At that moment, outside, Choi Siwoo held onto Yoon Eunha’s body, which was turning pitch black.

If things continued like this, she might go on a rampage. Or worse, she might already be dead. Her heart wasn’t beating—it must have been consumed by her core. In that case, it was impossible to tell if she was alive or dead.

“Yoon Eunha?”

[Pull yourself together, Choi Siwoo! Focus on the enemy in front of you!]

“She’s dead… Yoon Eunha is dead!”

[You wanted to become a woman, but now that the one you care about is in such a state, you're becoming sentimental? Think rationally! If you falter, this world is finished!]

After all the trouble of coming back in time, he couldn’t afford to collapse here. The Constellation of the Divine Sword was determined to keep Choi Siwoo going, but Siwoo seemed weighed down by past events. The Constellation wanted to intervene immediately, but it was difficult.

In his current state, a forced 100% synchronization was impossible.

“That crazy woman... who would’ve thought that the sister of Yoo Jinseok would make such a reckless choice. Fine then. She’ll lose control soon, so why not take this chance to kill the second wielder of the Divine Sword with my own hands?”

Kim Jaesoo raised his spear high.

[Hey, Choi Siwoo!]

Clang!

As the tip of the villain Kim Jaesoo’s spear aimed for Choi Siwoo’s throat, a spear-wielding warrior with fiery red hair intervened like a burst of flame.

“Master!”

“Well, look who it is. My cute disciple. I raised you well, and yet, here you are, unable to beat either the second Divine Sword wielder or Yoo Jinseok’s sister.”

Hansooji was horrified by Kim Jaesoo’s transformation into a monster.

What was this horrible sight? He’d always been a dark, unlucky figure, but she’d believed and followed him as someone who had cared for her and raised her as his successor. To think he’d become a monster. Now she would be forever known as the disciple of the monstrous Kim Jaesoo, not the legendary spearman.

Most of all, what would Yoon Eunha think of her now? Would she be disregarded or scorned as the disciple of a monster? Rage surged within her. Kim Jaesoo shouldn’t have made such a deranged choice, even for his own sake.

“There was no need to become a monster for power!”

“Foolish child. In this world, strength is all that matters. Do you think many can defeat me now?”

“And yet, you’re planning to run before Yoo Jinseok arrives!”

Kim Jaesoo’s face twisted with fury at his disciple’s words. Yes, he had indeed lost to Yoo Jinseok several times—it had become a trauma. Even now, despite his monstrous transformation, he wasn’t sure if he could beat Yoo Jinseok.

“You little brat! I’ve coddled you for too long. Today, I’ll make sure you learn thoroughly!”

“Have you ever heard of the phrase, ‘The student surpasses the master’?”

Hansooji ignited the flames on her spear. Seeing her wield the Flame Spear with such mastery, Kim Jaesoo clicked his tongue.

Maybe he shouldn’t have given it to her.

Still, the spear he wielded now wasn’t inferior to the Flame Spear. It was a demonic spear made from the scales of an S-class dragon. In terms of sheer durability, it wouldn’t lose.

Whoosh—Boom!

Just as the fierce battle between teacher and student was about to start, a massive arrow shot toward Kim Jaesoo and exploded. Though he deflected it with his spear, he couldn’t hide his irritation as more enemies kept appearing.

“Who the hell is it now?!”

“I can’t forgive someone who would do that to Yoon Eunha… Choi Siwoo… uh… student… whatever. I can’t forgive what you did to them!”

Seeing Choi Siwoo with torn cadet clothing, his bare skin peeking through, Reina barely glanced his way, aiming her bow at Kim Jaesoo.

“You’re certainly causing quite a stir. Fine, today I’ll kill every talent in Hanseong!”

S-Class villain Kim Jaesoo lunged at Yoon Eunha’s heroines.

A flood of memories poured in.

Not the memories of hundreds of repetitions but something far older. My life. Created by someone to kill all living beings and sow chaos among humans through magic, relishing the sight of them killing each other.

I appeared in many forms, killing countless people. In those days, I wasn’t human—I was a vile dragon.

Smart and cunning, I didn’t even need to act directly; I incited people to kill. At first, I took the form of a dragon and killed people directly. Toward the end, finding it tedious, I appeared as a beautiful woman, creating confusion among people, making them kill each other.

I was, essentially, an animal, true to my instincts. I would watch people kill each other and feel a carnal pleasure.

“Ugh!”

“Remembering what you did, are you?”

“No… damn.”

Nausea rose in me again.

“To think you even… as a nun… watched people kill each other while… well…”

“Stop. Don’t say another word.”

The thought of who I was then was repulsive. Was that even me? It couldn’t be. It simply couldn’t. I couldn’t bear to acknowledge it.

Not after I killed a billion.

The writer gazed at me without any emotion in her eyes.

“What?”

“Sigh, there’s no need to blame yourself so much. I created Azhdahak in the first place. If anyone’s a mass murderer of over a billion, it’s me. Strictly speaking, I caused the Great Cataclysm, too.”

That was her responsibility, but it didn’t make it easier to forget.

“Then why did you bring these memories back?”

“Can’t you feel it? The person from those days and the current you are completely different. You are Yoon Eunha, inheriting the powers and memories of Azhdahak. Killing people in the past? If that were the case, every reincarnated person would be tormented by their past life’s crimes.”

This was different.

The scale was different. I’d burned countless people to death with my breath and thrown them into chaos with magic.

“I understand, but…”

“Well, you’ve finally reached this point after hundreds of rounds, so I’ll give you another unique ability. Originally, I held back to have more fun with Azhdahak.”

“What? You can just hand out and take back abilities?”

“I’m not exactly omnipotent. I had to scrape together all the power I could to give my precious dragon a gift.”

My “precious dragon”? It made me feel like a pet dragon. She started writing something in her notebook, seemingly unaware of my thoughts.

A quest notification appeared in midair after a short while.

[Mission Objective: Talk with the Writer] [Reward: Unique Ability] [Mission Accomplished] [Reward: Coolheadedness]

The unique ability Coolheadedness. It activates when emotions threaten to override reason or become overwhelming. I did feel a bit better.

“Do we always have to do this through a game system? It makes me question if this is a dream or reality.”

“It gets dull here, you know. I need something to pass the time.”

Come to think of it, this place looked like it was Yoon Eunha’s own space. It looked similar to her room in reality, but completely white—something that suited my tastes.

So this place was like a subconscious mindscape. That meant I didn’t really need to stay here. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to live, but I also didn’t want to take over someone else’s body.

“After all, you’re the rightful owner of this body, aren’t you? You don’t need me.”

“No, that’s not quite…”

She laughed awkwardly, looking troubled. I understood. It was her responsibility too.

“You feel guilty too, don’t you?”

The guilt of creating me, leading to the deaths of a billion people and causing the Great Cataclysm. She must have been so ashamed that she couldn’t bear to show her face.

I might have ruthlessly killed people, even more so than a mythical evil dragon, but she had created me thoughtlessly. If she had created something beneficial instead, maybe the world would have found peace without the cataclysm.

When I asked, she turned her head and muttered.

“You’re not wrong. Even if the dead are reborn through reincarnation, you were nothing more than a creature I created for my amusement, driven by instinct. That was all my doing.”

“In that case…”

“And that body isn’t even human anymore. The body you now have, empowered by Azhdahak, is practically immortal. Still, as a writer, I couldn’t just jump into a monstrous body, could I? I have my pride, after all.”

“Wow, you’re insufferable.”

She even admitted outright that I was a monster! Well, according to humans, I was indeed a monster.

“Just kidding. Like I said, I’m not exactly omnipotent. It takes a lot of energy to create a world, move my creation into another world. I need time to recover.”

“So what about the final showdown?”

“It might change according to causality. The original world before Choi Siwoo’s regression had an SS Core going berserk in Yoon Eunha’s body, influencing the otherworld and eventually triggering a second Great Cataclysm. This brought about a massive upheaval, unleashing a slew of SS-class beings, culminating in a final battle against demons. You get the gist?”

“Yeah.”

That’s how it was? Well, if the writer said so, it must be true. The “dragon” just nodded along.

“With that future no longer in play, the previous villains—the Sins—might end up as the final antagonists. Growing stronger and all. I’m leaving that untouched to avoid making things even stranger.”

“Greed is in China, isn’t it?”

Of all places, one of the Sins happened to be in China. It hadn’t shown itself yet, likely lying low and gathering strength. I didn’t know how powerful it would become, but if it’s come to this, I’d need to awaken my full power to fight.

“Thanks to Kim Jaesoo’s rampage, the association is facing ruin. Well, from here on out, the story is what Yoon Eunha makes of it.”

“Yoon Eunha—that’s you, isn’t it? What am I supposed to call you then? Calling you ‘writer’ feels off. It may sound a bit conceited, but if you’re the one who created Azhdahak, you should have a name to be addressed by.”

“Fine. Let’s use each other’s real names when it’s just the two of us.”

Oh, and there’s something I was curious about.

“What’s this tattoo on my stomach? It’s reminiscent of an obscene mark or something. And these piercings on my ears and… here?”

What kind of taste did she have to do this to my body? I left the ones on my ears because they looked nice, but still…

“That? You put that on yourself back when you were a nun. You were looking up comics with similar tags even back when you were a guy, weren’t you? So I customized it for you. My lecherous little dragon.”

“Be honest.”

At my question, she rolled her eyes cutely before carefully responding.

“Sigh… Half-joking, half-serious. When you were a nun, you actually did that to yourself. I think it was even an artifact—something meant to seal your power a bit. They say you see what you want to see. Ugh. If you look closely, that ‘tattoo’ isn’t obscene. It’s Azhdahak’s insignia.”

Honestly, that wasn’t me. Even if I’d killed a billion people, that wasn’t me.

The fact that Azhdahak’s insignia looked obscene was, in the end, the fault of its creator, Yoon Eunha, wasn’t it?

“My women…”

“They’re not yours? They’re all fighting Kim Jaesoo right now because they think you’re dead.”

Still fighting Kim Jaesoo? Hasn’t Choi Siwoo gotten any stronger by now? He should’ve awakened enough to defeat Kim Jaesoo by now.

“Then I’m going.”

Since they’re “my women,” I’ve got to protect them.

“Oh, don’t go too hard; you’ll end up all achy.”

“…I’ll try my best.”

If only they’d let me rest. Anyway, a little soreness isn’t going to stop me. At least, not right now…