*
"Ugh..."
"Da-eun-ah?"
The moment I heard the Cult Leader's words, Da-eun grabbed her head.
She looked like her head was hurting from a sudden headache. Did that Cult Leader bastard mess with Da-eun?
"You. Piece of trash!"
"Apparently. It seems she's not allowed."
"Not allowed?"
"Then let's do this."
The bastard raised his hand and lightly flicked it in the air.
...
"Da-eun-ah?"
Da-eun suddenly stopped reacting.
I checked her condition, and she wasn't breathing, nor was she blinking.
It was as if time had stopped.
"Yes. That's right. Everything is possible in this space."
"..."
"You're reacting surprisingly calmly."
"There's no point in getting agitated, it won't change anything."
"So that's why she chose you?"
The Cult Leader knew about Makina. It would be more accurate to say he felt like he knew the identity of the system.
"What are you?"
"Why don't we walk for now?"
The Cult Leader didn't seem to want to answer my question, as he started walking inside.
I had no idea how to react.
Considering that bastard's power, a surprise attack wouldn't mean anything.
"..."
I started walking the distance that Da-eun's attack had covered.
Everything was blown up and shattered. I stepped on Death Knight byproducts under my feet, but I didn't really care.
"You seem to have a lot of questions? We have plenty of time, so feel free to ask slowly."
"What are you? How do you know about Makina..."
"Now, now. Hehehe. I know you're as curious as a newborn child, but wouldn't it be better to ask one question at a time?"
"So, what are you?"
The Cult Leader, who had been walking forward, stopped in the center of the empty space. Then, he took off his hood and revealed his face.
He had a more normal face than I had expected. I didn't hear any exaggerated tone or crazy voice.
"What do you think about everything flowing according to a story that someone has created?"
"Answer the question I asked."
The bastard, who was only talking about pie in the sky, didn't answer my question and just kept saying what he wanted to say.
"If your fate is already decided, can it be said to have meaning?"
A predetermined fate.
I am a body that has escaped from a fate where I should have already died.
"Scenario quest."
"...?"
"Like a puppet doll that just moves according to the script. Do you think a world where you live clinging to the strings of a predetermined fate has meaning?"
It seemed like that bastard knew about the system.
"Do you know? That the end of this world is fixed and unchangeable."
No, considering that bastard's power, it was strange.
"If you live in such a world, can you really say you're alive?"
An existence that freely uses abilities that seem to be outside the rules of the world.
Could this guy be.
"I was also an existence like Makina. Deus ex Machina."
Like Freya, whom I met through dimensional support, a god who originally managed this world.
[ ..Si..Si-woo-nim.. Get.. Get out of there..! ]
"It seems she's still interfering."
[ Save Load ability has been activated. ]
[ The current point in time has been saved. ]
The strange power I saw back then was overflowing around that bastard.
At the same time, my body started to become heavier and heavier.
I belatedly tried to escape from the space, but only an endlessly í¼ì³ì§ empty sky was around me.
"If everything is a false world, wouldn't it be meaningful to disappear? Rather than living as a puppet of fate that someone has decided, I will destroy this world with my own hands!!!"
[ "Stop it!! Proto!!!" ]
"It's already too late, Makina. I'm tired of fighting you anymore."
My body was getting heavier and heavier. I felt like something was wrong and tried to load another save point.
[ Cannot load. ]
'Shibal.. I think I'm fucked.'
When the Cult Leader, no, Proto, gestured, a black knight appeared in front of that bastard.
"It's time to really see the end now."
I pulled up Mana to respond to the knight, but the Mana heart didn't react as if it were empty.
"Huh?"
The moment I turned my head, the knight's sword came down mercilessly.
...
[ Save point has been loaded. ]
*
System and rules.
An existence bound by causality.
Proto muttered as he watched the world ëìê°ë.
"What's the point of this?"
How many times had he been repeating this already?
Is it possible to call someone who is just repeating predetermined things a god?
The branches may be slightly different, but the result was ultimately the same.
Destruction.
A world that never escapes from predetermined destruction.
Proto thought it was pathetic to see Makina reaching out to lower dimensions without even saving her own world.
"How much are you going to repeat?"
"I have no intention of giving up. Don't you know by looking? The results are better than before. If I repeat it..."
He hated Makina.
Why is she working so hard when she is just a puppet like himself, an existence bound by the system?
Isn't this world, which doesn't change no matter what you do, not real?
"Are you working so hard for this world?"
"Why are you asking such an obvious question? Isn't it beautiful to see the stories of various people blooming, like flowers blooming and falling?"
"..."
"Although we haven't escaped from the end yet, we will surely be able to escape from this fate."
I wonder.
Is that possible?
Rather than continuing to repeat this meaningless task.
Wouldn't it be better to face the end?
Isn't it right to end this world that exists for the sake of the protagonist?
Is there any point in continuing to exist for the sake of a protagonist who ends up giving up in incompetence?
That's how Proto decided to end this world.
If Makina was in charge of managing time and fate, Proto was a god in charge of managing space and dimensions.
Existences bound by causality and the system cannot use direct power.
That's why he gave up his position as a god.
He became a mortal with a clear end, but he was able to use influence on the world more freely than before.
Even if it was just a fragment of authority that couldn't even be compared to before.
It was enough to influence the world.
The power to freely move through space and manipulate dimensions at will.
He used the authority of the system, which only remained in fragments, to neutralize the abilities of many humans.
'Even though I've become a body bound by the system, it's enough to end the world.'
Every time that happened. Makina didn't give up and turned back time.
Because he gave up his authority and had already become a body bound by the system, he couldn't escape Makina's ability.
A past that he can only remember in fragments due to his weakened abilities.
Nevertheless, it was enough to destroy the world.
Because the original protagonist, Kang Ju-won, failed every time.
He grew as if he had wings with the talent he had and the help of the system.
But when a real crisis came, he inevitably broke.
Is it because he had never experienced difficulties?
That bastard's mentality was weak, and he gave up easily.
When he gained power, he changed easily. He lived addicted to women.
Well, he didn't even win the hearts of the important women around him.
That's why I couldn't understand.
"Aren't you afraid of death?"
"If it doesn't work once, do it ten times, if it doesn't work with that, do it a hundred times, a thousand times, just keep doing it."
Why doesn't the man in front of him give up?
At first, he never even thought that he would choose such an insignificant man.
Because he was such an insignificant existence.
Around the time when things kept going wrong and he felt like something was wrong.
That man revealed his presence like an awl.
He is clearly a more insignificant existence than Kang Ju-won, just a piece of trash who faces death at the beginning of the story.
How can he grow like that?
Why does his plan keep failing?
Annoying, irritating existence.
That's why he decided to get rid of him in this íì°¨ no matter what.
He recklessly shook the power of the system to the point where his existence would be erased.
Makina managed to restore it, but he succeeded in creating this space by squeezing out the remaining power.
It wasn't just a heterogeneous space.
This space, which is ë²ì´ë from the system, was a space that could neutralize the power of the system.
The man in front of him had lost all the power he had gained through the system.
A state where he cannot use his inventory, skills, or the power of his stats.
'He's connected to the system because of Makina, but all of his existing abilities have been neutralized...'
Why.
Why.
Even though he has lost all his power, even though he can't do anything.
Why doesn't he give up?
Why isn't he despairing?
Because of his weakened power, the image of the man dying briefly passed by like a ìì.
Proto had also lost almost all of his power.
He had no power left except to summon that knight he had prepared last.
But he was not going to lose.
Because he was a strong knight that couldn't even be compared to that powerless man.
But why.
Why does he keep feeling unpleasant?
"What number is it now?"
"I guess you don't know?"
How much has it been repeating?
The moment the man gives up and despairs, the moment time no longer goes back.
He was planning to seal him here and see the real end.
But why does that man keep fighting?
"You've lost the power of that great system. You can't use the power of stats or the power of skills! What can you do with that kind of body that you're fighting with!"
"I fought well even in a more ë³ì -like state than this."
He raised the sword he had been holding before the inventory was ë¬´ë ¥í.
"So. You want to give up on changing fate and end the world. Is that what you mean?"
The man was smiling even in front of the knight who had more overwhelming power than himself.
"You cowardly bastard. So you're saying you're tired and just want to give up."
The man, no, Kim Si-woo, looked at Proto and answered.
"I'm going to change that fucking fate. Get out of here and don't interfere, you ìë¼ì¼."