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Chapter 272 - Chapter 272: The Proposal

In response to Orsaga's words...

The man remained expressionless.

But his eyes were sharp—locked onto Orsaga with visible wariness.

To him, the threat Orsaga posed far exceeded that of the Warp demon who had hovered above the Moon.

Though Orsaga appeared human, his psychic senses told a very different story.

Through the flesh, he could sense a massive being—winged and watching—looming behind that body. A towering entity with eight wings, staring at him from beyond the veil.

It was a lifeform unlike anything he had ever encountered before.

The overwhelming aura of chaos it exuded left him deeply unsettled. Even from that faint presence alone, he could hear the wails of countless dead.

And that only reinforced the certainty in his mind:

'This being cannot be allowed to remain on Earth.'

Eventually, after a long silent standoff between the two...

The man finally spoke:

"Leave this planet."

Orsaga let out a disdainful chuckle, casually replying,

"And why would I do that?"

He didn't believe the man had the strength to force him.

As the stranger began to summon his power, clearly preparing for confrontation, Orsaga tilted his head, still unbothered.

"You sure you want to fight me here?"

With their level of power, if a fight broke out on Earth, the country beneath their feet wouldn't just be destroyed—it would cease to exist.

The man didn't answer, but the pressure from his rising power continued to build, aimed squarely at Orsaga.

Orsaga remained calm, watching him with a hint of amusement.

A few seconds later...

Just as the man's power peaked, it suddenly began to withdraw—rapidly settling back into stillness.

"I'll be watching you," the man said coldly.

"If you do anything to endanger humanity… I'll do whatever it takes to eliminate you."

With that, he turned to leave.

For thousands of years, he had quietly guided humanity, trying to keep them on the right path.

But now, even after all that effort, mankind was still too immature—still far too weak to resist a real threat.

So, faced with Orsaga…

Even his threats had fallen short.

Because if they truly fought here, neither of them might die—but humanity? Humanity would be obliterated.

As the man turned away, ready to vanish into the shadows once more, Orsaga spoke up:

"Interested in signing a contract?"

Without turning back, the man immediately replied,

"Not interested."

He didn't know what kind of contract Orsaga meant, but it was obvious the offer wasn't made with good intentions.

Orsaga ignored the rejection and continued speaking anyway:

"No need to dismiss it so quickly. I can feel it—you care deeply about the human race. And I can tell you despise that place filled with negative emotions… that dimension you call the Warp—and the creatures within it. So, why not at least hear my proposal? Who knows… you might find it interesting."

The man's footsteps paused ever so slightly.

Neolithic Earth.

Human society was still in its infancy.

Tribal communities were scattered across the globe, and each was led by a shaman.

These shamans held their positions not because of brute force, but because they could commune with the world beyond—the place known as the Spirit Realm, or more precisely, the Warp.

By channeling its energies, shamans could heal, foresee the future, and aid their tribes in surviving the harsh, primal world.

Some even attained eternal life.

Upon physical death, they could reincarnate their souls through the Warp and continue serving their people.

Through this cycle, they accumulated experience over lifetimes, becoming wiser and stronger with each rebirth—guiding humanity forward in leaps and bounds.

It was because of them that humanity rose so rapidly to dominate Earth's food chain.

But the golden age didn't last.

As time passed, that once-pure dimension—the Warp—began to change.

Corrupted by unknown forces, its energies grew twisted.

Malevolent entities—Warp Demons—began to emerge from the darkness.

Cruel, savage, and sadistic, these demons roamed the Warp, consuming souls and spreading destruction.

With their rise, the shamans lost the ability to reincarnate.

If their bodies died now, their souls were devoured.

And worse—these demons, once confined to the Warp, began to influence the material world.

Which meant it wasn't just shamans at risk. Eventually, all of humanity would fall under threat.

Faced with this crisis, the shamans refused to sit idly by.

After long deliberation, thousands of Earth's shamans came to a grim consensus:

Their deaths would be final. Their souls, fuel for the demons.

And without them, humanity would inevitably follow—drawn into oblivion by the rising tide of the Warp.

So they made a final, desperate decision:

To die—together—and fuse their souls into one.

They collectively took a sacred poison, allowing their souls to merge through a ritual in the Warp. Their combined spiritual might would forge a new, singular entity—one greater than all of them.

A being born not of one life, but of thousands.

A new kind of human—one strong enough to stand against the demons and lead humanity forward.

The following year, around 8000 BCE, a child was born in a pastoral family in the region of Anatolia.

From the moment of birth, he was beyond extraordinary.

His power eclipsed that of any shaman before him.

Though initially unable to control it, his raw potential was so immense that it rewrote his very biology—granting him true immortality without the need for reincarnation.

As he grew older, his strength increased exponentially, and he began pondering the question left to him by the shamans:

"How can humanity survive against threats like the Warp?"

It was a question as daunting as asking how ants might fight dragons.

His first real awakening came when his uncle murdered his father over greed.

In that moment, he realized that humanity's greatest threat wasn't just external…

But internal.

So, to understand and protect them, he left Anatolia and wandered the world—living under many names and disguises, observing humanity's growth and failures.

Armed with knowledge passed down from countless shamanic reincarnations, he worked quietly behind the scenes, subtly guiding progress.

Many of history's inventors, prophets, and great thinkers?

Were simply him in different forms.

But as time marched on, the situation only grew more dire.

No matter how often he tried to steer humanity toward peace and unity, their own nature—violence, ambition, destruction—kept dragging them back into chaos.

And as the global volume of negative emotion rose, he could feel the Warp nearby growing stronger—its energy becoming increasingly active.

If things continued down this path, there would come a day when that malicious realm would fully awaken and unleash its full wrath upon humanity.

That was something he could not accept.

Which was why—

He decided, for the first time in centuries,

To listen to Orsaga's proposal.

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