D.I.O

Chapter 266

[Yes, it’s me. However, what I was originally aiming for was becoming a residual thought. I just wanted to see the end of Qi Heaven’s development.]

It was an incomprehensible answer, but Merlin roughly grasped the situation and the meaning behind Mary’s words.

“Right. You essentially annihilated yourself at that time, and you put your soul and residual thoughts in the Seal of Heaven.”

“…!!” Mary, who had been examining her body, hesitated after hearing Merlin’s calm voice.

This was because the Merlin she remembered was an innocent young man who just loved to travel, swim, and roam around from place to place. However, the Merlin before her now was a completely different being; Merlin was much more powerful and knowledgeable than she expected.

That wasn’t all.

Embarrassingly, Merlin accomplished the miraculous feat of defeating a Crimson Mode Mary as a non-transcendent user.

“Hey, you’ve changed.”

“Well, a lot has happened.”

As Mary sighed and laughed, Merlin realized that Mary had changed as well. She was speaking naturally, unlike before when she always used honorifics. Merlin didn’t bother pointing this out though.

Considering her age, she was probably much older than him. More importantly, she wasn’t being forced to take on a role as a courteous NPC character anymore.

“Anyway, how can a body be formed even though you only left a residual thought behind? Wouldn’t it have been impossible to keep such an enormous amount of information intact in the Seal of Heaven?”

“Actually, I didn’t expect this outcome either, but… I was able to maintain the information that the [me] in the Seal of Heaven was receiving while absorbing the information and qi from the Crimson Mode ‘me’. I couldn’t maintain the previous ‘me’ as the [Guardian] of the system control room, so I thought I’d eventually be annihilated, but the result was much better than what I expected. At the very least, I didn’t completely disappear.”

Mary checked the aura in her own body.

Most of her qi was absorbed by Merlin’s Editor Blade, so she had less than one-hundredth of the qi she had as the Crimson Mode Mary when she fought against Merlin.

Nevertheless, she had already been prepared to be annihilated, so she was ecstatic that she was able to continue existing even though it was in a very limited capacity.

‘It’s unfortunate that I lost my transcendence… but it can’t be helped. My transcendence was an artificial state created by various system corrections anyway.’

Of course, the [memories] that she had during her transcendence state and the sense of wielding transcendence-level abilities were still intact. The problem was that those memories existed without the embodiment of the necessary [experience] and [enlightenment] needed to be a transcendent being.

“Come to think of it, the qi I sense in you is subtly off. It’s true that your qi capacity has diminished, but the quality of that qi seems to have also diminished…”

“That’s because I’m no longer a pseudo-transcendent. In fact, I’ve now become a completely separate entity from Marionette Hold. Would it make sense if I said she’s become a completely separate entity from me?”

It was true that Merlin had killed Mary, but that was just the Mary in Crimson Mode. There were still other copies of Mary still in charge of various other DIO duties.

The Mary who was before Merlin now had become an independent existence after escaping from her prison as Marionette Hold, the NPC character—which was actually a compilation of numerous beings.

“In other words, you’re now…”

“From now on, call me ‘Snowflake Flower’. Of course, the memories of being a marionette still remain… but since I’ve lost most of the power characteristics and system corrections of Marionette Hold in the process of gaining my [personality], I can’t exert the power I used to have as Marionette Hold.”

Mary—no, Snowflake Flower, made a bitter expression.

After listening to Snowflake Flower’s words, Sungmuk suddenly asked her a question, “Your memories remain, but you’ve lost your transcendent realm status?”

“Actually, if you think about it, it’s a natural and logical result. Just because someone inherits the intact memories of a transcendent being, that possession doesn’t automatically make one a transcendent being as well.”

If that were possible…

If a transcendent being were capable of reaching the transcendent realm with only one’s memories, they could then reproduce their memories and mass-produce themself, creating an infinite number of transcendent beings.

In real life, a close analogy would be Cloning technology.

However, beyond the necessary components of realization and enlightenment, one’s soul needed to be completed and evolved to enter the pseudo-transcendent realm.

“The situation is completely different for a marionette, where multiple [me] from various parallel universes are fused together. Of course, those varied experiences will also help me become stronger… but it’s still a far cry to reach the transcendence level with just that.”

“Hmm. Right. But wait.”

Merlin lifted his Editor Blade and stuck it into Snowflake Flower’s chest.josei

The blade stabbed deep enough that it pierced through her back. The Editor Blade, which was made to erode DIO’s system restrictions rather than inflicting bodily damage, started accessing Snowflake Flower’s root data.

Ting!

However, his connection to her root data was abruptly cut off.

Seeing Merlin do this, Snowflake Flower asked, “What did you try to do?”

“I was wondering if I could change your role… but I guess I’ll have to raise my access authority level first.”

Merlin pulled out the Editor Blade from Snowflake Flower’s chest and headed into the system control room.

Snowflake Flower, who had already become an ‘independent’ entity from Marionette Hold, didn’t bother to stop Merlin, but she did offer a word of advice.

“Breaking in won’t be a good approach. The control room has its own defense system. Of course, you were able to defeat me, so I’m sure you can defeat the defense system. But it’ll probably take you a considerable amount of time…”

Boom!

Ting!

Yet before she finished her words, Merlin inserted the Editor Blade into the system control room door, and the door opened.

Merlin replied, “I had no intention of opening it by force in the first place.”

“… Wow! That longsword is a system bypass cheat item. How the hell did you make that?”

Merlin stepped into the control room while leaving Snowflake Flower in awe.

The overall interior decoration and layout of the control room were simple; there was only a huge white stone slab placed inside.

“What language is this written in?”

Merlin examined the pattern engraved on the white stone slab. It was an unfamiliar pattern that was neither a type of rune nor an ancient language. Looking at the overall layout and the repeated characters on the stone slab, Merlin surmised that the written markings were part of a language rather than a code. Moreover, it seemed like each letter contained a considerable aura—an emanation of power that could not be ignored.

Bam!

Obviously, instead of trying to interpret the language, Merlin stuck the Editor Blade into the stone slab. In the end, all his problems would be resolved if he accessed the system and acquired the information that formed the basis of the system.

However, Merlin’s expression contorted the moment the Editor Blade pierced the slab.

“What's wrong…?”

A huge amount of information flooded Merlin, but the quality of the information and the level of system protection were drastically different from what Merlin had expected.

Merlin corrected his posture and focused his mind. He scanned through the entire system and read its contents.

“My god… This… All this couldn’t have been created by a great mage. This…” Merlin’s eyes trembled.

Though Merlin wasn’t facing an opponent directly, he felt a rushing sense of being overwhelmed just by looking at the creation of this unknown opponent.

Merlin groaned. “Class 10…”

The class classification commonly referred to as the [Standard Magic Classification System], which had been established and improved by dragons over billions of years, was widely used throughout the universe. According to this classification system, the Class 10 classification denoted a mid-ranking divine status being. In other words, a being of Class 10—more commonly called the Demon Lord class—was a powerful and mythical being.

For mages, a low divine status being would be a Class 9 classification mage. If there were one such being per planet, then it could be said that low divine status beings were plentiful throughout the universe. However, one would be lucky to find even one mid-rank divine being after searching through dozens of galaxies. Hence, even the gods knew the names and achievements of these powerful divine beings.

Considering high-ranking divine beings didn’t directly interfere with the material world, it could be said that these mid-ranking divine beings were the most powerful beings that existed in the multiverse.

Yet traces of a Class 10 mage’s work were visible in DIO’s system.

“To think that a Class 10 existence was involved in the creation of DIO… Is it a Demon Lord? But DIO’s system itself seems too mild and user-friendly for a Demon Lord to have had a hand in its making.”

While analyzing the system, Merlin fell deeper into thought.

Of course, not all demons were evil characters hellbent on destroying others.

However, it was difficult for demons—who could be said to have been born with innate negative energy—to have a gentle personality, regardless of their level of accomplishment and development.

It wasn’t that demons felt pleasure in others’ pain; it was basically that demons could not sympathize due to their poor development of empathy, and this lack of empathy was stamped in their culture, where the strong feasted on the weak.

“Why would a Class 10 being just stand by and watch me hack into the system like this… Unless… It couldn’t be…”

Merlin recalled how DIO had progressed.

In the beginning, it was marketed as just a simple game, then the operators suddenly exercised their power and made their presence publicly known. After revealing their existence, they moved openly…

“Right. These traces are Jenica’s, the so-called Empress of Magic…”

Merlin knew that a human being named Jenica, the Empress of Magic, had played a key role in creating DIO.

The fact that the Noblesse, who were such great existences, needed her help spoke volumes about her prowess and power. However, if Jenica had truly been a Class 10 being, that would make Merlin’s current situation murky.

This was because it was an enormous burden even for the Noblesse, who enjoyed a prominent reputation in the entire universe, to defeat a Class 10 mage.

“In the end, this means that the old fogey, Tan, defeated a being at the level of a Demon Lord. This is not good news…”

It was true that Noblesse had been deeply involved in the production of DIO, but not all of the Noblesse had participated in its making. Even within the Noblesse, Demon-Lord-level beings were not common, nor did they mobilize easily.

This meant that Tan—who had been able to defeat and kill off Jenica, a Demon Lord-level being—or the power of his connections or forces was at an unusually high level.

“Well, what’s done is done. There’s no turning back for me now.”

As Merlin grumbled, he focused his mind.

Later that day… DIO’s emergency mode was canceled.