Chapter 197

The Crimson Mist traced a trajectory, slicing through space. The moment the strike, imbued with The Red Man’s Authority, pierced the bubble human’s shoulder, the entity began to shake violently.

【Condition Fulfilled!】

【Cinema Skill: Blazing Sword Judgment】

Immediately following, invisible slashes embroidered the air, cutting through its flank and bursting half of its bubble-composed body.

Unstable black-and-white particles scattered from the ruptured area like screams; at this rate, it seemed only a matter of time before the outcome was decided.

However, the moment Taewoon readjusted his grip on the spear for the final blow, the bubble human, who had been staggering from the fatal wound, suddenly ceased all movement.

The particles flowing from the burst shoulder and flank froze instantly, and a strange will—one that even Taewoon could not fathom—began to flash within those hollow eyes.

The bubble human slowly reached a hand into the air. At that motion, as if trying to grasp something in an empty space, Taewoon felt an instinctive sense of crisis and momentarily widened the distance.

With a sound like a howl, a strangely shaped Artifact revealed itself in the bubble human’s grasp.

It was a gem that pulsated irregularly like a living heart, and within it writhed a will of destruction purer than a newborn star.

“That is…”

Taewoon’s eyebrows twitched.

Certainly, Taewoon had never obtained such an Artifact in any of the Theaters until now.

Without hesitation, the bubble human drove the pulsating red gem deep into the center of its chest. As the gem burrowed into its body, the bubble human began to tremble violently, as if convulsing.

Following that, the nature of the Magical Power flowing from its body completely shifted.

A cold blue light, the polar opposite of Taewoon’s red Magical Power, erupted toward the air like a reverse current.

【Condition Fulfilled!】

【Cinema Skill: ■■■ ■■】

Along with an incomprehensible mechanical sound, an eerie blue light erupted from the bubble human’s body, greedily beginning to swallow Taewoon’s Crimson Mist.

The blue light touching the mist corroded The Red Man’s Authority and erased its presence in an instant, as if a strong acid were melting metal.

“Kugh!”

Startled, Taewoon quickly retreated and countered. He swung Keshatus to strike down with the Lightning of Destruction, but the blue light only grew in Aura, swallowing even the lightning.

‘Could it be…’

Only then did Taewoon recall a critical fact he had momentarily forgotten, simultaneously realizing the essence of this bizarre ability.

The bubble human was not a simple clone copying the current Taewoon.

It was an entity that seemed modeled after a Taewoon from a parallel world—a ‘different possibility’ that had diverged at a point of choice.

What if Taewoon had entered different Theaters after the Trillaore New Continent Travel Journal?

What if he had fought repeated battles against entirely different Formidable Foes in different ways?

If so, he might have become a completely different being from the current Taewoon. That was the nature of choice.

‘…A strange feeling.’

The gem and Cinema Skill brought forth by the bubble human before him could be called fragments of another self standing at the end of a path Taewoon had not walked.

Taewoon was lost in thought for a moment, forgetting that he was in the middle of a battle. The entity before him was not Taewoon, but at the same time, it was Taewoon.

It gave Taewoon a sense of strange kinship, coupled with an alien sensation that sent a chill down his spine.

In the pitch-black darkness, the bubble human’s eyes, dyed in blue light, emitted an eerie glow.

It was no longer Taewoon’s shadow. It stood blocking Taewoon’s path as another ‘Seo Taewoon’ who had built up a completely different narrative.

Taewoon and the bubble human collided violently once more.

Every time the blue light flashed, Taewoon’s Magical Power and Crimson Mist were corroded.

As the gem embedded in its chest pulsated, the surrounding air grew heavy, and he could feel the laws of space itself twisting.

‘Exactly what effect does it have?’

Because he did not know the exact ability or the way to counter it, Taewoon struggled in the fight.

All of the opponent’s attacks were gradually escaping Taewoon’s predictions, and they certainly possessed enough power to reach the current Taewoon.

However, Taewoon did not shrink back in the slightest. Instead, he calmly gauged the opponent’s capabilities, sharpening his Aura even further.

‘…In terms of output, I am still superior.’

Even if it were a version of himself who had walked a different possibility, it could not surpass the fundamental size of his vessel.

Having achieved exponential growth by using numerous Calamities, including The Nameless Head, as nutrients, the current Taewoon had created a difference in grade that could not be caught up to by a mere divergence in possibility.

‘…No need to overthink it. I’ll go with something simple.’

Eventually, Taewoon began to draw out the Authority of the Apostle Transformation State in earnest, implementing the laws he had realized in previous battles one by one onto the battlefield.

The moment Taewoon’s crimson eyes locked onto the bubble human’s movements, the entity’s fierce charge froze in mid-air as if time had stopped.

Soon, even the blue light that had been bothering Taewoon stopped its expansion and hardened like a crystal.

“Reverse Soul Flash!”

Taewoon swung his spear mercilessly toward the frozen bubble human.

A strike intended to directly hit the source of possibility that composed it, rather than the bubble human’s physical body.

The unknown power supporting the bubble human was shaken, and its very existence began to flicker unstably.

The power of the Authority ran dry, and blue light began to leak from various parts of the bubble human’s body, forming cracks.

The entity writhed as if in pain, but Taewoon did not slacken his pursuit.

“It’s over.”

Crack—!!

【Condition Fulfilled!】

【Cinema Skill: Blazing Sword Judgment】

With Taewoon’s final declaration, the blue gem supporting the bubble human’s body shattered into pieces.

Having lost the source of all its power, its body could no longer maintain its form, and it soon burst into countless black-and-white bubbles, scattering into the air.

“…Whew.”

Taewoon exhaled lightly and looked around.

‘Still… most of the battles aren’t over.’

Seoyoon was engaged in a tense sword dance with her own clone, and the other Bishops also seemed unable to decide the outcome.

It would not be difficult for Taewoon to intervene, but he felt that he should not.

This could be called a trial or a kind of Ritual bestowed by the Tormented Goat.

Therefore, there was no knowing what kind of backlash external intervention might bring upon the parties involved.

Taewoon immediately turned his gaze to face the main body of the Tormented Goat, the culprit of all this, once again.

The goat remained standing still in that spot, maintaining an attitude as if observing everything.

‘…Truly an arrogant fellow.’

Taewoon began to charge toward it without hesitation. Although the total amount of power the creature possessed surpassed Taewoon’s, he felt a certainty that its inherent combat ability would not be that formidable.

Red lightning exploded, and a formless Blazing Sword sliced through space.

Wounds appeared on the goat’s body, and he could be certain that it had taken damage, yet the creature’s attitude remained unmoved.

Right then, the goat’s body writhed once more, firing a pair of giant black-and-white bubbles at Taewoon.

Bubbles containing an even more vast and fundamental energy than before. Was it trying to employ a similar Magic Technique as before?

‘Dammit, it hasn’t even been a few minutes since I destroyed the clone…’

Inside them were memories of an even further past, from divergence points more distant than the previous one.

The situation was frustrating, but it was clear that if he didn’t make a choice, something even more terrible would happen.

Taewoon finished his calculations in an instant and shifted his gaze toward the bubbles before him.

‘In that case, this time I’ll cut the white bubble that chose the same answer.’

His judgment was that if they possessed the same branch of power, he would have the advantage as the one who could use a higher-grade and more complete ability.

Taewoon’s spear shot toward the white bubble without hesitation, shattering it into nothingness.

However.

In that instant, a wave like an eerie laugh flowed from the goat’s will.

Taewoon’s transcendent senses began to detect a powerful reversal of causality, the likes of which he had never experienced.

‘Oh, good god!’

The moment the white bubble burst, the Crimson Mist and Mitra’s Wings that had been enveloping Taewoon’s body lost their shape and faded away.

Instead, the future contained within the other bubble began to forcibly overwrite Taewoon’s existence.

As a new bubble human was created, the Artifacts and Cinema Skills Taewoon had acquired thus far began to transform into something entirely different.

He had wondered if it were possible, but for something this absurd to actually happen?

“…”

Surprisingly, the moment he chose the same option, he felt as if the future Taewoon had built up until now was absorbed by the bubble human, and Taewoon himself was being replaced by a version of himself from a different future.

Of course, since the current Taewoon was also a powerful being, not all of his power and memories vanished completely.

However, he could instinctively tell that he would be unable to use his familiar abilities for at least a while.

“—!”

Opposite Taewoon, a new bubble human stood up, staggering. It was now essentially a being that had followed the exact path the previous Taewoon had trodden.

‘But…’

Without the correct memories and narrative, one cannot properly utilize Artifacts or Cinema Skills.

That had been proven through his previous experience at the Cinema Shop.

The Authority held by the goat was powerful, but it came with many restrictions; as long as the current Taewoon did not have memories of the swapped future, the opponent would be the same.

It meant the situation was entirely different from before.

‘No need to panic. First, I must properly grasp the situation.’

Taewoon had faced numerous crises in the past, and this was not his first time in such a chaotic situation.

Accordingly, Taewoon quickly scanned the information of the temporarily created Artifacts and Cinema Skills.

And based on those contents, he began to establish the optimal way to use them in his mind.