The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 490

The colossal Cursed Eye hanging over the horizon dyed the world in crimson like the sun—but from west to east, like time was in reverse.

“…”

Se-Hoon silently stared at the mass too vast to even estimate.

“Since when did you notice?”

The voice in his mind came not from his ears but his eyes, making for a foreign sensation altogether. Feeling as though sight had overtaken his other senses, Se-Hoon kept his gaze fixed on the distant eye: Heaven Eye.

“From the moment you didn’t appear on the battlefield.”

According to Puppeteer, Heaven Eye had been left in a critical state after forcefully unleashing a technique by sacrificing the Cursed Eye of Perception. But was that worth it? Although he had successfully changed the tide of battles across various fronts, he was now standing at the edge where a single misstep would render everything meaningless.

Logically speaking, in such a situation, the enemy should have launched an all-out assault on Mount Baekdu before their strength ran out to obtain the Visionary’s last legacy so that they could recover.

BOOM!

And yet, the only visible forces on Mount Baekdu were the Beast King—whose body was half-composed of black slime—and the grotesquely mutated experimental subjects of Transcendence. Of course, that combination of one of Watcher’s main combat units and a member of the Ten Evils wasn’t weak by any means; however, it was still far from enough to overpower Seon-Woo, Jason, and Terra to secure the legacy in one fell swoop.

“In a situation where every second counts, why didn’t you appear on the battlefield? Why are Tuner and the rest of the Demon Force acting so nonchalantly?”

“…”

“And how are you, who can’t even pinpoint the exact location of the final legacy, planning to seize it?”

Letting the question linger in the air, Se-Hoon lowered his gaze from the giant Cursed Eye hovering beyond the horizon.

“Hmph!”

“The Administrator is watching me!!!”

Thunk- CRASH!

Seon-Woo fired arrows with pinpoint precision using his Enhanced Vision as Terra wielded the power of the Five Element Equipment embedded in the Warhound like magic. Both were fiercely fighting against the experimental subjects of the Transcendence—but neither had any awareness of the massive eye floating in the distance.

“As I kept thinking, the mysterious thing dripping from my eyes started bothering me even more.”

It wasn’t mana or any form of matter. Then what could the mysterious energy no one else could even perceive possibly be? Why did it prevent the use of his powers and skills?

Sinking into the confusion, Se-Hoon didn’t need very long to find the answer.

“That’s when I realized: this strange energy is the power of Perception—or, more accurately, a twisted, unidentifiable version of it you’ve managed to warp.”

Himself as the power source, the Cursed Eye of Perception as the link between them, and the Sevenfold Cursed Eyes that distorted the link—together, the three allowed Heaven Eye to deploy his twisted power forcibly.

The result? A distorted force beyond the powers of the Perfect Ones, a causal law of destruction, was being unleashed across the world by none other than Se-Hoon.

“So, how does it feel?”

“…How does it feel?”

“You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

The power that only Se-Hoon could perceive, the power seeping from his own eyes. A corrupted causality now sustained solely by him.

Se-Hoon stared at Heaven Eye—who had shed his flesh and become a conceptual being through transcendence—and asked again, calmly, “So? Are you satisfied? Now that you’ve become something akin to a Perfect One?”

Ascending to the top, the Perfect Ones were beings who etched their image into the Golden Ring and transcended human limits to become a part of the world itself in the form of a law.

Heaven Eye, however, had never ascended through any proper steps. Yet, by using every means necessary, Heaven Eye had still become something similar and brought about his very own power.

“A being akin to a Perfected One, you say…” The massive eye slowly focused on Se-Hoon. “It’s accurate to say I’m both close and far.”

Heaven Eye’s tone was empty and aloof; his gaze rose to the sky.

“To be honest, it was more of a gamble.”

“…”

“If you had rejected it, I would’ve disappeared without a trace.”

To mold himself into a concept and entrust that to another, hoping it would fully activate… was no different from gambling his life away. It was a high-risk move in every way, and yet, Heaven Eye had chosen that path all the same.

“So I’m grateful. And also envious at the same time.”

Lowering his gaze, Heaven Eye stared at Se-Hoon.

“The future I could only realize by sacrificing everything—you managed to bring it to fruition so effortlessly.”

Who else in the world could so perfectly manifest such a vague and fragmented power? Even the Perfect Ones would struggle to achieve such miracles.

The very fact it even worked meant one thing: Se-Hoon was a unique existence in the world.

“Perhaps that’s why the Visionary tried to use you to realize her future, for the same reasons I did.”

“She used me?”

“You haven’t realized yet? Then allow me to show you.”

Woong!

A red glow flickered in Se-Hoon’s eyes right as the Cursed Eye on the horizon vanished. In its place, thick streams of energy that converged toward a single point from all over the world emerged in the sky.

Seeing that sight—which looked like a colossal birdcage across the sky—Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes.

“This is…”

“The flow created by all the legacies of the Visionary we’ve recovered.”

Immediately, Se-Hoon traced the origin of each stream to find out that many were indeed the confirmed sites where her legacies had appeared.

“The Visionary had discovered the future she wanted but chose not to manifest it right away.”

“…”

“Perhaps she realized she couldn’t realize it perfectly with her own power alone.”

Seeing the future and shaping it were entirely different things. Recalling what he had heard through the Visionary’s legacy, Se-Hoon kept his eyes on the sky.

“That’s why she planned to use her own death, combined with your power, to set up the world where that future could be realized. The sky you see is the framework.”

In other words, she had borrowed another’s power to complete an imperfect technique—an all too familiar notion. Making that connection, Se-Hoon let out a small laugh.

“Like what you’re doing now?”

“…However, her future has yet to be finalized.”

Not answering, Heaven Eye lowered his vision downward toward the brilliant white star floating above Mount Baekdu’s crater lake. That last legacy was a knot of possibility, belonging neither to the present nor the future.

Se-Hoon turned to look as well, and when he laid his eyes on it, his pupils glowed red.

“Only by unraveling that final knot—which is barely tied to the future—can her wish be realized in this world.”

“…”

Se-Hoon stayed silent, trying to deduce Baek-Yeon’s definition of “happiness,” even though it was too late for that to matter.

“So what is it you’re really trying to say?”

“…”

“Seems like neither of us has much time left. Let’s cut to the chase.”

Se-Hoon already knew that the version of Heaven Eye before him was extremely unstable. Although its ambiguity kept it from being rejected by the Golden Ring, being a concept halfway between the Towers of Heroes and the Abyss of Demons, it had obvious limits.

At this rate, he’ll self-destruct on his own.

The outcome had been decided the moment he realized what Heaven Eye truly was. And yet, for a certain reason, Se-Hoon had taken the risk to come.

“Heaven Eye is already dead.”

Zap!

Like a glitch, the world warped as the red Cursed Eye reappeared, its black-red pupil locked onto Se-Hoon.

“Even I, in my current state, am nothing more than the incomplete residue born from his obsession and your power; I’m just an impurity.”

“…”

“If things continue as they are, I’ll be crushed beneath your synesthetic mindscape and vanish. However, the distorted power Heaven Eye created will remain fully subordinated to you.”

A flawed power created by a Perfect One, a demon, and something straddling the boundary between the two—if the fragile balance between them tilted even slightly, what would be the outcome?

“I don’t know what kind of change that might trigger, but I’m certain it’s not the result you were hoping for.”

Regardless of the result itself, it would almost certainly be some unwanted change born from that power. And naturally, such a situation was something Se-Hoon didn’t want.

Just like Heaven Eye said.

“So why don’t we make a deal?”

“A deal… huh.”

“Transfer me into the Visionary’s final legacy, and my connection with you will be severed completely.”

The Cursed Eye glowed crimson, its pupil still on Se-Hoon.

“That way, you regain your original power, and I escape this flawed existence. Then—”

“You’d be able to destroy the future Visionary tried to realize,” Se-Hoon finished, cutting in.

Heaven Eye’s proposal was simply: together they destroy the future forged even through death.

“Heaven Eye’s future was never meant for you or me. It was crafted for one person and one person alone: the Visionary.”

“…”

“No one knows what kind of result it will bring. But once it is realized, it can never be undone.”

Even with all the potential Se-Hoon possessed, any future manifested through the power of Perception became absolute. He, too, could not go against the power of the Visionary that was a very law of the world itself.

So, for both Se-Hoon and Heaven Eye, there was only one remaining choice. The two who both sought ‌different futures never had another option.

“That’s why, rather than risking that outcome, wouldn’t it be better to flip the board and start over entirely?”

By excluding Visionary—the most likely victor—from the picture and settling things between themselves, they’d take control of the game.

“…”

Remaining silent, Se-Hoon quietly stared at the crimson eye before him.

“Of course, you have no reason to trust me. But—”

“Fine.”

“…?”

Though its words were cut short, the eye was busy blinking in disbelief.

“What did you just say?”

“Let’s go with your plan. All I have to do is throw you in there, right?” Saying that, Se-Hoon casually dismissed his surrounding mana to cause his slowed descent to pick up speed again.

Whoosh!

Free falling toward the final legacy, Se-Hoon cut through the wind.

“Why…?” The crimson eye was still in disbelief.

“Because nothing you said was wrong. You may have your own scheme, but I’ll figure that out later. The Visionary and I… are different.”

“…”

“I don’t know why she chose death or what kind of future she was trying to realize through it. But it doesn’t matter. Just like you said, there’s no need to gamble on something so uncertain.”

Although someone else may have trusted Baek-Yeon and tried to inherit her will, Se-Hoon was someone who had witnessed time and time again how dangerously a Perfect One could change.

“I’ll put it simply.”

Fwoosh!

Upon reaching the white star, Se-Hoon halted his body before it and stared past it at the floating red Cursed Eye.

“I’m just choosing the easier, safer path.”

“…” Falling silent, the Cursed Eye then muttered in a hollow voice, “I see…”

There was no anger at being ignored, no shame at being unable to refuse. All that was left was weary acceptance, closer to resignation. It knew better than anyone how vast the gap between it and Se-Hoon truly was.

After all, Heaven Eye had thrown everything it had and more at Se-Hoon.

“I suppose it’s only natural to be treated like this. From the start, I was nothing more than a desperate loser.”

“…”

“Still, that’s fine. In the end, the true victor is not the strongest—it’s the one who takes hold of the future.”

Accepting his own shortcomings and the trials ahead, Heaven Eye’s crimson Cursed Eye shimmered with sticky, twisted resolve.

“That is why I will kill you and realize my future.”

Meeting the Cursed Eye’s gaze, which now seethed with murderous intent, Se-Hoon reached out to grab Baek-Yeon’s final legacy fragment.

“Try it. If you even can.”

Woong!

Upon contact, the warped power embedded in his eyes surged into his right hand and into the white star. As it was slowly dyed a deep, bloodstained red, Baek-Yeon’s final fragment released a terrifying burst of energy that began collapsing the web of possibility surrounding the world.

Swish!

Everything Baek-Yeon envisioned was unraveled, and in its place, an impossible possibility was forced into reality. The causality of destruction, which had long spread chaos through the world, now returned and condensed before Se-Hoon.

Yet, rather than withdraw, Se-Hoon gripped the star even tighter and unleashed the power that he had been suppressing.

“Dream Manifestation: Eye Opened.”

And awoken by that whisper, the world opened its eyes.

Swish-

A crimson light exploded right in front of him, swallowing the world whole. However, it only took moments for it to fade beyond the horizon and for the world to return to its original hue as though none of it had occurred.

“…”

An endless darkness, with stars twinkling between. Gazing up at the Milky Way that was twinkling across the cloudless night sky, Se-Hoon slowly lowered his gaze.

Before him now stood a thin and bloody body with seven eyes arranged in a hexagonal pattern. Like a demon, it had a grotesque body, yet, at the same time, it was oddly reminiscent of a Perfect One.

Gazing at the bizarre figure, Se-Hoon opened his mouth.

“What should I call you?”

“…The Observer.”

The new possibility Heaven Eye had desired: a complete redefinition of himself. Having succeeded, Heaven Eye—no, the Observer—met Se-Hoon’s gaze with all seven of its eyes.

“These are the eyes that will witness your downfall.”

Two god-like beings stood opposed: a new phase had begun.