Chapter 170 – Crossroads (2)

Ahmuge remembered what the usage of the Weapon of Calamity Agony was. Agony was a source of life itself. The blade of Agony was sharper than any noteworthy sword and it both cut away and healed. 

It was a contradiction in that it was both a tool for inflicting damage and healing, but the true power of Agony was hidden within that fact. Agony was not a tool meant for victory, but rather a tool solely meant to cause pain.

Ahmuge membered how Sungchul had used Agony in order to cripple his enemies. She still vividly recalled the people that were neither living nor dead begging for the sweet release of death.

“…”

That horrendous hell was unfolding in another era.

“Phoebe. Help me.”

Angelo called out to his companion while taking a step back. The strange weapon that didn’t appear to be from this world sent out powerful warning signals to him. 

Phoebe’s figure seemed to slide across the ground toward Angelo and grouped with him. She began to chant an aria as soon as she arrived. It was a small scale summoning spell. When the magical formation unraveled, a corpse with crimson skin appeared on top of the formation. It was too large for a human. It was a Devil, or a corpse of a Great Devil to be exact.

“T-That’s?”

Bertelgia muttered while trembling. Sungchul couldn’t see his face as it was covered with a mask made of jade, but he found that general form of the corpse and its aura seemed to match with that of Elijah Breggas who had been killed in the Demonic Battlefront and had to inquire further.

“Where did you find this?”

“Demonic Battlefront.”

“I see.”

“We also have something like this.”

Phoebe spoke in a mutter before pulling out two more boxes from her Soul Storage. Inside the boxes were two more faces that Sungchul recognized. They were the severed heads of the Sixth Continental Champions Martin Breggas and the Knight-Captain of the Blood Iron Knights Sungtek Cho. Sungtek’s head had suffered greatly from decomposition and damage so its eye was replaced with a glass one and a portion of its cranium was replaced with a metal plate. Their chilling faces were turning red and blue with the color of fireworks exploding in the sky. 

Sungchul let out an empty laughter as he was reunited with these familiar faces. It was unthinkable that he would meet a person that would recycle these corpses in this manner.

‘These people that had once ruled this continent with authority had now become a toy for some nameless psycho.’

Angelo saw Sungchul’s reaction and spoke callously.

“I’m sure now that you seem to recognize these old raccoons. You’re also one of them, aren’t you?”

His finger pointed toward the Floating Palace that was shooting off fireworks even now. His cold eyes held undisguisable scorn and rage toward the upper crust of this world, and Sungchul replied to his eyes with action rather than words. He put down the Weapon of Calamity and pulled out his weapon forged from fragments of the sky, Fal Garaz, that symbolized his identity.

Angelo’s eyes filled with curiosity and even Phoebe didn’t show much expressions on her face seemed to show interest with the appearance of Fal Garaz.

“The Enemy of the World? He’s younger than I thought?”

“That hammer is probably real.”

“Yea? We’re in luck! To have met the big shot that was shaking up the world!”

Angelo laughed happily while Phoebe poked his side beside him. When Angelo turned toward her, she gripped her staff tight and spoke in a mutter.

“Angelo, I want that.”

Her eyes were enveloped in a strange glow. Eyes murky with obsession, greed, and desire held Sungchul in their center.

“Hoh. It’s been a while that I’ve heard you say that.”

Phoebe who had been under strict observation by the World Parliament from a young age didn’t reveal her true strength as she did in the past, but Angelo knew what happens when she puts in all of her effort. Phoebe was someone who had never lost once in a game called chess after learning its rules. Her ability to read her opponent, natural talent at deployment, and her genius intellect that allowed her to instantly calculate any scenario made her an undefeatable knight. That talent wasn’t simply limited to the game, but was perfectly translated onto the field of battle. To Phoebe, a battle was identical to chess. If there was any difference, it was that she used a chess piece made of a corpse instead of one made of ivory, and she now sat at the place of king.

Her chess piece gained false life and rose once again with the movement of her hand. As the Great Devil Elijah Breggas guarded the front like a castle wall while Marquis Martin Breggas and Knight-Captain Sungtek Cho gained new flesh stood on the battleline, and Angelo stood beside her as her queen to be tagged in by her call.

Phoebe who had finished her preparation finally asked the single question on her mind.

“Why is that person not doing anything?”

As the battleline was being reinforced before him, Sungchul did nothing. Phoebe suddenly recalled a knight from a certain tale that had shook his sleeping enemy awake and waited for him to finish his battle preparations.

“I think I want him more and more?”

She fell into a strange state of excitement as she imagined taking apart Sungchul’s corpse and putting it together again. Her chess pieces made of corpses moved in accordance with her instruction.

“I heard that you defeated the army of Devils in the hundreds of thousands by yourself.”

Phoebe no longer muttered under her breath, but rather spoke excitedly with a madness in her eyes.

“However, my corpse will be different. It’ll continue to stand regardless of how much you cut them down, and they’ll make your body feel heavy like cotton drenched with water. When you’re eventually exhausted, I’ll disassemble your body. Even as you draw breath.”

Phoebe’s face trembled with a despicable smile as she spoke. She was truly a devil under the guise of human, but Sungchu’s response was lukewarm.

“It seems like a decent plan.”

Sungchul relayed an order toward his Soul Gems first.

‘Faeris Light.’

3 orbs emitting bright light appeared behind Sungchul. Of course, it was a meaningless action, but then he finally made a move. He rushed forward with Fal Garaz while the 3 orbs followed behind him. Elijah’s corpse blocked his path like a steel wall as she must have thought he could stop Sngchul as Dalphain had done, but her delusion was shattered with a single swing.

Wham!

Fal Garaz smashed the corpse of the Great Devil to pieces. Phoebe felt the strategy her brilliant mind had pieced together being shaken as cold blood and flesh scattered all around her. Fal Garaz smashed her other chess pieces consecutively even before she could even have time to react.

Sungchul performed the fallen heroes’ funeral rites in his own way. Wherever his hammer passed through, only unrecognizable pieces of flesh and blood remained. Regeneration or resurrection became impossible. Phoebe who had lost all of her pieces in an instant could see her own future before her eyes as she remained speechless.

‘This is the Enemy of the World…?!’

It was a defeat and, soon to be, death that was as bitter as could be. However, the fate that awaited her was a fate more cruel than death. The blade of Agony squirming before her pierced through Angelo’s chest before her eyes.

“Kuuuugh!”

Angelo, whose heart was pierced by the blade, was raised into the sky as he was. Phoebe foresaw his death, but something more amazing took place. Angelo whose heart had been pierced continued to struggle with his arms and legs swinging in the air while screaming.

‘Why… won’t he die?’

It was the obvious question that came to mind. It wasn’t Necromancy as she didn’t notice any trace of magic with her eyes. She naturally moved on to the next possible target, the strange magical sword that had pierced Angelo that was squirming wildly within him.

‘Just what is that?’

She wasn’t given any more time to think as Sungchul swung Agony downwards. Angelo simply bounced off the stone pavement.

“Kwaaa!”

Angelo who was laid out on the street flat like a stretched out frog continued to squirm without dying. It was only then that Phoebe realized that the wound where Agony had pierced him was slowly mending itself.

“You have quite the deviant tastes.”

Phoebe lacked empathy. To her, even fear was difficult to grasp, but even so, she could fully acknowledge the truth that the current battle was lost.

“You’re powerful. I’ll acknowledge my loss.”

She put down her staff and raised her hand, but Sungchul’s feet did not stop. Phoebe could see what he was trying to do from looking at his callous face. She didn’t feel fear, but she was still opposed to succumbing to his intentions. She took a step back and tried to reason with him.

“I’ll stop the corpses immediately. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“…”

“If you promise that you won’t harm me, I’ll even fight for you. My knowledge of Necromancy will be a great help to you against that hated Empire.”

She continued to put up offers after another, but she wasn’t aware of what kind of person Sungchul was.

“Are you perhaps going to harm a frail girl like me?”

“…”

Stab.

The Magic Sword Agony pierced Phoebe’s body.

“Kyaaa!”

Her pitiful scream covered up the sound of fireworks that could be heard from a distance. 

Ahmuge who watched the scene from darkness was squatting on the floor with her hands covering her ears. It finally began, punishment that would be performed by he who would become Calamity itself. 

Sungchul embedded Phoebe and Agony into the wall before standing before her with a piece of lumber he picked up from the ground.

“Are the lives of your victims so laughable?”

“Our actions are justified…”

Wham!

Before she could speak, the piece of lumber smashed across her face. More than half of her face was instantly broken to pieces and her eye on the other side popped out. It was a critical injury that should have resulted in instant death, but the Weapon of Calamity, Agony, was embedded into her heart. The Weapon of Calamity held Phoebe’s soul that was trying to move on to the afterlife and restored her shattered face to its original form.

Phoebe’s consciousness soon returned followed by the excruciating pain and the trauma of its memory.

“S-stop…”

She realized what true fear felt like upon that first strike, but it was a realization much too late. The lumber raised high into the air came down upon her like a storm extinguishing her consciousness.

“Stop… please… please…”

Phoebe continued to beg once her consciousness returned.

“Ph-Phoebe!”

Angelo who had fallen onto the ground struggled to stand, but a rusted spear was embedded into him before he could try and do anything. Another Weapon of Calamity had skewered his body.

“Ugh!”

Angelo felt all of his strength escape his body followed by the sound of a bell that threatened to shatter his sanity.

“Don’t rush. Your turn is next.”

The pitiful screams continued to leak through her covered ears. Sujin felt terror that made her chest feel like exploding.

‘I can’t listen to this. If I look at it any more, I’ll lose my will to fight this monster!’

She barely managed to raise her body with her wobbling legs to carry her body into the darkness. The pitiful screams rang out once more from behind her. Sujin who heard it again collapsed with her hands to her ears. She couldn’t resist. She recalled the nightmare of a past life when she was forced to sit by and watch her companions die with her breath held with each of their screams.

She prayed with her hands to her ears.

‘Someone please… stop this! God or devil, anyone is fine. Just stop that damned torture.’

However, she knew that the torture would not stop as she knew that Sungchul was the tool of god who couldn’t stop himself. However, something miraculous happened. There was a short shout of a little girl that rang out amid the dull sound of impact and screams.

“Stop all this!”

Bertelgia shouted at Sungchul from within his pocket.

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