I like your story.

Kim Dokja’s words left a deep ripple in the deepest part of my chest.

There are words that, only after you hear them, you realize you’d wanted to hear them all along.

I looked into his face.

His name was Kim Dokja. A character I wrote across 551 episodes.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is activated more strongly.]

Just from the expression he made, I could tell what he was thinking.

【The apocalypse region will be destroyed. I’ll call the train, so leave here.】

“I can’t do that.”

The King of Terror silently turned his back. Beyond the threshold of the “big house,” a chilling lightning glare was pouring out without end. It was Zeus’s fable.

Beyond that, the scattered screams of the Transcendents. I could also hear Tooth Fin howling in pain.

“Let’s get out of here together.”

Why he liked my story—maybe I knew.

The second Kim Dokja, who must have been hiding in the “apocalypse region” ever since the moment he was born.

In a sense, this “apocalypse region” was Kim Dokja’s other “snowfield.”

He would have hidden in the gaps between the lines, collecting horrors, and rereading the stories he’d already read, again and again.

The second Kim Dokja stared at me with calm eyes.

【You know what happens if I leave here.】

When the second Kim Dokja lightly gestured, a small screen floated up in midair.

—We got it!
—The disaster fell!

His split bodies that had entered the scenario were dying as they were attacked by incarnations. His butterfly wings were torn, and the “nameless things” protecting him were fading away.

【Not only me—every time, the ‘Otherworldly Divinities’ will suffer the same thing. As long as this <Star Stream> exists, forever.】

“So that’s why you tried to turn <Star Stream> itself into an ‘apocalypse region’?”

The King of Terror smiled faintly.

【But I failed.】

It was something that could only fail.

In a world where someone’s sorrow easily becomes a story, once he entered the scenario, he could only become a “disaster.” All the stars and incarnations would gather their strength to drive him out, and then plant a banner of brilliant victory in the place where his sorrow had been.

【Even so, it was something I had to do.】

“Why did it have to be right now? Is it because I read the ‘Prophecy of the End’?”

I recalled the “Prophecy of the End” I had read when I entered the “Transcendent Alliance.”

「The horror that has begun to be recorded will return to a fable once more. It will become a decided story. It will be written into history again.
When that day comes, the boundary of sleep will open, and the King of Terror will descend.
And only the one who defeats the King of Terror will become, at the boundary of dreams and reality, the final storyteller who denies all records.」

The “Prophecy of the End” that hinted at the birth and death of the “King of Terror.”

The King of Terror looked at me quietly, then shook his head.

【Everything is already written, and at the same time, is being written.】

After murmuring those words low, the King of Terror quietly added,

【The current ‘apocalypse region’ can’t contain all the Outer Gods. In the end, it was something that would happen someday. The prophecy was only the trigger.】

“But—”

【Go. With your companions.】

When the King of Terror reached a hand out, Anna Croft and Yoo Joonghyuk, who had fainted inside the threshold of the “big house,” floated up into the air and drifted out.

Catching them with both hands, I said once again.

“I’m not going. No, I can’t.”

As if he found me frustrating, the King of Terror stared at me for a moment. From behind, I heard the sound of lightning glare surging once again.

【There’s no time. If you keep refusing, I’ll absorb you.】

The moment I met his compound eyes, my heart thumped hard. An unpleasant aura flowed out from his shape as he approached one step at a time.

【I’ll absorb you and take all your fables. I’ll gather the fragments and dye <Star Stream> with terror. I’ll make a world where everyone fears each other, so no one can harm anyone else.】

At the same time, a fable also writhed inside me.

[Fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’ growls.]

Narrowing my eyes, I answered.

“If you can, try it. Even so, I’m never leaving you here alone.”

【I can’t help it.】

The next moment, the King of Terror opened his mouth wide. The distant darkness inside his mouth swelled greedily.

【This is something you brought on yourself.】

The darkness swallowed me.

rlaehrwk37 : What? What happened?

The King of Terror opened his eyes.

The power of fables welling up inside him. As if to calm that power, the King of Terror repeated a quiet breath again and again.

How long had he kept breathing like that? The “room of the time stratum” began to shake dangerously.

[Constellation, ‘Seat of Lightning’ manifests its status!]

At last, Zeus’s incarnation body had reached the threshold of the “big house.”

Of course, Zeus wasn’t the only one who appeared.

【Oooooooo!】

This place was the “room of the time stratum.”

Through the entrances of countless time strata, the ‘Otherworldly Divinities’ were beginning to cross over in earnest.

Tragedy-grade, disaster-grade, end-of-the-world-grade.

A legion of terror that could truly wipe out this world.

Then, beyond the threshold of the “big house,” Zeus’s lightning spear Astrape revealed itself. It looked like pure white current dyed everything around it, and then, the next moment, the entire surrounding space was cleanly annihilated. The tale fragments of the destroyed Outer Gods circled the “room of the time stratum.”

The enraged Outer Gods screamed.

【Aaaaaaaaaaah!】

Zeus’s Astrape spewed fire again. Each time pure white sparks flew, the number of Outer Gods rapidly decreased.

Unable to watch it any longer, the King of Terror stepped forward.

【Stop.】

His language was the language of terror. There was no way Zeus could understand his words. And yet Zeus looked as if he understood that language.

When Zeus gave a light gesture with his chin, Poseidon, who had followed him out from the threshold, stepped forward and opened his mouth.

[If you want us to stop, you know exactly what you have to do.]

The sky and sea of <Olympus> were speaking to the apocalypse region.

[Come to <Olympus>, fragment of the Oldest Dream.]

That was the purpose for which <Olympus> had come all the way here in person.

To seize the King of Terror, and gather the “fragments of the Oldest Dream.”

And thus change the history of this “world line.”

[You should know you have no choice right now.]

Even Jang Hayoung, who had cleared the 1,864th round, couldn’t stop their fleet.

Before the overwhelming military force of the <Olympus> fleet led by Zeus, now there were only two choices.

Surrender here and submit to <Olympus>, or be annihilated along with the apocalypse region.

The King of Terror said.

【You guys seem to have forgotten where this is.】

[Even if this is inside your dream, you can’t stop us.]

As if they had already finished assessing the King of Terror’s capabilities, Poseidon let out a sneer.

[We know that all you can do is dream the ‘dream’ needed to maintain this place.]

The weakest god in this world.

The “King of Terror” governs everything in the “apocalypse region,” but alone, he can’t do anything.

【Right. A sad story.】

The “King of Terror” laughed. A laugh that might have been an empty laugh, or self-mockery.

Holding that twisted laugh on his lips, the “King of Terror” said,

【Youngest.】

He called me.

【Remember the end of this story well.】

Of course, I wasn’t in a state of being “absorbed” by the “King of Terror.”

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ is in an activated state.]

[Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] that activated at a dramatic moment.

[Exclusive skill, ‘Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint’ Stage 0 is in an activated state.]

Stage 0 of [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint], which had never activated even once. By the miracle of that Stage 0, I was now seeing the world through his eyes without being absorbed by the “King of Terror.”

[You’re putting on airs.]

The moment Poseidon aimed Traiana at the King of Terror, the Outer Gods of the “time stratum” began to howl toward the sky all at once.

Their cries soon covered the entire “apocalypse region,” and then became a fable.

「Giant fable」.

A giant fable that made the King of Terror into “Kim Dokja.”

[Giant fable, ‘Season of Light and Darkness’ begins its story.]

With a tztztztz sound, the battlefield’s scenery began to change.

「Staging」.

It was unbelievable.

For Staging to occur, the conditions for that stage to be established had to be fulfilled without fail.

For example, 「Season of Light and Darkness」 was a fable that occurred on the “Island of Reincarnators.”

<Eden> and <Demon World> collided, the “Holy Demon Great War” broke out, and the fable that was born when Kim Dokja led its finale was 「Season of Light and Darkness」.

But right now, this place wasn’t the “Island of Reincarnators,” and there were no constellations representing good and evil.

All that existed here was simply “Kim Dokja.”

And yet, how—

[What kind of nonsense—]

It seemed Poseidon and Zeus, who held the same doubt as me, felt the same way.

「The ruins of the ‘Holy Demon Great War’ spread out there.」

How could the “Holy Demon Great War” be reproduced here?

[There are no archangels or Demon Kings here! Then how……!]

The answer was simple.

【You think there are no archangels or Demon Kings here?】

[What?]

【Isn’t it that you can’t see them?】

The constellations of <Olympus>, including Poseidon, still had faces that didn’t understand.

Only I understood what he was saying.

I sighed in admiration, and I groaned in despair. A sight I could see because [Omniscient Reader’s Viewpoint] Stage 0 was active.

Since when had it been?

「Forgotten archangels and Demon Kings were standing beside us.」

No one would call them “archangels” or “Demon Kings” anymore. Because they had now lost their names.

【Goodandevilgoodandevilgoodandevilgoodandevilgoodandevil】

【Lightanddarknesslightanddarknesslightanddarknesslightanddarknesslightanddarkness】

But even they had a time when they existed in the scenario. They had days when, with their own roles, they faced their own battlefield.

That old story—their fables that could only be preserved through the “time stratum”—was being released here now as a 「stage」.

【Oooooooo!】

On that stage, I could see together the scenery the “King of Terror” had protected alone all along.

Only then did I understand the reason the “time stratum” existed, and I could accept why the Outer Gods kept hiding in the gaps of the “time stratum.”

They had wandered endlessly, searching for their vanished stories, searching for their lost homeland.

Poseidon growled and shouted.

[Staging alone is useless. With just one mere ‘giant fable’—]

【You don’t know what kind of war the ‘Holy Demon Great War’ awakens.】

The “King of Terror” saying that truly seemed like Kim Dokja.

【Well, it isn’t your history.】

That day, in that place, the Kim Dokja who led the “Holy Demon Great War.”

The Kim Dokja in history who protected <Kim Dokja Company> with his sacrifice.

Kugugugugu!

The roar came from the door far above.

[1863-99th round].

The unknown “time ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) stratum” next to the “reset button.”

Beyond the threshold of that stratum, something terrible was rippling.

[Spear That Draws the Boundary of the Sea, what is this!]

The Twelve Divine Seats of <Olympus>, who crossed the door late, stood as if protecting the myth-grade constellations.

But Zeus and Poseidon only stared at the “time stratum” of the ceiling with bewitched faces.

Among the Twelve Divine Seats, the first to notice the situation was the volcanic blacksmith—Hephaestus.

[My god, that lunatic is right now—]

Only then did they realize what kind of being the “prototype” of the Outer God beyond that threshold was.

The shadow of a gigantic tail swaying beyond the time stratum portal.

「There was the ‘Disaster of the Stars’ there.」

Once again, I realized that this place was the “apocalypse region.”

The terrors of this world have several classifications.

Tragedy-grade. Disaster-grade. End-of-the-world-grade.

But above those, there was one more stage of classification.

End-grade.

A terror that might be able to throw the entire <Star Stream> into peril.

[You bastard, if you do that, you won’t come out unharmed either! Everyone here will die!]

Ignoring the constellations’ shouts, the King of Terror slowly raised his hand and called the terror.

【Come.】

Cheongheo once said this. An end-grade terror wasn’t a terror you could “avoid.”

It was simply a terror you could only “accept.”

That terror was now awakening under the protection of a giant fable.

I knew that terror too. Because in 『The Apocalypse Region Guide Even Squid and Sunfish Can Understand』 written by Han Sooyoung, the name of that “terror” was designated as follows.

「Type 1 end-grade terror.」

The prototype of that terror was as follows.

「Final Dragon of the Apocalypse.」

I could feel the shadow of a gigantic tail swaying beyond the threshold.

Everyone here knew. That with a single swing of that tail, everything in this “apocalypse region” would disappear.

Tztztztztztztz!

At last, the Backlash of Plausibility began to blow in. With the appearance of the Final Dragon, the “scale beam of Plausibility” had completely shattered.

In the center of the apocalypse region, whipping with pure white sparks, the god who was more omniscient and powerless than anyone said,

【Just like you said, all I can do is dream a ‘dream.’ But.】

The god’s finger pointed at the <Olympus> fleet.

【You too are in my dream.】

At last, the Final Dragon’s tail moved.

【I always only dream nightmares.】