Chapter 46

Chapter 46. Awakening (3)

The true identity of the Void that had engulfed Jeolla-do was, as expected, a 'Black Gate.'

Vvvng——.

Just before departing, Muratan had crushed the sapling of the World Tree — the Gate's boss — and immediately afterward, a portal appeared before my eyes.

Meaning the Gate had been conquered.

If there was one advantage to a Black Gate, it was that the space didn't collapse even after the exit portal opened.

'Now what's left is…'

I looked at the man before me.

Kim Jun — the man who held 170,000 survivors within his body.

Squelch—.

From his back, a grotesquely vast number of blood vessels had sprouted.

Hundreds of thousands of vessels protruding from his back had been compressed to their limit, making them look as though an enormous tube had been inserted.

As they spread outward, growing larger — the sight was profoundly bizarre.

'Like dense vines, almost…'

It also looked like a lush tree that had sprouted from the soil called Kim Jun.

It was so strange that it seemed like it shouldn't be possible.

'Must be the power of the contract.'

The blood vessels, resembling dense branches, were almost certainly the power of the [Dark God].

An Authority bestowed through the contract, so to speak.

Meanwhile, the ability that had concealed so many people within his body was clearly an [Awakened ability].

The reason Muratan had marveled was precisely that he was both an Awakened and a demon's contractor.

'He must have Awakened first, then become a contractor.'

The sequence would have been this.

Kim Jun had most likely Awakened without even realizing it, undergoing a [trial] in this extreme environment.

Among ordinary civilians swept up in the Gate crisis, those who survived had naturally Awakened.

Everyone else had died.

Gates were extreme environments where ordinary people couldn't survive.

'This place was the exception.'

Because Kim Jun had taken so many people into his body, there were many survivors here.

So from the Dark God's perspective, he must have seemed like a worthy candidate for a contract.

Having just Awakened, he would have contracted with the Dark God to compensate for his lacking power.

The purpose being, most likely—

"Survi… vors…"

To save hundreds of thousands of lives.

I didn't yet know the specific methods.

'But I have a general picture of the situation.'

Now I needed to enter Kim Jun's Awakened ability.

A feat only the 'Baby Sword' could perform.

By utilizing the trait that Transcended [time and space].

'The question is how all those people are alive…'

Natural Awakening was different for every individual, so it was hard to say anything definitive.

But as a civil servant at the Awakened Management Agency, I'd seen a wide variety of cases.

Kim Jun's ability was probably—

'A subspace type.'

And a powerful one capable of containing living beings.

Without that, the 170,000 survivor count couldn't be explained.

Even so, a problem remained.

'How did they solve the food issue?'

Roughly 300,000 people had been swept into the Void.

Many had been lost over time, but even the last-known figure of 170,000 was no small number.

It meant resources were needed for that many humans to survive.

'Internal procurement is impossible.'

The entire city had been engulfed by the Void.

But inside the Void, not a single trace of the city's form could be identified.

Not so much as a common convenience store remained — everything had been consumed by darkness.

As I was mulling this over.

⦗It may be a condition of the contract.⦘

Reinhardt spoke to me.

I too had anticipated that possibility.

I had no idea what the condition might be.

I just hoped it wasn't the worst-case scenario I was imagining.

* * *

The inner world of a human was crooked and warped.

Few beings were as twisted as humans, so in a way, it was only natural.

Within that crooked world, several dozen people with inverted eyes had gathered.

—The seed has died.

Dozens of black eyes with stark-white pupils stared into the air simultaneously.

This was an [altar] where countless sacrifices had been gathered — a place where the Dark God's amusement played out.

And in such a place, devastating news had suddenly arrived.

Everyone muttered with bewildered faces.

"The seed is dead?"

"How?"

"Who on earth killed it, and how…"

This was the Void.

Land where a Gate-less Bizarre had swallowed an entire city.

A place where only those sanctioned by the darkness were guaranteed safety — for demon worshippers, an absolutely secure location.

A place even the Patriot wouldn't bomb, out of concern for survivors.

This had been the optimal location for cultivating the seed.

And yet…

"The seed is dead?"

The [seed] that Korea's demon worshippers had painstakingly obtained.

They had corrupted a Black Gate using the Dark God's power, and with the catastrophe called the Void, swallowed an entire city whole.

Thus securing hundreds of thousands of sacrifices.

And now, the seed was dead.

Suddenly, one demon worshipper noticed something strange.

"That coffin. Its color isn't changing."

The place where the demon worshippers had gathered was the [graveyard].

The graveyard where all survivors trapped within the Void had been gathered.

This was a world guarded in solitude by a man called the Gravedigger, and that man was an irregular whom the demon worshippers couldn't touch.

"The blood vessels are still connected. The Dark God's contract remains valid."

The demon worshippers had consumed a population of 300,000.

When that many people gathered, one or two irregulars were bound to appear.

In the extreme environment, several Awakened had emerged. Some had converted to demon worship; the rest had fought desperately and died.

And…

"The grief that bastard's caused us."

One man — Kim Jun — had Awakened with an extraordinarily bizarre and unique ability.

His combat power was unremarkable, but the Authority he possessed was absurdly, overwhelmingly powerful.

A grotesque ability that placed living people into [coffins], suspending their life and death.

"I-I've gained a special ability! Everyone, please believe in me!!!"

The number of coffins was nearly infinite.

Every person in the Void had entrusted their lives to Kim Jun.

The reason being that he was a famous civil servant who had already built up trust.

As preposterous as that was, what followed was even more absurd.

"If I die, you will gain only a single life — mine."

Kim Jun had taken most of the survivors into his body.

He had even reached the point of negotiating with the demon worshippers in reverse.

According to the Dark God, if he died, every person inside his world would vanish as well…

An amusing one. Let us deal.

The Dark God proposed a contract to Kim Jun.

Kim Jun had no choice but to accept.

Even if he had suspended death by placing people into [coffins], energy was needed to sustain their lives.

The moment you give up, they will all be devoured by the seed.

They will sustain their lives by sharing each other's life force.

You will forget everything and simply repeat hazy thoughts, following instinct, until you give up—

The Dark God tested Kim Jun's [true nature], and Kim Jun demanded the survival of the maximum number in exchange for the Dark God's Authority.

So time passed — 1,135 days — and in this land, 170,000 survivors still remained.

And the demon worshippers who had caused this catastrophe were also observing Kim Jun's world — the graveyard — from within the Dark God's mark.

Watching the foolish man who, in an eternal dream, was nurturing the seed of the corrupted World Tree.

And today.

————Zzzeok.

For the first time in 1,135 days, a change occurred in Kim Jun's [graveyard].

The inner world of an [Awakened] — whose internal flow could not be known from outside — was split apart by an unknown force.

The person who appeared from within was a man holding a sword.

He growled toward the demon worshippers and spoke.

"———."

Someone's name.

At that, the man's sword turned crimson.

And into the demon worshippers' ears, a chilling voice crept.

——Ahahahahaha!!!

A woman's laughter so rich it threatened to shred their eardrums.

The voice of an absolute sovereign.

Then, abruptly, the laughter ceased.

And a single utterance of death descended.

"It is Our time."

* * *

"The mark of the contract. The mark. Ahh…"

Iris Ruzbella's eyes glinted ominously.

Her crimson pupils deepened to the color of fresh blood, and her lips curved in a smile that seemed about to split.

She still wore the form of a small girl, and yet her expression, her gaze, her laughter — everything evoked an absolute predator.

That elation spoke:

———Death.

The Death Star.

Her innate star glinted.

Instinct set her blood to boil.

A being who had Transcended by devouring every demon in the world had, for the first time in a very long while, come face-to-face with the deepest darkness.

The sword that had grown stronger by preying on evil was overjoyed.

"Iris Ruzbella."

Knowing her joy, the Sword Master too spoke her name without hesitation.

Iris did not waver.

The instant her name was called, she answered the summons and manifested as a sword — and, as gladly as she felt, she unleashed her power with everything she had.

Saaaaaaa————.

This place had been a desolate graveyard.

Atop the burial mound, the demon worshippers had been guarding 'something,' and below it, a massive hexahedral structure was visible.

It was coffins.

Coffins stacked upon coffins, made to resemble a building.

'This maiden will be a good sword.'

In the world of swords, Iris had read the Sword Master's heart.

Unlike herself — who had been abandoned and left alone — the Sword Master lived among countless people.

She had been with the sword, so meeting her end in a world emptied of life had been happiness beyond compare.

But for the Sword Master, it would be different.

'He will walk the most difficult path.'

Iris had come to understand this through conversations with the other swords.

In truth, killing everything was the easiest method for overcoming annihilation.

But maintaining the world with hundreds of thousands of such burdens in tow was near impossible.

Even so, Iris believed.

'If it is our master—'

The Sword Master, Shin Si-woo.

With his abilities, it was possible.

With even the final sword, which Transcended time and space, it was not an impossibility.

As proof — had she not just manifested inside another person's world?

———Zzzeok.

In that brief moment.

A procession of crimson demons swallowed every last demon worshipper.

A procession of demons that shook an entire Awakened's world to its core.

The demons, gorging gluttonously on everything, squeezed through the cracks and devoured even the Void of the Black Gate.

All that remained was the structure made of coffins.

Coffins containing a full 170,000 lives.

The usual Iris would have devoured even those 170,000 lives and coveted this extraordinary world as well.

—Our subjects, that is far enough.

The Empress commanded.

The million-strong army stopped in its tracks at a single word from her.

The jewel on the crimson greatsword shone bewitchingly, and following its glint, the demons moved.

The demons approached the burial mound where the worshippers had stood and dug something out.

While the demons moved, Iris spoke.

⦗A gift, from this maiden to the Sword Master.⦘

It was as though she were saying, 'I did well, didn't I?' — demanding praise.

What she had given Shin Si-woo was [memory].

Records of the Void absorbed while devouring every demon worshipper — and the wrenching survival story of one man.

After reading the memories, Shin Si-woo could not speak for a moment.

"That was the best he could do, I suppose."

After a pause, Shin Si-woo murmured his thanks to Iris, wearing a smile that was complex — part bitterness, part relief.

⦗This maiden still has more to give.⦘

The burial mound where the demon worshippers had been stationed.

The demons that had been digging there approached, carrying something large and black.

It might have been a dragon's egg, or it might have looked like a black crystal sphere…

Shin Si-woo, who knew what it was, widened his eyes and could not utter a word.

Understandably so.

"Why is a real World Tree seed here?"

On an entirely different level from some corrupted sapling.

A seed from which a true World Tree could grow was in his hands.

And…

[Mark of the Contract]

This was the proof of the contract between the Dark God and the man called Kim Jun.