C192
* * *
The Kusanagi was an unusual object.
It was the only one that responded to the other two Sacred Treasures.
That is why Kunasanagi was called the compass, since Kusanagi was the centerpiece of the Three Sacred Treasures, capable of attracting the other Sacred Treasures.
Amaterasu was able to find the Mirror of Yata because he first found the Kusanagi.
-I didn't know the Kusanagi had this ability.
"You never met Amaterasu after you got Kusanagi?"
-In that case, I would have been deprived of Kusanagi.
"Is that why you hid the Sacred Treasure in such a place, hiding from the Three Precious Children?"
-I would rather die twice than have the Kusanagi fall into their hands.
It was a rather resentful sounding voice.
Apparently he and Amaterasu had been on bad terms for some time.
-I never thought I would support you, but for once, I will. The Mirror of Yata, the Kusanagi. Just try to put it in your hands, please.
"Of course."
YuWon nodded.
No way was he going to give them away, or at most, collect two of the Three Sacred Treasures and give them to Amaterasu.
In that case, it would be like hastening the apogee of the Three Precious Children, which would normally take several hundred years.
"On the contrary, I wonder how he would try to take it from me."
-Interesting.
The guy who had been dissatisfied ever since YuWon defeated him reacted very differently to this incident.
Contrary to what one might think, Susanoo's antipathy would probably disappear quite a bit in this fight against the Three Precious Children.
'Then....'
"Then maybe..."
YuWon asked as he walked towards the back of the cave.
"Can you help me in this fight?"
-Help you? Me help you?
"Only in this fight. After that, I won't force you."
The culmination of the undead is achieved when the soul is subdued.
Susanoo's body was already in his possession. His soul was also in YuWon's hands.
However, even if Susanoo was subdued by the power of the King of the Dead's title, if he was forced to become undead, he would not be able to bring out all his abilities.
Susanoo himself had to make a decision.
Only then would the strongest undead be created.
-Mmm...
I could sense his deep concern. It was something he hadn't thought about before, and he pondered it for a while.
There was still a long way to go anyway.
Yu-Won used Kusanagi to find his way and waited for an answer.
How many hours had passed?
-Good.
Susanoo made a decision.
-Just this once.
The corner of YuWon's mouth turned up.
"That's enough."
Unexpectedly, he obtained a high-level card that he could use in this battle.
* * *
Quaang-!
The walls of the labyrinth collapsed.
As he made his way, Yu-Won felt the echo of the Kusanagi in his hand intensify.
'Not too far.'
For days, they traversed the labyrinth, broke through the thin walls and searched the interior of the mountain range.
The long caverns seemed endless. At one point, however, Kusanagi began to sob violently.
-It's really here.
Susanoo's voice trembled, as if he was finally taking it in.
It was a different feeling than when she had found the first of the Three Supreme Treasures, the Jewel of Magatama.
-The third... No, the last one...
It was one thing to know where it was and quite another to find it.
Susanoo didn't have much interest in the Three Holy Treasures. He believed that relying on objects was a disgrace to the swordsman.
But even he could not ignore the Three Sacred Treasures.
To the Three Precious Children, the Sacred Treasures were something more valuable than any item.
The Three Sacred Treasures.
It was, in a way, the reason for their creation.
But now that the last of them was in front of him, he couldn't help but feel particularly excited.
'It's definitely here.'
Sensing Kusanagi's uneasiness, YuWon looked around.
An empty cave with nothing inside.
For days, YuWon had heard no sound other than the sound of his own footsteps.
A cave where no people, monsters, animals or insects lived.
Of course, it was a good thing there were no monsters.
A monster on the 44th floor would hardly give him any experience, and would be a nuisance.
But the problem was that there was nothing either.
'Agh, how far do I have to go to find it?'
Contrary to Kusanagi's reaction, there was nothing here.
She tried to move to see if she could get closer, but only succeeded in moving further away.
This was definitely the place.
"Abaat, ba-".
At that moment, Danpung from YuWon's shoulder suddenly extended both hands towards Kusananagi.
The creature, who seemed to be waiting for YuWon's words, suddenly had a strange reaction.
'Maybe...'
YuWon didn't know how Amaterasu had found Yata's Mirror.
She had only heard that he had used the Sword of Kusanagi, but the process was unknown.
So I had found the place, but not the Mirror of Yata.
And then.
Tuk-tuk-.
YuWon felt the texture under his feet change as he walked.
Outward appearance isn't everything.
['Ash Eyes' grasp the truth.]
['Sensory Field' activates]
['Demonic Energy' becomes active]
['Ash Eyes' become stronger]
['Sensory Field' strengthens] ['Sensory Field' gets stronger]
Tsutsu, Tsutsutsu-.
A black aura rose around YuWon. Activating his ability at the same time, he began to see things he hadn't been able to see before.
A symmetrical reflection of himself at his feet.
That was the moment he discovered it.
[You have found the Mirror of Yata].
[Yata's Dungeon is activated].
Gee-ing-.
Under your feet, the walls of the cave, the ceiling....
The dark black walls of the cave became transparent on all sides.
A blinding, almost blinding light emanated from them, but YuWon did not close his eyes.
When the bright light faded, the background changed.
With a bang...
YuWon touched the ground with his toes again.
The texture was the same as before.
It was like this.
It was not stone, but the smooth texture of a mirror.
'All this space is the Mirror of Yata.
Kak-.
YuWon turned his head.
His reddened pupils scanned the mirrored space in all directions.
'But...'
Thousands, tens of thousands, of reflections of Kim YuWon. There were images of himself in the same posture and with the same face, but in different directions.
'Was the mirror that big?'
A mirror the size of a cave.
It was at the moment when he faced the mirror....
[Yata's Test begins].
Saaaaah-.
YuWon's reflection in the countless mirrored walls disappeared.
It was strange.
YuWon looked at one of the mirrors again.
It must have been a mirror, but there was no reflection. He felt as if he was a ghost.
'It's a test...'
If it's a test, he was sure.
Yu-Won, who had climbed to the top of the tower once, passed countless tests.
Instead of fighting blindly, YuWon preferred to fight by rules.
But what kind of test was he talking about?
Eerie-.
A strange flow of Arcane Power.
Turning his head in the direction of the flow, he saw a mirror floating in the air.
A mirror about ten feet in diameter.
It was a flat mirror, unadorned and unadorned, and the only reflection was that of YuWon.
Shuk-.
In the mirror, YuWon was walking.
But in real life, YuWon had not moved an inch.
While YuWon was just a reflection in the mirror, that was something else.
Just.
"What the hell is this?"
YuWon could not accept this proof.
"Why is there an 'I'?"
The 'I' he was referring to was not his current self.
Kak-.
A foot slid out of the mirror.
YuWon looked at his other self in the mirror.
[Win against "yourself"]
Obviously, this test was a test of self-improvement.
Only then could he obtain the Mirror of Yata, and that would make sense.
But the problem was that the 'Kim YuWon' in front of him was not the 'now' one.
"What?"
YuWon's doppelganger stepped out of the mirror and looked at him puzzled.
"Are you a doppelganger?"
A pure white sword.
The sword of Hephaestus, called White Night.
It was the name YuWon himself came up with after receiving the gift.
He could tell by looking at the sword.
The Kim YuWon in front of it.
He, like himself, was from the future.
'Something is wrong.'
He felt tense for the first time since he traveled to the past using the Clockwork.
What was in front of him was not just himself.
'The reflection in Yata's Mirror is me, and this is a test to defeat me.'
YuWon stood like a Buddha statue, looking at his alter ego that appeared in front of him.
'Perhaps this means that I have not yet accepted myself as I am.'
Yata's Mirror didn't just reflect mere outward appearance.
It reflected the inside. YuWon was looking at himself, and the mirror made a copy of him.
'I wonder if I can win.'
The alter ego in front of him was his future self.
A very different existence from his current one.
Creepy.
Just looking at it gave him chills. He was overwhelmed by its presence, not its power or momentum.
A being who had fought in wars against the Outer Gods alongside monsters like Son OhGong, Hercules and Odin.
That was his future self. Compared to him, his current self is but a fly.
'I don't think he's as strong as he was. Even if Yata's Mirror is one of the Three Sacred Treasures, I don't think I'll be able to create an alter ego of a top ten ranked player.''
It wasn't just mere arrogance.
YuWon was well aware of his own abilities.
'Even so, it's probably close to the limit of what Yata's Mirror can produce.'
It was an unfair test.
The level of difficulty was much higher than the others because he had used the Clockwork Mechanism to go back in time.
"What are you? You don't look like a simple doppelganger."
Giing-.
The familiar flow of Arcane Power spread around the alter ego.
The Sensory Field expanded. Through that ability, the doppelganger realized that YuWon was not a doppelganger.
"You are human. And you look exactly like me. Not just your face, but your height, your build, your expression."
The doppelganger's tone was not unlike his own.
Analytical and calm.
It would be easy to panic at the sight of someone exactly like you, even if they weren't your double, but it didn't seem so strange to him.
Maybe it was the effect of Yata's Mirror.
But even if that wasn't the case, YuWon was confident that he could remain calm in this situation.
"Tell me. What are you?"
Skak-.
The sword of his alter ego, White Night, was unsheathed.
A pure white sword that emitted a dazzling light.
Being himself, YuWon could predict the alter ego's next move.
'If you don't respond, I will cut you.'
That was his way.
"I..."
In a split second...
YuWon came up with the best response.
He divided that second into dozens and hundreds.
A fight is not necessarily a clash of swords and skills. At this moment, all that moved were words, but the fight had already begun.
And now.
As YuWon pondered the best response, he made the first move.
"I am Son OhGong."
Hwareuk-.
['Ash Eyes' read the move].
YuWon's eyes turned red, and his alter ego's eyes widened.
C192
* * *
The Kusanagi was an unusual object.
It was the only one that responded to the other two Sacred Treasures.
That is why Kunasanagi was called the compass, since Kusanagi was the centerpiece of the Three Sacred Treasures, capable of attracting the other Sacred Treasures.
Amaterasu was able to find the Mirror of Yata because he first found the Kusanagi.
-I didn't know the Kusanagi had this ability.
"You never met Amaterasu after you got Kusanagi?"
-In that case, I would have been deprived of Kusanagi.
"Is that why you hid the Sacred Treasure in such a place, hiding from the Three Precious Children?"
-I would rather die twice than have the Kusanagi fall into their hands.
It was a rather resentful sounding voice.
Apparently he and Amaterasu had been on bad terms for some time.
-I never thought I would support you, but for once, I will. The Mirror of Yata, the Kusanagi. Just try to put it in your hands, please.
"Of course."
YuWon nodded.
No way was he going to give them away, or at most, collect two of the Three Sacred Treasures and give them to Amaterasu.
In that case, it would be like hastening the apogee of the Three Precious Children, which would normally take several hundred years.
"On the contrary, I wonder how he would try to take it from me."
-Interesting.
The guy who had been dissatisfied ever since YuWon defeated him reacted very differently to this incident.
Contrary to what one might think, Susanoo's antipathy would probably disappear quite a bit in this fight against the Three Precious Children.
'Then....'
"Then maybe..."
YuWon asked as he walked towards the back of the cave.
"Can you help me in this fight?"
-Help you? Me help you?
"Only in this fight. After that, I won't force you."
The culmination of the undead is achieved when the soul is subdued.
Susanoo's body was already in his possession. His soul was also in YuWon's hands.
However, even if Susanoo was subdued by the power of the King of the Dead's title, if he was forced to become undead, he would not be able to bring out all his abilities.
Susanoo himself had to make a decision.
Only then would the strongest undead be created.
-Mmm...
I could sense his deep concern. It was something he hadn't thought about before, and he pondered it for a while.
There was still a long way to go anyway.
Yu-Won used Kusanagi to find his way and waited for an answer.
How many hours had passed?
-Good.
Susanoo made a decision.
-Just this once.
The corner of YuWon's mouth turned up.
"That's enough."
Unexpectedly, he obtained a high-level card that he could use in this battle.
* * *
Quaang-!
The walls of the labyrinth collapsed.
As he made his way, Yu-Won felt the echo of the Kusanagi in his hand intensify.
'Not too far.'
For days, they traversed the labyrinth, broke through the thin walls and searched the interior of the mountain range.
The long caverns seemed endless. At one point, however, Kusanagi began to sob violently.
-It's really here.
Susanoo's voice trembled, as if he was finally taking it in.
It was a different feeling than when she had found the first of the Three Supreme Treasures, the Jewel of Magatama.
-The third... No, the last one...
It was one thing to know where it was and quite another to find it.
Susanoo didn't have much interest in the Three Holy Treasures. He believed that relying on objects was a disgrace to the swordsman.
But even he could not ignore the Three Sacred Treasures.
To the Three Precious Children, the Sacred Treasures were something more valuable than any item.
The Three Sacred Treasures.
It was, in a way, the reason for their creation.
But now that the last of them was in front of him, he couldn't help but feel particularly excited.
'It's definitely here.'
Sensing Kusanagi's uneasiness, YuWon looked around.
An empty cave with nothing inside.
For days, YuWon had heard no sound other than the sound of his own footsteps.
A cave where no people, monsters, animals or insects lived.
Of course, it was a good thing there were no monsters.
A monster on the 44th floor would hardly give him any experience, and would be a nuisance.
But the problem was that there was nothing either.
'Agh, how far do I have to go to find it?'
Contrary to Kusanagi's reaction, there was nothing here.
She tried to move to see if she could get closer, but only succeeded in moving further away.
This was definitely the place.
"Abaat, ba-".
At that moment, Danpung from YuWon's shoulder suddenly extended both hands towards Kusananagi.
The creature, who seemed to be waiting for YuWon's words, suddenly had a strange reaction.
'Maybe...'
YuWon didn't know how Amaterasu had found Yata's Mirror.
She had only heard that he had used the Sword of Kusanagi, but the process was unknown.
So I had found the place, but not the Mirror of Yata.
And then.
Tuk-tuk-.
YuWon felt the texture under his feet change as he walked.
Outward appearance isn't everything.
['Ash Eyes' grasp the truth.]
['Sensory Field' activates]
['Demonic Energy' becomes active]
['Ash Eyes' become stronger]
['Sensory Field' strengthens] ['Sensory Field' gets stronger]
Tsutsu, Tsutsutsu-.
A black aura rose around YuWon. Activating his ability at the same time, he began to see things he hadn't been able to see before.
A symmetrical reflection of himself at his feet.
That was the moment he discovered it.
[You have found the Mirror of Yata].
[Yata's Dungeon is activated].
Gee-ing-.
Under your feet, the walls of the cave, the ceiling....
The dark black walls of the cave became transparent on all sides.
A blinding, almost blinding light emanated from them, but YuWon did not close his eyes.
When the bright light faded, the background changed.
With a bang...
YuWon touched the ground with his toes again.
The texture was the same as before.
It was like this.
It was not stone, but the smooth texture of a mirror.
'All this space is the Mirror of Yata.
Kak-.
YuWon turned his head.
His reddened pupils scanned the mirrored space in all directions.
'But...'
Thousands, tens of thousands, of reflections of Kim YuWon. There were images of himself in the same posture and with the same face, but in different directions.
'Was the mirror that big?'
A mirror the size of a cave.
It was at the moment when he faced the mirror....
[Yata's Test begins].
Saaaaah-.
YuWon's reflection in the countless mirrored walls disappeared.
It was strange.
YuWon looked at one of the mirrors again.
It must have been a mirror, but there was no reflection. He felt as if he was a ghost.
'It's a test...'
If it's a test, he was sure.
Yu-Won, who had climbed to the top of the tower once, passed countless tests.
Instead of fighting blindly, YuWon preferred to fight by rules.
But what kind of test was he talking about?
Eerie-.
A strange flow of Arcane Power.
Turning his head in the direction of the flow, he saw a mirror floating in the air.
A mirror about ten feet in diameter.
It was a flat mirror, unadorned and unadorned, and the only reflection was that of YuWon.
Shuk-.
In the mirror, YuWon was walking.
But in real life, YuWon had not moved an inch.
While YuWon was just a reflection in the mirror, that was something else.
Just.
"What the hell is this?"
YuWon could not accept this proof.
"Why is there an 'I'?"
The 'I' he was referring to was not his current self.
Kak-.
A foot slid out of the mirror.
YuWon looked at his other self in the mirror.
[Win against "yourself"]
Obviously, this test was a test of self-improvement.
Only then could he obtain the Mirror of Yata, and that would make sense.
But the problem was that the 'Kim YuWon' in front of him was not the 'now' one.
"What?"
YuWon's doppelganger stepped out of the mirror and looked at him puzzled.
"Are you a doppelganger?"
A pure white sword.
The sword of Hephaestus, called White Night.
It was the name YuWon himself came up with after receiving the gift.
He could tell by looking at the sword.
The Kim YuWon in front of it.
He, like himself, was from the future.
'Something is wrong.'
He felt tense for the first time since he traveled to the past using the Clockwork.
What was in front of him was not just himself.
'The reflection in Yata's Mirror is me, and this is a test to defeat me.'
YuWon stood like a Buddha statue, looking at his alter ego that appeared in front of him.
'Perhaps this means that I have not yet accepted myself as I am.'
Yata's Mirror didn't just reflect mere outward appearance.
It reflected the inside. YuWon was looking at himself, and the mirror made a copy of him.
'I wonder if I can win.'
The alter ego in front of him was his future self.
A very different existence from his current one.
Creepy.
Just looking at it gave him chills. He was overwhelmed by its presence, not its power or momentum.
A being who had fought in wars against the Outer Gods alongside monsters like Son OhGong, Hercules and Odin.
That was his future self. Compared to him, his current self is but a fly.
'I don't think he's as strong as he was. Even if Yata's Mirror is one of the Three Sacred Treasures, I don't think I'll be able to create an alter ego of a top ten ranked player.''
It wasn't just mere arrogance.
YuWon was well aware of his own abilities.
'Even so, it's probably close to the limit of what Yata's Mirror can produce.'
It was an unfair test.
The level of difficulty was much higher than the others because he had used the Clockwork Mechanism to go back in time.
"What are you? You don't look like a simple doppelganger."
Giing-.
The familiar flow of Arcane Power spread around the alter ego.
The Sensory Field expanded. Through that ability, the doppelganger realized that YuWon was not a doppelganger.
"You are human. And you look exactly like me. Not just your face, but your height, your build, your expression."
The doppelganger's tone was not unlike his own.
Analytical and calm.
It would be easy to panic at the sight of someone exactly like you, even if they weren't your double, but it didn't seem so strange to him.
Maybe it was the effect of Yata's Mirror.
But even if that wasn't the case, YuWon was confident that he could remain calm in this situation.
"Tell me. What are you?"
Skak-.
The sword of his alter ego, White Night, was unsheathed.
A pure white sword that emitted a dazzling light.
Being himself, YuWon could predict the alter ego's next move.
'If you don't respond, I will cut you.'
That was his way.
"I..."
In a split second...
YuWon came up with the best response.
He divided that second into dozens and hundreds.
A fight is not necessarily a clash of swords and skills. At this moment, all that moved were words, but the fight had already begun.
And now.
As YuWon pondered the best response, he made the first move.
"I am Son OhGong."
Hwareuk-.
['Ash Eyes' read the move].
YuWon's eyes turned red, and his alter ego's eyes widened.
