Chapter 661:

Chapter 661:

The Prison of Time, reset from Seong Jihan to Urd.

He quietly watched as the scenery of the world changed.

In fact, now that Urd was trapped here, he could have left the prison and come back when she was in maximum pain and ready to talk.

'But I should see what Urd has been through at least once.'

His past where Yoon Seah died was replayed.

Shouldn't he watch hers too?

Seong Jihan thought this as he folded his arms.

Meanwhile.

"Th-This place…"

Urd, her usual composure completely gone, looked at the newly changing world with trembling eyes.The Prison of Time that had plunged countless Isolates into hell.

She, who had imprisoned more people than anyone else, knew very well how absolute its effect was.

But to think she would be subjected to it herself…

"What did you say you wanted to know? I'll answer. So…"

Urd spoke to Seong Jihan more urgently than ever before, but.

Bang!

Before she could finish speaking, her body exploded in an instant.

'What's this?'

No.

He was going to listen to what she had to say, but she suddenly exploded.

As Seong Jihan was perplexed by Urd's sudden disappearance.

Ziiing…

The world was completely dyed in darkness.

And then.

[My daughter.]

An authoritative voice echoing from all around.

The deep-toned male voice gave considerable pressure just by listening to it.

'Daughter? Then the owner of this voice is…'

Could it be Mitra?

Seong Jihan looked around with wide eyes, but.

The world was still just pitch black.

Then.

[You're still lacking.]

As the man's voice was heard again.

Fwooosh!

The surroundings brightened and the scenery of this place began to reveal itself.

A huge clock of light spread out on a pure white floor.

On top of it, beings that looked exactly like Urd were lying densely without any empty spaces.

'About a thousand of them?'

It was like seeing the World Tree Elves from before.

As Seong Jihan instantly grasped the number lying on the floor and thought this.

[Let's start again.]

Tick. Tock.

As the clock hands turned.

Bang bang bang!

The thousand Urds lying on the floor all exploded at once.

The exploded bodies continued to burst in chain reactions.

Swish swish…

Where the thousand Urds had been on the floor.

Plop…

Only a single eyeball fell to the ground.

[You're truly lacking.]

Floating up…

The eyeball rising with dangling optic nerves

Approached Urd who was floating in midair.

'Is that the real Urd?'

Urd, looking exactly the same as when she faced Seong Jihan.

She was staring at the eyeball flying towards her with the most frightened face ever.

"Ah. Father. Please…"

She pleaded to her father with tears in her eyes, but.

[The pain is only momentary. This eye will further enhance your power.]

Flash…!

A light flashed from Urd's right eye and the part where the eyeball was became hollow.

"Aagh…!"

Before she could even finish screaming.

Plop!

The eye floating in the air was injected into the empty space.

Crack. Crack…

Then there was a twisting sound from inside her body.

Drip drip…

Blood flowed from the newly settled eyeball.

[Let's see.]

And as the blood from the eye stopped.

Ziiing…

A clock of light rising above Urd's body.

As the clock hands spun wildly.

"Pl-Please…!"

Urd tried to plead in vain, but.

Bang…!

Her body burst mercilessly like those on the floor.

However.

'Some parts of the body remain intact.'

Along with the newly injected eye, the ear, right hand, left foot, etc.

Fragments of the body were maintaining their shape intact.

'Is it leaving only the body parts that can withstand the power of time reversal…?'

As Seong Jihan was thinking this while looking at Urd's remaining fragments.

[A little better.]

Mitra was satisfied with her for the first time.

And as the clock hands turned in the opposite direction this time.

Swish swish swish…

Urd's body recovering again.

She hugged her body with trembling eyes

And curled up tightly in midair, sobbing.

"Father… I understand. If this is the process to strengthen my power. I will… gladly endure it. But. At least… reduce this pain. You can do that, can't you…? At least… remove the pain…"

She would endure her body being changed like parts, but please let her forget the pain.

Urd pleaded to Mitra like this, but.

[That's not possible.]

"Wh-Why…?"

Mitra immediately replied that it couldn't be done.

[Because then, the efficiency would not be good.]

"…Efficiency?"

[My daughter. Your power becomes stronger through the trials you experience. So I cannot remove the trials.]

A father who wouldn't allow pain reduction to strengthen time reversal.

He went even further.

[Yes. Rather, intensifying the trials would be the way to benefit you.]

"Even more… than this…?"

[The moment of pain should be shorter.]

Saying this.

Flash…!

A huge mass of light appeared in front of Urd.

'Is that Mitra's true form?'

Even Seong Jihan himself was currently glowing all over due to the expansion of his powers.

But the Mitra that appeared here was purely light itself.

Since he was watching through the Prison of Time, he couldn't accurately measure how much White Light he possessed, but.

'He seems much stronger than me…'

Seong Jihan thought this as he looked at Mitra who was light itself.

It would be difficult to reach that level even if he obtained all the Isolates' powers.

As he was assessing Mitra's level.

"What are you… trying to do…"

Urd asked Mitra who had appeared before her with a trembling voice.

Then the flashing light.

[Though it's for the greater cause, amplifying my daughter's pain is clearly an evil act.]

"…"

[So 'Mitra' does not do this.]

No.

Wasn't blowing up a thousand Urds to extract one eyeball an evil act?

'Mitra… is completely insane.'

As Seong Jihan looked at the light in disbelief.

Ziiing…

A purple mist began to thickly cover Mitra's light.

And then.

As the pure white light mass was covered.

"Huh…?"

A helmet made of purple light appeared there.

* * *

'That helmet… it's the Black Administrator, isn't it?'

The Black Administrator, said to be the strongest in the universe.

When he actually revealed his identity, it was just a floating helmet, which was a bit disappointing.

Moreover.

'Didn't that guy claim to be the data management AI of the Ark…?'

Of course, he didn't fully believe those words.

But he never imagined that helmet would come out of Mitra.

As Seong Jihan's eyes were fixed on the purple helmet.

[This one commits evil acts.]

Flash…!

As light flashed from the purple helmet's eyes.

"Ha. Stop bullshitting…! Mitra, you're the one doing it in the end!"

Urd shouted as if struggling, but.

The helmet ignored her cries and proceeded with its work.

[Share the senses. And continue to bear the deaths of a thousand. That will expand your power.]

"You crazy… bastard…"

Urd looked at the helmet with powerless eyes, but.

Mitra carried on with his work efficiently.

Ziiing…

Light spread from Urd's body.

Beams of light connected one by one to the thousand recreated selves on the floor.

"Ah…"

As Urd's face was filled with despair after sharing senses with a thousand.

[Let's begin.]

Bang bang bang!

Once again, a thousand bodies exploded below.

"Ah…!"

Unlike before, Urd now received all those 'sensations' and was only trembling, unable to even make a sound.

And on the floor, unlike before when only one eyeball remained, several body fragments were left.

Seeing this,

Ziiing…

Mitra's helmet disappeared.

The light reappeared and said,

[The efficiency has improved.]

Satisfied with this result.

Then the floating body fragments.

As these fragments were about to be 'transplanted' back into Urd's body,

Tick. Tock…

As the clock hands reversed, the world returned to its initial scenery.

'…It starts again from here?'

So this is why it was called the Prison of Time.

As Seong Jihan saw the scene of the eyeball being 'transplanted' back into Urd, he remembered what she had said earlier.

-Is this trivial thing really your most painful past?

He felt bad about it then.

But now he understood why she reacted that way.

Seong Jihan watched Mitra's work being replayed from the beginning for a while, then thought,

'…But why did Urd cooperate so nonchalantly even after seeing that helmet?'

He recalled Urd giving orders to the Black Administrator and wondered.

If it were him, he'd be terrified just seeing that helmet.

'Was her memory erased or something?'

Maybe he should ask her directly.

Thinking this, Seong Jihan pulled Urd out of the Prison of Time.

Then,

"…"

Urd, who had been standing blankly with a dazed look, slowly raised her head towards Seong Jihan.

"You let me out earlier than I expected."

"I wanted to ask you something. Are you in the mood to answer now?"

"…I'll answer everything I know. Just don't put me back in there, will you just kill me instead?"

"I will."

Urd smiled weakly at Seong Jihan's prompt answer.

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Is the Black Administrator Mitra?"

"…? What do you mean?"

"Mitra said he couldn't commit evil, so he put on a purple helmet."

"What?"

Urd looked confused by Seong Jihan's words.

'Could she not see it herself?'

Seong Jihan brought up a screen to show Mitra putting on the Black Administrator's helmet.

Then,

"Huh…? Huh…?"

Urd blinked several times and,

"Can you show me that again, please?"

She watched that scene over and over.

"The Black Administrator is… Father? No. That can't be… I never sensed anything like that…"

"Anyway, that's what I saw. What did you see?"

"…To me, it only looked like the void rising up."

So Mitra's changed form appeared as 'void' to her, not a 'helmet'?

"…Did the great Father play with me until the very end?"

"Seems so."

"…"

Urd stared at the floor silently for a while.

Then,

"You. You said you were curious about what I was ultimately trying to do in the Ark, right?"

"You remember well."

"The Ark is a place that houses the Isolates. This place is where the powers that the transcendent being craves are stored. I was trying to absorb all those powers to become self-reliant within the transcendent being."

"Self-reliant, huh."

"Yes. I wanted to become an indispensable existence to the transcendent being, to have my independence recognized. Through time reversal, I saw enough possibility."

Flash…!

With that, Urd brought up the Clock of Light.

"Look."

As she put her hand on the clock,

The surface became transparent, revealing the internal structure of the Clock of Light.

There, small clock-like shapes were positioned here and there.

'Is this her own method of countering the transcendent being…?'

For Seong Jihan, who had grasped time reversal to some extent, he could understand at a glance how that structure was established.

If he were to apply this system in the Ark now, it would be several times more efficient in suppressing the light of the transcendent being.

As he was analyzing the structure of the clock,

"Based on this structure, if time reversal is activated to the extreme… I was confident that I could never be breached even if I entered the transcendent being. And you could do it now."

"Thanks for the lesson."

"But… this too was ultimately a method doomed to fail."

"Fail… Why?"

Swish.

Urd made the clock disappear and looked at Seong Jihan with sunken eyes.

"You've… absorbed the powers of the Isolates to some extent, right?"

"That's right."

"Then, you've already achieved at least half of what I was aiming for."

Well, that was true, right?

Although he hadn't absorbed the powers of all the Isolates, the light powers he had expanded were countless.

As Seong Jihan nodded, Urd continued.

"But do you know how you look to my eyes?"

"Don't tell me you're going to call me father again?"

"Yes. This time it's not a suspicion, but a certainty."

At Seong Jihan's words, Urd nodded weakly.

"Your current appearance… is very similar to Father 'Mitra'."