The World After the Fall

Thunder struck [Depth] and a few Awakeners crouched. The storm of world power blasted throughout various parts of the world. It was menacing enough for Followers with low world power. The sky turned dark as if night had fallen.

"Surha, give up."

"Don't steal my line."

Mirel, the 5th Captain of Rupture, and Surha were facing each other with their swords. They were out of breath from their fight. Surha was close to winning the fight. Unlike Mirel who had spent most of her time in controlling the simulation at the lab, Surha had experience in frontline battles since the days she was in Rupture.

'That kid. He's amazing,' Surha thought as she glanced over at Runald who was lying down on the ground at a distance. She was thinking of taking care of Mirel as fast as possible so she could go help with dealing with Varkant. However, Runald unexpectedly released his powers and killed Varkant.

'Killing the Lord…'

The boy was not in good shape as he lost most of his world power, but if the war were over soon, there was a good chance that the boy could be saved. Pierre didn't seem to be in trouble against the two Lords either. It was a close fight, but Pierre had a slight advantage. If Surha joined after dealing with Mirel, the fight would certainly be theirs.

'We've won.'

Surha felt it was premature. It seemed like her [Premonition] wasn't wrong after all. There was no future of Myad controlling the world. They were going to win today, and there was no chance of tragedy.

It was certain.

Was it because of excitement? It wasn't like her to not notice the change of color in the rain. Even if she did notice, things would not have changed. It was beyond her ability to stop it from happening anyway.

The dark clouds were turning into bloody clouds now.

Next, bodies began to arise from the blood. An illusion began to form with corpses all around the world. There was no way this world could leave corpses.

And there was the dead Imai standing there without his head.

'Surha.'

There was also Kashim with only his head.

'Surha.'

There was no way they could be there, but they were looking at Surha. There was no way, but their blood was clearly 'red'. Then she saw Mirel bleeding and Budda with his organs gushing out. And…

She saw herself, with her heart penetrated.

Surha backed away from the terrifying illusion. Everything was blood red. The world was changing. And in next moment, Surha felt her world power waning.

"This… YOU!"

Mirel also became pale. She smiled faintly as she looked at herself and Surha realized they both might be the same.

"W-what is going on?!"

Awakeners from various places in the battle seemed to show similar symptoms. It seemed like Sirwen became excited since it was now easier to fight these Awakeners, but things weren't going so well. Even Pierre who had been fighting the Lords was losing power. Every being who shared the same world with Rupture was losing their power.

"Dammit… the [Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses] was actually…."

She felt dizzy and fell onto the ground. Soon, she became unconscious.

Even after Myad had shown his collection of all the [Parts], Jaehwan was not concerned. The Void Sword and the Eye of Geshtalt that Myad held were imperfect.

"Is that your [Setting]?"

"Yes, it is."

Just like how Jaehwan had [Fall], he expected Myad to have something also. [Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses] was more like a unique world rather than a Setting after all. Then what was Myad's setting? Pierre once said this:

-He didn't have the Setting in the beginning. It was after I left Rupture that he created that Setting. I am not sure what he went through, but he created it with the 'Ouroboros' we taught him to create an entirely different Setting. Since the Ouroboros was incomplete, it is far from the actual Eye of Geshtalt. Yet, it has power equal to Budda's [Reincarnation].

And Jaehwan now realized what Myad's Setting was.

Setting – [Mocking Truth]

Myad's Setting was to copy Settings or Parts he had experienced or seen.

"You don't seem surprised."

"It's not that surprising."

"Haha, yes, of course. It is still fake."

That was why Jaehwan wasn't concerned. The copied Setting was a fake that could only have half of the power of the original.

"That alone isn't enough to defeat me."

Jaehwan spoke as he swung his void sword against the Machina.

"Yes, this alone cannot do."

Jaehwan's Void Sword and Myad's Void Sword clashed against each other, creating a distortion. Myad then dodged Jaehwan's stab and taunted, "Oh, will you stop that? You will break it. I didn't create this to fight. The [Parts] are only the key after all."

"A key?"

"Yes, a key. And it doesn't matter if the key is fake or real as long as it can do what it's required to do."

Machina's hand that held the sword pointed it to the sky. The fake Eye of Geshtalt began spinning in Myad's eyes.

"If the door can be opened, it doesn't matter if the key underperforms."

Machina began to shine in a variety of colors. It wasn't something that happened before. Jaehwan felt like something was not right. He quickly charged against Machina with both his swords. And in the next moment, he saw Myad smiling brightly. It was the smile of a man who had witnessed the world he had long wished for.

"You will never understand how long I have waited for this moment! How happy I was when you acquired the rest of the [Parts]!!"

Jaehwan felt strange. Myad's smile was real. His actions were fake and his life was a lie. But why? Why did it feel as if the eye was looking into genuine 'salvation'?

Machina – Hidden Phase

System Operation

With a powerful explosion, Jaehwan's body was thrown backward. As he was being thrown away, Jaehwan saw the color change in the sky — the blood red clouds were dripping with blood.

It was once someone's unique world, but it was no longer a unique world.

It had now become a reality. The bloody reality destroyed all the other worlds and contaminated everything else. Screams came from the countless worlds as they were all ripped apart.

Soon, there was only one world. There was no more fighting or screaming.

[A lone world.]

Machina was up in the sky, shining brightly like a red star.