“A seal, is it.”

Hearing Jaehwan’s indifferent voice, a faint hope suddenly welled up.

If it was Jaehwan, the strongest of the 《Illusion Species》, might he be able to break those ‘Apocalypse Dragon’s Sealing Orbs’?

“You think you can imprison me with that kind of thing?”

Jaehwan was confident. As if he were certain that no world could confine him.

Metatron nodded.

[It might be difficult to imprison you forever. These ‘sealing orbs’ haven’t borrowed the full plausibility of the Holy–Demonic War.]

He was right. Unless a “Holy–Demonic War” broke out right here, those “sealing orbs” wouldn’t be able to exert the original dignity with which they sealed the “Apocalypse Dragon.”

[But you, too, are not as strong as when you are within your own worldview.]

“I still have the strength to sweep away the likes of you.”

[Perhaps so. Even so, when you escape these sealing orbs, I wonder if there will be anything left for you to protect.]

Only then did I catch on to what Metatron was aiming for.

A sinister thought slid through my head. If, when Jaehwan escaped the sealing orbs, Yu Joonghyuk and I had already been dealt with by the constellations?

Watching Metatron’s chilly smile, I whispered to Jaehwan,

“Mr. Jaehwan, including that Michael from before, let’s just kill those two and run. You can do that much, right? I’ll buy you a hundred martial-world dumplings.”

I wanted to see him look back at me with that same absurd expression and then skewer those bastards cleanly.

But Jaehwan’s face, when he looked back at me, wasn’t all that bright.

Since when had it started? A faint spark ran over his entire body. It wasn’t the plausibility of a nebula.

[<Star Stream> is staring at ‘Jaehwan’.]

This world he didn’t belong to was gradually tightening, harder and harder, around his body.

Metatron, as if he’d noticed that fact, coaxed in a gentle voice,

[This worldview is not your playground.]

“……”

[Whatever you sought in coming here, the world you lived in has perished. And your story has ended.]

Without answering, Jaehwan lifted his head. Those eyes, gazing into the void once more. I thought I knew what he was remembering. That was why I could not interfere with his regression.

That memory belonged to him alone. Now, no one but him would share the memory of that world.

“I know. My world has already ended.”

Perhaps he felt we could finally talk. The momentum of Metatron, who had been summoning the sealing orbs, weakened.

[Let us do this. If you return right now, I will not use these ‘sealing orbs’.]

A heavy silence swept around us once more.

I quietly edged back to kid Yu Joonghyuk’s side, ready to run at any time.

Honestly speaking, Jaehwan had no further reason to protect us. In the first place, the very fact that he had protected us until now had been an oddly excessive favor.

After a brief thought, Jaehwan spoke again.

“My world has ended, but I have not.”

Metatron tilted his head, as if weighing what that meant, then replied,

[Even if that were so, this is not the place to hear of it. I repeat, this is not your world.]

“Of course you are not my ‘world’.”

Jaehwan looked back at me.

“But they are different.”

The moment I met those indifferent eyes, something surged up in me before I knew it.

Instinctively, I understood.

「This would likely become a debt I could never repay.」

Sensing the ominous air, Metatron hurriedly opened his mouth.

[They too are existences of this ‘world’! You have no pretext to intervene in this world’s Narrative! You—]

“I need no pretext.”

Before I could say anything, pitch-black light began to condense along Jaehwan’s swordwork. It was a thrusting stance.

No, hold on. Then why is he looking our way?

Jaehwan then turned to kid Yu Joonghyuk and said,

“That pallid fellow told me. That if you regressed 1,863 times, you could become stronger than me.”

“What are you trying to say.”

“If it’s something you can only do by regressing 1,863 times, then you’ll be able to do it without regressing anymore.”

“What—”

Jaehwan’s blade breathed fire.

The thrust poured toward us.

Reflexively, I grabbed kid Yu Joonghyuk by the scruff of the neck.

“Yu Joonghyuk!”

The thrust that looked as if it would annihilate us at once, surprisingly, wrapped us gently and shot us into the distant cosmos. Like we had boarded a rocket, the scenery around us fell away in an instant.

Stars shouting at us could be seen from a far remove.

[Demon King, ‘Demon King of Sonic’ glares wide-eyed!]

[Demon King, ‘Merciless Hunter of Reverse Heaven’ chases behind you!]

……

[Constellation, ‘Guardian of Youths and Travelers’ looks at you.]

[Constellation, ‘Lily Bloomed in Aquarius’ wears a relieved expression.]

Without even time for a final farewell, Jaehwan’s figure turned into a tiny dot and vanished in an instant.

Right after, we saw bright light burst in the distance. At last, the battle had begun.

Would he be all right. Even for him, could he face archangels and demon kings using “sealing orbs” while bearing <Star Stream>’s plausibility penalty?

“It is not the time to worry about another.”

Yu Joonghyuk was right.

Jaehwan’s thrust was shoving us along with tremendous dignity, but enemies hunting us still remained on every side.

They were constellations of mid-sized nebulae, waiting for us on the outskirts of the galaxy to avoid Jaehwan.

[Chase them!]

[What kind of speed is—]

Fortunately, Jaehwan’s thrust was much faster than the constellations pursuing us. It even seemed to be gaining more and more acceleration.

I put small Yu Joonghyuk on my back and said,

“Hold on tight.”

The galaxy’s scenery streamed past at a breath-stopping speed. It was a view we might never see again.

Holding the small Yu Joonghyuk, who was lightly bobbing on my back, so he wouldn’t bounce off, I asked,

“How many Narrative engravings did you use.”

Yu Joonghyuk becoming younger was a side effect of the “Narrative engravings.”

But as he had gradually grown accustomed to that side effect, I hadn’t seen him become a kid recently. The fact that he was a kid anyway meant he had expended a tremendous mental force in the fight with Jaehwan.

“All three.”

“Are you out of your mind?”

In this round, the total engravings Yu Joonghyuk had carved into himself were three.

「Bondage of Truth」

「Bondage of Emotion」

「Bondage of Life」

I had seen him use the first two before, but I had never heard that he used the third.

Because 「Bondage of Life」, literally, was a Narrative engraving that took one’s life as the price.

Yu Joonghyuk calmly shook his head and said,

“No problem. The ‘life’ of the third Narrative engraving can be used in portions.”

“What, do you have several lives?”

“It means I can divide my lifespan and use it.”

Ah, so the price is calculated in lifespan.

It seemed 「Bondage of Life」 exacted a price similar to the “Life at Full Power” that had been Yu Joonghyuk’s trait in round 0.

“How many years did you use?”

“Not your concern.”

“No, it concerns me, so tell me quickly. It’ll be a problem if you suddenly die right after fighting hard.”

Yu Joonghyuk gave no answer.

After a little more time, I heard soft, even breathing from my back.

I was a bit dumbfounded.

“Don’t tell me you fell asleep?”

“……”

“Hey, you.”

Perhaps because he was in kid state.

He must have judged that to recover his incarnation body quickly, it was best to sleep even a little more.

Thinking, truly, what a thick-nerved guy, I muttered in a small voice,

“Sleep well.”

Whether he had sacrificed a few years of life, in the end he had used the engravings to protect me.

Even if it was ultimately to achieve his own purpose, staking one’s life for another is by no means easy. All the more so if the one doing it was “Yu Joonghyuk.”

By the way, thinking back, I suddenly felt a pang of regret. To have missed a scene where two protagonists from different worldviews fight. If I had kept my head, I might have been able to write some good sentences.

Imagining the two protagonists swinging their swords at each other, I looked back again toward where Jaehwan had been.

「Kim Dokja thought it was as if he had climbed onto Jaehwan’s back.」

Despite so many things having happened, the darkness of <Star Stream> stood in firm silence as if nothing had.

「One must become strong «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» enough to make one’s own way through this universe.」

Only Jaehwan’s imperious thrust, carrying us somewhere with unhurried ease, flowed on as if to prove he was still intact.

「So that, when we meet again, this moment will not be shameful.」

Damn it, I nodded off.

[A great nebula is searching for you!]

The message in my ear woke me.

Feeling a squirm on my back, it seemed Yu Joonghyuk had come to his senses too.

“Kim Dokja. Pull yourself together.”

I hastily took in our surroundings, and from a very far distance, stars were approaching us.

There was no longer anyone to protect us. If we ran into <Asgard> or <Olympus> here, this time it would really be the end.

“The thrust’s power is weaker than before.”

To make matters worse, the force of the thrust that had been sending us flying had weakened.

Had something happened to Jaehwan?

For now, there was nothing we could know.

“No matter. It should be about time for ‘that region’ to appear.”

Was it just my imagination. Since meeting Jaehwan, Yu Joonghyuk, too, felt strangely changed. As if he had firmed his resolve about something.

“Do you know where we are?”

“I do.”

Since when had he activated [Eye of the Sage]? Kid Yu Joonghyuk rolled his golden pupils round and round, then spoke again.

“We arrive soon.”

No sooner had I heard Yu Joonghyuk’s words than the stars that had spotted us from afar began to surge in.

[Catch them.]

I could see <Olympus>, and I could see <Asgard>. There were great-personage constellations and Narrative-grade constellations. It struck me anew that there were far too many stars in <Star Stream>.

“We get off here.”

At Yu Joonghyuk’s signal, we slipped free of Jaehwan’s thrust. Right after, I felt the gravity of the story pulling us in.

[Chase them! Under no circumstances let—]

Narrative-grade constellations, emitting a fearsome current, choked.

A weapon, shot like an arrow through the air, grazed my cheek. Even so, Yu Joonghyuk and I kept falling toward the scenario region.

Then a soft, film-like membrane wrapped around us.

The “Void Veil.”

<Star Stream>’s plausibility, which guarded scenario regions, had activated.

The constellations chasing us stopped, as if aggrieved. Emitting their original dignity, they could not enter within the Void Veil.

Then what about us?

[<Star Stream> looks at you.]

For an instant, I felt the gaze of a vast universe looking at me.

Fortunately, the veil did not block us.

The next moment, it felt as if the world flipped upside down.

[You have entered a new ‘scenario region’!]

[You are an ‘exile’.]

[Acquire a new ‘scenario’ and participate in the scenario!]

[If you fail to acquire a ‘scenario’, the collapse speed of the incarnation body will accelerate!]

A far greater recoil than before slammed into my incarnation body. It felt like my insides were reversing and surging up.

[This scenario region is…….]

Some message muttered in my ear, but I wasn’t in any state to listen.

How long did I retch like that. I heard kid Yu Joonghyuk’s voice.

“Kim Dokja. Get up.”

“Give me 10 minutes.”

“I said get up.”

“Five minutes. I’m too dizzy to stand.”

“Overcome it with willpower.”

“There are things you can do and things you can’t.”

Cursing inwardly, I forced myself up. In a swaying field of vision, I looked around and saw sheaves of rice stacked in one corner.

We had fallen into some kind of barn.

And in front of me was kid Yu Joonghyuk, glaring at me with fierce eyes.

“With that level of resolve you said you wanted to see the ‘end of the world’?”

“……”

“Why are you smiling?”

Because kid Yu Joonghyuk, with a straw stuck at the corner of his mouth, was spouting something solemn, obviously.

If I had a keyboard right now, I felt like I could whip up a short piece titled “At the End of the World Stands Kid Yu Joonghyuk,” and I opened my mouth.

“Where are we?”

Yu Joonghyuk looked at me with pitying eyes, then spoke.

“Perhaps.”

Yu Joonghyuk doesn’t often use the word “perhaps” in the work.

Even so, the fact that he used that expression meant we were in that much of a bind.

It meant that even Yu Joonghyuk, who preferred definite options, had been driven to the point he had to rely on hope.

Even so, what came next from Yu Joonghyuk honestly wasn’t all that bad.

“A place where there is the only person who can help us.”