Ch.238Chapter 238. The Strongest and the Weakest

My first memory was in the middle of a garbage dump…

A world made of fragments falling from a collapsed sky—perhaps residents of other worlds would call it the “Demon Realm.”

A world formed from useless things from other dimensions, polluted and evil things that deserved exclusion—it would be no exaggeration to call it a dimensional garbage dump.

Demons were like byproducts formed from the things that existed in such a pit.

Born from mixed garbage, they had no consistency in form, beings that could mix with anything.

All they needed was the will to survive and clear desires they wished to fulfill in such a life.

‘Are you alone too?’

And at this moment, the two colliding demons reflected.

That the meeting of two demons born this way was likely the beginning of all this.

‘…Are you alone too?’

The weakest demon who had barely sustained life on streets littered with garbage.

And the strongest demon who, born with the most powerful strength, was driven to the garbage dump after being pursued by forces that checked him.

‘Yes, everyone was obsessed with driving me out by joining forces.’

When they first met, both were covered in wounds.

The strongest from the sadism of those who wanted to usurp his position, and the weakest from the sadism of those who had lost in such power struggles and wanted to feel superior.

‘No matter how much power one is born with, there are limits to what one can do alone.’

Despite their different origins and paths, the two demons ended up meeting after falling to the same place.

The weakest demon didn’t think much of this meeting.

Even if he was the strongest, he thought he would look down on him and trample him like other demons.

‘Little one, have you ever thought about it?’

But he didn’t mock him.

Rather, he stayed by his side and sought empathy.

‘What might exist beyond this place. Whether there’s truly an opportunity to obtain something more magnificent than competing for what’s in this garbage dump.’

What was reflected in his eyes as he looked up at the sky with him was clearly something that could be called yearning.

A longing for the unknown that would never exist in demons who only aimed to reign as kings of the garbage dump.

Perhaps because he could put the entire world beneath his feet if given the chance, his desire could extend beyond this world to the outer worlds.

‘What do you say, won’t you come with me?’

He needed someone to assist him in seizing that opportunity.

When such a proposal came before him, the weakest demon felt his heart pounding even as he hesitated to take his hand.

‘…What awaits if we go together?’

Even knowing that he too, being a demon like himself, lived for selfishness.

Even knowing he would be abandoned someday if he couldn’t satisfy him, he keenly realized that if he stayed as he was, he would achieve nothing.

‘You will share in everything I achieve.’

Yes, that choice back then wasn’t wrong.

Because he was able to witness all the moments of glory achieved under his assistance, if only from over his shoulder.

Moreover, because no one could match him, his desire to seize everything around him even made him generous toward his subordinates.

‘Mephisto, are you ready to travel with me?’

In the master-servant relationship established through such protection, he led his subordinates through a dimensional rift he created while dreaming of higher ideals.

No one opposed him.

If truly following him meant leaving the garbage dump and seizing something more valuable, he considered that necessary for being true to his own desires as well.

‘I will follow you, my lord.’

Even after leaving the bottom world.

Because he believed that rewards he couldn’t grasp with his own hands would continue by following him…

*****

“Merilyn!! Wake up, Merilyn!!”

But what about the end he faced in words?

In what might be the final world, he is pouring out his power with the momentum to destroy this world, without even caring about his subordinates.

Even the oldest loyal servant who tried to stop him was no exception.

‘Danger…’

After a fierce battle, her magic core was pulled out while she was still alive, and finally, having lost her power, she collapsed miserably on the floor.

She tried to raise her body with what little consciousness remained, but even her trembling fingertips stopped, and her body temperature began to cool.

‘It’s dangerous.’

She had to fight.

Otherwise, everyone would die.

The person she loved and everything he wanted to protect would disappear.

“…I thought you might stay with me until the end.”

Despite such desperation, the hand holding her magic core was exerting force, causing cracks on its surface.

Along with that, her head, with consciousness half-severed, eventually went limp on the floor.

In the present, having blown away the only chance to kill him, all she could do with her fading consciousness was listen to the sounds.

“I truly regret it came to this, Mephisto.”

The magic core that shattered with a crumbling sound at the end.

Along with that, as her life rapidly drained from her consciousness, she began to fall asleep into darkness.

That should have been the end of her life.

-BOOM!!

The explosion that rang out at that moment.

Opening her half-closed eyes at the familiarity she felt from it, she began to see the figure of someone who should not exist.

‘Mr. Hyoseong…’

Hyoseong Woo.

The human she had come to love, the only man who had rescued her from infinite emptiness.

-BOOM, BOOM!

The onslaught that followed such realization was accompanied by a thrill strong enough to be felt even with her dimming consciousness.

Feeling her consciousness becoming clearer as she sensed it, Merilyn bit her lip and began to tremble her fingers.

‘Don’t do that.’

She hoped he wouldn’t step forward.

Because there was no way a human who was merely born with one special ability could defeat her former lord who had knocked her down even after she had expended most of her magic power.

If he fought that damned being who was now just an interference, he would surely meet a terrible death.

-BOOOOOM!

Nevertheless, the force driving him did not die out but intensified, shaking the consciousness field.

Feeling this, Merilyn tried to grasp the thread of her fading consciousness, disregarding the blood flowing from her chest.

‘This can’t continue…’

As if lighting a fire in a life that should be extinguishing, breathing warmth into a body that should be cooling.

-Thump.

The thumping felt in her chest from which the source of life had drained.

Hoping it wasn’t just her imagination…

****

-BOOM!!

Continuous explosions.

A series of intense vibrations from the hand holding the weapon.

The waves shaking the area tore at my eardrums, but I still wanted to entrust everything to instinct.

-BOOOOOM!!

Merilyn is dead.

My precious lover lost her life before my eyes.

And such things will repeat in the future. Though I don’t know the details, if I don’t kill this being, such things will happen again.

Irie, Vivian, Flan and Tashian, Garam and everyone in the Ark, all of them…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

As such nightmarish imagination devoured my reason, the power emitted from the armor amplified, increasing the output of the spear formed.

Crack, crack. Just from gripping it, a torrent of power ran from my fingertips to my shoulders.

Even enduring that by gritting my teeth, the spear I threw was caught by the one who killed Merilyn, standing in place.

The spear piercing his body, and then exploding…

-Crackle, crackle!

No, it’s not exploding.

The attack that should explode while embedded in his body, tearing it to pieces, is somehow not functioning.

“…Why.”

His absurd power.

Forcibly suppressing the unstable spear to fix its form.

“Why are you so angry?”

Having pulled out such a spear in reverse, he stood there limply and began to stare at me with hollow eyes.

There was no anger. No pain, not even mockery directed at me…

“Who are you… Why did you suddenly attack me?”

The voice uttered from his mouth was as filled with emptiness as the eyes watching me.

As my body trembled at the eerie energy felt from him, I gritted my teeth and prepared to rush in with another formed weapon.

No words accompanied it. Just forging a spear with terrible hatred and exerting only the momentum to pierce his body.

“…Is it because of Mephisto.”

I tore his body with the thrust spear, burning muscles and bones with the electric current generated by the rune characters engraved on it.

Despite such an attack, the opponent just stood in place. He was just trying to judge for himself why I had rushed at him.

“Have you formed some attachment to that abominable traitor?”

-BOOM!!!

A hammer collided with the head that was muttering disgusting words.

Though his head reeled from the attack, his two legs corrected the body that should have fallen and again directed his hollow gaze at me.

Even if it disappears, it’s only for a moment.

Those eyes… those eyes that contain nothing, as if they were an abyss, keep coming toward me as if to devour me.

“I’m envious, truly…”

-BOOM!!

The axe strike I unleashed, not wanting to see those eyes, struck his head.

I tried to apply force to split his head, but somehow the blade couldn’t advance forward while touching his head.

He didn’t block it.

He just stood there in place.

This absurd monster was just standing there, as if my attack wasn’t even worth blocking.

“To be able to be so angry for someone… I’m truly envious.”

No, that can’t be right.

Even Hellcry of the Four Heavenly Kings bled when hit, and I could kill angels mixed with the flesh and blood of outer gods.

I must have just used a wrong technique or hit incorrectly. If I push through with force somehow, I should be able to split his head.

“It’s the same no matter what you do.”

As if mocking me who was trying desperately to drive in the axe, the monster took a step forward.

“Nothing, no matter what world I’ve traversed, has satisfied me…”

Though I raised the armor’s output to exert full power to push him back, he didn’t stop there but took another step forward, pushing me back.

“Even though I killed my precious subordinates with these hands…”

-BOOM!

The ground trembled with a roar. Along with it, my feet reflexively stepped back.

“Even killing the loyal servant who served me the longest, I feel nothing.”

Not wanting to admit that, I struck down another weapon I had created on the axe, but even that he casually swept away with his hand.

And my body was pushed back with a bang!

As the deployed weapons shattered with that single action, his other hand clenched tightly and began to aim at me.

“Yet someone like you…”

A mere action of throwing a punch. His body is still gaunt, and even his posture is a mess.

But his gaze, which had been unfocused, is now fixed on me. The power accompanying his hand is distorting the surrounding space just by existing.

“Someone like you dares to rush at me thinking you can satisfy me!!!”

I quickly deployed weapons forward to block that attack and attempted to adjust the flow.

Believing that no matter how powerful the force, if there’s a flow, it can be redirected. Thinking that fighting against a strong opponent is no reason to give up.

-BOOM!!!

But despite such attempts, the weapons shattered to pieces, and the fist struck my abdomen.

The body hit by that attack was mercilessly pushed back and ended up rolling pitifully on the floor of the consciousness field.

“Ugh, hack…”

Excruciating pain as if internal organs were being torn.

But no scream came out. Something that blocked my throat as soon as I fell was blocking where the scream should come out, trying to spill out of my mouth.

“UWEEEEEK!”

And at the end, vomit and streams of blood poured out.

My vision spun with the blood flowing profusely on the floor, but my trembling flesh was teaching me that I shouldn’t hesitate here.

“Why are you doing this? Didn’t you want to kill me?”

BOOM!

The ground vibrates just from taking one step.

Along with it, he who had gathered more surging magic power in his body, raised the corner of his mouth and prepared to rush at me.

“Then rush at me more.”

Still staring at me with empty eyes.

Gradually revealing anger toward me who had annoyed him.

“Like I did to Mephisto, you too should rush at me with the momentum to crush the heart residing in this body.”

“If you rushed in squeezing out that life, then cling on until the end and die miserably!!!!”

-BOOM, BOOM!!

A series of vibrations occurring as he gradually approaches.

Though slow, he is definitely approaching me. Unlike when I was one-sidedly beaten, he is narrowing the distance with a firm will to kill me.

I need to run away. My instinct was shouting that at this moment.

“…Annabelle.”

Nevertheless, I wanted to hold my ground. Because I understood with reason that the moment I fled following my instinct, it would return as regret.

-Come to your senses, you foolish one! You’re in this state after just one attack! There’s no way you can win…

“We’ll all die if we stay like this!!”

Even now the sky is rumbling, and the rift is worsening.

It’s immediately apparent that the medium for this comes from that monster in front of me.

“That guy…”

Conversely, that guy must have lost strength from causing such events.

That’s why confronting him like this is barely permitted.

Though the power gap is severe, I knew that if you stab, blood flows, and that there are limits to power.

“If we don’t kill the Demon Lord, we’ll all die!!”

The opportunity to kill him is only now.

If we miss that opportunity, it won’t end with Merilyn; everyone will die.

Only I, who am here, can stop that damned monster, so how could I hastily decide to retreat from this place?

-…Damn it.

As if realizing the same thing, Annabelle reluctantly tried to lend me strength.

Along with it, as magical supports formed on damaged body parts, the body that should have collapsed began to rise.

With this, I can move my body.

It’s terribly painful, but I can fight.

“AAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!”

My body, trying to turn even such pain into strength, began to rush toward the Demon Lord again with a roar.

Not thinking about the future that would unfold ahead… Just vaguely hoping there would be hope in the only path presented before me.