WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS

Translator: ZERO_SUGAR

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈

Chapter 481: Episode 91: A Single Fable (5)

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After saying that, Uriel didn't speak again. Without a word, the Kings of the Outer Gods looked at one another.

I didn't miss the opening.

"We have no intention of fighting you. Just as you have no real intention of destroying this world. You and I are both used to tragedy. There is no need to create any more sorrow in the worldlines."

[The Scenario has temporarily entered a lull!]

[The Star Stream is surprised by this unexpected Scenario development!]

Tense, I watched for their response. The Outer Gods remained silent. I couldn't tell whether they had heard me.

「Up to this point, everything had gone according to Kim Dokja's plan.」

Using the memories of the 999th round to remind them of Yu Junghyeok.

「This battle couldn't be won through an all-out war in the first place.」

If they had truly activated the full Plausibility of a Calamity, the Scenario would have ended the moment it began. Even in the original novel, planets had been destroyed after foolishly responding to the Great Apocalypse.

[Many Constellations who dislike you are displeased by this situation!]

[Some Constellations protest this unreasonable Scenario development!]

That was likely the spectacle the Constellations had expected. Kim Dokja Company, whom they hated, meeting a miserable end alongside Earth.

But the Kings of the Outer Gods hadn't done that.

At least, not yet.

"Kim Dokja. What happens next?"

Han Suyeong, standing to my right, asked in a tense voice.

"Honestly, I don't know either."

"What?"

"This is as far as I planned."

Suyeong's face filled with disbelief, as though she couldn't believe the nonsense she had just heard.

"You..."

"We have no choice but to trust them now."

It probably sounded irresponsible. But there was no other way. This was the best I could come up with, and the best path toward the right conclusion.

Suddenly, I remembered what Han Suyeong of the 1,863rd round had said.

「"I trusted the characters I created. That's all."」

I thought I understood how she had felt.

That was why I said it.

"I thought I had no choice but to trust the characters I had read about, the ones who taught me."

I trusted TWSA. Not the author who wrote it, but the characters in that novel.

[Living Flame is looking at you.]

Uriel, more righteous than anyone else.

[King of the Silver Heart is looking at you.]

Lee Hyeongseong, kind and steadfast.

[Owner of the Sunken Island is looking at you.]

Lee Jihye, who cared deeply for others.

[The Constellation Secretive Plotter is looking at you.]

Yu Junghyeok, who never knelt before any injustice.

I trusted them. I trusted the time of the people who had raised me when I was young, and the values that remained unbroken no matter how much time passed.

Uriel of the 999th round spoke. She wasn't speaking to me.

【Lee Hyeongseong, you said that in this worldline, you could see an ending we never saw.】

【Yes, Uriel.】

【Do you still believe that?】

Hyeongseong nodded. Uriel of the 999th round slowly turned her head and looked at me. Her eyes burned brightly like the corona of the sun.

【Did you say you were called the Demon King of Salvation?】

Her gaze seemed to test my justice. I swallowed without realizing it and nodded.

【I saw the fables related to you through my counterpart in this worldline.】

Huiwon's body flinched nearby. More precisely, it wasn't Huiwon but Uriel who had flinched. I had a bad feeling.

Living Flame's next words were completely unexpected.

【Your fables are remarkably similar to those of the Yu Junghyeok I know. The way you clear Scenarios, the way you care for your Companions.】

"..."

【This worldline is remarkably similar to ours.】

Complex emotions crossed Jihye of the 999th round's face. The moment I saw them, I understood why they had been looking at one another for so long.

They weren't shaken simply because this world was their hometown.

【Do you know what happened in our worldline?】

I hesitated. It wasn't something I could easily explain.

My fables began telling the story in place of my inadequate words.

[The fable Demon King of Salvation begins its story.]

Part of my fables flowed from my fingertips toward the beings of the 999th round.

[The fable One Who Opposes the Extraordinary begins its story.]

[The fable One Who Hunted the King of Catastrophes begins its story.]

I watched them read my fables. Their expressions were varied. What they were comparing my fables to was obvious.

Had I worn that same expression when I first read TWSA?

That was something I would never know.

【...How could this be...?】

That was when the anomaly occurred. The Status of Uriel of the 999th round, who had silently been reading the fables, infiltrated my mental realm through my fables, as though trying to discover the origin of my existence.

[Exclusive Skill The Fourth Wall has activated!]

Dazzling sparks flew, and as expected, the Wall moved.

[The Fourth Wall glares at Living Flame!]

Living Flame's left hand, knocked back as if repelled, was faintly scorched.

A flicker of understanding appeared in her surprised eyes as she looked at me.

【I see. So that was it. You are...】

Her voice was more startled than it had been when she read my memories.

【The final fragment of the Final Wall... Is that why Secretive Plotter is obsessed with you?】

"Make your decision. There isn't much time left until the Scenario ends."

[The Great Apocalypse Scenario has temporarily entered a lull.]

[If the current state continues for a long time, the distortion of the world will accelerate.]

Once they had descended as Calamities, the Scenario had to end. For now, the best option was to hope they would relinquish their role as Calamities.

Living Flame spoke again.

【I acknowledge the potential you possess. It is frustrating, but I can agree to postpone my revenge. However...】

Countless emotions crossed her face.

【I don't believe you can reach the end of the world. I don't believe a being who has merely followed the fables of another worldline can see a proper ending.】

"Wait..."

【When this Scenario ends, you will reach your conclusion.】

The end of "A Single Fable," its conclusion.

A terrifying gale condensed around Uriel of the 999th round. The vaporized sea wind left salt on the tip of my nose.

The overwhelming shift in her Status made me shout instinctively.

"Yu Junghyeok!"

At the same time, Junghyeok stepped forward and cut through the gale with the Black Heaven Demon Blade. But the heat scorched the back of his hand, too.

His breathing was uneven. The effect of Broken Film Theory was nearly over.

Rumbblee!

The Great Fables of the 999th round stirred all at once. For some reason, even Hyeongseong of the 999th round didn't stop Uriel this time.

I shouted urgently.

"Why? There is no need to do this! We..."

Uriel of the 999th round walked toward us without a word.

My tense Companions released their Status to meet hers.

[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm continues its story!]

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth continues its story!]

Living Flame approached, scorning our fables.

Having received the Status of every other Outer God, she raised the Flame of Karma.

I bit my lip hard.

[An absolute majority of Constellations fear the power of the Outer Gods!]

[Many Great Dokkaebis despise the fables of the Outer Gods.]

Everything in the Star Stream would eventually become a story.

But why did a story like this, one neither Constellations nor dokkaebis wanted, have to exist? Why did this story, which would only drown everyone in endless sorrow, exist at all?

【Do you always create fables to tell someone else?】

Uriel of the 999th round spoke. The remarkably refined Flame of Karma spoke of time beyond the Scenario.

【For whom do the fables you have built exist?】

Hearing her constellation's declaration, I understood what she meant.

A story supported by no one.

Even so, she wanted to see the end of this Scenario.

「This was the answer Living Flame had chosen.」

She didn't wish to continue this Scenario because she agreed with the Constellations, nor because she was going along with the Star Stream.

【Show me your conclusion. Prove to me that you can reach an ending unlike that of any other worldline.】

The stars in the sky watched us. Stars that had watched this story for a very long time. I imagined those countless points of starlight, and beyond them, the end of every world in existence. I imagined the ending of this story I had envisioned for so long.

"Kim Dokja!"

A wave of blazing heat filled my view.

Entangled with the stench of burning sulfur, Uriel of the 999th round's [hellfire inferno] created a tidal wave of lava. It was a wave of immense Status that would melt everything the instant it touched.

This battle would be decided in a single exchange.

If we could stop that, we would win.

"Everyone, focus on the Great Fables!"

Paltry tricks were useless before a Calamity.

Rather than relying on their specialties, my Companions aided the operation of the Great Fables. Shin Yuseong, Lee Gilyeong, and Yu Sangah all stretched both hands into the air, lending their strength to the shares of the Great Fables.

[The Great Fable Season of Light and Darkness begins its story!]

Along with the sound of the sky splitting apart came the roar of the Apocalypse Dragon.

The next moment, a fierce roar erupted from Suyeong's side.

Kuoooooo!

Abyssal Black Flame Dragon, the final candidate for the Apocalypse Dragon, fired his Breath.

Huiwon charged forward on the blazing gale of savage [Black Flame].

[The Constellation Lily Blooming in Aquarius has opened its Status!]

[The Constellation Demonic Judge of Fire has opened its Status!]

Two Archangels stood alongside Huiwon.

The Sword of Judgement, raised high into the sky, slashed down at the tidal wave.

Craaaash!

Perhaps because of the two angels' combined attack, the tidal wave slowed for an instant.

Junghyeok didn't miss that opportunity.

[The fable Eternal Hellscape continues its story!]

Afterimages from countless rounds stretched out from the Black Heaven Demon Blade.

His scattered Status shattered the advancing wave.

"Not enough."

Junghyeok's desperate struggle couldn't last long. The sparks flying across his body were becoming unstable. Broken Film Theory had finally run its course.

At the exact moment Junghyeok's Status sharply diminished, he struck the heart of the wave.

Sky Splitter Sword Art.

Secret Technique.

Dark Sea Slash.

A tiny opening created by his secret technique.

I didn't miss it.

[Youngest, I'm ready.]

Then I heard the voice I had been waiting for.

The surrounding clouds gathered around me as though embracing me. Cloud Somersault, brimming with lightning as if it had collected every bolt in the sky, surrounded me.

[You can only use it once.]

I kicked off the clouds and ran through the narrowing gap in the lava.

The wings created through [Demon King Transformation] caught fire, and the terrible heat felt as if it would scorch my eyes. Still, I didn't stop.

I had a duty to protect the path every Companion had opened for me.

「The one story that would prove our lives.」

My accelerating steps soon became light.

I held my Incarnation body, which seemed ready to burst apart, together with the power of [Electrification].

Faster, stronger. As if I myself had become a bolt of lightning.

Fully charged lightning surged in both my hands. Lightning that had crushed the countless stars of the Star Stream and shattered half of the Emperor's Celestial Court.

With all my strength, I threw the Ruyi Staff.

「The stars in the sky trembled, and the nebulae shrank back. Only the dark clouds draped over the sky foretold their despair.」

This was a strike containing all the strength of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven.

「Just as it had been on his final battlefield.」

Lightning surged forward, smashing through every wave of lava.

The exploding tidal wave burned away completely. The unceasing current of electricity created a path across the divided wave.

It was the path of fables we had walked all this time. I ran along that path.

[The Great Fable Spring of the Demon Realm arranges your conclusion.]

The beginning of the Demon Realm.

[The Great Fable Holy Flame That Devoured Myth snorts as it guides you.]

The Succession of Olympus.

[The Great Fable Season of Light and Darkness stands beside you.]

The turning point of the Great war of Angels and Demons. And...

[The Great Fable Liberator of the Forgotten dreams of the final fable.]

The final missing piece.

Craaaash!

Every fable we had experienced intertwined and shone with a dazzling light. A storm of blinding flashes covered everything.

When I raised my head, volcanic ash from the lava was drifting through the sky.

The sky was in ruins after everything had ended. Fallout obscuring the stars' gaze scattered like snow and blanketed the sea.

Someone was kneeling before Unbreakable Faith.

Broken Archangel wings.

From the beginning, she hadn't intended to defeat us.

I quietly looked into her eyes.

I didn't know whether this had proven anything.

Still, this was the best I could show.

Uriel of the 999th round stared at the sword tip for a long time, as though pondering the final sentence over and over. As though that sharp sword tip were the period that would end all her fables.

Uriel's gaze slowly followed the direction in which the sword tip pointed.

Beyond the distant horizon where the sky met the sea.

「The end of this worldline was there.」

A faint tremor crossed Uriel's face.

Jihye of the 999th round, Hyeongseong, even Kim Namwoon, who had looked dazed, all turned to look that way.

Something faintly appeared beyond the pale fallout.

Fear filled the faces of the Outer Gods.

I understood what they were seeing.

The place they had already reached once in the 999th round.

The Final Wall they could never cross so long as they remained in the world of this fable.

[The Calamities of the Great Apocalypse Scenario have relinquished their rights as Calamities.]

[The Great Apocalypse Scenario has entered its ending sequence!]

[Your final Great Fable is blossoming!]

[An absolute majority of Constellations watch as your final fable awakens!]

I heard the Final Wall calling to me.

[Hidden Scenario A Single Fable has reached its conclusion!]

[The Star Stream contemplates the name of your final fable.]

[You have achieved an accomplishment that every star of the Star Stream will revere!]

[You have pioneered an epic reached by only a Few stars!]

Then, the message I had waited for so long appeared.

[You and your nebula have earned the right to see the ■■ of all things.]

[The King of Stories summons you.]

Footnotes:

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