The Villain has Perished

Chapter 83 I Am…

?

'I' was floating. 

My mind was muddy. A sense of lethargy filled me.

"I am Jae-sung."

My mouth moved on its own.

Huh? Why am I Jae-sung?

"I am Jae-sung."

I had to protect Lumine. But I'm weak. I'm far too weak. 

Strength. I needed strength.

"I am Jae-sung."

The charm magic cleared my thoughts. It only left me with feelings for Lumine.

And I used them to trick myself. 

With the charm controlling my consciousness and subconsciousness, my thoughts would perfectly align as long as it was for Lumine.

"I am Jae-sung."

Using that I altered my own ego with the help of Dream Tree.

Jae-sung was strong. As a reader of the novel, nobody knew about him more than me, not even he himself.

I knew he hated himself. 

He wanted the warmth of others but he was afraid he wouldn't be able to protect them.

He wanted to be with everyone but he was afraid of being betrayed again.

He wanted to live freely but shouldered the duty of protecting the multiverse.

"I'll kill that bastard, no, I'll kill every single Daemon. If he didn't betray me, I wouldn't have to regress. It caused Causality to change the future and everyone who was connected to me had their destiny twisted. 

"It's all that bastard – Smiling Tear – fault."

My thoughts began twisting. My own ego was submerging under the sea, being replaced by Jae-sung.

The lines I once read flashed in front of me in the form of images. I felt as if I lived through Jae-sung's life. His, no, my cold wrath burned furiously.

"I'll kill Solomon."

Daemons. If only they didn't exist I could've lived with everyone peacefully. If only Jared didn't betray me.

I'll eradicate everything related to those Daemons.

'A weakling like you believes he can kill me?'

Suddenly, the first meeting between Solomon and Jae-sung in the novel replayed in my mind.

'You, dare insult me?'

The monster who defied all logic. The being whose name sent a shiver down everyone's spine. The Apocalypse who was feared by his fellow Great Apocalypses.

Solomon.

"I'm…"

He was incomparably stronger than Jae-sung. He held back, yet Jae-sung was driven to the brink of death. It was the first complete defeat Jae-sung faced after his regression.

Before I realized, Solomon's countless recollections dominated my mind and pushed Jae-sung's thoughts away.

"Solomon."

Commanding an infinite army along with his all-seeing eye and unparalleled magic, he was crowned as [Magic God, Solomon].

"I'm Solomon"

…

..

.

"Where is this?"

The black-haired man stared at his surroundings.

A bit away he saw two elves, along with more elves who were unconscious and a few humans. 

Judging from the mana fluctuation of the human woman, she seemed to be under some kind of mental magic.

A Dragon was flying in the sky.

As soon as Qantal saw Sol, who had become Jae-sung, and now returned as Solomon, she felt threatened. 

She released her dragon form. 

Purple scales covered her body, while starry protrusions came out from her back instead of wings. Her horns were encased in ethereal lavender flames. 

An iridescent gem was at the cross-section of her neck and shoulders. The gem let out a purple fog that covered the majority of its dragon figure.

Ignoring her, Solomon used magic on himself.

|| All Seeing Eye ||

? Causality is moving ?

? The existence of Tower grows stronger ?

His eyes shined brightly as he looked into his past and understood the current situation. 

Blinking once, Solomon stared at Charlotte and snapped his fingers. Instantly the heart-shaped mark on her body shattered. Then he opened his mouth.

"Terah Keraz Meina."

The mana churned and the dream tree shook. As the world trembled, Qantal who understood his words shuddered.

"Y-you, how is that possible…? What did you call!?"

Her composure disappeared instantly. His presence, she recognized it. He was the one who split her original self into six pieces and sealed them.

The Dragon God was turned into Six Dragon Kings by him.

And those words he spoke, they meant…

Seventy-two portals appeared and figures stepped through them. Some were flying, some carrying weapons, while some had a magic tome.

A few of them seemed relaxed while a few had battle hardened-expressions. 

The 72 beings, the ones who were feared across existence, had come. 

"Father, you called for us?"

"Sniff, it's been a long while since we met you, father."

"Mhm? Is it me or is something weird here?"

"Please don't speak without father's permission."

"Father! How've you been?"

"We've arrived, father."

As the Daemons walked toward Solomon, they realized that something was amiss. 

Tanya, the Sage, opened her mouth to quell her siblings' confusion. "We are copies of our original selves, father created inside this dimension."

They reached Solomon's foot-step and bowed. 

For Daemons, it didn't matter if they were copies or original selves. All they had to do was follow their father's command.

While the elves and Qantal stared at 'Sol' in shock, three Daemons stood nearest to him.

Paimon and Smiling Tear, his two closest aides.

The third Daemon was Dante, the eldest Daemon.

Sol wasn't aware of Paimon's appearance nor did he read anything about Dante's betrayal in the novel. 

However, he unconsciously compensated for the missing information with his imagination and created Daemons, who although self-aware, were loyal to him.

"Evacuate the prisoners inside the Dream Tree."

"As you wish, father"

"For the legion!"

"For the legion!"

"For the legion!"

"For the legion!"

"For the legion!"

The Daemons disappeared, breaking through the barrier of the dream world, to rescue the humans caught in other dream worlds.

Paimon carried the elves and humans, and took them away.

Finally, left alone, Solomon shifted his attention toward Qantal.

"Kneel or Die"

"Who, no, what are you?" Qantal gnashed her teeth. "No matter what, you aren't the real Solomon, you can't defeat me. This time it will be different. After all, in this world, I'm God!"

She morphed into a humanoid celestial being encased in pure white light. Her strength multiplied by a hundred folds. 

[ Rank: ??? ]

Watching her alter reality with the help of the dream tree to regain her original strength and appearance, Solomon simply raised his index finger of right hand and brought it down.

Mana exploded in the sky above Qantal and a colossal golden finger of condensed mana materialized.

[ Hand of God: First Finger (A+++++) ]

BOOOOOOMMM!

? Causality is moving ?

? The existence of Tower grows stronger ?

Qantal crashed into the ground, the force behind the attack tore the world's barrier but another barrier of mana stopped the aftermath from leaving the dream world.

Covered in blood, Qantal released purple fog. 

Solomon swung his palm, creating tornadoes, and blew the fog away. 

[ Ender Tempest (A+++) ]

? Causality is moving ?

? The existence of Tower grows stronger ?

The Illusive Dragon King gave up on its dignity, holding tightly to the ground to avoid being blown. 

Her breathing turned ragged and her eyes shook furiously, recalling the events of the past when they clashed against Solomon.

"No, this is my world! I can't be defeated here!"

The sky split and hundreds of Illusive Dragon's copies attacked. Purple dragon breaths, capable of blowing a star to smithereens, struck Solomon.

[ Hand of God: Palm (A++++) ]

BOOOOOOMMM!

? Causality is moving ?

? The existence of Tower grows stronger ?

A wall of golden mana easily shook off the dragon god's breath which was said to be one of the strongest weapons in existence.

The notifications of Causality appeared but Solomon ignored them. 

Suddenly, a massive magic circle appeared beneath Solomon. As Qantal tried to throw him out of the dream tree, Solomon overloaded his mana into the warp circle and it exploded.

A powerful black lash struck Qantal, but she grinned. 

During the time Solomon was busy disabling the warp magic circle, she created her copies and sent them to attack the humans Solomon was trying to save.

Although she didn't understand why he was helping humans, her move could buy her a few moments for her next steps.

"Why am I helping humans? Because the previous owner of this body wanted to save them. If I let them die, won't it be the same as saying I, the Ruler, can't pay back debts?"

Qantal's eyes widened when she realized that Solomon had read her mind. Instantly, she lost connection with her copies.

A cold sweat flowed down her back when she saw Solomon looking down at her.

At that moment, a warp gate appeared beneath her and she fell into it. Although her clones failed, she was successful in buying time.

Landing on the cold ground of the capital, Qantal breathed heavily. After leaving the dream tree, she saw Solomon inside the Dream world through the warp gate, and her confidence slowly returned.

"Why don't you leave that place? Can you retain that confidence after losing that strength."

Qantal had lost control over Dream Tree as soon as Solomon appeared. True to his title of Magic God, he snatched the ownership of the spell easily.

Solomon tried to leave the dream world with the help of the warp portal. 

He soon realized he was losing strength after taking his hand out in the real world. If he stepped through the portal, he would be rendered powerless.

At his pondering expression, Qantal sneered.

"What? Afraid, Rule—"

Her eyes widened and she choked on her words. 

"You called?"

Solomon left the dream world and entered reality.