Chapter 199
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—…….
Lil’s expression hardened as she stared into the ‘door.’
The moment the voice rang out—
Poof! Poof!
The five evil spirits vanished into smoke.
‘Those Corrupted Ancient Evil Spirits were all just dolls?’
Their presence had certainly felt real.
Lil had reached the pinnacle of mana. There was no way she could have mistaken the negative mana unique to evil spirits.
But what baffled her even more was Park Chan-woo.
‘He noticed, even when I couldn’t…’
It hadn’t been a mere suspicion.
Park Chan-woo had been certain the real one was inside the ‘door.’
He had sensed something she hadn’t.
A presence concealed so perfectly that even she hadn’t noticed it.
Finally—
Screeeech—
With the sound of something scraping along the floor, a figure emerged from inside the ‘door.’
The moment Lil saw its form, her expression stiffened further.
—A reaper…?
It looked exactly like one.
A skeletal figure draped in a black cloak, a giant scythe slung across its back.
No different from the typical ones that governed the laws of the Abyss.
“How did you notice?”
The reaper asked Park Chan-woo, intrigued.
“Just had a feeling.”
He couldn’t exactly say he had felt a Mana Wave.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
“You are the first being to have noticed me. Excellent.”
The reaper clapped again.
It had hidden itself behind the Corrupted Ancient Evil Spirits.
And in all the countless eons it had lived, the human before it was the first to discover it inside the ‘door.’
Not even the Spirit Kings were aware of its existence.
“I am Chronos, the spirit and reaper in charge of the ‘Shadow.’”
—That’s a lie. Reapers cannot possess a sense of self like you.
Lil snapped back.
It wasn’t that reapers with a sense of self didn’t exist, but there couldn’t be an individual with an ego as complete as the Chronos before them.
Reapers were meant to uphold the laws of the Abyss, devoid of emotion.
A sense of self developed enough to state a name and converse like this should have been erased.
“I am no ordinary reaper. I am a spirit, and a reaper.”
—Are you saying a spirit born from the ‘Shadow’ became a reaper?
“It was possible because I am so magnificent.”
—…Then you must have originated from the reapers.
For something like Chronos to exist, that was the only explanation.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
“Correct, Transcender. The reapers are like the shadow of the Abyss. I am a spirit born from their shadow. I exist in a realm that no one knows of, no one notices, but which certainly exists.”
That was why it had used the evil spirits as cover.
A shadow that would never reveal itself unless someone noticed it.
That was Chronos’s rule.
And so, it found this fascinating that a human had noticed it.
How could a human—bearing the karma of a mortal, not an immortal—find the shadow no one else even knew existed?
It couldn’t be brushed aside as a simple “just had a feeling.”
“Since you have found me, I shall grant you the opportunity to make a contract with the magnificent me.”
“I refuse.”
“……Hmm?”
Chronos tilted its head at the unexpected reply.
The human had to know Chronos was on a level incomparable to ordinary evil spirits.
The fact that he dared refuse was a shock.
“Chronos. I will give you the opportunity to make a contract with me.”
…Absurd.
An offer one would normally accept with tears and kneel in gratitude.
Yet the human had turned the tables and countered.
Chronos understood the intent.
A contract was a battle of nerves.
Depending on how it was formed, the dominant and subordinate parties would be decided.
It meant the human intended to stand above Chronos—the spirit of shadow and a reaper.
And he didn’t show the slightest hesitation.
As if it didn’t matter whether Chronos accepted or not.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
“Excellent. To think there exists a being in this Abyss who surpasses my expectations.”
It was amusing.
In all the eons of its existence, Chronos had never met a human this interesting.
It had used evil spirits as a front countless times, but this had never happened.
And so it felt anticipation.
Just how much more entertaining would things become under contract with this human?
Still, it couldn’t accept a contract like this without proof.
“Let’s do this. I will verify whether you have the capacity to accept my ‘Shadow.’”
“How will you verify it?”
“I will enter your shadow. If you cannot accept me, you will die and become my evil spirit.”
“Not bad. What will you do if I accept you?”
“I will become your shadow. This is an offer incomparable to a normal spirit contract. I will maintain my existence with my own power, without needing to be summoned.”
A spirit could not properly use its power outside the Spirit Realm.
Even through a contract, by relying on the contractor’s mana, it could barely exert ten percent of the abilities it wielded there.
But Chronos was claiming it would exist on its own—without the contractor’s mana.
—Impossible. A spirit is a mass of mana. If it leaves the Spirit Realm, that mass scatters and it perishes.
That was the nature of mana.
Once it left its world—its body—it would disperse.
A spirit without a physical body could only truly exist in the Spirit Realm.
At best, it could temporarily leave by borrowing the contractor’s mana through a contract.
A spirit could not exist outside the Spirit Realm on its own.
If that were possible—
—…Or do you mean an evil spirit contract?
Lil’s voice dropped.
An evil spirit contract was fundamentally different from a normal spirit contract.
An evil spirit took everything from its contractor.
Body, mind, even soul.
It was a form of possession.
If Chronos intended that kind of contract, Lil was prepared to annihilate it.
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
“An excellent suspicion, but incorrect. This is not a spirit contract, but a contract as a reaper.”
—But reapers cannot make contracts with specific beings.
“I am different. I possess the right to make a contract as someone’s ‘Shadow.’ Of course, it has never happened before.”
A reaper’s contract.
Even so, Lil did not loosen her guard.
If it tried anything, she would act immediately.
Chronos was that much of a contradiction.
“Human. Are you ready to accept my shadow?”
“Let’s begin.”
Park Chan-woo answered leisurely.
Honestly, it was intriguing.
A confrontation with a being that was both spirit and reaper—something that had never existed in the Abyss.
It felt like magic.
Like stepping into a new domain.
Swoooosh!
Chronos’s form scattered, then seeped into Park Chan-woo’s shadow.
—
A shadow was a mirror.
A proof of existence.
To enter a shadow meant, in other words, to learn everything about that human.
‘Ooh. That is an Outer God!’
The moment it seeped in, Chronos sensed a presence.
Confirming the existence of the immense White Whale Charpam, it let out a sound of admiration.
A human who housed everything from a Transcender to an Outer God.
It was hard to imagine a more ill-fitting combination.
But that wasn’t all.
Chronos began scanning upward.
And when it reached the head—
‘The Sealed Demon God’s Grail? Ah, so he was the next False Master!’
False Master.
A fake master, not the real one.
He possessed the Sealed Demon God’s Grail, but its true master was someone else.
Just like Chronos, that true master had thoroughly hidden itself while putting this human out front.
Still, possessing the Grail proved he had a noble talent.
Chronos, still brimming with admiration, went deeper.
To think it would be this entertaining just to explore.
‘Hmm?’
The deeper it went, the more unexpected things it found.
The Outer God and the Sealed Demon God’s Grail were astonishing enough, but—
‘Something is sealed.’
Reaching the heart, Chronos tilted its head.
Something very peculiar was sealed within the human’s heart.
The seal was designed so it could not be undone recklessly.
It was likely the man himself didn’t even know.
‘An absolute death that cannot be avoided.’
From what it could see on the surface, it was a seal of death itself.
But that wasn’t all.
‘It feels like the heart of another being.’
On the outside, it mimicked a human heart, but it was clearly different.
It was the heart of a being so colossal it was immeasurable.
A heart sealed together with absolute death.
…It would be a lie to say Chronos wasn’t curious.
But—
‘I shouldn’t touch that.’
Chronos suppressed its curiosity with care.
One wrong move, and it could face death as well.
The moment it cautiously tried to step back—
Craaaack!
Black hands shot out from the seal around the heart.
Then the seal itself grabbed hold of Chronos.
‘It covets me?’
Chronos struggled.
It had never seen a seal like this.
To think a seal could perceive on its own—and dare seize it.
Shudder!
Chronos couldn’t help but feel horror.
Its existence was rapidly being erased.
A mere seal was overpowering Chronos—something even a Spirit King couldn’t easily handle.
Yet it was stranger still.
After overpowering Chronos, the seal moved no more.
Instead—
【Shh.】
A voice spoke.
Be quiet.
You must keep this secret.
Or I will devour you.
Absurd—yet it sent a chill down Chronos’s spine.
Chronos had no choice but to nod.
The presence it felt when the heart’s seal touched it—
It was not death.
It was something far more powerful.
The Great Nine Lords… or a being even greater.
It was clearly the heart of one whose presence surged like a tidal wave.
And it wasn’t an ordinary heart.
Chronos noticed th nnected to this one, but among them, this was undoubtedly the most important—the core heart.
But a mere heart could not possess power of this magnitude.
‘Ah…!’
In that instant, Chronos shuddered.
Because it realized who this heart belonged to.
Dragon God Sephiro!
So was this one of the hearts he possessed?
Chronos shook its head internally.
Half right, and half wrong.
This was on a different dimension from the fake hearts embedded in Dragon God Sephiro’s ‘dolls.’
This heart—
This heart was—
‘…The heart of a Transcendent Dragon.’
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