949——————==

True Martial Home

The Evil God had been staring at the barrier created by your spirits for quite some time. Then, he extended one arm and made contact with the barrier, and instantly, there was a reaction.

Crackle!

It sounded as if something was being fried, and the figure of the Evil God flickered. He briefly pulled his hand back, then reached out again, and once more the crackling sound echoed loudly. Shortly after, I heard the Water Spirit among the elementals speaking.

[ Hmm…!! The Power of the Constellation is incredibly strong… Could it be that a mere Ruler has this level of power? The rumor about the Evil God’s bloodline being a direct descendant of chaos is true after all.]

The Fire Spirit chimed in, more in agreement than surprise.

[ That sounds troubling. If it stays like this, we’re in for a tough time.]

I turned to face the direction held by the Water Spirit and shouted.

“What do you mean tough? Are you saying the Evil God can break through the barrier alone?”

[ Not quite. No matter how strong the Evil God is, he can’t defeat us four on his own… We are beings who manipulate the primordial essence of the universe.]

“Then…”

[ However, many ancient rulers with powers similar to that guy will soon join the fray. If we face their joint attack, I can’t guarantee we’ll hold out. Even the power of just one Evil God is unexpectedly strong.]

His response reflected how he previously underestimated an ancient Ruler, but now was visibly taken aback by the Evil God’s strength. Typically, the power of an Ancient God Spirit would overwhelm an ordinary Ruler, but the Evil God seemed to be in a league of his own.

The Constellation!

Hearing that, my expression darkened.

‘Beings born from the Constellation… Both their souls and bodies are immortal… Among the rarest of the strongest demons in the universe.’

The Evil God was also from the Constellation, and while such beings were universally scarce, they certainly existed. They possessed transcendent powers on par with or even exceeding the Three Sovereigns – nightmares in the flesh! And these powerful beings were undoubtedly gearing up to unleash their full strength to prevent the destruction of the universe, the True Martial Home.

The Ancient God Spirits in front of me were formidable, but it had now been proven that even they couldn’t withstand a united force of rulers from the entire universe. Gritting my teeth, I called out to the spirits.

“We need to hold on until Dharma’s ritual is complete. How much longer can we manage if we hold out with all our effort?”

[ … In this world’s time, we could say two moments. However, if an Outer God intervenes, I can’t make any promises.]

“An Outer God?! You’re saying an Outer God might intervene?!”

[ Just a hypothetical. The chance of that is slim, so you needn’t worry. They’re just dancing around my ‘Father.’ Worrying about the possibility of an Outer God interfering is rather pointless.]

It implied that all efforts would be futile against an Outer God regardless. Hearing this made the world around me feel dark.

‘This is just ridiculous… I didn’t think the odds of winning would be so low…’

I realized I might just get blown to bits at any moment. I also understood I needed to assist the Ancient God Spirits as much as I could to maintain Dharma’s plan. I shouted loudly.

“I’ll help! What do I need to do?”

Upon hearing my words, the spirits didn’t respond at all. I shouted again.

“I want to help!!”

Then, the Earth Spirit showed some reaction.

[ You madman who wishes for the world’s destruction… You have a strange power hidden within you. If you can summon its master, it could aid us.]

“A strange power?”

[ It will manifest in response to your will.]

What kind of power was that?

I tentatively enhanced my magical arm, but there was no reaction. Well, beings like the Ancient God Spirits wouldn’t react to mere Apostle-level magic.

‘What is this strange power? Did I ever have something like that?’

Could it possibly be referring to the martial technique of the Absolute Realm?

I was pondering what to do when suddenly—

“Junior. You really are just focusing on right in front of you without considering the aftermath. Now you’re even being downright naive.”

“Divine Thief!!”

Whoosh!

Out of nowhere, the Divine Thief’s sword form appeared around the altar. He had been here all along but seemed to have vanished for a moment, only now revealing himself after dropping his Stealth Technique. The Divine Thief stood near the book, grinning as he reached out to it and said.

“What do you think will happen if I steal this book? It’s only about 20% complete, but even in this state, it’s definitely the strongest Grimoire in the world.”

“… You think I’ll just let you do that?”

Vroom!

I immediately summoned the Black Sword and equipped it while aiming my killing intent at him. As a master of the Absolute Realm, I felt ready to spar with the Divine Thief. But he simply chuckled and lowered his hand from the book.

“Just kidding. It would be funny to tussle over a treasure with you, but I won’t steal something like this.”

“What’s your game?”

“What game could there be? The greatest thief only steals what he targets. Messing with things that just look valuable is the work of a little thief.”

“……”

That seemed to be his genuine sentiment. After all, even if I could kill the Divine Thief in this distance, stopping him from grabbing the book was another story altogether.

No, even if I were close to the book, I seriously doubted I could stop him. I would have to engage in the Technique of All Things to counter it, and even that might not guarantee victory. The Divine Thief’s skills as a thief were astounding, and there was simply no way to prevent him from stealing.

The Divine Thief perched on the steps of the altar, opening his mouth.

“Baek Woong… What do you think the reason is that Dharma kept a suspicious guy like me close until the end?”

“What?”

“You’d probably have thought about this as well. If you were Dharma, you’d have attacked me to eliminate me before this moment ever came. Didn’t you talk about things like that with Dharma?”

“……”

I didn’t respond. I had indeed had such discussions before.

“Common sense suggests that one can conduct the life-risking ritual with the world’s greatest thief lurking behind, and you kept trying to dissuade me from killing you. Why do you think Dharma went to such lengths?”

“… I don’t know. Do you?”

“Because it came down to mutual interests.”

The Divine Thief grinned, continuing.

“What Dharma desires is the True Martial Home, and what I desire is the rarest thing in the world. The highest goals we both want are different, so they won’t collide. Naturally, we can be good partners in achieving our respective objectives.”

“Uh-huh…”

“So Dharma kept me around until the end. I’ll assist him until the very last moment.”

I couldn’t grasp what he was getting at. My head was spinning with confusion. Eventually, unable to contain myself, I burst out at the Divine Thief.

“What’s the rarest thing in the world? What the hell do you want?”

“I’ll turn that back on you. From your perspective, what do you think is the rarest thing in the world?”

“……”

“Don’t make that angry face. In any case, what can we do in this situation? Like it or not, since we’ve descended into a fight of gods, let’s at least take some time to chat, Junior.”

I had to admit, the Divine Thief had a point. The Four Great Elementals had asked me to draw out the strange power, but here I was, not even really knowing what that was. So maybe it was worth hearing out the Divine Thief’s aim until the end.

“The rarest thing in the world…”

I started to speak when I felt my mouth go all dry.

‘Uh…’

What could be the rarest thing in the world? Suddenly, I felt as if I had entered a philosophical realm. I pondered the Divine Thief’s words before deciding to voice whatever came to mind.

“… Companions.”

Yeah. Companions are everything to me.

I had come to this place to save the world alongside my companions.

But upon hearing my answer, the Divine Thief made a face as if he was about to gag.

“Ugh. That’s cringeworthy. Are you for real?”

“……”

The Divine Thief grabbed the back of his neck.

“Wow… I’ve never met someone who says that out loud. Junior, you’ve lost it, haven’t you?”

“Dammit! What am I supposed to say? You asked me, you jerk!!”

“Ha ha ha.”

As I yelled out in frustration, the Divine Thief chuckled and said.

“Looks like you’ve turned out quite different from what I thought.”

“Enough of that! What’s the rarest thing in the world?”

“No need to ask.”

In an instant, the Divine Thief’s eyes turned pitch black and glowed ominously.

“I am myself.”

Hearing that made me let out a hollow laugh.

“Hah… So you came all this way for some self-actualization, Divine Thief?”

“Well, I suppose that’s one way to put it.”

I strongly felt that the Divine Thief was lying, so I glared at him and said.

“Don’t joke around! You said you came all the way here to find the Xuanyuan Sword. Aren’t you just waiting for an opportunity to get it now?”

The reason I had been on high alert around the Divine Thief was precisely that. There was a possibility he might lie to ease my defenses and take advantage of me.

“Hmm, don’t you find that strange?”

“Strange how?”

The Divine Thief rested his chin on his hand, glancing at the book nearby. The book was just beginning to connect the third fragment with a crack of lightning.

Crackle!!

“The book that Dharma is creating, the one that spells the end of the world, will be many times stronger than the recognized Xuanyuan Sword. What can Xuanyuan Sword really do except grant a wish to the emperor of the Three Sovereigns? But once that book is complete, the world will face total annihilation, making the Xuanyuan Sword look like child’s play.”

“……”

“But I don’t need a book.”

“What on earth are you saying…”

“Finding myself is truly important. To an extent you can’t even imagine…”

As the Divine Thief trailed off, he said.

“The reason I agreed to the True Martial Home is because only at this level could I realize the essence of [me]. The reason I pursued the Xuanyuan Sword is similar. I figured that pursuing an existence so rare in the world would allow me to discover some essence in the wicked scheme… And now that opportunity has finally come close.”

Sluurp!

In that moment, I locked eyes with the Divine Thief, who had begun to emit a mysterious sound by the altar, causing me to flinch.

An overwhelming chaos.

‘W-What is that!!’

I felt like I was directly meeting the eyes of an Ancient Ruler!

There was an infinite, boiling chaos flowing from his eyes. Those could not be described as human eyes at all, and strangely enough, despite the immense chaos flowing from him, the Divine Thief did not lose any aspect of his humanity. Additionally, I could feel no divine power from him.

I said to him.

“Surely… You’re not human?”

“I am human. Not even a common godly bloodline. But in this case, we should define what being human really means, Junior.”

“What do you mean?”

“Haha.”

The Divine Thief grinned.

And shortly afterward, I felt him bubbling all over, as chaos enveloped his body like shadows, and soon, the past image of the Divine Thief from Yeodong-bin’s memories appeared.

“……?”

What the hell was that?

‘No way. Even if he’s a masked figure, how could…’

Is that even possible?

I felt confused because it seemed like he had changed his appearance by switching masks, but the energy radiating from him was completely different. Even the most perfect transformation has its limits, but it was as if the Divine Thief had skipped the entire mask-switching process. This was on the level of outright ignoring the laws preserving one’s essence.

And what had happened to my original self, Baek Woong?

The Divine Thief smiled wickedly and said.

“Now, shall we begin Dharma’s request?”

Tydaht!

In the next moment, the Divine Thief suddenly surged toward the Fire Spirit among the elementals. The Fire Spirit seemed uninterested when the Divine Thief lunged at him, but when it saw the chaos flowing from his eyes, it was dumbfounded.

[ No, wait… You can’t be…]

Whoosh!!

The Divine Thief melted away like black smoke, then merged into the body of the Fire Spirit. It was clear that a black mask was forcefully placed over the Fire Spirit’s face. The Fire Spirit let out a painful scream.

[ Khaaaa!!! Not again… Are you toying with the world again?! Surely it wouldn’t come to this…]

Whoosh!

The Divine Thief’s form vanished completely, and a black mask sat firmly on the Fire Spirit’s face. The mask slowly raised its head as if it were alive.

“……”

Moments later, words escaped from the Fire Spirit’s mouth.

It was unmistakably the Divine Thief claiming his body.

[ Do you understand my true identity now? Junior…]

“… I do.”

I said with a trembling voice.

“You… were a mask from the very beginning.”