I’d been stopped at that part for a long time.

This world is fake.

It was only a single sentence.

And yet, I couldn’t fully fathom what kind of temptation Yoo Joonghyuk must have cast aside in order to reach the conclusion of that one sentence.

「"Stop messing around and come out. I already know this world is an illusion."」

The feeling of having to deny your own ending after finally reaching the end you’d wanted so badly.

Maybe even as he said that, Yoo Joonghyuk hoped no one would answer his question in the end.

「[Impressive, Overlord. How did you figure it out?]」

A voice that shattered the illusion.

It was a constellation I knew as well.

One of the Twelve Divine Seats of the great <Olympus>, and a star who had provided a fable to Cheon Inho in the 40th round.

「Owner of the Sky Steps, Hermes.」

It was the moment the true nature of the “896th round” was finally revealed.

「[I’ll ask again. How did you figure it out?]」

In truth, Yoo Joonghyuk’s real incarnation body was still remaining in the 895th round, and he was in a state right before death.

However, <Olympus>, having acquired his incarnation body that had reached the brink of death, delayed his death and connected him to Hermes’s “big data system”.

As a result, <Olympus> succeeded in waking Yoo Joonghyuk inside an illusory world made from Yoo Joonghyuk’s memories— a “terrarium”. Not only that, they even led him into living while believing that world was the “896th round”.

The so-called “Terrarium Project”.

It was the ultimate trap designed by <Olympus> to dig into the secret of [Regression] and figure out Yoo Joonghyuk’s scenario patterns.

「"I just knew."」

Yoo Joonghyuk, who accepted all those facts calmly, answered.

「"There’s no way I’d be this lucky."」

Looking back at the companions who had survived, and seeing his wish that had never been fulfilled until now realized right in front of his eyes, Yoo Joonghyuk blinked blankly.

Then he gripped his sword in a reverse grip and aimed it at his own heart.

「[Wait. Stop!]」

Hermes tried to stop Yoo Joonghyuk.

「[We can leave this world behind for you.]」

「"What meaning does that have?"」

Yoo Joonghyuk’s blazing rage turned toward Hermes.

His freedom was taken. His companions were taken. The truth was taken. Joy and sorrow were taken. And now, in front of the stars who had even taken his story and turned it into their amusement, Yoo Joonghyuk was speaking.

「"Until the day my life ends, I will never forgive you bastards."」

「[Of course you won’t. But the stars you can take revenge on are no longer left on this world line. They tried to imitate your [Regression], got hit by the Backlash of Plausibility, and all of them perished.]」

The ending of the Terrarium Project was horrific. The stars of <Olympus> were swept up in the Backlash of Plausibility in the process of digging out the secret of the ‘Oldest Dream’ and [Regression] that they wanted to know so badly.

While reproducing the stigma [Regression] based on Yoo Joonghyuk’s memories, they couldn’t calm the “Great Fable” of myth-grade constellations running wild, and as a result, a catastrophe occurred where the entirety of the <Star Stream> collapsed.

Yoo Joonghyuk spoke as if mocking Hermes.

「"There’s still the next round, and the round after that too."」

Then Hermes answered with a bitter smile.

「[I know. You’ll try to kill us over and over. Just like you did in your past life. To stars who can’t even remember the previous round, your lonely revenge will continue forever. But are you truly satisfied with that?]」

「"What are you trying to say?"」

「[Puppet of the Oldest Dream.]」

After saying that, Hermes fell silent for a moment. It didn’t describe what he was thinking, but I, reading that story from outside the lines, could feel Hermes’s unspoken emotions.

「[Do you really think the world you’ve lived in is an ‘illusion’?]」

In the <Star Stream> where the stars had died, the only world left alive now was the “terrarium” where Yoo Joonghyuk existed.

「[Even the world of the <Star Stream> you’ve lived in is nothing but the dream of a great cosmic being. If it’s going to be like that anyway, wouldn’t it be fine for you to remain in the terrarium I made?]」

In the 895th round that was facing destruction, Yoo Joonghyuk was Hermes’s last remaining “story”.

「["You only have to forget. If you alone forget that this world is a lie, you can become happy again. You can reach an ending you couldn’t find in the <Star Stream>."]」

「"The ‘ending’ I want isn’t in the world you made."」

Without hesitating, Yoo Joonghyuk stabbed the blade into his own heart.

Hermes murmured sorrowfully.

「[Lonely regressor. You’ll even make the stars who came to like you lonely.]」

With those words as the last, the “terrarium” Hermes had made collapsed, and Yoo Joonghyuk’s true “896th round” began.

Why did Kim Dokja tell me to read this round?

I couldn’t understand it.

Was it a hint that this world might not be the real 1,863rd round, but some kind of “time stratum”?

But if it were, I couldn’t feel the time density unique to a stratum at all.

Besides, there was no task notification that was given when entering a “time stratum”.

Or was it simply saying that this world, too, might be a “terrarium” made by Hermes?

I gathered my thoughts for a moment, then slowly checked the contents of the 896th round I’d just read one more time.

Looking closely, there was a part I’d skipped over earlier without properly examining it.

「Building ‘one world’ in order to deceive a regressor who had repeated life hundreds of times was a painstaking and difficult task.
……
And so, Hermes thought. Making this ‘terrarium’ had to be Yoo Joonghyuk himself, not him. In other words, it had to be a world where the regressor himself deceived himself.
……
To help that process, Hermes borrowed one unique exclusive skill, and the name of that skill was…….」

The moment I read up to there, a sharp ringing sounded in the air.

Biiiii—!

When I opened the door and stepped outside, I could see people moving busily through the base.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s an attack!”

The time was early dawn.

It was definitely a time vulnerable to an attack, but who would dare attack this base?

Once again, a boom echoed, and I heard the sound of the upper part of the building being destroyed.

Just then, Kim Namwoon came running down from upstairs with a clatter and asked,

“Whoaa! Mister, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine, but—”

“Don’t crawl outside for no reason, just stay here. Got it?”

Just because I’d been told that didn’t mean I could really stay still.

From outside the base, the sounds of weapons clashing and screams alternated.

When I hurried down to the first floor, I saw Lee Seolhwa waiting with the medical staff. Past them, Lee Hyunsung and Lee Jihye, along with Kim Namwoon and the other members of <Han Sooyoung Corporation>, were engaged in a fierce battle with something.

But the appearance of the opponent they were fighting was somehow familiar.

If my eyes weren’t mistaken, that was definitely one of the Twelve Divine Seats of <Olympus>.

The ferocious war god, Ares.

However, it was different from the “Ares” I knew.

He wasn’t the “ferocious war god” who boasted brilliant armor and holy relics.

Skin twisted by burns like a charred zombie. Pathetic muscles chopped off in chunks here and there.

The reason I could recognize him was because of the tale fragments drifting at his base.

[A tale fragment, ‘Echo of Ferocity’, continues ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) the story.]

It wasn’t only Ares.

Hephaestus, Artemis, Athena, and all the Twelve Divine Seats of <Olympus> I knew were all rising like zombies and wandering the battlefield.

“They’re star scraps.”

Lee Seolhwa said.

“They’re like the thought-forms of dead constellations. Constellations that had powerful tales sometimes remain as tales like grudges even after they die, and wander the world.”

As if to prove her words, true words like dialect spilled from the Twelve Divine Seats’ mouths.

[Wicked…… director…….]

[The…… <Star Stream> you destroyed…… will not forgive you…….]

[You…… can’t see…… ■■…….]

[No one in this world…… ■■…… wants…….]

I had no idea what they were even saying, but one thing was certain: they bore hostility toward us.

Even dead, a fable-grade constellation was still a fable-grade constellation, I guess.

A raging surge of the lion’s roar that spilled from Ares’s mouth swept the base.

“Hyunsung mister!”

Lee Hyunsung’s [Wide-Area Protection] skill covered the group. But there were enemies that forced their way in through the gaps.

Hephaestus, who climbed over the protective wall with half-twisted limbs. And behind him, even more star scraps of <Olympus>.

“Damn it! The left side got breached!”

“Shin Yoosung!”

Next, together with a shadow that covered the sky dimly, a “Chimera Dragon” appeared. At Shin Yoosung’s signal, the “Chimera Dragon’s” breath plowed up the earth and scorched it into wasteland.

Taking advantage of the time the breath bought, Lee Jihye, who had crossed inside the protective wall, grumbled.

“There are way too many. Damn it, if I could just use the power of the Apocalypse Dragon—”

The power of the Apocalypse Dragon.

I recalled the otherworldly power Han Sooyoung had used recently to save me.

Maybe because she wasted excessive plausibility back then, she didn’t have the leeway to deal with the enemies now.

Come to think of it, where did Han Sooyoung go?

“Lee Jihye! The right side got breached too!”

With Kim Namwoon’s shout, the star scraps including Ares came limping toward us with half-shattered incarnation bodies.

Of all things, the direction those bastards were running from was where Lee Seolhwa and I were.

Just as Lee Seolhwa’s expression hardened and she was about to step forward, I drew my sword first.

“Please step back.”

If things had turned out like this because of me, then I couldn’t just stand by and watch either.

I calmly drew in a breath and focused on the tale inside me.

Ares, having noticed me, looked like he was working his lips.

[You are……?]

I didn’t even give him time to speak and raised my sword.

What I needed right now was a swift, decisive battle. If they didn’t know who I was, the odds were on our side.

Kiiiiing!

The ether blade that surged out of ‘Unbreakable Conviction’. The tales I’d accumulated were dwelling in every facet of the blade of conviction.

[A fable, ‘Successor of the Eternal Name’, roars!]

I didn’t know about other fable-grade constellations, but at least with me as I was now, I wouldn’t be pushed back by this bastard.

Because I had already cut him down once as the ‘Demon King of Salvation’.

[Kuaaaaak!]

As Ares, cut by ‘Unbreakable Conviction’, staggered with a scream, Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye charged in, aiming for the opening, and unleashed a flurry of strikes that took off Ares’s head.

“Mister, nice!”

Kim Namwoon shouted in celebration and waved a hand at me.

But instead of reacting to him, I stared at the scenery of the battlefield with calm eyes.

「It really was a perfect round.」

Even if they were star scraps, they were constellations that had once been stars representing a great nebula. Against them, the members of <Han Sooyoung Corporation> were protecting each other while taking almost no damage.

「That was why it was an impossible round.」

That bizarre sense of discomfort swept over my spine once again.

A wall that even Yoo Joonghyuk, who had regressed 999 times, couldn’t cross even after sacrificing his own incarnation body. That was the <Star Stream>’s “Final Scenario”.

I knew Han Sooyoung was outstanding. But no matter how much it was her, was it possible to reach this scenario together with every companion?

Without anyone getting hurt, at that—

“Dokja ssi.”

Lee Seolhwa, who had suddenly approached, asked me.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“Yes. How are the others?”

“They’re fine. There are people with minor injuries, but…….”

I could see patients being transported on beds. Between slashed and torn wounds, the patients were spilling tales.

「Spilling tales.」

I stared blankly at the wounded, then turned my head to look back at Kim Namwoon and Lee Jihye, and Lee Hyunsung.

They, too, were spilling tales from their wounds.

Of course, spilling tales wasn’t such a strange thing. Even constellations spill tales from their incarnation bodies when they’re injured. Even noble transcendents spill tales when they suffer deep internal injuries, or when their source is damaged.

But this case was a bit peculiar.

Ordinary incarnations don’t spill tales instead of blood.

Except for one single case.

「When the incarnation body isn’t the ‘main body’.」

That couldn’t be.

No matter how much it was Han Sooyoung, there was no way something like that was possible.

But the faint sparks sweeping across the entire battlefield— the reality in front of my eyes was supporting that possibility.

「A way to reach the Final Scenario without anyone dying.」

Just as Kim Dokja, who crossed the “final wall” together with his companions, had to shoulder the seat of the ‘Oldest Dream’, someone who dreams an impossible dream always has to pay a price equal to that.

Then what kind of price did Han Sooyoung pay in order to come this far?

“Seolhwa.”

Lee Seolhwa’s pupils were trembling as they looked into my eyes.

As if she already knew what I was going to ask.

“Where is Han Sooyoung right now?”