Possessing Nothing

Did Abel find Kim Jonghyun?

Lee Sungmin dragged his feet as he took a deep breath in. His body had recovered, but it was still hard to move.

Lee Sungmin thought about the last attack in that fight.

The ‘opening’ that completely erased Volander from the world has consumed too much of Lee Sungmin’s vitality and mental strength and as a result, his mind was weak at the moment.

It meant he still had a long way to go before he could successfully use those attacks without feeling the threat of turning into a monster. Lee Sungmin sighed and raised his body that was leaning against his spear. After several deep breaths, Lee Sungmin hurried his steps.

He had just killed Volander. The Apex of all Death Knights, one of the Five Black Stars of Predator and one of the strongest beings in the entire world.

Lee Sungmin did not feel much emotion about it. The sense of accomplishment and sweetness of victory for what he had done, was too bitter for him to even think or reminisce about.

There was little sense of accomplishment because he thought he was still lacking, and he did not feel prideful about it because it was not a complete enough victory to completely extinguish Volander’s soul from existence. He had simply erased it from this world, but not from existence. Therefore, Volander was still out there in the Demon Realm most likely.

Rather, Lee Sungmin was feeling a little bitter. Volander was an outstanding knight, and was cursed against his own will by a being stronger than he could possibly face off against and was forced to live as an undead.

For those hundreds of years, he had kept his own chivalry, and only now did he find a way to become a human being at the expense of abandoning his chivalrous code he had followed for hundreds of years.

In doing so, he hoped to become a human being from Kim Jonhyun’s powers, but Lee Sungmin had thwarted that goal.

Becoming human and returning to the cycle of reincarnation was Volander’s wish. But Death Knights could never be reincarnated. To be honest, Lee Sungmin was feeling a little guilty because he knew just how much his opponent had thrown away just to meet this goal.

Up until now, Volander as a Death Knight had little blood on his hands. It was not just Volander, but all the Death Knights who followed him, were unlike other groups in Predator as they did not commit lots of massacres periodically like the other groups that followed the Black Stars.

[Did you want to let Volander re-enter the cycle of reincarnation?]

Heoju asked.

[Are you sure you really would be okay with that? If Volander was to enter the cycle of reincarnation, he would do so at the expense of hundreds of thousands of lives. Would you really approve of that?]

“That’s not…. That’s not it.’

[Then don’t think about useless things right now. That sympathy you’re trying to show Volander, whom you fought with holding nothing back, is nothing but cheap sympathy for a loser. Don’t pity the enemy you knocked down. Volander was desperate in his own way, and you were just as desperate for your own goals as well. At least by knocking down Volander, you saved tens of thousands of lives that he would have taken in his journey to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation as a human.]

Heoju’s words had truth in them.

Cheap sympathy. Lee Sungmin smirked at what Heoju said.

Lee Sungmin showed no sympathy to Volander when he used his spear. When it came to martial arts, Lee Sungmin was as rational and cold-blooded as any. There was no point in lingering about what did or what didn’t happen to his opponent after he defeated them.

“What do you think happened to the forces from the Church?”

Even if Volander disappeared, the Death Knights he led would not just disappear. It would be rather fortunate if the Holy Church’s forces were able to hold their ground at least.

There was Teresa, and there were several Holy Knights and Paladins along with Priests. So in theory at least, they wouldn’t just die randomly. Of course, that was nothing but a guess.

“What happened?”

So, Lee Sungmin asked in a tired voice to the monsters that had come over to devour the remnants of fear.

Lee Sungmin looked around at the monsters and banyos that were around the area. They were technically on the side of the subjugation, but they were clearly just here to pick the cherries from the remnants of battle while not directly participating in it. As Heoju warned earlier, they were also near Lee Sungmin’s battle because they wanted to see if they could devour him if he was tired to gain immense power. They were truly detestable, but Lee Sungmin had no choice but to ask them.

“Before you guys came here, how was the situation with the others? Was it the Death Knights or the Holy Church’s forces that held the advantage?”

The monsters only looked at Lee Sungmin nervously and did not answer. They saw Lee Sungmin knock down Volander. During that battle, Lee Sungmin displayed power that no being should ever possess. In the minds of these monsters, they couldn’t help but curse at how foolish they were to think they could defeat something like Lee Sungmin.

Nevertheless, the reason they were in front of him was simple. Such a powerful man… was leaning on his spear to walk.If they took him out here, they could attain the same power to rule the world!

“You don’t know anything?”

Lee Sungmin asked, frowning as he looked around at the greedy eyes of the monsters surrounding him.

Kekekeke!

The monsters bared their teeth with disgusting smiles.

“Who wants to go first?”Lee Sungmin asked as he let out a sigh. The monsters just cackled and grinned unknowingly.

Pa-pop!

Without even a moment of realization for them, the monster’s heads burst like watermelons as purple lightning bolts surged out from Lee Sungmin’s fingertips effortlessly. Using a tiny bit of internal energy on those monsters was a waste, but Lee Sungmin sighed and moved forward as he settled on a direction to head towards.

It was faint, but in the direction Lee Sungmin chose, there was an evil and vile energy. It was Demonic Energy and mana clashing with each other. Surely it seemed like Abel and Kim Jonghyun had already started, Lee Sungmin thought.

* * *

Just before Volander perished….

While Lee Sungmin and Volander were clashing ferociously in the barren outskirts of Germane, Kim Jonghyun and Abel were confronting each other.

Kim Jonghyun was quite flustered as the numerous spells he had setup beforehand were instantly dispelled by Abel in less than a mere second.

It was quite unorthodox since dispelling a magic spell was quite difficult at higher levels. In order to dispel a spell, Abel would have to see the magic formula and understand it before it even unfolded and then interrupt it by injecting his own mana into the weak point of the spell.

It was much more difficult when you reached the higher levels of magic since formulas were immensely more complicated, and how could one Wizard have time to study that many spells?But to no avail, Abel had dispelled the dozens of spells in a mere instant.

“I see.”

Kim Jonghyun realized that it was not some sort of trick. It was nothing more than applying basic techniques that any Wizard would know and applying it at ridiculous speed.

‘Faithful to the basics..… No, at that level, it can’t even be considered basic anymore.’

Kim Jonghyun sincerely admired the proficiency and craft of Abel’s wizardry,

At the same time, Kim Jonghyun’s interest grew in the identity of the man known as the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild. The image of such a person, would likely be depicted as an elderly man who was immersed in magic experiments that are so profound and complicated that others would never fathom and was disinterred in the events of the world. That image wasn’t entirely inaccurate, but it wasn’t entirely accurate either. Most of the Wizards in the Wizard Guild were no exception as each was devoted to perfecting their own craft.

But Abel was different. Kim Jonghyun could see to a certain extent, just what kind of Wizard Abel was. He was a Wizard that had decided to specialize in combat magic. Furthermore, it seemed that Abel was incredibly proficient in the basics of all fields and types of magic branches. Someone like this was truly a very difficult opponent.

But Kim Jonghyun felt even more joyful at this.

“Then let’s see just what your limit is….”

Kim Jonghyun muttered silently. He was deciding to test just how proficient Abel was and for long he could continuously dispel his magic.

There were over a hundred spells pre-installed by Kim Jonghyun in the area around them, and dozens of them had already been dispelted, but there are still countless spells that could still be used. Kim Jonghyun wanted to know just how wide Abel’s knowledge of Dark magic was.

The ability to dispel another Wizard’s spells was a major advantage in a head-to-head matchup against another Wizard. But that also was only if the Wizard casting the dispel could dispel most of their spells.

Abel immediately roused his mana around his eyes. This spell was a modification of the tracking spell he had used to discover Kim Jonghyun’s location prior, and was currently being used to analyze the magic spells that were installed in the area around him.

It was impossible to set off all ninety or so spells at once, even for Kim Jonghyun, so Abel focused on the flow of mana in the air to see what Kim Jonghyun’s move would be.

It was easy for Abel. Immediately, Abel recognized the ambient mana that started to fluctuate in resonance with the magic spells in the area. Kim Jonghyun quickly adapted to this as he saw that Abel was seeing through his spells once again. Distorting the dlow of mana, and also shifting the spell formulas at the last second, Kim Jonghyun invoked the spells…

Or rather… he thought he did. Kim Jonghyun’s attempts did not confuse Abel in the slightest. Abel was so fast even at filtering out the information that was not needed. His cognitive abilities as a Wizard were incredible.

Kim Jonghyun, once again, admired Abel’s abilities. At the same time, he raised his finger as if to point out to Abel that the magic laid out in the area around them was not everything. If Abel was busy focusing on dispelling the magic that had been pre-installed beforehand, did he think Kim Jonghyun would just stand still during that time?

Abel was not an idiot. It was natural that Kim Jonghyun would likely attack Abel directly if Abel was focused on dispelling the magic in the area, Although Abel did not have as much time as Kim Jonghyun to prepare in advance for this battle, that did not mean he came unprepared.

Fwoosh!

As the black flames struck out from Kim Jonghyun’s spell, Abel took out a small mysterious bead from the inner pocket of his robe.

Crack, crack!

The flames immediately cracked and turned into ice.‘A magic item?’Kim Jonghyun immediately moved his hands to form a spell as he noticed ice emerging from the ground.

The ice melted down in an instant. Even if it wasn’t instant casting, the casting was done at high speed. Kim Jonghyun pressured Abel by unfolding three spells simultaneously in the air around him. At the same time, he continued to invoke the pre-installed spells.

“This is definitely not favorable…”’

Abel knew this as he muttered to himself. As long as he was fighting in Kim Jonghyun’s territory, he had to overcome and acknowledge these disadvantages. What Abel made in the carriage while Lee Sungmin went out to visit Kim Jonghyun the other night, were scrolls and magic items that could be used in various different situations that he might encounter against Kim Jonghyun.

But that alone was not enough. It was not very efficient in terms of dragging this battle out in the long run, but there’s nothing he could do about it.

Abel cursed to himself as he drew a circle shape with his right hand and a square with his left. The shape of the circle should not collapse for the formula, and the square had to be made at perfect ninety-degree angles. Abel was sick and tired of the effort he had to put into perfecting these formulas in the past.

He had perfected these formulas and his magic just to meet his own goal : surpassing his brother Envirus.

Multi-Casting was an incredibly difficult talent to learn and apply into battles, but Abel had forced himself to acquire this talent through several decades of training.IIn theory alone, it was difficult to multicast efficiently as well since the Wizard had to be able to properly distribute the mana between the multiple spells. If they didn’t, it would just be better to use single spells instead.

It was the same with martial arts in a sense. Different types of cultivation methods would conflict unless the martial artist was the one to bring those conflicting energies into harmony.

But magic was still different from martial arts.

Magic, unlike martial arts, was not cultivated with the body. It was a power that was expressed through one’s mind and mana. 

Abel quickly moved his lips and quickly chanted the spell. In the meantime, he continued to work on dispelling the magic that was strewn about.

Once Abel finished the chant, he circulated his mana into the small bead he had brought out earlier.

Kim Jonghyun’s eyes widened in surprise. Abel’s magic collided with Kim Jonghyun’s magic, and instead of Kim Jonghyun holding the advantage, with the assistance of the magical item, Abel’s firepower skyrocketed with his spell. Yet…. What was shocking, was that even through all of this confrontation, Abel’s dispels did not stop.Abel didn’t let up as Kim Jonghyun was pushed back. He started to prepare something he wasn’t sure of using in the first place.

“Multi-casting?”‘No… it’s not quite multicasting.’

Kim Jonghyun was also an incredible wizard who could multicast, but that wasn’t quite what Abel was doing. The base of the multiple spells was through multi-casting, but somehow Abel was combining the multiple spells into one.

As a result of combining the two spells, it would normally be a spell that conflicted in energy, but the power of the spell was not dropping in the slightest.

Kim Jonghyun was bewildered as the two spells that Abel used were also completely conflicting in natural elements.‘How…?’

“It’s done.”

The corners of Abel’s mouth went up. His eyes were dripping with bloody tears and his nose was bleeding from the sheer concentration on this spell. Even in such a situation where Abel’s head was pounding and his body felt numb, he enjoyed it.

Although he admitted that he probably was overdoing himself and his capabilities at this moment, Abel was proud to stand as the man he was.

Kim Jonghyun understood this and stopped the flow of his mana from going into the spells that were pre-installed. It wouldn’t work against such a formidable man like Abel anyways.

“You’re dead.”

Abel spat out venomously. He stopped coalescing his mana into his spell and opened his subspace pocket. Dozens of magic scrolls that had been prepared in advance were released from his subspace pocket. Kim Jonghyun felt flustered and tried to immediately rouse his mana and fire off the spells that were pre-installed but they were dispelled before they could even manifest. Kim Jonghyun’s agitation spread to his expression because he had never imagined that the day would come when he would be toyed around like this in front of another Wizard.

Dozens of magical scrolls were opened simultaneously by Abel.

There were many differences between Abel and Kim Jonghyun. If one looked at the sheer quantity of mana the two of them had, Kim Jonghyun definitely had more than Abel. However, Abel had what Kim Jonghyun did not have.

It was resourcefulness and efficiency that Abel possessed. Even if Kim Jonghyun had absorbed Arbeth’s knowledge of Dark Magic, Kim Jonghyun specialized in only that. The reason this was important, was because in battles amongst Wizards, combat Wizards were the strongest in head-to-head confrontations. Since Abel was a combat Wizard through and through, he was the man who could be said to stand above all Wizards on a battlefield. Even if some people in the world had the misconception that Wizards were locked up in their towers studying all the time, as the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild, Abel broke that stereotype completely.

Magic was not something that was just meant to create miracles. It also shed blood. That was just the reality of it. Abel acknowledged this and mastered combat magic to a degree which no other Wizard had done before.

At the same time, the magic unfolding from Abel’s fingertips resonated once again as he multicast two different spells and combined them. Although the spell he created was a magic missile; which was a low-tier spell, it was not just a simple magic missile.

Combining Hellfire and Magic Missile, which was considered the top tier flame magic, Abel created a rain of bullets that burned through everything.

If it were ice and fire magic, no matter how competent Abel was at combining spells, they contrasted too much. That was why he went with this combination of wind and fire. Fire ate up oxygen and the missiles expanded in size.

Kim Jonghyun quickly stepped back as the spells unfolded from the scrolls and Abel’s fingertips. Igniting his mana, Kim Jonghyun prepared the spells he had kept enchanted inside of his robe for defense.

The defensive magic enchanted within the robe was immediately activated. Kim Jonghyun’s body was swallowed by a translucent barrier. It was the same barrier that held strong against Lee Sungmin’s spear when the two of them had met.

Ring, ring!

The storm of fiery missiles bombarded the barrier around Kim Jonghyun’s body and pushed him back. Abel checked the extent of his spells’ damage and realized the barrier around Kim Jongyun was not so simple. Spreading his hands out wide, Abel continued to chant and move his mana.

“Why don’t you use the spells you’ve learned from the Grimoire?”

Abel’s hands moved in order to create a spell to dispel the barrier around Kim Jonghyun. Inside the defensive barrier, Kim Jonghyun opened his mouth to say something. Was he just now trying to cast? Kim Jonghyun was too late if he was; Abel’s magic was faster.

Two spells unfolded from Abel’s hands. No- in reality, they were both combined spells, so it was a total of four. It was something completely incomprehensible from a magical standpoint, since it was truly testing the limits of Abel’s mental prowess.

Kim Jonghyun’s defensive barrier was smashed to pieces. It was a very thin stream of water that penetrated the defensive barrier, but it was full of high pressure and was using rotative force like a drill.Then… the second combined spell hit.

“Freeze.”

Abel commanded.

The stream penetrated Kim Jonghyun’s body and expanded into a large ice awl.

Slice!

Kim Jonghyun’s body was divided into two.

Abel looked down at Kim Jonghyun’s falling body. The corpse was sliced in two and completely frozen as not even blood was flowing from the wound.

Thud.

The undead around Abel, all seemingly lost their vitality from the cutoff of their magical supply from Kim Jonghyun and fell down.

“That was it?”

Kim Jonghyun did not even use the spells that he had learned from the Grimoire. Was it because he was too arrogant? Did he think he wouldn’t need to fight against the Guild Master of the Wizard Guild who stood at the apex of all Wizards, at his best strength? He didn’t even think to use an escape method in case he was to be killed. Kim Jonghyun must have been under some delusion…

“…hahaha.”

Nevertheless, Kim Jonghyun laughed.

“This is… really…. I didn’t think this would happen.”

Kim Jonghyun muttered in a jovial voice.‘There’s no way.’Abel’s expression immediately hardened when he looked back down at Kim Jonghyun’s corpse. He was also thinking the same thing as Kim Jonghyun. Abel didn’t think this would happen either.

“You’re not a human being.”’

Once again, Abel needed to realize this fact once more.

Kim Jonghyun raised his severed body. The two pieces of his body that were divided into two, started to merge back together and the ice melted. The strings of blood reattached themselves to each other and produced a gruesome sight.

“I obtained the power of an Ancient Devil.”

Shaking off the debris of ice from his body, Kim Jonghyun raised his hand that was holding the Grimoire.

Even if he was only a half-devil, he was still a Devil.

And…

A Devil was an existence that went beyond mere transcendence.