Memory was a strange thing. Sometimes, all it took was a specific trigger to bring back something that had been completely forgotten.
- I’ll save you, Sis.
- I love you, little brother.
She smiled gently to herself, as if she didn't feel the pain from the ancient tree limb piercing her abdomen, left thigh, and shoulder.
She never lost her smile, even after losing an eye in the endless resistance.
- Forget about me and live your life.
Doomsday knew it’d never forget the sight of the girl crumbling away like dust. It also knew her words weren't meant for itself, as the one she saved was her first younger brother Darian, not his Doomsday potential.
Yet, for a being like Doomsday, it didn't matter who Willow was speaking to. That was probably its first time. The first time it had ever felt such emotional agony.
“Ugh! Y-you son of a bitch!” Willow stumbled back, wounded. As a goddess, a simple physical injury wasn't enough to seriously harm her. Unfortunately, her wounds weren't healing quickly, and so they simply continued building up.
Solomonia, the being in the black suit, stared straight at the enraged Willow.
Suddenly, her power surged violently. She'd already been amplified by Bae Seung-Woo’s power, which had awakened the strength deep within her.
They weren’t in the virtual world, instead deep within Darian's consciousness. That meant her true body was outside, along with most of its power.
“So, this was your plan all along.”
Click!
Willow slowly approached, ignoring the pulsating wooden statue and Doomsday, and pressed the barrel of the ornate musket against the tentacle above Solomonia’s eye.
“I'm sorry. I might've fallen for it before, but not anymore.”
Massive divine power gathered in the muzzle. The gun was merely a medium to release her power, and the bullets were her power itself. Solomonia had no way to endure it.
Seeing her fiercely cold expression, Solomonia’s eyes solemnly closed.
‘This is just the beginning of the final act. You won't just kill me right away, before even getting an explanation.’
He was concealing something from her, but it wasn't the right time to reveal it yet. Instead, there he silently waited, fueled by the firm conviction that Willow wouldn't kill him immediately.
Whummm.
“Damn it...” Willow murmured.
Doomsday, positioned atop the statue, began to pulse even harder, emitting a strange, mysterious power. The giant wooden statue then started to absorb it, and its form began to change.
The statue, which had been shimmering like clay, soon began to take on a new shape—the shape of a colossal wolf.
Although it was made of wood and didn't seem particularly strong, both Willow and Solomonia instinctively recognized how dangerous the wooden wolf was.
When Solomonia subdued Willow, Doomsday had launched a hidden counterattack and entirely copied her divinity. Not just some simple divine authority, but that of a goddess.
“This easy? No way...”
Before she could finish muttering, a swarm of circular lights appeared around the massive wolf and flew toward her.
She quickly formed chains of light, bound Solomonia to the ground, and lunged out of the way.
Boom! Boom!! Boom!!
Darian's deep inner world was turned into a wreck.
Realizing that taking even a single shot would give significant injury, Willow swiftly vanished and reappeared in a safer location. Then, without hesitation, she pointed the muzzle at the wooden wolf and pulled the trigger.
Bang!!
Doomsday, struck by the blow, staggered heavily but didn't stop.
Willow then aimed toward its head and fired a couple more rounds.
Bang! Bang!!
Seeing it endure the shots, she figured it’d be impossible to take it down with just one gun. Ever adaptable, she held the smoking gun in her right hand and silently manifested another musket in her left, opting to wield them akimbo.
Bang! Bang!!
The musket in her left hand fired two bursts of light as rotten ancient tree trunks erupted from every direction around her and launched a counterattack.
Yet, Willow calmly took a light step backward and fired the musket in her right hand.
Boom!!!!
The immense divine power was released with abandon, not only turning the tree trunks into dust but also causing an explosion on the body of the colossal, intimidating wolf that was Doomsday.
“GAAAHHH!!!”
The wolf let out a terrible scream and staggered from the assault. It stared back at her, eyes flashing with an eerie light.
She thought she had dealt a decent blow, but reality proved otherwise.
“So that won't work on you either, eh?”
Bang!!
Willow disappeared, avoiding the tree trunks flying from all directions, and reappeared behind the wolf. She then tossed both muskets aside and manifested a two-handed musket twice as long as the previous ones.
“Then try this one on for size, asshole.”
Click.
As the musket unleashed power far greater than before, Doomsday desperately lunged at Willow. Despite its wooden body stretching hundreds of meters long, it moved with astonishing speed.
Yet, Willow didn't retreat a single step. She calmly raised the gun and aimed it directly at its head. At the same time, Willow drew a short breath, and a mystical symphony of sound erupted from her mouth.
The song-like language enveloped her surroundings and circulated violently. Soon, it permeated the musket.
Bang!!
Massive wings of light manifested on her back and whipped up a tremendous wind across the ground.
Doomsday's claws were only inches away from her face. It was clear that if she hesitated for even the slightest moment, the enormous claws would tear her apart.
[Suppression]
Thud!!!
The moment she pulled the trigger, the barrel in her hands kicked violently upward from the tremendous recoil. A colorless and formless shockwave erupted forward, and an equally devastating impact slammed directly into Doomsday’s head.
Now that she had awakened her power, it was clearly on an entirely different level from before.
Having repeatedly endured her attacks, Doomsday staggered heavily under the crushing force of her enhanced suppression.
“Once wasn't enough, was it?” she asked with a smirk. “Anotha one.”
Bang! Bang!!
The gigantic wolf hurriedly moved to block once more, but her musket’s shot was faster.
[Suppression]
Thud!!
Innumerable shockwaves burst forth, constraining Doomsday an additional time. Two rings of light appeared on the colossal wooden wolf, pressuring it as they progressively tightened.
Under the continuous assault, Doomsday’s massive body began to stagger and collapse. Unwilling to give it even a moment’s respite, Willow stood atop its head and continued to blast gigantic bullets into its skull.
[Suppression]
Thud!!
Willow instinctively realized she lacked the power to finish off Doomsday, though she had never intended for it to be a deathmatch anyway. “You wanna play tough? Okay. Let's see what happens first—you getting pushed back, or me running out of strength.”
All she needed to do was drive the bastard out of Darian's deep consciousness.
“GAAAHHH!!!”
The forest of death rotted away with the earth-shattering roar.
Boom! Boom!!
Willow used her power without restraint, relentlessly suppressing Doomsday. With every shot she fired, the massive shockwaves grew stronger, and the rings of light surrounding its body multiplied.
It resisted fiercely, but she showed no signs of cooling down. However, there was one factor she had forgotten about in the heat of the battle—Solomonia.
Swoosh!!
A tentacle suddenly shot out and wrapped around her body, pulling her in. She staggered, only to be dragged toward Solomonia. “Huh?! I clearly tied him down!”
He had interfered with her fight not once, but twice.
She was furious. Yet, the moment she moved to execute Solomonia, she realized that he had taken an attack meant for her.
He harshly groaned, “Gaaa!!!”
“What the...”
Having apparently pulled her in to protect her as he was struck by a devastating blow, Solomonia suddenly collapsed, his body convulsing. Willow stared at him in shock.
A certain flame was blazing on his back, but it emitted no light whatsoever. It was completely colorless and effectively formless.
Flames usually changed brightness and color depending on the temperature they burned at. The flame burning on his body instead emitted no light at all. It was like a black hole that swallowed even light itself. A more accurate description would be that it burned away all reflected light, making it effectively invisible.
His body rapidly disintegrated as he writhed in terrible agony. “Kuaaah!”
Only then did Willow clearly recognize the fact that he had taken the attack in her stead. “You... What are you, exactly?”
“Kuugh! Kuaaah!”
It made no sense that the one who had betrayed her, injured her, and absorbed her divinity was now saving her.
Doomsday began roaring as well. “GAAAHHH!!!”
Solomonia gritted his teeth, and the horrific screams slowly subsided.
“Kuaaah!” Gasping roughly for breath, he slowly crawled over and looked up at Willow. He slowly began, “You...”
Clearly in pain, he forced himself to continue, “...mustn't die here.”
Willow had completely lost the plot. “What?”
“That is what I desire.”
Fwoosh!!
Her eyes widened in surprise as an astonishing power poured out of Solomonia’s body.
She found the power familiar, though it took a moment to realize that it was the same power spread throughout the forest.
It was Doomsday’s power.
She muttered, “No way...”
“I waited an eternity gathering strength just for this.”
Boom!!
With those final words, red lightning bolts poured out madly from Solomnia.
It was keraunos, the power that created connections between dimensions. At the same time, the rotting ancient tree forest began to undergo changes.
Massive power wrapped around the forest, sprouting new seeds of life in the dead wood.
Willow looked at the green sprouts emerging from the dead trees around her with a startled expression. She was surprised that Solomonia, who possessed the same power as Doomsday, was using it to purify the forest that it had polluted and caused to rot away.
He created a massive rift beneath the wolf made of wood that had absorbed her power and was running rampant.
“KUHHHH!!!” The beast roared and thrashed wildly, trying to avoid being dragged into the rift. Despite the resistance, Solomonia, with only his upper body remaining, forcefully brought his hands together.
Tree trunks overflowing with life burst forth, wrapping around the beast and forcing it into the rift.
“Sister Willow.”
Knowing what the word “sister” implied, Willow remained silent. Moments later, she voiced the question that had surfaced in her mind, saying, “You... You’re Doomsday?”
“Yes. But unlike the one rampaging over there, I was changed through someone's sacrifice. I am a being from another timeline who spent countless years moving through time and struggling amid the miracle of a hopelessly tangled timeline, all for the sake of this day. I... am also a sinner who killed a child conceived through the grace of God.”
Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, wanting to shout that it made no sense. His very existence was utterly unbelievable!
Still, Solomonia didn't pay it any mind. “Doomsday is one with my true body. Driving it out is virtually the same as killing my true body.”
His body crackled like static, and Willow saw his figure transform. The tentacle-like head was slowly changing, transforming into the image of an adorable smiling boy.
“That’s why I gave up on driving it out after you first encountered it, Sister.”
He was referring to the time when Solomonia wrapped around Willow, causing her to be counterattacked by Doomsday.
Willow simply stared at him, speechless.
“Furthermore, once you entered this place and Doomsday began to run wild consuming your power, I realized that purification was the only way to stop it.”
It wasn’t just a simple authority, instead a miracle caused by the annihilation of a goddess's existence.
In other words, Willow entering Darian’s consciousness had caused Doomsday to run wild. Not wanting to bring about Darian’s death, she had instead chosen to burn away at her own life in order to purify it.
“It consumed your divinity and ran wild. Now, the power I’ve gathered will expel it from the true body and push it beyond the virtual space.”
It was as if he was saying that even Willow's creation of the virtual space had been part of the plan.
“It’ll be banished to the virtual world the goddess prepared in advance, outside of the true body. When that happens, the true body will meet its death.”
Willow was furious, demanding, “Then why’d you drive it out?!”
“Don't forget. Abel O'Rowane and I already put the final key into your group’s hands.”
Under the name of the Deliverer.
Darian's body, which began to collapse as Doomsday left, couldn't be saved by any ordinary authority. There was only one way left to save him.
The boy smiled brightly, and in a quiet voice barely even audible to Willow, advised, “Remember, the Deliverer's power isn't simply time reversal.”
With that, Solomonia finally scattered completely into ashes.
Willow slumped down stunned, looking utterly lost.
At the same time, Doomsday, having been expelled from Darian by its own trap much like Willow’s power, seeped into the bubble world Goddess Freyja had prepared.
In its death throes, the wooden wolf spewed explosive pressure. It was an avatar of death whose very existence brought about the end of dimensions! It was time it fulfilled its purpose, before it was too late.
However, it was unaware that the person who felt the deepest sorrow and guilt over losing Willow desperately longed for that very outcome.
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