Chapter 336 – SWORD HORIZON (4)
The dominoes fell.
So they all finally realized it.
***
Babababababababang-!
The clash of white and black shook the entire Red Gate.
The surrounding area was wrecked by the clash of transcendent forces, and the magic barrier of the Red Gate broke like gla.s.s as it could not withstand it.
The fight between Jude and First Sword was seriously intense.
Even Cordelia found it hard to follow with her eyes.
But she could feel it.
Lucas who was heavily breathing in Cordelia’s arms could also tell.
Among the First Swords he had met in the past, none of them were stronger than the present First Sword.
The present First Sword was the strongest.
But Jude would not lose.
The current Jude would not be defeated.
“Lucas.”
“Yes, Lady Cordelia.”
The two looked at each other.
Amidst the dizzying mixture of their memories, they could understand it now.
They still had yet to clearly define what it was.
But one thing was clear.
It was not regression.
Nor was it parallel worlds.
The trigger was Jude.
What Jude realized during the test to enter the Tomb of Solari.
The change that occurred when Jude faced his other self who had reached the sword horizon.
‘I already knew. It’s a little different though.’
What the Fire Fairy Queen had said.
The mysterious words that Solari told her.
‘It’s not the first time that you’ve been here. But this is the first time I’m doing this. I’m glad that I was able to pa.s.s it on to you at least for the first and last time.’
‘The past always flies towards the future. No one can be free in the face of the unyielding flow of time.’
Lucas pulled the trigger after Jude.
The dominoes began to fall when Lucas met his other self who was with the other Jude that reached the sword horizon.
‘These are not dreams.’
Even before Jude pulled the trigger, Cordelia had already dreamt of it several times.
And now they knew.
These were memories and not dreams.
All of these actually happened.
It was the reason why they could see it in their dreams.
It was the reason why Solari said that this was the first and last time.
“Thank you.”
For always protecting Jude until the very end. Thank you for being with Jude.
At Cordelia’s words, Lucas had a bitter smile and said.
“Then please help me up. If Jude finds out that I’m in your arms, he might try to kill me.”
“I see. I understand.”
The two understood each other.
Cordelia helped Lucas up and made him lean against the ruins of the destroyed Red Gate.
The fight continued.
The clash between Jude and First Sword was so great that one would believe that it was a fight between G.o.ds. Every time their swords crossed, the sky and earth shook as if a natural disaster occurred.
Cordelia’s heart pounded.
Just like Lucas, Cordelia knew too.
The First Sword in front of them was the strongest First Sword they knew.
Nevertheless, she did not think of entering the fight.
Or rather, she knew that she should not intervene.
“Jude will win.”
Spoke Lucas.
Jude had never been defeated by First Sword in the past.
Lucas had always been there when the demonic human Duke was defeated.
“Yes, I believe in him.”
Cordelia gulped as she firmly thought.
She watched Jude’s battle.
The swords crossed.
It intersected, scattered, and crossed with each other at a blindingly fast speed.
It was not just a simple explosion of their energy and aura.
Their skilled swords went back and forth between each other.
Such an exchange was impossible if one did not have a deep understanding of swordsmanship.
“Aaa… Aaah…”
Each led the other to a higher place.
Jude and First Sword looked at the horizon. They ran towards the horizon.
They moved at the same speed at first.
They headed towards the horizon in the same way.
But their distance began to widen at some point.
First Sword saw the horizon.
He felt like he could reach it if he stretched out his hand.
But he could not reach it.
The horizon was still far away.
“It’s fine.”
He already knew.
That was why he became a demonic human.
He chose to have an eternal life in order to constantly advance towards that horizon.
But it was strange.
The road became increasingly narrow.
Whenever the memories of his past appeared one by one, the light of the horizon faded away.
Why? What’s the reason? What’s going on?
If I’m First Sword, I must have headed towards that horizon in the past!
Bang!
The sword of First Sword was greatly deflected by Jude’s attack. It could not compete equally and was pushed back.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Jude unleashed attack after attack.
First Sword could not withstand it this time too.
His sword wildly swung.
“Haa… haa…”
First Sword roughly breathed and looked straight ahead.
He saw the horizon.
But the road to the horizon was no longer visible.
The road to the horizon was cut off.
Why? Why? Why the h.e.l.l!
His memories came rushing in.
The memories of demonic human Duke.
Those who closed their own path to the horizon.
First Sword frowned.
He cried out without realizing it.
“You relied on poison?”
The demonic human Duke.
A demonic human who used poison as his specialty and not the sword.
It did not happen once.
All the Dukes in his memories had done that.
It was the true reason why he was feeling nervous.
The reason why his body trembled whenever he remembered his memories.
It was only now.
Even after becoming a demonic human, he continued to use the name ‘First Sword.’
He called himself as ‘First Sword’ instead of ‘Duke.’
Unlike Jude and Lucas, the memories of First Sword did not help in his journey to the horizon. Rather, it was only an obstacle.
“AAAAAAH!”
First Sword roared and swung his sword.
He cut his memories.
He completely got rid of it and chose to be himself.
He forcibly opened an already closed road.
Even if it was narrow, he made a path and kept going forward!
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The swords of Jude and First Sword crossed.
First Sword saw the horizon through Jude’s sword.
He felt the place he could not reach.
“Aaa…”
I want to reach it.
I want to reach it myself.
That horizon!
That distant sword horizon!
Bang!
His sword broke.
He was pushed back.
But First Sword did not give up. He threw away the broken sword and pulled out his last spare sword.
Only his longing for the horizon filled his mind.
Jude continued to fight against such a First Sword.
Unlike Cordelia, Jude knew.
He was different from Lucas, Scarlet, and Kajsa.
Only Jude could realize everything on his own.
Because it was Jude himself who always stood until the end.
The young G.o.ddess Atalia.
Because Jude was the only one who knew, at least in part, of what choice Atalia, the G.o.ddess of the world of Pleiades, had made and what she did.
It was not regression.
It was not parallel worlds.
Everything had actually happened.
Their memories of the past.
“Jude.”
The Cordelia who became a demonic human and lost her life at his own hands.
The Cordelia who faced the destruction with him until the very end.
There was no contradiction.
One theory clearly explained everything, or rather, it was the truth.
The dominoes fell.
Starting with Jude himself, a small number of people began to remember – Lucas, Cordelia, Scarlet, and Kajsa.
And even before the trigger had been pulled, these people had already felt that something was out of place.
“AAAAAAH!”
First Sword howled like a beast.
Jude unfolded the Sword of Wind towards First Sword.
Wind and Lightning Flurry Strikes mercilessly shook the sword of First Sword.
And Jude finally reached it.
He reached the end of the road he had already pa.s.sed once.
The sword horizon.
He had reached it, so he knew that he still had a long way to go.
He realized that reaching the horizon was not the end.
But this was good enough for this moment.
The inner essence of the sword.
Only those who reached the sword horizon could comprehend it.
The sword of First Sword roughly shook.
It could not properly receive Jude’s attack.
Strength was not the problem.
Because there was a fundamental difference in swordsmanship.
First Sword was overwhelmed. He completely unleashed his powers as a demonic human and immediately rushed to Jude with the determination to die.
I want to feel a little more of the horizon that Jude reached.
I want to reach that horizon even for a moment.
Please.
Please.
Please.
Please!
First Sword collapsed.
He sat down on the narrow thread-like road that he barely opened again, and looked at the dazzlingly beautiful horizon.
“Ah, it’s that.”
That’s the sword horizon.
I wanted to reach it so much.
I seriously wanted to reach it.
But I could never reach it…
“Gaaak… haa… haak…”
A black sword pierced the chest of First Sword.
First Sword fell from his spot as dark red blood dripped.
He was no longer a demonic human when he struggled to reach the horizon.
The light disappeared from First Sword’s eyes that were filled with endless yearning and deep sorrow. His body turned cold instead of turning into ashes and scattering.
Jude let out a long breath.
He knew the moment he reached the sword horizon and defeated First Sword.
His heart was pounding.
The eighth door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors had revealed itself.
The eighth door of the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.
An unexplored place that no humans in Pleiades had ever reached.
Jude stretched out his hand.
The eighth door opened to him.
***
The dominoes fell.
The trigger was pulled.
As a result, a different situation from before occurred.
“No, this was inevitable.”
The young G.o.ddess Atalia raised her head and said.
She had predicted this. She had attempted this too many times.
Transcendent beings could not help but feel that something was out of place.
“I see, so that’s what happened.”
Asmodeus, the overlord of l.u.s.t, laughed.
The witch of the west forest no longer needed to hide it.
The moment she saw Asmodeus laughing, she realized that Asmodeus had figured out the truth.
“It’s not regression.”
Regression was impossible.
It was impossible even for a G.o.ddess of the world to turn back the time of the entire universe.
“It’s not parallel worlds.”
Such a thing did not exist.
Even if it did exist, parallel worlds could not do that.
It was something that only worked in this world.
“So this is what you chose?”
The destruction of Pleiades was brought about by the Great Summons.
Serious catastrophes occurred.
Jude always fought to the best of his abilities.
Sometimes he killed his lover Cordelia, and sometimes he fought alongside Cordelia to the very end.
But the conclusion they reached in the end was always the destruction of Pleiades.
Pleiades that became the battlefield of Heaven and h.e.l.l did not have a future.
“We have to start over.”
Atalia said a long time ago.
“I cannot turn back time.”
But it was possible to start over.
To connect time to time.
Or rather, she would not actually be manipulating time.
She would just adapt to the flow of time.
She would attach the destroyed Pleiades that existed in the past to the present Pleiades that had yet to be destroyed.
“No one can manipulate the unyielding flow of time.”
But the past did not disappear.
So she copied the past.
They began again when she connected the copied past to the present.
Simply put, it was as follows:
Year 0 was the beginning.
a.s.sume that this time was Year 0 of the world calendar.
After 30 years, Pleiades was destroyed.
It began at Year 0, so it was now Year 30 of the world calendar.
In order to start again, she copied the records from Year 0 and then connected it to the end of Year 30 of the world calendar.
The world moved again from Year 31 of the world calendar.
What if it still failed?
The records of Year 31 of the world calendar was attached to the end of Year 60 of the world calendar.
Time flowed to the future.
She followed the flow of time and did not go against it as she began the struggle to save Pleiades once again.
“Amazing, excellent. Despite a regression being impossible, a detour nearly yields the same result. Moreover, since it only affected Pleiades, Heaven, and h.e.l.l, and not the entire universe, it is realistic compared to doing it to the entire universe. But it is an imperfect method.”
Asmodeus’ point was correct.
The method Atalia chose certainly gave her a new opportunity, but no one in the world that began again could remember the past.
Even Atalia herself, the young G.o.ddess of the world.
“Of course, you could have left some clues. There could have been some who still had a few memories and felt that something was out of place. Furthermore, you could get a different number each time you rolled the dice.”
But it was such a reckless gamble.
And in fact, Atalia continuously lost.
A different situation happened every time, but the destined ruin always came in the end.
Pleiades lost the power of the world every time it started over again and continued the record.
There was not much left of the acc.u.mulated power of the world.
So Atalia tried to choose a method she had never done before.
That choice meant losing a few more attempts to try again, but she did not hesitate as she only had one last chance.
And now.
“But Atalia. G.o.ddess of the world of Pleiades whom I do not presently know well but have met several times in the past.”
You made one big mistake.
Because of Jude and Cordelia’s actions, the Great Summons could be stopped.
However, due to the atrocities she had done so far and the memories awakened at this moment, Atalia made an unexpected enemy.
“Isn’t that right?”
You who only stared at me from a higher place and acted like that.
Asmodeus raised her head and looked into the distance.
Towards the one who reigned in the highest place – Heaven.
“Unacceptable.”
The archangel of judgment rose from her throne.
“You dragged Heaven in the circ.u.mstances of Pleiades.”
It was not just Pleiades that started over.
Heaven and h.e.l.l, which were originally related to the destruction of Pleiades, had to be restarted too as the Great Summons had connected the two worlds to Pleiades.
“The act of infringing Heaven cannot be forgiven. The act of manipulating the laws of nature cannot also be accepted.”
So it must be brought back.
I will make history return to its original path.
“The Great Summons must happen.”
I do not care even if Pleiades is destroyed as a result.
It is the cursed land that sacrificed Solari in the first place.
A battlefield is needed to judge h.e.l.l.
“Let us work together until the day of the Great Summons.”
Asmodeus, the overlord of l.u.s.t, pleasantly said.
Auriel, the archangel of judgment, did not reject it.
“Auriel!”
Having realized the truth, Raguel shouted as she understood what Auriel was trying to do, but it was useless.
Auriel ignored Raguel’s call.
Due to the sense of discomfort she repeatedly felt, she ordered her agent to prepare.
“Get started.”
“I heed your command, O voice from a higher place.”
Maximilian de Avis.
He was born with the most brilliant talent among the beings of Pleiades.
Maximilian raised his head.
He headed towards the kingdom’s army located in the south.
Atalia, the copy-paste G.o.ddess and the true ending maker. If you’re still confused, don’t worry. The next episodes will elaborate more on what Atalia did.