Chapter 809: Until I Fail

[The demons of Hell are watching you.]

The world floating above the sky.

The sensations felt by every existence in the Demon Realm touched the tip of my tongue.

A taste so intense that it made my jaw ache.

[The mighty transcendents watch your miracle in astonishment!]

Astonishment.

=......You truly did it.=

Those great transcendents.

They were witnessing something even they had believed they could not accomplish.

=His disappearance has stopped.=

A divinity that had been fading away.

They stared in astonishment at Avaritia’s revival.

“I told you. I didn’t think there was no way.”

=You do not understand just how great the value of what you have accomplished is. Something like this.......=

Even the very existence who had fought us.

Even Avaritia himself was staring in surprise at what had happened to his soul.

=Even after looking across the entire empty universe, there has never been a single instance of this. Among all the great divinities, there is no one capable of such a thing.......=

But.

As I listened to his astonishment, I thought.

‘Well. It certainly was an incredibly difficult task.’

Even I.

It had only been possible because my body had been reborn and the rank of my soul had risen sharply.

Because I had reached a level comparable to a god.

Even then, it would not have been strange if I had failed outright after making even the slightest mistake during the cooking process.

But.

“Was there really no one?”

=......?=

The stars floating in the empty universe.

Those enormous worlds and the divinities residing within them.

The power they possessed was tremendous.

“According to what you said, even I, who has only just reached the ‘fringes,’ was able to do it.”

Even if the powers each of them could wield varied greatly according to their divine names.

There were nearly infinite stars out there.

“I don’t think there was truly no existence capable of something like this.”

Among so many divinities.

The idea that not even one of them could prevent the disappearance of another divinity...... made no sense.

=What are you trying to say?=

And yet, if this truly was the first such case.......

“Well, it must be one of three things.”

The first was.......

“They were capable of it, but chose not to.”

Divinities were, from the beginning, beings completed entirely on their own.

Most of them could not even understand the concept of cooperating with the Demon Realm.

Even if they witnessed a divinity fading away.

There was a high possibility that they simply had no desire to save it.

“There may have been someone capable of it, but they already disappeared.”

=.......=

Whether because of the law that all worlds would someday perish.

Or because they were plundered by the beings of the Demon Realm.

There might simply have been someone capable of it who had already disappeared.

And lastly.

In my opinion, this was probably the most likely possibility.

“They believed it was impossible...... and never even tried.”

=......!=

Something impossible from the beginning.

They might have thought it could never be overcome and therefore never even attempted it.

***

Avaritia had been placed in danger of disappearing the moment he was defeated.

The fate written into his divine name.

Because a flaw had appeared in its perfection.

‘Avaritia probably isn’t the only one.’

The same would be true of other divinities.

Something they carried out while staking their divine names.

If that undertaking failed, they would probably end up facing disappearance just like Avaritia.

Therefore.

“If you decide from the start that it’s impossible and give up...... a lot of things become easier.”

There were probably quite a few existences capable of accomplishing this.

There was no need to search the entire empty universe.

There were surely some among the beings of the Demon Realm as well.

But they could not make such an attempt.

Because staking everything on a challenge that might cause them to disappear...... was far too frightening.

They had convinced themselves from the start that it was impossible and had given up without even trying.

=How can you be so certain?=

“Isn’t it obvious?”

It was not good to judge others with prejudice.

But what could I do?

“You already decided it was impossible to overcome destruction and gave up.”

=.......=

“You were so afraid of fighting that destruction...... that you resolved to invade other worlds instead. You are losers.”

These bastards had a precedent.

If they had done such a thing in the past.

It was only natural to wonder whether other cases had happened for the same reason.

And.

“I’m different!”

This.

Was precisely the difference between them and me.

“If I had failed to save this bastard, you would have crushed me beneath that enormous power of yours!”

Unlike an invasion, where their power was heavily restricted.

Now that they had been summoned through my contract. ℯℯ𝑙.

If I failed to uphold the contract, I would have been forced to pay a tremendous price.

“But even so!”

I could have reached transcendence simply by devouring this bastard.

It was something I did not have to do.

At the same time, it was a dangerous undertaking where failure would inevitably mean death.

“I challenged it!”

I attempted it.

And as a result.

“I succeeded and survived!”

In the end.

I succeeded in stopping Avaritia’s disappearance.

“A pathetic existence you look down upon accomplished what you believed was impossible!”

Then.

The emotion contained within the gazes from the sky began to change little by little.

At first, it had been extreme astonishment.

That astonishment.

=How arrogant.=

=So?=

=Do you want us to praise your greatness?=

Changed into extreme displeasure.

And.

=If what you desire is the praise of losers.=

=We shall give you as much as you wish.=

A slight sense of inferiority.

“No.”

Naturally.

“Praise, my ass. I don’t need that crap.”

The reason I shouted all this was not to offend them.

Nor was it to boast about myself.

“You gave up on something because you believed it was impossible. I did not give up. And in the end, I succeeded.”

The reason I had gone on with this self-praise.......

“That destruction you witnessed, the law itself that you believed could never be overcome!”

Well, it was simple.

“It will be the same.”

=......!=

“You ultimately gave up and were defeated.”

I wanted to create a precedent of my own.

A precedent where I succeeded in something these bastards had believed impossible and abandoned.

If I had accomplished something like that before.

“I will be different from you.”

Then it was only natural to think I could accomplish it again.......

Next time as well.

“The price I demand from you is simple!”

In the end.

This dish had been made at their request.

“First!”

I had completed a difficult dish.

Now it was time to receive payment.

“Completely cease all invasions, not only of our world, but of every other world throughout the entire universe......!”

Destruction caused not by the laws of the universe or by a world’s own problems.

But by the beings of the Demon Realm.

The first price was to prevent that destruction.

=......That condition will bring about our destruction.=

=We already told you. If complying with your condition causes the destruction of another member of the Alliance.=

=We cannot accept it.=

This was a condition they could not accept.

Their world had already reached the end of its lifespan.

They were delaying that destruction through the power of the red wasteland.

The moment the invasions stopped, they would perish under the approaching law.

“Don’t worry. I’m not telling you to stop forever.”

Naturally.

I had not said it because I wanted their destruction either.

“So...... I’ll set a time limit.”

=A time limit?=

“Starting from this very moment.”

The starting point was now.

From this moment onward.

The Demon Realm would stop invading other dimensions.

And the ending point would be.......

“Until my challenge fails.”

=......?=

Questioning emotion appeared in the gazes descending from the Demon Realm.

I met those gazes and shouted.

“The thing you gave up on. The law you ran away from because you believed you could not defeat it before even properly trying!”

=......Don’t tell me.=

The precedent had been created.

An example of succeeding at something even great gods had believed impossible had already been engraved into my soul.

Into my deeds, my karma, my history...... into my mythology.

Then only one thing remained.

“I will challenge it.”

=......!=

“No matter how long it takes.”

Hundreds of years.

Thousands of years.

Perhaps an immeasurable number of years, or even longer.

“I will succeed without fail.”

All that remained was to create the next example.

One that would continue that precedent.

=That, that is......!=

=Impossible!=

=No matter how vast the path your fate has entered may be, even we failed to accomplish it......!=

Listening to those shouts.

To the anger of losers, I replied lightly.

“Right. You’ll say it’s impossible.”

=......!=

“According to your thinking, I’ll soon be miserably defeated as the price for challenging that impossibility. So.”

Something far too impossible.

Something that was obviously bound to fail soon.

Then, for the period until that failure.

“Stop the invasions only until then.”

=.......=

“That much isn’t difficult, is it?”

Until that time that would surely come someday.

Even for them...... a brief truce should not be difficult.

=......What if you stop your challenge forever, ensuring that you reach neither success nor failure?=

People only saw what reflected themselves.

Just as expected of swindlers openly declared as such by the System, their first response was suspicion.

“Don’t worry.”

But there was one thing they did not know.

My occupation was a military cook.

And in the military, being a military cook meant.......

“I’ll keep running without rest.”

It was a position where the concept of a day off did not exist.

=......If that is truly what you desire.=

=As compensation for the revival of one of our brethren, for an impossible miracle...... it is cheap.=

Perhaps they sensed that my words were true.

=That price.=

[A contract with the demons has been established!]

=We shall gladly pay it.=

At that moment.

A contract began to engrave itself into my soul.

[Contract]

[1. Party A: Sergeant Shin Youngjun (hereinafter referred to as ‘Shin Youngjun’)]

[2. Party B: All brethren of the Great Divine Alliance and all demons of the Burning Hell (hereinafter referred to as the ‘Demon Realm’)]

Along with pain that felt as though my soul were burning.

The clauses were engraved there.

[Obligations of Party B]

[While ‘Shin Youngjun’ continues his challenge against destruction, the ‘Demon Realm’ shall cease all invasions of other worlds until the result of that challenge is definitively determined to be ‘failure.’]

Those demons had said that they could not tell lies.

They had sworn an oath for the preservation of the Alliance that prevented them from speaking falsehoods even at the cost of damaging their own souls.

[Obligations of Party A]

[As the cessation of invasions is closely connected to the destruction of the ‘Demon Realm,’ ‘Shin Youngjun’ must undertake the challenge in good faith and shall not engage in avoidance, delay, or any other act intended to keep the challenge’s success or failure unclear.]

This contract was the same.

A restriction that even great divinities could not violate through their own will.

Now that it had been engraved into my soul.

‘The same goes for those bastards.’

The Demon Realm.

One of the largest dimensions in the entire universe.

The contract with me was probably being engraved into the souls of every divinity belonging to that place.

And as I felt the contract being completed.

“You don’t seriously think this is the end, do you?”

=......?=

“I told you.”

I grinned as I looked toward the sky.

“Stopping the invasions is the first payment.”

=......What.=

“The second payment I demand is simple.”

It was not enough that I had completed such a difficult dish.

I had now also entered into a contract on the condition that I would challenge something with a high probability of failure.

“The challenge I will undertake from now on.”

Something those mighty bastards had failed at and despaired over.

Naturally.

There was no way it would be easy for me to challenge it either.

“Until that challenge fails...... support me with everything you have!”

At the very least.

I needed some dependable backing.