Part 2
“Wait. I did not say I will give up.”
“Why can’t I keep my eyes off you?”
Bae Sungmin turned his vacant eyes, and they seemed to be lamenting something lost. Bae Suzy answered herself with another question.
“Why do I keep looking at you?”
“I…”
Bae Sungmin tried to speak something, but he closed his mouth again. He wanted to reveal that he was her father, but his body set the line between them. He was dead, and Bae Suzy was alive. They existed in entirely different worlds.
“If you won’t speak, I’ll find out even if I have to force you or even Muyoung!”
Bae Suzy’s willpower returned to her as she spoke sincerely. Bae Sungmin closed his mouth and grabbed his staff tightly.
‘You have grown well.’
Children grew fast, even when their parents turned around and were doing something else. Bae Suzy had been an exceptional child, and Bae Sungmin felt pride and sadness at the same time. Bae Suzy had grown to become an admirable woman, and he had not been able to be with her on that journey.
She would not leave the battleground until this war came to an end, and he could not stop her now.
Therefore, they had to win. Bae Sungmin raised his staff and opened the door to summon monsters who would join the battle.
“Do you see?”
Muyoung raised his head to look at Ars Paulina as she spoke.
“So many people gathered for you, Muyoung. Your wish has come true.”
“My wish?”
“You told me you did not want to be alone anymore.”
“I said that to you?”
Muyoung could not believe he had said that. Ars Paulina nodded.
“You wanted to do something more meaningful and overcome life, death, and everything in between.”
“I…don’t remember.”
“Are you sure that you just want to forget? You are not used to these kinds of things.”
Ars Paulina smiled. Their time had been stopped, and Muyoung was only staring at the time going by past them.
“Even if I did not forget, what would change?’
“Nothing, but you are not alone anymore. You did it. However, it is not enough.”
“I can only watch since Solomon’s divinity is trying to erase my existence.”
Muyoung and Solomon’s divinity were clashing and merging. Muyoung instinctively knew that he would not exist after this process was completed.
“Will you give up?”
“No, but there’s nothing I can do.”
“Weren’t you someone who made his path if there wasn’t one?”
“You speak as if you know me well.”
“I watched for you a long time, and that’s why I know that you’re just confused right now.”
“I thought I arrived at my destination, or I believed so because I had never stopped until now. However, I learned that there are no starting points or ending points.”
“Is that right? Look, you gathered them together, not by Baal’s intentions but by your wish.”
Muyoung looked outside to see Tacan, Bae Sungmin, Crimson Balrog, the nine-tailed fox and Bae Suzy, and the transcendentals fighting despite their numerical inferiority.
Everyone gathered because of Muyoung’s will, including Gremory and Amon. Muyoung had been the one to move them into action, and now they were dying. The results would be irreversible if he acted too late for those who came together for Muyoung.
“But what can I do? I cannot do anything when time has stopped.”
Muyoung only could speak of them, and everything would be over when Baal started to move. The gap was too large, but Ars Paulina smiled.
“You can do it. Baal intentionally gave you only Ars Nova and me, and you made everything else. Those unique factors will work for you even when the time has stopped.”
She was telling Muyoung to do what he could. Muyoung thought about what he could do, and something only he could do. ‘My sword.’ It was a weapon only Muyoung had, and he raised the sword in his mind as Baal had never intended Muyoung to have it. His sword was composed of 51 strikes but was not completed yet. He did not need his body to move but accepted his sword and started to create it anew.
Muyoung went deep inside himself and slowed down the flow of time by 128 times. Muyoung contemplated again and again and focused on his sword.
‘What choices do I want to make?’
His thoughts came to that, as Solomon and Baal had their own goals. On the other hand, Muyoung wanted to do something meaningful rather than trying to become a hero. Therefore, he did not hesitate to kill. However, Muyoung now had to decide on the end, because he could only walk forward when there was a destination.
‘I…’ What made Muyoung act? He remembered again that he wanted to right the wrongs. Once he realized that, he saw the Prayer of the Gods, Ars Nova! It was a power that could make miracles happen and a power that could be used by someone who had caused a miracle. Muyoung grafted that power onto his sword. He was determined to make a miracle happen if it was needed to change everything.
‘I would become a god if I needed to.’
If he needed divinity to become one who could right the wrongs, Muyoung would accept it. Muyoung finally found the determination to do so and would now give everything he had to a specific goal rather than simple survival and a determination to not be used by others.
Muyoung merged his sword, and if ‘The Evil Slayer’ was the stance of fifty strikes, he compressed it down and made it into a single strike. He merged dozens of miracles into his sword and swung Anguish in the time he had slowed down. It was then Solomon’s divinity reacted. The power began to become one with Anguish rather than just merging together.
<You have achieved ‘The God of Swords’ and become the ‘The God and Soul of the Sword.’>
<You have gained a Lord Class ‘The Angel of Time.’>
<All titles, effects, and classes are added together to create a new class.>
<An eternal class, ‘The King of Battlefield’ has been completed.>
Muyoung opened his eyes after completing everything and stood on his own. At the same time, six black wings and six white wings fluttered to start the flow of time again.
Hyacinth trembled because she knew that he was the king she had desperately searched and waited. He had twelve wings and a beautiful form behind his impassive face. He was more than anything she had imagined, and Hyacinth felt awed just by looking at him. While she had substantial powers to beguile, but now she was the one beguiled.