NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 862
In the brilliant light, there exists a being that shines alongside it, melding into its radiance.
That brilliance rivals the sun in the sky, and its sanctity is unmatched in the pristine expanse. It appears as if it has merged with the divine, yet is distinctly separate—similar yet different, and the same yet clearly defined.
[ Behold those who float across the sea, fragmenting and altering the land, reshaping its form. Can one truly say they lack powers akin to those of the gods? Observe how they create stairs toward the heavens, moving with such intent. Can one argue that they lack a divine majesty? Their authority, surpassing the human realm, resembles that of the divine, for they are indeed gods. They are well deserving of the proof of such status, worthy to enter the lofty palace of the gods… ]
Amidst the flames, Park Jinseong chants a spell.
The light emanating from him, that holiness—
His figure, blending beautifully with the surrounding enchanting flames, seems to suggest he has always been a part of them, as if he walks the same path as Ashtosh Singh, inseparably unified as one being.
But how could one equate Park Jinseong with Ashtosh Singh?
Especially when Ashtosh Singh is utterly unaware of Park Jinseong, while only Park Jinseong recognizes Ashtosh Singh.
Even as he chants the invocation, Ashtosh Singh remains oblivious to Park Jinseong.
This seems so utterly natural.
However, perhaps it is indeed a matter of course.
Is there anyone aware of a parasite that has invaded their body?
Can one fully comprehend the existence of a parasite when it settles in a human’s body, laying its residence, hatching eggs, and stealing nutrients?
[ And thus, when they dared to extend their hand toward the authority of the divine, it trembles and begins to collapse. At the moment they subdued and captured the god, the god’s immortality and absoluteness began to tarnish. They are beings that directly violate the god’s infallibility, these entities that compromise the sanctity of divinity and are unworthy of being worshiped…. ]
Ah.
Humans, who know not even an inch ahead of them, and are oblivious to their own minds.
Truly, they are helpless and powerless.
Humans are so utterly ignorant, ignorant, and yet more ignorant still.
How, then, could they dare to mouth omniscience and omnipotence?
They are but foolish beings, unaware of what occurs within their own bodies….
How can such beings wrap divinity around themselves and declare themselves as gods?
Park Jinseong scoffs.
Like a parasite mocking its host’s foolishness, like an insect that swells by draining nutrients, like an evil being nourishing itself on life force and eroding lifespan, becoming ever more robust day by day.
And through such scorn, he mocks the divine.
As if the recently spoken invocation suggests that Park Jinseong himself serves as a blasphemer against divinity through mere existence.
As he spends time amidst the flames, cracks begin to form in Ashtosh Singh’s sanctity.
It is but a tiny fracture.
Yet it is a crack sufficient for external impurities to seep in.
No.
No.
How can it be deemed an ‘external impurity’?
For Park Jinseong and Ashtosh Singh currently share the same space!
Ha ha ha ha!!
Park Jinseong lets out a seemingly evil laugh, beginning to articulate a different tone of invocation.
[ I ask the researchers of the future. Can a human be replaced? ]
There exists a common delusion among people.
They naturally believe their own body fully belongs to them and is under their control.
But I ask this.
Is your body truly solely yours?
Can you genuinely control your body?
What people think of as ‘myself’ is merely a part of the components that constitute them.
How much is there that humans cannot control themselves?
They cannot adjust the speed of their blood flow, cannot stop their own heart, nor can they push themselves to the brink of suffocation by holding breath. They cannot block neural signals to adjust their senses, nor can they move red and white blood cells as they desire.
The human body is maintained through countless elements executing their necessary tasks, and it occurs even sans the personality that one considers ‘myself’.
Thus, how can one not assert that personality is not one of the components that form humans?
Long ago, there was one who explored the principles of the world, claiming upon observing the human body:
[ A person without spirit is no different from a beast in the field, and a person without a soul is akin to an empty box. Just as a beast does not delve into who its master is, and an empty box does not care what occupies its inside, whatever spirit or soul enters an empty space, it would be no surprise. ]
And thus, one concludes that if there exists a gap in one’s heart, it is very natural for something to seek to enter it; and the one who intentionally performs such acts is likely to be an evil being.
So he decided to name this phenomenon ‘possessionem’.
And, as is customary with names in any language, it eventually evolved into ‘Possession’.
It came to mean possession in the sense of residing without ownership, occupying, and living.
[ Scholars of the future, and those knowledgeable reading this text. Remember and be wary of the concept of possessionem. The gaps in our hearts will become spaces for evil beings to dwell, and those beings will always act to seize your soul and claim that space. ]
* * *
With a thud.
Ashtosh Singh’s body abruptly halts unnaturally.
The dragon, once fiercely biting Anael, and the divine light that was expanding its territory—
All of it suddenly comes to a standstill.
As if time had frozen for a moment.
『 a———- 』
The monitor acting as Ashtosh Singh’s head outputs but a single character: ‘a’.
It’s a letter, filled with the bewilderment of a person taken by surprise—a product of shock.
Crack.
Crack.
A sound akin to something splitting resounds.
It echoes like ice cracking upon a winter river.
The sound resonates like frozen earth splitting, forming a deep crevasse.
This is no mere cracking sound; it heralds the moment when something immense and once flawless begins to lose its purity.
Crack.
Crack.
Ashtosh Singh’s monitor shatters.
Considering it is no ordinary monitor, but the one that served as the head of Ashtosh Singh—its cracking holds significant weight.
a—
—–
——-
The letters are smashed, cut, and distorted.
The spreading cracks blanket the monitor like a spiderweb, eventually engulfing even the ‘a’.
And.
And—
Crash—!!!
The glass of the monitor bursts outward, revealing what lies within.
“Ha.”
Eyes glimmering with embers.
A distorted grin.
A face mixed with bright red and pale white—
As the monitor breaks, Park Jinseong uncovers his own face, grinning.
His derision is directed toward the illusion of Ashtosh Singh sculpted in flames, centered around the shattered remnants of the monitor.
A face of Ashtosh Singh made of fire.
“Pray tell, how can justice and evil coexist, how can light and darkness mingle, how can the Son of God and the wicked harmonize, how can the believer and non-believer have any concern for each other, and how can the great deed of the divine and idolatry align?”
Park Jinseong recites before the grotesquely twisted face of Ashtosh Singh.
“Like how good and evil cannot coexist, though they may dwell together in the hearts of men, we too are not all that different.”
The scene resembles that of an evil being overshadowing the soul of its host with a physical body—it was truly a blasphemous and wicked sight.
『 You, shaman. You are not a bug sorcerer. How can I not recognize this evil deed flowing like water? 』
The fiery visage of Ashtosh Singh gazes at Park Jinseong.
Through the cracks of the shattered monitor, Park Jinseong’s face, mixed with red, white, and black, comes into view.
The face resembling that of a person drawn with stains—
『 How can it be devoid of this much hesitation to steal someone’s body? How can there be no hesitation in seizing control and possessing? This can’t be done once or twice; it cannot succeed merely through resolve. I can see that you are accustomed to this, that it aligns with your purpose. 』
Ashtosh Singh examines Park Jinseong’s mottled face, thinking it resembles an assembly of pieces crafted from a corpse.
『 I may not know the details, but one thing is clear. 』
He gathers sanctity and reshapes his body once more.
As in ancient times, when man was birthed from flame.
As the human form was shaped from brilliant light to set foot in the world.
This time, instead of a monitor as a head, he molds his form into a perfect body identical to his reality, stepping into the realm of dreams.
Then, he draws forth the sanctity that Park Jinseong has yet to corrupt.
『 Shaman, Park. Jin. Seong. What makes you cling so fiercely to survival? 』
He poses the question, forging a sword from flame toward him.