Chapter 9. Arrogant Bastard (4)
Every team member screamed.
Standing before them was unmistakably Yoo Jaeha.
But another Yoo Jaeha was standing right beside him.
“...What the hell? My doppelgänger?!”
Jaeha's mouth opened and closed.
“Captain! What the hell did you do?!”
Jooheon lowered the towel from his neck and raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
Yes.
This was his real subordinate.
The 'other Yoo Jaeha' calmly spoke.
“I am a Majesty from another worldline.”
Jaeha scoffed.
“...Ha. Stop talking bullshit.”
He pointed at Jooheon.
“Captain is Majesty! What the hell are you even saying—”
Majesty Jaeha completely ignored him and looked at the peaceful sky.
“I'm jealous.”
His expression became distant.
“This place is still intact.”
Everyone stared.
“My world was destroyed by the gods.”
“...What?”
“Anyway, you should be grateful to me.”
He casually continued.
“I stole the Egyptian Artifacts before their seals could fully break.”
“Before their seals broke...?”
Jooheon stared at him as though he'd realized something.
“Wait.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You weren't the one who broke Zeus's seal?”
Majesty Jaeha shrugged.
“Of course not.”
He pointed upward.
“The Artifacts that took your daughter were the ones trying to release Zeus.”
He smiled.
“I was actually preventing the seal from fully breaking.”
So that was why this man's aura had remained on Zeus's Artifact.
Everyone looked at him, silently asking why he would bother.
The man laughed coldly.
“How naive.”
His eyes were as cold as the depths of the sea.
“What do you think happens when a Chief God-level Artifact regains its freedom?”
What else?
The world ends.
Especially when the god in question regarded humans as insects.
“Exactly.”
Majesty Jaeha nodded.
“The release of Divine-Grade Artifacts is one of the basic stages in their <Humanity Extinction Scenario>.”
“!”
That's only the basic stage?
Jooheon grimaced.
If Divine-Grade Artifacts were released without being controllable...
The result would be horrifying.
And this bastard was claiming he'd helped them before that could happen?
“If I hadn't interfered, Zeus and these guys would've broken free and destroyed your world.”
Majesty Jaeha tossed the Egyptian Divine-Grade Artifacts back.
The real restoration specialist, Yoo Jaeha, quickly caught them while scoffing.
“You stole them and now you're acting proud.”
He sneered.
“I don't know what happened in your world, but if your world got destroyed even though you're Majesty, I guess your Dominance must be pretty pathetic—”
He didn't finish.
“Guh...!”
Jaeha collapsed, grabbing his throat.
Even Ilya, who tried to rush forward, was smashed against the floor as if caught under an industrial press.
A crushing aura shook the entire hideout.
Dominance...!
The power that forced Artifacts into submission was crushing human consciousness as well.
Everyone stared in shock.
Pathetic Dominance?
Like hell.
“W-What the hell is this...?”
Jaeha gasped.
“His Dominance is on Captain's level!”
Majesty Jaeha laughed as if telling them not to struggle.
“You people are ability users from a primitive world that hasn't even developed properly yet.”
He looked down at them.
“Did you really think you could resist me?”
His mocking gaze moved to Jooheon.
“The same goes for Majesty.”
He smiled.
“An unawakened beginner like you should only be able to withstand this pressure for—”
He stopped.
Jooheon was standing perfectly straight.
Completely unaffected.
If anything...
He looked pissed off.
“Hey.”
Blue light blazed from Jooheon's eyes.
“You bastard.”
His Dominance surged.
“Turn yours off.”
Majesty Jaeha's eyes widened.
When Jooheon countered him with his own Dominance, Majesty Jaeha frowned internally.
Then he quickly shrugged with his usual smooth expression.
“Oh?”
He sounded genuinely impressed.
“An unawakened rookie Majesty can withstand that?”
The pressure disappeared.
The air instantly became easier to breathe.
As the team recovered, Majesty Jaeha suddenly began explaining.
“In your world, Prometheus and Gaia were probably the main problem.”
He smiled faintly.
“My world was different.”
Julian became interested.
“Did Pandora exist there too?”
He frowned.
“Was the world ruled by monopolists?”
Majesty Jaeha laughed coldly.
“I wish.”
“...What?”
“There are different Majesties in every worldline.”
He looked at Jooheon.
“Just as you created the Guardians, every Majesty chooses a different way to rule using Artifacts.”
He smiled.
“For example... there is a world where executions are decided through popular vote.”
“Executions by popular vote?”
“Exactly.”
His smile widened.
“The show I showed you earlier.”
Jooheon's expression darkened.
“You got angry, but that was only a small preview.”
Then the man casually added:
“Oh, by the way.”
He pointed at Jooheon.
“There's also a worldline where Seo Jooheon is a woman.”
“?!”
Jooheon froze.
“She has ant-like powers.”
Wait.
What the hell did he just say?
“Anyway.”
Majesty Jaeha continued as if nothing had happened.
“The ultimate Divine-Grade Artifacts of the Four Great Civilizations all share the same objective.”
His face became serious.
“Either destroy each worldline...”
He paused.
“...or completely dominate it.”
Julian frowned.
“There is something I don't understand.”
He looked directly at him.
“Why do they hate humans enough to go this far?”
Majesty Jaeha smiled coldly.
“Because Divine-Grade Artifacts weren't originally Artifacts.”
Everyone froze.
“What does that mean?”
“They were gods.”
His eyes darkened.
“A certain 'blacksmith' transformed them into objects.”
Majesty Jaeha placed a hand over Jooheon's chest.
“And Majesty's heart isn't an ordinary heart either.”
He tapped Jooheon's chest.
“This is what they're after.”
Everyone stiffened.
“The other Majesties don't want their hearts ripped out and killed, so most of them submit to the Artifacts.”
“......”
“Well.”
He sighed.
“I didn't want to die either, so I stole one of their dimensional-transfer Artifacts and ran.”
He looked toward the sky.
“Haah...”
Then he smiled.
“But it looks like they followed me all the way here.”
...What?
At that instant...
Space split apart.
Unfamiliar forms appeared.
[You rat-like Majesty.]
[So you fled into this worldline.]
[But perhaps this is for the best.]
The highest-ranking Artifacts of the Four Great Civilizations manifested like grim reapers.
Majesty Jaeha spoke quietly.
“When the Supreme Gods personally descend, it means someone here is going to die.”
He looked at Jooheon.
“You don't want to die, do you?”
He smiled.
“Become my subordinate, and I'll lend you the dimensional Artifact.”
Then he extended his hand.
“Looking forward to working with you, subordinate.”
“......”
Why the hell was this bastard assuming he was the boss?
“You want to find your daughter, don't you?”
What the hell did that have to do with him becoming a subordinate?
