Chapter 213

Chapter 213

Countless questions swirled in Allen’s mind upon registering the sword.

Where did this sword come from? What was the ominous power it was emitting? Didn’t he manage to assimilate Se-Hoon? Assuming he failed, how should he proceed from now on?

Drifting in a sea of endless questions, Allen couldn’t find an answer. All he could do was stare helplessly at the sword piercing his chest.

This is dangerous...

And think that it might be the end of him.

Boom!

Allen was slammed into the opposite wall, brought along by Abgrund. The darkness compressed within the sword impaling him then exploded, engulfing his surroundings completely.

Storing days' worth of absorbed pitch-black darkness from the underworld, Abgrund had an overwhelming amount of darkness that even S-rank heroes wouldn’t dare face. And now, that darkness had swallowed Allen whole.

“Ugh...?!”

Crunch!

There was no special technique to the darkness whatsoever, just brute force. And normally, Allen could have dealt with such darkness with his skills. However, when the amount of brute force reached tens or even hundreds of times more than normal, the story changed.

The darkness was simply overwhelming; it consumed the space, even collapsing the boundaries of reality itself. Of course, Allen’s body was not spared.

There’s no... way out... Allen gritted his teeth, feeling his body being gnawed away at.

With his strength and knowledge right now, there was no way to break free from this situation. Realizing there was no other way now, Allen grabbed Abgrund’s blade with his right arm, which was still intact for now.

Akashic

His palm radiated a crimson glow.

Boom!

He was slammed against the wall once again, resulting in a pain that tore through his entire body. Unable to resist, Allen vomited up the liquid that had surged up his throat.

“Ugh! Cough!”

Staring at the dark red blood stained the ground, Allen, who was finally able to breathe again, grimaced in pain and hurriedly scanned his surroundings.

Se-Hoon was standing in front of him, holding Luize in his arms, and only two demons remained. Looking further past them, all he could see was a hemisphere of darkness that was swallowing everything inside it.

Taking in the scene, Allen rapidly assessed the situation.

Has it already captured two demons?

Even though they were A-rank demons, they couldn’t escape the embrace of the darkness in time. It was an absurd thing to occur, but at the same time, it made sense. After all, if not for his right arm, Allen wouldn’t have made it out either and would have died just as pathetically.

“Spatial teleportation, huh?”

Looking toward the direction of the voice, Allen faced Se-Hoon once more.

“I thought I could kill even an S-rank hero in one shot, but I guess things aren't that easy,” remarked Se-Hoon casually, a disappointed expression on his face.

It was an attitude that enraged Allen.

“You... when did you... cough! What are you trying to achieve...?!”

“What am I trying to achieve? Isn’t it obvious?”

Se-Hoon was utterly nonchalant, just watching as Allen continued to cough up black blood.

“It’s all for the One.”

“...What?”

Allen blanked out, momentarily forgetting the gut-wrenching pain. Se-Hoon had attacked him for the One’s sake? What kind of nonsense was that? He wanted to believe it was utter nonsense, but... Se-Hoon’s expression remained completely serious, without a hint of deception.

“I talked to the One last night. He said you guys don’t understand his revelation, let alone hear it properly in the first place.”

“What... what are you...?”

“That’s why he ordered me to clean things up, to recover all the Regions being wasted and transplant them into this one to resurrect himself.”

Showing who he meant, Se-Hoon lightly tapped Luize, whose expression was vacant. The indifferent touch to her cheek, done as if he were handling an object, confused Allen even more.

He still wanted to believe that Se-Hoon was deceiving him, but a part of him had begun to wonder if everything Se-Hoon said could be true.

Woong-

At that moment, a faint crimson aura surrounded Se-Hoon’s body.

Upon seeing it, Allen immediately convinced himself that if Se-Hoon was acting against the One's will, that power, which belonged to the One, couldn't last.

“No... that can’t be... If the One really ordered that, he would’ve retrieved his powers from us first.”

However, just as Se-Hoon’s power indicated the One’s will, the power Allen could still feel in his body also proved that he was following the One’s will. And since that was the case, he held the conviction that his abandonment was impossible.

Regaining his composure, he glared at Se-Hoon with bloodshot eyes.

“Seize him!!”

At Allen’s command, the two demons, who had been watching the situation unfold, swiftly charged forward. But Se-Hoon just watched quietly, without making a move.

“Set-”

From out of nowhere, a red magic array appeared before the demons.

“Shock Wave.”

Boom!

The demons were sent flying far away, and Luize, who had been limp until now, stood up normally.

“...”

Standing there silently, Luize’s eyes were glowing with a blue light. And upon seeing that, Se-Hoon removed Hati and took out Vargr from his Dream Storage, attaching it to her.

Clink-

Activated, a black steel mask marked with an X pattern covered her lower face, and the mana radiating from Luize grew even stronger. Having not expected such a thing, Allen just stared in stunned silence.

Ignoring Allen, Se-Hoon calmly gave Luize his orders, “Go and take care of them.”

“...Understood.”

Boom!

Acknowledging the command, Luize wrapped herself in a whirlwind-like cloak and flew toward the direction the demons had been flung.

Left speechless by it all, Allen’s eyes trembled violently.

Allen’s eyes widened in shock, and he instinctively thrust his right arm forward.

Using the extensive knowledge he inherited from the Akashic, he analyzed the current situation and endeavored to forcefully absorb the sword aura. That was how he always used the power of his right arm, but things were different this time.

Crack!

Unbeknownst to him, the golden sword aura had the ability to resist interference and shake off any attempt at assimilation. It easily pierced through Allen's hastily erected barriers like they were paper and lodged itself into his right shoulder.

“Gaaaah!”

With a scream of agony, the magic arrays that had been firing beams of light behind him began to weaken. Noticing, Se-Hoon prepared to close the remaining distance to finish Allen off.

“Get back!”

But at the Seeker's sudden shout, Se-Hoon instinctively retreated.

Boom!

As soon as he moved back, a dense cluster of magic arrays erupted from the ground below him. Those magic arrays then connected with the existing arrays, moving with terrifying intensity.

At the unexpected sight, Se-Hoon’s eyes widened in astonishment.

“What is this...?”

“Uh, oh... Seems like he’s really pissed now.”

Until a moment ago, there had been a faint will to survive in Allen. But now, that was completely gone.

Facing the furiously churning magic before him, Se-Hoon had to consider his next move carefully.

“Lee... Se-Hoon...” Allen spat out, his bloodshot eyes filled with rage.

The moment he connected to the Akashic, Allen knew his time was ticking. Yet he couldn’t let go of his attachment to life because of his desire to witness the One’s resurrection with his own eyes.

But after Se-Hoon’s last attack, even that faint hope vanished. And it was only once it had that Allen finally gave up on everything and decided on his final course of action.

“I’m going to kill youuuuu!”

The only thought swirling endlessly in Allen's deteriorating mind was that he wanted to erase Se-Hoon—the person who mocked the One in front of him, humiliated him, and trampled on his only hope—completely from this world.

“Die!!!”

Allen activated all of the magic arrays, drawing every drop of his mana.

Akashic True Form: Universal Assimilation

The intricate magic arrays all connected into one, forming a massive, crimson sphere that tore through the ceiling like a sun rising on the horizon. It was the ultimate elemental spell created by the Seeker in the past—a sphere that could obliterate everything.

Abgrund collided with the crimson sphere.

Crackle!

The two forces clashed head-on. While the amount of darkness within Abgrund was still formidable, the crimson sphere slowly began to crush and disperse the darkness.

“Ha... Haha... Hahaha... Hahahaha!”

Watching the darkness being swallowed up, Allen felt an exhilarating pleasure, utter euphoria.

“Yes.... This is true magic.... This is proof that I was chosen by the One!!!”

Even on the brink of death, the thought that he wasn't wrong filled him with ecstasy. Completely drunk on the feeling, Allen looked down at Se-Hoon with a mocking grin.

“Abaddon.”

The vast darkness leaking out from Abgrund immediately compressed into a single point.

Whoosh!

Like before, the crimson sphere tried to consume even the compressed darkness. All it had to do was descend and sweep everything away, however, for some reason, it stopped moving.

Creak...

Shocking Allen, the entire magic array behind him shook, and the crimson sphere trembled as if it were about to collapse. The unsettling sight made him freeze.

Crack!

Then, a black hole appeared at the center of the sphere—a terrifying vortex that devoured everything. The crimson sphere had finally continued its descent to the ground, but it was disintegrating and collapsing into the black hole.

“No.... This is impossible.... This can’t be happening...”

There was no way the One’s true magic could crumble.

Desperately trying to reject the reality before him, Allen poured even more of his mana into the magic array, but nothing changed.

Abgrund’s weapon skill, Abbadon—a creation resulting from combining the power of Boundaries, the fundamental property of the underworld, with the Demonic Blood Art—rivaled the Seeker’s ultimate elemental spell.

“Ah... Agh...”

Allen was completely frozen, watching his entire world crumble before his eyes in disbelief. Then, suddenly, a sharp gust of wind brushed past him.

“...?”

Startled by the ominous sensation, he raised his right arm in front of him to check, but all he could see was Se-Hoon grinning with twisted satisfaction in the distance. His face immediately went pale, having realized his right shoulder felt lighter than before.

And, confirming his worst fear, Se-Hoon raised the Seeker’s right arm toward the sky.

Clack!

Allen staggered forward, reaching out with his left hand.

“No.... That... that arm belongs to me.... It has to be part of my body...”

He couldn’t let the One’s gift that was bestowed upon him be stolen. But unfortunately for him, Se-Hoon just looked at Allen’s desperate plea with a cold gaze.

“Too bad.”

With a flick of his hand, Se-Hoon stored the right arm in his void pocket through the Ascension Ring.

“Ahhhhhh-!”

Allen let out a scream of despair and charged forward, but Se-Hoon casually swung Ewinia.

Slash!

Separated from his body, Allen’s head flew into the air while his headless body crumpled to the ground, completely lifeless.

Trying to catch his breath, Se-Hoon stared downward at the corpse on the ground.

“I'll make good use of this.”

He smiled in satisfaction, pleased with the gain of perfectly seasoned material.