Budda was amazed that he was gasping in pain. He was always on the side of listening to it, not the one letting out the sound. As he looked at silver powder coming out of his mouth, he had to accept the fact that he had underestimated the man.
This man wasnât just strong.
It was to the point where Budda thought if he met Jaehwan instead of Myad, their plan might have gone different ways. It was a young spirit that was barely 2 thousand years old. But how could such a spirit hold such power?
Budda, who had reincarnated thousands of times, couldnât see through all of moments this man had withstood. If he were to measure it in years, in maybe 100 or 200 years⊠this man might overtake Myad.
âBut not yetâŠ!â
Budda unleashed world power from his body. It consisted of all the power of his countless lives. Budda smiled.
âEven if you defeated Gerome⊠you canâtâŠ!â
Even if the young man was powerful, there was no way that he could defeat the time Budda had spent alive. Buddaâs world power soared to prove his confidence. It was now over 10 million.
It was enough to choke Jaehwan with the power pressing down on him, but Jaehwan didnât seem to be bothered. He seemed relaxed even. And it wasnât long when Budda became shocked.
âYOU! That EYE!!!â
He was referring to the spinning snake inside Jaehwanâs left eye. Ouroboros, the snake that was biting its tail â Budda pointed to it with his shaking finger. It was similar to the snake in his eyes, but Buddaâs snake didnât bite on its tail.
âI-I see! So you were the one that Vicegerent of Ignis spoke of! You are the one who obtained the Eye of Geshtalt!â
ââŠâ
âHow did you get your hands on that! I couldnât get it even after tens of thousands of yearsâŠ!â
Buddaâs eyes were filled with anger, and now he was suspicious. How did this young man get ahold of the tail of a snake that he could never achieve? Jaehwan asked, âI heard you can [Reincarnate]?â
Buddaâs eyes shook. Did he know about the [Reincarnation]? Well, Pierre knew about it soâŠ
âThatâs why you couldnât get it.â
âWhat?â
It was strange. Come to think of it, Ra-hamad did speak of similar things when Budda first created the [Reincarnation]. Using such way would never allow him to take the Eye of Geshtalt.
âYou will never catch the âtailâ anymore. You canât.â
It was very vague, but the vagueness angered Budda even further. Even if he couldnât finish his Ouroboros because of [Reincarnation], what was he to talk about it as if he knew it all?
âCut the nonsense. Just DIE!â
Giant hands charged at Jaehwan. It was the powerful skill that he used against Karavan. Thousands of hands were rushing in. It was now faster, but they covered all the sides Jaehwan could avoid. Jaehwan did not try to avoid them. Instead, he changed his stance. The Ouroboros began to spin more violently in his eyes.
The world power began to storm.
âW-what is going on?!â
Jaehwanâs world power began to soar. As it surged past 10 million, it seemed to be painful for Jaehwan, but it was just for a short moment.
11 millionâŠ
It was now long past Buddaâs world power. He now realized the secret behind Jaehwanâs power.
âSo thatâs the power of the Eye of GeshtaltâŠâ
It was the [Setting] that Geshtalt used who had no Followers. His Setting allowed him to use his own clothes to become his Followers. The Setting granted more power if there were more clothes within him. It was the loneliest world power in this world.
[Fall]
Jaehwanâs stabs that destroyed worlds ripped apart the thousands of hands. Budda knew he could [Reincarnate], but it was still terrifying. Budda felt as if he had seen a snakeâs tail-like thing.
Thousands of stabs swept away everything from Budda. It was absolute decimation.
And after a whileâŠ
The space distorted and began to peel itself like an onion. It was where Budda had perished. There was a flower that bloomed from it and Karavan had also seen it before.
Budda panted as he walked out of the flower leaves. He rubbed his eyes and spat, ââŠUgh, this is disgusting.â
A dead spirit coming back alive? This was a terrifying miracle. How was this possible? Jaehwan, however, didnât seem surprised. He simply stated, âSo, thatâs the [Reincarnation].â
âYes.â
âYou are not the one I fought.â
Budda flinched.
ââŠHow did you know?â
âYou feel different.â
Jaehwan glared at Budda and continued, âYou are âdifferent clothesâ. So, the different clothes take control of the spirit.â
ââŠâ
âThat is not [Reincarnation]. The Budda that was here before is dead.â
Budda shook at Jaehwanâs declaration. He had reincarnated countless times and defeated countless enemies, but it was the first time that his secret had been revealed.
[Reincarnation]
It was far from a real âresurrectionâ as the name suggested When it was used, the previous personality perished instead. It then gave birth to one of the countless âclothesâ deep within the consciousness. A new set of âclothesâ then received the previous Buddaâs memory to be born from the flower.
Giving birth to a new self in place of his former self â that was the secret to Buddaâs [Reincarnation].
âYou are no Budda. Budda died long ago.â
Jaehwanâs words pierced Buddaâs mind. This was what countless Buddas had thought about. They continued the memories and reshaped them in the same way, but it didnât change the fact that the previous Budda wasnât the exact same as the current one.
Budda knew this. Every time the reincarnation happened, his personality was changing. And he felt his core character that existed within him falling apart every time.
âSHUT UP! I am BUDDA!â
Budda couldnât accept it. Even if he knew, even if he accepted it, he was no longer âBuddaâ.
âI am Budda! God of Invincibility, the God who has not lost once!â
Budda unleashed his world power. His thousands of years of his anger shot out to avoid his death.
Budda was certain that his path was not wrong. Even if he was no longer âBuddaâ at the end of the path, he still would not lose. His self would keep coming back to life andâŠ
Jaehwanâs eye turned cold as he looked into the world power charging upon him.
âI see. Maybe we can try to see how many times you can return.â
Buddaâs spirit was shaking. He had felt this feeling a while ago.