Chapter 138
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: True Form
"Are you moving forward in ignorance? Someone with your level of skill?"
Lucapus's words carried a subtle barb.
A tone that scratched at his opponent in a peculiar way.
There was no way the Demon King wouldn't pick up on that intent, yet he calmly countered.
"You asked who I was, but it seems you know me well enough."
"Strength is something you can gauge just by locking eyes once."
A being who could approach so silently that even Lucapus himself hadn't noticed.
Regardless of their affiliation or exact realm of power, that alone was reason enough to be on high alert.
And that's why he was saying things like this.
"Have you accepted being a puppet on strings?"
"Hm..."
The Demon King briefly lowered his gaze, as if lost in thought.
Lucapus didn't miss the opening and pressed his momentum.
"What's the difference from being used?"
The Demon King soon replied.
"Sometimes, not knowing is more thrilling than moving with prior knowledge. Can't you understand that feeling?"
...What nonsense is this?
A flash of blatant bewilderment crossed Lucapus's face. As if reading it, the Demon King's lips twisted faintly.
"I find this kind of thing really fun. Knowing too much just kills the buzz."
"...Getting used is fun for you?"
"Well, you could interpret it that way."
The Demon King tilted his head and asked Lucapus.
"But isn't this a pretty clumsy attempt at sowing discord? Are the apostles over there just a bunch of idiots?"
"..."
In a confrontation between transcendents like this, if your power fell short, lame words were all you had left.
So he held his tongue for the moment.
And sank into deep contemplation.
He had sought Lucapus out specifically. That meant he'd already pinpointed his location.
So, what was his goal?
...He's here to kill me, after all.
The thought led to a chill running down Lucapus's spine.
His instincts screamed that it was time to prepare. To flee, that is.
Even so, he asked in that same subtle tone one last time.
"...It's a shame you see it as sowing discord. But what brings you all the way here?"
"Hm... Well, it seems..."
"..."
"I've come here to kill you."
The words, devoid of emotion or even conviction, grated on Lucapus's nerves.
It annoyed him, while also sparking sharp tension.
Lucapus asked once more.
"...Do we really have a reason to fight?"
"They didn't send me here to let you go free. I'm good at reading the room, you know."
"..."
Just as he'd expected.
It matched Lucapus's conclusion perfectly.
He intended to kill him.
To a being at the pinnacle of inaction, it didn't matter who it was.
Infuriating, but an unavoidable truth.
However, Lucapus hadn't come here empty-handed either.
He'd already learned that a transcendent in the realm of inaction had killed Asma here.
There was no way he'd come unprepared with that knowledge.
Then, suddenly, the Demon King spoke.
"But I haven't really gotten any reward for this either, hmm..."
"Reward? What reward are you talking about?"
"You don't need to know that... Actually, no. This is a good chance to ask you about the 'System'."
"..."
Lucapus's patience hit rock bottom.
He felt any further talk was pointless.
And then, something writhed behind his back.
The sound of bones creaking as they unfurled echoed out.
Dozens of bone wings embedded deep along his spine began to spread, and something hung from their frames.
Weapons of all kinds. Artifacts that screamed extraordinary at a glance.
Swords. Spears. Arrows. Axes, and more.
All born from someone's life, honor, or blood as collateral.
They dangled from Lucapus's wings like fruits of death ripened on the branches of an evil god.
And like those fruits falling when ripe, the weapons detached from the wings all at once and floated up.
In an instant, they aligned in the air like soldiers in formation.
And every blade pointed at one being.
The Demon King.
A razor-sharp killing intent that made one's flesh crawl emanated toward him.
Even at the center of that threat, the Demon King didn't so much as blink.
He just stared straight at it.
"Don't think they're mere scraps of metal."
Lucapus's voice rode on mana, vibrating low.
Each artifact detached from his wings was something that would astonish even Ivan.
They were relics he'd collected over centuries, after all.
Lucapus wasn't bluffing about escaping a transcendent in inaction for nothing.
The Demon King gave a curt reply.
"Never thought that. Don't worry."
With that, conversation ended.
Lucapus's black mana blanketed the air.
Dozens of artifacts began humming in unison.
First, a single spear swelled wildly in size.
Metal grew like bone, mana burned through its blade like veins.
A spear vast enough to blot out the sky.
Its length, its weight—its very existence summoned calamity, crushing the world with immense aura of death.
The Spear that Pierces Catastrophe.
The spear shot toward the Demon King like lightning toward the heavens.
Even that transcendent Demon King judged it too much to block in human form alone?
As his hand thrust forward, skin split, black scales surged forth. His fingertips morphed into massive claws, as if an ancient dragon's forepaw overlaid a human arm.
And that hand caught the spear of calamity.
Boom!
A massive shock shook the earth.
The muscles in the Demon King's forearm twitched endlessly from blocking the spear's charge.
Yet the assault didn't end there.
The spear and the other weapons each charged at the Demon King, brimming with unique rage and malice.
Killing intent wrapped around his entire body like it would shred silk.
Of course, he never believed these weapons alone could kill the Demon King.
His goal was singular: create an opening for escape. Just that brief gap.
But in that moment.
The air changed.
Suddenly, the entire space seemed to hold its breath to welcome some colossal presence, pressure surging up.
Even Lucapus, pouring mana ceaselessly into the artifacts while plotting his getaway, froze for a moment.
Without warning, massive storm clouds swirled in at impossible speed overhead.
Clouds spreading like black waves. Thunder already rumbled from within.
A power defying natural laws.
...What is that?
The brief thought flashed through his mind.
And the answer filled his vision.
A colossal head. Even at this close range to the clouds, it filled Lucapus's sight completely with its size.
Black scales like darkness itself, deeply carved curves as if millennia had settled upon it.
And vertical-slit red eyes piercing straight through him from the front.
The moment their gazes met, his body stiffened like prey facing a predator.
It was pure instinct, untouched by emotion or intellect.
The dragonkin who ruled the skies.
The Heavenly Dragon Clan.
Among them, of kingly blood. A being enthroned above all.
The Demon King's true form revealed.
As the massive head descended, cleaving the heavens, clouds parted and lightning scattered wildly.
Before that overwhelming majesty, the dozens of artifacts seemed mere dust.
And the long, slit mouth of that head gaped open.
Lucapus instinctively tried to retreat, but realized it was too late.
His vision filled instantly with crimson maw.
Into the darkness ringed by black scales, he was swallowed whole without even a scream.
'He should be arriving soon...'
Waiting in Limbo, I started to think that.
It felt like a homeowner greeting guests, but in truth, I planned to leave Limbo too.
There was no reason to stay.
I had no intention of showing anyone me controlling Limbo in Cedric's form.
On the surface, I was just one of the people gathering before Limbo at '0's call.
I approached the spatial rift near where Limbo was hidden.
I already knew how to exit from here.
By twisting the spatial fabric my way, a hidden entrance only I knew would form.
I warped the rift and slipped out.
I headed to the rendezvous point in Cedric's form: the Newberna Plains.
Rosellin, the Tower of Wisdom, and Burning Glory were already there.
...I was the last to arrive.
The Tower of Wisdom had already sensed my presence and turned toward me.
I'd deliberately sent him to where the other intruder had been spotted first...
He'd already found, dealt with him, and come here.
I hurried over to them.
Burning Glory seemed somewhat recovered from the mental attack Asma had inflicted, standing steadily, though his complexion wasn't great.
And Rosellin.
She turned her head. Golden hair fluttered in the wind as her eyes met mine directly.
The moment I faced her as Cedric.
Her eyes widened sharply.