NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 1040
<1040 – The Master of Darkness (18)>
Death Note has a famous quote.
A copy of the Death Note.
That was achieved overnight by Jebanny.
Superhuman skills to finish copying a massive amount of Death Notes in just one day.
That’s the ability needed right now.
No need to worry about handwriting.
But if you fall behind in speed, it’s over.
Write down the identity of your opponent before they can.
Whoever is late gets declared dead by the Book of Death in this rapid writing duel!
“As long as I don’t achieve 100% accuracy, it doesn’t matter. Considering my powers as the Avatar of the God of Death, 80%. No, even 75% would suffice to instantly kill.”
The Heavenly Sovereign found herself in an advantageous position in this duel.
The very fact that the duel was established and the threatening situation was preposterous, yet at least she wasn’t at a disadvantage.
“A lucky brat who hit the jackpot with parents and mentors. How long do you think that precious life of yours will keep you on top?!”
The Heavenly Sovereign, being the Avatar of a God, felt hostility toward Oknodie, born with a silver spoon.
Setting aside the misplaced anger, she was confident.
After all, her confidence was justified.
“No matter how magnificent your background is, at the core, you’re just a teenager of about ten years old.”
How much can a child of limited time accumulate in relationships?
Even though their influence on the world may be vast, and they build new relationships accordingly, there are limits.
Even the former commander of martial law can be branded as a true patriot, and so everyone has different identities depending on perspective.
Yet such identities can’t stray far beyond a few major categories.
Most humans can’t escape the viewpoint of specific ages, occupations, or social characteristics they share.
“Such common relationships can be listed in abundance in the Book of Death.”
Just looking back on how they viewed Oknodie, finding a common denominator identity is quite simple.
Guessing how Oknodie is perceived from the largest support group down to the smallest based on the most famous, influential, and recognized relationships.
The Heavenly Sovereign’s approach was exceptional.
An ordinary human would surely be dead.
There’s no need to write in great detail.
Family relationships.
Friendships.
Relationships with peers.
Romantic relationships.
In just these four categories, most people can be summarized.
Without going broad, people with no influence die by just writing their name.
The fates of those who achieve nothing special in life and have no notable accomplishments bear that truth.
60% of humanity can be summarized just by their names.
Going further, 30% can be defined within those four relationship lines.
Only the exceptional 9.9% with substantial accomplishments flip the page, and a minuscule 0.1% of geniuses go beyond a hundred pages.
Oknodie is among that rarest of the rare.
But people who would define her relationships are dying every second and being recorded in the Book of Death.
━━━
<Special Function of the Book of Death>
[Search: Find the desired information.]
[Cost: 100,000 deaths]
━━━
Search using the souls of the deceased, 100,000 spirits, to find the desired information.
Limited use of the Shinigami’s vision allows for the indirect discovery of an opponent’s identity.
There’s no reason to hesitate when dedicating 10,000 spirits per stroke.
Search. Record.
Search. Record.
The Heavenly Sovereign flipped through the pages without hesitation, rapidly encompassing Oknodie’s identities.
Still, Oknodie had not collapsed.
After discovering all notable relationships, there still remained connections defining her identity that surpassed the collective opinion of a group.
━━━
<Special Function of the Book of Death>
<Search>
[Command: What is another category that defines Oknodie’s relationships?]
[Answer: <Favorability>]
━━━
This is it.
If individuals hold a greater regard for Oknodie than the group does, and if that individual’s influence surpasses the group’s, that relationship must be precious.
Just like how the thought of one friend, Rosgini, who shared lunches, went hiking, and used the locker room with Oknodie, is more significant than how uncaring residents of some small country view her.
━━━
<Book of Death>
<Record Inquiry>
[Target: Students or staff who died at the Academy within the last year and a half.]
━━━
A cruel smile spread across the Heavenly Sovereign’s face as she browsed through the records.
Found it.
The records of deceased “Professors” who remembered students’ personal records.
She picks out students who took classes with Oknodie from the roster of relationships recorded during their lives.
And infers the nature of their relationships.
━━━
A friend who eats meals with Hestia.
A girl who gazes at the slim and long legs of the imperial faction female students during jogging, boosting her pride as the girl Oknodie envies.
The Evil Child who exploits and uses members of the Plant Club, taking it out on Professor Weird for the torments she faces.
━━━
Switching between easily defined and ambiguously defined relationships, the Heavenly Sovereign begins the elimination process.
Having eliminated an abundance of information stemming from favorability, she was quite baffled.
Despite having defined so many relationships, she still couldn’t resolve even 75% of Oknodie’s identity.
Just how much influence did this child wield in the world?
At that point, he finally realized.
‘Isn’t there still something left?’
What he had forgotten.
An essential factor that can’t be overlooked when writing down identities.
━━━
<Title>
━━━
A collection of accomplishments, deeds, and feats achieved by a person.
That is what the collection of titles is.
The accumulated
━━━
Oknodie
Guide of Corruption
Guide of the Divine
One who experienced near death
One who overcame death
Witness to the Three Great Evils
Subjugator of the Three Great Evils
Experiencer of the Apocalypse
Author of the Apocalypse
Killer of Gods
Bearer of God’s Offspring
━━━
Seeing those illustrious titles, she couldn’t help but nod.
With such immense identities, it’s no wonder the identities won’t conclude!
Of course, that’s where it ends.
It’s akin to having written down every identity achievable as a human.
Jonnas the Butler’s precious lady.
Best friend of Assassin Jiang.
VVIP guest to the demon king’s market’s high-ranking traders.
Anonymous mentor of the Monster Legion Tamer.
Wonderful friend of the Forbidden Books.
━━━
She wrote down everything, even hidden secrets known only to truly close friends.
“Don’t you dare lie!”
She couldn’t accept it.
Having written so extensively.
It’s now difficult to find anything more.
A colossal guest who only buys high-grade monster fish from a fisherman on a deserted island, visiting just once every half year.
A thief who steals the supreme magical stone used in giant resurrection rituals once a month from the Giant’s Sanctum.
She recorded every conceivable relationship.
Yet still not even 75% of her identity?
The Heavenly Sovereign contemplated seriously.
Had she unwittingly swapped the Book of Death for a fake?
That couldn’t possibly be!
“Giggling. Ah, what a pity! You still haven’t caught onto the fact that you’ve walked into a losing bet. Such a rookie mistake!”
“Reveal it. How is this nonsense possible?!”
“Hehe. Should I boost the ‘Arrogance’ function and increase the final attack power? Fine. If you’re that curious, I’ll reveal the secret you’ve overlooked.”
Oknodie shared a secret that would’ve gone unnoticed by the Heavenly Sovereign even if she resurrected.
“Actually, the flow of the world does not occur just once.”
“What does that mean?”
“The universe does not just end after a fixed trigger is activated, it has repeatedly gone through such annihilation many times.”
Even the Master of Darkness, who houses strange knowledge, was astonished by those words.
It wasn’t just their shock.
Amid the overwhelming magical energy emitting from the Book of Death, Jiang and Sing, even Sadi, covered their ears from the horrid screams of the demons that leaked out with each stroke, desperately trying to absorb the extraordinary atmosphere through their eyes and ears.
Glancing back at those friends, Oknodie grinned and defended her position.
It’s still too early.
They’re not the type to suffer a significant injury just from uncovering one secret of the world, risking a semester off.
“Do you understand? The relationships that the Heavenly Sovereign wrote about me are just a singular round of relationships. I’m still far from catching up with the ■■■■ rounds!”
All her statements were known to be the truth by the Heavenly Sovereign.
Emerging through the boundaries of dimensions, the mysterious entity’s presence ensured this truth.
“I… what kind of existence was I competing against…? If you truly are an existence that transcends the boundaries of the world, is that even possible…!”
Finally, understanding dawned in the eye of the God of Death.
“Is that so? Although I considered the identity among the collected information to be unreliable, if that’s the case, I can comprehend!”
“Excuse me?”
“The hidden daughter of the Principal. The Minor Evil Dragon Oknodie.”
“Wait, what?!”
“Given your surprise, it appears I struck a nerve, making the habit of your kind’s speech slip out!”
Before the 100% confidence of the Heavenly Sovereign, Oknodie thought about how cruel it might be to disappoint such expectation.
“Y-Yep…”
Please tell me it’s not true.
A fleeting panic crossed the face of the Heavenly Sovereign as realization crept in.
Could even the absolute truth be a lie?
“Hahaha! Hahaha!”
“Um, your eyes seem unfocused, are you okay?”
“If the last truth I held was also a lie, then I truly learned nothing about Oknodie’s true identity!”
Before overwhelming despair, the Heavenly Sovereign’s heart shattered.