Nirvana Möbius.

A reincarnator backed by the constellation ‘Guardian of the Mandala.’ Just like Anna Croft, he was a being capable of resisting Yu Joonghyuk’s [Regression] and retaining a certain amount of memory. Leader of the Cult of Salvation, and the incarnation who had been Yu Joonghyuk’s ‘counter’ in the third round.

“Live only in the present!”

With the cries of the Salvation Cult followers, the elephant-like beast stomped heavily on the ground.

“There is no salvation in the afterlife!”

“What matters is now!”

“What must be liberated is this very ‘today’!”

The ground trembled like a massive drum, and incarnations all around began to stir in confusion.

“W-what’s that?”

“The Salvation Cult? Damn it, they’re here?”

Some incarnations, recognizing the group, were already preparing to retreat the moment they saw the elephant beast.

“Pull back. We can’t get involved with those lunatics.”

However, a few remained, still watching and gauging the situation. Some didn’t yet know much about the Salvation Cult; others were simply confident in their own strength.

“The Salvation Guru, Nirvana.”

“Oh, the Prophet, is it?”

When Nirvana waved in greeting, Anna Croft frowned and turned her gaze away.

Slowly approaching us, Nirvana spoke.

“Why has my Yu Joonghyuk become like that? Was it your doing?”

“The Conqueror does not belong to you.”

“Answer me, Prophet. What is that demon entangled with my Yu Joonghyuk?”

“It’s none of your concern.”

“If it’s not my concern, then whose concern is it?”

Nirvana spread his arms wide and declared,

“The bond between Yu Joonghyuk and I is bound by the eternal wheel of samsara. You must already know, since you’ve been secretly peeking into our story.”

Anna Croft ignored Nirvana and glanced at me.

―Cheon Inho. You’ve never met Nirvana in a previous round, correct?

It was [Telepathic Message].

She must have been wary of Nirvana’s existence. That wasn’t strange.

In this world, the only incarnations who knew about Yu Joonghyuk’s [Regression] from the beginning were Anna Croft, who could use [Retrospective Sight], and the reincarnator Nirvana. Therefore, the Prophet and the Reincarnator inevitably had to keep each other in check over the same card—Yu Joonghyuk—

“What are you two whispering about?”

Nirvana suddenly appeared right in front of us, sticking his head in. As expected of a reincarnator, he had even sensed the use of [Telepathic Message].

He glared at Anna, then stretched his long neck toward me.

“And who is this? Prophet, is this your new toy?”

In his eyes, glowing with pale light, my reflection appeared.

“Why are your eyes closed? Do you dare not look upon me?”

Just as I was about to answer that I was looking, his right hand moved precisely toward my forehead.

[Connection of Karma].

I knew that skill as well. The power of the Mandala, weaving the karma of a Tale to read another’s memories.

But someone stopped his movement.

KWAANG!

In an instant, Yu Joonghyuk’s fist slammed into Nirvana’s face.

Thrown back dozens of meters, Nirvana clutched one side of his face and shouted,

“Gaaah! What are you doing, Yu Joonghyuk?!”

For any normal incarnation, their head would’ve burst on the spot. But it seemed that this round’s Nirvana had diligently raised his stats, for even after being struck by beastified Yu Joonghyuk, he didn’t die.

Bruised and livid, Nirvana yelled again, as if wronged.

“Yu Joonghyuk!”

Of course, there was no way Yu Joonghyuk could understand words now. He only growled like a wild beast.

“What are you looking at? Look at me!”

Nirvana’s hands began to move dazzlingly fast. His signature skill was activating.

[Character ‘Nirvana Möbius’ activates ‘Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara Lv.8’!]

A radiant mandala spun into existence behind him, and from it, a thousand arms poured down like a waterfall.

“Look at me! At me! At me!”

As the countless palms of the Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara pounded Yu Joonghyuk’s head one after another, the beast’s body began to sink slowly into the ground.

“Ooh, that’s—”

“As expected of the Salvation Guru.”

“Let’s join in!”

I didn’t know exactly how powerful Nirvana could become if he survived until the late scenarios. In the main story, Nirvana had fought Kim Dokja, then been absorbed into the [Fourth Wall] and became the librarian of the library.

But the Nirvana of this world would never be absorbed by the [Fourth Wall].

[Constellation, ‘Prisoner of the Golden Coil,’ gazes at incarnation ‘Nirvana Möbius.’]
[Constellation, ‘Black Flame Dragon of the Abyss,’ twitches his lips, saying an incarnation is being insolent.]
[Constellation, ‘Demonic Judge of Fire,’ worries for your safety.]

[Reincarnation]—a state that did not die even when killed.
[Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara]—a power that could overwhelm even Yu Joonghyuk’s [Giantization].
And alongside those, mental-type powers such as [108 Afflictions] and [Eternal Nightmare].

Even if Yu Joonghyuk’s beastification had progressed, Nirvana as he was now might just be able to match him.

“W-what the hell!”

Or so I thought—

“He’s getting up!”

Yu Joonghyuk, who had been pinned to the ground by the impacts of [Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara], began to slowly lift his head out of the pit.

Kwaduduk!

Pushing back the immense pressure of the descending palms, Yu Joonghyuk raised his head, and in his hand was a single spear.

Nirvana’s eyes went wide when he saw it.

“Yu Joong—”

Reason gone, instinct the only thing left—yet Yu Joonghyuk was still a disciple of the Heaven-Sundering Sword Sect.

Others might not have recognized it, but both Kim Dokja and I knew that technique.

[Heaven-Sundering Meteor Strike].

A sword art created to tear apart the stars of the world.

Through his spearwork, that sword art shot up into the heavens.

“Hyoaaaargh—!”

With an impact like black lightning crashing down, Nirvana’s [Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara] was torn apart to shreds.

A power born purely from the difference in ‘tier.’ The sky made of palms shattered, and the beast holding the spear roared fiercely toward the heavens.

Spewing blood, Nirvana’s upper body was blown away halfway and tumbled across the ground.

The overwhelming sight made me go weak at the knees.

‘Should we run?’

Was that really an incarnation of just the ‘seventh scenario’?

Tzzzzzt—

Sparks of plausibility surged around Yu Joonghyuk’s body.

Of course. No matter how powerful a prey of a ‘sub scenario’ became, that level of strength couldn’t last long beyond the plausibility threshold. At this rate, Yu Joonghyuk’s body would soon be burned away by the backlash.

—Not necessarily.

But Kim Dokja didn’t seem to think so.

—The scales of plausibility aren’t only balanced through backlash.

Before I could ask what he meant, the supposedly dead Nirvana suddenly sprang to his feet.

[Character ‘Nirvana Möbius’ activates ‘Non-possession Lv.4’!]

As expected of a reincarnator.

In an instant, Nirvana’s upper body, wrapped in lotus petals, began to regenerate rapidly. He had sacrificed a portion of his Tale to restore his physical loss.

Nearby, incarnations staggered and crawled toward him—his followers, the Salvation Cultists.

“Guru, I offer my story.”

“My story… take it…”

The Salvation Cultists, infected by [Ideological Contamination], willingly offered themselves as sacrifices for Nirvana’s recovery.

Nirvana clasped their hands gently and nodded.

“I shall remember your stories.”

That was the true nature of the Salvation Cult. Every believer was nothing more than a pawn for completing the ‘Ultimate Tale’ Nirvana pursued.

Regaining his strength, Nirvana exhaled deeply and spoke.

“You’re truly strong in this round. It will be even more rewarding to become one with you.”

“……”

“I’m already excited thinking how magnificent a Tale you must have built up—wait! I’m still talking! Gaaah!”

Watching Nirvana getting pummeled again the moment he recovered, I asked Kim Dokja,

‘How much time’s left? He can’t last much longer.’

—Five minutes.

Using the palms of [Thousand-Armed Avalokiteśvara] to block Yu Joonghyuk’s attacks, Nirvana shouted,

“Prophet! What are you doing? Help me!”

“How am I supposed to help you?!”

“Join with me—become one with me to subdue Yu Joonghyuk—Gaaah!”

“I would never become one with the likes of you even if I died!”

“To be honest, I have no desire to become one with the likes of you either!”

In that short span, Nirvana had been hit dozens more times and was bleeding profusely.

“This won’t do. I didn’t want to damage the body I’ll soon be one with, but…”

“Wait! Nirvana, you—”

At that same moment, a sinister power of Tale began to flow from Nirvana’s entire body.

—That bastard’s really going to use that.

Kim Dokja already knew what skill he was about to use. Of course, so did I—and Anna Croft as well.

“Cheon Inho. We have to stop him. The reincarnator is about to use [Eternal Nightmare].”

[Eternal Nightmare].

In the main story’s third round, Yu Joonghyuk had fallen victim to that skill.

“Right now, Yu Joonghyuk has two Tale Engravings activated and isn’t in his right mind. If he’s struck by that stigma in this state—”

“He’ll go insane.”

“You know it. If we don’t stop him quickly—”

But before we could even move, Nirvana’s stigma was already activating.

“Yu Joonghyuk. I don’t know why you’ve become like that…”

White light gathered at the tips of his fingers, and the Eternal Nightmare coiled around them.

“No matter what form you take, it doesn’t matter. I can become any existence—man, woman, animal, beast! Only I can understand your eternity!”

Nirvana’s hand shot forward like lightning and touched Yu Joonghyuk’s forehead.

“And so you, too, shall come to understand me.”

Then, as if by magic, Yu Joonghyuk’s movements stopped.

Triumphant, Nirvana laughed loudly.

“Hahahaha! Yu Joonghyuk! Finally—”

Slowly, Yu Joonghyuk’s eyes turned toward him.

“Yu Joong—”

Puk! With a sound, one of Nirvana’s arms flew through the air.

“Huh?”

As Nirvana made a stupid face, his other arm was also torn away.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

Pain rushed in late. Both arms ripped off, Nirvana let out a wretched scream.

Horrified, Anna Croft stumbled back.

I muttered inwardly.

‘As expected, it doesn’t work on the current Yu Joonghyuk.’

—Exactly.

[Eternal Nightmare]—a technique that drags out a target’s most horrifying memory and traps them within it.

But what if the target is a beast with nothing left but instinct?

“W-what, how—how!?”

In other words, what if their mind had been reduced to such idiocy that no memory could even be recalled?

“Yu Joonghyuk! Get a hold of yourself! Your present—”

Crunch! Nirvana’s left leg was crushed.

“Gyaaaaaah!”

Once again, sparks of plausibility burst forth. The dazed Nirvana crawled pitifully on the ground.

The black beast stomped on Nirvana’s torso and slowly turned its gaze around.

Conqueror.

A title that fit that man better than anyone. He howled toward the world.

And with that single howl, every incarnation present understood.

[All incarnations within the ‘Washington Dome’ are overcome with fear.]

No incarnation in the world could dare call themselves a ‘king’ before that monster.

[The Scales of Plausibility begin to move.]

So long as they were still ‘incarnations.’

—Kid.

I nodded.

Even as Yu Joonghyuk radiated such overwhelming force, the <Star Stream>’s plausibility didn’t try to suppress him.

Which meant, the plausibility of this scenario was—

[Activating exclusive skill, ‘Agitation Lv.10.’]

Allowing for the appearance of a powerful being to stop that ‘Conqueror.’

[‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ Stage 3 is activated.]

It was time for the ‘Demon King’ to step forward.