The World After the Fall

Swords thrust from all sides.

"UGH!"

Budda was amazed that he was gasping in pain. He was always on the side of listening to it, not the one letting out the sound. As he looked at silver powder coming out of his mouth, he had to accept the fact that he had underestimated the man.

This man wasn't just strong.

It was to the point where Budda thought if he met Jaehwan instead of Myad, their plan might have gone different ways. It was a young spirit that was barely 2 thousand years old. But how could such a spirit hold such power?

Budda, who had reincarnated thousands of times, couldn't see through all of moments this man had withstood. If he were to measure it in years, in maybe 100 or 200 years… this man might overtake Myad.

'But not yet…!'

Budda unleashed world power from his body. It consisted of all the power of his countless lives. Budda smiled.

'Even if you defeated Gerome... you can't…!'

Even if the young man was powerful, there was no way that he could defeat the time Budda had spent alive. Budda's world power soared to prove his confidence. It was now over 10 million.

It was enough to choke Jaehwan with the power pressing down on him, but Jaehwan didn't seem to be bothered. He seemed relaxed even. And it wasn't long when Budda became shocked.

"YOU! That EYE!!!"

He was referring to the spinning snake inside Jaehwan's left eye. Ouroboros, the snake that was biting its tail — Budda pointed to it with his shaking finger. It was similar to the snake in his eyes, but Budda's snake didn't bite on its tail.

"I-I see! So you were the one that Vicegerent of Ignis spoke of! You are the one who obtained the Eye of Geshtalt!"

"…"

"How did you get your hands on that! I couldn't get it even after tens of thousands of years…!"

Budda's eyes were filled with anger, and now he was suspicious. How did this young man get ahold of the tail of a snake that he could never achieve? Jaehwan asked, "I heard you can [Reincarnate]?"

Budda's eyes shook. Did he know about the [Reincarnation]? Well, Pierre knew about it so…

"That's why you couldn't get it."

"What?"

It was strange. Come to think of it, Ra-hamad did speak of similar things when Budda first created the [Reincarnation]. Using such way would never allow him to take the Eye of Geshtalt.

"You will never catch the 'tail' anymore. You can't."

It was very vague, but the vagueness angered Budda even further. Even if he couldn't finish his Ouroboros because of [Reincarnation], what was he to talk about it as if he knew it all?

"Cut the nonsense. Just DIE!"

Giant hands charged at Jaehwan. It was the powerful skill that he used against Karavan. Thousands of hands were rushing in. It was now faster, but they covered all the sides Jaehwan could avoid. Jaehwan did not try to avoid them. Instead, he changed his stance. The Ouroboros began to spin more violently in his eyes.

The world power began to storm.

'W-what is going on?!'

Jaehwan's world power began to soar. As it surged past 10 million, it seemed to be painful for Jaehwan, but it was just for a short moment.

11 million…

It was now long past Budda's world power. He now realized the secret behind Jaehwan's power.

'So that's the power of the Eye of Geshtalt…'

It was the [Setting] that Geshtalt used who had no Followers. His Setting allowed him to use his own clothes to become his Followers. The Setting granted more power if there were more clothes within him. It was the loneliest world power in this world.

[Fall]

Jaehwan's stabs that destroyed worlds ripped apart the thousands of hands. Budda knew he could [Reincarnate], but it was still terrifying. Budda felt as if he had seen a snake's tail-like thing.

Thousands of stabs swept away everything from Budda. It was absolute decimation.

And after a while…

The space distorted and began to peel itself like an onion. It was where Budda had perished. There was a flower that bloomed from it and Karavan had also seen it before.

Budda panted as he walked out of the flower leaves. He rubbed his eyes and spat, "…Ugh, this is disgusting."

A dead spirit coming back alive? This was a terrifying miracle. How was this possible? Jaehwan, however, didn't seem surprised. He simply stated, "So, that's the [Reincarnation]."

"Yes."

"You are not the one I fought."

Budda flinched.

"…How did you know?"

"You feel different."

Jaehwan glared at Budda and continued, "You are 'different clothes'. So, the different clothes take control of the spirit."

"…"

"That is not [Reincarnation]. The Budda that was here before is dead."

Budda shook at Jaehwan's declaration. He had reincarnated countless times and defeated countless enemies, but it was the first time that his secret had been revealed.

[Reincarnation]

It was far from a real 'resurrection' as the name suggested When it was used, the previous personality perished instead. It then gave birth to one of the countless 'clothes' deep within the consciousness. A new set of 'clothes' then received the previous Budda's memory to be born from the flower.

Giving birth to a new self in place of his former self — that was the secret to Budda's [Reincarnation].

"You are no Budda. Budda died long ago."

Jaehwan's words pierced Budda's mind. This was what countless Buddas had thought about. They continued the memories and reshaped them in the same way, but it didn't change the fact that the previous Budda wasn't the exact same as the current one.

Budda knew this. Every time the reincarnation happened, his personality was changing. And he felt his core character that existed within him falling apart every time.

"SHUT UP! I am BUDDA!"

Budda couldn't accept it. Even if he knew, even if he accepted it, he was no longer 'Budda'.

"I am Budda! God of Invincibility, the God who has not lost once!"

Budda unleashed his world power. His thousands of years of his anger shot out to avoid his death.

Budda was certain that his path was not wrong. Even if he was no longer 'Budda' at the end of the path, he still would not lose. His self would keep coming back to life and…

Jaehwan's eye turned cold as he looked into the world power charging upon him.

"I see. Maybe we can try to see how many times you can return."

Budda's spirit was shaking. He had felt this feeling a while ago.

Fear? Did he feel scared?

Death. The fear of perishing. A feeling that he had long forgotten. As he faced Jaehwan's thousands of swords ready to be fired, Budda felt like he was going through déjà vu. It was the sight of his future 'self' being killed mercilessly.

"You must know this if you have trained Ouroboros…"

Jaehwan's sword roared as he said, "Clothes are not infinite."

Budda charged while screaming.