Chapter 310: Demon (3)

The Power of the Voice of Authority could only belong to one person.

While catching his breath, Yuri looked around, but there was no trace of Cory.

The moment the power hit him, he had been able to sense both Cory and his own condition.

It seemed he would have to stick to his original plan of luring Cedric outside.

“Huu…”

Yuri calmed his pounding heart and focused on Cedric, who was watching him as if amused.

“Looks like you’re surprised.”

“Not really.”

“That Cory you valued so much has betrayed you. How does it feel? Didn’t expect it?”

“Idiot.”

“What?”

Cedric paused for a moment.

Although Yuri had confronted him many times, this was the first time he had insulted him so directly.

Yuri smirked with disdain.

“Cedric, the fact that you’re spouting nonsense shows how annoyed you are. You must be furious I’ve made it here, right? You didn’t expect someone unexpected to show up and got all happy pretending to be interested, but since you keep losing, it’s eating at you, isn’t it?”

“Nonsense.”

“And all that bragging about dragging Cory along… pathetic. Idiot.”

“Yuri, Yuri…”

Cedric twisted his mouth into a smile.

“Your words and actions have become pitiful. Have you sunk so low?”

“The most pitiful one has always been you. And all thanks to your precious black magic. Or do you actually think your ideology and behavior are noble?”

“Shut your mouth. I’m going to change the world.”

“That’s what’s pitiful.”

“Yes. In the end, you’re nothing but a monkey, just like—”

“Bah.”

Yuri spat on the ground and sneered. Cedric’s face tightened.

“I was an idiot to believe and follow someone like you, calling you brother.”

Cedric closed his eyes briefly, took a deep breath, and tried to regain his composure, but the flush on his face revealed how enraged he was.

Yuri marveled at himself.

He hadn’t thought he could provoke him this much. Emboldened, he continued.

“Cory? Is that guy so scared of me he doesn’t even dare come out? Cedric, does he distrust you that much?”

“Cory!”

Cedric shouted.

“Come out right now! Show your new form to this one who’s gotten cocky because I let him live…”

Following his order, Cory appeared with faltering steps. In the space behind Cedric, the hem of his robe came into view.

Yuri flipped him the middle finger.

“Yeah. I don’t see anything.”

And without hesitation, he turned and leapt out the window in front of him.

He hadn’t realized how high up he was until he saw, far below, the vast expanse of the Anti-Imperial Alliance—and his heart skipped a beat.

If he fell like this, he would die.

Yuri invoked the Cut of the soul and the heart and drew in chaos.

Mana spread like silk, forming a barrier, and he gripped the air. With the resistance, he began to descend slowly.

“Yuri!”

Cedric’s ragged voice rang from behind.

“Are you going to run?”

Yuri looked back and was surprised.

From the tower that stretched to the sky, from every window, tentacles were pouring out like a tide.

At the top of that mass of tentacles, Cedric floated in the air, looking down at him with a face so twisted it no longer resembled the Cedric he knew.

Yuri smiled.

“Well, you really are angry.”

From the way he reacted, it seemed that, in some way, he was important to Cedric.

Either way, the plan had worked.

Watching the tower collapse, Yuri smirked.

“Now the real fight begins.”

From this height, the view stretched to the horizon. As he fell, he raised his gaze to the distance.

A strange feeling washed over him.

He had gone back to the past and fought for so long just for this moment—

To kill Cedric, the cause of everything.

Yet the presence he felt at his back was overwhelming—tall enough to touch the sky, vast enough to cover all the land in sight.

Could he win?

Yuri took a breath.

Never before had victory felt so unlikely.

He was a human, and his enemy was a giant larger than a mountain. But he wasn’t afraid.

Victory or defeat no longer mattered.

On the contrary, the thought of facing Cedric filled him with a satisfaction that bordered on the meaning of his existence.

As if, at last, he was in the place he belonged.

The Guilty in his hand felt more comfortable than ever. With each heartbeat, the Cut of the soul and the heart flowed through his body like a river.

Feeling the power of chaos—where all possibilities mixed without order—Yuri smiled.

“Everyone, are you ready?”

The Anti-Imperial Alliance, who had been slaughtering cocoons, froze when they saw him fall like a divine envoy and speak those words.

“Let’s fight that.”

Yuri pointed behind him.

The tower had collapsed, and a demon was emerging.

“Draw your swords!”

He landed on the ground, turned, and looked up.

The tower was gone.

In its place, a huge creature made of tentacles looked down at them from above, as if observing ants.

Could they fight something like that?

The moment that doubt crossed the soldiers’ minds, Yuri’s voice, charged with mana, thundered powerfully.

“Attack!”

And he began to run.

The Anti-Imperial Alliance instinctively followed him toward the enemy.

The monster had a humanoid shape, but its body was covered in tentacles sprouting from everywhere, bristling like spines.

It was as tall as a mountain and looked like it could step over the walls with a single stride.

Yuri clenched his teeth and charged ahead, suppressing the monster’s presence.

Even the madness of the black magic it radiated, he cut down with his sword.

“Don’t be afraid!”

Yuri shouted again.

“If we don’t kill it, we die!”

Then he pushed off the ground and leapt.

With a powerful jump, his figure rose to the monster’s knee height.

In an instant, countless tentacles lashed toward him.

Yuri blocked them all with his sword and, stepping onto the monster’s knee, jumped again.

This time, to the waist level.

There was no proper foothold, only a sea of tentacles seeking him out.

Yuri grabbed one with his hand.

Screeeech!

It was as if each tentacle had a life of its own. Wails and agonizing screams seeped into his mind.

The black magic of the demonic grimoire, accumulated for so long, poured onto Yuri all the death and despair it had gathered. Among it were also concepts he couldn’t comprehend.

Pure darkness, a deadly void, invaded his soul.

The god from another world—

It, too, desired Yuri.

The despair accumulated by the demonic grimoire in this land and an incomprehensible presence from the outer cosmos had merged.

The result was this monster.

“Cedric, what the hell have you done?”

Muttering, Yuri climbed up the tentacle he held. His muscles tensed to the limit, but he didn’t let go even as it shook violently.

Nearby tentacles attacked him; he swung Guilty, but couldn’t block them all. His skin split open and blood began to flow.

At that moment, the pain became hazy—almost pleasurable. The rage, rising from deep within, transformed everything.

If he could kill Cedric and that monster, he didn’t care how much he bled. Pain was joy.

He switched from tentacle to tentacle, climbing without stopping.

Reaching the monster’s chest, his forehead split open and blood covered his vision in red.
He couldn’t see.

He roughly wiped his eyes and drove Guilty into the monster’s body.

“That’s enough, damn it…”

Using the sword to keep from falling, he took a breath. Looking down, he saw the Anti-Imperial Union swarming around the monster like ants.

Some were shooting arrows, others cutting tentacles.

There were those trying to climb like him, but they didn’t get far before falling.

No one gave up. Yuri smiled wryly.

From this height, it all looked like a comedy.

“Uoooooh!”

Jose, wielding two swords, was climbing by stabbing them into the monster. He was still far below Yuri. The same with Moyongchan and Francesco, who were also following as best they could.

Yuri turned his body again and kept climbing.

Finally, he reached the shoulder.

Now that he could stand, it was easier.

Though the ground moved and tentacles sprouted everywhere to attack him, he never lost his balance.

He headed straight for the head.

The monster was so enormous that even from the shoulder to the head was a great distance.

Cutting tentacles blocking his path, Yuri advanced.

“Cedric!”

Then the monster’s face slowly turned toward him. The moment he saw it, Yuri squeezed his eyes shut.

From below, all he could distinguish had been absolute darkness on the face, as if nothing were there.

But up close, it was different.

Something far too horrible was there. The human mind could not endure it, and so it could only perceive it as a black void.

But being so close, the madness of that sight crushed his mind.

[Yuri.]

Cedric’s voice resounded.

[You can’t even look at me properly, can you?]

Yuri clenched his teeth and raised his sword.

Tentacles pierced him, and he desperately raised a mana barrier to protect himself. With his senses distorted, he could do nothing else.

[This is what a human is.]

“Shut up.”

[I didn’t bring this from another world. This is the shape of the vilest things in humanity. It comes from humans, but they can’t see it. And you still want to protect them?]

Yuri wanted to tear out his own eyes.

“Get that face out of my sight…!”

[And if I don’t?]

The monster stared straight at him. Yuri’s mind was dyed red.

His sight showed him things he didn’t want to see, his ears heard what he didn’t want to hear, his nose caught repulsive smells, his skin felt unwanted textures, and his tongue tasted what he didn’t want to taste.

His five senses were distorted.

He grit his teeth.

“Damn it…”

Like this, he couldn’t do anything.

With all his senses out of control, all he wanted was to collapse. He didn’t know what to hold onto.

Cedric’s mocking laughter echoed inside his skull.

[You can’t even endure this, and you say you want to fight me? Yuri, in the end you’re just a monkey. And monkeys can’t understand me.]

Yuri let himself drop.

Without realizing it, he let go of Guilty.

[I’ll do you a favor—become part of me. You’ve disappointed me, but you’re still a dear brother to me.]

Yuri wanted to take up the sword again.

But none of his senses could perceive his surroundings.

As long as that thing’s face looked at him, he was doomed to lose his senses and scream for eternity in unending pain.

But then—

In an instant, Yuri sensed Guilty’s presence at his feet. He didn’t know how, but something beyond the five senses connected him to it.

That feeling—he had only felt it once before.

Yes, that day—

Without anyone telling him, without anyone pushing him, he had known that person would be with him.

‘Are you Yuri Briol?’

The day he locked eyes with Yekaterina.

That was the sixth sense.

Yuri raised his hand. And before he knew it, Guilty was in it.

He opened his eyes.

He had reached the Spirit Realm—no, even deeper—
A sixth sense that connected him to the world.

Yuri straightened his back.

And faced the monster’s visage head-on.