Chapter 474

〈 Chapter 474 〉 Part 1, Chapter 20, Section 6

Karna released the bowstring. The arrow, thinner than an index finger, flew like a beam of light towards Phoenix Sir. Phoenix raised her armor-clad black wings in an X formation to prepare for defense. From Phoenix’s wings, countless feathers were ejected like missiles.

Goooooo——!!

Bashabi Shakhti shattered the small feather missiles and shot straight at Phoenix.

“Phoenix?!”

“She can’t move, nyaong!”

Due to Penril’s Wind Shear that fired first, Phoenix was momentarily paralyzed, and the one second of stopped movement was more than enough for Bashabi Shakhti, which was as fast as light itself, to reach Phoenix’s body.

“Destroy it–!!”

With Karna’s roar, Bashabi Shakhti pierced through Phoenix’s protective barrier. Breaking through layers and layers of magical barriers, Bashabi Shakhti continued straight ahead without losing its power, heading towards Phoenix’s core.

Kaaang!

The barrier broke. Although Bashabi Shakhti slowed down slightly, it still advanced towards Phoenix’s core and touched her crossed wings.

“Guhk!”

The barrier penetration was successful. However, instead of countering Bashabi Shakhti to prevent an explosion, Phoenix used her two wings as a shield.

Kaaang, Kaaang!

Bashabi Shakhti pierced through the mechanical phoenix’s wings. And while ’embedding’ itself into the wing, Bashabi Shakhti emitted a massive amount of light but failed to explode. By sacrificing some flesh, Phoenix enveloped the explosion that would have blown her away with magic.

Bashabi Shakhti was blocked but landed an effective hit. And it wasn’t just one arrow that had been fired.

“Hwanryong!!”

Hwanryong, with gray hair fluttering, leaped over the two wings and ran towards the mechanical phoenix’s core. Though Phoenix hastily unleashed flames from her body, it was already too late.

“It touched–!!”

Hwanryong thrust a transparent sword towards the core. Piercing through the armor and the monstrous body made of magic power, Hwanryong’s magic-infused transparent sword moved towards the heart containing the core.

Pu–uk.

Phoenix’s heart was pierced.

“Did we defeat it?!”

At the moment Seok Harang, who was panting hard, shouted without realizing it.

Wooouuuung—-!!

Phoenix emitted a massive blue light and began to fall towards the ground.

* * *

“You lost. You know why, right?”

“It’s because I couldn’t hold back any longer.”

Chang-yeom, separated from me, placed his hand on his lower abdomen and glared at me intensely. Perhaps it hurt his pride to have been struck by Hwanryong, but the problem was that Hwanryong had entered someone else’s cockpit at this timing.

“AiigoOOOoO!!!”

Hwanryong cried out, pounding the ground. Although Hwanryong stabbed the heart, she didn’t reach the core, and to resolve that, she entered the spiritual world directly.

And what she saw there…was Blazing Phoenix Revival. Chang-yeom said that although the battle was lost due to unforeseen circumstances, they won the war, so it was fine, while Hwanryong was shedding tears of frustration after succeeding in her attack.

“Initially, it’s the fault of the person who entered someone else’s cockpit while two people were enjoying themselves.”

“Crazy woman! Someone outside was fighting their ass off, what are you doing?!”

“Handicap! Self-imposed penalty!”

Chang-yeom was confident.

“Would you have won if we hadn’t been doing other things?!”

“It might have been tough, but we would have eventually won! But I never expected the opponent to fight this way!”

In reality, both me and Chang-yeom could somewhat raise the power of fusion through combination when we were in our monster forms. Even simple physical contact like holding hands was sufficient, but thanks to the persistent connection with Chang-yeom, it became even stronger.

“Well, whatever. We needed a witness anyway. Good thing you came. Stay there as a celebration of victory.”

“What the hell!!”

Chang-yeom bound Hwanryong with fiery chains. Although Hwanryong infiltrated the spiritual world, since all things were shared with me, Chang-yeom became the true master of this world and could use her power even more freely than before.

“Yaaaaaah! You destroyed her! During the fight, you turned her into a freak, you pervert!!”

“…Who made whom a pervert?”

Chang-yeom muttered to herself while giving me a sidelong glance. I felt uneasy, but I had something more important to do than worry about being called a pervert.

“Hey~”

Chang-yeem tilted her head up with a wheedling tone. With her arms crossed behind her back and heels lifted, she looked up at me with a smile that made it hard for me to face her.

“Do you have nothing to say now that this fight is over?”

“…Did you intentionally let yourself lose?”

“Whaaaat? Puhhehhe.”

…Though it might be too much for Hwanryong, I cleared my throat and faced Chang-yeem. Chang-yeem nodded confidently at me with the ease of a victor.

“……There’s something I’ve wanted to say for a long time, but now that my memories have returned, I’ll say it clearly.”

I extended my hand forward, and Chang-yeem naturally placed one of hers on top of mine. Despite Hwanryong’s noisy protests, they were barely audible.

“Chang-yeem. …Until the sun sets, will you and I-”

-Pluto falling towards Earth from the moon.

I couldn’t finish my sentence.

* * *

We called him Sigma.

***

There was no time to evaluate the results of the battle, no time for a post-battle reflection meeting, and no time to celebrate the good outcome.

“I’m going to Yeouido first.”

While maintaining Chang-yeem’s body state, I informed the spirits of my destination. Since Yeouido housed all the key facilities of the Blue Wind Sect, it was necessary to go there to understand the situation.

“Pluto falling from the moon to Earth?! What does that even mean?!”

“…It’s not a joke; it’s really falling, right? Why so suddenly?”

“It’s much earlier than expected. Or wasn’t it supposed to leave Mars orbit before we gathered at Baek Yeongdo?”

“Even though it’s moving faster, it’s heading towards the moon…”

The spirits were confused. We battled the berserk Phoenix and fought the Boatman, feeling safe because he was coming very slowly, but as soon as our battle ended, Seongju was moving “from the moon towards Earth.”

“Seongju, you see, is cautious and thorough, but once he decides to move, he bulldozes through everything.”

He takes a long time to measure things, but once he makes a decision, he acts immediately. The reason Seongju came down could only be one.

“Seongju has gathered data on his own and judged the state of Earth. He decided it’s okay to collide.”

“We have six spirits, and your seal is broken now?”

“Strictly speaking, the power seal isn’t completely removed… It breaks when you use power.”

To fully remove the lock placed on the core by Seongju, one must explode magic power inside it.

Which is, obviously, a technique that could kill me—actually, a 100% death technique.

After reviving with Phoenix’s authority, I might become Baek Cheonghwa.

…If I can handle the power of the gods and actually use it to defeat Seongju and the interdimensional god, maybe I could win alone.

“Can you listen for a moment?”

I clearly stated to the spirits.

During my berserk transformation as a monster Phoenix, I completely erased the personality of the monster within me—the remnant of my attachment—and obtained the strength to shake off Seongju’s shackles. But using that power might mean I am no longer Officer Phoenix.

“What do you mean?”

“In short, Azidahaka’s personality will disappear, and Anggra inside could become the owner of the body.”

Upon hearing my words, everyone’s expressions stiffened. The spirits instinctively realized that ‘Chang-yeem’ would remain inside me, and the humans instinctively realized that ‘me,’ Phoenix, who they had built relationships with, might vanish.

“You…?”

After glaring at me for a long time, Hwanryong dropped her head.

“Are you really going to do that?”

“Of course.”

Hwanryong almost became our witness a moment ago, but she wasn’t the kind of person to ruin everything with hard trolling in this situation.

‘At most, she’d probably just complain to Xiao Lin.’

Hwanryong wasn’t the type to scream ‘Actually, the Chang-yeem personality inside this kid loves her and is willing to die in her place!’ and create a bad ending where I get sealed again. She wouldn’t.

“Just a sec. Are you saying you’ll die? Don’t you revive after dying?!”

“If I die and revive, whether it’s me, the remnants of Monster Phoenix, or the spirit inside me, is uncertain. In fact, there’s a 99% chance the spirit inside me will awaken. After all, I’ve already erased the remnants of Monster Phoenix. Puhhehhe.”

“Are you laughing right now?!”

“Of course. I’ve been waiting for this moment.”

I approached Seok Harang, who was jumping around in excitement. Due to the height difference, I ended up hugging Seok Harang, but she froze in surprise at the sudden hug.

“It’s time for everything to return to how it was. So don’t get too angry.”

“So what was all the fighting we did then?”

“…If originally the spirit had a 100% chance of appearing when I died and revived—or used the fusion power—now it’s increased by 1%. Puhhehhe. You know from the Oracle prophecy, right? I need to die to save the world.”

“But what’s the point of dying and reviving if it’s not you anymore? Isn’t that the same as dying?!”

“Therefore, the probability increased by 1%, right? There’s a huge difference between 0 and 1.”

Here, if I say ‘just like your chest,’ I’ll likely get impaled by two ice spears and a golden sword, so I should be careful.

Retrieving my memories is great, but recalling how I kept making sexual jokes and teasing future heroines in individual routes makes me want to chatter unnecessarily. Now it’s Chang-yeem’s route, so I’ll tease only Chang-yeem internally resolved, patting Seok Harang’s back.

“How many people with special abilities do you think there are in the world’s population? Including those who hide their identities, those who are already dead, and those who died as monsters, there are probably around 300,000, right? A 1% chance is much higher than the probability of awakening as a special ability user! Pretty high possibility!”

“Why didn’t you mention that this chance comes only once?”

Rusalka, the only woman connected to me and this world, scolded me sharply. It’s a valid point, but there’s no problem.

“Rusalka, just because it’s a one-time opportunity doesn’t mean I won’t try, right?”

“But aren’t there other ways besides this? …If you die, it will be troublesome for me and many others. Don’t think about dying easily.”

Her words carry weight because she has chosen death herself. Considering the various debts Rusalka owes me, I can fully understand her concern for me. She has heroine-level charm, though not as much as Chang-yeem.

“Of course, I won’t die easily. Did you see me fail?”

“……You’re too confident, it’s annoying.”

She definitely hasn’t seen it. If I fail, it leads directly to the end of the world. Not unless memories continue like mine or Chang-yeem’s.

“Phoenix Sir.”

Yuna held her staff high into the sky. Her hand gripping the staff trembled slightly. Yuna sensed it first among everyone.

“…He’s coming soon.”

“Do you have an estimate?”

“In the future…exactly one day. 24 hours.”

“…Hmph.”

Everyone fell into gloom upon hearing Yuna’s words. There’s no time to find another way. If Yuna’s intuition is correct, within 24 hours, if I don’t use fusion, I’ll be hit by Seongju’s beam and brainwashed again.

“Let’s see…current time is 10:22 PM. Everyone is tired from fighting, so take a day off. Oh, by the way, let me explain Seongju’s abilities.”

Before flying into the sky, I informed the spirits about Seongju’s brainwashing abilities to reassure them.

“Rusalka, Hwanryong, Anggra. You cannot be brainwashed by Seongju. Since I’ve already burned the identity of officers, they don’t exist anymore.”

Light Blade’s Rusalka.

Chaos.

Azidahaka.

They no longer exist in this world.

“Karna, you’ve fused with Gaechonkwang. Kim Penril, you’ve escaped as a separate entity… While staying idle, you might get brainwashed by Seongju, but if you fuse, there’s no problem. So maintain the fusion state.”

Karna is only Karna in Gaechonkwang’s shell. I burned all the Tera-lists clinging to Kim Penril’s body like fleas. Therefore, although they won’t be brainwashed even if they stay idle, I encouraged them to fuse for safety.

“Hydra, if you encounter Seongju, you can be brainwashed instantly. So hide snugly inside Yuna. Once Seongju is completely destroyed, even if Seongju’s powers remain, there won’t be any issues.”

As the only full officer collaborating with us, Hydras could be brainwashed like me. But maintaining fusion with Yuinah allows Hydra to avoid brainwashing, at least temporarily.

“The rest…excluding the spirits, it’s better to spread across the globe.”

“Why?”

“Because the Tera-lists—monsters sent by Seongju—will start swarming everywhere.”

When the Dimensional Gate opens, monsters will cross over.

Monsters transformed by Seongju’s beam into Terasites will contaminate humans into monsters, and these monsters will become Tera-lists, slaughtering innocent people.

The world will fall into chaos, and people will be terrified. To overcome this global calamity, heroes and heroes are needed.

“So please give it your best shot. I’ll go prepare the final ‘adjustment.'”

“Final?”

“Yes.”

It’s time to call upon the Deus Ex Machina’s power to put an end to this tiresome fight.

“To properly fight Seongju, we need to burn the Robe of the Interdimensional God that Seongju wears first.”

Without Chang-yeem’s power, it’s impossible to remove the robe.

* * *

Whirring, clanking.

Seongju rose from the mechanical capsule. After ‘porting’ ended, suitable for human-world activities, Seongju stood looking at his perfect human form and opened his mouth in wonder.

“Ah, ah, ah. Adam. Adam.”

Seongju smiled naturally at the sound of his perfectly functioning body. This body was far more comfortable than his previous one.

“Adam and Eve.”

An interesting myth acquired by hijacking a satellite. The origin of the human species, male and female.

“Eve.”

If he is Adam, then naturally, Eve can only be ‘her.’ Slowly walking barefoot, Seongju grabbed the yellow robe hanging on the wall.

“Sip, sip, haah. Eve.”

Perhaps due to embedding his brain into a human body,

“Haah, haah….”

Seongju experienced ‘sexual desire’ for the first time in his life.