NOVEL NEXT Chapter 405: Eternal Souls: Last Judgement
Ren's eyes fluttered open to darkness broken only by the faint glow of shattered dust motes drifting in the stale air.
His skull throbbed in heavy, rhythmic waves, every beat pounding behind his eyes. His limbs felt like lead, and for a moment, he could barely remember why he was here.
Then it all came rushing back.
The basement. The Shard of Oblivion. Myra.
And then, a sudden rush ripped through him. A flood of raw vitality roared through his body like a dam bursting inside his veins.
[Existential Threat Detected.]
[Removing All Limiters.]
Ren's breath hitched. He knew that notification. What it meant.
It was the same thing that had happened when he'd faced the Chained Man. A tearing away of all his restraints. Unfettered Enhancement was back again.
Power roared through him like it would never run out, yet even this surge couldn't completely erase the exhaustion chewing at him.
He forced his stiff muscles to move, rolling onto his side before pushing himself up.
That was when he saw him.
A man, or something like one, leaning against the far wall as if he had been there the entire time.
His form shimmered like heat haze, the edges dissolving into the air. His features were blurred, as if the world simply refused to remember what he looked like.
"You woke faster than I thought," the man said, his voice deep, and carrying an unsettling warmth.
"I believe this is the first time we're meeting, isn't it, Terence? Or should I call you Ren? I am the Blurred Man… teammate to the Chained Man. And I must congratulate you." He spread his arms slightly, almost mockingly. "You destroyed the Shard of Oblivion."
Ren pushed himself onto his feet, though every movement felt as if he was trudging through water.
His gaze swept the basement, and his breath caught. Everything around him had warped. The jagged walls, the scattered rubble, even the light itself, all seemed to smear and bend. It was as if he stood in the center of a shifting mirage.
As if reading his thoughts, the Blurred Man tilted his head. "Be at peace, Ren. I'm not here to harm you. And if you think to attack me…" A faint smile touched his indistinct mouth. "That would be an insult. I could kill you with my little finger alone."
Ren clenched his jaw, the hair on the back of his neck bristling. The confidence in the man's tone wasn't arrogance. It was simple, unshakable fact.
"I have questions." Ren finally said, his voice rough.
The Blurred Man's blurred outline seemed to sharpen for a fraction of a second. "Ask."
"Are you responsible for this Calamity?"
For the first time, the Blurred Man looked away, gazing at the faint black dust where the Shard had been.
"Not me alone, but yes. We the Three, well we're Two now thanks to you, are the source of all Calamities. Each one was created by us." He looked back at Ren. "It is our way of fighting Yggdrasil."
Ren's pulse spiked at the name. "So, it's true. You're in a battle against the World Tree."
"Yes." The Blurred Man's tone grew heavier, a strange gravity in each word.
"Yggdrasil is not what you think it is. It is no benevolent guardian of the world. It is an entity of vengeance, an old construct that now seeks destruction."
"And this world? It is nothing more than a fuel source for its wrath. Every life, every soul, every drop of energy… all of it feeding the Tree so it can grow strong enough to strike at its enemies."
Ren's grip tightened on Myra's sword. "And your answer to that is… destroying the world yourselves?"
"Correct." The Blurred Man didn't seem to mind the accusation. "If the world is destroyed, Yggdrasil's feeding stops. It weakens. We attack, and we end it forever."
The words hit Ren like a physical blow. His mind flashed with the faces of Thorn, Lilith, his family. The lives he'd fought to protect, reduced to nothing for the sake of some abyssal war.
"Is there another way?" Ren demanded, his tone aggressive. "A way to kill Yggdrasil that doesn't involve destroying the world?"
The Blurred Man studied him for a long, unreadable moment. Then, he inclined his head. "Yes, there is."
Ren exhaled slowly in relief, until the man continued.
"But destroying the world is… optimal."
Ren's relief curdled into rage. "Optimal? You're talking about killing everyone! That's not war, that's cowardice! That's extermination!"
The Blurred Man gave a quiet, humorless chuckle. "You see it as cowardice because you still cling to the world. You still care about it. You still believe it can be saved. But the world you're protecting is already dying, Ren. You just haven't seen enough to accept it yet."
Ren took a step forward, his voice low. "Then I guess I'll have to be the one to prove you wrong."
The Blurred Man simply smiled, a small, knowing curve of his blurred lips, as if he'd been expecting that response.
"I know. I expected nothing less from you. That is why you're still alive. Why I'm letting you grow stronger, even though you're Yggdrasil's weapon."
Ren's brows furrowed, the Blurred Man's last words echoing in his mind.
"What do you mean," he asked slowly, "by me being Yggdrasil's weapon?"
The Blurred Man tilted his head, the blurred edges of his form rippling like disturbed water. "Exactly what it sounds like. You are a piece placed on the board by the World Tree itself. A sword it is wielding to stop its own demise. To put you against the Calamities."
Ren's grip on Myra's sword tightened. "But... why would it…?"
"Because it cannot act directly." The Blurred Man stepped away from the wall, his boots making no sound against the stone floor.
"Right now, the Tree is gathering power, slowly pulling the lifeblood from this world. It cannot risk revealing itself, so it works through seeds. Simulations. It projects its coming disasters and Calamities into other worlds, dressing them in forms those worlds can accept."
Ren's heart sank as the first thread of understanding began to knot in his chest. "Simulations… You're saying..."
"That on your world, Earth," the Blurred Man interrupted, "it seeded the coming catastrophe in the form of a video game."
His tone held no mockery or jest, carrying with it the cold, hard truth.
"A game called Eternal Souls: Last Judgement."