The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2
chapter-426

Swish.

As promised, Seong Jihan reached out his right hand towards Ashoka to use Total Annihilation.

However.

[Do you really have to use Total Annihilation on him?]

The Administrator’s hand that had to shoot the laser didn’t immediately follow the order.

[I have a bad feeling about this. I feel like he will ruin our grand endeavor.]

If ‘our grand endeavor’ referred to becoming the Red Administrator, it would be good if that got ruined.

As he thought like that, Seong Jihan ordered the Administrator’s hand.

‘It’s fine. My intuition says it’s okay. Just shoot.’

[But…]

[You’ll regret it. Definitely.]

The Red Hand grumbled like that but eventually focused its power into one place.

Red:

Total Annihilation.

Zing…!

A red light burst forward, and an intense beam of light instantly enveloped Ashoka.

It was a powerful blow that even Pythia barely blocked using Gilgamesh as a shield.

Total Annihilation was Seong Jihan’s most powerful means of attack aside from the Taiji Sword, but.

“You condensed the red’s power well.”

Ashoka received the red light attack with one hand, maintaining a serene expression.

-No, what is this?

-They’re both Level 8 constellations, but the difference between him and Eve is like heaven and earth.

-Should we search more about Siddhartha?

-I already tried, but there’s not much that comes up.

While people were once again raising questions about Ashoka, who blocked Total Annihilation too easily.

“Let’s take a proper look.”

Swish…

Behind Ashoka, a wheel made of skulls.

The Golden Wheel rose.

“Thousand Hands Thousand Eyes.”

Flash.

Light flickered in the eyes of the skulls within the wheel.

Chiiiik!

From the red wheel, dark red shadows spread in all directions.

The shadow branches, totaling 1,000.

After expanding to a certain extent, they all poured towards Total Annihilation at once.

And then.

‘Hand…’

Crack!

All thousand shadows transformed into hand shapes and grasped the beam of Total Annihilation at once.

‘This is completely blocked. I feel like the power of Total Annihilation is being thoroughly decomposed.’

What kind of Level 8 is this strong?

While Seong Jihan was thinking that, the Administrator’s hand was making more of a fuss.

[Crazy…! What did I say! I said it was ominous!]

“No. You haven’t used your full power yet, right? Use more. Red.”

[Got it. I’ll draw out more power!]

Papapat!

Energy surged again from Total Annihilation that was caught by the shadows.

As some of the 1,000 fell off here.

“You still had some leeway left. You should have used your full power.”

Ashoka advised Seong Jihan and closed and opened his eyes.

Then.

Flash!

Light spheres rose from the thousand shadows at once.

The light spheres that seemed to illuminate the shadows while coexisting strangely with each other.

‘That somehow looks similar to the Divine Eye.’

It had an appearance very similar to the Divine Eye summoned by Pythia or Seong Jiah.

And as those spheres rose.

Psssh…!

The enhanced Total Annihilation was decomposing much faster than before.

-How is that constellation so strong;

-Thousand Hands Thousand Eyes… Doesn’t it mean Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva?

-I guess it’s related to Buddhism, that person?

-No, but it looks too ominous to be Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva.

-For real, those shadows look like the hands of a demon.

The Thousand Hands Thousand Eyes that looked too ominous to be Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva’s.

However, its power was certain.

Even Total Annihilation at full power couldn’t penetrate it.

‘I need to find a way to deal with that authority.’

Turning back time seemed like it could be dealt with by using Return of the Light on this side as well.

But the Thousand Hands Thousand Eyes was different.

The thousand arms and eyes were powerful enough to instantly decompose and analyze Total Annihilation.

If a situation arose where he had to fight against him, he needed to find a way to overcome that.

[Main Body! This guy knows too well about the red’s power…! A different form of power. You have to use the void, the void!]

‘Didn’t you warn me against the void?’

[Now is not the time to be so leisurely!]

That’s true.

Swish…

Seong Jihan drew out the power of the void from his face.

Although Ashoka wasn’t such a hostile constellation, he couldn’t be helplessly overpowered like this.

At that moment.

[Cut the thousand hands with the sword of the void. So that I don’t overwhelm you.]

Ashoka’s voice resonated in Seong Jihan’s mind.

An opponent who clearly conveyed his meaning without moving his lips at all.

‘…He definitely doesn’t seem hostile.’

Shuu…

Seong Jihan summoned the dark sword Eclipse and filled it with the energy of the void.

And as he lightly swung a single slash.

Chwaaak!

The shadow of the thousand hands that easily suppressed Total Annihilation was cut in an instant.

“You found a countermeasure so quickly…”

Then Ashoka let out a low sigh as if it was regrettable.

His acting was also top-notch despite teaching it himself.

“However, I also have a move.”

Kurrr…

As the Golden Wheel turned, soon.

Time stopped.

The dark sword filled with the void.

The right hand emitting Total Annihilation, both stopped moving.

Step. Step.

Only Ashoka was approaching with a fine face.

[Don’t be flustered, stay calm. And Return of the Light…]

And resonating in the mind, Ashoka’s voice.

This time as well, like before, he was giving hints on how to break through this himself.

However.

Swish…

“Like this, resistance is possible.”

Before Ashoka could tell him the method, Seong Jihan resisted the time-manipulating authority first.

The method was simply using Return of the Light together.

Thud.

Due to that, the movement of the Golden Wheel stopped.

Psssh…!

The color of one of the golden skulls faded to a reddish hue.

-What? It’s not lagging, but it suddenly progressed with a whirr.

-It seemed like the screen was paused for a moment…

-Oh, could this have been using time reversal?

-As expected, Seong Jihan had a countermeasure!

The chat window that had stopped also instantly filled up with messages.

Ashoka was looking at Seong Jihan with a slightly surprised expression.

Then.

[I apologize for saying your talent was ambiguous last time.]

He nagged a lot before when he couldn’t complete the Taiji Sword.

I guess his mind changed after seeing him overcome time reversal with Return of the Light before even being taught.

While conveying his meaning in his mind like that, Ashoka.

“Retrieving the hand has been determined to be impossible. Master, I will carry out the second order.”

Outwardly showed a faithful attitude as the Martial God’s disciple.

“Second order?”

“I will seal that hand.”

As soon as he finished speaking.

Drrrk!

The Golden Wheel turned two rotations.

Then, the time stopped.

Seong Jihan used Return of the Light like before, but.

‘This… I can’t respond right away like before.’

Perhaps because he used more power from the Golden Wheel, Seong Jihan couldn’t immediately regain control of his body.

Swish…

While he was momentarily frozen, Ashoka, who had already approached close,

“Sleep for a bit.”

Tap.

With his finger, he poked the red eye on the back of Seong Jihan’s hand.

[What are you…! No. Wha, what is this? Why?]

Swish…

At first, it seemed to resist, but the Red Eye quickly shrank.

To the point where it looked more like a dot than an eye, only then did the shrinking end.

“Mmm…!”

And only then did Seong Jihan, who regained control, frown while looking at the instantly sealed Red Hand.

It had been a while since he was one-sidedly pushed back like this since Dongbang Sak.

Moreover, the Administrator’s Hand, why was it being sealed so easily?

‘…The opponent was weak to the void.’

To escape from the defensive, Seong Jihan tried to draw out more void energy.

However.

“Don’t do that. If you draw out more void energy, the time to talk will decrease.”

“Talk… You want to talk?”

“Yes. You and I rarely have a chance to meet directly.”

Then, Ashoka put his two hands together in a prayer position.

At that.

Kurrr!

A huge hand rose from the arena floor and enveloped the two as if hiding them from the outside.

“This is…”

“Even if time is stopped, the Administrators may observe us. That’s why I prepared this.”

If they’re inside this palm, even the Administrators can’t see here?

No, how was that possible…

When Seong Jihan looked at Ashoka as if it was absurd.

“Now that the preparations are complete. Let’s talk.”

He sat comfortably on his own palm.

* * *

“…What do you want to talk about?”

“I analyzed Total Annihilation. You… had no desire at all for unification.”

“If by unification you mean.”

“Becoming the Red Administrator.”

Seong Jihan’s eyes showed interest.

Did he also know that humanity as a species itself was the Red Administrator?

However.

“Can you know even that by analyzing Total Annihilation?”

“I can know.”

“You’re quite amazing.”

“Thank you for the compliment.”

Looking at the ever-leisurely Ashoka, Seong Jihan recalled the Ashoka from the seal.

He was quite polite.

‘Come to think of it.’

That Ashoka had given him an item.

A piece of the Golden Wheel engraved with ‘Refraining from Enlightenment’.

Seong Jihan took it out from his inventory to show him.

“This is…”

“The item you from the seal gave me. You told me to tell the future you to not forget the vow of refraining from enlightenment.”

“Refraining from enlightenment… In the endless ages, I have never forgotten that vow even once.”

“Is that so?”

“If I had forgotten the vow and attained enlightenment, I, Siddhartha, would have become Buddha… and taken the place of my disciple Sariputta.”

Seong Jihan found it absurd to see Ashoka speaking seriously.

No, he says if he just attains enlightenment, he’ll take Buddha’s place.

“Ha… Be grateful that I’m not a Buddhist.”

“Hoho. That’s a shame. There are truly many good teachings in it.”

Upon hearing those words, Ashoka laughed more joyfully than ever.

Then.

“Wait, can you hand over that item?”

“Why?”

“What the past me did was crude. I’ll complete it a bit more.”

An upgrade was always welcome.

Seong Jihan handed over the piece of the Golden Wheel engraved with ‘Refraining from Enlightenment’ to Ashoka.

Then.

Ziiing…

The piece of the Golden Wheel transformed into a small golden wheel.

“Now, you can turn back time once. Someone of your level should be able to go back up to a day.”

“…With this?”

“Yes. If you’re in danger, just break this.”

To easily make an item that turns back time by a day just like that.

Seeing the amazing authority Ashoka displayed, Seong Jihan thought.

‘Could it be that it wasn’t just a bluff when he said he could take Sariputta’s place as Buddha if he just attained enlightenment…’

If so, the real name of Buddha would have been Gautama Siddhartha.

Seong Jihan asked Ashoka, who was quietly looking at the completed Golden Wheel.

“You… Don’t you regret it?”

“Regret what?”

“Not becoming Buddha.”

“Not at all.”

Swish.

Ashoka handed over the Golden Wheel to Seong Jihan and asked with serious eyes.

“Rather, don’t you regret it?”

“Me? I have no such regrets.”

“No such regrets. Isn’t there the position of the ‘Red Administrator’?”

“Ah, that.”

Ashoka asked why he had no desire for unification, and now he was asking about this topic again.

The hand was also sealed.

Seong Jihan revealed his true intentions.

“To become the Administrator, I have to burn all 7 billion humans, who’s crazy to enough do that?”

“Even if you can revive the burned humanity after becoming the Administrator?”

“Oh… Is that so?”

The Administrator is amazing, but even that is possible?

“It’s sufficiently possible with the Administrator’s authority. You can bring the body information of those who perished and replicate them identically.”

“Replicate… Then it’s not completely the same as the original person, right?”

“From the perspective of others, not oneself, it’s no different.”

That may be true, but.

Seong Jihan thought.

‘If someone kills me and revives me through such a process by replicating me… Can I say that’s really me?’

From others’ perspective, if the replicated human is the same as the original, they might just shrug it off.

But from the perspective of the one dying, there is only one life.

Whether there is a spare replica of oneself or not, that’s not important.

“If that’s how you revive, I won’t do it.”

“Is that so…”

“Yeah. Others may be fine with it. But I can’t bear to see my family die and be resurrected like that.”

“In the end, it’s because of family? The reason for giving up on being the Administrator?”

“Well, I guess it comes down to that… Why? Is there a problem?”

Ashoka laughed joyfully and shook his head.

“No. There’s no problem at all. You are… the person I’ve been waiting for.”