Chapter 189 – Demon vs. Chaos (1)

“Heavenly Demon…”

Even the absolute masters of the martial world, like the Supreme Polarity Sword Emperor Hyeon Cheon-ja and the Sword Empress Hwa Un-wol, were profoundly shocked as they looked at the Heavenly Demon.

The aura now emanating from the Heavenly Demon’s entire body far surpassed the power they had experienced from him before. They stared at him with trembling eyes.

“This can’t be!”

Kang Yong-hoon cried out in astonishment without realizing it. He had perfectly awakened the power of the Heart Sword. He had been confident he could even defeat Yu-jin, but seeing the Heavenly Demon shattered that confidence.

No matter how he thought about it, Kang Yong-hoon could find no way to defeat him. No, it wasn’t a matter of finding a way to win; even withstanding the formidable aura radiating from the Heavenly Demon was an immense struggle.

“My brother… My brother fought against a being like that…?”

He was the ultimate demon, whose mere presence seemed capable of shattering one’s soul. A terrifying demon before whom all sentient beings could do nothing but kneel.

Only those who had reached the Profound Realm, including Kang Yong-hoon, remained standing.

But they, too, were affected. They simply hadn’t buckled. Hearing that Yu-jin had once defeated such a being was something Kang Yong-hoon found impossible to believe.

“How can a being like that even exist…?”

Just looking at him extinguished all will to fight. To him, human fighting spirit itself was meaningless.

However, the fighting spirit of one man, and one man alone, still burned brightly. In fact, it went beyond that, rapidly expanding to push back the Heavenly Demon’s aura.

Only then could the martial artists of the Central Plains breathe with relative ease.

‘Brother…’

At the familiar energy, Kang Yong-hoon clenched his teeth. While he himself was nearly paralyzed just by the sight of the Heavenly Demon, Yu-jin stood tall, unafraid, proudly displaying his own presence.

Despite having fully attained the state of the Heart Sword, the insurmountable gap that still remained plunged Kang Yong-hoon into despair.

‘Will I ever have a chance to defeat my brother?’

He had strived endlessly to become stronger. Knowing it was a demonic art, he had learned it and painstakingly transformed it into a righteous martial art.

But even then, after realizing he could never surpass Yu-jin, he had accepted Kang Yu-hyeon’s lingering consciousness, knowing it was a method that defied the heavens.

And finally, he had reached the long-desired realm of an absolute master and could have restored the pride that Yu-jin had trampled upon.

But at this very moment, Kang Yong-hoon realized it perfectly. The Heavenly Demon and Yu-jin were no longer beings who could be confined by the framework of the Profound Realm.

Those two were existences that could casually look down upon even the absolute masters.

That realization continued to drag him into the swamp of despair. He now had no other way to become stronger.

Of course, he would grow stronger with the passage of time. But time did not flow for him alone. If Yu-jin survived this final battle, he would undoubtedly become even stronger.

‘Why did the heavens bring my brother into this world first! Why did they allow him to possess such immense power!’

Since childhood, Kang Yong-hoon had lived a life of comparison to Yu-jin. Everyone else praised his excellent character and incredible talent, but no one ever said he could surpass Yu-jin.

No matter how debauched Yu-jin’s life became, everyone still said Yu-jin was stronger. Unable to believe it, he had challenged Yu-jin, and from that moment, Kang Yong-hoon’s miserable life began.

‘Do you think I will stand by and let myself live such a humiliating life forever!’

[A natural reaction. You can certainly defeat Yu-jin. No, you can kill him. Believe in yourself.]

It was then. A voice echoed within Kang Yong-hoon’s soul. The voice was more intense and seductive than any he had ever heard before.

Naturally, Kang Yong-hoon listened to the voice resounding within his soul. And soon, he was captivated. He could have resisted. But completely overwhelmed and filled with murderous intent for Yu-jin, Yong-hoon gave up the thought of resistance.

The dark half of his soul, which had reacted to the intense jealousy and deep inferiority, gradually expanded its influence, beginning to shroud the brighter part in darkness.

* * *

“You should stop bullying the weak now.”

The Heavenly Demon looked at Yu-jin with an amused expression. His eyes were so colorless that anyone other than Yu-jin would have been overwhelmed by his gaze alone.

But Yu-jin sensed the madness within the Heavenly Demon’s smile. He felt a madness that sought to destroy everything in this world.

No, it might be madness to others, but not to the Heavenly Demon. Because he truly possessed such power.

“I have fought you twice until now. The first time, I defeated you, and the second, you defeated me. But you must know as well that this third time will be the last. Between you and I, only one will survive.”

“Of course, the one who survives will be me.”

The aura rising from Yu-jin’s body grew even more intense, and something akin to the Heavenly Demon’s madness began to flow in his eyes as well.

Great Master Gak-won had told the Heavenly Demon that the two of them were not of the same kind. For if the Heavenly Demon held absolute darkness within him, Yu-jin held absolute chaos.

However, what Great Master Gak-won had seen was only a fragment.

It was no exaggeration to say that their souls were similar.

Yu-jin had lived among people who did not understand him since he was a child. Furthermore, his father had coveted his body from a very young age.

The Heavenly Demon had lived under oppression since childhood. Part of it was because he was not of the Central Plains but from a foreign tribe, and the survival-of-the-fittest nature of the Demonic Cult was also too much for him to bear.

For entirely different reasons, both men ultimately pursued power. The power to change everything.

Having lived lives misunderstood by others, pursuing only strength, the souls of both men were dark to their very core.

The Heavenly Demon had recognized this the moment he saw Yu-jin and had called him one of his own kind. But paradoxically, for that very reason, the two could never coexist.

*Kwoooooo!*

The Heavenly Demon’s intense energy transformed into pure killing intent and wrapped around Yu-jin.

To the Heavenly Demon, it was mere killing intent, but it was powerful enough to shake the heavens and the earth. If others were to feel the desire for destruction contained within it, their minds would instantly shatter.

“My kin! It is time to decide who will survive! Will it be I who stands at the very, very end! Or will it be you!”

The greatest martial artist and demon of all time. The roar of the man named Heavenly Demon, for he was feared even by the heavens, echoed throughout the world.

Everyone held their breath. Everyone submitted to him.

It was only natural. The man before them was no longer a being that could be contained within the frame of an absolute master, but a god. A demonic god, not a benevolent one, but a god nonetheless. And mortals could never defy a god.

“I’ll say it again, the one who survives until the very, very end will be me.”

Yu-jin declared, shaking off the killing intent that enveloped him.

With his words, a tremendous gust of wind erupted, and in the blink of an eye, Yu-jin rose into the air. In the sky, Yu-jin and the Heavenly Demon faced each other.

The first to move was Yu-jin. As he charged toward the Heavenly Demon, a total of ten ink-black swords formed around him.

It was the Manifestation of the Heart Sword, an art that only Yu-jin in this world could perform. The Heavenly Demon watched Yu-jin’s inescapable attack and stretched out his hand.

*Kwakwakwaka!*

A tsunami of darkness unfurled to swallow Yu-jin, but his Heart Swords cut through the deluge and surged toward the Heavenly Demon.

Thinking that a mediocre attack would not be enough to block Yu-jin’s offensive technique, the Heavenly Demon prepared to draw the strongest and most wicked demonic sword in history, ‘Asura’.

“Did you think I would let you!”

The ‘Asura’s Dance of Heavenly Annihilation’ unleashed by the Heavenly Demon with ‘Asura’ was an ultimate technique so wicked that not even the great Yu-jin could block it head-on.

It was the Heavenly Demon’s strongest ultimate technique, which even the full power of his Profound Heaven Ink Phosphorus Sword had failed to offset before.

Unable to let him unleash it, Yu-jin imbued his will into the Heart Swords, and they became black bolts of lightning, flying toward the Heavenly Demon.

*Kwa-kwa-kwang!*

Before the ten bolts of lightning could strike the Heavenly Demon’s body, a dark blue flame, the Dark Flame Blossom, bloomed and deflected them.

As the two energies collided, a massive crater over a hundred paces wide was formed.

A storm of energy spread out in all directions. When the Heavenly Demon’s clone had used this technique before, Yu-jin had been able to shatter it with his Heart Sword, but when the main body unleashed it, its power was on a completely different level.

However, the power of the Heart Sword was also formidable, and the Dark Flame Blossom dared not approach Yu-jin’s body.

“It’s not over yet!”

Knowing full well that ordinary techniques would not work against the Heavenly Demon, Yu-jin closed the distance and swung his Heart Sword.

*Paaaang!*

Moving faster than sound, the air itself exploded. The two were moving in a different timeline from ordinary people. Moreover, it was not just time; their perception of the world was also vastly different.

Paradoxically, the two who had to kill each other were seeing the same world.

With a single gesture from the Heavenly Demon, hundreds of streams of sword energy erupted, pouring down on Yu-jin like a torrential rain.

Yu-jin ignored the Heavenly Demon’s assault. He didn’t need to pay it any mind, as the Heart Swords floating around his body acted as a shield, blocking the attack.

*Chwaaaak!*

While the Heart Swords blocked the Heavenly Demon’s formidable assault, Yu-jin slashed deeply across the Heavenly Demon’s chest with the Ink Dragon Sword. It was an attack imbued with such immense power that any ordinary martial artist would have died instantly.

But Yu-jin knew his breath had not been extinguished. If he were a being who could be killed so easily, he would have died long ago.

‘The effects of Divine Demonic Energy may work on other demons, but it’s not fully effective against the Heavenly Demon.’

The Divine Demonic Energy possessed the power to interfere with the regenerative abilities of demons and annihilate the demonic energy within them, but the jet-black demonic energy of the Heavenly Demon was equal in power to Yu-jin’s, so it couldn’t be overwhelmingly suppressed.

Besides, since the source of their powers was fundamentally the same, neither could inflict a truly decisive blow on the other.

Of course, if struck multiple times, even the Heavenly Demon would eventually be unable to regenerate, but not yet.

*Woooong!*

As Yu-jin expected, jet-black demonic energy rose to fill the gash on the Heavenly Demon, and the wound was instantly repaired.

But regardless, the Heavenly Demon threw a powerful punch at Yu-jin. The Heart Swords were protecting Yu-jin, but the Heavenly Demon paid them no heed and drove his fist forward.

*Kwakwakwang!*

“Ugh!”

A groan escaped Yu-jin’s lips. A searing pain resonated deep within him. But the Heavenly Demon’s attack was not over.