Rapture (4)
I frowned.
[You have hunted Cult Follower {Celestial} (Lv. 15).]
[You gain experience points.]
[#132,001 has been deposited into the Absolute One's Household Wallet.]
It was definitely Jung Hyunsoo until the moment his head burst.
But by the time I settled the score, he had turned into the corpse of some nameless female follower.
Ha Donggeon asked me,
"Should we pursue?"
"It's fine."
Killing him wasn't the actual goal, anyway.
The real objective was the core of this tiny world.
'That must be it.'
A small blue orb was glowing. As I approached it and gently laid my hand on it, I felt the screams of souls.
The bitterness of people who had been stripped of their freedom without knowing a thing washed over me.
"Lilith."
"Yup!"
"Can you do it?"
"Not by myself! I need Master's power!"
I had a vague idea of what kind of power she meant.
I reached out toward her and—
'Enhance.'
I granted her power.
At that moment, black flames burst from Lilith's entire body, and her small frame floated into the air.
[Dream Demon Lilith requests to release her power.]
[Do you approve?]
[Yes/No]
'Yes.'
In that instant:
[#300,000,000 has been consumed.]
Fwoooosh-
The black energy infused in Lilith roared wildly, and her tiny body began to stretch.
Slender limbs, a voluptuous figure, and a skimpy, seductive outfit now adorned her. She had transformed into a full-fledged succubus.
It was the form she had before being stripped of her divinity and becoming a summoned beast.
For a brief moment, I tensed up-but that concern proved unnecessary.
"Master! I look amazing!"
The way she sparkled her eyes while admiring her changed body made it obvious: she was still the same inside.
"Now can you do it?"
"Yup!"
Lilith approached the blue orb placed in the center and, without hesitation, wrapped herself around it.
Immediately-
Fwaaaa-
The blue orb began turning black.
At the same time, the structure of the paradise Jung Hyunsoo had created started pouring into my mind.
This world, like the one Lilith had once made, was flawed from birth.
No-this one didn't even compare to that brutal world that clung to survival by draining life force. It was a pitiful place.
More illusion than reality, this flawed realm was where Jung Hyunsoo's power could be fully amplified.
A mirage barely held together by the consciousness of 144,000 people-that's what this place was.
'This... would've collapsed soon even without me.'
A place without even a speck of divinity. Given time, it would have crumbled naturally.
'After draining the minds of those 144,000, he probably would've turned on the people inside this world too.'
The fanatics who followed the cult leader-Jung Hyunsoo-would likely have been used to sustain the world.
Perhaps even Jung Hyunsoo himself had to sacrifice his life to keep this mirage alive.
Seriously.
'What a pathetic stunt he pulled.'
Because it was such an incomplete world, it easily submitted to someone like me who possessed divine authority.
The world Jung Hyunsoo had created, as if I were its rightful master from the start, surrendered everything to me.
And in that moment-
'I can see it.'
The Eye of the Absolute, which had always appeared noisy and distorted, suddenly became perfectly clear.
Even areas devoid of retainers-I could now see and feel them freely.
The entire space had become completely mine.
Simultaneously—
'So that's where you were.'
Now I could freely place the Absolute's Eye anywhere in this domain.
I saw the fanatics admiring their new angelic wings, praising Jung Hyunsoo.
"We're different! Unlike those worms, we're chosen servants of God!"
"Yeah! Look at these wings! We've all truly become citizens of the Celestial Realm!"
"The vermin offered as sacrifices should actually be grateful to us, don't you think? They'll become part of this world and experience eternity!"
I learned the truth by listening to their conversation.
Not one among them was without sin.
"Your sin is worshiping a false god."
At that moment-
[An entity satisfying the conditions for citizenship has been discovered.]
[Would you like to grant citizenship?]
A notification I was all too familiar with appeared.
The target: every human present here.
But not a single one of them was worthy of being accepted as a citizen.
I intended to deliver divine punishment to everyone who contributed to creating this tragic world, including Jung Hyun-soo and those who clung to his will.
The most basic effect of the Level 1 "Dignity Maintenance" skill is unrestricted use of electricity, gas, and water.
Later, I realized I could freely reproduce and control those resources as I pleased.
Which meant even this kind of usage was possible.
CRAAAACK!
A lightning bolt struck from a clear sky.
Ever since I seized control of all nuclear power plants in South Korea, there had been an excess of power left unused each day.
The lightning I just summoned had been powered solely by surplus electricity.
"...!"
Even though one of their comrades was killed by a lightning strike, not a single scream escaped from anyone's lips.
That's because once this place became entirely my domain, any action by those without citizenship could be completely controlled.
All they could do was tremble in fear and wait for death.
And there was still more than enough surplus electricity.
But then-
[A hostile entity toward the Household Sovereign has been discovered.]
[Eliminating.]
An entity harboring hostility toward me.
[A hostile entity toward the Household Sovereign has been discovered.]
[Eliminating.]
The culprit was obvious.
[A hostile entity toward the Household Sovereign has been discovered.]
[Eliminating.]
The root of all this-Jung Hyun-soo.
He was continuing to self-destruct.
It wasn't until he had wasted more than a dozen lives that he seemed to
realize something.
"Teleport."
I moved to his location.
Using an invisible hand, I grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up, meeting his eyes.
I said to him—
"If you die this time, it'll be for real."
At the same moment, I dropped lightning on the heads of the fanatics who had served as his spare lives.
CRAAAACK!
[You have hunted Pseudo Cultist {Celestial} (Lv. 15).]
[You have hunted Pseudo Cultist {Celestial} (Lv. 15).]
[You have hunted Pseudo Cultist {Celestial} (Lv. 15).]
"Do you even understand the atrocity you've committed?"
He trembled all over, unable to give a single response.
Then his groin went damp, and urine streamed down his legs.
Instead of granting him citizenship, I arbitrarily allowed him to remain in my domain.
It was a qualification no different from what you'd give to a dog or a cat. Only then was he able to speak.
"I-I was wrong... P-please spare me..."
It was a pitiful sight-unbelievable that he was the one who had dared to create his own world and sacrificed 144,000 lives for it.
No hint of boldness, only a pathetic plea for his own life.
"So this is what a cult leader really is."
It was enough to make one feel sorry for the fanatics who believed in such a man as a god.
"I-I'll repent. Please... just one chance..."
"People like you are not given chances."
I had no interest in hearing any more of his excuses, so I revoked his qualification.
Even in his now-immobile state, he hadn't been eliminated.
When he still had spare lives, he didn't hesitate to burn with hatred toward me. But now, he didn't even dare harbor hostility in his heart.
Just to live a few more seconds.
The sight was so vile, words couldn't do it justice.
"Summon retainer: Ha Dong-geon."
I summoned Ha Dong-geon, who was near the central system. He carried out his duty silently and without hesitation.
Squelch.
The black-blazing blade of Ha Dong-geon pierced through Jung Hyun-soo's heart.
And then-
Fwoooosh-!
The black flames, following my will, inflicted the maximum possible pain on him as they consumed his entire body.
Once I confirmed that, I immediately used teleportation to move to the center of this place.
[You have hunted the Cult Leader (Lv. 55).]
[You have gained a massive amount of experience points.]
[#457,045,006,293 has been deposited into the wallet of the Household Absolute.]
The reason I didn't stay to witness his final moments was because of this.
[Skill level has increased.]
Alongside the level-up-
Zzzzt―
An immense wave of pain hit me.
[Myeonggyeongjisu (Clarity Like Still Water) activates.]
I left my body, writhing in agony, to suffer on its own while my rational mind calmly began the task.
"Master! Master!"
Seeing me collapse, Lilith called out in alarm. I responded with telepathy.
[I'm fine. Proceed as planned.]
"Master? Are you really okay?"
[I'm fine, focus.]
"Okay!"
From this point on, time was of the essence.
There's still a chance.
Because the world had only recently been constructed, this was still possible.
Before the souls could fully merge into one, I had to destroy this world as quickly as possible.
Vrrrrr
The core of this world, darkened and corrupted, began to tremble in Lilith's
arms.
Sensing instinctively what I was about to do, it began to resist death.
But it had already entrusted everything to me there were no choices left.
Crack-
A tiny fracture formed on the blackened orb.
Craaaack!
Cracks rapidly spread out like a web from the center.
And with that—
RUMBLE
Fissures began to form at the edges of the world.
Rrrrrrrr
Followed by an intense earthquake.
BOOOOOM!
The quakes grew stronger, collapsing tall buildings-including the Lotte Tower we were standing in.
CRACK!
Fractures split through the building and fine cracks spread across the floor.
Beyond the window, a massive fracture split open the sky.
The world itself was collapsing.
Like shards of a giant glass pane, the sky fell apart, and the cracks grew ever wider.
At last, when everything reached its climax—
Puh-BOOM!
The black orb in Lilith's arms shattered, sending shards flying in all directions.
And then-
Swaaaaaaaaa-
Countless souls that had been suppressed within burst out in all directions.
Now free, the souls no longer screamed.
They were fully aware of what needed to be done.
Escaping their cage, they scattered in all directions and, using their own lives
as the price, reached the edges of the hastily made world.
And then they began pushing the world back with all their strength.
In that moment-
SHATTER!
The cracks burst apart, signaling the end of the incomplete world.
And then-
Fwooooooosh-
A wave of 144,000 souls spread outward.
They were returning to the places they truly belonged.
The false world that Jung Hyun-soo, the cult leader, had created was collapsing, and everything was returning to its rightful state.
However―
Huh?
With the force that sustained the fake world gone, the land once called the "Sanctuary" began to slowly fall.
If this keeps up...
A massive catastrophe was just about to unfold.
[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : https://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]