[A fable, "Demon King of Salvation", continues its story.]

The fable rising up from Yoo Joonghyuk’s entire body coiled around the spear aura.

"That was the essence of the Demon-Slaying Divine Spear."

The power of the Demon-Slaying Divine Spear, which had surpassed its realm, was being compressed into the spear aura.

"The king who leads the stars."

A fable, bolstered by the plausibility of the stars that liked him, scattered a dazzling light.

"Come, Tyrant King."

Cheon Inho did not retreat and prepared for the final decisive battle. A body reinforced by [Agitation]. The blue aura of [White-Blue Aura] dyed Cheon Inho’s entire body in White-Blue light. The stars in the vault of the sky were shining brilliantly.

For a brief moment, Cheon Inho stared at those stars, and gave a bitter smile.

At that moment, Cheon Inho’s expression—

"So that’s your choice."

—looked as if it was saying that.

Demon-Slaying Divine Spear.

First Form.

Annihilation Form.

The Demon-Slaying Divine Spear was a martial art that perceived the enemy as a single "fable" and struck the essence of that fable. Among them, the Annihilation Form was a technique that attacked the shell of the fable.

Not too fast and not too slow, as if carefully stacking up smooth sentences, an accurate spear strike collided with Cheon Inho’s [White-Blue Aura]. Cheon Inho’s solid fable, hardened by [Agitation], was pushed back little by little, and then began to scatter into fragments.

Demon-Slaying Divine Spear.

Second Form.

Extermination Form.

Yoo Joonghyuk did not stop.

If Annihilation broke the shell of the fable, then the Extermination Form was a technique that broke the framework of that fable.

The blade of "Unbreakable Conviction" seemed to bend in a wide arc, and then fables burst out from various places across Cheon Inho’s body as he received the spear strike. Even so, Cheon Inho desperately swung his sword and resisted. A lonely, desperate sword strike.

Yoo Joonghyuk let that sword strike slide off and continued his spear strikes.

Demon-Slaying Divine Spear.

Third Form.

Extinction Form.

If the Extermination Form was a technique that broke the framework of the fable, then the Third Form, Extinction Form, was a technique that pierced through the essence of the fable.

Strong sparks flew from Yoo Joonghyuk’s muscles as they contracted with all their strength. As if making his final struggle, Cheon Inho shouted. A single blow that squeezed out all the magic power in his body surged from the tip of the blade of "Unbreakable Conviction".

The magic power exhaled by a dragon’s heart.

Before the Third Form could be fully prepared, the attack that rushed in half a beat faster pushed Yoo Joonghyuk back more than ten steps.

Catching Yoo Joonghyuk as he was pushed back was Anna Croft, who had been storing up her strength the whole time.

"We have to finish this, Yoo Joonghyuk."

When Yoo Joonghyuk nodded, the magic power of Anna Croft that came through his back added strength to Yoo Joonghyuk’s Extinction Form.

[A fable, "Demon King of Salvation", roars!]

[A fable, "Tyrant King Slayer", roars!]

In order to complete one stage, two fables collided at the same time.

And Yoo Joonghyuk’s Extinction Form activated.

Everything in the "big house" shook dangerously, and the burst magic shockwave swept through every corner of the house.

Anna Croft, who had been standing near the cocoon, reflexively bent her waist at the magic shockwave surging toward her.

[Tzzzt.]

Someone stood in front of the cocoon and took the magic shockwave that exploded as the aftershock.

He was a warrior protecting the "King of Terror".

[This is why you can’t just let anyone into your house.]

Anna Croft flinched and turned to the side.

["King of Terror" trembles.]

As if something was that enjoyable, the cocoon was trembling with ecstasy. No, when she looked closely, the cocoon also looked like an Adam’s apple swallowing back sobs. She couldn’t tell which it was, but one thing was certain: this fight was having some kind of effect on the growth of the "cocoon".

[It’s over.]

With the warrior’s words, the thunderous sound vanished. In the swirling dust, the first to appear was Yoo Joonghyuk.

After pouring out every technique from the First Form to the Third Form, Yoo Joonghyuk’s entire body had been burned pitch-black, like a meteor that had torn through the upper atmosphere. Even amid the scattering fables, his spear aura was unwavering as it aimed at its target.

[A fable, "Demon King of Salvation", ends its story.]

Cheon Inho, with a hole torn through his belly, knelt and looked up at Yoo Joonghyuk.

"Unbreakable Conviction" rolling around on the floor.

His conviction had not broken, but he had been defeated, and his fable had collapsed.

"I see."

Cheon Inho smiled.

"So after all, it can’t be done with 'my story'."

The cocoon trembled once again.

As the "big house" stirred and vibrated, Yoo Joonghyuk said.

"Bring him."

"That’s impossible."

Cheon Inho, laughing with his mouth stretched wide, added.

"Now that even his name has vanished, where in the world are you going to bring 'him' from?"

"I remember that bastard’s name."

Yoo Joonghyuk slowly closed his eyes.

It was uncertain whether that was truly "that bastard’s" name. Even so, inside the dumpling he had given him, that name definitely remained.

A white name that looked like it would melt away and vanish in an instant, like flurries of snow.

"■■■. That is that bastard’s real name."

The moment he spoke that name, the shell of the "King of Terror" cracked slightly.

Cheon Inho stared blankly at Yoo Joonghyuk, then blinked.

"Do you think he can show you the ending you want?"

"That’s none of your concern."

"The ending you want can’t be seen anywhere. This worldline is ultimately reserved for 'destruction'."

"You won’t know until you fight to the end."

"You can know without fighting."

A long-held madness flowed in Cheon Inho’s eyes as he grinned.

"The only thing we can decide is the method of that 'destruction'."

A stinging pain ran through Yoo Joonghyuk’s temple. A strong premonition that something had gone wrong rose up in him. He had already felt it—Cheon Inho had collapsed too easily. There was no way the end of that meticulous villain could be this sloppy.

Maybe he’d had the same thought, because Kim Dokja—who had been holding back from speaking the whole time in order to conserve plausibility—added.

—No way, that bastard’s real goal is…

What if, from the beginning, Cheon Inho’s goal in this fight hadn’t been to win?

"O King of Terror, who loves sorrow more than anyone."

Cheon Inho looked at the cocoon and spoke in a bright voice.

"Are you satisfied now?"

With a tzzzt-tzzzt-tzzzt sound, it felt as if [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] was being cut off.

—Yoo Joonghyuk! Get out of this house right now!

Reflexively, Yoo Joonghyuk moved as he gripped the spear shaft of "Hwangcheon Wolgeuk". He grabbed the arm of Anna Croft, who was standing there dumbly.

But where should they go? How were they supposed to escape?

As Yoo Joonghyuk agonized, and the moment he activated [Demon-Slaying Divine Spear] to break the space, a message rang out.

["King of Terror" begins metamorphosis.]

Cheon Inho spread both arms and smiled brightly.

"Tyrant King. Let’s watch the end together."

Soon, a brilliant light poured out from the cocoon. Something was trying to be born.

["The end" begins.]

The world was dyed black.

I was sinking into the deep sea.

Gravity pulling me down from beneath my feet.

Looking back, there had been a time when I’d experienced something similar. It was probably when I entered the "National Palace Museum". Back then, when I was gathering star jewels in order to collect the "Four Yin Disaster Slicing Sword", I had [Agitated] myself into "Kim Dokja", and I had ended up in the same kind of situation as now.

"If you go down beneath this, there is an abyss."

How did it end up like this? I retraced my memory.

Right. It must have been because I got [Agitated] by Cheon Inho. If I had activated [Fourth Wall], could I have avoided this situation?

Probably.

But I wanted to know. Even if I had to take the risk of turning off my mental barrier, I wanted to understand the person named "Cheon Inho" a little more.

""From now on, you are me, and I am you.""

I wanted to know what had driven him that far, and what kind of final "record" he had wanted in the end.

And maybe… now I understood him a little.

"Cheon Inho wanted to be 'recorded'."

I didn’t know whether that was a fair understanding of Cheon Inho or not. But at least part of what I understood was that. He just wanted to be recorded beside the protagonist. That was all he wanted.

A reason that, if someone heard it, they might sneer and say, "That’s all it was?"

But something that one person is born having as a matter of course, another person has to struggle their entire life to obtain. Just because they’re neither protagonist nor supporting character. Just because they were made that way.

Maybe I understood that feeling very well.

And the second Kim Dokja—"King of Terror"—must have been the same.

["The end" ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ begins.]

The moment I heard the message ringing in my ears, I suddenly came to my senses. This wasn’t the time to stay like this. I had to get out of here, soon.

I focused my mind and activated [Fourth Wall]. But the skill didn’t activate.

Why? Did something go wrong?

Just as it felt like I was gradually starting to suffocate, something pulled me from above the surface.

A very small hand.

I grabbed that small hand and rose up to the surface. When I spat out my breath with a "Phooah," I was in a snowfield. The snowfield where I had talked with Cheon Inho. And the one who had pulled me up was—

"Ah."

A very small Kim Dokja.

"Giyeon."

It was Giyeon, who had vanished together with Cheon Inho. Cheon Inho had returned Giyeon to me, just as he’d promised.

"Ahh."

Maybe he was happy to see me again, because he slapped himself against my leg. Knowing that Giyeon’s true form was a bearded middle-aged man, I carefully peeled him off.

"Thank goodness. You’re safe."

"Ahh."

"I’m telling you not to cry like a simile."

"Ahh."

"Thank you for saving me."

Giyeon nodded vigorously and looked up at the sky. I also looked up at the sky with Giyeon.

Snow was falling. More precisely, fables were pouring down like snow.

"The Terror Order has opened."

We read those sentences pouring down onto the snowfield.

""Block it! Block this side first!""

""The entrance to the Terror Order has been breached!""

The cries of the transcendents.

There were incarnations of the Transcendent Alliance that I knew there. They were fighting against the end.

Elder Cheongheo, Ryunad, Carlton, Yoo Hoseong, Cheok Jun-gyeong, Kyrios, Sword Saint of Shattering Heavens.

All the transcendents worth naming had gathered and were holding back the surging waves of Outer Gods.

""Kuaaaaagh!""

""Damn it, the Outer Gods are crossing into the scenario region!""

Each and every sentence was so fascinating that it felt like I could read them forever.

Sentences that made my sense of reality drift farther away.

The deaths of the incarnations embedded between the lines were distant and faint.

If all these sentences piled up, the world would be dyed pure white. And then a white destruction would arrive.

We were lying in the spaces between the lines, watching that destruction.

"Giyeon. We can’t just watch."

Giyeon looked up at me.

"This is the world we made."

In this "Terror Order", the world Giyeon wrote and the world I wrote coexist.

"Ahh."

"These are the characters we wrote ourselves, with our own hands."

I hadn’t come all this way to watch such a quiet destruction. I still had sentences I wanted to write. Lines I wanted to change.

"Ahh."

As if he agreed, Giyeon nodded. I held Giyeon’s hand tightly and said.

"Please lend me your strength."

I can’t do it alone. But if Giyeon helps me, maybe it can work out somehow.

"Ahh."

Like that day when we wrote the story together, maybe we could bring this world to a proper conclusion.

"Let’s go together."

I started to walk with Giyeon on my back.

I didn’t know why I had ended up trapped in this "snowfield". I didn’t know why [Fourth Wall] wouldn’t listen. But if anyone would think of me—if I could use [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] even just once—then I could get out of here.

I thought I could get out.

"If you get out, what are you going to do?"

I’m going to stop the end.

"How?"

I’ll persuade the second Kim Dokja.

I’ll ask him to stop the end.

In that instant, goosebumps rose up.

Right now, [Fourth Wall] is turned off.

Then who am I talking to right now?

When I slowly turned my head, there was a boy.

Fable dust scattering from his wings like flurries. The moment I smelled it, my mind became hazy.

A fable so intoxicating that if I let my guard down even for a moment, I felt like I’d get drunk.

The boy spread his mysteriously glittering translucent wings wide and landed gracefully.

"How?"

The second Kim Dokja.

He was the "King of Terror".