Chapter 279
Chapter 279
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 279
Chapter Title: Absolute Will (11)
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***
“Die.”
With Kalli’s cold voice, an overwhelming crimson energy erupted from her hand, swallowing the space. At the same time, the mighty skill Kalli had manifested descended upon Vermian’s head.
■■■■■■■■■!!
Super Vibration instantly enveloped them, consuming the space.
The area, already churning with the crimson light from Kalli’s hand, began to be devoured by the even greater power of Super Vibration.
The external, darkness-filled space started to tremble violently, as if being shattered by the immense force.
And within the Super Vibration.
*Shlk!*
Kalli stared, completely unshaken, at the apostle she had seized.
“.......”
The pure hatred and killing intent in her eyes deepened with each passing moment.
Despite the pain she felt from her blood-soaked hand, Kalli did not hesitate to unleash her power.
Normally, direct contact with an apostle was to be avoided in any situation. Most officers would never do it, not knowing what dangers it might pose, but Kalli was the exception.
The power of vibration she emitted.
The crimson pulse completely enveloped her blood-red hand, granting it unprecedented power.
!@#$……!
The darkness enveloping Vermian’s body endlessly vibrated, twisting and vanishing, only to repeat the cycle.
Even his post-human body couldn't withstand Kalli’s power, continuously breaking and falling apart.
At times, his arm would explode; at others, the darkness burst as if his chest were being pierced.
And yet, the head in Kalli’s grasp did not burst. An endless well of darkness surged forth, repeatedly restoring his body.
A strange phenomenon, as if infinite destruction and regeneration were occurring simultaneously.
*Crrrunch…!*
As Kalli tightened her grip, the crimson bands of the Super Vibration she had unleashed began to constrict, closing in around them.
The Super Vibration, which had covered a wide radius, was gradually increasing in density, heightening its pressure.
“Kugh…”
A suppressed groan escaped Vermian’s twisted lips. Just as the sound, not even a proper word, slipped out, Kalli’s emotions, once seized by a colossal rage, slowly found a sliver of reason.
“......”
Even as she channeled more power into the hand gripping Vermian's face with her sunken eyes... she was momentarily struck by a sense of doubt.
—The apostle isn't dying.
Kalli, who had executed countless apostles over her many years on the front lines, found the situation utterly bizarre.
Normally, enough time had passed for the apostle’s life to have been extinguished the moment she had caught it.
But the apostle in her grasp, though seemingly on the verge of death, was not succumbing to complete annihilation. That, to her, was a mystery.
‘An apostle with this much presence.’
He was an apostle who would have to be classified as a special grade even among the high-ranking ones.
But the power of the Super Vibration she had manifested was clearly surrounding them both, unleashing its unique power.
A restriction that amplified its might, limited exclusively to ‘apostles.’
Within the Super Vibration, no apostle, no matter who they were, could maintain their original form.
And yet…
“Gaaah…!”
The apostle's form in her hand endlessly crumbled and scattered, yet it continued to restore its body over and over.
—Is this even possible?
Among the apostles she had faced over the years, there had been some who wielded greater power than the one she fought now, Vermian.
Apostles with such overwhelming power that she couldn't have subdued them so easily, let alone approached them carelessly.
But this apostle had exposed his vital point so carelessly.
He was weak enough for her to crush with her power.
But then, how…
How could this apostle restore his body within the power of Super Vibration, a force that had brought down even more powerful apostles?
Despite being shrouded in a strange doubt, Kalli didn't let her guard down for a second.
■■■■■■!!
The range of the Super Vibration continued to shrink, delivering an even more destructive force to the apostle's body, and there was no sign of a counterattack from the apostle in her grasp.
As the standoff continued for another minute, no sound came from Vermian anymore.
“......”
His body now hung limp in Kalli’s hand. The darkness enveloping it twisted and warped, rippling bizarrely, again and again.
The apostle's presence, on the verge of being severed, yet never quite breaking.
Staring coldly at it, Kalli was suddenly struck by a thought.
—Capture the apostle.
This was a new class of apostle whose powers were unknown.
An apostle who wielded darkness with this level of regenerative ability had never been seen before. It could be said to be an entirely undocumented apostle.
In that case, it would be better to capture it, analyze its power, and prepare a proper response for the future. There was no telling when another apostle with the same power might appear.
“But…”
As her anger slowly subsided and she reached a state of complete dominance over the apostle, her reason told her that was the right course of action.
—A high-ranking apostle.
An apostle of this caliber—one could tell just by looking at the density of its innate domain and its self-regeneration.
It was unlikely to be acting alone.
The disasters just kept coming.
Today, a great catastrophe had occurred, resulting in a massive number of victims. No matter how much the instructors or the academy tried to prepare, it was impossible to be ready for this.
The successive appearance of apostles.
The strange power, like a howling, that had spread out.
It was safe to assume that several apostles had already made their nests within the Empire.
It wouldn't be strange if they appeared anywhere, at any time, to cause such danger…
That thought was fleeting.
“I can't... do that.”
Suddenly, the image of Cheon-seong’s face, having completely lost its will, flickered in her eyes.
A face that seemed to have given up on everything.
That… was an expression she never wanted to see.
She had hoped he, of all people, would never make such a face. That he would always look forward, always advance… that he would walk his own path without hesitation.
Kalli had even made a quiet vow to ensure he could move forward without incident.
That she would support Cadet Han Cheon-seong, no matter what. That she would be his pillar, so he wouldn't fall, so he wouldn't break…
But that vow was shattered today.
An unjust reality and a crisis. Faced with the power of an apostle he couldn't possibly fight, she had seen it.
...And now, Kalli thought it was a blessing that Cheon-seong was even alive.
As she did, she felt her emotions naturally tip the scales, overriding her reason.
—He must be killed.
This apostle in her hand must be killed, its very source of existence erased.
*Griiind…!*
Gritting her teeth, Kalli hardened her resolve.
—The complete annihilation of the apostle.
Her will set, Kalli began to unleash her power of release, pushing it to its absolute limit.
■■■■■■■■■■■■■■!!!!
The crimson energy churning around her swallowed the space like a great sea, and soon the darkness-enveloped space itself began to tremble and collapse.
*Crack!*
*Thwack!*
Simultaneously, Vermian’s body began to break down even faster, the speed of its regeneration now significantly slower than before.
***
*Crack…!*
*Thwack…!!*
The bones in his body dislocated, and his flesh twisted and tore apart as if being crushed.
No matter how the darkness enveloping his body tried to self-repair, it couldn't match the destructive power Kalli had unleashed in earnest.
And that speed was only accelerating.
At that moment, Vermian’s consciousness, which had completely vanished, returned.
And what he experienced was something that could not be described with any words.
“.......”
He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
His throat had been torn apart.
He recognized he was caught and tried to struggle free, but his arms wouldn't move.
Neither his arms nor his legs were intact. Rather, the moment he became aware, a terrible void appeared in his consciousness.
—Hell.
The pain was hellish, splitting seconds as it tore through his body and clawed at his mind.
The agony was so intense he couldn't even maintain his sanity.
He groaned endlessly, his instincts begging for death, but the power he possessed would not allow it.
Vermian wanted to give up on everything, but he couldn't even die.
[Vermian]
And through it all.
Leteia’s faint thoughts echoed intermittently in his mind.
Just as Vermian’s consciousness, unable to even respond, faintly registered it.
[Surrender your body to me. Then you will be able to escape this power.]
Leteia’s tranquil thoughts held no rise or fall.
*Crack!*
Under the external pressure, his ribs shattered, bursting inward and wrecking his body.
Just as the horrific pain caused his sense of it to fade into oblivion.
Vermian unconsciously moved his head.
“...!”
The moment Kalli, who was leading Vermian step by step toward complete annihilation, suddenly widened her eyes.
[Are you still refusing my will?]
Leteia’s mocking thoughts echoed in Vermian's mind.
—His body was in this state.
—Nothing but an inescapable death remained.
Furthermore, Vermian was also realizing that his endlessly self-repairing body and the darkness were not infinite.
A destructive power pushed to its very limit.
He was keenly aware of just how much immense power Kalli was pouring into destroying him with all her might.
But he absolutely could not accept what Leteia had said about the ‘control of his body.’
*Pow!*
Just as his two legs twisted under the vibration and exploded.
—Why?
Amidst the pain, a strange thought rose in Vermian's mind.
Why couldn't he accept it, even though it would free him from this agony? As he considered it, a very simple answer came to him.
The path of the heretic.
He had made a full contract with an apostle, abandoning his humanity.
Choices he would never have made.
But at the center of it all was his younger sister.
The reason for his life.
—Beatrice…
The moment he blankly repeated her name.
■■■■■!
From Vermian’s fading body, darkness once again began to surge like a flood.
It was an extremely sinister and bizarre phenomenon.
Vermian, who was no longer human nor apostle, but something else entirely.
And yet, the absolute will he emitted.
And his trait of deep darkness. That had never disappeared.
Thus, as if in response to that will, the power of his trait began to amplify.
“...What!”
Just as Kalli, completely astonished, unleashed her power to its fullest.
■■■■■■■■!
The space warped greatly, and Vermian's innate domain shattered completely, revealing the outside world.
[I... shall see to it that you live.]
And at that moment, with Leteia's thought, which was close to resignation, Vermian’s consciousness suddenly sank into a deep abyss.