did I lose to a man like that!’

She was furious. Her pride was wounded.

But at the same time, her heart was racing surprisingly fast. The student she had been secretly conscious of, Minsu.

Indeed, there was something about him.

Surely this defeat could be an opportunity to create a connection with him.

‘T-that’s right. Fire spells are my weakness… I can use him to become stronger!’

She made such excuses to herself, but in truth, she was happy that some kind of contact had been established with him.

And time at Eins passed quickly.

Winter approached as the graduation of the 18th class of Eins drew near.

By then, Yuri Tarkovskaya already knew herself. That she had come to like Minsu for quite some time.

The dream of those Eins days, when just thinking about Minsu made her happy, passed like a mirage.

In that daydream, Yuri thought once more.

‘Why did I come to like Minsu?’

She didn’t know the answer during her time at Eins, but now she did.

Whenever their eyes met by chance, he would always indifferently turn his gaze away. But sometimes, he couldn’t hide the look in his eyes.

Minsu, secretly looking at her, always had a sad expression.

The kind of expression that only someone who had experienced terrible pain could make.

But even with such a sad expression, Yuri remembered that Minsu’s gaze when looking at her was always warm.

And at some point, Yuri found herself suddenly thinking that she wanted to keep Minsu’s warm gaze by her side.

That she wanted to create more connections with him. Just like that.

***

Yeon Soso was dreaming of days gone by.

Dreams of her time at Eins. While those days were painful for her as she remembered the tragedy of Eins, this dream was different.

Perhaps it was a dream of the happiest time in Soso’s life.

A dream from her second year at Eins, when she was secretly in love with a certain man.

“Y-your n-name is… M-Minsu… right?”

“Yes.”

The day she first spoke to him was at the beginning of her second year.

In fact, she had known about him since her first year.

Introverted, gloomy, and friendless Yeon Soso. Because of this, Soso had always hidden away in the Eins library since her first year.

She was embarrassed by her awkward Korean. Being naturally timid, she became even more intimidated when she couldn’t communicate properly.

By then, the other girls had already formed their own close groups.

Except for Soso. As a result, she hadn’t made a single friend.

Soso ended up in the library, alone, reading romance novels and building up her gloomy fantasies.

And each time, Soso became aware of a certain black-haired student who frequently visited the library.

‘His name is… Minsu… right?’

Only later did she realize the correct pronunciation was Minsu, but until she became closer to him, she called him that name in her mind.

Anyway, he was an interesting person. Like her, Minsu also seemed to have no friends.

But unlike her, who was always reading romance novels, Minsu always looked busy.

‘He seemed to be studying magic theory or preparing for theoretical classes.’

She often saw him studying busily like that, then suddenly disappearing somewhere.

Still, as they frequently encountered each other in the library, he became familiar to her without her realizing it.

And she came to know.

‘The more I look at him… the more handsome he seems…’

His hair was disheveled, and his impression was vague. So Soso, who was shy, chubby, and gloomy, felt a subtle sense of kinship with him.

But the more she got to know him, the more conscious she became of him, the more clearly his face began to appear.

‘If… if he just took care of his appearance, girls would simply fall for him…’

But Minsu seemed to have no interest in his appearance at all.

“Why are you staring like that?”

Lost in thought while gazing at him, she was caught by Minsu.

“N-no reason!!”

After that incident, she couldn’t approach him for a long time.

‘He must think I’m gloomy and… a strange girl…’

True to her timid nature, she tried countless times to speak to him, but ultimately barely exchanged words with him throughout her first year.

‘Instead, I fantasized about him countless times…’

She had never seen such a handsome man before. For someone like her, who had a severe habit of fantasizing and was addicted to romance, it was impossible not to daydream.

But when time passed and she became a second-year student, they ended up in the same class.

And when Minsu still came to the library unchanged, Soso found her courage again.

‘M-maybe I could at least… talk to him…’

After pondering this for two weeks into the new semester, as she was absentmindedly staring at Minsu across the table.

Minsu, noticing her gaze, suddenly approached her.

“I-I’m sorry…!!”

Though she had wanted to talk to Minsu so badly, those were the first words that came out.

Minsu looked puzzled at her reaction, then placed a small chocolate in her hand.

“Are you hungry? You kept looking at what I was eating.”

Soso’s face turned bright red. But it was true that the chocolate Minsu was eating looked delicious.

“I-I’ll enjoy it…”

And refusing food was too difficult for Soso.

‘I… I’ve found my courage.’

Soso ate the chocolate and gathered her strength. For the first time, she asked his name.

After that, the two continued to meet in the library, and naturally became friends due to being in the same class.

Thus, Minsu became the first friend Soso made at Eins.

But it didn’t take long for those feelings to turn into a secret love.

‘I want to… create more connections with Minsu… e-embarrassing as it is…’

Soso’s dream continued a little longer.

***

In the white light, Arel’s figure briefly disappeared.

And I saw the Flame members who had crossed the Sacred Lake’s gate with me.

‘I hope… they’re all okay…’

I carefully observed them. They all seemed to be briefly asleep. And shortly after.

I, merged with Arel, could read the dreams they were having through divine power.

‘Everyone is… dreaming about me…’

To be precise, they were dreaming of when they first met me.

Yuri, Soso, and even Arini.

I briefly passed through Yuri and Soso’s dreams, and looked at Arini’s dream.

‘That’s right. Arini was very forward with me from the beginning.’

In this reality, I actively intervened in the affairs of Eins.

So I became close to her after saving Arini from being entangled in a villain’s terrorist attack with Siwoo.

But in the previous cycle, in the countless parallel worlds I had annihilated.

Arini always approached me first and spoke to me, even when I was playing the role of an observer.

Chae Mina also had the destiny to become Aoyel’s saint.

But like in this cycle, she was more destined to fall into corruption with that power.

My twin brother. The person truly born with the destiny to become Aoyel’s saint was Arini.

That’s why, unlike others, she could properly see my face from the beginning.

– Senior. With such a handsome face, why do you always wear a sad expression?

I didn’t understand the meaning of Arini’s words at all then, but now I did.

‘Yes. Because these three people approached me first…’

The despair I felt as I annihilated thousands of worlds.

Nevertheless, I was a divine beast’s avatar who had lost the power of the divine beast. I feared my clumsy intervention might destroy even the small possibility.

But these three people approached me and opened a new possibility.

To be precise, starting with Seohwa, who had harbored the power of the Vermilion Bird for thousands of years to revive it. The possibility that began with her.

And the possibility that opened through meeting these three people revived the power of the divine beasts.

So that I, Arel’s avatar, could regain that power.

I called Arel again.

“I want to protect them. These precious people who have loved me.”

Arel nodded. The fusion between us was complete. I naturally felt Arel as myself. The manner of speech between the two became natural.

Now, neither of us could survive without combining our remaining power. The two of us said to each other:

“Yes. For that, there is only one thing we can do.”

“The Creator’s power… with the reunited power of the divine beasts, we can make the current world into a core.”

As I said, I gathered all the power of the divine beasts through my connections with the people I love.

It meant regaining Arel’s lost divinity. With that power of creation, I will make this current cycle, this current novel, this current world into a core for reality alteration.

And simultaneously, the collapsing Mana Heart responded.

The fifth and final seal remaining in that Mana Heart. Now I could understand the meaning of that seal.

“When this fifth seal is broken, the final power of annihilation will activate.”

Arel nodded at my words. I continued:

“That power of annihilation. The identity of me who broke that fifth seal is the Holy Spear Epitheus.”

That’s right. The Holy Spear Epitheus. The only sacred artifact that could annihilate the evil god was me.

To be precise, it was me with all my power as an avatar unleashed.

Arel said to me:

“Now all preparations are complete.”

And looking into my eyes, he said:

“The Holy Spear Epitheus with the power of annihilation. You understand what it means for you to use that spear to annihilate the evil god.”

I nodded.

The power of the Holy Spear Epitheus is strong enough to annihilate the evil god. With that annihilation, the Red Dragon will not be able to resurrect as before.

However, even I as the avatar using that power will be annihilated by that power.

“Not just you as the avatar, but even me.”

That meant the existence of the god Arel itself would be annihilated.

“Eternal annihilation, you mean.”

I looked at the three sleeping people. Seohwa, after thousands of years of waiting, finally reunited with me after I awakened my memories as an avatar.

But these three were different.

Even if these three repeated the cycle of reincarnation, their connection with me would only be a few days. Those few remaining days were all the connection I had left.

Since I would be annihilated, there would be no more reincarnation as an avatar.

‘If only I could erase all three people’s memories, as I did with Arel…’

Unfortunately, that was impossible.

I had already regained divine power through my connections with them. If those connections disappeared by erasing their memories and causality became distorted, the Red Dragon might resurrect again.

After a moment of silence, Arel looked at me. I nodded.

“All preparations are complete.”

Arel’s body burned with a blue-white flame. Reality alteration had begun.

Now, when we leave Ailethan and return to Earth, the current reality will completely replace the external reality.

‘There should be some time left.’

In that interim, I prepared one last lie for the three.

Arel’s sacred fire burned the entire space.

The group left the dimensional space and finally entered a new space.