Chapter 196 – The Greater Good (Part Three)

Rumble!

Il-hyeon was the first to make a move.

He manipulated the surrounding trees, binding Baek Il-ho’s entire body, and increased the gravity to crush him.

Then, thorns manifested by his Transmutation ability covered the ground.

But Baek Il-ho, standing still, took all the attacks without receiving a single scratch.

No matter how much he unleashed, the attacks were meaningless, little more than an outlet for his anger.

Baek Il-ho calmly glanced down at the thorn currently piercing through his neck.

Crack!

He effortlessly snapped the thorn and lightly swung the sword in his hand.

A blade of energy shot out from the sword, sweeping across the front, wiping out all the thorns as it flew.

Il-hyeon swung his own sword to meet the energy blade head-on, neutralizing it.

The last time they had faced each other, Il-hyeon wouldn’t have dared to even touch such power, but he was a different man now in many ways.

“I will no longer ask about you killing your comrades.”

As his vision cleared, Baek Il-ho spoke.

But Il-hyeon had no intention of sitting idly by and listening to him anymore.

The ground, which had been writhing violently, shot upwards, splitting open like a giant mouth and lunging from both sides to swallow Baek Il-ho whole.

A great tsunami born from the earth.

But Baek Il-ho simply clenched his fist between the earthen waves.

BOOM!

As he released his power, the surging earth shattered in an instant, fragments scattering in all directions like rain.

“I will now finish my work and begin the next cycle. So, you should lay down your sword and live in this world.”

“In the half-baked world you intend to create?”

“I don’t want to kill you with my own hands a second time.”

“Sorry, but you’re the one who should be worried about your life, not me.”

Il-hyeon declared firmly and instantly drew upon his power.

“This is the end.”

Baek Il-ho’s ability could only absorb physical interference.

The current Il-hyeon possessed powerful mental abilities he had prepared specifically to kill Baek Il-ho.

Illusion and Nightmare.

He used the two abilities he had taken from Hwa-yeon simultaneously.

The Illusion ability, with its powerful mental intrusion, and the Nightmare ability, capable of instantly shattering any resisting mental barrier.

Even for Baek Il-ho, with his strong innate resistance to abilities, it was not a level of power he could withstand.

However, the situation did not unfold as Il-hyeon had intended.

“What…?”

Il-hyeon looked down at his own hands with a shocked expression.

Neither of the two abilities had any effect.

It was impossible.

It was definitely not an issue of proficiency.

After absorbing the deceased Hwa-yeon’s abilities, he had focused on mastering the use of mental abilities to defeat Baek Il-ho.

Furthermore, the power Il-hyeon now possessed surpassed hers; in terms of sheer force, not finesse, he was incomparably stronger.

On the other hand, Baek Il-ho didn’t have any ability related to mental defense.

Aside from his innate resistance, which was practically part of his constitution, Baek Il-ho had no way to counter him, and there was no one among Eclipse’s members who could intercept Il-hyeon’s mental intrusion.

Il-hyeon was flustered, but before he could find an answer, Baek Il-ho closed the distance and thrust his sword with agility.

Zip!

Il-hyeon used Spatial Movement to shift to the opposite side, securing a sufficient distance.

But he wasn’t the only one who could traverse space.

Using the ability of his sword, Lawbringer, Baek Il-ho designated a location and moved, instantly appearing behind Il-hyeon.

Il-hyeon tried to turn around quickly, but it was already too late.

Shunk!

Baek Il-ho’s sword pierced through his back and burst out of his chest.

Against his immense power, the protective function of the Defensive Coat, equipped with a dual-core system, did little more than slightly cushion the blow.

The coat shut down, and blood trickled from Il-hyeon’s mouth.

The sword that had impaled him was smoothly withdrawn, and Il-hyeon collapsed forward with a thud.

Even as his face hit the ground amid a dizzying sensation, Il-hyeon used his Transmutation ability to move the earth, simultaneously hindering Baek Il-ho’s movements and managing to shake him off for a moment.

However, no matter how strong an Awakened was, it was impossible to fight normally after sustaining such a wound.

Tsssss!

But even in his pain, Il-hyeon’s ability began to activate without his conscious effort.

The blood pouring from his wound reacted, squirming and rising in hundreds of tendrils to reconstruct his body.

To an unknowing observer, it would have been a gruesome sight, but Baek Il-ho recognized the phenomenon as soon as he saw it.

“As expected… the ability of one of the Guardians.”

“How can you be unharmed?”

Il-hyeon asked.

Despite the powerful mental intrusion attempt, Baek Il-ho hadn’t even flinched, which meant he hadn’t struggled to block it at all.

Rather, it felt as if the attack had been naturally nullified without him even being aware of it.

“Mental abilities have no effect on me. Different from the known information, I imagine.”

Baek Il-ho answered simply, glancing down at his blood-stained sword.

Unless Il-hyeon had peeked into the future regarding this specific matter, it was natural for him not to know.

Normally, it would have been impossible, but these were the things that had changed one by one each time the world ended and he regressed.

Originally, he had a constitution that couldn’t even use sword ki, but that had completely changed when he experienced his first death and ended the cycle.

It was unbelievable enough that he had returned to the past, but at the same time, he found he could freely wield sword ki and its related techniques.

No one had taught him, but it was as if he had known from the beginning, naturally integrated into his being.

And when he experienced his second death and the third cycle began, this was the new ability he gained.

No mental intrusion ability of any kind had any effect on him.

He had no problem breaking down his own walls to show his memories, but not even Hwa-yeon could interfere with his mind.

It was as if he was given a gift each time he failed.

And with each repeated cycle, Baek Il-ho’s accumulated experience, which no one could match, made him incomparably stronger than before, and his few weaknesses vanished one by one.

‘Dammit…’

Il-hyeon’s expression darkened rapidly.

His first plan had gone completely awry.

If mental abilities didn’t work, he had no answer.

Baek Il-ho charged at Il-hyeon, as if to say it was time to end this.

The phase of persuasion was over.

Clang!

Baek Il-ho relentlessly pressed Il-hyeon.

Driven into a corner by his fierce assault with no time to think, Il-hyeon was momentarily disoriented but soon cleared his tangled thoughts.

There was no need to overcomplicate things.

‘I’ll face him head-on.’

Just as Min Ji-hoon had defeated Baek Il-ho with sheer firepower and no clever tricks, he was not an invincible being that couldn’t be beaten.

Of course, making that possible would be incredibly difficult, but if he poured everything he had into it, he might be able to break him.

Slice!

His left arm was severed due to an opening Baek Il-ho had forced, but it would heal soon enough. Without flinching, Il-hyeon began his preparations.

A chilling aura spread out from him in all directions.

He was using the power of Corruption, absorbed from one of the two administrators Baek Il-ho had defeated.

Since he had just absorbed the ability, fine control was impossible, but spreading it everywhere so it couldn’t be avoided was certainly feasible.

As a green mist enveloped the area, everything around them began to decay and rot. The purification function of Baek Il-ho’s sensor-equipped Defensive Coat activated automatically but couldn’t withstand it and shut down.

In most cases, Baek Il-ho’s coat was usually turned off, as he rarely needed to protect his body from attacks.

But Defensive Coats were all designed to react automatically to this kind of toxic energy, and Il-hyeon had aimed for precisely that.

He had disabled the Defensive Coat in advance to prevent Baek Il-ho from activating its protective function in a pinch.

Baek Il-ho glanced down at his broken coat for a moment, then clenched his fist and slammed it into the ground.

BOOM! RUMBLE!

The powerful explosion, laden with immense force, swept away not only the surrounding terrain but also Il-hyeon, who had tried to secure some distance.

Sent flying, Il-hyeon once again crashed to the ground. Baek Il-ho, having teleported with Lawbringer, immediately aimed his sword at him.

“It’s all over anyway. No matter how much you struggle, you can’t stop it.”

Baek Il-ho said, looking down at him.

But Il-hyeon, contrary to expectations, flashed a triumphant smile.

“No, it’s the other way around. Your plan is a failure. Even if I die by your hand.”

“What?”

Tsssss!

Just then, a massive barrier unfolded in the city behind them.

It was the very city where Eclipse’s Awakened were stationed, and the powerful barrier enveloped the entire metropolis.

Baek Il-ho turned around, startled by the sudden appearance of the force field.

The only one among Il-hyeon’s team members capable of deploying a defensive barrier of that scale was Hyeon-seo.

Understanding the situation was simple.

An attack taking advantage of his absence. Il-hyeon’s team members, who had been in hiding until now, had been aiming to neutralize the nuclear weapons from the very beginning.

Baek Il-ho quickly aimed his sword in that direction, intending to move there.

But just as he was about to designate the space, the ground on all sides suddenly shot up, completely blocking his view.

From the sound and sensation, he could tell that at least a dozen thick walls were layered together.

In this situation, even if he used Lawbringer’s ability to move, he would only end up at one of the obstructing walls, unable to go straight to the city.

Of course, with his power, breaking through these walls would be simple, but an obstacle now stood before him, ready to block his path.

“Don’t look away.”

“Sorry, but you can’t stop me with your power.”

“We’ll have to see about that.”

Il-hyeon said with a tilt of his head.

Then, he played his second card, prepared for just such a contingency.

Clatter!

A large number of Cores, instantly summoned via Spatial Movement, spilled onto the ground.

These cubes, emitting a white light, were the ones Il-hyeon had saved as much as possible, not consuming them for his future-sight.

They were his insurance policy, and despite there being dozens of them, they were all top-quality Cores containing a tremendous amount of Ether.

And Il-hyeon shattered them all.

BOOM!

The simultaneously shattered Cores broke into fragments, and the immense amount of Ether that flowed out of them poured into Il-hyeon’s body.

“Kang Il-hyeon… do you have any idea what you’re doing?”

“No one’s moving until one of us is dead.”