D.I.O

[Unintelligible. Impossible. Error.]

[This can’t be… How can this…]

All the transcendents, including M-4, who had been watching the situation with a relatively relaxed attitude, groaned aloud as they looked at Lancelot.

And, in the midst of that chaos and everyone’s astonishment…

“At last…”

Dongsoo laughed.

“… I understand.”

It wasn’t in martial arts that he trained for dozens of hundreds of years. If one believed that one could improve in martial arts through a training regimen that only consisted of stabbing, then one wasn’t just delusional, one would be considered an idiot.

‘Yeah, all that time, martial art wasn’t my true pursuit. I only started such an abnormal regimen to fill the skill requirements as effectively and quickly as possible.’

However, that process, which Lancelot considered a cheat, trained him in something other than martial arts.

It trained his spirit and mental fortitude.

“It was probably the right choice to choose aura power over internal energy back then. If I had continued training in internal energy, I wouldn’t have been able to do this…!”

Pop!

Crack!

A sword blade made of swirling heat flames was soon embedded in Dongsoo’s heart region. However, Volcano, who had swung this sword blade with all his might, made a puzzled expression instead of a contemplative smile.

“No, wait… what is this?”

It was because his shoulders, including his right arm, which was holding the sword blade, had been completely [erased]; it was as if his whole right arm had been erased with an eraser.

“Why risk your life for a probing attack?”

Volcano’s sword blade attack, which he carried out to probe Lancelot’s existence, had instead caused Volcano to suffer a mortal wound. However, it couldn’t be said that Volcano was careless or complacent, as the exchange was clearly a loss for Lancelot.

Whoosh!

The flames caused by the strong heat waves started to burn Dongsoo’s body. Volcano’s Flame of Destruction burned the soul as well as one’s physical body. Of course, if one was a transcendent being of the same level, one would be able to resist the flame’s force and minimize the damage… but Lancelot burned easily and eventually collapsed like a normal person.

“Hmm, I see…”

And soon…

“… it’s hot.”

Dongsoo reappeared and stood where he had just fallen. It seemed as though he had been entirely unaffected.

“This is crazy.”

“Impossible.”

[Unintelligible.]

[What is this…]

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Even the transcendents, with their great mighty powers and vast life experiences, were stunned when they saw the scene. This was because it was a phenomenon that couldn’t be explained by any past experience or conceptual theory.

It had nothing to do with dying or resurrecting.

“Am I crazy?”

Volcano let out a groan as he moved his left hand towards where his right arm should have been.

“It’s like… it’s as if a [destroyed] being has [created] itself again, no?”

The meaning behind Volcano’s exasperatedly stated words seemed so absurd that the observers couldn’t help but doubt their visual senses. However, Volcano immediately turned his head in surprise. A tremendous aura and momentum began to emanate from the fallen Merlin.

Woong.

The facial expressions of Volcano and all the other transcendents hardened and became serious. If the same situation had happened a little while ago, it wouldn’t have mattered. In fact, how many times did they successfully interrupt Merlin when he tried to use his Flame Ruby before?

However, since Dongsoo was using an unknown power to block their path toward Merlin, the current situation didn’t bode well for them.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t he completely subdued?”

[Stop him! The power we’re feeling right now is the same as when Apollo first descended…]

Puff!

All the enemies who tried to approach the fallen Merlin soon scattered in all directions. Before anyone knew it, Dongsoo, holding his silver long spear, was standing next to Merlin.

“I’ve been wanting to say this cool line for a while, but I never thought I’d say it under such conditions or in this type of situation,” Dongsoo said after lightly swinging his long spear.

“Anyone who approaches without permission will inevitably die.”

There wasn’t an explosion or sharp sense of killing intent emanating from Lancelot. He just stood his ground quietly.

However…

‘He’s disappeared.’

All the transcendents standing on the battlefield felt the same sensation at the same time.

Lancelot had disappeared.

From a physical point of view, nothing had changed… But at that very moment, after stating a few words, all the energy undulations and interference in the place where Dongsoo was standing dissipated. Even with their heightened senses, the transcendents couldn’t sense any presence. It was as if Lancelot’s existence, when looked upon through their spiritual sensory realm, had completely disappeared; it was as if Lancelot had fallen into a deep hole.

At this moment, he became a superstar-like being which couldn’t be recognized with any form of information acquisition ability, including foresight.

[This can’t be… All the coordinates around him are disappearing!]

M-4 was thoroughly exasperated and astonished.

Woong.

Space began to distort around Merlin’s fallen body.

It was pure power… a tremendously huge force.

“Crazy…”

“W-woah… it’s a power almost as great as His Majesty’s?”

“Don’t speak nonsense! The total amount might be similar, but the realm is lower!!”

“But no matter how low the realm may be, the scale is…!”

Even Sadness and Happiness, remarkable [talents] who may ultimately evolve and lead the entire Grotesque faction at some point in the future and who had descended down to Earth as the Grotesque’s representative forces, began to feel a sense of danger, not a sense of interest.

It was just a simple concentration of power… but Merlin’s emanating energy was beyond common sense. Moreover, it was still increasing.

Pop!

Sadness, who shot out like a bullet towards Merlin, soon rolled across the ground after an explosion rang out. Her inertial control failed as one of her wings, which was harder than any metal in the world, was completely erased from existence.

“What is this…”

Sadness, who swiftly raised her body, gritted her teeth with a frown. This was because Dongsoo was employing a suicide tit-for-tat strategy; if he was going to go down, he was planning on bringing down everyone else with him.

‘I can’t avoid it!’

Lancelot’s level wasn’t overwhelmingly higher than hers, but if Lancelot, who specialized and focused solely on attack, constantly exchanged blows with her without caring about the damage he would receive, she wouldn’t be able to avoid considerable damage. Hence, Lancelot seemed unstoppable.

Of course, on balance, Sadness was able to benefit overwhelmingly from that [damage exchange].

Plop!

Beyond the destroyed Lancelot, which was split lengthwise, like how firewood was split, after sustaining Sadness’ attack…

“Hmm, it’s still impossible for me to overwhelm an opponent through skill alone.”

Lancelot was [created], once again, and returned in a normal state.

“Nonsense.”

“What is this? Doesn’t this mean he’s immortal!”

Beings with immortality-like transcendent vitality weren’t common, but it wasn’t impossible to find them if one looked hard enough. Some beings were blessed by gods or were born with a transcendent lineage that allowed them to survive even if their heads exploded or to even resurrect themselves if their bodies were burned to ashes.

However, Dongsoo’s case was something entirely different.

“… That bastard. No way, did he…”

Shen’s face contorted in astonishment as he took a step back from the battle, which was a level of combat that was completely out of his league.

“Did he engrave himself to the universe…?”

***

“It’s the first time I’ve seen something like that.”

[I’ve never even heard of it before.]

The two Planet Gods floating in the sky clicked their tongues after seeing Dongsoo’s figure, which seemed to freely handle destruction and creation. Because they belonged to the upper hierarchy of the Creator God’s system, in other words, because they were able to handle non-attributes, they could grasp Dongsoo’s current state more clearly than anyone else in the world.

[To think that a low-class transcendent could carve and engrave his presence into the universe…]

The penguin gave out a hearty laugh. What the penguin just stated wasn’t a light admission. Among the high-ranking gods, there were only a very limited number who successfully engraved their presence onto the universe.

“Even I couldn’t engrave my presence…”

[Why would a Planet God engrave one’s presence, you idiot. Forget a Planet God, it’s even hard for high-ranking gods to engrave their presence onto the universe.]

As it gave its assessment, the penguin looked down at Dongsoo.

‘It’s really hard to put into words…’

Even though Dongsoo was only a low-class transcendent… the [divine status] he possessed had grown to a level that rivaled a great god. Moreover, his ability to synchronize with all things in the world had successfully assimilated with the greater dimension itself… Hence, it was fair to say that Dongsoo had become an imbalanced existence. At this point, his high level of achievement in synchronization with all things could forcibly pull up his other two necessary transcendent abilities, basic mana control ability and absolute mana control ability.

“Hmm, but this is truly amazing. This is the first time I’ve ever seen a guy who was born with a non-attribute talent.”

[What?]

At the girl’s words, the penguin frowned.

[You really have no interest in humans, do you? Originally, more than half of the human species are born with non-attribute talents…]

Possessing a non-attribute wasn’t rare; actually, being born with a specific attribute talent was considered more abnormal. If one had a clear attribute of one’s own, one could quickly acquire the special abilities of that corresponding attribute.

The reason why Masters all seemed to possess a personal attribute affinity was because there was a threshold that was difficult to cross without a level of [talent]. Even in the case of those with aura power abilities, whose personal attributes were more important than any other spiritual power area, the majority of those who didn’t possess a personal attribute usually couldn’t exceed Level 5.

“In other words, that guy realized his non-attribute ability because he wasn’t biased towards any other attribute?”

[Yeah, that’s right. That’s why I’m so taken aback right now. I’ve never heard of such a case.]

The power of non-attribute was creation and destruction.

It was a power that only Planet Gods, through the hierarchical power system set up by the Creator God, handled. Destruction, or annihilation, could be imitated through magic or other abilities, but the realm of creation was a matter that delved into a completely different dimension.

“If we’re talking about the realm of creation, not recovery, what are his limits?”

[His mind… no, his will is the limit.]

The girl’s expression hardened after hearing the penguin’s answer. This was because the penguin’s answer had truly mind-blowing implications. At this moment, Dongsoo was literally the embodiment of his own will.

In other words, his resurrection, no, to be clearer, his ability to recreate was limited only by…

“If his spirit doesn’t yield… he’ll never perish?”

[Right.]

“Oh my goodness…”

At this point, burning Dongsoo’s body or annihilating his soul was meaningless. If one didn’t somehow subdue his mind and will, Dongsoo would continuously recreate himself into the physical world.

But who could subdue his will, which was supported by his unyielding mind?

Whoosh!

At that moment, Merlin’s collapsed body once again burst out with tremendous power. Merlin’s enemies, which was in essence humankind’s enemies, tried to subdue him with all their might… but they couldn’t overcome Dongsoo, who freely wielded the power of creation and destruction.

[Oh, come to think of it, there’s that guy, too.]

“Actually, that guy is the bigger problem. In fact, it’s all because of him that things have gotten this far, no?”

If what Dongsoo achieved was a human victory that could be evaluated as ‘how can such a thing be possible’, Merlin’s case was a bit different.

He was…

[What the hell is that guy?]

“I don’t know…”

Even those with omnipotent abilities and skills couldn’t figure him out. Merlin was a perfectly incomprehensible existence.

***

When Dongsoo reappeared, expressions of surprise and disbelief had greeted him. Any normal being would have felt at least a slight bit of discomfort from the sudden attention, but for Dongsoo, this attention didn’t matter; he was focused on one thing and one thing only.

‘What is mental strength and fortitude?’

The answer came quickly.

‘It’s the power to carry through with one’s will.’

Although he was an extremely ordinary genius, if one could use that term in the broadest sense, Dongsoo definitely had an extraordinary side… an extreme sense of sincerity and devotion.

If he wanted to study, he studied every single day. When he decided to work out, he never gave up halfway through a workout regimen.

Of course, he too heard the voices of temptation at every turn and moment.

Whenever he woke up in the morning without getting enough sleep, he wanted to give up everything and sleep for another 5 minutes. When he studied every day, there were quite a few times when he wanted to just take a break and rest for a day or so.

When it came to working out or dieting, there were days when he just wanted to give up and eat as much as he desired.

This was natural. This was because Dongsoo was a human being.

However…

He carried out his will to the end. He had been broken, had failed, and had faced regret and despair over and over again… but at the very least, he never gave up.

And the moment when one truly succeeded in overcoming oneself, to practice self-denial to such an extent…

“Hahaha. What is this? Is this a joke? This isn’t funny!”

[I really can’t believe it.]

“I’m going to go crazy.”

Since his birth, Dongsoo had reached a realm that even other extraordinary being had never reached.

“What was your name again?”

When Volcano, the captain of Basara’s 12th ship [Flame] and a mighty warrior, asked Dongsoo this question, Dongsoo calmly answered.

“Byun Dongsoo. Well, you can call me Lancelot.”

“Yes, Byun Dong Soo. If you’ll excuse me… Can you put into words the realization you’ve just reached?”

Most, if not all, of those who reached the transcendent realm have their own unique realizations. This was because it was very difficult to get to a destination without having a clear path.

Under this analogy, Dongsoo had a clearer [way] than anyone else.

“Singular spirit.”

Effort, just good old-fashioned effort.

“There’s no other option.”

This concept was the direction and foundation of his soul and spirit after being broken and trained countless times.

“Don’t be ridiculous! Something like that… What kind of realization is that…!?”

With a voice full of defeat and disapproval, Shen, who had been pushed to one side of the battlefield, shouted out.

“That’s so obvious and simple!”

And at the moment, when Shen was shouting, Merlin, who hadn’t moved so far, got up from the ground.