Chapter 237: Endgame (6)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 237: Endgame (6)
-Master, Master. That bitch smells like a female.
“...”
For a moment, Han Jisu seriously considered throwing Leah to the ground as well. But he had to abandon that thought when he saw Lebeus climbing back up from the ground.
“You insolent cur...!”
Lebeus's jet-black sword cut through the air. A strike that seemed to contain the cosmos spread out in a fan shape. That looked quite dangerous. Han Jisu avoided the attack, spatially leaping down to the ground.
As if anticipating this, Lebeus reached a hand toward him.
Ominous black particles gathered, forming the shape of a giant hand.
The black palm slammed down toward Han Jisu. Normally, a hand formed from the Power of Annihilation should have erased everything it touched.
But the only trace of destruction the black palm left was a palm-shaped crater where it had struck the ground.
The Power of Annihilation had failed to take any effect.
“K-kugh. This bastard...!”
Lebeus's face contorted, and his outstretched hand began to tremble violently. Soon, with a pained expression, as if he could no longer bear it, he withdrew his hand. At the same time, the particles that formed the black hand scattered in all directions.
Fwoosh—
The uncontrolled black particles were sucked into a small vortex that formed at the tip of Leah's blade. The vortex vanished only after it had devoured all the black particles.
“How was it? Edible?”
-Uh... so-so? Honestly, it wasn't that tasty. Nothing special, either.
“So it's not these guys after all. Then that only leaves one possibility...”
He had hoped he was wrong, but all the evidence supported his theory. Han Jisu sighed with a mix of resignation and annoyance.
Seeing his relaxed demeanor, Lebeus's gaze turned cold.
“You cur. How dare you look away while I stand before you—”
“I didn't.”
There was no warning. No change in posture to leap, no arrangement of mana for a spatial leap, nothing of the sort. There was absolutely nothing. And yet, Han Jisu was standing right in front of Lebeus.
It was as if the space between them had folded.
As Lebeus flinched in surprise, Han Jisu's kick slammed into his chest.
Crack—
The breastplate, formed from a Transcendent's Power, tore helplessly along the trajectory of the kick.
Lebeus's eyes widened as he stared at the torn armor.
No matter how proud he was, he had to admit it now. The mortal before him was not an opponent to be taken lightly, but an enemy he had to face with all his might.
Coming to his senses, Lebeus unleashed a swift, heavy slash. Han Jisu swung his own sword, and the moment their blades met, the trajectory of Lebeus's attack bent, cutting through empty air.
Craaack—!
The force of the slash cleaving the air carved a deep fissure in the ground along its path.
‘...Damn it!’
They had only exchanged a single blow, but Lebeus realized it with stark clarity: he could not win with a sword. The ease with which his attack had been deflected proved it.
To win, he needed something other than his sword.
So, what else did he have?
His Power?
His highest-level Power, the Power of Annihilation, had been ineffective. His other Powers would likely fare no better.
Magic?
If even his Power was useless, there was no room for something like magic to make a difference.
‘...Is this really the only way?’
He had no choice but to resort to another method: contacting his kin and comrades in other dimensions. It was cheap and dirty, but he had no other option.
His powers were useless against this strange mortal, and Iries, who should have been helping, had hidden herself away on some bizarre whim.
And above all, Lebeus himself was exhausted.
Even if he would be teased endlessly for this later, right now, he just wanted to finish this quickly and rest.
Lebeus used interdimensional telepathy to call his kin and comrades. However, the telepathic signal didn't get far before it was abruptly blocked by something.
‘?!’
He tried again, but the result was the same. Seeing the bewildered Lebeus, Han Jisu tilted his head.
“What's wrong? Something not working?”
“...Is this your doing?”
Instead of answering, Han Jisu swung his sword horizontally. Lebeus raised his own to block, but he couldn't withstand the force of the blow and was helplessly pushed back.
“Did you really think I'd do all this without an insurance policy?”
Han Jisu brought his sword down, and Lebeus parried with all his might. CRASH! The deflected force of the strike tore through the innocent ground.
“What have you done?!”
Realizing that Han Jisu had played some strange trick on his dimension, Lebeus roared in fury.
Han Jisu replied in a dumbfounded tone.
“You saw the Demon King's dimensional travel magic fail. You couldn't have guessed after seeing that?”
The Demon King's dimensional travel magic was a patchwork of various spells, but the final result was perfect. The equation was messy, but the answer was correct. Therefore, his spell should have succeeded.
But he failed.
Because of a single variable that even he didn't know about.
“I blocked it with a barrier.”
Just then, the sword in Han Jisu's hand wavered. He sighed and let go, and the sword returned to its human form. She pointed at herself with both thumbs and declared triumphantly.
“I did! Over the course of several years! Painstakingly, stitch by stitch!”
Seeing her proud expression, Lebeus's jaw dropped stupidly.
“...So you're telling me you've enveloped this entire dimension in a barrier? So that no one can escape?”
Han Jisu nodded. Lebeus was so shocked that he staggered, if only for a moment.
“I-Impossible. This is my space, and Iries's. If you were pulling some trick, there's no way we wouldn't have noticed!”
“But we did, didn't we?”
Leah giggled, covering her mouth.
“You wretched bitch?!”
Enraged by the blatant mockery, Lebeus tried to muster his power, but Leah kicked him, cutting him off. The smile never left her face, but unlike before, it was chilling.
“Shall we end this little game?”
“Kugh... What...? A game...?”
“Yes. A game.”
Leah kicked Lebeus again and, as he fell, stomped on his throat.
“You didn't actually think this was a fight between equals, did you? I hope not. That would be quite insulting to me and my master.”
Leah recalled the past.
Those joyous days of fierce battles against the celestial gods. The sight of her own haughty mother kneeling before her master in the blood-soaked celestial palace, begging pathetically.
The ecstasy she felt then!
The despair she felt before the overwhelming numbers and power of the Transcendent beings from other dimensions who stormed in after hearing the news!
Compared to a past like that, an event like this gave her no thrill at all.
She only felt it was a waste to have spent years painstakingly weaving a barrier just to catch a loser like this.
‘Though I do understand.’
Neither Leah nor Han Jisu ever wanted to experience a guerrilla war against Transcendent beings again.
“What nonsense is this?!”
Lebeus's voice shattered Leah's reverie. Pulled from her nostalgia, a surge of irritation washed over her.
She pressed her foot harder on Lebeus's throat and said.
“Are you unable to understand, or just unwilling? Well, either way, it doesn't matter. I don't care.”
A silver sword materialized in Leah's palm. Lebeus's eyes widened as he recognized it as the same type of blade that had stolen the Fairy King's soul.
He didn't know if it would actually be effective against a Transcendent like himself, but he couldn't shake the ominous feeling. He struggled to break free from her.
But it was impossible to escape with brute force. Leah wasn't even being careless; she was pinning him down with overwhelming power. He tried to use his Power as a last resort, but even that was impossible. The force spreading from the sole of her foot on his neck was interfering with its manifestation.
“Just kill me! I, Lebeus, have no intention of pathetically clinging to life!!”
“I'd rather not~.”
Stab!
“Gyaaaargh!!!”
“Hm? Maybe because I didn't stab your true body, you didn't go in one hit. Sorry for the pain. But could you please go quietly?”
Lebeus's eyes shot open.
“You will regret not killing me. You may be able to hide it for now, but eventually, news of my disappearance will reach my kin. They will start searching for traces, and they will discover that my soul is being held captive by you! Do you think your pathetic power and barrier will be able to protect you then?!!”
“There have been many like you. And they all ended up just like you.”
“You bitch!!!”
As he roared, Lebeus felt his soul beginning to fade. At the same time, a possibility flashed through his mind.
“They all ended up like me? Does that mean they're all being held captive?”
“Hm? Uh, yes, that's right.”
“Why go through such a troublesome process? Couldn't you just kill the annoying ones?”
“That's because each and every one of them is a precious source of energy—”
“And not because you can't kill them?”
For a brief moment, Leah's expression froze. Seeing this, Lebeus burst into laughter.
“So you're not sparing me, you can't kill me?”
“...”
“Your silence tells me I'm right. Yes, that makes sense. There's no way a mortal could ever destroy a Transcendent.”
When a mortal dies, their soul enters the cycle of reincarnation to be reborn. But it is different for Transcendent beings. The level of their souls is too high to enter the cycle.
The only way to erase their existence is to annihilate their souls.
This was precisely why they had struggled so much against Transcendent beings before Han Jisu became Leah's master.
They had been fighting an absurd battle where they could die against enemies who could not.
“You're right, we can't kill you. But is that any comfort? It's going to be far more painful than death,” Leah said in a low voice. But the smile didn't fade from Lebeus's face.
“Kukuk... Didn't I say it before? My kin will come looking for me. They will find me without fail. And they will tear you to pieces. Look forward to it. It's embarrassing to say it myself, but my kin are incomparably stronger than I am. I look forward to the day you die a miserable death.”
“Oh... is that so? Then I'll look forward to it, too. We'll put your family right next to you.”
Leah formed a knife-hand. She didn't want to listen to Lebeus's bullshit anymore, so she intended to devour his soul quickly, even if it meant dirtying her own hands.
“Wait.”
Han Jisu stopped her. Leah looked at him, bewildered.
“Master? Surely you haven't fallen for that nonsense?”
“He's not wrong, though. Just as he said, even if we get through this now, we might eventually get caught.”
“Kuk... So you are afraid.”
“You, shut up!”
Forgetting to control her strength, Leah kicked Lebeus hard. Thanks to that, Lebeus coughed up blood and couldn't speak again. Paying him no mind, Leah began to argue with Han Jisu.
“No, if you were going to worry about that, you shouldn't have started this in the first place! We've done far worse things than this, so what's with the sudden change of heart?”
“Back then, I was alone. Now, I'm not.”
“Huh? What do you mean...?”
“Leah. Absorb all the souls we've imprisoned.”
Leah's eyes widened.
“...Are you serious? Didn't you say you wanted to live as a human and die as a human?”
“I did.”
“Say it clearly. Once you absorb them, you can't go back. Are you doing it or not?”
“Do it.”
Han Jisu answered without a hint of hesitation. At that, Leah smiled.
“Well, I'll be. Wonders never cease.”
To be honest, when Han Jisu had said he wanted to live and die as a human, Leah had been quite displeased.
A human's lifespan is, at most, a hundred years. Of course, he wasn't an ordinary human, but even so, after about three hundred years, his body would begin to age. Then he would slowly grow old and die like a normal human.
He might have even decided to die as a Korean and committed suicide after living out an average lifespan.
Leah hated that.
She couldn't stand the thought of him, her master, leaving her behind. She hated that it would be his choice, not something beyond his control.
That was why Leah was overjoyed by the decision Han Jisu had just made.
“I thought this was just going to be a troublesome little incident...”
She had even worried that getting involved with women would make his already sentimental personality even worse.
It was a needless worry.
On the contrary, the women she had considered a nuisance had stimulated Han Jisu's sense of responsibility, pushing him to make this bold decision.
What a stroke of luck!
Leah smiled broadly and activated her core. The souls trapped within churned together, letting out agonized screams. But she ignored the shrieks from within and focused solely on fusing the souls.
Mixing the precious ones, discarding the impurities.
Leah then passed the noble soul, thus completed, to Han Jisu.
The moment he received the soul, Han Jisu felt an immense pressure, as if his body would explode from the inside. This was because the level of the fused soul was too high. Had anyone else received it, their body would have not only exploded but also obliterated the surrounding area. Han Jisu, however, stabilized the turbulent soul simply by tensing the muscles of his core.
Finally, he fully absorbed the soul he had received.
The change was immediate.
His cracked skin flaked away, replaced by new skin underneath. His hair and body hair were bleached and burned away, their places filled by new growth.
His muscles and bones tore and broke repeatedly as his physical form struggled to match the level of his soul. Soon, not a single trace of a mortal could be found anywhere on his body.
“Hoo...”
Feeling a sense of fulfillment, Han Jisu opened his eyes.
He saw Lebeus looking up at him, his eyes filled with shock.
“Master. Please check if it worked properly.”
“Right.”
Han Jisu placed his foot on Lebeus's head. He pressed down hard, and the head was crushed. The crushed head did not regenerate. He had succeeded in destroying a Transcendent's body with his own power.
He was no longer human.
As he was about to sigh at his troubled heart, he heard a voice of admiration from the side. “Woooow...”
He turned to see Iries, peeking her head out of a gaping hole like a mole, her eyes sparkling as she gazed at him.