C186
'Something is happening.'
Rumble~
The thunderous sounds from the distant sea grew louder.
"Human, the sky is clouding up!"
And from that far-off sea, the stars were disappearing.
The starlight hid behind the clouds.
Uuung~
Cale looked at the shimmering purple stone, the Magic Formation Core, vibrating in his hand.
And he observed everything, from the changes in the sky to the gentle waves in the calm ocean, which were slowly stirring.
It might seem insignificant...
The roiling waters of the night sea being so stirred up was nothing special, and the darkness in the distant sky might have no relation to this place.
But the only thing Cale could say as he placed the core back on his chest was one.
"The Dragons have played a trick on us."
Apitoyu. What mischief have those of the Purple Blood Family done?
"Human, no matter what prank they played, I had nothing to do with it!"
Raon's words went unnoticed.
It couldn't be sure what kind of prank the Dragons played, or rather, what trap those rascals had set up.
Just by listening to the imminent rumble of the sky over the sea, Cale had a feeling.
'The sea is dangerous.'
Cale told Fist King Mok Hyun.
"Go immediately to the General Commander and tell her to quickly recall the ships in the sea back to the island or send them toward the coast. And please, ask her to have them gather in the center of the island rather than near the coast as much as possible."
"...Understood."
Since Fist King also saw the same thing as Cale, he responded without hesitation.
Cale added.
"And also take the Priestesses with you, please."
"Will do. Don't worry."
Turning away from Fist King, Cale gestured to Raon.
"Let's go back."
To the Blood Cult.
"Understood, human."
Woooosh~
The Black Mana created a teleportation circle on the deck once again.
As Cale prepared to leave, Fist King, who was watching, hesitated before speaking.
"...Young Master Kim. When Heavenward collapses, what will happen?”
Pat-!
Cale, enveloped in a bright light, left behind a word as he left.
"I'll go check."
He needed to do that to be able to take measures.
Fist King's solemn expression and the frightened expression of the former priestess disappeared in front of Cale.
At that moment, the voice of the Sky Eating Water resonated.
-Cale. This seems, um...
Cale, closing his eyes as he entrusted his body to teleportation magic, heard Sky Eating Water's voice filled with concern.
-It seems both the sky and the sea are being pushed, right?
Damn it.
Cale, with rough words, opened his eyes and found himself in front of the Heavenward building, in the square.
It was then...
Shudder~.
A tingling sensation ran through his heart in an instant.
"Uh-"
At the same time, Raon's whimper could be heard. Cale immediately reached out.
Raon, with wings and body hunched over, came into view. And the moment he saw the trembling wings, Cale immediately embraced Raon.
And he looked around.
"Uh, ugh."
"Grr!"
Despite teleporting to the center of the square, there wasn't a single enemy pointing a sword at Cale.
All of them were kneeling, bowing, or barely standing, breathing heavily.
Tock, tock~
Cale absentmindedly stroked Raon's back.
A soft voice was heard.
"...Human."
There were no tremors. It only contained fear and awe.
"Human... What is this...?"
It had been a long time since Raon sincerely asked Cale about the identity of something.
And Cale got irritated realizing that what was contained in that was a slight fear.
But Cale didn't say anything.
Raon, who was being embraced by Cale, suddenly raised his head. Now he was not trembling at all. Rather, he seemed firmer.
Tilting his head, Raon revealed himself.
"I'm fine now!"
Raon is a Dragon who didn't even show nervousness in front of Eruhaben's Dragon Fear, who is an Ancient Dragon. However, an unknown energy comparable to that was able to briefly cause fear in the young dragon.
That caught Cale's attention.
But... No matter how much of a Dragon he is, doesn't Raon have six years now?
Cale let go of the arm that wrapped around Raon. Although his arm was a bit numb, he ignored it.
Instead, he looked in another direction.
The voice of the Dominating Aura resonated.
-But this energy seems like it was created with thousands, even tens of thousands of lives, right?
Step~.
Cale took a step forward and observed everything in silence.
Choi Han, with the sword stuck in the ground, was breathing heavily. Standing in front of the Blood Demon, he looked infinitely small in front of the enormous blue energy reminiscent of the sea.
He was just a human, after all.
Huff~
Choi Han took a deep breath. The crack spread through the roof where he stuck the sword.
But he only looked straight ahead.
He met the gaze of the Blood Demon.
"Quite amusing, but it seems I won't be able to play with you for much longer."
She seemed calm.
Within the blue energy, her white hair fluttered as in a painting.
"Hu."
Choi Han could hear the deep breaths of Team Leader Lee Soo-hyuk beside him. And Choi Jung Soo was nowhere in sight.
When Choi Jung Soo attacked the Blood Demon.
Thanks to the power of the Team Leader, he was able to get very close and saw how the White Dragon lunged at the Blood Demon as if to swallow her.
At that moment, suddenly, immense energy surged from the Blood Demon.
And that immense energy threw Choi Jung Soo far away. The White Dragon sank into the sea and was devoured by the blue energy in the blink of an eye.
"Ha."
Choi Han swallowed the laughter inside.
Finally, he realized.
'This is the true Blood Demon.'
The Black Blood Family of Xiaolin. It was nothing compared to the Blue Blood Family of the Central Plains.
'Yes, it makes sense.'
He could feel it correctly.
'She has taken the lives of tens of thousands and turned that vitality into her own energy.'
The energy created by such a person had to be so powerful.
It didn't make sense if it was only pure and clean.
Because,
'Tens of thousands of lives. Their weight is heavier than anything else.'
In a way, it was stronger than the Dragon Fear emitted by Eruhaben.
Even if Eruhaben was an Ancient Dragon, the energy emitted by a being who had taken the lives of tens of thousands could not be lighter than that of a Dragon.
"Tsk."
The Blood Demon clicked her tongue.
"I didn't expect to have to use all my power here."
She recognized Choi Han and Sui Khan.
"I admit it. You guys are amazing."
Then, the gaze of the Blood Demon briefly went under the roof.
"Haa, haa-"
"Cough, mother."
Two Blood Demon Successor Candidates lying face down on the floor, breathing heavily. Their blue hair was turning black. From them, blue energy surged and mixed with the Blood Demon's energy.
Choi Han laughed as he watched the scene.
'In the end, the candidates are also beings destined to be used by the Blood Demon.'
The Blood Demon absorbed the energy from the candidates to make it her own energy.
She showed a kind smile to the candidates, Eun and Baek.
"You have grown admirably until now. You have good energy. You grew well, and this mother is happy."
How can she do something like this?
When Choi Han thought that.
Swish~
The wind blew again.
It got stronger.
"I want to stop wasting time."
The Blood Demon raised her energy. Like a tidal wave, blue energy surged around her.
That energy was heading straight for Choi Han and Sui Khan.
Thud~
The Blood Demon took a step forward.
Thump!
Choi Han's heart was beating strongly. He felt that an overwhelming energy was about to envelop him. He could feel the nature of that energy that contained countless lives.
'That's a swamp.'
It wasn't an ocean.
It was a swamp.
Once you sink in, it absorbs you down to the last hair and takes away your life, such a swamp.
The moment Choi Han was engulfed by that blue energy, he could feel his own energy being sucked and his existence disappearing.
'Is this some kind of Martial Arts?'
How could the Blood Demon have that kind of power?
At that moment, the gentle voice of the Blood Demon resonated.
"Something seems to be happening in Heavenward; I must resolve this quickly. I have to take care of what you and the Apitoyu kids have been doing."
Swish~
The blue energy shot stronger.
"Hmm."
The sword of the Namgung Family, who arrived at the Blood Cult, could barely stand in front of that energy. It was fortunate that they didn't show an ugly appearance.
"Kugh."
"Agh..."
The warriors of the Family could no longer even breathe properly in front of this enormous energy.
'It's like...'
Yes, exactly like that.
The Sword Saint remembered seeing the vast blue energy.
Yunnan Province.
The Tsunami of Young Master Kim that knocked down the city walls. The feeling he experienced when facing that for the first time, the Sword Saint felt it the same way.
'No...'
It's even more imposing than that.
The Blood Demon...
'She's one level up.'
In the face of that fact, the Sword Saint felt all strength leaving his body.
Who could stop that energy?
In another sense, the Sword Saint felt breathless.
He couldn't breathe because of his own incompetence.
Thud~
Therefore, he took a step forward.
He couldn't afford to stop here.
But even taking that step wasn't easy. Instinctive fear enveloped him.
Even so, he took another step forward.
The Heavenly Demon was in front of him. He was also advancing.
He couldn't lose.
At that moment, suddenly, he could see the Blood Demon looking around.
Her gaze landed on them.
Smile~
The Blood Demon let out a light laugh.
It wasn't even a mocking laugh.
"Pathetic."
She only said that word.
At that moment, the Sword Saint's face twisted.
"What are you saying?"
Then, the Blood Demon stopped.
Sss~
The wind created by the blue energy stopped.
Her head tilted down.
Step, step~
Someone was walking towards her calmly.
Someone was approaching her while looking at her. That person's gaze was quite twisted, and their expression seemed filled with discontent.
And there was no restraint.
Flap, flap~
A young Black Dragon followed in their steps, flapping its wings.
And aside from that, no one could catch or stop him. No one even dared to look at him.
Swoosh~
The air vibrated.
Although nothing was visible, the blue energy could no longer move. Because an enormous energy emanated from that person walking now.
'How is this possible...?'
How can it repel my energy...?
As soon as the Blood Demon had that thought, she tilted her head in surprise. She looked at her own arm.
She got chills.
She bit her lip.
"How is it that I..."
How did he get here?
It was at that moment, when she couldn't speak those words. It was when the first wrinkle appeared on her previously serene face.
"Blood Demon."
A person looked at her with a twisted posture.
Cale Henituse, looking at the Blood Demon, asked as if throwing it casually.
"Why are you imitating the Dragons?"
Raon told Cale.
'Human, that energy is very different from Dragon Fear, but strangely, it is very similar. It's as if this energy was created based on Dragon Fear!'
Although the essence of the energy was different, the direction in which it used that energy was similar to that of Dragon Fear.
'Well, it's hard for me to describe that Dragon Fear. But somehow, it feels similar to Dragon Fear.'
Cale seemed to understand the meaning of Raon's words.
Dragon Fear.
It was as if she was trying to instill fear in human instinct, saying that everything except Dragons was merely prey.
'And the Blood Demon is similar to that.'
The energy she radiated seemed to say that she herself was the only noble existence in this world, that everyone else should bow their heads to her.
Because she was the only existence above this world.
The corner of Cale's mouth lifted slightly.
He asked the Blood Demon again.
"Did you create this energy to defeat the Dragons?"
Two Blood Families, the Blue Blood and the Purple Blood.
The Magic Formation protecting the Blood Cult. The Core of that crucial and valuable Magic Formation was granted by the Purple Blood Family of Apitoyu.
They couldn't have created it without the Dragons.
In other words, the Blood Cult was indebted to the Dragons of Apitoyu.
There might be an invisible relationship of superior and inferior.
So Cale poked at it.
And he got an answer.
A smile became more prominent at the corner of Cale's mouth.
"It seems like it's the right answer."
Seeing Cale's distorted smile, the Blood Demon let out a superficial laugh.
Watching that, finally, the mouth of the Blood Demon opened.
"How dare you..."
Looking down at Cale, the Blood Demon moved her energy.
Sss---
The blue energy moved again.
A huge blue wave was heading towards Cale.
As if in the instant when the wave created by Cale in Yunnan was about to flood the walls, in that fleeting moment.
When Cale stared at her without changing his expression...
Someone reacted.
-How dare you?
It was the Dominating Aura.
He murmured as if mocking.
-Are you a God?
Je~
Cale burst into laughter at those words.
Saying something so arrogant so equitably was a skill in itself.
-Cale, we won't lose to the boasting of that woman!
Cale nodded at those words.
And took a small step forward.
Step!
But the air vibrated.
"...!"
The eyes of the Blood Demon widened.
The blue wave stopped.
"Kugh."
Then...
The Blood Demon clasped her throat with her hand for a moment.
Cale stared at her intently.
The air around him rippled.
'How...?'
She couldn't move her body.
She experienced a terrifying sensation that she had never felt in her life, as if something was killing her.
The Blood Demon wondered what scared her that way.
But she instinctively knew.
Something terrifying and monstrous that she had never encountered before, something she had neither learned nor understood.
The thin man.
That human was that monster.
The Blood Demon felt that her entire being, her breath, was being dominated.
The Dominating Aura in Cale's mind spoke.
"An idiot who steals other people's lives and pretends it's his own is simply a coward."
"An energy that stands on its own, even if it's just boasting, is better than an energy that can only receive adoration by taking the lives of tens of thousands."
Behind the rigid shoulders of the Blood Demon.
"Look. There's no way a true beast would surrender to a coward."
Cale made eye contact with Choi Han and Team Leader. Both seemed quite unharmed.
He already gave them time, so the ending is up to them.
And at the moment the Blood Demon stopped...
Both moved.
"But Cale, aren't you going to test my power to the max yet?"
Listening to the boasting of the Dominating Aura, Cale looked around for a moment.
Now it will be the end of the Blood Demon.
-
