Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Duel with the Heavenly Demon
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The Heavenly Demon rose from his seat.
The moment he laid eyes on him,
Shin-hyeok struggled to steady his body and mind, which instinctively shrank back.
'Ordinary. That's precisely why he's so insanely dangerous.'
The Heavenly Demon's build was utterly average.
A height just shy of 180 cm.
A solid frame, even in old age, but nothing more.
Jet-black hair scattered wildly, evoking the mane of a lion, unbound by any standard style.
Ordinary.
He could pass for a well-groomed elderly man, one you'd see plenty of if you searched the world. But knowing the bottomless, abyss-like strength contained within, Shin-hyeok gripped his demonic spear with utmost caution.
In stark contrast, the Heavenly Demon was utterly relaxed and composed.
Snap—
With index and middle fingers pressed tightly together, he formed a spear grip—more precisely, mimed one—and let his arm hang loose as he assumed a spear stance.
In this bizarre situation where everything seemed full of openings yet harbored none, the Heavenly Demon spoke.
"How far have you mastered the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon?"
"The first chapter."
"Up to the first half, then. What of the mid and latter halves?"
"I haven't even learned them, let alone heard of them."
"Not bad."
The Divine Arts had leaked out, but the crucial mid and latter halves remained uncompromised—a fact that seemed to satisfy the Heavenly Demon.
But that didn't mean the proof and validation were complete.
"I'll limit myself to the first half of the Divine Arts as well. I'll restrain my physical abilities to match. Then let us begin. The proof. The validation."
"……!"
This was only the start.
The words had barely left his mouth when the Heavenly Demon moved.
Thunder Demon
[Instant repositioning behind target]
Kaboom!
Enveloped in pitch-black lightning, the Heavenly Demon's form blinked behind Shin-hyeok in an instant.
Despite equal physical prowess and demonic energy reserves, his movement was so swift and fluid that Shin-hyeok nearly lost track of it for a split second.
Shin-hyeok, in turn, moved in perfect sync, like an actor matching his co-star in a grand play.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
The demonic spear clashed against the Heavenly Demon's two fingers, sparking wildly.
It was madness.
The demonic spear was a Unique+ grade weapon.
One at the pinnacle, beyond mere top-tier.
In other words, quasi-legendary in all but name.
Yet those two fingers collided with it unscathed—not even a speck of damage.
No wounds appeared and healed. It was as if injury was simply impossible against such indomitable durability.
'His body itself is the weapon.'
A physique befitting the name of a constellation.
Just two adhered fingers equaled a Unique+ weapon.
No—
Creeeeak!
'It's starting to give.'
The demonic spear was being pushed back.
The rebound vibrating up his arm told him as much.
If the fight dragged on like this, the spear was bound to break.
A Unique+ weapon's value was immense.
No matter that Shin-hyeok was third-generation heir to the Shinwa Group chaebol—he couldn't just procure another easily.
To risk treating such a treasure like a disposable here...
His decision was set.
Crunch!
'Might as well shatter it.'
His grip on the demonic spear tightened fiercely.
Not from the clashes, but as if he'd crush it with his own strength.
With that resolve, Shin-hyeok swung the spear in wild arcs.
Boom! Kaboom! Boom! Kaboom! Boom!
Swinging.
Slamming down.
Thrusting up.
Simple actions, yet more than enough.
He was prepared to discard the spear.
Even offer his own flesh alongside it.
That alone sufficed.
"Amusing!"
The Heavenly Demon grinned broadly in response.
Of course, it didn't signal the trial's end.
Wind Demon!
[Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon: Chapter 1, Section 2]
Rooooar!
Wind Demon.
It poured from the Heavenly Demon's fingers.
'Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon. Chapter 1, Section 2.'
Etched in Shin-hyeok's memory.
Which was why he knew all too well.
The horrific power of that wind devil.
Creeeeak!
Pure instinct.
His body reacted faster than thought.
He desperately raised the demonic spear, blocking the Wind Demon with the shaft.
Even so, the overwhelming shock traveled up the shaft, ravaging his entire body.
Urk!
'...I'm done for.'
Mana circuits.
They twisted throughout.
A single impact had warped the paths where mana flowed.
Grievous internal injuries, no doubt. Yet Shin-hyeok swallowed the black, dead blood surging up and swung the spear once more.
Wind Demon
[Devours all in its path]
"Wind Demon."
"……Ho."
Rooooar!
The same wind devil cloaked Shin-hyeok's demonic spear.
Yet similar, but different.
The Heavenly Demon's pulverized all; Shin-hyeok's devoured all.
Watching his vision dye black with demonic energy, the Heavenly Demon bared his teeth in a smile and struck again.
Flash Demon
[Light-speed piercing assault]
Screeeeech!
Flash Demon.
More precisely, the devil of light-speed charged forth.
Air tore with an eerie shriek as the Heavenly Demon's fingertip aimed for Shin-hyeok.
Wind Demon was a line.
Flash Demon, a point.
Less raw destructive power, but piercing force far surpassing.
A line shatters; a point pierces.
'Flash Demon can't be blocked.'
Not the sort to parry.
Block it?
It would just punch through.
Only one answer here.
Flash Demon
[Counterstrike]
"Flash Demon."
"Heh, hahaha!"
Screeeeech!
Counter with fire.
The Heavenly Demon burst into rough laughter, as if anticipating this, followed by another eerieshriek.
This time differed.
Last was retaliation after defense; now, near-simultaneous strikes.
Their tips aligned perfectly toward each other.
Shin-hyeok made it so.
His spear tip dead on the Heavenly Demon's fingertip—"spear."
The result was simple.
───────────!
The two tips collided.
No sound.
Light.
Light.
Light.
Only light, swallowing even sound, settled.
Crack!
A fracture spiderwebbed the demonic spear's tip.
Absurd.
Unique+ grade, bound by name, but materials within were staggering.
Yet even that crumbled before light and light-speed devil.
The tip cracked; more fighting would snap it in two.
But not just the tip.
'Shaft's damaged too.'
If the tip was the head, the shaft was the body.
That too, ruined.
Head and body both wrecked meant one thing.
"Seems it's over."
"……."
Defeat.
The Heavenly Demon dropped his adhered fingers toward the ground, his voice laced with amusement, sealing it.
Really, it was inevitable.
Handicap physicality.
Limit demonic energy.
Handicap, limit, restrain.
Even shackled endlessly, the Heavenly Demon was the Heavenly Demon.
No chains could bind him.
Defeat was fated, merely a matter of time.
Yet Shin-hyeok clung to the ruined spear for one reason.
"For one on the overlord's path, the end means death."
"A warrior's weapon breaks. That is death."
"Is it? A weapon is a weapon. Not me."
"Not words from a warrior's mouth."
A light exchange.
But heavy with meaning.
Each word weighed on his shoulders, yet Shin-hyeok remained calm.
"Who says I'm a warrior?"
"What?"
"I'm no warrior."
"You learn that brawling lunatic War God's arts, yet claim not to be a warrior……."
"Just a technique. Just a tool. That's why I learned it."
"……War God. There's a bigger lunatic right here. Then the Divine Arts of the Heavenly Demon—"
"Just a technique. Just a tool."
"Arrogant to the extreme. Downgrading the Divine Arts before the Heavenly Demon himself to mere technique and tool? I could cleave you down in one stroke here, and none would object."
War God's Heaven-Destroying Annihilation Style.
Heavenly Demon's Divine Arts.
Just techniques.
Just tools.
This was the Heavenly Demon's domain; War God's eyes couldn't reach. Had he seen, his reaction wouldn't differ much.
Even the open-minded War God would balk, let alone this boomer Heavenly Demon, forever sipping his latte-is-horse nonsense.
Killing intent materialized, visible to the eye.
Unlike the casual pressure from a word earlier.
Simple reason.
'Touch that, and I'm dead.'
Killing aura.
Compressed pure energy.
Further forged into intent.
Intent to slay all it touches—like Sword Heart realm.
But it hadn't reached yet.
And wouldn't.
The Heavenly Demon was explosive and old-school, yet precisely so, he wouldn't end things with mere intent.
Now was the moment.
Overlord
[Demonic energy amplification]
"Overlord."
"……That!"
Rooooar!
Demonic energy dwelled in Shin-hyeok's flesh.
A firefly to the Heavenly Demon's sun, a droplet to his ocean.
Yet in this instant, it was the culmination of his pre-regression martial accumulation, his entire life.
Overlord.
The martial art and technique he dubbed Choi Shin-hyeok Style.
Its pinnacle: the final 10th chapter.
Used against War God too, but slightly different now.
Simple reason.
Not mana, but demonic energy.
Currently coursing his mana circuits: demonic energy.
One circuit.
Two.
Three.
In a blink, it circled his body thrice, ballooning madly in size.
His demonic energy, swollen several-fold, overflowed naturally, unleashing vast presence.
"Overlord - Heavenly Demon Manifestation."
Ruler of heavenly mountains.
Sovereign of the divine cult.
Devil of the heavens.
In this moment,
Here stood two such beings.
"Kuhahat, kuahaha, kuhahahaha!!!"
The Heavenly Demon's mad laughter erupted.
The viscous killing intent filling his surroundings vanished like mist.
Two suns can't coexist under heaven, by nature.
Yet the Heavenly Demon minded not a whit.
"War God's Heaven-Destroying Annihilation Style is a tool. Heavenly Demon's Divine Arts, a tool. Now, what tool shall become yours?"
Just a question.
Curious what next tool this man—who deemed even top constellations' techniques mere tools—would wield.
Shin-hyeok's answer was simple.
"I too am but a tool."
Lost the spear-tool? Become the spear himself.
Seeing this, the Heavenly Demon's lips curled.
"The Body Spear challenges the Divine Spear. Very well. Can a single spear forged from the flesh of one who treats all as tools truly clash with mine?"
"Doesn't the overlord's path forgo such thoughts, old timer?"
"Kuhahaha! Yes! That's it! Precisely! The overlord's path belongs only to those who never look back, sparing not even their own body! Come! Let this Divine Spear receive your spear—forged from all you are, Divine Arts and flesh alike as tools!"
Crunch!
The Heavenly Demon's "spear tip," aimed groundward, snapped upright.
At that instant, unimaginable pressure condensed in his adhered fingers.
The two men.
The two suns.
The two devils.
Charged at each other.
Creeeeeeeeeeeak!
The ensuing explosion shattered the pristine marble tiles of the cult leader's front courtyard into dust, scattering everywhere.