[Editor — Angel bows down to the almighty Chun Yeowun—Demon God, Second Chun Ma, and the 24th Lord of the Sky Demon Order.]
Chun Ma — nothing is known about his origins, except that at the age of 18, he attained the greatest level of martial arts and overthrew all famous masters with only one blade, and was hailed later as the “World’s Best Warrior.”1
Overwhelming power.
It was an incomparable power when it has directly struck the opponent.
Grand Duke Kaliaf’s surprise was short-lived as his face darkened.
‘Dark… flame…’
A memory he had forgotten came to his mind. At that moment, he felt a shiver run down his spine.
‘Why did I forget about it?’
Darkness itself. The spark which set everything on fire. It was ferocious, all-consuming terror.
‘Arisha?’
At that time, Chun Yeowun looked somewhere and raised his hand. He pulled on something as if he was ripping it.
Everyone wondered what he would do next and couldn’t hide their surprise.
“L-look over there!”
“What is that?”
Crack!
The sound of the sky being torn could be heard—the loud sound even hurt the ears of the demons.
As the space was torn, a place filled with darkness was revealed, which brought out a sharp sense.
Crack!
Chun Yeowun stretched out his hand, pretending to pull something. Something sharp and warping the space spilled out of the ripped sky at that instant, like a massive wave.
‘Spatial Sword.’
The Spatial Sword could be achieved if one ascended to the Void Master level. Its scale couldn’t even be compared to what Hwang-heol, the last alive subordinate of Blade God, said.
Chachacak!
The Spatial Sword rains down like a downpour. The place it was headed to was none other than the outskirts of the western side. It was pouring at the five thousand elite demon army that arrived earlier and was now stationed outside the fortress.
Whisper!
The demons looked confused. Marquis Laud, the commander of their group, was waiting for the signal, but something weird was emanating from the castle.
“W-what is that?”
A sharp sense of something moving could be felt from the torn sky. It was tough to put it into words.
However, there was just one thing he knew.
‘It’s dangerous!’
As the swords were rushing in at great speed, Marquis Laud shouted.
“Troops! Retreat!”
The demons staring up in wonder ran at once when they heard this command. It wasn’t a situation where they could appreciate the enemy’s strength.
The only way to survive would be to run fast.
Chachachacha!
It was like a tsunami of swords. The Spatial Swords poured down from the castle and swept them all instantly. It was a different kind of swept away from the waves.
“Kuak!”
“Ack!”
They turned into shreds as soon as the Spatial Swords crashed on their bodies. Their nuclei were greatly destroyed, which turned them into ashes. Even Marquis Laud was no exception.
“W-what is thi….”
Pssss!
No one there could prevent what was happening. Everything had to burn down in the place where the Spatial Sword was moving like a tsunami.
The demons watching it from the other sides were at a loss for words.
They felt chills run down their spines as they watched five thousand elite demons vanishing into thin air without a fight.
“I-is this the power of a human?”
“… what are you saying? That isn’t a human. What kind of human can do the Advanced Awakening which only Grand Dukes can do?”
“Then, he’s from our clan?”
The demons no longer thought of Chun Yeowun as a human. Perhaps they even question whether he was an existence that the clan had hidden.
Psss!
The last remaining demons were killed. The western side of the castle now only had ashes on the ground.
The atmosphere was so strange. Until recently, they were hostile towards each other.
However, when all the demons led by the Demon King’s aides came, Chun Yeowun helped eradicate them, and the demons who felt happy shouted at once.
“Woahhhh!!”
“Risha! Risha! Risha!”
The demons, who didn’t know Chun Yeowun’s name, shouted Risha while looking at him in the air.
It was a shout calling him a hero.
Chun Yeowun looked at his hand, which had the black flame.
’… definitely, beyond the human level.’
It was his, but the power felt like it transcended the human level. He didn’t know that the power of the Spatial Sword could be raised to that level. For him, this was just a chance to test how much he would do if he used the Advanced Awakening, and the result was beyond imagination.
‘It will be difficult to control.’
He felt that he was getting too powerful. He wondered if he would ever find someone who could fight him on equal footing.
He soon covered his face with his hand.
Swoosh!
He then turned back into his original state after lowering his hand. In his human form, he suddenly felt weak, like he was punched all over his body.
Tremble!
His body was shaking so much that he could feel it without looking at himself. There definitely was a risk of using the Advanced Awakening. However…
[The overload of the muscles will be handled.]
As the nanomachines in the body were activated, they expanded and relaxed the muscles that felt like they would explode anytime.
Even the five spirits core in him helped this. The horrible after-effects of the awakening subsided in just a few seconds.
’… maybe plain fatigue.’
He didn’t know much but decided to consider it as fatigue. Even so, it could be said that the risk was small compared to the result, and it felt like his body had slightly been drained after it.
Shhh!
After the aftereffects got better, Chun Yeowun moved down to the inner side of the yard, which had been intact when he first arrived but was now a mess. However, the faces of the demons were bright. It was because there wasn’t even a single casualty among them, and the ones who suffered were the opponents.
“Wahhh!!!”
“Risha! Risha!”
They shouted Risha to Chun Yeowun as he was coming down. Chun Yeowun frowned at their never-seen enthusiastic cheers.
“Risha?”
It sounded like the demon language, but he had no idea what it meant. At that time, Grand Duke Kaliaf, Duke Bevman, and the other high-ranking demons serving them approached.
Chun Yeowun said to them,
“You are lucky. Did I say it before? I eradicated the other, taking the side of one enemy.”
Grand Duke Kaliaf answered with a smile.
“How could we be Risha’s enemy?”
“I keep hearing that Risha… What does Risha even mean?”
It was Duke Bevman who answered that question.
“Word for the best warrior in the clan.”
“Best warrior?”
Only then did the question of why the demons shouted Risha have been resolved. The demons who were warlike and skilled in battle admired excellent warriors.
They recognized Chun Yeowun as the best of them.
“Stellar.”
Chun Yeowun snorted at it. He didn’t hate this. Grand Duke Kaliaf bowed on one knee and said,
“I will repeat the oath of allegiance.”
Grand Duke Kaliaf was about to repeat the oath, but it didn’t stop there.
Thud!
Duke Bevman and the other high-ranking demons also fell to their knees.
All the demons around them, even those on the watchtower, bowed their heads as they got down on their knees.
Grand Duke Kaliaf shouted.
“Grand Duke Kaliaf acknowledged the defeat and swears the oath of allegiance to Risha according to the law of our clan.”
All the demons then shouted along.
“We swear on the oath of allegiance!!!”
They all shouted in a loud voice. Grand Duke Kaliaf wasn’t alone in it. All the demons under Grand Duke swore to Chun Yeowun.
This wasn’t something to be taken lightly. Among the numerous demons, one-quarter of the power went under him. Grand Duke Kaliaf smiled and spoke to Chun Yeowun.
“Risha. You have a huge group of us under you.”
“Kuaaah!”
Kwang!
The round table shattered.
It was Duke Edhuy who destroyed it. He was rational and cold-hearted compared to the other Dukes, but the disastrous results caused this rageful behavior.
Bang! Bang!
Duke Edhuy destroyed anything he could see. With his force razing, nothing in the annex would be left alone.
“Kuaaah! That damned human bastard! He changed everything!”
There was no way he could get himself to understand what had happened.
Three of his close associates were killed. Although it was a bit unreasonable, he used 70% of his force under the judgment that this situation would be the best for them, but everything had gone wrong.
As a result, the balance which had been narrowly achieved was shattered.
“Phew…”
Duke Edhuy, who was destroying the annex, stopped and gradually regained composure. It wasn’t possible to reverse the situation with his anger.
‘If the Grand Duke is advancing to the Demon King, then there is no way to stop it.’
There was no need to wait and collect all of Arisha’s Armor.
With the power on his side, the Grand Duke could have moved at any time and executed him and the others, and he would have been able to take the throne without the armor.
‘But that won’t happen because of his personality.’
Although they were fighting against each other now, he had known Grand Duke Kaliaf for many years.
He will never move against the laws of the clan. Even for the sake of leading the demons, he will make sure to follow the process the right way.
This wasn’t a guess.
The only variable would be the unknown human being who came in.
‘How can a human have Advanced Awakening?’
Besides, the power the human had was beyond imagination. Duke Edhuy couldn’t have imagined that a human would eradicate all the demons under him.
‘What was it? Was that even possible? Was Arisha’s Sword that capable?’
He didn’t know that a human could use Advanced Awakening. Now the question was how the Awakening would help the human.
That nonsensical power… was even beyond the level that no one other than the Demon King could tackle.
‘If not the Demon King, then?’
It was that moment when something crossed his mind.
A secret is known to those close to the Demon King knew. And now, only he knew.
‘Demon King…’
Duke Edhuy shook his head after a brief pause.
‘No. That is too much. It’s a position we barely managed to get… if it is awakened, then it will be impossible to fix.’
Duke Edhuy seemed troubled by something.
As a strategist, he made numerous assumptions on what to do but couldn’t come up with an answer.
A plan was also devised to move the other two Grand Dukes. However, if he moved without a suitable method, he would only be throwing a good one as prey to the wolf.
“Kuah!”
Time was running out.
Unless the Grand Duke was an idiot, they would also plan a move. Duke Edhuy, who contemplated for a long time, moved and headed somewhere.
It was the heart of the Demon King’s castle. After entering the castle, he went into the Demon King’s room and looked at the enormous empty red throne.
“Phew.”
Taking a deep breath, he approached the throne. Then he passed the throne and strode straight towards the wall behind.
However, his body went through the wall.
Woong!
Passing through the wall revealed a hidden dark space. He was now the only one in the clan who knew of this secret.
As he entered that space, a dark bright light flowed from the wall, illuminating the surrounding. And there came a staircase leading to the basement.
Step! Step!
The sound of footsteps reverberated around as he went down the stairs.
After going down for a while, a chamber can be seen. A bright light came from the ceiling and walls, illuminating the interior.
Bubble!
There was the sound of something boiling. A huge glass tube appeared in front of Duke Edhuy. There was a blue liquid up to the lip of the tube, and something in the shape of a seal was placed on it.
Bubble!
The bubbles were coming out of the mouth of the man inside the tube. His form has no arms and legs, and a third of his torso was also blown off. It was just the head and chest that remained.
Inside, something like a black rise was tightly wrapped around the tiny body as if it was in a cocoon. The only area exposed was the nose and mouth.
Shhh!
Duke Edhuy glanced at the black armor on his waist and thighs; it was completely different from the other pieces of armor he had on.
Duke Edhuy mumbled as he touched the tube.
“… can I really control it?”
There was uncertainty in his eyes. He wasn’t sure if this choice would make a lot of difference.
Duke Edhuy, who had been standing in front of the glass tube, finally made a decision and moved closer.
“This is a gamble of a lifetime.”
At the same time, in a hallway inside the castle of Grand Duke Kaliaf. Chun Yeowun was following the Grand Duke. He had been following him since the Grand Duke had asked for some of his time.
A massive door was in front of them after they had reached the end of the hallway. The Grand Duke touched the ruby stone in the middle of the enormous door with his palm, and a light shone from the ruby as the door opened.
Kiik!
The door opened with a sound and musty smell. It meant that the inside hadn’t been cleaned for a while. As soon as they entered, lights shone from the walls and brightened the place.
“Hmm.”
It was quite a large room full of many antique-like things, from armors to statues in unusual forms and books.
“Why did you bring me here?”
“To answer the question.”
“Question?”
At Chun Yeowun’s response, Grand Duke walked further into the room and pointed his finger at the huge picture hanging on the wall.
The frame was full of dust and hard to see.
Shh! Wheing!
When Chun Yeowun slightly waved his hand, the wind blew the dust away from the frame and gathered in one place.
Then came the frame clearly visible to them. The frame seemed to be a painting of someone.
However, Chun Yeowun’s expression changed when he saw the one in it.
“… what is this?”
“What you asked.”
The painting was clearly of someone. However, it was someone who was wearing black armor, Arisha’s Armor.
It wasn’t because of the armor that Chun Yeowun reacted like this. It was because the face of the person wearing the armor wasn’t in the form of a human or demon with a face but in blazing black flames.
“Answer my question. What is this?”
Grand Duke Kaliaf answered most politely.
“This… this here is the portrait of Arisha.”
