Chapter 285: Mammon (9)

Ancablosa roared. She let out Dragon Breath toward one of the godly generals who appeared above the southern army's head. The dragons around her also fired wide-area mana toward the godly men in succession. Although they mocked the magics of the demon world thanks to the power of the celestial world, they could not block it when the magics were overlapped.

The dragon corps secured their own territory in the sky.

The monsters nosedived to the ground. It was really a terrifying spectacle to watch dozens of monsters plunging to the ground with their bodies entangled with dozens of godly men. The battlefield, which was a mess because of the clash between the northern and southern forces, fell into even greater chaos.

And their mana collided with each other in the center of all this chaos. Yong-ho and the King of Pride did not hide their murderous intentions toward each other.

Basically, mana on both sides was too powerful. Whenever Aamon's Godly Energy collided with that of the King of Pride, heaven and earth shook. There were huge craters deep down in the ground while there wasn't a single cloud left in the sky.

"The King of Greed! King of Greed! King of Greed!"

Laughing loudly, the King of Pride wielded the Godly Energy of Pride against Yong-ho. Whenever he wielded the Godly Energy of Pride in the shape of a huge sword of light, a tremendous amount of mana moved with it. The movement of their mana itself was much more threatening than the king's sword attack itself.

Since the king's sword attack was not simple, Yong-ho had no choice but to face it with mana.

The Godly Energies of Aamon and the King of Pride collided again, but Yong-ho clenched his teeth. His arm holding Aamon's Godly Energy was so painful as to be torn off, but he endured it with all his might.

The King of Pride laughed again. He suffered a lot of damage every time he exchanged attacks with Yong-ho, but he couldn't hide his gladness. Yong-ho had more Sins than the king, but he was inferior to the king in terms of the total amount of mana and physical strength. The more intensely they fought, the more pronounced this kind of difference between the two was.

"I'm the demon world itself! I'm the demon world itself!"

The King of Pride shouted violently at Yong-ho. He had lived for thousands of years. His body, which he had completed over the past one thousand years, was the crystal of the demon world.

The King of Pride decided that he would not lose to Yong-ho with the blood of the alien world. In his mind, the strongest one in the demon world was Pride, not Greed!

[Master!]

Aamon screamed. Yong-ho vomited blood. The tight balance of power between the two was finally broken. Although Yong-ho managed to block the King of Pride's sword attack, he could not stop the mana the king unleashed right after that. When the King of Pride added a new power to the Godly Energy of Pride that was pressing down Aamon's spear, Yong-ho fell helplessly. He plunged to the ground at a tremendous speed.

"You're done!"

The King of Pride cursed at him blatantly. The Sin of Envy, which became stronger in proportion to the intensity of its owner's feelings, pursued him. The black smoke wrapped around the King of Pride quickly took shape as a black giant, who then swung his huge fist toward Yong-ho, who fell to the ground.

Kwaaaaaaaakang!

Heaven and earth were shaken. At the same time, Yong-he screamed then he vomited blood.

Yong-ho's mana blocked his fist but failed to push it out. It was still being held down by his power.

At that moment, the green flames arose to burn the dark feelings of Envy. The Sin of Gluttony ate up the mana of Pride ferociously.

However, that was not enough. It was too difficult to reverse the dynamics that had once tilted in favor of the King of Pride.

"Yong-ho!"

Kaiwan screamed. As his subordinate spirit, she immediately recognized the danger her master was in. But there was nothing she could do. Although she raced toward Yong-ho and the King of Pride, she was still far away from them. Besides, the king's mana in the surrounding area blocked her approach.

The Queen of Fury also wanted to help Yong-ho. But the King of Lust did not allow it. The king decided to hold the queen rather than overpowering her.

Catalina turned boldly in spite of the possible attack by the godly general behind her back. But her two alter egos of dark mana blocked his attack. She regarded her body as a single sword. She collected black mana in order to penetrate the King of Pride's mana.

Yong-ho's other subordinate spirits also realized their master was in danger. However, there were very few of them who could leave their location, unlike Catalina and Kaiwan.

"Skullkull!"

Skull left a trace of death on the godly man's huge neck. Then he passed by the killed godly man to run toward the place where Yong-ho was. Eligos and Ophelia stabbed Bifronz's chest for the seventh time then turned their heads to Yong-ho immediately.

"Master!"

Gusion screamed. Richard roared. Scathach shouted desperately.

Sitri stepped forward while the three were screaming.

Yong-ho felt his heart was beating. It was the moment when he was on the verge of death, but he knew it.

The Queen of Fury and the King of Lust also knew it. The queen was gasping for breath while the King of Lust felt pain and urgency at the same time.

The King of Pride, who was showing intense hatred toward Yong-ho, turned his head. Actually, he had to because he suddenly felt his heart was pounding.

"The Queen of Sloth!"

Sitri, who stood by Mammon to the end and watched his last moment.

"The King of Pride!"

Sitri's soul was poisoned by the power of the celestial world. She had been keeping the power of Sloth for over a thousand years, but she was the weakest in terms of fighting. So, it was reckless for her to challenge the King of Pride with eight horns.

Nonetheless, she acted. The King of Pride felt threatened by the Queen of Sloth.

She jumped over space and stepped on the air. She approached him from the side. The invisible barrier of corrosion that originated from the power of Sloth pushed out the king's mana and opened a way. As the distance between them narrowed, the strength of the invisible barrier of corrosion increased more.

"Sitri?"

Kaiwan slowed down before she knew it. For the first time, Catalina realized that she was the reincarnation of Elune. She noticed one fact when she looked at Sitri from behind.

The dark energy of Envy enveloped Sitri before being dismantled and disappeared.

Normally, Sitri could never have done it. But the King of Pride understood it. That was why he concentrated his power to disrupt Sitri's attack instead of Yong-ho.

The invisible barrier of corrosion opened the way to the King of Pride by breaking his mana. through the magic of Pride. The power of Sin was the power of the soul. Sitri burned her own soul. She was completely different from when she confronted the three directors who betrayed her. She wanted to survive back then, but not now. She would die where she was standing. She planned to bite the king's neck by exhaling the power of Sloth as much as possible.

The King of Pride was already like a demon god. Even if Sitri burned all her soul, she could never destroy him. But she could deal a fatal blow to him so that Yong-ho could stand up again and confront him. She believed that Yong-ho could overpower the weakened king and destroy him at the end of the day.

She knew she was content with her role like that. By doing so, she could save the demon world.

"Sitri!"

Yong-ho shouted from the ground, trying to stop her. But she didn't listen. She took another step forward. Now, she recalled Mammon, throwing herself toward the King of Pride who was about to use all his might to disrupt her attack. Smiling at Yong-ho for the last time, she brought out as much power of Sloth as possible.

There arose a beautiful and enormous flame caused by her sacrificing herself.

The flame didn't flare up, but it faded away instead.

The King of Pride was not responsible for it, nor was Sitri.

Yong-ho's shouting stopped it. He could not tolerate her sacrifice. His will and shouting finally awakened Yong-ho again. The resonance of the Seven Deadly Sins gathered in one place awakened him from his long sleep. He could never sit idle, watching her sacrificing herself before his eyes.

"[I won't allow for it because you are mine, and your soul is mine!]"

The moment the invisible barrier of corrosion was removed, Sitri bounced off, pushed out by the king's mana. Catalina caught her in the air. The two looked at her, aghast.

Tears came down Sitri's eyes.

The King of Pride shuddered. He felt scared before he knew it.

He barely spoke. "It's a lie!"

The Queen of Fury was thrilled. The King of Lust couldn't even breathe properly.

Gusion shouted loudly while Yong-ho's 12 subordinate spirits also screamed.

"My King!"

Yong-ho and Mammon, the unified King of Greed, responded to their shouting.

***

The day when Mammon, the King of Greed, disappeared from the demon world.

On that day, a thousand and hundreds of years ago, Mammon closed the door of the celestial world and died, totally emaciated.

The King of Pride thought so, and Mammon's 12 Spirits also thought likewise.

But the King of Greed, never died that way.

***

Yong-ho felt and understood it. Yuno, counting the stars, told him that he was not the reincarnation of Mammon, but that Mammon was always with him.

She wasn't talking about Mammon's legacy. What Yuno saw was more essential.

***

Mammon, who killed numerous godly men, finally shut the celestial door. Although he was exposed to tremendous celestial power, he was still the greatest king of the demon world.

Sitri, the Queen of Sloth who stood by him to the end, met Mammon.

He made the following request to her who was weeping.

'Kill me with your power.'

Mammon in her arms was like a bomb. His body contained a large amount of celestial power beyond imagination. He could not control it with his mana anymore. The moment Mammon breathed his last breath, the power of the celestial world would grow explosively, which would inflict another irreparable damage to the demon world.

So, Mammon asked her to erase him from the demon world along with the power of the celestial world by using her invisible barrier of corrosion.

Mammon would shortly face his last moment, and he was destined to die anyway.

Nonetheless, his request was so cruel to her.

Sitri hugged him with trembling hands. Then, she activated the invisible barrier of corrosion to accept his request and ended his life. At that moment, her soul was poisoned by the celestial power, and she had an indelible wound deep down.

***

The reason why he could meet Aamon as soon as he started exploring the dungeon.

The voice he heard while he was peeking into Scathach's memories.

His memory of Mammon in the human world.

Why had not there been a successor born for the past one thousand years since Mammon's death?

What happened to the Sin of Greed during those years?

And why did Sitri not get the power of Greed, Gluttony, and Fury?

Yong-ho could understand all of them now.

***

Mammon did something for the last time before he died in Sitri's arms. He could do it because Sitri's power of the invisible barrier of corrosion neutralized the celestial power.

The Seven Deadly Sins were the fragments of the demon god's soul.

Mammon, the King of Greed, did not let go of the Sin of Greed. He owned it by himself, which became the Sin of Greed itself over one thousand years.

***

Yong-ho felt Mammon. He was Greed, which was with himself. It already became united with him.

He stepped forward. He jumped over space and stood next to Sitri and Catalina. Holding the crying Sitri in his arms, he unleashed the Godly Energy of Greed.

The power of the Godly Energy of Greed was possessiveness.

The King of Pride raised his head. He couldn't understand what was happening before his eyes, but he acted instinctively. He swung the mana of Pride to stop the King of Greed and gathered the light of Pride and the black energy of Envy to attack him.

But it was too late. Yong-ho hugged Sitri so hard as to almost crush her. He possessed her to accept her body and soul. Devouring the celestial power that poisoned her, he declared the contract on making Sitri his 13th subordinate spirit.

Only

The demon god's heart within him began to pound. The seventh claw broke into Yong-ho's chest. The four Sins of Greed, Gluttony, Fury, and Sloth became one in Yong-ho's soul.

All eight horns of light that sprouted above Yong-ho's head disappeared. It was impossible to measure his power by the number of horns.

The light of Pride and the black smoke of Envy scattered, and the celestial power evaporated.

Everyone on the battlefield forgot to fight. Even the celestial beings were forced to stop and look.

The King of Greed, rather, the Demon God of Greed.

Yong-ho grabbed Aamon and fired up the flames of Greed.

He looked down at the King of Pride.