Dancing on the golden ashes

I knew he could hear that, there was no way that piece of shit would miss such an important battle, if I'm right, he most likely wanted to ambush me the moment I resurrect, hoping Jeong Suhan would be enough to lead the army of this world and stop me before I got the chance to recover, but this… this wasn't even all of the people, right?

I have a feeling all eight billion were brought here, and knowing humans and their inability to stop breeding, this massive world must house at least twenty billion of them by now, scattered across the continents like bugs, multiplying and living their lives without understanding anything at all.

This world… it's different, yet strangely comfortable for humans, even if it's been split into four pieces, it's still at least a hundred times the size of Earth, filled with endless skies, towering mountains and oceans that stretch beyond the horizon, a perfect prison to keep them alive, and even if it breaks every law of physics we once knew, I stopped caring about that a long time ago—none of it matters here, not anymore.

After all, a world that allows us to wield the kind of power that turns thought into destruction and emotion into storms… it's already defying everything we once believed in.

Countless new challengers began pouring in from all directions, emerging like a rising tide, endless and unrelenting, and just like I had guessed, the lower-level humans were being transported here as well—young, old, male, female, it didn't matter, they all came armed, but unlike the ones before them, they didn't have that same vacant look in their eyes, they weren't blank killing machines who had their personalities erased, no… these people still had their minds intact, their hearts still beating with emotion, and yet, they stood against us without hesitation.

The battlefield started to shift.

Before I knew it, we were being pushed back, slowly but surely, all of us crowded into the center of a battlefield that seemed to stretch across continents. Around me, I noticed my demons and beasts falling back, their eyes unsure, their bodies tense, returning to my side for reassurance—seeking my judgment on whether they could fight the so-called innocent.

But what in this twisted world was innocent anymore?

If they stood against us… then innocence was already dead. If they raised weapons in defiance, then they were no longer civilians—they were our enemies, breathing just to see our corpses in the dirt, and I had no intentions of letting that happen. This world will not be allowed to spit on us.

How large was this battle you may ask?

It stopped being a war and became something else entirely. It started to blend into something chaotic, overwhelming and in a way unfathomable. Rifts upon rifts tore through the fabric of the world, as if reality itself was collapsing under the weight of all the summoned humans. From every direction, portals cracked open, some big enough to swallow cities, others small and rapid like raindrops, and from them emerged the full scope of humanity—every level, every type, all of them thrown together, stretching across the land like a tide of ants ready to crawl over a god.

They came in numbers that no longer made sense—billions, hundreds of billions—perhaps more, and like cockroaches crawling from a sinking ship, they swarmed the sky and earth alike. But they weren't alone. Beasts numbered just as much. The entire battlefield was at least five million kilometers in diameter from what I could sense.

But humans had always been geniuses when it came to war.

The weaker ones didn't charge blindly—they rode inside machines powered by soul energy: tanks with glowing cores, armored walkers that cracked the ground beneath them, helicopters with spinning spiritual blades, sleek jets that screamed across the sky, and massive war machines the size of mountains, shaped like dragons and gods, each one burning with artificial energy strong enough to rival the real thing.

Everywhere I looked, they stood against us.

And high above them, shining in blinding white light, was the one figure that pulled them all together.

Jeong Suhan.

He hovered in the sky like a holy statue carved from divine stone, light streaming off his body as if he were chosen by heaven itself, his massive feathered wings glowing with gold and blue. He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth after clashing with Seong-hoon, his face twisted with fury, and then his voice boomed across the battlefield, so loud that even the sky trembled.

"Citizens of the world of No End! Today, we rise together to repel these monstrous invaders! We shall fight to protect our land, our people, our freedom! I, Jeong Suhan, will lead you all to victory—today, we slay the demon empress and restore peace to our world!"

His words burned through the air like holy fire.

And then, as if on cue, a thunderous roar spread across the endless plains—

"HAIL HERO SUHAN!"

The chant shook the battlefield like a heartbeat, like war drums echoing through space and time. The morale of humanity surged to its peak, their weapons raised, their eyes shining with belief. Beasts and humans stood together, side by side, like they were fighting for something real, something noble.

He was their hero.

And I guess that made me the villain.

But isn't that how all stories go?

They needed someone to worship, and someone to hate. A savior in the sky… and a monster below it.

Now the only question that remains is this—

Which of us will survive until the end?

"Very nice monologue, Jeong Suhan," I said coldly, my voice carrying through the sky without the need to raise it, smooth and sharp like a blade drawn across glass, "but I have to remind you of the harsh reality that you so desperately try to ignore."

I rose higher into the sky, lifting above the battlefield until no one could look down on me anymore—only up. I looked around, and my people followed. Demons. Beasts. All of them dropped their battles, their wings flapping, claws gleaming, forms glowing with power as they surged into the air around me, surrounding me like a divine constellation. We were few, barely a fragment compared to the endless swarm of humanity, but numbers were never the measure of power. They had millions. I had one thing they didn't.

A single, unified heart that beat within every one of us.

And at the center of it… was me.

I didn't need armies. I didn't need saviors. I didn't need chants or borrowed light. Because unlike their so-called hero, I didn't need the world to save me. I was enough. I alone could conquer it. I alone could destroy it.

In the silence that followed my rise, I lifted my hand.

A small black hole spun in my palm, smooth and silent, barely the size of a marble. It looked harmless, gentle even—but the power inside it bent the sky itself, warping the air as if the heavens were trying to run from it. My cosmic energy flowed into it, endless and merciless, feeding it like a beast starved for centuries. And when it was full, when the swirling edges turned violet with power no mortal mind could understand—

I let it go.

"The world is in my hands… and I am the world."1

The moment the words left my mouth, the black hole screamed across the sky like a comet of death, striking the center of the enemy horde where the banners flew highest, where their voices were loudest, where their hope burned brightest.

And then it expanded.

In the blink of an eye, half the battlefield was gone.

Erased.

A massive crater devoured the land, stretching for millions of kilometers, swallowing not only people but the very laws of nature. The planet cracked beneath the weight of the attack, magma roaring from the deep as the core trembled in response. The sky shook, and the atmosphere cried, and everything near the impact was left in silence—nothing left to scream. Rain clouds gathered around us instantly, raining blood; the world weeped. The demons cheered.

I stared down at the destruction with the same blank expression as always. No joy. No remorse. Just truth.

"And if I don't like this world and its people..." I said, the words calm, quiet, almost gentle.

"...then I'll simply destroy everything."

I hope you still remember this line from the first time she held her weapon in Chapter 3 ^^