MTLNOVEL Chapter 5 - Day 5
Day 5
The villains imprisoned in Tartarus were in an uproar.
It had already spread that Cheon Seoa was imprisoned in Tartarus for ‘Heart Devouring’, and furthermore, that Cheon Seoa’s ability might be identical to that of the famous Heart Devourer.
The villains’ reactions were divided into two.
Even though they themselves are also vicious villains, there’s a group that believes they shouldn’t break taboos.
There’s another group that believes that as villains, it’s natural to do whatever they want, so it doesn’t matter whether Cheon Seoa ate hearts or not.
Among them, there was also a very small number of villains who had taken a liking to Cheon Seoa.
Meanwhile, the warden who sent Cheon Seoa to Tartaros’ worst solitary cell….
“I’ve checked, but… I’m not sure.”
The warden, kneeling on both knees and bowing his head, spoke to ‘someone’.
That appearance was unthinkable for the absolute ruler of Tartaros.
If anyone had seen the warden in such a state, they would have doubted their own eyes.
Meanwhile, the ‘someone’ to whom the warden was bowing so deeply….
[I see. However, since it’s not impossible, keep watching for now. And.]
“I will continue to report regularly.”
[Good.]
With those words, the voice of ‘someone’ cut off abruptly.
Even so, the warden remained kneeling on both knees, head bowed.
“Everything is for the ‘Heaven Lady’.”
He just quietly muttered in a reverent voice, as if whispering to someone.
* * *
“It’s built quite sturdy.”
Cheon Seoa said, tapping the walls and door of the solitary cell she was confined in.
Tartaros itself was already quite sturdy, but this solitary cell was built even stronger.
At least strong enough to contain a Transcendent up to the Axis stage.
Of course, for a cultivator who had achieved a higher level, Tartarus was nothing more than paper.
More importantly.
“Why did they look at me as if I was pitiful?”
Cheon Seoa, who had slumped down on the floor, tilted her head as if she truly couldn’t understand.
The ‘pitiful’ expressions of the guards who had guided her to this solitary cell were still unforgettable.
How many tens of thousands of years had it been since she had received such sympathy?
No, it wasn’t even tens of thousands of years.
To be honest, it was the first time Cheon Seoa had ever received ‘sympathy’ from anyone.
She had only received resentment and anger from the numerous cultivators spread throughout the cultivation world.
Even cultivators of the same magical cultivation method and sect only feared her.
Even when Cheon Seoa had just reached the realm of the Forbidden Realm, but was caught by a cultivator of the Origin Realm sent from a sect she had a grudge against.
There wasn’t even a shred of sympathy to be found, let alone the camaraderie of cultivators practicing the same magical cultivation method.
What she had glimpsed from them was merely mockery, envy, and jealousy.
“Sympathy… huh. Quite novel. Of course, I have no reason to receive sympathy.”
Zzzik-.
As Cheon Seoa finished speaking and made a light gesture, space tore open following her hand movement.
The space beyond the tear split into dozens of pieces, showing dozens of different scenes.
Among them were scenes from inside Tartarus, as well as glimpses of major cities around the world.
“Come to think of it…”
As Cheon Seoa murmured as if whispering, with each of her hand gestures, the scenes visible through the torn space began to change rapidly.
That way, only after the scenery split into dozens of pieces changed hundreds and thousands of times, Cheon Seoa was able to find what she wanted.
“Fortunately. It’s not too late yet.”
As if truly relieved, Cheon Seoa let out a deep sigh and looked beyond the torn space.
Beyond the torn space, the dozens of divided sceneries had merged to show only one, and reflected in that scenery was the figure of a young man walking down a deserted alley.
A young man with an extremely ordinary appearance that could be seen anywhere.
That young man was none other than ‘herself’ living on Earth before Cheon Seoa became Cheon Seoa.
To be honest.
“The reason I came to Earth was to resolve this.”
Cheon Seoa, who had entered the realm of Dojogi, had long since become something that transcended all laws, rules, and causality.
If there is such a thing as a god. And if such a god is truly omnipotent.
Cheon Seoa had already transcended even such an ‘omnipotent god’.
No, she had been unbound by laws, rules, and causality even before reaching Dojogi.
Perhaps that’s why.
When Cheon Seoa was roaming the Suseongye, she encountered countless ‘selves’.
Among them was herself who had just fallen into Suseongye and was bewildered.
Among them was herself who had just awakened her talent and started practicing magic arts.
Among them was herself who had achieved a certain level of attainment thanks to innate qualities, natural constitution, and spiritual roots and opportunities.
And Cheon Seoa killed all of those ‘selves’ without exception.
Nevertheless, ‘herself’ continued to appear in Suseongye at regular intervals….
“I think that cycle was once every 300 years?”
Perhaps even at this moment, a new version of herself might have appeared in the Repair World.
That’s why Cheon Seoa came to Earth not only with the desire to ‘return to Earth,’ but also with the intention to ‘break free from this troublesome cycle.’
If she could at least resolve the incident that could be considered the starting point of everything, she could prevent ‘herself’ from crossing over to the Repair World anymore.
“Let’s see… the incident should be happening soon.”
Cheon Seoa said, looking beyond the torn space.
However, the current Earth had become infinitely different from the Earth that Cheon Seoa herself knew in the past.
She was also well aware that the reason for this was due to the nine unfortunate people she had helped in various times and places on Earth in the past.
Therefore, if it were someone else, they might think that the troublesome cycle Cheon Seoa was trying to break had already been broken.
But.
“That’s not the case,” she said.
If Earth has changed, then the incidents would also take on new forms and shapes to match the changed appearance.
Knowing this fact well, Cheon Seoa sought out herself on Earth ‘despite the changes.’
“Ah, it’s starting.”
Cheon Seoa’s eyes sparkled.
Beyond the torn space.
Not far from where ‘she’ was walking down a deserted alley, a villain was running.
He was severely injured, and it seemed he was being chased by a hero.
“Indeed, with the emergence of superpowers and the establishment of hero and villain concepts, the incident unfolds in this way.”
Cheon Seoa smiled slightly.
Until now, all the ‘selves’ that Cheon Seoa had caught and killed had crossed over to the Repair World after being involved in traffic accidents or random acts of violence.
However, this time it’s an incident caused by a superpowered individual.
Certainly, the changed Earth now wasn’t so bad compared to the Earth that Cheon Seoa originally knew.
No, beyond just not being bad, it was quite intriguing.
Still.
“Interesting is interesting. But what needs to be done should be done properly.”
Her Earth self, walking down the street, also gasped in shock upon spotting the injured villain running from afar.
The villain, too, upon seeing her Earth self, had their eyes light up, as if intending to use her Earth self to shake off the pursuing hero.
And, as if confirming Cheon Seoa’s thoughts, the injured villain immediately dashed towards her Earth self.
In an instant, with flames enveloping both hands, the villain charged as if to pounce on her Earth self.
It seemed that if her Earth self were to die by that villain’s flames, this version of herself would likely cross over to the repair world.
Therefore.
“Excuse me for a moment.”
Cheon Seoa said, sticking her upper body out through the torn hole.
Her Earth self was startled by Cheon Seoa’s upper body suddenly protruding from thin air, and so was the villain with flames on both hands.
“You’ll have to come with me. ‘I’ might be fine, but ‘I’ probably isn’t used to death.”
“What nonsense are you babbling…!”
A hero with spatial manipulation abilities?
Just as the villain made this judgment and was about to unleash the flames from both hands, the surrounding scenery suddenly changed.
Where is this?
I was definitely running down an alley.
A blink of an eye, and suddenly I was trapped in a sealed solitary cell.
The villain’s expression, about to burst into flames, suddenly contorted.
“Is this your doing?!”
Whoosh!
The villain shouted angrily.
Right in front of him, the girl who had only her upper body popping out of thin air, Cheon Seoa, was sitting with a slight smile.
“Where have you taken me?!”
“To Tartarus.”
Flinch-!
To the villain’s question, Cheon Seoa answered nonchalantly.
Meanwhile, the villain trembled at the word ‘Tartarus’ that came out of Cheon Seoa’s mouth.
Tartarus.
Originally, it’s a name of a god appearing in Greek and Roman mythology, and a term referring to a terrible space located even lower than the underworld ruled by Hades.
However, in modern times, Tartarus was quite different.
The worst. The lowest. A hell-like prison where only the most heinous and worst villains are incarcerated.
That was the status of the name Tartarus held in modern times.
However, although the villain was momentarily flustered, he quickly composed himself and shouted.
“Don’t lie to me-!”
The villain didn’t believe this place was Tartarus.
After all, the place where the villain had been was a deserted alley in Seoul, the capital of Korea.
Compared to that, Tartarus was built on a huge uninhabited island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
No matter how powerful one’s space-related ability was, it was impossible to move instantly from Seoul to the middle of the Pacific Ocean.
For that to be possible, one would need to be at least a Level 2 ability user, but Cheon Seoa looked like a Level 9 ability user at best.
Especially since the villains imprisoned in Tartarus had all their abilities suppressed, it was even more unlikely that this place was Tartarus.
‘It’s probably just 1-2km away at most!’
If so, I’ll kill this ‘hero’ right in front of me and escape from here!
“Umm, I’m sorry but I’m not a hero. I’m not a villain either. I’m just a victim who was wrongfully imprisoned.”
…!
Did you read my mind?
“That’s simple enough.”
Chills-!
The villain’s body trembled as Cheon Seoa kept reading and answering his thoughts.
Could this woman possess not only spatial movement but also mind reading?
However, that doesn’t change anything.
Even if she has two abilities simultaneously, and even if those two are quite rare among abilities, they were quite far from ‘combat’ abilities.
So the villain didn’t change his plan to roast the woman, Cheon Seoa, in front of him and escape.
Just as the villain was about to release the flames he had condensed in both hands towards Cheon Seoa.
“The incident has disappeared. The shackles binding ‘me’ have been broken. And the guard who heard your shout is coming.”
There’s no reason to waste more time.
Cheon Seoa smiled gently.
The reason she didn’t kill the villain in front of her from the beginning and left him alone was simple.
I killed him instantly, worried that a new incident might entangle my earthly self.
That’s why Cheon Seoa only moved after patiently waiting and confirming that the incident entangling her earthly self had completely ended.
“Eating your heart wouldn’t particularly help me anyway. I’ll just have to kill you.”
Crunch-.
As Cheon Seoa gestured, the space around the villain compressed.
The villain’s body, caught between the compressed space, instantly became crushed jerky, and simultaneously.
Whoosh-!
Black flames that started from the villain’s feet greedily blazed up and devoured the villain’s corpse.
As the black flames that had devoured the villain subsided.
“Hmm.”
The guard who peeked into the solitary cell through the small window in the iron door returned, thinking ‘Did I hear wrong?’ as he saw Cheon Seoa just sitting quietly.