294 - Regression Is Too Much

294 – The Returner’s Battle (13) "... Cheonma?" "Yes." "…" Angel 天使. Heaven, the realm of the divine. To serve. Someone served by the heavens, where heaven refers to a self-proclaimed deity. Cheonma 天魔. The demon of the heavens. A celestial demon. Mara Papyas. Pasun. Originally, he was the perpetual adversary of Buddha in Buddhist scriptures, a terrifying god wielding control over numerous desires. Similarly, it wouldn't be wrong to consider heaven as referring to a deity. And indeed, calling him 'Masin' isn't incorrect. Therefore, from a religious standpoint, Cheonma should be viewed as the adversary horse of the deity who governs this tower, and the conflict between the angels and Cheonma can be seen as a symbol of the struggle between good and evil... However, as a Korean, there's a Cheonma much more familiar to me. "So... do you also use Cheonma Gunlimbo?" "Pardon?" Cheonma Shingong. A jewel of web novels. When Cheonma appears in the world of martial arts, he might be a final boss, the protagonist’s master, or the protagonist himself. Either way, bearing the title of Cheonma ensures a top-three ranking in terms of power. This has become somewhat of a rule. From my perspective as someone who enjoys reading such web novels, the name 'Cheonma' holds a different significance. Should I say the name feels daunting? Or that it’s inherently intimidating? To be honest, I thought Cheonma would merely belong in the tower. However, I didn't expect the name to appear here. Who would have thought that Cheonma wouldn't be satisfied with heaven and would venture into space? He's truly a celestial Cheonma. No, no. It’s still too early. Isn't this taking place beyond the heavens? How many times have we erred by viewing other races with our narrow human perspectives? This Cheonma might not be the same Cheonma. It's more common than one might think for the same word to carry different meanings. It’s too soon to feel fear. "I need a detailed explanation." Thus, I straightened my back and demanded further explanation with a sense of dignity. I was slightly hoping my intuition might be off. And as it always happens in such situations. "Cheonma... is a ruthless human who slaughtered all humans on a planet thousands of years ago... His crimes were truly heinous, but the Supreme Angel highly valued his talent and merely collected and preserved his soul..." "…" "His talent was exceedingly rare, capable of making other martial arts his own just by observing them... No, given that he utilized his own creation, 'Cheonma Shingong', to control his magical power, his prowess was even more astonishing..." My intuition was spot on. This is the real Cheonma. "I'm not sure if I should say this. Why did you bring along someone like that? Do you really think the players can defeat a lunatic who devoured an entire planet?" "Well... there's a reason..." Jake's halo flickered unsteadily. "For now... the man named Guntar is 'a person who inherited the knowledge of the Celestial Demon.'..." "...?" "While wandering in search of knowledge, he stumbled upon the 'Cave of the Celestial Demon' and, with the knowledge he gained there, he mastered 72 martial arts to an expert level." "And that's why you came to the previous arena?" "Yes... I came to test all 72 martial arts." So, young and vigorous Guntar was actually the successor to the Celestial Demon. "He died from toxic gas while exploring an uncharted planet." He lost his life in a tragic accident. "But we also possess the soul of the Celestial Demon... And since the Celestial Demon hates humans, it'll serve as a counterbalance for the players." The tale went that the original Celestial Demon had taken root in the body of the young man who nearly became the next Celestial Demon. A crazed demon slaughterer that wiped out entire planets is now awaiting in the arena. "Is the angel in charge sane?" "We've had a lot of discussions about this on our side... but we’ve implemented our own safety measures." As he waved his right hand slightly, the unique white light of the angels formed shackles. It seemed they could use their powers because it was an unwatched black space. "First... I covered him with a normal personality." "What do you mean by a normal personality?" "Somewhat rough, but still reasonable... a personality suitable for the arena." Even the angels knew that the 'Cheonma' figure was too powerful for the arena. That's why they layered a new personality over him. "We roughly injected the original Guntar's memories... and since it'd be problematic if he was too powerful, we also stripped away much of Cheonma's abilities... Naturally, we sealed Cheonma's memories and personality. That's how Guntar, who is powerful enough, was born." "…" If you look past the unsettling notion of manipulating personalities at will, the angels’ response itself makes sense. They tried to create a fitting outcome based on the resources they had. "However, a problem... arose..." Of course, if it were a perfect success, Guntar wouldn’t be as he is. "We succeeded in forming his personality, but... there was an error in the memory adjustment process..." "An error?" "To begin with, Guntar's memories, including the entity's recollections, were entirely obliterated... Perhaps due to the rejection reaction between the body and soul, but the biggest reason was that our skill is immature compared to the Supreme Angel." First, his memories were lost. Consequently, the new Guntar even forgot who he was. "Guntar's martial arts were also less advanced than we anticipated..." It was said that his strength itself was weaker than intended. This was because he was a life form created solely by the angel's power, without the aid of the Supreme Angel. "However, even though it was only a half success, it was still a success. We intended to deploy Guntar as soon as possible and gather data from actual combat, but..." Usually, when a sentence ends with "but-". "Because of Kaisar... everything went awry..." it’s typically followed by something negative. "We had no intention of letting Guntar and Kaisar fight just like that... We repeatedly emphasized to both Kaisar and Guntar... that they must not fight..." Guntar’s condition checks were not complete. The angels and caretakers didn’t want the two to clash, but it was unlikely Kaisar would heed their words. "Guntar was adamant... he insisted on fighting no matter what..." "Didn't you say you injected him with a sensible personality?" "It was nonsensical... I clearly gave him a personality that values self-defense... That’s when I realized..." The soul of Cheonma resisted the artificial personality. It tried to shed the ill-fitting garment. "The Cheonma personality... kept trying to slip out..." "Hehehe." "The original personality was desperate in a situation where it had no memories. It panicked. It lost confidence and wandered aimlessly..." Naturally, that reflects the personality of a normal person. If a regular person lost all their memories. If they couldn’t find any clues about themselves, it’s only natural they’d faint from the confusion. "The Celestial Demon personality began exploiting that gap. The existing personality resisted, but as it was the personality of the original soul, it continued to be pushed back." "..." "It reached its peak during the battle with Kaisar. Kaisar attempted to kill Guntar, and the new personality ceded control to the Celestial Demon to survive." "The reason Guntar survived the encounter with Kaisar seems unlikely." "How do you know that?" "Oh, that. The Supreme Angel Raphael informed me." "Ah... Right. The Celestial Demon and Kaisar, who took over, fought fiercely, ending in a draw. However, since then, each time there's a battle, the Celestial Demon's personality emerges." "…" Typically, the relatively sane personality is present, but when a fight breaks out, the Celestial Demon’s personality appears. "The reason Guntar targeted humans was to suppress the Celestial Demon's desires as much as possible. Besides his hatred for humans, the Celestial Demon is obsessed with resentment toward us angels for exploiting his personality." "No way..." "The Celestial Demon’s soul is aware this is a tower... He also knows that the climbers are allies of the angels..." While they may not agree that we are the angels' closest allies, at least the fact that the angels and the Celestial Demon think so is significant. "For now, the original personality is still intact... But in three months, the consciousness of the Celestial Demon will be fully awakened." "What will happen then?" "The matches in the arena and everything... It seems he’ll attempt to kill every human in the universe." My thoughts drifted slightly. The Celestial Demon knows this is a tower and that there are players. Most likely, he’ll remain in the arena... and slaughter all players as they appear. Anyone in their right mind would take such action. "This was a major error on our part. The soul processing procedure isn’t fully developed, and we released the Celestial Demon into the tower without fully grasping the consequences... Since he's become part of the tower, it’s impossible for us angels to intervene extensively... However, this was never our intention. Please trust us." To summarize the situation: First. Currently, Guntar isn’t truly himself, but rather a psychopath who believes he is Guntar, and even that's a benevolent personality. Behind that facade lurks a human-killer known as Cheonma. The Cheonma personality will awaken in three months. Second. Even the newly awakened Cheonma personality is equivalent to the number one human emperor. As seen in the tutorial, everyone requires an adjustment period. If the Cheonma's personality and talents are incomplete and he’s already engaged with the emperor, once fully awakened, no player at the 28th-floor level will stand a chance against him. Third. Cheonma, once he regains his power, will likely seek out that particular player. He detests the angels who caused his current state. Lastly, fourth. Currently, there’s little the angels can do. Eliminating Guntar is impossible. Now that I've laid it all out, I understand. Seriously. It's a total mess. Somehow, I'm the only one who can clear this floor. No, I’ll manage to clear it before Cheonma’s personality awakens. But what happens after? What if the Celestial Demon truly emerges? What about the players? “…” “…” The conversation ended. Only a chilling silence filled the dim space. I glared at the angel as if to ask, "So, what do we do now?" The angel stared back as if to say, "You said you'd help." "First... Is there no way to contact the Supreme Angel?" There is a simplest and easiest solution. The Supreme Angel responsible for this place just needs to return. In fact, he only needs to come back before the Celestial Demon fully awakens in three months. Then the Celestial Demon will disappear, the difficulty level of the 28th floor will return to normal, and humanity can continue climbing the tower as before. But what if he doesn’t return? What if the Celestial Demon truly awakens? This absolutely cannot happen. The Supreme Angel must come back. Even if it means forcing his hand. "That's why I'm here." Jake, with his black hair and attire flowing as if to emphasize the point, added. "There is only one way to reach the Supreme Angel, even if indirectly." The reason why Angel Jake approached the players. "One of the players just needs to obtain that elixir." There is a certain elixir.