Sovereign of the Infinite Clones [Novel] Chapter 442

My Alter Ego’S Path To Greatness Chapter 442

***

The Black Dragon Society (4)

Thanks to the full cooperation of the Black Dragon Lord, the leader of the Black Dragon Society, the organization was smoothly incorporated into Maskerade as one of its subordinate groups.

Heinz kept a close eye on them in case they had some ulterior motive, but nothing particularly suspicious was discovered.

Just as the Black Dragon Lord had said, it seemed that all they wanted was to make contact with them and join their ranks.

Still, he couldn’t afford to completely let his guard down.

As a precaution, he had dispatched Black Shadow, who had become a vampire and thus fallen under Heinz’s control. If anything went wrong, he would be able to respond immediately.

Considering how useful they were, the best course of action for now was to keep things at this level and observe them for a while.

‘It’s not like I ever intended to trust them completely in the first place. You never know where a spy might be hiding.’

And that applied not only to the Black Dragon Society that had just joined them, but to all the other organizations as well.

The vampire clans based in Europe, the Blazing Torch operating in Southeast Asia, and even the new agents of the intelligence division whom Harley had personally recruited were all included.

Every organization maintained strict independence and surveillance systems so that a betrayal originating in one place could never affect the others.

He alone was the only one who had a clear understanding of their circumstances and exercised direct control over them.

It was troublesome, but it was absolutely necessary to keep the Buncheon Society in check as they wielded influence over the entire Earth from the shadows of the world.

‘The Black Dragon Society may not compare to the Buncheon Society, but acquiring an organization with such deep roots in China is a major gain. One way or another, the fact that they’ve managed to survive all this time in territory controlled by those bastards proves that they’re highly capable.’

On top of that, taking in the Black Dragon Lord, who knew the Buncheon Society well as their former branch leader, was another unexpected gain.

And, just as he had originally hoped, he had also obtained a key that would be of considerable help to Hugo’s growth—a vast collection of martial principles from countless martial-world dimensions…

In every respect, the situation was nothing but advantageous.

“Phew…”

Yet, as I sat in the massage chair with my eyes quietly closed as usual, I couldn’t feel at ease.

There was one particular fact I had learned through the Black Dragon Lord.

“Half of Earth’s humans…? Ha! This is insane.”

That alone amounted to billions upon billions of people.

And that was merely the minimum estimate.

If things went badly, as much as ninety percent of humanity could be wiped out in a single catastrophe.

When I heard the details from the Black Dragon Lord, I had no choice but to acknowledge that his words were by no means an exaggeration.

‘They’re planning to pour all the energy they’ve plundered by destroying other dimensions into Earth at once?’

Their goal was to use that energy to make new Mysteries sprout forth on this land, a barren wasteland devoid of supernatural power.

That was the ultimate goal of the Buncheon Society as conveyed to me by the Black Dragon Lord.

“This is even scarier knowing they’re not joking.”

It wasn’t simply a matter of humanity.

This wasn’t an empty exaggeration. A shock comparable to the destruction of the entire world would truly sweep across the Earth.

There was a reason Earth was called a barren wasteland of supernatural power.

Among the countless dimensions known to exist, there were worlds with environments and civilizations similar to this one.

But there was no other land quite like Earth, where Mysteries had completely withered away—not only from humans, but from animals, plants, minerals, and virtually everything else.

‘If an enormous amount of energy suddenly floods into a world with no resistance to supernatural power, except for a small number of Awakened…’

‘It would be nothing less than terraforming on a massive scale, overturning the very foundations of the world.’

Those unable to adapt to such violent changes would have no choice but to die.

Of course, the Lord of the Buncheon Society apparently had no intention of completely destroying the world either, and had taken measures of his own to minimize the casualties as much as possible.

The problem was that those measures were hardly different from offering human sacrifices in the form of the terrorist attacks occurring throughout the world.

A sacrifice of the few for the sake of the many?

My hand clenched unconsciously.

It was only natural that I felt disgusted, having become one of those sacrificed ‘few’ against my will.

Still, thanks to those sacrifices, inanimate objects such as minerals would be able to contain Mysteries without too much difficulty, while plants and animals would only mutate into monsters at a certain rate rather than becoming completely extinct.

The real problem was humanity, the only sentient species on Earth and the most complex form of life.

So even under the best possible outcome, half of humanity would still be lost?

I released the tension from my clenched fist, rubbed my eyes, and let out a small sigh.

Though my body had long since surpassed the limits of an ordinary human, I somehow felt an inexplicable wave of exhaustion washing over me.

‘Why? What on earth is driving him to go this far? Why, when he already possesses that much power?’

If it had been another Awakened, I could have understood.

It had nothing to do with me, who still had one foot in multiple dimensions, but it wasn’t uncommon for those who returned to Earth to feel a sense of loss when their growth suddenly came to a standstill.

There were even quite a few who regretted returning to Earth, so it wouldn’t have been strange for them to want to change this world in order to return to the way things were before.

‘But the Lord of the Buncheon Society has no reason to do that. He already possesses enough power to reach true divinity, and he can freely cross dimensions.’

If it was power he wanted, the more subjects he had to rule over, the better.

There were limits even to ruling through fear, and no matter how I looked at it, I couldn’t understand why he would push forward with a plan that could slaughter billions of people.

Which meant there had to be something beyond simply ruling this world…

‘Does he want to become the god of Earth that badly?’

Then, something the Black Dragon Lord had said suddenly flashed through my mind.

“The Lord is already completely mad. He believes only he is right, and that this method is the best possible solution. He’ll do anything to achieve his goal.”

It was no different from the mindset of a fanatic.

Even if tens of billions of innocent people were sacrificed in the process, he wouldn’t care.

Because he firmly believed that this was the truly righteous path.

“…Well, fine. Whatever his intentions are, I can’t just sit back and do nothing.”

Whatever the Lord of the Buncheon Society was thinking or whatever scheme he was plotting, my task remained unchanged.

To eliminate the man responsible for my family’s deaths and completely bring down the Buncheon Society.

After pondering for a moment, I opened the Karma Shop and checked the very bottom.

[Karma Share (6%)]

The figure had increased by another one percent since the first time I’d seen it.

Since acquiring [Karma Shop Ver.3 Update] after my accumulated Karma surpassed twenty million, there hadn’t been any particularly large expenditures, so my reserves had simply continued to pile up.

Even while all sorts of things were happening on Earth, the harvest from my otherworldly farms had continued without interruption.

‘Share…’

I didn’t think that figure simply represented the amount of Karma Points I possessed.

Especially not after hearing what the Lord of the Buncheon Society was after through the Black Dragon Lord.

‘There’s no way someone could simply do something that enormous just because they had the power to do it.’

Wasn’t he already bound by all sorts of restrictions?

Separate from destroying other dimensions to gather the necessary Karma and Divinity, it seemed more reasonable that he would have to satisfy certain conditions in order to carry out his plans on Earth.

“That must be what this share represents.”

If so, then what I had to do was practically decided already. Raise my share as much as possible.

Secure enough of a stake to become one of Earth’s shareholders and oppose his plans from that position.

‘So that no matter how many worlds he destroys, he won’t be able to do anything on this Earth.’

No.

That alone wouldn’t be enough.

This entire assumption was still nothing more than my own speculation, after all.

Rather than simply remaining on the defensive, I needed to take a more proactive approach.

Yes, for example…

‘There can’t be just one world like the Ganghwan Realm, right? How many worlds are on the verge of destruction because that bastard has his straw stuck into them?’

The reason he traveled from dimension to dimension, destroying worlds along the way, was undoubtedly part of this plan.

If so, interfering with that process was something I couldn’t afford to overlook either.

Of course, considering there were countless known dimensions, it might be more efficient to focus on a single task rather than wandering around aimlessly…

“It doesn’t matter to me.”

My body wasn’t limited to just one.

If something needed to be done, I could simply handle multiple tasks simultaneously.

‘Still… to ensure everything proceeds smoothly, I might need to sort out some of the things I’ve been putting off.’

I quietly closed my eyes and focused on the avatars moving throughout the various regions.

The Black Dragon Lord sat on a bench in a park, quietly gazing up at the sky.

It was a beautiful day, with white clouds drifting across the clear blue sky.

“Hello, Grandpa!”

Just then, a young child passing by greeted him with a bright smile.

He looked at the child and returned the greeting with a kind smile.

This was a park in an affluent neighborhood surrounded by schools for children of various age groups.

With wealthy families concentrated in the area, security was good, and the faces of the people walking by were filled with a sense of ease.

Of course, that didn’t mean the children were naive enough to casually greet a complete stranger simply because he was an old man.

The reason that child had greeted the Black Dragon Lord without hesitation was because he was familiar to them.

The Black Dragon Lord didn’t come here every day, since he had other matters to attend to, but he had already spent more than a decade sitting in this spot and watching the children pass by.

“Hey! Let’s go to the karaoke place after—”

“More importantly, how about we go to my place today—”

“Then let’s buy something on the way…”

Then, a group of male students suddenly crossed through the park.

Teenagers in their mid-to-late teens, wearing clean school uniforms and chatting energetically.

The Black Dragon Lord’s gaze settled on one of the boys among them.

“Ah! Hello, Grandpa.”

“Oh, you’re here today. Hello~!”

When their eyes met, the boys greeted him one after another.

Of course, that was all.

No matter how familiar he was from having seen them since they were young, it was only natural that they wouldn’t have any deeper interaction with a complete stranger.

But that alone was enough for him.

Once the children had gone out of sight, the Black Dragon Lord quietly closed his eyes and tilted his head toward the sky.

Perhaps it was because he had recently met Phantom, the master of the Blood Alliance, and spoken with him.

Memories of the distant past suddenly surged back like a reverse current.

The event that had driven him to abandon his position as a branch leader of the Buncheon Society.

The day he betrayed the Lord who had spared no expense in supporting him as he broke through the wall of the Transcendent Realm.

“Haah.”

He had been transported to another world while his wife was still newlywed.

Fortunately, he had managed to return alive and in one piece.

Even more fortunately, despite it being a time when interdimensional transportation was still unknown to the public, his wife had waited for him for more than a year, refusing to give up on him.

But the joy of returning safely to Earth had lasted only a moment.

He was forced into despair when he realized one thing.

As one of the earliest Returnees, he hadn’t known that returning to Earth would cause his growth to come to a complete standstill.

Thanks to the support of the Buncheon Society, he had no trouble maintaining a comfortable life.

But none of that mattered to him.

Having been at the very edge of the Transcendent Realm, he became increasingly obsessed with strength with each passing day.

Regretting his return to Earth, he even left behind the wife who had waited for him and devoted himself entirely to figuring out how to break through the wall.

Perhaps because of that pathological obsession, after years of hardship and suffering, he finally managed to break through the wall of the Transcendent Realm.

Along with the title of [Heaven Defier], a special privilege he had obtained for accomplishing the first feat of transcending the limits of Earth.

He had lost his youth in exchange, but considering what he had gained, it was a price he could willingly pay.

Even so, he couldn’t deny that he felt reluctant to show his wife his current appearance.

After their final meeting, just before he broke through the wall, he never went to see her again.

He left her enough money to live a life of luxury and nothing more.

And he continued his activities with even greater vigor, both as a martial artist and as the East Asian branch leader of the Buncheon Society.

***

Several months later, one day—

That moment came without warning. It had been another clear and sunny day, just like today.

But he had no time to look up at the sky.

He simply raced forward, paying no attention to the road he was tearing through.

He didn’t even notice the chaos he left in his wake, nor the casualties that resulted from it.

And when he finally arrived at the hospital, The aged Black Dragon Lord saw her for the first time.

The murderer who had killed his wife.

The wrinkled-faced culprit grimaced.

The corners of her mouth, so similar to his wife’s, twitched as though mocking him.

But even after seeing her, he simply couldn’t bring himself to hate her.

Because the one who had truly done wrong was himself, for leaving his wife alone.

—“Are you the guardian of the mother? We did everything we could, but she was already in extremely poor condition when she arrived…”

—“Fortunately, the baby is fine. We’ll need to monitor the child carefully for the time being, but…”

He carefully embraced the culprit. A tiny life wriggling within his arms.

The one and only trace left behind in this world by two people who had both been orphans.

And thanks to [Heaven Defier], which allowed him to glimpse a portion of the Heavenly Secrets, he instinctively realized something.

In the world the Lord dreamed of creating, there would be no place for this child.

The moment he realized that, he disappeared without hesitation, taking the child with him.

[Heaven Defier], which allowed him to twist the laws of the world, proved invaluable in concealing his existence and falsifying the child’s identity, eventually allowing him to arrange an adoption by a kind-hearted couple.

And as an anonymous benefactor, he bought the child a house in the affluent neighborhood and watched from afar as the child grew.

He couldn’t even visit personally, afraid that he might be tracked down.

So he simply remained in this park, waiting for a chance encounter.

‘Heh. Waiting this long is nothing.’

The Black Dragon Lord slowly rose from his seat.

Then, leaving behind the sight of the child he had seen again after so long, he turned and walked away.

To fulfill the mission that remained to him… to ensure that her trace would never disappear again.