Rahan, the captain of the Royal Guardian Knights of the Empire, quietly recalled the memories of that day.
Even though quite some time had passed since that incident, the memories still felt as vivid as if they had happened yesterday.
If he had done something differently that day, could things have changed?
Of course, Rahan knew that such assumptions were meaningless.
Reflecting on the past wouldn’t change anything, and while his position as the captain of the Royal Guardian Knights was by no means low, it wasn’t high enough to overturn the decisions made by the Empire.
No, that decision was practically the Empire’s collective will.
Who could possibly overturn the Empire’s collective will?
Yet, whenever Rahan had a moment of calm, he couldn’t help but revisit the memories of that day.
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…
That day was a historic moment for the Empire.
No, it was a monumental step forward in human history.
At least, that’s what everyone in the Empire, including himself, believed at the time.
With less than an hour left before the Dimensional Gate would open.
“Hey, what are you doing? You’re not scared, are you?”
Keltaim, the commander of the 47th Division of the Empire, tapped him on the shoulder.
Despite being in his 20s in appearance, Keltaim was actually well over sixty, yet he carried himself with the carefree attitude of a young man fresh out of society.
“You haven’t changed a bit, even after becoming a master and a division commander.”
“Hahaha! Wearing formalities won’t make my sword any sharper, so why bother?”
Keltaim laughed so hard that the black lion pelt draped over his head nearly slipped off.
“You’re still wearing that tacky black lion pelt? Shouldn’t you at least dress properly for an occasion like this?”
“What’s wrong with this pelt? This guy was the most challenging opponent I faced after becoming a division commander. You could say it’s a symbol of my glory. When else would I wear something so proud if not now?”
“Fine. Do as you please.”
Rahan sighed, half-resigned, as he responded to Keltaim.
The black lion pelt Keltaim wore was from a beast he had slain years ago during a massive rebellion, and he had it processed into this pelt.
“Keltaim, you’re still as frivolous as ever.”
“Ah, Nerene.”
Nerene, the commander of the 13th Division, appeared with a gentle smile, her silver hair and slightly dark skin giving her a serene appearance.
But in reality, she was a ruthless fighter, known for cutting down enemies without mercy once the battle began.
However, outside of combat, she always wore a saintly smile and had a calm demeanor.
Except when Keltaim was around.
The three of them spent time chatting amiably, perhaps to calm their nerves before the expedition to another world or simply because they had time to spare.
As the scheduled time approached, the two division commanders bid farewell to Rahan.
“Ah, it’s about time I go down to manage the troops.”
“Aren’t you just going to dump everything on your adjutant anyway?”
“Hah! But I should at least greet them before the expedition.”
“Well, good luck to you all. I’ll be standing guard for His Majesty, who has come to observe the expedition.”
“Right. Let’s bring glory to His Majesty.”
“Glory to His Majesty.”
The two division commanders saluted Rahan and returned to their positions in front of the Dimensional Gate.
And that was the last conversation they had with Rahan.
A few minutes later, the Dimensional Gate opened, and a light of an otherworldly color enveloped the soldiers.
Keltaim tore at his own throat with his bare hands, and even after his neck snapped, his master-level resilience kept him alive. He then used his own arms to completely sever his head from his body.
Nerene used two daggers to ruthlessly slash at her neck, chest, and abdomen.
But even she, with her master-level resilience, didn’t die immediately. She continued to mutilate her body for 13 minutes until she finally perished.
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Amidst the madness of his comrades dying, Rahan fled to the Imperial Palace with the Emperor and the royal family to protect them.
It was undoubtedly the correct decision as the captain of the Royal Guardian Knights.
But Rahan couldn’t deceive himself.
He knew that his decision wasn’t born out of a sense of duty or loyalty, but rather out of fear, abandoning his comrades and subordinates to flee to the palace.
How long had he struggled with guilt after that?
He had abandoned his comrades, subordinates, and even his family. If given another chance, he wondered if he should have entrusted the Emperor and the royal family to his subordinates and died alongside his comrades.
But now, the time for such nightmares was over.
It was time to end everything.
With that, Rahan tidied up his room for the last time and stepped out of the Imperial Palace.
Until recently, the palace had been sealed off by Ainshil’s Bronze Shield, making it impossible to enter or exit. But after enduring prolonged overload, the shield finally shattered, allowing free passage.
Of course, the palace was still buried under a mountain of dirt, cut off from the outside world, but that meant nothing to Rahan, who had reached the level of a master.
Using his sword to carve through the dirt and rocks, Rahan emerged outside.
The sensation of cool wind against his skin for the first time in years made Rahan realize he had finally escaped.
But he couldn’t afford to linger in sentimentality.
He hadn’t come out just to enjoy the breeze.
His goal was to close the still-open Dimensional Gate.
Even if he couldn’t send all the monsters back to where they came from, he had to at least stop more from coming through.
Using his master-level sense of direction, Rahan began walking toward where the Dimensional Gate had been.
After walking for a while…
Bubble…
Pop…
Bubble…
The sound of bubbles rising and popping.
Rahan immediately recognized the source of the sound.
It was one of the monsters he had observed countless times within the palace, the Light-Emitting Giant, a creature that had slaughtered countless comrades and subordinates.
A monster that drove people to self-harm just by looking at its light.
But Rahan paid no heed to the Light-Emitting Giant and continued forward.
No, he even quickened his pace, as if confirming that he was heading in the right direction.
“I plucked out my eyes before leaving the palace. Your light has no effect on me anymore.”
Bubble…
Pop…
Bubble…
Where Rahan’s eyes should have been, there were only blood-stained bandages.
The Light-Emitting Giant was one of the most dangerous monsters to emerge from the Dimensional Gate, solely due to the light it emitted.
But without that light, it was merely a collection of light and bubbles, incapable of any physical influence.
“I have no intention of surviving this mission anyway. So, there’s no need to cling to my eyes.”
Bubble…
Bubble…
The Light-Emitting Giant, whether it understood Rahan’s resolve or not, continued to make bubbling sounds.
Rahan pressed on, passing the Light-Emitting Giant.
As he continued forward…
“By now, I should be past the midpoint of the city… If I keep going forward… forward… Where was it?”
Suddenly, Rahan realized that part of his memory had been erased.
“Memory loss! Is this the Dividing and Merging Shadow!?”
It was the ability of another monster that had crossed through the Dimensional Gate.
When faced with multiple beings, it would merge them into one, and when faced with a single being, it would split them into multiple.
Realizing this, Rahan noticed that the presence of humans breathing in the same manner as him had multiplied around him.
“Where… where is this?”
“I can’t see… I can’t see anything!”
“Your Majesty! Where are you!?”
Though their bodies were identical copies, their memories were split, and the duplicates couldn’t tell who was the original or the real one.
No, perhaps there was no distinction between real and fake.
But amidst the confusion of the multiplied Rahans, he remained unshaken and continued forward.
“Fortunately, the memories related to the mission haven’t been split. I can keep moving forward.”
And so, Rahan pressed on without faltering.
Even when faced with a collection of all the world’s bacteria, something even a master’s body could barely withstand…
Even when encountering a walking meat factory that caused the genes of anyone it touched to go haywire, turning them into a grotesque mass of flesh…
Rahan pressed on.
“I’m almost there.”
By the time Rahan reached the Dimensional Gate, his body was in a state beyond recognition.
His eyes had been plucked out long ago, his left side swollen like a drowned corpse, and his entire body covered in pus from various infections, healing and bursting repeatedly due to his master-level resilience. His mind was solely focused on completing the mission.
Yet, Rahan finally reached the Dimensional Gate, with only the task of closing it left.
“At least my right hand is still intact. Being right-handed has its advantages…”
As he muttered this, Rahan fumbled through the dulled and blurred sensations to find the control device for the Dimensional Gate.
At that moment, Rahan felt a sharp, sour redness at the edge of his hearing.
“What… what is this!?”
It was the Polluted Sky, one of the monsters he had observed but had no countermeasure for.
“Could it have been here all along…!”
Simultaneously, Rahan felt his body hardening from the feet up, a sensation that defied normal concepts, with touch, smell, sight, taste, and hearing all jumbled together.
He realized he had been infected by the Polluted Sky.
And any creature infected by the Polluted Sky would die in a manner that defied the laws of this world.
“No, no. I just need to close it…”
But closing the Dimensional Gate wasn’t as simple as pressing a button; it required numerous complex operations, and the time he had left was far too short.
“The Dimensional Gate… the Dimensional Gate…”
As his senses became increasingly muddled, Rahan desperately moved his body.
But it wasn’t enough.
And so, Rahan, without leaving even a corpse behind, melted away into the sky like a sugar cube dissolving in hot coffee.
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And there was a being that had been watching Rahan’s struggle all along.
It was what the Empire’s survivors had named the Black Sun, and what would later be called the Black Tentacle—an outer god.
The outer gods that had crossed through the Dimensional Gate each had different impressions of this world.
Some were annoyed and angered by the mere fact that their dimension had been connected to another, some felt childlike joy at discovering a new plaything, and others lacked the intelligence to even form such thoughts.
And the being that had witnessed Rahan’s death until the very end felt curiosity toward this world.
And upon witnessing Rahan’s death, it felt interest.
In this world.
In the creatures that lived in this world.
Having felt its own emotions, the being quickly reached a conclusion.
But if it left this interesting world and its interesting creatures alone, it calculated that the dimension would begin to collapse after exactly 3.1415 revolutions.
However, the time it would take for 3.1415 revolutions was far too short for the being to explore this world and its creatures.
Thus, the being immediately took action to continue its exploration.
It would send all the other beings of its kind scattered across this world back through the Dimensional Gate.
The quicker ones had already returned to the Dimensional Gate and disappeared beyond it the moment the being made its decision.
The slower ones were personally shoved through the gate by the black being.
There was no need for the being to leave the Dimensional Gate.
Its legs could stretch endlessly, after all.
Those who resisted its will were erased.
Their very concept and existence were obliterated from this world.
And so, the black being sent all the scattered beings back through the Dimensional Gate.
And then it forcibly closed the still crackling and open gate.
The entire process, from start to finish, took exactly six rotations.
And during another rotation, the being twisted the axis of its location, hiding its body between dimensions.
Isolated from this dimension, no creature could approach it, but the being could observe this world from its position.
Though the wounds left in this dimension hadn’t fully healed, they didn’t hinder the being’s observation.
If its curiosity hadn’t waned by the time the dimension became unstable again, it could simply patch the damaged parts with fragments from another dimension.
And so, the being hid its body between dimensions, and the place where the Empire’s capital once stood was left as barren as if it had always been a wasteland.