Even while they were driving through the city, countless vehicles came charging at them like trucks. But the bike Ian rode lightly ignored the moon-drunk suicide squads. At times it raced along their sides or roofs; at others, it pulled off acrobatic maneuvers, slipping past every situation that seemed certain to end in a crash.
It was thanks to the godmother’s magic performing as it should. Even now that she was dead, the magic continued to operate normally.
Considering that most magic vanished the moment its caster died, it was a strange thing. Perhaps it was because her magic was less uniquely her own and closer to something demonic.
“Even in death, you’re still helping me.”
Ian smiled bitterly and stroked the surface of the bike. The lump of metal, nothing more than a simple weapon-body, naturally could not answer his mutter.
The sky was bright.
But the source of that light was not the sun, but the moon.
The full moon, now enormous enough to almost cover the entire sky, had long since ceased to be a matter of whether one looked at it or not. Broken mirrors lay scattered across the ground, reflecting the moon in full. Even if one lowered one’s head, it was impossible not to gaze upon the moon.
Those, too, were Mysteries to begin with. An aberration called the Broken Mirror Effect. Originally, it was something that raised the crime rate around the place it occurred, but now it was merely reflecting the moon.
“……Ugh.”
Because of that, Cecilia had not opened her eyes once since the moment they left the tunnel.
If she had not possessed regenerative ability, she would have gouged out her own eyeballs, but her rapid regeneration restored her body regardless of her will.
Holding the rosary could increase her regeneration speed, but the reverse was impossible. Because of that, even though Cecilia still had eyes, she had no choice but to give up her sight.
But Cecilia did not complain. Instead, she held tightly onto Ian and squeezed her eyelids shut so as not to see the moon. Ian placed his hand over hers where they were wrapped around his waist and stared ahead.
An open road. Destroyed cars were parked along the shoulder, and corpses lay strewn around them.
It was the sight he had seen the moment they entered Seoul. Seoul had already been reduced to ruins long ago.
It probably was not just Seoul. Lee Seo-a had said the Busan Bureau had been annihilated, so Korea itself was effectively finished.
North Korea would be the same, and Japan next door would be no different. There was no place on Earth where the moon did not rise.
He knew there were polar regions where white nights occurred, but the very concept of the sun had already been devoured by the moon. Then could the sun they saw in the sky really be the true sun?
‘Earth is finished.’
At the thought that suddenly surfaced, Ian let out a faint laugh.
Not because it was funny, but because it was absurd.
When one heard something far too unreal, all that came out was laughter. Ian wiped a hand down his face and looked up at the sky.
Downtown Seoul, where high-rise buildings spread out like a forest. Above the countless buildings of every shape and color, humans and Mysteries had gathered to dance.
Astonishingly, the Outer God had achieved the coexistence of humans and Mysteries that had not been realized for thousands of years.
At that truly remarkable accomplishment, Ian placed a cigarette between his lips and let out a deep sigh.
Click.
When he lit the end with a lighter, acrid smoke began to fill his lungs.
This was his last cigarette. Perhaps it would be the last cigarette he smoked in this life.
“Phew……”
He slowly organized his thoughts as he inhaled and exhaled the smoke as if savoring it.
‘The world has already ended.’
It was an undeniable proposition. Seoul, no different from the center of Korea, had been destroyed, and the cult-like virus worshiping the moon that had spread nationwide had contaminated not only the infrastructure of the Korean Peninsula but the people as well, until they could no longer remain human.
Perhaps there might be survivors left. A post-apocalyptic world might open anew centered around them.
But what value would there be in such a world? The moon would only keep growing larger, and the number of infected would increase like mad.
In a world where every living thing, plant or animal, only stared at the moon, how could there be anything like hope?
There was none. To say it once more, the world had ended.
To put it crudely, the world was fucked. In a form far more horrific and filthy than any zombie apocalypse or whatever, Earth had become a breeding ground for an Outer God.
He did not know how that thing had sensed the aura of the grimoires and come all the way to Earth. It was not an important fact anyway. What mattered was that the Outer God had nested in the moon, and that because of it, Earth had been ruined.
“Phew……”
Ian looked at the cigarette he had smoked down with eyes full of lingering regret, then tossed it roughly onto the ground nearby.
As it happened, that spot was stained with oil leaking from a wrecked car, and the moment the cigarette ember met the oil, it became a massive blaze that swallowed the surroundings. But no one cared about it. Only the corpses received a lonely cremation.
‘The time to recover…… has already passed.’
It was a pan-human extinction occurring across the entire world. Humans were no longer human, and the master of Earth was no longer humanity. Unless time itself was turned back, Earth ended here.
Yes, unless time itself was turned back.
“……”
Ian sat still, making no attempt to fix his hair as it fluttered in the wind, and stared at the pure-white grimoire in his hand.
The Hand of Recreation.
The first grimoire he had encountered, and the only existence capable of creating an hourglass that could turn back time. Naturally, the Reconstruction of All Things, which had written that grimoire, had to possess something that could turn back time as well.
However.
‘Is calling an Outer God really the right choice?’
Ian tapped the grimoire with his finger and looked up at the sky. The vividly shining blue moon entered his field of vision.
Judging by the fact that the grimoires had told him to summon an Outer God as a solution, that moon itself was probably no different from the Outer God’s main body. It had likely lost some of its power in the process of mimicking a Mystery, but as time passed, it would grow stronger and stronger until it eventually swallowed Earth as well.
There were more than a few conspiracy theories and urban legends related to Earth. Flat Earth theory, Hollow Earth theory, and so on. The world was full of conspiracy theories whose results no one could predict if they were realized. He could not guarantee that the Outer God, after building up its power, would not devour those concepts.
If that happened, there would no longer be any meaning in living and breathing on Earth. They were going to die anyway, so what was the point of clinging on with all their might? To begin with, Ian was thinking that if he could kill that son of a bitch, he did not mind giving up his own life.
If civilization had still been intact, perhaps it would be different. But now, no matter how much he clung to life as before, this was not a situation where he could live out a long life in peace.
It was merely the last thrashing of a person just before drowning. No matter what he did, he would die anyway.
So handing over his life to an Outer God was not difficult.
But if, just if, the Reconstruction of All Things turned back time and everything returned to normal.
Was there any guarantee that the timeline it returned to would be intact?
“……”
Outer Gods. Divine cosmic beings that should not exist in this world, yet did. No matter how friendly a nature they possessed, was it truly all right to borrow their power to restore Earth? Wouldn’t something strange occur as a result?
“……”
Dozens of possibilities. Hundreds of questions passed through Ian’s mind. And by the time they were nearing his house, he reached a conclusion.
‘The world’s fucked anyway. Rather than die helplessly, it’s better to buy even one more chance.’
If asked whether he wanted to die now, or receive one more coin even though things might get fucked later, he naturally had no choice but to choose the latter. It was obvious to anyone with common sense. And right now, Ian was the only person on Earth with common sense.
“……Phew.”
He gripped the grimoire in his hand tightly and got off the bike. Then he took Cecilia’s hand and carefully helped her down.
“A-are we here?”
[Yeah. This is my house.]
“Ah……”
Ian entered the house with Cecilia.
Inside the detached house he had finished moving into, there was naturally no one present. He sat Cecilia on the living room sofa, brought two cups of cold water, and placed them on the table. He put one of them into Cecilia’s hand.
[You can open your eyes now. I’ve drawn all the curtains too, so there shouldn’t be a problem.]
“……Okay. Got it.”
Cecilia exhaled softly and cautiously opened her eyes. Light seeped into her vision, which had been filled only with darkness for hours.
“Ugh.”
She frowned at the sudden brightness. But she did not close her eyes again.
“……Thanks for the water. I’ll drink it.”
Instead of answering, Ian smiled and nodded. Cecilia gulped down the water and placed the empty cup back on the table.
“……Come to think of it, we never even had a housewarming party.”
[If there’s a next time, let’s do it. I’ll invite my acquaintances too.]
“……Yeah, if there’s a next time.”
Cecilia smiled bitterly. Ian quietly looked down at her, then took out a notebook and wrote in it.
[For now, get some sleep. You must be tired.]
“What? No. What if an enemy suddenly shows up?”
[I’m fine even if I look at the moon, but you aren’t. It’ll be better to recover your condition and move tomorrow. You’ll need time to adjust to not being able to see, too.]
“……You’re right, but still……”
[It’s fine, Cecilia. Just having someone with me is already a considerable comfort.]
Ian smiled faintly and wrote the final sentence.
[The guest bedroom is on the second floor. You can sleep there. I’m going to test some magic and then rest, so go in first. I won’t accept objections. If you have trouble sleeping, take the sleeping pills in the drawer.]
“……”
Cecilia kept moving her lips as if she had much to say, but in the face of Ian’s firm will, she eventually relented. She let out a deep sigh and stood up.
“Then, just in case, cut off my legs. So that even if I get drunk on the moon, I won’t be able to catch you. The moon might suddenly appear in my dreams.”
“……”
“Don’t worry about regeneration. I’ve already used it too much. I’m running low on calories now, so recovery will be slow. Don’t hesitate. Cut them off.”
Her eyes were too close to her head, so they were not greatly affected by recovery speed. To begin with, the organs themselves were very small, so they consumed few calories.
Her legs, on the other hand, were far from her head and large as well. Since she had not consumed the proper calories, they would not recover quickly.
“Hurry.”
“……Haa.”
In the end, this time Ian was the one who gave in.
With recreation magic, he melted away everything below Cecilia’s knees without causing any pain, then carried her in his arms and personally took her to the bedroom. After laying her down and even giving her sleeping pills, he left the room.
“Thank you, Ian.”
Her words of thanks followed behind him as he left. Ian waved to her, whose eyes were already closed, then went out to the terrace and summoned the grimoires.
Flararararak!
The two summoned grimoires were caught in Ian’s hands. He first left the Hand of Recreation alone, then took hold of the Record of Deep Sea Sightings and opened it.
“……”
Far away, the residents of the moon and the forms of Mysteries approaching began to appear little by little.
Even at a glance, it was a great army. They were probably intending to settle things here.
He had no intention of letting them have their way. Since his life was going to be offered to an Outer God anyway, he would do everything he had always wanted to do before he died.
Crunch!
Ian grinned and bit down hard on his finger, creating a wound. Then, with the blood that flowed from it, he drew numerous magic circles on the terrace table.
“If you’re coming at me with numbers, then I’ve got no choice but to draw up numbers too.”
He smiled as he scattered different amounts of flesh over each magic circle.
“The sea of outer space. The predators that live there.”
The grimoire caught in his grasp dripped red blood according to Ian’s will.
“I suppose I’ll have to see your faces while I have the chance.”
Wooooong……!
The magic circles vibrated violently.