An Old Story (16)

He always knew the ending.

He just didn't know the process.

The process he witnessed firsthand was truly devastating and horrifying.

Estimated strength, Danger Level 9.

In the public's eye, it was classified as a 'catastrophe' level. As soon as he appeared, a national-level magic warrior squad had to be dispatched.

'… I couldn't keep my promise again. I can't die.'

At that very moment, he lay defeated and prepared to take his last breath.

No, to be precise... Isaac was no longer a mage but a dark mage.

The whole world turned white. The pride of the Morph Grand Duke Family, the Morfran Forest, was entirely burnt and stripped of its glory. In its place, a cold glacier mountain stood tall.

The iceberg hovering over the white flames was utterly alien yet it was beautiful. In the middle of it, a massive white demon lay fallen.

What did you stand in my way for? Are you going to lie as well and boast that it was for the sake of the world?

The White Demon Fox Fire Spirit opened its eyes with difficulty and asked Isaac Morph.

Isaac's skin had turned pale and blue, and his long white hair and the unfurled ice wings from his back made it questionable whether he could still be called the Grand Duke Isaac Morph.

Yet, the consciousness of Isaac Morph still remained.

Thus, he answered like this.

"... I believe it's for my daughter."

He squeezed his eyes shut. Each word was a struggle. A wild desire kept burning in his mind.

The desire to freeze everything in this world.

"Urgh..."

He clutched his chest and curled up. Isaac's condition wasn't normal either after facing the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit.

One of his ice wings was completely torn, and the white flames transferred to his body caused a huge backlash.

However, dark magic recovered faster than ordinary ice magic.

Moreover, when dark magic was depleted to this extent, the dark mage instinctively followed the desire to run wild and aggressively absorb the surrounding mana.

"Dangerous."

Baek Yu-Seol decided that he must eliminate Isaac Morph here.

How?

No matter how weakened Isaac Morph was, it was impossible to face such a monstrous being alone.

But the entire magic knights were incapacitated. Even the princess of Adolveit was lying unconscious.

"No. If left alone... the Grand Duke Isaac Morph will die anyway."

There was no need for an arduous battle.

When a powerful dark mage like a Danger Level 9 emerged, emergency alarms would be sent to all the surrounding magic towers, along with the orders for magic warriors deployment.

The magic warrior squad would be fully prepared to face the powerful dark mage, and Isaac Morph, who hadn't fully recovered, would be killed by them.

At most an hour?

No.

They would come within 30 minutes.

"There's nothing more for me to do."

He had witnessed the truth here, and that was enough.

It was time to leave.

Let go of lingering feelings.

Just as he was thinking that.

[The loading of the Constellation Project is complete.]

Suddenly, a system message rang.

".... Haha. Are you doing this on purpose?"

Of all times, why did it have to appear now? It appeared to be intentionally reminding him of its existence.

He looked up and gazed at a star somewhere high in the sky.

"The promised gift from last time… I haven't received it yet. Is it okay to get it now?"

[You can choose three rewards or one reward of the highest grade.]

He had been promised rewards for completing numerous episodes before but kept postponing it, unsure of what to choose.

"Now. Maybe... I can accept something good."

Though he didn't know what Narrative Power was, he thought he could be more easygoing after living this hard.

The countless constellations drifting in the night sky began to sparkle as if responding to his call.

Or maybe, they had always been sparkling.

".... 'Wheel of Dawn'."

[Do you choose 'Wheel of Dawn' as your reward item?]

Baek Yu-Seol nodded.

And after a brief wait....

Flash!

Suddenly, a massive wheel appeared in the air and started to shift slowly.

It was visible only to Baek Yu-Seol.

It was a mysterious power plant capable of storing everything in this world.

Its original purpose was like this.

It continuously devoured and stored mana from the surroundings, then channeled it to the owner, allowing for gradual growth without any special training.

So, while playing Aether World Online, it could only be used as an Auto-Growth Item and EXP bonus item... but what if it was the reality?

If it could store all the world's energy as originally described, wouldn't it be okay to use it for slightly different purposes?

"Rotation Assault Mode."

Baek Yu-Seol activated one of the functions of the Wheel of Dawn.

Instead of using the function to devour and supply the owner with a small but steady amount of mana continuously' for a month, it absorbed an enormous amount of energy at once, temporarily boosting the owner's strength.

… Koo-goong!!

As it began to operate slowly, the Wheel of Dawn was now visible to all. It began to devour all the mana released by the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit, and the dark mage, Isaac. In the process, it released brilliant silver starlight.

[Devoured the dark magic of the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit.]

[All abilities increase by 80% for 10 minutes.]

[Devoured the dark magic of the dark mage, Isaac.]

[All abilities increase by 80% for 10 minutes.]

Without stopping there, he used the derivative skill [Breath of the Spirit] of Tae-Ryung Breathing Technique.

[Breath of the Spirit, Second Form]

[Agility: Enhanced by 89%]

[Duration: 1 minute]

[Spirit corruption increases.]

[Compared to the skill, the user's great power weakens the effect.]

Due to the blessing of New Moon Silver, the effect of the Tae-Ryung Breathing Technique should have been amplified several times, yet the skill's effect was excessively weakened.

But it didn't matter. This was enough to face the weakened Isaac.

"... You are Baek Seol-gi."

As Baek Yu-Seol generated an enormous vortex of mana, Isaac turned around to face him.

"Have you come... to stop me?"

"Yes."

"I'm in a very dangerous state now... Are you still okay with that?"

"Didn't I promise you?"

Baek Yu-Seol replied to the sole request made by Grand Duke Isaac Morph under the ridiculous name of 'Baek Seol-gu.'

'Protect Eisel.'

"... I see. So that's how it is."

Isaac looked at Baek Yu-Seol with sad eyes and bit his lips hard.

"In that case, please stop me."

It was no longer possible to stop.

His body was completely corrupted with dark magic. And he was on the verge of going berserk.

".... Understood."

With no one watching, he could afford to be bold.

He drew his Argento Sword and extracted the Mana Sword. It had become much thicker than before, and possessed the remnants of both white flames and blue ice.

Zing! Zing! Zing!

Perhaps because the excessive mana overheated it, even though Argento's performance was excellent, the staff vibrated as if screaming, 'I can't breathe.'

Activating the Tae-Ryung Breathing Technique, he used Flash.

He rushed at Isaac Morph in an instant and swung his sword.

Although his abilities had strengthened significantly, he could still only use Flash four times.

Thus, Baek Yu-Seol diverted part of the mana drawn in by the 'Wheel of Dawn' to the skill [Flash] itself.

He had wondered once. If this world is truly reality and not a game, would it be possible for the concept of a 'cooldown' to not actually exist?

Other mages needed to use an enormous amount of mana to use Flash.

But Baek Yu-Seol did not.

Even without mana in his body, he could use Flash as long as he waited for three seconds.

The principle was simple. Since he had Mana Accumulation Retardation, he always absorbed natural mana into his body, and any mana vacuum from using [Flash] was quickly filled.

So, this cooldown might actually be the time his body takes to absorb the mana from nature to activate Flash?

Just maybe.

If he could accelerate the absorption of mana in his body.

Could he not reduce the cooldown of Flash as well?

A practically impossible notion.

But now, receiving all sorts of skill and item buffs including the blessing of the New Moons, he possessed power equivalent to Class 8, so it might be possible.

[Skill Flash cooldown is adjusted to 2.4 seconds.]

He might achieve something impossible even for the game character 'Baek Yu-Seol.'

Kwagagak!!

When Isaac Morph stretched out his hand, ice chains swarmed towards the rapidly approaching Baek Yu-Seol.

Despite seeing that, Baek Yu-Seol didn't stop his charge and swung the Argento Sword, destroying all the ice chains. As if this kind of trick wasn't even a hindrance.

"Hoop!"

As Isaac clenched his fist, the ice chains that had spread in all directions rushed toward Baek Yu-Seol all at once.

He had assessed the mobility immediately after the battle began and implemented the most efficient magic and strategy to stop him.

However.

[Flash]

When Baek Yu-Seol easily escaped from there, even Isaac couldn't help but be surprised.

"Flash...!"

He had never heard of anyone controlling that magic while alive.

Isaac clenched his hand toward the sky with all his might and pulled it down as if grabbing and dragging something.

Kugy!!!

Then, a massive chunk of ice appeared, piercing through the clouds.

It was a spell he had cast earlier to defeat the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit but couldn't use due to the depletion of dark magic.

"Frozen Meteor. Fall."

As the blue iceberg began to fall towards him, Baek Yu-Seol looked at it briefly.

'... This is absurd.'

He thought Isaac's power had weakened to about Class 8, but was the spell casting he used before still effective?'

However, due to the lack of dark magic, the ice iceberg began to split into several pieces in mid-air.

But could that be considered a good thing?

Now the frozen meteor was about to turn into a meteor shower.

"Please. Dodge well...!"

Boom! Kaboom! Crash!!

The ice shower poured down.

Baek Yu-Seol dashed through it.

He cleaved through the space multiple times, and slicing through the frozen meteors, he finally faced Isaac Morph with his sword.

Although Isaac Morph had never wielded a sword in his life, for some reason, as a dark mage, he now swung a sword made of crystal.

Clang!!

As the Argento Sword and the crystal sword collided, the clash of magic disrupted the balance of nature, and spread tremendous shockwaves in all directions.

With each exchange, white flames flickered and new icebergs rose and fell.

The falling frozen meteors were no longer a hindrance to Baek Yu-Seol.

Instead, he used them as footholds to chase the flying Isaac Morph with his wings.

And.

Watching that scene. Eisel Morph knelt and cried desperately.

Ah...!

Seeing the ones she loved most in the world pointing swords at each other's throats was a sight she never wanted to see. Not even in her dreams.

Yet there was nothing she could do. The scene before her had already happened in the past.

Please stop... Her voice was unable to reach them and scattered into the air like an echo.

It was painful.

'… I don't want to see it anymore.'

Boom!!

Part of the iceberg pierced Baek Yu-Seol's forearm, and his Argento Sword finally sliced through Isaac Morph's remaining wing.

I don't want to see it anymore…

Baek Yu-Seol's blade pierced Isaac Morph's abdomen, and at the same time, ice enveloped his entire body, leaving him frostbitten.

[Blessing of the New Moon Bronze]

Shaking the ice off his body, Baek Yu-Seol pulled out his sword and attempted to stab Isaac's heart again, but Isaac grabbed the blade with one hand, preventing it.

Crack!!

Isaac's hand was shredded by the Argento blade as it slowly, but surely, approached his heart with a cruel blue light.

'I am about to die.'

Even in that situation, Isaac was smiling. He felt relieved at the fact that he could die this way.

At least, this way, he wouldn't harm his daughter, who was sweetly sleeping nearby, with his own hands.

How fortunate.

He smiled at the last moment.

"... Thank you."

Squelch!

Finally, Baek Yu-Seol's blade pierced Isaac's heart with a blue hue.

No! No!!

Eisel Morph screamed in soul-stirring agony. Her face was drenched in tears, leaving her with a hazy vision. She continuously pounded on Baek Yu-Seol's chest in an effort to stop him.

Don't do it! Please. Don't! Dad… Dad is dying!

But Baek Yu-Seol couldn't hear her voice.

While kneeling on one knee and holding the sword that pierced Isaac's heart, he waited for a long time.

Perhaps he needed time to accept Isaac's death.

Please. Please…

'Baek Yu-Seol always listened to my words and rushed to my aid. Why's he not listening to me this time?'

With a troubled expression, Edna looked at Eisel from behind.

'In the end, it comes to this.'

No matter how capable Baek Yu-Seol was, he couldn't prevent this event.

But for the conclusion to be like this, wasn't it too harsh?

Finding it too painful to watch, she turned her head away.

...Huh?

Shook!

As life slowly drained from Isaac Morph's body, just as he was about to die completely, Baek Yu-Seol withdrew the Argento Sword without finishing him off.

Due to the nature of dark mages, unless the heart was completely destroyed, they would regenerate.

Baek Yu-Seol knew this better than anyone. Then, why did he make such a decision?

"Isaac Morph. In the history I know... You died at the hands of Hong Si-hwa Adolveit."

Isaac could no longer respond. Though alive, he was in a state where even maintaining consciousness was difficult.

"... Ugh."

Far off, Hong Si-hwa Adolveit slowly rose.

Since she was commanding from the farthest point, she was less affected by the White Demon Fox Fire Spirit.

And... The thousands… Tens of thousands of mana waves coming from all directions.

Having detected the Danger Level 9 dark mage, the magic squad was rushing in.

"History cannot be changed."

'In that case, what if we leave history as it is but twist the truth slightly... What will happen?'

"People will remember it like this. Isaac Morph went berserk as a dark mage. But Hong Si-hwa Adolveit stopped him."

"... What's this?"

Finally regaining his senses, Hong Si-hwa Adolveit saw Baek Yu-Seol's back and was dumbfounded.

The fallen White Demon Fox Fire Spirit and Isaac.

And, standing alone in front of them, a masked, unidentified man.

Baek Yu-Seol looked briefly at Hong Si-hwa before reaching out to Isaac.

"But in reality... You will go on a journey. This will be a secret only between you and me."

Baek Yu-Seol activated the 'Wheel of Dawn' once more. This time, the wheel began to rotate in the opposite direction... filled with countless amounts of Isaac Morph's mana.

No one knew where it would go.

But one thing was certain.

Since the Wheel of Dawn was not of this world, if it disappeared like this... It would drift to another world unknown even to Baek Yu-Seol.

Wung! Wung!

As the Wheel of Dawn reversed, it began to slowly devour the surrounding spirits.

A white soul rose from the fallen body of Isaac Morph.

...Ah!

At that moment.

For a very brief moment.

Isaac Morph and Eisel's eyes met.

Dad...!

But before she could reach out, Isaac's soul rushed towards the wheel and disappeared.

After watching his back for the last time, Baek Yu-Seol spoke into the air.

"Constellation Project."

[Speak.]

"I will send the Wheel of Dawn back."

[Understood.]

[The item 'Wheel of Dawn' will be deleted.]

Flash!

A silver light flashed briefly.

And the massive wheel that hovered above disappeared.

With that, it ended.

Soon, Baek Yu-Seol also vanished like a phantom.

Dudu!!

The tens of thousands of magic warriors who arrived late witnessed this horrific scene.

The corpse of the dark mage Isaac Morph.

And Hong Si-hwa Adolveit standing in front of it.

At that moment, the world slowly contracted, and space began to warp.

Even at the strange sensation of time travel, Eisel still stared blankly into the void.

Ah.

Thud!

Eisel collapsed to the ground and laughed. Tears were still streaming down her face, but she was laughing.

So that's it... Father isn't dead…

This was the true history.

A truth no one else knew.

Now that she knew it, Eisel could stop crying.

She had hope, so she was no longer unhappy.

She closed her eyes tightly and wrapped her hands around her chest.

How should she calm this trembling heart?

She still didn't know anything.

Where exactly her father had gone.

How to find him.

But eventually.

As long as he wasn't dead.

As long as his soul remained.

She would surely find him someday.

So, from now on.

Eisel... will not cry anymore.