Chapter 45: Revolution (3)
"Hahaha, is that all you've got? You're way too slow!"
With dazzling aerial maneuvers, I easily dodged the punches of the Bloomer Guardians. Sometimes I jumped onto a Lighthouse to gain altitude and avoid them, and other times I leapt off to weave between their attacks with sharp, precise movements.
When Luf, who had distanced himself from the Guardians, gave a signal, one of the Lighthouses released a powerful magnetic field. It was a gravity-enhancing field that prevented proper movement. As the Guardians panicked under the suddenly multiplied gravity, the remaining Lighthouses fired the Shinsu cannons they had been preparing. Their power had been further amplified by the Lighthouses themselves.
Four Lighthouses fired simultaneously. The Guardians took considerable damage from the direct hits—yet that only made them even more enraged. Shinsu began to gather at their mouths. They were preparing to unleash high-output Shinsu cannons.
"Tch."
Luf quickly slipped outside the barrier. Although the inside and outside of the dome formed by the Lighthouses were separated by a Shinsu curtain, it did not apply to the Lighthouse Controller himself. He simply had to re-enter to control the dome-forming Lighthouses again.
CRAAAAAH—!
The Bloomer Guardians roared, firing Shinsu cannons from their mouths. Somehow they correctly targeted only the Lighthouses forming the dome. One Lighthouse was damaged by their concentrated fire. Another blast followed. Finally, the Lighthouse barrier failed.
"How does Hoaquin hyung kill five of those just by swinging a sword once…?"
Luf once again realized how monstrous Hoaquin truly was. Using the remaining Lighthouses, he slowed down the Guardians' movements—more precisely, he slowed the flow of Shinsu inside their bodies, weakening their physical capabilities. Then, using all four Lighthouses at once, he momentarily halted their movements. Taking advantage of that brief opening, Luf overloaded the floating stones inside the Lighthouses using his Shinsu.
"Lighthouses are expensive… I'm going to break a bunch more again."
A technique—one only he could perform. By overloading the Shinsu wavelength of his own Lighthouses' floating stones, he turned them into self-destruct bombs. Just as he said, the four Lighthouses attached to the Guardians began to radiate scorching heat and blinding light.
Finally, the overloaded Lighthouses exploded. Their destructive power dwarfed that of ordinary Shinsu bombs. The entire floor thundered with blasts and tremors. The Bloomer Guardians screamed as they were engulfed in the self-destruct blasts and perished.
Luf inhaled the smoke filling the chamber and coughed violently. He had exerted himself quite a bit after a long time, and looked heavily exhausted.
"Huff… huff… ugh… With no Lighthouses left, how am I supposed to get back…"
"GROOOOAAAR!"
"…Huh?"
Suddenly, a Bloomer Guardian burst through the smoke. One had survived—likely because the other had taken the brunt of the self-destruct explosion. A giant high-output Shinsu cannon was fired at once—it must have been preparing the shot since earlier. Loop instinctively shut his eyes tight, bracing for impact.
But the Guardian's blast was blocked by a blue flame surrounding Luf.
And in that instant, someone leapt over him and charged straight at the Guardian.
"Hwarang hyung?"
"What's a Lightbearer doing fighting alone? Why didn't you call me?"
Crimson flames erupted around Hwarang's arm, coating his fist as he struck the Guardian head-on. The flames blasted outward, finally taking down the Bloomer Guardian.
"Where's Hoaquin?"
"He said he had to find some specific floor, so he flew into another one."
"That guy… leaving you alone like this…"
"N-no, I told him to go!"
"Even so… What's he been searching for this past month, anyway?"
Luf did his best to defend Hoaquin, but he was just as curious. What exactly had he been looking for? Luf and Hwarang both turned their gaze toward the floor Hoaquin had entered earlier. He was already long gone—but still.
....
"Boy! I am truly sorry!"
The so-called God of Guardians threw himself to the ground and clung to me. With how desperately he apologized, it felt like he'd grab my pant leg if I tried to leave. Seeing him bowing so pathetically somehow softened my heart a little.
"Alright, whatever. I have to undergo the Revolution anyway."
"Ooh! Thank you, boy!"
"'Boy' is fine, but my name is Hoaquin. Please remember that."
"Understood, boy!"
"...Just let me inside the rice pot, please."
Worried I might retract my agreement, the God of Guardians immediately picked me up with care and hopped into the rice-pot-like vessel. Inside was empty and dark—just like, well, a giant rice cooker.
"Ahem. Anyway… I won't ask why an irregular like you knows about Shinwonryu or rice pot and such. Irregulars are beings originally beyond comprehension, after all."
"Good. If you asked, I was going to walk right out."
"I—I won't ask! Never! So please…"
"Relax, it was a joke."
Apparently, when this thing was created in the Workshop, it was assigned the mission of "conducting the Revolutions of Irregulars." His passion for it was intense. The Guardian's God then explained the Revolution:
Finding yourself unbound by society, people, or ideology. That was Revolution. He and this rice pot existed solely for that purpose.
"You must understand the destiny and power you carry—the fate of one who has stepped through the door. Inside this space, you will discover your true self."
"To find your true self, you must first become perfectly alone. Sometimes… dying once isn't a bad way to achieve that."
Before I knew it, the lid closed and Shinsu in the form of water began flooding the rice pot. Yep. Definitely a rice pot.
"With no one to save you, and no one to answer your call… only when you stand alone before death will your true form be revealed."
"You're really not going to save me?"
"…No."
"Ah, right. And if my friends show up, don't tell them I'm an irrregular."
Those were the last words exchanged before the Shinsu swallowed me completely. It felt as though I were sinking deeper and deeper—but still conscious. Like falling asleep without losing awareness. A strange sensation wrapped around me.
"...Who are your friends, anyway?"
The God of Guardians softly muttered as he watched me disappear, hoping—just once—that this child would be different from "the ones who came before."
....
Somewhere far within.
Was this my inner world? It felt like falling asleep, yet I could move freely—and even open my eyes. So not really sleep. Moving my free body deeper inside, I sensed nothing for a while.
"What is that…?"
Descending further, I finally saw a massive scale and chains. Something told me that myself, and my power, were there. I hurried toward it.
Reaching the area, I saw huge chains stretched outward from a central point, as though restraining something. But the scale blocked my view, so I walked around—
—only to freeze.
"...What?"
Nothing.
The chains that should have been binding something were loose. Whatever had been here—
was gone.
What did this mean? Did my power disappear? Did I disappear? I tried going deeper, but this was already the deepest part. Only strange gears lay scattered along the floor, much like when Bam underwent his Revolution—except this time, what I was meant to face had vanished.
Confused, I decided to head back up and wake myself.
Shuaaak—
The water filling the rice pot drained away, and I returned to reality. The God of Guardians spoke immediately.
"Well? How was your meeting with yourself? Did you find the true 'you'?"
"There wasn't anything."
"...What?"
There was no "real me," no "true power." Even after searching the deepest depths—nothing. Only a giant scale and the chains that had lost the thing they were meant to bind. I explained everything, and the God of Guardians looked visibly shaken.
"Hmm… nothing at all… This is a first…"
"You don't have any guesses?"
"Well… if something that should have been there is gone… then the most likely possibility is one thing."
He paused.
"Perhaps… something that originally existed—something that had to be there—vanished or escaped due to some change."
Something that originally existed. Something that should have been inside me.
I pondered briefly—and then my eyes widened in realization.
What the original Hoaquin possessed.
The demon.
It had disappeared from me the moment my own soul possessed Hoaquin's body.
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