The Player that Can’t Level Up

As the time flow resumed, Gi-Gyu's transformation ended. The God Hunter armor now appeared sharper and more organized, with the most significant change being the two giant spear-like horns on his head. Gi-Gyu touched them and wondered, ‘Is this you, Lou?’

He couldn’t hear Lou’s voice, perhaps because Lou had become one with God Hunter. Also, there was a black crown between the two horns.

‘It reminds me of El’s golden crown.’

Kronos’ Scythe of Time appeared as a hook on his left hand, and Gi-Gyu could feel several pairs of wings on his back.

“I guess I have wings now.” Gi-Gyu moved the wings to bring them forward. Likely influenced by his two swords, the wings were black and white.

Gi-Gyu turned to look at Lee Sun-Ho.

Neither of them said anything for a while. Lee Sun-Ho glared at Gi-Gyu with a bloodthirst that could bring the world down.

“But the world… is one with me now,” Gi-Gyu whispered, sensing the presence of everyone and everything. His original Egos and other players had provided the most power. Still, the strength from humans, small animals like dogs and ants, and even inanimate objects like buildings, rocks, and metals wasn’t insignificant.

Gi-Gyu felt satisfaction as the world came together through him.

‘Such power from Earth… And the Tower…’

He felt like he could do anything now.

‘But I must hurry,’ Gi-Gyu thought, as he didn’t have much time. He could use this massive amalgamation of power, but such power came with a price. The penalty for using this power would be severe, so he had to end this before incurring the penalty.

“I have no choice but to admit it.” Lee Sun-Ho looked down at Gi-Gyu. “Seriously… You’re…”

Lee Sun-Ho's demeanor had changed. He was calm and serious as he continued, “It would have been nice if I had someone like you.”

The tranquil tone didn’t make the bloodlust in Lee Sun-Ho’s eyes any less threatening. Gi-Gyu slowly opened his wings and floated up, bringing himself to Lee Sun-Ho’s eye level.

They gazed at each other. The pitch-black and white eyes studied one another before the final battle began.

Kaboom!

Gi-Gyu made the first move. He darted; soon after, a black-and-white explosion filled the world. The blast was small initially but grew to invade everything around it.

Boom! Boom!

The same explosion repeatedly occurred in various places as the two crashed into each other. The world around them began to crumble down.

***

Kaboom!

“Watch out!” Oh Tae-Shik screamed as he narrowly saved a player about to be crushed by rubble.

“T-thank you!” The player was seemingly part of a Korean guild, as he talked in Korean.

The world was crumbling. While all the buildings were collapsing, their contents surprisingly soared up, like someone had reversed gravity.

“Hurry!” Oh Tae-Shik blocked another falling piece of rock and screamed. The player bowed appreciatively and sprinted toward the small glowing gate nearby. This gate was the entrance to Gi-Gyu’s Eden.

-Please evacuate.

Gi-Gyu’s voice repeated this message continually in everyone’s heads.

“Gi-Gyu…” Tae-Shik whispered. He could feel the invisible thread that connected him to Gi-Gyu. This thread throbbed like a beating heart as they shared their strengths.

“You must win, Gi-Gyu. You can do this.” Oh Tae-Shik could feel Gi-Gyu’s emotions and pain clearly. And before he knew it, tears were rolling down his eyes.

Actually, not only Tae-Shik, but everyone was crying. Some bawled their eyes out, while others sobbed silently, but they never stopped fighting the monsters or helping people escape. They could all feel Gi-Gyu’s overwhelming pain and loneliness.

Gi-Gyu's order continued,

-Everyone, please evacuate!

They obeyed, leaving the monsters—Chaos’ beasts—and their home behind to run to Eden.

“Run! Get inside Eden!” Oh Tae-Shik yelled.

Even animals were jumping into Eden’s gate, which was open worldwide. People rapidly disappeared from Earth and reappeared in Eden, a foreign dimension.

“Hup! Die!” Hal, riding Dark, continued to kill the monsters. Dark used its Breath to destroy everything on its way. Mammon and Paimon were nearby, fighting gallantly as well.

"Ackkk!" An odd creature swiftly defeated the chaos beasts with his scythe-like arms. Botis had become incredibly powerful after undergoing Paimon's experiment and now ruled the battlefield with the added strength from Gi-Gyu.

Botis was no longer the grotesque mucus-covered creature. He now looked rigid with clear facial features. He could have been mistaken for a human if not for his scythe-like arms.

“Ackkk! This is all for our grandmaster!” Botis roared while fighting the monsters, drunk on Gi-Gyu’s emotions.

“We must leave too!” Oh Tae-Shik yelled at Gi-Gyu’s creatures, who were still fighting mindlessly. Almost everyone had been evacuated, so they also had to return to safety.

-Most of the evacuation is complete!

The same message reached everyone in the world because they were all connected.

“Let’s go!” When Oh Tae-Shik ordered, Gi-Gyu’s creatures calmed down and began evacuating.

-Please evacuate.

Gi-Gyu’s voice continued to ring, and they could not disobey him.

Kaboom!

Oh Tae-Shik was attacked by one of the chaos beasts, but Behemoth's spear elongated and penetrated the beast's head. He looked around and was relieved to see that everyone had safely evacuated to Eden.

As the black and white explosions raged in the sky, their destructive power threatened to wipe out the world. Determined to protect everyone, Gi-Gyu used his immense power to contain the destruction and keep everyone safe.

‘Fight with everything you have, Gi-Gyu,’ Oh Tae-Shik thought. He didn’t want Gi-Gyu to regret anything, so he also returned to Eden to let Gi-Gyu fight without holding back.

The gate closed behind him and disappeared as if it had never existed.

“Kwerrrrk!”

“Kirrrk!”

The monsters and the chaos beasts roared since they had no enemies to fight. They attacked the ground and the sky frenziedly. While they screamed and fought mindlessly, a small sound rang.

Whir.

Suddenly, the whole world became white, turning the beasts into fine dust.

***

‘I guess everyone evacuated?’ Since he was connected to everyone, Gi-Gyu could feel their presence in Eden. The countless lives on Earth were now safe in his space.

Boom! Boom!

Gi-Gyu had been wasting his energy protecting others from the shockwaves of his fight. And despite that, he and Lee Sun-Ho were evenly matched. In other words, he didn’t have to exert much energy to contain the shockwaves.

‘They’ve all been evacuated.’ Gi-Gyu backed away to put some distance between them.

“...” Gi-Gyu watched him silently.

With a blank face, Lee Sun-Ho said softly, “This is fun. No one has ever entertained me like this before. Am I enjoying fighting with you?”

The robot-like expression on Lee Sun-Ho's face softened into a genuine smile. "This is great. It's so much fun."

Despite being covered in wounds and bleeding heavily, Lee Sun-Ho was seemingly enjoying himself.

“Finally… I have met someone just like me. Finally…” Lee Sun-Ho whispered. “I’m not lonely anymore.”

Lee Sun-Ho was unparalleled in power and was revered and respected by all as the creator of the world. Still, he was consumed by terrible loneliness, making him abandon everything he once had.

Gaia had helped the Creator reappear. He now looked human and wanted nothing but the world’s destruction.

Gi-Gyu could empathize with him. Now that he had accepted so much information, understood so many things, and felt so many creatures’ thoughts and feelings, he could feel what Lee Sun-Ho must be feeling.

“How disappointing.” Lee Sun-Ho seemed genuinely disappointed. “I’ve finally learned about your existence, yet we must part ways…”

Lee Sun-Ho understood that Gi-Gyu was just like him—powerful and alone. The immense power they held set them apart from others.

“That is why we can’t both exist,” Lee Sun-Ho announced with absolute certainty.

Just like Gi-Gyu, Lee Sun-Ho was also not using his full power. He was truly enjoying himself, which was why he had chosen to be considerate of Gi-Gyu, who couldn’t focus because he had been protecting others.

“But now, it’s time to end things, my child,” said Lee Sun-Ho. Gi-Gyu agreed, and they both decided to go all out.

The ground was boiling, the sky was falling, and the rules of the world were changing. Time flowed forward and backward, fast and slow. Gravity appeared and disappeared, forcing everything to collapse.

“Who… are you calling your child?” Gi-Gyu asked. “And…”

Gi-Gyu released a powerful force while Lee Sun-Ho summoned his own with a smile.

“Why do you think we can’t coexist?” asked Gi-Gyu.

“...?” Lee Sun-Ho looked confused.

Whir.

The energy from the two spread to engulf the world. Grabbing Lee Sun-Ho’s neck and throwing him on the ground, Gi-Gyu whispered, “Don’t act like you know everything.”

The rules of nature may have changed, but this didn’t matter to the two.

Kaboom!

The reversed gravity made the rubble fly up, and Gi-Gyu slammed Lee Sun-Ho through all the floating rock pieces.

Thud!

Thud!

Thud!

Gi-Gyu drove Lee Sun-Ho deeper into the ground, and he didn’t resist. Gi-Gyu suddenly realized that he had forgotten to use his strongest weapon.

They went deeper and deeper into the ground until they struck magma. Surrounded by the boiling liquid, they glared at each other.

Gi-Gyu suddenly announced, “Sync.”