D.I.O

Lancelot’s opportunity to rise to the transcendent realm resulted from great luck. Gaia’s Blessing had given him a moment of enlightenment that he would’ve never obtained otherwise.

And in that moment of fortune…

Crack! Crack!

Unfortunately for him, the moment he stepped into the transcendent realm, a powerful enemy interfered with his transcendence; this could only be described as a tremendous misfortune, the worst luck possible.

“Lancelot!”

With a pale face, Cruze caught Lancelot’s upper body. Red blood gushed out from him, and he’d lost all his gear. This sort of phenomenon happened when a user’s manifestation was forcibly canceled.

“You idiot! You shouldn’t have appeared on the frontline with your main body! You should have stayed in the rear!”

“No, no. Even if I appeared through the DIO mission system, the result would have been the same.”

Lancelot chuckled dejectedly and frowned in pain. He felt a foreign, powerful energy eating away at his soul.

Crack!

“… This is…?”

As she realized what was happening, Cruze raised her head. Alexander stood back as if its business was over. M-4 explained:

[Transcendent Weapon, Alexander’s sword. Since this is also a version of Earth, you must know the legend of the Gordian Knot, right?]

In 333 B.C., after capturing Goldion, the capital of Lydia Kingdom under Persia’s rule, Alexander severed the Knot of Zeus, otherwise known as the Gordian Knot. It was said that if anyone could cut the Gordian Knot, that person would become the conqueror of Asia. At that time, Alexander stated that fate wasn’t made by legend but through one’s sword.

Thus, the [special characteristic] of Alexander’s sword was that it could cut fate.

Hence, the effect was…

“Damn it.”

Like the souls of the formidable martial artist Hanma and Jeros, a great mage, Lancelot’s soul began to scatter.

“Damn it…”

Lancelot laughed bitterly as he felt his consciousness gradually fading away.

“I thought…”

He didn’t consider himself a martial artist, but still, he had trained for a long time. Since he had essentially lived ten times longer than an average human’s lifespan, practicing and training one single stab, it wouldn’t have been strange for others to think he was an accomplished martial artist at first glance.

However, his training wasn’t in martial arts.

It was…

Crack!

His soul slowly disappeared from the deadly scar left by Alexander’s sword strike. As for the divine status that would’ve allowed him to transcend his existence in the physical world, it also disappeared.

Thud!

“Ack!”

With a heavy echo, Leaf rolled on the ground before jumping to her feet. She still retained a sleek posture, but her disheveled dress and the blood running down her mouth illustrated that she was on the losing end of her fight.

“You machines over there are actually doing some work and starting to pull your weight now, huh?”

Volcano had sent Leaf tumbling when he appeared before the group. His body was wrapped in a roaring heat wave, which made him look like an incarnation of fire.

“Even though his flame actuation isn’t at Arthur’s photonization level….” Leaf commented.

After colliding with Volcano, Leaf glared at him while gritting her teeth. Volcano looked like he was an incarnation of fire itself, but it was just a self-defense technique. Volcano didn’t turn his entire body into flames, like how Arthur turned his whole body into light through photonization.

Volcano had changed his name to Volcano after acquiring his great skill [Volcanic Inhalation], so his current form was ordinary for him.

However, the problem was…

Volcano’s ‘ordinary’ combat form was a truly daunting defensive form.

“I can’t break through his natural defenses!”

Moreover, Volcano’s form utilized the fire attribute and strong qi, so every time Leaf launched an attack, she injured herself.

Thud!

Arc descended next to the party members. She held a lifeless-looking Merlin in her left arm.

“Be careful. If you get hit by Sadness’ mental attack while fighting Volcano, even your defensive barriers won’t work.”

Arc always wore full body armor, including a helmet. Consequently, her party members never saw her face, but right now, her facial expression wasn’t hidden by anything. Even though she was in the best state compared to the others, her armor had been thoroughly smashed and rendered useless.

Tap.

And finally, Miho joined the group with a flushed face.

“Ugh, what is up with that girl!? She can cast enchantment spells on a Nine-Tailed Fox?”

“Ho-ho-ho! Let’s play some more, kid.”

Happiness, a naked beauty, smiled as she chuckled and stuck out her slender, long legs. Upon seeing this scene, Youngmin’s face turned red.

“Hey!”

Youngmin hurriedly shook his head after hearing Miho’s outburst.

“Oh, no. I wasn’t looking! I’m currently a bit oversensitive, so it can’t be helped!”

Although Youngmin could perfectly stabilize his Celestial Star’s killing intent due to Gaia’s Blessing, his senses were still in a significantly heightened state. In truth, he should have been slaughtering everything in his surroundings without a care in the world.

‘Damn. This seems like the perfect place for all of us to die. I can’t believe there isn’t a single being I can deal with easily.’

In Youngmin’s original world, there was only one proper transcendent, and even that one transcendent acted more like a bystander than anything.

What about this place, though? Wasn’t it crawling with transcendents?

‘This is tough.’

The battlefield was so intense that the Celestial Star, famed for being unable to control his anger disorder, was evolving into a being who needed anger management.

“Are you still watching!” Miho screamed toward Youngmin.

“Stop,” Arc stated.

This time, Arc blocked Volcano’s heat wave.

“It’s time for you trash to leave.”

“Who are you calling trash?! You guys are the ones who should scram! This is Earth!”

Sadness and Leaf collided.

“I’m so excited….”

“Ugh! I hate this girl!”

Simultaneously, Miho clashed with Happiness. The remaining party members had gathered to protect the fallen Merlin and Lancelot, but… their power was insufficient to fight all the opponents. Thus, when the fierce battle ensued once more, many of the party members were left defenseless.

“Let’s finish this.”

Shen activated Quintillion again and glared at the exposed party members with cold eyes. The elf swordsman, Chan, was also concentrating his internal energy on his sword.

However, Cruze kept looking at Lancelot, or Dongsoo, as she held him. Her aura power rose like a cloud and attached to his half-cut body to stop the bleeding, but Lancelot hadn’t suffered just a physical wound.

“I wasn’t deserving… I didn’t say what I always thought because I wasn’t deserving, but….”

Dongsoo’s face was pale. His eyes, which lacked vitality, were unable to properly see Cruze’s face right in front of him.

“Don’t talk! Get your head on straight, you idiot! Concentrating your aura power on one point and crystallizing it will increase your soul defense….”

Cruze desperately explained the best course of action for Lancelot, but he didn’t seem to listen.

Instead, with his last ounce of strength, Lancelot spoke, “Y-you…”

Breathing hard and ragged, Lancelot continued, “You have no talent.”

“… What?”

Cruze’s expression turned dumbfounded at the words which seemed to come out of left field. Shen, having taken a hostile stance toward Cruze, responded.

“Talent? A guy as common as a stone on the side of the road is talking about talent?”

An Irregular’s talent was not something that even the gigantic forces controlling the entire universe could easily see or understand. An Irregular was one in a quintillion, or ten to the 18th power, an absurd unit of 18 zeros when expressed in numbers. Merlin’s Earth, which produced three such Irregulars, was abnormal; throughout the whole universe, excluding Merlin and the others on Earth, the number of Irregulars wouldn’t exceed five. Moreover, most Irregulars died before they fully matured.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Don’t think you’re special just because you almost transcended! It’s ridiculous for you to act knowledgeable about something you’re ignorant of… you just got lucky and almost jumped over the final hurdle by chance!”

Although Shen had met many transcendent beings after joining Basara, which allowed him to travel across the universe, he had never lost confidence in himself. Regardless of whether he reached the transcendent realm, he always considered himself special. Even the great mages at the highest levels were startled whenever they talked to him, so what more needed to be said?

The final hurdle before transcendence - that was Shen’s only problem. If he could overcome that hurdle, that seemingly insurmountable wall… if Shen could just overcome that wall, he had no doubt that he’d become far more special and powerful than any other transcendent.

“Actually, you…”

Yet, Dongsoo paid no attention to Shen. Instead, his gaze remained focused on Cruze.

“… you’re just a girl.”

“Am I… just a girl?”

“Yes, my dear little sister.”

Dongsoo, someone who had fought with all his might and trained with an obsession that bordered on madness, understood Cruze better than she did.

In his eyes, she was just an ordinary girl.

To him, she was simply an ordinary high school girl.

‘No one could see it because of her overwhelming talent.’

If he was someone with mediocre talent and an extraordinary spirit…

She was someone with extraordinary talent and an ordinary spirit.

And… just like innate talent, one’s temperament and spirit could not be easily overcome.

“What are you saying all of a sudden?”

However, Cruze merely laughed dejectedly. What did it matter? The enemy was already right before her eyes, and they were all on the verge of death….

“Do what you love. Yeah…”

However, regardless of the situation, Dongsoo smiled as if he was having fun.

“You might like being an engineer.”

He recalled the various parts and plastic models that filled his little sister’s room, Byun Miri’s room.

His sister always said she tinkered with things for fun, but he knew she liked machines and everything mechanical in nature. If DIO wasn’t so focused on combat, she might have found her true aptitude and career long ago.

“You should make technology that will surprise the entire universe….”

“Lancelot? Byun Dongsoo?”

Cruze hurriedly shook Lancelot’s body when she heard his voice gradually fading. However, it was to no avail. After being struck by Alexander’s sword while transcending, more than 90 percent of his soul had been extinguished.

And his remaining soul was in a precarious state.

‘Ah… such a waste. I was so close.’

From the world…

‘I had almost realized something.’

… Lancelot’s existence was erased entirely.

“…”

Cruse looked down at Dongsoo’s lifeless corpse with a blank expression. Through her spiritual power, she was able to perceive with painful certainty that Dongsoo’s soul had utterly disappeared.

“Dang….”

Youngmin clicked his tongue and stood in front of Cruze and Dongsoo. The two enemies he faced, Shen and Chan, were formidable opponents. Even though Youngmin had fully awakened his Celestial Star and its Celestial Killer instinct, it was impossible to predict whether he would be able to defeat them.

“Dongsoo….”

Uncaring that she was in a precarious situation, Cruze looked down at Dongsoo’s corpse with a blank face. Dongsoo's eyes were closed, and he had an unfamiliar but strangely comfortable expression.

“Hmph. He didn’t know what he was talking about; I’m glad that idiot finally died.”

As she heard Shen’s malicious comment, Cruze lifted her head with a dazed look. When he saw this, Shen responded with some more twisted commentary.

“He was just lucky. He reached transcendence with neither extensive knowledge nor experience.”

Shen couldn’t accept it. He couldn’t accept that a normal being, one born without a great lineage or talent, could reach such a lofty state.

‘It’s all because he received Hero’s Fate. It’s no different from other high-level gods who created transcendent beings!’

Shen convinced himself of this view and suppressed a certain emotion arising within him. Then, Cruze’s face began to distort.

“You.”

She gently placed Dongsoo’s body onto the ground.

“You.”

And she raised herself up.

“What, you little girl? Are you angry?”

“You!”

Whoosh!

Her aura power had been near empty, but now it started to flare up and burn as it exploded outward. The fearsome aura power inside her was converted into data and began to design all sorts of cutting-edge weaponry.

Truly extreme growth!

However, Shen’s expression grew cold.

“Don’t act childish, you little bastard child!”

He activated his complete ability formed by gathering various magic spells, Quintillion.

Whoosh!

His great library of spells, Quintillion, shot out dozens of hundreds of spells. The power and effect of each spell were minor, but the intertwined spells combined and amplified one another to create a powerful effect.

Bang!

Cruze’s aura power shattered and scattered. Lancelot’s stabs had previously effortlessly destroyed Quintillion, but that only happened because Lancelot’s power directly opposed Quintillion. Without such a diametrically opposed force, Quintillion was nearly unstoppable.

“Don’t look down on me! Did you think that your anger would make a difference!? Do you think a great realization will come from the sadness of losing a loved one?”

It was something that Shen himself had hoped for dozens of times and even tried to take advantage of in the past.

Alas, at each turn, it was all for naught. It wasn’t possible to transcend through such emotional impulses. When his lover passed… when his family members passed… even though he ultimately abandoned his nation and tribe, he still couldn’t jump over that final hurdle.

“There is nothing you enjoy and nothing you aspire to do! Even if you grind your teeth desperately to achieve something, in the end, that’ll just bring you common results!”

At Shen’s words, Cruze’s eyes fluttered.

His words were true.

She had no goals she wanted to achieve, especially at the cost of her life, and Cruze had never found anything she truly liked.

Dongsoo was right.

She wasn’t talented.

Cruze possessed an unreasonable [cheat code] as an Irregular, but because of it, she wasn’t able to complete herself. She couldn’t realize her potential.

This was because a user who played using the cheat mode couldn’t truly develop their skills.

“It’s a vicious strength that you can’t throw away later on when you decide you don’t want it.”

All of Cruze’s aura-powered weaponry, everything she had brought out through her data system, were completely destroyed. Although she achieved dramatic growth for a brief moment… Cruze had just reached the pinnacle of her development. However, Shen had stood at that pinnacle for much longer. In a prolonged battle, Cruze had no chance of beating him.

Zeng!

“Ack!”

Youngmin gnashed his teeth. He had his hands tied dealing with the elf swordsman, Chan. In terms of sword skill alone, Youngmin was half a degree superior, but the difference in their internal energy levels was so immense that he suffered losses every time they collided.

‘This is dangerous….’

The situation was becoming more and more severe. Moreover, it seemed that Shen was planning on launching his final move. The moment Shen’s magic power was amplified…

“Hahaha. Oh, my…”

To Cruze and Youngmin, a familiar voice sounded out.

“It’s so funny that, in these last moments, just when you’re about to give up….”

It was a voice that shouldn’t have existed anymore.

“W-what?!”

“No, why… how!?”

After hearing the astonishment in the enemies’ voices, Dongsoo looked down. He saw his physical body, which had just died.

He looked to the side.

There, he saw Cruze staring back at him with a blank expression.

“Dongsoo… oppa?”

“Yes, Ms. Byun Miri.”

Whirl.

When he stretched out his hand, a long spear with a silver sheen appeared in the air. It was one side of his Absolute Attribute, a side called Creation.

[Unintelligible. Impossible. Error.]

[It can’t be. How can this be….]

All the transcendents looked at Lancelot with astonishment, including M-4, who had been watching the situation with a relaxed attitude until now.

And, in the midst of that chaos and everyone’s astonishment…

“At last…”

Dongsoo laughed.

“… I understand.”