[You took longer than I thought. I expected you to come 16 times earlier than this.]
Jaehwan had only seen Sirwen, but he knew exactly what Nightmares looked like. They had a small pair of horns on their heads and small wings on their back, but they looked just like humans otherwise. The being in front of him was definitely a Nightmare.
Nightmare Mulack Armelt.
One of the 13 Master Craftsmen, and the being who created the Tower of Remorse. He was here.
[Haha, havenāt you looked enough? Or do I have something on my face?]
Even with Mulackās words, Jaehwan couldnāt take his eyes off him. Jaehwan recognized the presence however. Mulack wasnāt just a Nightmare. He was now something beyond a Nightmare.
[I know you must have a lot of questions.]
āAre you Big Brother?ā
[Big Brother? OH! Big Brotherā¦]
As if he had forgotten that word for a long time, Mulack laughed.
[I didnāt think you would be curious about that. Didnāt you come through the āFall of timeā to get here?]
āI asked if you are Big Brother.ā
[Hahaā¦ so you havenāt changed even though you came all the way here. Itās about time you lose your stubbornnessā¦]
Mulack narrowed his eyes.
[Well, I guess acquiring understanding beyond that of a normal being doesnāt get you all that you need to know.]
Mulack then turned away from Jaehwan and began to wander around the corridor.
[Big Brotherā¦ yes. Thatās the name thatās been used recently.]
A coldness then struck. Jaehwan asked, āā¦Are there other names?ā
[Of course, there are many names. Big Brother, Invisible Hand, God of Gods, The Beginning Oneā¦. You know all this, donāt you?]
Jaehwan wasnāt sure why Mulack insisted that he knew all of it, but it seemed like the Nightmare was going to say it anyway so Jaehwan decided to listen first.
[Big Brother was created 210 thousand years ago. But it existed long before that.]
Mulack then turned to the corner of the corridor. There was the tank Jaehwan had been looking at. It was the tank that contained Daeus. Mulack reached out and touched the surface. Daeusā eye opened instantly. Before Jaehwan could put his hand on his sword, some kind of music began filling the air. Then, there was a screen in the air where the voice had come from.
-That power is dangerous. It is not something we can control.
It wasnāt Daeusā voice. Jaehwan had a heard voice very similar to this one in the Forest of Madness.
āRa-hamad.ā
However, the being on the screen wasnāt Ra-hamad.
-No, we must use it. Only we have the right to wield the power.
Catastropheās voice came after, and Jaehwan soon confirmed that the voice was Geshtaltās. He then realized what the image was about.
-Letās start.
With Daeusā mechanical voice, the world powers of the Three Ancient God gathered together. Jaehwan watched the powerful conversion of world powers. The Three Gods were resonating with each other.
āThree God War.ā
It was certainly the war that he saw in the [Record of the Depth]. Powerful world power began to resonate with each other and began to create a reality. It was a much larger world entering reality than what Myad tried to do.
It was the lone world that the Three Gods wanted, and the name of salvation to end all wars.
Jaehwan bit his lips. If he had a choice, he would have asked if that was the best decision. But he couldnāt ask that question 210 thousand years later.
The light stormed on the screen. World power that gathered became a pillar of light that penetrated the sky of . It was the light of a new world. Jaehwan could see how excited the Three Gods were because of such an achievement.
But they did not know that something was coming down from the destroyed skies above, something that they had brought down was going to ruin their plan.
Jaehwan then saw the one, the thing coming down from the sky. It contained dark, terrifying energy. It was too late when the Three Gods realized something wasnāt right. The darkness completely swept Daeusā Machina which was standing in the center of the light.
āThatāsā¦ā
Jaehwan glared at the darkness that looked very familiar. It was certain. It was the space that he had spent almost an eternity in.
-W-whatās going onā¦!!
Catastrophe and Gesthalt screamed in panic, and then there was a loud scream. It was an agonized scream worth billions of years.
Then came an explosion. It was not a physical explosion, but the explosion of a being. Jaehwan had seen such explosions countless times within the darkness. It was like a big bang of consciousness, an explosion that gave birth to new laws and the truth of a universe.
Jaehwan did not know what the explosion was since the voice inside did not allow him to go any closer. But if it wasnāt for the voice, Jaehwan would have been the same as Daeus.
It was a bit after the explosion died that Catastropheās voice came back.
-Daeus? Whatās going on?
Within the destroyed Machina, Daeus walked out from it. There was a sense of a being that was more than a being in the lenses of Daeusā machine.
-I see. So it was all pointless.
A fight broke out. There was no reason for it. Daeus started attacking Catastrophe and Geshtalt all of a sudden and they had to fight back. But they were no match against Daeus who had become a new being. Jaehwan then remembered Ra-hamadās story as he saw Geshtalt being ripped apart and Catastrophe being kicked out of .
The Three God War wasnāt a fight between the Three Ancient Gods.
Ra-hamad mentioned that it was wrong as it wasnāt an actual war between the Three Gods. In a deeper sense, it was correct however. Jaehwan finally realized what Ra-hamad had meant.
āThat is not Daeus.ā
Daeus had become something entirely different after coming out from the darkness. He had become something totally different.
After Daeus finished his work, he flew up to the sky of and disappeared. The video ended there. Jaehwan felt chill crawl up his back. It wasnāt because of the story. Daeusā eye was closing back again and Mulack asked,
[How was it?]
āā¦ā
[Itās probably your first time witnessing another being that āTranscendedā. How is it compared to when you āTranscendedā?]
Jaehwan wasnāt sure what Mulack was talking about.
[Daeus was lucky. He didnāt need to come through the āFall of timeā like you and me due to the Big Bang of world power. But of course, he too would have come across the same amount of painā¦]
Many thoughts were rushing past Jaehwanās head.
[But heās still the luckiest of us all. Haha.]
Daeus was considered a dead God within , a God that was known to have perished completely in the Three God War. However, Jaehwan now realized that it was different.
Daeus died and became Big Brother.
Maybe that wasnāt all that surprising as Jaehwan had expected as much. He was surprised about something else.
āMulack.ā
[Yes?]
āWhat is that ādarknessā?ā
[ā¦What do you mean?]
āThe ādarknessā that appeared in Daeusā memory. Thatās the same space that I walked past.ā
[Oh, you mean the āFall of timeā. Yes, you are right. That led him to āTranscendenceā.]
āAnd what is that? Tell me. Thisā¦ what is this place? What were you doing all this time?ā
And then, Mulackās face distorted weirdly. His friendly face turned to something ominous and it soon disappeared.
[ā¦Are you asking because you really donāt know?]
Jaehwan felt fear for a short moment as he met Mulackās eyes. It was the strongest fear he had ever felt in his entire life. An expression of a human looking at disgusting insect ā that was what Mulack had on his face.
[Hahaā¦ you must be joking. That is strange. Thereās no way you cannot know if you came hereā¦ Didnāt you get all your answers through āTranscendenceā?]
It was after a slight second that Mulack found his friendliness. He grinned at Jaehwan.
[ā¦.I see! So you wanted to play āa being gameā!]
Mulackās face brightened instantly.
[Well well, you are a trickster! Good. Iāll play alongā¦ what should I do? Oh, how about this? Letās play a version of āDemon embracing the hero that came up to the top of Tree of Imagery to stop the world from its doomā?]