Ch.235Chapter 235. A World That Became the Gods’ Plaything

-BOOM!

The sky rumbles.

As if announcing the approach of the promised time, I feel its force growing stronger with each passing moment.

“Must it be… like this…”

Whenever that tremor mingles with my heartbeat, I feel the pain digging into my mind becoming even more vivid.

“Did it really… have to be this way…?”

After enduring the palpitations of fear and staying true to the palpitations of love, I’ve come to this place only to face the result.

I’ve learned that I must coldly turn away from everything and leave.

“…Hyoseong.”

And she is someone who bears even more responsibility and pain than I do.

Though she had been avoiding me all along, now she was facing me, trying to convey her words.

“I am the last successor of my clan.”

As if pitying me for being unable to leave this place, as if trying to soothe my pain.

“Everyone in the clan trusted me and gave me all their power. To save as many people as possible, for the world they will live in…”

Regardless of the wounds she suffered on her way here, regardless of the roughness of her skin.

A gentle hand gradually extends toward my hanging hand.

“…Because I shouldered such responsibility, I thought it didn’t matter who it was, as long as they were qualified.”

As if trying to imprint that touch, she gradually puts strength into the hand holding mine.

“My mission should be my highest priority. If he had even the slightest possibility of saving more people, I shouldn’t prioritize my feelings in supporting him.”

I want to grip her hand firmly too, but in the end, my fingertips remain limp.

Because if I hold her here, I won’t be able to leave this place.

If I don’t let go of her hand that gently covers mine, she won’t be able to fulfill her wish.

“But I… I’m glad you were the first.”

So I must leave.

I mustn’t ruin the smile drawn on her lips.

“Though it was a short time, I could feel your heart toward me.”

Even though she will soon disappear, I must respect her satisfaction in leaving her mark.

“To me, who thought anyone would do, you gave the joy of being connected with someone.”

Using the assurance that I will live on intact in a world where she has disappeared as a painkiller.

I must never turn away from her sincerity that will calm the fear of what’s to come.

“Thank you. For becoming my partner…”

She pulls my reluctantly accepting hand and quietly presses her lips to mine.

Though that moment is but a flash, I feel the sensation being clearly engraved within me even after it passes.

As if driving a wedge into that feeling, she said:

“For truly loving what I will leave behind after I’m gone.”

The wedding ceremony that was scheduled for when we would meet again.

After this brief wedding ceremony permitted in this harsh world ends, it will remain as a memory wedged in both our hearts.

-BOOM!

With the thunder that followed, she let go of my hand, turned her back to me, and quietly said:

“…You should go now.”

Her voice was infinitely light.

As if meeting me at the last moment had completely rid her of any lingering attachment.

“Our child must be crying. As a father, you need to comfort them, right?”

With those final words, she sat down again and touched the crystal ball with determination. I couldn’t say anything and finally turned my back on her.

Forcibly suppressing my desire to run to her.

Feeling how strong her desire to send me away was.

-Step, step.

Encouraged by that, my feet, which should have remained still, began to move slowly.

Too slow to escape this place, but still taking one step at a time with the will to move forward.

-If you don’t hurry, you’ll be swept away.

Perhaps I look frustrating to him?

The only companion with me at this moment quietly whispered from within me.

-You know well that everything in this system will soon be annihilated, don’t you?

I know.

If I stay here, she too will be caught up in it unnecessarily.

If I stay here, as Annabelle Britannia said, I’ll have to abandon the only trace Irie Haven left in this world.

The resolute will I felt from her was what made me turn my back, so how could I turn back to her again to calm the throbbing in my chest?

“Ah, aah…”

Yet the sobs escaping my lips wouldn’t stop.

I resented why such an ability had to manifest in me, forcing me into such a fate.

I resented why the woman bound to me had to be born with such a fate, and the world that forced such a fate upon her.

“Irie, I-Irie…”

As such lamentations leaked from my mouth without pause, Annabelle, who had been silently watching me, began to quietly urge me on.

A gentle encouragement that was too caring to be merely forcing me to leave.

-…Move. For the sake of what she wants to protect.

Yes, what she’s doing now isn’t coercion but facing reality.

A reminder that I must leave this place and move forward, for the sake of my mission as a savior, my consideration as a partner, and my love as a father.

“…Alright.”

Feeling such quiet consideration, I finally gathered my resolve and prepared to shake off the hesitation gripping my legs.

Lifting my head to fulfill the wish of the woman I would never see again, trying to gaze at where I needed to go.

-BOOM!

It was at that moment I noticed the anomaly.

My gaze, which had stopped just as I was about to move, became fixed on the scene visible through the palace window.

A series of intense flashes occurring at the site of the fracture.

But the lights that should be clear were somehow appearing distorted.

As if some powerful force had emerged, twisting the space in the area.

“What is that?”

Is that a precursor to what’s about to happen on this land?

…Really?

****

-WHOOSH!!

At the harbor established at the edge of the continent.

Even that had been devastated by the swarming magical beasts, and a ship that barely escaped began to cross the wave-tossed sea.

The continent gradually receding. The sense of danger diminishing noticeably with time.

“Did we… really escape?”

In the peace that followed, a sense of relief began to wash over the people on the ship.

“Yes, we escaped… from that hellish continent.”

The edge of the continent they reached after escaping the Demon Lord’s army, magical beasts, and countless other calamities.

Many lost their lives in the process, and some even sacrificed themselves to open a path for them.

They believed they had to seek survival even if it meant leaving their hopeless homeland, to preserve the continuation of humanity.

“Is it really okay for us to leave the continent like this?”

“We all felt it on our way here. There’s no hope left on that continent.”

“That’s right, there’s a chance if we just leave the continent… Everyone, have hope.”

Having lived their entire lives only on the continent, they don’t know what exists beyond it.

But such uncertainty can become hope.

In the hearts of those who escaped the pit of despair, there existed a belief that better results awaited than what they had experienced so far.

“We can do it!”

“Yes, even if there’s nothing, if we rebuild civilization from scratch…!”

But that was just wishful thinking without any basis.

This world is too cruel and harsh at its foundation to hope that all individual wishes will come true.

-BOOM!!

The sound of thunder crashing down on these insignificant beings who failed to grasp this.

Along with it, a massive shadow appeared, gradually drawing their attention.

“Wh-what?”

“What… what is that…?”

Beyond the storm was a gigantic shadow.

It was too massive to be an island, and it was even moving on its own.

Something like tentacles… no, perhaps it was a cluster of things entangled together.

Whatever it was, it would be impossible for humans to comprehend it with the naked eye alone.

It was holding its position as if rooted, so firmly that even the waves generated by pushing back the deep sea couldn’t sweep it away.

-BOOM, BOOM!!!

The moment this being revealed itself, its glowing eyes all turned toward the ship navigating through the waves.

They don’t know what meaning lies in that gaze.

Whether it’s mere amusement or venting anger.

To understand its intentions just by meeting its gaze, humans were beings smaller than insects to it.

“G-god…”

Because it was so overwhelming, all the senses they had felt until now froze, and even the resistance that unconsciousness should encourage was abandoned.

It was a result of instinctive submission.

The instinctive realization that no matter how arduous and difficult their journey had been, it held no meaning to the being before them.

“Oh God…”

Is what was uttered after this realization a final resistance aimed at the being before them?

Or is it directed at the being who bestowed such a fate, or at a being they hope will extend a hand of salvation from such a fate?

-ROAAAAR!

Either way, the cry of a mere ant doesn’t reach the ear of a giant.

The violent sweep that followed shattered their ship and buried everything in it beneath the waves.

****

Yes, a single gesture was enough.

To bring down the predator that had been endlessly pursuing them, a mere gesture from the sky was sufficient.

“Wh-what is that?”

“What on earth is happening…?”

Boduen Britannia.

The living who were protected under the aegis of the dead who inherited his will could only exclaim in astonishment at the scene unfolding before them.

It was impossible to comprehend with the mind.

No one could have imagined that the body of the Void Predator, which nullified everything in its path, would collapse from something that swooped down from the sky.

-RUMBLE, RUMBLE!!

As such an absurd event occurred in reality, the crowd’s gaze gradually turned upward.

What was reflected there was darkness spreading from the split sky, and a gigantic hand that leaked out from it.

Its size was taller than any mountain on the continent…

Yet it was clearly the hand of something with will, pressing down on the predator’s body and extending its hand toward the broken remains.

-CRUNCH, CRUNCH.

What is its identity?

Why has it appeared here to destroy the predator and extend its hand toward the broken remains?

-RUMBLE!

In this incomprehensible situation, the gigantic hand was silently trying to grasp the predator’s remains gathered there.

There was no explanation for it.

It was merely harvesting a seed it had planted long ago, taking advantage of the crack that had opened wide enough for its true self to enter.

To this otherworldly being focused on the process of “harvesting,” the impressions of the insignificant beings watching it were of no consequence.

“…Just like that.”

And one dead man here was a byproduct derived from the seed he had planted.

Through such a connection, Boduen, who vaguely guessed his background, sank to the ground and muttered desolately:

“If even calamities we cannot handle disappear so meaninglessly… what meaning do history and glory have?”

Despite displaying such desperate resistance and the will to overcome and survive.

If it would collapse meaninglessly at the gesture of a being far beyond the dangers they had anticipated, what meaning does the will expressed by the living leave in this world?

“In a life that crumbles at a mere gesture… does meaning truly exist?”

Yes, only emptiness would remain in the wake of their passage.

For a dead man who had worshipped the nobility of life, it was a reality that seemed more desperate than anything else.

*****

But even in such a desperate world, someone wants to live.

Even if they recognize that they are mere insects, even if they know that everything will collapse meaninglessly at someone’s slight gesture.

Nevertheless, feeling that they are alive and seeking a way to extend that life is the fate of all living beings.

“…Destruction God. The time has come.”

A prophet who had grasped such a lifeline began to spread the power emanating from the boiling blood flowing through her body toward the sky.

To end the harshness experienced by those in this world, which no one living in this world wanted or intended…

To end the despair of mortals like herself that pervades this world, which has become a plaything of the gods.

“I borrow your blood to open a path to this place. I will become the coordinates necessary for you to exercise your power through this body!”

When the ritual begun with that will ends, things that shouldn’t exist in this world will disappear, and all fractures that disturb the balance of the world will be sealed.

The era that follows will be left with only emptiness, without the interference of great beings.

“Please descend upon this land and exercise your power!”

As the prophet’s cry seeking such a future reached the sky, a flash of light burst through the split clouds and began to descend before her.

The moment she faced the silhouette with that light at its back, she instinctively knew.

What she was facing at this moment was her distant ancestor.

The being that could be called the avatar of the Destruction God who once descended upon this land.