Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 266 : Advent of the Demon God (3)

Advent of the Demon God (3)

"To say it in advance, I didn't come here to fight you—quite the opposite, actually."

Ivan said so, gesturing to me.

His demeanor was remarkably composed.

Not caring about the reactions of those around him, I glanced fleetingly at the nearby drones.

'Did this also get transmitted to Alencia's footage?'

If so, it was certain that the impact would be tremendous.

Things had already escalated this far, but people still didn't know that this crisis was one capable of destroying the world.

However, the sudden appearance of Ivan Hunt was inevitably going to leave a huge impression.

After all, he was globally infamous.

'Perhaps......'

Ivan said himself that he was 'pursuing God'.

Perhaps the god he pursued was acting with that purpose in mind.

Of course, that was only speculation.

"If you say the opposite?"

"I intend to guide you to God's presence. The time has come."

The time has come, he said.

Certainly, the golden threads connecting the surroundings no longer showed signs of increasing.

It seemed likely that now, he had perfectly connected with all the 'divine art users' spread across not just Korea, but the entire world.

'What do I do.'

There was a way to kill Ivan here, but I wondered if it was even necessary.

'His body is also connected by golden threads.'

Even thicker than any other.

Ivan had never used divine art, nor had he received any special procedures from the demons, yet here he was.

Moreover......

"All right. Then I'll leave it to you."

"A wise choice."

So saying, he snapped his fingers toward the air.

Then, part of the dark star vibrated, and an opening formed.

I had been worrying about whether to break through the outer wall to enter, but fortunately, it seemed I wouldn't have to.

"Isn't there anyone you'd say goodbye to?"

As I gazed up at the 'door' formed some dozen meters above in the outer wall, Ivan brought it up.

"Goodbye?"

"If you go inside, you'll never see anyone else again."

There were several meanings implied in that statement.

It could mean I would die, or that the world would end.

Perhaps both.

"Well. I don't really think there's a need for that. I'll be coming back anyway."

"I doubt that's possible...... but if that's your wish, I'll respect it."

With a gesture that he wouldn't press, Ivan floated and landed by the open door.

As I approached the entrance in the outer wall, I felt even more convinced that this 'dark star' was alive.

A giant creature with a 'heart'.

Before, I had thought of it as something simply made of metal, but now, it unmistakably felt like a living being.

"I have watched over you all this time by the will of the Goddess."

"...... The will of the Goddess. Are you talking about Estella?"

"Yes."

It was a shocking remark in some sense, but to a degree I'd anticipated it.

Shin Ah-yeon had only truly begun to awaken to her role as 'Saintess' during the Jeju Island incident.

When she met Ivan Hunt.

At that time, Shin Ah-yeon had said she briefly lost consciousness fighting Ivan Hunt.

'If back then, Estella's consciousness had used Ah-yeon's body...'

Knowing her personality, leaving Ivan Hunt alive would have been unthinkable.

"She must have had some purpose for sparing you."

"Saying if she hadn't, I would have died?"

"You'd know that better than I would, wouldn't you?"

I retorted sarcastically, and Ivan let out a dry chuckle.

"That's right."

If Estella's consciousness had awakened, Ivan would inevitably have felt her power head-on. The 'Origin' she possessed.

Her power, which forms the basis of divine arts, in some ways resembled magic.

Bringing about miracles impossible in this world.

Magic, too, had something of that nature.

"In front of the Goddess, I couldn't say anything. As I said before, at the time, I didn't know why she spared me."

The remnants of Estella's consciousness left in Ah-yeon's body.

From the Jeju incident onward, that passed over to Ivan.

The voice that kept whispering to him and moving him forward—was that.

There must have been various reasons.

To use Ivan for her purposes, perhaps.

She might have foreseen today's calamity.

Or maybe it was to help Ah-yeon become independent from her past.

"What was passed to you was merely a dying ember."

"I know."

It was the heat remaining in burnt-out ashes, nothing but an ember.

But even that, given the right opportunity, could become a great blaze.

'And by the time of the Jeju incident, the ember had already become a flame.'

The third time Estella's consciousness had surfaced in Ah-yeon.

The spark was kindled by the rift incident three years ago, when I crossed over to the other world.

After that, Ah-yeon was often taken over by Estella.

If left unattended, Estella's residual will might have devoured Ah-yeon's body entirely.

Of course, it was unlikely, but maybe that faint chance was a worry.

Perhaps there wouldn't have been time to overcome it, either.

"I was simply the carrier of the embers. And those embers... have found their way to a new place."

The heart of the demon god.

"Of course, that's not the Estella you know. That is merely the Goddess of Wishes. What was once but a feeble ember will become the world-burning blaze."

After saying so, he halted abruptly.

Not for any special reason.

Simply because we had reached our destination.

The place I had once visited before.

Where the demon god's heart was.

"We're here."

And in that place, a man stood.

Before, it was Damian; this time, it was someone all too familiar to me.

Now, a title like Grand Nova's representative... would no longer matter to him.

Especially, considering the goal he sought.

"I was just taking in the view for a moment."

As if he had been waiting for me, he quietly gazed up at the 'heart'.

Inside the heart, pulsating more strongly than ever, I could sense something not present before.

A being connected by countless golden threads.

"If it's you, you should be able to see them—these countless golden threads."

Jin Su-hyuk reached out into the air.

Last time I came, this place was so dark that we had to rely on small lights.

But now, it was different.

It was dazzlingly bright.

It was brightly lit by luminescent origins.

"And the same goes for me."

Both Ivan Hunt and Jin Su-hyuk.

They were connected by golden threads, but theirs were different from the rest.

Especially, the light connected to Jin Su-hyuk was several times the size of the others.

"These are those chosen as 'God'."

Perhaps noticing that I saw it, Jin Su-hyuk spoke.

"Chosen as God?"

"Yes. The new world's gods, chosen by the Goddess of Wishes...... But, unfortunately, one thread just snapped."

With apparent regret, he brushed the air with his hand.

It must have been where another's thread had been connected.

'Ryan Knox?'

There was no other explanation.

He was one of those whom Alencia had called 'exceptionally strong'.

If the thread was cut, it meant Soo-ah had defeated him.

'Still.......'

Though Jin Su-hyuk looked genuinely regretful, honestly, I couldn't see why it mattered.

One other strongly connected thread remained, but compared to Jin Su-hyuk, it was insignificant.

"By the way, you seem rather unbothered. I'd have thought you and the person involved here were quite closely connected."

"Connected..."

Perhaps my lack of reaction was odd, because Jin Su-hyuk seemed curious.

Given my relationship with Estella, it was natural.

But it couldn't be helped.

"That isn't Estella."

The real one was elsewhere.

As long as she existed, I had no reason, nor any need, to consider that thing genuine.

"Shin Ah-yeon...... Right, she was the start of it all."

The rift incident three years ago.

The origin that was unleashed there set everything in motion.

"Perhaps the singularity was at that moment."

Jin Su-hyuk turned his gaze from the heart to me.

"The one wish Shin Ah-yeon made during the rift incident three years ago, to save you."

When Shin Ah-yeon granted the wish I made—to not die.

Everything had begun at that moment.

"Because of her, you could exist, and because of you, this came to be."

As if in response to Jin Su-hyuk's words, the heart's pulsing sped up.

Or perhaps, it was about to be born.

The demon god.

***

Ah-yeon felt an inexplicable sense of foreboding from her heart.

Immediately after parting with Jung-woo, she remained there and subdued the rest of the demons and hunters safely.

Until recently, even the top-rank demons would have been a struggle, but now, they posed no problem for Ah-yeon.

There was no need to use the Conceptualization Technique.

Her magic, now at the 9th Circle, had far surpassed ordinary human limits.

'At my prime, I was about 7th Circle...'

Nothing more needed to be said about the 9th Circle.

No, perhaps now was Ah-yeon's true prime!

【Ah-yeon unni.】

While she was aiding the wounded and securing the subdued hunters, she heard Alencia's voice.

Turning, she spotted the drones currently filming her.

They must be Alencia's drones, maneuvering to capture the situation.

"Alencia, how many viewers now?"

【Hmm? As of now...... about thirty million.】

An astronomical number.

It meant that people not just in Korea, but worldwide, were now watching Alencia's footage.

But the origin she sensed did not feel that magnified.

That implied that the viewers weren't directly yearning for something from Ah-yeon.

At present, Alencia was centering all footage on Ah-yeon.

【But, something's wrong.】

Alencia's normally light tone was so heavy as to feel strange.

Her anxious voice seemed to betray fear.

Ah-yeon half-guessed the reason.

Her own heart was pounding anxiously too.

As if resonating with something.

"Could it be......."

【Could it be?】

"...... I hope not, but."

Despite her words, she more or less knew.

She had already talked about this with Jung-woo.

He was likely thinking the same as Ah-yeon by now.

"It's about to awaken."

Perhaps 'birth' was the better word.

Ah-yeon said this as she gazed at the golden threads that no longer increased in number.

The dark star that had fallen to earth was trembling, slowly rising into the air again.

Jung-woo must be in there.

So, the 'dark star' itself didn't worry her.

What mattered was—the being that would be born from these golden threads.

"This really isn't right......"

A manga she'd read long ago suddenly came to mind.

She couldn't help but feel that her situation closely resembled that story's.

Uuuuuuuung!!

The golden threads began to vibrate, trembling.

They sounded like the strings of an instrument.

The threads transformed into strings, vibrating as if singing.

As if celebrating the birth of something, the vibration of the strings changed the world in an instant.

Ah-yeon felt it.

For a moment, all magic power stopped.

All color vanished, the world going black.

As if some existence had stolen away every color.

It wasn't just the light, or magic power, or even color, that had been taken.

For a brief moment, the flow of the world ceased, and all watched the dark star in silent suspense.

And then—

KWAANG!!!

From atop the dark star, which had floated up into the sky, something shot upward.

A golden-haired woman, wrapped in countless golden threads, rose into the air.

"...... Damn it."

Ah-yeon couldn't help but let out a weary curse at the sight.

She had no choice.

The owner of the threads embroidered across the sky stood there.

The Goddess of Wishes.

No—now, the demon god.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

Damn, so Estella became the Demon God!!!

16 chapters left.

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