Due to Heralhazard’s interference, the souls began spilling out once again. And at that mont, there was only one thing I could do.
Scatter mana to secure them for even a brief mont.
Bang!
Then, I imdiately opened the door to the general store and stepped inside with the end stone.
If I lose the souls here, it’s all over!
I held on tightly to the cracked end stone, trying to prevent the souls from escaping, but they kept pouring out like water from a dam.
The only recourse was to proceed with the original plan: leave the continent.
With fewer souls escaping now, I moved into the general store while doing my best to hold onto them.
The thought of leaving Findenai and Erica behind as they held Raziel back did cross my mind. However…
“You idiot, why the hell are you hesitating!”
“Go!”
Hearing their screams, I walked inside as if pushed by an invisible hand.
The souls began spilling out inside the general store. I considered closing the door since there would be nowhere for them to escape once it was shut, but…
Crack!
As a large hand suddenly grabbed hold of the doorknob, stopping the door from moving as if caught on sothing.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Creak!
The half-closed door was forced open again as Raizel stepped inside. His lightning surging out like an aura, causing Findenai and Erica to be flung back by the shock.
Thud.
His footsteps echoed throughout the store.
Thud.
Due to his enormous size, Raizel had to bend over to enter, closing the door behind him with a faint smile.
“There’s nowhere for you left to run.”
He stood with his back against the door.
It seed that he intended to annihilate all the souls trapped within this space as bolts of lightning surged from his entire body, illuminating the dark interior of the general store. ℟ÅƝ𝐎₿Ёs̈
There was nowhere left to run.
Even if I did manage to escape, there was no place where I could take the souls.
The Land of Eternal Rest, which had already cracked upon its creation, causing the souls to pour out endlessly, could no longer serve its purpose.
Trapped inside the general store with nowhere to go, it felt like we were fish caught in a tank.
“Accept your fate, Outsider. You have no right to control this continent.”
“…”
“We’ve waited centuries for this mont. The fate you stole from Aria Rias will be returned to her the mont I snap your neck and restore everything to its rightful place.”
Boom.
As Raizel took a step forward, a shockwave of electricity spread across the floor, climbing the walls, and reaching the ceiling.
His lightning began to dominate the space.
A place that remained a mystery even to the gods.
A secret, hidden location far removed from the continent.
Yet, it struggled to conceal the divine radiance Raizel’s presence exuded.
“Why…”
However, even amidst his intimidating threats, even as the electric current brushed my cheek, stinging as if it would burn my flesh, my questions didn’t stop.
I asked Raizel, who called himself a god and claid to follow destiny.
“Why do you put so much faith in sothing like fate?”
“Because that’s the only way we can attain freedom.”
I felt frustrated.
Like sothing was stuck in my chest, blocking my breath.
It was absurd, but I understood why they were able to only think in that manner.
And just because I knew the truth, I couldn’t criticize their ignorance.
However, there was a need to correct it.
“Do you truly believe that is freedom? Proceeding according to so predetermined destiny?”
The screams of the overflowing souls around seed to cry out in agreent.
But even in that situation, the god in front of didn’t waver or hesitate.
“After we reach the end of this long marathon, we will finally attain freedom.”
“It is foolish.”
I suddenly recalled a book I had read about fate.
It was written by a Holocaust survivor who had docunted their experiences.1
In that book, the narrator said,
If there is freedom, there is no fate.
If there is fate, then there is no freedom.
I felt like those words perfectly encapsulated the mindset of the gods standing before .
The fate they spoke of and followed offered no true freedom.
“For the sake of this continent, the fate (the main story) you speak of must be broken.”
“Huff, Outsider. My resolve remains unshaken. This is also for the continent.”
“No.”
I shook my head.
Emotions welled up inside .
Tension filled my body, and before I knew it, a deep sigh escaped my lips as an overwhelming sadness pressed down heavily on .
I couldn’t let you follow that story.
The story that you claid to be the preordained fate for this continent—I won’t let you carry it out.
And not just for Aria Rias.
At first, my only goal was to save the continent. Hence, I used Aria Rias as a protagonist, thinking she would be able to help save the land I would live in.
However, as I spent ti and lived here, I changed.
Indeed, it was a ridiculous notion.
I watched over the nurous people living on this continent.
The living.
The dead.
Demons and gods.
Watching all of them, I felt a sense of injustice. I began to question whether following the main storyline was truly the right thing to do.
After all, wouldn’t going along with it ultimately prove their lives to be aningless?
If we simply complied with the prewritten storyline, then the lives of everyone on this continent—their joys, sorrows, pleasures, suffering, anger, elation, excitent, and happiness—would be nothing more than re words scribbled on a creator’s desk to create a ga.
“No.”
I would not let that happen.
All the noble people I had encountered, all the vile people I ca across,
The good, the evil,
People who were two-faced at tis, vibrant at others, and at tis beautiful,
And those I have loved,
I could not allow them to be turned into sothing false.
“You must not follow that so-called fate.”
My chest quivered. My heart shook.
I would not allow the lives I had witnessed to be reduced to sothing as trivial as a ‘ga.’
This place was a world in its own right, and I lived alongside them.
“I will affirm.”
My eyes t those of Raizel, who continued unleashing brilliant lightning. For the first ti, his gaze wavered.
“Even your life.”
Raizel, the god of lightning and clouds, had worked tirelessly to protect the main story to attain his freedom.
However, going along with it only proved that he was nothing more than a re NPC, existing solely for a few hours of gaplay.
He could possibly not know that, right?
And even if I explained it, there was no way he would be able to accept it, right?
That is fine.
Your life is not just part of so ga.
You do not need to waste it living as per the whims of the main story.
“To give you true freedom, to give aning to your life.”
I will kill you.
And as I said those words, for the first ti, Raizel looked bewildered.
He could feel that I was moving for his sake.
“This is bewildering… truly, disorienting.”
However, he once again began to discharge lightning bolts filled with fierce hostility, ready to turn into ash at any mont.
“There is no turning back. I will kill you, annihilate all the souls, and I will follow the flow of fate.”
Crackle!
“I’m Raizel! Master of lightning! Keeper of the clouds and the greatest warrior among the gods!”
You…
“Declare your na!”
Boom!
The entire general store shook as he stomped his foot, and a lightning storm began to swirl around.
Enduring the searing pain of burning flesh, I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
“Deus Verdi.”
The great divinity.
The greatest warrior among the gods.
The master of lightning and clouds.
Despite those grand titles, he seed unbelievably pathetic.
“A Necromancer.”
And in that mont, a single word shattered everything.
The lightning wrapped around him felt utterly insignificant. The giant figure I once had to look up at seed almost laughable now.
I was a Necromancer and…
“You, a so-called master of lightning.”
Gathered here were countless souls, enough to overwhelm the entire continent and bring it to ruin.
“How dare you bark before us!”
Crack!
I shattered the end stone in my hand.
And then, the souls pouring out imdiately rushed at Raizel.
Hostility—Pure, unbridled hostility toward the god who had descended to this plane for the sake of annihilating them.
“How dare you!”
Lightning surged from Raizel, striking at the souls, but it was too late. He was already buried under them, standing at the threshold of a grim death.
Yet that was also—
“Your salvation.”
He looked like he wanted to say sothing, but in the end, Raizel couldn’t even open his mouth.
His once-proud eyes slowly closed as a calm realization dawned upon him, as if he finally understood sothing in his final monts.
I didn’t know what it was.
Or perhaps he attained his freedom through death.
Like Romuleus, Gods had no soul; they were simply annihilated.
Tearing my gaze from his corpse, I looked at the general store, which seed like it would explode due to the sheer number of souls.
The end stone was completely shattered, but I decided to take a different approach.
Countless souls and more mana than one could imagine filled this place.
So much that it wouldn’t be surprising if the very space itself collapsed if left unchecked.
I closed my eyes slowly and began to manipulate the mana.
I drew the magic.
Calmly, serenely in the truest sense.
In the end, I failed.
My plan to create a sanctuary for all souls, the Land of Eternal Rest, had already turned into bubbles.
Since it was no longer possible to reseal the end stone, I decided to shatter it completely.
I would create a new place.
A new place to house the innurable souls.
Why?
The answer was obvious.
Looking back, I sotis wondered if it would co to this.
Their sanctuary.
“I am sorry.”
I offered an apology to the many souls, though it wasn’t directed at the dead, but to those waiting for .
I had promised that I would survive.
I had been so confident that it would all be resolved without a hitch.
However, now that it had co to this, there seed to be no way back.
I glanced at the heavy, tightly shut door of the general store.
A longing spread throughout my entire body, but I couldn’t just sit there and savor it.
Slowly, I got to my knees.
Just as the Griffin Evil Ghost had carried the past mbers of the Griffin Kingdom’s royal family within him, I, too, would carry these many souls within .
As the overflowing mana entered , I felt my heart twist. I thought of creating Legeton again.
And this ti, the core would be my own heart.
“I am sorry, Deus.”
I never intended for it to co to this.
With a bitter smile, I spoke to the souls waiting for .
“All of you gathered here are the saviors of this continent.”
Please, be proud of yourselves as you close your eyes one last ti.
I will be…
“Your gravestone.”
And I will beco your sanctuary.
Let us commorate this life that has ended.
Let us weep together.
Ti went by, though I could not feel it.
As I continued to accept the souls, my body twisted, seemingly on the verge of collapse, but the imnse mana scattered throughout the general store restored it.
I was broken down and restored.
Repeatedly.
Even through the agonizing pain that felt like it was slicing my flesh, I listened attentively to the stories of many.
And they, too, listened to mine.
“I wonder if they received my gift well.”
The continent had now strayed far from the main storyline.
The predetermined tale crafted for re entertainnt was no more.
Emotions and ti, forced upon them to experience, were no longer programd for the sake of the protagonist.
Live your own life and embrace your freedom.
Surprisingly, among the flood of souls entering my body, so were assisting with my magic.
And before I knew it, my heart had beco like an artifact, as if it were forged by countless Mages gathering together.
Then, my eyes began to close gradually.
Perhaps this was the death I had witnessed so many tis before.
Standing at the very edge of the boundary, I finally…
Just as I was about to cross it.
[No!]
A girl’s voice startled my eyes open.
Sothing was pushing away.
Though my body remained rooted firmly in place, like an ancient tree, I was undoubtedly being pushed away.
Then I saw the back of Deus Verdi, his head bowed low as he knelt.
The one pushing was…
Emily?
The girl who loved flowers.
The girl who was forced to beco a Human-Bone Centipede in the Verdi Household’s underground but still smiled as she peacefully drifted off to sleep in the end.
Following her, countless others began pushing .
They were all familiar faces.
The natives of Setima, to whom I had granted rest at the academy.
And it wasn’t just them.
The mbers of the Griffin Kingdom’s royal family, who were captured by the Griffin Evil Ghost.
Volta, the son of Hernu, who had been tornted by Dante’s Cadavermancer.
And countless other souls I helped find rest in the Clark Republic.
The War God, Han So.
Ophelia’s daughter, who was taken captive by Lehric.
Even the half-burned woman who attained rest while tearfully holding Illuania’s daughter, Sevia.
Those who had already crossed the boundary between life and death were now pushing away, preventing from crossing it and joining them.
They rescued from death, overwheld by the flood of souls.
A doll was sitting alone at a distance in the corner of the general store.
An item crafted for by Professor Fel Petra.
It was originally supposed to be a doll for the sake of managing the end stone kept in the shop.
However, the doll reacted to my soul and mana as I stepped into it, transforming its body and appearance.
And not long after, stood a young man who had lived in South Korea, Kim Shinwoo.
“Ah.”
I sighed without realizing it.
The souls kept pouring into Deus Verdi’s body.
I gently placed my hand on my heart.
I could still feel the pulse of life.
I was not dead. Yet.
However, amidst the souls pouring into , the souls protected from going into shock and kept safe.
How long would it take?
To receive all the souls and stabilize that body.
How much ti would be needed?
I had my doubts, but it didn’t seem like it would take as long as I feared.
Still, if I remained here, I felt I too might get caught up in the storm of mana and souls.
In that case…
“If it is just for a mont…”
I looked up at the souls and asked.
“Will it be okay if I take my leave?”
Could I entrust it to them?
The souls did not bother to answer my question.
However, the general store’s door swung open, and beyond it was a vast adow illuminated by the rising sun of dawn.
The general store led to a random location.
Since I was no longer Deus Verdi, I could no longer specify a location without restrictions.
The adow did not look like it belonged to the Griffin Kingdom.
But I slowly stepped outside the door.
Creak.
Thud.
As the door closed, I found myself standing on this continent as Kim Shinwoo.
However, it was just until Deus’ body stabilized after accepting all the souls.
Until then, I began a very brief journey.
* * *
Before anyone realized it, a week had flown by.
The chaos in Graypond was being settled gradually, but the gloom hanging over the city remained.
Many were injured, much had been destroyed, and Deus Verdi had disappeared.
Along with Raizel, he had disappeared beyond the general store door and never returned.
Was it because he could not co back?
No one knew the reason.
In any case, many were worried.
However, all the souls on the continent had disappeared.
Now, the boundary between life and death had collapsed, and the continent was no longer on the brink of destruction.
It seed right to think so, but here, on the palace rooftop, sat two won perched on the railing.
No, two souls.
[So, what should we do now?]
The Dark Spiritualist, who had been absorbed into the staff wielded by Heralhazard and transford into a half-haunting spirit. And…
[…I don’t know either.]
Stella, who had inherited the divinity of the now-extinct goddess Hertia and had beco half-god, half-demon.
Footnotes
1. Fateless (Sorstalanság), An autobiographical novel by Imre Kertész, 1975. In the book, he narrated, "We can only continue the old one. I took my own steps. No one else did. And I remained honest to the end to my given fate … Do you want all this horror and all my previous steps to lose their aning entirely? … Why can't you just see that if there is such a thing as fate, then there is no freedom? If, on the other hand … there is freedom, then there is no /genesisforsaken
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