Seong-Hwi’s unique skill, Borrowing Destiny, allowed him to borrow the destinies of certain figures and make their powers his own at the cost of mana, Destiny Force, and his destiny itself.
He had borrowed three-card destinies of William and Iljimae, four-card destinies of the Unabomber and Richard Ramirez, five-card destinies of Chok Chun-Gyong and Don Quixote, and six-card destinies of Alexander the Great and Orpheus.
The fewer the cards used, the less known the destinies were. The more outstanding the figure’s destiny, the more cards it took to define it; it was usually the destiny of those with legendary or diabolical feats.
Among them was a man who had acquired a destiny and infamy far more outstanding than many, with just one choice. His destiny was a seven-card one, which Seong-Hwi could only borrow now that his Magic, Destiny Force, and D Weapon stats were all S-rank.
[Seven-card destiny.]
[Spread cards: No.10 The Wheel of Fortune, No.20 Judgment, No.12 The Hanged Man, Three of Swords, Ten of Swords, Knight of Swords, King of Swords.]
[Destiny reading: A martyr, judged before the wheel of fortune, who faced immense sorrow and ruin because of a hasty and impulsive mistake.]
***
The misfortune began when a man climbed Golgotha, carrying a cross. He was Jesus, born as the son of Joseph, a poor carpenter, and his wife, Mary, but claimed he was the son of God, the King of the Jews, and the Messiah.
“Is that the man who fed five thousand people with only five loaves of bread and two fish?”
“I heard he can walk on water.”
“He can also heal the sick, apparently. He even healed a man born blind so that he could see, and a paralytic so that he could walk!”
“Ahaha! Why is such a man carrying a cross?”
“Why don’t you escape death using those miraculous powers of yours?!”
People mocked the bloody Jesus, wearing nothing but a red cloth over his loins and a crown of thorns on his head, carrying a large cross. He continued his climb, staggering repeatedly, but eventually fell. The people around him spat at him, and the soldiers whipped him.
“Look at this man! Who shall defend the innocence of this irreverent man who claims to be the son of God? If any shall, step forward!” a soldier shouted.
None came forward to defend Jesus, who could no longer stand. The soldier was left with no choice but to order a robust bystander to carry the cross in his stead.
“Tsk, where did those apostles who were always by your side go? Why is the only man willing to carry the cross for you an egg tradesman from Cyrene?” mumbled a middle-aged man with long blond hair and brown eyes as he clicked his tongue, watching Jesus’s miserable climb.
He was a centurion wearing a lorica hamata, a type of mail armor, and a helmet with a red feather on it.
“Centurion Longinus. Do you believe in the miracles that man is said to have created?” his subordinate asked.
Longinus firmly shook his head and replied, “Not in the slightest.”
“Hahaha! Right? He dared to spread groundless rumors to overthrow the empire’s regime! Crucifixion is a mercy!”
Longinus stared at the heavily panting Jesus as he listened to his subordinate, thinking, He just had to call himself the King of the Jews before the high priests and Governor Pilate. Tsk, tsk...
The Roman soldiers treated him like a king by putting a red loincloth and a crown of thorns on him, and made him carry a reed instead of a scepter. Longinus felt pity for the man subjected to such mockery, but the laws of the Roman empire were absolute.
“All of you, be ready. Our job comes once he is crucified,” Longinus remarked.
***
Once Jesus climbed Golgotha, his wrists and feet were nailed to the cross he had carried. The soldiers pulled on a rope to erect the cross, sticking the bottom end into a hole they had dug in advance. Two thieves had also been crucified on each side of him, groaning in pain.
The citizens cursed the crucified Jesus.
“Boo! Fraud!”
“Show us a miracle! Get down from that cross!”
“Ptooey! Die already, you blasphemous fool!”
Longinus shouted, “Keep the civilians back! They must not approach the criminal until he is dead!”
He controlled the crowd as he waited for Jesus’s death. Governor Pilate had ordered him to wait for Jesus to die on the cross and bring him down before the Sabbath.
“Father... Forgive them... For they know not... what they do,” Jesus endlessly mumbled.
Longinus shook his head as he watched Jesus beg God to forgive those mocking him, and said, “I do not know if you truly are the son of God, but I commend you for begging for their forgiveness, even while nailed to the cross.”
***
Around six hours had passed when Jesus, who seemed to have lost his spirit, looked up at the skies of Golgotha and shouted desperately, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?”
In the end, he despairs, Longinus thought, believing Jesus had lasted longer than most.
A human couldn’t maintain his faith for long while nailed to the cross. Longinus had seen many who had been crucified, but in the end, they all begged to be killed or spared, or both.
The citizens mocked Jesus’s cries.
“Ahaha! I knew it!”
“If you truly were the son of God, He would have never forsaken you!”
“You have finally shown your true colors! Who do you think you’re resenting?!”
As the citizens continued to scream, Jesus lifelessly mumbled, “It is... finished... Father... into thy hands... I commend... my spirit.”
He then closed his eyes as if falling asleep.
What is he talking about? Longinus wondered, but shook his head soon after.
“It’s time,” he said as he looked at the blood-red sky. The sun was setting in the west of Jerusalem. Longinus commanded his subordinates, “Break the criminals’ legs.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Yes, sir!”
Two of his subordinates grabbed birch clubs and smashed the legs of the thief left of Jesus.
“Kurgh...Huff... Huff!”
The thief could only inhale, but not exhale. His face soon turned blue. The main cause of death from crucifixion was asphyxiation because the criminals’ arms, which were stretched up, caused hyperexpansion of the chest muscles and lungs. They had to draw themselves up to relieve the pressure and be able to exhale, but breaking their legs forced the criminals to use only their arms, tiring them out much sooner, eventually suffocating them to death.
“These criminals are in luck. They were allowed to die so soon,” Longinus mumbled as he approached Jesus, nailed to the middle cross.
The Sabbath lessened their suffering. The crucified usually lost and regained consciousness hundreds of times, unable to die even if they wanted to, so these men were indeed lucky.
“Is he... dead?” Longinus mumbled as he looked up at Jesus, who did not seem alive.
His subordinates broke the legs of the criminal to the right of Jesus and approached to break Jesus’s legs as well.
However, perhaps on a whim or due to sympathy, Longinus said, “Wait. This man is likely already dead. There is no need to break his legs.”
“Pardon?”
“He could have just fainted. He might still be alive...”
“In that case, I will confirm it,” Longinus replied as he raised his spear, about to do what he would regret for the rest of his life, perhaps for eternity.
He stabbed Jesus’s side with his spear. Blood and water poured from the wound, dyeing Longinus’s spear red.
“This man is undoubtedly dead. Let him down from the—”
Just then, a massive earthquake shook the earth.
***
The people of Jerusalem were panic-stricken, whispering about the possibility that Jesus was truly the son of God.
“I heard hundreds who went to watch the execution at Golgotha died from the earthquake.”
“From what I’ve heard, the curtains in the Temple of Jerusalem were found torn from top to bottom!”
“Could Jesus... have truly been...”
They were afraid; if Jesus was truly the son of God, it meant that they had mocked, whipped, spat on, and crucified the son of God, ultimately killing him. However, their fear was amplified the day after the Sabbath.
“Jesus was resurrected!”
“His tomb was empty!”
“Dozens have already witnessed him!”
“W-what do we do? Now that he has returned... We’ll be punished!”
“I-I didn’t do anything. I didn’t throw any rocks!”
“I was against it, too! I didn’t kill Jesus!”
“Governor Pilate was the one who killed him! We’re innocent!”
“Where are the high priests?!”
The people of Jerusalem began to shift the unforgivable sin of killing the Son of God onto one another. Those who threw rocks at him, spat on him, whipped him, cursed at him out loud or even in their thoughts, and anyone who was even minutely involved in his death fervently searched for a scapegoat.
They initially set their sights on Governor Pontius Pilate, who had sentenced Jesus to crucifixion, and the high priests, but their positions were far too high for mere citizens to punish. Then one day, a rumor began to spread throughout Jerusalem.
The one who took the last breath of Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the Roman centurion, Longinus!
They had found the perfect scapegoat who would pay for their sins in their place.
***
“Huff! Huff! Huff!” Seong-Hwi panted heavily as he clenched his head, suffering from a splitting headache.
He felt like Longinus’s emotions and thoughts had invaded his psyche after reliving his destiny.
“Motherfucking... Jerusalem! My... wife! My daughter, my son! Urgh! No... I am... Cheon Seong-Hwi!”
Seong-Hwi opened his eyes and saw that he was at Golgotha, the sky blood-red due to the setting sun.
“Do you see Jerusalem?” a voice asked.
Seong-Hwi turned around and saw Longinus, sitting upright on the ground. He was a mess; chains had fallen from his lorica hamata, his helmet was half-destroyed, and most of the red feather’s barbs were gone. His body was more like a lump of meat after having been whipped, and his eyeballs were gone, leaving only the sockets.
“I do not see it,” Longinus said.
“Longinus,” Seong-Hwi called, establishing that it was someone else’s name.
“Yes. I am Longinus, the one who confirmed the death of God, and I will be remembered as such for eternity. Kekekek!” he laughed dryly, his voice filled with insanity. “As a result, I lost everything. The people of Jerusalem destroyed my assets, my family, and my honor until there was nothing left... To expiate the sins committed on the Son of God.”
Seong-Hwi remained silent. He did not even need to hear it because he had already experienced Longinus’s life. The unprecedented fear that came with the possibility that they had killed the son of God drove the people insane. They judged Longinus, rumored to have killed Jesus, to wash away their sins. Hence, they killed his wife and children and burned all of his possessions, except for the cursed spear that had stabbed Jesus’s side.
“Kekekek! Do you know what they said as they gouged out my eyes that witnessed Jesus’s death? They claimed that Jesus’s blood entered my eyes and turned me blind! Ahahahahaha!”
Seong-Hwi could feel the boiling rage from Longinus, his crazed laughter echoing throughout Golgotha.
He then suddenly stopped laughing and said calmly, “I felt a little... Just a little of what Jesus felt when he was dying on the cross.”
“But you couldn’t understand him,” Seong-Hwi remarked.
“That’s right. I could never... forgive them.” Longinus raised his hands and fumbled around his empty eye sockets. “What sin did I commit? I never once whipped him, threw rocks at him, or even mockied him... I just thought... it would be far too cruel to break the legs of a dead man.”
Seong-Hwi remained silent.
“Wasn’t the price for that momentary whim... that slight sense of compassion... too brutal? Ehehehehe!” Longinus laughed like a madman.
He then began to sing, “People are always in search of a scapegoat who will provide redemption for their sins. Hence, the fall of the strong is always welcomed, and the innocent are unknowingly sacrificed. Beware of mistakes, as a momentary blunder can lead to eternal demise. Best be careful, as sweet honey can bring a swarm of bees. In that moment, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, justice and injustice, right and wrong, superiority and inferiority will all become meaningless.”
Once Longinus finished his gloomy melody, he pointed at Golgotha, illuminated by the setting sun. The spear of Longinus was embedded in the ground like a cross, the wind blowing drearily around it.
He continued, “You are here for my destiny, yes? Take it. However, I have one condition. You must one day create a scapegoat, or become one yourself.”
[Find a Scapegoat (Black Quest)
Rank: —
Description: In exchange for borrowing Longinus’s destiny, Cheon Seong-Hwi must create an innocent scapegoat or become a scapegoat himself.
Reward: Longinus’s destiny.
Penalty: Severe corruption of psyche in a situation where the condition cannot be fulfilled.]
Seong-Hwi stared intently at the Akasha Message, then approached the spear of Longinus. He grabbed the cursed spear without hesitation and pulled it out as he said, “I accept.”
No one would know what Seong-Hwi’s expression, illuminated by Golgotha’s blood-red sunset, looked like.
***
Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.
John 19:34
***
[Activating Unique Skill: Borrowing Destiny.]
[One who Confirmed the Death of God]
“We are all but scapegoats. We create scapegoats throughout our lives, and die as scapegoats.”
Seong-Hwi did not take his eyes off Bodonchar’s back even as he listened to Longinus’s pessimistic words. His mind spun like a rapidly spinning top.
I’m the closest I’ll ever be to him, and in his blind spot! There won’t be another chance like this! He has his guard down. Any variables? Seong-Hwi wondered.
His vision, focused to the extreme, immediately noticed the glossy black armor Bodonchar was wearing. He felt a familiar energy from it.
Chaos Mana? An immense amount of it, no less! It would easily tear apart the average attack...
Seong-Hwi needed to inflict the first and last strongest bee sting possible on Bodonchar. His mind instantly assembled hundreds of attack trajectories and skill combinations, then he discovered one with the highest chance of success. He immediately took action.
[Unleashing 1% of the Fruit of the World Tree.]
[Unleashing 2% of the Fruit of the World Tree.]
...
[Unleashing 15% of the Fruit of the World Tree.]
...
[Operating Wings of Evolution.]
[Fourteen Wings.]
[Converting Destiny Force to Chaos Mana.]
Seong-Hwi overclocked his power, unleashing all of the Fruit of the World Tree’s available energy. A golden light flashed from his solar plexus as his stat values rose like slot machines. His two most important stats, Magic and Destiny Force, rose to S(28) and S(35) respectively.
Jackpot!
On top of that, the fourteen Wings of Evolution amplified his Destiny Force further, then converted it to Chaos Mana. The hexagonal pattern vanished, and the wings were dyed in pure black with starlight embedded. It was the strongest Chaos Mana, taken from the Bachtasha-rank Chaos, Ajingya. In terms of quantity, it may lose to the Chaos Mana enveloping Bodonchar’s armor, but it was undoubtedly superior in quality.
“Chwik?” Bodonchar quickly turned around, sensing the chilling aura behind him.
However, Seong-Hwi was already flying toward his prey, making Bodonchar’s actions seem like slow-motion. He activated all of his traits.
[Activating Trait: Thousand-Man Killer.]
[Activating Trait: Mystery Killing.]
[Activating Trait: Foul Play.]
[Activating Trait: Natural Enemy of Chaos.]
Seong-Hwi could see Bodonchar, having noticed him charging at him in the form of Gurun, slowly widening his eyes in surprise.
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Spear of Longinus]
[Activating Exclusive Skill: Holy Blood of Degradation.]
[Activating Skill: Rust of Ruin.]
Seong-Hwi rapidly activated only the most crucial skills to make the best of the surprise attack. The two-meter Spear of Longinus appeared in his hand. The spearhead was lanceolate-shaped, and the spear tail was pointed.
This spear symbolized the degradation of all high beings. It was famous for having pierced the side of the Son of God and spreading the news of his death throughout the world. This symbol, existing between the end and beginning of an era, had infused this ordinary Roman hasta with eternal fame.
The head of the Spear of Longinus was splattered with red blood, the Holy Blood of Degradation, which had rusted via Rust of Ruin.
“YOOOOOUUUUU!” Bodonchar shouted in slow motion under Seong-Hwi’s compressed time, his face crumpling in rage due to the surprise attack.
Bodonchar had reacted the moment he noticed the attack, but the opponent was too fast. However, he was not worried because he had absolute trust in the Black Insect Armor he had received from Dollores.
It’s no use! Bodonchar thought confidently.
Last but not least! Seong-Hwi shouted inwardly, nullifying Bodonchar’s trust.
An alien Chaos Mana, resembling outer space, wrapped the Spear of Longinus. Seong-Hwi had not forgotten Curiositas’s teachings.
Superior Chaos Mana nullifies Chaos Mana inferior to it!
The Spear of Longinus, imbued with various effects, pierced Bodonchar’s side as if replicating the mythological scene.
“C-chwik?!”
The immensely tangled compressed time instantly loosened, and Bodonchar stared at the spear piercing his side in disbelief.
It worked! Seong-Hwi thought as he felt the Holy Blood of Degradation permeating Bodonchar.
The blood had not permeated the target’s body, but his caliber.
[The Holy Blood of Degradation soaking the Spear of Longinus permeates the target’s caliber.]
[The effect cannot be used on another until the skill is canceled by the user or is broken by an external power.]
[The Holy Blood of Degradation lowers the caliber of Bodonchar.]
Seong-Hwi’s scheme had succeeded; the target had been stung.
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