Ch.169Chapter 169 – Elohim (1)

With the death of the Demon King, his influence was also lost. The phenomenon of annihilation that was returning the world to its primordial state stopped, and the darkness that had been coloring the world disappeared.

The gates connected to hell were still open, pouring out countless demons, but now other gates had joined them. As the heavenly gates that the Demon King had blocked reopened, angels poured down. The angels automatically hunted the demons flooding the earth.

At the same time, reinforcements gathered from around the world through the Eden Gates. Thanks to the precedent set by Lucifer, countries where Eden Gates had opened responded swiftly. Nearby nations hurriedly dispatched troops, worried that demons appearing in Pyongyang might cross over to their countries through the Eden Gates.

Armies and hunters gathered from the opposite side of the globe helped exterminate the demons. Complex mechanical devices like fighter jets or tanks couldn’t pass through the gates without breaking down, but conventional explosive weapons and hunters were sufficient.

Hunters, considered five times more powerful than non-awakened soldiers in combat manuals, sprayed machine gun fire. Demons that couldn’t be killed by machine guns were eliminated with concentrated skill barrages. Confused by the death of their leader, the demons scattered in disarray and were swept away helplessly.

Before the alliance of angels and humanity, the leaderless legions of hell were no better than cannon fodder. Now the rate of killing demons exceeded the rate at which they poured from the gates. Angels lined up in front of the gates fired balls of light, turning demons into corpses before they could even touch the ground.

Civilians who had been hiding in underground shelters to escape the demons cautiously emerged to witness the scene.

“Haha, we’re alive! We’re alive!”

“Angels! Thank you, thank you!”

The young man who had just offered fervent prayers of gratitude to the angels was a devout believer of the Paradise Church. He was so moved by the miracle of angels fighting demons for him—something he had only heard about in stories—that he was even crying. He couldn’t let such a historic moment pass without documentation. He needed evidence…

The young man approached an angel, thinking of taking a selfie with it. Up close, the angel’s appearance was grotesque. The eyes densely packed on its pair of wings were impossible to get used to. It looked more like a demon than an angel—the kind of being that would appear in nightmares.

‘No, I shouldn’t think of the angel like that. How dare I…’

It was neither an appropriate attitude toward a benefactor nor a respectful thought about a divine being. The young man quickly repented, trying to hide his disgust and act respectfully.

“Angel, thank you so much for saving us…”

According to the education provided by the Paradise Church, angels never respond when humans speak to them, nor do they speak themselves. The young man wasn’t expecting any response when he expressed his gratitude.

But as if answering his greeting, the angel’s eyes turned toward the young man and stared at him intently.

“The, the angel looked at me!”

The young man jumped up and down in excitement. But the response didn’t end there. A mental wave emanated from the angel—a being known to never engage in private conversation with humans under any circumstances.

[New command received. Demon elimination order priority downgraded one level. Behavioral protocol updated.]

“…Angel?”

An extremely mechanical mental wave resonated. The voice was chilling, almost freezing. The young man felt uneasy and stepped back. But it was already too late.

[Soul harvesting initiated.]

The angel’s spear pierced between the young man’s eyebrows. Someone screamed at the sight of the young man dying instantly with his tongue hanging out. The angel’s gaze turned in that direction. A new casualty was born.

“Kyaaaaaaah!”

“R-run away-!!”

The angels who had been protecting humans suddenly began attacking them. The baptism of light that had been burning demons was now directed at humans. Light is heat. When the light from the angels touched firearms, the chambers heated up and spontaneously caught fire. Explosions rang out everywhere.

“What’s going on? Why are they doing this? Weren’t they on our side?”

“The Paradise Church said they were messengers sent by God to save us from the clutches of demons…!”

Chaos returned to the place that had briefly known peace. Hunters attempted to counterattack without understanding what was happening. Several angels ceased functioning when intercepted by magic and skills. But there were too many remaining. The number of angels kept increasing through the golden gate.

“No… we can’t win… how are we supposed to defeat this?”

People fled screaming. However, as the saying goes, “there’s always someone faster than the fastest runner”—escaping the angels’ grasp seemed impossible. As spears rained down from the sky, impaling people one-sidedly, a low-rank hunter frantically fleeing ran into a group of soldiers.

They were clearly well-armed, organizationally trained special forces. Reading the Korean characters on their uniforms, the hunter’s face lit up with relief.

“Korean military? We’re saved!”

Thinking reinforcements had finally arrived, the hunter felt relieved. He could sense strong magical power from them—perhaps they were a special unit composed entirely of awakened individuals.

Just as he sighed in relief, a cold blade pierced his chest.

“Wh-why?”

The hunter let out an incomprehensible groan. His eyes, demanding an explanation, met the soldier’s gaze. And he froze like a frog before a snake.

Black bloodshot eyes with reptilian pupils. Unmistakably demon eyes. He knew what to call such beings.

“Ma…in…”

The black hearts implanted in the soldiers’ bodies emitted demonic energy. Gun barrels, their heat resistance enhanced by demonic energy, spewed fire. At both angels and humans.

The massacre began.

***

The Demon King’s divinity was absorbed into Shin Jaehyuk in the form of light particles. He controlled the sense of omnipotence filling him with a deep breath.

“Whew…”

After finishing a kind of energy circulation, Shin Jaehyuk stood up and looked at the sky. The sky was cracking around the golden gate. The spatial passage was tearing and expanding. And the overwhelmingly massive presence felt from there.

“…Elohim, are you trying to destroy the world?”

Just then.

The gate opened, and a familiar being jumped out from inside.

“…What, you’re alive?”

Satan looked around the scene while muttering to himself. The withered corpse of the Sage and the unharmed Shin Jaehyuk. His face filled with bewilderment.

Hearing Satan’s words, Shin Jaehyuk was certain.

“So you finally betrayed us…!”

“Oops.”

The space distorted. Satan narrowly avoided the surprise attack. He could detect and dodge it because it was charged with emotion.

“Well, this is unexpected…”

Satan clicked his tongue as he assessed the situation. He had naturally expected either Mara Papiyas or Shin Jaehyuk to barely win, planning to take advantage of the aftermath…

But Shin Jaehyuk was too unscathed. No, beyond unscathed—he was overflowing with power.

‘…This isn’t good.’

Even Satan couldn’t guarantee victory in a direct confrontation. But that was fine. A cunning demon never digs just one hole.

‘By now… yes.’

The sound of machine gun fire and screams echoed from afar. Shin Jaehyuk flinched, not taking his eyes off Satan. Hadn’t the commotion ended with the Demon King?

Satan threw the head he was holding. Blood dripped from the rough cut surface. The face was frozen in shock and terror. It was someone Shin Jaehyuk recognized.

“President Park Jugwan…”

“He served his purpose. I needed the army he cultivated. It’s mine now.”

“…Army?”

“Yes. You’ve fought with the prototype before, haven’t you? Those gangsters you saw in Incheon.”

“…!”

Though it was from years ago, the memory came back instantly because it had been so shocking. The Black Death Cult members who had become artificial Ma-in by implanting parts of demons’ bodies.

“It took some time to decipher Belial’s research… But it was worth my personal investment.”

The Monster Trait Fusion Special Soldier Cultivation Plan. Under the pretext of strengthening military power, Satan had conducted human experiments on the Korean military. The experiment involved implanting high-grade monster hearts into soldiers, forcing them into vassal contracts.

President Park Jugwan had handed over military authority to his “sponsor,” enticed by the promise that even non-awakened soldiers could gain power equal to awakened ones, but this wasn’t the plan Park had expected. It was solely to cultivate Satan’s private army.

The experiment was a great success, and Satan gained an army of Ma-in. Each one was at least A-rank, comparable to S-rank.

Satan crushed the severed head under his foot and cackled.

“He was quite a useful horse. A human who follows only power and desire. Such humans are easy to handle. They’re manipulated in the palm of my hand without even realizing they’re being used.”

“…When did you plan to betray us?”

“Pff, bwahahahaha-!!”

Satan held his stomach and burst into laughter. He laughed so hard that tears welled up in his eyes.

“A holy knight, did you actually trust a demon?”

Satan found it hilarious. That someone would trust him—the epitome of demons, specialized in deception. It was absurd. Riding the wave of good humor, he continued.

“All alliances have an end. If you weren’t going to betray first, you should have expected the other side to do so.”

The Sage hadn’t, and that’s why he died. It made sense. In the first cycle, Satan had cooperated with the Sage until the end while hiding his true intentions. The hundreds of years of cooperation without any problems had likely planted complacency and negligence in his subconscious.

“The Sage thought he knew everything, but that wasn’t the case. It was all me. Making Park Jugwan wary of Kim Jaemin’s danger, thus causing him to steal nuclear weapons from North Korea, the Paradise Church’s failed assassination of Kim Jaemin, inducing Kim Jaemin’s corruption, and finally using nuclear weapons on Kim Jaemin.”

Guiding a twisted bullet to hit the person next to the target instead—this was all too easy for Satan.

Thanks to Kim Jaemin not being immediately killed as the Paradise Church intended, but instead struggling desperately before meeting a tragic end, Satan was able to not only dispose of the thorn in his side, Kim Jaemin, but also chip away at humanity’s forces.

“Ah, you all moved exactly as predicted, without the slightest deviation. And it will be the same this time.”

“…What do you mean?”

The gunfire grew louder.

“I’ve ordered my vassals to slaughter everything that moves. Not just angels, but also the humans you so love.”

Shin Jaehyuk’s expression hardened.

“I wonder which way you’ll go. Heaven or earth. Choose which is more important.”

After posing this test, Satan disappeared. His presence vanished cleanly with the power of deception, making it impossible to catch or track him. There was no time for that anyway.

Rumble— Ominous lightning flashed in the sky. Space distorted around the golden hole, forming a vortex of clouds. Souls harvested by angels were sucked into the hole, which expanded as if to cover the entire Earth.

It looked as if the world would end at any moment. Whatever this phenomenon was, Elohim was finally taking serious action.

‘You intend to absorb all souls on Earth to trigger a promotion. A ritual to transcend even the rank of archangel and become an absolute being…’

His eyes focused on the collapsing heaven, his ears on the screams rising from the ground. Which should come first? With only one body, he couldn’t do both simultaneously.

‘If only the Sage were still alive.’

The strongest hunters had been annihilated when the Demon King appeared. The subsequent army fell to demons, and the remaining forces to angels. Now angels and Ma-in were simultaneously killing the survivors.

There was no help to be expected. Unless a miracle occurred.

‘Someone, someone…!’

And miracles are called miracles because they come when least expected.

“Shin-Jae-hyuk-!”

A voice that once sought to kill him, now so reassuringly dependable, called out. Shin Jaehyuk looked up in surprise. Kwak Taewoo was fighting the Ma-in forces and shouting.

“Leave the ground to us! Focus on your battle-!”

Seeing Kwak Taewoo tearing apart the Ma-in with various weapons, Shin Jaehyuk felt relieved. With the skills he had confirmed in hell, Taewoo was more than capable of handling the Ma-in army.

As soon as he confirmed Kwak Taewoo’s presence, Shin Jaehyuk kicked off the ground. As he soared toward the golden gate, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Us?’

***

“Hmm, so he chose the more urgent side.”

From a rooftop somewhere, Satan muttered as he watched Shin Jaehyuk soar upward. In truth, it didn’t matter which side he chose. Whichever choice Shin Jaehyuk made, Satan’s objective would be achieved. He would be the last one standing.

‘Now I just need to gauge how much power Elohim has recovered through their battle. And then at the right moment, I’ll intervene—hm?’

In the midst of his premature sense of victory, footsteps sounded from behind. Who could it be? Was there someone who could come here—

“I heard everything. What you said, what you did.”

A sticky killing intent that seemed impossible to emanate from a single person pricked Satan’s skin. The smile disappeared from his face. Ah, this insufferable voice.

A dark red sword aura filled Satan’s eyes.

“…I promise. I won’t kill you easily.”

The holy sword exuded rage.