Beyond the Eternity

No one bothered the twins anymore. At least, nobody tried anything while Angelica asserted dominance. In fact, they were no longer making a commotion or even looked towards her direction.

The man she beat up retreated to a corner and clutched his dislocated arm. His sobs could be heard from her position.

Angelica realized she might have gone too far, but she couldn't ignore the fact that he was still responsible for his actions. Yes, he was a victim like everyone else, but that didn't give him the right to take out his frustrations on others, especially those under 18.

She shifted her attention back to the twins. They had huddled in the corner and hugged their knees with their heads lowered to the ground. They had been saved but their expressions did not change.

At that moment, she realised something.

The depressing atmosphere had not changed. The reality of the situation had not changed.

They were still going to be sacrificed as offering in some ritual.

Every powers and skills were restricted because of the Fable, so they couldn't defend themselves. It didn't matter how many people she protected—one or two, it made no difference. As long as their role as sacrifices remained unchanged, they would inevitably die. Most likely, the sacrifice ritual would send their souls into the embrace of an Evil Deity.

"...!"

Angelica's body trembled.

An icy, tentacle-like feeling crept crept into her body and froze her heart. The sensation was similar to the feeling of submerging one's body into a bathtub filled with cold water.

The realization that her actions were utterly meaningless in the grand scheme of things left her feeling truly pathetic.

"Tck!"

She gritted the back of her teeth. At the same time, someone moved towards her side without her knowledge and tug her sleeve of her white shirt.

Turning her head, she saw one of the twins looking at her. It was Chun Yun-suh.

"Thank you." The girl said.

Angelica's hardened expression loosened considerably and she opened her mouth in response.

"You don't need to thank me. How are your wounds? Is it serious?"

"Ah, no. I'm fine. Just a few bruises, that's all."

"What about your brother?"

"He's fine for the most part."

Angelica glanced over at Chun Jin-sung, who remained silent with his head facing the ground.

He hasn't spoken a word since the commotion, and his shoulders shook with every breath he took. Despite his poker face, It was obvious he was carrying a certain level of trauma.

In fact, nobody on Earth could escape being traumatized.

Angelica wanted to break the uncomfortable elevator-like silence, so she opened her mouth and asked. "By the way, what is your name? I couldn't get it last time."

"Oh, I'm Rin, and that is my brother, Jin-sung."

"I see. I'm Angelica."

"You're not from South Korea?"

"Well, my father's Korean, and my mother's American. I guess you could say I'm caught between both worlds."

Yoo Rin's eyebrows raised slightly, and she shifted her face closer as if place the pieces of a puzzle together.

"That explains your foreign accent, and there's also your hair too. But you speak Korean really well though."

Angelica shrugged. "I've been in South Korea for a long time, so it's natural that I would be speak it well."

Yoo Rin nodded and her gaze shifted back to her brother.

"I wish I had your strength," she said quietly, almost to herself. "Maybe then... maybe I could've done something."

"T-That..."

Angelica's voice trailed off. She didn't know how to respond. What could she say to someone trapped in a nightmare with no real way out?

Of course, she couldn't.

Telling her everything was all going to be okay would feel like a lie. The truth was, none of them were safe. Not until they found a way to escape from this forsaken nightmare.

"You did enough," Angelica spoke with a low voice. "You survived, and you protected your brother. That's more than enough. Yes?"

Yoo Rin bit her lip and nodded. Even then, It was clear that she wasn't convinced in the slightest.

"Is it really possible for us to survive?"

"It's possible."

"W-What? How could you sound so convinced?"

All things considered, there was no way they would be able to escape.

Despite knowing about their unfair conditions, Angelica's expression still remained confident.

"Well... It's because of someone I know."

"Someone you know?"

Yoo Rin looked at Angelica, confused. Angelica explained. "Do you remember the person that came with me into the warehouse?"

"Ah, you mean that mister wearing a red coat."

"Yes. His name is Kim Jakga. I've survived so far because of him. He always knows how to handle situations like this. If he hadn't been here, I probably wouldn't be sitting here."

"T-That... Such a thing."

"You wouldn't believe it, but he was even able to kill a disaster on his own."

"A disaster?"

"It was a terrible disaster that destroyed Gangdong-gu with a single swoop. I even thought we were going to die."

Angelica continued to tell a story and Yoo Rin's eyes widened with each word she heard.

It was absurd. The way Angelica described Kim Jakga made him sound like a monster in human flesh. It was understandable, though. From an outsider's perspective, he seemed like a over talented genius that was always one step ahead of his opponent and cleared all the Fables as if they were nothing.

But It was a misunderstanding.

Kim Jakga couldn't have defeated the Disaster of Storms on his own. In the first place, he only managed to survive thus far due to his prior knowledge of future events, which provided him with a strategic advantage. However, even with that foresight, there were countless variables he couldn't predict or people he couldn't hope to beat in a direct confrontation.

If Soo Jinyoung hadn't intervened on the rooftop at the beginning of the Fables, he would have surely perished.

If the World had taken him seriously as a threat and faced him directly, the World would have completely crushed him using his territory.

If Song Jaewon had not underestimated him during the King candidates war, he would have been defeated.

If Park Joonhyuk was serious about killing him, he would have already been dead.

If Park Joonhyuk had destroyed the False Grail, the disaster would have never been summoned and he would have received the first fragment instead.

If Soo Jinyoung and Angelica hadn't taken their time wearing down the disaster, he would never have evolved and let his guard down, which would have led to the complete destruction of Seoul.

Simply put, there were multiple things that could have gone wrong and he would have died or fallen prey to the Stories like any other person.

Perhaps he was just lucky or there was some sort of divine intervention.

Either way, he wasn't particularly impressive when one closely examined his actions up to this point despite having prior knowledge of future events.

As a matter of fact, he had even been captured by the Executioner and imprisoned.

But Angelica did not know. If she had known, it would have completely shattered any form of hope or delusions.

Creak!

A loud creck echoed through the dungeon and silenced Angelica. All eyes turned towards the approaching shadow.

Thud! Thud!

Those footsteps were enough to shake the entire dungeon like an earthquake. With each step, the huge shadow got closer and closer.

Everyone instinctively recognised the sound of those footsteps.

It was the sound of an impending omen.

Thud! Thud!

The figure stopped in front of the cell, but it was not a savior come to rescue them. Instead, they were met with the cold and bloodthirsty eyes of the Executioner.

Angelica's face paled. It was as if all colour had drained from her face. Even so, she stepped forward to protect the twins from that grim reality.

[Time for the slaugh t e r!]

[Who will become the sacrif i c e?]

In the end, someone had to be sacrificed.

* * *

(Ack! Damn it! Why did that metalhead have to hit me so hard? It wouldn't have hurt as much if he had knocked me out gently.)

I grumbled internally while rubbing my swollen cheek. Being punched by someone with a strength level of 80 felt like getting hit by a freight train.

If the Executioner hadn't held back his strength, my neck would have definitely snapped.

I genuinely thought I was going to die.

(Shit! This pain is unbearable.)

Pain was the worst feeling imaginable.

Some perverts might derive pleasure from pain, but that was a story for those who had sacrificed their humanity in pursuit of some sort of twisted desire.

After all, wasn't it human nature to avoid pain whenever possible?

I fished out an elven forest essence from my pocket and popped it into my mouth.

[You have taken a healing consumable.]

[The healing properties of the Elven Forest Essence will take effect.]

Upon taking the elven essence, my swollen cheek began to heal and the throbbing pain slowly faded away.

It was a relief I had stocked up on those essences while I was in Jungnang-gu, along with 'that' other item.

With this, I could finally think more clearly.

I settled down on the cold stone floor beneath me. After being knocked out and captured by the Executioner, I had been tossed into this prison cell where players awaited their execution.

Thanks to that, I not only had the chance to recover my stamina but also avoided the hassle of breaking through any gates or traps.

But as I reflected on it, my actions felt utterly meaningless.

What was the point of engaging in that game of cat and mouse when I could have simply taken the easy way out?

Well, the answer was painfully simple.

[The constellations are questioning why you allowed yourself to be captured so easily.]

[Most of constellations enjoyed your performance.]

[You have received 5,000 coins from donations.]

In the end, I had put on a show for the constellations.

Indeed, I was nothing more than a clown. But it wasn't like I had planned this all along.

"Damn it! We're all going to die!"

"I shouldn't have come here!"

"Did I go through all that trouble just to die a dog's death?"

The noise grew as the players captured before me continued to mumble and curse.

Weren't they rather loud?

I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't help feeling irritated. Making noise wasn't going to summon any sort of miracle.

At the very least, they shouldn't be a burden to those with an actual plan to escape this hell hole.

(It would have been good if I had instant ramen and my noise cancelling headphones. The screams from the torture chamber is rather unpleasant. Those bastards are really going all out, huh? Tch!)

I clicked my tongue. Enjoy new adventures from m-v l'e|m,p| y- r

The Omniscient Wall kept me unreasonably calm by suppressing my emotions. But it wasn't like my emotions had disappeared completely.

No matter how composed someone claimed to be, hearing the screams of others being tortured would unsettle anyone especially in this scenario.

If I could listen to those screams without feeling anything, I'd be no different from the ones doing the torturing.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Oh my! Aren't these some lovely flesh meat we caught today~ Now would become the sacrifice, I wonder~"

A black hooded cultist struck the cage and scanned the players one by one before licking his lips with a twisted grin.

He wielded some sort of torture device that was strained with blood. Was that some kind of sickle?

I narrowed my eyes. The blood on that weapon looked rather fresh, so he must have came directly from the torture clamber.

Regardless of my thoughts, the surroundings became quiet like a dead mouse.

The reason was obvious.

Nobody wanted to be slaughtered like a christmas goat. However, this only filled the mad cultist with displeasure.

"Hey now, what the hell is this? Nobody wants to come out? In that case, everyone will be sacrificed. Release them at once!"

He barked orders to the guards, and they sprang into action without hesitation.

"Please, no!"

"Someone help me!"

"I don't want to die like this! Please, not here!"

The players screamed in horror as the guards caught them one by one and tried to drag them outside.

The mad cultist's face twisted in satisfaction. It was clear the bastard was loving this scene of disorder and chaos.

In any case, if that person was here, then that means the sacrificial ritual was about to begin.

It was time to act on the final stage.

I stood up slowly from the floor and opened my mouth. "Hey, what you're doing is meaningless."

"Huh? Are you talking to me?"

"That's right. There's no need to take these people."

The mad cultist fixed his gaze on me with interest, causing the guards to freeze in their tracks. The other players looked at me as if I had lost my mind. They were likely questioning why I would willingly sacrifice myself.

But this wasn't about whether I was doing it for them or not. It was simply because Soo Jinyoung would have done it this way if she was here.

I spoke my next words with a voice loud enough for all to hear.

"I'll become the sacrifice."