“Hahaha! Die! Die!”
The First Demon King, Mara Papias.
As he spread his arms, a swarm of demons surged toward Seo Sumin, writhing in ominous darkness.
The sky and the ground were filled with monstrous forms like black sludge.
Seo Sumin steadied her breath as she took in the sight of them closing in on her.
“Cheap tricks.”
She inhaled, raised her right foot vertically, and, with a sharp exhale, stomped down.
Boom───!!!
A massive shockwave radiated from her. The sand rippled outward in concentric circles around Seo Sumin, creating a powerful resonance.
The resonance expanded, colliding with the demon army.
Screech! Shriek!
The demons struck by the shockwave let out horrifying screams as they disintegrated into dust.
Seo Sumin didn’t stop her assault. Lowering her body into a fighting stance, she thrust her fist forward.
Her concentrated will surged from her fist, piercing through space itself. A storm erupted.
The minions standing in her path were swept away without a chance to respond.
As the endless army of demons advanced, Seo Sumin drew back her fist and unleashed a series of punches.
The rapidity of her movements made it appear as if her hands had momentarily disappeared.
These were pure strikes, delivered with martial prowess rather than the secrets of the Seven Demonic Black Sky Divine Art.
Her blows, imbued with her will, carved a massive path through the formation of demons.
“Haha! Incredible! Just incredible! Heavenly Demon!”
“How long are you going to stand there, wasting your time? Stop talking nonsense and face me. Otherwise....”
I’ll come to you.
Seo Sumin’s form shot upward. Her speed was so fast that Mara’s minions couldn’t follow her movements.
A transcendence beyond human limits.
It was a skill akin to divine ability, seen only in those who had mastered rapid motion and could command the flow of the world.
Seo Sumin appeared in front of Mara Papias, crossing the gap of space itself.
“I lost you that time, but this time, I won’t let you escape.”
She threw her fist. For a coward who only ordered his minions to fight without joining the fray himself, she didn’t even feel the need to draw her weapon. �
Even if her opponent was a powerful Divine Spirit, Seo Sumin now possessed enough strength to crush the head of even a first-generation spirit.
So, with this, she could finally put an end to this wretched bond....
Thud.
Mara Papias’s hand caught Seo Sumin’s fist.
Seo Sumin’s eyes widened in shock.
“What...?”
He had blocked her killing blow so effortlessly?
“Did you really think I ran away from you?”
Through her outstretched arm, Mara Papias grinned.
The darkness shrouding his entire body began to fall away, revealing his true form within.
“The only reason I avoided you then was because it wasn’t the right time for a battle. After all, isn’t the best fight one that takes place on the ultimate battlefield?”
“That form....”
Mara Papias’s true form.
It was something Seo Sumin clearly recognized from her memory.
When she had reincarnated on Earth from the Martial World, a mental realm had been formed, exploiting her moments of psychological struggle.
In that nightmare materialized world, the Heavenly Demon was a monster cloaked in darkness, killing everyone.
To be exact, that had been her past.
Now, Mara Papias looked exactly like that image.
“Why? Are you surprised?”
“...I see.”
Seo Sumin’s expression returned to calmness.
Had it been her former self, she would have been too shocked to react, but the mental fortitude she had forged over the years allowed her to accept the reality before her with ease.
“You... were me from a failed world.”
Mara Papias.
In truth, even within the Mixed Realms, there had been speculation about her true identity, but she, too, was an usurper.
“You became an usurper as well.”
“No. I am now Mara Papias.”
With a face identical to hers and a chilling smile, the only emotion in her eyes was madness.
After being betrayed by her subordinates and eventually killing everyone with her own hands, she ascended to the position of a Divine Spirit, becoming a tyrant—a distant, long-lost version of Seo Sumin in an ancient universe.
A Seo Sumin who had never met Kang Yu-hyun, a Seo Sumin who had never been saved.
The King of Otherworldly Dominion.
The Sixth Demon King.
The First Demon King.
The root of all these titles, Mara Papias, was ultimately a Heavenly Demon from a failed world.
“How many worlds... have you repeated by now?”
“I don’t know. I’ve lost count.”
Though Mara Papias was a Seo Sumin from another universe, could she still be called Seo Sumin?
In an endless cycle of universes, she had lived so long that nearly nothing remained of her identity as Seo Sumin.
Now, she was Mara Papias.
And her role as Mara Papias had remained unchanged through countless cycles.
Even Logos, witnessing her corruption, had deemed her irreplaceable and continued to reincarnate her over and over.
But even if he fled, he doubted he could escape Ahura Mazda’s reach.
‘I’m such an idiot.’
He had promised to avenge his subordinates, yet he couldn’t even fulfill that properly.
Without Maxwell’s help, he couldn’t land a meaningful blow on that arrogant opponent, and the thought made him laugh bitterly.
In the past five years, he had grown stronger. His growth was remarkable, even compared to others.
But it still wasn’t enough.
“Are you giving up?”
Ahura Mazda looked down at Yoo Young-min, questioning him.
“If so, then you’re wise. The fact that a mere human dared to challenge a god was the problem in the first place. If you repent now for your foolishness, I shall send you off without pain.”
“Hah. That’s quite a touching offer.”
“I mean it.”
Yoo Young-min knew that Ahura Mazda wasn’t joking in the slightest.
And that made him angry—the arrogant expression on that Divine Spirit’s face, acting as if he was the strongest, and the fact that he, himself, was too weak to do anything.
But what could he do?
This was the reality.
“Even so, I have to do it.”
“...Are you saying you’ll fight to the end?”
“This is all I can do, so I have to try. Even if it’s terrifying, difficult, and looks impossible. Isn’t that what I should do as a human? Otherwise, my dead subordinates would curse me from the afterlife.”
“You choose suffering.”
“Yeah, I suppose I do. But I’m not satisfied unless I face things head-on.”
If this had been five years ago, before he met Yu-hyun...
Yoo Young-min wouldn’t have welcomed a situation like this.
He would have secured the safest position for himself, using methods to ensure his opponent’s downfall from a place they couldn’t reach.
Confronting the enemy directly was something he would’ve scorned as foolish, maintaining a cool detachment.
“Well, it’s not like I don’t have a plan.”
Yoo Young-min muttered to himself, glancing at the pistol at his waist.
It was absurd to think a mere pistol could do anything against a Divine Spirit, but even a pistol in his hands could unleash the power of a tank’s cannon.
Of course, even that wasn’t enough to contend with a first-generation Divine Spirit.
These beings could trigger nuclear fusion on their own, so the power of a cannon wouldn’t even cause them a tickle.
‘But if I use the bullet Mephistopheles gave me....’
The single bullet in his pistol had been given to him by Mephistopheles.
Since it was something from a first-generation Divine Spirit, it would likely produce the expected results in terms of power.
With that thought in mind, Yoo Young-min swiftly drew his pistol and aimed at Ahura Mazda.
Just as he was about to unleash a rapid, lightning-fast shot, Ahura Mazda fired an arrow of light, as if he had been waiting.
“You’re too slow.”
Yoo Young-min gritted his teeth and threw himself to the side, beginning to evade.
The arrow was made of light, but its speed was slower than true light speed. Even so, it was alarmingly fast, making it difficult to react in time.
Boom!
An arrow of light landed where Yoo Young-min had been standing, creating a massive explosion that shook the ground.
As he rolled along the ground from the impact, Ahura Mazda showed no mercy, firing another arrow immediately.
‘Danger...!’
In that moment, when he felt the imminent threat to his life, Yoo Young-min experienced a sense of time freezing.
‘Is this... one of those life-flashing-before-your-eyes moments?’
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but move quickly.”
At the sound of a scornful voice, Yoo Young-min’s body reacted on its own.
He immediately threw himself to a safe spot, and time resumed its flow.
“Hm?”
Ahura Mazda had been certain that he would kill Yoo Young-min with this shot, yet his target survived, which puzzled him.
The reason soon became clear.
“Mephistopheles.”
“And you must be Ahura Mazda, correct?”
One of the Seven Lords of Pandemonium.
The demon Mephistopheles, representing the sin of Pride and wielding the power to stop time, had stepped into the battle to protect Yoo Young-min.
“You... why would you...?”
“I gave you a bullet, but it looked like that wouldn’t be enough.”
Mephistopheles formed a gun gesture with his fingers, aiming at Ahura Mazda.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll make sure you’re fully taken care of.”
“Ha....”
“Can you stand?”
“...Complaining wouldn’t suit the situation.”
“Good attitude. I’ll provide support, so you just focus on hitting the target.”
Before Yoo Young-min could nod in agreement, Ahura Mazda, enraged by the interruption to his fight, spread his wings of light.
Each of the countless feathers on those wings was an arrow of light, like the ones he’d just fired.
Seeing the sight, Yoo Young-min felt more disbelief than despair.
“Are you ready?”
“...What if I said no?”
“Alright, alright! I’m doing it! Let’s go!”
All he needed was a single shot.
And he had to make it count.