The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 492

All cards had been laid bare.

Now, it was simply a matter of when and how to strike back. The first one to move would lock the two in battle until victory or defeat was decided—there would be no stopping.

Both sensing the inevitable future, Se-Hoon and the Observer silently raised their weapons with unwavering gazes on the other. To determine the start and end of the battle, they sharpened their focus, reading the currents swirling around them. Simultaneously, their grips on their respective swords and bow tightened…

BOOM!

Jason and the monster storming onto the field all of a sudden began the final showdown.

“JASOOONNNN!!!”

The white lion beastkin over five meters tall—Beast King of the Ten Evils—let out a shockwave-like roar as he wildly swung his grotesque claws.

FWOOSH-FWOOSH-FWOOSH!

With an arm made of black mucus and an arm stitched together like a rag doll, Beast King unleashed slashes that were strong enough to slice through mountains. And amidst the chaos shredding the sky, dozens of arrows fired by the Observer slipped through toward Se-Hoon.

Se-Hoon faced an impossible choice: block the slashes and the arrows would pierce him, but block the arrows and the slashes would cleave him. Needing to make a split-second decision, Se-Hoon swept his sword to deflect two arrows and one slash.

Crunch-

As for the other claw slashing down, Jason’s fist crushed the very fabric of space as it lunged forward.

Woooosh!

The barrage of slashes and arrows shattered into nothing. The razor-sharp claws of the Beast King, honed like blades, were pulverized thoroughly by Jason’s punch.

“GRAAAAAAH!”

“Shush.”

BOOM!

Neither too fast nor too slow—but eerily precise—Jason’s punch slipped through the opening to hit Beast King’s torso with an unearthly force, blowing it apart.

Jason then moved again, ready to crush what remained of Beast King to prevent regeneration—

Tap!

Jason came to a stop. The gap he’d broken through vanished like a lie.

“!”

Caught off guard for the first time since he had ascended, Jason’s punch stopped awkwardly, incomplete. And at that same moment, dozens of black arrows that were going to make contact appeared out of nowhere.

Facing the arrows that ‌hit the moment they were fired by distorting causality—Hatred-Destroyed Heaven—Jason’s thoughts accelerated.

Thirty-two. I can’t block them all.

Just like that, Jason abandoned all but his brain and heart in a choice to preserve only the minimum requirements needed to swing his fists.

Swish!

But before he had even moved, three blades had sliced through the gaps. All thirty-two arrows that had been touching Jason’s body ricocheted off.

“In front!”

Whoosh!

Jason went flying forward. After cutting the paths of the arrows, Se-Hoon had slammed his foot into Jason’s back right as the Observer appeared before both of them.

Seeing it, Jason instantly realized Se-Hoon had boosted him forward with spatial manipulation for a reason. And just like that, Jason cleared his thoughts and launched both fists at the foe rapidly approaching.

THUD! THUD! THUD!

Dozens of punches struck all at once, obliterating the Observer’s body from head to toe. All that remained now was a pair of eyes, glowing unnaturally bright.

Jason brought his fist back—

CRACK!

Every gap in his view vanished, and the scene before his eyes changed. Jason was now looking upward, having been kicked in the chin by the Observer’s upward kick after reversing time with Reversal of Woe. Simultaneously, behind him, Beast King had fully regenerated in that brief repose and was lunging toward his back with a gaping maw on his chest to devour him whole.

In the blink of an eye, Jason was flanked front and back—only for the scene before his eyes to change again.

WHOOSH!

He abruptly found himself above Beast King, having swapped places with Se-Hoon.

“Let’s change the stage now, shall we?”

SMASH!

Instantly adapting, Jason smashed Beast King’s head and dropped back to the ground as Se-Hoon unleashed a ferocious assault with his three sword aura swords in close combat with the Observer.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

Swapping between Stellar Radiance, White Light, and Violet Halo mid-swing, Se-Hoon executed a relentless combo that disrupted the Observer’s rhythm and targeted the smallest openings.

However, the Observer didn’t retreat. Instead, it retaliated fiercely.

Thump- Twang!

It swung its longbow, the bowstring letting out a snap as it fired. Those arrows, freed from time and space, all shot forth to pierce Se-Hoon’s entire body.

Instinctively reacting, Se-Hoon twisted his body and barely deflected the arrows with his swords.

Splurt!

Still, he couldn’t completely avoid them. Wounds began accumulating across his body, and as the battle dragged on, more and more blood sprayed with every movement.

“Looks like your regeneration isn’t working as well as you thought!”

“You talk big for someone who can’t even use time-stop!”

Neither of them had used their strongest trump card: near-immortal regeneration and near-invincible time-stop.

Bang- Bang- Bang-

As both looked for openings, the fierce exchange continued unabated… until Se-Hoon found an opening first.

Thump-

“!”

Jamming his right foot between the limb and string of the bow just as it was about to release, Se-Hoon grabbed the Observer’s left arm with both hands and twisted.

RIPPP!

The shoulder tore away with a violent rip, eliminating the Observer’s most dangerous weapon. However, Se-Hoon wasn’t done. Without pause, he sliced off the remaining limbs and then pierced through the Observer’s head and chest to pin the body into the ground.

BOOOOM!

For the first time since the fight began, the Observer hit the ground. Not missing the chance, Se-Hoon looked down and raised his swords to fully erase the body…?

Swish-

The Observer’s form disintegrated into dust. Rather than from death, though, it looked like it had simply vanished…?

Se-Hoon’s eyes widened in belated understanding.

This is…!

Se-Hoon snapped his head to look skyward—and saw the Observer above, drawing its bow.

Twang!

One arrow flew toward the ground before splitting into hundreds, then thousands, that scattered in all directions.

Sevenfold Cursed Eyes: Dreadlaced Heaven Snare

A net of arrows blotted out the sky. Like reflections bouncing endlessly between two mirrors, the arrow was mirrored infinitely in both the Observer and Se-Hoon’s eyes to fill the world.

One, yet infinite. Infinite, yet one.

Only a single arrow was speeding downward, but it was enough to pierce every inch of the entire world.

Se-Hoon’s eyes warped.

Dodging is impossible.

The net was too dense for his unstable spatial abilities to penetrate. And even if he could dodge, it would just be the planet that would take the full impact and suffer catastrophic damage.

Se-Hoon had only one option: to destroy it head-on. Unfortunately, that, too, would not be easy.

If he can expand the versatility of the skill, just like with Reversal of Woe… then he should be able to imbue all of those arrows with Hatred-Destroyed Heaven, too.

If every single one of those arrows pierced through his body, Se-Hoon would be forced to use his trump card to block them. However, the Observer would just finish him off then using Heaven of Perpetual Peace.

It was a checkmate; there was no way out. Should he risk everything again and overturn the board? Should he trust and wait?

Watching the net of arrows darkening the sky and the countless futures fading away, Se-Hoon made his decision: he waited.

“Administrator!”

Thankfully, the final remaining possibility—Terra—had broken through the enemies and reached him in time.

“I’ve adjusted everything according to the data you sent—”

“You did great!”

Cutting her off, Se-Hoon reached into the chest of the Warhound and pulled out what he created from the Five Element Equipment: the Sin-Eclipsing Blade.

FWOOSH!

Watching the flames burst out of the blade upon drawing it, Se-Hoon poured in his mana to amplify its power.

“Infernal Purge.”

WOONG!

Activating the synesthetic mindscape skill, Se-Hoon unleashed the potential stored in the equipment. Now, anyone caught within the range would ignite and be consumed by the Flames of Atonement.

However, instead of letting it rampage freely, Se-Hoon condensed the vast output into the edge of the blade and refined it to its utmost limit.

WOOOOONG!

Observing the crimson blade trembling, on the verge of breaking at any moment, Se-Hoon swung it straight into the sky.

Blade of Sin: Incinerate

The power meant to purify all sin tore through the net of arrows.

FWOOSH!

Like kindling, arrows ignited one after another to light up the overcast sky with roaring flames.

“How…?!” The Observer’s expression twisted in disbelief.

Dreadlaced Heaven Snare—a technique derived from Reversal of Woe’s time-reversal—unleashed infinite arrow splits from a single shot to create a net that could never tear unless every split was destroyed at once.

So how were those flames ignoring the very principle of Dreadlaced Heaven Snare to burn the arrows away?!

Shaken, the Observer moved swiftly.

I’ll just hit him with Hatred-Destroyed Heaven using the remaining arrows!

Though two-thirds of the arrows had already burned away, surely using the rest would still be able to overwhelm Se-Hoon.

TWANG!

The power of the Sevenfold Cursed Eyes surged, then the arrows untouched by the flames immediately ripped through causality to pierce Se-Hoon.

They made contact in an instant, ready to pierce and obliterate Se-Hoon’s entire body—

“Next.”

“Roger!”

With Terra’s shout, a blue and green light erupted from within the Warhound.

Five Element Mutual Generation: Water Moon Magnolia

The spell-reflecting power of the Jade Crescent Mirror was amplified through the Verdant Lotus Spear, causing the causality binding Se-Hoon to be deflected in all directions.

THUD-THUD-THUD!

Around Se-Hoon and Tera, tens of millions of arrows crashed into the ground like blades of grass in a meadow.

Crunch!

“Ugh…!”

Hit by some arrows that rebounded, the Observer vomited blood. To be hit by its own arrows, which pierced not only the flesh but even the soul…. The Observer was filled with rage.

I can’t back down just yet… There’s still time to recover!

Stop time with Heaven of Perpetual Peace, regenerate its body, and regroup back with Beast King. Then, using Hatred-Destroyed Heaven and Reversal of Woe to buy time, it could just create a new technique like it did with Dreadlaced Heaven Snare.

Realizing that was its last hope, the Observer moved toward it—

Five Element Mutual Generation: Primordial Earthframe

A brilliant light shot up from below.

Using the Earth-Weaving Loom to link to the ley line’s energy and the Golden Origin Armor to strengthen his body to the limits, Se-Hoon achieved a body that was fast enough to match his speed of thought.

That was the final piece. With it, Se-Hoon compressed all three swords into his left hand, merging them into one that radiated a dazzling spectrum of colors.

WOONG-

He could only maintain it for a moment, but if he just struck fast enough, then there was no problem.

Genesis Break: Celestial Infinity Blade, Fated Depths

WOOOOSH!

Although the Observer had sensed the threat and quickly activated its Sevenfold Cursed Eyes, Se-Hoon’s blade cleaved through it all the same—taking off Observer’s head as it flew.

Instantly, the Observer’s vision was distorted. The deadly slash severed not only space and time but the very concept of the Observer itself, filling the Observer’s seven eyes with a view of fine lines.

Everything was severed—including all the possibilities that it envisioned—making the Observer’s eyes open in horror.

“I… I still…!!!”

Even in its final moments, the Observer resisted, clawing forward. If it had no possibilities left, then it just needed to steal them from others.

Annihilation Invocation: Total Sin Execution

Twisting its collapsing body and soul into a singular force, the Observer then scattered it across the world to engulf it.

In its final gambit, it turned incomplete Dreadlaced Heaven Snare—the Final Revelation originally born from the Cursed Eye of Perception—into something akin to a Harbinger of Destruction’s power.

Woong-

A crimson ring enveloped all flows of the world and locked even time itself. And at the center, the Harbinger of Destruction’s eye began warping every thread of causality.

Its gambit had worked: it was able to rewrite every single one of its sins and past mistakes. The Observer burst into laughter.

“Yes… this time for sure… this time, I’ll create a future that’s MINE ALONE—”

“What nonsense.”

A familiar voice, one that it should never have heard again, echoed in its ear.

Freezing, the Observer slowly looked down: an elderly woman in a long white coat and white fedora stood tall, with her silver hair fluttering.

“You… how are you…” The Observer’s eyes trembled.

“If the future were really as easy to erase and block as you claim, I wouldn’t have gone through all this trouble.”

Speaking as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, Baek-Yeon looked up past the Observer. Slowly, the Observer followed her gaze.

“…!”

Brilliant white arrows were stretching across the world. Seeing it, the Observer knew—Baek-Yeon’s last contingency, though lost when devoured by the Observer’s greed, was now unfolding as though waiting for the very moment.

“Impossible… I took your power myself…!”

“I don’t understand why you’re so surprised.”

Baek-Yeon smiled faintly.

“You’re the one who scattered everything I left behind across the world—every last bit of power that made you who you are.”

“!!!”

So even its final act had already been foreseen by Baek-Yeon…. Finding out, the Observer finally understood everything.

Baek-Yeon’s lingering power, able to act thanks to the Observer scattering it thin, unraveled the force freezing the world.

Thanks to it, time, once completely halted, began just barely moving. However, that was enough.

In that near-frozen moment, Se-Hoon’s eyes gleamed.

“!”

Seeing the Observer, Baek-Yeon, and the veil of light spreading across the sky, Se-Hoon understood everything. Without hesitation, he thrust his left hand into his own solar plexus.

Squelch!

Using his own body as a forge, he completed the final step that was based on a blueprint etched in his blood and soul. Pulling his hand from his chest, a pure white longbow then emerged in a flash of brilliant light.

Soul Honing, Demonic Blood Art: Soul Weapon, White Night Bow

The bow he once borrowed from Baek-Yeon—a weapon of power and legacy—had been recreated in Se-Hoon’s hands. Raising it up, Se-Hoon aimed it at the sky and dragged the bowstring back.

Woong-

The veil of white arrows in the sky converged to a single point, streaming downward.

Her final legacy: her final gift—a single white arrow with the sole purpose of piercing through the Observer’s final gambit.

Unable to do anything, the Observer stared down at the scene in a daze.

“Since when…”

Just when had everything started being guided to the preordained conclusion?

Hearing the Observer’s mutter, its question hanging in the air, Baek-Yeon’s fading form smirked.

“From the very beginning, of course.”

Limitless Foresight: Heaven-Piercing Vowshot

TWANG-!

A single arrow, let loose by Se-Hoon, pierced through the Observer’s massive Cursed Eye—and the world itself.