People who came from a world that has already been destroyed.

At my words, Carlton let out a light sigh and leaned back against the wall, and Ryu-nad sat down on the chair under the stone wall as if he were watching something interesting.

They looked like they agreed with my phrasing, and like they were sad, and somehow like they were amused, too.

And on the other hand, they also looked like they'd transcended all of those emotions.

Transcendents.

Because they had overcome all the constraints of mortals, including emotions, <Star Stream> granted them that title.

But in the worldview they belonged to—《Fantasium》, they were called by a different name.

Awakened.

Those who shattered the limits of mortality and overcame the system. Those who live only within the time they themselves set, and understand the world through their own unique worldview.

A kind of god.

"It's been a really long time since I've met someone who remembers 《Fantasium》."

Could even a god who overcame emotions still have longing left?

In Cheongheo's pupils as he said that, I could see something like a faint shard of emotion flicker past.

"How do you know about that world's affairs?"

"It's hard to explain in detail. There's a bit of a situation."

"I see. If you know our identities, then there's no need to explain ourselves to you in particular."

The three of them exchanged looks, and for once, their expressions were relaxed.

Ryu-nad shouted boldly.

"Hey, I'm in a good mood! Ask whatever you want! I'll answer all of it!"

"What brought you here?"

"Mm, I don't know either."

"You said you'd answer anything."

"How am I supposed to answer what I don't know?"

Instead of the bluntly pouting Ryu-nad, Cheongheo smiled and answered.

"The three of us all woke up, and this was where we were. Just as you said, as if someone had called us."

As if it still didn't quite feel real even now, Cheongheo's voice sounded strangely afloat.

"Did you create the Transcendent Alliance?"

"You could say that."

"Did you mass-produce Transcendents too?"

"Well, if you're trapped in a place like this, what else is there to do. We have a special restriction, so we can't go outside the apocalypse region."

"How long have you been here?"

The three of them didn't say anything. It meant it had been that long.

"At first, it was insanely boring. Taking turns standing guard with Uncle Carlton and Elder Cheongheo, fighting those weird divinities, becoming friends with them...."

"And then one day, people appeared."

"The first who came was Yoo Ho-seong. After that it was Kyrgios, and then Minyeong and Jun-gyeong came in."

Probably only these people could call Ilgwonmujok and the Paradoxical Baekcheong, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo and the Paecheon Sword Saint, that lightly.

As if there was some special bond with the captains, Cheongheo let out a hollow laugh for a moment.

"I never thought I'd be teaching thrusting here, too."

Listening to that story, it felt like something connected in my head.

Come to think of it, even Kyrgios had taught thrusting first when he first taught Kim Dokja.

"After that, it was less boring, right?"

"It was. You get the satisfaction of watching disciples grow."

"Especially the commander-level ones are seriously not normal. Even Captain Kyrgios already got stronger than me. Rookie, you don't even know how insane that is...."

Watching Ryu-nad chattering noisily, Cheongheo whispered in a small voice.

"Ryu-nad is excited for once."

"......"

"Understand. He's like that because he's happy you came."

"Happy I came?"

"You're special just by existing. The fact you climbed up to the 'apocalypse region' by your own strength, the fact you read the entire prophecy as soon as you arrived, the fact you know about us. You're already a huge incident itself here."

An incident.

"Why. Does it feel like we're acting too much like constellations?"

"No."

"We have no choice if we're going to live the present. We need incidents. Whether it's incidents happening in the time strata, or incidents occurring here. Without that, we can't endure it."

"......"

"There are questions that come rushing in every time we fall silent. Perhaps my destruction hasn't ended yet. Why, am I, are we, existing here right now."

"......"

"Those simple, old questions drive us mad."

I thought maybe it was a natural result that they had become the managers of the "time strata".

"Did you find the answer to those questions?"

"Maybe. But right now, I'm afraid to say that answer."

I felt like I vaguely knew what kind of "answer" Cheongheo was thinking of.

Instead of guessing that answer, I said this.

"I have similar questions too."

"Hooh, is that so."

I got dragged here while I was just writing, and suddenly possessed a villain character, and survived all the way to here.

Thinking about it, it's absurd, but what could I do. It actually happened.

Even now, there are times I ask myself. Why did it have to be me. Because I'm one of Kim Dokja's reincarnations?

If so, then why did I have to possess "Cheon Inho"...?

「More than anyone, I want the end of this world, but perhaps I'm afraid of knowing this world's secrets.」

Maybe Cheongheo and I were a little alike.

As if he vaguely understood that fact, Cheongheo said.

"You're the type to ask questions 'nevertheless'. Right?"

"If we really have to classify it, that's probably my side."

"At this point, I'm starting to think that you reading the 'End Prophecy' to the end wasn't an accident."

"Ah, about that, I'm sorry."

"No. There's no need for you to feel sorry to us or to other Transcendents about that. If something has a beginning, it has an ending. All the Transcendents here understand that well through the strata. If the 'apocalypse region' ends here, then that, too, is such a 'story'. Rather, everyone is interested."

Listening to Cheongheo, I started to understand little by little why the Transcendents were so indifferent in the face of End.

They'd probably experienced the destruction of worlds, large and small, countless times through the time strata.

So they no longer wavered, nor grieved, at the destruction right in front of them.

"Is there no way to avoid End?"

"There isn't. An 'end-of-the-world-grade horror' isn't something you can avoid. For example, when the last 'end-of-the-world-grade horror' opened—"

"About half of the Transcendents were ground down. The alliance nearly collapsed once."

Carlton, pulling a book out from inside his clothes, took over. He flipped through a few pages and then added briefly.

"Before that, when an 'end-of-the-world-grade horror' opened, one third of all time strata went berserk."

"Ah, I remember too. The General Commander personally stepped in and stopped it."

"Even then, the reason it ended like that was because there was a 'deal'...."

A deal?

Receiving my gaze, Cheongheo gave a bitter smile.

"There is no way to avoid End, but it's not that there is absolutely no way to respond. There is a way to minimize the damage."

"What is it?"

"Making a deal with the recorders."

"Recorders, you mean...."

"Haven't you heard? About the 'Recorders of Horror'."

I paused.

So it was finally coming up.

"In the 'space between the lines' of the time strata, there is a place where the recorders live. But not just anyone can meet them. Only those who possess a special 'interpretation' of horror, or have the qualifications, can meet them one on one."

"Do they have the power to stop End?"

"They can't stop End perfectly either. But...."

Cheongheo looked extremely cautious about saying his next words.

"They can 'rewrite' this world."

In that instant, goosebumps ran across my whole body.

I hurriedly asked back.

"Can I meet them too?"

"Unfortunately, it would be difficult for you. If you'd come in a few months earlier, it would've been different, but...."

"Elder, it's not like there's no way."

Ryu-nad, who'd been watching the conversation with a broad grin, ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) spoke.

"Rookie. If you solve, for the first time, a natural-disaster-grade or higher horror that appears in a time stratum, you get one chance to face them."

"Ryu-nad. A natural-disaster-grade isn't a level of horror the current rookie can solve."

"I know. I'm just saying we should tell him the truth."

A natural-disaster-grade horror.

That was the grade given to the "Dream Eater" I'd faced when I entered this place.

"With the rookie as he is now, it'll be hard. Unless he trains here for at least a hundred years."

Carlton was right.

As things stood, no matter what I did, there was no way for me to solve a "natural-disaster-grade horror" alone.

So is that it. As I thought that in this situation, it'd be better to draw out their help even if I had to use my trump card—

"General Commander! An anomaly has occurred in a time stratum!"

One Transcendent who'd been watching the strata at the edge came running, out of breath.

"A problem occurred in the stratum Captain of District Three entered."

Right after that, a hologram screen rose up in front of us. Looking closely, it was the very same time stratum Cheok Jun-gyeong and District Three had entered earlier.

Hadn't they said they went in to hunt the disaster-grade horror, "The One Who Eats Dragons"?

But as far as I knew, Cheok Jun-gyeong had already killed that Outer God....

―Kuaaaagh!

In the screen, a blood wind blew, and I could see the necks of two District Three members getting cut off.

Sacred swords that lightly sliced through Transcendents' throats and drifted through the air.

They were sacred swords I knew.

"Excalibur?"

Among them, I could even see King Arthur's relic. But the one holding that relic wasn't King Arthur.

"Don't tell me that bastard."

Wings unfolding in the sky. A body with the shape of a skull, adorned with molded ornaments from various cultures. The moment I saw that bastard's crown shining white, I realized who he was.

"Founder of the Absolute Throne."

It seemed he was already an Outer God famous even here, because the Transcendents who'd rushed to the stratum hurriedly exchanged opinions.

"A natural-disaster-grade Outer God. And among them, he's in the upper ranks."

"Damn it, that bastard disappeared for a while so I thought he was gone—"

On the screen, Cheok Jun-gyeong was swinging his sword like a madman, fighting the "Founder of the Absolute Throne".

―Kahahahahat! Fun! This is fun!

Just watching it was enough to make my whole body prickle—an aura. Even in front of an Outer God, the Greatest Sword of Goryeo didn't retreat, swinging his sword fiercely and going berserk. It felt like the clash of terrifying aura was reaching all the way here.

"Captain of District Three can't face him alone."

But an Outer God is still an Outer God.

Even Cheok Jun-gyeong was slowly accumulating more wounds on his incarnation body. If it kept going like this, how it would end was obvious, like fire.

Cheongheo asked.

"Commander-level who can deploy?"

"Captain of District Zero still hasn't come out of a stratum. District One has just been dispatched too. For now, there are no commander-level personnel we can use."

The Transcendents' faces darkened.

In the end, the one who stepped up was Carlton, the vice-captain of District Zero.

"Ryu-nad and I will go in."

"No. You must guard this place."

"But if we leave it like that, Captain of District Three—"

"You don't even have 'clothes' suitable for that worldview, do you."

Clothes suitable.

Suddenly, I remembered Cheok Jun-gyeong's explanation.

Time strata were like a kind of possession, and except for special cases, you couldn't use your own "incarnation body" inside a stratum.

"Even if you go in, in your current state, you can't stop that bastard."

In the end, after hesitating, Cheongheo made a decision.

"We can't lose Captain of District Three here. This time, I'll personally—"

"I'll do it."

In an instant, the Transcendents' attention focused in one place.

"I have an incarnation body suitable for a 'time stratum'."

It was me.

[In that time stratum, an 'incarnation body' suitable for you exists.]

I didn't know what regression number that time stratum was, but in that regression, it seemed Cheon Inho was still alive.

Ryu-nad shook his head and tried to stop me.

"Rookie, no matter what, we can't send you. Even if you have a suitable incarnation body, the level of horror you'd have to stop if you go in—"

"I can stop it."

Even now, if I close my eyes, the scene comes up vividly.

The things that happened that day, that I could never forget even if I died.

Feeling the fable inside me surge, I opened my mouth.

"I've killed that bastard once before."