Chichi's Narration
Long...
Long...
Long ago...
There was a time when the world of Peratan was nothing more than an unfinished creation.
The heavens had yet to shine.
The lands had yet to breathe.
Even time itself seemed incomplete.
And then...
The very first living being was born.
It was neither a human...
Nor an animal.
Its body was smaller than a single strand of hair.
Some worlds might have mistaken such a creature for a bacterium or a parasite...
But this being was neither.
It was a unique existence unlike anything else.
Its tiny round body was covered with soft white hairs, while a long rat-like tail—longer than its own body—trailed behind it, colored in a mixture of white and pale flesh.
As the ruler of Peratan...
I gave that first life a name.
Rabef.
The moment I spoke that name...
Rabef's tiny body began to glow.
It wasn't evolution.
At that time, this world had yet to possess the laws that governed evolution.
Instead...
Countless microscopic particles separated from Rabef's body.
Each particle carried life.
None possessed Rabef's strength.
Yet every single one of them was alive.
Years passed.
The world continued its construction.
Eventually...
The first star of Peratan was born.
That star was formed from the countless living particles that had originated from Rabef.
As more years flowed by, more stars appeared throughout the endless darkness.
Those particles eventually died...
Merged together...
And became celestial bodies.
From those stars...
The first planet was created.
Even now, Rabef's particles continued to die one after another.
Yet Rabef himself remained alive.
His appearance slowly changed with time...
But his existence never disappeared.
The first planet was eventually named...
Raptan.
From there...
An entire solar system gradually came into existence.
Life appeared.
Life vanished.
Again...
And again...
Meanwhile...
Rabef drifted silently through space.
Eventually, he discovered the giant planet known as Raptan.
For the first time...
He saw something unfamiliar.
A creature that walked on two legs.
One that could speak...
Hear...
See...
And think.
A human.
At first, Rabef couldn't understand what those beings were.
But because his body was so incredibly small...
No one ever noticed his presence.
So...
He simply remained there.
Watching.
Years passed.
New races appeared.
Others vanished forever.
Human civilization slowly advanced.
Generation after generation...
Rabef quietly observed their growth.
After witnessing hundreds of generations...
He developed a fascination with humanity.
Watching them became his greatest joy.
Until...
Everything changed.
The day humans stopped trusting one another.
The day they began killing each other.
Kings declared war.
Kingdoms burned.
Rabef watched.
Three years...
Four years...
Ten years...
Twenty...
Thirty...
Still...
The wars never ended.
Eventually...
Five hundred years had passed.
Rabef watched countless humans slaughter one another for reasons he couldn't understand.
One day...
He quietly asked himself...
"What joy do they find in this?"
"Do they truly enjoy killing each other?"
"Why do they desire wealth so desperately?"
After centuries of observation...
Rabef reached a conclusion.
Humans were greedy.
So greedy...
That they were willing to kill strangers...
Friends...
Even their own families.
Parents.
Children.
No one was exempt from their greed.
Yet despite everything...
Rabef continued watching them.
Because...
They had become his favorite race.
Five hundred years after humanity's endless wars...
A new race was born.
The Demon Race.
At first, humans welcomed them.
They looked almost identical.
They spoke the same language.
They laughed.
They cried.
For a brief moment...
The two races coexisted peacefully.
But...
Peace never lasted.
Slowly...
Jealousy began to spread through humanity.
"Why are they stronger than us?"
"Why do they live far longer than humans?"
Those whispers gradually poisoned mankind.
Until one night...
Every demon inside the royal capital slept peacefully.
Hidden beneath the darkness...
A single human slipped into the Demon King's palace.
Like a thief.
Like an assassin.
He quietly opened the princess's chamber.
There she slept peacefully.
Without hesitation...
He drew his knife.
And murdered the Demon Princess.
Not for justice.
Not for revenge.
But because she had rejected his marriage proposal.
The following morning...
The maids entered the room.
"...Princess?"
Silence answered them.
Then...
A scream echoed throughout the palace.
The Demon King personally investigated the crime alongside his ministers.
After a long discussion...
They reached only one conclusion.
"A human murdered our princess."
That single incident ignited a war unlike any before.
The war between humans...
And demons.
Generation after generation...
The hatred continued.
Rabef silently watched thirteen generations of demon kings.
Every one of them tried to wipe humanity from existence.
Every one of them failed.
Eventually...
The demons decided to launch their greatest invasion.
For the first time...
Rabef chose to interfere.
Not for himself.
But to protect the race he loved most.
Humanity.
He entered a battlefield covered with countless corpses.
Among them...
He found the body of a fallen demon.
Using that corpse as his vessel...
Rabef stepped into history.
Thus began his long journey to protect humanity.
Years passed.
Decades became centuries.
Whenever his vessel decayed...
Rabef simply found another.
Yet no matter how many bodies he changed...
One thing never changed.
His power.
Illness.
He devoted himself entirely to humanity.
He constructed the first Magicarf Tower, teaching humans how to use magic so they could defend themselves.
But...
Humans betrayed him again.
Some secretly sold that very magic to the demons...
Simply for money.
Rabef never desired fame.
He never desired worship.
He only wanted to protect the people he had watched for countless generations.
Yet...
Those very people feared him.
Not because he was immortal.
Not because he possessed overwhelming power.
But because of his appearance.
His body had become twisted after centuries of changing vessels.
His aura carried every disease imaginable.
Unable to accept his grotesque form...
Humans gave him a new name.
Illman.
Little by little...
The name Rabef disappeared from history.
Only...
Illman remained.
He endured every insult.
Every hateful word.
Every stone thrown toward him.
For years...
He silently tolerated it all.
Until...
One day...
A human raised a weapon against him.
Not to protect anyone.
Not to save the world.
Simply...
To kill him.
Rabef effortlessly avoided the attack.
Then...
He looked at the people surrounding him.
The people he had protected.
The people he had trained.
The people he had loved for generations.
They all wanted him dead.
In that single instant...
His sorrow...
His anger...
His loneliness...
Everything exploded.
One heartbeat later...
The entire city disappeared.
Reduced to dust.
Not a single human survived.
Not even the Ents.
Rabef never exterminated humanity completely.
Instead...
He made a decision.
He would continue watching them.
But whenever humanity came close to breaking free from his curse...
He would erase that generation.
If humanity insisted on repeating its mistakes...
Then humanity would never be allowed to evolve beyond them.
Thus...
The guardian of mankind became...
Its greatest nightmare.
Many...
Many...
Many years later...
A young man named Yuki arrived in Peratan.
From the very beginning...
Rabef had been watching him.
Not because Yuki possessed extraordinary power.
Not because he was chosen by fate.
But because of the mysterious portal through which he had entered this world.
That portal alone was enough to catch Rabef's attention.
From that day onward...
Rabef observed every moment of Yuki's life.
He watched him train.
He watched him fight.
He watched him eat...
Sleep...
Laugh...
Cry...
Even the smallest details of his daily life never escaped Rabef's eyes.
Seven...
Eight...
Years passed.
After silently observing Yuki for so long...
Rabef finally reached a conclusion.
"He cannot defeat me."
"He is far too weak."
That was the answer Rabef arrived at.
So when Yuki finally stood before him...
It wasn't because Yuki had found Rabef.
It was because...
Rabef had chosen to let Yuki find him.
Everything had happened according to Rabef's own will.
Throughout their battle...
Yuki believed he had been forcing Rabef into a corner.
He believed the strange recoveries...
The opportunities...
The moments where he narrowly escaped death...
Were simply luck.
He thought Rabef was foolish.
He believed the monster didn't understand his abilities.
But...
The truth was exactly the opposite.
Every time Yuki stood on the verge of death...
Rabef secretly allowed him to recover.
Every opportunity Yuki received...
Had been given to him intentionally.
The one who truly failed to understand his opponent...
Was Yuki himself.
Rabef was never a being that an ordinary mortal could kill.
When Rabef first touched Yuki during the battle...
At the moment Yuki nearly died...
Something unexpected happened.
Through that single touch...
Rabef saw another world.
The world from which Yuki had come.
Elaria.
Because of what he witnessed...
Rabef quietly returned a fragment of his own power to Yuki.
That borrowed power became the catalyst for Yuki's passive skill.
Sokku Saktoo...
...evolved into...
Sahityak.
That was the real reason behind the sudden evolution.
It wasn't chance.
It wasn't destiny.
And it certainly wasn't my doing.
I merely carried out the evolution after all the necessary conditions had already been fulfilled.
The truth...
Was much simpler than Yuki could ever imagine.
From the instant he entered Peratan...
He had never escaped Rabef's sight.
Every step...
Every decision...
Every battle...
Everything unfolded within the palm of Rabef's hand.
Yuki believed he had slain Illman.
But the reality was...
Rabef could never truly be killed.
That was why...
The Hundredth Trial had never been—
"Kill Rabef."
Its true objective was—
"Defeat Rabef once."
And...
That objective had already been completed.
The moment Rabef's vessel collapsed into the ocean...
The trial was over.
Yuki simply failed to notice the system notification.
He believed victory meant death.
But Rabef had allowed himself to lose...
Only once.
The body Yuki destroyed...
Was nothing more than a temporary vessel.
While Yuki lay exhausted upon the frozen sea...
Rabef quietly abandoned that body.
Without anyone noticing...
He entered Yuki's body instead.
Not to possess him.
Not to kill him.
But...
To reach another world.
Eto.
Rabef had chosen Yuki as his path into a completely new existence.
There was another truth.
Rabef already knew Precious.
He had witnessed the day Precious descended to save humanity during the war between Yuki and the Demon King.
Nothing escaped Rabef's observation.
And there was one final truth...
One that no one wished to hear.
...
Yuki's death...
...could never be avoided.
Chichi's narration came to an end.
Silence returned.
Far out in the endless ocean of Peratan...
A tiny island of ice floated alone.
Yuki slowly opened his eyes.
A portal appeared before him.
He remained seated for several moments, staring at it.
Then...
He took a long, exhausted breath.
"...Ah..."
"...Haa..."
Slowly...
He stood.
His body still ached from the battle.
Step by step...
He walked toward the portal.
Just before entering...
He suddenly stopped.
Without turning around, he spoke softly.
"Hey... Chichi..."
"Can you do me one favor?"
His voice carried an indescribable sadness.
After a brief silence, Chichi answered.
"You are Master Precious' friend."
"I have no reason to refuse your request."
A faint smile appeared on Yuki's face.
But hidden behind that smile...
Was unbearable pain.
"...Can you..."
He hesitated.
Then quietly asked—
"...Can you protect my family..."
"...when I'm no longer there?"
Silence.
For a long moment...
Neither of them spoke.
Finally...
Chichi answered.
"...Yes."
"I can."
Those simple words were enough.
A peaceful smile appeared on Yuki's face.
One filled with relief.
"...Thank you."
"...Thank you..."
"...For everything."
Without another word...
Yuki stepped into the portal.
The light swallowed him.
Then...
The portal disappeared.
Once again...
Only silence remained.
Chichi stood alone upon the frozen sea.
The translucent system window quietly floated in the empty air.
For a long time...
Nothing happened.
Then...
In a voice so soft it was almost carried away by the wind...
Chichi whispered,
"...So..."
"...He has gone..."
"...Together with Rabef."
End of Chapter 309