Chapter Text
Darkness enveloped the Roan Kingdom, with different colours clashing across the sky.
Rose-gold thunder was seen to collide with a huge clump of dead mana while a silver winged-shield extended between the sky and the ground, separating the two.
*cough*
Black blood started dripping from Cale’s mouth after the cough as he maintained his two ancient powers.
“Cale-nim!!”
Choi Han worriedly looked towards his liege’s direction, yet before he got to move, a set of roots grounded his toes to the ground.
“I get it!!! I won’t head there so please stop overusing your power, Cale-nim!”
Choi Han shouted as he continued attacking the gigantic black orb that was protecting the White Star.
“Stupid White Star! Stop hiding behind this stupid orb!”
“Why is it so hard?!”
“Come on!! Break!”
"Let’s attack one spot together!”
Raon and Rosalyn with their mana, Lock with his shield, and Alberu with his spear, Taerang. The four individuals kept attacking the orb with Choi Han’s black yong, while the other clans fought against other White Star underlings. The attack on the orb was concentrated on the tip where Taerang hit the orb.
“HAHAHA! Keep attacking as I recover my power while you exhaust yours!!”
All eyes glared at the White Star, yet they couldn’t say anything back. Even after they all exerted their maximum power, the orb was barely cracking. However, that was no reason to give up. Blood and sweat started dripping to the ground. Cale's allies focused their attack on the orb, until they heard Cale’s voice.
“I’ll use ‘Instant’ to bump my shield at-”
“NO! Human no!” Raon started crying as he recalled Cale's bloody appearance with his cracking plate the last time he used that power, ‘Instant’. He would not let his human use that power ever again, especially after Mila’s warning.
“But we’re going nowhere-”
“Dongsaeng, just sit back and recover your power. Didn’t you say that you have a weapon that will kill the White Star, but only you can use it?”
“Sit down and just watch, young master Cale.”
Cale stood as he watched them. Even without knowing that Cale would have to stab himself in his heart, their suggestion makes sense. But there was no progress made in the attack ever since a while ago. An item from the Sealed God was indeed powerful.
It was at that moment that Cale heard a voice in his head, “Save your energy, I’m sending help.”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, the sky right above the orb opened and three individuals fell from the sky: one man with a big muscular body, a woman with a humongous spear, and a slender man in his 20s who was closing his eyes during his fall.
Immediately recognizing who the individuals were, Cale shouted, “KIM MIN AH, ATTACK THE BLACK ORB RIGHT AT WHERE THE SPEAR IS!”
“Do what he said, Min Ah!” The big muscular man told the woman.
Being a veteran fighter, the woman, Kim Min Ah, immediately twisted her body and attacked the orb.
“I don’t know what happened, so you better explain later, Team Leader-nim!”
Her spear added some force to the attack and the crack on the orb got bigger, to the point it almost broke, yet still intact.
“Raon, bring everyone here,” Cale asked Raon.
With Raon’s floating magic, the 3 individuals landed safely on the ground.
“Who are these people, human?”
Not only Raon, multiple pairs of eyes were also looking at Cale, looking for an answer. Cale, on the other hand, frowned at the sight, and apparently so did the muscular man.
“Why are you here, Kim Rok Soo?”
“Good question, I don’t know myself,” the muscular man, Kim Rok Soo, replied.
Alberu and Choi Han seemed to be able to picture the situation. Though they definitely did NOT expect that the 38 years old Kim Rok Soo would be so muscular considering how Cale barely moved around unless necessary.
“HUH?! Team Leader-nim, you told me to attack that thing that you don’t know??” Kim Min Ah shouted at Kim Rok soo.
“I know them. Well, by name only,” Kim Rok Soo scoffed and looked at Cale, “That nutjob just told me to come and help.”
“... so this is the help he mentioned,” Cale shook his head.
“Well, consider it a reunion, I guess,” Kim Rok Soo smiled at Cale as he continued, “Anyway, that guy comes first. We need to destroy that orb and attack the White Star, right?”
“Ah before that,” Cale looked at the slender man, “Jung So Hoon, could you please heal them?”
Jung So Hoon was shocked that this person he had never met knew his name. However, as a healer, it was in his instinct to heal the injured. That was why he frowned at Cale hearing the request.
“How about you?”
“I’m okay.”
A wave of nostalgic feelings struck Jung So Hoon and Kim Min Ah upon hearing that response. They didn’t know why, yet that red-haired man standing in front of them felt nostalgic. Jung So Hoon glanced towards Kim Rok Soo and was given a nod. He then started healing everyone.
At that moment, Cale approached Kim Rok Soo and whispered, “Sorry, I should’ve asked for your permission.”
Kim Rok Soo sighed as he replied, “You could ask anyone for help, even if you’re currently not their team leader.”
“Anyway, I basically need to stab my heart with this root from the World Tree and cut the White Star’s ring of life with the sword from this dagger. Please help me break the orb.”
Kim Rok Soo’s eyes shook for a bit before he sighed, “You won’t die, right?”
“No, or so I heard.”
“I don’t think that senile tree could lie anyway, so it should be fine,” Kim Rok Soo massaged his temple before he continued, “Haaa fine. I’ve seen that orb before and it has moments when it weakened. I’ll direct them all to attack at the crack then and you just go.”
“Wow, that nutjob actually sent the right people here!”
“I hate to remind you but don’t forget that that nutjob was also the one who chose to bring you here.”
Cale frowned at Kim Rok Soo’s comment, and Kim Rok Soo patted Cale’s shoulder as he saw the frown.
Following Kim Rok Soo’s information and Cale’s lead, their allies attacked and destroyed the orb. Cale was about to use ‘Instant’ to head to the White Star when Kim Rok Soo grabbed him and whispered, “Use half of what you planned to use, I’ll help.”
Both individuals activated ‘Instant’ and half the burden and arrived right in front of the White Star with their bloodied appearances.
Cale took out the root dagger from the World Tree, stabbed it into his heart, and quickly pulled it out. With the bloodied sword on his hand, he now attacked the White Star’s ring of life, causing him to scream in pain before he perished into dust. Both men standing in front of the White Star, or at least where he was, now let out a breath of relief.
With their liege gone, White Star’s followers lost their motivation to fight, allowing Cale’s allies to easily capture them.
“It has finally ended,” Cale smiled, as he thought about his soon-to-come slacker life.
It was at that moment that they heard a voice from the sky.
“This marks the end of the White Star’s reincarnations, as well as the centuries-old battle. I sincerely thank you both, Cale Henituse and Kim Rok Soo.”
Silence filled the whole battlefield as everything there and then looked, sounded, and felt very holy. Cale was already internally cursing, recalling how this nutjob once offered him to be his saint, and now presented him with this holy view. He was so ready to go into hiding as he once told Alberu.
Clopeh was seen clasping his hands with his eyes closed as he mumbled, “Cale-nim, truly a legend.” Cage, on the other hand, was cursing as she pointed her right forefinger at the sky, “YOU BETTER GIVE US A REST AFTER ALL THESE TROUBLES, YOU GOOD FOR NOTHING!”
The sky went silent for a bit before it continued, “Now I shall give you both a reward,” the voice said as the sky turned brighter before she continued, “I shall let you each live in your original world in your original body for one last day.”
Cale and Kim Rok Soo stared blankly at the sky. Kim Rok Soo was just internally sighing while feeling nervous, while Cale's mouth was wide open as he internally cursed. None of them had any plan to mention the body swap as they had decided to live as one another.
‘And this nutjob just casually announced that outloud, IN FRONT OF EVERY SINGLE PERSON PRESENT IN THE WAR?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!’
It was around that moment that the God of Death seemed to realize that he forgot to summon the two individuals into his realm before announcing that. Feeling cold sweat behind his back, he decided to knock the two unconscious and immediately sent them to each respective world accordingly: Original Cale Henituse’s soul into Cale Henituse’s body in the Roan Kingdom and Original Kim Rok Soo’s soul into Kim Rok Soo’s body in Korea.
Both individuals started losing consciousness as both were sighing while cursing internally.
As the two lost consciousness, light started enveloping the Korean peeps’ bodies (excluding Choi Han) and they disappeared.
The war had ended yet no one was cheering. Instead of resting, they were forced to wreck their brain, trying to comprehend what had just happened.