Above Your Head Vol 2. Chapter 44: Destruction vs Destruction vs Destruction (1)

Vol 2. Chapter 44: Destruction vs Destruction vs Destruction (1)

Boom. After the ma.s.sacre that was too brutal to signify the end of a battle, I went down to the front of Gw.a.n.ghwamun Gate. 'I tried to be as careful as I could, but it seems that the Entry Barrier is still being maintained. It's pretty good for a Low-rank transcendent.' I crossed Gw.a.n.ghwamun Gate's site, which was now completely destroyed and barely any trace of it remained.

"..."

"..."

There were over a thousand people waiting for me in a huge crowd. They seemed to have tried standing upright and looking straight ahead, but failed to do so convincingly. They were as pale as a sheet of paper, and trembled. Although they possessed great strength and status that could be counted with one hand among the remaining ability users of the Lee Family, they staggered from the wind. They struggled to even stand.

"Hmm." As I saw that sight, I pondered about it again. 'Should I kill them?' If it were under usual circ.u.mstances, I wouldn’t have given it a second thought. Originally, I could exterminate them simply because I was offended by the sight of them, I thought they would harm me, or I believed them to be unnecessary. Otherwise, I could exterminate them because I just wanted to. However, right now, I couldn't do so. Of course, it wasn't because I was reluctant to kill. 

Roarrr! I could hear the sound of something collapsing and pouring down. Blood was gus.h.i.+ng through the city's sewers… The Zhu Family's army was wiped out. It was different from the total annihilation that was commonly discussed in modern warfare. The damage that the Zhu Family received was not a complacent loss of troops that amounted to only 20 to 30 percent. It was 150,000 superhumans. Everyone was exterminated without a single exception, so there were more than 150,000 dead bodies at the usually quiet Gw.a.n.ghwamun Square, which no longer had any s.p.a.ce to step on.

Wiiiiingggg. Ares sat on one knee and opened his head. I climbed to the top of his hand. Then, he put me down in front of the members of the Lee Family that crowded around. 

"..." I looked at them without saying much. I was still pondering about it.

"Thank you for your help." 

"I never helped you all." I cut off the words of the Imperial Princess who opened her mouth after a long while. I was in no mood for a conversation. To be honest, I didn't even know why I got down from Ares and came forward to stand in front of them.  "..." Why was it? For what reason? Was something on my mind? I stared at the ability users of the Lee Family, seeing in the fear in their eyes.

The ability users of the Lee Family appeared to be looking at something incomprehensible, as if they were in the face of horror and disaster.

However, only one person was different. It was Min-kyung, the Imperial Princess who stood at the very front. She was standing arrogantly, but I could hear the sound of her weeping. She was crying out from sadness. Still, she was desperately trying to bring herself together and concentrate on the current situation.

"Ahh." Only then did I realize why I was standing here.

"I'm sorry for doing things as I please till the very end, Dae-ha. But still. Please take care of her."

' I see.' As Min-kyung was looking at me with eyes that shared an affectionate gaze with hyung, I realized the fact that even if I was a being born with a Divine Spirit, and that I was an existence above a human being… I was still just a human being tied up in a relations.h.i.+p. 'Ahh.' At that moment, my consciousness, which had completely a.s.similated with 'me', surfaced. As that happened, I naturally had a consciousness that was different from what 'I' had so far. What was unusual was that 'I' did not recognize that fact at all. That was why...

"You, you were hyung's lover, right?" Unlike me, who was pondering even in the midst of the ma.s.sacre, 'he' said in a voice full of arrogance, "Mourn."

"...!"

Min-kyung glared at me, who suddenly remarked, but I continued as if I did not see her reaction, "And live your whole life yearning for the human Kwan Yeong-min."

"...!" Even Min-kyung, who had controlled herself as much as possible till now, trembled all over at this moment. She clenched her teeth and shouted, "How could you?!" Along with a 'Whooosh', an intense heat was emitted. As she got agitated, her superpowers began to exert influence on the Physical Realm. "How could you say that?! I, I am...!"

"Is that a no?" In spite of the desperate affection, 'I' did not even blink an eye. I was dumbfounded and muttered silently, 'You crazy dude. How could you ask such a question in such a situation?’ My veins were so thick that I could probably use them as a blunt weapon. In the midst of all this, perhaps I should be thankful if she even thought of my brother. 

"...No."

"If so." I smirked and laughed. "There's no need to purposely annihilate humanity."

"...!" Min-kyung trembled in an instant. She wasn’t the only one, because the thousand over ability users of the Lee Family who listened in on our conversation also reacted intensely. Some of them even jumped in place. "What, what did you say?"

"No, wait, is this perhaps..." A commotion was stirred up. The already white faces turned completely blue. One of them even groaned in disbelief. "The prophecy of destruction..."

"What?"

"No, it's not!"

The person who shook her head was someone I was familiar with. It was Min-kyung's younger sister and my cla.s.smate, Kyung-eun. However, I gave her a glance and turned away while ignoring her. "Genie."

Large-scale Recall. Executing it.

There was a flash of light and I moved to the Albatross s.h.i.+p's bridge deck. Needless to say, all the Gigas and fighter jets that were deployed returned to the Albatross s.h.i.+p. I stood at the bridge deck and looked at Gyeongbokgung Palace which was moving further away. Due to the urgent situation, the Albatross s.h.i.+p which had come down to the atmosphere was emerging. 

I could feel 'my' heart.  His mind was complicated. He was sad. He was cooling down. He was annoyed. He was bored. He was lonely. "Yeah." In the quiet bridge deck, he clapped his hands as if he had made up his mind. "That's right." He nodded. Then, he said with a refreshed expression, "Let's exterminate them."

'Agh, for real. Are you crazy, you f.u.c.ker?' Without realizing it, I let out a curse. Just a while ago, he said there was no need to annihilate humanity, so why did he change his mind and say such bulls.h.i.+t? This went beyond the notion of a child who changed their mind on a whim. I could feel a stronger emotion than him just wanting to remove a hindrance that bothered his sight… 

‘Abhorrence and contempt.’ Come to think of it, he had such a tendency from the beginning. I could feel a sense of disgust and hatred that was too over-the-top for something that he treated like a bug. 'It's something else. Can this really be considered as another me?' It was hard to understand. Have I ever despised human beings this much? Did I have such a deep-rooted hatred for human beings?

Of course, that might be possible. Deep down, I might have been disenchanted with humanity. However, it was hard to think that it would lead to destruction just because it was a bother. In fact, when I was completely a.s.similated a while ago, I felt a lot of emotions at the sight of Min-kyung, who shared feelings of affection with Hyung. However, as soon as the a.s.similation was unleashed, all that emotion disappeared over the horizon and left behind a feeling of disgust that seemed as if he was looking at a bug that was to be killed and disposed of. It was true that there were some signs of this before, but somehow, that feeling grew stronger after coming down to Earth. 

"Genie! How many nuclear warheads do we have?"

If it's a nuclear warhead that's been injected with soul energy, we don't have any supplies prepared. But if it's a nuclear warhead for operational purposes, more than 13,000 rounds have been loaded. 

After the appearance of Iron Heart, the history of weapons for the Great Universe was written anew. The advanced weapons used in the front lines quickly became obsolete due to the changing era. Or there was the fact that terms such as ‘for military purpose’ and ‘for battle purpose’ were removed from the minds of others.

It was a similar situation with nuclear weapons, so forces greater than Empire-cla.s.s no longer used nuclear weapons if a choice was given. Even fighter jets equipped with a Tool-rank Iron Heart would not be destroyed by nuclear explosions if it wasn't a direct hit. Hence, nuclear weapons no longer had any value as weapons. However, nuclear warheads were still well worth it if they were used for operational purposes. Earth, which failed to advance to the Stage III Civilization, was in a state that could be destroyed just by those weapons for operational purposes alone. 

'That d.a.m.ned guy isn't giving me any time to grieve, huh.' I got up from my seat. Then, as I did so, the shape of an iron gate appeared next to me with it wide open.

I completely lost his mind and a.s.similated with 'me'. However, despite that, as he ma.s.sacred the humans from the Zhu Family and realized the existence of Min-kyung, who was Hyung's lover, the a.s.similation naturally got released. In other words, it could be said that my current state was divided into three. Me with a closed door state. Me with an opened door state. Lastly, me who got rid of the door and entered into an a.s.similated state. 

Strangely enough, I, who opened the door... Basically, I, who was in a Divine Spiritized state, did not seem to be able to feel the state of a.s.similation. Despite the completely different state of mind when I was not in the a.s.similated state, I somehow did not feel any abnormalities.

I concentrated my mind. It wasn't anything difficult. No, rather, it felt like I had a clear sense of what I had to do. By closing the door like this, I would surely be capable of escaping from the influence of the Divine Spirit… But then… "That won't do."

An intruder has appeared! Emergency! Emergency situation! I declare a first-degree emergency situation with the authority of the control persona! The defense system has been fully activated! Emergency shutdown commenced! Attempting for a forced expulsion!

Wiiiing----! Chiiikingggg! Chiiikingggg! Along with a thunder-like warning, all the equipment on the bridge deck went into the ground and several layers of doors began to close. It was a quick response that happened in an instant and subsequently, Recall attempts were made, but...

"I'm watching too, so don't make a fuss and bring me something to drink." 'I' easily thwarted them with a single fling of my hand. 

…Captain-nim?

"Quickly now."

…Emergency procedures suspended.

As he heard Genie's words, 'I' went to the tea table that reappeared. The intruder followed along and sat across without saying much. ‘I’ casually greeted, "Hi."

"Hi... Ermm, is this a s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p?" He was a man in his early 20s, dressed in clothes that were no different from a straw mat. He was not Asian, having dark skin with distinct features that appeared to be of mixed Caucasian and Arab descent.

Based on first impressions, he seemed like a foreign worker who was not in good condition. However, surprisingly, 'I' was delighted to see him and smiled broadly. "Yes yes! Isn't it pretty neat? It's a Terra-cla.s.s battles.h.i.+p that's rare to find in the Great Universe!"

"Then, what about that weird guy?" He raised his hand and pointed to Ares, who materialized himself in human form before I realized it.

I was baffled and let out a forced laughter. 'He can see that?' Ares' human form was not something that actually existed, like an Astral body. If I had to describe it, it was something that symbolized his perspective itself. Hence, the only one who could see that appearance of his was the Magic Gla.s.ses Udjat that Ares himself sent the data to. 

"Ah! That's my friend, Ares. You've never seen anything like this, have you? It's a transcendence weapon that's in the ranks of the Numbering! It's a steel giant with the status of a G.o.d!" For some reason, 'I' was very excited. His boastful way of speaking was one that was never seen before thus far.  

"Definitely... It's my first time seeing it. So there's something like this in the world, huh."

Dae-ha, what's that? Ares was fl.u.s.tered by the unknown situation. 

"What do you mean, 'what's that'? That's obviously-" 'I' stopped speaking and looked back at the man. "What's your name?"

'It's Juan. Juan Unnamed Nieto."

"You heard him, he's Juan." Regardless of his insincere reply, I looked above his head. A self-introduction wasn't such an important matter to me anyway. 

Earth-34

?? G.o.d, Juan

However, the t.i.tle that was shown to my eyes was a very strange one. 'Question marks?' As I expressed doubt at the first case of its kind that I encountered, the man turned his head around and looked me straight in the eye. Then, the t.i.tle changed.

That's some strange eyes.

Don't look.

"...!" I was dumbstruck. Unlike the question marks, which I have never seen before, this was a situation I had experienced once before. The Untouchables I met in the Great Universe, Hawa, had once interfered in her own t.i.tle. 'No, don't tell me.' I was dumbfounded at the conclusion that I naturally arrived at, so I laughed in vain. 'There are other Untouchables on Earth besides the Primordial G.o.d?'

Translator's Note:Hi, it's me again! I hope everyone is having lots of fun reading AYH, as I surely am. There's just so many twists and turns here and there! Anyways, I'm sure you all have realized by now but just to clarify (I hope I'm not too late!), there are many instances of 'I', 'me', 'my' that appeared throughout this chapter and the past chapters in Book 2 (There's more coming), but these all refer to the OTHER DAE-HA that a.s.similated (More like taken over for reals) with the Divine Spirit in him. Anyways, that's all I wanted to point out! Have fun reading!!! It's been very interesting for me, and although it seems messy, it's actually quite a fun rollercoaster ride!!! Thanks for the huge support! Kamsahamida :)