Book 2: Chapter 522
There was a being who expressed interest in the Exile’s voice.
[Ask what exactly he means by that.]
The Lightning God spoke up once again.
Of course, even if he hadn’t said anything, Lukas would have done so.
“The apocalypse has five forms?”
[That’s right…]
“…speak clearly. Are you saying that five apocalypses with different forms will appear in different places at the same time? Or are you saying that five apocalypses on a universal scale will occur at the same time?”
Neither option was easy to accept.
Of course, on a planetary scale, for example, an apocalypse could have many forms.
Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, heavy snowfall, lightning storms— or wars.
Faced with a natural disaster that they could not take countermeasures against, humans would consider that to be the scene of an apocalypse.
Strictly speaking, this was a misinterpretation.
Those were disasters, not apocalypses. That was simply a phenomenon that occurred before an apocalypse, or a phenomenon that makes it happen faster.
The apocalypse that the world would soon face would not be something so lukewarm.
Everything in existence had a lifespan, and now, the lifespan of the multiverse had reached its end…
But the moment he had that thought, Lukas’ thoughts suddenly came to a halt.
‘How exactly does a world that has reached its end, disappear?’
A living being at the end of its life,
A star at the end of its life,
A universe at the end of its life.
He knew about the deaths of these things. He had even seen them die for himself. Then he realised. The forms of death were all different.
If that was the case, then… the death or extinction of the Three Thousand Worlds, might be completely different from the death of other things.
Lukas thought of Diablo.
“Someone I know said. Everything we know would cease to exist in an instant. And we wouldn’t even realise we had ceased to exist.”
Not death, extinction*.(*:Once again, ‘ceasing to exist’ and ‘extinction’ are the same as the ‘disappearance’ mentioned in the World of Void.)
If Diablo’s interpretation was true, he would have no choice but to feel chills. The higher the intelligence of the being, the more likely they were to feel the same way.
[Something no being would realise… a simultaneous extinction… the apocalypse… is something like that… hu, hu, hu.]
The Exile let out a laugh, but it soon turned into a sob.
Nevertheless, his expression did not change in the slightest.
[You couldn’t know… couldn’t imagine… just how helpless you would be… because you… don’t know how insignificant of a being you are…]
“Helpless?”
[Do you want to deny it…?]
“…”
Lukas’ current level was at least on par with the Twelve Void Lords. This meant that he currently had the ability to rule in this vast, nigh infinite world.
However… the being that uttered those words was one of the Twelve Void Lords.
‘It was said that the Exile fought Yang In-hyun before.’
Yang In-hyun’s uncomfortable expression when he faced the Exile.
If this being’s strength skills were better than Yang In-hyun’s, and yet he still considered himself to be insignificant… then, what the hell did the Exile witness in ‘that place’?
“What did you see?”
[I cannot… answer…]
“Why? Because I am not qualified?”
Lukas spoke in a sarcastic tone.
The word ‘qualification’ had always blocked Lukas when he tried to learn the hidden truths.
However, this time the case was a bit different.
[That’s not… the reason… It’s because… I myself… what I saw… is too vague… also… I have… communication problems…]
Vague?
Was he messing with him?
“Didn’t you say it myself? That the apocalypse has five forms.”
[That is… the only thing… I… could know… honestly…]
Lukas thought about asking further, but gave up.
“…what do you mean by communication?”
[Right now, I… am talking to you… through a language interpretation… program…]
As he said this, the Exile shook his machine on his arm.
…Was that the reason for his excessively broken speech and unclear pronunciation? It seemed that his slurred tone was not simply because of the structure of his mouth.
[What I witnessed… to explain even one hundred millionth of it… I would need to do so in the language of my race….]
“The language of your race?”
[A race with the… greatest language system…]
“Then at least try to briefly teach me the language. It will only take 10 minutes.”
This was also a display of humility. Depending on how efficiently he explained, just a few minutes would be enough.
However, the Exile shook his head.
[Lukas Trowman… your brain is superior to that of any other being, but… regardless of that… it is impossible…]
“Why?”
[Because… the language of my race… has a different system… from any other race in the multiverse… It is not a brain problem… any race other than mine… will never be able to understand… From the beginning… that is how it was supposed to be…]
“…”
Lukas inquired in his head.
‘Do you know what race the Exile is?’
[…‘Ingtel’.]
Ingtel?
Ah. The name of the race.
The Lightning God continued.
[That guy’s words aren’t lies. In order to learn their language, you first need to be able to use their race’s naturally diffusing energy waves.]
‘Can other races not use it no matter what?’
[That is the case with your bare body. I’m not sure if it would be possible with those guys’ power of science… But the Ingtel are already extinct, and the entirety of their scientific civilisation has disappeared.]
Lukas’ gaze shifted to the Exile once again.
‘…did he destroy them with his own hands?’
[As far as I know, yes. It was one of the 17 Great Universes that guy destroyed. I couldn’t get an accurate understanding about the multiverse apocalypse, but if that guy really witnessed an ‘apocalypse’… it might be closely related to that.]
Was he saying that guy had gone crazy after witnessing the apocalypse? But he couldn’t feel any sense of madness from the Exile.
…His head ached slightly.
Lukas was beginning to regret coming to this place a bit.
In this life, the White Knight and the Exile had given Lukas a bunch of questions that could not be compared to last life.
“Do you want me to stop the apocalypse?”
[No….]
“Then why are you telling me this?”
[If you are… going to the Magic Planet… this much… is good to know…]
“…you said I would die if I went to the Magic Planet.”
[That’s right…]
“Then are you saying that that is a truth I should know before I die?”
The corners of Lukas’ lips curled up. This was because the situation itself was funny.
The Exile spoke again.
[You shouldn’t… go to the Magic Planet… alone… You need a companion…]
At that point, there was only one being who could called his companion.
[Travel with the Blue Knight… that… for you, and for her… is best…]
“You think we should travel together?”
Lukas’ sneer became clearer.
“Do you know what you’re talking about? Do you know what kind of being Pale is? The Blue Knight, do you think that title can express her entire essence?”
Lukas knew it couldn’t. After all, the ‘Blue Knight’ could only be considered one of Pale’s forms.
At that, the Exile’s gaze turned towards him. His face and eyes were still emotionless, but his head was half tilted.
[Stupid question…]
The voice that came out was mixed with confusion.
[Is that… what I need to know…?]
“What?”
[Aren’t you… the one who should… the Blue Knight… best…]
“Why me? I had no connection with her until I came here.”
[Every relationship… is like that at first… even family connected by blood… until you meet in person… they are just another stranger…]
“…”
[You asked if… the title Blue Knight… could express… her entire essence…? My answer is… it can’t… The reason I… only call her the ‘Blue Knight… is because that is the only form of her existence… I know… However, for you, it is not…]
“…”
The moment he heard those words, Lukas,
Suddenly felt that he was missing something big.
No, it wasn’t sudden.
It was a feeling he’d had from the beginning, right after regressing to this life. However, he had always ignored it─
[Pale… You kept calling her by that name… You didn’t… think of her as just the Blue Knight… like me… All this while… there has never been a being like that…]
“…”
[It is a process… You guys are currently… in the process… I want to ask you…]
The following words caused Lukas to shake his head.
[When you think of her… do you still… feel fear first…?]
* * *
Lukas left the Exile’s abode and returned to the cathedral in the Underground City. This was because he didn’t seem to have anything else to say, and he didn’t seem to have any intention of sending him to the Magic Planet if he wasn’t accompanied by Pale.
He could not see Michael in the cathedral.
…How much time had passed? He wasn’t sure.
“Huu.”
He couldn’t divert his consciousness elsewhere. The Exile’s last words could not be erased from his mind.
Lukas plopped onto a chair.
‘…fear.’
Clearly, Pale was the one who had driven Lukas to death several times.
So when he first learned her identity, he had felt afraid. He couldn’t help it. After all, she was a being with power equal to that of a Ruler. He didn’t want to provoke her, and he didn’t want to get involved with her.
However, because she was strong, because that power was real, he had thought about how valuable she was to use.
He’d thought that by using the power of the Blue Knight, he could overturn the unreasonable fate dealt to him.
Then, in his last life, he got to learn about Pale.
“Lightning God.”
[…what is it?]
“I… am I still afraid of Pale?”
[Those are your feelings. Why are you asking me?]
“Because I myself don’t know either.”
[You’re freaking nuts.]
The Lightning God cursed him roughly.
[Your feelings are none of my business. There is only one thing I’m curious about. What the hell are you doing? No, what do you want to do?]
“What?”
[The current you has a profound influence. This means that you have enough power to change the situation. However, the behaviour you’ve shown since regressing is so passive it’s making me sick.]
‘…passive? Me?’
[Then am I wrong? You didn’t face the Blue Knight properly, and you didn’t go looking for the puppets who have the Ruler’s remnant thoughts engraved inside them. Besides that, there are countless things you could have done. But what did you do?]
As if frozen, his entire body didn’t move an inch.
[Did you really have to meet the White Knight? Was it really your wish to hear that from the Exile? If it’s not something like the Blue Knight. Then what exactly are you afraid of?]
‘…!’
─’what exactly are you afraid of’.
The Lightning God’s roar illuminated his mind. A strong flash ran through his mind like a bolt of lightning and eventually spread to his entire body.
His frozen body awakened.
And he realised.
What he was thinking about.
He,
‘…repeated several lives.’
[That seems to be the case.]
‘Regression(回歸), is really an absurd experience.’
[That’s right. Returning to the past… is something even I can’t do.]
‘It is unfair to be allowed to live again and again. It’s terrifying, and… more than that, it is a miracle. That’s why I tried not to become intoxicated by it. Whenever I regressed, I made the decision to live that life as if it were my last.’
However, at some point, that determination had faded.
He’d thought it hadn’t, but it had. At the crossroads between life and death, Lukas chose to give up his life surprisingly easily. Even if he didn’t, he never struggled desperately in the face of death.
This was because, in a corner of his mind, he vaguely knew that there would be a ‘next time’.
But this time, God told him.
This was the last time.
“I was frightened by God’s words. Haha.”
He laughed because he realised how unsightly he was.
It was natural for there to be no second chance in life, but he had been scared by such an obvious thing.
If the egos of the ‘other Lukases’ were still around, they all would have burst out laughing.
“Everything you said was correct. I was so passive it makes me sick.”
[Hmph…]
This wasn’t the time to do things like this.
Like receiving an evaluation from the White Knight,
Or going to the Magic Planet.
Or saving the puppets being controlled by the Rulers…!
Even more so, saving his precious people in the Three Thousand Worlds outside was not something that needed to be done right now.
Even if they were all things that needed to be done at some point, at least, it wasn’t ‘now’.
-I hate people who lie.
He recalled a cracked voice.
-People who trick or deceive others— regardless of their reason, I hate them.
It was the voice of someone’s heart.
Someone’s inner thoughts that he’d dared to peek at
‘I was gravely mistaken about something.’
The hatred Pale had for the Rulers was true.
However, even with that, the anger Pale unleashed at the end was different from before.
She hadn’t lost her reason to such an extent when she had seen Sedi or Lee Jong-hak, who had borrowed the power of a Ruler.
-And in the end, you lied to me too.
That’s right.
-From the beginning, our relationship was filled with lies.
The reason Pale had gotten angry was because he, Lukas Trowman, had lied to her.
Because she’d felt betrayed by someone she thought she could trust.
…If that was the case, then,
Click-
Lukas stumbled out of the cathedral.
After opening the door and walking for a bit, he finally saw a blue-haired woman standing in an open space.
A woman who was humming a song while sitting on a set of stone steps.
“Pale.”
He called her name.
She leisurely turned her head to look over at him. Then, she waved her hand with a delighted expression on her face.
“Uncle, you’re late! I thought you ran away again!”
“…”
Pale was a contradictory being, that was what he’d thought.
However, if that wasn’t the case,
If this innocent smile was real, without lies, if it was one of her forms,
“I have something to tell you.”
“Huh?”
Pale looked up at Lukas with a confused gaze.
Several regressions, several times standing at the same starting line.
When he opened his eyes in the grey desert, when he met Pale, when his gaze met her blue gaze,
Something he should have done.
─…I hate people who lie.
“I regressed.”
Not lie to her.
“Huh?”
“From my perspective, this is not my first time meeting you.”
“U-, uncle?”
“I have felt and experienced your existence several times. I know your past. Sorry. I didn’t hear it from you, I peeked one-sidedly.”
“What are you saying all of a sudden?”
And.
“Right now, the remnant thought of a Ruler, the Lightning God, resides in my body.”
[What…!]
Not deceive her.
“…”
The smile on Pale’s face disappeared.
(TL: My pc broke…)
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