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chapter 50
The day a mortal, by sheer will and power, reached the realm of the gods—
the birth of the first Ascendant.
—Kill the god!
—Destroy her!
—Take revenge!
A storm of countless malicious wills screamed inside me, cursing the goddess before my eyes.
Perhaps this was the accumulated karma of countless ages—
now released through my very being as divine retribution upon the god of this world.
“Artemis… you damn bitch!”
What? How dare a mortal use such vulgar—!
Flare!
I reached out toward that disgusting creature.
How insolent—!
The goddess flicked her hand, as if brushing away an insect.
Normally, a single gesture from a god would annihilate an ordinary mortal—
their bodies and souls erased in an instant.
But I was no longer ordinary.
Clench.
W-What…? W-wait—!
Artemis froze.
I had grabbed her by the neck.
Kuhk! Cough! L-let… go…!
“You need to learn fear too. You need to know what it feels like… to be killed.”
Who… are you…
Crack!
Then I sank my teeth into her shoulder.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
A mouthful of divine flesh tore free and filled my mouth.
Instead of blood, a blinding white light poured from the wound.
“You have to feel… pain too.”
Let go! Let me go, you mad demon!
Boom! Boom! BOOM!
Artemis flailed wildly, slamming her fists into me with divine fury.
Each blow carried enough force to level mountains—
yet none of it reached me.
Rumble…
The snow-covered plains vanished.
The mountains crumbled.
The horizon split open into a barren wasteland.
The crust itself had shattered, revealing the bedrock beneath.
And yet—
the ground behind me, where Yardgar and the others waited, remained untouched.
Her divine might could not reach me.
I said LET GO! Aaaaaah!
A god felt fear—
of me.
That fear made me stronger.
So did her pain.
The more she raged and resisted, the stronger I became.
“Be more afraid. Suffer more.”
Please… please, stop…
Tears streamed from the goddess’s eyes.
Seeing that, I relaxed my grip slightly.
Hah!
The instant I loosened my hand, she tried to flee—
desperately tearing open a portal to Olympus.
But what appeared before her was not a gateway.
It was my fangs.
Crunch!
Aaaaaaah!
Her arm was severed between my teeth.
I grabbed the other with my hand—
and ripped it off like a flower stem.
Rip!
Gyaaaaaah!
{The goddess ^@&%%^ d1e$gh@#6$#^ghhf%$67sA$^}
{u7$% pLea$e save me! df%fd plEAsE 8TG%d}
Strange glyphs and divine script filled the air—
some kind of revelation, a message from the heavens.
I ignored it.
That was no god I worshiped.
I was no longer her apostle.
“Go on. Run—if you can.”
U-uhhh… uhhhh…
Light gushed endlessly from the stumps of her severed arms.
Her divine essence—the source of her power—was leaking away.
That was why Artemis couldn’t use her power anymore.
Thud.
S-spare… me…
I seized what was left of her body—
and devoured her legs, her torso, all of it.
Until not a single fragment remained.
Crunch. Crack.
A-ah… ahh…
So that she could never return.
So that she could never create another tragedy elsewhere.
I consumed the goddess completely—
body, light, and soul.
“Haa… haa…”
Of course, that didn’t mean she was truly dead.
Gods are immortal beings; their bodies and souls cannot be erased completely.
Even so—
Even if she revived someday,
Artemis would never escape the abyss of hatred that had swallowed her.
She would suffer forever—
imprisoned within my soul, in torment worse than death.
{The memory of the Mythic Age ends.}
{By reclaiming the memory, the sealed power of Artemis is unlocked.}
{Trait awakened: <Instinct of the Mythic Hunter>.}
{Authority unlocked: <Bow of Artemis>.}
“…Ah!”
I gasped awake—
as though rising from a deep slumber.
“Oh! You’re awake!”
Before my eyes—
“…Mo…na…?”
Mona was there.
She was alive.
I hugged her tightly.
“Eh?”
“It was a dream. Just a dream…”
“Huh?”
She blinked at me, confused.
“What do you mean, a dream? And who’s ‘Mona’?”
Something was off.
I looked closer at her face.
Dark skin. Big, gentle eyes.
Her hair seemed shorter, but… she looked exactly like Mona.
“Mona—it’s me! Don’t you recognize me?”
“W-what are you talking about? Hero, it’s me—Adele!”
“…Adele?”
Ah.
Now that I looked carefully, her clothes were different—
and she only had her left arm.
This wasn’t the Mythic Age.
This was the real world.
I wasn’t Ahriman.
I was Yoo Shin-woo.
“Ah, r-right… Adele.”
At last, my mind caught up.
I had stayed too long in that memory—long enough for my sense of self to blur.
‘But still…’
That wasn’t the only reason.
‘She looks exactly like her.’
Adele wasn’t just similar to Mona—
she was her, in every possible way.
Even her tall, athletic frame was identical.
Almost like she’d been reborn.
‘…Not that it matters.’
After all, I’m Yoo Shin-woo, not Ahriman.
The real world matters more than any illusion.
I took a deep breath, grounding myself.
“Right. …That monster—what happened to it?”
“Monster? What do you mean?”
“The beast-fusion things—and the Great Demon, Marbocias. We were under attack.”
Adele only tilted her head in confusion.
‘Don’t tell me that was a dream too?’
But no—her confusion wasn’t because I was imagining things.
It was the opposite.
“You defeated that demon yourself, Hero. Don’t you remember?”
“…I did?”
“You suddenly summoned all those weapons, struck it down, and burned it away with black flames… You don’t remember any of that?”
“Black flames?”
That had to mean my authority—Infernal Flame Orb.
It made sense that I would use it against a demon like Marbocias.
The problem was…
I had no memory of it at all.
‘I remember my chest being pierced… Then that voice told me to insert the unbound Ether Weapon… And after that—nothing. Not until the Mythic memory.’
Could it be that my body had moved on its own—like a puppet?
Heh. How amusing.
A voice suddenly echoed in my head.
It was my own voice.
“What the—?!”
Don’t lump me in with you. I’m not the same person.
I was talking into empty air now,
and Adele stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
“H-Hero…? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. …Just give me a minute alone.”
“O-oh, okay! Rest a bit longer, then. If you need anything, call me—I’ll be in the fortress.”
“Thanks.”
After sending her out, I focused on the voice.
“You.”
What?
“You’re… Angra Mainyu, aren’t you?”
The moment I heard it, I knew.
The demon that had always whispered to me.
The one from the Mythic memory—
the mortal who slew a god and ascended: Ahriman.
They were one and the same.
And now, he was speaking directly to me.
Hoh, quick on the uptake. Yes, I’m Angra Mainyu—and I’m also the Ahriman from your memory.
“…Ha.”
There was so much I wanted to ask.
What were these powers that defied the system?
What was that “Mythic Age”?
Why had he shown me those memories?
I don’t know.
“What? I didn’t even—”
You were just thinking those questions. That’s my answer. I don’t know.
“Damn it.”
So frustrating.
Finally, I could talk to this being of evil—and yet I was learning nothing.
Well, I do know that the gods and demons are all bastards. You saw it too, didn’t you? What those so-called ‘gods’ did in that memory.
If this was truly Ahriman speaking, I could understand that sentiment.
But that wasn’t what mattered now.
“You’re saying you only know things up to what I saw in that memory?”
Pretty much. …Though maybe not entirely.
“What do you mean ‘not entirely’? Speak plainly.”
When you fought that Marbocias guy—it felt… familiar. Like I’d done it before. So maybe I didn’t lose all my memories.
“Wait… Are you saying you killed him? Using my body?”
Yeah. You were a mess, so I made some improvements.
“Improvements? What do you—”
Creak.
“Ugh…”
When I tried to stand, my body felt stiff and heavy—
like my limbs weren’t mine anymore.
No strength at all.
“No way… Status window.”
I recalled the last system messages—
my mana dropping at a permanent rate.
If that speed continued, I should be completely weakened by now.
{Strength: 5}
{Reflex: 6}
{Focus: 3}
{Willpower: 3 (+5)}
Sure enough, my stats had plummeted to that of a normal human.
Even my willpower—once my highest—had been reduced.
‘What the hell is this now…?’
{Vitality: 1,595}
That number was absurdly high—
over three times what it had been before.
Something had changed drastically.
Told you, I modified your body.
“What do you mean, modified? Explain.”
I’ll only say this once, so listen closely.
The voice recounted what had happened while I was unconscious.
He had seized control of my body—
replacing my organs and bones with Ether Weapon components,
and transforming my dragon blood into pure Aži Dahāka blood.
Because of that, my previous trait, “Evil Dragon Blood,” no longer worked—
I couldn’t raise all my stats through willpower anymore.
Instead, I now had to directly activate the dragon blood in my body to draw out power.
Remember what I said? That I didn’t lose all my memories?
Then he added something important.
I can’t answer the question “why,” but I do know “how.”
I know how to unlock all the power and potential you possess.
Unlocking my potential.
For any other Awakener, that might be a vague dream—
but for me, it was everything.
Because I was using powers outside the system.
No one else could teach me how to master them.
No one… except Angra Mainyu himself.
“…Alright. Then teach me.”
I agreed without hesitation.
It wasn’t much different from before.
I just had to do what “Evil” told me to do—
only now, I could hear him more clearly.
Nothing’s free. There’s a condition.
Of course there was.
No demon offers power without a price.
“Name it. Whatever it is.”
But the condition he spoke next—
was far worse than I expected.
Give me your body.
