Cigarette smoke scattered in the air.

From afar, the War God of Ferocity, Ares, frowned and said,

“You partake of the devils’ favorite vice. Profane bastard.”

“I didn’t originally smoke either. But…”

Along with the soft drop of the cigarette, his memories slowly returned.

“There was someone who really liked these.”

[‘Kim Dokja Fragment’ reacts to your emotions.]

As the memories slowly seeped in, the Demon King of Salvation recalled an old face.

That guy who especially liked cigarettes.

Who had used all of his remaining life to save a single “Kim Dokja”—

「The Demon King of Salvation looked down at his incarnation body that was gradually breaking apart.」

Had Han Sooyoung of the 1,863rd round felt like this too.

Had she endured this feeling every time she used [Avatar] and fought.

“Youngest brat.”

Reminiscing about someone was not his share. The second did that far better than he did.

But ever since he met the youngest, old memories would often crash over him. Old tales boiled up as if begging him not to forget them.

[Old tales begin to tell you their stories.]

As if looking back on his life, the Demon King of Salvation slowly turned around. By now, the history he had lived was torn to shreds, making it hard to properly trace its branches.

Only, this place had its own history.

In the distance, Anna Croft and Christina Page were talking to the sky while carrying Cheon Inho on their back.

It seemed they were negotiating with someone over the “Star Ladder.”

[Tale Fragment, ‘Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade’ reacts to you.]

Just as his right arm seemed to twitch, a faint tale fragment settled into him.

「Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade」

The Demon King of Salvation remembered that tale fragment. When he had first acquired it, his incarnation body had been in rags just like now.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade’ senses your longing.]

Yeah, you remember too.

“A Swordmaster tale? What a trashy tale to have.”

Ares, who had been watching the Demon King of Salvation from afar, furrowed his brow slightly.

“You still haven’t managed to subdue a bastard like that, Gatekeeper of Thebes?”

“I’ll finish him right now! Everyone, charge!”

Empowered by the tale-grade constellation’s command, the great-figure constellations let out another roar and charged.

The Demon King of Salvation dodged the incoming attacks with minimal movement. Each time he tilted his head or twisted his body, murderous trajectories grazed his flesh.

[Your incarnation body will dissipate in five minutes.]

The body of the “Dark Watcher” began to tremble as if anxious.

As if to reassure him, the Demon King of Salvation said,

“Don’t worry. I can kill them all.”

“You’re still thinking nonsense—”

[Tale Fragment, ‘Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade’ begins to tell its story.]

This tale fragment was one the Demon King of Salvation had discovered at the “Horizon of Scenarios.”

A tale discarded because no one had written it.

Waste excluded from the scenarios.

Thirty steps ahead, Ares was looking this way.

“With just a petty tale like that—!”

The incarnation body of the great-figure constellation shouting that was cleaved in half. The stunned great-figure incarnation bodies screamed.

Swordmaster.

The great-figure constellations’ incarnation bodies were collapsing helplessly before a “mass-produced tale” the constellations despised.

One with each step. Corpses multiplied along every path the Demon King of Salvation walked.

「There is no such thing as a useless tale.」

No matter how much the constellations raised their synchronization, this was ultimately the “Seventh Scenario.”

The constellations could not fully reveal their class, and they were not used to the combat methods of the lower scenarios they had graduated from long ago.

In the end, a lower scenario was bound to favor the one who “used lower-grade tales better.”

And the Demon King of Salvation was,

[Tale, ‘One Loved by All Things’ continues its story.]

the constellation in this world who could do that best.

“Kill him! Kill him!”

Twenty steps.

“Please, please stop him!”

Ten steps.

“Kraaaah!”

Before anyone realized it, the Demon King of Salvation had come right up to their noses.

Ares’s expression had hardened at some point as well.

“Insolent bastard!”

When Ares’s tale began to tell its story, the Demon King of Salvation could no longer advance.

In an instant, twenty exchanges of blows followed one after another.

[Tale Fragment, ‘Right Arm of the Swordmaster Who Was Backstabbed by a Comrade’ fulfills ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) its duty.]

Unable to withstand the pressure, the tale fragment shattered. For a moment, his body lost its balance and tilted. Ares’s spear arts tore the air apart.

Blood sprayed down in spurts.

The Demon King of Salvation’s right arm rolled along the ground.

“It’s all over, fragment of a discarded god.”

At the moment Ares moved to deliver the final blow to the one-armed Demon King of Salvation—

“Ares.”

The Demon King of Salvation spoke.

“It’s really fortunate that the one who came here is you.”

“What?”

“Do you know why?”

Crackle-crackle-crackle.

“Because I’ve already killed you once.”

[Tale, ‘The One Who Defeated the God of War’ begins to tell its story.]

As the tale flowing out of the Demon King of Salvation began to encroach on the surroundings, Ares’s eyes widened in shock.

“How, how dare you—”

It was the tale that had defeated the “War God of Ferocity” of the 3rd round. But certain conditions were needed to invoke this tale’s power.

「Kim Dokja, there’s only one chance.」

Yu Joonghyuk of the 3rd round.

And the “Hercules’s Long Spear” that would bring him down.

「I’ve only ever had one chance.」

But the Yu Joonghyuk of the 3rd round was beyond the veil, and the spear they had thrown together back then was not here.

The props needed to reproduce the stage-play did not exist here.

“Back then, we killed you with a ‘fake tale.’”

But here, there was an item that could clumsily satisfy both at once.

“I’m really curious how it’ll go this time.”

[‘Thoughts About Almost Everything’ responds to your will!]

With a bright beam of light, the form he had previously stored settled into the Thoughts.

[‘Thoughts About Almost Everything’ mimics ‘Moon Halberd.’]

Moon Halberd.

The “spear” of the 41st-round Yu Joonghyuk settled into his hand.

The Demon King of Salvation knew this spear well too.

Together with “Execution Sword” and “Black Heaven Demon Sword,” it was one of Yu Joonghyuk’s beloved weapons.

One day, this spear would be completed as “Dark Heaven Moon Halberd.”

“You—!”

Sadly, he would never see that sight.

Rumble-rumble-rumble!

Ares and the Demon King of Salvation, both having raised their class, clashed. The formidable tales of <Olympus> wrapped around Ares’s spear arts, and the battle became evenly matched.

In an instant, Ares’s thigh burst open and the Demon King of Salvation’s side was pierced. With each exchanged move, the two incarnation bodies were being mercilessly wrecked.

“I will kill you, no matter what—!”

As if unable to acknowledge any tale in which he was slain, Ares unleashed a storm of relentless blows.

It was time to adorn the tale’s finale.

[Exclusive Skill, ‘Bookmark’ is activated!]

The Demon King of Salvation recalled the incarnation who wielded weapons better than anyone else in this world.

“I…”

But he couldn’t continue.

Crackle-crackle!

Rough sparks flew as if even the “Scales” refused to allow plausibility.

Once he used this [Bookmark], he would probably lose even the plausibility to continue existing.

Even so, he had to complete this story.

“Han Sooyoung.”

At some point, the sentences that had been written on the [Fourth Wall] for him had stopped.

The Demon King of Salvation instinctively realized.

「Han Sooyoung would not be able to write the next sentence.」

The one who had begun the story to save Kim Dokja could never write a story in which Kim Dokja died.

But in this world line, there was one more author.

“Youngest.”

[Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] was currently active. Even the fainted youngest would be watching this scene.

“You have to do it.”

Ares’s spear arts, maddened, were growing faster and faster. Each time he caught the spear tip, the Demon King of Salvation’s body reeled precariously.

“Just a single line.”

At last, Ares’s incarnation raised pitch-black flames as if preparing the final blow.

At the moment he exploded his class so that his entire body’s tales could burn the whole area to ashes—

“I…”

The Demon King of Salvation said,

「I am Yu Joonghyuk.」

Lightning struck and the world turned bright.

The incarnation bodies across the battlefield stared wide-eyed at the scene.

Two spear arts flew toward each other, and the sound of something being roughly torn apart was heard.

And a moment later.

“Urk, ugh. Uaaaahhhh!”

The Gatekeeper of Thebes screamed as if seized by terror.

Ares’s incarnation body, its lower half blown clean off, was writhing on the ground.

[Constellation, ‘Embodiment of Ferocity’ has suffered massive damage!]
[Constellation, ‘Embodiment of Ferocity’ writhes in agony!]

Opposite him, the Demon King of Salvation, who had likewise lost both legs, was gasping for breath.

[‘Bookmark’ is released.]
[Your incarnation body has taken irrecoverable damage.]

Ares’s dying incarnation body looked up at him.

“Demon King of Salvation. I’ll acknowledge it. You really are strong.”

The next moment, Ares’s incarnation body was engulfed in a jet-black current.

“Enough to be worth sacrificing our greatest asset.”

The incarnation body wrapped in demonic energy was regenerating Ares’s severed lower half.

[Nebula, <Olympus> sacrifices one of its great tales in its possession.]

A miracle that had sacrificed no less than the nebula’s “great tale.”

The resurrected Ares roared toward the sky.

Even facing death, the Demon King of Salvation’s expression remained calm.

From now on, <Olympus> and <Asgard> would not be able to intervene in the scenarios for some time. If they clumsily resisted plausibility any further here, the “otherworld divinities” they feared would come calling.

The youngest would be able to continue his own story.

[Your incarnation body will soon dissipate.]
[A certain colossal Fate desires your death.]

At last, the third Fate message fell. An end had come that not even the stars could defy.

[‘Dark Watcher’ closes his eyes, satisfied with the tale he shared with you.]

Thanks. I’ll be there soon too.

[A new tale has been born in <Star Stream>!]

One character exited the stage and the curtain fell on the story.

As his vision darkened, the Demon King of Salvation thought of the story he loved.

Come to think of it, there was one last scene he wanted to read.

“For the reader, the reader’s life.”

“And for the Demon King of Salvation…”

He no longer even had the strength to open his mouth.

Watching the flying spear arts approach, the Demon King of Salvation closed his eyes.

As always, death was a familiar thing to him.

But even as time passed, he felt no pain.

Had he already died. But had he ever died without pain like this.

Had his sense of pain vanished with his incarnation body’s dissolution.

Just then, a light breeze blew from somewhere.

A familiar scent followed.

The sound of an old subway lingered in his ears like an auditory hallucination.

The Demon King of Salvation slowly opened his eyes.

“You left one thing out.”

A faintly wavering silhouette.

The story on the wall was speaking to him.

「The Demon King of Salvation knows that this story is impossible.」

Even so, that story became reality and gathered up his fallen body.

「Come to think of it, his life had begun not in a novel, but in reality.」

As if whispering the origin of a memory he had forgotten long ago.

“For Sangah, Sangah’s life.”

The Demon King of Salvation faintly smiled.