Possessing Nothing

* * * 

Lee Sungmin tried to ignore Volander’s ominous words, but Heoju was deeply pondering on the dark suggestion from the Black Star known as Volander.

The Predator of Massacre.

The King of all Predators that all monsters worshipped. It was certainly clear the obsession Geniella, the Vampire Queen, had with this construct.

Even in Heoju’s opinion, the monster closest to becoming the Predator of Massacre was Lee Sungmin.

Despite being Lee Sungmin’s colleague and friend, Heoju was able to look at things objectively and had already realized a while back that If the suppressed monstrosity in Lee Sungmin’s consciousness broke free, then with the blessing of Oslo, nothing would be able to stop Lee Sungmin from rampaging on all of Eria. If the balance in Lee Sungmin’s body was tilted in just a slight way, things could go terribly wrong.

‘Geniella, Kim Jonghyun, and Volander are responsible for this.’

Geniella was not here, but she had a large amount of responsibility for the things happening here as she was the one to tell Lee Sungmin and Sima Ryunju about Kim Jonghyun’s plans. 

In fact, Geniella may not have seen the future where Lee Sungmin became the Predator of Massacre, but she was the one orchestrating everything present in order for the Predator of Massacre to manifest. Therefore, he had no choice but to acknowledge that Geniella had part in all of this as well.

‘My destiny only brought forward the Apocalypse, maybe if Geniella really does want all of this to happen, then Volander’s words…’

Walking out of the debris, Volander slowly stretched the sword forward. Lee Sungmin already knew that he could not persuade Volander anymore.

Volander would not stop and there was no reason for him to even do so in the first place. Lee Sungmin finally understood and acknowledged Volander’s point of view. However, that did not mean that Volander did not need to take responsibility for his murderous actions.

If he could, Lee Sungmin wished there could be a way to give Volander and the Death Knights what they wanted. Death for them only was a way to escape their terrible fates and to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation.

But such a wish was impossible. The amount of souls present weren’t enough even after tens of thousands of innocent lives being taken in the process. Only more people would perish, and there would be no way to stop Kim Jonghyun if Lee Sungmin took time to even try and fulfill Volander’s wishes.

Therefore, Lee Sungmin’s actions were already decided.

Shhh~

The copious amounts of black death energy permeating around Volander wrapped around his sword. The attack containing the large amounts of Volader’s power cut down the space. Lee Sungmin jumped forward without avoiding the confrontation.

Lightning Strike (분뢰추살) x Blood Mist of the Night (夜的血霧)

The spear divided into hundreds of bloody bolts of lightning and shot across the sky like a series of meteor showers across the sky. Lee Sungmin broke through the black fog and planned to crush Volander’s attack. At the tip of Volander’s sword, the pitch-black evil energy shone with vigor.

Volander swung the sword forward as it ripped through the space. Lee Sungmin did not hold back and coated his own attack with spatial essence as the spear struck forwards.

Crack~ crack!

The overwhelming might of Lee Sungmin’s spear pushed Volander’s sword back, but Volander did not fret as he quickly changed the shape of the sword and turned it back into the double-handed axe.

Lee Sungmin quickly broke his posture and narrowly avoided the overhand swing of the axe.

Volander did not miss this gap as his eyes gleamed in opportunity. Before Lee Sungmin knew it, Volander switched the form of his weapon again into two one-handed swords and slashed at Lee Sungmin’s waist.

Lee Sungmin quickly raised the internal energy around him ferociously to erect a stronger layer of internal energy around his body to serve as a barrier of sorts.Volander’s attack was quickly blocked. Volander’s eyes widened in surprise. Was he shocked to see that Lee Sungmin had gotten out of such an attack unscathed by simply using a crude method like forcefully increasing the internal energy around his body? Volander nodded as if it were to be expected and continued.

“You don’t fight like a human being.”

Volander murmured to himself as Lee Sungmin heard this and frowned.

Volander’s sword quickly closed the distance. Black death energy materialized around his body and coated the sword once more.

At the center of the fog, the darkness enshrouded Volander’s body like a cloak.

Volander was good at all kinds of martial arts that utilized different weapons. However, that does not mean that Volander had reached Transcendence in every single form of martial arts there was. In the field of swordsmanship, Volander was at a lower level than Guan Zun, and in terms of proficiency with the spear, he was clearly below Lee Sungmin.

Nevertheless, the reason why he fought in this way was because even as a Death Knight, who had lived for hundreds of years, Volander could not give up on the method of fighting he once used as a human being.

Volander couldn’t throw it away. Even if his body became the body of Death Knight without any attachment to life and was filled with rotting organs in flesh, he still in his heart, wished to one day be a human again.

The opponent, Lee Sungmin, could easily be said to be one of the toughest opponents he had ever faced in his entire timeline, and Lee Sungmin did not fight by conventional means as he also relied on his monstrous body and regeneration from time to time.

Volander was still hoping to win in a deep corner of his heart. Even if his own behavior goes against the code of his old life as a chivalrous knight, and even if he was corrupted, he still wanted to win for some reason.

He didn’t want to leave this world like this.

Coooo!

The dark fog around Volander swept across the field. Lee Sungmin’s eyes widened. He rushed towards Volander as he realized his intentions. Behind his back were thousands of troops including Abel and Frau. If their battle were to be taken up a notch, those said people, could be in danger.

[I need to move this battle to another place.]

Abel nodded his head to the urgent telepathic message Lee Sungmin sent him. He needed to draw the fight away from the others somehow.

Kim Jonghyun was now in an isolated area because Lee Sungmin was in charge of taking care of Volander. Abel looked toward Teresa. She was helping the other priests and healing those who were near her.

“Let’s leave this place.”

Abel gave Frau a wink. Standing with her arms folded and a clear look of dissatisfaction across her face, Frau sighed and nodded her head.

She slapped Aladdur in the back of his head, who looked frightened out his mind and wanted to run away at any given moment.

“Let’s go.”

“Yeah.”

Aladdur replied immediately as if he had no choice. Abel, Frau, and Aladdur move toward the position where Kim Jonghyun was located.

Lee Sungmin, who jumped into the air, could no longer pay attention to them. The dark fog was chasing him relentlessly. This fog could be said to be Volander’s soul body itself. Lee Sungmin circulated the internal energy through his internal circuitry and lightning erupted from his feet as he crossed through the air. He looked around as he ran, for a place that was as desolate as possible so that he could drag Volander away from Abel and Frau so they could focus on Kim Jonghyun.

“You don’t want to see the others die, do you?”

Volander’s voice came from the dark fog behind his back. Lee Sungmin turned around mid-air. Lee Sungmin was able to see several untouched buildings underneath his feet. Even if there was an occasional sighting of a wandering ghoul, there were no human presences in the area.

Whoosh!

The spear started to rotate once again inside of his hands. The lightning that erupted from the tip of his spear tore through the dark fog.

Argh!

The darkness immediately expanded. The hole that Lee Sungmin had made by piercing the fog with his spear, immediately recovered. The ominous atmospheric pressure from the fog was the same as the eerie energy that Lee Sungmin felt when he had encountered Frescan for the first time and the Devil that Frescan had contracted, manifested its energy.

[It’s not normal. The power that Volander is able to use, is the power of the Devil he contracted with, itself. Normally contractors do not give such direct power to the vessels they contract with.]

The sky around Lee Sungmin turned black. The darkness that came over contained the eerie energy from Volander and the Devil he had contracted with. It was a completely different type of power than the Transcendence Realm opponents Lee Sungmin had faced up until now. This energy was not filled with the martial arts knowledge or internal energy of a swordsman or martial artist. This power was the power of pure death itself.

It started to make its way closer to Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin fixed his posture in the air and grabbed the spear tightly. The martial arts prowess that contained the true essence of the Dark Storm Arts he had obtained from his master, Sima Ryunju, filled his head.

A line.

It had to be a pure and straight line. His spear needed to move in uniform to create a perfect and singular line. To do so, he needed to become faster… pure speed, the embodiment of light itself. Just like how Sima Ryunju had covered the snowy plains of the North with these singular lines that dyed the world black, Lee Sungmin needed to recall that time. 

Lee Sungmin squeezed every ounce of internal energy he could muster in a compressed form from his dantian. His internal energy was boiling as the seal in his mind that was placed by Oslo, was becoming fragile. Lee Sungmin inhaled and swallowed his saliva down his throat. A fishy and bloody aftertaste was felt as he rotated the spear in his hands.

It was ironic, really. Lee Sungmin felt that his body was craving blood, but his opponent was a Death Knight. It was a being that had no blood left to spill. 

At that moment, Lee Sungmin felt the powers in his body explode with might.

His internal energy and the power he drew from Heoju’s source as a yokai, collided in unison and surged. Lee Sungmin’s eyes shone a brilliant gold. He grabbed the spear with one hand and kicked up into the air.

The spear wielded with Lee Sungmin’s right hand erupted with purple lightning. The sky turned bright as the entire world seemed to be covered in violet. Lee Sungmin truly felt as if his power was somewhat similar to his master’s. However, it wasn’t. The dark fog spread out and Lee Sungmin’s lighting was not enough to cover all of the darkness.

It was to be expected. Lee Sungmin was not Sima Ryunju and never would be. Even if he wanted to resemble him or be similar to him, he was not Sima Ryunju. Therefore, if he wanted to be as powerful as his master, he had no choice but to try and replicate his techniques that he left Lee Sungmin behind.

The level his master had reached was still a little bit difficult for Lee Sungmin to try and attain. But he was close.

The essence of Sima Ryunju’s martial sea of knowledge opened up inside Lee Sungmin’s head. The path that Lee Sungmin needed to take was clear.

Lee Sungmin grabbed his spear with both of his hands.

The Demonic Emperor, his master, Sima Ryunju, did not use a spear, but Lee Sungmin used the spear. The martial arts were the same, but the execution was different. The second Lee Sungmin picked up the spear, it was his fight from there on out.

Lee Sungmin felt his bones crack and break apart. His muscle fibers were shredded apart and burst like balloons. Lee Sungmin’s level was too low because he was not quite able to handle the power Sima Ryunju had left behind. Regardless, his body was that of a banyo, a half-monster so to speak.

The blood vessels inside his body were growing hot from the monstrous speed of regeneration they were undergoing, but ironically there was no pain. No… Lee Sungmin consciously ignored the pain. The wound regenerated in an instant anyway. Just as Volander gave up on fighting this fight the way he used to fight when he was a human being, so did Lee Sungmin.

BANG!

The dark fog exploded. Lee Sungmin could see the sky through the open hole he had pierced with the spear. The hole up in an instant once more. The death energy inside of the fog protruded out in several directions all aimed at Lee Sungmin’s body.

It was impossible to avoid. Lee Sungmin rotated the spear, churning his internal circuitry even faster..

He spun his body, stabbed the spear in every direction he could, and filled the gaps with the swinging of his arms and shoulders. Little by little, a trajectory was made through his efforts. Purple lightning surged from his body and filled his spear.

The burden on Lee Sungmin’s body from bearing all of this power was starting to weigh on his body. The darkness of Lee Sung-min and Volander surrounding him fell to the ground.

The surrounding area started to completely disappear. It was a good idea on Lee Sungmin’s part to move the fight to a different location. There were only the occasional low-level undead wandering around. There was no need to control the output of his strikes anymore, but the scent of blood was still strong in his mind.

The wounds were regenerated again and again, but the blood from the previous wounds left his body covered in damp blood at one point. Although his heated body immediately evaporated this blood, the scent was incredibly strong.

Knowing that he didn’t have to control his power any longer, Lee Sungmin drew more internal energy out from dantian. The power he could visualize in his martial sea of knowledge was not yet usable. That being said, Lee Sungmin could still use that knowledge and martial arts if he was willing to rely on the regenerative abilities of his body; which he was.

Faster and faster, Lee Sungmin’s body started to erupt in a purple glow of lightning.

Demonic Emperor’s Spear Demon Martial Arts : Heaven-splitting Thunder (空道爆雷)

For the next few seconds, the entire area was destroyed from the lightning that erupted from Lee Sungmin’s spear. The surrounding area was filled with craters and dust.

The outskirts of Germane, where Lee Sungmin and Volander were clashing, looked like the moon. Completely desolate, and nothing but craters and ash.

Volander’s body wriggled in the bustling fog. His body started to materialize from the shock of Lee Sungmin’s wide range attack and pounced towards him.

Lee Sungmin looked to see what weapon Volander was holding.‘No it doesn’t matter. I just need to be faster than him.’

Yes, as long as he was faster, nothing else would matter.

The outstretched spear broke Lee Sungmin’s collarbone from the excessive amount of force he was using. His right arm was completely smashed to smithereens. The entire right side of his body, from his chest, arms and legs were practically useless as the muscles burst and swelled.

If he was a human being, this kind of injury alone would surely lead to death, but not for Lee Sungmin. His solidified mental fortitude from the thousands of years he spent in the Trial of Time, would not collapse under some weak pressure like this.

Pop!

There was a small sound of something popping. The weapon held by Volander disappeared without taking form and his body regenerated in a single step.

The drawn out internal energy from yokai origins within Lee Sungmin’s body, helped him move at a speed invisible to the naked eye. Throughout all of this, Lee Sungmin could hear a sinister cackle in the back of his head. The laughter resembled the same voice of his own. Lee Sungmin ignored it and continued to move forward with his spear. It was deathly silent with his movements, as he was too fast to even make a sound.

Pop!

Volander’s left leg was smashed to pieces. His armor and weapons were the embodiment of his own soul. He had no choice to retreat as his very soul felt the danger of Lee Sungmin’s at that moment.

Lee Sungmin’s speed was something that couldn’t even be controlled by himself under natural circumstances, and even now, it was still too much for him to completely grasp control over. It was too much of a toll on his body… yet, through all of this Lee Sungmin felt calm. It was odd, but he felt at ease when moving at such high speeds.Drawing the spear forward, Lee Sungmin saw a trajectory he wanted to make and thrust forward.

‘I need more speed.’

Lee Sungmin stretched out the spear, churning his internal circuitry.

‘More… more….’

Sima Ryunju was even faster than this. His movements were natural and fluid with his body compared to Lee Sungmin’s prior attempts. But oddly enough, there was no pain this time as Lee Sungmin circulated his internal energy and went faster. Lee Sungmin did not want to be a shameful disciple to his master.

Having received everything from Sima Ryunju, he had to do the same… no, he had to go beyond even that.

* * *

“It’s loud.”

Kim Jonghyun muttered while looking at the crystal ball. The clash outside Germane brought tremors even to where Kim Jonghyun was located. No, this was not the time to care about those two. Kim Jonghyun smiled.

The clash between the Holy Knights of the church and the legion of Death Knights was a heavyweight matchup. In terms of power alone, the Death Knights would have an overwhelming advantage over anybody they faced, but the power of the Saint and holy power as a whole encouraged the members of the Holy Knights and Paladins by halving the Death Knights’ power in effectiveness.

Hundreds of mercenaries and rag-tag groups that had gathered were also annoying Kim Jonghyun and the forces of the Death Knights. However, Death Knights would not easily be pushed back. The situation would be stagnant for a while.

‘Even if I want to…… I can’t step up.’

Kim Jonghyun slowly fitted himself into his wizard robes. He even prepared a staff, and held the Grimoire in the other hand. Wearing a hooded robe, Kim Jonghyun was satisfied with his appearance.

He truly looked the part as an evil Dark Wizard that would only appear in fairy tales. Kim Jonghyun smirked and muttered to himself.

“The Grand Wizard and the Great Arch-Sorcerer…… I can’t figure out the power of both.”

At least Kim Jonghyun knew about the existence and interference of Frau. When it comes to sorcery, she was at the very pinnacle of all sorcerers. Sorcery, a lineage of magic, had a different direction than necromancy or other forms of dark magic. In a sense, sorcery could eve be said to be a natural enemy of all forms of dark magic, which is different from despite not being the complete antithesis like holy power. This was because sorcery dealt with a lot of things related to souls.

‘The Guild Master of the Wizard Guild also has the Weiss.’

Kim Jonghyun also did not know what kind of magical contents was stored inside of the Weiss since he never had the opportunity to even study it. Kim Jonghyun only felt a slight sense of disappointment from it though. Still, he would be able to find out just what kind of magic it contained through this opportunity. Kim Jonghyun adjusted his garments appropriately in order to properly meet Frau and Abel. The black sphere behind his back vibrated quietly.

“I don’t know what you’re aiming for.”

Regardless of their aim, Kim Jonghyun didn’t mean to go down easily.

Kim Jonghyun felt ecstatic as he enjoyed the chaotic situation.

heya guys! advance chapters are finalized at 1 dollar each and more are coming!Also, releases will be Tuesdays and Thursdays! (I slept early last night so I know this is late, but tomorrow will have a chapter up as well!)