**Chapter 426. Change**
—
The war that had seemed as though it would swallow the world finally came to an end.
The spirits ceased their rampage, and the Spirit Kings each returned to their rightful places.
“……Iquerel.”
Agnis, the Fire Spirit King, quietly gazed straight ahead.
Iquerel, the Water Spirit King, who had vanished leaving behind only her essence after being struck by the Heavenly Demon.
“She’s alive again, Agnis… Uhm… Shandy. I’m glad you’re all safe.”
Though her tone was stiff, the joy reflected in her eyes was genuine.
The Earth Spirit King, Uhm, spoke.
“The Golden Spirit granted our request.”
The one who revived her was none other than the **Golden Spirit**.
After Mammon, one of the Archlords of the Demon Realm, assaulted and destroyed the Spirit Tower, forcibly awakening the Golden Spirit, they had been swept into the **Deep Abyss**.
And during the Heavenly Demon’s assault, the Water Spirit King Iquerel had been pushed to the brink of annihilation.
Though the Heavenly Demon was slain and her essence recovered, fully reviving her had been difficult.
When the remaining Spirit Kings pleaded earnestly, the Golden Spirit brought Iquerel back.
“But… it withdrew again.”
When the Wind Spirit King Shandy spoke, Agnis shook his head.
“No. It resides within *that woman*.”
“That woman? …You don’t mean one of the Lords, Basara?”
“Yes.”
Basara, one of the Demon Lords, had come into contact with the Golden Spirit.
Since then, the Golden Spirit had been residing within her.
No—more precisely, it was *observing* through her.
*I don’t know what piqued that being’s curiosity…*
But one thing was certain.
The gears that had long been frozen had begun to turn once more.
Agnes looked around.
The Deep Abyss.
A land as barren as could be.
Yet as long as the World Tree stood here and countless spirits remained, this was not a land of death.
With firm resolve, Agnis spoke.
“We must rebuild our tower in this land.”
“Agnis… here in the Abyss…?”
“This isn’t a place where spirits can live.”
The Spirit Kings were momentarily horrified.
But Agnis did not waver.
“The World Tree will soon make this land fertile. And if we protect this land and the World Tree, our contractor will be pleased as well.”
“‘Phantom’… you mean.”
Park Hyun-myung—the one and only man who had contracted with multiple Spirit Kings.
The Spirit Kings now knew that he was Phantom.
Phantom, too, would not wish for this land to be abandoned.
Rather, he would welcome the spirits guarding it.
More importantly, being near the World Tree would naturally accelerate the spirits’ growth.
“And moreover… we cannot remain complacent any longer. We must grow stronger as well, so that our power may help in the future to come.”
“We cannot endure such a horrific event ever again.”
“…I agree, Agnis.”
The Spirit Kings reached a consensus.
Their Spirit Tower had been toyed with by no more than Mammon, one of the Archlords.
They could not allow such a thing to happen again.
They had to become stronger.
Strong enough that no one would ever dare challenge them again.
A fierce determination lit the Spirit Kings’ eyes.
“By the way… where did *he* go?”
At that moment, the Earth Spirit King Uhm asked.
At this point, there was only one being who could be referred to as *he*.
The **Sunken Emperor**.
“Now that you mention it…”
“I don’t know.”
The other Spirit Kings tilted their heads as well.
The moment everything ended, the Sunken Emperor had vanished without a trace.
*
*
At that same time—
The Sunken Emperor was in the Empire.
At the heart of the Empire, within the Imperial Palace.
In the deepest chamber there—the Emperor’s bedchamber.
“So… you’ve finally awakened.”
The Sunken Emperor looked down at a man lying on the bed.
A man who looked exactly like him—staring back with open eyes.
The Sleeping Emperor of the Empire.
The very founder of the Arhon Empire, who had slumbered for a long time.
“You are… me.”
The Emperor calmly faced the Sunken Emperor.
Anyone would normally be shocked upon seeing someone identical to themselves, but he reacted as though he had expected this moment.
Shing—
The Sunken Emperor drew his sword.
“I remember everything now. Why I was cast into the Abyss, why I wandered alone with the memories of a destroyed world.”
“…That is your destiny. You who are the Abyss itself. One of the Seven Kings—the most powerful among the Abyss Kings—the **Doppelgänger Lord**.”
The Emperor spoke with certainty.
There was no doubt.
Among the seven Abyss Kings, said to be the most powerful beings of the Abyss—
Monsters of legend, including the Celestial Whale.
Yet one among them had vanished long ago.
That was the Doppelgänger Lord.
He had wandered the Abyss in the guise of the Emperor—becoming the Sunken Emperor.
Even the Golden Mask had been nothing more than a clone born of his cells.
Despite being threatened by a drawn sword, the Emperor stretched leisurely.
“The destiny of becoming ‘Destruction’ has vanished. The eyes of the Heavens are no longer on me, but on *Phantom*. At last, I am free.”
A smile formed at the Emperor’s lips.
He felt truly refreshed.
Despite having just awakened after so long, his mind was remarkably clear.
Hearing this, the Sunken Emperor spoke heavily.
“So this was all part of your plan?”
“Of course. Everything was my design—something only I could accomplish. The fact that you found me like this is no exception.”
Everything lay within his grasp.
The Emperor calmly looked at the Sunken Emperor.
The Doppelgänger Lord had coveted his destiny.
But the Emperor’s destiny was far too vast for a mere Doppelgänger Lord to steal.
At best, it could only be *divided*.
Just as he had divided the power of Destruction among the so-called ‘Lineage’ **Spirit Souls**.
He had placed a portion of his *memories* within the Doppelgänger Lord.
“My world was destroyed by the Heavens. Because when I returned to the past, I damaged the axis of the world. And yet, the Heavens coveted my soul. The audacity…”
Simply facing the Sunken Emperor caused memories to flood back.
The Emperor’s gaze grew cold.
The Heavens had destroyed his world—and even that was not enough. They had tried to turn him into Destruction.
There was no way the Emperor would accept such a fate.
Thus, he fled to Pangaenia—
The only world that Destruction had failed to destroy.
After dividing all the power and memories of Destruction.
And now, the mantle of Destruction had vanished, and the memories he had divided stood before him.
Everything had gone according to his plan.
At least, up until now.
“Do you intend to take revenge?”
“Hah. Revenge?”
At the Sunken Emperor’s question, the Emperor scoffed.
Revenge—as in destroying the Heavens?
“I intend to become the master of the Heavens.”
He had no interest in merely destroying them.
Becoming their master was far more effective.
He was someone who had experienced the Heavens once.
The only being to ever escape from them.
Naturally, he knew the method to conquer them.
The Emperor then stroked his chin.
“However… there is an obstacle. One outside the scope of my plans.”
The being who had erased the mantle of Destruction.
Phantom.
He had always believed that someone born of his blood would eventually erase Destruction.
But instead, an entirely unforeseen existence had done so—and was now drawing the Heavens’ attention.
*To become the master of the Heavens, I must once again damage the axis of the world.*
And Phantom would not help him do that.
Rather, Phantom would likely stand against him.
To damage the world’s axis, he would need to fully recover his memories and conquer both Pangaenia and the Abyss.
The problem was that Phantom would inevitably stand in his way.
What should he do?
Phantom wished for the Heavens to disappear.
The Emperor wished to rule them.
The two could never coexist.
Persuasion was impossible from the start.
One of them would have to die.
If not now, then in the near future.
The collision of the Emperor’s destiny and Phantom’s destiny would give rise to a massive storm.
“…How ridiculous.”
Suddenly, the Sunken Emperor spoke.
Listening quietly had been absurd beyond belief.
The reason the Emperor had slept was not only because of those reasons.
“You are the Doppelgänger Lord. The body that sealed *my* power.”
He had slept simply because he was nothing more than a vessel that sealed power.
A living corpse with no memories or will.
It was only when the Doppelgänger Lord approached that he had fully awakened.
If one of them was the Doppelgänger Lord, then clearly the one with memories was the true one.
The Sleeping Emperor had merely been asleep.
Moreover, the Sunken Emperor had been hiding in the Abyss.
If the Sleeping Emperor had truly been the main body, would the Heavens have left him alive and well in Pangaenia?
The fact that cloning was possible using the Emperor’s blood was itself proof that the Sunken Emperor was the Doppelgänger Lord.
Though identical in appearance, the two were completely different beings.
Their wills—and even their purposes—were different.
Thus—
“Disappear now, specter of the past.”
Flash—!
The Sunken Emperor swung his sword.
*
*
“Your Majesty!”
“Waaah!”
Issera and Lucaria rushed into Hana’s arms.
Hana, who now bore not only the mantle of a Dragon God but that of a absolute, smiled and embraced the children.
Her expression was no longer stiff and awkward as before—it was perfectly natural.
And the changes did not stop there.
The wings that had once been made of bone were now densely covered in white feathers.
At a glance, she looked no different from an *angel*.
Who would believe she was the Blade Dragon God?
Issera, who had gone berserk, had returned to normal.
Lucaria, who had been injured, had fully recovered.
And when Hana changed, changes spread to the children and the Bloodspawn Species as well.
*…They’ve all become angels.*
Small white wings sprouted from their backs.
They could no longer be called Bloodspawn Species—
Perhaps *Celestials*, or angels, would be more fitting.
It was good news.
The Labyrinth City was gradually regaining its vitality.
But there was no time to rejoice endlessly.
Stepping out into the open plaza, graves stretched as far as the eye could see.
And at their center stood a single man.
“Raiga.”
“….”
Raiga, the Empire’s greatest swordsman.
The reason he had left the Empire and come to the Labyrinth City was simple.
Raiga spoke in a self-mocking voice.
“Albino… I thought you would outlive me.”
Albino, the chief elder of the Fang.
The legendary druid had crossed a river from which there was no return.
After inflicting a significant blow on the Golden Mask—on Annihilation.
I looked at him and spoke.
“Albino didn’t fight with everything he had. He was only trying to hold them back.”
“…Why?”
“I think he considered you family.”
“…The Golden Mask… that thing was my family?”
I nodded.
I knew his final memories because even within my inner world, I had instinctively kept watching the Labyrinth.
Raiga frowned.
“Even if he was connected to me, that’s no reason for Albino to hold back.”
“Albino said you were his family.”
“….”
“I’m sorry. I was too late to stop his death.”
“…Damn it.”
Raiga bit his lip.
When the Golden Mask led the Reaper Cult’s soldiers to attack the Labyrinth, Raiga had been protecting the Empire.
He had restrained the nobles and soldiers of the Empire so that they could not move.
Had he not done so, dozens of times more soldiers would have poured into the Labyrinth.
Raiga then shifted his gaze and looked straight at me.
“The Golden Scale Druid… the Fifth Pillar and ‘Goat,’ Phantom… is that truly who you are?”
“….”
“Was becoming my disciple also a deception? Did you intend that from the beginning? Even when you climbed the Tower of the War God?”
For a moment, I was at a loss for words.
In the end, Raiga had learned the truth as well.
His eyes, fixed on me, were filled with a sense of betrayal.
