Chapter 08

As soon as Yuu accepted to become the Pillar of the Multiverse, the throne hall began to rumble.

An overwhelming energy surged from all directions, swirling like a vortex in the center of the room. The current of power encircled him in an instant, lifting him off the ground.

Yuu's body began to absorb the energy as if he were an empty vessel being forcibly filled. The pores of his skin seemed to drink in that immense force. And that energy reshaped every fiber of his being—elevating him.

Within seconds, the energy was completely absorbed, and with a dull thud, his feet touched the ground once more.

Yuu calmly looked at his hands, flexing his fingers, clenching them slowly into fists. In the silence of the hall, there was only the sensation of power flowing through every inch of his body.

[Aegis, Aeon of the Beginning and the End, has been ascended to Pillar of the Multiverse.]

The message rang out and screen materialized in midair. Even before this, Yuu had already been considered the pinnacle of power in his universe. But now, the Yuu from mere seconds ago felt like an ant compared to the might he now wielded as a Pillar.

"Umu?"

Without warning, the Vortexia appeared before him. However, before he could touch it, the object began to dissolve into fragments of light, which shot directly toward the back of his right hand.

Yuu narrowed his eyes as he felt the energy concentrate on his skin. A white serpent eating its own tail—detailed and radiant—appeared as a tattoo, marking the center of his pale hand.

[As Pillar of the Multiverse and absolute master of the Castle of Fate, you are granted the following Authorities:]

—Authority of Fate

—Authority of Sage

—Authority of Gates

—Authority of Language

—Authority of the Void

—Authority of Time

Yuu slowly lowered his hand, watching the white serpent glow with a soft light. The eternal cycle. Eternal struggle. Eternal effort. Destruction and creation. The beginning and the end.

The energy radiating from the mark belonged to him—the Aeon of the Beginning and the End.

Or as others called him: Ouroboros.

An eternal being.

As the hall sank into absolute silence, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

"The Multiverse has a new Pillar…"

And thanks to Olddy, he would be different from the Pillars who came before.

Now, he would have freedom of choice. Now, everything would fall under his own rules.

The light shining from his hand pulsed brighter for a moment as Yuu stepped toward Olddy's throne.

He sat down, letting his back rest against the cold seat. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them, spoke in a calm voice:

"Show me Fate."

With those words, the Authority of Fate activated, and his once serene golden pupils blazed into a radiant gold.

Before his gaze, tiny orbs began to appear in the air, silently floating throughout the castle's interior.

Red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple… and finally, gold. Each color glowed, and from each orb, a thread of the same hue emerged—a fine, delicate filament that pierced through the stone walls, extending far beyond the castle and into pastel-colored universes and worlds.

That was what Olddy had added when she sacrificed her final fragment of life for one last command: a new configuration in the Castle of Fate, so he would never be alone again.

"The flows of Fate…"

Those spheres represented the fate threads of countless beings throughout creation..

The red fates belonged to those trapped in grim, hopeless futures, while the radiant purple spheres represented fates of exceptional fortune.

But there were also Golden bubbles…

Those belonged to individuals destined to become central figures within their worlds. Importand beings who, in time, would become legends remembered forever. Whether by aiding a Protagonist on their path, or by becoming pillars of the world itself.

Yuu focused on those golden spheres. Compared to the others, they were few—but their brilliance outshone the rest.

As a small golden orb, no bigger than his fist, floated toward him, Yuu reached out and gently touched it.

Then, he said:

"I choose this one."

He activated the Authority of Gates.

The radiant fate unraveled instantly, vanishing into the air. Then, he brushed his fingers across another golden Fate, and a purple one as well—erasing them from the hall in the same way.

×××

This took place in Horaud, a small city within the Heiligh Kingdom that existed primarily to serve the countless adventurers who came to challenge the Great Orcus Labyrinth.

Far, far below, deep in the bowels of that same abyss, there was a gloomy chamber shrouded in utter darkness and silence. The only sign that this place was inhabited was the sharp, suffocating stench of confinement that hung in the air. In the very center stood a solid stone wall.

And someone was trapped inside it.

The lower half of their body was embedded in that impenetrable rock. Their outstretched arms were also bound by the same smooth material, rendering even the slightest movement impossible.

The head of the person—who turned out to be a girl—drooped forward as if she were in a deep sleep. Her once golden hair had dulled to a lifeless gray from the layers of dust accumulated in this abyss over the years. Her eerily pale skin stretched over a body that was little more than skin and bones.

Suddenly, a disturbance rippled through the air, and a white crack split open before the girl. As if sensing the shift, her eyes fluttered open just enough to reveal crimson pupils gleaming like rubies.

She slowly raised her head, and as though that small act had drained what little energy she had left, her head nearly dropped again. But she bit down weakly on her lip, and through the tangle of golden strands hanging over her face, she looked forward.

She hadn't seen light this intense in centuries. Reflexively, her aching eyes slammed shut. When she opened them again, the suspended crack burst into golden brilliance, enveloping her entirely before she could even register what had happened.

×××

"One day… this princess will avenge you, brother."

A chilling voice rang beneath the darkened sky. Atop a mountain, a lone figure gazed up at the stars. The red-haired girl in a crimson dress looked like a porcelain doll, her eyes as red as fresh blood and her skin as pale as the purest milk.

"That bitch Brahma will pay for what she did to you. I'll flay her alive. I'll make her suffer, slowly, until she feels every ounce of the pain you did."

The Brahma Monarch Goddess's supreme beauty could entrance any man's heart. Even the brilliant Xisu—her brother—had fallen for her the moment they met. The woman he once loved used him, played him like a pawn to get what she wanted, and in the end… betrayed him.

Clad in a gothic-style dress, the girl clenched her bare fists until blood trickled down her fingers. Beneath the starlight—her only witnesses—her small frame trembled as if bathed in glacial water.

The Heavenly Slaughter Star God swore vengeance.

She tore her gaze from the heavens and, her crimson hair flowing down to her waist, gracefully levitated before launching herself forward like a blade tearing through the void.

"I must find the Heretic God Legacy and become a True God."

That was the thought echoing in her mind.

As she soared toward her destiny, the colors of space drained away, leaving only gray. Birds froze mid-flight. Cultivators became statues in the midst of their work. The fires in hearths stopped dancing. All were locked in stillness.

Time itself had stopped across the entire Primal Chaos Dimension.

The red-haired girl narrowed her ruby eyes to slits and stopped mid-flight. Apparently, she was the only one unaffected.

"What's going on?"

Her voice was swallowed by the silence.

Then—without warning—a radiant white crack split open before her, and before she could react, a golden light surged out and consumed her entirely.

×××

"Hey… Mom still isn't awake yet, huh?"

On a gray morning, just before heading to school, a girl looked up at her brother with large gray eyes brimming with quiet sorrow.

Her brother simply reached over and gently patted her dark brown hair, tied back in a ponytail.

"Don't worry. I'll find a way. I promise."

Back then, she was just an ordinary high school girl.

A girl who laughed with her classmates to forget—if only for a few hours—the heavy weight of her reality.

—Ten years had passed since her father had been declared dead. Six since her mother had fallen into a mysterious coma that no doctor could cure. A strange affliction, born from the magical disasters that came through the gates.

She dreamed of studying, graduating, becoming a doctor, and finding a way to help her mother. She longed to see her mother smile again, to sit with her at the table and talk, and to live with her again. She also wanted to lighten her brother's burden. He worked himself to the bone day after day to support them and cover the overwhelming medical costs.

That's why she worked tirelessly, holding on to the dream of a future where the three of them could live without fear of tomorrow.

"Hah~"

She set her pencil down and gazed out the window. The gray sky perfectly mirrored her mood.

Then, everything stopped.

Confused, she looked up.

Color drained from the world. The chatter of her classmates froze in place. Laughter hung in the air like a still-frame from an old movie.

"What…?"

Her heart began to pound. What was happening? A hallucination? A dream? But the chill breeze slipping through the window and brushing against her skin felt real.

And then—

Right in front of her, suspended in the air, a crack began to form. A thin, brilliant line that sliced through space. She stood frozen, eyes wide, as the fissure slowly expanded. A violet glow seeped from within, bathing the classroom in its eerie light.

"A gate…?"

Her blood ran cold.

She remembered all the stories her brother had told her. Stories about gates appearing in unexpected places. Could this be one of them? Had a dungeon just spawned in her school?

"This… this can't be happening…"

She stumbled back, hands shaking as she pulled her phone from her bag. Her first instinct was to contact the Hunter Association. She had to warn them before something awful happened.

But it was already too late.

"No, no, no…"

The portal swallowed her whole.

And Sung Jin-Ah was taken into the unknown.

×××

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