Chapter 205

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“…”

Belial let out a short breath.

The faint nostalgia and melancholy faded quickly as time passed.

Now, only a lingering trace remained, leaving a slight bitterness on her tongue.

The collapse of the body continued even at this moment.

The vessel, unable to withstand the Devil God’s authority, was wearing away.

The resulting pain sparked through her spine like electricity.

Sharp, stinging sensations scrambled her brain, disrupting Belial’s cognitive abilities.

She forced herself to suppress the moans threatening to escape.

She tightened her trembling thighs.

She struggled to straighten her bent back.

As if she didn’t want to show any weakness, especially not to this boy.

“You look like you’re in pain.”

But she couldn’t completely hide her trembling.

The God of War clenched his fist, the sound of bones cracking.

Golden waves rippled in his azure eyes.

“Right, she wouldn’t let her body be taken so easily.”

If a Devil God had taken over her body, it would be no different from her personality being dead.

The soft human personality would have been absorbed and disappeared by the Devil God.

But if it were her, even if a Devil God took control of her body, her spirit wouldn’t have been taken.

If it was the blessed saintess, Lucille.

Damn those four seasons. What were they thinking, leaving her in this state? Don’t meet her? Those bastards. They probably had some plan to exploit this situation. What was it this time? 

Whatever it was, it didn’t sit well with him. The God of War gritted his teeth.

“I’ll take her back now.”

He already knew the method.

Destroy the core where the Devil God’s soul resides.

Then forcibly extract the Devil God’s soul.

No more conversation was needed.

No, it was never needed in the first place.

The reason he hadn’t acted immediately was that he was too angry to control his strength.

In the process of expelling the Devil God, she might suffer unnecessary harm.

Even if the saintess couldn’t die, she could still feel pain.

And she really hated pain.

The God of War kicked off the ground and shot forward. With short, precise steps, he closed the distance in an instant. 

It was a speed that Belial, writhing in pain (pleasure), couldn’t react to. 

He pulled back his clenched fist. His target was her heart. 

With one strike, he would crush her heart and shatter the core within.

Crash!

But the God of War failed to achieve his goal.

His fist struck an invisible wall in the air.

Crack. 

The air split like glass. Space fractured.

“…Annoying.”

A muttering voice crawled along the ground.

Drip, drip. 

Blood droplets pooled on the ground.

Murmur, discarding her broken mask, slowly rose to her feet.

“I said it’s annoying.”

The face of a child was revealed.

A straight nose and a slender jawline.

The androgynous child glared at the God of War with sharp eyes.

“Don’t look down on me, human.”

So what if you blocked my authority? Don’t get cocky.

What? You fought our king? Don’t make me laugh.

If you fought Baal, there’s no way you’d still be alive.

He may be categorized as a Devil God like us, but he’s not really a Devil God. He’s the Primordial Return. 

An existence on par with the “Great Ancient Ones”, the origin of the Devil Gods. Among the 72 fragments of the shattered gods, he was the only one who reached the same level as the original. 

Ranked first. The Lord of Purgatory. The King of Devil Gods. 

And what? You fought Baal? Don’t boast so shamelessly!

“There’s no way you could fight Baal with just that much power.”

“…”

I’ll admit you’re strong. 

The God of War’s strength defied common sense. Even the captains were amazing, but the God of War was on a different level. 

Strength comparable to a Devil God. It was almost like facing another Devil God.

But that’s it. That’s all. 

Against other Devil Gods, maybe, but he could never be a match for the King of Devil Gods. 

If the God of War had truly fought Baal, he would have been reduced to a puddle of blood. No, not even a puddle would remain.

“I was planning to leave after messing around a bit…”

The whites of Murmur’s eyes disappeared.

Like ink spreading, they turned pitch black.

Her pupils glowed crimson, scattering a sinister light.

“You’re disgustingly annoying.”

That woman with the rocks kept getting distracted earlier.

And now this guy isn’t even looking at me.

Being ignored is annoying, and now you’re bringing up Baal.

It’s not like I’m loyal to Baal, but still, he’s the King of Devil Gods.

A human like you has no right to speak of him so casually.

“From the looks of it, you’re the strongest among humans… Are you the king of humans?”

“We humans don’t choose our kings through brute force like you devils. How primitive and uncivilized.”

“So you are the strongest, then?”

Considering the other captains are gathering, fighting would be reckless. But if I don’t deal with this guy, I won’t be able to retreat as planned. 

In the end, I’ll have to fight. I’ll give him a quick blow. I won’t be satisfied until I return the blood I’ve shed.

“Have you ever seen a star shatter?”

If not, I’ll show you now.

◈

Eugene hurriedly ran forward.

The spatial expansion had stopped, but he had already been pushed too far.

Even though he had sensed the danger in advance, he couldn’t properly respond. What could he do when space itself was expanding? He couldn’t think of a way.

The Commander of the Celestial Corps had arrived. 

A living legend had descended. 

For Eugene, who had grown up hearing countless tales of the God of War’s achievements, the God of War was a hero from myths. 

Not someone living in the same era, but a hero from stories. 

Even though he had seen such a being in person, Eugene felt no joy. Normally, he would have been ecstatic and moved, but the current Eugene couldn’t afford such emotions.

‘Lucia…!’

The God of War’s aura was unusual. Was he planning to kill Lucia along with the Devil God?

Lucia was a regenerator, but the God of War could easily kill her. Even Lucia would die if destroyed beyond her regeneration’s capacity. 

Eugene gripped his Sun Sword tightly. If the God of War really intended to do that…

‘I’ll stop him!’

Even if it meant fighting the God of War.

Whether he could win or not didn’t matter.

A man would do anything for the woman he loved.

“…Huh?”

Eugene, who had been accelerating rapidly, frowned. His mind was noisy. His danger sense was blaring loudly. 

Reflexively, he stopped moving. Going forward was dangerous. Not just dangerous, but life-threateningly so. 

However, he didn’t stop for even a second. Eugene started running again. He already knew it was dangerous.

As he got closer to where Lucia was, his danger sense warned him even more urgently.

Eventually, the warning became so loud that he could barely hear anything else. Why was it making such a fuss? Eugene soon realized the reason.

“What the… what is that…?”

A hole had been torn in the sky.

Space distorted, being sucked into the hole.

Light, time, air, soil, vegetation, the corpses of monsters…

Anything that existed physically was greedily devoured.

“Ugh…?!”

Eugene gasped. An overwhelming pressure bore down on him. His legs were dragged along the ground. 

He hastily stabbed his Sun Sword into the ground to steady himself. His body was being pulled in. Toward that black hole. 

The sight of space crumpling like paper and contracting into a single point was pure terror. The hole, swallowing even light, truly devoured everything.

“A black… hole…?”

The end of a star, said to exist far beyond the universe.

It had descended to the earth and was devouring the world.

◈

Compressing space.

Compressing the compressed space.

Compressing it again. And again. And again.

If you repeat this process over and over.

There comes a point where space can no longer be compressed.

A realm even Murmur’s authority couldn’t interfere with.

Gravity was distorted. Light, sound, even gravity—everything was sucked into a single point.

The black hole began to voraciously consume even the ground. The only exceptions were the creator of the black hole and Belial, who was under her protection. 

The God of War was not exempt.

“…”

He twisted his lips and spoke, but even his voice was swallowed. The God of War couldn’t hear his own words. 

His expression remained impassive. Even as he was slowly pulled toward the black hole, his face showed no change. 

It would be a lie to say he wasn’t surprised, but it wasn’t particularly shocking. His opponent was a Devil God. 

Yeah, they could do something like this. He had seen far worse, so the only sign of emotion was a slight twitch of his eyebrow.

‘This is why spatial abilities are such a pain.

Any other captain would have been helpless.

Only Kallad and Azazel might have been able to withstand it.’

“…”

His gaze turned to Murmur. Space was wildly distorted, warping his vision. The figure of the child in the white cloud mask was barely visible. 

He moved his lips. The corners of his mouth thinned. He spoke words that wouldn’t reach her.

“You’re working hard, kid.”

The sound was no longer being swallowed.

Space returned to normal around the God of War.

A golden light exploded outward.

From him, light returned to the sky that had lost its radiance.

“I told you.”

He relaxed his body, which had been resisting the gravitational pull.

Then, the God of War was rapidly pulled toward the center of the black hole.

“You’re still far from matching me.”

His supernatural ability flared up fiercely in the form of golden light.

Rings of light wrapped around his entire body.

Majestic and radiant.

As if opposing the darkness that swallowed light, he shone brightly.

[Under Heaven and Earth, I alone am the Honored One.]

Murmur wasn’t wrong.

In his current state, not at his peak, he couldn’t defeat Baal.

But that didn’t mean he was weak enough to struggle against an ordinary Devil God.

“I’ve been through too many battlefields to die to a fake black hole.”

He opened his fist and thrust his fingers into the black hole.

Nothing should have happened.

He should have been sucked in and crushed.

But the impossible occurred. The God of War “physically” grabbed the black hole. 

If he could grab it, he could twist it. The space compressed to its limit trembled at his gesture. 

As his hand moved, the black hole lost its form. The golden light devoured the darkness that swallowed light. 

Soon, there was nothing. The sky returned to normal. As if an eraser had wiped away an impurity.

“…Huh?”

Murmur stared blankly at the scene.

What? How, what, no, seriously, how?

Is this even possible?

“If you want to fight me.”

Murmur was stunned as her ultimate technique was easily dismantled. That’s why her response was delayed. By the time she regained her senses, the God of War was already right in front of her.

“Bring the 2nd or 3rd, or even the 7th.”

A flash of light descended. Murmur hastily distorted space and raised her arms to guard. 

Crash! 

Her small body was sent flying. She blocked it. She blocked it, but the shock penetrated the distorted space. Her arms creaked as if they would shatter.

“Those three, excluding Baal, are the strongest among the Devil Gods, right?”

Devil Gods are equals.

Rank isn’t particularly important.

If they wanted, the ranks could change every day.

But even among them, there were beings of a different caliber.

The three Devil Gods excluding Baal.

Devil Gods whose strength stood out even among their peers.

The God of War’s figure scattered like a mirage. He charged forward without leaving even an afterimage. 

Murmur layered and severed space. She focused all her abilities on defense. But she wasn’t confident. Could this really stop him?

“What the…?!”

It didn’t. He brutally grabbed space with his fingers and twisted it, tearing apart the severed space. 

Perhaps as a cost for blocking the black hole, the God of War wasn’t unscathed either. His right arm was torn to shreds, drenched in blood. His fingers were twisted in unnatural directions. 

But it didn’t hinder his ability to shatter space. Murmur was so dumbfounded she almost laughed.

‘What the…?’

No matter how she thought about it, this was strange.

It couldn’t be explained simply as “strong”.

The power she felt from the God of War wasn’t overwhelming.

He was strong, but not to the point of being untouchable.

So why was there such a gap?

She wanted to seriously analyze it, but she didn’t have the time. Murmur stared at the bloodied fist coming toward her. The fist that had dismantled a black hole. 

Moreover, this time, it was a fist that tore through spatial severance before being swung. The spatial severance didn’t reduce its power this time. If it hit her directly, it would at least be a fatal blow.

“Hmm?”

At that moment, tree roots burst from the ground and wrapped around the God of War’s right arm. There was no need to guess whose doing it was. 

It wasn’t enough to stop the God of War’s strike, but it created a brief opening. Murmur didn’t miss that moment. 

Spatial warp. 

She couldn’t move far, but a short distance was no problem. She hastily created distance from the God of War. Normally, she would have expanded space to push her opponent away, but spatial expansion didn’t work on the God of War.

“Where are you rushing off to?”

“Ah, damn it, seriously…!”

She had moved through space, but the God of War was right in front of her. He had grabbed the space she moved through and followed. 

This was insane. He blocked spatial movement, ignored spatial expansion, tore through space, stopped a black hole, and now he could follow spatial warp? 

Nothing worked on him. Even other Devil Gods wouldn’t be like this. It was as if he could interfere with her authority… 

Wait, what?

“Wait, you, don’t tell me…!”

“You’re slow to realize, foolish child.”

Crash! 

The God of War’s fist struck Murmur’s chest. 

Blood sprayed. Blood gushed from Murmur’s mouth and nose. The core in her heart was shattered by the blow. 

The focal point that allowed the Devil God to remain in a human body was destroyed.

“The Sword of the Seasons…!”

Murmur screamed like a dying beast.

The Chosen One.

The Sword of the Seasons, forged to kill Devil Gods.

There wasn’t just one?

“I was created to counter Baal.”

Did you think I’d lose to an ordinary Devil God?

I may not have defeated Baal, but I didn’t lose either.

“Then…!”

The God of War glanced at Murmur, who was coughing up blood and collapsing to the ground. 

With her core shattered, she would be incapacitated for a while. 

His gaze turned elsewhere. To the girl in the green wolf mask. His azure eyes half-opened, taking in her form.

“Phew…”

Belial exhaled a hot breath. 

Murmur had fallen. Then only I remain. The outcome is obvious in this state… Ah, for some reason, it’s fun. 

Was this how Jin felt when he fought me? Is this the feeling of challenging an opponent you can’t possibly win against? It’s fun. 

Yeah, it’s fun. I’ve become just like Jin. It’s not that I’m happy because I’ll definitely lose. I’m not a pervert. I don’t have such a fetish. I don’t.

“Her resistance must be quite something.”

“…?”

“Given that a Devil God of your stature didn’t even notice.”

The God of War crossed his arms and spoke. Belial, who had been puzzled, suddenly came to her senses. Her head whipped around, but it was already too late. A red flash had already pierced her back.

“I told you.”

Eugene’s blue eyes glowed with a sharp light.

He took another step forward and shouted, enunciating each word.

“I said I’d take Lucia’s body back!”

The Sun Sword tore through flesh and pierced her back.

The burning blade overcame all obstacles.

It pierced her heart, the core within it.

And burst out through her chest.

 

Author Note

A/N (Author’s note):
The Chosen Ones are the natural enemies of the Devils.

I feel sorry for Belial and Murmur, who were oppressed by those two beings.

Translator Note

T/N (Translator’s note):
And just like that, two idiots got their other two teammates in a near death state, man what a noob boss and teammate!