Chapter 455

Chapter 455
## Chapter 455: The Ruined World (2)

Once the exact coordinates had been established, traveling to that location presented no real obstacle for Hans. This remained true even within a nightmarish landscape far more unforgiving than the domain of the dead. Racing through the air toward the faint biological signature he had picked up, he cast his gaze downward. The terrain rushing past below was unvaryingly grim—a continuous sequence of devastation. Shattered architecture, fractured earth, and desolate, lifeless expanses of nature met his eyes.

‘This world has truly been reduced to ruin.’

The complete termination of an entire reality. For an individual like himself, who had navigated catastrophes across multiple realms, witnessing a universe so thoroughly wiped out was an entirely new experience. Even the Kanghwan Realm, which had been deprived of its Dragon Heart and left to descend into oblivion, or the more recent crisis involving the Devourer—both of those situations retained at least a microscopic chance of salvation.

‘If every single living entity in a reality was obliterated instantaneously… exactly how many lives were extinguished?’

Even Hans, who took pride in his title as the Lord of Death, found himself unable to fully comprehend the scale. Not a single lingering spirit of the deceased remained, no dying echoes of intent, nor even the slightest residual traces of death energy; everything had been completely wiped from existence. Not even intact corpses were left behind, as though they had dissolved into some sort of corrosive mist.

‘Yet one reality is undeniable. Billions of souls, at the very least, stripped of existence by this event.’

When taking into account every piece of plant and animal life throughout the entire dimension…

‘What is your ultimate objective, Reverse Heaven Society Leader? What drives you to commit an act of this magnitude?’

Under the guise of cultivating mystery back on Earth, an untold number of other realms had likely faced annihilation without anyone ever realizing it. What kind of colossal ambition could possibly justify accumulating such an appalling burden of negative karma?

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION [We’ve arrived.] Disconnected from his internal monologue by the prompt, he reached his destination within a split second and began a deliberate inspection of the area. To uncover the underlying truth, he had to apply an even greater level of concentration to this investigation.

This particular spot looked identical to the surrounding devastation. The only distinguishing feature was a clustered heap of debris that might have once comprised rudimentary shelters—perhaps a shantytown in the past—along with shredded garments that looked as though they had once belonged to human beings, scattered haphazardly across the ground.

“This must be the spot.”

Hans lowered himself to the earth and walked toward the wreckage of one of the collapsed shelters. With a subtle motion of his hand, he released a focused burst of mana.

Rumble—

The shattered materials suddenly drifted upward into the air, completely ignoring the laws of gravity. The suspended debris parted before him, pulling an object from the depths of the wreckage directly to where he stood.

SYSTEM NOTIFICATION [Found it.] Hans fixed his gaze on the item currently suspended right in front of his eyes. The weak biological signal that had guided him to this place belonged to a semi-transparent blue crystal. Inside, a young girl who looked to be in her early adolescence was curled up in a fetal position, gripping something tightly in her hands…

—

She was drifting through a dream. An unending vision possessing no distinct beginning or conclusion that her memory could hold onto.

“-#%@-!!”

A distant sound seemed to utter her name. She turned around to look, but there was nothing to see. Only the thick, inescapable dark that had become her constant companion. She pulled herself tight once more, burying her face against her knees. Attempting to think only triggered intense pain in her head, so she chose to simply endure the passage of time as she always did. Erasing the knowledge of how time moved, her own identity, and the reason for her presence here.

The distant call she normally tuned out persisted, growing more intense than before and vibrating through her consciousness. Her fingers dug into her temples.

‘No.’

…awakening buried recollections—only for her to forcefully suppress them, time and time again.

I despise the agony. I merely wish to block everything out and rest. Deep within a realm devoid of torment and misery. Isolated, just as it has always been…

‘Isolated?’

Her hands locked in place. An even sharper wave of torment hit her, but she clamped her teeth together, becoming entirely fixated on that single concept. The unrelenting voice jarred her consciousness awake.

‘No. I despise being isolated. I… I…!’

And then—

-“Ramyu-!!”

That deeply familiar call jolted her entire being.

“Oppa!”

Her eyelids flew open as she sat up with an abrupt jerk.

“…Huh?”

She found herself within a spotless chamber she could never have pictured. Swathed in plush, gentle blankets far beyond anything she had ever experienced. Blinking rapidly in sheer bewilderment, she tilted her head to the side.

“What… where am I supposed to be…?”

Staggering mentally from the abrupt transition, she looked around her environment in a daze. For a child brought up in garbage dumps and raised among dilapidated ruins, this luxurious setting was completely beyond comprehension. Totally captivated, her eyes locked onto a single viewpoint.

“Ah!”

A sight extracted directly from legends, one she had only ever conceptualized through spoken tales.

“There is no way that is actually…”

It was her very first time witnessing it in person, yet her deepest intuition confirmed it immediately. That utterly clear, vibrant blue horizon she had only ever heard described in old folklore. The literal ‘blue sky’ itself.

“Ah, you have returned to consciousness.”

While she was completely absorbed in looking out the glass, an unfamiliar voice reached her from behind, originating near the doorway.

“…Who are you?”

She spun around defensively, gripping the edge of the blanket tightly against herself. Her mind was still spinning and her thoughts remained disorganized, but she knew this was far from a normal scenario. Her solitary inquiry was heavy with distrust regarding his true identity, his hidden intentions, and the underlying reason for her relocation.

“Oh, myself?”

Completely unbothered by her reaction, the man stepped into the room carrying a tray containing a container of water and a bowl of porridge, placing it down onto the nightstand. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. After a brief moment of reflection, he let out a soft laugh and gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

“Well, explaining the entire situation is rather intricate—we can delve into that at a later time. For the moment, you can simply refer to me as…”

He possessed a robust physical build that was exceptionally rare in a reality plagued by starvation, flawless skin, high-quality garments crafted from premium materials, and even a pair of spectacles—a distinct marker of the upper echelons of society. A class of person entirely alien to her brief existence, he offered a reassuring smile as he spoke further.

“… Hoon.”

This marked his very first self-introduction since the moment of his creation.

—

Pulling the door shut to provide the young girl with an opportunity to rest, Hoon walked out into the corridor while letting out a brief sigh.

“I never anticipated that matters would develop in this particular direction.”

He walked through the premises, carefully verifying the state of everything once more. As the actual proprietor of the residence, this constituted his very first physical inspection—a mandatory act of oversight.

“It is a relief that I made arrangements ahead of time. It is invariably wise to formulate strategies well in advance.”

This location served as his hidden sanctuary. It was not nearly as heavily protected as his primary headquarters situated on the fringes of Seoul, but it was a comfortable, fully furnished two-story residence complete with an outdoor garden.

> **STATUS**
> **Entity Name:** Hoon
> **Common Traits:** Mind Hub, Persona, Great Spirit, Super Recovery, Clear Mirror Still Water, Superhuman Strength, Neural Hypersensitivity, Insight, Xenoglossy, Toughness, Underwater Breathing, Subspace Storage, Limit Break, Mimicry
> **Entity Trait:** Mind Link
> **Special Notes:** Han Seonghyeon’s tenth avatar. Can link thoughts with others via Mind Link.

Rubbing the back of his neck, he sank down onto the couch in the main living space. Closing his eyes, he mentally reconstructed the occurrences of the recent past and outlined his upcoming objectives.

‘Ever since Hans uncovered that specific crystal containing the young girl…’

Hans had conducted numerous trials and analyses on the crystal structure. In order to gather meaningful intelligence, it would obviously be necessary to wake her up so they could converse, wouldn’t it? However, complications manifested almost immediately.

‘I cannot take the chance of interfering with the structure and accidentally causing harm to the child residing inside.’

The crystal functioned fundamentally as a life-preservation mechanism. It had kept her alive throughout the destruction of her home reality. Intentionally breaking it open by force ran the risk of exposing her fragile body to a highly destructive environment…

‘That is a gamble I simply cannot afford to take.’

Even Hans did not possess absolute certainty when it came to shielding her flawlessly from harm. The cataclysm itself originated from warped interdimensional principles. It posed no threat to a powerful, Awakened undead being such as himself, but protecting a native inhabitant whose very existence was tied to those corrupted laws required specific countermeasures designed to bypass them.

Throughout the course of his experimentation, a single critical realization came to light. For some peculiar reason, both the crystal container and the girl could be shifted into an entirely different realm. Following that discovery, the process moved forward without any further hitches. On a completely secure Earth, there was no longer any requirement for extreme defensive measures. Once removed from the container, she was granted immediate sacred restoration via Entity Projection under the guise of Saint Heinrich. The flawed crystal apparatus had left her hovering at the very threshold of demise…

It was precisely at that juncture that the truth became apparent to him. Her continued existence was not merely a result of the crystal’s functions.

‘Her biological state perfectly replicated that of the ‘Dragon Child’ belonging to the Kanghwan Realm—the direct involvement of a higher, transcendent entity from the moment of her birth.’

The circumstances were not completely identical, naturally. Nevertheless, the underlying meaning was unmistakable.

“She was the chosen instrument. The Main God’s designed countermeasure intended to combat the destruction brought about by Koshias. Forged not as a passive entity like the Dragon Child, but engineered as a lethal weapon meant to cut down the adversary.”

…shaped explicitly by the hands of the Main God right at the precipice of ruin, her latent capabilities were beyond calculation. Unlike the scattered fragments of the Dragon Children, her inherent power could be completely unified into a single point.

However, that was as far as her original destiny went. The universe collapsed into nothingness before she ever had the chance to emerge and reach full development, leaving her isolated while her reality dissolved around her. A failed timeline. A potential avenue of salvation that withered away before it could ever realize its true form. Foredoomed to disappear into a quiet, lonely void, cast aside even by the deity that made her.

Yet at this present moment…

‘She has ended up in my possession?’

The corners of Hoon’s mouth curled into a slight smile. A unique entity brought into existence for the sole purpose of neutralizing the Reverse Heaven Society Leader at the absolute foundational level. A guaranteed winning outcome, pure and simple. How could anyone possibly leave a resource of that caliber neglected?

“Hah, suddenly finding myself in the position of a caretaker. She is going to require an absolute minimum of time to become acclimated to this reality.”

He had briefly contemplated assigning her to his subordinates within the Blood Alliance, but relinquishing control over such an invaluable asset to anyone else would be highly imprudent. Furthermore, ensuring her development proceeded correctly necessitated his direct, individual management.

‘The timing aligns flawlessly with the emergence of this latest avatar. Had it been otherwise, the primary physical form might have been forced to oversee the matter.’

The progression of the Unique Skill Enhancement occurring at this exact juncture felt like an act of pure alignment. Being significantly more powerful, the primary physical form consistently gravitated toward paths that minimized potential jeopardy. Any future shifting of assets could be delayed for the time being.

‘In addition, with the massive operations currently unfolding across Earth, I required a dedicated avatar to handle logistical management. It satisfies two objectives simultaneously, allowing for adaptive positioning whenever the situation demands it.’

Moving his shoulders slightly, he stood up from the couch. She required a degree of personal isolation to cope with her current disorientation, but he had no intention of leaving her to her own devices indefinitely.

‘There are a vast number of inquiries to resolve. To maximize our productivity, I shall make the necessary arrangements beforehand.’

All for the sake of ‘our’ mutual, overarching ambition.

—

A dense cloud of multi-colored vapor drifted through the interior of the chamber.

“…the localized distortion has steadily intensified.”

The Oracle directed a dark look toward the empty air before her, grasping her hookah firmly. Based on her extensive background, there existed only a solitary faction capable of triggering an anomaly of this nature.

“Is this the work of Masquerade once more…? Exactly what actions have they taken now?”

Their anticipated strategy designed to destabilize the primary South Korean headquarters had been moving forward at a calculated pace. Exercising extreme care to prevent any excessive karmic blowback, certain operations had remained within their developmental stages for a significant duration. Yet now, disruptions were manifesting, akin to throwing a massive stone into a tranquil body of water…

“…This feels deeply unsettling. I can only trust that it does not signify a major catastrophe.”

She clenched down on the tip of her pipe in mounting frustration, unintentionally giving voice to a sense of dark, unprophetic apprehension.