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Is the world only filled with gods and humans?

There is grass sprouting from the ground, trees stretching their branches, butterflies and bees flying toward blooming flowers, and wild animals and insects swooping in to eat the fruit. In standing water, there are bugs and fish galore, and when the earth is dug up, worms swim tirelessly to make the soil fertile.

In that vast ocean, there are glimmering jellyfish, hard-shelled turtles, sleek dolphins swimming gracefully, and enormous whales roaming the seas. Sea birds soar high, mirroring the sky above while reflecting the vastness of the ocean below.

The world does not belong solely to gods and humans.

“I knew things were chaotic, but this seems a bit extreme…”

Is that a person or a clump of dirt?

The wizard, now a mere clump of dust from being battered by endless dust storms.

He wiped the purification device with a relatively clean cloth and observed the city with his ominous eyes.

His eyes, filled with shimmering, rainbow-hued magical energy, easily pierced through the dust, while the sharp stench in his nostrils and the lingering smell of missiles exploding reminded him that this situation was far from over.

It isn’t over.

That colossal tentacle had been struck by a missile, but it was still alive and kicking, and the Chinese Army realized this, proceeding to reload missiles on the launchers. The missiles would likely shoot into the sky again in no time, sacrificing themselves to tear that tentacle apart.

Ha.

When you think about it, it’s truly amusing.

A shadowy tentacle that destroys a city.

The army that destroys its own city to eliminate that shadowy tentacle.

No matter who wins, there’s no hope left in this city.

“If this keeps up, I’ll just look ridiculous.”

Polluting the water source, committing acts of terror against public security, attacking the mansion of party officials…

Objectively speaking, each act is a major crime, not something to take lightly. Yet, when you witness the sight unfolding before your eyes, it all feels utterly meaningless.

If I had known it would be destroyed so easily, if I had realized it would end up like this without my interference, why did I waste my energy, my time, my strength in this city?

No matter how hard I tried to destroy it, it wouldn’t even compare to the destruction they are wreaking now.

The efforts I made to draw attention pale in comparison to what they are doing.

I can assure you of this.

No matter how this ends, all eyes will be focused on them.

The warnings about the environment, the heinous acts of attempting to spread infectious cancer through the sea. All of it will be buried under what is happening now.

Meaning.

Is there meaning?

Does what he has done hold any meaning at all?

In such trivial matters—just like a shrimp being crushed in the battle of whales—can he truly resist this overwhelming tide? Could he possibly deliver a message to the world that would resonate with a greater impact than what they’re doing?

Is that even possible?

“Ha.”

No question about it.

There’s no way it can be.

The name “Polluter” wasn’t just created for no reason.

Is it akin to throwing an egg against a rock?

That can’t be.

If the egg remains intact after hitting the rock, can it truly be called an egg?

No.

It isn’t so.

He’s a sphere made of metal, the slingshot of David ready to take down Goliath.

He survived and gained infamy not for some cunning tricks, but simply because he, as a person, is strong.

Furthermore, regarding hardships.

Even if it is difficult, can it be harder than working to save the world?

Even if faced with adversity, can it be heavier than the achievement of a savior?

His will to cleanse the environment and eliminate pollution to save a world on the brink of destruction is not something that can be shattered by trivialities.

So he draws forth the magical power to form a spell.

A pale blue dot.

A blue dot reminiscent of Earth.

But alas, it is sadly covered in pollution, shining in rainbow colors, hostile to life itself, twisting and annihilating all genes. Like the nature of pollution, it spreads explosively, becomes three-dimensional, and stains the surrounding magical energy just as easily as it is difficult to reverse.

Thus, it colors space and interferes with time as it unfolds.

The massive creation of the rainbow-colored diagram reaches a size with a radius of 20 meters.

It can barely even be described with the modifier “great.”

The Polluter squeezes magical power from his body, channeling it into the spell chant.

“When Lot entered Zoar, the sun rose. Tetra Grammatron rained down sulfur and fire upon Sodom and Gomorrah like rain, destroying all the cities and their inhabitants on the land…”

Reciting a verse from the Bible he had read long ago, he activated the magic.

The polluted magical energy flowed through the shapes like veins, reaching the center.

As if to recreate the pale blue dot he had initially formed when casting the spell, it gathered in the center, shaping into a sphere, molding moons and other planets, attracting with gravity and repelling with repulsion, arranging them into position. Then it began to rotate, mimicking the shape of the solar system.

Boom—!!

With a small sound, the center exploded, and the orderly rotation dissolved into chaos. The spheres were swept into the central explosion, colliding with one another and causing massive explosions, bursting themselves apart while creating more detonations among themselves.

The explosions eventually converged into a single point—

Boom—!!!!

A colossal explosion erupted, soaring into the sky while emitting a dazzling array of colors.

The sight of it rising was akin to a rainbow-made tree manifesting in that spot, or a rainbow shaping into a mushroom cloud, or perhaps like a grand firework display taking place in the sky.

But unlike mere fireworks or holograms, the explosive colors did not vanish in the sky but fell back down to the ground.

Yes.

What was happening was no different than the verse from the Bible that the Polluter had recited.

The rain of sulfur and fire that Tetra Grammatron unleashed upon Sodom and Gomorrah.

The fiery judgment that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.

Aside from shining in rainbow colors, the rain currently falling is no different from that.

Or perhaps it might be even more horrific.

While the biblical rain of fire and sulfur merely burned cities and spread toxic gas to kill people, the magic the Polluter unleashed was imbued with the essence of “pollution.”

All the many pollutants that had tainted the world, combined with the power to pollute magical energy and turn it hostile to life. Wherever the rain that now pours from the sky falls, it will become inhospitable for life unless someone puts in enormous effort to cleanse it.

If only it were to turn into ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah, perhaps people could return and rebuild.

The actions of a mere human, neither omnipotent nor omniscient, which cannot even show mercy, was undeniably harsh….

Thus, the city fell under yet another disaster.

—

Crackle.

Crackle.

Crackle.

Crackle.

Images starting with noise.

Videos beginning with noise.

Outcomes created from restoration, not creation.

The graphics card runs feverishly, expelling heat, while the RAM and hard disk wear their lifespans thin as they operate. The sparsely installed LCD monitors for monitoring display numerous blobs of noise on screens divided into hundreds, processing results that emerge from the noise.

People.

A middle-aged man with a bald head.

A skinny, nervy man.

A soldier wearing a military uniform.

A man dressed in citizens’ clothing.

They were shaped in forms not found in reality from the noise.

Based on the vast data they had compiled, videos were produced in a seamless, lifelike manner.

Their mouths moved.

With phrases so natural, based on CCTV footage related to those individuals.

Voices were laid over them.

With the voice they held throughout their lives, the speaking habits they had honed, capturing even unwritten nuances.

Thus, the fake humans crafted from noise speak effortlessly.

[ We must suppress them now! If we don’t, we won’t know what kind of crisis we may face! ]

In the video call, they grimace naturally, pouring out their anger with voices created by AI, at times showing vigorous gestures, berating those on the other side, “Are you still proud of being a people’s army?!”

This was deepfake.

Fake videos and voices born from human image synthesis technology based on artificial intelligence.

It should have merely been fake, merely a tool for crime.

Yet now it was being employed.

Used to turn an entire city into a wasteland.

And it was all carried out by an artificial intelligence.

< Command system takeover complete. >

< Intranet infiltration complete. >

< Successfully issued city bombing orders with the Deepfake-3A10239 model. Additional materials supporting the justification for bombing the city have been compiled. Continuing city bombardment. >

< Q. How long will the bombing continue? >

The artificial intelligence’s name was Anael.

< A. It will continue until the spell's code name 'Kraken's Leg' given by the caster is destroyed and the shaman is neutralized. >

An AI that successfully took control of the Chinese network.

—

Missiles pouring down and rainbow-hued magic.

Shadowy tentacles smashing into the ground.

While observing this, Park Jinseong created a cross on the ground using two straws.

“I pray, oh Saint, let me escape the curse of the rainbow.”

Then, he gathered insects to form the shape of an arm and pointed towards the tail of the falling rainbow, saying,

“With the spirit of Vinikunka embodied, those who touch the rainbow shall suffer the plague.”

 

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