'It's all up to you now.'

"Interesting."

Gerome became intrigued as he stood against Jaehwan's [Fall]. The [Fall] constantly tried to strike down Gerome's unique world >.

It was a Setting that destroyed worlds. It was obvious that his Generals had lost.

If the master of the System wasn't the ruler of , Big Brother, or Gerome's world power which was a bit weaker, Jaehwan's [Fall] would have decimated his spirit and destroyed the unique world.

It was amazing — a human who could fight against a Lord on the same level. There was no one else who had such power except the Master of Rupture until now.

Even after countless exchanges with world power attacks, the destruction around them wasn't too severe as both powers canceled each other out. It was the sort of a fight where they were checking each other's capabilities before going into a real fight. After they exchanged a few more blows, Jaehwan made a comment.

"You're weaker than you look."

"Weak?"

Gerome smiled at the unexpected claim. Jaehwan continued, "I thought you were the Vicegerent of Big Brother."

"Yes. I am his Vicegerent. What's the problem?"

"Your world power isn't that great considering that fact."

Vicegerents shared world power with their G.o.ds. Big Brother's unique world was the System. If all 'Adapters' who used the System within the were considered his Followers, Big Brother was the G.o.d with the most Followers in this world. It was apparent that the world power should have been far greater.

"I see. That's what you meant," Gerome commented as he understood. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but Big Brother's world power isn't something that a mere Vicegerent can hold. Your spirit will explode if you try that."

"Really? That is disappointing," Jaehwan spoke disappointingly and it seemed like Gerome became a bit uncomfortable.

"I don't need the world power from that thing to crush you down."

"That thing? Can you talk to your G.o.d like that?"

"A G.o.d whose face and voice that I don't know of. I don't need to be careful about such a thing."

Those words seemed to be wrong. Big Brother's Vicergent didn't know what Big Brother looked like? Jaehwan couldn't continue his thoughts however as his sword began to cry loudly when Gerome pulled something out from his cape. It was a sword, a sword that looked very cold. Yet, it looked very similar to Jaehwan's sword as if they were a pair from the beginning.

Gerome laughed.

"So, the swords recognize each other. Yes. This is the real 'Frost Dragon Sword'."

Frost Dragon Sword. Jaehwan then remembered his sword's name again. His sword started off as a replica of the sword. He then remembered that the real sword didn't exist since no one had hunted down Forst Dragon Velkisus yet.

"I went down to the Forgotten Region and got my hands on this. My sword has the spirit of Frost Dragon King Velkisus in it. Your fake sword seems to hold some weird thing too."

Jaehwan looked down at his sword. Both swords roared at each other. It looked like the real Frost Dragon Sword was saying this:

"You are fake. Your 'reality' is fake."

Jaehwan's sword shook and he clenched it. Gerome said, "I heard your goal is to destroy the System. It's an interesting thought."

Jaehwan realized Gerome was going to charge in soon. The real fight was about to begin.

World power exploded. Jaehwan was certain that this being was stronger than any other opponent Jaehwan had fought until now. He felt it throughout his body.

"When I heard it at first, I thought it was foolish. To have everything turn out this way because of such a foolish thought…"

Gerome recalled the memories as he looked at Jaehwan.

He'd seen the video that Cultivator Beastlain had sent him. He heard Jaehwan had escaped the tower. He learned that his Invasion plan had failed. He heard the rumor that the Palace of Reincarnation had been destroyed. He learned that many of his Generals, including Sameng Hoon, had been killed.

Who would have thought that this man was going to do all that?

"You became Awakened by just repeating your stabs, right?"

Jaehwan did not answer. Gerome continued, "You must be proud of yourself. You must think that you have achieved something, that you have overcome the System."

Gerome's voice had rage in it. Jaehwan saw dark energy surrounding Gerome's sword. Jaehwan activated his [Suspicion] to its limit and realized that the energy was not a world power. It was a certain [Setting] — a Setting that Jaehwan was very used to.

"You think you have overcome the System, but you must know this. You don't even know what the system 'really is'."

The energy from Gerome's sword, was the [Skill].

Skill was what countless Adapters who shared the System Interface used. Gerome's skill wasn't a 'top-grade skill' that Generals liked to use. Jaehwan knew this skill well as it was the first skill that every newcomer to the Tower of Nightmares had to learn.

'Bash?'

A skill to forcefully strike one down. The energy was focused onto Gerome's sword.

'But that's a bash?'

World power that was being gathered in shook the air around. How long one must have trained to achieve… how far... That's when Jaehwan realized-

What if there was a being, unlike Jaehwan who trained 'stab' that was outside of the System, trained bash, a [Skill] inside the system? And what if that being trained only that for thousands of years?

"Awakening? There is no such thing in this world. No being, not one, can move out of this System."

The skill that had been trained for thousands of years — the dark, red world power that could destroy the site with one blow charged toward Jaehwan.