episode_0246

Ryud opened his eyes in the darkness.

‘…Where am I?’

His body felt numb. He couldn’t tell if he was lying down or standing. Ryud blinked repeatedly like a fool. It was still pitch black.

He slowly sat himself up. His sense of direction was unclear, and even after raising his upper body, he didn’t feel like he was standing. Ryud took a deep breath and slowly drew up his magical energy.

‘…My body’s still intact.’

This place was undoubtedly the [Shadow World] created by Baekgui. His last memory was cut off from the moment he was swept up in the shadows she exhaled. He spread his senses, feeling around him. Thankfully, something he could call a floor was beneath his buttocks.

Soon, his senses returned, and he felt gravity. Ryud used the floor for support and slowly stood up. His vision opened up towards the ceiling – or what he felt was up.

“…!!”

Ryud let out a gasp. The reason was quite simple. The bustling street scene he had just been standing on was hanging upside down on the ceiling.

It wasn’t exactly the same. The buildings had lost their color, as if coated in ink. Building roofs, spires, and walls jutted out like stalactites from the sky. The completely inverted world was both shocking and breathtaking.

‘No, this is… the opposite!’

It wasn’t the city hanging from the ceiling. Ryud himself was upside down. Relative to the city, the high sky was filled with inky shadows. Blacker than black, darker than the night sky.

Ryud was standing on that darkness.

‘This is different from the [Shadow World] I know… Persona’s Shadow World couldn’t reproduce these structures…!’

He couldn’t say exactly what had happened. However, one thing was certain. Creating this bizarre sight required a perfect understanding of quite sophisticated magic.

That led to one fact.

‘Baekgui… is far stronger than Persona…!!’

That fact was meaningless, however, if he couldn’t escape this place. Ryud had to cut through the darkness with his own hands. He had to find his way, to create meaning.

Ryud slowly took a step forward onto the darkness.

“Oh, you’re awake?”

“—!!”

Baekgui’s voice echoed. However, he couldn’t tell where it was coming from. It seemed to come from the front, or maybe burst forth from behind. It wouldn’t have been strange if it had come from either side, or even the ceiling or floor.

But he felt her presence. Those who had absorbed magical energy are more sensitive to it than those who haven’t. It’s as if they awaken to a new sense the moment they take it in.

Ryud stared at the place where he felt the magical energy most intensely. It was the floor, not far away, within the darkness.

The shadows rippled like the surface of water. Soon, a white woman’s hand emerged, followed by her snow-white hair.

It was Baekgui.

“Well, if you had died from the shock of being pulled into the [Shadow World]… I would have been very disappointed.”

Ryud drew his sword from his waist. He pointed the blade at Baekgui.

But he didn’t move.

“…Hmph.”

What Baekgui held in both hands. It was the assassin squad leader who had been under Ryud’s command for this operation. In her right hand was his upper body; in her left, his lower body. Blood and viscera flowed from the roughly torn parts.

Baekgui wasn’t the only thing revealed from the shadows. Along with her, a black object rose. Something hanging from the end of a long pole. With a little more focus, he could tell what it was.

‘…….’

Numerous corpses impaled on sharp spears. All of the assassin squad were hanging, dismembered, from the spear points. Some had their torsos pierced lengthwise, others had their limbs impaled like meat skewers. The ends were adorned with severed heads.

Ryud felt his stomach churning. His grip on the sword weakened.

But giving up wasn’t an option.

‘I have to kill her… to gain recognition from my father – no, the Seeker…!!’

He drew up his magical energy. Color returned to his pale skin, and his reddish pupils began to glow scarlet.

Taat-!

He leaped off what was beneath his feet, lunging toward Baekgui, swinging his sword.

“Good energy. Still not fully recovered?”

But Baekgui’s body was unharmed. He looked down at his hand. With a single gesture from Baekgui, the sword he was holding turned into inky shadows and flowed to the ground.

“Dangerous toys are confiscated.”

“Kgh…!!”

If you don’t have teeth, use your gums. Ryud clenched his fists and swung them at Baekgui.

Cha-jak-!

His fist stopped right in front of Baekgui’s face. It couldn’t go any further. Numerous spearheads that had sprung from the shadows of the ground pierced Ryud’s body.

Jureuk-

“Keuhp- Khek-”

The spearheads turned back into shadows and withdrew from Ryud’s body. Bright red blood flowed from all over his body. Ryud tried to cover his mouth, but his body wouldn’t listen. His strength drained away, and he collapsed to his knees on the ground.

“Keuhut- Khuk…”

“Hmmm… The end? Wait quietly here. I have some business to attend to.”

Baekgui turned her back. She walked toward the corpses of the assassin squad impaled on the spears. Baekgui reached out to the corpses, and a pure white energy flowed from the corpses into her body.

The energy gradually turned red. Or rather, it only seemed that way. The spilled blood had wet Ryud’s eyes. Ryud gritted his teeth.

‘I can’t… die like this-!’

He barely managed to hold onto the magical energy that was slowly leaving his body. He remembered the original form of his torn body.

The blood spilled on the ground began to ripple. Droplet by droplet, the bright red blood surged, forming a definite shape. As if waves were crashing and a river flowing, streams of blood enveloped Ryud’s body.

Hwieng-

“Indeed… So it begins, huh?”

Intrigued by the unusual energy, Baekgui also turned her head to look at Ryud. A red sphere formed around Ryud. A shield formed of blood.

The blood flow didn’t end there. The assassins, now mere husks having lost their souls. The blood that had flowed from their corpses flowed toward Ryud. It was a sight like countless river tributaries converging into one sea.

Chwaak-

Ryud emerged from the blood chrysalis, all his wounds healed. To say he had returned to normal… there were quite a lot of changes.

His height had increased by a few inches. Muscles that threatened to tear his clothes. Sharp fangs protruding from his lips. Long, pointed ears. Hair that defied gravity and stood upright.

It was as if he had undergone a metamorphosis.

‘It’s an incomplete technique… laughable compared to my father’s.’

Blood Demon Assault ultimate technique, Blood Consumption.

It was a technique passed down through generations in the Duke Darius family. It requires constantly strengthening the body through magical energy, and continuously drinking the blood of living animals to hone one’s senses.

Jane couldn’t endure the latter and ran away from the family. But Ryud was different. With the sole intention of becoming the successor, he devoted himself to mastering the technique. He drank any blood he could find.

The result was his current appearance. Power overflowed from his body, and he felt more refreshed than before being wounded.

Of course, he could easily tear apart something like the Baekgui in front of him. Ryud reached out to her.

“I’ll kill you now.”

“Don’t just talk the talk, walk the walk.”

“Alright, here I go-!”

He spread his arms wide. Drops of blood gathered at Ryud’s fingertips, and then took on an elongated shape. The bloodstream soon turned into sharp blades.

Ryud kicked off the ground and darted toward Baekgui. Baekgui’s eyes widened. It was likely due to his speed, far faster than before.

Blood Demon Assault blood demon sword, Crimson Wings.

He held the two swords like a pair of crimson wings, and swooped down, swinging at Baekgui’s body. Baekgui tried to deflect the swords by creating shadow blades.

‘Blood Flow!’

At that moment, Ryud changed the nature of his swords. Like flowing water, they pierced Baekgui’s blades, breaking through the defense.

Immediately afterward, the two streams of blood turned into sharp swords, and sliced through Baekgui’s body.

Chwaak-!!

Baekgui recoiled. Ryud was certain his attack had landed. It was because of the startled expression on Baekgui’s face.

She had put some distance between herself and Ryud, and she was far from unscathed. Because she had taken Ryud’s strike with her bare body, she was spurting blood. Her breast was torn along with her clothes, and a large lump of fat dangled precariously.

“Kukuk… You were acting so cool, and you got hit, huh?”

“Eum, I was really surprised. I blocked without thinking, and I never thought it would pierce through my weapon and tear my body apart.”

“…….”

The startled look had disappeared from Baekgui’s face. She just had an awkward expression, like a girl who spilled tomato juice on her clothes.

“What are you looking at? Are you turned on?”

“That wound… there’s no way it should be fine-”

“Oh, this? You idiot, it’s your blood.”

Jureuk- Jureureuk-

Red blood flowed to the ground. But there was no blood on Baekgui’s body. It was as clean as if it had a waterproof coating.

There wasn’t a single drop of blood on the wound on Baekgui’s breast either. The surface was simply pitch-black. Shadows swirled from that gap, beginning to mend the severed areas. Baekgui’s body, along with her torn clothes, returned to normal.

“…….”

“Why are you staring? Were you that curious about my breasts?”

“Kgh…”

“Go show your mom. My tits are expensive.”

Ryud clenched his sword again. He had already shown his speed. He needed to be faster.

Drops of blood splattered from the tips of his feet on the ground.

Blood Demon Assault blood demon sword, Pulsation.

He glided forward like he was slipping on a film of blood, faster than a heartbeat. No, even faster than that. Ryud’s body instantly reached Baekgui.

Again, he used Blood Flow to penetrate Baekgui’s sword. When he had completely broken through her defense, he reformed the blood into the shape of solid blades. Using the same method, but at a much faster speed, he slashed at Baekgui’s body.

Kaang-!!

“…!!”

Ryud’s blood demon sword stopped. A shadow blade shot out from Baekgui’s body, deflecting the blood demon sword.

“You do it… like this?”

The shadow blade, with a spongy texture, sank into Ryud’s blood demon sword. It was the same method as Ryud’s Blood Flow. It passed right through the blood demon sword and plunged into Ryud’s body.

Chwaak-!

“Kgh…!!”

Ryud quickly stepped back. But another shadow blade flew out, cutting his body.

Chwaak-!

A third blade approaches. Ryud raised his sword. However, the defense was meaningless. Yet again, it penetrated Ryud’s sword and cut only his body.

Chwaak-!!

“Keuhk-”

Pain shot up his spine. A large gash appeared on his upper body. For a normal person, it would be a fatal wound.

But Ryud was different.

‘This kind of wound… if I recover, it-’

Chwaak-!

“You thought you could just recover?”

It was as if she had read his mind. Baekgui’s voice once again spilled out from all directions.

“Then I’ll just keep cutting you until you can’t recover.”

Ryud struggled to hold onto his fading consciousness and looked at Baekgui. She was quietly clasping her hands, but shadow blades sprouted from around her, rushing toward Ryud’s body.

Dark Shadow Ghost Sword, Full Bloom.

At first, there was an interval of about a second. They were fast, but there was enough time to perceive them, and the shadow blades cut Ryud’s body.

But the shadow blades grew faster and faster.

They appeared from all sides, starting to slaughter Ryud’s body. They cut his legs and arms. They tore his flesh and shattered his bones. The wounds spread, and Ryud’s body was dismembered.

When his torso was torn open, his insides poured out. But before they could spill, shadow blades flew in, stopping them up. Ryud’s body continuously received blows. He was slashed and torn until the spurting blood was no longer visible.

The shadows completely swallowed Ryud.