The World after the Fall

"A world where ones who face the Fall gather. Yes. That was what <Chaos> was just until a few years ago."

An instructor shouted out to the hundreds of trainees. They were eager to start on their training and the instructor felt that the world had really changed.

<Chaos> was a world full of losers, a world filled with people oppressed by the <Great Lands>, at least until a few years ago.

"It's different now."

He repeated this so many times, but the instructor was still proud of saying this. He looked at every trainee in the eyes.

"It is because we have you all who follow his will."

Some trainees seemed to become touched. It was natural as they now were given a new chance. They were at the verge of a different world. The instructor spoke again.

"Even if the world falls tomorrow, I will stab. That's what Jaehwan said when he left <Chaos>."

A few trainees mumbled to each other.

"Did Sole-King really say that?"

"I dunno. Who cares?"

"That instructor is known for making things up."

"Ugh, I'm sick and tired of it."

Most of the trainees were touched again. It wasn't strange as <Chaos> was full of people who were astonished by the name, 'Jaehwan'.

"So, we will stab today again! Gentlemen! In what way did I say to stab?"

"World-destroying way!"

"Exactly!"

Then the training began. It was the start of training now. With the shout of hundreds of trainees, they began to stab. The power of stabs also became different as the main instructor shouted out different stabs.

Slight Stab.

Normal Stab.

Strong Stab.

Those were the basic 'Jaehwan's Three Stabs' that everyone trained. It was basic, but there weren't that many Awakeners who could master the moves.

The experienced instructor showed his strong stab in the air. With an explosion, a faint streak was left in the sky, ripping through the clouds. It was too weak to be a 'strong stab' but it had enough power to astonish these trainees.

"You see? This is how you do it."

Instructor shrugged and added, "For the record, Jaehwan was said to destroy the entire sky through a normal stab."

People began to mumble. Normal stab to destroy the sky? Is it the work of a human? Training started again. But there were some who wanted to train further because of their own greed.

"Hey, you! Don't do that! I told you to practice slight stab, not the world stab!"

World Stab was the ultimate stab that enabled one to rip the sky open temporarily. Trainees became curious about who was trying to practice such a move and…

"Ugh, it's him again."

They all shook their heads. A peculiar thing happened then. Jaehwan appeared through the giant screen in the sky. That trainee spoke as he was stabbing toward the sky.

-I-I did it! The world was torn apart!

Instructor slapped trainee and shouted, "I told you to practice slight stab!"

"But I did it! Look! I stabbed the world again!"

"Shut up! You said that before and…"

However, the trainees started screaming.

"W-what is that?!"

And with the sound of something being destroyed, everyone looked up to the sky. Maybe the sky would turn like that if it was hit with thousands of world stabs. There was an ominous crack in the entire sky. Then, something fell down.

"T-that's!"

Beyond the sky, there was something that resembled a branch. The branch shook and small particles began to drop. And everyone in <Chaos> realized what it was a bit later.

It was golden rain.

Some were seeing this for the first time, and some had experienced this 900 years ago. Whichever the case, they all thought of the same thing.

'It's beautiful.'

It was the treasure they longed for their entire life. [Fruits] were falling down like rain.

Everyone looked at it with a dumbfounded expression and some were jumping up and down. But there was one thing that all of them did not realize.

The crack in the sky was growing larger.

At the same time, people in Carpediem were looking up at the same sight. As they looked up into the sky that was about to fall, Euren and Cayman both realized Jaehwan had finally achieved what he set out to do.

'Master…'

That's why they became fearful. If that stubborn man succeeded, there was only one outcome waiting for them in this world. They prayed that Jaehwan's purpose wasn't what they thought it would be.

They prayed and prayed.

Jaehwan saw Big Brothers' weapons all turn into dust instantly. Mulack was screaming and the dark energy that came out from the sword swept through the entire place.

It was like if giant and dark night had come down upon the world.

The entire region of the Tree of Imagery turned into darkness and when the darkness was lifted, everything was over. It was the power of [Fall] that had been trained for 3 billion years.

[Ugh… uh… g…]

He saw Mulack's spirit being dismantled. There were no more weapons from Big Brother. It was the same for Panopticon. The tanks all had dead silver specks of dust of Master Craftsmen and all of the screens were either destroyed or not working.

[You… you don't know. You don't know what you just did. What the world will become…]

Mulack was crying. What was weird wasn't the fact that he was crying.

"That is strange."

[What is strange?]

"You look happy."

[…Does it?]

And Jaehwan felt gravity changing. The gravity control of Panopticon had been damaged.

'Are we falling down?'

Mulack crawled to the corner of Panopticon. He looked so weak as the strongest one in the world.

[…Isn't it beautiful? You can only see this from here.]

Jaehwan walked toward Mulack. Through the shattered Panopticon, there was the entire region of Tree of Imagery. It wasn't a size that one could see with the eye, so it was better to say that he 'felt' it.

'I see. So the tree that I climbed had this shape.'

Jaehwan looked down like a man who had just witnessed the planet he lived in for the first time. There was a giant tree that stretched through the entire universe. And that tree was now being destroyed.

From the roots to the branches, everything that formed the Tree of Imagery perished.

[I've seen this tree for a long, long time. I've seen it for too long, and I tried too long to climb it.]

"Mulack."

Jaehwan tried to say something but held back. He felt like Mulack was going to say what he wanted to know.

[And at the final moment, I finally got here. I thought I would find the answer I was looking for. I thought I would know everything once I got here.]

Jaehwan then thought the 'Transcended' ones had not really Transcended. If they did, then Mulack wouldn't have this feeling right now.

Maybe at least, they shared one feeling within him.

3751, who stabbed for 100 million years had 'fear' and 8741 who slashed for 320 million years had sullen jokes. And for 66666, who trained the [Fall] for 3 billion years had the desire to become 'real'.

And for Mulack, it was…

[I wanted to create a better world. That was all. You must know this too.]