God of the Ruined World

The world where light had vanished. Yet here, the sunlight was still warm and the spring breeze still blew.

But everyone knew. That voice from just now—it was undoubtedly an Outer God. Like Circle crying out, a majestic and overwhelming ‘command.’

The mages trembled.

What was that just now? The voice of an Outer God. It was just like… Circle magic?

The words they couldn’t ultimately voice floated through their hearts as unease.

But one fact was certain. In the unseen world, in the continents where people lived and in the Tower of Covenant… the light had surely disappeared. Just as that being had commanded.

Yuria asked.

“Reverse Genesis? What does that mean?”

-To create the world.

“Create? It seems more like destroying it.”

-That’s right. My master originally wanted to return everything to nothing. He wanted to completely erase what you call the ‘Akashic Records’ and start over from the beginning.

“Not now?”

-Correct. My master has mercifully decided to leave behind the legacy of the old gods. Instead, he has decided to modify only the contents of the Akashic Records.

Cold sweat trickled down along Yuria’s jaw. She swallowed.

“Modify? How can that be possible? You aren’t beings that belong to this world, are you?”

-Don’t you mortals also do things with the remains of the gods? Could the master, who is a true god, not do what you do?

“You couldn’t before!”

-That’s right. So I am letting you live.

“What bullshit!”

-You have shown us. How to deceive this foolish world. For mortals, it was truly a great achievement.

Low laughter echoed. Yuria’s face turned pale.

“Shown… you?”

-That’s right. ‘Magic,’ was it? I watched very closely how you move the world using the remains of dead gods. Previously, it was nothing more than the antics of insects… but you were quite impressive. It was all thanks to you that I could mimic this ‘paradise’ as I am now. The god has also become able to overturn the world and establish the work of creation. Of course, even without you, it would have been accomplished soon… but since you accelerated the timing, achievement is still achievement. I’ll forgive even the killing of a few apostles and more.

Blood seeped from Yuria’s tightly clenched fists.

‘I thought we were fighting…’

In reality, they had been used. They had killed countless minions of the Outer God to reach the 99th floor… could that have done even fingernail’s worth of damage to them?

Well…

At least the First Apostle didn’t seem to grieve over the deaths of his minions. Instead, he seemed purely delighted to have been able to grasp the principles of magic.

“Don’t look down on us…”

Yuria muttered.

Balrog was puzzled.

-Why are you so angry? Anyway, created beings cannot live without gods, can they? You—a new god is descending upon your godless world. He has even shown mercy by allowing your lives. Why on earth are you angry?

“Ha, haha?”

What did that thing just say? That created beings cannot live without gods?

Yuria couldn’t contain the laughter that leaked out.

She had lived her entire life without gods.

Right. That’s why she’d seen so many filthy things. She’d been painfully tormented to near death. But still, she survived in the end. By her own strength, not divine power. Through magic!

But… what’s this now? What’s this about not being able to live without gods?

Swallowing the rising anger and mockery, Yuria asked.

“Then what about the other people? The countless people in the rear?”

-They will be erased. Since they’re useless, isn’t that natural?

“Natural? Natural?”

-Can’t you understand? When you throw a stone at the moon’s reflection in water, the moon’s shadow ripples and disappears. Do you mourn for that?

“…What?”

-You understood, so why act like this? You created beings are merely fabricated illusions. Only gods truly exist in this world. Essence precedes all things. Because gods exist, all things exist. All things are not devoured by void and chaos. This world is a resting place for gods.

“Shut up.”

Yuria raised her bow. The Ultimate Bow that Refinement had made was grasped in her hand.

She nocked one of the few remaining special arrows onto the Piercing Bow.

The spells engraved on the arrow bloomed automatically.

<Spatial Distortion>

<Spell Penetration>

<Physical Defense Ignore>

<Intense Impact>

Four spells mounted on the Piercing Bow.

<Unhealable Wound>

<Pierced Soul>

Two spells engraved on the special arrow intertwined with each other.

The First Apostle Balrog tried to stop Yuria.

-Cease this futile act. You still don’t understand. A world where gods cannot create will ultimately be devoured by void and chaos. This world’s destruction was never far away. My master’s descent to correct the wrong direction of creation and reopen it—that alone is the way for this universe to survive.

“While killing all the people.”

-Your understanding is truly lacking. Haven’t I said that at least those of you here will be spared? Haah… as expected, failures cannot be helped? Well… this place was so foolish that even gods confused essence with periphery. If the created beings made by such gods are foolish, it cannot be helped, can it? Think about it. A world that operates without gods! How could such a thing be a complete world? That’s why they all died. The world can only be completed when gods are present…

The First Apostle Balrog mocked the design of the old gods. Everything branching out from one and all things returning to one again… the old gods who dreamed of eternal circulation that needed no gods. They had all died without achieving that dream.

Balrog declared. In fact, the opposite should be the case—all things should exist for gods. A world complete in itself without gods is impossible. Only when the world becomes the hands and feet of gods, and created beings become fingernails and hair, merging with that perfect existence—only that is a complete world.

The existence of humanity with individuality was completely unnecessary within that.

-Even so, I will spare you. Within my paradise. Don’t you know what a merciful thing this is?

Yuria bit her lips tightly and put strength into the hand gripping the bowstring.

-Do you think such a crude arrow could reach me?

Balrog’s voice sank coldly. Yuria answered as if chewing her words.

“It depends on how you shoot it.”

Her eyes blazed bright blue. All the magical power and mana in the world reflected in her retinas.

The fully manifested [Magic Eye] saw clearly through the mimicking Balrog. But it was too enormous. One arrow wouldn’t even leave a trace… a cosmic-scale existence.

Yuria thought.

‘How was it when Jun-woo shot?’

She remembered that moment when everything in the world was caught in the silver trajectory of <Saíl>.

Only now could she understand. What kind of magic <Saíl> was. No matter what the target… whether Akashic Records, the universe, anything—a spell that could cut through any concept, representing divinity itself.

The most noble power because it was the most simple.

That’s why, except for Yuria, it wasn’t easy for others to borrow that power.

[Magic Eye-<Interference>]

-No way…?

To see is to interfere. Yuria’s power intruded into the world that Balrog had mimicked. Caught off guard by the unexpected method of attack, Balrog was inwardly flustered. But at the spell that followed, he couldn’t even feel flustered.

“I am Yuria Lin. By the authority the Divine Mage granted me, I declare. I will make you my arrow and bring down the world. So right now! I! <I shall shoot the sun.>”

An improvised modification of the spell.

[Magic Eye-<Interference>] that had intruded into Balrog’s mimicry.

The amplification effect dwelling in the Piercing Bow.

And the enhancement effect of the magical exoskeleton wrapped around Yuria’s body.

All of this combined, and Yuria’s <Saíl> entered a completely different stage from before.

Tssssaaahhh—

As Yuria drew the bowstring, the entire world was caught upon it. All gravity seemed to point toward the bowstring as everything in the world tilted toward Yuria.

-This wench!!!

Sensing the extraordinary nature of that power, Balrog attempted resistance. The pleasant spring breeze turned into violent typhoons, and the trees that had been gently dropping flower petals began grotesquely twisting and growing larger with creaking sounds. The ground cracked open and the sky was dyed an ashen gray.

Crack. Crack.

Blood vessels burst in Yuria’s eyes, blood seeping out. Though she gritted her teeth and drew the bowstring, it wouldn’t pull back more than 30 centimeters. No, rather it began to sway precariously as if being gradually pulled forward. The more Balrog resisted, the harder it became to hold onto the bowstring.

‘Just a little more, just a little…! If I endure this…! I’ll reach the 9th Step!’

Wearing the magical exoskeleton, Yuria was currently at the 8th Step.

Her promise with Baek Jun-woo was to reach the 8th Step without the exoskeleton… so she hadn’t achieved her goal yet.

‘Right now is the time.’

The pure 8th Step she couldn’t reach even risking her life. Yuria thought right now was the time to keep that promise.

‘I’m almost there. I can see mana now, can’t I? I’ve almost completely filled the magical powers’ interest. As long as I have magical power, I can create as many magical power neural networks as I want. I can see mana now!’

Believing in just that, she endured. Though she wore a magical exoskeleton, even with the 8th Step power equivalent to a Magic Emperor, she couldn’t handle Balrog, yet she clung on to the very end.

“Sis, Sister…”

“Sister…!”

Monggu and Beatrice called to Yuria with worry. They realized Yuria was pushing herself too hard.

Crack!

Rip!

At that moment, ominous sounds came from Yuria’s elbow and shoulder. Despite the magical exoskeleton’s protection, her elbow joint and shoulder muscles were torn. Her Ki-blood was fragmenting.

“Oh no!”

“Ugh…”

Dean Grego-Ramdal and Guardian Martial House Master Yeon Gae-bu-so also made worried sounds. The thought ‘it’s over’ flashed through their minds.

But somehow, the bowstring Yuria had drawn didn’t slacken at all.

[Time Reversal]

A replication of the gift that until now only Baek Jun-woo could use spread through Yuria’s Circle.

‘It works after all!’

A triumphant smile formed on Yuria’s lips. A move possible because she could see mana.

Her joints, elbow, and exoskeleton recovered in real time.

-Waaah…

-I’ve seen something like this before!

Feats beyond everyone’s expectations catch the magical powers’ attention.

Magical powers flocked around Yuria. More and more magical powers cheered for Yuria.

As magical powers gathered, Yuria created new magical power neural networks. Concentrating to the extreme, she even mimicked Lytol’s [Time Acceleration] to hurry the construction of neural networks.

To the 8th Step without the magical exoskeleton, to the 9th Step with it!

Tssssaaahhh—!

The initiative in the tug-of-war switched instantly.

The bowstring that had been gradually pulled forward was suddenly drawn all the way back. Everything in the ‘paradise’ that had revealed its true, hideous nature was caught on the bowstring. A speck of dust at the bottom of the hill, a droplet of moisture above the clouds—everything without exception.

-Wait, wait, stop! Nothing is solved by doing this! Beyond me lies my master! He will never allow such sacrilege!

Balrog’s voice became urgent.

Yuria sneered.

“That’s exactly why I’m hurrying. Since I don’t know what your master might do hiding back there…!”

-Do you think you can oppose my master with just your power!

“No. If I pierce through you and open a path toward it… Jun-woo will come out.”

-Things won’t go so conveniently!

Having stayed in this world the longest, Balrog even spoke just like a human.

Regardless, Yuria remained unshaken.

She simply had faith. Because they had promised.

Baek Jun-woo had directly promised to reach the 11th Step before facing the Outer God. It wouldn’t matter that Yuria herself was advancing the schedule. Either way, he would appear before fighting the Outer God. Because he was Baek Jun-woo, who had never once failed to keep a promise.

“Didn’t you know? That convenience is exactly what magic is.”

She believed in those past days when she had to scrape her bones to obtain magic that made spoken words come true, to make things happen as spoken.

‘Now is the time to break through.’

Whether it’s Reverse Genesis or whatever, before the Outer God could cause more havoc!

Yuria’s fingertips released the bowstring.

…!

In silence, a silver arrow pierced through the world.

All trees and clouds stretched long following the arrow’s trajectory. And then came the scream.

-Ugh… Uaaahhh! You foolish and disloyal mortal wretches!!

A scream mixed with pain and rage.

But Yuria was already in no state to pay attention to the likes of Balrog.

Along the path the arrow had passed, she stared at the world torn apart, finally revealing the 99th floor and the ‘outside’ beyond.

The Outer God was not visible. The time horizon separating the 99th and 100th floors was nothing but pitch-black darkness that devoured even light.

But Yuria felt it. That somewhere beyond, the Outer God existed. The ‘sense’ of reaching the 9th Step while wearing the magical exoskeleton sent a deadly warning. Her legs trembled.

Did it know that Balrog had been hit?

From that darkness beyond, calm ‘commands’ fell line by line.

[All plants that have sprouted and flourished shall return to the earth.]

[Without my will, neither fly nor walk nor flourish.]

[Heaven and earth shall merge as they were and never again be divided.]

The true beginning of Reverse Genesis.

At his master’s appearance, Balrog, who had been screaming, suddenly became arrogant.

-I withdraw the favor I showed you! Foolish ones, despair at that pointless destruction!

It was a pathetic sight, but neither Yuria nor anyone else could spare even a common sneer.

Because they were completely consumed by the Outer God’s voice.

Because without the Outer God’s will, they could neither fly nor walk.

Because heaven and earth were about to crumble and merge like primordial chaos.

However, amid the terror-filled silence, a new voice soon interjected.

The voice spread throughout the world, shaking the leaves of the World Tree.

[Seeds, sprout.]

[Fly and walk and flourish freely.]

[Heaven and earth remain divided and embrace all things.]

[Ugh… what a bother, really. Shall we dissect that one too?]

Hearing that voice, Balrog froze, and Yuria finally smiled.

“See? He keeps his promises.”

Crrrack!

The World Tree embedded in the Sky Island made a loud noise and crumpled.

It became a staff that fit perfectly in a person’s hand.