628 A glimpse of the records [1]
The sky was filled with a brilliant and enormous orange sun. The size of the sun was so enormous that it appeared to fill up half of the sky, turning the blue sky a muted orange color as a result.
A little table in white was perched on top of a vibrant patch of foliage. Jezebeth observed the landscape in front of him while he relaxed on a small chair.
"Human tea isn't too bad."
He held a small teacup in his hand. One that was opaque black in color and only filled halfway with a transparent green substance.
Jezebeth refilled his cup with more tea as he observed the calm and peaceful setting that had descended upon the surrounding places.
"Isn't this nice?"
Jezebeth muttered something under his breath as he removed the teacup from his grasp and placed it on the table.
The scenery before him was stunning.
Jezebeth felt this location to be very calming due to the presence of the enormous mountains in the distance that extended all the way to the clouds and the birds that could be heard chirping all around him.
A pleasant breeze was blowing through his body as he looked off into the distance and saw large trees that towered over the landscape.
Everything felt so peaceful and tranquil...
Especially when compared to the demon world, which felt rather stuffy for him.
Jezebeth, while silently mumbling to himself, picked up the teacup with his hand once again and crossed his legs.
"It pains me to know that I will soon have to bring about the destruction of this world. If it had been feasible, I would have kept it, but unfortunately, in order for me to do what I set out to do, I have no choice but to destroy this planet. "
He let out a sad sigh when he said those words.
After putting the teacup down once more, Jezebeth lifted his head to take in the orange-tinged blue sky and the enormous sun that was hanging in the sky.
Grasping his chin with his hand, he mumbled to himself.
"…This should be the third last planet that I need to destroy before seizing all of the fragments, right?"
There was a trace of uncertainty in his voice as he said these words.
As a result of the fact that his memories had not yet been completely restored, he was unsure of the actual number of worlds that remained in his path of destruction. Three was his current estimate, but it could definitely be more than that.
It was necessary to point out that there were a great number of planets in the universe, and that it was not possible for him to destroy them all. The only type of planets he was interested in finding were the ones that concealed the planetary seed, also referred to as Akashic fragments.
They were his main source of strength and the key that would lead him to the Akashic records.
He was close.
He was practically on the cusp of achieving his objective. He had never been this close to actually getting his hands on the records in his entire life, but at the same time, he had an exceedingly dreadful foreboding that kept him alert at all times.
"…Just why can't he kill me?"
Jezebeth realized one thing after recovering part of his memories after consuming additional fragments; Kevin was refusing to kill him. For whatever reason, he seemed adamant about keeping him alive.
....And it was for this exact reason that made Jezebeth felt uneasy.
"What exactly are you planning? …and what exactly am I missing?"
No matter how hard he tried to understand what was going on, he just couldn't get his head around it.
"Could it perhaps be connected to him?"
Jezebeth had a sudden thought while he drummed his fingers over the table.
By 'him', he was referring to Ren.
Thinking about him, Jezebeth also felt that he was abnormal. Although he wasn't exactly sure, he knew that he had a connection with Kevin.
The two of them…
"Could Ren perhaps be someone that Kevin chose to have me killed?"
A hypothesis formed inside of his mind. However, he readily shook his head after a thought.
It was unlikely.
Jezebeth had an inkling that all of this was related to the records. They were probably the reason why Kevin refused to kill him.
"It may be far fetched, but what if…"
Jezebeth furrowed his brows.
"...but what if the records have plans to do something significant once I'm no longer around? Due to the fact that I have taken control of so many of their fragments, it's possible that they have become apprehensive of me and maybe every creature in the universe. Do they have some kind of plan in mind that only Kevin knows? One frightening enough to leave Kevin with no choice but to continue regressing over and over again... Is this why he is refusing to kill me?"
Jezebeth sipped the tea till it was entirely empty.
"But if that was true, what does Ren have to do with this equation?"
Jezebeth's brows furrowed.
A sudden thought occurred to him and his brows jumped up a little.
"…wait, what if Kevin's goal is to fight the records?"
Jezebeth tilted his head a little. All sorts of ideas started to flood his mind at that moment.
"Since he is both the fruit and the product of the records, it is safe to presume that he cannot harm them in any manner possible. What if Ren was his solution to the problems? What would happen if he surreptitiously transferred his power over the regressions such that one day he would end up killing me and..."
Jezebeth's hand froze once his thoughts paused there
"It can't be... Kevin wouldn't be this crazy, right?"
To undergo so many regressions and have Ren go through so much torture...
A heavy silence descended across the area around him as Jezebeth fully submerged himself in his thoughts.
It wasn't long before he broke out in an unexpected fit of laughter.
"Pfttt..."
Jezebeth's roaring laughter resounded across the world as he shattered the teacup in his hand.
"Hahahahahah."
Rumble—! Rumble—!
The earth unexpectantly began to rumble and shake at the echo of his laughter. The ground began to fracture, and the mountains began to crumble. Suddenly, lava erupted from the depths of the globe and splattered against the expansive plains that comprised the world. In the space of just a few seconds, the world that had been so tranquil moments prior was transformed into a place filled with destruction.
...and all of this came as a result of one man's laugh.
Jezebeth, having last achieved some level of composure, restrained his laughter.
"What an absurd hypothesis."
He thought aloud while he took a look at the surroundings which were in complete ruin.
It was a very absurd hypothesis that didn't quite make sense, yet made sense at the same time.
He had never stopped to consider how it was possible for a human being with no connections to the records to become so powerful. After all, the record set a limit for the world for a reason.
It wasn't done for the sake of doing it, but rather as a precaution to prevent anyone from ever reaching a level that threatened their existence.
It was really strange to think that another human being except Kevin could get to this point.
"It can also explain why Ren has white hair while Kevin doesn't."
He did indeed find it weird that Kevin, who used to have white hair in the past, suddenly had black hair.
Was it a strange coincidence, or was there more to it?
Jezebeth was curious to know.
"…Well, that's too bad."
Jezebeth muttered while he looked at the planet.
Whatever was happening to the planet was bound to happen anyway. He felt no pity for the inhabitants of the planet that had died during his fit of laughter.
"Alright, let's wrap this up."
Jezebeth stood up from his seat and waved his hand.
The end of the world came as a direct result of his seemingly insignificant movement. As the ground continued to press together and lava continued to push its way up from beneath the ground, it was only a matter of time before the world burst.
Before the planet imploded, Jezebeth had already vanished into the vastness of space. When he appeared in the space beyond the planet, he held out his hand and beckoned.
"Come over here."
A white seed like object flew toward the palm of his hand right after. Grasping it with his hand, he smile and brought it to his face.
"Haaaa…"
A trail of white flew from the seed and made its way into Jezebeth's mouth. The scene was reminiscent of someone sucking a specter-like substance.
"Hm?"
At the very moment that he ingested the seed, Jezebeth sensed that his vision was beginning to warp, and the world around him began to turn utterly white.
Booom! Booom!
Massive libraries chock full of books suddenly descended from above and spread out in a never-ending spiral around him, encompassing every region of his vision.
A single blink from Jezebeth allowed his eyes to focus on a golden light off in the distance.
It was at that point that he became aware of a golden book that was lying open in the far distance. It had a golden sheen all around it, and he started to hear muffled mutterings and whispers inside his head.
As if in a trance, Jezebeth outstretched his hand. He could feel his heart beating powerfully inside of his head.
"The records…"
He mumbled under his breath.
The scene before him didn't last long, as the world around him warped and Jezebeth found himself back in the same place as he was before.
It took him a while for him to get out of his trance, and his face changed alongside his breathing.
"…I was so close."
He desperately mumbled.
He was so close to the records.
He could still feel the book which was only a couple of inches away from his fingerprints.
"Haaa…haaa…"
He grabbed his face with both hands while his body moved up and down.
Everything that was in his immediate area began to fall apart at the same time as his short white hair began to grow longer in tandem with his strength.
Like a maniac, he continued to mumble.
"Just a little…Just a little…"
***
"Huaaaa!!!"
My eyes opened abruptly and I took a rough gulp of air.
I sat up straight and looked about at my surroundings, which were currently covered in fine black powder.
Then, closing my eyes once, I sighed in disappointment.
"Nothing yet."
My little session was still not enough for me to break through to the next rank.
There was a slight hiccup in the process, but it didn't affect my training in the least.
Booom—!
The surroundings shook again and I stood up from my spot.
Stretching my body a little, I took a deep breath and headed out of the room. Of course, I didn't forget to take a potion in order to heal my broken hand.
"Enough time has passed, it's about time I ended this."
Both sides should've lost enough of their forces. Just enough to give reason for the other demons to attack after this wave is done.
