Chapter 519
In the space dominated by endless darkness, a new change began to unfold.
From two candle holders placed on the white marble round table, golden flames simultaneously flickered to life.
As the flames blazed and added light, two shadows appeared in the previously empty space.
As if they had always been there, the two figures revealed themselves, standing in stark contrast to each other.
On one side, an elderly man dressed in luxurious robes adorned with gold sat.
In his hand, he held an intricately crafted cane, and his majestic demeanor radiated the presence of a ruler who once governed an entire nation.
He was the king who ruled the land of alchemists, a country filled with sand.
Opposite him sat a young man, his appearance completely opposite to the elderly man’s.
His worn-out clothes looked as if they were nothing more than rags, and his gaunt body bore the traces of long years of wandering.
He was the alchemist who, after an endless journey to find something that connected desires and gods, finally reached the Immutable Sphere, only to lose his sanity.
“This is… the Round Table. So, this is how it turned out…”
A soft sigh escaped from the elderly man’s lips.
However, his voice carried not a sense of sorrow for an unexpected failure, but rather a calm recognition, as though confirming a result he had already foreseen.
The Blue Girl did not miss the meaning behind his words.
Her round eyes sparkled with curiosity.
The fact that he had knowingly paid a massive amount of treasure as the price of a contract, knowing it would fail, seemed like an intriguing puzzle to her.
At the Blue Girl’s question, filled with such curiosity, the elderly man slowly spoke, leaning both hands on his cane.
His voice carried the weight of many years.
“A king always has things he must do, even if they seem impossible.”
He lightly tapped the marble floor with his cane, and a faint echo reverberated through the darkness.
He paused for a moment, as though waiting for the sound to fade, before continuing.
“And failure is natural. I had insurance in place, in case those who sought to create gods and reach them failed…”
“To think they would form a contract in which a thought form would awaken to replace them if they failed, believing it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and giving it their all. Naturally, it was bound to fail.”
Upon hearing this, the Blue Girl clapped her hands softly, her eyes sparkling as if she had discovered a fun game.
A mischievous smile played on her lips.
“You knew the trick of the contract from the very beginning! Isn’t that amazing?”
“It is amazing. But tell me… why did they even form the contract?”
At the Blue Girl’s words, the man in the lamp slightly tilted his head, his question filled with a genuine, perplexed curiosity.
But the elderly man, as though he had already answered that question, closed his eyes and leaned deeper into his cane without responding.
The shabby-dressed alchemist, however, seemed uninterested in the conversation between the elderly man and the Blue Girl. He stared blankly into the air.
His gaze pierced through the deep darkness, focusing on something unseen.
It was as if an astonishing sight was unfolding before him, his eyes fixed in a trance-like state.
Muttering to himself constantly in a small voice, he seemed to be sorting out his thoughts.
His eyes reflected both awe and fear.
“Th… this is amazing. To think they actually created a god…”
His voice trembled.
Though he had spent his whole life practicing alchemy and searching for gods, this was the first time he had ever witnessed such a scene.
A god created from the human soul.
“It… it seems to be the human soul at the core, but how could it become a demonic book and not go mad?”
This was an impossible scenario under normal circumstances.
The human mind could not withstand the transformation into a demonic book.
There was a high probability it would collapse, or at best, a demonic book filled with endless malice toward humans would be born.
Such a creation was far from the gods the alchemists had been seeking.
But the scene before him was defying these impossibilities.
“Moreover, they’re handling the ‘Eye of the God’ without distortion.”
The ‘Eye of the God’ was, as its name suggested, an object imbued with divine power.
Once someone touched it, even the most powerful beings would become distorted.
Meaningless obsessions, self-destructive desires, stagnation, and the hindrance of growth—these were the inevitable outcomes for those who had coveted the Eye of the God, as recorded in countless histories.
“There was only one soul without such distortion, but could it really be…?”
As the realization brushed against his mind, he slowly turned his head to look at the Blue Girl.
She met his gaze and smiled playfully.
At that moment, the man in the lamp, still staring into the air, spoke towards the Blue Girl.
“It seems the god you created is in quite a difficult situation. Do you plan on helping?”
“Ah!”
The Blue Girl’s small scream echoed around the round table.
Only then did she look towards the air, her face quickly coloring with embarrassment.
The gazes of all those gathered at the table slowly focused on the same spot.
Even the elegantly dressed elderly man slightly opened his eyes and began to gaze into the air.
Only the alchemist, still dressed in ragged clothes, continued to glance around in confusion.
At the center of the table, the Gremlins, with slow movements, were trying to convey something.
Their actions were clumsy, like a child’s awkward puppet play.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The alchemist, watching the Gremlins’ unrefined mimicry at the center of the table, muttered in frustration.
“I… I wish they would show me something properly…”
With a sigh, the elderly man shook his head, as though irritated by the complaint.
Then, as if performing an annoying task, he slowly lifted his cane.
When the tip of the cane sliced through the air, the clumsy Gremlins, acting out at the center of the table, were flung towards the Blue Girl.
With pitiful cries, the Gremlins flew into the Blue Girl’s arms, looking up at her with sad eyes.
The Blue Girl gently petted the Gremlins as though soothing wounded puppies.
Then, with a slightly displeased expression, she glared at the elderly man.
As though saying, “Why are you tormenting my babies!”
But the elderly man lightly ignored her gaze and tapped his cane on the center of the table.
At that moment, fine sand began to fall silently from the center of the table.
The sand then began to move, as though alive, creating an intricate scene.
The form of a gray Reaper rose from the sand.
Following that, the massive Black Giant and a swarm of smaller Reapers, like a horde of bees, appeared in succession.
It was a scene far more delicate and vivid than the Gremlins’ clumsy performance.
In the sand-made projection, the gray Reaper was clearly at a disadvantage.
This was a tense situation that the Gremlins’ acting could never have conveyed.
The Blue Girl’s expression grew increasingly worried as she watched it unfold.
In the courtyard of the Sehui Research Institute, a massive screen made of water displayed the battle between the two giants.
A reporter from San Francisco, observing the scene, wore a serious expression.
She had originally visited the Sehui Research Institute, known as the homeland of the Mini Reapers, out of mere curiosity.
But the scene unfolding before her completely shattered her expectations.
The words of a woman she had met at the entrance of the Mini Reaper Garden echoed in her mind.
She had been told that everyone who came here was led by a sense of inevitability, as if they were meant to be there, with no special reason.
It was a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained logically.
So many people, all drawn to the same place without any reason…
“Too suspicious to be just a coincidence…”
The reporter absentmindedly pulled out her pen, deep in thought.
“Is it the effect of mental contamination? If so, who caused this? The gray Reaper? Or the Black Monster?”
The battle displayed on the screen was so intense that she couldn’t tear her eyes away.
The giant golden-gray Reaper showcased incredibly refined combat techniques, but against the Black Monster, it was hopeless.
It was like a bear fighting a human; the difference in raw power was too great.
The bigger problem was the difference in skill.
Perhaps due to its fusion with the Black Reapers, the reporter could sense the intentions hidden in every simple move.
It was no surprise that the golden-gray Reaper’s sophisticated techniques were rendered useless.
Outmatched in strength and durability, and also lacking in technique…
The gray Reaper had almost no chance of winning.
At that moment, the Black Reapers near the reporter sighed in disappointment.
“Don’t do that!”
“Don’t!”
The Black Reapers, frustrated by the giant golden-gray Reaper’s movements, fidgeted restlessly.
Their small will was filled with despair.
The gray Reaper’s situation grew worse.
At this rate, defeat was only a matter of time.
Then, from beyond the screen, a multitude of Black Reapers gathered and quickly transformed into a massive Black Reaper.
The reporter felt as though the Black Reapers, unable to contain their frustration, had joined the battle.
With a sharp cry that resembled birdsong, the massive Black Reaper stepped into the battlefield.
Just as the giant golden-gray Reaper was about to lose its remaining arm.
Without hesitation, the massive Black Reaper launched a powerful punch at the Black Monster.
The blow carried the same force as the Black Giant’s punch, enough to distort space itself.
As the reporter watched, the air seemed to warp as the fist sliced through the air.
“The massive Black Reaper punch!”
“Punch!”
The cheering of the Mini Reapers filled the air, signaling the beginning of a new phase in the battle.
