Free Web NovelChapter 433: Lies (6)
The Heavenly Demon turned into a black figure as if the night sky itself had taken shape. Like the silhouette of a culprit from a famous detective manga, the shadowy human-shaped Heavenly Demon strode leisurely toward Kwon Oh-Jin.
With every step, the dark clouds making up his entire body rippled with a sinister sound.
Rumble, rumble.
Through the swirling darkness, Kwon Oh-Jin could see the grotesque pulsing heart and eerie ghostly blue flames burning within. “Shit...”
The Black Heaven had consumed the Heavenly Demon so deeply that he could hardly be called human anymore.
Kwon Oh-Jin bit his lip hard. After activating Open Heaven, the Black Heaven currently made up roughly thirty percent of his body. If he pushed himself to the limit, he could raise it to about fifty percent.
I can’t do more than that.
Kwon Oh-Jin had never once allowed the Black Heaven to consume more than half of himself. He didn’t need to test it to know how it would turn out. His instincts clearly told him that it would be the end if he crossed that line. He wouldn’t be able to come back from it.
“Do you even know what you’ve done?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
The Heavenly Demon chillingly laughed. “Know what I’ve done?”
His white teeth glimmered between the black clouds, making his figure even more grotesque.
“Of course, I know.” He rested a hand on his heart, engraved with the Stigma of Draco. “Even if I can never return, even if I lose everything, even if I forget who I am... It doesn’t matter.”
As long as he could hold on to one memory, that one memory meant more than anything.
“I don’t need anything else.”
The black clouds shook wildly.
Rumble.
The mist-like darkness gathered like a swarm of ravenous ants and rushed toward Kwon Oh-Jin.
Kwon Oh-Jin hastily drew his own Black Heaven’s power, forming a barrier against the incoming tide. “Kugh!”
The black clouds erupting from Kwon Oh-Jin clashed violently against the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven.
Rumble! Rumble!
The two Black Heavens twisted and tore at each other.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s Black Heaven, possessing a higher rank, initially pushed back the Heavenly Demon with overwhelming force. However, that didn’t last long.
“It’s useless.”
“Damn it!”
The Black Lightning surrounding Kwon Oh-Jin scattered into crackling sparks, and a wave of dark clouds charged toward him. He pushed off the ground, quickly retreating, but it was useless like the Heavenly Demon said.
Black flames burst from the clouds, engulfing him entirely.
An agonizing pain tore through him as parts of him turned into black smoke and scattered. “Guh!”
He’s consuming me.
The Heavenly Demon was devouring even his higher-ranked Black Heaven.
Song Ha-Eun desperately cried out, “Oh-Jin!”
His fading consciousness snapped back into focus.
Kwon Oh-Jin took a deep breath and pressed a hand to his chest. “Haaa...”
Stay calm.
The Heavenly Demon had said it himself. Kwon Oh-Jin’s Black Heaven ranked higher. Therefore, the Heavenly Demon had sacrificed his very existence to draw out more power from his Black Heaven.
Don’t forget. I have something he doesn’t.
He reminded himself as he summoned the Stigma of Lyra.
Woong!
A radiant silver light burst forth through the black clouds.
The Heavenly Demon didn’t possess the only Stigma capable of controlling the Black Heaven.
“Sacred Ground Deployment, Milky Way.”
A brilliant silver tide spread out. The silver wave swept up the black flames covering the ground and instantly extinguished them.
“Haha, right. I almost forgot. You can use Vega’s Sacred Ground too.” The Heavenly Demon laughed quietly, nodding again and again. “To think you’d deploy a Sacred Ground while using the Open Heaven... as expected of you. Or should I say, as expected of me?”
“I told you. I’m not you.”
“Ah, right. Then again, I never had Vega’s Stigma anyway. Wait, what was Vega’s Stigma called again?” He cocked his head, thinking for a moment before shrugging lightly. “Eh, whatever. It doesn’t matter since I don’t have it anyway.”
“You...”
“But I told you before, didn’t I?” Ghostly blue flames flared through the black clouds. “It’s useless.”
With a calmness like someone taking a walk in the park, the Heavenly Demon took another unhurried step forward. His body, made of black clouds, scattered like mist and reformed right in front of Kwon Oh-Jin’s Sacred Ground. The Heavenly Demon, standing before the brilliant silver waves, slowly raised both arms.
Then, he tore the Milky Way apart with his bare hands.
Crackle!
“W-What the hell...!?”
He had torn the Sacred Ground with his bare hands.
Impossible.
Kwon Oh-Jin had once pierced a Sacred Ground using the Black Heaven in the past, but he had to concentrate immense power into a single point to break through. It was like driving a sharp awl through a steel plate. Even that was hard to do, but ripping the steel plate apart bare-handed was beyond comprehension.
The Heavenly Demon smiled at Kwon Oh-Jin's stunned expression. “Why the shocked look? You knew this, didn’t you? That Sacred Ground alone can’t stop the Black Heaven.”
Kwon Oh-Jin could only remain silent.
“Oh, did you think Vega’s Sacred Ground would be any different?” The Heavenly Demon smirked and shook his head. “If a mere Sacred Ground could block the Black Heaven, why do you think the Celestials were so terrified?”
The ghostly blue flames burned brighter. His arm, made of swirling black clouds, slowly reached for Kwon Oh-Jin.
Kwon Oh-Jin pushed his Black Heaven to the limit and unleashed Black Lightning. “Damn it!”
The fierce bolts crashed down toward the Heavenly Demon.
“No, that’s not enough.”
The Black Lightning instantly vanished. Technically speaking, it hadn’t just vanished. It had been devoured.
“Kugh!”
Even the Stigma of Lyra wasn’t enough.
Stigma of Scorpius.
Next to the Stigma of Lyra engraved over his left chest, another Stigma began to glow.
Stigma of Canes Venatici, Owl Nebula, and Aquarius.
Every Stigma he had absorbed since awakening the Black Heaven rose within the storm of black clouds.
Stigma of Seahorse, Bufo, Libra, Capricorn.
From the ones he used often to those he had almost forgotten about, Kwon Oh-Jin scraped up every last bit of power like picking the final grains of rice from an empty bowl.
“Try devouring all of this, you bastard!”
Like starlight scattering across the night sky, the Stigmas shining within the black clouds all lit up at once.
Another brilliant wave of silver light burst from Kwon Oh-Jin, but he wasn’t activating the Milky Way again.
“Sacred Ground Deployment!”
Not one, but the Sacred Grounds of all the Stigmas he had absorbed formed at once. It was a multi-Sacred Ground, a domain no other Celestial could ever attempt.
The radiant starlight tore through the black clouds, firing straight toward the Heavenly Demon’s heart.
“Don’t force it.”
The dozens of layered Sacred Grounds shattered into dust with a single wave of the Heavenly Demon’s hand.
“What...?” Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes widened. “They’re... all gone?”
He knew the Black Heaven could break through Sacred Grounds, but to destroy dozens of them in one blow? These weren’t ordinary Sacred Grounds, but infused with his own Black Heaven.
Kwon Oh-Jin stumbled back, his face pale. “T-this doesn’t make any sense.”
Just then, the Heavenly Demon’s hand shot out and seized Kwon Oh-Jin by the throat. “I told you. You’re lacking. Don’t you understand what that means?”
A strangled groan escaped Kwon Oh-Jin. “Kugh!”
“What, did you think combining all the Stigmas you’ve devoured would let you beat me? That if you threw everything you’ve built up, you could surpass me?”
With a sickening sound, Kwon Oh-Jin’s neck began to twist in an unnatural direction.
Crack.
“Don’t kid yourself.”
The Heavenly Demon’s burning blue eyes locked onto him.
“Do you think there’s anything you’ve done that I haven’t? Do you think there’s anything you can do that I can’t? The path you’ve walked, you think I haven’t walked it too? From the very beginning, I told you there was no choice but to let go. You think I wanted to give up the things I did? Don’t pray for miracles or beg for salvation.”
No matter how desperately he struggled, just like then and just like now, this damned play wouldn’t allow even a single plot twist.
“In this world, there’s no such thing as a convenient story where the cornered main character suddenly becomes stronger and defeats the enemy.”
The hand gripping Kwon Oh-Jin’s neck dug into his nape. Through the tearing flesh and crushing bone, the Heavenly Demon’s Black Heaven seeped directly into Kwon Oh-Jin.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s eyes rolled back white as his legs thrashed wildly. “Khuhk! Kuhuk! Guuhhk!”
The Heavenly Demon looked down at Kwon Oh-Jin with irritated eyes. “Ha... Honestly, what a disgusting sight. I don’t want to believe we’re the same person.”
If he could have it his way, he would devour every last fragment of Kwon Oh-Jin’s Black Heaven and erase his existence entirely.
But I can’t.
Kwon Oh-Jin had a role to play: to protect Song Ha-Eun in his stead.
Because I... won’t last much longer.
The one who could remain by Song Ha-Eun’s side to the very end wasn’t him, but the current Kwon Oh-Jin.
“Now do you understand what I meant when I said you won’t be able to protect Ha-Eun when you have too many precious things?”
The Black Heaven forced its master to keep giving something up. He had to feed the starving beast by cutting away pieces of his own flesh to avoid losing what truly mattered most. With a mindset that refused to sacrifice anything, Kwon Oh-Jin would only end up losing everything.
“I-I...”
“No need to answer. The problem will solve itself once all your precious things are gone.”
If he couldn’t make Kwon Oh-Jin give things up willingly, he would force him to.
The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue and threw Kwon Oh-Jin to the ground. “Watch closely from there as everything you hold dear disappears.”
The Heavenly Demon slowly walked toward the Awakeners still trapped in the black clouds.
Rumble.
From where Kwon Oh-Jin had been thrown, he looked up at the heavenly Demon’s back.
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The corners of his mouth curled up into a smile.
