My Inner World.
I was able to confront my past within it.
Mi Jeong, who entered with me, witnessed the same scene I did.
Then, wouldn’t it be possible for me to enter Belphegor’s mind and peek into Belphegor’s past?
That thought launched this attempt.
I also had some idea in my head about how to do it.
“My Inner World” isn’t just a metaphor.
It’s just smaller in size; essentially, it is no different from other dimensional worlds.
Perhaps the current world we live in and this Demon World are also worlds within some colossal existence.
So, there’s no need to think up any particularly clever means to access the world within Belphegor.
In the end, using the same method as when shifting to another world will be enough.
Using Longinus’ Spear would be convenient, but I have no navigator, which is troublesome.
However, I know one more way to tear through dimensions and cross into another world.
It’s something I’ve personally experienced.
A technique used by demons.
Using mana to cut through the dimensional walls and cross over.
But that method seems to be a high-level skill only available to elite demons who have handled mana for thousands of years.
I can’t figure it out at all.
Of course, I know that swinging mana with ‘will’ is important…
Conversations are executed with will.
Attacks are wielded with will.
And now, they say one can swing space itself with will.
It’s mind-bogglingly simplistic.
But that’s precisely why it works in my favor.
A method that’s just plain stupid can still work if you push through with sheer numbers.
“The key is to wield enough mana to make the impossible possible.”
With my hand on Belphegor’s chest, I gather mana.
Enough mana to tear space and enter into Belphegor’s world.
I’m only slashing space.
I can’t go slashing Belphegor or send him straight to the God of Underworld. That would be bad.
Until I thoroughly uncover his past, I won’t let him die.
“Wh-what are you doing?! What are you doing?!”
“I’m going to open your heart.”
“You crazy bastard! You said you wouldn’t kill me!!!”
“Don’t worry. I’ll control it well so you won’t die. As long as you don’t move around and get sliced, you won’t be hurt. Just stay still.”
“AGH!”
I cut through the space.
What a nonsensical sound that is.
It’s an act commonly described in martial arts novels at their peak.
But what I’m about to do is a little different.
It’s not an attack meant to harm the opponent.
It’s a leap to cross into the world beyond.
I grip as if holding a sword.
Then, mana flows into my hand, stretching out like a sword.
Belphegor stays still, trembling in fear but frozen by my command to stay still.
But the command to not worry seems ineffective, as his eyes are filled with chaos.
Rumble!
A rush of mana gathers, echoing like thunder.
And the result of that gathering mana…
Has taken form, now towering as high as the highest mountain in the Demon World.
“It feels just like holding a magic sword.”
Though it has no similarity other than being made of mana.
It merely feels like the magic sword I left behind is in my hand now.
“I will swing it with will…”
And just before swinging that gigantic sword of mana, I felt a strange sense of déjà vu.
I swing with will.
It’s something I’ve heard somewhere before.
“The martial arts secrets.”
When I learned Dakia-style secrets from Transylvania.
I was definitely taught to simply swing the sword with will.
Demons said the same thing.
To swing mana with will…
There’s no other way to explain it.
I suddenly felt chills running down my spine.
“Is there a commonality between how demons wield mana and the secrets of swordsmanship?”
It seems it wasn’t merely coincidence that I instinctively held mana like a sword.
I don’t know why there’s a similarity between the methods of wielding mana and swordsmanship, but…
Thanks to that, I’ve gained a clue on how to tear through space.
Just as I use the secrets of Dakia-style,
I will pour my will into this magic.
Just as I would shoot forth that will as sword energy.
I have a vague assurance that should work.
“Hey! You’re really trying to kill me! That’s swordsmanship you’re doing!”
“Shut up. You’re disrupting my concentration.”
MMMPH!
Finally, the environment was conducive to concentrating.
At first, I thought I would strive for the Iron Blood Storm Slash.
But reconsidering, there’s no way Belphegor would come out of that unscathed.
“Just once. Cut big.”
What I’ll be unleashing this time is a single, powerful slash.
If the Iron Blood Storm Slash scatters the will into small cuts like a net to cover the target,
What I need to unleash now is a single strike infused with all that will.
“I’ve never done something like this before…”
It’s my first time, but that’s fine.
If I fail, I can just try again.
Anyway, this place has an abundance of mana.
There’s no world where a weak human like me can drain all the mana.
With that relaxed mindset, my tension eased.
My head became clearer.
It seemed a path was starting to emerge.
How can I pour all my will into this minute sword aura?
It’s simple.
The sword aura issue can be solved by expanding it.
“Dakia-style secrets.”
I spread the sword aura not as a long thin line, but as a wide surface.
And then, the extending sword aura took form like…
“Half Moon!”
A dark crescent shape.
The black mana that stretched from my fingertip took on a grotesque form and headed straight for Belphegor.
Belphegor’s eyes widened in horror.
Then, in an instant, the mana struck, and Belphegor’s form vanished.
“Did I succeed? Ah, no. Did I really kill it?”
As the mana dispersed like smoke, I stepped forward.
Then, Belphegor’s form appeared before me.
At that moment, Belphegor…
“You bastard… You said I wouldn’t get hurt… Ugh…”
“Ah.”
The upper body and lower body were neatly separated.
I have no idea who did it, but it was quite a clean cut.
.
.
.
|Oh my god|
The entire Demon World felt the alteration.
No demon could remain ignorant of the seismic change as the land’s mana was sucked into one spot.
Finally arriving at the scene of that upheaval, Satan couldn’t hide his astonishment.
Mana surged from all directions, converging in the hand of a single human man.
A man who held even the mana forming barriers tightly like a sword.
He infused his will into each and every one of that colossal mana.
Though I can’t definitively tell, it was larger than life in one glance.
How much hatred must he harbor for Belphegor to prepare such a strike?
Imagining the shock wave that blow would create, Satan began to tremble.
A strong will aiming to annihilate Belphegor completely.
It was a will that lined up neatly,
And in an instant, it seemed as if time had stopped in that place.
“Half Moon.”
At that whispered incantation, a brief silence ensued.
As the mana swung, a single giant half-moon was drawn.
That half-moon instantly engulfed Belphegor.
The mana did not extend beyond that and merely dispersed into smoke.
Nothing else was cut apart from Belphegor, so there was no other collateral damage.
|Is that talent?|
A being familiar with death.
A human who learned to handle mana and reached that level in merely one day.
It seems that “being familiar with death” was not just a figment of the imagination.
With enough strength to achieve it.
That human could do it.
Satan’s hope was rapidly transforming into conviction.
|…?|
But then, in the next instant, Satan’s eyes narrowed in confusion.
Through the gathering mist of mana.
There emerged Belphegor, her upper body neatly separated.
Not shattered to dust, but merely divided in half?
If that were the case, why gather so much mana?
As Satan pondered in confusion,
Yoo Jin approached Belphegor, caressed her face, and extended his hand between the divided upper and lower bodies.
At that moment, a mysterious light flared atop his hand.
|…!!|
The human and the corpse girl vanished.
Literally, vanished.
Even the separated upper body of Belphegor was nowhere to be found.
What remained was only the immense mark left on the ground by the massive mana that had clawed through.
Satan merely blinked, utterly bewildered.
.
.
.
Everything before me is pitch black and distant.
But it’s just a sword.
Entering the void, there’s no dreadful sensation of ceasing to exist.
At least it’s not a tear in dimensions.
Then where am I?
I could produce an answer immediately.
This is the world inside Belphegor.
“Ugh?!”
“…Eek.”
The moment I realized that.
I suddenly felt the ground I thought I was standing on give way and start to pull me down.
To be precise…
It feels like countless hands are gripping my ankles, thighs, shoulders, and chest, pulling me down.
And that metaphor was not wrong at all.
“What is this…?!”
Deep, deep into the abyss.
From the cliffs on either side of the narrow gap, black hands reach out to cover us.
And they pull down, deeper and deeper.
I can’t see what’s below, but…
I faintly think I saw two black eyes.
And a grotesquely twisted mouth that seemed to be smiling…
SHIVERING!
“No mana, no power.”
A bare body without mana or magical energy.
In this state, resisting against the force that is pulling me down is impossible.
Rather, as I’m pulled down, I get the feeling that maybe it wouldn’t be too bad to see what is down there.
“Stop!”
With a short command, the writhing black arms retreated into the wall.
The black eyes that were faintly visible below have disappeared.
“Where are we…?”
“What a marvelous timing.”
Emerging from above the cliff was Belphegor.
She was panting, clutching her chest.
At last, I could breathe a sigh of relief as I hung onto the cliff.
Carrying Mi Jeong on my back, I climbed up the cliff to find Belphegor drenched in sweat.
“Did you jump in to save me? I didn’t know you were so worried about me.”
“Worried? What worried?! I don’t even know where we are! If you die, how am I supposed to get out?!”
“You didn’t even know where we are, yet you confidently thought you could command those things.”
“That’s… Intuition. Just, I felt like if I told them to stop, they would.”
Though it seemed baseless, that intuition was actually abundant in reason.
This is Belphegor’s inner world.
Even if she didn’t know that fact, it was natural to feel an inexplicable comfort and omnipotence.
I felt the same.
“This is… the Demon World?”
As I surveyed my surroundings, I felt an odd sense of familiarity.
The black ground and the flowing lava like an ocean.
I even felt like I had passed through this narrow and deep abyss at some point.
This is undoubtedly a world resembling the Demon World.
If not for the utter absence of mana in the air, it could be mistaken for the real Demon World.
“No…”
“Then what?”
“This is the place I used to visit every time I had nightmares; why is it…?”
Belphegor bit her lip, looking around, as if confused.
A place she would visit every time while having nightmares.
Why has it taken on the appearance of the inner world?
Of course, I don’t suppose someone from the inner world has room to speak about an empty snowy plain, but…
“Then what was down there?”
“…”
Belphegor stood still, with her mouth tightly closed.
For a moment, I thought she was refusing to speak.
But looking again, I saw Belphegor trembling in fear, unable to part her lips.
Then the world itself began to tremble in sync with her shivering.
And that trembling grew in resonance, turning into a shaking so strong I struggled to stand still.
This is bad.
I hadn’t imagined this world would be filled with deadly threats.
“What’s down there?!”
I shouted, grasping her shoulders insistently.
She looked straight into my eyes, and the trembling began to ease.
And the shaking ceased, as if nothing had happened.
Belphegor faced me and began to murmur as if entranced.
“Down there… is where I was pulled every time I had nightmares… down there is…”
What came out of her mouth was unexpected.
“My father is down there…”
And in that moment.
The landscape around us began to change.
Belphegor’s stature started to shrink.
As if she were returning to her childhood, becoming infinitely smaller.
