The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 498

Piercing through the Golden Ring and creating a future that outpaced even the expansion of the world? Se-Hoon’s eyes narrowed.

It was absurd, but as Se-Hoon mulled over, he didn’t need long to reach a certain conclusion.

“It’s definitely possible.”

To nearly everyone, the idea of “piercing the world” would sound like pure bravado. As a regressor, though, Se-Hoon didn’t think it was impossible at all.

He had already seen the world crumble like a sandcastle due to even a single Harbinger of Destruction. If it was so fragile, wasn’t a single hole doable?

“But you’re aware it won’t be easy, right?”

Even if piercing the Golden Ring was theoretically doable, accomplishing such a thing using only the power of Perception was an entirely different matter. Unlike the Harbingers of Destruction, who were born from the Abyss of Demons, the Perfect Ones were beings directly created by the Golden Ring.

“A Perfect One’s power is powered by the Golden Ring and completed as a law. In the first place, trying to use that to pierce the Golden Ring itself is…”

“Basically impossible. I know.”

Both Harbingers of Destruction and Perfect Ones possessed transcendent powers because the Golden Ring itself provided them so that they could fulfill the roles and rights it decided for them. And for the Perfect Ones, that role was protecting the infinitely changing future—a concept directly opposing the immutable future Baek-Yeon sought.

“I can’t even be sure I’ll get to attempt it properly. And even if I succeed, it probably won’t end well. It’ll be just like Doppelganger.”

Complete annihilation… or perhaps unbearable torment in some unseen place.

“Well, even so, I’ll still bring myself to challenge it. Because that is my—no, because Baek-Yeon left this as her only legacy.”

The death of the human “Ha Baek-Yeon” and the birth of “the Visionary.” Se-Hoon watched her silently, the one who called herself a legacy left behind between those two events.

“I understand the goal of the plan. I also get what you’re concerned about.”

“Then—”

“But there’s one thing I still don’t seem to understand.”

Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes.

“There must’ve been other options. I still don’t understand why the plan had to involve your death.”

Baek-Yeon had spoken as if her death were an inevitable condition, but Se-Hoon thought differently. Even if she’d lost a Cursed Eye imbued with the power of Perception, she could have escaped and still reached the same result.

She didn’t even try to avoid death.

What had she died for? What was she planning?

“…”

Baek-Yeon stared at him with a slightly dazed expression.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“No…. It’s just, I didn’t expect someone to ask me this.”

She’d thought he’d question the feasibility of the plan or worry about the damages he’d suffer—not fixate on such a sentimental detail.

Really, such an unreadable guy…

Suppressing a bitter smile, Baek-Yeon turned so the Golden Ring was behind her, to face where Earth was.

“Well, like you said, it’s not like there were no other methods at all…” she began plainly, recalling the futures she hadn’t chosen. “I just didn’t want to live on pitifully in the place of my precious grandchild. That’s all.”

If that future had been the only one, she would have chosen it without hesitation. But it wasn’t. There was no need for her family to be sacrificed in her place.

“…”

Se-Hoon’s expression turned strange.

Before, Baek-Yeon had supported some other battlefield over saving Seon-Woo, who had been taken hostage by Heaven Eye. Because of that, he had always thought she was someone cold enough to abandon her own family. And it turned out she wasn’t?

Then why had the Baek-Yeon of the previous timeline made that choice?

The battlefield she supported instead of rescuing Seon-Woo, the battlefield he and the Three Dogs had arrived late to. If there was some future he didn’t know had awaited them there… then maybe, just maybe, the future Baek-Yeon had sought before his regression was—

“I see.”

Se-Hoon cut off the thought before it could go any further. He didn’t know what kind of battle Baek-Yeon had fought alone back then, but that was already a finished game and all he should do was reflect and learn from it. Becoming fixated now and making poor decisions due to that wouldn’t be what either version of Baek-Yeon wanted.

“I do want to discuss your plan in more detail, but… the first thing I have to say is this.” With his thoughts now fully sorted, Se-Hoon looked straight at Baek-Yeon and spoke firmly. “Your plan is awful.”

“…”

“All that talk about piercing the Golden Ring sounds impressive, sure. In the end, though? You’re just dumping all the cleanup on me while you go pull the trigger, right?”

Baek-Yeon said nothing, pressing her lips together. She too had realized that there was actually nothing wrong with what he’d said.

“To be blunt, I don’t really care about humanity’s peace or whatever. It’s hard enough just surviving each day—how am I supposed to care about some far-off future?”

“…”

“I’d have to be insane… no, even if I were insane, I still wouldn’t accept this kind of plan. There’s nothing to gain and everything to lose.”

Righteousness and purpose only mean something when grounded in reality. Se-Hoon tore into her with ruthless criticism, making Baek-Yeon wear a bitter smile—

“But.”

Se-Hoon crossed his arms and frowned.

“The fact that the power of Perception led me here means I must have the potential to make that future happen.”

If there had been no possibility, neither the power of Perception nor Baek-Yeon would’ve chosen him as a successor and brought him all the way here. Knowing that better than anyone, Se-Hoon sighed.

“If I back out now, people’ll think I quit because I was afraid I wasn’t good enough.”

“Then that means…”

“I’ll do it.”

As Baek-Yeon’s eyes widened, Se-Hoon grumbled. “I’ve gone to the bottom of the Abyss of Demons and have even taken a tour to the edges of space. What’s ‘world peace’ compared to that? Hell, let’s try to make it happen.”

“You…”

“Of course, that’s only if you can pierce the Golden Ring properly.” Se-Hoon drew out the Genesis Hammer, the one he had forged together with Meirin, and made a serious expression. “Can you create the blueprint for world peace?”

Even if he were willing, none of it would matter if she failed. Taken aback by the unexpected question, Baek-Yeon stared blankly at him for a moment before smiling.

“Yeah. I’ll make it perfect.”

Woong!

Summoning the White Night Bow in her left hand, Baek-Yeon immediately drew the bowstring back as she aimed toward the left side of the Golden Ring that she could see.

Woong-

Part of the Heaven-Piercing Vowshot, embedded in the Golden Ring when it collided earlier, was reforged into a new arrow.

Twang!

It became a beam of light and vanished before their eyes. But the arrow reappeared not long later from the right as it completed a full orbit around the world. Returning to the point where the Heaven-Piercing Vowshot pierced the Golden Ring, it completed a bright white circle—the White Ring—that also encircled the entire world.

Rumble-

The world, which had been expanding at a tremendous speed, gradually slowed until it eventually reached a near-complete halt. Having successfully observed the entire world—the Abyss of Demons, the Towers of Heroes, everything else—it was a divine feat possible only by Baek-Yeon.

Woong!

Baek-Yeon had drawn her bow again, readying the Heaven-Piercing Vowshot once more. Her new arrow, created by reforging all the possibilities laid out in the world, would pierce through even the shell that surrounded them.

Woooooooooong!

The light bursting from the new arrow engulfed everything, and an immense suppression converged around Baek-Yeon.

Crack-

The brighter the light, the clearer the arrow became—and the more thin cracks that formed across the White Night Bow. Baek-Yeon’s hands trembled, struggling to maintain the miracle never meant to be granted to her.

Even she, as a Perfect One, could not bear the entirety of the world’s possibilities.

“Ugh…!”

Both hands gripping the White Night Bow and her entire body felt as though it would shatter at any moment. For the first time since conquering the Tower of Heroes, Baek-Yeon felt a pressure she could not handle.

Was the world… always this vast…? She clenched her teeth tightly.

She had thought she understood it better than anyone. In truth, though, she had been a frog in a well. Even at the peak of the Tower of Heroes, she had never felt what she was currently feeling: a transcendent concept too immense for a mere law to endure.

Crunch!

The pressure gradually crushed her entire body, making it collapse alongside the White Night Bow. Determined to resist, Baek-Yeon drew strength from the Golden Ring to recover… but even that didn’t go as she wished.

Crackle!

Golden lightning sparked from the fractures. The Golden Ring was warning her, telling her not to go any further beyond its laws.

Was I… wrong…?

Doubt began stirring within her; she was rattled. What value was there in a dream achieved through self-deception and compromise? There was nothing one could achieve through such shortcuts. Truly, a proper future could only be forged according to established laws—even now.

Crack!

The fractures throughout her body and the White Night Bow deepened further. The Golden Ring’s interference and the limits of her power pressed down on Baek-Yeon from both within and out.

She got closer and closer to breaking point, and soon, she reached the bow was about to snap in two—

“Hold on tight!”

Pulling out a blue gem, Se-Hoon slammed it into the core of the White Night Bow using the Genesis Hammer.

CLANG!

With a clear metallic ring, the blue gem embedded itself deep into the bow, melting from within and sealing the widening cracks.

“This is…”

Baek-Yeon’s eyes widened in shock upon recognizing the familiar presence emanating from the gem: Seon-Woo’s.

To reinforce the White Night Bow, Se-Hoon had used Seon-Woo’s Fatestone.

“Trust me.”

Se-Hoon rested his hammer on his shoulder, looking her calmly in the eyes.

And just like that, every last one of the lingering doubts clouding her mind was washed away. Renewed with energy, Baek-Yeon’s eyes lit up as she once again raised the bow to unleash the power of Perception in rapid succession toward the unfinished arrow.

Woong-

The unstable arrow, which had seemed ready to collapse at any moment, was reforged with second-by-second future realization. The arrow carried all the world’s possibilities—all for Baek-Yeon’s dream of an impossible future.

Aiming it once more, now steady, Baek-Yeon faced the golden brilliance filling her vision.

Twang! Whoosh!

The pure white light pierced straight through the Golden Ring.

BOOM!

Exploding, the white light blinded them before vanishing entirely. They could see the Golden Ring once more, which should now have a hole punched through, but it was completely unscathed.

It looked as though nothing had happened, as though their entire effort had been meaningless. But…

Se-Hoon could see it: the change that Baek-Yeon had wrought was clear in his eyes.

Whoosh-

The infinite possibilities created by the world’s expansion were gathering where the arrow had pierced through, converging to follow the path. A vast flow was building up stronger and stronger until it became a force that defied the Golden Ring, until it could realize the impossible future the arrow was forging ahead towards.

“This is… incredible.”

Right now, there was nothing they could do. But once the world expanded enough, allowing the flow to grow to rival the Golden Ring… that would be the moment Baek-Yeon’s wish came true.

“Still just a rough estimation, though,” Baek-Yeon murmured in a weary voice, looking up at the small miracle she had brought about. “The rest… is all up to you.”

She knew she had no right to say it. After all, like he said, she was dumping everything on him and leaving so irresponsibly. Still, she had tried for decades, maybe even longer, so wasn’t she allowed to be selfish?

“Don’t worry.”

Seemingly reading her mind, Se-Hoon turned to her with full confidence.

“I’ll build a future even better than you imagined.”

A smile of relief blossoming on her face, Baek-Yeon looked toward the arrow that had left the Golden Ring’s boundary.

“Someday… when you enter the Forest of Repetition… you’ll face the final decision that determines the future…”

Se-Hoon’s expression stiffened at the sudden prophecy, but Baek-Yeon continued in a faint voice, as if seeing something only she could.

“I don’t know which path will be right… but if I could give you one piece of advice…”

She gazed softly at Se-Hoon.

“Try your best to cherish your connections… just like you are doing now…”

Fwoosh-

With those final words, Baek-Yeon’s body dispersed into radiant white light and drifted toward the edge of the world.

At the very end, she had died a human who overcame countless trials and succeeded—if only partially—in achieving her impossible dream.

Her final moments were glorious.

Gazing at her legacy, Se-Hoon closed his eyes and offered a quiet prayer not just as a fellow human being but also as the successor to her will.

***

BOOM!

A tremendous vibration echoed across the entire world.

Sensing a phenomenon entirely beyond the realm of gravity, Max Sinclair, known as Apostate, ran down the lab hallway and burst into the central control room.

WEEE-WOOO!

Sirens screamed as red emergency lights flashed throughout the room. Monitoring graphs were spiking erratically as simultaneous anomalies erupted in the Towers of Heroes and the Abyss of Demons.

On top of that, there was an emergency of equal scale also breaking out.

“Inject the special stabilizer!”

“We’re not picking up any response! We need to initiate emergency revival—”

“That’s the last resort! Use the stimulant first!”

Every researcher under Tuner’s command was currently scrambling to adjust their devices. Because of their efforts, a massive cylindrical chamber came into view soon after.

Bubble-

Black mucus boiled inside, surging violently and backflowing through connected tubes.

Glancing at the screen, Max quickly scanned the chaotic control room before calling out to the researcher managing the cylinder.

“Begin the emergency revival sequence.”

“What? But—”

Slice-!

The researcher’s head fell before he could finish protesting, silenced by Max’s black blade.

“I won’t ask twice.”

Max’s voice was filled with a chilling calm. He was enduring the agony from his old wound left by Se-Hoon, which was spilling blood after flaring violently from him using divine mana again.

Simultaneously, the blood drained from the researchers’ faces. They were brutally reminded: if any of them dared to question or resist, Max would kill them to force the emergency revival sequence through.

“U-understood!”

“Initiate the emergency revival sequence—now!”

Understanding they had no choice, the researchers moved quickly. And before long, long needle-like apparatuses emerged from the top of the cylindrical chamber.

PSHHH!

Air hissed out as the violently boiling mucus gradually settled. At the same time, the deafening alarms in the control room stopped all at once.

All eyes were fixed on the monitor showing the chamber.

—Ahh…

A distorted voice—clearly Tuner’s—came through the speaker with noise mixed in.

—Judging by how well my head’s working, I take it this is an emergency revival? Who gave the order?”

The researchers tensed. Luckily for them, Max answered without a flicker of emotion.

“I did.”

“Yeah? You made a good call. A second later, and I’d have lost consciousness for years.”

Hearing Tuner praise Max, the researchers exhaled in relief. They had been spared from death.

“What just happened?” Max asked bluntly, his eyes scanning the floating screens.

He had felt it: the world and the Golden Ring had changed. But in his current state, he couldn’t discern anything more than that.

“What do you think?” Tuner answered, also scanning the screens. “That damned Baek-Yeon finally caused a real incident.”

“Baek-Yeon… you mean the Visionary.”

“I suspected she was up to something… but to think she planned something this insane. We really got blindsided. Hahhhhhh….”

Processing Tuner’s words, Max narrowed his eyes. “How bad is your condition?”

“The absolute worst. That erosion I took via the Sevenfold Cursed Eye core wrecked the rest of them too… tsk. My body’s a wreck. But hey, it was an emergency revival—I’ll live~”

“What about the plans you were working on?”

With no desire to hear the gory details, Max cut straight to the point before Tuner could ramble.

“Sheesh… Is there seriously no one around here who gives a damn about me?”

Muttering bitterly for a bit, Tuner then fell silent in thought for a pause.

“Just continue as scheduled. I’m not needed on site anyway. If anything goes wrong, request backup from the Puppeteer.”

“Anything else?”

“Hmm… Ah, right. There is one more thing.”

Something coming to mind, Tuner added casually, “In case the Succession sends you guys a support request, prioritize them first.”

“Which side?”

“The Inoue clan.”

His lips curving up into a small smirk, Tuner recalled the data they’d handed over recently.

“They might cook up something really interesting soon.”