【Kuaaaah—!】

With Asmodeus’s scream, a thunderous roar that felt like it would tear my eardrums apart rang out.

Still gripping the wrist of the guy trying to run away, I hunched my body down.

【Let go of this! Damn it!】

Asmodeus tried to shake me off and flee, but after realizing it was already too late, he began to unfold his fable. The fables he had piled up after becoming “Terror’s Recorder”, and after living as an “Other World’s divinity”.

[Fable, ‘False Devil’s Banquet’, is beginning its story.]

Surprisingly, it was a fable I’d read about in Ways of Survival.

「False Devil’s Banquet」.

The characteristics of this fable, whose number of uses reset every full moon cycle, were as follows.

「For 1 minute, it turns all attacks pouring toward you into fireworks for a banquet.」

Originally, it was a technique used in some rounds by Agares, the “Ruler of Hell’s East,” a top-tier Demon King—but for some reason, it seemed Asmodeus had inherited that fable.

The noble blue surging in through the sky changed into the flashy fireworks of a grand banquet. A vivid shower of fireworks, dyeing the snowfield’s white night red and blue.

【Kim Dokja.】

From the center of those fireworks, Asmodeus was glaring at me.

【Why did you call me into a situation like this.】

Still not letting go of his wrist, I smiled.

“You’re the one who told me to call you when I met the King of Terror.”

Not long ago, when I met Asmodeus in the Recorder’s Room, I’d made a promise with him in exchange for getting Gilyoung hyung back.

‘Call me when you meet the King of Terror.’

I was simply fulfilling that promise.

【The King of Terror isn’t the only one here!】

With bloodshot eyes, Asmodeus looked back and forth between both sides.

On one side was the Kim Dokja of the snowfield, scattering an icy chill, and on the other was the King of Terror, giving off an inhuman presence whose expression couldn’t be read.

[Fable, ‘False Devil’s Banquet’, is stammering.]

Sparks flew in the air, and the fable’s power began to weaken.

It was only natural. Those two Kim Dokjas were among the strongest transcendental beings I’d ever met. At least within this “snowfield”, even myth-grade constellations wouldn’t be able to stop them.

I couldn’t even begin to guess how much plausibility it took to convert the attacks they were pouring down into fireworks.

“Please stop the fight. If it’s you, you can do it, can’t you?”

【Why would I?】

“If we don’t stop that, your plan will go off the rails too.”

For all I knew, Asmodeus had intended to face the King of Terror directly and take his power.

But no matter how strong Asmodeus was, dealing with both of them at once was impossible.

Asmodeus must have caught my intent, because he let out a bitter smile.

【You’ve made quite the gamble, Kim Dokja.】

Glancing between the King of Terror and the Kim Dokja of the snowfield, Asmodeus spoke.

【If two ‘large fragments’ merge here, it’ll put me in a rather difficult position.】

“Will you stop them?”

【Even I can’t keep them occupied for long in this space.】

The range of the fireworks was shrinking in real time. Even for Asmodeus, it looked like delaying things any further was a strain.

“What if you borrow the power of the little Kim Dokjas in the theater?”

【Do you think it’s that easy to make the little Kim Dokjas imagine the same thing?】

Judging by the plausibility flowing through his entire body, it looked like he’d already been drawing on the little Kim Dokjas’ power for quite a while.

【Unless you hand over your [Fourth Wall] to me, maybe.】

We smiled at each other. Both he and I already knew that was an impossible condition.

In the end, Asmodeus took a step back first.

【I can buy you a little time.】

“How little?”

【Five minutes. Anything more is impossible. So—】

With a patzzzt sound, the fable’s power shattered. As the fireworks vanished, the fables from both sides surged toward us.

Asmodeus kicked my chest with his foot and said,

【Use that big brain of yours and hurry up and find a way!】

I fell straight down, crashed into the ground, and was buried in the snowfield floor.

Almost at the same time, a pitch-black shadow fell over the sky.

【Now, everyone. Intermission break.】

Like a movie theater screen after the lights go out, the entire sky dyed itself black—then a gigantic black substance in the shape of a hexagon appeared.

[Fable, ‘Silver Screen Seal’, is beginning its story.]

I couldn’t see Asmodeus, the Kim Dokja of the snowfield, or the King of Terror. It seemed all three of them were inside that hexagonal object.

It was a fable that reminded me of the “Sealing Sphere of the Apocalypse Dragon”.

So this technique was his secret move that could buy five minutes.

While the Outer Gods crawling across the ground howled like cats that had lost their owner, I desperately turned my head, trying to make full use of the time Asmodeus bought.

This place was the “snowfield”.

All the resources I had could perform at maximum efficiency here.

But in a situation where [Agitation] didn’t work, what could I do to stop them?

I considered borrowing the power of the “first Kim Dokja,” the Demon King of Salvation, but ever since earlier, it was like communication through the [Fourth Wall] had gone wrong—there was no response.

Then it meant it was time to reveal the cards I’d been saving, one by one.

Letting out a light sigh, I started collecting the “Terror Order rewards” I’d been putting off.

[Item, ‘Fable Fragment Selection Ticket’. Would you like to use it?]

“Use it.”

A Fable Fragment Selection Ticket.

This was a reward I received when I entered the “Transcendent Alliance” after successfully interpreting the terror of the “Subway Commute Home”.

Unfortunately, it was a “fable fragment” instead of a “fable”, but right now, even this was more than I could ask for.

[Printing the list of fable fragments available for distribution.]

*

1. The Relationship Between Hands and Feet

2. A Small Pebble’s Friend

3. A Bone the Devil Chewed and Spat Out

4. A Piece of Starlight Underwater

5. A Dumpling Someone Left Half-Eaten
…….

*

But I couldn’t see any fable fragments that seemed usable. It was the same no matter how many pages I flipped. Most of what I saw were fable fragments that were basically trash.

Still, I didn’t give up hope.

How long did I keep flipping through the reward pages like that? At last, a fable fragment that looked usable appeared.

“I’ll choose fable fragment number 214.”

[Fable Fragment, ‘Graffiti Written on a Wall’, has been acquired.]

Graffiti Written on a Wall. Just from the name, it sounded like a fable that wasn’t anything special.

But if my guess was right, this fable was connected to “that person”.

[Fable Fragment, ‘Graffiti Written on a Wall’, is beginning its story.]

Like a warm match being struck over the snowfield, the fable began its story.

「“If I told you everything and you didn’t understand me, that’d be really sad. Everyone has a wall, and communication is impossible……. It’s a cliché.”
“Still, you have to talk about something. Either way, it means there’s someone on the other side of that wall.”」

Outer Gods that had been wandering around began gathering nearby «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» one by one, to watch the story.

「“If there’s a wall, what are you even going to talk about?”
“You write it on the wall.”」

I stood in the gaps between them and watched that old story. Even though it wasn’t a fable I lived, it somehow made me feel nostalgic. Was it because I, too, was someone who used a part of my life to write this story?

In the end, like that day’s conversation with Kim Dokja, this story remained as a fable, and now, like this, someone was reading it.

“I know you’re there.”

At my words, I felt a small movement behind me. Then there was a being that tore the space open like a curtain and appeared.

A warrior protecting the ‘King of Terror’.

A shadow that flickered sharply.

I met the sadly shining eyes above the shadow’s face.

“The King of the Transcendents.”

That was her nickname.

The most perfect incarnation in this world. A person born into the world through Kim Dokja’s comments.

“Jang Hayoung.”

At my words, the shadow’s appearance changed. As if she was lifting her veil only for someone who could recognize her, her hair turned into a swaying gold.

But this wasn’t the time to admire it. Because she immediately spoke in a sharp voice.

[How do you have that fable?]

“Because I’m Kim Dokja too.”

I didn’t think it was a coincidence that this fable fragment came to me. Just as the Kim Dokja of the snowfield said, in the end, all Kim Dokja fragments have a nature that draws them toward each other. So maybe this fable fragment came looking for me.

“Would you like to watch a little more?”

[……Yeah.]

We silently listened to the fable fragment’s story.

The fable contained in the fragment was short.

「“They won’t know what’s happening beyond the wall anyway, right?”」

At most, just a few lines of conversation between Kim Dokja and Jang Hayoung.

「“At least the wall changed. Then, someday, someone might read it.”」

The restaurant scene wavering like the song of a broken music box, and the air from that day. Like a lit match going out, the memory quickly scattered into smoke.

Jang Hayoung urged me.

[One more time.]

I activated the fable fragment again. The fable spoke, and we listened. After a while, the fable went out again.

[Just one more time.]

“No.”

[Why?]

“We don’t have much time. But if you grant my request, I’ll show you the fable again as many times as you want.”

Jang Hayoung looked at the fable fragment with regretful eyes and asked,

[What request?]

“You already know, don’t you.”

Jang Hayoung hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

[I can’t.]

I knew she’d say that.

Even so, I made my request in a shameless voice.

“We have to stop that fight. Isn’t protecting the King of Terror your duty?”

Jang Hayoung, King of the Transcendents.

If it was her—someone who, together with <Kim Dokja Company>, saw the end of the scenario in the 1,864th round—then surely it would be possible for her to mediate that conflict.

But.

[Even if it’s my duty, I can’t grant your request.]

“What do we do, then.”

[I can’t intervene in ‘Kim Dokja’ affairs.]

It seemed there was a special restriction placed on her.

Well. Unlike the other <Kim Dokja Company>, the reason she could descend directly into the “Terror Order” was probably because she placed that kind of restriction on herself.

“The King of Terror might die in that fight.”

[I know. But strictly speaking, that isn’t ‘real death’.]

Jang Hayoung seemed to vaguely understand our situation.

A war to decide the one and only Kim Dokja. If Kim Dokja fights Kim Dokja, the losing side gets absorbed by the other Kim Dokja. If you don’t recognize each fragment as an individual personality, then in the end, this fight would look like nothing more than a journey toward a complete Kim Dokja.

Swallowing a light sigh, I spoke.

“Alright. Then can I ask something else?”

[What?]

“The [Unidentified Wall] you have. Can you still use it?”

Tilting her head slightly, Jang Hayoung said,

[Well…… I can still use some of its functions. But why?]

If I remembered correctly, the [Unidentified Wall] had several functions.

For example.

“Then you can contact constellations.”

Through the [Unidentified Wall], Jang Hayoung could communicate one-on-one with “almost every being” in the <Star Stream>. In the main story, she even made deals with various constellations using this ability.

Looking over the Terror Order rewards I still hadn’t collected, I asked,

“Can you use that ‘wall’ to contact people from other worldlines too?”

[You can’t.]

As expected, even an [Unidentified Wall] couldn’t do that. If there was any chance I could contact <Kim Dokja Company>—or if not, connect with a transcendental existence like the “Secretive Plotter”—I’d thought it might help, but.

“So it only works for beings in this worldline.”

I recalled the constellations in our worldline who could stop that duel. But no one came to mind easily.

Maybe if I made a deal with Zeus or Odin, sure—but if I dealt with those bastards, they’d definitely steal all my fables and I’d end up living as a slave to a giant nebula for hundreds of years.

I thought of other constellations.

Uriel, the Great Sage Equal to Heaven, the Abyssal Black Flame Dragon……

They were all tempting choices, but for some reason, I didn’t feel certain they could stop that fight.

As I narrowed down the options one by one, I suddenly thought of someone’s name.

Wait—maybe that person could work too?