"Can you create an abyss knight immediately?"
[Hmm… There's a bit of a problem.]
Balzac opened his mouth after looking at Ludwig's corpse.
KangWoo frowned.
"What problem?"
[There's too much divine energy left inside his body. We'll have to wait until the divine energy naturally disappears. I cannot proceed like this.]
Balzac made a troubled expression.
"Hmm."
KangWoo fell into thought and walked toward Ludwig’s body.
"divine energy, huh?"
Humans, monsters, and even gods like Tyrion that had divinity used the energy of nature called magic power.
demonic energy was an energy that had destructive characteristics, and it originated from the Hell of Nine Skies.
Then there was divine energy, which was the complete opposite of it.
Of course, the three energies were the same in the sense that they could be channeled into power to break and destroy things—it wasn't that you would heal someone if you swung a weapon with divine energy.
Although their properties were different, they were all, fundamentally, energies.
'I wonder what will happen.'
KangWoo's eyes shone with great interest.
In the case of magic power, he had the attribute 'Mana-craving Demon' that transformed it into demonic energy, but he'd never absorbed divine energy before.
'I wonder if I can transform divine energy into demonic energy.'
It would be good news knowing that he could absorb divine energy from strong people like Ludwig.
[First, we should wait until it naturally disappears from his body…]
"No."
KangWoo spread his hands over Ludwig’s body, and blue smoke poured over the corpse from his hands.
'Authority of Predation.'
Sharp teeth floated within the dark-blue fog.
Rather than a beast’s teeth, they looked like toothy suction cups.
He modified them so they would absorb Ludwig's divine energy and leave Ludwig's body intact.
Slurp-
The small teeth bit Ludwig's body and began absorbing the divine energy within.
Whir. White light poured out of Ludwig's body and entered KangWoo's body.
Crack-!
"Ugh."
KangWoo frowned.
He felt his skin wrinkling where divine energy entered, and his body felt like it was burning from within.
'Is the demonic energy reacting?'
KangWoo clicked his tongue.
If they were opposite energies, he couldn't forcefully absorb them.
He tried to stop absorbing divine energy.
Then…
Ting-
[Your divine energy has increased by 1.]
"What?"
He suddenly got an unexpected message and was surprised.
"A stat increase?"
He laughed in disbelief.
'No, well, I absorbed divine energy, so I guess it makes sense for divine energy to increase.'
Still, he was the Demon King, so he felt weird having divine energy.
'Should I call this falling? What should I call it?'
If an angel obtained demonic energy, people said they'd fallen, but what would they call the opposite case?
'Well, anyways…'
What he called it wasn’t that important.
KangWoo fell into thought while looking at the stat that had suddenly appeared.
'Should I try to stack more of this or not?'
Was it going to be poison, or would it benefit him?
He wasn’t sure.
Although it was true that they were opposite energies, it wasn't that they intensely reacted against each other.
It wasn't hard to restrict the demonic energy and simultaneously absorb divine energy.
'First, I should see what happens when I absorb it.'
He needed to see how both energies reacted after being absorbed.
If it hindered him from moving the demonic energy within his body, there was no need to have it.
Ting-
[Your Divine Energy stat has increased by 1.]
[Your Divine Energy stat has increased by 1.]
He kept absorbing Ludwig's divine energy.
Was it because his stat was high? He could see his divine energy stat increasing very fast.
He closed his eyes and moved his demonic energy.
He saw a trace of light flowing into the endless abyss.
It was as if he'd found a species that had the ability to produce its own light in the middle of a bottomless abyss.
He felt it was fascinating and beautiful.
'Is this divine energy?'
He raised his hand, and a small but white light gathered.
He felt his heart floating with a gentle sensation.
Holy energy—a non-precise way of describing it was the best way to express it.
'I feel like I'll look impressive if I surround myself with it.'
* * *
If he covered his body with demonic energy, he gave the impression of being destructive and aggressive, so divine energy would have the opposite effect—he would exude a warm and trustworthy atmosphere.
'This should be useful.'
It was only close to an optical illusion.
It had nothing to do with a person’s real characteristics or qualities, and it was more akin to wearing different clothes.
Still, in human relationships, how you looked and the clothes that you wore were quite important.
Swindlers always looked neat for a reason, after all.
Who would invest in the new coin you were promoting if you wore old and rusty clothes?
'Of course, I'm not a swindler.'
He was very far away from the act of deceiving others, but leaving that aside, he couldn't help but think that divine energy would be helpful to him.
Thinking about how he had to build a positive relationship with angels from then on, divine energy was something that was absolutely necessary.
'I cannot rely only on the ‘Ruler of Demonic Energy’ attribute.'
‘Ruler of Demonic Energy’ made that demonic energy feel like magic power, and he couldn't cause an effect similar to divine energy with it.
Since he had confirmed that they could detect demonic energy with the power of something like Holy Sword Ludwig, having divine energy would probably be useful.
'There's a chance I could interfere with demonic energy detection with divine energy.'
The chances of that being possible weren't high.
There was no way he'd be able to hide his demonic energy with only Ludwig’s divine energy.
After all, pouring a bucket of freshwater into the ocean didn’t mean you could call it a river.
If he used it with the ‘Ruler of Demonic Energy’, it seemed like some results could be achieved.
'It also seems like it won't hinder my control of demonic energy.'
That was the most important thing.
If he consciously regulated his demonic energy, he could avoid it clashing with divine energy.
It was the same as when he used the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style while walking.
[D-did you just absorb divine energy?] Balzac asked in confusion as if he'd just witnessed something unbelievable.
"Ah, yes."
He nodded.
He couldn't understand why Balzac was so surprised.
'If you can control demonic energy, it isn't hard to have both energies simultaneously.'
He thought that even Balzac should be able to do it.
[Just what… There's no way such a thing…]
Balzac put his hands on top of his skull in confusion.
KangWoo tilted his head and placed his hands on top of Ludwig's corpse again.
"Then, I'll take all of his divine energy for the moment."
[W…]
Before Balzac could finish talking, the Authority of Predation surrounded Ludwig's body.
Thin and long teeth pierced the corpse.
"Haa."
A heated breath left his mouth.
He was accepting divine energy while regulating his demonic energy, and it was a difficult task that stimulated his brain.
'This is quite fun.'
It felt like playing a well-thought-out puzzle game.
KangWoo accepted divine energy while smiling.
Ting-
[Your Divine Energy stat has increased by 1.]
[Your Divine Energy stat has reached 73!]
'73, huh?'
Although it looked like a lot at first glance, that wasn't the case in reality.
'Did most of it vanish in the process of absorbing it?'
Ludwig's stat had probably easily surpassed the 100 mark.
Considering that each point made a bigger difference the higher the stat was, 73 wasn’t high.
'Well, I guess there's nothing I can do about it.'
The Authority of Predation couldn't even fully absorb demonic energy with 100% efficiency, so there was no chance it would be able to perfectly absorb divine energy, which was something it hadn’t done before.
'Should I test it a bit?'
He began wondering what would happen if he used both energies simultaneously.
KangWoo raised his left arm, concentrated, and used both energies.
WHOOM-!!!!
The lab shook.
The two energies began pouring out in all directions as if a chemical reaction was happening.
"Ugh," he moaned.
The skin of his left arm split and black blood poured out.
Then for a moment…
'Gray?'
He saw a gray energy he'd never seen before gathering around his left arm.
Before he could think about that gray energy, he felt an intense pain spread through his left arm.
"Oh, fuck."
It hurt a lot.
It was even hard to resist for KangWoo, who was used to pain.
He restricted his demonic energy and stopped it from clashing with the divine energy.
'Is it hard to mix both energies?'
He was curious about the gray energy he'd just seen, but he couldn't carelessly try to mix them.
'It hurts too much.'
The pain was almost unbearable.
[Ha… What was that… D-did you really absorb all of Ludwig's divine energy?] Balzac opened his mouth and asked in disbelief.
"Yes. It wasn't that hard."
[What are you talking about? Divine energy and demonic energy are opposing energies. Unless you can control all of the demonic energy in your body, there's no way you could stop them from…]
Balzac's words were cut short.
His body began trembling.
[Don't tell me, Master… Do you always regulate your demonic energy?]
"Huh? Isn't that obvious? Everyone does that, right?" he asked in confusion.
Demonic energy was destructive, after all.
The energy inside the Ten Thousand Demon Core was too huge, so he couldn't control it perfectly, but he was always controlling and restricting the demonic energy he was capable of using at the moment.
If he didn't do that, everything would end up being consumed by the Ten Thousand Demon Core, and…
He would die.
[…]
Balzac remained silent.
Regulating all your demonic energy? What kind of nonsense was that?
'How could something like…'
It was equivalent to controlling all of the blood that flowed inside your body.
'What the…?'
Balzac shuddered.
He looked at his master, KangWoo, who was looking at him while tilting his head in confusion.
'What's up with this monster?'
He was an incomprehensible existence.
A deep fear was imprinted in Balzac's bones like a stigma.
