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Chapter 290

The Clock Tower of Hoiyeon City was called the hope of humanity.

It was an artifact with no special powers except telling time, yet it still stood as a beacon of hope for humanity even as they faced the crisis known as the Gate.

However, now dark clouds loomed over the clock tower. It was covered by something so monstrous that it could rightly be called a storm rather than mere clouds.

Yeon-woo understood better than anyone what fate awaited the clock tower.

The clock tower, which had once shown the same time to everyone, now displayed a different time to each person. It wasn’t just the people who were trapped in the shattered flow of time; the clock tower itself was equally ensnared.

The clock that once showed the current time had become a clock that only fixed itself on a specific time depending on the viewing angle.

Even the artifact that had been humanity’s hope was shattered in the hands of the Demon King, just like the humans who perished on the day of his descent.

It was like a spiderweb cast over humanity. That gap in time resembled a spider’s web. Both in appearance and in the phenomena it caused.

And Yeon-woo wanted to clear that web away. She always did. Despite knowing it was a futile dream, she had imagined that future.

But now was different. She had gained the power and ability to turn the dreams she merely visualized in her mind into reality.

To cut through the flow, I must get closer, she thought. But on reflection, that too was a bias.

‘Why do I need to get close to cut?’

Time fundamentally flows from the present to the future, and that flow can be sensed anywhere.

The Demon King’s power wasn’t fundamentally different. Within this spiderweb, one could sense the flow from anywhere, and thus it could be cut.

The only problem was that the grand flow was beyond the reach of her sword. But that didn’t matter.

‘Shar asked me to trust her.’

If Shar asked for trust, it was okay to believe. If it were Shar, she would pull it off. Holding that belief, Yeon-woo pointed her sword at the air.

*

“Wow, this isn’t working at all.”

Mumbling that, Ain raised her body up from where she had been slumped. Oof, shaking off the dirt on her rear, she accidentally scattered the tiny Aura Sphere she had been holding.

Honestly, she didn’t think it would be of any significance.

She was facing the Demon King. An entity believed to be capable of destroying this world, one of the seven monsters. She didn’t expect such tricks to work.

Thud, thud—the sound of footsteps began to approach. She tried to intervene from so far away, but she couldn’t hinder it at all.

‘Clearly, he looked like he had his eyes on the junior.’

That’s right, he must be a popular junior among girls. Though, it seemed that girl’s interest was more about appetite than affection.

Thinking that, Ain felt the weight on her shoulder and turned her neck to loosen up. More than anything else, proper tension and relaxation were crucial before a significant fight.

Ain slowly began to take her right hand away from the corner of her eye. The careful movement was like removing a blindfold.

Was the reason dozens of seals were etched upon Ain’s eyes merely to alleviate her discomfort?

In truth, looking at her so far, apart from some irrelevant traits, there didn’t seem to be significant issues.

However, a gaze dubbed the Universal Eye couldn’t possibly remain at such a trivial level.

A mutation born from the genes of the Demon King, the ultimate product created by the genetics of the underworld couldn’t simply be an extraordinary field of vision.

The veil of mana that had clung to Ain’s eyes began to dissolve slowly. It was the last lock and gateway for her to exert her power.

Ain blinked. A radiant light burst forth like the sun, and suddenly, a band of light began to move along with her pupils.

The things within her line of sight were basking in the light and began to rise. They slowly started to reveal their insides. The bark opened like a door, burrowing into the wood. Chlorophyll appeared, and cell membranes and nuclei started to come into view.

Before her gaze, nothing could hide its true form. Not even the Demon King could escape her sight.

As if the Demon King was a living being, that tiny body began to reveal its information.

Even the Demon King faltered at her gaze, unable to look away from that familiar yet strange aura.

“…What are you?”

The Demon King’s head tilted sharply. Ain couldn’t help but chuckle at that inhuman gesture. It was a question she had heard too often; the questioner was none other than herself.

“I don’t know, me neither.”

If the Demon King’s eyes swallowed time and shut everything down, then these eyes were ones that opened everything.

Like the pages of a book unfolding, the skin of the Demon King’s right arm began to peel away. As the Demon King watched in a daze, it jerked its head up to meet Ain’s gaze.

“Interesting.”

“I’m not having fun, so I wish you’d just die.”

She could hardly bring herself to call it her mother. She didn’t want to say it. She didn’t want to admit that such a wretched monster was no different from a biological mother.

Creeeak!!

Two eyes capable of destroying the world clashed at a single point. The air split like paper. Lines were drawn upon the world. The collision of the two phenomena caused the world to shake.

Even though she was the only one with eyes that could be compared to the Demon King’s, Ain knew she would eventually be pushed out.

The standards were simply different. Just because it was a special power didn’t mean it didn’t use mana. Ain, who had also inherited the Demon King’s genes, bore a massive amount of mana but could never compare to the Demon King.

She was simply buying time. Fortunately, when it came to that Demon King, there was no one better than herself to buy time on earth.

*

In a crisis, the thoughts of intelligent beings tend to converge into a single point.

And this moment was just the same. As the situation tensed, people’s thoughts narrowed down to find a way out.

In other words, the current scenario was a kind of stage set up for Shar to guide Yeon-woo’s thoughts. To fuse into a single heart, their thoughts needed to overlap beyond measure.

It was probably for this reason that it had become clear that the technique known as Fusion resulted from that exact condition.

Much like a person trapped in a predicament exerting immense force, Fusion must have manifested under such circumstances.

She focused all her nerves on Yeon-woo. Her father’s thoughts felt as if they were at her fingertips. Her senses began to overlap with her father’s nerves.

The mobility of her body felt remarkably freer than usual. The divine potential within her, long confined in a younger form with a longer body, began to seep through.

It felt like a technique from a sci-fi novel where consciousness was transferred to a different body. The outlines of the bodies overlapped.

When her heart and mind had completely aligned, resonating with matching heartbeats, Shar slowly opened her eyes.

When most of the process was done, Shar spoke to Yeon-woo.

‘Dad, can you feel it?’

‘Uh, uhhhh….’

Yeon-woo replied with a dazed voice to Shar’s question.

After all, Yeon-woo’s Dragon Heart was only half-complete. A half-hearted treasure was invaluable, but the complete Dragon Heart was on an entirely different level.

At last, having regained its true form, the dragon’s mana began to soar through Yeon-woo’s veins. He couldn’t help but be taken aback by the tremendous force flowing through him.

‘This is what Fusion is?’

‘Gradually, you’ll see changes in your appearance. But don’t panic. Right now, Dad is the Gold Dragon itself.’

Remembering Shar’s reminder, Yeon-woo slowly opened his eyes.

Right in front of him, blood was oozing down Ain’s cheek. Those brilliantly shining eyes were stained with blood. The halo that hung at the edge of her gaze trembled precariously.

In contrast, the Demon King standing opposite her looked completely fine.

A thin cloth garment fluttered in the wind. Her pearly skin had no significant injuries. The rainbow-colored eyes gazed straight ahead without a tremor.

Even with all her concentration, it was too much. Although she could tell what was happening from the sensations on her skin, she didn’t expect it to be this severe.

Hadn’t even a few minutes passed since the fight began, and yet her vision felt burdened?

In fact, if she had managed to hold out for even a few minutes against the Demon King, that in itself would be commendable.

Gritting her teeth watching that sight, Yeon-woo lifted his sword above his head.

His enlightenment for slicing through time was clear enough. What was lacking was the output to slice through this entire vast city.

And for that output, he relied on Fusion. The dragon’s mana was compensating for everything Yeon-woo lacked.

Long and thick. He pulled out the Aura Blade with only size in mind.

A blade of aura so massive that it could cut through the entire spiderweb draped before him. The sword he had always imagined to break the irrationality.

Naturally, the Demon King couldn’t just stand by and watch that enormous sword. There was no reason to let the clearly abnormal energy of that sword be left untouched.

It was time that had been consumed within its grasp. To sever that past was no different from sticking one’s arm into their stomach to pull out the food.

“Stop.”

Declaring firmly, the Demon King raised its gaze. For some reason, whereas it hadn’t been caught by the past before, now it was different. If he froze her in the present, there would be no escaping no matter what strategies were employed.

Hearing that, Ain ground her teeth. That monster had shifted its gaze. Yet the remaining remnants blocked Ain’s line of sight.

The difference in power was despairing. What was the so-called strongest eye of humanity? It couldn’t just collapse into a worthless gaze that couldn’t even overcome remnants.

“Uuugh, Aaaah!!”

Suddenly, blood gushed out as if erupting. Ain was pressed with terrifying pressure onto her eyes. It was because she had forced all the remaining mana into them.

Despite that, Ain barely succeeded in opening a path leading to the Demon King.

The space wound created by the collision of gaze and gaze was forcibly closing and sealing the gap. That was all. Nothing more, nothing less.

Amidst her blurring vision, Ain looked at Yeon-woo. Sighing at the sight of Yeon-woo’s fingertips gradually turning gray.

Swoosh─.

“Ugh…!?”

The Demon King’s scream echoed. Ain turned her gaze that way. An unexpected cut, no one knew where it had come from, slashed across the Demon King’s face, forcing its gaze upward into the void.

Ain, Yeon-woo, and even Shar knew who that cut belonged to.

‘Master…!!’

The yet-to-be petrified Yeon-woo swung his sword straight down. In an instant, the world was bathed in golden light. When the light that obscured her vision faded, the dark clouds that had enveloped Hoiyeon City were cleared away.

Just like the scenery she had only envisioned in her heart.

(Continued in the next episode)

 

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