Chapter 367:

Chapter 367:

[So that’s why.]

Sun Wukong, the undefeated war god, shook his head as he watched Yu-hyun heal Kang Hye-rim completely with the shining book.

He finally understood why Buddha had asked him to watch over him, and why he had sacrificed himself to protect him.

[You were the last key.]

Yu-hyun did not answer him.

Sun Wukong did not expect an answer either.

He muttered a few more words in frustration, then plucked a strand of his hair and blew it towards Yu-hyun.

[I’m feeling generous. I was going to just chase away that demon lord and leave on my own, but I can’t stay quiet after seeing this. Take this. It will help you someday.]

With those words, Sun Wukong soared into the sky in a golden light, just like when he appeared.

He was a first-generation Divine Spirit, and one of the strongest in the mixed world in terms of combat power. People swallowed their saliva at his appearance and departure.

He had saved Yu-hyun and even gave him a gift.

Everyone’s eyes turned to Yu-hyun.

He was slowly walking somewhere, holding Kang Hye-rim in his arms, who seemed to have fallen asleep.

“Uh, uh?”

“Hey, wait!”

The liberation army called out to Yu-hyun in a hurry, but Yu-hyun did not react at all. He did not seem to hear anything they said.

The commanders of the liberation army became anxious.

Their goal was to defeat the Black Thunder Lord and regain their freedom, and thanks to Yu-hyun, they had succeeded in regaining their long-awaited freedom.

But it was only a half-success.

For a complete success, the Black Thunder Lord had to disappear from this world completely.

“You revived the Black Thunder Lord! What are you up to?”

Someone shouted.

That became a trigger for the other liberation army members to voice their thoughts.

“Right! The Black Thunder Lord has to die for everything to end!”

“What if she tries to take revenge on us again?”

The liberation army was afraid of the fact that the Black Thunder Lord had not died but survived.

They were also suspicious of Yu-hyun’s action of reviving her after defeating her.

Until he fought with Kang Hye-rim, Yu-hyun was nothing less than a savior to the liberation army, but after all the fighting was over, he was nothing but a fearful being who might become another lord.

“Kill the Black Thunder Lord!”

“The enemy of my son!”

“That bitch killed my parents!”

Angry shouts erupted everywhere.

They were all directed at Yu-hyun and Kang Hye-rim in his arms.

Yu-hyun’s slow steps came to a halt.

The liberation army flinched for a moment at that sight, but their pent-up anger gave them an inexplicable courage.

“Kill her! She doesn’t deserve to live!”

“Kill her!”

As the colorful insults continued to pour out, Yu-hyun turned his head.

His heavy gaze fell on the liberation army, but they were too caught up in their madness to care.

The liberation army surrounded Yu-hyun. Their creepy eyes were on Kang Hye-rim in his arms.

“Hand her over... The Black Thunder Lord.”

Someone stepped forward and said. He was a bald man with slanted eyes and a long beard.

Yu-hyun stared at him with a dull gaze, but the man did not flinch and glared back at him.

“Your glare won’t break our will.”

“...The Black Thunder Lord is down.”

“But she’s not dead. You revived her.”

“I revived not the Black Thunder Lord, but a woman named Kang Hye-rim.”

“That Kang Hye-rim is the Black Thunder Lord and the Demon Sky Empress. Don’t you know? If she opens her eyes and her madness explodes again, how many more people do you think will die?”

“That won’t happen.”

“How can you be sure?”

Yu-hyun realized that rational persuasion would not work on them.

They were just afraid.

They had already experienced fear and they would not believe that Kang Hye-rim had returned to normal even if he told them so.

They wouldn’t want to believe it. To them, Kang Hye-rim was nothing but a villainess who committed countless massacres.

They did not care about the reason why she became like that, or that there was a Divine Spirit named Mara Papayas behind all this.

They did not consider them at all.

There was only one thing they wanted.

The complete death of Kang Hye-rim.

“So you’re going to surround me and threaten me like this?”

“How can we threaten you? We already know your power. If you want, you can kill us all with a single gesture.”

“And yet you still stand against me?”

“Are you going to kill us all? Then do it. It’s better to die here cleanly than to think of the day when she will come back and torment us again.”

“...”

Yu-hyun had no rebuttal to that.

It was impossible for him to harm these people who had lost their loved ones and were consumed by hatred because of Kang Hye-rim.

The moment he vowed to take on her sins, he felt partly responsible for what they had become.

“Get out of my way.”

“We can’t do that.”

“I said move.”

“Then you have to kill us all and go.”

Yu-hyun was getting annoyed by his firm answer.

What irritated him more was that everything they did was not just empty bluff.

None of the people who surrounded him were afraid of death.

They had lived a worse life than death, so they wouldn’t be swayed by any threats.

That’s how desperate the Liberation Army was.

They wouldn’t have dared when Kang Hye-rim was fine, but now that she was down and unconscious, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that they couldn’t miss.

They felt it in their bones, so they blocked Yu-hyun with their lives.

[You’re wrong. They won’t listen to anything you say.]

‘...It must be fear.’

They wouldn’t believe that she, the Black Thunder Lord, had changed.

What if she didn’t? What if she pointed her sword at them again? Who would take responsibility then?

The chains of hatred were not easily broken.

“It’s too late to realize now! Die, all of you!”

As the cannons pointed at them, the rebels panicked.

They didn’t expect this to happen when they hadn’t prepared any proper defense.

At that moment, Yu-hyun moved.

He lifted Kang Hye-rim, who had fainted from air manipulation, into the air as if to protect her and held Baekryeon in his hand.

Yu-hyun’s figure disappeared from his spot and appeared on top of the wall of Black Thunder Palace far away.

“Die!”

The doppelganger shouted as he fired the cannons he had prepared at Yu-hyun.

A fanfic!

In an instant, countless cannons were cut down.

Yu-hyun, who had slashed all the cannons on the wall, stood in front of the doppelganger.

The legion soldiers around him panicked and scattered in fear.

When only the two of them were left, Yu-hyun asked the doppelganger with a reluctant expression.

“Is this really it?”

“...”

The doppelganger smiled slyly and spread his arms wide.

He didn’t need words.

He told him to stab him quickly.

Yu-hyun didn’t know what his action meant.

He bit his lip slightly and tightened his grip on the white lotus in his hand, pulling his arm back.

The doppelganger, the fake Kang Yu-hyun, smiled at him with satisfaction.

‘Yes. This is it.’

He had lived as a fake, wanting to serve her for his whole life.

He had taken on the appearance she wanted, but he couldn’t be the real one she wanted.

He thought that was fine.

Even if he couldn’t be the real one, he was glad that he could be with her.

He didn’t regret it when the real one appeared and she ended her life as the Black Thunder Lord.

Maybe somewhere in his heart, he had accepted that this would happen someday.

‘It’s better this way.’

He was a fake, but he had something he could do.

He could take on the sins she had committed in her place.

Even if he couldn’t take away all her hatred, this was the best he could do.

Even if he was a fake.

His feelings were real.

He could smile contentedly.

‘Miss. I’m so glad you’re not dead. Even though your life ahead will be full of hardships and pain, I’m relieved that you’re alive.’

Living is surely a series of painful things. But it doesn’t matter.

If you live, if you keep living, someday she might smile again.

He wished for Kang Hye-rim to smile.

He wouldn’t be able to see it with his own eyes, but he hoped that it would happen someday.

Yes. This is it.

He was a fake, but his noble will in his heart was his own thing that no one could surpass.

He had to follow someone and take on their appearance.

That was the only real thing he had as someone who couldn’t do anything else.

So.

It was right for him to disappear as the shackles that held her ankles.

He took away all her shadows and fell into hell with them.

“Please take care of her.”

Yu-hyun stabbed the doppelganger’s heart with his sword.

Puff!

The eerie sensation of the blade cut through the armor and pierced his body.

It was the cold touch of death.

The doppelganger’s body fell backwards. His vision flipped and faced the sky.

“Ah.”

The sky of the Black Thunder Castle, where the dark clouds had disappeared, was so beautiful and cold.

The doppelganger thanked Yu-hyun with blood on his lips.

“Thank you.”

With that, his body crumbled and turned into black mud.

Yu-hyun watched his end until the last moment and looked around.

The hideous Black Thunder Castle was still intact.

He jumped high and swung his sword.

His sword energy sliced through the wall.

The Black Thunder Castle rose high into the sky and was mercilessly cut down.

As if he wouldn’t leave any traces behind.

Yu-hyun destroyed and shattered everything and piled up the debris on this land.

Crash.

Everything collapsed and a cloud of dust rose up.

But Yu-hyun didn’t stop.

He swung his weapon and released his energy, destroying and shattering everything around him.

His appearance was silent and quiet, but it seemed like he was screaming without sound.

The Black Thunder Lord was dead.

And so was the legion commander who tried to use her.

Their lives ended here.

Their story should never be used again.

Their story ended here.

So Yu-hyun blew it all away.

He broke and broke the nightmare and piled up the debris.

This place would become forbidden now.

The castle where the wicked woman who turned the world into a nightmare and the monster who used her behind her back existed would never be mentioned by anyone’s mouth again.

He wouldn’t let that happen.

This place was something that no one could ever touch.

The grave of the story.