Chapter 217

Everything is coming to an end.

That’s the only thought that comes to mind these days.

“Haah…”

Refinement Oh Si-jin let out a sigh.

The cloth that had been covering his left eye slipped down loosely. Within it lurked a darkness as black as a black hole. Refinement tied the cloth tightly again using only his left hand.

His right arm was missing below the elbow. Though he had wrapped bandages around the severed surface, the skin showing between the bandages was shrouded in pitch-black darkness, just like his eye.

A record completely ‘devoured’ by an Outer God’s authority. An erasure undefined by the Star Continent’s order. It was a wound that couldn’t be filled by any spell Refinement knew.

“Did everyone… die here?”

He had heard from the nomads who rescued him on the way. Apparently, there had been a great battle here too. He’d heard rumors, though somewhat incoherent, that high-ranking mages had gathered in droves and fought a major battle against the Outer God’s minions. And seeing the state of this place, that battle couldn’t have ended in victory, no matter how generously one interpreted it.

It was a desolate gray wasteland. Trees, soil, people… even the sky itself had all settled into gray ash. Vast and flat. At first glance, it looked like a polluted sea. Occasionally, the wind would blow and create ripples in the ash.

“Unbelievable. It’s harder to adapt to than losing my arm and my eye.”

Refinement muttered to himself mockingly.

He tried to overlay the landscape from his memories with the scene before his eyes, but it was impossible.

This place had originally been called Cherry Blossom Continent. Pink and white cherry blossoms had bloomed luxuriantly on every hill, and sweet sap had flowed from the trees year-round. The ‘cherry blossom powder’ harvested from these cherry blossoms was an excellent magical material that was exported worldwide through the Tower of Covenant. Refinement had also frequently used cherry blossom powder when creating magical devices. That’s why he had felt quite fond of this place.

Knowledge about how Cherry Blossom Continent was divided into five sub-regions, what differences existed between cherry blossom powder from each region, which farms produced the highest quality cherry blossom powder… all that knowledge, now useless knowledge, flitted through Refinement’s mind.

“The curtain is falling.”

What humanity had built up, what the Pathfinders had tried to protect, was crumbling futilely like sandcastles.

Refinement walked across the gray wasteland with vacant eyes. His aimless steps stopped in front of a stone jutting up among the gray ash. No, it wasn’t a stone. It was a ‘gravestone’ that had been treated with preservation magic.

<First Grand Commander of the Pathfinders, Wizard of Domestication. Subdued the apostle and rests here.>

Before that gravestone, Refinement didn’t kneel.

He didn’t shed tears either.

When everything had been too fierce, when he had already given up his own life once, at such times… it was already-arrived tears and despair, so they didn’t come again. He merely touched the gaping emptiness in his chest once more.

Refinement had fought alone against an apostle for a week. No… he had run around to avoid being caught in the thing’s grasp. In the end, reinforcements never came, and just when he had given up, thinking he would die, the apostle left that place in irritation.

That’s how Refinement survived. Since he had survived, someone else must have died. It was only natural. Natural…

Refinement walked once around the gravestone.

He belatedly noticed the writing densely packed on the sides and back as well.

These were names crammed onto the stone in letters smaller than sesame seeds, apparently all that could be salvaged from the ruins—the only stone retrieved.

————————

<Memorial to the Fallen>

Truth Tower mage regiment Jin Wi-yang, Park Cheol-hee…

Academy field researchers Railan, Tunga, Sonja…

Ragnarok inquisitors Cain, Philip, Tzuyu…

Society battle corps Rousseau, Kainstein, Son A-rang…

Pathfinders Jeong Si-eun, Fel Jack, Soros…

Independent mages Dapren, Park Soon-hee, Lee Cheon-jung…

And comrades whose names couldn’t be inscribed because they were unknown…

I’m sorry. I’m sorry…

————————

The text that had been neatly carved in small letters became increasingly distorted around the final ‘I’m sorry’ portions. It had been crying.

‘Fel… Jack. Spear mage… my old friend, heir to Lanciel City…’

Refinement dwelled on one name carved into the gravestone for a long time.

Gulp.

He swallowed once and looked up at the sky.

The sky was turbid like a child had randomly sprinkled black and white stone powder, and the ground was crumbly and lifeless.

This place was particularly severe, but it wasn’t the only place like this.

‘Just how much time has passed since I collapsed?’

Refinement had been unconscious for a long time. As soon as the apostle left without finishing him off, he had collapsed as if dead, then barely awakened to find the world changed. The sky and ground had different colors and textures from before. Every landscape he had seen on his way here had been like this.

Whenever he met mages or nomad groups in distress and rescued them to hear their stories, hardly anyone was in their right mind. Some said the attacks had started a week ago, others said three months. And someone even answered like this,

‘When did the monster attacks start? They’ve been like this since I was born! From the day my mother was bitten to death when I was born, it’s been like this every single day without fail!’

It only made his heart more unsettled.

Just how much time had passed that both sky and earth had changed? Why had everyone he knew died?

It felt like a dream.

Is this really the world I knew?

While I was unconscious, did I unknowingly… get transported to some parallel world?

Am I… lost?

Not knowing where this was or when it was made him dizzy.

Had the strike team that went to capture the Outer God won? Did they lose? Were they still fighting?

He wished someone would tell him. What the current situation was, what he should do.

As Refinement stared blankly at the sky, his eyes suddenly narrowed.

“A bird?”

A glowing bird was flying through the turbid sky, cutting through it. It circled in the air, then flapped its wings toward Refinement.

Refinement’s heart trembled.

“Just a common message magic…”

That magic, which wasn’t even difficult, now looked as sacred as a divine revelation.

Refinement extended his trembling fingertips forward. The glowing bird landed on his fingertips. Then came an urgent voice.

-This is Yuria, wizard of Thousand Books, serving as supreme commander of the Outer God subjugation force. I inform all mages throughout the world. The Divine Wizard is engaged in a final showdown with the Outer God. We don’t know if this battle will last months or years. But what’s certain is that during this time, the laws will waver and continents will drift. Only mages can offset this disaster. As of now, our Outer God subjugation force, excluding the Divine Wizard, is also returning with all personnel leading Floating Island Sion. We will prepare for the disaster. All mages, join forces and right now! Prepare for the impact!

Hope flashed across Refinement’s face at the news that they hadn’t been defeated yet, then hardened again at Yuria’s serious warning.

Rumble—

And the world shook.

Flutterrrr— Crackle.

His coat tails were torn away by the violently rushing wind. Considering that even this rag of a coat was still a magical device that Refinement had made himself, it was an impossible level of power.

“Absolute!”

[Uuuu…]

Refinement’s magical exoskeleton <Absolute> rose unsteadily from his handbag. After being wrecked in the battle with the apostle and unable to be repaired, its output had dropped to below 30 percent.

Still, it was better than nothing.

Pale blue magical power wrapped around Refinement’s body like mist. The rushing typhoon now felt merely ticklish.

Refinement looked up at the sky.

‘The stars…’

In the ambiguously turbid sky where you couldn’t tell if it was day or night, stars were spinning. No, they were drifting. Away from the center of the sky where the Tower of Covenant was located. Creating two whirlpools, then four whirlpools, swaying back and forth in pendulum motions. A sky that made you feel nauseous just looking at it. And at the very top of the sky, at its peak, there was a massive shadow and a brilliantly shining white star.

The massive shadow writhed as if in agony, while the shining star orbited around it, devouring the shadow. Refinement realized.

‘That shadow is the Outer God… Is that white star the light emitted by the divine wizard’s… no, his magical exoskeleton?’

The white star was devouring the shadow, but the shadow was far too large. It was a moment when Yuria’s words about not knowing if it would take months or years made sense.

And during all that time, humanity had to endure.

“Grrt.”

Refinement ground his teeth. Stars fluttering chaotically in the sky. Each of those stars was a continent, and people lived on each one. When even earthquakes could shatter civilizations, what would happen when the land itself scattered like fallen leaves?

Even in his hollow chest, his heart beat. There was still work to be done. Refinement was rather grateful for that fact.

Grrrrumble!

The ground surged up before Refinement’s eyes. No, it would be better to say it was ‘folding.’ The scene of a continent folding up from the horizon, gradually blocking the sky, made even Refinement’s liver turn cold.

Crash!

Whoooosh!

Underground water squeezed out like sandwich filling from the folding continent. It poured across the entire sky. Rivers fell from the sky. The faintly rising rainbow seemed almost like a joke.

Refinement rummaged through his coat pockets and threw yut sticks in all directions.

The yut sticks spun around and around, growing in size until they finally became broken and fragmented mana stones floating here and there.

[Search]

[Calculate survival routes]

Refinement’s mouth and fingers moved busily. Following his movements, the mana stones scattered flashes of light. They found survivors remaining in the ruined Cherry Blossom Continent and calculated scenarios for their survival.

The conclusion came quickly.

‘Bury them in the ground. Then lift the ground itself into the air.’

He calculated the resources needed to execute and maintain such grand magic. Refinement smiled bitterly.

‘All this time… thank you, <Absolute>.’

[Whoong…]

The magical exoskeleton <Absolute> responded to Refinement’s feelings with a low wail.

Refinement cast his spell.

[Into the grouuund…]

Pop!

“Aaaaah!”

Survivors throughout the continent screamed as they fell into suddenly appearing sinkholes.

[Floooooat]

This time, the pits containing the survivors floated into the sky, gathering nearby soil and rocks. Over ten thousand Cherry Blossom Continent survivors safely separated from the shaking continent.

Crack! Crunch!

But due to the forcibly executed magic, <Absolute> couldn’t endure and collapsed. The Ki-blood that had densely wrapped the interior and exterior snapped strand by strand, and the delicate Circles that formed the structure were crushed.

“Cough! Cough cough! Ghaaack!”

Refinement spat out a bowlful of dead blood. The blue magical power that had embraced him scattered like smoke, and the magical exoskeleton lost its light. Pushed by the rushing typhoon, Refinement rolled across the ground.

He stopped mid-roll and sprang to his feet. His ghostly pale face bore amber eyes that blazed like will-o’-the-wisps.

“Let’s go. If I dismantle the magical exoskeleton and all the magical devices I have… they should work as magical materials to sustain floating magic.”

If only there were some Pathfinder supply depot still intact, the work would be easier… Refinement spat out the black blood that kept rising and used flight magic to soar up. He flew unsteadily toward the floating island carrying ten thousand survivors.

It was the beginning of a harsh genesis that would last a full seven years.

* * *

I’m going to disappear. That was decided the moment I used ‘Final Evolution.’

After devouring the Outer God, <Samantha> will become a true god. Once she becomes a true god, lubricant and coolant like me won’t be needed.

However, until then… until she finishes devouring all the Outer God, I have to hold on. Even if it means annihilating my entire soul.

That was the plan.

A trivial sacrifice that had to be given up for victory.

Until evolution was complete and <Samantha> became perfect.

I protect <Samantha> and Yuria protects the ‘Star Continent.’

That was our final promise. A promise that had to be kept, a mage’s promise.

The world that would remain would be far more broken than I had initially prepared for—a complete mess.

But anyway, somehow, at least creation would be successfully achieved.