Ch.167Chapter 167 – Trial

‘Here is…’

The Sage half-opened his eyes that had been closed. Sunlight penetrating through the murky sky bored into his retina. A scene he hadn’t witnessed in a very long time. Eventually, the Sage realized he had failed to pass the Demon King’s test.

‘I couldn’t endure it.’

The Demon King, also realizing his victory, rejoiced with maniacal laughter.

“In the end, you denied life and chose death yourself! Victory is mine, Hermes!”

Having lived comfortably as an emperor and a genius, he had never known the suffering that ordinary people endured. That became the Sage’s downfall. Blood gushed from the hole in his chest.

‘Still…’

With fading eyes, he looked up at the sky. It was covered in a gloomy darkness as if the cosmos had broken through the sky. This was the barrier of the Demon King’s castle, blocking the gaze of the heavens. Cutting through the murky, sticky darkness that caused discomfort just by looking at it, a being enveloped in radiance was descending.

“…You bought time, I see.”

Shin Jaehyuk descended like a comet. The stream of light tore through the Demon King’s barrier as it plunged downward. The Demon King distorted space to refract the light. The bombardment of light struck the ground, raising clouds of dust.

“Leonardo!”

Since it wasn’t an attack he expected to be effective, Shin Jaehyuk wasn’t disappointed. Instead, he took advantage of the gap after the surprise attack to approach the Sage and check his condition.

‘His heart is already…’

A wound that anyone could see was fatal. The Sage quietly murmured toward Shin Jaehyuk, whose expression had hardened.

“…I was already wrong. When Satan betrayed me and inflicted this fatal wound, my death became an inevitable fate. I responded to the Demon King’s wager as a final gamble, but in the end, I couldn’t pass his test.”

“Satan betrayed you? Wait, wait—!”

Shin Jaehyuk had many more questions, but he couldn’t ask them. The Demon King demanded the victor’s rights. The Sage’s body was drawn as if pulled by a magnet and caught in the Demon King’s palm.

“Now, it’s time to pay the price of the wager.”

“…I know, Demon King.”

The Sage, who had failed to resolve the matter himself and ended up passing the burden to Shin Jaehyuk, offered his final advice with a guilty expression.

“Remember just one thing. Always take yourself, not anyone else, as your guiding light.”

The Sage’s body rapidly aged. The Demon King was absorbing the Sage’s existence. His flesh withered and twisted like a mummy drained of moisture. The Sage’s vitality and soul were being sucked into the Demon King, along with all the attainments and divinity he had achieved throughout his life.

Mara Papiyas shuddered in ecstasy. His incomplete self was being established, and his existence was becoming complete. A fallen saint was born, one who sought to save all things through death.

“Ah… At last, I have become complete.”

All things bowed to celebrate the birth of a god-like being. The gravity around him voluntarily disappeared so that his feet wouldn’t touch the dirty ground, and the Demon King’s body floated up. Light circled around him, not daring to touch his sacred body, and a halo shone behind him.

While darkness became his flesh, only the tattoos covering his body and his two eyes emitted a brilliant radiance.

The form of a transcendent being that seemed to have become part of nature. Just as objects are drawn to the gravity of celestial bodies, all the laws of the world orbited around Mara Papiyas. The fallen saint sat cross-legged while floating in the air.

“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.”

‘What overwhelming pressure…!’

Shin Jaehyuk trembled at the overwhelming presence. A transcendent pressure that made one forget even to breathe. It was as if the presence of Elohim, which he had faintly felt in the heavens, had appeared before him.

“Ah, yes… there was an intruder. I had forgotten your existence for a moment.”

At the Demon King’s words, Shin Jaehyuk’s body momentarily began to dissipate before returning to normal. He breathed heavily. Had he not reflexively drawn upon his divinity, his very existence might have been erased from the world.

‘Even though I’m also a deity, this is absurd…!’

The Demon King’s perception was dominating the world. Mara Papiyas, united with the Sage, was a vast mind that surpassed even Shin Jaehyuk’s willpower. The world obeyed each word the Demon King uttered.

“…It seems Beelzebub has died. Then I no longer need that.”

Mara Papiyas glanced back at his castle. To test his new power, his hands formed a mudra.

“All that has form is emptiness.”

All things shall be turned to dust. The Sage’s power manifested in the Demon King’s hands. A power that transcended nothingness and existence. All molecular bonds constituting the Demon King’s castle broke, and the massive tower instantly turned to dust.

The Demon King smiled with satisfaction.

“Excellent. With this power, I can surely save this universe.”

For Mara Papiyas, salvation meant the extinction of existence, the destruction of the entire world.

There was no hesitation in the savior’s actions. The Demon King’s power extended beyond his castle to its surroundings. His domain expanded like spreading ink. Everything touched by the darkness scattered into ashes and dust.

The earth sank into the abyss, and skyscrapers collapsed like reeds. The world was being painted over into a universe of nothingness where nothing existed.

Shin Jaehyuk countered by releasing his divinity, but his domain was helplessly pushed back by the Demon King’s. It was because Shin Jaehyuk’s rank was vastly inferior to the Demon King’s.

At this rate, the entire city of Pyongyang would be annihilated. There was only one option. Even this was a gamble, but would it work? There was no time to hesitate. Shin Jaehyuk shouted:

“Demon King, let’s make a wager!”

“Oh?”

“On the same terms as you did with the Sage, compete with me again. With our very existence at stake!”

An interested gaze turned toward Shin Jaehyuk.

“Are you saying you’ll undergo my trial? A trial that even the Sage, who lived many times your lifespan, couldn’t pass?”

As the Demon King, there was no need to accept such a proposal. In a situation where the hierarchy of divinity was clear, there was no reason to take on unnecessary risk.

But Mara Papiyas’s choice was different.

“Very well, let’s do that. If I can’t corrupt a mere human, who would call me the Demon King?”

The Demon King readily accepted the wager. It was a choice possible only because he was confident in victory. Arrogant laughter echoed.

“I ask you, Holy Knight. Is life a blessing?”

“Life is a blessing, and existence is the freedom to choose one’s destiny.”

“You speak falsehoods, Holy Knight. Didn’t you also slaughter demons and destroy hell’s breeding grounds to save souls destined to be born as demons? How is that different from what I do?”

The Demon King mentioned what had happened in hell. Shin Jaehyuk thought no one had discovered it. Hiding his agitation, he asked:

“…You knew what I did?”

“Of course… Hell is like the palm of my hand. I allowed your recklessness because I knew you would destroy heaven just as you did hell. So I thank you. Thanks to you, Elohim’s angels dare not interfere with me.”

Mara Papiyas had only temporarily allied with Elohim, but having absorbed the Sage, he had no reason to dance to Elohim’s tune. Mara had used the power of the Gate to temporarily sever the connection between Earth and heaven. That was why the angels who periodically patrolled, emerging from the golden gate, were particularly absent today.

“After I absorb your divinity, even Elohim will be no match for me. Today will truly be the Judgment Day that heaven speaks of.”

Shin Jaehyuk gripped his spear firmly.

“No, you won’t be able to do that. Because I will endure your trial.”

Laughter that found him ridiculous reverberated. Glowing eyes in the darkness met Shin Jaehyuk’s gaze. Within them was a universe made up of twenty billion souls the Demon King had absorbed.

As Shin Jaehyuk’s consciousness sank into the Demon King’s inner world, the Demon King’s words penetrated his ears.

“Very well! Try to endure this hell of twenty billion souls. I shall not permit your death until you deny life yourself.”

***

Shin Jaehyuk opened his eyes.

“Huh?”

Upon regaining consciousness, Shin Jaehyuk realized he had arrived in an unfamiliar space. It wasn’t a place where ordinary laws applied.

His strength had returned to that of an ordinary person, as if his level had been reset. His divinity, magic power, and divine force wouldn’t move. He had experienced similar phenomena before.

‘A mental space?’

Having visited such places several times, he could quickly recognize it. The Demon King had said he would impose a trial, and now Shin Jaehyuk’s consciousness had been drawn into a mental space, which momentarily confused him.

Before his confusion could subside, an even more confusing event occurred. A massive boulder fell from the sky. With the running speed of an ordinary person, he couldn’t avoid the falling rock. The boulder flattened Shin Jaehyuk.

Crunch. If this were a cartoon, it might have humorously depicted a person being turned into jerky, but not here. Blood splattered from beneath the boulder.

It was like a frog hit by a carelessly thrown stone. His flesh was crushed, muscles twisted, and bones pulverized. Feeling the terribly vivid agony, Shin Jaehyuk died.

Shin Jaehyuk opened his eyes.

‘…What’s going on?’

He thought he had surely died, but far from dying, he had been transported to another space without a scratch.

“What is this place…”

It was pitch black in all directions. The darkness, or rather, what he thought was darkness, writhed. Centipedes, spiders, cockroaches, caterpillars, leeches… parasitic creatures that evoked disgust crawled up his legs. Then they burrowed into his mouth, eyes, nose, ears, excretory organs, and all openings that weren’t closed.

Shin Jaehyuk floundered in the swamp of parasites. The more he struggled, the more helplessly his body was dragged down. Insects inside and outside his body gnawed on his flesh and bone fragments from both sides. Feeling the sensation of being eaten alive, Shin Jaehyuk died.

Shin Jaehyuk opened his eyes.

When he came to his senses, he found himself tied to a cross-shaped frame. In front of him was a CRT TV that seemed out of place. The screen crackled as a video played. An elderly woman and a young man were the protagonists of the video. They appeared to be mother and son.

The young man continuously spoke harsh words to his mother. Each time, a huge nail was driven into Shin Jaehyuk’s chest as he was bound to the frame. Words became daggers that pierced his heart. The nails were so strong and numerous that they penetrated his back and even the frame. With his heart burst, Shin Jaehyuk couldn’t possibly maintain life. Shin Jaehyuk died.

Shin Jaehyuk opened his eyes.

After experiencing death three times, Shin Jaehyuk finally understood what the trial was and what the Demon King’s intention was. Along with that, he naturally discerned the identity of the space.

‘A place that is both life and hell.’

This was the mental space of the souls collected by the Demon King. More precisely, it was a hell constructed in metaphorical form from all the pains of life they had experienced while alive.

Mara Papiyas had imprisoned Shin Jaehyuk in a torture chamber called ‘life,’ subjecting him to the same pain they had experienced.

“Haha… worse than Belphegor.”

Belphegor’s spell, which trapped Shin Jaehyuk in his mental space, had a clear purpose: to break the target’s mind by making them experience an eternity of time. But this place was different. This space didn’t exist for his death. As the Demon King had said, he had no intention of killing him.

The Demon King intended to torture him for an eternity.

Until I curse life myself.

“…Living itself is the trial.”

Shin Jaehyuk closed his eyes. The countdown that had been loudly ringing in his head reached zero, and the bomb installed in his head blew his brain apart. Shin Jaehyuk died.

Shin Jaehyuk opened his eyes.

A new hell was beginning.