〈Chapter 429〉 No. 13
Aslan saw the woman before him.
The four horns on her head, her blood-red eyes, and in contrast, her snow-white hair.
Strangely, she had wrapped her long hair around her neck like a muffler, wearing a white cloak and a white dress.
This bizarre woman seemed as if she could not exist in this world, and Aslan realized that she truly did not belong to it.
She was Valerie, the daughter of the Ram.
The one who had whispered to Aslan about his fall into Geladridion, resurrected Lewena, and appeared to warn them after the Abyss fell.
With a playful smile, she half-opened her eyes and gazed at Aslan.
At one point, Aslan had thought she was a high priestess of the Dark Ram.
A tool of the Dark Ram who had absorbed immense power and gained insight into the truths and secrets of the world.
He had certainly believed that, until very recently.
Not anymore.
Aslan now understood that the woman before him was no mere subordinate of the Dark Ram.
The questions and answers exchanged after defeating the Abyss were practically an admission.
So perhaps, he thought, she was even greater than that—perhaps even a partner of the Dark Ram.
If luring humans into a world turned into a trap and devouring them could be called business.
As Aslan’s expression grew cold, Valerie playfully raised her eyebrows.
As if two gunfighters locking eyes in a life-or-death duel, the woman briefly engaged in a staring contest with Aslan before speaking.
“Well”
“Purity.”
And the moment Valerie’s distorted lips parted, Aslan sprang forward like a coiled spring released.
The leap and draw happened in an instant, shorter than a single breath, executed with minimal but perfect coordination.
‘Knight Slayer.’
Purity, which blazed with a white light from Aslan’s waist, revealed itself.
The blade of pure white momentarily shimmered black before shooting out.
It pierced through No. 13’s neck and decapitated Valerie.
As the sword reached its end, Valerie’s head, marked by black horns and pointed ears, soared unrealistically high, tinged with a blood-red hue.
“Leave my comrade alone.”
With Aslan’s growling words, Valerie’s headless body dropped its arms. The moment it let go, it collapsed backward.
Blood spurted and flowed.
An extremely realistic scene.
It was only natural that one would die when their head was cut off.
Yet, amidst this hyper-realistic scenery, an unnatural phenomenon intermingled.
“Do people these days consider women they’ve slept with as comrades?”
Aslan, having withdrawn his left hand from the double-handed sword swing that felled Valerie, stood beside the fallen corpse.
There, Valerie reappeared.
While the fallen corpse remained intact, she herself re-emerged.
As if aware, Aslan moved.
Twisting his waist, he swung Purity with one hand.
Suddenly, Purity sliced through the air, drawing a crescent moon in the void.
Its absolute cutting power wasn’t a lie—it easily pierced Valerie’s waist, splitting her in two.
The severed halves fell backward.
Ripped internal organs scattered, and blood stained the dress.
And there, as if she had been there all along, Valerie appeared again, slightly farther away.
Two stacked corpses. Aslan didn’t stop, throwing a punch with his left hand that had just let go of the hilt.
Kwa-jijik!
Though it might seem clumsy to throw a punch right after swinging a sword, Aslan’s punch had reached the realm of decisive blows.
The technique was flawless, and since he had already connected with the Divine Engine once, the amplification of his strength was far more powerful.
The punch, which required Aslan’s power to reach ten to deliver its full force, shot out.
In one blow, it shattered Valerie’s head, scattering fragments of her skull.
The headless corpse fell. Before it hit the ground, Valerie was there again.
Simultaneously, the first severed head of Valerie plummeted toward the ground as Aslan charged at her again.
Grabbing her and slamming her to the floor while punching her.
Swinging Purity to slice her.
Kicking her, shattering her spine along with her innards.
Throughout this halted world, Valerie silently endured the unreasonable violence with an irritated expression.
The slaughter stopped shortly afterward.
When the frozen world resumed its flow, retrieving time that had felt suspended in stillness, No. 13 noticed that Aslan, who had been in front of him, had vanished, replaced by countless corpses.
A staggering number of female corpses, enough to make one’s shoulders tremble in shock.
Certainly, there were thousands of bodies.
So many that raising one’s head wouldn’t allow viewing the entire expanse; No. 13 felt an eerie sensation as he looked around.
The appearance of these corpses was unmistakably familiar.
Four horns, pointed ears, red irises—it was definitive.
‘The daughter of the Ram…’
At least, the woman who claimed such a title.
Such a woman lay scattered across the ground, dead in abundance.
The scene was surreal enough to make one question if they were dreaming.
That thousands of identical people could be dead was absurd.
Even without understanding the context, it was strange, nightmarish, and illogical.
But for No. 13, it was also familiar.
Taking a deep breath, No. 13 walked in the direction where sounds were still ringing out.
Soon, he discovered two familiar figures standing face-to-face.
Aslan and Valerie.
Even as No. 13 approached, Aslan continued to strike down Valerie with his sword.
Kwa-jik!
The sound of flesh tearing, followed by spurting blood.
Before the dead Valerie’s body hit the ground, another Valerie appeared beside Aslan as if she had been there all along.
Opening her mouth with an irritated expression, Valerie began to speak, but Aslan’s punch tore apart her jaw before she could finish.
As the Valerie with the broken neck fell, yet another Valerie appeared next to No. 13.
“Are you done venting?”
The first words out of Valerie’s mouth after the slaughter ceased were these.
Without her usual playful grin, her face was wrinkled in subtle irritation.
Silence fell, and Valerie sighed.
No. 13, unable to grasp the situation, stared wide-eyed and glanced around.
Aslan sheathed his sword.
Retrieving the extinguished bronze-colored blade to his waist, Aslan looked at the countless corpses of Valerie.
The sight reminded him of a long-ago day when Lewena had defeated Beryl.
That day, Aslan had appeared and killed Valerie, who had picked up Lewena’s head.
Though he hadn’t killed her as many times then as he had now, even back then, the number had been strange enough to feel odd.
Despite repeated deaths, Valerie kept reappearing, and eventually, she had fled with Lewena’s head and body.
Back then, Aslan had wondered if maybe his strength wasn’t enough to kill her.
But trying again now, he understood.
Valerie was an entity that couldn’t be killed.
Or at least, couldn’t be killed by conventional means.
“Or have you figured it out sufficiently?”
Valerie, reading the meaning behind Aslan’s actions, asked.
Aslan said nothing, looking instead at No. 13, who, failing to understand the situation, glanced at Valerie.
Behind the two women lay countless corpses of Valerie.
Though it was something Aslan himself had done, even he felt dizzy thinking about how much he had killed.
He had killed her thousands of times.
Using different methods, he had slain her countless times.
Yet Valerie merely displayed signs of irritation, showing neither hostility nor anxiety.
She neither fled nor retreated, nor attempted to fight back, simply standing there.
Even though every Valerie corpse strewn about clearly carried signs of life.
That implied one of two things.
An illusion surpassing Lewena’s abilities.
Or an incomprehensible entity possessing thousands—or perhaps even more—lives, exactly as seen.
To Aslan, it seemed to be the latter.
Even though such a trait greatly deviated from the powers usually wielded by the Dark Ram.
Rather, because of this deviation, Aslan realized that Valerie was unrelated to the Dark Ram.
Furthermore, her presence here wasn’t part of the Dark Ram’s plans.
“Why are you here?”
Aslan spoke.
With the same irritated expression, Valerie stared at Aslan for a while before responding.
“To kill you, molest this cutie here, and ravage the Earth.”
Making ridiculous noises by clenching her fists and producing a ‘kwaang’ sound.
Given her lingering irritation, Aslan assumed his unilateral slaughter had annoyed Valerie somewhat.
Clearly so, judging by her obvious nonsense.
Valerie slowly withdrew her irritated expression and placed her hand on No. 13’s shoulder.
“I’d rather not tell you, but what can I do?”
No. 13 didn’t resist Valerie’s pull.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t resist, but rather that he saw no reason to.
Seeing this, Aslan considered several questions.
Why had the three Aslans, who had become evil deities, attacked despite seeing the ending and finishing the game, thus meeting the Dark Ram?
Why did the countless parallel-world Aslans, who were surely in states of failure and defeat, remain targets for the Dark Ram?
Lastly, if they weren’t targeting them but only him, what made him special to the Dark Ram?
Aslan had many doubts.
Thus, he formed a hypothesis.
A hypothesis solidified by the recent slaughter.
The master of this parallel world isn’t the Dark Ram.
The master of this parallel world is the unfathomable woman, Valerie, standing before him.
What Aslan had been killing were infinite versions of Valerie split across parallel worlds.
She was an entity equal to the Dark Ram.
Reaching this conclusion, Aslan noticed Valerie’s smirk falter.
Had she really been irritated?
If she truly controlled infinite worlds, could such an omnipotent being emotionally react to dying thousands of times?
Recalling the conversation inside the Abyss,
Remembering Valerie’s words about deceit being akin to seasoning, coloring, or embellishment,
Aslan wondered if Valerie had been deliberately allowing herself to die, waiting for him to piece together her identity bit by bit.
Like watching someone solve a carefully crafted puzzle from behind.
This time, Aslan’s face darkened.
Seeing this, Valerie smiled faintly.
An expression practically admitting everything.
Her mischievous grin reappeared.
As Aslan gripped the hilt again, Valerie chuckled apologetically.
“If I tease you more, you’ll get angry again. Alright, I’ll tell you.”
Clapping her hands, all the Valerie corpses disappeared.
No. 13 flinched in surprise, and Valerie patted his shoulder as she spoke.
“You’re planning to move this cutie to your world, right? Extracting just the soul and placing it in another body.”
No question of how she knew.
Valerie seemed dissatisfied with unanswered inquiries, puckering her lips.
“Don’t do it.”
She warned.
Now, Aslan frowned.
“You’ll definitely regret it if you do.”
Valerie observed Aslan’s furrowed brow as she draped her arm around No. 13’s neck and shoulder.
While No. 13 awkwardly glanced at Valerie, she spoke gently.
“Then, you’ll die. The soul will rip through the body and explode! Boom!”
Upon hearing this, No. 13’s complexion turned pale.
Clutching her own clothes, she looked at Aslan.
