Chapter 593: A Monster That Devours Everything

Oliver tore off a part of bandage, revealing his index finger.

His index finger was completely charred, with only bones left.

The skin was shriveled with cracked wounds scattered all over.

It looked like a burnt branch.

Oliver focused on the finger, as if it wasn’t his own, and soon a bright light began to flicker through the shriveled skin.

Just like when he faced The Burned One.

Just like during his sparring with Merlin when he was provoked.

Recalling those memories and sensations, Oliver touched the burning ground with his index finger.

Pop.

With the sound of a match igniting, white flames spread out, burning everything.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━!

The White Flame exploded and spread, creating a deafening roar that paradoxically made everything silent.

With that silence, the world was bleached white, and Oliver looked around.

The fire created by Fen’s shadow had long since disappeared, the petals covering the sky were torn, the ground was scorched, yet surprisingly, Neverland still maintained its form.

It was truly bizarre.

The White Flame was the power of The Burned One, yet it somehow endured.

Of course, it was not comparable to the direct usage by The Burned One, but it was still incomprehensible.

To withstand a flame made from the power of a demon…

No matter how many children were used as materials, and how it had been maintained for decades, it seemed impossible.

To endure demonic power within the human world…

Running through these thoughts, Oliver quickly guessed why Neverland remained intact.

Whoosh.

Oliver rolled his eyes sideways, soon realizing the shadow had disappeared.

The shadow that devoured Fen. Surprisingly, the shadow…

Fused with Neverland.

The presence of The Burned One felt in Neverland was evident of that.

The moment the White Flame ignited, the shadow quickly moved inside Neverland and instantly merged with the children composing Neverland.

Both were creatures created by Fen’s hand.

As soon as Oliver understood the situation, as if waiting, Neverland quivered.

[I, I… I am the prince… It’s me… I am… the prince…]

A voice echoed across all of Neverland.

As the voice echoed, Neverland’s form began to change.

Originally an island, Neverland twisted like clay into the shape of a mouth resembling the maw of a Lamprey.

Countless teeth sprouted within the cylindrical, sucker-like mouth.

And ceaseless mucus spewed out to resist the White Flame, trying to devour Oliver.

Just like Fen, who tried to achieve his goal by consuming Oliver.

It was a disgustingly horrifying sight, yet oddly, Oliver felt a strange sense of relief.

And possibly because the form suited Neverland better, which was created by using countless children as materials and maintained by devouring even more.

However, Oliver also felt a chilling sensation at the nape of his neck towards the transformed Neverland.

‘…A monster that devours everything is awakening in the Western Sea…’

Suddenly, turning into a massive maw…

Seeing this, a phrase from the apocalyptic scripture stuck in a Flesh Cook’s book flashed through Oliver’s mind.

It was truly terrifying.

Even though he had sought Merlin’s help to escape it, as if mocking Oliver’s efforts, the monster now appeared before his eyes.

As if it was inevitable.

‘…No.’

Oliver watched as the gigantic maw slowly closed, enduring against the White Flame.

It was still fine, for now. The monster hadn’t fully awakened yet.

Persuading himself, Oliver decided to tear off more of the bandage to increase his firepower.

There was a risk of losing control as the bandage might fully rip, but he judged that was better than allowing the apocalypse to come true.

Both for him and the world.

Having resolved himself, Oliver looked down to unravel the bandage, when he encountered something bizarre.

‘…’

The bizarre phenomenon was a shadow.

Oliver’s own shadow.

The surrounding area was bleached white due to the White Flame, yet for some reason, Oliver’s shadow remained perfectly intact.

Despite the overwhelming firepower that whitened the world. Instead of fading, the shadow grew even clearer, as if it existed independently.

Creeeeep…

Sensing that something was terribly wrong with his shadow, Oliver prepared to respond, but just then, an unsettling eye blinked open on the shadow.

Oliver made eye contact with it.

Shuuuuush!!

The shadow broke free from Oliver’s control and began to expand itself.

Using its tentacle-like maw, it began devouring the small world made from the children as materials.

***

Swallowed headfirst by the shadow, Fen found himself sinking into a sea of darkness, witnessing visions.

His mother, who always claimed to be royalty, despite her constant sickness.

The arduous and risky chimney sweeps.

The children from the town who mocked him, calling him the son of a madwoman.

The life of constant cold and hunger.

Then his mother died, and he was deceived by the townspeople and sold to another chimney sweep.

Truly horrific memories. But ironically, it was there where Fen first found beings he could call friends.

Wendy, Kirby, Slightly, Nibs, the Twins, and Tootles.

They were the workers under the chimney sweep who had bought Fen.

It was around that time that Fen met them for the first time.

They were all in poor health.

Everyone was suffering from various diseases like tuberculosis, skin cancer, eye problems, leukemia, caused by the chimney sweeping work, on the verge of death.

That’s why Fen was bought, to replace someone who would die.

Of course, Fen was destined to end up the same way. Is that why?

Fen, who was always bullied in town, got along well with them, all in the same situation.

Wendy, the oldest, took on the role of a mother and looked after the children.

Clumsy Kirby made them laugh with his ridiculous antics.

Slightly, who acted smart, proudly shared stories he had overheard.

Nibs was just Nibs,

The Twins added lively comments whenever others spoke.

And Tootles, with his cute way of speaking, boosted everyone’s self-esteem, becoming everyone’s pillar of support.

It was a contradictory time indeed.

Cleaning chimneys was certainly exhausting and dangerous, but talking together after work was so enjoyable.

Though mostly idle chatter about favorite animals, things they wanted to eat, or things they wanted to do.

‘I want to eat chocolate gold coins. Fill a treasure chest with them, bury it, and dig it up whenever I want to eat.’

‘Why put it underground?’

‘Because it’s true treasure. A real treasure is buried underground.’

‘I heard today, there’s a tree that grows candy in the West. The bark’s bacon.’

‘Really?’

‘Yeah, I heard it.’

‘On the West side. I want to hear that story about the explorer fighting savages with red skin. Is there a story you want to hear, Wendy?’

‘Well? Maybe a story about mermaids or unicorns?’

An endless exchange of ridiculous fantasies. Yet Fen and his friends talked without stopping.

They vaguely understood it was all nonsense, but acts like these were all that kept them going.

Wasn’t dreaming allowed?

And so Fen and his friends used their childlike imagination to create stories. Eventually, they created the Island called Neverland to escape their harsh realities.

Where chocolate gold coins were buried everywhere in the ground, where candy grew on trees, where bark was bacon, and where fairies, unicorns, and mermaids lived. They would battle the Red Ones every day, always winning. And most importantly, not a single adult existed in their own little intangible world.

It started as a wishful thought but eventually, they started to believe it might actually exist.

They were all kids, and needed to believe this to endure the harsh reality.

So they promised each other.

One day, they would find Neverland and journey there together.

That moment never came.

Kirby went first. One day he got stuck while cleaning a chimney and died.

Slightly was next. Though smart, his body was frail. One day, while coughing, he spat out blood and didn’t wake up the next morning.

Nibs burned to death on the job after someone accidentally set him on fire.

The Twins went blind, led out by the chimney sweep, never to return.

Tootles died with his skin horribly deformed.

Wendy…

‘…Aaaaaagh!! No!! Don’t!! Stop!! Please…!!! Aaaaagh!!’

Eventually, Fen’s turn came.

Mysterious lumps appeared in his testicles, and he experienced stomach, back, and headaches.

He grew weaker each day while the bullying from the new kids grew harsher.

As Fen lay there, feeling like a living corpse, he suddenly remembered his mother’s nonsensical ramblings.

‘This world is wrong. My son… Every day children are kidnapped and killed, yet nobody intervenes. They pretend not to notice. That’s why we’re here. We, who used to be royalty… This world is mad! It’s filled with sin! …But don’t worry. I’ve seen it. When the time comes, a prince will appear and punish this wicked world. The brightest prince of all!! A new age will dawn!!’

Fen had responded at that time.

‘Shut up, crazy woman! A prince? What prince!? Stop talking nonsense!’

The next day, his mother died.

Babbling nonsense until the end.

Fen hated her back then. Hated how she died spouting nonsense without any parenting.

But now, Fen thought he understood a bit. Why his mother only spouted nonsense.

She had been resentful, to the point where she could not endure without believing a prince would appear to punish the world.

Just like Fen now.

At that moment Fen heard a voice.

A voice whose owner could not be identified; neither gender nor age was discernible.

Telling him it wasn’t nonsense. That his mother really was royalty. That Fen really was a prince.

In his disoriented state, Fen asked.

‘…Really?’

[Of course. You’re a prince.]

‘…Am I the prince my mother spoke of? The one who will punish the world?’

[Ah, absolutely. I promise you in my name —-. You will become a prince. A prince bathed in white light. I’ll help you a bit until then.]

The moment those words ended, Fen’s shadow rose on its own and bowed like a servant, allowing Fen to create the monster he had discussed with his friends.

Shrrak!!

A sharp noise echoed as light shone on Fen, who had been swallowed by the sea of darkness.

The shadow that had swallowed Fen was torn open, revealing the outside.

It was the same spell he had cast on Jane, but ironically, Fen had been caught by it himself.

Barely escaping his inner memories, Fen looked around panting.

There was Neverland, which had transformed into the maw of a Lamprey, his body half-merged with it.

And there was the towering shadow maintaining its form despite the White Flame bleaching everything around.

An improbable mix of black and white.

At the center of it was Dave, who seemed desperate for some reason.

Haah… Haah…

Fen’s vision blurred due to the White Flame, so he couldn’t make out what Dave was doing.

But he could tell one thing, that Neverland, now transformed into the maw of a Lamprey, was in a battle between Dave’s White Flame and the shadow.

The intense White Flame continued to burn the transformed Neverland, while the shadow, as if possessing self-awareness, swung its massive tentacles around to devour the weakened Neverland piece by piece.

Neverland struggled desperately to avoid being devoured.

It was a farcical sight. A monster devouring a monster.

Maybe he hadn’t left the shadow’s grasp after all.

‘Yes… That’s why this absurdity…’

As Fen’s vision began to white out from the flame, he looked at one spot, deep in thought.

He was looking at Dave. To be precise, at something huge behind Dave.

Something massive, crouched in the darkness like the night sea.

It had a fetal-like, unstable form, yet it was so large that it was hard to describe, with enough mass to crush even Neverland.

Despite its massive size, the way it curled into itself with its arms and legs together made it seem almost childlike, but this only increased its ominousness and repulsiveness.

Twitch.

Something unknown stirred.

Then it slowly lifted its head.

Very slowly. Very carefully.

It was a simple motion, but Fen couldn’t take his eyes off it. Even in this moment, being devoured by the creature, Fen’s heart pounded.

Thud!

It opened its eyes and looked at him.

Thud!!

It opened its eyes and looked at him.

Thud!!!

Opened its eyes and looked at him.

Thud!!!!

Looked at him.

Thud!!!!!

Looked.

Thud!!!!!!

Saw.

Thud!!!!!!!

…..

It felt like an eternity, but also like a fleeting moment.

Something massive that had been crouching behind Oliver lifted its head, and it made eye contact with Fen.

Despite being blind, Fen could feel its presence. Simultaneously, he realized something.

He himself… His mother who gave birth to Fen, his friends, and the children sacrificed by Fen’s hand… they all existed for this very moment.

Enduring that long period of suffering to become nourishment for that thing.

Facing such a cruel truth, Fen experienced true despair beyond tears.

The oncoming shadow devoured him entirely.

Crunch!!