Quit The Hero Party

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EP.527 Catastrophe, Yormun (8)

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The constellations collided.

What was engraved in the clashing constellations was the path they had walked, and soon, the lives they had lived. The clash of stars was, in other words, the collision of lives.

There is a path.

There is an unwavering belief.

There is a point of no return.

To prove what each believed to be right, the two stars collided. The leaping lightning was the fragments of life, and the dancing starlight was their memories. Around the point where the stars collide, the landscape began to splinter.

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Under the shattered night sky, Raniel bled.

Every time the shockwave from the star collision, the leaping lightning, and the shattering scenery brushed against her body, blood flowed. Her skin tore and blood spattered.

It’s not just Raniel who is bleeding.

Yormun also bled.

Until now, Yormun, who had handled every attack with ease, could not withstand the clash of stars. He too bled like a human.

Standing here are two mages who reached the divine, but at the same time, they are two humans.

Wounded, bleeding, and swaying, the two humans stood.

Yet, Yormun would never acknowledge his own wavering. He did not groan and steadied his shaking body with even more force. That was how he had lived his life.

“I will hold firm, Gletus.”

“I will uphold the rules you made, the very rules chiseled from your life. Unshaken by anything. Let me be the strongest foundation that supports the world.”

He becomes the guardian of the rules.

For her sake, Yormun had lived for thousands of years. Therefore, he saw himself as a guardian, not as a human, and as a god. Because a wavering human cannot guard the rules.

He regarded himself as the rules.

He sought to become unyielding rules.

Thus, the constellation he grasped was steadfast.

It represented his life, which had never broken nor bent through all kinds of adversity and trials, endless in its steadfastness.

Heavenly principles, the logic etched in the sky.

In contrast, Raniel’s constellation, colliding with Yormun’s, was the opposite. Though their paths were similar, their end destinations were entirely different.

“…Ugh.”

Raniel could not suppress her groan. Bleeding, she furrowed her brows, not forcing her swaying body upright. She simply allowed herself to sway and reached out a little further ahead.

“Not everyone can live like you.”

“Everyone has their own path, don’t they? I am satisfied with my life, but I don’t want to impose this path on someone else. It would be hard.”

“I wanted to live like you. But that was a mistake. I should have lived my own life, as everyone has their own correct path.”

Reaching out, she reflected on the path she had walked. Countless voices brushed past her ears. Destel, Galahal, Kyle… Reflecting on their voices, Raniel unknowingly smiled.

She knows.

That she is not perfect.

Not just her, but no human can be perfect. Now she knows that everyone can falter, everyone can waver, and everyone can hesitate. No matter how extraordinary a superhuman might be, it is the same.

Even Ganikalt, who seemed like a perfect hero.

Even Acriel, who seemed like an impeccable ruler.

Even Galahal, who seemed like a pure hero without torment.

They all hesitated, wavered, and faltered, moving forward. Raniel also had a past where she believed she could be perfect, but through difficult processes, she learned she could not.

“Look at me, Raniel.”

“Do you think your future self is perfect? The one who tried to move forward without wavering or hesitating is me. What do you think?”

“Humans cannot always move steadily forward. In the end, they shake, they crumble. Do not turn a blind eye to that fact.”

Ultimately, that’s how it is.

Humans ultimately waver. Even while wavering, moving forward is human. Sometimes they borrow someone’s hand; sometimes they lean on someone’s back, and humanity has advanced toward the future through the ages.

“Even if you waver.”

“Even if you hesitate.”

“Even if you lose your way and wander.”

The words of the most heroic hero echoed in her ears.

“Just circling back to reach your destination is a wonderful life. At least, I think so.”

The cycle—returning to the starting point.

It’s okay to hesitate. It’s okay to waver. It’s okay to lose your way and wander. As long as those eyes look ahead, that person’s life cannot be wrong.

Thus, Raniel’s constellation is not straight.

She acknowledges wavering. She accepts bending. However, she never loses sight of her goal at any moment. She circles back to her starting point.

The return to heaven, the cycle or the return to the origin.

Reaching out toward the opposite constellation, Raniel’s eyes narrowed. In her eyes, the path to victory was visible. The path beyond Yormun was visible to Raniel.

Her blue eyes sparkled.

The sapphire rings in her eyes deepened.

At that moment, the balance that was being maintained shattered. The constellation that had collided began to push the other aside, moving forward. What moved forward was Yormun’s constellation.

At some point, the balance broke.

Yormun saw his constellation surge forward. In front of the steadfast Yormun’s constellation, the constellation held by Raniel began to bend and fray. Crimson lightning exploded in all directions.

The balance was lost. The scales began to tip.

Shards of the shattered landscape flew in all directions.

With Raniel’s constellation starting to waver, blood gushed from her body. From the moment the balance broke, Raniel was endlessly pushed back. The colossal wave that was Yormun’s constellation engulfed Raniel.

Swish, swish.

Before the unyielding constellation that had stood for thousands of years, Raniel’s constellation twisted helplessly. Yormun’s constellation did not allow for any breaking; it was sturdier than Raniel’s.

‘This is my victory.’

Yormun extended his grasp on the constellation a bit further. For every inch he advanced, Raniel had to retract an inch.

Swish, swish.

Finally, after layers upon layers, the crimson lightning that revealed everything was bursting forth exposed a shabby human bleeding and groaning. Looking at the last of Raniel, who had not let go of her constellation, Yormun took a final step.

Lunge!

As he stepped forward, he thrust his spear.

In a last-ditch effort, Raniel swung her fist at the oncoming spear tip, as if for one last struggle.

Ka-ching!

The spear tip of the constellation and the fist wrapped in lightning clashed.

Lightning shot rough and wild, the loud friction echoed long. Of course, the one being pushed back was Raniel. The lightning she had wrapped around her fist was stripped away.

The scattered lightning vanished into the giant constellation Yormun bore. Now, no lightning remained on her body. As Yormun extended his spear tip towards the defenseless Raniel.

Just as the spear tip was about to pierce Raniel’s body, in a surprising twist, she took a step forward. She dove into Yormun’s embrace. With no constellation remaining, what would she achieve?

Crack!

At that moment, a thunderous roar echoed.

Eyes wide open, Yormun was startled. The constellation he thought had vanished into his, Raniel’s wrapped lightning… began to gather with a loud clap.

The fierce currents of crimson lightning lost and found their way back, gathering towards Raniel once more. The constellation that had scattered into Yormun’s began to rush into Raniel’s fist.

As if like ashes gathering.

The scattered constellations and lightning, all of it came together in Raniel’s fist. Raniel’s constellation was not as steadfast as Yormun’s either. It could break, it could waver, and sometimes it could stop.

Yet it would never remain still forever.

Led by someone’s footsteps, someone’s gestures, a small light, it gathers once more. It shines brilliantly again. It is the essence of the lives Raniel has seen, the shape of the path she vowed to walk.

The gathering starlight shone brighter than before.

The gathered lightning roared fiercer than before.

With the constellation in tow, Raniel swung her fist toward Yormun’s spear tip. When their fists collided again, this time the one being pushed back was not Raniel. Yormun was pushed back. He took a step back.

Crack!

Yormun saw it. The constellation that had been unchanged for thousands of years cracking. He watched as his constellated form began to sway. With widened eyes, Yormun gripped his constellation even tighter.

He tried to mend the cracks.

He refused to acknowledge the damage as he attempted to piece his constellation back together.

But Raniel would not let him turn a blind eye. For every inch Yormun was pushed back, Raniel stepped forward another inch. Crack, with the sound, Yormun’s constellation began to splinter. The unyielding constellation started to change.

Yormun’s gaze wavered.

He was desperately trying to heal the broken. Slowly, slowly, Yormun was pushed back.

That was Yormun’s downfall.

Despite having a time when he ran forward, only looking ahead, now he was stagnant. He was frozen, stuck in the glorious past he built, obsessively fearful of losing what he had amassed.

Snap, crackle, pop…

Thus—

Crack!

No matter how shaken, lost, or hesitant, one who moves forward cannot be stopped by Yormun.

Crash!

Yormun’s constellation shattered.

As the constellation broke, fragments scattered in all directions. Yormun’s eyes widened. His golden eyes shook violently. No, it must not break, it must not shatter. He reached out toward the crumbling constellation.

Even knowing he could grasp nothing, he could not help but…

And through the falling starlight, Raniel took another step forward. Blood splattered as she glared at him, pushing through the shattered constellations. As Yormun reached for the broken constellation, he faced Raniel, who stood only inches away.

In the slowly flowing time, Yormun saw Raniel’s eyes. Different from hers, blue eyes.

“If you’re uneasy, look into my eyes.”

“Let our eyes reflect one another.”

Yormun looked at his eyes reflected in Raniel’s blue ones. His golden dragon eyes mirrored past the sapphire rings. The dragon eye should have been a perfect, steadfast rule crossing three circles.

“Ah…”

Yormun groaned.

His expression contorted.

It was inevitable. He finally faced the truth he had been avoiding. The reflection of his eyes in the blue mirror was starkly different from the rules that had existed thousands of years ago.

Not straight, just, or exemplary rules.

There was a deformed, twisted, broken rule there. The platinum rings filled with his eyes had greatly warped. If she saw it, she would likely lament the distorted rules.

‘…Is that so?’

Yormun smirked bitterly.

‘I am no different from them.’

He faced himself, having become the very being he had despised, the wretched form of a transcendent who lost its original light, having come to halt, fixated on what he built.

“You all must fall.”

“You are no longer needed in this new era. You are merely obstacles in humanity’s resurgence.”

“Now, step aside for the next.”

The moment he had once shouted before the deities of the past overlapped with Raniel’s approaching figure now. Yormun clenched his hand toward the shattered star. Nothing grasped in his hand.

At that moment, Raniel’s fist crashed into Yormun’s face.

His vision shattered, and the platinum rings in Yormun’s eyes shattered with a crack. The return to heaven devoured Yormun.

The return, the cycle under the sky, the heavenly principles must be fleeting.

Heavenly return swallowed the heavenly truth.