Chapter 222 ·Great Devil (3)

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It all happened in an instant.

In the blink of an eye, something was severed.

Ordinary Swordmans practice cutting boulders to reach the level of Expert, but those who ascend to an even loftier state can even split mountains or seas.

A Swordmaster who can cut through anything existing on the ground with a single strike.

Andrew, laki, and Paulo. To reach that state, a tremendous sacrifice had to be made.

Countless blood had to be stained on their blade, and the skin on the hand wielding it had to be peeled off again and again.

Of course, it's not only combat power. The same goes for knowledge.

For humans to obtain something, there must always be sacrifice.

At the end of that sacrifice, one may slice through this earth or manipulate it at will, creating a remarkable spectacle.

Yes. To cut is, in the end, just a physical phenomenon.

But could what had just been cut now also be called a simple physical phenomenon?

"Space...."

Louis was appalled.

The opponent had sliced through and split space itself with nothing more than a swing of the claws.

No matter how strong a person—be it a Swordmaster or anyone else—might split mountains or seas, ultimately, they are simply cutting matter.

But could what that guy just cut be called 'matter'?

"Shit, how the hell did you do that?"

Had he been even a bit slower to dodge, Louis's upper body would have been cleaved in half.

"...."

Louis asked out of curiosity, but the opponent did not reply.

He simply launched another attack like before.

"Damn...!"

Shocked by that strike, Louis immediately spread his wings and dodged the Great Devil's attacks with agility.

He tried putting up an ice barrier to block, or creating gusts with his wings to counterattack, but none of it worked.

The ice barrier and the gusts—everything was ripped apart along with space, losing their form entirely.

"Ho... hon..."

Just then, the Great Devil, who had been attacking in a frenzy as if losing his mind, opened his mouth.

"Chaos Dragon... so it was you after all."

The Great Devil spoke in a tone that was both resentful and seemingly glad to see Louis.

"Did you come... to stop me—no, us—again?"

"In conclusion, yes. But you finally learned how to talk properly now?"

With conversation possible again, Louis asked,

"There were six of you before—why is there only one of you now?"

"Honestly, we were surprised too. The moment we were all gathered together after you captured us... our bodies just reacted on their own."

The Great Devil was saying that such a thing had never happened as they gathered together until now.

The nuance was as if they had awakened a power they had never had before.

"Yes, this is growth. We surpassed the threshold of death, broke through our limits, and reached an even higher state."

In other words, they had become stronger through crisis.

Louis thought—had there ever been something that could be called a crisis for these beings called Great Devil?

Thinking of that, Louis made a face as if realizing something.

"In that sense, we are truly grateful to you. Thanks to you, we've reached a realm where the powers of six are united as one!!"

Black wings unfolded from the now singular Great Devil's back.

As the large black wings spread to cover the sky, the earth below was submerged in darkness, and the sunlight lost its strength.

It wasn't just that the wings covered the entire sky.

Ominous energy emitted from those wings was neutralizing the sun itself.

"We must've grown far more than before!!"

The sun began to turn black.

Louis hastily spewed flame from his mouth, attacking the wings at their root.

But the wings themselves were enveloped in a powerful energy, so the flame was blocked. Still, Louis managed to muster more power, pierce that energy, and succeed in wounding the wings.

"Khak!"

"You crazy bastard. Don't you know what happens to the earth if the sun disappears?"

As soon as the wings were damaged, the sun returned to its original state.

The earth, which had been shrouded in darkness, recovered its light as well.

"Didn't this bastard learn any earth science?"

"Earth... what?"

"Never mind."

Louis realized that asking the guy any more was pointless, so he moved on to the next question.

"You just said that you became this strong thanks to me, right? Then can you repay me somehow?"

At that, the Great Devil's confident expression hardened.

"Do you mean... you want me to express sincere gratitude to you?"

"Of course."

He himself had said, "It's thanks to you!"

So isn't showing thanks the proper thing to do?

"Gratitude... gratitude...."

Suddenly, he wore a serious face and fell deep in thought.

Soon, with unusual eyes, he gave an answer.

"But didn't you kill me? Why should I thank you for that?"

"Don't you get it? You only became this strong thanks to me. You just said so yourself."

"It's true... it's thanks to you I reached this state."

Who wouldn't know something that basic?

Of course, he also knew that.

In fact, it was because he knew that he now had questions.

"But while living in this world, we've learned about humanity. We've learned that whenever humans grow and become stronger, they inevitably lose something."

—Just like what happened to us now.

"But do you accept such sacrifice by choice? Some foolish humans always say things like this."

—You grew that much only because we bullied you.

"They want to be forgiven on the grounds that they provided the environment for others' growth. It was necessary, so it couldn't be helped, they say."

Further, wanting to be repaid as if it's all thanks to them.

If denied, they call you an "ungrateful bastard" and act as if they're the real victims.

"Humans are such complicated creatures. They justify lawless acts by claiming those acts helped others grow, yet seek protection from public power when those acts are done to them."

If such behaviors truly helped, would society need things like security?

On this much, even Louis nodded in agreement.

"So, I'd like to say something to people like that."

The Great Devil stared directly at Louis as he spoke.

"Your killing of us certainly helped us. So, I shall gladly repay you in kind."

A fierce energy surrounded his claws.

"With death!!"

The moment he swung that arm, space itself was torn apart, and a rift between dimensions appeared.

Like a painted canvas ripped in two, the very background tore apart completely.

Louis, who stood at the center, seemed to be unable to dodge and took the blow head-on.

"Those who decorate their atrocities as 'good deeds' are everywhere. Then we shall also repay you with our own 'good deed.'"

The Great Devil believed that Louis's body had been split along with space.

But the Great Devil did not leave.

"So it goes...."

That was because he could still sense Louis's *a presence*—and hear his voice.

"Indeed... it seems you're not entirely an idiot after all."

Surprisingly, Louis, who had received a dimension-splitting strike, was unscathed.

That was because he had blocked the force that split the dimension with his bare hands.

"But, did you know?"

Just as one would forcibly prevent a door from opening, Louis gripped the splitting space with brute strength and spoke.

"The demon realm's origin and all the countless sacrifices that happened on this continent... You haven't forgotten that it was all because of you, have you?"

That wasn't all.

Orbel, the Crown Prince who burned Seifert domain to the ground before.

It was one of the Great Devils who put the Crown Prince in that state, too.

"Try calling those deeds 'good deeds' for once. I'll repay you with the same kind of 'good deed'."

While straining with brute strength, Louis closed the ripped space by hand.

At the instant the Great Devil was astonished, Louis immediately closed the distance and swung a clenched fist directly into the Great Devil's face.

*Pow!*—

With a great roar as the blow landed, the clouds in the sky disappeared.

The cabbage-shaped cumulonimbus clouds that had just begun to rain dissipated.

"You... how can you touch split space with your bare hands...?"

Blood running down his face, the Great Devil questioned.

How could he physically touch something that should be untouchable?

"I forgot to say: just as you got stronger, I'm not the same as before. Of course, neither is the Chaos Dragon you fought in the past."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember? You guys lost to the Chaos Dragon back then."

"It wasn't a loss, it was a draw!"

That was true.

Due to the aftermath of that fight, both the Chaos Dragon and all the Great Devils lost their original power.

If the Great Devils were now stronger than they were then, even if Louis possessed the Chaos Dragon's power, the odds of defeat were high.

"Yeah, it was a draw. If I only had the Chaos Dragon's power right now, I wouldn't stand a chance. But..."

A strange energy started to flow from Louis's hand.

It was not aura; this was an impossible power for a human to wield.

"Was the Chaos Dragon from then really in top condition? Or have you ever even thought about what the Chaos Dragon's true origin is?"

"What are you saying?"

"If you think for a moment, you'll get the answer. What entity forms a pair with the Chaos Dragon?"

"That power... no way...!"

Grabbing the split space with his bare hands earlier was possible because of the energy currently flowing in his hand.

"It's the power of the World Tree. And do you know why I can maintain my consciousness even after becoming the Chaos Dragon now?"

The answer was obvious.

"The Chaos Dragon and the World Tree have become one? If that's the case...!"

The Great Devil caught on immediately.

"A god?"

What he was facing now wasn't the Chaos Dragon, but god itself.

"Ha... hahahahaha!!"

But the Great Devil laughed.

"How foolish! If a god is fighting here personally... it means no one is administering the earth right now!"

The Chaos Dragon fights the Great Devil, while the World Tree controls to keep the earth safe.

It wasn't for nothing that god divided itself into the Chaos Dragon and the World Tree.

The demon realm born of the Great Devil's invasion.

The very existence of the World Tree can suppress that demon realm.

If there were no World Tree, this continent—no, this whole world—would already have become a demon realm star long ago.

"The fact that god personally had to fight me means you've abandoned the administration of the earth! Do you know? Because I've grown strong, the demon realm's encroachment will accelerate across the land. Monsters will become even more savage."

Abandoning the insurance policy of earth's administration was clearly a mistake.

Louis had absorbed even the World Tree just to defeat the Great Devil.

"You think I don't know all that?"

"What?"

"I already discussed it over and over again with my friends, you bastard."

Of course, Louis had agonized over that issue for a whole month.

The side effects from the World Tree's vanishing.

The demon realm's intensified activity as a result.

"You mentioned the demon realm just now. But do you know all our people are now specialized to counter the demon realm?"

But now, there was no further need for the World Tree to block it.

"Block the demon realm without the World Tree?"

At Louis's claim that mere humans could oppose the demon realm, the Great Devil was filled with doubt.

Out of all the humans he had seen until now, could any possibly do such a thing—?

"There's no way such a thing...."

"There is. And do you know why?"

Louis recalled the Blood Sword Technique and dark magic.

"Because those powers were granted by you guys."

****

With the accelerated demon realm, no fortress of the 7th Legion remained.

In the end, the 7th Legion was annihilated, and the torture spells used to control the soldiers also vanished.

They could neither hold back their foes nor control their own soldiers.

So the 7th Legion essentially ceased to exist.

It appeared that all means to block the demon realm's encroachment had vanished.

In reality, the ground was strewn with the corpses of the 7th Legion's soldiers and officers, but there were equally as many corpses of the monsters that had destroyed the 7th Legion.

"They're coming again?"

Rio, showing no sign of exhaustion while cutting down monsters, spoke.

Behind her, countless soldiers were also engaging the monsters.

The moment Rio wrapped her sword in a crimson aura, the soldiers regained morale and felled the monsters.

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