Chapter 403. Fracture (4)
It was just a single kick. Of course, the attack was imbued with exorcism mana, which was dark energy’s worst bane. And it wasn’t as if Bael was critically wounded from the attack. But Bael was the King of the East, the Lord of Destruction! What had just happened?
“…” Bael couldn’t easily accept reality. The sting she felt on her jaw was a new sensation for her, and after almost falling over, she had to fix her posture again. It was then she got a faint metallic taste in her mouth. She soon realized the warm substance collecting inside was blood, and her eyes gradually widened. She was the first-ranking great demon and the strongest by far with no equal in the Demon Empire. After rising to her rank, she only knew how to destroy her enemies and never the other way around. Her enemies never even managed to reach the tips of her toes.
“…You—” She couldn’t accept what just happened. After all the blows her pride had suffered, this was a wound deeper than any other. As if it was reflecting her anger and the rage of emotions she felt, the thick dark energy flowing from Bael’s body became even darker; it became so dark that it dyed her surroundings black.
“You…!” Her dark energy fluctuated and wavered crazily. “You d.a.m.n baaaaaastard!” She shouted in pure venom, and her reddish black dark energy shot upwards. It was rough, fierce, and ferocious. The ground that Bael stomped on split and broke with a loud thud, cracking and shooting debris upward into the air as if attracted by the great energy she poured out. The gate wasn’t the only one reacting; the earth wailed, and the sky seemed to shake. It was an unbelievable level of power.
Everyone—humanity, the Ca.s.siubia League, and even the Abyss momentarily stopped what they were doing to watch. They couldn’t take their eyes off the scene, and Bael’s ominous energy ran wild in all directions and gave everyone the chills. As if their bodies were petrified, it became hard to move, and even Chi-Woo found himself affected by the pressure given off by Bael’s ma.s.s energy. Its weight was like none he had ever felt before, and it locked his body in place.
—Hey.
It was then he heard a familiar voice from behind him.
—Chi-Woo, I’m sorry to bother you when you’re trying to focus, but have you heard about the qualification to be a king?
—Though kings are a product of the past now, it was said that whatever the king was—whether they were the King of the Pastures or the King of the Peasants, they never cried whatever situation they were in.
It was Philip, who was once the king of Salem. He suddenly brought up the qualification of a king. Though it was unexpected, Chi-Woo understood what Philip was trying to tell him. In the Demon Empire, the strong became the king, and those with real power didn’t need to persuade others for their place. They didn’t even need to speak or hope for others to recognize them. They didn’t need to purposefully show how strong they were because they already had unwavering confidence in their strengths. It was like how Bael had been when she first arrived in front of the last gate. At the time, Bael wouldn’t have wavered in any situation.
—But what about now?
—Do you think she still looks like the king of the Demon Empire?
Not anymore. As soon as Chi-Woo realized what Philip was getting at, Chi-Woo’s heart calmed. His trembling ceased, and he felt at peace. He stood straight and stared intently as Bael poured out dark energy all around her. Why was it? Chi-Woo thought of the strongest person he knew—Chi-Hyun, and one side of his mouth curled up. Were Bael confident, there would be no need for her to threaten Chi-Woo as she was doing right now. She would simply snort and carefreely think that she could easily kill him.
Yet right now, she was making a great fuss and spectacle as if she didn’t want her opponent to approach. In other words, her actions could be seen as ones made out of fear. Thinking this, Chi-Woo was free of the fear he had felt when first facing Bael.
“…No.”
—Then?
“She looks like a scared baby beast.” As soon as he put these feelings into words, Bael began to look like a cornered tiny beast barking madly in fear.
—Good.
Philip smiled widely hearing Chi-Woo’s response.
—Remember what I just told you. It’s the number one rule I held when working as a demon hunter.
To catch a tiger, one must enter the tiger den. Likewise, to hunt down a demon, the hunter mustn’t be scared of demons.
—What are you doing?
Philip pointed at Bael.
—Just go and kill your prey!
The temporary halt came to an end, and Chi-Woo rushed forward in a flash. Seeing Chi-Woo coming at her head-on rather than wavering, Bael growled. The overflowing dark energy around her gathered and colored her surroundings black. It wiggled around and wrapped around Bael, as if there were two large wings behind her. Furthermore, Bael’s eyes were pitch black now, making her look like some fallen angel. Eventually, she soared into the air and threw down her sword with all her might. Right before it reached Chi-Woo, though, the giant sword stopped.
It was because his AI Armor’s defense system was activated. Though the giant sword was blocked, it didn’t bounce off. Imbued with Bael’s strong will, the sword continued to press inwards, and the tip of the blade trembled from the effort. It seemed intent on piercing through the AI Armor, but Chi-Woo’s armor resisted.
Imprinting: Core of Union was activated. It used Chi-Woo’s exorcism mana and entered a neck-and-neck race against Bael’s fluctuating mana. Seeing what was happening, Bael stretched out both arms and moved the sword according to her commands. Simultaneously, her fingers scratched the dark air. Scriiiiitch. As if she was clawing off dirt from the air, the thickly scattered dark energy broke off and gathered into her hands. Then, she threw the lump at Chi-Woo as she had done with her sword. Chi-Woo didn’t sit still at the sudden strike. Considering his opponent, he couldn’t rely on the AI Armor to do all the work. He swung his ghost-busting club and struck away the lump of dark energy.
But things didn’t end there. When he struck the one lump of dark energy, it became two. When he struck two, it became four; four to eight, and eight to sixteen. Every time he struck the b.a.l.l.s of dark energy, it multiplied by two.
And every time Chi-Woo swung his club, Bael moved her arms senselessly. She grabbed every lump of dark energy around her and threw it toward Chi-Woo. She looked just like an angry child throwing a tantrum and hurling everything in her immediate vicinity, yet the force of each attack was anything other than childlike. Bael’s specialty was destruction. Thus, anything that her dark energy touched broke and crumbled to pieces, and now that she had gathered such energy into a whole lump, the power her attacks held was astonis.h.i.+ng. To make a comparison, each lump of dark energy possessed as much destructive power as a natural disaster like an avalanche, typhoon, or tornado.
Such fearsome attacks lashed out at Chi-Woo and whirled around him. Normally, he should’ve been broken to pieces without a single trace remaining. After all, even other great demons were distancing themselves from the scene to not get swept into Bael’s attacks. And the gate walls around them were becoming devastated even with the dimension spells cast onto them. Yes, it was normal that no one dared to even get close to her attacks, yet in the eye of complete destruction, one person stood completely fine. He didn’t collapse nor get swept away.
Chi-Woo endured resolutely, and beyond just enduring, he took a step forward into the whirling ma.s.ses of dark energy. He even pushed away Bael’s giant demonic sword that was advancing toward him. Bael flinched, and her expression crumbled even further. Then, she moved both of her hands faster so that the number of flying lumps of dark energy became uncountable with the naked eye. Yet the result remained the same. As if the dark energy was shot at a mirror, all of the attacks were reflected, and the lumps of dark energy bounced off after losing most of their power.
“Why!” Bael gritted her teeth. “Why in the world!” She had never revealed so much of her strength or power before. Even when she was fighting Agares for the first rank position in the Demon Empire, she didn’t go this far. She even used a part of her existence as a great demon, but failed to inflict significant damage on Chi-Woo. Meanwhile, Chi-Woo was steadily advancing forward. He pierced through the whirlwind of dark energy and successfully reached within Bael’s range.
Bael was on the verge of losing her mind. She moved back instinctively when Chi-Woo got closer and barely stopped her feet from going back even further. She felt that if she backed off now, she would never be able to step forward again. The fear that she would never go past this last gate seemed to be turning into reality.
Bael reached out to grab another lump of dark energy, but stopped. Then she fumbled in the air like a blind person. Nothing came into contact with her palms. Turning around to check, Bael’s mind blanked. The ma.s.ses of dark energy that had been so numerous that she could grab a bunch simply by reaching out had noticeably decreased. She had been too focused on the matter at hand to care for the little details. And thus, after being like calamity itself, Bael came to an involuntary stop. Chi-Woo sensed that it was time for him to show all the cards he had been hiding.
He acted on his thoughts immediately, and white light poured out of his body. Bael quickly collected the remaining dark energy and turned around.
[La Bella’s Bible]
A book formed above Chi-Woo’s head, and a blinding, dazzling cl.u.s.ter of light scattered.
[La Bella’s Sanctuary.]
A brilliantly s.h.i.+ning sword pushed away any dark energy it touched. Before Bael realized it, the majority of her already lessened dark energy disappeared. When the light reached her, Bael felt a great pressure push her down. Her storming dark energy dropped sharply and was pushed to the minimum. It was then she realized that she was in this human’s territory. The death she had dreaded before was right in front of her. Things like pride or other emotions no longer restricted her, and after clutching onto the giant sword that had bounced off from the man, she hastily spread her wings.
She took flight, trying to make a speedy escape from Chi-Woo’s territory.
[Executioner]
Yet the sky thundered, and a white streak of light struck the top of her head. From the sudden attack, Bael lost her balance mid-flight, and Chi-Woo didn’t miss his chance. Like a beast lunging at his prey, he kicked off the ground and rose to the air. Bael swung her sword frantically at Chi-Woo, who was shooting up toward her. Then she felt something touch her palm and disappear. The giant sword she had in her hand split into pieces like a dried-up field during a drought. Then, it broke to pieces like a gla.s.s window struck by a baseball.
Between the scattering shards, a s.h.i.+ning pair of eyes rushed forward. Bael’s mouth gaped open.
“──────────!”
She let out an incomprehensible scream, and then the shriek was suddenly cut short. Simultaneously, Bael’s whole body wavered in the air like water. Everyone on the battlefield—humanity, the Ca.s.siubia League, Abyss, and the Demon Empire all witnessed the scene. Light chased the floating darkness, and the two forces intersected. All sorts of thoughts pa.s.sed through their heads, but the result of the clash was decided soon. After a sudden spark that blinded all viewers’ eyes, the light pa.s.sed through the darkness. The darkness stopped momentarily, then it wavered once. In the end, it could no longer continue flying and fell from the sky. It was obvious what the result of the battle was.
Boom! Bael fell on top of the gate and rolled on the ground. She couldn’t let out even a groan and heaved for breath as reddish-black blood poured out of her mouth. Her body spazzed, showing the terrible state she was in, and there was a huge hole in her abdomen. Seeing this, members of the Ca.s.siubia League and humanity widened their eyes to the limit. In contrast, all the great demons stood like stone statues, seemingly shocked speechless. The opposite emotions of joy and sorrow intersected, and everyone seemed to be reeling from disbelief. That was how shocking the event they witnessed was.
The chaotic battlefield came to a sharp stop, and silence swallowed the whole area—silence loaded with different meanings depending on the side one was on. But amid this solemn silence, one thing was clear. The King of the East, the Lord of Destruction, the first-ranking great demon, and the great empress often hailed as the peak of the Demon Empire’s strength was defeated by Chi-Woo.