The World After the Fall
chapter-186-30041322

'Ugh… That's why I tried to end him fast.'

Budda smiled bitterly. He knew powerful world power equal to his and Droyan was approaching. He just didn't know it was Ignis, the God of Flame.

Now, there were two Gods of the 8 Gods of [Depth].

If they were together, no one had a chance against them. Karavan shouted valiantly, "Hah! I will finish you!"

Ignis spoke to Karavan.

[…Karavan. That's a cheesy line.]

"Oh, I'm just fired up. I was pushed around too much in that forest…"

Fire began to explode around Karavan and went straight to Budda's hands. The hands that were struck down by the fire were left with holes. Budda became serious. The flame was so intense that it burned all of Budda's remaining clothes.

[What? Why are you burning down his clothes? Don't tell me you got that weird taste in that forest.]

"Heh, Why would I take off a man's clothes?"

But Budda was becoming naked. The hands were now increasing against the flames. The fight tilting toward Ignis and Karavan. Budda's spirit began melting as it couldn't fight back all the heat. Budda gritted his teeth.

'Was Ignis always this powerful?'

The flame was beyond the data he had before.

[That monk is something. I've never seen anyone take our flame for that long other than Droyan.]

Karavan nodded.

"Ra-hamad also talked about him too. There was one who was hiding power within the 8 Gods. He said Budda was one of them."

The voice was loud and Budda heard it also. With many hands clapping at once, the flame was pushed away. Budda asked, "Ra-hamad? Did you just say Ra-hamad?"

"Oh, did you hear?" Karavan cackled. Budda seemed to have realized something.

"I see. So you've been to the Forest of Madness. That's why you weren't at the 3rd site."

"Yeah. I heard about you there. God of Reincarnation, Budda. The being who went the closest to the [Eye of Geshtalt]."

[What? He went to the Eye of Geshtalt?]

Ignis was shocked. He didn't know the story either.

"Oh, yeah. He couldn't get it because he didn't understand Ouroboros… but he was close."

[What? What is Ouroboros?]

"Oh, that's hard to explain…"

And fortunately, Karavan couldn't explain as Budda interrupted.

"So you've met them."

After they exchanged a large blow, the fight came to a stop. Budda smiled.

"I see. So you also tried that training."

"Tried?"

"Yes."

Karavan laughed hard, "HAHA! You ran away during the training. You can hardly call that a try."

"…"

"They told me so many times that you and Anonymous ran away before the training was finished."

"…They spilled needless information."

Budda became cold. He didn't guess they would speak to that extent.

"Ra-hamad's training can never be finished. You would know if you tried."

"No, it can. I know a man who finished it and got his hands on the [Eye of Geshtalt]."

"Finished?"

Budda knew more than anyone how hard Ra-hamad's training was. He also had to give up on metamorphosis and had to come back out. But to find one who was successful in getting their hands on the 'eye'… it was hard to believe. Budda thought it was impossible.

"And who is that exactly?"

"That's…"

Budda's question went unanswered as the powerful world power charged at him.

"HAHAHAHA! Move out! Flame of Fire!"

The dark flame moved from the air as the living, dark dragon-like shape shot past. Droyan, who was holding his right arm with his left shouted, "HAHAHA! I never thought the day would come for me to use this power! You will fall! The humans are now done for!"

"N-no Droyan! You should leave the humans alone! And that monk is a God!"

"HAHAHA PUNY HUMANS!"

As Ignis looked at Droyan's self discussion, he spoke.

[It's been a while since I've launched a joint attack with him."

"…You're doing WHAT with him?"

[Joint attack. That's the only way to finish him at once.]

"POWER SURGES THROUGH ME! POWER OF THE WEST, TO THE SOUTH! TO THE NORTH! THE GREAT POWER OF DARK DRAGON FLAME!"

Karavan and Ignis wanted to point out all the nonsense he was blabbering about, but decided not to. The giant body of the Dark Dragon soared through the air. It circled the air once and began charging toward Budda. Karavan then sent his world power to Ignis too.

The flame engulfed the Dark Dragon and fastened it.

"THIS IS THE DESTRUCTION! THE CHAOS! THE HELL!"

The hands were destroyed against the charge of the Dark Dragon, and Budda screamed.

"AAAAARGH"

A giant explosion filled the area with world power heavily raining down from the sky.

"Oooh, look at him screaming."

Karavan landed on the ground as he tapped on his body. There was no Budda anymore. He had perished instantly against the huge power. Karavan panted and said, "I did what I could do, Jaehwan."

Droyan's body seemed to be drained of energy and he slumped down to the ground.

"Heh, heh… My victory… heh…"

Karavan looked down at Droyan with a sympathetic look. One eye that had no eyepatch had tears falling down.

"Ugh, poor Vicegerent. Why was he mixed up with this God…"

[Poor guy. You should thank me.]

"Yeah. So, what should we do with him now?"

[Take him. He'll still be of help.]

"…Right."

[So, when are you meeting those Fallbringers? You can let them take him.]

"Fallbringers? Hmm… Let me contact Jaehwan then…"

As Karavan began to control the long communication setting, Ignis felt weird. He had never seen Karavan that excited when he was with him. Ignis advised Karavan.

[Karavan. It's good that you're fighting Rupture, but don't befriend that Jaehwan too much…]

But then, Karavan suddenly became pale and as Ignis shouted alarmingly, Karavan jumped up into the air. In that instant, countless hands slammed the ground.

And unfortunately, there was a being that was struck. It was Droyan.

"Ugh… Mi… Mimi… I was happy too.."

"M-me too… Droyan…"

Droyan's body that lost energy perished into dust. Droyan's world power was then sucked somewhere. It was hard to explain what had happened.

From the air where the world power sucked in, a flower appeared. And from the flower, Budda, who had perished moments ago, appeared in naked form.

"Argh.. agh…."

Budda vomited as he dropped down and looked down at himself. Karavan frowned, "Go-God. What is going on? How did he…"

[…Don't ask. It's my first time seeing it. I did hear the rumors, but I guess they were true then.]

"Rumor? What rumor?!"

[…That he doesn't die.]

Budda said, "I see. So it's come down to this again. The 1617th one died… it always feels uncomfortable."

Karavan looked at Budda standing up in disbelief.

'Wait… is that…?'

Karavan saw something similar in the forest. The Long Living race often showed that through Ouroboros, as if they had come out of their own shells.

Process of taking off their clothes.

Metamorphosis.

"So, you are the one that killed me. The one that was trained by Ra-hamad."

"You… but how…"

Budda smiled as he saw Karavan looked at him in disbelief.

"I see. So, you know about the 'clothes'."

Karavan flinched. He felt his hairs rise at the sight of the eye of Budda.

'That eye! That's…'

There was the form of a snake spinning within the eye. Karavan had seen something similar before. Jaehwan's eye, after earning the Eye of Geshtalt, looked like that. The only difference was that Budda's snake did not bite its tail. It wasn't a perfect Ouroboros.

-He has not gotten to the [Eye of Geshtalt], but he had gained another [Setting] using the power of Metamorphosis.

Karavan then realized this power was what he got from the forest. He should've asked Ra-hamad more about that Setting. It was a mistake.

With world power that decreased by very little, Budda looked the same. One layer of clothes disappeared and he was revived like magic.

Karavan widened his eyes in shock.

"…How can this be?"

"So, you understand."

Budda shouted, "All beings are the collection of many clothes! If one is ripped apart, you just have to throw it away."

A Setting that allowed one to come back to life just by sacrificing one layer of clothing.

[Reincarnation]

It was the Setting that allowed Budda to be considered one of the 8 Gods of [Depth].

"I am immortal."

Karavan stepped back. Disbelief and fear came together.

"That's impossible.."

Ignis shouted within him.

[Calm down, Karavan!]

World power began to storm within Karavan. The flame exploded and heat filled the air. The hand began to melt down, but Budda smiled.

"Go on. Come as much as you can."