The Main Characters That Only I Know

The death of Mara Papias, who was called the Nightmare of the Hybrid Realm.

Seo Sumin's expression, having achieved this great feat, was tranquil without a hint of excitement.

As if it was only natural.

Seo Sumin looked up at the sky. Despite her fierce battle with Mara Papias, the tide of the war hadn’t improved.

Newly appearing fortresses and the Elohim forces pouring down like rain continued to push the allied forces back.

Even now, she could see the Elohim slowly approaching, targeting her from a distance.

Thud.

Seo Sumin collapsed to the ground, almost as if she’d sunk into her spot.

‘I have to move…’

Her body wouldn’t listen. Although she had gained a new realization, she had no strength left in her body.

It was a kind of rebound effect.

She had expended far too much energy. She should have spent time refining and developing the new skill, but she had skipped that process and used it directly in battle, so this was only a natural consequence.

In the first place, even using Baekgong Punch in such a dire moment was close to a miracle.

‘Is this… the end?’

Sitting on the ground, she weakly lifted her head to gaze at the sky.

Countless angels of slaughter descended toward her. Without caring about her condition, they would only hurl their spears mechanically.

The future painted by that scene was undoubtedly a gruesome one.

‘Even at the end… I wanted to see him.’

She had defeated the enemy. She had overcome the barrier. She thought she stood at a peak beyond which there was nowhere further to go, only to realize there was still another step.

Rather than feeling proud of her accomplishments,

‘I also…’

She felt regret.

She wanted praise from Yu-hyun. She wanted to hear that she’d done well, that she’d tried her best.

Considering even the life after her reincarnation, she, who should have been the most mature… in this moment, she desperately longed for him, simply as Seo Sumin.

‘I waited a long time too, for five years.’

When Kang Hye-rim became the Black Thunder Lord, when Kwon Jia roamed the Hybrid Realm in search of Yu-hyun’s traces, and when Yoo Young-min became the Mercenary King to gather Fragments, ʀã𝐍ỗ𝖇Èṥ

Seo Sumin had remained with the alliance, continuously waiting for Yu-hyun to return.

She simply waited.

Because she believed someone, at least, had to guard this place.

‘A foolish man.’

He must have gone forward without looking back. Both in the past and now, he hadn’t changed in that regard.

Though she felt a sense of resentment over it, she had liked Kang Yu-hyun because he was that kind of person.

Because he was braver, more upright, and more tenacious than anyone else, he had brought light into her world.

‘Light.’

Was this like seeing the light before death?

Seo Sumin saw an exceptionally strong light shining toward her through the Elohim.

“Huh?”

No, it wasn’t an illusion.

Flying towards her against the light was a familiar face riding a giant white owl.

“Kang Yu-hyun?”

No. No, she’d been mistaken because of the resemblance. The one flying toward her on Baek-hyo was not Kang Yu-hyun.

“Sumin! Grab my hand!”

“Yura?”

Kang Yura, flying low, reached her hand out toward Seo Sumin. Watching this, the Elohim wouldn’t stand idly by and all at once threw their spears.

Red spears rained down from the sky. Baek-hyo, performing acrobatic maneuvers that seemed unfitting for its large frame, rapidly approached Seo Sumin.

“Sumin, hurry!”

“Ah…”

At Kang Yura’s urgent cry, Seo Sumin instinctively extended her hand.

Though there wasn’t a single ounce of strength left in her body, a desire not to die must have triggered one last miracle, allowing her to move just one hand.

And so, as Baek-hyo closed the distance,

“Got you!”

Kang Yura grabbed Seo Sumin’s hand and pulled her firmly.

“Yura… how did you… get here?”

“I’ll explain later! Right now, escaping is our priority!”

There was no time to properly seat Seo Sumin behind her. Kang Yura held Seo Sumin tightly in her arms and urged Baek-hyo to fly even faster.

“Baek-hyo! Fly like your life depends on it! If you don’t, we’ll both die! Got it?”

Hoo!

Being a divine creature, Baek-hyo sensed the seriousness of the situation and flew at its maximum speed. Breaking the sound barrier and transforming into a white streak of light, Baek-hyo pierced through the ranks of the Elohim at high speed.

‘I… did I survive?’

Seo Sumin, who had thought she was as good as dead, couldn’t believe she was still alive.

At first, she thought it might be a dream. That maybe, because she so desperately didn’t want to die, she was seeing a hallucination of her deepest desire just before death.

But.

‘It’s warm.’

The warmth of Kang Yura’s embrace.

And the pleasant scent coming from her.

All of it told her this was not a dream but reality.

“Thank you…”

“Thank you? I only did what I had to. You’re my dear friend, Sumin.”

“Yes, that’s true…”

“So, let’s survive together. Let’s win this war and return to how things were.”

Return to how things were.

Those words quietly resonated in her heart.

Both Kang Yura, who had spoken them, and Seo Sumin, who heard them, knew they could never truly go back to how things were.

Yet, they spoke these words because they hoped for a better life than the one they had now.

Because they were human.

Because they were human.

“And look over there.”

Following the direction Kang Yura pointed, Seo Sumin saw the allied forces fighting with all their might against the enemies.

Despite the despair the Elohim’s appearance could bring, the allied forces instead regrouped, building a new front line and doing their utmost to defend against the onslaught.

Having sent Yu-hyun to the innermost part of the shrine, their mission now was to hold the line.

And now, the allied forces, true to their name, were joining together and fighting against the enemy.

“They’re all fighting.”

Not far away, a massive sword slash soared high into the sky.

The enormous intersecting sword strikes, forming an X shape, cleaved the sky and reached a portion of the shrine.

“That’s…”

“Do-yoon oppa is fighting.”

But didn’t that sword strike seem like there were two of them, despite it looking like it came from one person?

Did he have another helper? Yet, such a clean sword strike could only have come from Choi Do-yoon.

‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.’

Seeing him brimming with power like that, it was clear that the battle there wouldn’t last much longer.

The battles of Kang Hye-rim and Kwon Jia, which she felt from other areas, also seemed to be nearing their end, and the skirmishes of the elite forces were reaching their climax.

‘So, only Young-min is left…’

Seo Sumin thought of the unreliable youngest member of White Flower Management. She wondered if she should help him, but it was obvious that in her current state, she’d only become a burden.

More importantly, she didn’t feel it was necessary because of the presence of the Divine Spirit with Yoo Young-min.

Seeing the world beyond the white expanse, Seo Sumin instinctively sensed what would happen in Yoo Young-min’s battle.

‘The fight will be decided within five minutes.’Nôv(el)B\\jnn

While she couldn’t know the outcome, if it was the Yoo Young-min she knew, he wouldn’t start a fight he couldn’t win, so there was nothing to worry about.

"Whew. I'm dying here."

Yoo Young-min narrowly dodged the arrow of light fired by Ahura Mazda and let out a sigh.

"Why on earth did I get myself into this fight?"

Although he usually only engaged in battles he was certain to win, that didn’t apply to fighting Ahura Mazda.

In fact, fighting Ahura Mazda was more of an emotional response driven by anger over the deaths of his subordinates.

And his pride also played a part, as he couldn’t be the only one to back down when everyone else was fighting hard.

“Stop with the nonsense and focus,”

Mephisto sighed and moved close to Yoo Young-min.

He wanted to throw in a harsher jab, but now wasn’t the time.

A bright explosion erupted on the edge of his vision, a sure sign of the impending attack, as they’d learned from the relentless exchanges up until now.

As Mephisto extended his arm, a five-layered transparent barrier appeared in front of him.

At the same time, the arrow of light struck the barrier and deflected, shooting off in a different direction.

Swoosh!

The sight of light bending and scattering in all directions was a spectacle to behold.

Spatial distortion—an ability with an excellent synergy against Ahura Mazda’s light-based attacks.

“You’re persistent. But how long can you keep blocking like that?”

Ahura Mazda wasn’t particularly surprised his attack was deflected. Knowing his opponent was Mephistopheles, he instead intensified his assault.

If Yoo Young-min and Mephisto bent the space and deflected the arrows of light, all he had to do was make his attacks broad enough to hit even with a deflection.

Yoo Young-min and Mephisto instinctively sensed the massive attack coming their way.

“Mephisto, can’t you stop time again?”

“Do you think stopping time is some kind of cure-all? I’ve already used up too much power and can’t do it anymore.”

Mephisto’s power was mighty but consumed a lot of energy.

Time-stopping was an overwhelmingly powerful ability, yet all Mephisto could do was stop time—no more, no less.

His abilities were limited to defense and support, so even when fighting other first-generation Divine Spirits, he could drag the fight out but never secure a win.

Especially when facing someone like Ahura Mazda; even if he fought with everything he had, a draw was the best outcome he could hope for.

Using most of his power to send Yu-hyun to the heart of the shrine, Mephisto could now only distort space, unable to even create the miniature black holes that had disrupted the Elohim.

The best he could do was distort Ahura Mazda’s light attacks.

“So could you try hitting him already? You have those bullets I gave you, don’t you?”

“I’d love to if I could.”

Yoo Young-min’s gaze tracked Ahura Mazda’s position. He used every possible skill a sniper could to lock onto his target, but he still couldn’t keep up with Ahura Mazda’s movements.

“How am I supposed to hit someone moving at the speed of light?”

“Isn’t that what a sniper does?”

“Who on earth can snipe light?! Why don’t you shoot, then, Mephisto?”

“I don’t use guns. When I can stop time, why would I shoot? Ridiculous.”

“You can’t stop time now!”

Watching them bicker, Ahura Mazda smirked.

Even as he listened to their silly exchange, he didn’t let his guard down. He could tell Mephisto was stalling and that Yoo Young-min would take the chance to try and strike him down.

‘In any case, time is on my side.’

All he had to do was buy time and avoid their decisive moves.

Zeus, Odin, and others had died in battle, but he was different.

‘I don’t let my guard down. If there’s a hidden bullet, I’ll just dodge it.’

Ahura Mazda continued moving at the speed of light to drag out time. Transforming into light meant he couldn’t attack, but he had long since turned this disadvantage to his favor.

‘No matter how many times they pull the trigger, they’ll never hit me.’

It was arrogant for a mere human to make a god so wary, but Ahura Mazda decided to take it in stride.

With other usurpers falling one by one, he now had the opportunity to gain more power as long as he survived.

For that moment, he could tolerate his current annoyance as nothing more than temporary patience.

Ahura Mazda immediately unleashed a massive pillar of light.

Mephisto took Yoo Young-min and warped through space to a distant spot.

From afar, they saw a massive explosion and a mushroom cloud rising where they’d just been.

“It seems he’s not underestimating us after all.”

“Hmph. Indeed. So bluffing didn’t work either.”

Seeing Ahura Mazda still keeping his guard up and engaging only in calculated attacks, they realized their plan had failed.

They’d tried to lure him into a false sense of security, but Ahura Mazda was reacting more rationally than expected.

“Maybe he’s feeling a sense of crisis after the deaths of Zeus, Odin, and others.”

“So now, what do we do?”

“What do you mean, what? There’s only one way.”

“And that is?”

“To shoot and hit light.”

“…Were you serious about that?”

Yoo Young-min asked if he was in his right mind, but Mephisto was dead serious.

“You can do it.”

“No, but how?”

“See it. Not the light itself, but the space beyond where the light is headed.”

Beyond space?

Wasn’t that basically telling him to predict the future and shoot?

If Maxwell’s Demon were here, they wouldn’t even have to think twice. Probability adjustment could make the near-impossible a reality, and they’d have a chance.

But with no Maxwell around, such a feat was impossible for Yoo Young-min now…

“It’s possible. I guarantee it.”

“Really, it’s possible?”

“Yes, it’s possible. You don’t have to track it constantly. All you need is a split second. Less than 0.1 seconds, just a tiny moment. That’s all it takes.”

“…Alright, I’ll give it a shot.”

“Good.”

By now, they could see the light approaching from a distance, having pinpointed their position.

“This is a one-shot chance. The timing window is extremely short, and the probability of success is slim. Honestly, it’s a ridiculous plan.”

“…Is this supposed to be an encouragement?”

“You can do it. You’ve followed the back of someone who made the impossible possible.”

“….”

Seeing Mephisto smiling at him, Yoo Young-min was speechless.

Not a word was wrong; in fact, it made him want to laugh bitterly.

Yes. That’s right. He hadn’t endured five years just to fall in a place like this.

“Let’s do it.”

“Good resolve.”

Simultaneously, light descended from the sky.

It was a divine punishment, a judgment from a god against a demon and a human.