He was sinking.
There was an endless darkness, and he was sinking into an abyss deeper than the sea.
'Here.'
He slowly opened his eyes.
He couldn't see anything, but he could feel something sticky pulling him.
He couldn't think clearly.
A force he couldn't defy was dragging his body.
Drowsiness, powerlessness, and haziness overwhelmed him as if he was being pressured by something.
'I'm sinking.'
The sensation of sinking was the only thing he could feel.
'I must get out of here.'
Through his blurry consciousness, his natural instincts were telling him he had to get out.
He kicked his feet and waved his hands.
Crack-!
He heard flesh being chewed and bones being crushed.
The mouths that appeared in the darkness grabbed his legs.
'Ah.'
He couldn't feel any pain or sensation.
He felt his ascending body being pulled back a bit.
'It's dangerous.'
His instincts told him.
He wouldn't have thought it was dangerous if he could feel some kind of pain, but he couldn't feel anything, even though his skin was being chewed away.
His sensations were fading away.
It began with his sight, then hearing, and after that, smell. His senses were being erased.
Crunch. His skin was being eaten. He could feel my body quickly being pulled down.
He couldn't feel pain, only terrible drowsiness.
He began thinking that letting his body sink might not be that bad.
'No.'
He shook his head.
He denied the thoughts that had crossed his mind.
'I…'
He had to remember. He had to think of it.
Who was he? He had to remember the life he’d lived and what he’d gone through.
The ego was a mixture of memories and experiences.
The moment he lost his memories, he would be dragged down to the endless sea.
Crunch'
Countless mouths ate his body.
He kicked his feet and swam up through endless darkness, but it wasn't enough.
He could feel his body being dragged into deeper darkness.
He extended his hands but could touch nothing. He kicked his feet but couldn't swim up.
He was getting dragged into a deeper part.
"Damn."
He opened his mouth.
He could feel it.
'I'm in the deepest part.'.
He was deep within the Ten Thousand Demon Core, so deep that he couldn’t use the energy there yet.
It was his first time being there since opening the first door.
His senses were telling him it was dangerous.
It'd been a while since his body had been torn away.
The only thing left was the human, Oh KangWoo’s, thoughts.
'It's already too late.'
He couldn't go back.
He'd fallen too deep.
If more time passed, he would end up melting away and disappearing in the Sea of Demonic Energy.
'I should've used another way.'
He began regretting.
Opening the second door of the Ten Thousand Demon Core…
Even in the past, the only time he'd opened the second door of the Ten Thousand Demon Core was when he fought against Baal.
Back then, he had a hard time returning, but it wasn't as difficult as what he was going through.
'Going up with my strength is impossible.'
It didn't matter how much he tried—going up with his strength being what it was could be considered impossible.
KangWoo turned around.
He couldn't see anything. There was just darkness.
'If things go on like this…'
It would be his end.
Suddenly, he thought of something.
He'd lived an unhappy life when he was suddenly dragged into Hell. There, he spent ten thousand years, and after such harsh times, he was finally starting to be happy, but as soon as he did that…
He would die in vain.
"Fuck."
He frowned.
He'd resisted for ten thousand years. He'd survived while fighting thousands, tens of thousands of times, but yet, he would end up finding death there? Like that?
He couldn't let that happen.
"Let's do it."
He turned around.
His body was still melting down.
The body was being absorbed by the demonic energy from the deepest part and vanishing.
'I don't need it.'
How had the archdukes revived?
Even though their bodies had disappeared, they were able to survive because their souls and minds had been left intact.
The important thing wasn't the Ten Thousand Demon Core, his 666 Authorities, or the endless amount of demonic energy.
Those were only a few things about what made him.
"If I can't go up…"
KangWoo lowered his head.
The deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core…
The Abyss.
"I'll just go down."
He relaxed his body.
As if he'd let go of a bowstring he'd pulled to a limit, his body began sinking at an incredible speed.
Kurr-!
The forces dragging him down were surprised by his sudden change in attitude.
They suddenly tried to push his body up.
KangWoo laughed.
"It's already too late."
He ignored the strength pushing him up and moved toward a deeper part.
Deeper…
Deeper…
Deeper…
And…
Kurr-!
He went through an invisible wall.
A huge power shook his body.
It was the same as before in the sense that it was a place where light didn't reach, but he felt it intuitively.
'Here it is. The Abyss.'
The deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core that he’d never been able to reach. It was where the root of it all was.
* * *
Crack-
A huge crack appeared that was over 1 km in diameter. It was bigger than any fissure he'd seen before.
The huge fissure started to open, and a yellow light poured out from it.
KangWoo's eyes widened.
'It isn't a fissure.'
His body trembled a bit at what he had thought was a fissure.
After realizing what it was, he felt a thrill run through his body.
KangWoo laughed in disbelief.
'This…'
It was an eye.
It was so big that trying to describe its size was pointless.
A black pupil appeared within the horizontally torn eye.
An eye that was the size of a world cup stadium looked at KangWoo.
[Why have you come here already?]
"What…?"
He could ask questions with his mind.
KangWoo frowned.
'What's this?'
There was an unknown being in the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core.
A being he'd never seen or felt was looking at KangWoo.
He felt chills.
It was as if he'd seen a being he couldn't defy. It was as if he'd seen a…
'God.'
It was one that couldn't be compared to Tyrion.
The huge presence made breathing hard.
'Fuck.'
KangWoo bit his lips.
Even if it were himself before being sealed by the Gaia System, he probably wouldn't have been able to go against that being.
'Why is such a thing inside me?'
He couldn't understand it. His head started to hurt.
Why was an external, conscious being inside the Abyss, the deepest part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core?
[It shouldn't be the time of prophecy yet.]
"What does that mean?"
KangWoo narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you? Why are you inside me?"
It probably wasn't something ridiculous like a second consciousness.
'Do I have a split personality?'
Did it make sense that someone who lived with firm beliefs like him and whose thoughts and actions matched had a split personality?
No. It felt too foreign for it to be another personality of his.
[I'm the source and root of Evil, Father of Demons, and creator of the Hell of Nine Skies.]
"…"
[To put it simply, I'm a demon god.]
A demon god…
Kangwoo laughed in disbelief and put his hand on his forehead as if it hurt.
"Wait. I'm not sure if you're the source or root, whatever, but why are you inside me?"
It was true that he was doing the steps to become a demon god, but he'd only fulfilled half of the second condition.
He couldn't understand why a demon god was inside him.
[You don't know?]
"There's no way I'd know. I've devoured countless demons, but I don't remember eating a god."
[HAHAHA! It's obvious you don't have memories.]
The giant eyes moved.
[I was inside you from the beginning. Before you even fell into Hell.]
"What kind of nonsense is that? Before I fell to Hell, I was…"
[Normal? You were nothing?]
Haha.
A thick smile could be felt behind the eye’s tone.
[Does a normal human have the Authority of Predation? Could a normal human remain sane after absorbing such a huge amount of demonic energy? Do you think you would've been able to rule the Hell of Nine Skies in just ten thousand years?]
"…"
[The answer is simple… It was like that from the start.]
The horizontally torn pupil turned around.
[You were abnormal from the beginning.]
"…"
There was silence.
KangWoo narrowed his eyes as if he didn't like the answer.
The self-titled ‘demon god’ kept talking.
[Human, do you remember the face of your mother?]
"What?"
[Do you remember who gave birth to you?]
He shook his head.
He was abandoned by his parents as soon as he was born.
He'd never seen the face of his mother, nor had he tried to look at her.
[Let me change the question. Do you really think you have a being called a ‘mother’?]
"…"
[At this point, you should've understood how much of a foreign being you are.]
There was no way he wouldn't have understood such direct words.
KangWoo's body trembled.
He covered his face with his hand…
And…
Laughed.
"Hahaha! Fuck. You say some funny shit. Huh?"
[Hmm…?]
"How dare you insult my parents."
[What?]
"Why do you care if I have a mother or not?"
[I didn't mean it in that sense…]
"Aah. Well, I was kidding. I more or less understood what you meant."
KangWoo waved his hand.
"Isn't this one of those?"
[What…]
"It's obvious. You were planning to appear later on and say something like, ‘everything was my plan from the beginning, so give me your body!’ You were trying to say nonsense like that, right?"
[…]
"Right? You bastard. Seeing how you’re remaining silent, it seems like I was right. I knew it from the moment you began talking about the secrets of my birth."
[You…]
"What? You expected me to be shocked after learning the truth that I don't have parents? ‘I… I was just a puppet?!’ Should I say nonsense like that and make a scene out of it?"
“Hahaha,” he laughed out loud.
"You're one cheap bastard. Why didn't you do it yourself if you wanted it so bad? You act very high and mighty for being a pathetic being who remained in hiding until now."
The tips of his mouth went up, and he raised his head.
He opened his mouth toward a god whose body was so massive he couldn't completely see it at first glance.
"Go fuck yourself."
The virginity he'd protected for ten thousand years…
To be more precise, the body that wasn't touched yet by 'human' hands…
"How dare you try to take over my body."
‘I can't give it to you because it's unfair!!’
