Episode 1049
Chapter 250. Zipple and Kinzello (3)

—“…A failed me, a failed version of the world? What are you even saying all of a sudden, Helluram?”

—You’re already feeling it. Just as you feel it.

Staring at the black mass, the day he sought out Helluram came rushing back vividly. It was overwhelming, to the point of nausea.

Back then, Orgal couldn’t argue further with Helluram.

Because, as she said, he had already come to realize the truth. Most of the Abyss Legion members Helluram showed him were, in fact, versions of Orgal himself.

—“How… how can I exist in so many forms? Where did all these countless Orgal Remilias live? Did they branch off from the me here? Or—damn it—is there another world altogether? Are there other Orgals in that world?”

—Countless worlds exist. In every one of them, you lived a similar life. You were my lover, the Beast King, the commander of Kinzello, a pillar of the world, and its most crucial key.

With every word Helluram spoke, Orgal felt his mind being tainted. Even when he had glimpsed the world’s oldest secrets as her lover, he had never been this shocked.

Orgal struggled to steady his breath and looked up at Helluram. Saliva dribbled from his mouth, and his whole body felt numb, as if on the verge of paralysis.

According to Helluram, the world was not singular.

There were countless worlds where the same people lived, and similar histories repeated.

—“I… I always knew there was corruption in the world. That beings like you or Solderet intervened directly, or that Zipple from a thousand years ago manipulated history on a grand scale—that was the corruption. And that’s what you told me, Helluram.”

—That’s right. Even when I told you that, I only understood it that way myself.

—“But in truth, it’s not corruption, but multiple identical worlds existing…?”

Just as he wished he could faint, Orgal’s eyes caught sight of others. Fortunately, not all the Abyss Legion members Helluram showed were versions of himself.

—“Then who are those… those people? At least they’re not me…!”

—They’re all failures like you. Some failed to save themselves, others failed to save the world. But because you were chosen by me in every world, your numbers far outnumber the others.

Failed at saving the world.

Orgal focused on that phrase. His personal quest for salvation, the resurrection of the Sun God, was directly tied to the salvation of the world.

—“And I made those countless versions of you into soldiers, Orgal. I created the Abyss Legion.”

At that moment, Orgal couldn’t hold back and tried to stab Helluram with his sword, but his body wouldn’t obey.

Helluram hadn’t stopped him with her power. He was simply too drained to move. Even if he had swung the blade, she wouldn’t have been harmed.

Orgal rolled his eyes and cursed loudly for a while. But no filthy words in the world could express how he felt.

—“You rotten, cursed… witch, you madwoman! Is this the price for the other-world Orgals failing to satisfy your desires? Failing to achieve Kinzello’s great work, and even in death, becoming your plaything?”

—It wasn’t my desire that made all these versions of you. It was your own longing. Every time, you said you wouldn’t give up. I only fulfilled that desperate wish.

—“None of them ever said they wanted to become puppets like this!”

—If they hadn’t, I wouldn’t have been able to create the Abyss Legion. You know better than anyone—I know you said you’d never give up, no matter what you became.

That was true.

Just as he had sensed the majority of the Abyss Legion were ‘himself,’ Orgal could guess the final choice they made. Because it was the choice he himself had made.

They never said they wanted to become puppets. Their desperate cries were just a struggle to deny reality.

—Everyone else who came to me directly after failing was the same.

—“Ha, hahaha! Krahahaha! Puhahaha!”

He laughed. Orgal knew all too clearly and quickly that he was losing his mind, but he couldn’t hold on without going mad.

—“Fine! Fine, fine. Then let’s get this straight, Helluram. So, I was your lover, your contractor. In countless identical worlds, Orgal Remilias was always your contractor. But I always failed. Failed at what? From my perspective, it was the resurrection of Kinzello. From your side… what was it? What do you want, really? As far as I know, it’s the disappearance of light from the world. That’s why we parted ways.”

—Yes, that’s still true.

—“But can you say that all those countless Orgals and some unknown fools aren’t your playthings?”

—If the world disappears before I erase the light—

—“What?”

—Or if something causes even me to vanish, to become a state that never existed—

—“What are you saying… who could erase you? Solderet? The resurrected Sun God?”

—Solderet has lost almost all his power, and the Sun God has never been resurrected in any world. Without Solderet’s power, he can’t return. I told you many times, but you never believed me.

—“Then who… who could possibly erase you?”

Zipple.

The name flashed through Orgal’s mind. Even though wizards like them could never do what Solderet or the Sun God Kinzello couldn’t.

—“No. Even if they complete the Demon Stone and gain great power… they can’t erase you. Right? They might make people forget you forever, but erasing you is impossible!”

—Look into the eyes of the soldiers, Orgal.

Hesitating, Orgal met the gaze of one soldier. Soon after, the soldier’s final moments began flooding into his mind.

—“Malugia! Are you going to remain bound to Zipple until the end? Wake up! Destroy this world instead! All worlds are falling under Zipple’s control!”

—“Shiron! Snap out of it! You have to cut the Holy Water Temple! If you don’t, Shiron!”

—“No, Veradin, stop!”

It was what he had experienced. What another version of himself in a different world had gone through, vivid as if it happened yesterday.

In the world where the Demon Stone was completed, he fought his final battle against Zipple. Shiron returned to Insero without completing the mission, and Veradin was fighting as a Creation Mage.

And they were losing. The pen that manipulated history erased comrades in real time before their eyes, and even Helluram seemed powerless to resist that force.

Memories kept updating relentlessly. Shiron, who had just vanished, appeared and was erased again. A memory formed that Veradin was never an ally but had abandoned Zipple from the start.

Naturally, the Orgal of that world couldn’t distinguish which memories were his and which were fabrications.

Nor did he need to. From the moment history was manipulated, all of it became the truth.

—“Oh, this madness…! Crazy, crazy, damn it!”

Orgal collapsed, pounding the floor with his fists in madness. He barely lifted his head to meet the eyes of other soldiers, and each time, the pattern was the same.

Zipple dominated the worlds, and he was defeated by them.

Sometimes, he fought the final battle alongside Temar in the Demon Sword War a thousand years ago. Sometimes, the Sun God’s fragmented selves lent their strength.

But the outcome never changed. Those countless Orgals never won once.

—“In all these worlds, never won once? Not even once? Please say no, please! Right! There were other enemies, krragh! Destruction? World destruction? Is this my best? Even though I knew the world wasn’t one, even knowing all this, I kept losing!?”

—If only you and I knew that truth, maybe we could have won. But who do you think learned first that this world wasn’t one, but many?

Zipple.

It was Zipple. The moment they began manipulating history was when the world split into many.

—“This ends the battle in this world, Orgal Remilias. You and your comrades will be forgotten again. The witch… will shrink accordingly.”

It was Kelliac’s voice.

It was a relief that Orgal had no strength left. If he had the strength to clench his fists, he would have torn his own ears off by now.

—“Do you understand now? How the Abyss Legion was created?”

It was Orgal himself who had suggested the name ‘Abyss Legion’ to Helluram.

He had said that even if he failed, he would fight to the end. If all those versions of himself gathered, eventually forming a legion, maybe one day they could win.

Orgal was crying so hard his vision blurred. The reality that had existed in other worlds—the layers of despair and loss—crushed him.

—“The Demon Stone in this world isn’t complete yet. But Zipple has already devoured countless worlds.”

From the ‘True Sun God Kinzello’ to invisible tiny creatures.

In the end, none could exist without a world. Even the Sun God Kinzello, the moment he created, was bound to the world.

Everything was unfolding according to Zipple’s will. That’s why the Sun God never resurrected. In the final moments Orgal witnessed, Zipple fiercely blocked the Sun God’s resurrection—and succeeded every time.

—“Orgal. Tell me, how many worlds do you think remain?”

—“…How many are left?”

—I asked because I don’t know.

—“How could you expect me to know what you don’t?”

—It’s not really an important story. Whether there are still many worlds left, or if this is truly the final one. If we can’t stop Ziple, everyone in this world is doomed anyway. So this has to be the last world. The last world, where the faintest glimmer of hope still lingers, not completely shut down.