D.I.O

Chapter 323

Clunk. Clunk.

Merlin opened his eyes to a familiar noise and vibration. His entire body felt lethargic and weak.

“What is this place… am I inside a train?”

He sat on a seat made of luxurious material, and he felt as though his whole body was completely submerged in the lavish chair. Merlin had a dumbfounded expression. All the seats around him were quite spacious, and there only seemed to be 12 seats in the car. Furthermore, the inside of the cabin was so quiet that Merlin involuntarily lowered his voice when he spoke.

‘I… based on my last recollection….’

While making himself as small as possible, Merlin tried to jog his memory. When he fought the anti-Union factions, the Legion’s forces ambushed him. It was an unavoidable situation. After all, his opponents had reached the transcendent realm long ago, and Merlin’s physical condition wasn’t normal at the time either.

‘And in that state, I was looking for an opportunity to resummon Apollo.’

However, in contrast to when he dealt with Leviathan, his new enemies had seen Apollo’s appearance and knew Merlin could summon him. Thus, they had been wary of his every movement.

And once they started growing wary and cautious, it was next to impossible to properly use his Flame Rubies. This was because Muspelheim’s core, which possessed [exclusive] power in and of itself, couldn’t be used well unless Merlin maintained the highest level of concentration.

“… Lancelot.”

Then, Merlin remembered Lancelot’s name.

Yes. It was him. It was Lancelot who turned everything around.

Since Lancelot bought him some time, Merlin was able to recall a [method]…

“What is up with this guy? How did he get in here?”

“Huh?”

Having been lost in thought, Merlin quickly looked up. Suddenly, a man in a training suit was sitting in the seat opposite him. Overall, the man gave off a cool impression, and oddly enough, he had yellow-green hair.

‘Huh? I’m certain I’ve seen him somewhere before….’

While Merlin was still thinking about the man’s identity, he heard a new voice.

“It must be His will.”

“Well, of course, that’s obvious. Who would dare ride this car if it went against His will?”

Merlin turned his head. There, a man with long red hair was sitting with his legs crossed, his gaze seemingly reluctant to leave the gray cover of the hardcover book in his hands.

“… Ah!?”

At that moment, Merlin’s head whipped around like lightning to look toward the man with yellow-green hair.

“What… why?”

The man with light green hair had an unsatisfied look on his face, but Merlin didn’t notice. This was because Merlin recalled the last time he had seen this man.

“Level 50….”

Merlin remembered how the man before him and the man’s foe at the time collided with each other and subsequently engulfed and destroyed an entire galaxy. Right, Merlin had seen him before. This man was the one that appeared in DIO’s prologue video. Back then, his DIO guide, Mary, had told Merlin about the man while the user was bewildered by the astounding scene.

“That’s an Absolute God. In your eyes, you consider the Grand Masters at Level 20 as insurmountable monsters, but that being is on a completely different level. Based on DIO’s level system, he’s Level 50. This video is just to illustrate a wider worldview and serve as a reminder that there are beings like this somewhere in the universe.”

According to DIO’s system, Level 20 was a low-level transcendent, which included Grand Masters and great mages, whereas Level 30 was a mid-level transcendent, comprised of Demon Kings and Emperor Class beings. Though it was often said that the universe was wide and filled with all sorts of existences, to be honest, after reaching Level 30, individuals had no true enemies.

Yet, the man in front of Merlin was at a higher level than that. Moreover, the man wasn’t even Level 40. Merlin couldn’t fathom what a Level 50 being signified.

‘An Absolute God….’

Seeing Merlin groaning involuntarily, the man with yellow-green hair made a surprised expression.

“Eh? Level? Wait, is this guy from….”

“That’s right. He’s a user of the 2nd generation talent development system that Jenica created. He’s an Irregular as well.”

“Hehe… Jenica, that rascal. She made a much better system than I anticipated.”

As the red-haired man replied, not even taking his eyes off his book, the yellow-green-haired man looked at Merlin with a curious gaze. Trying to remain as calm as possible, Merlin asked a question.

“You both are-”

“That’s right.”

Merlin’s expression hardened after he saw the man nod.

‘Oh, my god.’

They weren’t just giants. It wasn’t an exaggeration to say that these two were among the strongest and most powerful beings in all the dimensions.

God of Martial Arts, Poong-ho.

And the God of Magic, Flame Dragon.

It was widely known among the Masters that, to ascend to their current position as Absolute Gods, these two members of the 12 Zodiac Gods defeated the former God of Martial Arts and the God of Magic, respectively. The Masters were only aware of this because of the Empress of Magic, Jenica, who was also the developer of DIO and a disciple of Flame Dragon. She had scattered bits and pieces of information regarding this fact within DIO. Moreover, Poong-ho showed up in the prologue, so what more needed to be said?

However, right now, these things weren’t important to Merlin.

Woong!

Merlin concentrated and pulled out his Editor Blade. Then, he checked his inventory. Luckily, the stored items were in good condition.

‘I don’t know how things will turn out, so I need to remain vigilant….’

When Merlin gave an order to Apollo, Apollo said, ‘It’s not like you can summon me for a thousand years.’

Yet, this was untrue.

‘Thousands of years, ten thousand years… Well, it’s possible to maintain the summon if I live frugally and conserve energy….’

By using Pathway to Hell to burn the evil spirit that had crossed over from another dimension, or more specifically, burn its evil karma, Merlin could produce countless artificial spiritual pathways. He had made so many that nearly everyone on Earth could possess one.

Additionally, that evil spirit’s karma allowed him to reproduce a full copy of Muspelheim, a weapon said to be difficult to buy even if someone sold five or six planets for it. Furthermore, Merlin had also succeeded in reproducing the core of Muspelheim.

That single evil spirit’s soul, with its enormous evil karma, had allowed him to do this much. It was an extraordinarily effective and efficient process.

‘But now, with all those slave contractors in the New Continent….’

Woong!

The Flame Ruby containing the essence of Muspelheim hovered around the Editor Blade before disappearing into Merlin’s [inside].

‘With the tens of thousands of slave contractors at my disposal….’

The slave contractors were all atrocious beings that were now bound for Pathway to Hell.

Whoosh!

Once again, another Flame Ruby disappeared inside Merlin. Of course, Merlin didn’t ingest or absorb it. If he had swallowed Muspelheim’s enormous power, his body, as well as his soul, would have immediately become incinerated into nothingness.

“I see.”

Flame Dragon hadn’t even looked at Merlin until now when he raised his head.

“You were the originator of amplification.”

“… the originator?”

“Yeah. It’s funny, though… I know about the process and functions of amplification, but I hardly know anything about you…. Everything seemed to be going well, but after only 400 years of operation, a bug emerged.”

“A bug….”

Merlin was puzzled by the Flame Dragon’s incomprehensible words.

[We’ve arrived.]

“Ah, finally, we’re here. Let’s head off, Cain!”

“Hmm. Dark, hold on.”

Flame Dragon, Cain, gestured toward Poong-ho, Dark, signaling for the God of Martial Arts to wait a moment. Then, Cain grabbed a handful of his red hair, which reached all the way down to the dragon’s waist.

Clip.

Cain gently cut off a clump of his hair. He bundled up the strands like leeks sold in the market before handing the bundle to Merlin.

“… What is this?”

“Don’t take it off your body for even a second. If you go [outside] at your level, He will forget you.”

“Tsk. Cain… you’re too kind, man. Don’t worry too much and come quickly. As you said, it must be His will.”

After saying this, Dark got off the train first, and Cain followed soon after. Merlin didn’t even know where he was, and he moved to disembark while continuing to place Flame Rubies inside of himself.

Poof!

“Eh!?”

At that moment, the world changed.

[Let’s go now! Hurry!]

[Don’t rush me.]

A huge dragon, whose whole body was made of flames, and a tiger with yellow-green fur were moving away at high speed. However, Merlin didn’t even consider chasing after them.

[This… what the hell is this?]

His depth perception had disappeared. It was as if a dimension based on a three-dimensional worldview had been removed.

The world reflected in his eyes was, so to speak, like a still-life drawing made with a brush and paint. It was horizontal and vertical, but there was no height or depth, and yet, Merlin could see movement.

[Oh! Did the youngest come in? Really?]

Just then, a bald black man approached from the side. The man didn’t look normal. Instead, he seemed like an SD character, or Super Deformation Character, whose head was as large as the rest of his body combined.

[… You are?]

[Hmm? Ah, what the heck? I thought a new civilization at the 5th Stage had formed, but it was just one person. You’re not even at the highest level…. How did you get here?]

[I don’t know.]

[You don’t know? Then it means that it was His will…. Well, good timing. I was bored anyway. Follow me.]

The man smiled happily and held out his hand toward Merlin. As he didn’t sense any malice from the man, Merlin finished inserting a Flame Ruby [inside] himself before outstretching his hand.

[Huh… What?]

Yet, Merlin couldn’t hold the man’s hand. When he tried, despite clearly seeing the man’s hand, he couldn’t grab anything.

[Hmm? Wait a sec. What dimension do you see this place in?]

[Everything looks like it’s in 2D. Even the color appears like something from a painting.]

[What? A painting? Ugh… that’s gross. Although you received Mr. Cain’s scales, your cognitive ability is still low.]

The man grumbled something along the lines of, “I knew he had lost affection for his work, but was it to this extent?” Then, he moved his own hand to take Merlin’s.

[Well, at least you didn’t recognize me as a ‘sentence’… I guess that’s something, no?]

While the man was grumbling…

‘What?’

Merlin briefly had the feeling that the man was reading him. It didn’t feel like the man was intrusively digging into his inner world; it was closer to a huge, unknown gaze sweeping through his life.

When Merlin showed his surprise, the man wore an apologetic look.

[That wasn’t intentional, but you’re like an open book. It’s difficult not to look while we’re touching.]

The man threw out a half-hearted excuse that gave off the impression of something like, ‘Even if I look, it’s only the table of contents, not the entire book,’ before nodding.

[Well, thanks to that, I roughly understand the situation. Follow me.]

Merlin began to move, led by the man who was striding forward. Merlin wanted to resist, but he couldn’t. Without the man holding his hand, Merlin would be incapable of taking even a single step in this bizarre space.

‘I’m so dizzy….’

Regardless of his two-dimensional perception, Merlin felt like there was three-dimensional movement. As such, when he moved, his inevitable confusion made him queasy.

And, while Merlin felt puzzled and dizzy, the black man spoke.

[Ah, my introduction is late. I’m called Human.]

[I’m a human, too….]

[Of course, you are. If it’s uncomfortable, please call me Person.]

[Alright, Person.]

Merlin obediently nodded, and then he asked the question that had consumed his mind after waking up in this strange place.josei

[Where are we?]

[Where are we… Okay, since it’ll be a bit boring while we traverse this road, shall we talk?]

Person replied with a smile.

[Based on my observations, your human civilization is currently in the 2nd Stage of Civilization, right?]

[Yes.]

[Then… let’s see. Assuming there are no major accidents or great wars that would cause your civilization to retreat, in about 150,000 to 300,000 years, your humanity will be able to go beyond the 2nd and 3rd Stages of Civilization and reach the final stage, the 4th Stage of Civilization.]

Person smiled as he explained. It was like he was saying, ‘Of course, that would be difficult and improbable, but anyway….’

[After reaching that stage, the entire universe will become perfectly recognizable to your humanity. It will be possible to measure the exact size of the universe as well as move from one end to the other. At that time, your humanity could consume most of the stars in the universe like fuel, and if you raised an army, you would have tremendous power. You may even be able to capture gods.]

[That’s amazing.]

[An endlessly developing civilization is such a scary thing. However, however…]

After that, Person let out a deep sigh.

[The problem is that when the stage of civilization reaches that level, one has no other choice but to realize the truth that one doesn’t want to know.]

[The truth one doesn’t want to know?]

[Right. In this universe, there exists a Creator, who created the universe and all dimensions…]

Person’s facial expression, which had been full of smiles up until now, turned serious for the first time.

[The truth is that the great and wonderful civilizations, their rich history and immense power… all of those things are just fleeting thoughts to him.]

Merlin realized at a certain point that Person was talking about his own personal story, not the human race Merlin belonged to, but instead of pointing this out, Merlin asked:

[What do you mean by thought?]

[In other words, nothing truly exists.]

Person’s footsteps stopped as he spoke in a low voice.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew. They were now in an empty space with a single huge tree. Merlin was intimidated by the power oppressing his entire body, and he could see dozens of children and small animals sitting and playing with each other around the tree.

[Anyway, going back to the beginning, do you know where we are?]

Person asked with a smile, a smile that was on a ridiculous face with a 1:1 head-to-body ratio…

Yet, Merlin felt a tremendous amount of pressure from Person. This pressure came from the unimaginably massive civilization and extensive history that Merlin sensed in Person.

[This is outside the universe in which we were born and raised. It is a place that only beings independent of Him can reach.]

When He first opened His eyes, there was only Him.

Feeling lonely, He made a universe.

However, in the end, the world created from nothing only existed in His imagination and thoughts.

[I was wondering how he’d make his way here, but it seems you guided him. Did you take care of him because he’s your junior?]

At that time, a yellow-green tiger approached quietly and spoke. However, the tiger wasn’t big; it was almost the same size as Person. Likewise, a red dragon, situated nearby, was around the same height as well.

Person answered.

[He’s the fourth human to come here, so I felt responsible for taking care of him.]

[The fourth human?]

When Merlin parroted Person’s incomprehensible words, Person pointed to one side.

[Besides me, the other two are relatively famous, so you probably know them. They seem to be well known to your civilization.]

[What are you talking about….]

Merlin tilted his head before following Person’s hand and looking where he was pointing. There was a young monk sitting quietly with a calm expression and a blonde boy with an angelic smile.

[The Reincarnator and the Savior.]

[Should I know those two?]

Looking at the still thoroughly-befuddled Merlin, Person laughed.

[I’m fairly sure you know them.]