Chapter 453 - Which World.
The place I arrived at through the Demonic Realm was a cold, dark space.
A chill that seeped into my very bones, along with the frigid air permeating the floor.
That I could feel cold here was problematic in many ways.
'My energy should have started circulating again by now.'
My bound energy had been released, and heat had begun to flow throughout my body once more.
Because of that, it would be normal if I could hardly feel the cold at all.
Yet now, a faint chill could be felt through the air.
Which meant, simply put.
'This place is fucking cold.'
It meant this place was incredibly cold.
As my eyes adjusted, the shape of the space gradually came into view.
There were a few torches attached to the walls, but their light didn't reach everywhere. The space also felt considerably vast.
Where was this?
Since I had come through the Demonic Realm Gate, I couldn't rule out the possibility that this was the Demonic Realm.
I looked around and then fixed my gaze on one spot.
'First, the source of this cold energy.'
Where was the cold that made my body shiver coming from?
There was no need to ponder—the answer was what stood directly before me.
Directly before me was an ice crystal of enormous size.
'What the hell....'
I'd never seen one this big before.
I had heard that in the Northern Sea Ice Palace, where outsiders were forbidden entry, there was a legendary precious treasure called the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Crystal.
I wondered if this was what it felt like.
I approached the ice crystal.
Crrrack.
"...!"
The moment I took one step closer, I could feel the cold intensify like crazy.
The difference between one step back and one step forward was on a completely different level.
'This is a bit dangerous.'
Freezing.
How long had it been since I felt proper cold like this?
It felt like even the flames within my body might freeze solid.
One step was the limit.
If I advanced any further from here, I would freeze entirely.
Just as I finished my judgment and was about to step back.
[Greetings.]
A voice rang out.
I raised my head.
Not to find where the sound was coming from.
The voice was coming clearly—far too clearly—from the ice crystal.
Looking closely at the ice crystal, I finally saw it.
The ice crystal emitting severe cold energy.
That something was inside it.
'No, rather than inside...'
It would be more accurate to say it was trapped.
Because no matter who looked, it didn't look like it had entered normally.
Moreover.
'This voice.'
The moment I heard the voice greeting me, my eyes narrowed.
It was a voice I had heard several times. Not a voice one could easily forget.
Moreover, since it was something I had already anticipated, it wasn't even that surprising.
I fixed my gaze on the ice crystal and spoke the name of the voice's owner.
"Blood Demon."
Rumble.
When I spoke his title, the ice crystal vibrated.
[Hoo....]
A voice that sounded intrigued.
[It seems you know me.]
Watching his reaction, I grasped several circumstances.
First.
'It seems he doesn't know me.'
If the one inside that ice crystal was truly the Blood Demon, there was no way he wouldn't know me.
Just from the fact that he had sensed my energy and knew I had arrived here.
I hadn't thought he would fail to recognize me just because my face had changed a bit.
But seeing that reaction now.
'...This is truly not the world I knew.'
My conviction in that was reaffirmed.
It wasn't even my past life's world that I knew.
'It isn't the world I originally came from either.'
That was my conviction.
As I thought so and quietly gazed at the ice crystal.
[A curious thing.]
The Blood Demon continued speaking while looking at me.
[At first, I judged you to be a Venerable from another world. It is strange for such a being to reveal their presence so easily. Furthermore....]
Swoosh....
An unknown energy brushed past my body in an instant.
I didn't bother trying to catch it.
[To think your own energy is mixed in as well?]
"..."
It seemed he had sensed the blood energy inside my body after all.
'A Venerable from another world.'
I focused on the Blood Demon's words.
The woman called Muhui, and the Blood Demon before me.
They seemed to know me as something from another world.
At first, I had wondered if they judged me so simply because I came from a different world. But something felt different.
'If he says Venerable.'
Could it be....
Does it mean master?
'Why?'
If so, a question briefly arose.
But thinking about it more, it wasn't a strange thing at all.
My body was filled with all sorts of strange beings, and because of that, my vessel was on the verge of shattering.
And one of those beings was.
'He definitely called it... the master of the Abyss?'
The Blood Demon had definitely called that parasite, which constantly devoured demonic energy, by that name.
At the time, the word "master" hadn't resonated much.
But now, looking back, the meaning contained in the word "master" was anything but small.
The master of the creatures of a world.
The being responsible for that world. That was definitely what the World Tree had meant.
'Is that why the Blood Demon made such a misunderstanding?'
With such a being inside my body, it wouldn't be strange for the Blood Demon to mistake me for the master of another world.
The question that arose here was.
'How did such a being enter my body?'
That a being who was the master of an entire world was inside my body.
The World Tree had said at the time regarding this.
'That my mother gave it to me.'
It seemed it was an arrangement made by none other than my mother.
I hadn't been able to be sure about this....
But I could realize it through my mother's voice when I met the Divine Sword.
'There is something about my mother.'
The World Tree had said.
That my mother was the second calamity and the master of the Myriad Realms.
The Myriad Realms—just the name alone sounded ominous.
Damn it.... why were there so many entanglements?
"...So, why did you want to see me?"
Hiding my complicated feelings, I asked the Blood Demon.
A small laugh was heard from the Blood Demon upon hearing my words.
[I was merely curious. The reason a being from another world would bother to come here.]
"..."
A reason.
That was something I wanted to know too. Why was I here?
Perhaps confirming my expression, the Blood Demon continued.
[It seems you did not come of your own will.]
"..."
Ah, fuck, he caught on.
This shitty control over my expressions. It always caused trouble at crucial moments.
I forced my expression back to its original state and racked my brain.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
[It matters not. What is important is your purpose for coming here.]
"Does that mean if my purpose is problematic, you might do something to me?"
I had come to learn what kind of world this was, but I refused to be put in danger.
'Fortunately, my energy is circulating.'
Could I use this to escape?
Whatever happened, I had crawled into a tiger's den of my own accord, so I had to deal with it myself.
[Tsk, tsk....]
The Blood Demon laughed.
[Do not worry. I am merely curious.]
"It's a situation where I can't help but worry."
[Though you harbor a great Venerable, it seems you do not know much.]
"..."
He had hit the nail on the head.
[I have no intention of harming you.]
"How can I—"
[Is the evidence not right before you now? That you are breathing perfectly fine before me. That is what matters.]
A hollow threat.
Anyone could see he was trapped inside the ice crystal and couldn't do anything. What was he going to do?
'...'
However.
The reason I couldn't speak rashly despite knowing that was because, knowingly or unknowingly, my intuition was pointing to something.
'What is it?'
I didn't know.
But one thing was certain: this was a very dangerous situation.
Throb-!
Because the scales on my right arm, along with the energy spread in all directions, were throbbing like crazy.
'Tch.'
It was exactly like when I had faced the Blood Demon at the Righteous Faction Gathering.
Back then too, the moment I faced the Blood Demon, it had gone crazy and gradually risen in hostility.
The only difference was that now it was simply rampaging, not yet showing hostility.
[Truly a curious thing.]
"...What do you mean?"
[My power is filled to the brim within you, yet strangely, you are achieving Shedding with your own power. How is that not curious?]
"Shedding?"
My eyes furrowed at the Blood Demon's words. He had definitely just said Shedding.
A faint vibration was felt from the ice crystal at my words.
[Oh dear.... It seems you did not know.]
"Speak properly about what you're talking about."
[Seeing that you know me and call me by that title, it seems I am still extant in your world.... Truly enviable.]
"What...?"
Enviable? What was?
[How could a world that has met with an anomaly like you not be enviable?]
At those words, I recalled what he had said every time I met the Blood Demon.
Had he said he hoped I would rampage more?
It was roughly that kind of feeling.
'Why does the Blood Demon show me such an attitude?'
He was clearly the type to have some ulterior motive. Yet for reasons unknown, the Blood Demon had shown me goodwill that wasn't truly goodwill.
That was truly unpleasant.
[I will ask one thing.]
Suddenly, the Blood Demon asked me.
[Might it have been me who sent you here?]
"What?"
I furrowed my brow at the Blood Demon's words. He was asking if it was him who sent me to this world?
What random nonsense was this now?
Seeing my distorted expression, the Blood Demon muttered as if disappointed.
[I see it is not. Then who could it be....]
"What are you talking about now?"
[You do not even know what your existence is, so you would not have taken steps yourself. Then who is it that sent you?]
"..."
At the Blood Demon's words, a question arose within me.
Now that I thought about it, why hadn't I considered this?
If this world was a different world, it shouldn't be a place one could come and go from so easily.
'Then how did Dangjemun?'
Dangjemun, who was said to be dead with only remains left—by what means did he send me to another world?
Moreover, what exactly was the Blood Demon trying to say?
And.
"...What on earth is this world?"
What exactly was this place I was in now?
At my complicated words, the Blood Demon let out a small laugh.
[A strange question. What is a world?]
"..."
[Haha-!]
As laughter rang out, the ice crystal violently emitted cold air.
[It seems you really know nothing. How can that be?]
"Confusing people seems to be the same here and there. It really makes one feel like shit."
Tsk, tsk.
[My apologies. One should naturally come to know these things upon reaching Shedding, so it is curious that you know nothing. How could that be.... This is as if....]
Rumble.
[It feels as if someone has deliberately covered your ears.]
"..."
Someone had deliberately covered my ears.
Strangely, those words sounded somewhat reasonable to me.
Because if that were not the case, it would be strange that there was so much I didn't know. Despite my complicated feelings, the Blood Demon continued speaking.
[You asked what this world is.]
"..."
[This place is not different from your world.]
"What...?"
[It is merely one possibility.]
It was an incomprehensible answer.
I looked at the ice crystal, wondering what nonsense this was. Paying no heed to my gaze, the Blood Demon continued.
[There is a stone on the floor before you.]
"A stone?"
[You pick it up. You do not pick it up. There was such a choice, and you ultimately chose to pick it up.]
I wondered why a stone came up so suddenly, but for now, I listened quietly to the Blood Demon.
[Do you think anything would happen from such a trivial act?]
"Would something happen?"
As if anything would happen.
You merely picked up a stone; what great event would occur?
As if reading my expression, the Blood Demon soon gave an answer. And that answer was something I could not comprehend.
[This means that conversely, a world where you took the action of not picking up the stone is also created.]
I let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.
Because there was no bullshit quite like this bullshit.
"Then what. You're saying worlds like this exist innumerably?"
The Blood Demon's words meant:
You drink water. You don't drink water.
You sleep. You don't sleep.
An absurd number of worlds could derive from such trivial actions.
What kind of nonsense was that....
[How can you be certain it is not? The very fact that you are here is proof.]
"..."
Just as I was about to speak, I had to close my mouth at the words the Blood Demon spat out.
[Among the countless worlds created by such trivial actions. Do you see it as strange that you and this world exist?]
If I had heard this from someone else, I would have dismissed it as truly bizarre talk and treated them as a madman.
But since I was experiencing this directly now, it was a slightly different story.
'Right.'
Let's think differently.
Let's say that's true. Let's say this is one of the different worlds created by such actions.
"...So, what do you mean by possibility?"
The Blood Demon had added the word possibility.
Then what was the possibility for?
He had an attitude as if there was a different meaning to those divided worlds.
Upon hearing my question, the Blood Demon fell silent for a moment.
Then he slowly began to speak again.
[It means this world.]
His voice somehow gave the illusion of having grown slightly lower.
[It is an existence that cannot rest until it creates the ending it desires by whatever means necessary.]
"What is that supposed to mean...?"
[If it has failed twice, it would not want to do so a third time.]
"...!"
[The myriad possibilities of worlds represent this world's will to not fail.]
My eyes widened greatly at the Blood Demon's words.
Two failures.
It was because I thought I understood what the Blood Demon meant.
Could it be.
'The Advent of Calamity...?'
The first had been the Blood Demon.
The second had been my mother.
And both of them had failed to become the masters of this land as calamities.
As time passed, Yeonilcheon's lingering thoughts had called me a calamity upon seeing me.
But I had been thinking of the Heavenly Demon as the calamity.
But what the Blood Demon called possibility, the will of the world, meant.
'A world where calamity descends upon the land and completes its mission by any means?'
Did it mean it was creating abundant worlds hoping for that?
Really, so many worlds for that?
"Ha...?"
It was not a story easily accepted.
I should have doubted whether the Blood Demon was telling the truth from the start.
But if this dogshit talk was true, I had to ask one important thing.
"If what you're saying is true...."
If the Blood Demon's words were truly true.
"What happens to the rest besides the world where the possibility succeeded?"
If the calamity succeeded in becoming the new master of the world.
What happens to other worlds that failed to do so, like now?
To this question, the Blood Demon spoke to me in an indifferent voice.
[If so. The world would have no need for the unnecessary remaining worlds. Since there was only one purpose from the beginning.]
"..."
At the Blood Demon's answer, I had to make an incredulous expression.
Among countless worlds.
It meant the remaining worlds, excluding those where the calamity properly descended, would be erased.
In other words.
Either all life is erased and they welcome a new master.
Or they wait for the world to be erased as a master descends from another world.
It meant these were the only two choices given to the current world right now.
'Wow, really.'
A truly shitty world.
That thought suddenly flashed through my mind.