Beyond the Eternity

There was a quiet sound in the dim empty space.

It was sound of Song Jaewon landing on the linoleum covered floor as he dropped from the hole created on the ceiling.

He had struck two people while they were suspended in the air and they landed all the way here. He would have made way to the Holy Grail which was placed on the Altar located at the center, but there was an annoying condition he had to fulfill before that.

[Prove your qualifications by defeating all the king candidates.]

Before one could become the master of the Holy Grail, such a condition had to fulfilled beforehand.

When he arrived in Gwanghwamun, there were seven king candidates fighting inside the dome— One of which was killed by the Death King, the Death King was killed by him as well as The Chariot, then the remaining ones were knocked unconsious by him. He didn't need to kill those ones. After all, the trial was defeat, not kill. If the conditions of the trial was to kill, then he would have done so.

It was as simple as that.

However, there was one king candidate that managed to escape his nose.

Song Jaewon frowned. It was the same person he had encountered in the Library Dungeon. To say he disliked them would be an understatement—he had a score to settle, and his personal resentment ran deep.

He began to scan the environment. He had chased that person along with his subordinate all the way into this large shopping mail infront of a station.

The shopping mail itself had various floors and endless space, since it consisted of three buildings connected through passageways. It was the perfect place to play hide and seek. It would be problematic to search for those people in this kind of large space. However, that was only the case if Song Jaewon hadn't entered the shopping mall with 'Byakko'.

Byakko had the duty to protect the west, so when there were hostile enemies in its entrusted region, the guardian deity could vaguely sense their whereabouts.

Wriggle! Wriggle!

The White Spirit Lance shook as if it was trying to say something. It couldn't speak directly. Even so, Song Jaewon was somehow able to understand what it was trying to say.

"... So that way, huh?"

While listening to the message transmissed by the guardian spirit, Song Jaewon made way down to the fourth floor of building B. It was a fashion floor filled women's clothing. There was an power outage through Seoul since the arrival of [Fate], therefore there was no light on the floor.

Which means the ambushing side had the advantage, since they could be mistaken as the mannequin's shadow in the darkness. Even so, Song Jaewon proceeded towards the center of the floor.

"Come out! I know you're here."

Song Jaewon spoke with a cold voice but received no response in the end. His brows furrowed as he tried to detect their presence but found nothing.

... How were they able to hide themselves that well? Were they using an item?

There wasn't much items in [Fate] that could escape his senses. They were a few good ones but considering this was just early stages of the Nightmares, they must have used the Assassination Cloak.

That's only the thing that comes to mind. If that's the case, I would have to draw them out somehow.

While thinking so, Song Jaewon started moving west---- towards the end of the floor. If the opponents had moved west, that would mean they were aware of Byakko's weakness.

In that case, they wouldn't be thinking he would be weakened if he goes to the west. However, that weakness only applied to Byakko.

He walked and continued walk while expanding his senses, scanning for even the slightest movement or the shifting of the body weight.

At that moment...

"...!"

A mannequin came flying his way with a buzz. Song Jaewon swung the spear and destoryed the mannequin at once.

"... So you're hiding over there."

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Without hesitation, he kicked the floor and rushed towards where the mannequin had come from. As if to confirm his suspicions, several more mannequins came flying his way from that direction.

Song Jaewon jumped from side to side, evading the flying mannequins and reached a small passageway where he spotted a black silhouette.

It was Kim Jakga.

The Assassination Cloak he wore seemed to melt into the environment, but now that Song Jaewon had found him, the cloak's ability to obscure his presence was no longer of use.

"Oh, you finally found me. I wonder what took you so long."

Song Jaewon didn't respond as Kim Jakga said those words calmly. Instead, Song Jaewon rushed towards his opponent and entered a comfortable distance the two of them— just enough to pierce his neck. Before I could even swing his spear, he noticed something strange.

"... Here I come."

Instead of running away, Kim Jakga laughed and chose to jump towards him to meet his attack. Certainly, this was not even his expectations.

"Wha...?"

Before Song Jaewon could even express his shock, Kim Jakga bent his waist, dodging the spear and swung his sword horizontally, aiming for his blind spot.

Song Jaewon immediately went into defence and blocked the dangerous strike using Byakko's shaft.

"...!"

Song Jaewon was surprised by the force produced by that attack and strengthened his grip on Byakko. Even so, he lost his balance and flew backwards across the air.

While crashing through the display of a nearby shop for women, Song Jaewon adjusted his body weight in midair and landed gliding on the floor.

In the next moment, he saw Kim Jakga approaching like a bullet.

Upon entering his space, Kim Jakga unleashed continuous amount of slashes and thrusts— aimed for his vital spots.

Realising the situation, Song Jaewon was forced to evade. It would be dangerous to block all of those attacks when they were coming mercilessly after him one after the other.

... What's going on?

The force of his opponent attacks was almost higher than that woman's from before.

But that didn't make any sense. The woman from before was a Saint, whose physique were altered to produce more force so her enormous strength could be explained. But what about this person?

Surely, he couldn't be a Saint. Song Jaewon knew a sinner when he met one so he could immediately tell the person infront of him was not a Saint. More importantly...

[Exclusive skill, Eyes of Judgement has activated.]

[The Eyes of Judgement has failed to read this person's information.]

What?

Song Jaewon truly did not understand. For some reason, he wasn't able to read see person's information. In fact, there were other people he couldn't see their information so that was rather strange as well.

Apart from the Priests, the Diviners and the Reincarnator, nobody else should be able to block the effects of his Eyes of Judgement. So what was the explanation for this anomaly.

...Is he one of those Apostles? These people weren't around in the last turn. What changed in this turn?

Amidst Song Jaewons's confusion, Kim Jakga became more aggressive and rushed towards him with speed betraying his calm demeanor.

"...!"

In response, Song Jaewon swung the spear horizontally. The aim of that attack was not to harm Kim Jakga, but to repel him with force. Even so, Kim Jakga swung his sword to meet his spear.

Clang!

The sound of metal pushing against metal was heard in the next instant.

Surprisingly, Kim Jakga was not pushed back which shocked Song Jaewon. But what happened next surprised Song Jaewon even more.

Kim Jakga suddenly abandoned all form of defense and entered a non-stop assault, causing Song Jaewon to enter the defensive where he had to defend against all those attacks.

The sound of clashing blades was heard a countless number of times from every direction, and gradually surrounded him. It was not long after the fierce slashing sounds began that a particular phenomenon occurred before Song Jaewon's eyes.

The wielder of the sword, Kim Jakga seemed to multiply. At that moment, ten Kim Jakga's jumped towards Song Jaewon at once.

"What? Is that..."

For Song Jaewon who was known as the King of Battle, he had seen this phenomenon on the battlefield numerous amount of times so it was natural he would recognise it from the jump.

Speed Mirage. It was a phenomenon caused by the instant acceleration and deceleration of the body movement, where the sheer speed of the person causes blurred afterimages to be left behind, making it appear as though they were in multiple places at once.

But Song Jaewon thought it was strange. How was this person achieve such a phenomenon?

At this stage, It should be impossible for any player to move at such speed without a movement technique, and even those are hard to come by except you're lucky. Yet this person was moving at such speeds without a movement technique. Not to mention, there was no way he could have acquired the agility stats required for that movement while there was the stats restricted for the Fourth Fable.

Therefore, Song Jaewon concluded that the person infront of him was using something else. But what exactly.

... I see. Illusions, was it? So he's representative of the Fool. Such a petty trick.

Having discovered the source of his courage, Song Jaewon activated a skill and said his next line of words with a cold voice.

[Exclusive skill, Black Wind Control has activated.]

"... Howl, Byakko."

"...!"

Upon command, a black whirlpool appeared around the <Metal Spirit Lance> and dispelled all the afterimages at once. At the same time, the whirlpool sent Kim Jakga flying black, diagonally upwards, into the air.

"Arghhhhhh----?!"

Kim Jakga crashed into the ceiling and was sent flying to the next floor together with shockwave, where there was the sound of another crash.

Most likely, that person was even blown to the next floor.

The silence after the crash was almost deafening, with only the sound of dust and debris falling down from the hole in the ceiling.

"....."

Song Jaewon wordlessly looked up at the hole in the ceiling.

Although he couldn't unleash the full power of Byakko unless he was on the enemy's west side. However, he was a way for him to attack without being on the enemy's west side.

He could use basic technique of the Black Mountain Claws Martial Arts, which was the <Black Wind Control>, and enhance using the power of Byakko. Like this, he would be able to bypass that annoying restriction without being on the west side of the opponent.

Just like the attack that pierced the Death King or the whirlpool against Kim Jakga just now.

But Song Jaewon didn't think that would finish that guy off. Plus, he hadn't heard any system notifications before the opponent was still conscious. That said, he didn't know whether he should go up and finish him or not.

There was this certain sense of unease that had been squeezing his chest. There were two people he blew all the way to this shopping mail.

One was the opponent he just blew up into the next floor and the other one was his subordinate---- But where exactly was that subordinate this entire time?

Tick! Tick! Tick!

The faint, rhythmic ticking sound echoed in the dimly lit space.

Song Jaewon, who was still gazing up at the hole in the ceiling, dragged his thoughts back into reality. The ticking wasn't just a distant noise; it was growing louder, more insistent.

His eyes narrowed. That ticking… it couldn't be.

His thoughts immediately shifted to Kim Jakga's subordinate, who had been conspicuously absent from the fight. He hadn't been able to sense the subordinate's presence throughout the battle, and that alone was unsettling. But now, hearing this sound made him wonder if he had missed something crucial.

"...!"

What if Kim Jakga was just buying time while his subordinates planted something throughout the shopping mall?

"Shit...!"

It was a trap.

Song Jaewon abruptly realised his mistake and tried to flee the building at once. But it was already too late by then.

KABOOM!!!

With a loud sound, the entire floor was swallowed by a giant explosion and Song Jaewon was engulfed in the roaring wave of fire and debris

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