Chapter 115
Even while driving through the city, countless vehicles charged at him like trucks. But the bike Ian rode casually ignored the moon-drunk suicide squads. Sometimes it raced along their sides or across their roofs, and sometimes it performed acrobatic maneuvers, breezing past every situation that should have caused an accident.
It was all thanks to the Great Mother's magic functioning properly. Even now that she was dead, the magic still worked normally.
It was a strange thing, considering that most magic disappears the moment the mage dies. Perhaps it was because her magic was closer to a demon's than to her own.
“Even in death, you're still helping out.”
Ian gave a bitter smile and stroked the bike's surface. The lump of metal, nothing more than a simple weapon, naturally couldn't answer his muttering.
The sky was bright.
But the source of that light was not the sun, but the moon.
By now the full moon had grown so huge it nearly covered the sky, and it had become more than just a matter of staring at it or not. A shattered mirror scattered across the ground reflected the moon in its entirety. Even if you lowered your head, it was impossible not to stare at the moon.
Those too were Mysteries. A bizarre phenomenon called the Broken Mirror Effect. Normally it increases the crime rate in the area where it appears, but now it was simply reflecting the moon.
“……Ugh.”
Thanks to that, Cecilia hadn't opened her eyes since the moment they left the tunnel.
If she hadn't had regenerative abilities, she would have gouged out her own eyes, but her rapid regeneration restored her body regardless of her will.
It was possible to boost regeneration by grabbing Rosario, but not the other way around. Thanks to that, Cecilia had no choice but to give up her sight even though she still had eyes.
But Cecilia didn't complain. Instead, she clung tightly to Ian and squeezed her eyelids shut to avoid looking at the moon. Ian placed his hand over the one around his waist and stared ahead.
A wide-open road. Broken cars were parked on the shoulder, and corpses lay scattered around them.
That was the sight they had seen the moment they entered Seoul. Seoul had long since been reduced to scorched earth.
It probably wasn't just Seoul. Since Iseoa had said the Busan Administration Bureau had been annihilated, Korea itself was practically finished.
North Korea would be the same, and neighboring Japan would probably be no different. There wasn't a place on Earth where the moon didn't rise.
He knew there were polar regions where white nights occurred, but the very concept of the sun had already been swallowed by the moon. So was the sun they saw in the sky really the real sun?
‘The Earth is finished.’
At the thought that suddenly occurred to him, Ian let out a snort of laughter.
Not because he was amused, but because it was absurd.
When you hear something too unreal, all that comes out is laughter. Ian ran a hand over his face and looked up at the sky.
Seoul's downtown stretched out like a forest of high-rise buildings. Above the countless buildings spread across every direction, humans and Mysteries gathered to dance.
Surprisingly, the Foreign God had achieved a symbiosis between humans and Mysteries, something that had not been accomplished over the past few thousand years.
At such an impressive feat, Ian put a cigarette between his lips and let out a long sigh.
Sizzle.
When he lit the tip with a lighter, acrid smoke began to fill his lungs.
This was his last cigarette. Maybe it would be the last cigarette he ever smoked in this life.
“Hoo…….”
He slowly sorted out his thoughts, savoring the smoke as he inhaled and exhaled.
‘The world is already ruined.’
It was an undeniable fact. Seoul, the de facto center of Korea, had been destroyed, and the nationwide moon-worshipping cult infection had contaminated not only the peninsula's infrastructure but also its people, stripping them of their humanity.
There might still be survivors. A new post-apocalyptic world might even open up centered on them.
But what value would there be in such a world? The moon would keep growing, and the number of infected would keep exploding.
In a world where plants and animals alike only looked at the moon, there could hardly be any hope.
He could say with certainty that there wasn't. To say it again, the world was ruined.
To put it bluntly, the world was fucked. Earth had become the Foreign God's breeding ground in a far more horrific and filthy form than a zombie apocalypse ever could.
He didn't know how the bastard had sensed the grimoire's aura and invaded Earth. In any case, that wasn't the important part. What mattered was that the Foreign God had taken up residence on the moon, and because of it Earth had been ruined.
“Hoo…….”
Ian stared at the cigarette he'd finished smoking with regretful eyes, then casually flicked it onto the nearby ground.
By chance, that spot was stained with oil leaking from a wrecked car, and the cigarette ember met the oil and immediately burst into a huge blaze that swallowed the surroundings. But there was no one there to care. Only the corpses received their lonely cremation.
‘The time for recovery…… has probably already passed.’
It was a worldwide catastrophe that had brought humankind to ruin. Humanity was no longer humanity, and the master of Earth was no longer human. Unless time itself was turned back, Earth was finished here.
Yes, unless time itself was turned back.
“…….”
Ian sat quietly, not even thinking of brushing aside his windblown hair, and stared at the pure white grimoire clutched in his hand.
The Hand of Re-Creation.
The first grimoire he had ever encountered, and the only one capable of making an hourglass that could turn back time. Naturally, Reconstitution of All Things—the one that had authored it—had to possess something capable of turning back time as well.
But.
‘Was summoning a Foreign God really the right choice?’
Ian tapped the grimoire with his finger and looked up at the sky. A vividly blue moon entered his field of vision.
Considering the grimoires had told him to summon a Foreign God as the solution, that moon itself was practically the Foreign God's true body. It had probably only lost some of its power while disguising itself as a Mystery, and as time passed it would only grow stronger until it eventually swallowed Earth whole.
There were also plenty of conspiracy theories and urban legends related to Earth. Flat Earth, Hollow Earth, and so on. Theories were everywhere, and nobody knew what would happen if they came true. He couldn't be sure that that Foreign God wouldn't grow stronger and devour those concepts too.
If that happened, there would be no point in continuing to live on Earth. He was going to die anyway, so what was the use of stubbornly hanging on? From the start, Ian had thought that if he could kill that bastard, he wouldn't mind handing over his own life.
Maybe if civilization were still intact it would be different, but right now, even if he clung to life as before, this wasn't a situation where he could hope to live out a long life.
It was nothing more than the last desperate struggle of someone about to drown. No matter what he did, he'd die in the end.
So handing his life over to the Foreign God wasn't particularly difficult.
But if, and only if, Reconstitution of All Things really did turn back time and everything returned to normal.
Then would there be any guarantee that the time period they returned to would be normal?
“…….”
Foreign Gods (外神). Divine beings of the universe that should not exist in this world, yet did. No matter how benevolent they might be, was it really okay to borrow their power to restore Earth? Wouldn't some other strange thing happen as a result?
“…….”
Dozens of what-ifs. Hundreds of questions crossed Ian's mind. And by the time they were getting close to home, he had reached his conclusion.
‘This world is already fucked anyway, so rather than dying helplessly, it's better to squeeze out one more chance.’
If someone asked him whether he wanted to die now or later, with the possibility that things might get fucked again but he could get one more coin, of course he would choose the latter. It was only natural for anyone with common sense. And Ian was the only sane person left on Earth right now.
“……Hoo.”
He gripped the grimoire in his hand tightly and got off the bike. Then he took Cecilia's hand and carefully helped her down.
“D-did we arrive?”
[Yeah. This is my house.]
“Ah…….”
Ian went into the house with Cecilia.
Naturally, there wasn't a single person inside the detached house he'd moved into. He seated Cecilia on the living room sofa, fetched two cups of cold water, and set them on the table. He placed one of them in Cecilia's hand.
[You can open your eyes now. I've drawn all the curtains, so there shouldn't be any problem.]
“……Mm. Okay.”
Cecilia let out a breath and carefully opened her eyes. Light seeped into her vision, which had been nothing but darkness for hours.
“Ugh.”
She frowned at the sudden glare. But she didn't close her eyes again.
“……Thank you for the water. I'll drink it.”
Ian smiled and nodded in response. Cecilia gulped the water down and set the empty cup back on the table.
“……Come to think of it, we never even had a housewarming.”
[Let's do it if there's a next time. We can invite my acquaintances too.]
“……Yeah, if there's a next time.”
Cecilia smiled bitterly. Ian quietly looked down at her, then took out a notebook and wrote something in it.
[For now, get some sleep. You must be tired.]
“What? No. What if an enemy suddenly shows up while we're asleep?”
[I can look at the moon and be fine, but you can't. It'd be better to recover your condition and move tomorrow. You'll also need time to get used to not being able to see.]
“……You're right, but even so…….”
[It's okay, Cecilia. Just having someone there is pretty reassuring.]
Ian wrote the last sentence with a faint smile.
[The guest bedroom is on the second floor. You can sleep there. I'm going to test out some magic and then rest, so go in first. I won't take no for an answer. If you have trouble sleeping, take the sleeping pills in the drawer.]
“…….”
Cecilia seemed to have a lot to say, her lips moving as if to protest, but in the end she gave up in the face of Ian's firm resolve. She let out a long sigh and stood up.
“Then just in case, cut off my legs for me. So that even if I get moon-drunk, I won't be able to grab you. Who knows, maybe the moon will suddenly appear in my dreams.”
“…….”
“Don't worry about regeneration. I've already used it too much. I'm running low on calories now, so recovery will be slow. Don't hesitate—just cut them off.”
Eyes were too close to the head to be much affected by regeneration speed. In the first place, the organ itself was very small, so it consumed few calories.
Legs, on the other hand, were far from the head and were large. Without enough calories, there was no way they'd recover quickly.
“Hurry.”
“……Haa.”
In the end, this time it was Ian who gave in.
He used Re-Creation magic to melt away Cecilia's legs below the knees without causing her any pain, then carried her to the bedroom in his arms. After laying her down and even giving her sleeping pills, he left the room.
“Thank you, Ian.”
Her words of thanks followed him as he left. Ian waved at her, though she'd already closed her eyes, then went out onto the terrace and summoned the grimoires.
Fwoosh!
The two summoned grimoires were in Ian's hands. He left the Hand of Re-Creation alone for now and opened the Deep-Sea Chronicles.
“…….”
Far away, the approaching residents of the moon and the Mysteries gradually began to come into view.
At a glance, it was a large army. They were probably planning to settle the matter here.
He had no intention of letting them have their way. Since he was going to offer his life to the Foreign God anyway, he would do everything he'd always wanted to do before dying.
Crunch!
Ian grinned and bit down hard on his finger, creating a wound. Then with the blood flowing from it, he drew multiple magic circles on the terrace table.
“If they're going to come at me with numbers, then I have no choice but to fight with numbers too.”
He laughed as he scattered flesh of varying sizes over the magic circles.
“The Sea of the Outer Cosmos. The predators that dwell there.”
The grimoire clutched in his grip dripped red blood in accordance with Ian's will.
“I should get a look at your face while I have this chance.”
Vwoooom……!
The magic circles vibrated violently.