No matter how much they screamed, there was no way to save them. Even if they could save one or two, what jackal would risk their own life to save them?
The jackals who barely escaped the city, or were lucky enough to be outside, put even more distance between themselves and it, fearing a potential aftershock.
Then.
The city stopped.
At the same time, someone went against the flow and ran toward the city. It was Peru riding Aurea. As she approached, the folding city stuttered as if caught on something.
Her ability had little effect on living things. Especially on beasts with a robust life force like horses. From atop Aurea, who snorted as she ran, Peru visualized the city's structure in her head.
'...The city's foundation has turned to steel. The power source? Twisted Iron?'
Iron has a restorative force. If you grab both ends of a steel bar and twist it like a pretzel, it exerts a powerful force trying to return to its original shape.
Hwanggeumgyeong had alchemized 'Twisted Iron' from the very beginning to use as the power source to move the city.
Jannokhoeju Peru was also a person who had reached the realm of alchemy. Although she couldn't create it, just by looking at it, she managed to roughly interpret Hwanggeumgyeong's design.
'...Then, the power source.'
She collapses it.
Even the restorative force of steel disappears if its structure is destroyed. With her power, Peru couldn't create something from nothing, but she could erase what was already there.
That was why she had saved it instead of using it, but now was the time to use it. Peru reached out her hand toward the mental image.
Objects made of metal can be melted down and reused. When the recycled items get worn out, they are polished, melted, and reborn into new objects. Alchemy is the same. As long as there is a Cost, it can be repaired and used over and over again.
Peru was born under a poor jackal, and reusing a single object dozens of times was everyday life for her. The tin doll that was her treasure was once a ratchet, once a crowbar, and underwent dozens of transformations after that.
If so.
How much more can it change?
Childlike curiosity guided her. Peru utilized the alchemy she had learned using her precious doll as the subject.
Transform. Revert. Change the material. Make it tin again. Move. Strike a pose.
Peru loved the doll, and she liked alchemy too. She cherished and played with that one doll until she grew up. Because it was precious, she stayed with it even more.
However, both the doll and alchemy have an end. Just as humans who fill their bodies with things outside themselves continue to age, the doll, continuously exposed to the magical power that altered it, came to an end at some point.
It no longer responded to alchemy, and its body crumbled, unable to withstand its own weight. The tin, full of impurities, became mottled like rust.
No matter how hard she tried to revert it. Even if she gathered the fragments to reconstruct its shape.
That only hastened the doll's end.
At some point, the doll completely ended.
The end. Someday, everything ends. Alchemy is perfect, but because the humans who handle it are imperfect.
No matter how great and marvelous magic may be, as long as the humans who use it have limits, alchemy too must face its limits.
Her Unique Demon Path is the endless repetition of alchemy. The demise that an continuously alchemized object in a closed world can reach. If alchemy is a journey given to an object, her ability is the final destination.
Unique Demon Path, End of Gold.
.
..
...
Crrreak.
The rusted iron splits. The weakened structure cannot withstand the twisting force. It collapsed by its own power and shattered like glass fragments.
The city's grip weakened. The closing clamshell loosened as if exhausted. Rumble. The folding city unfolded again. Those who were about to fall into Hwanggeumgyeong's maw fell to the opposite side of Hwanggeumgyeong. Those who saved their lives from a relatively better fall ran out of the city with their lives on the line.
Both the wall blocking the front and the pillar supporting it crumbled like sandcastles the moment they touched Peru's ability, opening a path. Thanks to that, the jackals poured out like a burst dam. The homunculi could not pursue them either. If they did, they would be caught up in Peru's power.
The rider of demise, who collapses everything, headed alone toward Hwanggeumgyeong.
Even Hwanggeumgyeong could not ignore it, glaring at Peru from the end of the path created by Jannok.
A shattered path appeared before Hwanggeumgyeong. Peru, who made a path with Jannok's power, spurred on. As Aurea, carrying Peru, ran madly, she squeezed out her voice while shaking and shouted.
"...Hwanggeumgyeong!"
Even up to that moment, Peru had no intention of being hostile to Hwanggeumgyeong. If anything, her attitude was closer to that of a loyal subject risking her life to stop the king's misguided judgment.
Hwanggeumgyeong was the god of alchemy. The one who created the system called Yeolguk, the undisputed ruler of Yeolguk.
Whether they wanted it or not, he was the origin, master, and god of all alchemists. It was the same for Peru, who had the ability to deny alchemy. Rather, because she loved alchemy so much and reached one pinnacle, Peru's loyalty to Hwanggeumgyeong was greater than anyone else's.
To change Hwanggeumgyeong's mind, Peru shouted at the top of her lungs.
"...Please reconsider! They have committed no crime...!"
-However, it did not reach Hwanggeumgyeong.
Hwanggeumgyeong recognized Peru, but that was purely because Peru's ability was threatening. To Hwanggeumgyeong, who was trying to create the Nation of Gold, Peru, who destroyed the Nation of Gold, was the top priority to eliminate. Hwanggeumgyeong, having changed its target to Peru, wielded god-like power just to kill a single person.
A massive structure rose in front of Peru, who was running toward the city. The round, pitch-black steel structure made it hard to guess its purpose. Even I couldn't tell what it was, so I could only stay on guard. I couldn't read Hwanggeumgyeong's thoughts.
However... the remaining beastly intuition was warning of danger.
That thing is dangerous.
Perhaps Peru felt the same, as she used her ability toward the black sphere. Jannok's energy corroded the steel from the outside. But the moment her ability reached it, the black surface swelled up like an explosion in response.
"Danger!"
The Regressor also shouted urgently, but it was already too late.
The black sphere exploded. It was a force incomparable to the Yeolpokhoeju's authority. The wave of pressure spread visibly and vomited out what was inside. Inside the sphere were millions of sharp steel fragments. Each one followed its own trajectory and rained down onto the ground.
Death spread. A rain of steel that would cause a bloodbath upon contact. 99.9% of the fragments pointlessly struck only the ground, but the remaining 0.1% was more than enough to overflow the number of deaths. Even if Peru used her ability, it only slightly dulled the sharpness; she couldn't stop the speed and weight.
Thud, thud, thud. A sound like a heavy monsoon beating the ground. Humans struck by the cruel raindrops had a part of their bodies blown off. The jackals trying to escape the city were massacred by the fragments pouring down on their heads. Before the Demon God, ordinary lives disappeared like trash.
It was a terrible tragedy. What was even more terrible was that even those countless deaths were merely incidental results for Hwanggeumgyeong. Hwanggeumgyeong poured the rain of steel to kill just one person, Peru.
The rain of steel poured over Peru's head with a density incomparable to anywhere else. It was like water drops falling from a burst water balloon. With no special equipment or aura, she had no means to block it. The frightened Aurea quickly raised her front hooves, but... what meaning would that have?
The fragments pounced to kill Peru. Then.
"Arf."
Aji leapt in like the wind. With his fur bristling, Aji took the steel fragments pouring at her face with his entire body.
The steel fragments were certainly lethal enough to kill humans, but they were vastly insufficient to injure Aji. Because she had been riding a horse, she was also safe from the fragments bouncing off the ground. Thanks to that momentary, fleeting help, death passed Peru by.
Peru, who had saved her life by a stroke of immense luck, expressed her gratitude to Aji.
"...Thank, you."
"...Arf."
However, Aji's expression was not good. He stared blankly at the humans dying in the distance. It was an excessively stimulating sight for a dog who liked humans.
In the brief pause of Peru's words, the Regressor who had rushed out landed in front of Peru and shouted.
"Jannokhoeju! Watch out! More are coming!"
Following that, Hwanggeumgyeong's second attack ensued. The fallen fragments turned black, then each crumbled and billowed up like smoke. The iron powder carried by the wind instantly obscured the vision.
Jannok's power easily ruined structures but made it hard for them to clump together again. Even if this fine powder was crumbled, it couldn't be gathered. Seeing as it chose only attacks that were tricky for Peru, Hwanggeumgyeong seemed quite wary of her.
"Trying to block my vision? Tch, of all things, iron powder!"
Even Chilsaegan couldn't see through metal. While the Regressor grumbled, I felt a vibration from the ground and shouted urgently.
"Shei, something's coming!"
"I know! Jigon Style: Fierce Strike!"
A large iron sphere approached through the storm of iron. The Regressor, reacting immediately, struck it away with Jijan. With a loud clang of metal, the human-sized iron sphere flew far away like a baseball.
But only for a moment, the ground shook and the roar continued. The vibrations increased from one, to two, and then to a point where they couldn't get any stronger.
"Shei! Hundreds of them are rolling in?!"
"Tch, it seems Hwanggeumgyeong felt threatened! It's trying to eliminate us directly and doesn't care about the means. Let's regroup for a moment!"
If it were Hwanggeumgyeong role-playing in the Golden Palace, it would have only used homunculi to attack. But the current Hwanggeumgyeong directly wielded all the alchemy of the Hoejus. Its scale and functionality were greater than all the other Hoejus combined. It was only because a significant number of them became useless thanks to Peru; otherwise, something much more terrifying than fragments or iron spheres would have flown at us.
...What on earth did the Regressor do to experience that in the previous iteration? How did he survive that? I still can't figure it out.
The Regressor pulled Peru. However, Peru held onto Aurea's reins and resisted.
"...Not yet. There are still people there."
"Calm down, Peru. The people who could escape have already escaped. The rest are too late."
The people still left in the city were those without the ability to escape. Jackals without a mount, or those left behind with fatal injuries. There was nothing more that could be done for them.
Peru understood that logically. However, she couldn't accept it with her heart and showed lingering attachment.
Her heart was noble, but that wasn't enough. I shoved the cold reality in her face.
"It's fine to stick your head into the Golden Palace without a plan or the ability. That's your freedom, Peru. But remember one thing."
Yeolguk, a country that didn't fit the words belonging or loyalty. There were only a few people who wanted to save this incomplete country, and among them, only Peru possessed both the ability and the will to save it.
In other words, if Peru died, Yeolguk would truly end. No one, not even the Regressor, would be able to stop Hwanggeumgyeong.
"If you fail, a disaster hundreds of times greater than this will occur in Claudia. Calculate it coldly."
If a value could be put on objects, a value could be put on lives. As a citizen of Yeolguk, Peru naturally made such calculations.
Would the lives of a few dozen people who were as good as dead be more precious?
Or would Claudia, which provided the foundation for tens of thousands of innocent children, be more precious?
There was no need to look. It was the latter. Claudia might not be all of Yeolguk, but if Claudia was lost, Yeolguk's future would disappear. Peru hung her head and turned around. Aurea, who had been shaking her head up and down anxiously, gladly followed her master's will.
While the Regressor watched our backs, Tir enveloped us in darkness. Once we escaped Hwanggeumgyeong's sight, the attacks subsided. When we put enough distance, Hwanggeumgyeong devoted itself to cleaning the city again as if nothing had happened. Before even a few minutes passed, all the thoughts coming from the city disappeared.
Though there weren't many to begin with.
Only after securing a safe distance from Hwanggeumgyeong did we have the leisure to compose ourselves. Unlike Peru, Aurea, who hadn't been completely covered by Aji's body, was pierced by steel fragments in various places. Peru dismounted from the saddle and stroked the injured Aurea.
Depending on the breed, a trained horse wouldn't suffer life-threatening injuries from being pierced by fragments. However, a wound was still a wound. Running at full speed would be impossible. I examined Aurea up and down and spoke.
"Even if we retreat from here, it's meaningless if there's no way to stop Hwanggeumgyeong. The horse is injured, what should we do? You'll need a living mount to reach Hwanggeumgyeong..."
Don't tell me we have to ride Aji? We could try, but a dog wouldn't let a human ride on its back. While I was seriously contemplating this, Peru muttered.
"...The Hwanggeumham."
"What?"
Peru placed the lives of the jackals on one side of the scale, and the survival of Claudia on the other. It is said that a Hoeju deceives the scales, but that was strictly limited to alchemy. Peru made a cruel choice, and the scale tilted honestly.
However... just because the scale tilted to the opposite side didn't mean the lighter side could disappear without a trace. Peru, who made the choice, had to bear the weight of the side she abandoned. A king who kills others must fatten themselves and their kingdom based on those lives. No matter how nauseating and horrific it may be.
That is the king's responsibility.
The only one free from responsibility is a god. Because one cannot hold someone already dead, like Hwanggeumgyeong, accountable for any responsibility.
Peru made her choice. And to fulfill her duty, for the sake of those who died because of her choice, she found a possibility to stop Hwanggeumgyeong.
Of course, it was only a possibility, not perfect. She could fail. Finding a sliver of possibility within that imperfection, Peru demanded of me with firm resolve.
"...If we have the Hwanggeumham. We can reach Hwanggeumgyeong. Help me."
For the country, she asked me to die with her.
Of course, I have no intention of dying. I am just a beast, and that's what all humans wanted. What kind of stupid beast would walk into the jaws of death of their own accord?