The Demon King, who had been resting in the Crimson Jade Bath, suddenly frowned.
‘How strange.’
Truly strange.
Nothing could be stranger than this.
Unless Heaven and Earth Creation occurred, nothing should exist that could make him feel something amiss.
‘One of the four seals has unraveled on its own.’
The four seals—shackles not yet meant to break.
One of them had come undone uncontrollably.
But it was not supposed to happen yet.
It was not part of any “arrangement.”
Who had undone it? And for what purpose?
‘…If someone broke it knowingly, that means they understand the hidden intention behind the seal of the Four Evils.’
Tap, tap.
The Demon King brushed his chin and slowly rose from the bath.
At once, the surrounding space filled with countless ‘Demon Seeds’ bowing on their knees.
As he grew stronger, the Demon Seeds had grown incomparable in quality.
The time for the second “invasion” was approaching, and preparations were already complete.
Yet what concerned him far more than the surge in power… was the seal of the Four Evils breaking.
Those seals were meant to break only after the erosion rate increased further.
‘But even if someone understood and deliberately broke it, it is too late. Baal has become the abyss itself. Nothing in existence can stop that endlessly evolving beast.’
He shook his head.
Whether broken by coincidence or intention, there was now no way to stop the Four Evils.
Baal would instinctively begin destroying both worlds.
Destroying and devouring until satisfied.
By the time it was satisfied, at least dozens of cities would be swallowed into the abyss.
However… if by some impossibility the Four Evils were defeated?
And the “hidden thing” sealed inside emerged earlier than planned?
‘…It would become troublesome.’
It would never happen, though.
Tsk. The Demon King clicked his tongue.
***
《You activate ‘The Most Radiant Light.’》
The Throne of Radiant Light.
I had offered up items bought at the top-grade auction house—treasures of immense value—to activate the prefix ‘Most Radiant.’
It was my first time using it.
Thanks to the Radiant Throne, I summoned Riley and cleared the Abyssal Labyrinth.
So how far could ‘Most Radiant’ go in summoning another hero?
‘A hero at the level of the hexagon heroes won’t beat Baal.’
Who should I summon?
Of course, if Riley—united with the supreme dragon—were summoned, it might change things. But I could not bet everything on something uncertain.
I needed someone beyond the hexagon heroes. Or I myself must become someone worthy of being called “Most Radiant.”
‘Could I finally summon Wilhelm?’
Perhaps now, at last, I could summon the Knight King Wilhelm.
After all, I had used not only a Fragment of the Broken Golden Rule, but the complete Golden Rule.
《The user is completed in the ‘Most Radiant’ form suitable for their current state.》
But ‘The Most Radiant Light’ was not a summoning skill.
It perfected me into my most radiant form.
So would I get to see Randolph’s potential?
《‘King of Corpse Crows’ transforms into its Most Radiant form.》
《‘Terrible Omen, Randolph.’》
…….?
It was Randolph, yet something entirely different.
Against all expectations, I began transforming into a completely new existence.
Transcending the King of Corpse Crows.
A being at the extreme end of that path.
A Terrible Omen.
A dreadful portent, an omen more horrific than any natural disaster.
Not merely a corpse crow—but a phenomenon.
‘…So that’s what it means to be completed according to my state.’
Perhaps it was due to the Baal set. Or perhaps the system judged the King of Corpse Crows to be stronger than my human form.
Regardless—
《‘Terrible Omen’ feeds on curses and calamity in the surroundings to become stronger.》
Excellent.
Better than anything I could have hoped for.
There is no place more ominous than here.
And who else possesses a curse as powerful as Baal?
But the phrase “becomes stronger” meant something slightly different than I imagined—
My body began swelling larger.
Soon, my entire form had grown to rival even Baal.
‘…Any giant would be nothing in comparison now.’
So this was what “growing stronger” meant.
Soon, two colossal beasts faced one another.
Goooooooooh!!
Sensing the dreadful omen radiating from me, Baal flared its wings and charged in.
I had never moved with a body this massive, but I could not fall behind in the opening clash.
I unleashed a roar with every ounce of strength—
KAAAAAAAAAAAAK—!
***
The two colossal beasts clashed in midair.
Everyone submerged in the abyss stared blankly, stunned.
“……What is that.”
“A-am I actually seeing this…?”
The people summoned from Jeju Island could not shut their mouths.
A monster with a goat’s face and a monstrous crow infused with pitch-black fire crashed into each other.
KWAANG—!
Each impact triggered an earthquake.
The ground shook, winds roared like a typhoon.
“…Sword.”
Gracia unleashed the Thousand Swords.
A defensive stance.
A thousand blades spread in every direction, forming barriers in the gaps between them.
Kruuung! Krrrrrrung!
Insane.
Just blocking the shockwaves made his hands tremble.
Sweat beaded across his face.
‘What is that massive crow?’
Gracia had never seen such a creature.
It resembled a crow…
but in reality, it was like a mass of ‘black flame’ shaped into a crow.
A dreadful fire pressing Baal.
But this was Baal’s abyss.
Another being equal to Baal in the abyss?
‘Could it be another lord of the abyss?’
He’d heard that abyss lords sometimes fought over territory.
But he shook his head.
There was only one abyss here.
The abyss of the resurrected ones.
This place was Baal’s territory alone.
No other realms overlapped.
‘If not that… could it be the Fifth Great Master?’
Such an anomaly.
Could it be the Fifth Great Master who had allegedly killed the supreme dragon Riley in the abyss?
The one once called the King of Corpse Crows, the one personally protected by the White King.
Gracia had always been curious about his true nature.
The being who defeated Riley in one strike.
And the crow bearing the name “Randolph”…
Could that monstrous creature actually be Randolph?
If so, then the Randolph he knew was clearly an entirely different person with the same name.
“S-save us!”
“Mom! Mom!”
“Waaaah!”
Men and women, young and old—all fell into panic.
The sudden chaos made rational thought impossible.
But that wasn’t even the end.
“…Wh-what is that?”
“It’s not just one…?”
At their horrified voices, Gracia turned.
Fiery feathers that had fallen from the Omen during the clash wriggled.
Then each transformed into a crow dressed like a ritual Taoist, with robes and long beards.
Kaaak!
Kaaaaak!
Countless Taoist-crows.
They pressed their palms together and cawed in unison.
Above the Omen’s head, a ‘Black Sun’ manifested—an ominous sphere flowing with bloody tears.
As the falling blood stained the abyss—
Goooooooh—!!
Suddenly, Baal screamed in agony.
A sound no one—including Gracia—had ever heard, no matter how hard they struck Baal.
Whatever that Black Sun was, its purpose was clear.
【Death】
…It was death itself.
If Baal’s entire realm were covered by that bleeding Black Sun, Baal would die.
Tremble, tremble, tremble—
Gracia’s body shook just looking at it.
It was an authority that brought absolute, unavoidable death.
Completely different from the “poison energy” he wielded.
A fundamental death.
‘…That thing is the real monster.’
So that was the Fifth Great Master.
To think the lord of the labyrinth was such a creature.
‘There is a reason the White King officially acknowledged the labyrinth.’
Why else would he protect the Fifth Great Master?
Thus, Gracia made a vow.
‘The labyrinth of the Fifth Great Master must never be touched.’
Never, under any circumstances.
The labyrinth must remain a forbidden land.
If it killed the supreme dragon Riley and overwhelmed the monstrous Baal, no further explanation was necessary.
Even the current Baal was in a state far stronger than the original Baal.
“Is, is the crow winning?”
“I think so?”
“If that goat is Baal then, then does that mean we can survive?”
Gooooooooh!
As the blood of the black sun soaked the ground, Baal’s groans only grew louder.
His entire skin was peeling off as he writhed.
Anyone could see the ill omen was overpowering Baal.
It didn’t look like it could lose at all.
But then.
“Ah······!” “Wh-what is that!”
People recoiled in terror.
Screech!
Suddenly, Baal’s face split cleanly in half.
–Slice!
It happened in an instant.
Something burst out from inside and swallowed the ill omen’s head whole.
And then.
Thud!
Kuuuuung!
······ The headless ill omen staggered and collapsed to the ground.
It truly happened in a single instant.
A situation no one predicted, no one could have predicted.
“······ Wh-what just happened?”
“Did both of them fall?”
No one knew what had really occurred.
No one even saw it.
It only looked like the ill omen suddenly lost its head and collapsed.
‘This is······.’
And that was the same for Gracia.
Not only the ill omen— the Five Great Powers— but even Baal was collapsed as if dead.
But unlike the ill omen, Baal’s body continued twitching.
《‘The one who is the abyss itself’ begins evolving into a ‘deeper abyss.’》
Seeing the message that suddenly appeared, Gracia frowned deeply.
“You’ve got to be kidding······.”
A curse escaped his lips.
Evolving further here?
A monster that even the monstrous Five Great Powers couldn’t stop— how could humanity possibly block it?
‘It’s over.’
No other word surfaced.
***
《You have died by the ‘Fragment of Ruin.’》
《Game Over》
I looked around.
Two lines floating before me.
Death, and Game Over.
A sight I’d seen often somewhere.
While gaming.
Usually it showed who killed you, and then it ended.
But I was clearly overpowering Baal.
I was pushing Baal into a corner.
So why?
‘Don’t tell me, again······.’
Just like when I killed the Demon King, did I forcibly trigger another bug?
But unlike that time, this was reality.
Not inside a game, but the real world I was experiencing.
“······What kind of trash game is this, seriously.”
I never thought I’d say it again.
And this time it wasn’t even a game.
If you die, you don’t come back.
The Fragment of Ruin.
It must serve a similar function as when the Demon King died.
That’s the problem.
This damned world was filled with variables that would lop your head off the moment you loosened your guard.
I never imagined this would happen even after using the Throne of Radiant Light.
Then is this the afterlife?
As I was looking around—
《Game Ove》
On the screen before me, one character disappeared.
At first, I thought I misread it.
《Game Ov》
《Game O》
······ That was the beginning.
All the letters vanished.
Both the Game Over message and the message saying I died.
And in that empty space, new letters began to fill in.
《Consuming the ‘Fire of Life.’》
《Hidden trait ‘Eternal Randolph’ activates!》
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