Chapter 361

〈 Chapter 361 〉 Part 1, Chapter 15, Section 19

“What do you think about the titular heroine becoming the true final boss?”

Back then, I tried my best to avoid spoilers while posting on a community forum.

I didn’t mention it was the Phoenix Route, nor that the game I was playing was *Azure Skies: Death Dinass*. Instead, I posted in a completely unrelated classic gaming community.

At first, no one paid attention, but soon someone replied.

– If it’s not too random, it’s understandable, right? There should be foreshadowing or some kind of reason. If it was set up from the beginning, there must be a reason.

Someone responded quite politely, and since I didn’t want to spoil anything, I changed my ID and IP before replying.

– But what if that reason is Yuna? 😄

*Death Dinass* had become a globally famous game by then, even infiltrating classic gaming communities just by name alone.

And the person who replied shot back with lightning speed.

– Are you crazy?

And within ten seconds, another reply followed that I’ll never forget.

– Stop messing around! Are you saying the mighty Goddess would become the final boss? Let me split your head open!

Soon others chimed in as well.

– In terms of romantic storylines, maybe she could be the final boss, but the true final boss is Lady Blazing Phoenix. That doesn’t work either. 😂

– I’m from the Yuna Truthers Sect. Yuna is the goddess. Heresy has been detected here. Repent!

“These useless guys.”

In an instant, the comment section blew up, so I quickly deleted the post. Then I put my VR headset back on.

■■■■■■■ !!

There she was—Goddess Yuinah possessed by an interdimensional spirit, her presence radiating iridescent and golden energy as she looked down upon me and my companions.

The Last Boss.

Yuinah.

And beside me stood many allies, among them a woman with blue hair holding my hand and smiling at me.

– After this battle, I’d like to try marriage, you know.

■■■■■■■■!!

The interdimensional spirit possessing Yuinah let out a roar.

This marked the beginning of the true final boss battle in the Phoenix Route.

* * *

<August 16, 2020, 11:30 AM, New Seoul USVene.>

“So, am I basically a clone created from the essence of interdimensional spirits?”

Yuna quickly understood my lengthy explanation.

“That’s right. Do you know about Pygmalion?”

“Ah, so the alien is Pygmalion, and I’m Galatea.”

“You know that too?”

“I learned it while studying world history. Just in case it showed up in non-fiction reading comprehension.”

Of course, being the national top scorer in the notoriously difficult college entrance exam, Yuna easily filled in the blanks despite my vague summary and deduced her true identity.

Seongju created a vessel to house the interdimensional spirit.

To praise the divine, Seongju poured all his effort into creating ‘Yuinah,’ the artificial spirit.

Yuinah tapped her character design in the notebook with a pen. Nearby were drawings of Seongju, the interdimensional spirit, and the Seven Spirits.

“In certain circumstances, this interdimensional spirit might possess me, correct? … Please confirm if my understanding is accurate.”

Since the moment I started explaining, Yuna meticulously took notes as though transcribing a lecture about her own origins.

“First, chronologically speaking, the other world <Tera> was conquered by Seongju, the servant of the interdimensional spirit, and the spirits were brainwashed, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Seongju experimented on replicating the spirits and succeeded in fusing their magical power sources. And the successful result of that experiment is me?”

“Yes.”

“The failed experiments all turned into ‘Demon Dragons,’ and Seongju brought me to Earth intending to summon the interdimensional spirit immediately. Confident due to brainwashing the Seven Spirits, he only brought himself and me to Earth. However, Earth’s heroes stopped him, and Seongju fled without retrieving me?”

“Correct.”

Yuna summarized everything almost perfectly. Then she pointed out something I hadn’t explained and something difficult for her to accept.

“But I was born in 2005, right?”

Yuna highlighted the gap between 1999 and 2005.

“Didn’t you say Seongju opened the Dimensional Gate to get revenge on the First Round Table members? That’s when the brainwashed spirits, the Dark Legion officers, appeared during the ‘Bloody Week’ incident in 1999…”

“That means you came to Earth before 1999, earlier than the Original Spirits.”

“That’s what’s strange. I’m definitely from 2005.”

Yuna firmly believed she was born in 2005. But I corrected her misunderstanding.

“You, as a ‘human,’ took physical form on May 5, 2005. Your parents opened the capsule, and at that time, you transformed into a baby. Since Seongju didn’t know when he’d return, the capsule converted your body into a newborn to conserve energy. Your parents aren’t your biological ones, after all.”

“Huh?”

Yuna’s eyes widened at my last statement.

“Ahhh…”

Oops. At this point, Yuna didn’t yet know her adoptive parents weren’t her biological ones.

She discovered this while aspiring to become a hero instead of taking the college entrance exam, leading to arguments with her parents.

But that wasn’t now.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ah… No, it’s fine. My parents raised me with so much love that they didn’t even know I was adopted… Um…”

Yuna dug into a strawberry-topped bingsu dessert. Feeling awkward, I took a bite too.

“One thing to clarify—it’s not adoption. Both your parents couldn’t conceive naturally—one had azoospermia, the other irregular ovulation.”

“Ughh….”

Yuna clutched her head in distress, but since the spoiler was already out, continuing wouldn’t make much difference.

No one had forbidden spoilers anyway. I briefly pondered what analogy might fit.

“Do you know how Sun Wukong was born? When you came to Earth—”

“You mean the monkey born from stone?”

“……”

Who would’ve thought she’d bring up *Journey to the West*? Clearly, Yuna was also well-versed in classical literature. I wracked my brain for an appropriate example.

“How about the founding ancestor of Shin-ra?”

“Park Hyeokgeoseo. We learned in history class that a horse laid an egg, disappeared, and when they cracked it open, a baby was inside.”

“Seongju left you in a capsule, which your parents found in 2005 and took in as a child.”

“My goodness.”

To speak plainly:

Seongju = Seongju


Egg = Capsule


Park Hyeokgeose = Yuinah


The people who found the egg = Yuna’s parents

“The two of them gave you love and a name.”

Yuna chuckled faintly. Fortunately, she seemed to understand through the metaphor. Yuna’s origin was truly extraordinary.

“So, I was in that capsule for five years?”

“Yes. Your parents were long-time late-childbearers and were even considering adoption. They believed it didn’t matter whether the child came from their own bodies or not. Then they met you by the sea—a capsule dropped by Seongju. Originally, it was meant for the interdimensional spirit to possess the baby’s body, but after nearly six years floating in the waves, your parents discovered the infant inside and hastily registered the birth.”

“……”

After thinking for a while with her hands covering her face, Yuna calmly nodded.

“It’s such a shocking story that finding out I’m adopted doesn’t seem surprising anymore. Thank you. Now I finally understand why relatives used to whisper about how I don’t look like my parents.”

“…Because all the prettiest traits from the spirits were gathered together.”

It’s no wonder she’s a goddess.

The replicated powers of the seven spirits harmoniously combined into perfect statistics of ‘100,’ ensuring her physical appearance resembled the spirits.

With only the strengths of each spirit and none of the weaknesses, a perfect superhuman emerged.

“As you grew, there wasn’t a single area where you lacked. Academics, sports, arts—the epitome of an all-around talent. Having special abilities was just a given.”

“But I’ve never awakened as a special ability user, have I?”

Yuna looked at her hands, puzzled.

“You said the powers of the seven spirits merged, but I can’t use any magic.”

“That’s because you haven’t awakened as a hero yet.”

If Yuna had awakened enough to control all seven spirits’ powers individually, she would’ve already been the world’s strongest special ability user.

“Talent is godlike, but awakening isn’t easy.”

I summoned seven flames of different colors. The seven flames spun in a ring, moving steadily.

“The magic powers are in perfect harmony, so you can’t properly use any of them. To use them, you’d need to activate all seven attributes simultaneously. If the balance breaks for some reason, you can only use a small portion.”

If there were pioneers who could guide us, they might teach the method, but no human in this world has ever awakened with all seven magical attributes.

“But I’ve awakened now, right?”

“Yes, I awakened you.”

“How did that happen?”

“I disrupted the balance by infusing my magic power intentionally.”

I granted Yuna a tiny bit of my magic power. Thanks to this, Yuna’s core, so to speak, now slightly increased the Fire Attribute by just 1 point.

“It’s like this.”

I manually outlined Yuna’s stats. As I usually did for other teammates, I expressed her internal magic state with numbers.

Water Attribute: 100


Wind Attribute: 100


Durability: 100


Light Attribute: 100


Dark Attribute: 100


Illusion Magic: 100


Fire Attribute: 100 → 101

“With this, you can now use the Fire Attribute magic. Not fully 100—or rather, 101—but enough.”

Since the harmony broke, the Fire Attribute power overflowed, allowing Yuna to awaken as an SSS-class Fire Attribute user. It was that simple.

Currently, she’s at E-rank in Fire Attribute.

“……”

Though skeptical, Yuna didn’t doubt it. She clearly knew her body had changed.

“Hmm….”

Yuna ate a big bite of bingsu, squinting her eyes. Despite eating too much, she didn’t feel the cold sensation at all.

“How’s it going?”

“…I really did awaken. Phew.”

Yuna swallowed the bingsu and slumped onto the table. Though I instantly turned her into a special ability user, she didn’t seem too thrilled about it.

“Don’t take it too hard. Now you’re SSS, actually SSSSSSS—”

“No, it’s not that….”

Lifting her head off the table, Yuna smiled gently, expressing forgiveness toward me and resignation toward her situation.

“I was planning to enter Seoul National University through the college entrance exam…”

“Ah, the Hero Admission Program?”

Yuna was smart and originally aimed to attend SNU.

However, when the capital moved and Seoul National University relocated to New Seoul, Yuna’s dream shifted to attending New Seoul University.

Originally.

“Were you trying to skip grades and graduate early?”

Yuna wore the uniform of New Seoul Girls’ High School, which was familiar to me—the uniform Kim Nori should’ve worn.

“Yes, I wanted to take the college entrance exam sooner.”

Even though she should’ve been in third year of middle school, Yuna graduated early based on her intellect and entered high school.

“Why?”

“I wanted to finish studying quickly and do other things.”

“Even though you’ve awakened as a special ability user, you still want to take the college entrance exam?”

“Yes, isn’t the college entrance exam universally recognized?”

Yuna drew lines over the magic stats I wrote in the notebook with her pen.

Language: 100, Math: 100, Foreign Language: 100, Inquiry: 100, Second Foreign Language: 100.

“I don’t want to achieve 100 or 101 points with what you call magical attributes; I want to enter university through studying and effort.”

“No, you’re a one-of-a-kind existence in the entire world! Seriously, you’re a real goddess!”

“Can’t goddesses take the college entrance exam? Can’t they go to university by studying?”

Teenage Yuna might be described this way: a bookworm.

A bookworm who knows nothing but studying.

“You, by any chance, are most interested in…?”

“Studying. I may sound weird saying this, but that’s how I am right now.”

Yuna hugged a book to her chest and smiled warmly.

“I’ve fallen in love with studying.”

“Crazy.”

…Crazy like a goddess obsessed with studying.