Ch.327Bloody Paradise. Kreeks Hall (6)

*Thud… Thud…*

Every time Viktor’s footsteps echoed, people stepped back and to the sides.

Despite walking alone, he faced no threats, while simultaneously receiving gazes filled with envy.

“Even if it kills them, they’re still Karil’s followers… Such unwavering dedication…”

But envy is neither admiration nor faith.

Who was it that said admiration is the emotion furthest from understanding? And envy, which isn’t even admiration, simply means wanting to become like that person.

They, those people, respect only power. They envy power strong enough to burn away the world’s absurdities, crush injustices, break the chain of hatred, and shatter the oppression of fear.

And for Karil’s followers, Viktor wasn’t a competitor but rather a role model—someone whose position they might someday attain themselves.

In truth, Karil had no particular need to oppose Viktor, but since the ultimate establishment of the Victorian Empire that Viktor sought would inevitably erase most of the current wars, Karil had no choice but to stand against him.

“Power that breaks order…”

During his mortal days, he too had chanted Karil’s name thousands of times while engaging in slaughter.

He had thought that if he ever became a knight, he would surely be Karil’s knight—never imagining he would become a god stronger than Karil himself.

They say life is full of surprises, but isn’t a human becoming a god among the most astonishing miracles of all?

So Viktor didn’t particularly mind that Karil’s followers envied him. After all, he too had once been so fixated on strength that he couldn’t open his eyes for days after glimpsing Karil’s apostle, the Crusader, from a distance.

Though that was back when he had nearly died at the hands of three bandits who had broken into a cheese workshop to steal cheese.

Viktor suddenly recalled that incident and quickened his pace.

His destination was the place where Karil had ascended—the same place that marked the beginning of the empire’s downfall.

Soon, his footsteps halted before a massive stone monument.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that the monument was shaped like a sword. Viktor couldn’t decipher the inscriptions on it.

From the beginning, they weren’t letters but rather a series of symbols arranged like hieroglyphics. Even a god couldn’t read their meaning without the relevant knowledge.

“Hmm…”

However, being the Sun God, it seemed somewhat undignified to turn back just because he couldn’t read some inscriptions, so Viktor examined his hand.

“…Will it work?”

While sun-related objects could connect to the imaginary world through touch, it remained uncertain whether he could connect with another deity’s divinity.

But as they say, nothing ventured, nothing gained. Viktor carefully touched the sword-shaped monument, and his consciousness sank deep into Karil’s domain.

*

“So it does work.”

Viktor looked at his left hand, then surveyed the space surrounding him.

Red.

Black.

Gray.

This infinite world, containing only those three colors, was both the ultimate representation desired by Karil’s followers and the armory where thousands upon thousands of weapons were forged for his disciples.

Viktor walked along paths paved with blades, endured rains of shells, and watched as bullet winds drove storms of flame.

This was the imaginary realm beyond reality.

A world born solely for war and struggle. A place where the only justice was for one individual to fight another and claim victory.

Suddenly, he sensed someone standing behind him.

Viktor turned around and saw a figure watching him, a sword thrust into the blood-soaked ground.

The large man, clad in massive armor tempered with blood, looked at him and wiggled the hand gripping the handle, then Viktor called out his name.

“Blood.”

“Radiance.”

The two gods addressed each other’s divine aspects.

Light had come to the realm of blood, making him a guest. Karil pulled a small dagger from his chest and threw it to Viktor, who caught it.

“You know what to do.”

“…”

Instead of answering, Viktor wrapped his left hand around the blade and pushed it through, letting blood flow.

In that moment, with a stinging pain, blood dripped to the floor. As the ecstatic blood hit the ground, it instantly evaporated the sea of pain-filled blood, pushing the acidic scent of blood into both gods’ nostrils.

Karil raised his eyebrows in surprise, then nodded as if acknowledging him as a guest, and retrieved the dagger from Viktor’s hand.

“You killed my apostles.”

“Yes.”

“It was a glorious death. Though it’s regrettable they couldn’t face the fear of death, there’s value in an apostle raising a blade against a god.”

Viktor nodded.

If someone asked whether apostles gathered together could defeat a god… it would be like trying to create an ocean by gathering cups of water.

Well, it might be possible, but only just ‘possible.’

“When the empire is established, the devotion to me will vanish as if cut by a knife. My palace, my honor, and the blessings for those who fight will all disappear. Is that what you want?”

“Karil. I have no intention of debating your existence. If you exist, you exist; if not, you don’t. You were born with the end of one system, so wouldn’t it be fitting to disappear with the beginning of another?”

Even as he said this, Karil wouldn’t actually disappear.

After all, Karil was like the vortex of the fundamental human desire for ‘struggle’ that could never be removed.

“You’ve existed for tens of thousands of years, shedding useless blood. I won’t criticize you for that. You’re the god of war, not justice. But I am the Sun God—the god of light and heat. Before a god who governs human civilization and the principles of the world, you are powerless. You must know this.”

As Viktor spoke, the space itself seemed to boil.

Having intimidated the host as a guest, any other god would have been expelled immediately, but the opponent was Viktor—a being comparable to the Creator who had preserved and developed the human world and civilization for 351,203 long years while burning brightly.

Although he might still be immature as a god, it was like the principle that even a mature noble couldn’t rebuke an immature king.

“Can you feel it? I don’t feel anything. Should I say my imagination is lacking…?”

“Sun!!”

“I am the god of light and heat. Trying to subdue me with high heat is the height of arrogance. Do you mistake yourself as stronger than me just because I remain calm?”

Karil could feel his voice gradually being replaced by someone else’s voice he had heard in the past.

“Master…”

“Yes. That’s another name for me. Karil, do you think you can resist the radiance of the sun, the brightness of this world? Do you want darkness instead of light to fall upon the victories your warriors have won? Do you wish to see me behead you like I punished Moneta, making your followers weep tears of blood?”

“What do you want! Even you cannot annihilate me!”

“Then do not interfere. Acknowledge that your divinity cannot threaten my godhood.”

“That means…!”

“Yes. I command you to become the defeated one.”

At that moment, Karil pulled a massive sword from the ground and swung it with fury.

However, the one he faced was the god of the world and the master of radiance. His sword strike instantly melted into molten metal that fell to the ground, and the redness of his world was transformed into white brilliance, blinding his eyes.

“Arghhhh….!”

“To win, one needs a battlefield; to fight, one needs warriors. I am the god of the world that becomes the battlefield and the humans who become warriors. No matter how much you and your kind struggle, this common sense, this law, will not change. I came to warn you of this.”

“Then why did you allow the Age of Eclipse to begin?! Wasn’t it your indifference that brought down the empire built by your descendants?”

The Sun God nodded.

“That’s right. But it was also faith—faith that my descendants would eventually overcome the difficulties. But they didn’t. They chose complacency over resurrection, decline over revival. My atonement for abandoning the world to darkness for 51,203 years is to pass my divine throne to another version of myself. And simultaneously, to entrust this world to human hands.”

“Madness!”

“I believe in ‘myself.’ You all should too. My name is Viktor Walker. The founder of the new imperial family and the first emperor of the empire. The master of all humanity and protector of the thirteen continents.”

With those words, the sun returned to light and vanished back to the material world.

The era of the Four Great Gods was ending, and the age of the Sun—the age of the Empire—was about to return.

And this time, the four would not defeat the one.