Chapter 93: To the Imperial Capital (6)

Have you ever been hated?

- We finally meet.

The hatred and resentment of the whole world was right there.

"Please stand back, Queen-nim!"

With a warning, Dark Sunny stormed forward. His hair, made out of shadows, swelled up and covered his entire body. Then, in a matter of seconds, it expanded tens of times in size.

Grooarrrr---!!

A huge dragon made of shadows appeared and roared. He seemed to be about 100 meters tall, and a materialized intent surrounded his entire body. His appearance looked savage as if he became the incarnation of a living disaster.

In fact, the Shadow Dragon was one of the strongest even among the dragon tribe. They had bodies made up of shadows and were immune to physical damage. Furthermore, they also had the power to resist malicious soul energies due to the sinister intent's power in their shadows.

Although their rate of reproduction rate was so low that there weren't many of them, the Shadow Dragon could rival the capabilities of a high-dragon just by growing up into an adult dragon through a normal growth process. Nobles aside, they were a species closer to being considered royalty, and they were regarded as the core forces of the Kaiser Dragon.

However, the opponent was a bad match.

-Don't act up, you insect!

The swings of the arms of steel was enough to tear apart the wings made of shadow, and a dark essence poured out like a waterfall from that cross section. Initially growing bigger and bigger, Dark Sunny collapsed in a heartbeat and rolled on the ground.

I could hear him letting out a scream filled with shock.

Adam…!! I can't believe you're personally making a move. You've gone crazy! The Dragonians won't stand by and let this happen! The same goes for the Gods from the God Realm and Saint Realm!

Although the top-level transcendents from Elohim and Noblesse were not directly active in the Physical Realm, there were also some who surpassed the Untouchables. Some of them included the Death Dragon that brought about death; Crom Cruach; Flame Dragon Kain, the previous Dragon God and currently upholding the God of Magic title; Jesus Superstar who was regarded as the embodiment of the world; and Buddha who attained enlightenment.

They were beings who transcended the laws of nature and fame and had left the Physical Realm. However, they would often manifest themselves in the event of a cosmic disaster. If the few remaining top-level transcendents in the Physical Realm crossed a certain line, then of course the others would take appropriate actions.

Adam was one of the remaining top-level transcendents in the Universe, but he was also the archenemy of the Union that ruled over the universe. Nonetheless, he let out an explosive Aura to the point where his whole body distorted and said...

- It doesn't matter.

Along with a 'Kwakkkkk!' sound, the body of the Shadow Dragon was blasted away. Standing behind us, Hyun-il was greatly surprised and grabbed us.

"We need to back off… Kuuughh?!"

Hyun-il held me and Celestia with his white arm, but he disappeared. Boom! When I turned my head in the direction of that sound, I could see Hyun-il stuck to the outer wall of Albatross that had landed behind us. He came out through the debris right after, but he looked like he was struggling to move properly.

"Run away! Transformation!"

"Damn it… all!!"

Bo-ram and Dong-min stood in Adam's way. Needless to say, it was literally a suicidal act.

Kwakkk! Thuckkk!

With the sounds of bones breaking, Bo-ram and Dong-min collapsed.

"No! Run away!"

"Ackkkkkk!"

The bodies of those around exploded, and the earth burst apart. The metal hands seemed like it was made by clumping together all kinds of machines in the Imperial Capital. Every time a hand swung, it destroyed everything in its way. Moreover, the light emitted from just one hand blew away half of the Imperial Capital in the far back. The Imperial Capital enveloped itself with a golden Aura to block the attack, but the attack was beyond its ability.

Five or six transcendents jumped out of the Imperial Palace like locusts, but they could not even withstand for a single minute and were annihilated.

"Oh… my God."

Seeing the destroyed Imperial Palace and the massacre, Celestia looked devastated. She seemed to have received a tremendous shock despite always being confident. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to comfort her.

As I came to my senses, everyone except our party had died and collapsed on the ground.

'Huh?'

However, a question came to my mind in an instant.

'Our party is the only one that survived?'

In terms of combat prowess, the Shadow Dragon, Dark Sunny, was probably better than Major General Chun Hyun-il. However, Dark Sunny was killed in a heartbeat when he faced Adam, and on the other hand, Hyun-il was only reduced to a moribund state and there wasn't any threat to his life.

"Ughhh... Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

That was all. Bo-ram and Dong-min stood up. They were injured but it was not very serious. Needless to say, it was not because they had excellent abilities.

'Did he let us live?'

However, I didn't understand. The hatred and jealousy that I could feel from the gray silhouette looking at me was so violent that my heart was suffocating. So why would he choose not to hurt me and the people around me?

"Stop, Adam! It's too late!"

Hawa blocked Adam's way as he was destroying everything around. I couldn't even see where she came from. She was just in front of me when I came to my senses.

- Shut up.

"Please calm down. You know too, right..."

- Shut… the hell up!!

The space was distorted as Adam shouted. Hawa had stood in front of me. As their enormous powers clashed, the space between her and Adam warped.

However, that only persisted for a while.

"Kyaaackkkkk-!!"

Along with the sound of the scream, Hawa's body got blasted back, and Adam stood before us.

Kriekkkkk-! Boooom!

Previously going around the place and massacring everyone in its way, the dozens of metal arms also stood down. Bo-ram and Dong-min stood in front of me to block Adam from approaching, but Adam lightly gestured with his grey hands, and everything around was blasted away.

"Haha... Holy shit."

Celestia let out a dispirited laugh upon seeing the sight that unfolded before her eyes.

"I was determined to make it happen even if I die, and I've lived while gritting my teeth... What a pathetic ending this is."

Thuckkk!

In the end, she also got blasted dozens of meters away and rolled on the ground. Although it was a ruthless attack, I could see Celestia's body shaking even when she was blasted away and collapsed on the ground.

'It's not a mistake. He's not killing us.'

Everyone I was close with didn't die and was kept alive. Major General Chun Hyun-il, Dong-min, Bo-ram, and even Albatross was somewhat intact even though the Imperial Capital was almost destroyed.

'But why? To inflict more pain on me?'

Baaang!!!

The fists of steel fell in an instant on both sides of me. I staggered and fell down under the pressure of the wind.

- Why?

With a 'Baaang!', an explosion went off. A steel fist was punching the floor around me.

- Why!

Everything around it started to get destroyed. The moment Adam swung the steel fist, nothing was able to withstand its power. Considering that the body of the Shadow Dragon, Dark Sunny was destroyed in one shot, those heavily-made steel hands seemed to have some sort of special power imbued in them.

Baang!

The steel fist punched the floor again. However, he didn't do me any damage in the end.

"...Hey?"

In the meantime, I somehow got used to the malice he was emitting and faced him. He had an appearance that looked as if he was drawn with gray crayons in the air, and he was staring at me with his burning red eyes.

- I hate you.

I could feel resentment, hatred, jealousy and confusion coming from him. It was a storm of emotions that felt like it was coming from a lost, crying child instead of a First-Tier God who transcended everything.

- I hate you.

His voice sounded like he was throwing up, and at long last, his figure disappeared----

Krieekkk----!

Bo-ram and Dong-min, who were blasted far away, came flying and stood in front of me. Before I knew it, Celestia was standing next to me. Major General Chun Hyun-il, who was sent flying and crashed against Albatross, also returned to his position. Even the people who were crushed, smashed and torn to death began to wake up in a perfectly fine condition.

The destroyed Imperial Capital was restored to its original condition, and the transcendents who charged out from it returned back inside. The river of blood disappeared, and the torn sky alsoreturned to being a blue sky.

"This... Crazy fu-..."

I groaned.

The time was turning back.

"Dae-ha."

I was stunned and stood rooted to the ground. The terrifying disasters and power that Adam exhibited were frightening, but I didn't expect him to be able to turn back time.

"Dae-ha?"

Before I knew it, the surrounding area had returned to how it was before Adam's appearance. Those who were screaming and fell dead just moments ago were cheering with an expression that looked as if they didn't know all that just happened.

'Everything is meaningless in the face of transcendental power huh.'

I was overwhelmed and dispirited. It was because I saw with my own two eyes that empires, civilizations, forces, and everything that Man had achieved were of no use in the face of transcendental power. I knew the extent of their power theoretically since long ago, but seeing them destroy and restore an Empire-class country in action as if it was a joke drained the strength out of my body for a moment.

"Are you… offended?"

"Hmm?"

I turned my head at the unexpected remark and saw Celestia. She looked slightly sullen, unlike her usual self.

She apologized, "Sorry, I've gone too far. I know people aren't all the same... I must have pushed it too one-sidedly."

"Hmm? Huh?"

For a moment, I couldn't keep up with her words and I found it weird. Eventually, Celestia put up a tearful face.

"Did you hate it so much?"

Hearing her words, I realized then that she was talking about the kiss she gave me and our public wedding announcement.

'It's most probably because of my attitude. Things would've been different if I was just being rude.'

However, I was in a serious mood with a straight face (though it was because of Adam), and she must have thought that she had made a mistake upon seeing my expression.

"Hmmm, well, it's fine. It felt good, too."

"Ri-, right? You had butterflies, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"Ni-, nice! Then..."

"Even so…"

She became lively again, and I looked at her and said, "Next time, let's only do it after we discuss it beforehand. It's too arbitrary."

"…Yes."

It was quite cute to see her being so obedient for some reason, but I had a lot to think about.

'But…'

I recalled Adam's face.

'Why did he just go back like that?'

It would be understandable if he were hostile towards me. Since it turned out like this, it would be better to get to know each other, but he was already leading the Legion over. Hence, wouldn't he hate it if his father's other children showed up? However, he came and put up with all kinds of potential risk and caused a mess. Then, he just disappeared.

'Why the hell did he do that?'

However, there were no answers.

*

"Huff… Huff…"

A black-haired girl was sitting among the countless fans of Celestia. Her pale expression was quite unusual, but somehow no one around her recognized her. However, an old man approached the young girl plopped down on the floor -- Hawa.

"It's your second warning."

The tall, handsome old man with white hair and beard wore a tuxedo that clinged to his body. He held a pocket watch with a marvelous design in his hand; the pocket watch's hour and minute hands were spinning abnormally fast.

"Why are you here and flipping out at me? Fuck off to Adam."

"It seems you're not in the right mind to understand even if I tell you. From the looks of things, it feels like it'd be fortunate instead if you don't charge at me. Do you know how much consideration I am showing?"

"..."

What he said was absolutely true, so Hawa nodded. The old man smiled as if he was satisfied with her response.

"I'm not saying anything about turning back time itself. That could be done. But... Don't recklessly alter the flow of fate. I understand you're being wary of the God Realm, but on the off chance that you actually get a third warning..."

With a 'Claack', the old man shut his pocket watch and looked at Hawa.

"At that time, you won't be seeing a clock. You'll see me appear before you and holding a scythe."

That was the last thing the old man said before he disappeared. Hawa bit her lips.

"Adam…"