I seal the function stat that could allow me to ascend to the divine rank anytime, etching it as a star within my eyes.
With the power of that sealed star flashing, the fighting style of Oknodie the Demon King, preventing ascension for a fleeting moment, was on par with the top-tier apostles and hero classes.
[Oknodie the Demon King]
[Dark Star – Chant]
[Usage: Blasphemous Language]
[Effect: Leaks reality information that NPCs should not perceive, stopping the game.]
It leaks reality information that is not permitted for NPCs to perceive within the game.
As the game instantly stops and a disturbance in perception occurs, the Director’s brain becomes forcibly hazy, losing its sharpness.
This systemic forced shutdown also affects Oknodie the Demon King, but some functions resist all forms of stop or prohibition.
[Oknodie the Demon King]
[Dark Star – Stimulation]
[Usage: The Return of Darkness]
[Effect: Resists all kinds of seals, actions prohibited, forced stop effects to initiate actions.]
[Director]
[Warrior’s Avatar – Prayer Technique]
[Usage: Descent of Light]
[Effect: All types of physical, mental, and spiritual stoppage effects become null under the sun.]
Oknodie the Demon King was astounded by the fact that the world’s trash, this unparalleled being, was blessed by the one and only Sofemia, but the Director was equally shocked by Oknodie’s magical prowess, which artificially recreated the hero’s awakening effect through spells.
[Dark Star – Absolute Hit]
[Warrior’s Avatar – Adamantine Flesh]
By repeatedly increasing the hit parts and ratios of absolute hits that can penetrate even souls, the Director expanded the scope beyond body and mind to the soul.
At every moment, functions comparable to divinity exploded, and the hero functions manifested to counter them.
As the battles repeated, it was the Director who felt disadvantageous once again.
“Can humans become this strong?”
Having experienced the pinnacle of humanity, the Seonhwang could confidently affirm that Oknodie was the unparalleled, one and only supreme being that would not be reborn again!
No human in the Middle Realm could ever achieve strength akin to Oknodie again.
Neither could the one involved, Oknodie.
Growth rental.
Having borrowed his future self, Oknodie lost the possibility of becoming Oknodie the Demon King!
Strength alone would not suffice.
Meeting strength with strength inevitably leads to the weaker side breaking.
The Director sprinkled resonance magic between the functions and their manifestations.
Of course, it wasn’t the end.
They noticed through their previous exchange that both had experienced the same level of ending.
Above all, the performance of weapons would also decrease.
The scene filled with despair at that moment of ending awakens an instinctive aversion in humans.
This means it’s easy to reject and deny memories.
So what about scenes that evoke different emotions?
[The moment one tastes joy.]
[The moment a lazy afternoon drowsiness sweeps over.]
[The moment one’s eyes sparkle while hearing old tales.]
The past of the hero significantly delayed Oknodie the Demon King’s reaction speed to a clearly meaningful level.
Although the Director sought to gather mysteries by uncovering the world’s darkness for strength, the hero’s most effective means of attack lay beyond that darkness.
-Irony indeed. The life I spent trying to dig through the darkness created by a hero who realized his limits is utterly pointless; the very memories of that hero are what helps.
The Director felt regret.
For someone who had walked a path of isolation and evil, the fragments of joy in his life were far too scant compared to the pieces that could stimulate Oknodie’s childish heart.
The total amount of joyful time one senses in a lifetime isn’t much.
Especially in a world where war and slaughter pass by like daily life, with mysteries feasting on humans as the prey and overflowing with invading races from other dimensions.
For the Director, whose very existence was born to grow power against such evil, it must have been especially so.
Most importantly, when the hero’s memories stirred Oknodie the Demon King, there were limbs protecting her.
[Darkest Sword, Sing]
Receiving the hero’s functions and deadly techniques that come flying in from anywhere, the sword spirit returns continuously to their “origin,” preparing for counterattacks without tiring.
Even if the semi-god is blown away, it’s a phenomenon that transcends even death; the “return to origin” shows no sign of ending until it breaks the very will itself.
This was already close to a kind of divine artifact or guardian spirit that reached the realm of mysteries.
[Spirit Tree, Howling Mandragora]
In a world devoid of the World Tree, Mandragora that rooted itself through countless cycles of Oknodie shines in a different light.
The counterattacks from each stem come with varying power and performance, but the level of danger is all top-tier.
[Twilight Time]
[Effect: Reverts the body to 60 seconds before death.]
[Last Leaf]
[Effect: Nullifies a single instant-death attack.]
[Natasha’s Tattoo]
[Effect: Withstands damage proportional to the number of tattoos.]
The achievements that Warrior Ni’alatotep had accumulated, which the Director also possessed, began to peel away one by one.
“GooOOOOO!!!”
Having failed the instant kill with a tentacle infused with [All-In Strength], and shattering upon rebounding, the Director leaped over the Spirit Tree.
Though the swordsman that never dies grasped the sword again, if it could be thrown back and returned, why not prevent movement from the beginning?
[Disaster-level Sealing Connector – Wish of the Fool]
Caught in the climax of a fantasy spell, unable to even draw his sword, Sing was submerged in shadows, trapped by the dream he wished to fulfill.
While stepping on his head, the Director finally surpassed all obstacles, entering a true 1-on-1 showdown with Oknodie the Demon King.
-Any force I don’t use decreases the total amount of force that should return to the warrior. The probability of the hero being able to strike down the Dragon Principal will decrease with every passing moment.
-You’re quite the worrywart for someone who has no thought of dying.
-Haha, have I been discovered?
The super-speed sword strikes characterized by their swiftness targeted each other’s vital points.
The thoughts contained in mana leave behind lingering traces, wrapping around each respective sword’s trajectory.
Behind those thoughts, stronger memories erupted like landmines, shattering inner peace and smashing psychic images.
[Stars and dust, memories of the universe]
[Blood and rust, a city of neon signs]
[The end of a millennial family, the moment of the ending credits]
The depth and emotions contained within the mysterious memories of Oknodie the Demon King were experienced nowhere else and at every moment, stirred feelings of longing against the memories of the hero, unsettling the Director.
The clash between strange memories, which should have been overshadowed by the absolute amount of experience, instead led to a depletion of the longing memories.
The sum of countless experiences possessed by Oknodie’s Avatar of the Outsider surpassed the human memories of the hero.
-Haha, I summoned something truly wretched indeed.
The hero’s memories have now come to an end.
If pulled out, only my own remain.
[Loneliness unacknowledged by anyone]
[A corpse built for humanity’s true future]
[My cruelty believed to contribute to the hero’s one miracle]
Thus, the Director pulled it out.
The dusty, dried-out weakness called emotion from long ago, scraping up from the bottom, heaved it out.
Filthy and ugly memories.
Memories that could rely on no one.
Memories that had given up on arguing about righteousness from the start.
A being only meant to contribute to the final blow, gathering all functions that a hero could not collect.
The very spark of his life that was fundamentally wrong.
Pieces of memories that couldn’t even be treasured, only tortured by keeping them; they were the grotesque remnants that had been cut, slashed, and tossed behind the veil of memory.
To the surprise of everyone, those puzzle pieces of memories dulled the starlight of Oknodie the Demon King.
-How amusing. That residual sentiment of such caliber clouds the vision of one who has presumably ascended to such a level.
The reason for the functions that should shine like stars to become dim was none other than the tears that welled up.
Oknodie the Demon King sympathized.
With all the choices the Director had made.
With every evil deed he had to commit.
With the times he had to become stronger and crueler than ever.
It was not about transferring emotions toward something different from me.
Nor was it pity for his life.
It surpassed immersion.
Unity.
Eyes looking at the same thing, not different from my own.
The essence of all emotions felt by Oknodie the Demon King.
The Director felt that too.
Neither was different.
Player and NPC.
Two beings fundamentally different from the very dimensions they belong to.
Yet remarkably, the two were alike.
Oknodie the Demon King received the acknowledgment and empathy that neither players nor veteran players had gained from each other through the Director.
The Director learned through Oknodie the Demon King that there was someone who recognized a being even the hero who created him had regretted and denied.
Someone who had given up on doing his best.
Someone who merely sought to avoid the worst fate.
A person who resembled him.
The Director thought.
Creating a soft, frail girl-shaped homunculus from his own blood and flesh on the other side of chaos, and embedding Oknodie within it might not have been merely a coincidence.
It could be the result of a fragment possessing the nature most similar to him being drawn to him.
Otherwise, how could someone as much like him as Oknodie the Demon King be birthed?
-Haha. How amusing. I, who distrusted humans, hated humans, and used humans as tools, would have a true understanding similar to my own birthed in the form of someone so akin to me.
Let alone that this existence is the potential future of a daughter whom I could not even properly guide.
Even though they are now in such a desperate conflict, it suggests that one day, she too will resemble me.
Was the blood and flesh I took for a vessel that valuable?
So much so that two utterly different existences could become this alike.
Now, I could even entertain the thought that the fate, cursed by the gods, is something I could believe.
“Do not cry. If I see such weakness, I might want to break it.”
Having pierced through all functions and drawn close for the final step, the hand of Oknodie the Demon King burrows into the Director’s chest, while the Director’s touch caresses Oknodie’s eyes instead of the neck.
Horror.
Regret.
Sadness.
What could he have felt, peering into countless memories and pasts?
Before the tears that could not stop overflowing, the Director forced a smile.
“Why did you stop?”
“Because I realized you are just like me.”
If I die, but there’s someone left who can carry my will further and stronger, how can I insist on this life?
The Director knew.
Once again, he had fallen behind the Seonhwang.
Yet the sense of defeat was no longer present.
The possibility of the Seonhwang ended with Oknodie.
The Director’s possibility continued into Oknodie the Demon King.
His potential surpassed the possibility of the Seonhwang, exceeding the will of humanity’s pinnacle.
“You’re foolish. To think you would throw away everything you’ve done for something so fleeting.”
“Don’t think it’s the end. I’m merely cheering for you and loving this possibility, not cherishing that small, foolish, unblossomed potential.”
So many emotions reflected in the tears of Oknodie the Demon King.
Memories of the past.
Deep regrets and weaknesses, all fragments of despair.
Those emotions were analyzed by the hands of the most evil hero in human history.
Oknodie could never reach a future that he shouldn’t reach again.
But what if it’s her avatar?
“If Seonhwang chose Oknodie, then I will choose Darknodi.”
“You knew about that child too?!”
“Haha. Who do you think I am?”
The Director of the Wahyhiemhai Foundation, humanity’s most notorious dark organization.
The avatar of the previous hero.
The most dangerous man in the world.
The one who deserves to fall into hell.
Oknodie’s Papa.
And then, and then…
“How many did you leave?”
“Enough to make the hero happy.”
“If it were me, I would’ve used them all up and died.”
“Haha, don’t be like that. Isn’t it the duty of those with deep missions? Just as I found an heir to whom I could entrust all burdens, you must have fulfilled your own task. Those who have achieved their purpose must be generous before those who have yet to.”
Until those hands become stained, sufficiently so.
Thus, you can step back.
Because of a stained soul, you can understand.
Oknodie the Demon King is also one who has fulfilled their purpose.
The master of the ruined throne.
Simply a lonely piece of trash with no way to redeem a hurt soul.
One day, even those who follow that path will walk it.
Even if Oknodie turns away,
Darknodi will surely do so.
And so, with emotions, he opened the door and showed all his amassed strength to the heart of the child, who fell into the whirlpool of the same emotions, unable to escape.
The Director had experienced all three children.
Oknodie.
Oknodie the Demon King.
Darknodi.
He did not know what was best.
He simply chose the child who would go along in the end.
“Now, let’s go together. Into the darkness suited for a fallen soul.”
“No. I regret everything I did.”
“But if given the opportunity, I would repeat it countless times. This dirty and difficult path.”
“…”
“I’ll go a little ahead. If your heart prompts you, follow.”
The light disappeared from the Director’s eyes.
Oknodie the Demon King stood still, supporting the body of the man whose light had vanished.
Until all the time given to him runs out.
Endlessly.
Continuously.
The worst of humans and the worst possibility crumbled together.
