Chapter 153: Vol. 6 – Episode 21

* * *

“You!” Sungjin blocked the dragon’s foreleg with his crossed sword.

There was some kind of golden light behind Sungjin. It wasn’t white or black wings, but a golden light that looked like the bright light of daybreak announcing a new era.

“Thank you for showing your ultimate power by swallowing a world. Then, I should use mine now.” The golden light became stronger. “Now address the world and the path I’ve chosen. This is also your destiny, so fight with me!”

Small pieces of lights started to rise from the Valhalla that Sungjin had been protecting. His words echoed around the whole world.

“That’s Sungjin’s voice.”

“We can hear Sungin.”

“He’s telling us this is everyone’s fight.”

“One for all, all for one!”

Sungjin wasn’t the only one who was trying to protect others. Everyone rose to protect themselves. It was their responsibility and duty… Having rights meant… they also had to contribute to the fight to save their world.

Sungjin’s voice reached the heart of every soul in his world. And everyone sent their power to Sungjin.

The people that Sungjin protected and took care of were supporting Sungjin now. Thanks to Sungjin, they had found hope and happiness in their lives, so they wanted to thank and support him by sending him their power.

Their prayers wishing for Sungjin’s victory were small but desperate and truthful.

Pieces of light gathered in Sungjin, and… a golden wing spread among twelve wings.

“The thirteenth wing…”

Pandora’s eyes started to shine intensely.

That is the real appearance of the highest angel from the legend. He combined six lights and six darknesses together, then got everyone’s heart to become the brightest angel.

Who would be stronger?

A being that found its own light back and… a being that created complete darkness. The protector who got his power from the people in his world standing on its behalf against the destroyer who absorbed the power from the world that he destroyed.

“Please take care of this world. I will not let my darkness swallow it.”

Everyone was able to hear Sungjin’s will.

“Sungjin!” Ereka felt something, and screamed out his name, but Sungjin didn’t answer her. He flew toward the dragon of Sungjin of Darkness.

“You!”

The dragon made black flames rain on Sungjin, but the golden light surrounding him made the fire disappear.

“Good, then. I am all in as well.”

The dark flame that made the dragon of darkness started to concentrate on Sungin.

Light and darkness clashed at one point, and the massive energy from the clash started to destroy time and space. The power from the clash wasn’t simply destroying things; it was strong enough to create something from nothing and to make something disappear completely. The power destroyed the sacred area completely.

“Aegis!” Ereak quickly activated her shield to protect her team.

The chaos created from the clash of light and darkness started to condense in one spot as if they were in the process of co-destruction. The shape of two Sungjins started to become one spot and then exploded.

The explosion made an energy that was stronger and brighter than the Sun. It was an energy that could create a world. It looked like the “big bang” that had created everything.

“Oh…”

Sungjin’s team looked at the energy in outer space in sadness. It seemed like there was nothing that could survive the intense energy storm.

Then the light went down, and…

There was nothing left.

Muninn and Huginn appeared.

“The beginning for the world ended here.”

“What was supposed to disappear disappeared.”

“Fate has been decided.”

Finishing their words, the two crows opened the dimension’s gate and flew away, as if they had seen everything they had to.

Epilogue

Ereka looked at the sky. “Is Sungjin not coming back?” Or maybe he couldn’t. “So, when that happened…” She started to cry.

After the final fight, Sungjin hadn’t come back. Only his girls had come back to Valhalla.

The world Sungjin had created for his people didn’t collapse in his absence. Anyways, Sungjin’s girls were awakened heroes and had strong enough power to keep and continue what Sungjin had started.

The world was peaceful. There was no incident where the gates of hell opened and the devils attacked Sungjin’s world.

Most of the people in this world didn’t even know that Dark Valhalla had tried to destroy this world. The world was peaceful as if nothing had happened.

But…

“Sungjin is not here.”

Her eyes were filled with tears. She couldn’t even count how many days she had cried and missed him after that day.

“Do you think Sungjin would be happy if he knew that you keep crying?” Eustasia tried to stop Ereka from crying again.

“I know… but… I can’t help myself. Everytime I think of Sungjin… my heart hurts.” And Ereka couldn’t stop thinking about him.

“Same.” Next to Ereka, Rachel was crying.

“I miss Sungjin Oppa so much. When I look at the sky, it reminds me of the moment when I looked at it with Sungjin Oppa. And when I look at an apple, the apple reminds me of when I ate an apple with Sungjin Oppa.”

“Stop crying. Because of you, my Queen is crying again.” Jenna tried to stop Rachel from crying, although she was also hiding her tears.

“… Your Highness.” Zakiya was wearing black veil that looked like a funeral outfit. She looked at the sky.

“But you protected your world. That’s my king.”

But the king didn’t come back.

Haha. You’re going to make me a virgin widow.

Sungjin left, leaving Zakiya with memories she kept thinking on in sorrow.

Sooryun was playing her lute in silence, but her notes told everything. It was obvious that she was missing her lover who had left her.

Sungjin had protected this world from the fire that would have swallowed everyone along with it, but he didn’t come back.

“Sungjin… you told me not to leave people in sorrow.”

Thinking that he wouldn’t come back, Ereka started crying again.

Did he trust us so much? Or was that the only choice he had in that situation?

The world was so peaceful, but they were in the deepest sorrow.

Although leaving as if he weren’t coming back and coming back without notice was something he would do.

Pandora watched everyone in sorrow without a word.

Too bad.

She wasn’t shedding tears, but she felt some part of her heart hurt.

I wanted to see you win and then see what kind of world you would create.

But now it was impossible.

Grandfather, I think the only answer is that the two were perfectly equal.

There was nothing left to study. She had gotten the answer for her grandfather. She didn’t know what to do from now on.

He protected his world. His answer was great.

But now, since she had the answer, she had no idea what to study anymore. Sungjin was the only subject that made her heart beat.

Then, there was a voice from the sky.

[I, Sungjin. I am talking to everyone as the only god of this world.]

“Sungjin?”

Everyone was shocked. They had no idea what had happened.

Light and darkness.

Pouring everything they had into the fight, Sungjin and Sungjin of Darkness communicated to each other. They both knew they were about to destroy each other.

“But why? I’m the one who chose power over everything. This result doesn’t make sense.”

When Sungjin of Darkness became confused, Sungjin answered, “You are right. You decided to become the strongest.” Sungjin admitted that. “But this is a team fight, isn’t it? I have chosen the world where we can be the best as a whole.”

“As a whole… hahahaha. Hahaha.” Sungjin of Darkness laughed out loud. “So that’s it. Becoming the strongest individual and the strongest as a whole. Those are different things.”

Sungjin of Darkness crushed everyone and swallowed their power to become the strongest, but Sungjin protected those who could have been his sacrifices to lead them and help them to grow with him.

“Yeah. It was a team fight.”

If it was a one-on-one fight, maybe the result would have been different, but this was a team fight.

One destroyed everything while another protected and fostered everything. That made the difference. Because Sungjin of Darkness did everything for his victory… ironically, there were powers that he couldn’t have. When Sungjin of Darkness fought by himself, Sungjin fought with the support from the whole world to fight against the darkness.

“Good. It was a good fight.” Sungjin of Darkness smiled.

“It was a great fight. I’m happy with it.”

“Yeah.”

Sungjin was able to understand perfectly what the other Sungjin was talking about. It was a fight they had put everything into without any regret. Although only one would be the winner, both were satisfied.

They both understood how that felt because at the end of the day, they were both Sungjin, although they made different choices.

“Let’s be destroyed together.” Sungjin offered, and Sungjin of Darkness laughed.

“Hahaha. That is your conclusion? Because you cherish your world more than yourself?”

“Correct.”

“But I’m not like that.” Sungjin of Darkness laughed. “If we meet our co-destruction, we will be following the scenario of god. I’m the most important thing to me.”

Hell or the world. It didn’t really matter.

“I will defeat the god’s plan to stop having his competition.”

Sungjin of Darkness became a scattered light and darkness.

“However we merge, at the end we are one. I will give you the position to be god. I will be with you inside of you.”

Then he went inside of Sungjin. The power that was separated in the beginning merged inside Sungjin and became one, and all the power they had accumulated in each Valhalla merged as well.

“You…”

“You are me. I’m you. Even if you decided to protect your world, I will find a way to keep fighting to become stronger.”

So nothing would change. The fight might have changed a bit, but Sungjin was still Sungin.

All the power of darkness scattered and flew into Sungjin. The whole world merged into him.

Becoming god: that was the only way to explain what was happening.

Time stopped.

Sungjin became another being and stepped into another dimension. It was a space that was impossible to describe in words. It was a concept beyond what humans could understand.

But Sungjin was able to see the past, the present, and the future, and all the different time zones and everything that was happening in the world.

“Where…”

But Sungjin understood what was happening right away. He was standing in the transcendent space that connected every time and space of Valhalla.

He won the final fight.

Or unified.

Then, he heard the voice of Golden Valkyrie.

[Congratulations on your victory, the new god.]