Chapter 502: Advent (3)

Clack, clack, clack!

The grotesque wings made of fluid flapped as the hundreds of teeth embedded in them noisily clacked. The horizontal goat eyes gazed at Arakyle.

"U-Urgh," Arakyle grunted.

Chills ran down his spine. He was getting cold sweats and having trouble breathing. He felt as if he were drowning in a boundless black sea.

Arakyle bit his lip and commanded, "All forces, prepare for battle!"

The soldiers of the Despair Corps grabbed their pouches. Arakyle pointed his saw blade at the Demon King.

'It is impossible for us to lose.'

He used to be one of the Demon King's closest allies along with Balrog and Lilith; he knew exactly how strong the Demon King was as well as how to defeat him.

'I just need to make him open a Door and then run away.'

The Demon King's greatest strength as well as his greatest weakness was the power of the Demonic Sea. It was a boundless sea of demonic energy that not even the Demon King could perfectly control. Once he opened the Doors of the Ten Thousand Demon Core, which acted as a seal for the sea of demonic energy, he would lose consciousness and be driven out of control. They just needed to confirm that the Demon King opened a Door, and then they would run away without looking back.

'After enough time...'

The Demon King would become so weak that even a child could kill him. It was a surefire strategy. The Despair Corps numbering ten thousand plus Arakyle with Deific Essence would easily be able to force the Demon King to open a Door, and they had already prepared an escape route once he did. Arakyle was sure that this strategy was only possible because he knew about the Demon King's weakness.

'But why... why isn't this uneasiness disappearing?'

Arakyle fiercely shook his head to erase his anxiety.

Just then, the Demon King mentioned, "I have one more thing to ask."

Arakyle flinched and raised his head. He got chills as the Demon King's golden yellow eyes stared at him.

"You planned this on your own, didn't you?"

"... So what if I did?" Arakyle asked back in irritation, biting his lip anxiously.

"Yeah." The Demon King smiled brightly as if he had expected it. He then looked around the Despair Corps and continued, "If Bael or Amon had planned this, they wouldn't have brought only this many."

"..." Arakyle's eyebrows flinched. The Demon King was undermining the Despair Corps and him. "... I am no longer the commander of Despair you once knew."

Arakyle had been born anew after receiving Bael's blessing.

"And neither are the members of the Despair Corps who stand before you."

Battles in the Ninth Hell did not stop even after the Demon King left. Demons instinctively desired power and conflict; battles were no different from their purpose in life. The Despair Corps had gone through countless battles and grew stronger in the Demon King's absence. Not only that, but they possessed Behemoth's horn powder which granted the power of Deicide.

Arakyle muttered, "You... will have no choice but to open a Door."

"Is that so?" The Demon King smiled. "You've changed, huh? I guess I would have to agree with that." He laughed as his shoulders moved up and down. He tilted his head and continued, "But why are you assuming that I haven't changed in that time either?"

"..."

Arakyle frowned due to Kang-Woo's mocking tone. There was certainly a possibility that the Demon King had also grown stronger than in his days in Hell, just like Arakyle.

However, Arakyle said firmly, "That is enough of your nonsense. A demon with no desire cannot grow stronger."

The Demon King had abandoned his desire and returned to Earth. He stopped plundering, extorting, and usurping, only to protect humanity. There was no way that a demon who abandoned his desire, the fundamental core of a demon, could grow.

"Pfft! Hahahahaha!!" The Demon King laughed as he clenched his stomach. The wings made of black mucus flapped fiercely. "Yeah, you're right."

A demon with no desire could not grow stronger. Desire was what allowed demons to move forward, and the key for them to reach perfection.

"But, you wanna know something?"

Arakyle had misunderstood something. The Demon King spread his wings of black mucus widely. Desire undeniably made demons what they were. However...

"I've never once stopped desiring."

The Demon King couldn't lose his desire.

"Even now, I'm..."

Even when he casually carried on conversations. Even when he loved, got mad, sad, had fun, laughed, made a stir, touched, caressed, embraced, kissed the woman he loved, fooled around like a jester, and enjoyed a picnic with those precious to him, he was...

"So hungry that I feel like I'm starving to death."

Split.

The corners of the Demon King's mouth ripped to his earlobes as he smiled, exposing red flesh and his gums underneath. More white teeth sprouted from them.

"Kuh!"

Arakyle's expression turned pale. Demonic energy that he had never felt from the Demon King in the past exerted immense pressure on him.

"What the..." he muttered as his eyes shook. He bit his lip and raised his saw blade hand. "Eat Behemoth's horn!"

The members of the Despair Corps poured the powder in the pouch into their mouths as Arakyle commanded.

"Graaaaaaaaahhh!!"

The entire Despair Corps roared ferociously. Hideous blood vessels resembling tree roots bulged all over their bodies and poured out from them demonic energy infused with the power of Deicide.

"Despair Corps," said Arakyle as he raised his saw blade high. He then swung it down and commanded, "Kill the king."

Rumble—!

The full force of the Despair Corps charged at the Demon King as everything around them shook.

"Haaa," the Demon King exhaled heatedly.

Unbearable hunger took control of him once he unleashed the desire he had been suppressing. He felt as if he were dying of thirst.

"Die!!"

A demon at the vanguard swung a stupidly large greatsword infused with the power of Deicide at the Demon King's head.

"Authority of Invulnerability."

The Demon King leaned back and used an Authority. One of the hundreds of Authorities lying dormant inside the Demonic Sea was activated.

Clang—!

The greatsword infused with the power of Deicide bounced away. The demon was about to step back once his attack was blocked, but the Demon King grabbed his arm before he could do so.

"Ah—"

A mouth filled with sharp teeth opened wide before the demon could say anything.

Crunch.

The demon's flesh was torn and his bones were crushed. Black blood poured out like a fountain.

"Keep pressuring him!!" shouted Arakyle fiercely.

The Despair Corps instantly surrounded the Demon King and attacked him from all directions. The Demon King smiled and raised his right hand. The black ring on his middle finger turned into a sharp wedge. He grabbed it and stuck it to the ground.

Swoosh—!!

Black blades shot up from the ground around the wedge, piercing demons from the leg, thigh, buttock, and up to the mouth. Hundreds of the Despair Corps were killed in just one attack.

Crunch, crunch!

Mouths appeared from the blades that pierced through the demons and ate away at them. The sounds of devouring flesh echoed throughout the battlefield.

"Raaaaaaahhh!"

Although hundreds were killed in one attack, the Despair Corps was made up of ten thousand demons. Demons as many as the ones that just died charged at the Demon King without rest.

Stab! Crush!

The weapons infused with the power of Deicide pierced the Demon King one by one. The Demon King, who looked like a hedgehog with weapons stabbed into him, staggered.

"Now!!" shouted Arakyle, pressing his soldiers as he waved his saw blade in the air.

'We just have to push him a little further...!'

The Demon King would open a Door once he was pushed to the absolute limit.

"Heh."

However, the Demon King, who had been staggering as if he had used up all his strength, stood tall with his tongue out.

Clatter.

The weapons piercing him fell to the ground.

"... Huh?"

"Sunset," the Demon King chanted before the Despair Corps had a chance to pull themselves together.

The sky turned black as black demonic energy covered it. Flames resembling a black sun poured down on them like rainfall.

Sizzle—!!

"Gaaaaahhh!"

"Kurgh, argh!"

The smell of burning flesh and eye-stinging smoke filled the air. The black blood pooled on the ground boiled from the heat. Only one demon stood tall under the black sky.

"Th-This is..."

The eyes of the Despair Corps demons filled with terror.

"What's wrong, guys?" asked the Demon King quietly. He licked his lips temperamentally as if his hunger had been nowhere near satiated. "I taught you that running away in fear will only give your enemies the chance to fight back."

The Demon King enticed his prey with sweet whispers.

"Right, guys? You remember what I said, right? Now is the chance. You will never be able to kill me if not now," he said to the terrified demons with a smile.

"U-Urgh..."

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!"

The Despair Corps roared and charged at the Demon King, who accepted them with open arms.

"Pull yourselves together, damn idiots!!" shouted Arakyle hurriedly. "We are the ones with the upper hand!"

Around two thousand died from the earlier attack. It was a massive blow considering all of them had ingested Behemoth's horn powder, but several times as many soldiers were still alive.

"Haaaaaahhh!"

Arakyle charged at the Demon King as he clashed his saw blades together, his neatly swept-back hair fluttering in the wind.

"Plunder," he chanted.

Clang!

Sparks flew as he clashed his saw blades together. He flew at extraordinary speeds to stab the Demon King's heart.

'I need to make him open a Door as soon as possible...!'

Only then would his plan begin to take off. Arakyle bit his lip and imbued the Deific Essence he received from Bael into his saw blade. The blade reached the Demon King's chest in an instant.

'I did it!'

Arakyle's eyes shone. The Demon King crouched and stuck his head toward Arakyle's saw blade.

Crush!

The blade sliced open the Demon King's head and tore apart his brain.

"What the..."

The Demon King was not immortal when the Doors were not open. He would die just like any demon if his head was destroyed.

'Just like that?'

Arakyle looked down at his hand that sliced the Demon King's head.

Grab.

"... Huh?"

The Demon King, whom Arakyle thought was dead— no, should have died from that attack, grabbed his saw blade hand.

"Wh-Why aren't you d—"

Crack—!!

The Demon King tore off one of Araky;e's arms.

"Arrrggghhh!!!" Arakyle screamed.

Crunch, crunch.

The Demon King's head, which was split into two, began to regenerate instantly. Arakyle stepped back in shock.

"H-How?"

"How else? You know I can't die when a Door is open."

"What...?"

Arakyle stared at the Demon King in shock.

'Then does that mean his sanity is perfectly fine... even with a Door open?'

"D-Dammit!"

Arakyle quickly turned back. They were no match for the Demon King if he was able to maintain his sanity with the Doors open.

"Kurgh!"

Arakyle swung his remaining saw blade hand in the air. The blade shone and activated a magic circle that had been prepared in advance.

Split!

The same black Rift that the Despair Corps arrived from opened in midair. Arakyle jumped into the Rift.

'He can stay sane with the Doors open?!'

Arakyle did not even imagine such a possibility. He had expected the Demon King to acquire Deific Essence but never to overcome the one flaw of opening the Doors. It was understandable since the Demon King's biggest weakness, which he was unable to overcome for hundreds of years, had been solved in just a few years.

"Shit, shit, shit!!"

Arakyle bit his lip as he looked back at the closing Rift. Losing the Despair Corps was a massive loss, but it couldn't be helped.

"Now that it has come to this, I will have to take some time to come up with—"

"No."

The Demon King stuck his arm through the closing Rift.

"Wh-What the—" Arakyle expressed in shock.

Rumble—!

The Demon King wrenched open the Rift. Space was distorted, causing the surroundings to shake.

"You have no more time."

Split.

Arakyle saw sharp teeth between the borders of the Rift.

"Ah..." Arakyle groaned as chills ran down his spine. "You are..."

Arakyle recalled what he had forgotten— no, what he had tried to forget. He had thought it was a thing of the past.

He recalled what kind of being the Demon King was.