Chapter 501: Advent (2)

Crack! Crack!!

The space behind Arakyle began to split once he finished his sentence. The black Rift grew bigger and out came an army of demons that numbered easily over ten thousand. It was the Despair Corps led by Arakyle.

'That's...'

Oh Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the Despair Corps that had marched out of the Rift. He couldn't feel Deific Essence from them like he could from Arakyle, but something about them felt off.

"Oh."

He soon discovered the source of the oddity.

'What do they have around their necks?'

Every demon of the Despair Corps was wearing something around their neck; it was neither a necklace nor a pendant.

'... A pouch?'

It was about half the size of a human palm. Based on how puffy it looked, Kang-Woo was sure that something was inside it. Such a thing did not exist back in his Demon King days.

'They're... probably not charms.'

There was no way demons would wear charms for good luck as a group.

"You must be curious about what these are."

Arakyle smiled as he noticed Kang-Woo's gaze. He gestured with his chin toward the Despair Corps that had surrounded Kang-Woo, Lilith, and Balrog. He then took off a pouch from one of the demon soldiers.

"Show the Demon King," said Arakyle with a smile.

Arakyle's subordinate brought the unknown pouch toward their mouth and slowly tilted it. A black powder flowed out from the pouch's opening and entered their mouth.

"Kurgh!" the subordinate grunted in pain.

Crunch! Crunch!

The sounds of bones breaking echoed.

"Gaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"

Arakyle's subordinate writhed in pain as grotesque blood vessels resembling tree roots bulged throughout their body.

Whoooom!!

Unsettling demonic energy seeped out of the subordinate like haze. It was clearly different from regular demonic energy.

"Hah," Kang-Woo laughed.

He could tell what the source of that demonic energy was even without using the Authority of Insight. He had experienced it once before.

"... The power of Deicide."

The power of Deicide, or god-killing powers, was fundamentally different from Deific Essence. If Deific Essence was influenced by one's status as a god, then the power of Deicide existed only to kill those with Deific Essence. To add more detail, the power of Deicide was specialized for penetrating Deific Essence and annihilating it. Kang-Woo had made a weapon containing that power in the past.

'I made Yeon-Joo chains using Behemoth's horn.'

Cha Yeon-Joo had been able to injure Kang-Woo even before she became his incarnation, as long as she used the chains infused with the power of Deicide.

'Since they can't all be made an incarnation, they were given something that temporarily grants them the power of Deicide.'

If that was the case, it was not difficult to guess what that powder was.

"Poor Behemoth. Are his horns even intact at this point? No, if all these demons were provided with the powder, I guess they were repeatedly regrown and cut off?"

The pouch on each demon of the Despair Corps likely contained powder made of Behemoth's horn.

"Amon, you thorough son of a bitch."

Kang-Woo had already thought of the possibility that Amon was controlling Behemoth since Behemoth looked as if he were being controlled by someone back when Kang-Woo and his party saw him in the satellite world. Amon's use of the power of Deicide infused in Behemoth's horns had been within Kang-Woo's expectations.

'But I never thought he would make performance-enhancing drugs with them instead of weapons.'

Kang-Woo did not even know that ingesting the horn would temporarily grant the power of Deicide.

'No, not just that.'

It was obvious just from seeing Arakyle's subordinate that they had not only been granted the power of Deicide but their demonic energy and physical parameters had also risen exponentially as well. Although it was only temporary, it far surpassed Han Seol-Ah's buffs.

'But naturally...'

Such an abnormal boost in power would come at a cost.

'You'd become braindead if you're lucky, or just die if you aren't.'

Ingesting powder made of Behemoth's horn was no different than becoming a suicide bomber.

"Do you have any idea what would happen if you ate that?" asked Kang-Woo with deeply sunken eyes.

Although they were Arakyle's subordinates, all members of the Despair Corps were Kang-Woo's subordinates as well.

'Well, not anymore.'

Kang-Woo even recognized a few familiar faces among the soldiers surrounding him, Lilith, and Balrog. There was no way he wouldn't feel for them.

"Hahaha! Of course, we do!" Arakyle burst into laughter. He then exhaled ecstatically and spread his arms wide. "But even if we have to tear ourselves apart and set our souls ablaze." He raised his head high and said in madness, "We have to move forward, don't we?"

Arakyle cackled as his shoulders moved up and down.

"You used to say this all the time. Forward, forward, forward, forward!" He shouted in madness as he reminisced. "Climb higher! To a height no one has ever reached! Kffp! Kahahahaha!!"

Arakyle trembled in ecstasy.

"Yes. You're absolutely right, Demon King. If demons live by their desire and are completed by them...!" He noisily clashed his saw blade hands together. "Shouldn't we pursue power, no matter what the cost?"

"..."

"Are you not the one who put that to practice the most, Demon King?"

"..."

Kang-Woo remained silent as he recalled his days in Hell— no, he did not even have to think that far back. Even now, as he was talking to Arakyle, he was constantly on a tightrope, trying to maintain control over the Demonic Sea at all times. Compared to the risks Kang-Woo bore, the risk that came with ingesting powder made from Behemoth's horn was nothing.

"Aaaahh." Arakyle twirled as if dancing. "This reminds me of when I first met you." He smiled and continued, "You did not stop eating Mammon alive even as you jumped into his flames! I still remember your madness as you devoured Mammon's entire army of a hundred thousand demons!"

Arakyle looked in a daze as if he were high.

"Ahh, it was truly breathtaking. No one was as extraordinary as you."

The Demon King back then was the paragon of desire. Even if his limbs were severed, intestines exploded out of his stomach, or half of his head was torn off, he desired only to devour his foes to climb even higher. His only desire was to grow stronger. All predators were reduced to mere prey before the Demon King. No other demon was a better fit for the title than Kang-Woo.

"But..." Arakyle's eyes turned cold. "I do not see even a trace of your former self in you." He glared at Kang-Woo and continued, "Amon told me that you've sided with humans and are protecting the world."

His eyes were filled with disgust.

"Well, the fact that you sided with humans doesn't bother me. But..."

"..."

"The fact that you are protecting others is unforgivable."

The Demon King should never protect others. The king of demons was meant to plunder, extort, and usurp.

"Since you have lost your desire..." Arakyle's eyes glinted fiercely. "I can no longer call you my king."

"..."

Kang-Woo slowly looked around in silence. His former subordinates, whom he had done his best to protect, were brandishing their weapons and exuding hostility at him.

"Hahaha! What are you standing there all blankly for?" Arakyle laughed. "I don't blame you. After all, I doubt even you are a match for an army of ten thousand, all with the power of Deicide."

It might have been different if the Demon King they were facing was the one from the past, but a Demon King with no desire would break down due to the despairing difference in strength between them.

"That is why you are no longer our king." Arakyle cackled. He then declared, "Your era is over. You have been... forgotten."

Their king was now a relic of the past; it was time for demons to accept a new king.

"That aside..."

Step, step.

Arakyle strolled right up to Kang-Woo.

"..."

Kang-Woo slowly turned his head again to stare coldly at Arakyle.

"What a moron Doomguard is," mentioned Arakyle mockingly.

Slice.

He swung down his saw blade hand and beheaded Doomguard, whom Kang-Woo laid on the ground. He then playfully bounced Doomguard's head on the flat part of his saw blade hand.

"He frantically ran away so that he could reach you, even ingesting Behemoth's horn powder in the process."

"..."

"A demon prioritizing loyalty over their desire... don't you think it's strange?"

"... own."

"We are completed only by desire... hm? Did you say something?"

"Put him down."

Kang-Woo moved his arm.

"...!"

He grabbed Doomguard's head, which Arakyle was bouncing on his saw blade hand before Arakyle could even react.

"Kurgh."

Arakyle stepped back in surprise. He had acquired power incomparable to his past self after becoming Bael's incarnation, but he was unable to follow the Demon King's movements just now.

"..."

Kang-Woo embraced Doomguard's head and then slowly placed it on the ground. He reattached the head to where it had been cut off by Arakyle's saw blade.

- Heh... hehe.

Doomguard's laughter popped into Kang-Woo's head.

'He was an adorable son of a bitch.'

In terms of personality, he was similar to Kim Tae-Hyun, excluding the fact that he was aggressive to anyone but Kang-Woo.

- Hehe. I'm happy that... I managed to see you again... Cough! Before my last breath, my king.

'Fucking idiot. You could have lived if you didn't run to me.'

- I... I have something that I need to tell you... no matter what.

'It was fucking useless information. I would've figured something out even if you didn't tell me.'

- I would have... come to see you... sooner.

'No fucking shit. You should've come to me as soon as you noticed Amon doing weird shit instead of confronting him.'

"..." Kang-Woo stood up after placing Doomguard's head back on the ground. He then called, "Arakyle."

"... Yes?"

Arakyle gestured to his soldiers to get ready to ingest the powder.

"I asked you why in the beginning, didn't I?"

Kang-Woo slowly raised his head.

"I wasn't asking why you killed Doomguard."

His scleras dyed black.

"What I was asking was..."

His black irises dyed yellow.

"Why you forgot about me."

His black pupils stretched horizontally.

"Betrayal? I can understand that. Let's be honest, I completely understand why you would lick Bael's feet if he would give you Deific Essence for free. But Arakyle, oh Arakyle. I feel you, but you shouldn't have forgotten about me. You guys know me. You all fought alongside me and emerged victorious together."

'No matter how drunk you were on power... no matter how much time passed... no matter how foggy your memories have become...'

Split.

Wings made of black mucus sprouted, and from the mucus appeared mouths filled with sharp teeth. And...

"You should've at least remembered me."

It marked the advent of the demon of demons, the predator of predators, the Hell of Hells... the Demon King.