Chapter 188: Fallen star (5)
...
It was Surha who was shocked next.
"If he acquires another unique world, he can become an Awakener again."
Surha realized what Jaehwan was talking about and what his intentions were. Jaehwan was offering him something right now: to leave Rupture and create his own world. Imai spoke with a shaking voice.
"I... I did what was right. I fought for what is right. I..."
"Yes, of course. That's why I'm letting you go."
Imai frowned. It was hard to describe the feeling of being accepted by the enemy he had fought.
"Leave. And find your own world."
The solemn voice shook Imai's spirit. The small amount of suspicion he had toward Rupture exploded out. Imai looked at it with another perspective. Maybe this was another chance, a chance to forget everything and start over again. It was a chance to fight against things he couldn't fix, even when he knew it was wrong.
Imai glanced at Surha again. Surha wasn't sure what Imai would choose to do.
"F-find my own world...?"
"..."
"He... hehe... that's foolish!"
It was the man's final pride.
"Rupture was my everything! Whether it is right or wrong, it is my life and my history! You tell me to betray it now? There's no way!"
Imai pointed at Jaehwan with his broken sword. Was he trying to fight with that? Even when people knew he had no world power left, they grew tense. Imai was that fierce.
"Hah. Yes, you are right. Maybe Rupture is wrong. Maybe we... I was going on the wrong path. But... There's something that you don't know."
"..."
"Even if the world is sick and destroyed.. there's a person who loves the world."
And with a laugh, Imai's katana moved. Someone gasped. The sword struck Imai's heart as he fell down onto the ground.
"You are cursed... someday... you will pay for destroying this entire world... You... you... and you..."
His last sight turned to Surha.
"I... I will... in my world..."
The breathing stopped and Imai perished. Silence fell among them, silence close to the curse.
"Why did you do this...?"
Surha felt her eyes becoming hot. Maybe her eyes were now red. She didn't like Imai. She didn't like him when she was in Rupture either. But what was this?
It was a shame, but she couldn't hold back her emotions. She hated Jaehwan for showing this to her and she hated Jaehwan for making Imai choose to do this. She knew it wasn't Jaehwan's fault, but Surha couldn't hide her emotions.
"...I wanted to see."
"And exactly what did you want to see..!"
However, Surha couldn't continue. Maybe it was because she'd seen Jaehwan with that expression for the first time - an expression of a man that was loneliest one in the world. There was no need to ask what he wanted to see. Surha knew. Maybe Jaehwan was the person in the most pain here.
Surha then thought Jaehwan was very 'human'.
He was human. He was strong and more reliable than anyone else, but he was still human.
The mind of a human who could destroy the entire world no matter what... she did not know what it was like. Despite the many years she had lived, it wasn't enough to know what it was like.
She then felt loneliness grasping her. She couldn't fight the emotion even if she knew it wasn't her loneliness.
"Don't be depressed."
"..."
"I don't want to see you being shaken by such a thing."
Surha turned and walked into the fortress. People then began to move. Sirwen walked over to Jaehwan and spoke.
"Hah... that witch. Don't worry Jaehwan, I'll take care of her..."
"Y-yes, Jaehwan. You didn't do anything bad..."
People began to reassure Jaehwan, but he couldn't hear anything. Did he do something wrong? Did he think everything would go fine because it had been solved without problems? He couldn't forget Imai's words.
It was then that the sky turned colors.
It wasn't just the sky that was covered by a dark cloud. It turned pitch black, just like space.
"Huh? What?!"
And with that, screams came from all over. It seemed like something was going to happen in <Depth>.
"NO! My link is broken!"
"M-me too!"
"NO WAY!"
With some shouts from the Vicegerents, people began to become uneasy. There was the sudden loss of the link, and only one being had the power to sever links on such a large scale.
Machina of the Daeus.
With the explosion of world power, Vicegerents and Followers who became Lost Ones screamed. Jaehwan realized this wasn't only happening within the 7th region. The world power was spreading across all areas within <Depth>.
It wasn't certain as to how this was possible, but Jaehwan knew who was behind this. There was only one person who could do this in <Depth>.
'Myad.'
The influence of power increased as time passed. It now made Awakeners grab their heads from the pain. Everyone except Jaehwan was now kneeling down on the ground in pain.
After a while, darkness began to swirl within the air.
People realized that it wasn't just darkness. It was...
"Oh no... A unique world?" Surha was in awe. It was a unique world. Someone's enormous world power had swept the entire <Depth> into their own unique world.
"Sea of Blood, Mountain of Corpses!"
People screamed at the presence of the terrifying massacre appearing from all around them. Surha knew that this was part of the unique world. It was different from hers, but...
"W-what is that?"
And with someone's voice, every living being of the <Depth> looked up to the sky. There was a shining star.
The giant star shined brighter than anything else.
As everyone looked up, they shook in fear. They all realized what the star was supposed to be.
"That- that's it!"
"No way..."
"That's the big..."
"It was shape of a star!"
And in that moment, something soared against the star. A giant robot flew toward it.
It was a Gigantes. The Gigantes pulled out its sword, unleashing its own world power as it flew toward the star. Bright light filled the sky with a loud explosion and the world turned into white. Something broke down. Something appeared from where the star was at. And everyone saw.
The star was falling down.
"Ah..."
"No way..."
The emotion that overcame the fear swept the people. It was madness. People realized what they were witnessing.
It was the revolution, the fall of one world. The fall of a world contributing to the beginning of a new one.
"It was true! Rupture..."
"Finally...!"
As every being was in astonishment as they looked up, only two beings were distant as they looked up to the sky.
"...Jaehwan?" Runald asked in confusion. Jaehwan glanced at Runald and placed his hand on his head. Runald felt relieved by the warmth of the hand. At least nothing had changed for him.
The debris of the destroyed star was falling down. Today was the day when the world turned dark and countless spirits perished.
<Big Brother> had fallen from the sky.