[…….]

It was astonishing.

Another version of myself, who had pushed the limits of human potential, was incredibly strong.

Honestly, I felt a sense of respect. How much effort and suffering must he have endured to obtain such power?

It must have been an endless struggle. From the way his strikes landed, I could tell how much he had dedicated himself to overcoming impossible odds.

How does one defeat a god?
How does one overcome an opponent stronger than oneself?

All the time, effort, and years he had invested were now pressuring me, a being who had achieved godhood.

To be honest…
I thought there was a chance I could lose if this continued.

Sure, his attacks didn’t work on me as effectively anymore.
But I couldn’t shake the feeling that his accumulated experience wasn’t limited to what I had already seen.

I watched him quietly.
There was a relentless surge of new energy emanating from him, distorting the surrounding space and warping reality itself.

If that’s the case,
I should give it my all as well.

In every moment, every second, I must find a way to become stronger.

I swung my tail.
The immense mass of the attack shot towards the Sword Warrior.

"……."

The warrior raised his sword.
No longer would such brute force suffice.

His sword twisted in a peculiar way.
The tail, which had shot towards him at breakneck speed, suddenly found itself separated by an infinite layering of space.

The layers of space were overwhelming.
At least tens of thousands of spaces overlapped between Jörmungandr and the warrior, creating an enormous distance.

Even though Jörmungandr could tear through space with ease, breaking through tens of thousands of layers in an instant was impossible.

Jörmungandr’s tail appeared to be frozen in mid-air.
But in reality, it wasn’t.

His tail was moving at speeds far beyond the speed of sound, shattering hundreds of spaces in an instant.

As the massive tail approached,
Lee Jihoon prepared his next move.

Spatial Slash.
The Third Form.

——Multiplicity.

In the endlessly overlapping spaces,
He swung his sword once more.

It looked like a simple horizontal and vertical slash.
But the moment those intersecting strikes collided with the countless overlapping spaces,

——Crack, crack, crack, crack!

The numerous spaces amplified the power of his strike.

He crossed one space.
That space increased the speed of his strike.

He crossed another space.
That space increased the mass of his strike.

He crossed yet another space.
That space added sharpness, killing intent, divinity, fury, hatred, longing, and desire to his strike.

Countless attributes,
Countless spaces,

All layered and intertwined, adding strength to his seemingly ordinary strike.

His slash, now beyond the speed of light,
Shot forward in an instant.

——Slash!

A chilling sound echoed.

Jörmungandr’s tail, which had seemed invulnerable to any attack, was severed in an instant.

It was an overwhelming slash.
Even Jörmungandr, who had twisted his body at the last moment, would have been completely bisected if he hadn’t reacted.

His slash no longer adhered to the rules of physical mass.

No matter how dense or tough something was,
His slash could cut through anything.

For the first time, Jörmungandr’s tail was severed.
Though shocked, he quickly assessed the situation.

The severed tip of his tail
Suddenly dissolved into the void.

——Fsss….

As the tail disintegrated into ash,
The warrior was about to dismiss it when—

"……?!"

He suddenly felt his legs give out.

——Clang!

Quick thinking.
Lee Jihoon drove his sword into the ground to stabilize himself, covering his mouth and nose with his sleeve as he frowned.

‘…Poison.’

There was no scent,
No sign,
No warning.

It was truly a formless poison.
For a moment, the Sword Warrior felt as though his very existence was melting away.

It wasn’t far from the truth.
The poison that Jörmungandr had spread throughout the space was mercilessly tearing apart and dissolving his nerves.

This level of poison
Would have annihilated most gods before they even realized they were dying.

But Lee Jihoon was different.

"Something as trivial as poison…."

He strengthened his legs.
Even as his severed nerves screamed in agony, his divinity forced his shredded nerves and dissolving muscles to hold together.

Then something remarkable happened.
His body, which had been melting away, suddenly began to neutralize the poison.

First,
The disintegration of his nerves stopped.

The poison that had seeped into his bloodstream dissipated, and he began to develop immunity to the toxin that had been relentlessly eating away at him.

The Demon God.
The miasma of the Demon God…

It had been far worse than this.

He still remembered.
When the Demon God descended upon the mortal realm, the planet itself melted away—he remembered that horrifying moment.

He had fought against such a Demon God.
He had spent his entire life trying to kill that Demon God.

So…

"…Did you really think I’d fall to something like this!!"

——Clang!!

The sword embedded in the ground was swung vertically, tearing through the entire space.

The earth that had supported the space shattered completely, and an enormous slash shot toward Jörmungandr.

But it was futile.
A slash with no technique behind it would simply bounce off Jörmungandr’s scales.

[Impressive.]

Honestly,
This time, he thought the Sword Warrior would die.

That was why he unleashed the most lethal poison he could create, spreading it throughout the space.
He even transformed all the blood in his body into pure venom, compressed it endlessly, and let it battle within until only the deadliest toxin remained.

But even that poison…
Lee Jihoon overcame it.

And he did it with a human body.

It was admirable.
It was awe-inspiring.

How long had it been since I last felt such emotions?

My heart raced.
I was amazed that a human could be this strong.

At the same time,
A fierce competitive spirit flared within me.

What had the Goddess seen?
What had she seen that made her believe even someone like Lee Jihoon couldn’t defeat the Demon God?

I was curious.
I wondered what the Goddess had expected of me, what hopes she had placed in me.

I twisted my body.
It was an instinctive action.

But the result was different.
My scales vibrated at a specific frequency, resonating with the space around me.

[So, this is how it’s done?]

"……!!"

Jörmungandr’s form vanished.
It wasn’t just that he hid his presence.

He no longer existed in this dimension.

That enormous body had been hidden in another space.

"…As I thought."

Had he replicated the technique where I vibrated the space to hide myself?

It was astonishing.
I couldn’t help but wonder how that was even possible.

But it was.

For Jörmungandr, who was still me,
It was possible.

After all,
He was another version of myself.

Chosen by the Goddess.
Bestowed with all the Goddess’s blessings and hopes—a different version of me.

"…Why?"

Blood flowed.
He had bitten down so hard that blood seeped from his tightly clenched molars.

But
More than that,

He felt an overwhelming sense of hatred.

"…Why did it have to be you?"

I was chosen, too.
I was chosen by the Goddess and defeated the Demon King who threatened this world.

So why?

Why was it only you who was chosen?

Couldn’t I have been the one with that radiant potential?
Was it not enough that it was me?

Of course, I knew.
I knew that being was another version of myself.

A version that had walked a different path, made different choices, and reached different conclusions.

It was none other than my ‘self.’

But…

If that was the case…
If it was all the same,
If I couldn’t succeed even as myself…

"Then you shouldn’t have brought me here."

If that were the case,
I wouldn’t have to suffer like this.

"……."

I couldn’t protect anything.
Not anyone, not anything.

I couldn’t save them.

——Run, Jihoon…!

——I trust you. So, when you defeat the Demon King and return…

——I love you. I long for you.

Memories resurfaced.

"……."

All the timelines where I had failed.
All the moments I had shared with her.

Every one of those moments…
They resurfaced, then sank back into oblivion.

——Clench!

Blood dripped from the hand that tightly gripped the sword.

"Why, why, why…!!!"

Why couldn’t I protect anything?

Failures continued to pile up.
The first failure was agonizing.

For some reason, I was sent back thousands of years in the past.
I spent decades in a daze, having lost my mind.

Afterward…
I was born again, waiting only to reunite with her.

I swung my sword.
I killed the hated Demon King.

I thought it was all over.

I thought I had saved the world.
I thought I had protected her.

But it wasn’t over.
The cursed world kept bringing forth new monsters.

And they…
Destroyed everything I held dear, without a second thought.

It happened tens of thousands of times.
In all those countless attempts, I couldn’t protect anything.

That’s why.
 

I came to the conclusion that it was simply impossible to save the world.

I rationalized it,
Justified it to myself, because that was the only way I could stay sane.

But then…
What are you?

Why is it that in your eyes,
I don’t see any despair?

"I have to prove it."

That the years I’ve endured,
The time I’ve crossed,
Everything I’ve lost,

Were not in vain.

——I love you, Jihoon.

Joy welled up within me.

"Ah…"

Yes, that’s it.

Nothing else mattered.

As long as I could protect her,
I would be willing to sacrifice even myself.

At this moment,
The Sword Warrior broke through yet another barrier.

He wasn’t looking at the present.
He was seeing something far beyond, or perhaps something very close.

Facing this new world, the warrior, filled with all the subtlety and joy, swung his sword.

Spatial Slash.
The Fourth Form,
The Fifth Form.

——Annihilation.

——Void.

Two techniques were unleashed,
Directed at the empty space.

——And then.

As the space returned to nothingness,

[……?!]

The colossal serpent, split in two,
Revealed itself.