Ch. 370 Behind The Scenes (2)
by AfuhfuihgsChapter 370 – Behind The Scenes (2)
Emptiness.
Where nothing exists.
Yet everything exists.
Where there resides no one, yet everyone present.
A dream, a reality, a reality that is also a dream.
Countless possibilities overlapping and mixing.
To the point where it’s virtually the same as nothing existing.
Yet, in the end, everything exists.
Something that a small human mind cannot understand, accept, or even look directly at.
At the edge of chaos.
The illusion of an old throne twitched.
“How verbose.”
A proper form was not defined.
Neither male, nor female, nor child, nor old.
Neither angel, nor demon, nor monster, nor saint.
It appears completely different depending on the perspective.
What determined its appearance was the impression felt by the person who witnessed it.
“Knowing everything makes everything boring.”
It slowly reaches out a hand.
As if turning the pages of an invisible bookshelf.
It began to turn over ‘reality’.
“Since my predictions don’t deviate from this branching point, there’s no need to watch any further.”
There is no need to see what is already known again.
Reality changes according to its touch.
As if pressing the fast-forward button on a video.
Time, which should always flow at the same speed, accelerated rapidly.
It is the one who knows everything.
Therefore, the king who sits on the throne and dreams.
Everyone calls it the lazy lord of omnipotence.
The king of the Devil Gods.
Bael.
“Yoo-seong. My nemesis.”
300 years.
And 150 years.
A moment for a Devil God.
An eternity for humans.
Even though so much time had passed.
“Still foolish.”
Preoccupied with the immediate future, unable to discern right from wrong.
Seeing yet not seeing, knowing yet not trying to know.
Having been able to win, they lost, and they turned away from victory to stop the immediate damage.
“From the moment you were sealed, my predictions no longer err.”
It does not see the future.
It merely predicts based on current information.
There was no need to foresee the future.
Its predictions were always accurate, no different from seeing the future.
What could twist Bael’s predictions was only an existence that could paint over the future.
Of course, such beings were extremely rare.
The Noble Prince ‘Agares’.
The God of Humans ‘Four Seasons’.
And the ‘Chosen One’.
The former two, once within the scope of prediction, could not escape Bael’s predictions. Therefore, Bael did not pay much attention to them.
However, the ‘Chosen One’ was different. The sword forged and prepared by the Four Seasons. Their abilities were thoroughly specialized in countering Bael.
“How boring.”
“Indeed, boring.”
“There’s nothing as dull as a finished painting.”
The painting called ‘future’ that Bael painted with the paint called ‘present.’
The only person who can tear that painting.
The Hero, Yoo-seong.
That Yoo-seong was excluded from the paint called ‘present.’
The ‘future’ no longer changes.
Bael’s painting is complete.
The completed painting remains as it is.
It will only exist in that place, unchanged.
“Your descendants…”
“Are too weak to tear the ‘painting’.”
They didn’t even fully awaken.
And they lost their potential by being trapped in the Devil God’s incarnation.
As long as they are trapped in the shell called Astaroth (Yui).
There is no chance that Eugene will awaken as a complete ‘Chosen One’.
“As much as I had high expectations,”
“Disappointment.”
“It is disappointing.”
“Indeed.”
“Disappointing.”
A dry voice continues.
Colder than the universe, hotter than a solar wind.
A voice that seemed to gnaw at the listener’s soul.
“Agares.”
“Your ‘plan’ is complete.”
“There is no one left to change that future.”
The second-in-command of the Devil Gods.
Having repeated hundreds of millions of regressions.
The Noble Prince who finally arrived at the possibility leading to victory.
“Since the future is decided,”
“If it’s just walking a predetermined path,”
Bael closed its eyes.
Its eyes saw the process of walking into the future.
Predictions that will not go wrong.
Such events will occur in the future, and at the end of such conflicts, such a conclusion will be reached.
“The process is unnecessary.”
It stands up.
It takes its back off the throne it had relied on for an immeasurable amount of time.
“Let’s put an end to it.”
Nothing changed.
But everything changed.
The dreaming, lazy king no longer dreamed.
The empty eyes, intoxicated with laziness, sank deeply.
Bael turned the page.
Each time a page is turned, time also passes.
If all the pages are turned like this, the result will come.
The intermediate process will be omitted, and only the result will remain.
“Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”
It expected.
Yoo-seong to overcome the crisis.
To break the painting it had drawn.
Because only it can paint the future with the unknown.
That’s why it even went to encourage it in person.
Even it eventually failed to change the future.
“What a boring ending.”
All the pages have been turned.
With this, the long war came to an end.
Humanity was defeated, and the monsters regained their beloved homeland───
“Isn’t it too early to draw a conclusion?”
───The page stops.
It wasn’t Bael’s will.
A third party’s hand grabbed the page.
The page turned back again.
The ending is far away, and the process is resumed.
“…”
A different color flickered in its eyes.
For the first time, a change occurs on the dry face.
It was impossible.
A situation like this.
It was not included in Bael’s predictions.
“Don’t get me wrong about one thing.”
Luscious golden hair, as if woven with sunlight, ripples.
Eyes as soft as cherry blossoms.
Lips that gleam like they contain fruit juice.
The way she brushes her hair over her ears is sensual, as if a master craftsman has carved her with all his might.
Only a white piece of cloth that seems to flow down barely covers the woman’s naked body.
“You are not a reader reading the ‘story’. You are not even the author deciding the ‘story’.”
We are just characters like you.
A mere character who dares creates the story and ending.
“For a character to ignore the process and try to end the story. Don’t you think that’s too presumptuous?”
“Looks like I was impatient.”
“Yes, you were.”
“To reveal yourself directly in front of me.”
“You made me impatient.”
“What trick did you use? I did not predict this.”
“Yoo-seong. We made that child. What that child can do, we can do too.”
Whispering in a sweet voice, the woman gently pushed Bael’s hand away.
She snatches the book while looking at Bael, who is being pushed away without resistance.
The woman stared at the book for a moment, then smiled bitterly and created a flame from her fingertips.
Bael, staring at the burning book, slowly recited the woman’s name.
“Autumn.”
“Shall we make a deal?”
“What reason do I have to agree?”
“Because it will be fun. For you.”
As expected, the book is just a partial implementation of Bael’s authority. Burning it will only return to Bael. Knowing that, Autumn burned the book. It was a meaningless act, but it was enough to attract Bael’s attention.
“You don’t really care about the world, do you? Whether it’s Devil Gods, monsters, or paradise, it’s all outside your interest. Rather, you like Yoo-seong more.”
“…”
“Why? That’s because only Yoo-seong can break your authority. Only that child can paint over the future you draw with the unknown. Just like that child’s sword pierced your heart 300 years ago.”
“Keep talking.”
“Only the ‘Chosen One’ can soothe your boredom. Only the sword we created soothes your maddening loneliness.”
Knowing everything, everything is meaningless.
Being able to do everything, nothing can be done.
Omnipotent, therefore incompetent.
That’s what the ‘Ancient One’ was like.
Bael is the same.
“Yoo-seong. Our masterpiece. Such a lovely child, isn’t he?”
“Lie with saliva on your lips. Haven’t your interests already shifted to the descendants of the Chosen One?”
“Eugene. That’s right. That child is also lovely. So cute that I want to bite him.”
The Four Seasons do not lie.
Just like Devil Gods do not lie.
Gods could not lie.
Therefore, all of Autumn’s words are heartfelt truths.
“Where is there a finger that doesn’t hurt when bitten?”
“Didn’t the Blessed Saintess hurt?”
“It hurt alright. Sincerely.”
“Is this what you guys call crocodile tears?”
“But what can we do? Lucille isn’t our only child.”
In order to protect all the children.
Sacrificing one precious child.
It hurts in the heart.
It really hurts like it’s tearing apart.
It is a pain that must be endured.
“The saintess cursed you until the very end.”
“I was listening. It was lovely. Lucille. My daughter. I wish she had cursed us more.”
“The saintess would be so happy if she heard that.”
“Ahaha, wouldn’t she really try to kill us?”
Although it’s impossible.
Autumn said with a mischievous smile.
“If it’s a deal, there must be mutual benefits. What will you offer me?”
“I’ll give you something.”
“What?”
“What you want most.”
“The price?”
“Please wait. For the Noble Prince’s plan. Until the very end.”
Don’t interfere.
Wait.
Don’t bring the future forward.
Don’t bring the result forward.
Here. As always.
Be lazy and dream.
“If you do that,”
Autumn’s body leans.
She leaned on Bael’s shoulder and whispered softly.
“Yoo-seong. I’ll give you that child.”
It was a voice as sweet as honey.
It was a voice as bitter as fallen leaves on the ground.
“Are you selling him while saying you love him?”
“He’s already useless. Shouldn’t we recycle him like this?”
“Do you think I will accept?”
“If you refuse, I will kill Yoo-seong.”
“…”
“Well, he’s useless now. What can I do if he’s useless for anything other than that?”
“…Ha.”
“It’s not a bad deal for you either, is it? You won’t have to worry about the contract you made with Yoo-seong anymore.”
The Chosen One is silent.
Then Bael will also be silent.
The inviolable contract between the Hero and the King of the Devil Gods.
“Death is eternal silence. Isn’t it?”
Well then.
Omnipotent, therefore incompetent.
Lord of all disgusting bugs.
Will you accept?
Or…
Will you refuse?
The choice is yours.
Author Note
A/N (Author’s note):
A God does not understand the human heart.
Translator Note
T/N (Translator’s note):
They sure can’t understand human sentiment yet they can understand spite and hate just fine.In other words, a god is just a black company in human form!
Is Kat a god?
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