NOVPUBFourth Attempt
- Son of Heaven
Stopping the descent, I was floating in the sky until the caterpillar crawled nearby.
“I assumed you were busy creating your cocoon, but to think you would bring your esteemed body up yourself.”
[What is your goal? Why are you trying to stop me?]
“Do you need to know? Today is going to be your funeral though. Ah, you haven’t even been born yet, so I guess it is incorrect to call it a funeral. Should we call it the stillborn ceremony? Or an abortion ceremony?”
I teased a little and the opponent immediately became furious.
That made me feel once again, that the One Who Couldn’t Be Born was slightly weird.
It wasn’t a matter of whether it was strong or not. It didn’t seem to understand the Hotel and did not resemble a god in mentality.
After a quick line of thought,
At last, the first “real” fight began for the first time after my Descent.
***
Exactly 27.38 seconds went by after the start of the fight.
It was a short period that did not even amount to 30 seconds.
In a world of rapid speed that exceeded the barriers of sound, a hand enormous enough to cover the world pounced at me.
I sliced it apart with a sword that could even destroy mountains and this time, an inexplicable hostility came flooding down upon me.
This was no longer in the realm of sorcery or magic.
That was ridiculous.
Although it wasn’t even born, the hostility of a being in the realm of gods was a miracle in and of itself. The small spectrum of human knowledge was unable to define it.
Of course, the same applied to me, who was half a step in the realm of gods.
My wish to stay alive became a miracle protecting me from hostility.
I summoned a sun to pour out a ray of light. It had burned down an entire human village with ease, but the enemy before me swallowed it whole as if it were a slightly hot potato.
Once again, I got closer and sliced with the mountain-severing sword.
The sword strike neared the defenseless caterpillar, but the sword went through as if the caterpillar was made of liquid.
***
A minute went by and I came to a realization.
It was impossible for me to kill it.
The overwhelming arrogance that had filled me when I entered this location had long vanished.
Astronomically speaking, it was the difference between a star and a moon.
No matter how powerful I may be as a mortal, I was but a moon reflecting the power granted by the “Lord”.
And no matter how lacking the opponent was as a god, it was still a star capable of lighting up by itself.
There was another critical issue for me.
All the “fights” I had till now were like child's play compared to the current fight. I had never once experienced a fight of this level in my life, and it made me realize the shocking deficit of mastery I had over the powers gained through Descent.
I swung the sword in vain two more times.
That ended up creating a gap in my defense.
It was a small gap that happened for one-thousandth of a second, but… if it was against a real god, I could have lost my head 10 times in that short period.
…In the end, I couldn’t properly fend off the countless tentacles.
– Kwang!
Ah. My body was flung back outside of my control.
How far back am I going?
The body itself didn’t have any injuries, but that wasn’t the issue.
The power granted by “Descent” was by no means infinite, and the bottom was slowly starting to reveal itself.
…My inevitable defeat was drawing near.
What if we failed to escape let alone resolve the room at this rate?
I had to land a critical injury on that guy at the very least to delay its birth for a successful escape.
After a while, I finally stopped myself by grabbing on a part of the wall… or rather the corpse of the Nebula Dragon.
…That was when I heard an inexplicable voice.
[You have obtained great power, yet are unaware of how to use it properly.]
“...Who might you be?”
[You have been granted the authority to define reality as you wish, yet you fight like a mere monkey?]
“I have no idea who you might be, but it would be much appreciated if you could lend your help.”
[There is one thing I wish of you, so I will lend you a hand.]
My consciousness started to rise endlessly to the heavens.
I felt the mind of a truly great being dwell inside me.
Only then did I understand the meaning behind what the “voice” said.
The “Lord” gave me a gun, and yet I was swinging it around like a bat.
How foolish must have I looked in the eyes of the great ones?
***
What are gods?
I understood time after time that the “gods” being talked about in the Hotel, the Administration, and the Vatican were different from the omnipotent existence talked about in Christianity.
Like the ones mentioned in Hinduism and Greek mythology, they were beings that transcended humans yet had limitations.
If so, what differentiated them from mortals, and why were they called gods?
Only after taking another step into the realm of gods with the help of the “voice” did I understand the difference.
Mortals were actors living on the stage, whereas gods were the creators behind it.
The One Who Couldn’t Be Born re-entered my sight.
I opened my mouth and spoke in “Words of Power” that began to define reality.
“I declare to you. You will deny me three times today.”
[Foolish nonsense—what is this power?]
“O child of the Nebula Dragon. You have used your servant to massacre countless innocent ones and have built karma against your name. However, the mercy of the “Lord” is truly magnanimous. Will you repent for your sins?”
[Do you talk of karma when trampling on ants? I have not committed a single sin!]
Those who do not repent have no right to bask in freedom. You will hencefore be under eternal restraint.
Scorching chains emerged from all sides to lock the sinner in place.
“O, unrepentant sinner. From this darkest of places, you were eyeing the bright land outside and have shown endless envy towards the living. However, the mercy of the “Lord” is truly magnanimous. Will you repent for your sins?”
[Nonsense! I am the firstborn of the Nebula Dragon! I have the destiny of opening a new world. How can I be envious of mere mortals!]
Those who do not overcome their inferiority have no right to face the future. You will hencefore be eternally robbed of growth.
Swords appeared from thin air to slice apart the body of the defeated.
All the strings formed by mortal souls were snapped before they could create a cocoon.
“O ungrowable child. The karma you have built has come back to haunt you. The day of judgment is near. However, the mercy of the “Lord’ is truly magnanimous. Will you admit your fear and bow down before me?”
[I… am the firstborn dragon… Though I may die, I will not tremble like a coward.]
The child’s voice trembled and he was unable to even look me in the eyes.
Those who do not face their fears have lost their judgment. You will henceforth be deprived of intellect.
The trembling stopped as the child curled its gigantic body into a sphere.
Before long, it started to crawl like an actual caterpillar.
“Ahh, what a tragedy this is. I have granted you three chances. I have given you a chance to repent, confess, and admit. However, you have denied me three times so how can you not pay the price?”
The child with no more intellect let out a long scream.
[Ahhhhh!]
“You are a sinner. However, you are still a child. Look, the mercy of the “Lord” is truly magnanimous. In spite of your countless karma, you still have another chance. O child, will you let go of your sins and return to the embrace of your mother, who has been waiting for an epoch for your return?”
At last, the child who denied me three times let everything go the fourth time and accepted my words.
The One Who Couldn’t Be Born turned into a pure ray of light and slowly started to float back up.
The “Words of Power” came to an end, and the power of Descent left my body.
***
- Han Kain
The miracle ended and “I” finally woke up.
What in the world happened just then, and what was that at the end?
I couldn’t understand anything; it felt like I had just woken up from a long dream.
Standing in the middle of the air, I was trembling in confusion when the entire area – the corpse of the Nebula Dragon began to move.
— Tung!
I was sent somewhere in an instant.
When I came to my senses, I found myself in an endlessly vast void with a “dragon” looking straight at me. Each of its eyes was bigger than a lake and each scale was greater than an island.
It felt like I was being stared at by the sun.
[Do you understand now?]
“Understand? What do you mean by that?”
[The way to use power.]
…Only then did I realize that this dragon was the one who helped me just then.
At the same time, something else started to make sense.
The reason why the Convict – or the one who we had been mistaking as the Convict – the One Who Couldn’t Be Born didn’t understand the Hotel!
“Were you the Convict of this room? Were you killed by the Hotel? I mean, it looks like you are still alive though?”
[I have indeed died. This is more of a will left behind and I do not have much time.
You have helped significantly in achieving my goal. Do you have any questions to ask?]
…Questions.
There were too many questions. In fact, I had so many that I wasn’t sure what to ask.
I asked the first question that came to mind.
“What is the Hotel? Why did they lock us? And what do you mean by achieving your goal? What are the goals of the Convicts?”
[Unfortunately, the latter are the only questions I can provide an answer to. Each Convict has a different objective. As for me, mine was the salvation of my child.]
“Salvation of your child?”
[Even you mortals cherish your children; why would it be any different for myself? For way too long a time, I had to watch my child suffer in hell, urged on by an impossible wish. I sincerely prayed for the child to have ‘another chance’.]
Saying that, the dragon turned to the sky.
The pure light of the One Who Couldn’t Be Born fluttered like a butterfly as it traveled beyond the dimension.
[Ahh… My child. At last, Buddha will finally grant you another chance.]
“What is this ‘another chance’ that you have been referring to?”
The dimension began to shake. It was time for the “resolution”.
[Overcome the Trials; was it the Hotel now? Climb up and you will eventually find out why. It is what both mortals and immortals sincerely wish for. This place is the only location in the entire universe where you can achieve it.]
Only possible in the Hotel across the entire universe? What exactly is it?
[This might be it for me, but my child has gone through long repentance in this hell, and will surely obtain ‘another chance’.]
The dragon closed its eyes as if it was done with the conversation.
Even though it was saying a lot, I couldn’t understand the important bits. Judging from how the dragon was leaving behind a will, it probably wasn’t trying to hide stuff from me.
It instead felt like there were still restrictions from the Hotel that were making it impossible for the dragon to share the details.
Soon, even I was able to feel the shake with my body when a book appeared in front of my eyes.
Holding onto the book, I waited for the moment to arrive.
[Let me say it again. Thank you. And also… be careful. I can sense an ill intent behind the one who granted you ‘Descent’...]
What happened today was beyond the scope of what humans could understand.
However, there were still some pieces of information that remained behind.
“Hell” and “Repentance”.
…The Administration called the transcendent beings locked in the Hotel as “Convicts”, right?
Then was this an endless pit of hell where divine beings had to suffer after committing evil acts? If so, then what was going to happen to the “One who was Born” who flew off across the dimension as a butterfly of light?
It paid for its sins for an infinitely long period of time and repented at the end through the power of the “Lord”, so was it going to obtain “another chance” elsewhere?
It was hard to tell. At this point, I couldn’t even tell if I was making educated or wild guesses.
I thought about asking with Sage’s Advice but that would probably be useless.
Even the owl itself was under restrictions of the Hotel, so it was highly unlikely that I would be able to obtain an answer through Advice.
The Convicts were here for a reason. I could understand that, but then why were we here?
Slowly, the void started to crumble down.
Everything at my side scattered as dust and so did the body of the Nebula Dragon. Until its very last moment, the dragon was gazing at its child that was fluttering its wings beyond the dimensions after obtaining “another chance”.
Although I couldn’t understand anything, the dragon’s emotions were one thing I could understand.
Right now, the Nebula Dragon was neither the creator of another world nor a Convict of the Hotel.
It was just an existence that tried everything in its kit to provide a better future for its child.
…For the first time in a while, I thought about my parents.
A notification popped up.
You have succeeded!
Mansion of Fear. Someone hoping for the resurrection of an evil god! The tragedy all began with the death of the Nebula Dragon.
The world entered chaos with the death of the god, and thus the Apostle’s attempt to complete the baby god that couldn’t be born inside the corpse of the god!
The Apostle you defeated might have been an enemy for humanity, but a savior for the other world.
But that is that. There is no reason for deers to worry about lions!
An Apostle that can endlessly snatch the body of your comrades, and the owner of the mansion who kept his deceit hidden until the very end!
On top of that was your mistake of forgetting the hint due to the confusion brought by the change in scenario.
Your fight against the god who couldn’t be born with the power of miracles, in spite of the scenario being ruined beyond repair was very impressive!
However, we hope you won’t voluntarily take the ‘hardcore’ path ever again. Congratulations.
***
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***
One of your teammates has successfully resolved the issue! Congratulations! The successful resolution allows everyone to return safely.
You have obtained the Inheritance, “Book of Incarnation”.
