'Done.'
He felt a sensation in his hands.
It was Satan, to be more precise, he'd pierced the being he thought was a fragment of his.
It was obvious that a smile would appear on his face.
'That was dangerous.'
To be honest, for a moment, he'd become too flustered.
He'd been just as surprised when Balrog had come out and called him Demon King, but…
He looked at Satan's body that had become some sticky, black liquid.
It seemed like his guess that he was a duplicate was right.
If it were Satan's real body, he wouldn't have melted down.
'I was able to smother the flames for the moment.'
He hadn't killed the real Satan, so he hadn't solved the real problem.
Satan would keep calling himself Satan, and he would be hunted for it.
'But…'
KangWoo laughed, and his eyes shone.
To think that Satan was really on Earth.
On top of that, he was the one who was leading the Demon Cult from the shadows.
'If I play my cards correctly…'
He thought that he could use that to his advantage.
Just like pus from a wound slowly built up, once the crimes he had committed stacked up enough, they could be solved by blaming them on Satan as long as he didn’t really die.
He could use him.
'This isn't time to do that.'
KangWoo turned while looking at Satan's melted duplicate.
The situation wasn't over because he'd gotten rid of Satan's duplicate.
There was another really important main event.
'Why is that bastard Lucifer so quiet…'
He tried to find Lucifer, who had suddenly disappeared.
"Huh?" he said in a confused voice.
Lucifer was nowhere to be seen.
[Lucifer…!]
He turned his body.
He saw Lucifer looking at him with cold eyes while holding Lucis.
"Let me go! I! I gave my soul to Ms. Lilith…!"
"Remain still."
He knocked Lucis out.
Lucifer sighed and waved his hand in the air.
A blue gate appeared.
[Damn!!]
KangWoo stomped on the ground, and he shot forward at just above supersonic speed, creating a sonic boom and a strong gust of wind.
'Damn!'
He bit his lip.
Lucifer escaping wasn't something he had planned.
Lucifer and Lucis began disappearing through the gate.
He spread his hands and grabbed Lucifer's arms.
[Are you planning to escape?]
"I came back to my senses…" Lucifer answered in a cold voice.
Unlike his anger-filled look before, he looked way calmer.
[Can't you let me go?]
KangWoo aggressively pulled on Lucifer’s arms.
A bit of Lucifer's body was pulled back from the gate.
"Satan…"
Lucifer glared at him.
He heard a voice filled with strong killing intent.
"I'll be back."
[…]
"I'll return and destroy everything you have. I'm going to make sure you regret what you've done for the rest of eternity."
Rather than a threat, it was closer to a curse.
KangWoo used the Authority of Divine Power and pulled the arm more.
Lucifer pulled back, and his arm was severed.
Crack-!!
[Lucifer…]
His arm fell off like a lizard’s tail, and black blood poured out.
"Satan, remember…"
Before he disappeared through the blue gate, Lucifer spoke in a low voice.
"I'll be back."
Lucifer's body completely disappeared through the gate.
"…"
There was silence over the battlefield.
[E-eek!!]
One of the demons Lucifer had abandoned charged toward KangWoo, who slowly raised his hand, grabbed the demon's horn, and crushed it.
Crack-!
* * *
The demon fell to the ground and screamed.
KangWoo raised his foot.
Crack.
Cranial fluid exploded over the ground.
"Damn… Fuck!!"
He couldn't help but curse.
He grabbed his hair.
'I shouldn't have let him go.'
He was flustered.
He hadn’t acted fast enough and had forgotten about the most important thing.
'I made a mistake.'
If he had returned to his senses faster and dealt with things faster, he could've killed Lucifer there.
His being confused by Satan's sudden appearance was just an excuse—he could've dealt with the new variable and killed Lucifer.
"Damn."
He wasn't able to do that and had made a mistake due to his surprise.
KangWoo frowned.
'Well, It isn't that I completely lost.'
It would take more time, and unless Lucifer were stupid, he would make better preparations.
None of it would matter because Lucifer wasn't aware of a critical fact.
'In the end, his anger is directed toward Satan.'
The misunderstanding hadn't been cleared, no, it had deepened.
KangWoo narrowed his eyes.
Satan was on Earth, and Lucifer had escaped to Ernor.
'How should I cook those guys?'
He was sure he'd be able to use them, but he couldn't think of a way to do that.
It would be impossible to do anything if Lucifer didn't do anything.
'He'll be back.'
He was sure of it.
There was no way Lucifer was just going to run with his tail between his legs, he would be back after making preparations.
"And…"
That anger would get directed at Satan.
"Not bad…"
It would take more time and effort, but considering that was the consequence of making a mistake, it wasn’t bad.
"Lilith…"
"Yes, Mr. KangWoo?"
As he called her name, she appeared.
He slowly turned around.
"You saw everything, right?"
"Yes."
Lilith nodded.
She kept talking.
"I'll torture all of the cultists and figure out Satan's location.
"No, you won't be able to do that."
He wasn't even sure if the Phase of Evil was Satan.
There was no way they'd be able to figure out his location.
"Then…"
"What we killed is Satan's duplicate. His real body should be alive somewhere."
Lilith's eyes shone, and she made a wicked smile.
"So Satan is probably going to move first."
"Someone is pretending to be him, so there's no way he would wander around and do nothing about it."
He'd been humiliated.
He wasn't sure why he couldn't move his main body, but he was definitely going to do something about it.
"What if he doesn't move?"
It was simple…
"We just have to make him move."
It didn’t matter how.
He slowly spread his hand and took off the red demon mask that was covering his face.
A chilling wind touched his skin.
"How many of them survived?"
"About 739 cultists survived; everyone else escaped."
"Grab those at Cardinal rank or above and brainwash them. I don't care what strategy you use—black magic, beauty, torture, whatever. Make them surrender and spread them through the Demon Cult."
He needed agents inside the Demon Cult to figure out Satan's movements.
A chilling smile appeared on Lilith's face.
KangWoo began to walk away.
BOOM-
Balrog knelt in front of him.
[I've restrained all of Lucifer's underlings.]
He looked at the demons that were behind Barog.
The demons, who had been overwhelmed by Balzac's undead army, were looking at KangWoo and trembling in fear.
[W-we surrender!]
[W-we swear loyalty to Mr. S-Satan!] they desperately begged.
KangWoo turned and looked at them.
Balrog opened his mouth.
[There are—]
"There's no need."
KangWoo passed by Balrog as if he weren't interested.
If they were Demon Cult members, it might have been different, but there was no need to keep Lucifer's underlings alive.
He put away the red mask.
"Kill them."
[Yes.]
Balrog nodded.
If there was a way to go to the Ernor Continent, there might have been a use for them, but since they couldn't return there, there was no need for them.
It was better to kill them and then turn them into undead if he wanted to use them as soldiers.
'Those that betray once…'
Always end up betraying again.
Slash-!!
[AGH!!]
[H-help me…!] he heard Lucifer's underling shouting.
He ignored them.
KangWoo walked to where Satan's dead body was along with Lucifer's torn-apart arm.
There was a black liquid over the floor
He sighed.
'I guess it won't be enough with this.'
He thought of the conditions for Demonic Soul.
To achieve the conditions, he had to absorb the body of an archduke with the Authority of Predation.
He thought that he'd be able to fulfill it after eating Lucifer.
'This is the biggest disappointment.'
He still regretted committing such mistakes.
The plan to devour Lucifer could be executed later on, but he had another problem.
The problem was that he hadn't been able to fulfill the conditions for Demonic Soul.
"I guess the price is cheap when I consider the mistake."
Things could've gone wrong, and a situation that couldn't be reversed might have happened.
Not having fulfilled the condition for the Demonic Soul was the cheapest price because making a mistake in a fight between demons usually meant death.
"Tsk," he clicked his tongue.
There was no point in making a fuss over spilled water.
'I should consume these at least.'
He sighed and used the Authority of Predation.
The Authority of Predation covered Satan's duplicate and Lucifer's arms.
'Fuck. I guess not a single stat will increase with this.'
He couldn't help but be disappointed.
Crunch-
The Authority of Predation consumed Satan's fragment and Lucifer's torn-apart arm.
Ting-.
[Activating the attribute 'Archduke Slayer.']
[You have absorbed parts of souls inside Satan's body and part of Lucifer's arm.]
[A weak 'Divinity' has been detected in both souls.]
[The 'quality' has increased compared to the existing archduke.]
[Trying to devour a possible SSS-rank soul.]
[Success!]
'Huh?'
[The passageway that connects with the 'deepest' part of the Ten Thousand Demon Core has been 100% completed.]
[You've fulfilled all of the conditions for Demonic Soul!]
'Eh?'
WHIR-!!!
A thick demonic energy exploded out of him.
The demonic energy from his heart spread through his entire body.
[Starting the Awakening to Demonic Soul.]
"…"
KangWoo's mouth fell open.
'That worked?'
