The Hero Returns

After passing the trial on the 215th floor, Su-hyeun and Shiva enjoyed a brief break before they were ready to move on to the next floor.

They had been moving forward constantly without rest for half a day already. Even if his magical energy reserve was infinite, and therefore didn't require time to recover, Su-hyeun still had to exert his physical strength and needed a break as a result. It was the same deal for Shiva.

They took about one hour of rest for every floor or so.

The break itself wasn't that long. Still, Su-hyeun had been waiting for this moment to get his question in.

"Explain properly what you told me earlier," Su-hyeun said while sitting down in front of Shiva after they met up in an agreed location. "Are you really telling me to take over Vishnu's role?"

"Well, your face is the same as ours, and you do have the ability, so why not?" Shiva replied and then laid down on his back to make himself comfortable. "You're still some ways off in the latter department, though."

"You mean compared to you, right?"

"Correct. And that's why I said you need to be strong enough for the job. You need enough strength to stop me."

Shiva was saying that Su-hyeun needed to stop him? What a laughable notion that was if you heard it out of context. Nonetheless, it seemed somewhat understandable.

"Didn't he say dying causes his memories to get wiped out?" Su-hyeun inwardly pondered.

Probably, not all of his memories would get lost in the process. Things like his basic knowledge should still be preserved, for instance. At the very least, he would be aware of the reason for his existence, which was to destroy the universe.

Shiva was different from Brahma. He experienced death at Vishnu's hands and rebirth repeatedly.

"I thought the reason for your whole existence is to destroy? If so, why do you wish me to stop you?"

"Destruction is the reason for my existence... Well, that's technically correct, sure. However, it's only for the sake of an even better universe, you know."

"An even better universe?"

"That's my role. Brahma's job is to create a better universe, but when that universe becomes corrupted, it's my job to destroy it." Shiva brought his hands under his head to support its weight and continued to mutter with a tone containing just a hint of emotion. "As for the order of things, it's gone completely out of whack."

The order he was talking about, of course, was Vishnu.

Su-hyeun made a surprised and complicated expression. What he heard just now made him view Shiva in a different light.

"I always thought he was just an insane murderer, though..."

From Su-hyeun's perspective, Shiva sounded like an evil being that wrought destruction. A crazed mass murderer who enjoyed destroying and killing'”the worst mass murderer imaginable'”that was how Su-hyeun thought of Shiva until now.

"You sound like you're not confident about that."

"Even now, I'm not confident about it, and more so when it concerns the next version of me."

"The next version?"

"Dying will change me, after all. Who knows how I'll end up as. Will my personality be the same as now, or will I become a madman blindly pursuing the path of destruction?"

The latter possibility was what Su-hyeun initially believed Shiva would be like.

"What do you see yourself as now?"

"Now? I'm pretty normal, I think."

"In that case, why do you wish for destruction? From what I can see, this universe is still quite livable."

Until now, Su-hyeun thought saying these things were unnecessary. Even so, he chose to say them out loud now. He figured that it might be possible to change Shiva's mind here.

"Well, sure, that might be true. If that's what you think, I fully respect that. Even so, my thoughts are different from yours."

"Does it have to be this way?"

"Even if this universe is fine, the next one could be even better. That's what I think."

People's lives weren't significant to Shiva. It wasn't even the process of destruction or the continued existence that mattered to him, either.

"An even better universe, hmm'¦"

As he said earlier, he wished for a better universe. Brahma's creation and Shiva's role of destruction were all a means to achieve that end.

It didn't matter what the current universe was like. Once Shiva decided that the next universe could be better, he would start moving without hesitation. However, he was not an existence that desired wanton slaughter for no reason whatsoever.

"Even so, I can't back down here."

Su-hyeun now understood Shiva's intention.

He now knew that Shiva was not a simple monster. He even thought that, just maybe, Shiva's goal could lead the universe in a better direction than what he could ever do.

Even so, nothing had changed.

"Not sure if I can humor your request there."

"Why not?"

"Because I will never be able to go along with your plan. I'd rather search for another way, instead of agreeing with the idea of wiping out the existing universe to rebuild it again."

"Meaning you're denying Brahma and me then."

"In a way, yes."

"Hmm..."

"What's up with that? Sounding like an old man all of a sudden."

Shiva sat up then began rubbing his chin. He seemed to be pondering something.

He finally got up before waving his finger around in a circle. Then, an enormous magic circle at least dozens of meters in diameter was created around Su-hyeun and Shiva.

"An illusion-type magic circle?"

It seemed that Shiva wanted to show something.

Su-hyeun didn't try to reject the effects of the illusion magic coming from the magic circle, but a magic formula of this degree was easy enough to break if he wanted to.

The surrounding scenery gradually changed. Shiva began floating in the air next. "See for yourself first and make up your mind afterward."

A blue planet could be seen below Su-hyeun's feet.

"Is that Earth?"

The planet he called home?

That was what he initially thought, but it wasn't Earth after all when he took a closer look.

"It does resemble Earth, but the outline of the continents are completely different."

It was indeed a spherical blue planet.

However, only the outer shape seemed the same, while the continents making it up were quite different from what Su-hyeun remembered. Meaning this planet merely resembled Earth and nothing more.

"This is a small part of the previous universe that I destroyed," Shiva explained what was going on, prompting Su-hyeun to take another look at the planet below, his expression now changing.

It was so far down below, and he couldn't see much. Even if he used Insight, this was still an illusion at work. He couldn't see anything as a result.

"Now, take a good look at what kind of world it was."

Fuu-wooook...

Along with some noise reminiscent of winds blowing, the surrounding scenery changed once more.

This time, it was a village populated by people.

Drip...

Su-hyeun felt sticky wetness underfoot.

"Blood?"

The ground was soaked in blood. He scanned his surroundings and discovered people fighting without screaming or yelling.

While wielding swords and spears, sometimes even farming tools, people attacked each other with these deadly weapons. Why they were fighting like this was unclear.

What was evident, though, was that their crimson eyes were filled with only hatred and desire to kill.

"Can you guess why they are fighting?"

"No, of course not."

"Even if it's unpleasant, you need to keep watching. You can see that they are divided between those with farming tools and those with proper weapons, right?"

When Shiva said that, Su-hyeun more or less figured out the overall situation here.

"Are they trying to take away another village's land?"

"Correct."

"So what? Fighting over territory is nothing new. It happened all the time throughout history..."

"That's not the main issue."

When Shiva replied like that, Su-hyeun frowned a little and looked back at the Primordial God, silently asking for more clarification.

"If it's merely a fight over some land, then sure, it's nothing special. However, what if that wasn't the real purpose?"

"Okay, what then?"

"Tell me, does it look like that's their true objective to you?"

Su-hyeun heard that question and began observing the people's expressions a lot closer than before.

If it was a battle over some land, then the eyes of the aggressors should display some signs of the fervent drive. On the other hand, those defending their land should show desperation to survive.

"I don't see any of those in them."

Despite the messy, bloody battle, those two emotions were nowhere to be seen on their faces.

The whites of their eyes were dyed crimson as sheer madness burned in their irises. Only one thing could be sensed in those eyes.

"Delight... hmm'¦"

Feeling such a thing while taking another person's life?

This couldn't be normal. This was what Su-hyeun initially imagined Shiva would be like: a crazed mass murderer and a bastard that derived much entertainment while killing others.

All these people were behaving like that.

"Taking over their land is no longer their goal. It's just a pretext for them. It doesn't matter what excuses they could've come up with; as long as they can kill someone, it's all good for them."

A war where the real goal was never about taking over the land: what they wanted was not some delicious food, warm clothing, nor even nice houses to live in.

"They are not normal."

"Correct. This isn't a normal world."

Su-hyeun muttered in dismay, to which Shiva promptly replied.

Although he muttered that without realizing it, Su-hyeun didn't get flustered. After all, he was being honest, and Shiva agreed with him, anyway.

Not an ordinary world, he said.

If they were not under some mind control, if this were their true selves, then it would be more fitting to call this place hell.

"And that's why I destroyed it."

"Oh."

"Still think I'm in the wrong here?"

Thoughts tangled up messily inside Su-hyeun's head.

What was right and wrong here?

Even now, the people before his eyes were fighting madly away. Su-hyeun knew that this was not a simple illusion.

It was easy enough to figure that out by studying the type of magic circle on the ground.

This was not a spell for creating fake images but for displaying someone's memories. The spell simply used the medium of illusion to show them. It was not meant to harm someone.

These were memories inside Shiva's head'”the previous universe, already destroyed and gone.

Consequently, Su-hyeun reflected on the things he had gathered so far. "If it's a world like this..."

Maybe, it was better to destroy everything and create a new universe instead.

"Sometimes, it's better to throw away the old and start with something new. Not to forget, Brahma has been preparing for that new start for a very long time already. So, there's a higher chance of a better universe being created, too."

"You're surprisingly rational, Shiva."

"Well, that's my role, after all. And Brahma's, too."

Su-hyeun's thoughts were more or less made up now.

He also confirmed how sincere Shiva was. Shiva's way could be the correct answer if the world were really like this.

"Keeping the order, huh?"

The unavoidable fate of all the Primordial Gods was undoubtedly a heavy burden to bear.

One such fate was "order," and Shiva wanted to leave that up to Su-hyeun.

For the sake of this, he did not fear Su-hyeun surpassing him at all. As for why Shiva chose to show the old destroyed universe? It could only have been one reason.

"He wishes to be understood. Probably."

Maybe, this was Shiva's way of explaining to Su-hyeun that the current universe must be destroyed'”that the next universe could be even better.

It wasn't as if Su-hyeun completely sympathized with that idea, though. The universe was unimaginably vast, after all. What he was shown today amounted to nothing more than a tiny part of it.

Still...

"Even after seeing this, I still feel that I need to stop you."

The time wasn't right.

Su-hyeun could see why Shiva went ahead and destroyed the previous universe. He wasn't sure what his actions would be if he found himself in Shiva's shoes. Still, he had a feeling that Shiva's decision had been the right one.

If he were Vishnu, he probably wouldn't have stopped Shiva from destroying a universe like the one in the illusion.

However, the current universe had not reached that point yet.

"If it's later, then maybe."

At least, he learned one thing: that time could change not just people but even the world they lived in and also the universe itself.

Shiva, Brahma, and even Vishnu existed to change those universes.

"That alone is enough for me," Shiva nodded in satisfaction as if he liked that reply.

Soon afterward, the surrounding scenery disappeared. Su-hyeun and Shiva returned to the world before the illusion.

Shiva waved his hand around to erase the magic circle, "For now, let's worry about stopping Vishnu first."

"Right."

For now, Vishnu came first.

Su-hyeun wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment.

Whatever Shiva's goal was, dealing with it had to come later. If Vishnu succeeded in erasing this universe and killing Brahma, then all these conversations would be rendered pointless.

"It should be soon," Su-hyeun thought.

What a long and arduous battle it had been from before the regression when he was still Kim Sung-in. He then went on to kill Fafnir, defeat Uranus, and annihilate Osiris. He overcame one challenge after another.

He could feel that the end was almost around the corner.

[The 216th floor's trial will now commence.]