#309
309. Epilogue2. Niflheim
Aaron looked under the iron railing.
The square of the spacious Taoni waiting room. People in twos and threes were lined up, each entering a different dimension.
‘Did you say it was a dissolution ceremony?’
Aaron’s hand gripped the railing.
15 days ago, the news that Moebius Headquarters had been captured by someone reached all servers.
and… … The broken world was restored like a lie.
There are at least hundreds of heroes gathered on this floor alone.
In any waiting room, something similar will happen.
Under the guidance of Moebius employees, the heroes return to their homes.
As long as you enter that dimensional door, you can return to your original home.
Of course, the heroes will lose their memories in the waiting room, and remnants of fragments will remain everywhere in the regenerated world, but compared to the past when they constantly invaded through walls, their situation was the difference between heaven and earth.
“Aren’t you going back?”
Aaron looked back at the boy standing next to him.
A purple-eyed boy wearing a black T-shirt and jeans, with a bread hat pulled down. Behind his back is a long spear.
A member of the 13th floor of Niflheim and also Aaron’s teacher, his name was Muden Nidelk.
Now, a week has passed since the Mobius headquarters collapsed.
Muden took over as administrator and remained in Taonier with Aaron.
“You said you had a sister. What was her name? Me?”
“This is Nina.”
“Oh, yes. Nina. I’m sorry about this. I’m getting older these days, so I can’t remember.”
Muden scratched his cheek and laughed.
“Master did a good job. It seems like something happened. Anyway, are you not going to go home? Your sister will be waiting anxiously.”
Aaron did not answer the teacher’s words.
A strange feeling swirled in his chest.
“Little.”
“yes.”
“Do you regret coming under me?”
“What… are you talking about?”
“I had a hard time rolling on the dirt floor, but I couldn’t swing the spear properly.”
Aaron shut his mouth.
If only I was a little faster.
I’d be lying if I said I’d never thought of it like this.
‘I’m too… … Was it too late?’
I went out of my way to help my older brother, but the timing wasn’t right.
When he returned to Taoni, everything was on the verge of ending.
‘My older brother left without saying anything to me.’
If only he had come back sooner and stayed by his brother’s side.
If only I could earn his trust.
These results may not have been the case.
“They don’t answer. It looks like it was the correct answer.”
“No, Master! It’s my negligence. It’s because I’m slow to learn. Master did his best. If I had worked a little harder, if I hadn’t been lazy, I might have been able to stop him.”
“How are you going to stop someone who wants to go? Are you going to slap them in the back of the head with a spear?”
Muden shrugged.
“Well, if it weren’t for that person, we would all have died. It’s a tearful sacrifice. Regardless of whether you’re convinced or not, it’s an undeniable fact that we all saved our lives thanks to Master.”
Aaron sighed.
‘Let’s see… … .’
I knew what kind of situation my older brother had become from hearing Yurnet.
In the twisted space-time, he started an endless fight with fragments.
‘I was lacking.’
Aaron clasped his hand.
It took countless years and efforts to obtain the power he was satisfied with.
So many that I can’t even list them all.
And finally,
Aaron realized ‘karma’, but the target he had to protect disappeared.
‘If only I had been faster.’
I had to save time to sleep, time to eat, and time to breathe.
If only I had reached the stage sooner.
‘sorry.’
He gave himself a chance to become stronger, but he betrayed that expectation due to his own inadequacies.
Endless regrets gnawed at his heart.
“What’s so droopy. It’s not nice to see.”
“but…….”
“Didn’t I say it’s a bad habit? Blaming yourself all the time. You can live with your shoulders up. Even if you search all of Moebius, there are only a handful of people who can spear you. Including me.”
“Isn’t the power useless? My brother is gone, and Taonier has returned. The tip of my spear… is lost.”
“It’s no use…”
Muden repeated Aaron’s words and smiled.
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“Well. It’s just as you said. With the game closed, the mission is over. I don’t know if there will be another chance to wield a weapon in the future. We Niflheim got what we wanted too.”
Aaron knew what Muden was talking about.
The Bifrost that Loki abandoned. If the interference power of the black demon sword was used, Niflheim could have continued in the waiting room for at least hundreds of years. Compared to the other accounts that were disappearing after the connection with the master was cut off, it was in a significantly better position. They were forced to return to their world.
“If you’re going to go back, go back quickly. This place will be gone soon. It’s not that hard to reopen the once closed dimensional gate, right?”
“I am…….”
“What lingering feelings do you have?”
Muden met Aaron’s eyes.
The emotionless boy’s purple eyes shone.
“It was your will to see the end. I didn’t stop it. If it’s your choice, accept the consequences.”
“…”
“As far as you know, Israt is already dead. By now, the Master will be a specter on the border. That’s the Master’s choice. The man left without even talking to us.”
Aaron shook his head.
The teacher’s words sounded harsh at first glance, but they were not wrong.
“Tell me, kid. What kind of lingering attachments do you have standing here?”
“I think it’s absurd…”
“Is it absurd?”
Aaron quietly opened his mouth.
“It’s like you’re forcing your older brother… to sacrifice, isn’t it?”
It is unfair.
That was Aaron’s honest impression.
Due to the sacrifice of one person, countless people could be saved.
But what about that one person?
“I didn’t force it. He said he would do it. I said he would send me back to Earth, but he kicked me?”
“…”
“This is what the master wanted. There will be no regrets. Although there will be no regrets in that state.”
“Master. No matter how much you are a master, insulting your older brother…”
“I won’t stand it.”
Aaron shut up.
“okay.”
Muden leaned against the railing.
A deep sigh escaped the boy’s small lips.
“If we had talked with the Master a little more, if we had had more trust in each other, the ending could have been different. We didn’t even explain to the Master and told him to go back to Earth. So it’s only natural that the Master abandoned us. Only the horse was the master and the hero, but in fact, it was a superficial relationship.”
Muden’s eyes narrowed.
“You said it was absurd. The world that forces the Master to sacrifice, the shortcomings of you and us, everything else… is it unfair?”
Muden looked at him.
The sunken boy’s eyes glowed with an eerie light.
‘It’s absurd.’
Aaron decided to admit it.
“yes.”
“We didn’t have any talent. So we tried to live and die. If we lived the same time, we would never catch up, so we gave up our happiness and life as human beings. Do you remember all those countless years you spent in sweat and tears?”
Thousands of days and tens of thousands of nights.
Aaron swung the spear so that his hands were swollen, his shoulders were broken, and his muscles were torn.
Without missing a day, without a single break.
Still, though… … It was too slow.
He had worked hard enough to forget himself, but the world never reciprocated him.
‘It is unfair.’
enough to shed tears.
Enough to curse the sky.
“Aaron.”
The master looked at Aaron.
With a warm expression that I had never seen before.
“You and I, swinging and stabbing each day… what was it for?”
“…”
“I regretted it every night. Why did I have to pour blood and sweat into this kind of crap? I didn’t get any results. I only got to this point with so much effort. But, what if Ridigion did it like me? He would have become the strongest in the universe.”
Muden pulled out the spear behind his back.
The gray spear blade caught the light and flashed black.
The weapon’s name is Ruin. one of the 5 miracles. It was a gray spear made with the power of chaos.
“Still, the next day, I went out with a spear again. Because it’s unfair. Because it sucks. I want to take revenge on this world. I want to prove it. I can do it. It’s not over yet.”
“……Master.”
“Take it.”
Aaron stumbled upon the object his master threw at him.
A heavy feeling passed through my shoulders.
It was Muden’s spear.
“How can I…!”
“You surpassed me. Shouldn’t the right person use the weapon?”
“I’m content with just one cage!”
“No. In the fight that follows, skill in weapons is also important. Maybe in that fight… I don’t think I’ll be there.”
“What are you talking about? The fight is over…”
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want to end it?”
Muden said.
“Then don’t finish it.”
“…”
“When someone tells you to give up, don’t give up. When they say no, don’t give up. If it doesn’t work, until it works. If you fail, until you succeed. That’s what being truly strong is. These things come together to create a miracle.”
Muden said to his disciple who was making a futile expression.
“I can’t do it because I’m old. You save the Master instead of me.”
“I understand…!”
belt ring.
What Muden was holding in his hand bounced off.
Aaron subconsciously snatched it up.
It was a purple, small iron badge.
In the middle of the badge, the pattern of Niflheim was embossed.
“Aaron Delkard.”
“Master!”
“Now Niflheim on the 13th floor. Nidelk’s name is yours. I’ve told the other kids in advance, so show them the badge and they’ll understand.”
Muden turned his back.
Aaron, in desperation, put a hand on his shoulder.
“Master, I…!”
“Don’t touch me. I’m going to enjoy my vacation for a while. Sunbathe on the Emerald Beach, huh? Hula dance with the pretty girls. Drink martinis. I will.”
Aaron’s eyes widened.
On the side of Muden’s lips exposed under the bread hat, there were small wrinkles.
‘I got old in an instant… … .’
“I’ve lived a long time. Things from the past are fuzzy now. So please do something for me. It’s an old teacher’s request.”
“……ah.”
Muden walked without hesitation.
towards the aisle at the end of the hallway.
Aaron hurriedly followed his master’s back.
“Master, isn’t it sudden! It’s too much to leave in such a hurry! At least tell me a little more!”
“Don’t hold on to me. It bothers me.”
Muden pushed Aaron’s hand away.
It was no longer the boy’s voice.
“I still need my master. To save my older brother, come with me…!”
“I am here.”
A wrinkled hand gripped Aaron’s spearhead.
“I put the years I’ve accumulated, the revenge, the absurdity, everything I have here.”
Whoops.
As if responding to Muden’s words, afterimages spread to the side of the window.
Muden let go of Aaron, who stood there blankly, and released his hand from the window.
And walked away to the end of the hallway.
“Master.”
Aaron looked at the spear in his hand.
An undecorated metal long spear and Niflheim’s badge.
It was the legacy Muden left him.
‘If you don’t want to end… … .’
don’t have to finish
Muden’s voice lingered in his ears.
“I swear with my all. After this fight, I will definitely go see Master.”
Aaron prostrated himself and bowed toward the place where the teacher had left.
Then he got up and held the long spear and Ruin firmly.
“Did you mean this from the beginning?”
Aaron murmured as he looked at the black coat hanging on the railing.
Made to fit his body perfectly, it was a special coat for Niflheim executives.
It must have been something that Muden secretly left behind.
Aaron put his coat on.
‘Nidelk.’
the name he will be called in the future.
Aaron Nidelk.
He will become the hero of Niflheim and fight.
Aaron started walking in the opposite direction from Muden.
At the end of the corridor was a hangar where airships were parked.
Muden’s colleagues returned to Niflheim.
I had to join them first.
“…”
Before leaving the hallway, Aaron looked back one last time.
The heroes who once lived and died with him were returning home.
Aaron’s sister may be waiting for him.
‘Forgive my ugly brother.’
Aaron pulled down his hood and exited the aisle.
