Childhood Friend of the Zenith Novel MTL - Chapter 1067
Chapter 1067
“Grrrrr…”
A low groan rumbled from the monster as the spear held it impaled.
“Grrr… rrrrr…”
The creature, which had been thrashing violently in its struggle to break loose, abruptly went still.
Its shredded, blood-red eyes widened just a fraction.
Ssssssss—
A subtle shift began to occur deep within its form.
Sssssssssss—
A wind picked up, whipping into a frenzy. Within the howling gusts, sparks of lightning crackled to life. The sky, a canvas of lingering night, shuddered as waves of auroral light washed over it.
Beneath the chaotic atmosphere and the wildly flickering crimson aurora, Taechon scanned the battlefield.
The earth was burned black. At its center stood a woman.
Her face was etched with exhaustion, but a sharp light still gleamed in her violet eyes.
Even as she tightened her grip on her sword, her stance was unsteady, a stagger threatening to overtake her.
“Cough.”
Blood spilled from her lips.
Wincing, she pressed a hand to her head as if something were pounding painfully inside her skull. Each breath she drew was ragged and strained.
Observing this, Taechon finally spoke.
“How curious.”
He tilted his head slightly.
As he moved, parts of his own body crumbled away. Fragments of shattered flesh broke off and fell to the ground.
He paid it no mind.
He didn’t even acknowledge it. His gaze, dull and detached, remained locked on the woman.
“You are draped in divinity. So why are you so weak?”
The longer their battle had dragged on, the more this question had gnawed at him.
The divine aura radiating from her was far from insignificant. By Taechon’s own measure, it was profound.
And yet…
It was perplexing.
She was strong, yes, but her capabilities were utterly lacking when measured against what she possessed.
Her strength and authority were immense, but she wielded them with shocking ineptitude.
Puzzled, he arrived at a conclusion.
“You’ve sealed it.”
She was suppressing her own power, actively blocking herself from accessing it.
There was no other logical explanation.
Which led to…
“For what purpose?”
Why would she restrain her own strength?
This was the part Taechon could not comprehend.
If she had a separate, true body elsewhere, it might have made sense.
“No… your very existence is a paradox.”
She carried the mantle of a god, yet she was no master of that power.
She possessed immense strength, yet she could not wield it.
How could such a being even exist?
“What exactly are you?”
No matter how he turned it over in his mind, Taechon could find no answer.
It was then—
“I already answered that question.”
The woman—Cheonma—lifted her head and spoke.
She had given her answer long ago.
Regret.
Her name, the reason she continued to exist—it all came back to that.
“Regret, is it? A meaningless notion.”
Taechon laughed.
For beings who dwelled in eternity, it was a truly pointless sentiment.
“So, does that regret have anything to do with what you’re doing now?”
For what reason?
Beyond the mystery of her existence—why was she standing here now?
The answer lay behind her.
“Are you protecting that?”
“……”
There, impaled by Taechon’s spear, was a motionless form.
Just moments ago, it had been emitting faint sounds, but now it was completely silent.
Was it dead?
The faint traces of life still emanating from it suggested otherwise.
“Are you protecting that?”
Was she trying to defend it?
That had to be the reason.
It was the only explanation for why she had endured his assault for so long.
“You haven’t moved a single step.”
Despite the relentless onslaught, she had not yielded an inch of ground.
Though she had suffered countless blows, she had held her position.
It must have been solely to protect that creature.
Then—was she an Apostle?
Both of them were tied to the Dragon Lord.
Perhaps that connection was the cause.
“How foolish.”
Ssssssshh—
Taechon adjusted his one-handed grip on the spear.
Whatever her reasons were, however strange her existence might be—
It no longer mattered.
It never truly had, for Taechon.
“It’s about time to put an end to this.”
His shattered body was regenerating at an increasingly sluggish pace.
The limits of his descent as a Half-God were nearly upon him.
Time was running short.
He needed to finish this quickly and return.
BZZZZZZZZZ—!!!
Power coalesced at the tip of his spear, swirling with immense energy.
It would pierce through the woman and strike the Divine Tree behind her.
As he focused his energy for the final blow—
‘Tsk.’
Watching him, Cheonma allowed a bitter smile to touch her lips.
‘This is troublesome.’
The power she had been drawing on was nearly depleted.
She had done everything in her power to hold him back.
But now, she would be unable to stop him.
What else could she do?
Cheonma turned her head.
Behind her, he lay still, as if lifeless.
His form had become distorted, monstrous.
Yet, even in that grotesque shape, Cheonma could still see him.
‘Still such a heavy sleeper.’
Even now, there was no sign of him waking.
He was, as ever, a deeply frustrating man.
‘It would be nice to see his face one last time.’
She had held on.
She was still waiting, hoping to meet his gaze just once more.
But he would not wake.
‘It’s fine.’
Even as she thought it, she forced herself to believe it was okay.
She had moved far beyond the point of longing for such small comforts.
If she were going to regret something so trivial, she should have done it long ago.
No—if she had simply let go back then, everything would have been much easier.
But she hadn’t.
And that was why she was here now.
Regret.
Even to her own ears, it was the most fitting word.
Squeeze.
She tightened her grip on the sword-shaped mass of energy in her hand.
Was this the end?
Perhaps.
But—
“It’s fine.”
The woman muttered the words, more for her own benefit than anyone else’s.
Even if she never saw him again.
Even if she faded into nothingness and vanished completely—it was still fine.
Hadn’t she already made peace with this path long ago?
‘So, please…’
Even if only he remained after all her regrets had finally burned away—
‘At least you…’
She only wished for him to be okay.
For her, the word «fine» was not meant for herself alone.
In the end, it was meant for him.
Riiip!
A colossal force began gathering in the distance.
‘He intends to finish it.’
Taechon was channeling all his remaining strength into one decisive attack.
That meant he, too, was in a hurry.
She glanced back once more.
Seeing Gu Yangcheon still lying there, she pressed her lips together into a firm line.
She couldn’t dodge.
Taechon knew she was protecting Gu Yangcheon.
There was no way to evade—she had to block it head-on.
That was precisely why Taechon was amassing such overwhelming power.
“Haa…”
She let out a soft exhale.
Then, she tried to summon her energy.
But her reserves were empty.
Only the faintest trickle of power seeped out from behind the tightly sealed gates within her.
It wasn’t enough—nowhere near enough.
She could release what had been locked away.
But she wouldn’t.
Because she was the one who had sealed it.
To break that seal, the cycle of oblivion would have to be broken.
She had willingly sacrificed everything to prevent that.
And she knew—the oblivion would never lift.
As she braced for Taechon’s attack—
She suddenly went rigid.
“…!”
She had felt movement behind her.
She whipped her head around.
Rustle—!
Gu Yangcheon’s body was undergoing a transformation.
His massive frame was shrinking.
His fur and tail receded into his body.
He was reverting—returning to his original human form, from before everything had gone wrong.
And then—
“…Ha.”
Taechon released a quiet, surprised exhale as he looked at Gu Yangcheon.
“This is… unexpected.”
Something had unsettled him.
For the first time, a flicker of urgency colored his voice.
What had he sensed?
To the woman, who was teetering on the edge of collapse, nothing seemed different.
Except—
‘I saw him.’
That alone was enough for her.
The moment his transformation completed—
Thunk!
The spears embedded in his body slid out on their own.
No one had pulled them.
They moved of their own volition, as if they possessed a will of their own.
And then—
“Haa…”
With a deep, weary sigh, Gu Yangcheon slowly pushed himself to his feet.
The grievous wounds covering his body began to knit themselves closed.
The speed of his regeneration was astonishing.
His flesh rapidly mended, but more than that—his eyes had changed.
They now glowed with the same crimson hue as before.
But unlike his usual eyes, this light was completely unnatural.
As the woman registered the difference, a sudden realization struck her—
“……”
Gu Yangcheon’s gaze lifted and met hers.
Their eyes locked.
She opened her mouth, about to speak—
But Gu Yangcheon spoke first.
“Yehwa.”
A name.
Uttered softly.
A name that should never have been spoken again.
The woman—Yehwa—froze where she stood.
She had heard a name that was never meant to be spoken.
And then—
Krrrrrck!
The lock deep within Yehwa’s body shattered and fell apart.
The firmly sealed gate burst open.
And from within—
A black Celestial Sea came roaring out.
Fwoooosh!
The abyssal tide surged into the void, flooding the emptiness that had been inside her.
In an instant, Yehwa’s entire being was inundated by the Celestial Sea.
There was no space left unclaimed.
She was utterly consumed by the dark, rising tide.
Her eyes began to glow with a new, formidable light.
“You bastard—!”
Taechon unleashed his strike.
The overwhelming force he had gathered for so long surged forward, aimed to obliterate both Yehwa and Gu Yangcheon.
The azure spear in Taechon’s grasp carried the full weight of his might.
Under normal circumstances, that power would pierce straight through them and erase them from existence.
It should have been sufficient.
And so—just before the spear’s tip could reach them—
Shing!
A sharp, clean sound of something being sliced rang out.
Taechon’s spear was cleaved perfectly in two.
KOOOOOM!!!
The severed energy erupted outward in a massive explosion.
The shattered spear whipped through the air before detonating violently.
Taechon’s eyes widened as he watched his own power unravel.
More precisely—
As he watched Yehwa, who had severed it so effortlessly.
“What…?!”
That power should not have been so easily cut down.
And yet, it had been.
As if it were nothing.
Something fundamental had changed.
The situation had shifted dramatically.
“…Ah.”
Yehwa released a quiet, shuddering breath.
And then—
Fwoooosh!
From beneath her feet, an ocean of darkness erupted.
A black sea spread out like a living abyss, swallowing everything in its path.
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