Chapter 289: Decisive Battle (5)

The altar was steeped in the scent of balm.

“……”

Yu Sein, who was praying with her hands clasped, slowly opened her eyes.

“It seems it has begun, Saint.”

Spoke the Pope, who stood beside her, attending to Yu Sein. Under the circumstances, no other member of the church was allowed to approach the place where the Saint prayed.

“Yes.”

Yu Sein nodded slightly. Her face clearly reflected the complexity of her emotions.

“From now on, the true battle begins.”

The Pope let out a long sigh. His expression was as somber as Yu Sein’s.

“…For this timeline, it’s a blessing, but for the human Kang Geom-Ma, it might be a tragedy. If he’s not careful, he could lose his humanity completely.”

Hearing those words, Yu Sein silently looked at the altar. Sunlight filtering through stainless steel refracted into multiple colors, tinting her white robe and silver hair with radiant hues.

“Hmm.”

The Pope quietly stepped forward. Like the Saint, he knelt on both knees and closed his eyes in prayer.

Yu Sein looked at him, somewhat puzzled. According to the doctrine of the Outer Church, the Pope is forbidden from praying.

That is, he had personally violated religious rules.

This stemmed from a peculiar theory if the one closest to the gods prayed, the gods might show favoritism.

And in a world where the existence of gods is evident, such an absurd logic held weight.

“This prayer is not for the gods of the Outer Church.”

The Pope spoke without opening his eyes.

“Praying for Geom-Ma is, ultimately, like praying to the gods. Isn’t that what you’re implying…?”

“Haha, though it may not seem like it, I’ve been in communion for over fifty years. I may not possess your knowledge, Saint, but I know enough to discern these things.”

“…Then who is your prayer directed to in this situation?”

“That’s a secret.”

The Pope gave a slight smile.

“If I reveal my prayer, it loses its effect.”

***

The wind changed. It wasn’t just a reversal of flow.

The weight, the scent, the ratio of nitrogen to oxygen—everything was different.

The air had become denser.

Breathing was difficult, as if descending to the ocean floor. Pressure pressed from every direction, constricting the entire body.

If those present had been ordinary people, they would have fainted instantly.

“……!”

The heroes and demons locked in battle sensed the anomaly.

Both sides stopped fighting simultaneously and turned their heads in the same direction.

There stood Kang Geom-Ma, the Heavenly Sword, and Kuarne, the Second Body Commander, facing each other.

Though more than a confrontation, it looked like something else entirely.

Kang Geom-Ma was gazing at the sky.

Kuarne watched him in silence.

A pastoral scene entirely out of place on the battlefield.

His gaze—it was so melancholic it was hard to believe it belonged to the leader of the demon forces.

Like someone who had reunited with their first love, his eyes were full of longing.

And not just the heroes—even the soldiers of the Demon King’s army felt a chill down their spines.

The fact that Kuarne wore such a twisted expression meant something truly abnormal was about to happen.

And those shared premonitions were rarely wrong.

“Ah… ah… at last…”

Kuarne let out a sigh between sobs.

His crystal-clear eyes were moist.

“Since the mythical era, I’ve waited for this day…”

A thick tear pooled at his chin, trailing down from the trembling corner of his lips.

“Oh, you who defy the heavens…”

Kuarne bowed his head and raised both arms.

As if the white robe he wore had been tailored for this very moment.

His movements were those of a complete fanatic.

“……”

Kang Geom-Ma showed no change.

A sharp-featured youth with black hair and eyes.

But those who knew him felt an unexplainable chill.

“Y-y-you…”

The Sword Master’s reaction was especially intense. He had seen before the entity that lay beyond Kang Geom-Ma.

‘The one that defeated Fifth Body Commander Agor on Avalon Island.’

A deep, incomprehensible, almost imperceptible being.

A transcendent existence that could be called a god—or something even beyond.

‘But this time is different.’

Last time, that entity had controlled Kang Geom-Ma. In fact, it was that entity, not Geom-Ma, who had slain Agor.

The Sword Master looked again at Kang Geom-Ma, his eyes trembling.

There was no external change.

The space didn’t distort, nor did his silhouette waver.

This time, Kang Geom-Ma had complete control. And that made it even more terrifying.

‘It’s certain.’

A human who has reached the absolute pinnacle of the sword has awakened. He had shed his former self and evolved to a higher state.

Though the lightning storm had ceased, it felt as if a bolt had pierced his mind.

A massive revelation arose within him.

At that moment, he understood how narrow and limited his world had been.

What he had considered the “totality” of existence might have been just one branch among many.

Even this war, on a cosmic scale, was no more than floating dust.

And that cosmic entity—someone who came from beyond the world—had descended into reality.

“Even so, it seems he hasn’t fully returned… He still retains his humanity.”

Kuarne muttered softly, frowning slightly, then softening his expression.

“Let me help with that, as one who admires you passionately.”

Clap!

With a clap, a massive dodecahedron-shaped barrier expanded around them.

It was a field of isolation, preventing any outside interference.

Inside the field remained only Kang Geom-Ma, Kuarne, and Leon. Everyone else was blown away by the shockwave.

“Damn it!”

The Seven Stars desperately tried to break through the barrier but failed. Even if they swung their weapons, they were easily repelled.

It was clear no type of weapon could breach the field. The situation was so disorienting that even though they were technically outside, it wasn’t clear who was truly trapped.

The Seven Stars and other heroes could only gulp dryly. They had been forced to watch helplessly the deathmatch between Kang Geom-Ma and the Second Body Commander.

Then Kuarne moved.

He stomped the ground. Though it was a simple push downward, it felt as if the earth collapsed.

As he rose into the air, twenty-four pairs of wings spread from his back.

They weren’t white like ivory—they were earth-toned, as if stained with grease.

“Oh, you who defy the heavens. Let me help you awaken completely—to renounce your humanity!”

With a gentle flutter of wings, a blast erupted.

That motion, as delicate as a butterfly’s, generated a windstorm capable of pulverizing bones with a mere graze.

「Aerokinesis」

Magic that allows one to manipulate air at will. But its power isn’t limited to gusts of wind.

It chemically alters the air’s composition—nitrogen, oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide—to instantly asphyxiate the enemy.

And he didn’t stop there.

「Europé」

Kuarne spread his arms wide, then brought them together in front of his chest, as if gathering the air into a sphere.

The air compressed until it was the size of a bullet, accumulating at the tip of his outstretched finger.

“The smaller the aperture, the greater the destructive power.”

He combined the air bullet with a whirlwind. Like subatomic particles orbiting a nucleus, the gust swirled violently around the projectile.

He fired it.

───────────!

The air bullet flew in a straight line without making any noise.

In the ears of the spectators, only absolute silence resonated. Kuarne’s manipulation technique distorted even sound waves.

Kang Geom-Ma raised Murasame. The blade pointed directly at the projectile.

He made no other movement.

If things continued, the bullet would envelop him in its whirlwind and completely disintegrate him.

Then, Kang Geom-Ma moved. Not his body or his hand. It was his lips.

“ ”

A single word.

As soon as he uttered it, an oblique crack formed in the air bullet. One, two, ten… a hundred, a thousand, millions.

The cracks multiplied infinitely. It all happened in an instant that felt as long as an hour.

□□□□□□□□□

The air bullet fragmented into particles smaller than atoms. A single word from Kang Geom-Ma had produced the result, “cut.”

“Hahahaha!”

Everyone was speechless at this extraordinary phenomenon—except Kuarne, who burst into euphoric laughter.

“Is that all you can do without being fully awakened?!”

Even as he spoke, he fired more and more projectiles. Air bullets wrapped in toxic wind that exploded indiscriminately, affecting both allies and enemies. Pus oozed from the skin, and blood filled the field like a mist.

Step.

Kang Geom-Ma took a step. A step so light it didn’t seem directed at the enemy.

Kuarne moved as well.

He raised his index finger and pointed to the sky. Where the sun had been, a black hole the size of a volleyball appeared.

The sky was sucked into that dark point.

「Black Hole」

Small, but powerful enough to devastate everything in an area.

“Aaaaaargh! Kuarne, you bastard!”

As proof of its power, several demons and heroes were pulled upward and devoured by the black hole.

Kang Geom-Ma floated a handbreadth above the ground.

He repeated the same word.

“ ”

And the black hole was destroyed. It fragmented into particles that dispersed like dark dust.

Kuarne, laughing, continued generating more black holes. Of various sizes, but all equally deadly.

“Hold on!”

The heroes, organized in formation, struggled to survive. The demons, on the other hand, fell into chaos.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

They tangled and were absorbed one after another. They died screaming, with entrails hanging and vertebrae detaching as if they were lost objects.

And that chain of deaths was ironically halted by Kang Geom-Ma’s brief murmurs.

The speed at which he spoke was faster than the speed at which the black holes were generated.

The heroes rose and fell in the air, alternately looking at the sky and at Kang Geom-Ma.

They didn’t know how to react to such a scene.

Amazement? Terror? Ecstasy? Fear? They didn’t know. They could only watch, stunned.

“Not even this brings you a bit of excitement…?”

Kuarne covered his eyes, laughing like a madman.

The demons around him were paralyzed.

They had joined him for a common cause—to conquer the human world.

But what did they see now? A madman creating black holes that devoured even his own and laughing like a lunatic.

“Stop right now!”

The one who shouted was the leader of the vampires. A figure of great influence and power among the demons.

“We joined because we shared a goal. But this? Is this war just a game to you?!”

Kuarne glanced at him.

Just when the moment was reaching its climax. There always has to be someone who interferes.

“Answer! Why do you kill your own comrades without any remorse?”

He didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at him. He ignored him as if he were less than an insect.

The vampire leader’s face turned red with fury.

But Kuarne didn’t care. He looked forward again with a smile.

With each word spoken, Kang Geom-Ma lost more expression in his face. He was slowly shedding his humanity.

“Ahh…”

Just seeing those empty eyes made Kuarne’s body tremble with pleasure. A wave of heat rose from below. His groin swelled.

‘I will see his true face.’

He had endured an eternity just for that. And finally, it had arrived.

‘I can’t stop here.’

Not until he saw the beginning and the end of that being.

‘That observer role is mine.’

Obsession became conviction, and conviction drove his hands, his feet, and his wings.

With eyes agitated by madness, Kuarne turned his head. Leon had finished recovering.

“It seems you’re ready, nephew.”

Leon looked at him coldly but finally nodded.

Kuarne smiled.

Everything was prepared. The blood spilled and the sacrifices offered were sufficient.

“Let’s call them.”

“Let’s call ‘them’.”

Kuarne increased the power of his mana. Although it seemed there were no more limits to break, he had accumulated power over countless eras.

‘Just for this day.’

He fully spread his wings. Thirty-six pairs of wings kept him suspended in the air.

In that state, he adopted the lotus position and closed his eyes. His hands moved slowly, forming a mudra.

He placed the edge of his left hand over the core, with the palm facing the sky,

and the right hand on the knee, pointing toward the earth.

「Heaven and Earth」

In that posture, he recited with all his spiritual strength a spell.

A chant that opened a channel piercing the dimensional boundary.

「Only I am supreme」

The sky split in two and opened completely.

Beyond it appeared an ocean of blackness.

Those who looked up in disbelief tried to imagine what lay on the other side, guided by the countless points of light embedded in the darkness.

The universe.

In the next instant, the stars that blanketed the cosmos fell like hail. All converged on a single point of impact.

The vessel known as Leon von Reinhardt.

At once, sacred warrior, hero, and the chalice capable of containing more than anything else.

Those entities, impossible to distinguish between demons or gods, all surged toward him like flesh thrown into boiling broth.

Their voracity far surpassed that of any black hole.

If greed could take physical form, it would look exactly like this.

A shadow covered the entire sky. Silence fell over the world, dissolving into both sky and earth alike.

The immortals descended into the world of mortals.

In the form that humans call possession.