The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 493

Se-Hoon quietly looked up at the sky.

The Observer’s Cursed Eye was scattering, pierced through by the brilliant white arrow that sliced through the stars into the distant void.

“…How futile.” Watching the same scene beside Se-Hoon, the Observer began muttering bitterly. “To think I struggle so desperately, even stealing the power of others… only to be toyed with by another’s will…. Perhaps this is what they mean by poetic justice.”

Crack-

Just like its Cursed Eye that was breaking apart in the sky, the Observer’s body was slowly fragmenting and scattering. Because the technique it had poured everything into—the very concept that made up itself—had been utterly nullified, its very existence was vanishing from the world.

“…”

Even with the combined power of a Perfect One and a Harbinger of Destruction, its end was but one: irreversible annihilation.

Feeling an unbearable emptiness seizing him, the Observer’s seven pupils trembled in fear before they all quietly shut.

“I suppose this moment was what the Visionary planned from the very beginning.”

“…”

“For me to reach this point and meet my end like this… it was all part of the flow she orchestrated.”

From acquiring the Cursed Eye of Perception to awakening the Sevenfold Cursed Eyes to becoming the Observer—every hardship it thought it had overcome through its own power had actually been preordained. In the end, it had all been a trap left behind by Baek-Yeon.

Melancholic, the Observer began looking back on its past and slowly began piecing together the signs that led to the truth.

However, that process left it with one massive question.

“Why… why go through all that?”

In retrospect, there were countless moments Baek-Yeon could’ve just ended their life. Why had she bothered to lead it all the way to now? To be honest, the Observer’s desire to know was driven not by the fear of death—but pure curiosity.

No matter how it thought about it, though, the Observer couldn’t even make a guess. After all, to the Observer, there was just no cause worth giving up its life for.

“I just don’t understand.” Slowly opening its eyes, the Observer looked at Se-Hoon to seek answers. “Do you know what the Visionary’s true intention was?”

Perhaps Se-Hoon, who inherited Baek-Yeon’s power of Perception and harnessed her final gift, would know something.

“…”

But Se-Hoon only silently stared back. Curious, the Observer met his gaze… and something immediately clicked. The next instant, its eyes all widened.

“You… you didn’t trust the Visionary, did you?”

“…”

“You believed, just like me, that she tried to use the entire world to fulfill her own desires. Even now… you’re still suspicious of her.”

Se-Hoon hadn’t fired the arrow because he had fully understood Baek-Yeon’s true intent. Rather, it was far simpler: he had done it because it was the most useful course of action.

In the first place, there had never been understanding or trust.

“I’d wondered why the Visionary never left you any hints… Now I understand.” The Observer let out a hollow laugh.

“…”

“To be doubted by someone with such overwhelming potential—by you—would have certainly presented unpredictable variables. Of course, the best course was to cut you out entirely.”

Despite being publicly recognized as master and disciple, the two harbored deep suspicion and wariness toward each other.

“I finally see now—what kind of person you are… and what you’re afraid of.” The Observer’s existence continued to fade, but its attention was on Se-Hoon. “Perhaps it wasn’t just a coincidence that I ended up inside your eyes.”

If there truly was a link between them, and if its theory was right—

Crackle-

Half of the Observer’s body crumbled like sand, bringing its thoughts along with it. After all that, the Observer would die without understanding Baek-Yeon’s true intent—or Se-Hoon’s.

Forced to accept it, the Observer felt a pang of regret before quickly accepting it.

This is just the end that was laid out for me.

Ruminating over the past until the very last moment, it would die without leaving a mark on the world. The Observer turned to look at Se-Hoon.

If this very moment was all orchestrated by the Visionary…

The only one who could break Baek-Yeon’s plans would be Se-Hoon, the man before him. Of course, the Observer knew even that thought could have been planted. Still, with the end approaching, the Observer made the choice to act according to its heart and closed all its eyes.

Woong!

Seven faint lights shimmered, and soon enough, two round gemstones formed before Se-Hoon.

“This is…”

“The refined source of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye. In a way… you could say it was made by you…”

A final choice—to separate out the last of its power—put the Observer on the brink of collapsing entirely.

“You can use it or discard it… as you please…”

With a faint and fading voice, the Observer looked at where Se-Hoon stood.

“Regardless… your will… will be what shapes the future of this world…”

Swish-

Everything about the Observer, aside from the refined source, was now no more. In the sky, even the shattered fragments of the Cursed Eye faded away with a twinkle.

The night sky, twinkling with stars, was bright and clear.

“…”

Confirming the Observer’s complete death, Se-Hoon turned his gaze to the ground.

Looks like things are finished down below, too.

Beast King, who’d been fighting Jason, had disappeared—likely fled. The experimental subjects of Transcendence were nothing more than corpses. And most likely, the battles taking place all over the world were coming to an end as well.

Now all that’s left… is figuring out what Ha Baek-Yeon really intended.

Any other time, Se-Hoon would have left it for later and teleported after the Demon Force, but he didn’t dare to move hastily now. If everything so far had indeed been a future realized by Baek-Yeon, then an unexpected variable could surface at any moment.

At this point, there’s bound to be something else hidden…

If he were Baek-Yeon, where would he have left the real final message? Falling into thought, Se-Hoon’s gaze wandered until suddenly spotted Seon-Woo gazing absentmindedly up at the night sky as if entranced.

Looking closer, Se-Hoon saw a vivid white trail reflected in his black pupils: the trajectory of Baek-Yeon’s arrow—

Screech-

Just as he had that thought, a strange sense of unease struck him that made him instinctively swing the Sin-Eclipsing Blade.

Fwoosh!

Flames burst forth from the blade, sweeping through the air. At the same time, Se-Hoon reached out with his right hand and grasped the glowing gems that made up the essence of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye.

“!”

However, he only got one; the other had vanished. Tracing the culprit, Se-Hoon snapped his head toward the lingering presence of a familiar aura.

“Hot! Hot! HOT!”

A black, slime-like blob squirmed as it burned in the Flame of Atonement. Immediately, Se-Hoon’s eyes narrowed at the now familiar and annoying sight.

“You…”

“Hehe… Long ti—OUCH!

Hold on, this is way too hot!!”

The blob—no, Tuner—started off smugly, but it didn’t take long for him to lose it with a scream of pain.

Squish-

Inflating itself like a balloon, Tuner’s burning outer surface was spread thin before folding inward and vanishing.

Like he had flipped a sock inside out, Tuner suffocated the flames by bringing them inward.

“Whew… I’ve seen all kinds of fires in my life, but one that burns based on the user’s moral integrity? This is a first. Seriously, how do you even make something like this?”

“…”

“Oh, right. I heard the fire that burned down the Succession research facility was utterly insane. Was it this one by any chance?”

Meeting Tuner’s gaze, who looked at him so casually, Se-Hoon readjusted his grip on the Sin-Eclipsing Blade. Tuner clearly still had something up his sleeve.

“You’re still alive? I was pretty sure that hit landed clean.”

“Huh? Ah, well, I got lucky in a few ways.”

Reaching into his gooey body, Tuner retrieved a beak-shaped mask, tossed it upward onto its “face,” then shrugged as if acting out a face gesture.

“Well, I did a similar experiment before. If I hadn’t had that experience… I probably would’ve died. Actually, I’d have ended up in a coma for a few years, at least.”

“You definitely would have just died.”

“Wrong. You must think I’m some clown who gets beat up every time we meet, but I’ll have you know: I’m still the top among the remaining Ten Evils. And besides, I don’t go down that easil—uh.”

Tuner suddenly flinched, ending his chatter of defense, and his mask trembled.

“Didn’t think you’d be so good at asking leading questions…”

“…”

Seeing that Tuner hadn’t changed and was still the same clownish figure that was hard to take seriously as one of the Ten Evils that he knew, Se-Hoon gazed at him with a deadpan look.

“Hey, is it over now?”

“What? What’s that supposed to mean—”

“The gem you pocketed just now. You implanted it in your body, didn’t you?”

In one go, every inch of Tuner’s body that was busy twitching with exaggerated gestures froze.

Seeing that, Se-Hoon slowly rolled the gemstone—which made up half of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye’s source—in his palm.

“You faked being overwhelmed by the fire to buy time while rambling on. Am I wrong?”

“…” Falling silent in the face of Se-Hoon’s keen remarks, Tuner soon gave up with a sigh. “Yeah, fine. I thought I covered it up pretty well, but I guess it was obvious.”

“I did see it, but more importantly, you just had no other choice. At your current level, you couldn’t escape from me even if you were given an infinite number of tries.”

Maybe if Tuner were in perfect condition. In his current state, though? When his aura was less than half of what it had been before his injury? When even that felt unstable? In every aspect, the signs pointed to the fact that Tuner had burned a lot of power fighting Luize before arriving.

“What an annoying thought process you have. It’s nasty precisely because I can’t argue with it.”

Shaking his head, Tuner adjusted the inside of his mask as a faint seven-colored light began leaking from his right eye socket—in other words, one half of the source of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye had already been implanted in him.

“Is that eye really worth all this? It seems too reckless to risk your life to recover it.”

Sure, the Sevenfold Cursed Eye was powerful—but that was only it was still a part of the Observer’s concept. Without the Observer, the eye couldn’t display its former might. It had no time reversal, no causality denial, no time stop, nothing.

So what had Tuner seen in it to take such a risk?

“Ah. Well, I guess it would seem unimpressive to you. You’re practically a superior version of the Visionary, after all.”

“…”

“But you should know that even half-baked eyes like this can become useful with a bit of tuning. For example…”

Squelch-

The goo behind the mask rippled, and two pupils emerged. On the left: one belonging to a Perfect One. On the right: the Sevenfold Cursed Eye radiating with seven hues.

Housing the eye of both a Perfect One and a Harbinger, Tuner chuckled softly.

“Like this~”

Woong!

The Seeker’s eye dismantled and restructured the power of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye into a new technique, then activated it.

Subject Designation: Reversal

Despite the Observer being gone, time twisted around Tuner and his black goo body began fading. However, rather than teleporting, Tuner was reversing the process that brought him before Se-Hoon to return to his original location.

“Heh. What do you think? Not bad, right?” Tuner’s voice sounded distorted, as if glitched.

Seeing his state, Se-Hoon’s eyes narrowed.

“…You seem very comfortable using the Seeker’s eye.”

“I studied it for quite some time back then. You should do some experiments of your own once you get back…” Trailing off, Tuner smirked with a squint. “If you make it back alive, that is.”

“…”

“The Trailblazer down there and all… I was wondering when he’d make a move. Turns out he was quiet for a reason, huh?”

Using the Sevenfold Cursed Eyes, Tuner could clearly see the flow of possible futures—something only the power of Perception could detect—and saw that the massive flow had completely entangled Se-Hoon’s group.

“Looks like the Visionary left quite the prank… heh. She must’ve had a lot of complaints about you.”

“…”

“Seems like she’s trying to force a specific course of action on you. Well~ I could help out if you want. But of course, there’s a catch: hand over the remaining gem in your right hand—”

“Ten.”

“Huh?”

The sudden number made Tuner blink in confusion. But instead of explaining anything, Se-Hoon continued flatly.

“Nine.”

“What, is this a ten-second countdown for me to run away or something?”

“Eight.”

“Seriously? You’re not reading the situation at all. Without my help, you’re not getting out of—”

Rumble-

Tuner shut his mouth. The moment Se-Hoon raised both hands, the very world itself had trembled as Se-Hoon brushed aside the massive fate-bound flow that wound around his body.

In other words… Se-Hoon was rejecting the future realized by the power of Perception outright. He was pushing back against a force akin to destiny itself.

“Wait… What now…?”

It should have been impossible. What was he seeing right now?

“Three.”

“Wha—wait! You just skipped—”

“Zero.”

BOOM!

The Sin-Eclipsing Blade swung down with full force, slicing through the air in a blazing red crescent.

Unable to avoid it, Tuner’s body had been split in half and was burning… but it vanished from sight. Although just barely, with a split second to spare, Tuner had escaped before total disintegration.

“Phew…”

Having forced himself to swing the blade, Se-Hoon flexed his sore arm. The flow that had restrained him was gone, seemingly having been broken by Se-Hoon. But he knew; he knew it vanishing was in reaction to Tuner’s retreat.

Was letting him take half of the Sevenfold Cursed Eye a part of Ha Baek-Yeon’s plan too…?

Just what was the Visionary thinking when she pictured the future? Even after all the battles had ended, the riddle remained unsolved.

“At times like this, there’s only one thing to do.”

Looking down, Se-Hoon focused on Seon-Woo’s eyes—the ones engraved with Enhanced Vision—that were glowing faintly with Baek-Yeon’s lingering legacy.