Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint - Chapter 390

WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 390: Episode 74: Great war of Angels and Demons (5)

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Thump. Thump. Thump.

The drums of war echoed beyond the gate. Standing before the gate leading to the 119th local battle, Han Suyeong looked back.

"You're ready, right?"

This time, she was supposed to fight alongside Yu Junghyeok. Their personalities didn't mesh, but there was no more reassuring ally when they were on the same side.

The problem was that something was off about Junghyeok.

"Junghyeok?"

Instead of entering the 119th gate, Junghyeok was staring at the newly opened 123rd gate. Just as Suyeong was about to call out to him, seized by a bad feeling, his figure suddenly vanished. A powerful repulsive force shoved her from behind.

[You have entered the 119th gate.]

"Huh?"

The last thing she saw was Junghyeok's emotionless expression.

"You go there alone. There's a battlefield I need to reach."

"Hey! Why are you deciding that on your own-"

Before Suyeong could shout anything in response to his sudden declaration, the space around her twisted, revealing a new battlefield.

"Goddammit..."

[The Incarnation Han Suyeong has entered the 119th local battle.]

[The Incarnation Han Suyeong's alignment is evil.]

She had already passed through the gate and couldn't go back. The only way to return was to finish this battle.

[Many Constellations have their eyes on you!]

Suyeong was the only one left in evil's wide-open camp, which stretched out like a barren plain.

On the other side, the gazes of terrifying Constellations poured down on her one after another.

[The Constellation Master of the Ark is looking at you.]

[The Constellation Protector of Youth and Travel is looking at you.]

[The Constellation Goddess of the Morning Star is looking at you.]

[The Constellation One Who Faces God is looking at you.]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire is looking at you.]

Suyeong groaned as she identified the owners of those gazes.

Noah, the Master of the Ark, was one thing, but there was the Archangel Raphael, the Protector of Youth and Travel, Vakarine, goddess of the Tree of Guardianship, the Archangel Camael, One Who Faces God, and even the Archangel Uriel, Demonic Judge of Fire...

Behind them stood ranks upon ranks of Valkyries.

Her knees nearly gave out just facing them. She knew this was a trap, but the gap in strength was ridiculous. No, could this even be called a battlefield in the first place?

"I wonder if Kim Dokja will at least see to my funeral."

[O small evil.]

The moment she heard the constellation's declaration from the Goddess of the Morning Star, Suyeong realized this situation was no joke.

[The many forces of good wish to judge you!]

Suyeong bit down on her lip and began unwrapping the bandages around her left hand when someone appeared beside her.

[Someone has joined the evil alignment!]

Someone joined such a disadvantageous battlefield?

Who?

[I was only planning to watch, but I have someone I need to repay as well.]

That uniquely unpleasant voice.

Suyeong immediately recognized who it was.

"Asmodeus?"

[It's been a while, Incarnation of the Black Flame Dragon.]

For a moment, she remembered something Kim Dokja had once told her.

"Raphael and Asmodeus have a score to settle. If you run into them on a battlefield, make good use of it."

Asmodeus drew his claws. Suyeong didn't even need to provoke him. He was already burning with fighting spirit.

[Raphael. At last, it is time to repay the debt from our last war!]

As Asmodeus charged forward, leaving black afterimages behind him, two immense waves of Mana collided in midair.

Neither side was trustworthy, but this was still better than having no one on her side.

Craaaash!

Suyeong shot upward to avoid the explosion. The sight of the battlefield from above was downright dizzying. Even if Asmodeus dealt with Raphael, there were still far too many Constellations left.

‘Damn Kim Dokja! Damn Junghyeok!’

To face an army like that, she had no choice but to use the card she had been saving.

"I, Han Suyeong, master of the Black Flame, awaken the dragon of an ancient seal! O Constellation darker than darkness, abyss deeper than flowing night..."

It was an incantation she'd rather die than recite, but in this situation, the words flowed easily from her mouth.

Her left arm reacted to the chant and twitched as a dragon's roar echoed from somewhere.

"Show yourself here, now!"

[The Constellation Abyssal Black Flame Dragon is preparing a demigod Descent.]

* * *

Yu Junghyeok entered the 123rd gate alone and searched for someone across a battlefield covered in windblown brush.

‘There's no doubt. It's that bastard's presence.’

Junghyeok had even refused Kim Dokja's request and pushed himself to enter the 123rd gate for one reason.

That reason stood before him now.

"Yu Junghyeok, please become my companion."

Junghyeok had never forgotten the day long ago when he first heard those words. A delicate nose, neatly groomed golden hair, and eyes swirling with an ominous red that mocked everything in the world.

"Anna Croft."

She looked exactly as Junghyeok remembered.

"So you've come, Yu Junghyeok."

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok has entered the 123rd local battle.]

[The Incarnation Yu Junghyeok's alignment is good.]

Junghyeok had joined the 123rd battlefield because he learned that Anna Croft was participating here.

And the Constellation who had told him that was...

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter wears an odd smile.]

Junghyeok ground his teeth.

"It's time to repay the debt from the second round."

The Black Heaven Demon Blade, quietly drawn from its sheath, let out a jet-black wail. It was the moment of revenge he had waited so long for.

"Draw your weapon."

"I have no intention of fighting you."

"Then die without a fight."

Even in the face of the approaching threat, Anna Croft shook her head.

"Did you really come here to take revenge for the second round?"

"..."

"Your revenge is meaningless. Even you know that the Anna Croft of the second round isn't me."

"Was yesterday's you not you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You inherited the memories and will of the Anna Croft from the second round. You have the same ideals and the same goal as that bastard. You are undeniably Anna Croft."

"What makes a being what they are is the fables they possess. Your beliefs are the same now as they were in the second round."

Even as Junghyeok's sword approached, Anna remained defenseless.

Junghyeok's expression hardened when he saw the half-resigned look in her eyes.

"Where are the Zarathustras?"

"They aren't here."

"Don't make me laugh. You wouldn't have come here alone."

"If it were the Anna Croft you know, that would be true."

As Junghyeok approached, his Status sent Anna's hair flying. Her exposed face was covered in small wounds.

The most noticeable were the scars around [Arch-Demon's Eyeball]. They looked like someone had deliberately tried to gouge it out.

Junghyeok gripped Anna's shoulder.

"What happened?"

"A lot happened."

Anna shook off his hand and snapped, "It means that the great Anna Croft you knew has long since fallen."

At the same time, something began rushing in from the other side of the battlefield.

The Constellations who chose the evil alignment were racing across the battlefield, freely releasing their Status.

Junghyeok moved to take Anna hostage, as though he had expected this. Then he noticed something strange.

[Some Constellations from the nebula Asgard have joined this local battle!]

[Some Constellations from the nebula Veda have joined this local battle!]

[Some Constellations from the nebula Papyrus have joined this local battle!]

Anna smiled as she looked at the sword pointed at her throat.

"Don't do anything stupid, Yu Junghyeok. We're on the same side."

[The Incarnation Anna Croft's alignment is good.]

"Wasn't Asgard your sponsoring nebula?"

"I understand your grudge, but could you put your revenge off until later?"

Though they were talking about different things, they understood each other's situation perfectly. One was a regressor who understood the past better than anyone, while the other was a Prophet who had fought such a regressor all this time.

Junghyeok lowered his sword.

"A fitting end for you, Prophet."

"You'll be sharing that end."

The vast army of Asgard, kicking up clouds of dust as it approached, came to a halt.

[The Constellation God of Fairness and Kindness looks on sadly.]

[The Constellation Flame of Muspelheim wishes to burn everything on the battlefield.]

[A Constellation who likes changing gender is looking at the Incarnation Yu Junghyeok.]

At the front of the troops, which had halted as if offering one last consideration, stood Selena Kim and Iris.

Junghyeok read the many emotions written across their faces.

"It seems this is your final courtesy."

But just because they had stopped didn't mean every other Constellation had done the same.

"Move!"

With Anna's warning, both figures vanished at once.

A thunderous roar swept across the battlefield. An enormous crater swallowed the spot where they had been.

Rumble!

Currents of lightning consumed the sky.

The sinister laughter of Constellations echoed out.

[The Constellation Black Wolf Reaper has chosen the evil alignment.]

[The Constellation God King of Thunder and Lightning has chosen the evil alignment.]

Anna's face went pale as she recognized the Constellations' modifiers.

The Black Wolf Reaper was Anubis, a powerful Constellation of Papyrus.

And the God King of Thunder and Lightning was...

"Oh no, Indra..."

Just as Olympus had its Twelve Seats, the nebula Veda had its eight Lokapalas.

Among those eight Lokapalas, there was one Constellation who reigned as their king.

[The Constellation God King of Thunder and Lightning has deployed Rain of Lightning.]

He was Indra, the God King of Thunder and Lightning.

[Many Constellations protest that the intervention of the God King of Thunder and Lightning is unfair!]

It was only natural that there would be complaints. Indra wasn't a Constellation who should appear in a mere local battle.

It would be fair to call him Veda's strongest being, apart from the Three Great Gods.

[The Constellation God King of Thunder and Lightning is currently in a state of demigod Descent.]

What was more, he had descended in a demigod form rather than through an Incarnation body.

Anna pressed her lips together as she dodged the rain of thunderbolts falling from the sky. No matter how capable she was, and no matter how strong Junghyeok was, facing that Constellation now was impossible.

Junghyeok asked, "Why did you betray me?"

"...Is this really the time to talk about that?"

Anna let out a sigh beneath his silent gaze.

"It was the best option. I thought doing that would let me reach the ending I envisioned."

"Did you reach that ending, then?"

Anna didn't answer.

Neither TWSA nor the records of the 1,863rd round explained how far the Anna Croft of the second round had reached in the Scenarios.

Only Anna herself knew the outcome.

Anna muttered in a frustrated voice, "You already know everything, so why ask?"

The Black Wolf Reaper moved. It was Anubis, a fabled-grade Constellation wearing a pitch-black jackal mask and wielding a black spear.

Anubis's spear cut through the rain of lightning and shot straight toward Anna's heart.

Then...