The Descent of the Demon Realm
In the Demon Realm, the surviving returnees from the Immortal Realm faced one another.
Madness beyond mere resolve burned in their eyes.
“Kuh… we can hold it back no longer!”
“Activate it now, while we still can.”
The moment they formed their hand seals in unison, a grotesque phenomenon erupted.
Puh-puh-puh-puh-PUNG—!
Mass suicide.
More than thirty heads exploded at once. It resembled the triggering of a seal, yet the energy that burst forth was entirely different. The power flowing from their shattered skulls transformed into a brilliant golden light and was sucked straight into the altar.
That is…?!
Though the quantity was minute, those were Soul Fragments shared by high-ranking beings of the Immortal Realm. They had planted the shards inside the returnees’ bodies, using them as vessels.
And then—
The golden energy concentrated into the two physical bodies seated before the altar. Their flesh began to blaze with golden fire.
KWA-RURURURUNG—!
Heavenly tribulation lightning, hurled from another dimension, crashed down upon the earth.
“Kuheheheok!”
“Keoeok!”
The lightning mixed with Earth’s energy and pierced straight through the two men. In an instant their cultivation soared past the Qi Condensation stage and into the early Nascent Soul realm.
That was only the beginning.
Without a moment’s hesitation the two newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivators stabbed themselves through the heart and took their own lives. Every condensed strand of power transferred to Seo Mungyeol.
KWAAAAANG—!
A heavenly tribulation far more powerful than anything before slammed into Yasukuni Shrine once more. Crimson-black lightning swept over Seo Mungyeol’s entire body. His skin bleached and turned translucent as he shattered the middle Nascent Soul wall and rocketed straight through the late-stage barrier as well.
At last Seo Mungyeol opened his eyes. His pupils shone with radiant gold.
“Kuhahaha! So this is the power of Loejinja that Master only ever spoke of!”
He stared down at his palms and roared with laughter. Explosive lightning energy boiled through every corner of his body.
“Just receiving a fraction of that power is already this strong… If He Himself descends and bestows His full strength—”
The sentence never finished.
Puhk—!
Kang Hanul’s kick, launched from Leviathan, smashed squarely into Seo Mungyeol’s face.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
Seo Mungyeol’s body was driven deep into the bedrock layers underground amid a chain of thunderous explosions.
Already connected somewhere, huh.
Crackling!
Hanul drew upon his true power and activated a long-range search formula. Dimensional distortion intensified until the very air screamed.
Moments later the shapes caught at the end of the formula burned into his mind. The distance was thousands of kilometers away.
North: Manchuria.
West: Mongolia.
South: Southeast Asia.
East: here, Tokyo.
At the center of the four directions lay the Korean Peninsula.
He could guess that identical rituals were underway at each stronghold. They were performing a forbidden technique that fused Soul Fragments to smash through to the Nascent Soul realm in an instant, then linking that homogeneous power to forcibly tear open a massive dimensional rift.
Already too late.
Temporary measures only worked when the crack was the size of the one in Beijing. At this scale it was impossible.
Yet that did not mean there was no method.
If he completely annihilated even one of the four strongholds, the situation would change. The Immortal Realm bastards loved their number games. Among them, the number four. If one of the four pillars collapsed and the formation shifted into a triangle, its power would plummet.
Hanul’s gaze dropped to the underground crater. Seo Mungyeol clawed his way out through the shattered bedrock. Late Nascent Soul immortal energy surged, knitting his wounds shut.
“You… you monster!”
Seo Mungyeol kicked off the ground and shot forward, fist loaded with lightning.
Kwaching—
The blow slammed into Hanul’s solar plexus. He had intended to take it bare-bodied, yet the impact exceeded expectations and drew a flicker of mild surprise.
Mild surprise was all it was.
Power enough to make a real fight? Not a chance. Nascent Soul level could never reach Kang Hanul.
Hanul simply stretched out a hand, snatched Seo Mungyeol’s fist, and slammed him into the ground.
KWAAAAANG—!
The shockwave reduced the remaining ruins of Yasukuni Shrine to powder. Seo Mungyeol’s eyes flooded with horror. He had poured every ounce of late Nascent Soul power into the strike, yet Hanul had only flinched.
Puhk! Kwajik!
Hanul’s knee drove into Seo Mungyeol’s solar plexus.
Puh-puh-puh-puh-puh-PUHK— KWA-KWA-KWA-KWANG!
A relentless barrage of fists followed. Seo Mungyeol’s golden barrier shattered like glass.
“Keoeoeok… keoeok… kuhahak!”
Even the lightning he desperately spat from his fingertips was useless. Hanul crushed the lightning itself and drove Seo Mungyeol into the ground again. The mangled man coughed up blood.
“Keok! You monster! But even if I lost the fight, we still won the war! Kuhk! You’re planning to erase me and this altar, aren’t you? But there’s something you didn’t know.”
“Master, the same energy is rising again from the Hokkaido direction!”
Lilith’s report. Hanul’s brow furrowed. The long-range search formula caught a new reaction as well. Far to the northeast, another axis was being erected.
They had a spare. I got played.
In the blink of an eye the formula completed. Incomplete though it was, they had rushed it before Hanul could intervene. The three axes locked back into four. Colossal gears of causality meshed, and the earth itself trembled.
KUWAAAAAA—!
The sky tore open.
This was no mere crack. The dimensional wall crumpled like paper and a vast cavity yawned wide. Originally the technique should have struck directly above Seoul. Because Hanul had wrecked the formation, the coordinates twisted.
Far out over the East Sea, a brilliant aurora exploded through the darkness. The ocean flipped and the heavens howled.
KWAAAAAA—!
Through the dimensional gap a continent-scale landmass began to descend. Immortal Realm mountain ranges pierced the clouds as they arrived. A mysterious expanse of grotesque ancient trees layered itself over the sea.
“Kuhahahaha! Welcome, exalted ones of the Immortal Realm!”
“You’re so happy you’re dying. Do you really think you’ve won?”
Drunk on victory, Seo Mungyeol turned his gaze to Kang Hanul.
“Fine. Since it’s come to this, I’ll tell you one thing. Hearing this will break even a strong human’s will. There was a prophecy.”
He pointed at the sky.
“Earth, they said, is a place where a god-class existence is born. Hollowization, or the Synchronization Phenomenon, or whatever they call it. The moment a certain fated trigger is met in such a place, resonance sweeps across every planet belonging to that world.”
Fanatical light filled Seo Mungyeol’s eyes.
“In that instant every being sheds its shell and only true essence remains. The exalted ones of the Immortal Realm read through us that Earth is such a place.”
I wondered what he was babbling about. So it was just that.
“They rejoiced, calling it an incredibly precious resource! They even bestowed their grace upon us!”
“That wasn’t grace. It was a Soul Fragment meant to kill you. You never realized?”
“If we can become one with Him, that is true blessing! Kuhahaha! We will turn Earth into their banquet hall!”
“Banquet hall, huh. You’ve learned only the worst things.”
Hanul’s atmosphere steadily shifted. Kuoohhh— Sensing something ominous in that aura, Seo Mungyeol stiffened.
“There’s something you don’t know. The existence that is the origin of this so-called Hollowization Phenomenon.”
“What… have you been hiding your power all this time?!”
“That god-class existence… seems to be me.”
“W-what?”
There was no self-reproach in Hanul’s voice. His return had been inevitable. Coming back to Earth had been his own earnest wish. If it was unavoidable, the response was equally clear. He possessed that power, and that was precisely why he had returned.
If that is fate, then I simply place this place under my influence the same way I did the Demon Realm.
This was the world where his niece lived. And if it was a dimension brimming with infinite possibility, it was more than worthy of being carefully cultivated into his new domain.
“Arrogant bastard! You, a god? I’ll admit you’re strong, but—!”
“I’ll show you starting now.”
Clank— crackle!
Exposed steel beams twisted together and fixed Seo Mungyeol in place as though he had been nailed to a cross. Hanul kept his gaze locked on the East Sea. Thin wires coiled around Seo Mungyeol’s eyelids, forcing them open so he could not look away.
Shall we begin.
Yet even as he spoke with iron confidence, the situation was far from easy for Hanul either. The Immortal Realm continent was already pouring through the dimensional wall. Therefore he had no choice but to smother it with an even greater power. In other words, he would bring down the Demon Realm before the Immortal Realm could fully take root.
Highest-Tier Descent Technique
Abyssal Canopy
Hanul formed complex hand seals toward the empty air. Pitch-black demonic energy blooming from his fingertips traced geometric trajectories across the night sky.
“Lilith, assist me.”
“Yes!”
Lilith unfolded supporting formulas behind Hanul’s back. Her eyes blazed crimson as she gathered the demonic energy flowing through the atmosphere and funneled it into his seals.
KUWAAAAAAA—!
An even vaster shadow fell over the Immortal Realm continent pressing down upon the East Sea. The sky tangled into violet and black and screamed. As if mocking the Immortal Realm’s pure energy, the land of the Demon Realm surged up from the very bottom of the abyss and descended.
Kuwawawang— KWAAAAANG!
ZZZZZZZZZT!
Demon Realm atmosphere and razor-sharp peaks overlaid the descending Immortal Realm mountain ranges. Fragments of the Immortal Realm were crushed pitifully beneath the overwhelming mass of the Demon Realm.
Crackling! Kugugugugung—!
The golden aurora that had filled the sky was erased. In its place a pillar of violet light rose to an unknowable height, standing like a lighthouse of dimensions.
Crunch— splash— KUWAAANG—
Some shards of the Immortal Realm plummeted into the sea. The East Sea swallowed the invaders’ fragments with a colossal tidal wave.
My niece wants to play politics. I can’t just leave people to go mad or die.
At the same time he had to watch over the Korean Peninsula right next door. The demonic energy pouring out as dimensions twisted was lethal to ordinary people. Left alone they would go insane and die, or turn into monsters. Resonance Phenomenon, or Synchronization. He decided to use it. In short, he would raise their ranks so they could adapt to the Demon Realm. It was the same principle as when he had let Sarah Cameron be invaded by demonic energy to elevate her rank. The difference was that Hanul himself would personally support and protect them.
“Lilith, deploy wide-area sleep magic.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Have those who fully adapt to the Demon Realm’s energy awaken first.”
“Understood. I will layer mental stabilization magic as well.”
Lilith’s demonic energy rode Hanul’s power and blanketed the Korean Peninsula. Right now the peninsula and its surroundings would have fallen into a collective sleep. The streets would grow quiet while people, still asleep, received the Demon Realm’s energy.
“Does a mere variable of a lowly dimension dare interfere with our banquet?”
At that moment, through a crack in the Immortal Realm fragment that was about to be crushed out of existence by the Demon Realm continent, an energy tried to force its way onto Earth.
“Lowly demonic beasts dare meddle in the grand design of the Immortal Realm.”
“This is Demon Realm energy? How laughable that a world born only yesterday would—”
“Kuhk, get in line! This place has already been marked by the Immortal Realm!”
“If we cultivate here we will soon surpass Star-Ban and True Person stages…”
They had already passed Nascent Soul and Heavenly Person, even surpassed the Four-Axis stage. They were beings who had reached the Shattering Star realm, standing at the threshold of the Star-Ban realm that governed entire planets.
Gwaaaaaaa—
The mere sound of their voices sent the ocean surging into a massive whirlpool.
One after another, twenty Shattering Star realm existences revealed their presence. Their gazes, thick with displeasure, locked onto Hanul. In that instant the golden light in their eyes twisted into pure horror.
“……Wait. That face?!”
“Huk?! I-impossible. This cannot be!”
“That slaughterer of the Demon Realm from back then! The monster who butchered tens of thousands of immortals—why is he here?!”