WeTried Translations

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Editor: ZERO_SUGAR

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Chapter 511: Dawn, the Star That Heralds the End of Night (1)

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He fell toward the bottom of the Bottomless Pit.

There was no chance the Bottomless Pit had an end, so Najin had no choice but to keep falling forever. Perhaps sinking was a more accurate word.

‘Can't see.’

He could see nothing.

‘Can't hear either.’

He could hear nothing.

"......"

He could not see, hear, or feel.

Everything felt distant.

At last, even he himself began to feel faint. Desperately, Najin clung to his sense of self. He drew up the starlight remaining within him, throwing firewood into a dying flame to keep it alive.

‘Remember.’

Remember the starting point. Reflect on the stories held within the Stars. Use the Stars he had built as lanterns and move forward...

‘Believe in yourself.’

But that was not enough.

No matter how firmly he believed in himself, it could not stop the fall. That was why it was an unavoidable fall. The hands pulling Najin down grew rougher still. They clawed at his body, blocked his sight, plugged his ears, and dragged him toward the bottom of the Bottomless Pit.

‘Don't let go.’

Najin resisted. He tightened his grip on Excalibur.

Excalibur was still shining.

Its light had grown faint, but it had not lost it. The Stars carved into its blade still glimmered, however weakly.

Using Excalibur and the story carved into it as a lifeline, Najin held himself together. As he fell toward the end of the Bottomless Pit, that was the only thing he had left to rely on.

And even that did not last long.

Darkness clung to Excalibur. Forged from the lives of countless heroes who had drawn this sword, the platinum blade began to rust beneath the darkness. How could a sword that should never break, rust, or fade become like this?

The reason was simple.

If humans had completed the Holy Sword, then humans were also capable of corroding it. A sword completed by the achievements of heroes was corroded by the sins committed by humanity.

Darkness obscured the light.

It wrapped around the platinum blade like vines, painting over the achievements Najin had built in black.

As if asking what any of it had meant.

Excalibur vanished into the darkness.

Clench.

No matter how hard he tightened his hand, he could not grasp anything. His fingers closed around empty air.

The last lifeline holding Najin up was gone.

The moment his only light disappeared, the darkness wrapped around his body as if it had been waiting for that.

He could not see. He could not hear.

Even when he reached toward the sky, there was nothing to grasp.

There were no Stars in the sky above him.

Nothing shone in this place filled with endless darkness. It felt as though he were sinking into the depths of the sea. Once the light vanished, his consciousness blurred, and at last he sank to the deepest place.

Nothing.

There was nothing here.

Before the sins and evil amassed over tens of thousands of years, one human's sense of self was far too small. Like a sailboat adrift in a vast sea.

Then a fierce wave came.

Before such a wave, the sailboat could only be swept away.

At last, an endless night arrived.

There were no Stars.

The sun did not rise.

Najin sank to the bottom of the Abyss.

2.

He could not see the Stars.

There was only darkness, as if Stars had never existed there in the first place. Najin reached toward the dark sky, waving his hand endlessly as he tried to seize a Star.

Nothing met his hand.

He could not even tell whether he was still moving his arm.

‘Ah.’

His body was crumbling into tiny pieces. His sense of self grew faint, and his memories began to blur as well. A human cast into the deepest sea could not maintain their shape. They would be crushed by the pressure, torn apart, and become part of the sea.

That was why Najin resisted.

He struggled to find himself again, to hold onto himself and escape this place. Yet nothing changed. No matter how he reached out, he could not grasp a Star. The Stars that had always been beside him had disappeared.

All thirteen Stars were gone.

Excalibur had scattered into the darkness as well.

Where the Stars, the achievements, and the Holy Sword had all vanished, only a human remained. Not a Transcendent, but a mere human who could only be swept away by a giant wave.

A pitiful, unimpressive human.

No matter how firmly he believed in himself, there was no proof behind that belief. Had not every Star vanished? Had not every foundation supporting his confidence crumbled away? A belief without grounds had no value.

Najin.

The boy born in the Underground City.

He had dreamed of Stars in a place where they could not be seen.

And as dreams often were, dreams remained dreams. A dream was a dream because it could not be fulfilled. Wishing desperately for something changed nothing. The way Najin had strengthened his confidence until now could not help him at all.

Not enough. Cannot reach. Falling.

One step.

Najin had obtained his thirteenth Star, yet he was still one step short. He did not know what that step was.

「......」

Only the image of his shabby younger self flickered before his eyes. Najin remembered the boy he had been, eyes shining as he reached toward the sky and waved his hand to catch a Star he could not grasp.

Remembering that, he looked ahead.

Nothing could be seen through the darkness. Still, he knew one thing.

He had not changed at all from the child he used to be.

‘Nothing has changed.’

Nothing had changed.

‘Nothing.’

Even after gaining Stars, building achievements, and becoming a Transcendent, he had not changed at all from when he was young. He still longed for Stars. He was still reaching toward the sky.

Najin gave a bitter smile at that realization.

The boy who dreamed of Stars had grown up.

He had taken up a sword and become a Sword Expert, then a Sword Seeker, and at last a Sword Master. One by one, he had built his Stars and placed one at the highest point, achieving feats no one else had achieved.

And yet, even now.

Najin suddenly realized that he had not changed at all from the child he had been.

‘Why am I dreaming of Stars?’

He asked himself.

‘Why am I reaching toward the sky?’

Najin answered the question he had asked himself.

He no longer needed to.

The Stars were not so far away anymore.

"......"

Najin lowered his hand.

He no longer reached toward the sky. Instead, he raised his hand before his heart. Not somewhere distant, but close at hand, Najin clenched his fist.

‘It doesn't matter if I can't see the Stars.’

Because.

‘I've no need to dream of Stars anymore.’

The child he had been and the person he was now were different. Unlike the child who had needed to dream of Stars where they could not be seen, Najin no longer had to. He realized he no longer needed to remember his starting point to steady himself.

Because he had experienced so much.

Because he had learned from a life lived doing his best.

Because he had grown through what he learned.

Because he had turned his dream into reality at the end of it all.

Najin could shine on his own.

Starlight seeped from his clenched fist.

Najin no longer reached toward the sky. There was no need. The Stars were not in that false night sky, they were within him. Looking at the starlight spilling through the gaps in his fingers, Najin smiled.

Only a small glimmer of starlight rested in his hand.

It was too faint to cut through the darkness. There was no radiant Excalibur, nor was there a sword sharp enough to split this darkness apart. The Najin from only moments ago would have searched for a sword, but now he knew.

There was no need.

The scattered Excalibur had not disappeared. It had never disappeared in the first place. Excalibur's essence was not a blade. A weapon that had become no different from himself when his Stars were carved into it, that was Excalibur.

Najin had been wielding himself all along.

The sword was himself, and he was the sword.

Then he no longer needed a sword. In the Realm he had reached long ago, Najin took one more step forward. As if gripping a hilt, he grasped a Star.

Starlight burst from his clenched hand.

It was no longer faint. Starlight flooded through the gaps in his fingers. Excalibur, which had vanished into the darkness, appeared again, but its form was different from before.

The blade corroded by darkness crumbled.

The sword's shape collapsed.

What rose from the collapsing blade were Najin's Stars, once set into Excalibur. Drawn by Najin's hand, the Stars aligned. Star linked to Star, becoming a single constellation. With one theme running through every Star, Najin wove them into a single sword.

This constellation was Najin's sword.

Perhaps the clue had been there from the day he awakened Sword Aura. Sword Aura that shone with starlight, Sword Aura that took the shape of a constellation. Only when he no longer needed a sword did Najin realize it.

Holding the sword, Najin saw what he had to cut.

The darkness surrounding him.

The sins humanity had built, the evil born from humanity, the terrible things the Witch had gathered and gathered. Najin faced the malice steeped over tens of thousands of years. It was so vast that it seemed impossible to cut.

But Najin knew.

He knew the Swordsman who had cut down what had seemed too immense to cut, and the technique he had completed with his life.

Thousand Stars, Ten Thousand Radiances.

He gripped the constellation and swung the Stars.

Starlight carved the darkness away, and the flooding starlight burned it. As starlight slashed the darkness to pieces, the walls of the Bottomless Pit came into view. They were filled with countless nations, structures, civilizations, and all that humanity had built in ages past and the Witch had swallowed.

Najin kicked off and began to run.

He ran along the wall.

Just as he had when escaping the Underground City in the past.

Najin cut through the rising darkness. Each swing of his sword split it apart. It could no longer hold him back. The Abyss could not keep one who chose to rise after seeing all of this.

From the end of the Abyss, Najin climbed toward the sky.

As if he were beginning his journey again from the start.

A life that had begun in Artman, the Underground City, passed through Cambria, crossed the Outland, and reached the Abyss.

Remembering his life, Najin ran along the wall. Looking back on it, he smiled. The Stars in his hand shone.

Come to think of it, Merlin had once told him to weave his story into a Star.

Najin's life story had begun with Arthur's.

At the place where Arthur's story had been given its period and reached its turning point, Najin had carved in his own story.

「A life that moves one step ahead rather than remaining in place.」

Challenge.

「Even if a dragon blocks my path, I will cut it down.」

Dragon Slaying.

「Breaking through any hardship and moving forward.」

Breakthrough.

「Never kneeling before any trial.」

Indomitability.

「Giving those who have departed the road they deserve to take.」

Funeral Rites.

「A story worth laughing and talking about.」

Jovial Laughter.

「A life that chooses, not one that is chosen.」

Selection.

「One step toward the unknown.」

Adventure.

「Believing in myself.」

Self-Confidence.

「Toward a better tomorrow.」

Tomorrow.

「Fight, triumph, and bring down.」

Victory in Battle.

「Bound by nothing.」

Defying Heaven.

「At last, I will go beyond.」

And thus, I will attain Transcendence.

The thirteen Stars shone. Grasping those radiant Stars, Najin exhaled. He kicked off the wall and leaped upward.

The Bottomless Pit that had imprisoned Najin shattered into pieces.

Najin burst through the Bottomless Pit and faced the Witch.

The Witch's eyes widened. Before she could reach out, Najin moved.

Originally, a constellation was completed with thirteen Stars.

A Transcendent was completed by obtaining the final thirteenth Star, the one Star that ran through all twelve. Therefore, a fourteenth Star could not exist. A being that was already complete, a being whose story had been given its period, could not move any further.

But Najin had always surpassed his limits.

Najin's thirteenth Star was Transcendence.

Having always overcome walls, Najin saw the last wall he needed to overcome.

It was himself.

And so, the words Najin needed to reflect on now were not believe in yourself.

‘Surpass yourself.’

Using himself as a stepping stone, he would surpass himself.

Starlight burst forth. The spilling starlight became a backlight that illuminated Najin. He held thirteen Stars in his hand, but there were not only thirteen Stars shining.

Najin himself, shining on his own, was a Star.

The fourteenth Star shone.

The Star of Dawn, the Star that symbolized Najin himself.

If there was one last thing he had to cut, it was surely the night. A night so deep and so long that it felt as though it would never end was here.

Yet night was bound to end someday.

Because the Dawning Star, the Star That Heralds the End of Night, existed.

Dawn Sword, Cutting Night.

Dawn cut through the night.

Author's Note

I'm a little late!

Thank you to artist Otalja for completing such incredible illustrations right to the end!

*I recommend reading this chapter in scroll mode or dark mode!

Footnotes:

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