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[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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Chapter 239: The First Promise
Shwaaaaaa—.
The pouring rain mixed with the blood Zion spat out.
"Move it, you fool."
"Shut up."
Zion blocked me with his entire body, seemingly determined never to step aside.
Even as he trembled, stubbornly holding his ground, another wave of mountain-like pressure surged from behind him.
“Even if I perish today, atop this mountain of blood…”
This time, it was Makan.
Standing before Zion, Makan spun his spear, enduring the crushing force bearing down on them.
Kkkkkk—!
The moment the spear blade ground down and black blood trickled from Makan's tightly clenched lips...
Dozens of streaks of lightning struck between them.
Pajijik—!
"We shall absolutely advance."
It was Arin.
"We shall advance."
"We shall advance."
"Dammit, we shall advance."
It was the Song of Samael, blooming simultaneously from all the members of the Crazy Mage Squad.
The Incantation was not beautiful.
It was a blood-vomiting cry, a will bracing for death.
In this hellish land of death, where rainwater and blood mingled, a wind rich with mana began to blow.
Vitality flowed back into my momentarily exhausted body.
The circle in my heart began to rotate according to my will.
Shwaaaaaa—.
I spat out the rainwater filling my mouth and pushed myself up.
Drip— Drip—.
Streams of water ran down from beneath my completely soaked clothes.
Though my body felt heavy as lead, I paid it no mind and looked forward.
As rain and fierce wind lashed against my wide-open eyes, tears streamed down as well.
Within my rapidly reddening vision, Asura was looking at me.
"...!"
The moment our eyes met through the downpour, Blink activated.
Even though I appeared right before his eyes, he showed no sign of surprise, remaining motionless in his initial stance.
Just before I could unleash mana of the Yin dimension to attack him.
Asura opened his mouth faster.
"Ruin Samael."
The timing of him speaking was quite pointed.
That bizarre voice I knew flowed out from behind his half-mask.
I looked him in the eyes and spoke as well.
"Commander Maohe. Or should I call you Asura?"
"Call me whatever you please."
There wasn't even a hint of shock that I knew his identity.
Instead, his lips began to subtly twitch.
"Let me ask you too, Ruin Samael. Or should I call you Clown?"
"...So you knew. Why did you betray me?"
"Betrayal, you say."
"Betraying the Revelation is the same as you betraying the Assembly."
"Interesting words. Don't you know better than anyone that isn't true, Clown? ...No. That's not it."
Asura slowly shook his thick neck left and right, then looked straight at me.
"In the first place, you weren't the Clown, were you?"
A voice full of conviction.
This guy is different from Thousand-Faced Fox.
I tried probing, just in case, but he saw through the entire situation from the start.
There's only one possibility.
A high-ranking demon belonging to the Realm.
He must have noticed the difference between 'mana of the Yin dimension' and 'demonic energy'.
Shwaaaa—!
A sudden downpour drove between my and Asura's line of sight.
At such close range, I have the advantage.
I spoke to Asura in a calm voice.
"You're quite puffed up."
"Puffed up?"
"Even though your plan must have gone completely awry."
"..."
"That must be why you showed up in the first place. Because even deploying the Giant God wasn't enough to kill Black and Loren."
Suddenly, Asura threw his whole body back and burst into laughter.
As if he absolutely couldn't bear it, he stared at the sky and let out monstrous laughter for a long while before looking back at me.
"You're gravely mistaken."
"What?"
"The First Prince of the Divine Clan and the Sword Master of Ardehain? No, that's not it."
"..."
"From the very beginning, the target was you, Ruin Samael. This was all to capture you. Though I admit, I didn't expect you to push back the Giant God..."
Asura raised his shield as if celebrating a victory.
"In any case, you look exhausted, like you're about to die. Is that answer enough for you?"
For a moment, a shock like a blow to the head washed over me.
But still, without a change in expression, I looked at Asura.
“Not nearly enough.”
"Why not."
"You alone aren't enough. You should have brought the Wolf, the Phantom Thief, the White Heron, and all the demons from the Realm."
Thud—!
As if time was slowing down, the pouring rain obscured the view between me and Asura.
In that instant.
I reversed all the circles in my heart and thrust out my right arm.
Wheeeeing—!
Dark Sword.
I had already reached my limit, but just one strike would be enough.
Simultaneously, Asura raised his inverted triangular shield, concentrating an aura like Mount Tai before him.
But just before that, with a sound like space itself being torn, a faint crack etched itself onto the center of the shield.
"Keuk!"
Black's suppressed groan from the left stabbed into my ears.
It was Black's Heart Void Style, manifested in exchange for giving his shoulder to the First Fiend.
Thanks to the gap created in the shield, I lunged forward without hesitation, thrusting the Dark Sword.
Kkkkkkkk—!
"...!"
"You still misunderstand something."
It didn't pierce through.
The moment the Dark Sword struck directly, a pure white defensive barrier cracked— Jjeojeojeok— only to be overlaid with immense demonic energy.
Holding the shield forward, Asura opened his mouth.
"Why do you think I am responsible for the grand plan in the North?"
"..."
"Among all the Seven Demons, I am the strongest."
Paaaaang—!
It was then that the Dark Sword disintegrated.
The defensive barrier, seemingly countless layers of strong aura and demonic energy compressed together, exploded outwards.
My body felt like it floated backward before being slammed into the ground.
Peong— Peopeopeong—!
Suddenly, demonic energy began to erupt from all directions.
"Kraaaaaaaaahk!"
"Kkeuaaaaa!"
From Cecilia, dueling Wolf.
From the Giants, locked in a bloody battle with the Crazy Mage Squad.
From the First Fiend and the Sword Fiend, fighting against Black.
From the Four Kings gathering around Loren, and from the bodies of all the demonized enemies – demonic energy exploded simultaneously.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang—!
It swallowed the entire space.
Spilled blood turned black, rainwater turned black.
Even the pouring rain and the raging wind turned black.
For a fleeting moment, everything visible was utter darkness.
From beyond, along with a mountain-like pressure, a bizarre, mad laughter erupted.
"Despair!"
Asura.
What he intended to show me was perfect, absolute frustration.
Endless despair.
Screams echoed from everywhere.
It was a miserable moment, forcing me to imagine the sight of all my companions—the Crazy Mage Squad, Black, Loren—meeting their deaths.
"..."
But did he know?
That this sightless darkness was, conversely, the moment most familiar to me.
Countless comrades were before my eyes.
And the first among them to come to mind was Pelleer.
Wheeeing—!
Opening all my circles, I recited the image of the Clan Head, just as I felt it.
"The light within the darkness."
One step.
Letting the pressure, like Mount Tai bearing down on my body, flow away as my body led, I continued the image.
"The quickening that blooms after all death. The struggle against the silence. The steps forward, denying existence itself. The life that creates being from nothingness."
The circles spun madly as if denying my body, which felt on the verge of collapse.
Whether this was the unconscious prelude to the next step, or the harbinger of an inner demon, or even the last flicker of a candle burning out before being extinguished...
In this moment, it mattered not at all.
"The patience that endures the eternal frost for that single moment of Blooming. The sturdy inner flame that will push away all external darkness, finally. Contained herein. For just one time."
Though it was a darkness where nothing could be seen.
I raised a finger towards one spot.
"Let there be light."
A brief flickering.
A desire born from a single point roared out.
And in that instant, light clove the darkness asunder.
This was Pelleer's incantation, incomparable to the time with Vassago, finally unleashed having reached its pinnacle.
The darkness split in two, ripped apart, and a radiance bright enough to blind engulfed the entire world.
7-Circle Heat System, Pinnacle Technique.
Volcanic.
Saaaaaaaaaah—!
The moment the erupting light subsided, all darkness melted away.
All the bloodstains, the rainwater, even the raging wind—everything dissolved.
The first thing that met my eyes was Wolf, having sliced Cecilia's neck.
Next... I saw him.
The inverted triangular shield had melted away without a trace.
Asura's body was also burning away completely, melting down.
"...Y-You... bastard..."
Asura tried to let out a scream, but his eyes, nose, and then even his mouth melted away, rendering him unable to speak.
Despite that, he was alive.
He poured dense, churning demonic energy into his melting body.
Suddenly, from within his completely crushed face, a black maw jutted out.
[...For there to be this level of disruption.]
A high-ranking demon of the Realm.
Clearly, Asura had not received a call, but that wasn't the problem now.
I knew instinctively.
It's him.
The one from the Realm had manifested in Asura's body.
Wheeeing—!
My seven circles, having reached their saturation point, began to rotate in the reverse direction on their own.
[This is...!]
The moment I leaped, a crushing pressure, as if the sky itself was collapsing, bore down on me.
He had erected immense barriers of demonic energy in all directions.
Through the barriers, even stronger than the pure white shield Asura had deployed, darkness surged.
He was trying to escape.
"Oh no, you don't."
I have to kill this thing.
To stop Verkes, I absolutely must kill this thing.
With the colossal demonic energy barrier between us, I met his eyes.
[Human, don't tell me.]
"..."
[Are you trying to die with me?]
"You will definitely die."
7-Circle, Reverse Incantation.
Spatial Constraint.
Black Spot Explosion.
[...]
Without any warning, an explosion that transcended physical constraints erupted.
Ignoring all the demonic energy barriers he had erected on all sides.
From within them, the explosion burst forth.
Not even a sound could be heard.
The epicenter of the explosion was Asura's heart.
A horrifying shriek lasted but a moment before Asura's body, swelling up like a balloon, was completely ripped apart.
Immediately after, the demonic energy barriers burst outwards from the inside due to the resulting explosion.
A move that takes a bone to give a bone.
As expected, it's fucking insane.
Mana of the Yin dimension is always like this.
There wasn't even time to appreciate reaching the 7th Circle of Change.
Right now, I lacked the ability to withstand the aftermath of the Black Spot Explosion erupting at this distance.
In that moment, I looked up at the sky.
The goddamn rainstorm had stopped, revealing a sunset-stained sky.
In this land of death, that was the only sky color I liked.
The memory of sharing roasted boar with Azeta came to mind.
Even if I die like this, I have no regrets.
Isn't it true that in a brawl like this, it wouldn't be strange for your head to fly off at any moment?
I couldn't hear the screams of the Crazy Mage Squad, nor Black's, nor Loren's, so that was enough.
Thankfully, I saw Uncle Wolf succeed in his revenge, so that was also sufficient.
Last time, I was the only one left alive, but this time, I guess I'll go first and wait.
Ah, dammit.
Suddenly, my vision was tinged with a mysterious red light.
When did I see that before?
The saying that your past flashes before your eyes like a revolving lantern at the end of your life was spot on.
Right.
When I first took those Crazy Mage Squad guys as my subordinates.
And when I fought Elder Parin.
It was that color.
Parin, when that bastard suddenly stopped fighting and ran away, the sky was exactly that red color too.
Only now does the question surface.
Why did he run away?
"Mm."
As soon as I suddenly opened my eyes, I saw a man before me.
It wasn't Black, nor was it my subordinates.
Paaaaaaaang—!
A man maintaining a translucent shield, blocking the aftermath of the Black Spot Explosion.
"...A Reflection Shield?"
Taylor?
No.
A Reflection Shield could never withstand this aftermath.
Suddenly, I registered the fact that the red martial arts uniform the man was wearing looked familiar.
The man whose outstretched hands were completely shredded, instantly covered in blood.
The man who endured the full brunt of the aftermath finally spat out a mouthful of blood.
The man who turned around and looked at me was Hector Kart.
"...Weren't you with the Myriad Demon Assembly?"
Relief wasn't the first thought that came to mind.
Rather, I couldn't help but voice the question welling up deep inside me.
"How long has it been like this?"
Hector Kart, only then did he look me straight in the eye.
"From the beginning."
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Whether you knew or not... it changed nothing."
"Is this the last promise with the Clan Head?"
"No."
My consciousness was fading fast, but I forced myself to hold onto the last thread and asked.
"Why."
"..."
I grabbed Hector's chest, my fingertips scratching as I held on, avoiding my gaze.
"Tell me... damn it..."
Hector, supporting my weight, finally locked eyes with me.
"To protect the Samael bloodline. That is the first promise. The original vow between Kart Clan and Samael Clan."
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[Translator - Prøks]
[Proofreader - Prøks]
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