Mirror World: Destined Return

Bwoo—!

A giant trumpeting sound echoed throughout Ismailia along with heavy footsteps that shook the city. Everyone, including those who were fleeing or fighting back against the dragons, was shocked by the sudden appearance of a giant creature.

“W-what the hell is that?”

“A m-m-monster!”

“That thing is bigger than a dragon!”

The monster was made of silver-grey steel, had an elephant’s head, a bear’s body, a tiger’s feet, a bull’s tail, and made the buildings around it look like mere toothpicks.

Not only that, but it absorbed all the metal around it to get even bigger. It even devoured the rebar inside buildings, leaving concrete wreckage in its wake.

Bwoo—!

The creature trumpeted again sorrowfully. Bulgasal had completely lost its sense of reason—its usual innocent black eyes were completely blank. It bulldozed through everything in its path.

Humans and dragons alike barraged Bulgasal with skills, and most of them were a direct hit due to its giant stature. However, Bulgasal was unkillable. The melted regions were refilled, and the broken areas were rebuilt with the metal it absorbed. It only charged toward where Seong-Hwi had been captured by Raziel.

***

The train departed from the station. The wind playfully blew the snow resting on the platform floor. The woman before Seong-Hwi was wearing a fluttering white gown, and a black shadow concealed her face. However, Seong-Hwi felt like the woman was smiling for some reason.

“Who... are you?” Seong-Hwi asked despite knowing who she was.

“Have you forgotten again? I can’t even remember how many times I’ve greeted you,” the woman replied, her soft voice filled with love.

“What?”

“It must be because of your divine beast, Bulgasal. That means you consider our meeting... a nightmare. I’m so sorry, my baby. I just wanted to see you so badly...”

Seong-Hwi inferred what had happened from her words and thought, So... This isn’t the first time we’ve met? Bulgasal... a divine beast that devours nightmares... I see.

Bulgasal devoured nightmares. In other words, Bulgasal could only devour Seong-Hwi’s nightmares if he were having any.

It’s not that I wasn’t having lucid dreams. Rather, I’m certain the lucid dreams have been getting worse because of the side effects of Borrowing Destiny, to the point that she would start talking to me.

Seong-Hwi had been having nightmares every night; it was just that Bulgasal had been devouring them all, so he didn’t remember them.

“Fuck off,” Seong-Hwi said.

The woman remained silent.

Seong-Hwi repeated, “Get out of my sight. Don’t ever appear before me again.”

“No matter how many times I hear those words... I can never get used to them,” the woman said.

“Then I’ll tell you over and over again until you do. Fuck off. You wanted to see me again after you abandoned me? What a fucking joke.”

“That’s—”

“Don’t even try to explain yourself. I will never understand, and you will never be understood.”

The fists of the woman in the white gown trembled. Seong-Hwi did not even bat an eye. It felt like there was a transparent wall separating them.

“Don’t you dare try to meddle in my life. If I had a mother, it would be Mother Maria, not you,” Seong-Hwi said firmly.

“You’re... quite cold,” the woman said.

“The snow that day was colder.”

“I’m sorry... I’m so sorry... So very sorry...”

“Doesn’t look like I’m getting through to you.”

As Seong-Hwi was about to turn around, the woman grabbed a golden fruit from her pocket and said, “I want to... make amends.”

The faces on the surface of the fruit were screaming as they gnawed on the few remaining black letter chains.

When did it get that bad? Seong-Hwi thought, his eyes widening as he saw the black chains breaking one after another, and immediately checked the Akasha Messages.

[28 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

[27 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

[26 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

[25 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

...

“Shit!” Seong-Hwi cursed.

The numbers were rapidly decreasing. The Grim Reaper was counting down the seconds remaining until his death.

What in the—What’s my body’s condition like right now?!

Seong-Hwi could barely endure 25% of the Fruit of the World Tree’s power, but 75% had been unleashed. He was worried that his entire body had fallen apart into dust.

“Curiositas... I appreciate you for delivering the letter, but I can’t believe you put something like this inside my son,” the woman remarked.

“What?”

“Don’t get hurt, my baby. It feels like my heart is being torn apart whenever you’re in pain.”

Just then, a shining silver star rose over the platform. A darkness engulfed their surroundings, devouring the entire train station.

“If meeting me pains you so... It’s a shame, but I will never appear before you again,” the woman said as she let go of the Fruit of the World Tree, which began to rise toward the silver star.

The woman began to fade away, also being consumed by the darkness.

“Wait! Could you be—”

“Please always be happy, Cheon...”

The entire world turned pitch black the moment Seong-Hwi took a step to run toward the woman. The woman vanished, and Seong-Hwi was left floating in the darkness—a complete void.

It feels... familiar, he thought.

He had felt it when Jazathura almost killed him, when he separated Ajingya from Lilar, and when he helped give rise to Elementum. He called this place the sea of genes, but it was a little different this time. Rather than the sea, it was closer to the abyss, where not even a single particle of light could enter, or outer space.

Everything around him was black, and countless stars floated around the space like jellyfish. Among them, the brightest was the silver star that had risen initially, and the golden Fruit of the World Tree that was approaching the star.

Where am I? What is happening?

As he tried his best to understand the situation, his Destiny Force moved on its own, stimulating his heart. Seong-Hwi then instantly realized where he was, what that star was, and what he needed to do.

“Ah...!”

[You arrived in the Aether Plane.]

[The Regulator detects an act of cheating.]

[K.I.Y. disburses the price of causality instead.]

[■■■■’s Demon disburses the price of causality instead.]

[The causality stored in the ■■■ is released.]

[The Readers review the probability.]

[Eligible.]

...

[Cheon Seong-Hwi connects to the Akashic Records, the memory of the world.]

[Granting reading rights.]

[Granting recording rights.]

...

The Akasha Messages rapidly flashed past Seong-Hwi, but his entire focus was on the brightly shining silver star with several horns or teeth on its surface.

“You must be... my star,” Seong-Hwi mumbled.

He knew just by looking at the star. It was his star, his past, his present, his future, and his destiny itself.

[Cheon Seong-Hwi recognizes his star.]

...

[Desire

Description: A star that desires the entire world to fill an unsatisfiable deficiency.

Magnitude: 10

Star Power: Gluttony.]

“Desire!” Seong-Hwi called his star, to which Desire replied by emitting a silver light.

He closed his eyes as the light enveloped him. Countless notions flashed past him like a panorama. He lacked so many things, so he had a strong desire for everything. He desired parents. He desired a name. He desired comrades. He desired love. He desired power. He desired to shine brightly. He desired everything that he lacked.

“I... lacked so much... that I wanted to have things more than anyone else,” Seong-Hwi mumbled.

It was apparent just from his D Weapon, Tarot Deck of Destiny, and his unique skills. He was envious of the countless destinies in the library’s books. He wanted them all. Such desire created his skill, Borrowing Destiny. He desired power to the point that he was willing to let his psyche be corrupted by using the skill, because he desired to shine brightly.

The Wings of Evolution, his greatest achievement since his return to the past, was no different. Seong-Hwi desired the genes of other races, stealing the time taken for their evolution for his own use.

Many other memories also flashed past his mind. Nothing in the children’s home belonged to him. He remembered his suffocating thirst for affection during his elementary school’s open class for parents. He sneered at his classmates who spent their days joyfully, yet looked down at his own empty hands.

“I see. My destiny has been a series of desires. Even if I must devour the entire world... I’ve wanted to fill this hole in my heart—this deficiency.”

Seong-Hwi opened his eyes after realizing his star, knowing exactly what he must do.

[3 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

[2 days remain until the termination of Indigestion.]

[1 day remains until the termination of Indigestion.]

...

The Akasha Messages appeared as if rushing him, but Seong-Hwi was not worried. He wouldn’t die—he would record it that way.

[Cheon Seong-Hwi attempts to record in the Akashic Records.]

[Insufficient causality stored in Desire.]

[The causality stored in the ■■■ is released.]

[Temporarily enhancing the magnitude of Desire.]

[Magnitude: 10 → 7]

[Commencing the history of Overcoming Deficiency.]

[The Readers show interest in the story you will write.]

...

Desire became brighter and more vivid.

“Eat it up,” Seong-Hwi commanded Desire, which suddenly flashed intensely with a silver light.

[Activating Star Power: Gluttony.]

Desire stretched like a rubber yo-yo ball and swallowed the Fruit of the World Tree. Its horns acted as teeth, chewing the Fruit of the World Tree that screamed due to the unexpected mishap when it had almost been free from the Grace Period Chains. Soon, Desire completely absorbed the Fruit via the power of Gluttony, which his star had possessed since it was born.

[Desire fully absorbs the Fruit of the World Tree.]

[Black Quest: Indigestion, cleared.]

...

[Recording the story of Overcoming Deficiency in the Akashic Records.]

[Desire devoured the Fruit of the World Tree, a crystallization of the essence of countless lives.]

...

[The Readers are impressed by the story’s first chapter.]

[Obtaining 1,000,000,000 Karma.]

[An enormous amount of causality accumulates within Desire.]

[Magnitude: 10 → 9.3]

...

[Heightening caliber.]

...

Seong-Hwi’s subconscious began to rise to the surface.

***

The stars of your destiny are in your heart.

Friedrich Schiller

***

“He absorbed it!” a man shouted as he looked eastward from the rooftop of the Empire State Building.

He had deathly pale skin, silky black hair that reached his waist, and heterochromatic eyes of black and green. He was Curiositas, the Second Fiend.

“BLEEEGH!” someone vomited blood beside him.

A black robe covered them entirely, but one could tell from their body type that they were a woman.

“Are you okay?” Curiositas asked.

“Huff! Huff! Of course... I am,” the woman replied.

Curiositas smirked as he looked at the woman and turned back eastward, saying, “He may have received help, but... to think he has already acquired his unique caliber. He even absorbed the Fruit in its entirety. Hahaha! I suppose I was correct to give it to Cheon Seong-Hwi over Lee Kang-San!”

The robed woman approached Curiositas before he had realized it. She grabbed his shoulder and warned, “If you do... something like this again... You will have to fight me... Curio.”

Curiositas smiled as he turned toward her and remarked, “Whoa, there, it was just a little experiment. Aren’t we partners in the pursuit of S.G.?”

“That boy matters more to me... than finding S.G.”

“My, my, you’re serious,” Curiositas said as he playfully raised his hands to surrender.

“Mark my words, Curio,” the woman said as she took her hand off Curiositas’s shoulder and activated a warp gate.

“You’re leaving? Aren’t you going to help them? They’re your kind, aren’t they?” Curiositas asked.

“There are more pressing matters.”

“You’re going to miss the best part.”

“I’m not you,” the robed woman replied as she disappeared into the warp gate.

Curiositas stared at the space where she disappeared from and mumbled, “I presume she will die soon. What a shame, she was a decent partner.” He shook his head as he turned eastward again, losing interest in the space from where the woman had disappeared. “A star has risen, and another falls.”

Things couldn’t be more interesting. There had been so many events that made his heart beat fast lately. He thought he knew everything about the world, but realized the world was still full of questions. That fact alone filled him with ecstasy.

“What outcome does Lee Kang-San want? What choice will Opukia make? And...” Curiositas trailed off as he tilted his head. “What is he doing over there?”