〈 Episode 625 〉 Authority (權能).
‘What was I doing?’
The thought that crossed my mind the moment I opened my eyes.
What had I been doing until now?
‘Surely….’
Go deep into my heart and return having cast aside all hesitation.
How much time had passed since I closed my eyes thinking that?
Leaving my somehow dazed head as it was, I turned my gaze.
The surroundings hadn’t changed much from before I closed my eyes.
The ice core was still visible.
‘Palace Lord.’
As I looked around here and there, I also saw the Palace Lord looking at me.
But.
‘What?’
Why was he making such an expression?
Shock and bewilderment.
He was the Palace Lord, who possessed an incredibly cold impression.
Yet the expression he was wearing was truly multifaceted.
Why was he making such a face?
Around the time such a thought occurred to me.
“Why are you crying?”
At the words the Palace Lord spat out, I had to tilt my head.
Crying?
I raised my hand and touched the corners of my eyes.
‘Huh?’
Upon checking, tears were really flowing.
What was this?
‘What the.’
Why was I crying?
‘What is this.’
Because of the tears flowing so suddenly, it took time to grasp the situation.
Setting aside how long it had been since I last shed tears.
I needed to figure out why I was shedding them.
It wasn’t like I had gone through anything particularly remarkable….
‘Hm?’
I tried to recall the previous situation.
Strangely, nothing came to mind.
‘Surely….’
Right after entering the mindscape and trying to kill my childhood self.
After that.
After that….
‘What was it?’
I couldn’t remember.
Surely there had been something.
It was as if ink had been smeared all over my memory; I couldn’t think of it.
‘This is unsettling.’
And I felt helpless.
I tried my best to recall, frowning deeply, but.
Only something hazy brushed past.
The figure of someone holding a child.
That was the limit of what I could barely recall.
‘I don’t know.’
What had I seen? What had I witnessed and experienced to feel this unpleasant?
“Young Master Gu? Are you alright?”
“Ah….”
At the Palace Lord’s words, I first wiped away my tears.
“…How much time has passed?”
“Only a few seconds have passed.”
“…Hm.”
A few seconds.
Had only that much time passed?
‘And yet only that much time has passed…’
I thought, looking at my clenched fist.
‘My realm has grown this much…?’
I examined my body’s condition with surprised eyes.
It overflows.
My energy was so full it was overflowing.
And the vessel containing it had grown even larger.
‘This is….’
If my state just before had been far inferior to my previous life.
Now.
‘I’ve far surpassed half of it.’
I couldn’t say I had completely reached it, but I was close.
To this extent, it could be said I had changed markedly.
‘…Ha.’
A hollow laugh escaped me.
To think I could change this much just by casting aside hesitation.
In other words.
‘Rather than having obtained something new, it’s more correct to say it was something I originally possessed.’
This was not a newly obtained power.
Though my rank had changed and the energies had originally formed within my body.
It was more correct to view it as power that had been bound within my body because I couldn’t stabilize my mindscape.
I had vaguely known.
‘I just didn’t know it was this much.’
I wanted to check what state my body was in now, if I had my way.
‘For now.’
I turned my head and checked the ice core.
‘This first.’
The Palace Lord had said.
That if I made my choice, I would surely know.
‘Hmm….’
Recalling that, I gazed at the ice core.
I realized the Palace Lord’s words were half right and half wrong.
The reason I came here.
I still couldn’t know that.
At least.
‘I know what this is.’
The true nature of the ice core before me.
At least that much, I felt I knew.
I reached out my hand.
Swish.
As I placed my palm on the surface of the ice core.
Wooooong—!!!
The ice core suddenly began vibrating like mad.
“…!”
Seeing this, the Palace Lord behind me flinched and trembled, but.
I ignored him.
When I focused, I could see it.
The ice core that had merely looked like a round lump of ice.
Now looked different.
I focused on the countless sensations felt at my fingertips.
For a moment, after touching the ice core here and there like that.
“Hm.”
Tak.
I wiped the cold sweat flowing down with the back of my hand.
Was this sweat from heat?
That couldn’t be.
This place was incredibly cold.
This sweat was simply from the energy felt within the ice core.
I could see what I couldn’t see before.
I could feel what I couldn’t feel before.
As the Palace Lord said, the current me could see and feel far more than before.
‘…So it really is an egg.’
The Palace Lord had been right about this. The ice core was an egg.
An egg containing something terribly fearsome.
‘Though I don’t know if it’s a heart.’
I felt I could tell there was something enormous inside.
Moreover.
That this being did not have long left before it hatched.
That the North Sea had possessed such a mad thing until now was also absurd.
“…”
Looking at the ice core, I briefly wondered if I should put some power into it.
Putting power into it.
What did that mean?
Though it was a sudden thought, my body already knew.
Right after opening my eyes.
My realm had changed drastically, and my flesh and energy had changed.
This was indeed a nonsensical change.
But there was a change even greater than that.
I could instinctively tell.
That a power I didn’t have before had been born.
‘To be precise.’
It was a power I had forgotten. But setting that aside.
Only after barely realizing it could I understand the words the Dark King had spoken.
The power one gains upon becoming a dragon.
Different from martial arts that grow stronger bit by bit through training.
An ability one is born with.
Authority.
How to use it.
Whether this truly possessed power. What its principle was.
Such explanations were unnecessary from the start.
My body already knew the answer.
Rather, it was astonishing how I hadn’t known until now.
To that extent, it had become natural to my body.
As if I had possessed it from the very beginning.
‘Will it work?’
So, I wondered for a moment if I should use it on the ice core, but.
After pondering briefly.
Sreuk.
I withdrew my hand that had been against the ice core.
The reason was none other than.
“The order is wrong.”
Because ‘this side’ wasn’t first.
I checked the palm that had been touching the ice core.
I had touched the lump of ice for so long, yet not a drop of moisture clung to it.
“Palace Lord.”
I turned my gaze and looked at the Palace Lord, asking.
“The reason you regarded this as a heart.”
The conversation from earlier.
Just as I was about to continue the words on the matter that had bothered me.
“Ah.”
I stopped the words I was about to utter for a moment and recalled.
“The order is wrong on this too.”
“…What?”
“I’ll listen after I go and come back. That should come first.”
“Young Master Gu? What do you suddenly mean by—”
The Palace Lord tried to call out to me as if he couldn’t understand, but.
I turned my steps and walked toward the exit.
There was no need to grab the door handle.
As I approached, the door opened on its own, just as before.
“…Where are you going now?”
Seeing that, the Palace Lord asked, so I turned my head slightly and spoke to him.
“It’s nothing much. Something I learned came to mind.”
Yes, something I learned.
Something I had clearly learned recently.
—You know, right?
—We never let others take what is ours.
A voice circulates in my head.
I wondered why these words came to me now, but.
‘No, it’s not that they came to me just now.’
It was closer to having forgotten something I should have recalled from the start.
That was why I was thinking of it even now.
‘It’s true.’
Never letting others take what is yours.
Words that displayed powerful possessiveness and arrogance.
And, they were truly correct.
‘I can’t let it be taken.’
If I thought of it as mine, I couldn’t let it be stolen.
Those words permeated my entire body.
This was something I wouldn’t have done if I were my original self.
I would have hesitated repeatedly, seeking plans and justifications.
But now, I decided not to.
There was only one thought that came to mind right now.
If it was stolen.
“I have to take it back.”
It was a simple logic.
The Palace Lord furrowed his brows slightly as if he couldn’t understand my words at all, but.
I simply turned my gaze again.
“It won’t take very long.”
“Wha—”
Before the Palace Lord could even finish his words.
I was already grabbing the door I came through and opening it.
Screeech—!
Opening the door and coming outside, I encountered someone who had been waiting.
It was the Black Lion.
Seeing me open the door and come out on my own, the Black Lion’s expression contorted for a moment.
Looking at him, I spoke.
“I finished my business and came out.”
When I spoke, waving my hand roughly, the Black Lion spoke to me.
“Surely you didn’t commit another discourtesy toward the Palace Lord?”
Perhaps because there had been friction earlier. The Black Lion’s attitude felt much sharper.
Hearing that, I answered.
“I don’t really feel like I did anything. Did I?”
I don’t know.
I said it because I couldn’t quite remember.
Grind.
Perhaps thinking I was mocking him, the Black Lion released killing intent.
“…If you continue showing such an attitude, you will truly have to see blood.”
Whether I had touched his reverse scale, or he was about to burst from holding back, I didn’t know.
The Black Lion blocked my path, looking truly angry.
Seeing that, I smiled and spoke.
“I wasn’t trying to mock you. I really don’t know. Sorry if it soured your mood.”
After smiling and even apologizing, I tried to walk to the side, but.
“Trying to play with me like that again—!”
As the Black Lion tried to grab my shoulder.
“If your hand touches me.”
Erasing my smile, I spoke to him.
“You die?”
Flinch—!
At the words I spat out, the Black Lion flinched and stopped his hand.
I looked at the Black Lion, whose eyes had hardened.
I could see the Black Lion’s eyes shaking.
No more words were exchanged.
Just as we were facing each other’s gazes quietly.
Ssk.
The Black Lion withdrew his hand first.
And then.
“…Something has changed.”
The Black Lion spoke to me in a voice mixed with trembling.
Changed?
Hearing the words, I tilted my head.
It didn’t seem to mean simply my realm.
I couldn’t personally feel it yet.
Even if I had discarded something.
I was still me.
But.
“Perhaps.”
It was still something unknown.
I answered and smiled slightly.
“Let’s meet again next time. I have business to attend to now.”
Leaving the still-stiff Black Lion behind, I put strength into my steps.
What would I have done here originally?
Would I have headed to where my companions were?
Perhaps I might have.
However, now there was something I must do before that.
At least, that was the case for the current me.
I turned my gaze.
I was already outside the hideout.
It had been that way from the start, but this time too, getting out of the cave wasn’t very difficult.
I looked up at the sky.
Sssshh—!
Outside, snow was still falling.
Looking at that snow, I recalled.
“Hm.”
This was still unpleasant land.
The ground I stepped on. The air I felt.
Even the falling snow.
Everything felt unpleasant.
I didn’t know at first, but now I could tell.
The reason this land felt so unpleasant was not because there was another dragon above the land.
The reason was precisely.
‘Because this is land ruled by another.’
Not simply because a dragon was above the land.
But because that bastard ruled this land.
That was why I felt filthy.
A sensation I had vaguely felt from the beginning was now felt clearly.
‘So that’s why I felt unpleasant.’
Because it was another’s land.
Simply for that reason alone, my nerves were so on edge.
What an arrogant and greedy race.
Or else.
‘It could be that I am particularly greedy.’
I smiled as I thought of it.
It might truly be so.
“Is that why?”
Words spoken while recalling the so-called Authority that had formed.
Because I was particularly greedy and arrogant.
I wondered if that was why I possessed ‘this kind’ of Authority.
Thud.
I loosened my hands.
“Whatever.”
Let’s think simply. That would be better than hesitating.
‘For now.’
I shall reclaim what was taken.
I wanted to prioritize that one thing.
Turning my gaze from the snow, I looked beyond the front.
Though I couldn’t see it.
I could feel what I couldn’t feel before.
Hwarruk.
I wrapped flames around my body.
And took a step.
Then.
Hwaaaaaa—!!!
Light exploded and.
Sssshhh… thududududuk—!
The snow falling from the sky changed to rain.
******************
North Sea Ice Palace.
A space where the bloodline of the Ice Palace resided, a castle that had boasted prestige as the center of the North Sea, but.
Its current appearance was relatively run-down.
Buildings had collapsed here and there from the aftermath of the rebellion.
Because the debris turned into a mess hadn’t been bothered to be cleared, it looked even more chaotic.
The inner area of such a castle.
A man who had been patrolling the vicinity near the entrance leading to the main palace spoke up.
“I don’t know what Biwoegun is thinking.”
At this, the man next to him flinched in surprise and spoke.
“Watch your words. What if someone hears?”
“That isn’t so.”
The man continued with an expression full of dissatisfaction.
“I heard he knows well where the Palace Lord is hiding. I don’t know why he is merely waiting here like this.”
They had already figured out where the fugitive Palace Lord and his forces were hiding.
To the point that they had already succeeded in seizing the palace.
Truthfully, it was a war they could end if they only set their minds to it.
Yet why was there no further progress?
That was the man’s only question.
“He must have his reasons. We just have to follow, don’t we?”
“If this fails, we’ll all be dog meat, isn’t that what I mean?”
“The war is already as good as won. Do you think we’ll fail here?”
The Palace Lord, who had reigned as the absolute ruler of the North Sea, had been defeated and fled.
The Ice Palace Lord was a strongman who hadn’t even budged when five great generals joined forces.
All the warriors had seen him flee, defeated by Biwoegun’s sword.
“Moreover, he even won over the bloodline. This is no different from victory.”
“…Hmm….”
Even hearing the words, he was still only full of questions.
“Do you truly think the Palace Lord used sorcery to sacrifice people?”
The cause that started the war.
It was said the Palace Lord had been killing people to fulfill his own greed.
At the man’s words, another sighed.
“They already found all the evidence, didn’t they?”
Traces had been discovered in the Palace Lord’s room and the underground of the palace.
Seeing that, how could one not believe it?
“The Palace Lord has fallen. He is no longer the man we knew.”
The bloodline had lived, sacrificing for the North Sea until now.
Thanks to them, humans could barely survive in the North Sea.
Unable to endure this, the Palace Lord had fallen.
“…It’s thanks to the Young Lady being shocked by this and taking our side. Otherwise, it would have been hard to start this war.”
“…”
The man could only make a deeply bitter expression. A few days ago. One of the bloodline captured in the palace by Biwoegun’s supporters.
Not the First Young Master nor the Second Young Master.
It was revealed to be the First Young Lady, and the noisy disturbance had passed.
Though it was confirmed that the bloodline supported Biwoegun, what he couldn’t understand remained the same.
‘Indeed.’
Indeed.
Is it really so?
Evidence had already come out, and the rebellion had even succeeded.
It didn’t seem like something to drag out further, but.
He just couldn’t believe it.
The man looked up at the sky.
The sky where snow continued to fall.
The endless bitter cold. Though it was called a cold and cursed land.
He had heard that what prevented them from being swept away by the bitter cold in the end was the bloodline, and among them, the Palace Lord.
Though a lowly man like him couldn’t know in detail through what reason and connection they protected them from the bitter cold.
The claim that the Palace Lord did so for immortality was hard to believe.
‘Rather than for his own immortality, rather.’
To erase this bitter cold.
If he had done it for such a reason, he might have believed it instead.
While thinking so and looking up at the sky.
Drip.
“…Huh?”
The man who had been quietly watching the sky let out an exclamation.
“Hm? What’s wrong?”
“…This.”
The man turned his palm toward the sky and reached out.
“This snow….”
Seeing that, the other man had to tilt his head.
Wasn’t snow always falling?
So he reached out his hand too. At that moment.
“…Isn’t this not snow, but rain?”
“What?”
At the man’s words, he too hurriedly looked up at the sky.
At that moment.
Plop—!
A water droplet fell on the man’s cheek.
“Wha, what…?”
The moment confusion was contained in the cold sensation.
Plop—! Plop—!
Droplets that gradually began falling one by one through the gaps of the falling snow.
Thudududuk—!
Quickly expanded their range and began pouring down fiercely.
It was rain.
This was definitely rain.
In the North Sea, where only snow fell year-round due to the bitter cold, rain was falling.
What this meant was by no means light.
“Wha, what in the world is happening—!”
The moment he tried to shout with a surprised expression.
Hwarruk—!
Flames briefly sparked beside him.
Feeling a strange sensation, the man moved his gaze, and someone was standing where the flames had appeared.
An ink-black outer robe fluttered in the wind.
Sssshhh….
For some reason, the falling rain was bypassing only that figure.
It was a mystical sight.
That was why.
Rather than taking a guarded stance, they watched him as if spellbound.
As the two men stared blankly at him, the one who appeared raised his head and looked at them.
It was a young man.
He seemed to be slightly past his coming of age.
But he was absolutely not an ordinary person.
Slit blue pupils that were hard to see in a human, and.
At the indifferent expression he wore, the man felt himself involuntarily shrink back.
Toward such a man.
“Since I happened to meet you, there’s something I’d like to say.”
The figure erased his expression and spoke with a slight smile.
“Could you deliver a message to the commander here?”
His body trembled at the smile the young man wore.
It was the first time in his life he had seen such a terrifying smile.
“Tell him I came to take back what was stolen.”