"...Companions?"
[That's right.]
"What do you mean by companions...? Aren't the New Humanity your companions?"
[The New Humanity, my companions...? Do you treat insects as the same species?]
As the Black Administrator's eyes flashed,
Ziiing...
Screens appeared all around.
[Look.]
People currently living on Earth began to appear, especially focusing on Seong Jihan's acquaintances.
In the past, he would have felt happy seeing them.'...They appear like that again.'
The faces of the acquaintances in the screens shown by the Black Administrator were transforming into a mix of numbers and letters.
[Do you think they are the same as you?]
"Of course... They and I are both human."
[Yes. You're trying hard to deny it now. But will you still think that way after more time passes?]
"..."
Seong Jihan couldn't easily refute those words.
The appearance of his sister Seong Jiah that he saw before meeting the Black Administrator, although the length of the code was different, it looked just like the structures composing a house.
Even if it was like that now, if he kept looking at the world with these eyes, it was certain that Seong Jihan's concept of current humanity would be overturned.
"...What exactly is this great work you're talking about?"
[Primarily, it's to prosper the Mitra divine race. And through this, to completely control the Transcendent Being.]
"Mitra divine race?"
[Yes. That refers to beings like you and me.]
Seong Jihan frowned at the Black Administrator who had already included him in that divine race, but
[Since you're almost complete, the third one should be easy now. We just need to mix our bodies and have children.]
"...What?"
Those words snapped him back to attention.
"Have children? You and me?"
[That's right. Become the mother goddess of the Mitra divine race.]
Mother goddess...
So he was telling Seong Jihan to give birth to the Mitra divine race.
Seong Jihan was dumbfounded hearing those words, then,
[Originally I planned to have Urd do it, but since you won, I'll pass that role to you.]
"Wait... Wasn't Urd your daughter?"
[...? What's the problem with that?]
"It's more surprising that you don't think it's a problem."
At Seong Jihan's words, the Black Administrator was genuinely puzzled, then,
[Ah. You haven't changed your thinking from when you were human. I'll wait for you to become a true companion.]
Perceiving Seong Jihan's thoughts as not yet being a 'companion', he said he would wait for him.
"...No, can't you, being omnipotent, give birth to the Mitra divine race on your own? Why are you telling me to become the mother goddess?"
[I've already tried that. But Urd was the best I could do on my own. After discarding tens of thousands of children, I keenly felt the need for a new Mitra divine race.] ṝἁΝőＢĘŚ
Ziiing...
A sinister voice echoed from within the helmet.
[Now that my mate has appeared, the divine race can be born without going through troublesome processes. My mate...]
As the Black Administrator was about to continue speaking,
Stab!
Seong Jihan's Blue Flame deeply pierced into his helmet.
"What mate... Shut up. It's creeping me out."
[How feisty... This too will become a fond memory once you fully become a companion.]
"...Ha."
Hearing those words, Seong Jihan twisted the Blue Flame.
Whoosh...!
A strong azure flame erupted from inside the helmet.
The flames quickly expanded and soon engulfed the entire helmet.
Then void began to seep out from inside, but,
[Well, fine... I'll give you some time to wander. My mate. In the end, you will stand with me.]
As the Black Administrator's eyes flashed white,
Swish swish swish...
The spreading void gathered into a single point and disappeared, even the void inside the helmet rapidly vanished.
[When your wandering ends, revive me. I'll be waiting for that time.]
Then,
Float float...
The intense presence that was inside the purple helmet disappeared and the helmet just floated in the air.
'...What? Did he really die?'
The Black Administrator, the strongest being in the universe who even subdued Jiang Shang, he didn't resist Seong Jihan's sword at all and instead calmly disappeared after collecting even the spreading void.
Did he think that once Seong Jihan fully 'became a companion',
He would eventually revive him?
'Seeing him so confident makes me feel even worse.'
Seong Jihan frowned and picked up the floating helmet.
As much as he wanted to smash it to pieces,
'It seems too extraordinary to just destroy on a whim... I should analyze it first.'
The helmet that contained not only massive void but also Mitra's light simultaneously.
It felt too valuable to just destroy here.
As he took the helmet,
Swish swish swish...
The Black Administrator's helmet shrank to fit Seong Jihan's head size and came into his hand.
'Well then...'
Seong Jihan looked at the helmet for a moment, then thought about what to do next.
'Come to think of it... Didn't Seah ask to have dinner earlier?'
She had asked him to let her know when he'd be back.
If he had known things with the Black Administrator would end so quickly, he should have made plans.
But,
'...I don't want to see the code right now.'
Even though Yoon Seah would look normal, seeing the world including his sister all covered in code might accelerate his 'becoming a companion' as Mitra intended.
But if so, he'd have nowhere to return to in Server 4212.
'For now... I should go to the Ark.'
Seong Jihan smiled bitterly and took out the server management device.
Right now, that was the only place he could go.
Beep. Beep.
As he operated the device,
Flash...!
His body was enveloped in light and slowly began to disappear.
And,
'Hmm...?'
As Seong Jihan was about to return to the Ark through the management device,
'This is... somewhat different from usual?'
Observing his physical body returning to the Ark, for the first time in all his connections, he felt something strange.
'Rather than returning from a virtual world to reality, it feels more like spatial movement...'
Come to think of it, when Jiang Shang fought the Black Administrator, didn't he say he reached the Ark from his own world?
'He said it was definitely a huge white sphere...'
Seong Jihan recalled the mental image Jiang Shang had shown and heightened his senses to the maximum.
Then as his vision returned, he sensed his light-enveloped body piercing straight through the void realm.
'This is... where the Black Administrator was just now, isn't it?'
The Black Administrator's realm filled with dense void.
Seong Jihan's body was passing through this place in the blink of an eye.
His physical body that had burrowed through soon, faced a huge, shining sphere of light.
'The Ark... it was hidden in the void.'
Swoosh...
As he touched the Ark, Seong Jihan's body was quickly absorbed.
Only then did he become certain that the Ark was inside the server.
And,
Ziiing...!
As Seong Jihan's physical body seemed to fully enter, the surface of the Ark emitted a pure white light.
'...This is.'
The light emanating from the Ark.
Sensing this, Seong Jihan's eyes widened.
The authority he felt from the light was clearly one he knew well.
'Time reversal... used by the Ark?'
He wanted to observe this more closely, but
Swoosh...
Before he knew it, his body had returned to the Ark and was back inside the server connection device.
'...I should get out for now.'
Screech...!
Seong Jihan looked at his body for a moment, then exited the connection device.
Outside, Jiang Shang was stroking his beard while waiting for him.
"You're back? That was quicker than I expected."
"The time was short, but a lot happened."
"Can you tell me what occurred?"
"Certainly."
Seong Jihan slowly recounted what had happened after connecting to the server.
* * *
"Companions... So that was Mitra's intention?"
"Yes."
"Hmm. I almost had my son-in-law's chastity stolen... Or perhaps you were considering becoming the mother goddess of the Mitra divine race?"
"Don't say such horrible things. What mother goddess?"
When Seong Jihan answered firmly, Jiang Shang nodded.
"That's a relief. At least I won't have to fight my son-in-law."
"Were you planning to cut me down if I became the mother goddess?"
"Of course. If you followed the true enemy's intentions, I couldn't just stand by and watch."
"I definitely shouldn't become that then."
"Don't ever lose that resolve."
Saying that, Jiang Shang looked up at the Ark's ceiling.
"By the way, as expected... the Ark was indeed inside the server."
"Yes. It was within the void realm where the Black Administrator was."
"And you say time reversal activated when you entered... Something seems suspicious."
Jiang Shang was lost in thought for a while, then,
"Is the server really a created world?"
He brought up the topic they had discussed before.
"...That's how it appeared to my eyes."
Seong Jihan described what he had seen through 'Analysis'.
How his sister Seong Jiah and the building structures all appeared as 'code',
And how only Yoon Seah looked human and couldn't be analyzed, probably due to her 'Fusion Vessel' similar to Asoka's 'Mixed defiled world'.
After listening carefully, Jiang Shang,
Swish.
Pointed at himself with his finger.
"Then how do I appear to your eyes? I'm also a being originating from the server. Do I look like code too?"
"Your Majesty..."
At those words, Seong Jihan looked at Jiang Shang, but he appeared like a normal person.
"You can't be analyzed with Analysis. I don't see any code at all."
"That's strange. I'm also a being of the server."
"Isn't it because we're inside the Ark? This is reality, so it wouldn't appear as code like the virtual world."
"Hmm... Reality, you say. Then shall we go outside for a bit?"
"Outside?"
To Seong Jihan's question, Jiang Shang nodded.
"If this place is reality and the server is a virtual world, wouldn't beyond the wall be the virtual world?"
"Ah..."
The Ark was reality, but beyond the wall was the virtual world.
Thinking about it carefully, did this make sense?
Could reality and virtual be separated by just a single wall?
'...This seems a bit odd.'
As Seong Jihan became confused by Jiang Shang's suggestion,
"Come. Let's see if I appear as code outside. Since we're on the topic, let's go right now."
Whoosh!
As Jiang Shang swung his sword at the ceiling, the walls seemed to be sliced like tofu layer by layer.
Screech...!
At the final stage, a blue light burst forth and nullified his sword strike.
"That must be the authority of nullification. Would you like to try breaking through?"
"...Alright."
Seong Jihan approached the Ark's final wall, the pure white metal tinged with blue light.
As he approached, the blue light gradually weakened.
The wall's lack of resistance seemed as if it was half-recognizing Seong Jihan as its 'master'.
'Mitra divine race... Is this allowing a companion?'
Even the wall was being unpleasant.
Stab!
As Seong Jihan thrust in the Blue Flame, cracks formed in part of the ceiling, revealing a dense void area.
"Let's go out."
Swoosh!
As the Infinite Sword pierced through the void and Jiang Shang went outside,
Seong Jihan followed behind.
Swoosh...!
And after breaking through even the void realm,
Jiang Shang turned around to look at Seong Jihan.
"According to you, beyond this wall is the virtual world... Especially since we came out of the void realm, this should be the server, right?"
"That's right."
"Well then. How do I appear here?"
At those words, Seong Jihan activated 'Analysis', but
Ziiing...
Even though his eyes flashed, Jiang Shang's appearance was no different from usual.
No code was visible at all.
He still appeared as the strongest martial artist who had reached the pinnacle of nothingness.
"...You look the same as always."
"Is that so?"
Hearing Seong Jihan's answer, Jiang Shang slowly opened his mouth.
"Why don't I appear as code even here, when I'm merely a being of the server?"
"That's..."
Swish...
As he said this, Jiang Shang looked at the void realm they had broken through.
"Could it be that we're making a grave misunderstanding?"
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