Episode 185
A man dressed in black stood on the endless, desolate desert.
The gunman fell, and behind him was a mountain of corpses consisting of the remains of countless heroes.
Broken heroes repeating the same thing endlessly. As each of them challenged fate and broke apart, the cracks carved into the world piled up, and the King of Heroes there defeated the ‘Gunslinger’.
“Cough!”
At that moment, a cough came out from the pain. When I moved my hand towards my mouth, I could no longer feel the unfamiliar texture of the mask there.
A human face was there, and his hands were covered in blood.
Even maintaining consciousness is difficult due to gunshot wounds piercing all over the body.
That’s why Yooseong stabbed the sword of the winter night vertically to support his body, and that was at that moment.
Whoa!
A sudden gust of wind blew across the desert.
A swirling whirlpool like a sandstorm engulfed the entire field of vision, and the storm dissipated.
The land of Heat Four W, where the sand and dust that had filled the field of vision disappeared.
They appeared right on the ground
.
There were countless gunmen there.
From beyond the horizon of the desert to beyond the horizon, hunters stand in line like an army.
He was wearing boots with gear spurs that looked like something out of a Western movie, a black poncho cape, and a cowboy hat.
“He is the strongest-willed child in the universe.”
However, they never revealed any obvious hostility.
“You are the first and last person in this universe to overcome your fate.”
“…is this the ending?”
Yoosung asked back, and one of the gunmen answered.
“Since the creation of this universe, we have possessed the greatest power and wisdom, transcending time and space and reason, and have ruled and ruled over everything.”
“But there was a force that even we who built the highest and greatest tower in this universe could not resist.”
“Oh, is that so?”
I could intuit it.
They are the ones who created this game and were the ones who once reigned at the highest level of this game.
Overlord.
“So we created this game. By weaving all the orders and rules of this universe into a metaphor to create a rule that can be shared by all beings in the universe.” And so the game began. The Gunslinger and the Overlord said, “We are not
even
ourselves
. “I longed for a superman who would reveal the nature of the unstoppable force and overcome this power that even we cannot overcome.”
It was a game about fate.
“It’s craving.”
Yoosung let out a laugh at those words.
Longing for a hero. It was by no means the exclusive domain of humans.
“Even struggling is part of a predestined harmony, and even thinking of defeat is just part of a greater destiny… Even
the gods with the greatest power and knowledge yearn for heroes. “ To
take from us the life we thought was ours.”
“To take our will from everything we thought was ours.”
“Fate is an insurmountable ordeal,”
said one gunman. The gunman next to him answered.
What was cruel was not the audience on the stage or the mask on the actor’s face.
It was the stage itself.
And Yoosung moved his hand again and smoothed out the mask on his face.
In front of the fateful bullet . The mask was broken, but it could not even hurt the human face behind the mask.
So there was only the human face.
“And you overcame an insurmountable ordeal.”
“From you?”
The shooting star asked mockingly, and the gunmen all shook their heads.
“Child, we could not overcome this ordeal.”
“We looked into the abyss, and the abyss also looked at us for too long.”
“And this ordeal .” “I longed endlessly to find someone who could become a part of and overcome us.”
Even though one gunman had fallen, there were still countless gunmen there. It was
literally like a fate that could never be reversed.
“You proved it.”
“ By repeating this universe a thousand times a thousand times until the very moment it was born and died,
“and finally it gave us the complete answer.”
The answer. Yoosung’s expression froze coldly at those words.
Crash.
At the same time, the gunmen there loaded their revolvers and opened fire.
He just pointed the gun.
Each towards their own temple.
“Thank you, human child, for ending our journey without it being meaningless.”
bang!
A gunshot rang out. It was a gunshot that rang out so regularly that it seemed as if it had been fired by just one person.
My eyes opened.
It was a world where stars were shining.
The spire of the throne, the greatest pillar that encompasses the order of this universe. And the seat of the overlord at the top of the spire.
The Lord of Heroes and the player Kang Yu-seong was sitting on that very throne.
“…Maria.”
And there was someone watching him from the nearest place.
“Mr. Yoosung.”
The lord of the game and a player who once had the name of a saint. There was no longer a shadow under the hood she had put on. The face of Mary, as brilliant and beautiful as gold, is revealed.
That’s why Yooseong stretched out his hand without saying a word.
To stroke her pale cheeks under the hood.
Maria also smiled sweetly and stretched out her arms.
“I had a dream…”
“What dream?”
In response to Yoosung’s question, Maria smiled and asked back.
“Fate…
That’s why Yoosung tried to open his mouth, but then fell silent and smiled bitterly. I just felt like the moment I put the contents of my dream into words, everything would burst like a bubble.
But Yoosung didn’t think any further. That was probably a good thing.
It didn’t matter whether that victory was part of some greater fate and predestined harmony, or whether it was a miracle achieved in the process of countless heroes falling and being broken.
When he looks back on his fate in the future, he will be remembered as someone who faced fate more cruelly than anyone else.
Never giving up until the end and repeating the same thing endlessly.
And as I continued to hope that things would be different next time, there were also cracks of incalculable foolishness.
The tide of gigantic cracks that heroes, gods, and humans have built up over and over again.
“it’s nothing.”
“is it so.”
Maria didn’t ask any more questions either. I just smile.
Like I understand everything about him.
A lord of heroes and a true lord of men.
He was the most powerful being in the game. And it is probably one of the most powerful beings in this universe. The woman who stayed by his side was no exception.
That is why the overlord sitting on the throne stretched out his arms without saying a word.
Countless stars shining beyond the ceiling of the spire seemed to flow like grains of sand through his fingers.
The galaxies that filled the darkness of space were shining so close that you could reach them with your arms outstretched.
And for him, picking a star in the night sky was never impossible.
“Ad Astra (toward the stars).”
At that moment, Maria whispered in Yoosung’s ear.
“It’s time to reach for the stars.”
Yooseong smiled quietly at those words and turned his head from the night sky he was looking at.
A world where cruel trials are imposed that humans cannot endure.
In that very world, a magical girl was fighting against the devil.
It was a scenery that could only be seen that way.
The sword carrying the Heavenly Demon’s inaction was swung, and the magical girl swung the weapon in her hand, her dress fluttering in the night sky.
It was a star-shaped magic wand.
In the girl’s hand was a star that was shining more brilliantly than any other star in the night sky.
In front of him, the sky monster swung his sword. A sword of annihilation that makes even the strongest fleetless.
Kaang
Still, he couldn’t hurt the black girl.
The star in the girl’s hand could not reach the star engraved on the girl’s night sky dress.
In the past, the sword’s owner had never touched the stars even for a single moment.
The Absolute One of Void… The Heavenly Demon was ultimately unable to overcome his emptiness and destiny and passed away without being able to reach the stars. There was only overwhelming violence built up from that despair and despair.
There was a girl there who willingly faced the devil in the face of trials that humans could not bear.
But she never fought for humans.
so that.
“Hey, I’ve been recognizing you since I saw Free O on Netflix.”] [
“Mr. Yoosung, can you please shut your mouth?”]
A friendly voice was heard and Lily smiled quietly. Trying to leave behind the blush that was shyly rising on her cheeks.
Kaang!
Once again the Demon Lord swung his sword, and Lily did not move.
It was just a blade imbued with the cold of a winter night being swung against the sword of shadow.
“…My shadow.”
The shadow of the broken hero was there.
The King of Heroes appeared there.
“We… Lord of Heroes.”
That is why the broken hero and lord of the devil knelt before their king.
All the shadows there, the human world, and all the demon lords on the throne at the end stopped fighting and knelt down.
“Come back.”
“…is that what you mean?”
The Lord of Heroes spoke to the shadows, and the shadows did not hesitate.
And when the shadow imitators returned to their original form, it was no longer the ‘shadow of the broken hero’ that they had to imitate. It wasn’t even the Demon Lord.
Because in his shadow, there were no longer any broken heroes, no despair, no fragments of the devil.
There was a hero who had truly overcome his fate.
And the army of heroes was there.
“Thank you, Lily.”
“huh.”
Yoosung stroked Lily’s head and Lily smiled softly.
Just like that, Yoosung raised his head.
A world was spread out, burned and ruined by trials that humans could not bear.
It was the same as when this world first became a game.
They did not have the ability to overcome this ordeal. Therefore, they longed for a superhuman to overcome this ordeal on their behalf, and Yoosung willingly answered their call.
Kid, do you want to be a hero?
There was still one hero in that world.
It was not an act done for himself or for humans. It wasn’t a question of good or evil, or even guilt or responsibility.
It was just for myself and for someone else who cherished them.
〈-complete-〉
Thanks for uploading this story. It was very interesting.