Possessing Nothing

The time Abel had to be flustered was short.

He clearly knew why his body was reforming back together. It would be impossible not to know what powers were at play here.

Kim Jonghyun’s consciousness was stopped before it could fully assimilate back in the ritual he held in the North. If Kim Jonghyun had been completely successful, he would have fully inherited the powers of an Ancient Demon King and become a true Devil. But because he only inherited half of the power, he had been able to stay in the world of Eria without transcending completely to a higher realm.

It was disastrous that a human had inherited the powers of a Devil, but at the same time, it was only half of them.

Compared to the Demon Kings and other Devils in the Demon Realm, Kim Jonghyun’s power clearly fell short of them. Not only that, but it was clear now that Kim Jonghyun’s prowess as a Wizard was short of Abel’s.

Although they had different goals and reasons for pursuing magic, Abel’s goal had naturally been set incomparably higher to any other Wizard. His target was his own brother, who was the strongest and most talented Wizard in all of Eria.

However, even if Abel was superior in combat to Kim Jonghyun, it meant nothing if Kim Jonghyun was practically immortal and could not die.‘He’s clearly weaker than a true Devil, but… what the hell? Did he inherit the power of immortality that a true Devil has?’

Abel’s facial expression distorted in frustration and disgust.

Quickly moving his lips and hands, Abel created a spell.Crack!After the ground was smashed, the stem of a large plant that Abel summoned tried to wrap around Kim Jonghyun’s body. Kim Jonghyun just smiled at this and shook his hand nonchalantly.

Puhwak!The gray light that shot out from Kim Jonghyun’s hand turned the stem of the plant into powder.

It was a magic that was completely unique to another famous and deceased Dark Wizard : Arbeth. After using Arbeth’s signature spell of extinction, Kim Jonghyun began to unfold the Grimiore’s magical content in earnest. The Grimoire was a magical book of spells meant for Demons. That being said, even as Kim Jonghyun was only a half-devil, he could only use some of the magic at full power and not all of it.

“Nullify.”

Kim Jonghyun opened his mouth and uttered a single word. In Eria, magic related to words was only used by Dragons in the past and that very ability was known as ‘Dragon Tongue’. But Devils that were stronger than average demons and Dragons, would of course be able to use word magic. (T/N : just going to call it Demon Tongue to make it easier here)

Abel was constructing a barrier in preparation for whatever magic Kim Jonghyun was going to use but was momentarily stunned as the spell couldn’t even finish. The Demon Tongue that Kim Jonghyun used, was a bit different than just a dispel and completely stopped Abel from constructing his barrier and even as Abel was trying to fly to back off and gain distance, even that was void to the Demon Tongue.

“Ugh!”

Abel’s body, which was floating in the air from the levitation magic and flight spell, faltered greatly as he fell.

The signature magic of extinction that Kim Jonghyun was now in possession of, immediately shot out at Abel as he was stunned. Demon Tongue could not be used carelessly and successively like an omnipotent power because although it was magic in the Grimoire, Kim Jonghyun could not fully use that power endlessly as a half-devil.But… those few seconds were enough.Abel, who had lost his defensive barrier and who had all of his spells nullified, was nothing but an ordinary human on the ground that was easy to kill.

“Hey!”

But Abel was not alone in this fight as Frau immediately shouted out. At her shout, the ghost spirits that had invaded the bodies of the undead around them, gathered in a clump at her command and threw themselves as a meat shield in front of Abel.

Immediately, they turned into a gray powder as they blocked the extinction magic like sandbags.

Kim Jonghyun clicked his tongue when he saw this happen. Abel would not have been able to deal with both the undead around him and with Kim Jonghyun at the same time. That was why Frau was brought with him.

‘Magic and Sorcery are different. Therefore the Demon Tongue that I used to nullify his magic won’t work the same against sorcery.’

Was that why he brought Frau too? Kim Jonghyun wondered but shook his head as there was no way that Abel would have known of the magical contents within the Grimoire. Frau was probably just insurance. Kim jonghyun didn’t need to overthink such things.In truth, Abel had brought Frau since she was the only person powerful and close enough to him that could possibly be helpful against such a powerful foe. If Abel could not pressure Kim Jonghyun with magic alone, he had hoped that Frau might be able to pressure him with sorcery which had just proven to be a valuable thought.

“Thank you.”

Just before falling to the ground, Abel once again flew back up into the air as he could use his mana once more. His spine still hurt from the fall since his body was closer to a powerless mortal than some kind of martial artist. Although it was healthier and stronger than average mortals, the body constitution of a Wizard like Abel was not exactly a reliable power by any means.

He had never thought that the Grimoire would be able to replicate a form of Dragon Tongue that Kim Jonghyun would be able to use to nullify his magic completely.

Abel’s brain rapidly calculated several thoughts and possible scenarios in his mind. In the end, it was not impossible to come up with a way to cope with this unexpected power of Kim Jonghyun’s. If Abel were to use the barrier magic he knew from the Weiss, it was highly likely it would be able to bypass Kim Jonghyun’s nullification.

But the efficiency would not be ideal. Kim Jonghyun, who was able to use demonic energy since he was a Devil, did not have much of a penalty for using the Grimoire’s magic. But what about Abel? He was nothing but a mortal, and was not a Transcendent, so using the Weiss’ magical spells reduced his lifespan with each cast.

But it would not be a waste. If Abel wasn’t prepared to lose his life, then he would not have come to this battle in the first place.

Even with his life being a lot longer than other mortals due to his nature of dealing with mana, his lifespan was still finite.

He was already nearing the end of his years as a man, as he had been using the Weiss’ magic to find more and more about the end of this world. If he decided to cast away his life expectancy rate just to stop Kim Jonghyun here, it would undoubtedly work.

‘Would Frau be able to handle Kim Jonghyun?’

Frau is an excellent sorcerer. However, even she had no choice but to struggle against Kim Jonghyun as he had far too many powers as a semi-Transcendent being to even go against. Abel recalled Lee Sungmin. Would he be able to win against Volander? And if so, would he be able to come and help them?

‘Just how long should I wait…?’

Whsshhhh…

Abel, who flew back into the sky, suddenly felt a new and approaching presence coming their way. Kim Jonghyun, who was dealing with Frau, hardened his expression. He wasn’t able to feel it up until that point because he was busy dealing with Abel, but the identity of the presence approaching the battlefield was not one that was favorable for him at all.

“Did Volander…. get defeated?”’

One of Predator’s Five Black Stars was defeated!? Kim Jonghyun looked at Abel with narrowed eyes.

Lee Sungmin, who was walking towards their location with his spear in tow, looked a little worn out.

Lee Sungmin still examined the sight before him with tired eyes. In front of him was Kim Jonghyun, who was flying above the ground in a black robe, Frau and Aladdur were standing on the ground fighting against the horde of undead… and lastly, Abel who was confronting Kim Jonghyun mid-air.

[It would have been nice if the situation over here had been cleared up while you dealt with Volander.]

Honestly, Heoju was right as Lee Sungmin had indeed hoped that would be the case. Lee Sungmin hurried his steps with a bitter smile. Kim Jonghyun glanced at Lee Sungmin, who was approaching.

He also knew that the current situation was no longer one he could afford to be relaxed in. His firepower had been cut down in half now that Volander and the Death Knights were no longer present. Although there were some zombies left, Kim Jonghyun knew very well that such low-level undead could not even remotely pose a threat to the people before him. Still, Kim Jonghyun needed to ask to make sure.

“Where is Volander?””

“He’s dead.”

Lee Sungmin replied in a blunt voice.

Kim Jonghyun still smiled despite the tense situation. In the first place, Volander’s success was not important to his own personal agenda. Connecting this world to the Demon Realm was his only reason for being here.

As for why? It was because even now, Kim Jonghyun was still enjoying this very moment. Of course, Kim Jonghyun was still limited to the options he had at the moment, because Lee Sungmin had tied up his feet by defeating Volander.

Therefore, Kim Jonghyun was still feeling satisfied with the situation.

“The proposal I gave you is still valid.”

“I don’t want to accept it.”

Kim Jonghyun laughed at the blunt answer that Lee Sungmin gave him. Well of course, if Lee Sungmin truly did care about the proposal in the first place, he wouldn’t have killed Volander.

“You’re going to try and stop me, aren’t you?”

[He has the power of immortality that only high-ranking demons have.]

Mixed with Kim Jonghyun’s voice, Abel’s telepathic message was sent to Lee Sungmin.

[But I don’t think it’s omnipotent. Because he’s not a true Devil, I think it still has some flaws to it.]

Abel was convinced of that. If Kim Jonghyun really acquired full and complete immortality, it would become way too absurd for such a man to still have not ascended to a higher realm. Even the Vampire Queen, Geniella, did not have complete immortality.

[There’s a limit to his immortality, but for me, it’s hard to see where that limit lies. I’m sure I’m ahead of him when it comes to pure magic, but I have too much of a penalty for using the Weiss’s magic compared to him when it comes to the Grimoire.]

It was also clear that Kim Jonghyun could only limit magic. Martial Arts and internal energy would not be limited by the nullification of Kim Jonghyun’s Demon Tongue ability.

[I’ll focus on what I can do, but if possible… Can I ask you to hold him down a little bit for me?]

“Yes.”

The answer was to both Abel and Kim Jonghyun. Kim Jonghyun smiled brightly.

Lee Sungmin’s choice did not make Kim Jonghyun angry because of the fun he was having in this situation.

However, Kim Jonghyun did not think he would give up here and now because it was clear that there was still so much more to enjoy from this.I can do it. Should I try it?That’s how Kim Jonghyun thought when he first had the idea to connect the Demon Realm to Eria. And even now, he still saw that it was possible to make that happen.

So, Kim Jonghyun would still do it. If he still had the slight chance of doing it, was there a reason he should stop?

Poooong.Kim Jonghyun’s fingertips pointed towards Abel. It was time to resume the battle.

Abel avoided the mana bullet with a blink spell and dodged the attack. Kim Jonghyun moved his hand along with Abel to continue firing the mana bullets, but Lee Sungmin’s speed changed at that moment.

As he was walking slowly, the purple currents of electricity splashed around his body and fluctuated, while his appearance completely disappeared from the naked eye. Kim Jonghyun had truly never experienced Lee Sungmin’s current best.

He wasn’t able to observe the battle between Lee Sungmin and Volander to get an estimate for Lee Sungmin’s powers because he was busy dealing with Abel.

Thanks to this, Kim Jonghyun was briefly flustered as he did not expect Lee Sungmin to be at the speed where he could not see him move. Abel once again returned fire with his own magic missiles and Kim Jonghyun had to use the magic of extinction to turn them void. But as he did that, Lee Sungmin once again took advantage of the gap.

Lee Sungmin’s spear penetrated Kim Jonghyun’s stomach at that moment.

It all happened almost simultaneously. Kim Jonghyun swallowed his breath with a gulp. Spitting out blood from his throat, he ignored the terrible pain he felt from the spear that penetrated his stomach.

Cra-crack!

The spear that penetrated his body began to rotate like a drill. Kim Jonghyun raised both of his hands and took them to a rotating spear that was lodged inside his body. Krrrying!The magic he emitted from his hands stopped the rotating force of the spear.

Kim Jonghyun gave up his innards and intestines as they spilled out like goo when he used blink to retreat.

[Let’s see how long he can keep that up.]

Heojo muttered inside Lee Sungmin’s head. No matter how much he reigned as the strongest monster in the South hundreds of years ago, he had never fought a Devil or high-ranking demon before. The same went for Lee Sungmin. Still, they both roughly understood what it was like to be facing off against one due to their other encounters with Transcendent beings. Most of all…

[He’s not that much different from your regenerative abilities.]

Kim Jonghyun’s wound was regenerated. Frau separated from the undead mob and ran up to Abel to help him. Kim Jonghyun laughed as he watched Abel and Frau moving away.

“What are you thinking about? Are you trying to plot how to interrupt my magic? Well, it would be possible to ruin magic if you used the Weiss. In the end, did you choose to accept the Apocalypse over fighting me here?”

“Nothing is certain yet.”’

Kim Jonghyun was aware that Abel was currently using a spell to try and change the location coordinates he had set.

“Try it. It would be fun to be like that. You will not be able to kill me, and even if you connect the coordinates to another world, they too will just fall in front of the Apocalypse. No matter what you do, all of us will die in the end.”

“You never wanted to connect this world to the Demon Realm in order to save it from its fate.”

“Of course I didn’t! I did this because I thought it would be fun. Oh, I won’t be giving up here. I’ll be making sure to have as much fun as I can while it lasts.”

Kim Jonghyun caressed the gaping hole in his stomach. Soon, he shifted his robe to cover over the wound to regenerate it.

“Killing or simply overwhelming me here will not be enough since I plan on killing you Abel. It’s a bit disappointing to admit that you are better than me as a Wizard, but that doesn’t mean you can kill me. I won’t allow you to take your time here. If you dare to think I will allow that, I will kill you faster than you think.”

Kim Jonghyun spread out both of his arms arrogantly. His enchanted black robe fluttered ominously in the wind as he roused his mana and demonic energy. The Grimoire became surrounded by an eerie and black light as it rose in front of Kim Jonghyun. As this happened, Kim Jonghyun slowly pointed his staff at Lee Sungmin

“Did you know? I’ve been favorable towards you, not just once, but several times. Who had been the one to tell you about Dark Wizards like that Lich, Frescan, in the past? Who was it that helped you against the Solitary Blade Dokgo? It was me. But was that really all I did? I was there that day in the City of Endless Night. I saw that you were completely unconscious after taking the Dragon Heart, yet I didn’t even think about touching you or harming you. I even intentionally did not harm the Tower Master of the Red Magic Tower because I knew she was a friend of yours during the subjugation in the North.”

Kim Jonghyun chatted about it with a happy face.

“Well, it’s your own business and up to you when it comes to things like that.I did such things for you, but I’ve never made it obvious to you to curry more favor. If I did, maybe that would have changed things a bit?”

“I never asked you to do some of those things.”

“Hahaha! If I truly do think about it, I guess you’re right! It’s something I did just because I wanted to. Well, I don’t mean to blame you. So, you came to stop me, right? Even after facing all those ghouls and zombies, the Death Knights, and Volander… you still feel up to it?”

Kim Jonghyun seemed to be trying to say something.

“Well now… you’re fighting the devil.”

Kim Jonghyun’s smile grew wider. His opponent was now a martial artist who had reached the apex and was one of the strongest martial artists in the world. Even Volander could not defeat Lee Sungmin, and the odds were against him as Abel had already dispelled all the pre-existing magic spells he had prepared beforehand in the area.

It this situation, it would be suicide to fight against Lee Sungmin. No matter how fast his spells, and enhanced Demonic body was, it would never be faster than Lee Sungmin.

The light that was emanating from the Grimoire was slightly unusual to Lee Sungmin. The light was closer to the concept of the death energy that surrounded Volander and the Death Knights.

But it was now known that the Grimoire was written in the language of Demons. Although he wouldn’t know what Demonic Energy exactly felt like, Lee Sungmin felt that that might be what it was.

The Grimoire only provided information and spells for humans to turn into Demons and how to use their spells. If anything, it was almost as if the Grimoire was planted in Eria for hopes that a human would be crazy enough to learn about it and want to connect the two realms.

But the Grimoire was not perfect because not all Demons in the Demon Realm could even use magic.

Crack- crack.

An odd sound came from Kim Jonghyun’s body as his bones started to crack and his skeletal figure was changing from the inside.

It was a spell that was enough to deplete almost all of Kim Jonghyun’s mana, but it was necessary to endure the situation at hand.

If it were against Abel, Kim Jonghyun would have never used this spell or even needed it.

The reason was because Abel was a Wizard.

However, Lee Sungmin was not a wizard. Maybe he wouldn’t have even needed to do this if he had prepared in case he had to face Lee Sungmin, but Lee Sungmin defeating Volander was not within his expectations at all.

His body had changed to become something that was as strong as a Peak Realm Martial Artist.

Lee Sungmin knew something had changed, and his instincts were telling him not to rush in carelessly. Despite that, he still knew he couldn’t just leave Kim Jonghyun be.

In the aftermath of the fight with Volander, Lee Sungmin’s body was incredibly fatigued and was rather creaky as his muscles were strained. Even still, he ran forward.

Kim Jonghyun’s eyes were red. As Lee Sungmin’s golden eyes met with Kim Jonghyun’s scarlet ones, the spear had reached its destination, but so did Kim Jonghyun’s hand as the two collided.

“I’m going to stop you”.

Kim Jonghyun muttered.

It was the Demon Tongue ability again. Although Kim Jonghyun’s ability would not work directly against Lee Sungmin who dealt with internal energy, Kim Jonghyun could still reinforce his body with a coating of a defensive barrier.

Brnnnng!

Lee Sungmin’s spear penetrated the defensive coating around KIm Jonghyun’s hand. It was still something that was used with the Demon Tongue ability, but it was far from perfect.

It was not something Kim Jonghyun had a whole lot of time to prepare, and Kim Jonghyun acknowledged it.

Swik!

The thin film around Kim Jonghyun’s body was smashed and Kim Jonghyun’s hand was pierced by the spear. It did not stop there, as Lee Sungmin’s attack blew away Kim Jonghyun’s entire arm.

Kim Jonghyun smiled and stepped back while his shoulder quickly worked to grow another arm in an instant where the old one was missing.

It was impossible for even Lee Sungmin to regenerate an entire arm. But even for such powers, Kim Jonghyun had to pay a price, Lee Sungmin thought. Kim Jonghyun smiled as the changes in his body were still occurring, and the cracking sound of his bones breaking and remorphing echoed out.

At that point, Kim Jonghyun’s ‘transformation’ ended. It didn’t even take very long in the first place for the spell to complete itself.

With his red eyes, not only did Kim Jonghyun feel like the Devil, but he looked like one too now.

His half-devil body could have benefited more from this spell if he were a true Devil, but it still worked out nonetheless. Compared to the Demon Kings and the Devils of the Demon Realm, he was still lacking in power, but what physical strength he didn’t have, he could make up for with magic.

It wasn’t that he just got stronger either. This transformation didn’t just boost physical prowess.

“I can see it.”

Lee Sungmin was moving at high speeds that were impossible to keep track of earlier. But now, Kim Jonghyun’s senses were sharpened as he could see everything. He could finally see where Lee Sungmin’s spear was moving, the trajectory it was taking, and the location of his body that Lee Sungmin was aiming for.

“Stop.”

Once again, Kim Jonghyun used his Demon Tongue.

The words a while ago could not stop Lee Sungmin’s spear, but it was different now.

Kagagagak!

The place Lee Sungmin wanted to aim for was perfectly blocked with a barrier.

Even his incomplete Demon Tongue ability was strengthened when he went through this transformation process. Everything related to demonic powers had to also be strengthened as Kim Jonghyun was becoming closer and closer to the ideal being he wanted to become.

“Why are you laughing?”

Lee Sungmin asked as he saw Kim Jonghyun’s smile. He pulled back the spear he had stretched out.

Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques, Sixth Move : Undying Spear (劍仙)

As soon as the red and purple aura burst out from Lee Sungmin’s speartip, the barrier Kim Jonghyun had erected was smashed. Lee Sungmin followed up and aimed for Kim Jonghyun’s chest without a moment of delay.

“Firm…”

Lee Sungmin’s spear was faster than Kim Jonghyun’s words as the Demon Tongue ability couldn’t be activated in earnest.

BOOM!

Although the intent of the Demon Tongue was still present, Kim Jonghyun was unable to fully block the spear. To an extent, he still had mitigated the damage.

Lee Sungmin roughly noticed how Kim Jonghyun’s Demon Tongue ability worked.

The Demon Tongue was a fraudulent ability, but Lee Sungmin was faster than it. If he could move faster than Kim Jonghyun’s mouth, it would clearly not be as strong.

The thing was… Lee Sungmin was faster than that. He was much faster than a Wizard who trained all their life perfecting their chant speed, and faster than almost anything in this world.

“Fir-.”

It was even faster than before as Kim Jonghyun could not even finish the words.

No matter how fast one spoke, there was no need to even try and contest the speed of Lee Sungmin’s Dark Storm Arts.

[You’re a bad opponent for him.]

Heoju muttered. It was as he said. The Dark Storm Arts technique that was developed by Sima Ryunju was something that could be said to reach the pinnacle of all martial arts. It was not something a Wizard would be able to go up against, since a Wizard’s greatest weaknesses and strengths revolved around the concept of time.

Lee Sungmin may not be able to perfectly replicate the pinnacle that Sima Ryunju hach reached in terms of speed, but his comprehension of it and use of regenerative abilities could make up for the gaps.

Even if he did not master it completely with his body, it was still much faster than Kim Jonghyun’s chants. Kim Jonghyun’s abilities would likely overwhelm other martial artists, but not to the sole successor of the Dark Storm Arts: Lee Sungmin.

“It’s more than I thought…”

Kim Jonghyun clenched his teeth. Lee Sungmin’s speed was far more than Kim Jonghyun thought.

It was a day filled with surprises for Kim Jonghyun. He had learned that Abel was the brother of Envirus, one of the Greatest Wizards of all time, that Volander had been defeated by Lee Sungmin of all people, and much more.

But the most surprising thing was that Lee Sungmin still could go faster than what he had previously shown Kim Jonghyun.

‘Of course…. it wasn’t his full power back then.’

Kim Jonghyun recognized that this power and speed was nothing compared to when he saw Lee Sungmin a few days ago in his mansion.

At that time, Lee Sungmin’s spear appeared quite fast and strong, but not to the degree it was right now. No matter how sincere the show of internal energy was, there was no way that Lee Sungmin had been showing his best at that time.

But.. Kim Jonghyun’s idea was wrong. At that time, Lee Sungmin had sincerely thought about killing Kim Jonghyun then and there and did show his best.

In other words, Kim Jonghyun thought he had seen Lee Sungmin’s best. But the thing was that it was Lee Sungmin’s best at the time. Lee Sungmin, currently in front of him, had improved that much in just a few days.

Even if it was only two days, nobody should have been able to progress that much.

But it wasn’t even the span of two days that made Lee Sungmin improve so vastly. It was the fight he had with Volander which helped him progress further than ever before in such a short time.

If Lee Sungmin had run away from Volander or decided to confront Kim Jonghyun directly without fighting Volander one-on-one, Lee Sungmin would have not been able to stop the Demon Tongue ability.

The ‘ceiling’ that Sima Ryunju had given Lee Sungmin, was showing only part of its sincere heights. Lee Sungmin had gotten closer to that ceiling through hands-on experience.

Despite facing the brunt of Lee Sungmin’s ruthless attack, Kim Jonghyun was still smiling.

Even if he was surprised at the speed Lee Sungmin showed, it wasn’t fatal. Kim Jonghyun had transformed into his truest form as a Half-Devil, but there was still much more to show.

Lee Sungmin’s spear once again pointed toward Kim Jonghyun, who was smiling. It was the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques once more. If speed was not an area Kim Jonghyun could contest with Lee Sungmin in, he had to take a different approach.

Kim Jonghyun’s hand came forward and met with the spear.

Bang!

At the moment it touched, the spear couldn’t penetrate Kim Jonghyun’s hand. Rather, the force that was transmitted through Lee Sungmin’s spear, rebounded and completely shredded up the flesh on Lee Sungmin’s arms.

Despite not being able to see what truly happened, Lee Sungmin still felt that his spear had attacked Kim Jonghyun. It was just that the force had somehow been re-distributed in half to both sides.

Lee Sungmin was flustered as his arms were hurt; in particular his right arm was limp and twisted backwards, but he was not shaken up by it for too long. Ignoring the pain in his right arm, he shifted the spear into his left hand and faced Kim Jonghyun.

Pulling out his internal energy, Lee Sungmin coated the spear in spatial essence,Demonic Emperor’s Dark Storm Arts : Lightning Gale (雷風)

Kim Jong-hyun could not react at all.

Instead, all he could feel was the shaking of space. His body was that of a demon’s, and demons were more specialized towards combat than one would think. That was why he felt the space shaking and distorting despite not being able to see the spear.

Even now, Kim Jonghyun could feel his body slowly adapting to the fight as his body was making adjustments in real-time.

Kim Jonghyun had assimilated this body with one of an Ancient Devil. One that stood atop all other Demons in the Demon Realm including the other Devils and Demon Kings.‘I don’t understand what happened to Kaladra, the Ancient Devil I had assimilated with.’

Kim Jonghyun felt a small lingering thought in the back of his mind, as he did not know of what had happened to this Ancient Devil in the past. He was only half of a Devil right now, but what would have happened if he had inherited all of Kaladra’s powers?

He would be incomparably stronger than he was now. But even then… what happened to the Devil that made him disappear?

Kim Jonghyun decided to recall the questions at a later time as they were not important at the moment.

Luckily, he knew that Lee Sungmin’s spear was aimed at his back.

It was impossible to properly respond to Lee Sungmin’s incredible speed with the spear as of that moment.

But if his body continued to transform the way that it was..

“There’s no attacks that I won’t be able to take.”’

* * *

Would Lee Sungmin be able to knock down Kim Jonghyun all by himself?

Abel didn’t expect anything since he did not know much about what had happened to Lee Sungmin recently.

If Lee Sungmin’s master had shown up in person, he would have never even had to worry about this happening in the first place.

The power of Sima Ryunju that Abel had been able to take a glimpse at, was nothing to be regarded as something a human could ever have, and even if Kim Jonghyun had indeed become ridiculously overpowered and had incomprehensible regenerative powers, he would not be Sima Ryunju’s match.

However, Lee Sungmin said that… his master was dead.

“Will he be able to kill Kim Jonghyun?”

“He doesn’t have to kill him right at this moment.”

Abel replied. He glanced at Frau who followed and had asked the question. He had initially asked for Frau’s help because Abel thought her powers of sorcery would be able to stop the necromancy spells that Kim Jonghyun had prepared. But now, Abel needed her for a different matter since Lee Sungmin was holding back Kim Jonghyun.

“First of all, we need to focus on changing the coordinates of the connecting realm.”

Lee Sungmin’s role was to hold Kim Jonghyun until Frau and Abel found a way to do that.

‘…… After I do that though?’

Not all of their problems would disappear even if Abel was to change the coordinates of the connection to a different world. What would they do about Kim Jonghyun after that?

Although it was an incomplete immortality spell that Kim Jonghyun was using, it would be extremely difficult to even kill such a person.

‘No, don’t think about that right now.’

Abel hurried his steps. The first thing they had to do was to prevent Eria from being connected to the Demon Realm.

There were no more survivors where Abel was. Abel had moved to the deceased Lord’s residence of Germane. It was in a withered state, and the building held no more of its former prestige and noble image. Abel looked beyond all of that, and locked his eyes with a black sphere floating in the center of the garden.

“I feel bad.”

Frau muttered. Her eyes were seeing what Abel could not.

When she first saw Germane from the distance before the subjugation, she could tell that the souls were crying out in pain. But in that sphere, she was able to see something much more saddening. The tens of thousands of souls that had been mercilessly slaughtered were all swimming together inside of the black sphere, screaming for help.

“I’m not able to see what you see, but I think I can get a general gist of it. I already feel all sorts of weird energy coming from that orb.”

“If you approach it carelessly, you’ll die.”

Frau warned Abel as she replied.

“Yes, but we have to get close in order to stop Kim Jonghyun here. Rather, I am quite lucky you’re here with me.”

When he said that, Abel felt like his heart had stopped.

He felt like he was suffocating.

He jerked and turned his head to look at Frau as he realized something with his own words.

Frau tilted her head as she looked at Abel’s white face and widened eyes.

Lucky.

The word luck started to spin around in Abel’s head as he felt something amiss and angry at the same time.

He was lucky. If Frau hadn’t been nearby in the South, and if nobody else came here with him, this might not have even been possible.

If Kim Jonghyun had not chosen Germane as the location of his massacre, which was relatively closeby to the City of Endless Night where Frau lived, Abel would have never asked for her help, and she would have never come.

Lucky.

“Oh.”

Frau finally also understood what Abel was thinking about.

There were no such things as coincidences in the world of Eria. Both of them knew that by now.

“……We need to go through with it”

“Wait a minute… Wait a minute. It might be too much of a risk.”

Frau spat out in embarrassment, not like her usual self as she realized something could go wrong with their plan here.

What if it was not a coincidence? What if everything here was according to the fate of the Apocalypse? If Kim Jonghyun’s large scale massacre and Frau’s intervention with Abel… was all planned according to fate…

No matter what they did… would it still be for naught?

“We can’t look back now.”

Abel clenched his teeth. He took off the robe he was wearing and took out the Weiss.

He did not hesitate to walk toward the black sphere.

“Do it!”

Abel shouted. Fate or whatever it was, Abel was sick and tired of it.

Whenever Abel thought of the word fate, He thought back to his irritating brother Envirus. The older brother who abandoned this world out of fear of his own fate. Envirus was a moron of a brother to Abel who threw away all of his magical talents and life just to run away from confronting his own destiny.

Abel hated him. If he had the same magical talent as his brother…. He would have never stooped so low.

“Fuck, we have to hurry……!”

Frau grumbled as Abel shouted once more and raised both of her hands.

Her hair soared up into the air as Frau focused on the tens of thousands of souls trapped inside the sphere. 

Abel believed in Frau and continued to walk forward. Frau’s sorcery was creating a walkway for Abel to get close to the sphere without being attacked by the malevolent energy created from the souls of the departed.

In front of the sphere, Abel looked down at the Weiss in his hands.

Reaching out, Abel touched the sphere. He thought there would be some kind of reaction or force of rejection immediately, but there was none.‘The connection is almost complete.’

All Abel had to do was confirm the coordinates of the world he was changing the location to, and inject a bit of his mana into the sphere.

He was only able to do this because he was in possession of the Weiss.

Abel decided to go through with it, as he knew this would take a large portion of his remaining life expectancy to pull off this spell.

The sphere began to vibrate. The magic of the Weiss was triggered. The coordinates were changed and had been grabbed onto a distant world far from Eria.

Abel concentrated his mind by touching the sphere. He interfered with the complex magic techniques contained in the sphere, erased the existing coordinates engraved inside of it and entered the new coordinates from the Weiss.

Soon, the Weiss’ spell started to activate.

And a colorful light covered the space.

T/N : Please give a warm welcome to our new proofreader : orchid!if you like what I do and want to purchase extra chapters and support me, check out my kofi! http://www.ko-fi.com/betterdays/