Ch.163Chapter 163 – Paradise Cult (4)

# Capture Longinus

“Capture Longinus.”

Yoo Seongha focused on the voice echoing in his mind. It was what Paradise Church called the “Oracle.” The voice of God that had filled his head since he was called Ortesia rather than Yoo Seongha.

People had looked up to her with admiration, calling her a saint for hearing God’s voice, but Ortesia herself had never once found it pleasant.

God’s voice was too heavy and terrifying for a fragile human mind to bear. Elohim’s voice pressed down on Ortesia’s mind, causing her pain. To avoid the pain, she had to surrender herself willingly to the voice’s will.

As a child, she had tried to escape the voice, but discovered that no method worked. Continued failure was enough to break her. Her will crumbled, the boundaries of her self blurred, and she gradually went mad.

Eventually, she reached a point where she could no longer distinguish which thoughts were her own and which were Elohim’s. Her will became God’s will, and God’s will became her own. Thus, she became Elohim’s faithful puppet. A passive being who entrusted all actions to Elohim’s voice.

The voice in her head spoke.

“Bring Longinus to me.”

Swallowing the blood rising in her throat, Yoo Seongha answered inwardly.

‘I will do so, my Lord.’

***

After rolling across the floor, Skyscraper let out a roar of rage. His chest, dented from the blow, slowly swelled back up.

This was the regenerative ability he had acquired during his body modifications. Not as impressive as Shin Jaehyuk’s, but enough to continue the battle.

His rewired neural pathways converted pain into anger. Anger is an emotion directly linked to fighting spirit. The berserker charged at Shin Jaehyuk like a mad bull.

Meanwhile, Kim Jaemin’s actions were more cunning. The meat shield wasn’t a partner to cooperate with, but a tool to be used. While Skyscraper kept Shin Jaehyuk busy by sticking close to him, Kim Jaemin watched from a distance, waiting for an opportunity.

Though his brainwashing prevented him from utilizing his full magical abilities, he could still use spells up to the 7th circle. And Teleport and Blink were spells that a 7th circle archmage could use without incantation.

The moment Shin Jaehyuk’s attention was focused on Skyscraper’s attack, Kim Jaemin blinked behind him. His holy sword, wrapped in magical energy, cut through the barrier like tofu and aimed for his target’s heart.

Feeling his barrier being destroyed, Shin Jaehyuk twisted his body in panic. It was a nimble response, but not perfect. The holy sword destroyed the tendons in his shoulder.

‘Regeneration…’

The wound made by the holy sword wasn’t healing. This was the unique power of the holy sword with its pseudo-divinity. A power that overrides all laws suppressed the phenomenon of regeneration. Only after hurriedly cutting away the affected area did regeneration finally occur.

The priority of threats in Shin Jaehyuk’s mind changed. Skyscraper’s attacks were threatening but couldn’t end his life. Kim Jaemin was different. The holy sword could kill an immortal.

Realizing Shin Jaehyuk’s attention had shifted to him, Kim Jaemin quickly blinked away. There was no need to fight head-on. Someone else was assigned that role.

Skyscraper leaped toward the enemy who had dared turn his back. Hearing the ground sink beneath the weight, Shin Jaehyuk reacted. Lightning spears projected into the air. Clusters of thunder spears were fired at literally lightning speed.

Skyscraper also boasted lightning-like speed. His supersonic sword strikes deflected the lightning one by one.

‘Deflecting lightning with mere sword strikes?! What is he, Kakashi or something…!’

Skyscraper’s physical power made magical feats possible. The range of his attacks wasn’t limited to the reach of his greatsword. The air displaced by his sword became Skyscraper’s second weapon. Each of his movements was accompanied by a sonic boom.

Wind-formed slashes targeted Shin Jaehyuk from a distance. The moment he raised a barrier, Kim Jaemin’s holy sword bored in like a viper’s fang.

Sometimes, attack truly is the best defense. This was precisely such a moment. Shin Jaehyuk unleashed his divinity, twisting the very space where Kim Jaemin stood. It was an attack that could instantly kill even an archangel.

Kim Jaemin’s response was simple. As his holy sword slashed through empty space, the compressed space was forcibly torn and lost its pressure. However, the distorted spatial coordinates prevented him from teleporting immediately.

‘Now.’

Shin Jaehyuk’s index finger pointed at Kim Jaemin. Light gathered at his fingertip and fired as a beam. To avoid the beam that condensed the heat of the sun, Kim Jaemin had no choice but to release his levitation.

This was the opportunity to finish off Kim Jaemin while he had lost his mobility. But Skyscraper wouldn’t allow it so easily. The berserker, who had somehow approached to close range, interfered. A straightforward physical charge, brutally simple.

In what could only be called an instant, twelve slashes were executed. The movement was so fast that it looked like twelve hands were swinging simultaneously.

Shin Jaehyuk raised his consciousness speed. Belphegor’s Gaze—the world began to flow extremely slowly. Now he could clearly see Skyscraper’s movements. He couldn’t maintain it long due to the intense fatigue it caused.

‘I need to end this now. But how?’

Skyscraper moved too quickly to be caught by space-compressing techniques. He needed a more definitive method. A way to bind Skyscraper from all directions…

Just then, a technique came to mind. A technique demonstrated by Satan. A technique that dyed the surroundings in darkness and dominated the surrounding space.

He thought he could adapt it. As soon as he made his decision, he took action. A halo rose behind Shin Jaehyuk’s back, emitting light. The light ring gradually expanded until it occupied space like sunlight.

Shin Jaehyuk expressed his will to the world through divinity, and the laws of nature answered the call of the divine. Each photon exerted physical force, hindering Skyscraper’s movements. Like someone entering a sticky swamp, Skyscraper’s movements gradually slowed, until finally he oxidized in the intense light and vanished.

Shin Jaehyuk then tried the same method on Kim Jaemin.

‘As expected, it doesn’t work.’

Though a doppelganger, it was a sword that had once killed Satan. Kim Jaemin’s holy sword cut through even Shin Jaehyuk’s divine power and emitted magical energy.

Magical energy surged up the upright blade. Dark clouds gathered around the crimson pillar, and red lightning struck. A technique once considered Kim Jaemin’s signature move was now being recreated through magical energy.

A magical greatsword connecting heaven and earth like the Tower of Babel fell toward Shin Jaehyuk’s head. It was like watching the Tower of Babel collapse after receiving divine punishment. The sky, which should have been blue, was filled with Kim Jaemin’s magical energy, appearing entirely crimson.

‘The principle of the holy sword is the manifestation of this spear-like imagery…’

The holy sword was a technique created for a hero to kill a god with a human body. A pseudo-divinity that uses the soul’s power to observe and define the world, crushing formless energy, natural laws, and irrational powers alike. A sword that can cut anything as long as the hero wills it—that is the essence of the holy sword.

Because it could cut through all laws, it was naturally an attack that could nullify even Shin Jaehyuk’s immortality. Despite this being a moment of utmost fear, Shin Jaehyuk calmly composed himself.

He recalled Satan’s words. That for transcendents, numerical levels were no longer important, and that will and mental strength were the factors that determined victory or defeat.

Shin Jaehyuk steadied his breath.

“As long as my will doesn’t break, this spear will not break.”

Shin Jaehyuk raised a spear of light against the falling pillar of magical energy. The collision of the terrifying magical energy and divine power caused a neutralizing reaction. The enormous mass, aided by gravity, pressed down on Shin Jaehyuk. He felt the ground beneath his feet crack and collapse under the pressure.

The pain of muscles rupturing and tendons tearing. Nevertheless, Shin Jaehyuk’s knees did not bend; he stood firm.

‘Compared to Belial or Belphegor, this is laughable.’

All the pain that failed to kill Shin Jaehyuk had made him stronger. The pain made his mind even clearer. As his consciousness sharpened, the spear tip became keener and the light it emitted grew stronger.

The sharp spear blade penetrated the pillar of magical energy. A dent appeared in what had seemed like a steel pillar. And the moment it allowed a single intrusion, the outcome was already decided.

A beam of light split the magical pillar in two. The fierce ray cut through the magical pillar, the holy sword, and Kim Jaemin. The broken holy sword was unsummoned, and Kim Jaemin’s hand went limp. A red flower of blood bloomed over the flower bed.

Shin Jaehyuk caught his breath and stared at Yoo Seongha. She had remained motionless without taking any action, even until the moment Skyscraper and Kim Jaemin fell. As if she had no fighting spirit from the beginning.

‘Why didn’t she support them with divine spells from the start?’

It didn’t seem like she had any hidden moves. Ortesia wasn’t a combat class in her previous life either.

But he didn’t let his guard down. Ortesia was on Elohim’s side and his enemy. Shin Jaehyuk was prepared to interrogate her by torture if necessary.

“Ortesia…”

“I failed after all. But I don’t feel bad about it. Perhaps deep down, I expected this outcome.”

She staggered momentarily. Shin Jaehyuk instinctively rushed forward to support her. It was an instinctive action. Something warm and wet touched his hand.

“…Blood?”

“…A side effect of the power. It seems my ability was insufficient to fully control someone of a hero’s caliber.”

She could have brainwashed hundreds or thousands of ordinary people, but Kim Jaemin was an entity on par with a demigod. The enormous burden on her soul was eating away at her body.

“Why, why would you go so far for Elohim, even at the cost of your own body…”

“The Lord is not concerned with individual happiness or unhappiness. Only the continuation of humanity as a whole and the world matters to Him…”

She coughed violently and vomited blood. It was a lethal amount. Shin Jaehyuk, forgetting for a moment that she was his enemy, tried to heal her wounds. But no matter how much divine power he poured in, the bleeding wouldn’t stop.

Yoo Seongha smiled faintly and dissuaded Shin Jaehyuk.

“It’s useless. This is a wound to the soul. Like Kim Jaemin’s ear, it’s a wound that can never be healed. I will probably die soon.”

“Die…?”

At the mention of death, his resolve and vigilance crumbled like a sand castle. He had so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to ask, but his mind went blank and nothing came to him. Only complicated emotions that were difficult to explain flowed between his lips.

“We’ve only just met again, and now…”

“Are you crying for me, your enemy? Hehe, I didn’t know you liked me that much. You rarely expressed your emotions in your previous life.”

His expression had only been hardened because he had become too accustomed to the brutal battlefield where flesh and blood flew. Shin Jaehyuk wanted to answer that way. But instead of words, only small sobs escaped his throat.

“…Don’t be too sad. I’m actually happy. Now I won’t have to hear that noisy voice anymore.”

“Happy?! How can you say that when we’re parting ways right after meeting again…”

Yoo Seongha quietly closed her eyes and said:

“…Sometimes, living is painful for some people.”

The sentence struck Shin Jaehyuk like a blow and lodged deeply in his mind. To Shin Jaehyuk, who had desperately struggled to live no matter what pain he faced, the sight of his lover accepting death as an escape was a great psychological shock.

“Now I need to rest. Longinus, would you sing me a lullaby?”

Yoo Seongha breathed heavily. It was something Ortesia used to do for Longinus who couldn’t sleep. It was also what Yoo Seongha had done for Shin Jaehyuk when he suffered from insomnia during his orphanage days.

This time, Shin Jaehyuk granted her request.

“…Do not go gentle into that good night. Old age should burn and rave at close of day. Rage, rage against the dying of the light.”

Shin Jaehyuk recited a poem. It was a work from a poetry collection that Yoo Seongha had once gifted him. Yoo Seongha’s face relaxed as she listened to Shin Jaehyuk’s recitation.

“Rage, rage against the dying of the light…”

The recitation ended. She did not open her eyes again. Her deeply sleeping face was as peaceful as a saint’s.

In the flower bed, Shin Jaehyuk wept alone.

***

“…That Shin Jaehyuk, he’s late with his contact.”

Kwak Taewoo thought as he looked at his watch. Judging by the alarm that had stopped a little while ago, things seemed to be going according to plan. But the plan to capture the head of Paradise Church by turning their threats against them was taking longer than expected.

Soldiers and holy knights who had rushed over at the news of the gate opening were seen searching the streets in confusion, not knowing what was happening.

“This won’t do. I’ll have to look for myself.”

Just as Kwak Taewoo, worried that something had gone wrong, got up—

An ear-piercing siren blared. It was the gate detection alarm.

“Is this Shin Jaehyuk’s doing? I thought he had already closed it.”

But Kwak Taewoo’s guess was wrong. This time, it wasn’t Shin Jaehyuk’s doing.

-Spatial vibration readings rising steeply. Breaking all-time record…

Black dots appeared one after another in the sky above Paradise Church’s prized new city.

The next moment, the gates of hell opened.