Chapter 394 - Divine Revelation (1)

That day was exceptionally sunny and clear.

"...Finally, today is the day."

Like any other day, an ordinary and peaceful daily life.

But I knew.

Today was the day everything would change.

"Sigh..."

After checking the time once more, I crossed my legs and sighed.

Alright. My preparations were perfect.

Today was the day of the Sun God's judgment proclamation.

The day when the god would first reveal himself to this world again while simultaneously announcing he would destroy it. The day people would fall into chaos.

...The very day I had been preparing for all this time.

'After today, the world will change.'

In the original story.

In the original story, after the god's destruction warning, the already unstable world completely collapsed.

People began to fall apart, consumed by their fear of death.

Under Celeste's leadership, Kathedal began destroying the Earth.

The powers of the ability users went berserk, losing all rationality.

Simultaneously, the Sun's relics went out of control and angels appeared.

It was truly bleak, a total disaster.

And.

I will stop all of this.

No matter what.

After all, everything I've done until now was for this purpose.

"..."

Of course.

There were some risks.

The main one being: what if the Sun God discovers my identity? What if he learns that I've been preparing to stop him, destroying his relics, and trying to persuade the Saintess?

He would probably try to kill me first.

'...But that won't happen.'

I wasn't particularly worried about that.

If he knew, he would have tried to kill me already. I've been blocking all the variables leading to destruction.

And.

'The power of the stars must still be protecting this world.'

Yes.

Long ago, when the Sun God and the Star God were together.

The Star God used her last strength to place a barrier of perception around this world.

To make it difficult for the Sun God to observe and interfere with this world in detail.

That way.

...She could hide and protect Stardust, his adversary, from him.

Anyway, thanks to that barrier created to protect Stardust, I could also hide.

At this point, the Sun God's power was probably limited to just giving power to Celeste.

I'm guessing that even his last attempt to break through that barrier was thwarted by our Ex Machina.

In the end, this time he'll probably just deliver a pre-prepared message from hundreds of millions of light-years away.

'Of course, that barrier will soon be broken too.'

But ultimately, the day that barrier breaks will be the day this world stands on the brink of destruction with the Sun God's descent.

So that wasn't something to worry about right now.

Right now, saving the world from the chaos of the Sun God's destruction declaration was the priority.

"...Time to go."

With that final thought to organize my mind.

I got up and left the room with those words.

There wasn't much time left now.

As I walked steadily into the living room, I finally saw them.

"Oppa!"

"You're here, Da-in."

"Da-in. You're finally here."

The Ego-stream members gathered busily.

Yes.

These are our Ego-stream colleagues who know that the Sun God's destruction warning is coming soon.

[I understand, Da-in. I'll follow the plan as soon as the apocalyptic revelation comes.]

Besides them, the only other person who knows about what will happen today is Lee Seol-ah, who as the person in charge needs to manage the chaos that will unfold today.

And...

'Stardust knows too.'

I quietly thought to myself.

...She's probably waiting at the Association right now, as I told her.

To control the world that will fall into chaos after the Sun God's destruction declaration.

And.

There was one more secret I hadn't told Ha-ru yet.

'That only she, as the Star God's agent, can stop the Sun God.'

Stardust knows she has the power of stars, but she doesn't know that like me, she was directly chosen by the Star God... by the Star Goddess herself.

And there's only one reason I haven't explained this to her in detail.

"..."

Because today is the day she will meet the Star Goddess herself.

In fact, in the original story, the settings about the gods weren't explained in detail until today.

And today is the day when, along with the appearance of the Sun God, the Star Goddess will descend into Stardust's mind and tell her all the secrets.

'More precisely, it wasn't the Star Goddess herself, but her lingering thoughts.'

Anyway.

That's why I didn't explain those things to Stardust in detail.

She'll learn everything about her identity today anyway.

'So...'

Now.

Let's focus on the coming disaster.

"...Everyone gathered early, I see."

With those words, I sat down on the sofa where our colleagues were gathered.

It was time to wait with nervous hearts for what was about to happen.

***

[Currently in downtown Seoul, the beautiful weather has brought out many people...]

"Is everyone ready?"

How much time had passed?

In the bright living room where warm sunlight shone through the windows.

Feeling that the time had finally come, I looked around at my colleagues and said those words.

"...Yes."

"Phew. I don't know why, but I'm nervous."

Everyone nodded with tense expressions.

In the original story, it was clearly described that hearing a god's voice with a human body was a great burden.

Among them, the pain felt by "ability users" who received divine power was even greater.

That's why I had everyone gather like this to prepare mentally. Knowing what's coming makes it less painful.

Anyway, the time was approaching.

The end of what had been, until now, our relatively normal daily lives where everyone was busy with their own activities.

And so.

Finally.

"...Everyone get ready."

After quietly checking the clock, I finally said those words when my predicted time arrived.

Is it finally starting?

And at last, as the hour hand moved to the next position.

BOOOOOOOOM

Finally, it began.

[Now let's see some interviews with citizens—ARGH?!... Ugh...]

As the news anchor's painful voice was heard.

[Urgh...]

The screen showed countless people clutching their heads in pain.

At the same time.

We all felt an enormous pressure, as if heavy gravity was crushing us down.

"Kuk..."

Even I, who had been prepared, gritted my teeth against the pressure that was more intense than expected.

Finally.

His voice was heard.

[Greetings, humans.]

-BOOOOOOOOM.

That voice, as if it were directly entering my brain.

It was an incomprehensible language, yet somehow I could understand it.

In that moment, I could feel it.

Ah.

This is truly a god.

An untouchable being, different from us.

Whether awake or asleep, this voice that all people around the world were being forced to hear.

Just listening to it was causing heart-crushing pressure.

Being completely different from a human voice, just hearing it was difficult for the body to accept.

Like ants before a giant. Humans hearing the voice of a god with extraordinary power were made to realize the difference in their existence.

Ah, there's no way to defy this being.

Like a child gripped by fear, unable to move. That's what people must be thinking in this situation.

As we struggled just to endure his power.

His words continued.

[I am the one who once ruled you. Once known as the God of the Sun. It's good to see you again, my children.]

[And in my absence. You have truly, truly...]

[Grown terribly.]

And.

...The god's reaction to humanity was not particularly positive.

[Lowly beings, let me tell you in advance.]

[I will judge you.]

Around this time, I painfully raised my head to look at the others.

"Urgh..!"

"Kuhuk, ugh..."

As expected, those who had received the Sun God's power were more affected.

Unlike Su-bin and Seo-eun who were barely holding on with cold sweat, those who directly received the sun's power like Choi Se-hee and Seo Ja-young had their heads down and were nearly collapsed.

Well, even I'm struggling like this thanks to the star's power reducing the pressure, so what about them?

[From now on, in 1̴̧̩̖͔̟̈̎͆̉̊͝8̶̨̥̯̟͕͎́̍̕0̶̜̞̈̓̅͜͡%̷͉̜̝͉͈̈́̊́͊̌͢͡@̷̢̪̗̞͎̊̊̽͋͝!҈̨̭̰̜̾̍͞, I will descend personally to judge your sins.]

[So until then, spend your time in atonement and painfully await the coming destruction.]

[Death is all you deserve.]

With those final words.

"Hik...!"

"Huh, huh."

"Haa... ugh, water. Give me some water..."

Finally, the pressure crushing our bodies disappeared.

Only then did the Ego-stream members exhale rough breaths, clutching their heads as they got up one by one.

Everyone seemed to have suffered significant mental shock.

"Oppa, ugh. Are you okay..?"

"Kuluk. Yeah. I'm fine. Seo-eun, how about you?"

"I'm okay too... Just a bit shocked."

"Ugh. I never thought I'd experience something like this in my life. How can a god be no different from an evil spirit?"

As Shin-ryeong grumbled while leaning against the wall.

"Wow... This is really not easy."

Choi Se-hee, who was among the first ability users to regain her senses, clutched her forehead as if dizzy.

"Hey. I'm drained even though I knew this was coming. People hearing this for the first time must be going crazy."

That's what she said.

...Yes. Soon, as people begin to regain their senses, the world will be in chaos. Everyone will probably be gripped by fear.

So now was crucial.

We needed to contain the situation before it got worse.

Therefore.

First, I needed to meet the most important person who needed to be persuaded.

"...Everyone stay here. I'll be back."

"Okay. Take care."

As I put on my coat and said those words, everyone nodded. I had already told them. That I needed to go to Kathedal immediately after the revelation.

Because.

Meeting Celeste was the priority right now.

She who probably received a special message from the Sun God alone.

RIIIP

I tore the letter and immediately teleported to Kathedal Cathedral on the opposite side of the Earth.

Despite this continent being in nighttime, the view outside the window was as bright as day.

I ran to her prayer room where sounds were coming from after finding her office empty.

"Hik..."

In one corner of the room.

I found Celeste sitting collapsed on the floor, her silver hair disheveled, with a shocked expression.

"Oh no, Celeste! Are you alright?"

As I rushed toward her.

"...?"

She turned toward the sound with blank eyes, and only then did her focus return as she saw me.

"Ah, E-Egostic..."

Whether reality had finally set in, or she felt relief seeing me in her confusion.

Only then did she call my name, grabbing my clothes and beginning to mumble tearfully.

"...Egostic, what, what should I do... God, God..."

"Shh. Calm down first, calm down."

Looking at her as she clung to me with a broken expression.

I began to slowly open my mouth to reassure her.

Now was the time.

The time to harvest everything I had sown.