C1064
"Huh?"
Raon froze at the sight of Denier stabbing the White Blood Religion Leader in the heart.
'What's going on?'
He had tensed up after noticing the change in Denier's eyes, but then Denier used the sword he had pointed at him to pierce the Leader's chest. This was even more disconcerting than when Lecross was ambushed.
-Has that bastard really gone mad?
Wrath blinked several times in confusion.
-Why did he stab that mosquito queen's heart! And what's all this about calling her mother!
He grabbed his head, still unable to understand Denier's actions.
'Could it be a ritual to make it easier to steal Martha's body?'
He thought that maybe Denier was killing the body of Martha's mother, currently possessed by the Leader, to give him more power. Honestly, he couldn't think of any other reason.
'No, it's not that.'
Seeing the Leader's surprised eyes and hearing her trembling voice, it was clear that she didn't expect it either.
'This isn't an act. He's serious.'
The Leader had been genuinely surprised when Denier ambushed her as she tried to expel Martha's soul and devour her body.
'And...'
Raon narrowed his eyes as he watched Denier cough up dead blood.
'The Leader also attacked Denier.'
The Leader had released the magic planted inside Denier's body, tearing his organs to shreds. There would be no reason to go that far if this was an act.
"Get away!"
The Leader channeled her bloody energy to push both the sword piercing her chest and Denier away.
"Urghh..."
But Denier didn't move, as if his legs were rooted to the ground. Though he could barely keep his eyes open from the pain, he maintained his grip on the sword piercing the Leader's chest.
"Urghh..."
Martha also spat out blood as she was exposed to the Leader's bloody energy alongside Denier.
"W-What are you! Why did you stab that monster?!"
Despite feeling pain in her body and soul, she looked at Denier instead of the Leader.
"Tell me!"
A small glimmer of hope seemed to shine in Martha's eyes.
"As your souls are connected to your mother, you won't be able to move properly even though the paralysis is gone."
Denier shook his head as he kept his grip on Martha's hand.
"Hnngh..."
Martha's expression twisted deeply.
'Just as he said, it's difficult to breathe.'
Her mind felt hazy as if she were drugged, and her body felt like it was floating. If it weren't for the pain coursing through her entire body, she would have thought she was dead.
"So this is the choice you've made? Fine. I'll devour that girl's body and make you despair."
The Leader curled her lips as she looked at Martha.
"Aaaagh!"
Martha screamed in unbearable pain. The Leader's soul seemed to be violently attempting to take over her body again.
"It's okay."
Denier tightened his grip on Martha's hand as she tried to pull away.
"Imagine you're holding a sword and try to use the *Crushing Ocean Sword*."
"Eek..."
Though Martha still felt betrayed by Denier, the extreme pain inflicted by the Leader instinctively made her start reciting the *Crushing Ocean Sword* mantra. A subtle yellow light spread throughout her body like fireflies, naturally dissipating the bloody energy that had been crushing her soul.
Martha's eyes, which had turned gray as if she were losing consciousness, began to return to their original black color.
"Ah..."
Martha looked at Denier with blank eyes as she felt the pain in her body and mind noticeably diminish.
"W-What is this?!"
The Leader's jaw trembled as she watched Martha resist the invasion of her soul.
"You! What have you done?!"
She gritted her teeth as she looked at Denier instead of Martha.
"The way you and I steal human bodies is similar. I've created martial arts that can counter it."
Denier nodded, explaining that the *Crushing Ocean Sword* itself was a sword technique created to protect Martha.
"Really!"
The Leader stared at Denier and shouted.
"After how much I've cherished you!"
"Unlike the anger you feel towards me now, the recognition and love you showed me were false emotions."
Denier exhaled forcefully as he looked into the Leader's burning red eyes.
"Though my whole life has been a lie, today at least, I want to live as a sincere human being."
After checking Martha's condition with wide eyes, he nodded towards Raon.
"Mother has mastered the soul more than anyone else in this world. She can split her soul into multiple parts, so even if father... no, even if the Destroyer King Glenn Zieghart arrives, he won't be able to completely destroy her soul."
Denier frowned as if he were enduring pain.
"The only way to completely destroy Mother's soul is when she's changing bodies."
He clenched his fist, saying he had created this moment to kill the Leader completely.
"Ah..."
Martha's trembling eyes looked at Denier.
"You've really gone mad!"
As the Leader screamed while spitting blood, the eyes of the Divine Blood Summoning Ritual attacking Raon turned white. The deity swung its axe and spear imbued with bloody energy, seemingly intending to annihilate the immobilized Denier without a trace.
"Die!"
Denier revealed calm eyes as he looked at it instead of the Leader, as if he completely trusted him.
-What...
Wrath frowned, still seemingly unable to comprehend the situation.
'Damn it...'
Raon forcefully bit his molars as he executed *Supreme Harmony Steps*. Using the supreme movement technique he learned from Denier, he ran forward to block the axe falling from the Divine Blood Summoning Ritual. As he pushed the axe with *Heavenly Drive*, his entire body screamed in protest. His body and mind had already reached their limit.
'However...'
That monster was in the same state. Since he couldn't completely overwhelm it in its weakened state, the Divine Blood Summoning Ritual must be much weaker than it seemed.
"Thank you..."
Denier expressed his gratitude towards Raon's back.
"I don't trust you."
Raon shook his head without looking back.
"Just do what you can. I'll hold it off for now."
He said he would hold on somehow as he deflected the successive blows from the Divine Blood Summoning Ritual's weapons.
"Martha..."
Denier gently lowered his gaze as he held Martha's hand.
"Now you must do it. Only your fight remains."
He nodded, telling her to keep using the *Crushing Ocean Sword* to repel the Leader's soul and bloody energy.
"I will..."
Martha bit her lip as she looked at Denier.
"After this war is over, I will definitely hear your story."
"...I promise. I'll tell you everything myself."
Denier seemed to have more to say, but he didn't speak further.
"Urghh!"
Martha bit her lip as she channeled the *Crushing Ocean Sword* mantra with all her might. As pure energy bloomed throughout her body, clear blood spurted from the Leader's mouth and chest. Denier also seemed to be helping to repel the Leader's soul by using the *Crushing Ocean Sword* alongside her.
"Urghh..."
The Leader gritted her teeth as the white blood flowed. Her eyes gleamed intensely as her bloody energy began to surge like waves again. This time, blood flowed from Martha's and Denier's eyes. It seemed their souls had suffered a great shock from the Leader's bloody energy.
"My soul is larger than anyone else's! I will never be repelled by someone like you!"
The Leader scoffed, saying it was like trying to break a rock with an egg.
"Urghh..."
"Nngh..."
As if to prove the truth of her words, Martha and Denier groaned and lowered their heads. There was an overwhelming difference in their soul realm.
"I won't kill you right away."
The Leader sneered as she looked at the trembling Denier.
"I'll use that girl's body, whom you cherish enough to betray me for her, to cut your throat."
She smiled mischievously, saying she would kill Denier using Martha's body.
"Ugh..."
Denier continued using the *Crushing Ocean Sword* while retaining even the energy to speak, but he seemed to be barely holding on.
"Shut your damn mouth."
Martha raised her head and bit the Leader's arm as she mocked Denier.
"So much struggle from someone about to die."
The Leader sneered, seemingly thinking it was just a final struggle.
"This land is too pure for someone like you."
Martha curled her lips, still stained with the Leader's blood.
"I will guide you to a hell that suits you."
Though she had no sword, she placed her trembling hand on her chest as if holding one.
"Devil's Prison."
The air of the battlefield changed with Martha's chilling cry.
The gates of hell with flowing red blood rose from the white ground. The left gate had the dissected corpses of the 10th Apostles, their bodies twisted in death.
"What!"
As the Leader's eyes widened, a heart-wrenching shriek echoed as the right gate of hell opened. As the gate opened and the icy cold energy exploded outwards, Martha, Denier, and the Leader froze in place.
The gates of hell closed again with the creak of old hinges, as if their purpose had been fulfilled.
'Could it be...'
Raon narrowed his eyes as he looked at the closed gates of hell, leaving the three people behind.
-Indeed. They only took their souls!
Wrath nodded as if to confirm his thoughts.
-Something you also experience occasionally.
He nodded, saying that their souls must be clashing inside those chilling gates.
'Then there's no point in destroying those bodies.'
It seemed that today's battle would be decided inside those gates of hell. Raon narrowed his eyes as he blocked the attacks of the Divine Blood Summoning Ritual, which was still trying to protect its master, the Leader.
'This could be very dangerous.'
If his thoughts were correct, Martha couldn't win in a battle of souls.
'I need to prepare myself too.'
Raon tightly gripped the *Blade of Requiem*, which was releasing fierce sword mantras as if it felt the Leader's intense malice and killing intent.
'For the final battle.'
***
Splash!
Red blood flowed beneath the gates of hell where the corpses of the 10th Apostles were preserved.
"This place..."
The Leader looked around the world filled with crimson blood. She frowned as she observed the preserved corpses of the 10th Apostles.
"This is a *Sword Domain* made for you."
Martha, sitting atop the gates of hell, looked at the Leader with a twisted smile.
"Your soul will be preserved down here."
Martha pointed to the empty space on the right side of the gates of hell.
'I can win.'
Unlike the *Devil's Prison* used against the 10th Apostles, this one made for the Leader was a *Sword Domain* that attracted souls instead of bodies.
She had designed it this way from the beginning, because if that body died and was preserved, her mother would also die.
"Souls, right..."
The Leader nodded as she looked at her body, now free of wounds.
"It certainly feels familiar."
She nodded calmly as if she understood the method. She even seemed satisfied.
"Looking at it this way, your soul seems quite appetizing."
The Leader curled her lips, saying that Martha's soul seemed like it would taste good to dominate. Just as the two were about to move their swords and hands as they stared at each other, Denier fell next to Martha.
"Huh?"
Denier blinked as he looked down at his own body.
"Why am I in this form..."
This was a space where only souls could exist. He couldn't understand why he, whose soul and body were just red liquid, was appearing in the form of Denier.
"Stop thinking about unnecessary things and focus on the fight ahead!"
Martha nodded slightly at Denier.
"Sure. I will."
Though his doubts weren't resolved, Denier nodded as if he realized that this wasn't the time for such thoughts.
"So the two of you want to voluntarily enter my mouth."
The Leader sneered and spat out blood. Her soul reached Martha before she could even blink. Martha deflected the Leader's martial arts technique with her sword and cut deeply into her waist.
"Hmm..."
Instead of blood, white energy seeped from the Leader's waist. Her soul had been damaged.
"How strange."
The Leader clenched her fist and charged at Martha again. Martha once again easily deflected the Leader's fist and plunged her sword into her shoulder. Denier didn't miss the opportunity created by the Leader's injury and inflicted a deep sword wound on her abdomen.
"Haaa..."
The Leader was pushed back as she looked at the wounds on her shoulder and abdomen.
"Now I understand. This space itself is weakening my soul."
She frowned as she looked at the rippling sea of blood that seemed to bind her feet.
"You understand quickly. That's right."
Martha calmly acknowledged the *Sword Domain*'s ability.
"As my soul couldn't become stronger in such a short time, I weakened your soul instead."
This was an ability she gained by offering her life force and swearing that she would never wield a sword again once the Leader's soul was preserved in the gates of hell.
"You must have lost quite a bit. What impressive willpower and mental strength."
The Leader nodded, saying she had to acknowledge it.
"I don't need your recognition."
Martha lowered her stance as if she intended to finish it this time.
"Fine. Now I will risk my life too."
As the Leader bit her lip and clasped her hands together, an intense white light emerged from her body. Like a moon rising and casting two shadows, the Leader's soul began to split in two.
The soul that split towards the right was the black-haired, black-eyed woman who had been the original owner of the body the Leader had been occupying.
In contrast, the person standing on the left was a beautiful woman whose appearance sent chills down the spine. She was an alien existence with skin so pale it was white and prominent fangs sticking out.
"I will devour your soul here and take that body too."
The red-haired, red-eyed woman twisted her lips coldly. This woman seemed to be the Leader's true identity.
"Mom!"
Martha realized that the black-haired woman who had fallen into the sea of blood was her mother's soul and ran towards her without looking back. But the Leader, as if she didn't want to witness the reunion between mother and daughter, kicked Martha's jaw.
"Aagh!"
Martha screamed as she was thrown back into the sea of blood.
"You know what?"
The Leader tilted her chin as she looked at the soul of Martha's mother lying behind her.
"After I was weakened, your mother kept interfering? If it weren't for that, you and Raon Zieghart would have died long ago."
She frowned, saying that Martha's mother had been interfering all this time.
"As I'm not going back to that body..."
The Leader's body disappeared, leaving behind a misty haze.
"I'll kill your mother and place your soul beneath my feet."
Despite being affected by the *Sword Domain*, she unleashed a soul realm far more powerful than Martha's and Denier's. The two were hit in the abdomen and face in an instant before being thrown into the bloody water.
"Kuhak!"
"Ugh!"
Unable to even resist properly, the two lost a significant amount of their souls as they were overwhelmed by the Leader.
"Didn't I tell you? My soul is larger than anyone else's. Such restrictions can't stop me."
The Leader sneered as she charged towards Martha and Denier.
"I'll handle the defense! You focus on attacking!"
Denier nodded, saying he would hold off the Leader while Martha attacked.
"Hmm!"
Martha bit her lip as she raised her sword. But Denier couldn't even block the Leader's first attack and was sent flying with his arm ripped off, while Martha, who had been preparing to counterattack behind him, fell backwards with a hole in her thigh. The Leader stomped on Martha's fallen body.
"Kuhak!"
Martha spat out white energy. Her soul began to rapidly diminish.
"Move!"
Denier regenerated his arm and lunged with a sword strike, but the Leader easily dodged his attack before unleashing her martial arts. Denier's chest split open, and large amounts of energy containing his soul leaked out. The Leader extended her pale white hand and lifted Denier by the throat.
"Urghh!"
Denier gasped for air, seeming to have no strength left to resist.
"This is absurd."
The Leader looked at Martha and Denier with mockery.
"To think that someone like you believed you could handle my soul."
She tilted her chin with mockery towards Martha.
"It's the first time I've eaten the bodies of a mother and daughter, I wonder what they'll taste like."
Just as the Leader moistened her lips with her tongue and approached Martha, she stopped her hand as she felt intense vibrations from behind.
"This aura can't be!"
The moment the Leader turned around urgently, the sea of blood that had been boiling like lava parted, and a red sword rose. The *Blade of Requiem*, containing soul and resentment. Raon's *Soul Sword* pierced through space and time, descending into Martha's *Sword Domain*.
-
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