Chapter 333. Apostle. (3)
All living beings in the world must disappear.
For a new master to settle upon the earth?
I feel faint at the words spat out by the World Tree.
'...What kind of dog-shit logic is that...'
If the world I inhabit has no master,
the world will eventually produce a new master.
And for that master to establish themselves, all living beings rooted upon the earth must be erased.
“Who decided such a thing.”
Who the hell is the bastard who decreed such a mad tale?
It was an absurd story.
[It is not something someone decided; that is simply the law of the world.]
I let out a hollow breath at the words the World Tree spat out.
The law is such?
“What a load of nonsense.
If the law is such,
then furthermore, if the world I lived in had no master,
according to the law, it would produce a new master.
If that comes to pass,
then doesn't it also mean that, according to the law, all life upon the earth would disappear?
'You're telling me to believe that?'
Truly, it was a ridiculous story.
Not only had I never heard of this story, but it was truly, truly absurd.
“I've never even heard of a master. My world was spinning just fine without such a thing.”
It said if there is no master, life cannot be born,
but aren't they being born just fine?
“If your words aren't a lie, could it be that there is a master in my world, and I simply don't know?”
If he is the connection point of all living beings, the master,
should I say he is like a kind of god?
The gods worshipped in Shaolin and Wudang, are they beings like that?
I do not know.
It was such absurd information that it seemed I would need a long time to comprehend it.
It was a story I could not easily believe.
[Apostle.]
The World Tree calls out to me, but
it does not easily reach my ears.
[A world that deviates from the laws, we call a rift.]
“A rift.”
[Yes. Because a rift has occurred in the originally determined framework, the laws are not being properly applied.]
“...What the hell is that rift...”
Ah.
The moment I was about to speak,
something flashed through my mind.
They say a rift is what prevents the laws from being properly applied.
If there is something in my world worthy of being called a rift...
No way.
“...The Demonic Realm Gate?”
A crack forms in the void,
a heterogeneous space that opens another dimension while pouring out countless demonic beasts.
Long ago,
the origin of the calamity said to have been opened by the ancestor of Guga.
If because of that, a problem arose with the laws the world should have held?
'No way...?'
It can't be.
It must not be.
The absence of a being called the master,
and the reason the laws should have been twisted because of it.
If that was the influence of the Demonic Realm Gate?
'...Of all things, was that the shit my ancestor left behind?'
If the rift the World Tree speaks of now is an effect caused by the Demonic Realm Gate,
it is the record of Guga,
and one of the sins of Guga.
The price for opening the Demonic Realm Gate would come back here.
'No, can that even be called a price?'
If I think about it differently for a moment,
a world without a master from the start
would be unable to bear new life any longer.
If, due to the rift created by opening the Demonic Realm Gate,
the laws were reversed so that life could continue to be born even without a master...
Wouldn't that actually be a good deed...
'That's not it...'
I considered wrapping it up nicely but realized it was too great a stretch and shook my head.
No matter what I do,
opening the Demonic Realm Gate upon the world is impossible to justify.
Unless my ancestor intended to break such laws,
but if that is not the case,
my ancestor committed a sin,
and that sin remains to this day;
how could it possibly be justified?
What I need to think about now, within the World Tree's story,
is to recall the most fundamental part.
“Fine. Laws, rifts, whatever, let's say that's true.”
I don't understand a single bit of it,
but let's just move past it for now.
If we move past it, what remains is,
“In the first place, where is the master who should exist in our world?”
If every world must have a master,
where on earth is the master who should be in the Central Plains right now?
If we are to find the problem, we must start from there.
Because that master is absent,
this mess occurred.
[...]
The World Tree falls silent at my question.
Does that mean it doesn't know either?
Maybe there are worlds without masters from the start.
That's possible.
[There is no such thing as a world without a master.]
“Be honest. I can't read your inner thoughts either.”
[The world hates, more than anything, deviating from the predetermined laws.]
Ignoring my words, the World Tree continues.
[That is why it must be doing its utmost to somehow return to its original state.]
“By doing its utmost, you mean making a new master take their place?”
[Yes. If there is a world and living beings, there must also be a master.]
“...So for that, all the existing living beings must be erased?”
[It is the law that it must be so for a new master to establish themselves.]
“This is fucking insane. Really.”
What the hell is that damn law.
I'm already sick of hearing it after just a few times.
“So, if the laws are twisted and life keeps being born no matter what, how are you going to erase them? Make it rain fire from the sky?”
All living beings must be erased for a new master to be seated.
The way the master erases living beings through death,
if it is preventing the conception of life...
and that isn't happening because of the rift...
Then what does the world do to seat a master?
To such a question, the World Tree answers in a somehow cold voice.
[If the laws are twisted and do not flow in their original direction, it will make them flow.]
“How.”
[It is a simple matter. If the continuation of life persists, it need only be erased artificially.]
“...Artificially erased?”
I frowned at the World Tree's words.
The words “artificially erased”
began to sting somewhere.
“...That is...”
[If due to the rift it does not flow according to the laws, the world will call upon an agent.]
An agent.
A being capable of returning the laws to their original state,
of fixing the twisted framework back to its original shape.
Unlike the laws, life keeps being born,
and in a place where a master cannot be born because of it,
it means all life need only be artificially erased.
“When would such a thing happen?”
A cruel and absurd story about all life being massacred.
If the World Tree's words are true, it is by no means a trivial matter.
'Was there any record of such a thing in the past, or in my previous life?'
At least in my memory... I don't think there was.
Then does that mean it won't happen in the future?
As I was thinking that,
[...The world is not a very patient being.]
The World Tree spoke up as if reading my thoughts.
“What do you mean...”
[If a rift occurs and the laws are twisted, it will act on the spot.]
To correct the laws.
“But—”
No matter how I think about it, such a thing...
[Do you truly think such a thing has never happened, Apostle?]
“Such a thing...”
To capture the twisted laws. To erase all life in the Central Plains.
Because it cannot be achieved naturally,
there must be a being that acts in its stead.
An accident that occurred in conjunction with the outbreak of the Demonic Realm Gate.
“...That sounds like fucking bullshit.”
I spat out a curse without realizing it.
The goosebumps on my back were not from wishing it to be false,
but from anxiety born of certainty as I recalled a situation that fit together.
It comes to mind.
What event occurred as an act of correcting the laws the World Tree spoke of.
Because the world has no patience,
an event that must have occurred since the past.
To say there isn't one—don't we have one, like a lie?
That is,
“...The Blood Demon War.”
As I spat out the words,
cold sweat flowed down my cheek.
Centuries ago,
not long after the Demonic Realm Gate opened.
An era without the main strength of the righteous faction that is now called the Martial Alliance,
when they were slowly finding peace by fighting grueling battles against the Demonic Realm Gates forming in the void and the demonic beasts pouring from them.
In the Central Plains that was barely finding its footing,
as if it did not want peace,
there was an event that brought a storm of blood to the world.
The first blood calamity recorded even to this day.
That is the emergence of the Blood Demon.
“...Then, the Blood Demon was the agent?”
The agent sent by the world to erase all living beings.
Was it truly the Blood Demon?
Yeonilcheon had said before:
This world is a world destined for destruction.
That the calamity for that destruction was the Blood Demon.
Though they succeeded in sealing the Blood Demon,
the calamity would not end and would appear again,
and I too am a calamity, he said.
[Apostle.]
The moment the World Tree called me,
I kicked off from the root I was sitting on and stood up.
[You have the eyes of one who has realized something.]
. . . .
“...Why do you call me Apostle?”
[Apostle...]
If the Blood Demon was a calamity in that sense,
and if the calamity hasn't ended,
naturally, I would have thought the Heavenly Demon too was a calamity.
This is a given.
In my previous life, the one who caused the blood calamity was the Heavenly Demon.
His immense power and presence were so great that one couldn't think of him as human.
If one were to express it as a calamity, there would be no more fitting existence.
Even if he was ultimately slain by the Divine Sword. The Heavenly Demon is a being worthy enough to be called a calamity.
However,
“What do you want from me?”
Then what the hell am I?
[Apostle.]
“I'm asking what you want from me!”
If the being before me is a master, albeit of a different world,
while telling me these truths,
entrusting me with something called the Stigma,
what is the reason you call me Apostle?
“Are you— Are you telling me to become a calamity?”
The Blood Demon was sealed with the power of others, including Yeonilcheon.
Let's say that was the end of the first calamity.
Yeonilcheon said:
This world does not make the same mistake twice.
That there must be a reason for my regression.
That I am the calamity.
[You seem to harbor some misunderstanding.]
“Misunderstanding? No matter how I look at it, it's not a misunderstanding.”
Don't give me that shit.
After how I've lived.
Through a miraculous regression.
How much I've been struggling to live a different life.
To save those who died for me.
Wishing to live a life different from my previous one.
But if all those things, in the end,
were predetermined by someone to lead the place I lived to destruction,
“...I.”
I would rather die right here and now.
[Apostle.]
“Don't call me Apostle...!”
[In the past, there was a child like you.]
The moment I was about to shout while clutching my dizzy head,
I had to stop at the World Tree's words.
Because the emotion contained in the words felt unusually warm.
I found myself doing so before I knew it.
Why?
[There was a child who screamed and spat blood upon learning the truth.]
“...What random story is this all of a sudden.”
Now is not the time to be hearing stories of the past.
I wanted to cut it off somehow,
yet separate from that, words didn't easily leave my mouth.
[How sorrowfully he cried. The powerless old tree knew he was its own child, yet could not embrace him.]
“Its child?”
It's a tree; does it even have children?
I unknowingly had such an awkward thought.
[To a master, the lives he creates are like his children.]
*Groan.*
If life can be born because there is a master rooted in the earth,
is this saying that to the master, that life is like a child?
[Knowing this, do you understand, Apostle?]
“You didn't say it; how would I know?”
[In your world, it is not that there is no master.]
There was a master in the Central Plains?
Then in a situation without a master,
if the Demonic Realm Gate opened, does that mean the Blood Demon didn't appear to correct the laws?
“...Then? Did the master go somewhere?”
If so, where did the master of our world go?
[Going against time takes a great amount of power, you said.]
Words you spoke before.
[The karma from that is something one human cannot fully bear.]
“Cannot bear?”
Then what am I?
[A human cannot contain, support, or even wish for it. Even if a greater being were to take it in their stead, it is a power that cannot be withstood. That is what time is.]
“Why bring up such a random story...”
[In your world, there is not no master. His existence has been erased.]
My eyes widened at the World Tree's words.
[The master, by going against the flow, by turning back the flow of a mere human, received punishment. He lost his qualifications and his existence was erased. That is why you do not know of the master.]
“...What is that supposed to mean; it's as if the world's master made another human regress...”
Huh?
While spitting out those words, I raised my head and looked at the World Tree.
That the being who was the master
made one human regress.
I.
In a world where the master disappeared,
I knew of another regressor besides myself there.
How could I not know?
The human who stopped and even sealed the Blood Demon
was none other than a regressor like me.
Then is that why the World Tree suddenly brought up this story?
“You...”
[Apostle. Do you think I bestowed the Stigma upon you to use you as a calamity?]
The World Tree's voice contained, just as at the beginning,
sorrow entirely.
[To a master, life is like his own child... How could I do such a thing?]
Beyond sorrow, it sounded as if it were crying.
Branches with not a single leaf left,
and roots spread out trying to block the blowing wind
somehow looked sorrowful.
[Do you know this, Apostle?]
The World Tree speaks to me as if sobbing.
[The Stigma of the Master is originally...]
I think I finally know.
That the World Tree before my eyes is precisely...
[something that cannot be given unless to one's own child.]
...the master of our world.