### Chapter 367 – Room 205, The Cursed Room – ‘The Absolute Master’ (16)
—
The sudden death of the Emperor’s advisor, Chohwa Munju, plunged the barrier area into chaos.
After all, the emperor was just a young boy in his early teens, which made the death of the de facto ruler of the empire feel hauntingly real.
But there were some who couldn’t care less about the external turmoil.
The Demon Spirit, possessing Sanghyun’s body, flickered its eyes with excitement.
“Wow! Did you age a lot, Jaesung?”
“…”
“Wonhong is over 200 years old and still kicking, but why do you look like a ghoul already?”
“You’re just the same as ever.”
“Hey, I’m the greatest fighter in the world, so I’m different—”
“Shut it. You’ve been sleeping for 30 years after being beaten like a dog and sealed in the underground tomb.”
For the first time, the Demon Spirit’s expression stiffened. The humiliation of being sealed for thirty long years beneath Cheongzan due to those ‘bugs’ it had looked down on was unbearable.
From the spear of the Demon Spirit came a soft sound, and five eerie illusions appeared.
The spiraling dance of the spears filled the air as if multiple masters were teaming up in one breath.
As Jaesung’s eyes widened and pierced through the illusions, the instinct of the Absolute Master warned him that all the spears were both illusions and real.
‘Then I just need to cut them all at once!’
A flash of lightning erupted from Jaesung’s sword, shredding the spears created by the Demon Spirit all at once.
The Demon Spirit wore a truly delighted expression, and this time twisted its right hand in a strange manner.
The atmosphere trembled oddly, and an indescribable sense of foreboding descended as a hand filled with ominous energy rose from thin air, crashing down on Jaesung.
“Die!!!”
At that moment, Jaesung’s sword moved in an unexplainable form.
It wasn’t as fast as light, as solid as steel, or as strong as a bull.
But because there was no hesitation in the sword, the seamless blade calmly slashed through the foreboding hand.
The sight made the Demon Spirit gawk in amazement.
“Impressive! Did you learn that technique recently?”
“…”
Instead of answering, Jaesung’s expression hardened.
He knew full well what it took to cage the Demon Spirit with a life-risking battle.
Such a playful demeanor from the Demon Spirit only surfaced when it felt relaxed.
“Ugh! I can’t keep this up. Fighting with just one spear does make it tough for me.”
Jaesung felt that the opponent was skilled enough to rank among the top ten in the world, whether it wielded a sword or a spear.
The only thing keeping him from getting wrecked was that Jaesung himself was the best in that form of battle.
Yet the look on the Demon Spirit’s face, saying it couldn’t keep up, had no hint of defeat.
The art of using a sword was everything to Jaesung, but to the Demon Spirit, it was merely one of many tricks.
Soon, as the Demon Spirit’s expression shone with the look of ‘the play is over’—
Jaesung split his mind in two.
“Interesting.”
When he finally regained his senses, the opponent wore a genuinely surprised expression, unlike the playful attitude from before.
“Did you create a wall in your mind? What kind of trick is this?”
“… It’s Division of Focus.”
“You divided your mind but still remain one? Is this a technique to counter my Soul-Stealing Sorcery?”
“…”
“This is truly amazing. It’s far superior to that peculiar sword technique from earlier. But doesn’t it feel a bit unnecessary?”
The Demon Spirit still seemed detached from this fight.
Simply observing its demeanor suggested this wasn’t a life-or-death duel to it.
As if a god above was teaching an amateur one or two lessons.
Thus, Jaesung charged in without hesitation.
“The Division of Focus is fine, but what reason do you have to unify them through Oneness—”
— Swish!
Like a magic trick, the Demon Spirit’s head flew into the air while its body crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
“There’s no reason to unify.”
Sanghyun’s head rolled on the floor as it continued the conversation.
“…”
Jaesung wasn’t surprised anymore.
He already knew that no matter how many times the Demon Spirit was beheaded or burned, it wouldn’t die.
Instead, the elder pulled out a mysterious multicolored orb from his pocket and shattered it.
— Whoosh!
Mysterious flames spread in an instant, igniting the entire room.
If this continued, both the elder and the body rolling on the ground would soon turn to ashes, but neither seemed worried.
“No, what is this?!”
“As I created the Division of Focus, did Jo Wonhong sit idly?”
“Aha! Is this the work of that idiot from the Baehwa cult? He turned it into something to give to you?”
“Neither of you will be able to steal another’s body in the purifying flames.”
“Wow! You and Wonhong have really outdone yourselves!”
“…”
“Then, is this the end for me?”
“Probably.”
“Alright. Let’s finish the conversation we were having. You’ve achieved a great awakening by dividing your mind, but why unify through Oneness?”
“…”
“It’s glaringly obvious. You were afraid your consciousness would split apart, right? So you unified them! Clipping ten hands and tying them back into two lumps—what a ridiculous thing to do!”
— Swish!
The no-hesitation sword severed the rolling head of the Demon Spirit.
Amid the now silent space, with blue flames roaring around him, Jaesung quietly murmured.
“I’m…. not wrong. The ego is derived from singularity, so how can this be split? Never—”
At that moment, a cold voice echoed from outside.
“That’s why you’re lacking. You could’ve reached the heavens with just one more step, yet here you are, stuck in this predicament.”
The burning wall crumbled like paper.
Feeling dizzy, when Jaesung turned his head, dozens of soldiers were surrounding him.
The moment he saw the soldiers’ eyes, he finally realized the source of the Demon Spirit’s earlier composure.
From the very beginning.
Before Jaesung shattered the orb and created the purifying flames.
The Demon Spirit had already stolen multiple human bodies at once.
Kim Sanghyun was merely one of its ten fingers.
“Jaesung, this is the true ‘Division of Focus.’ No unnecessary appendages needed here.”
“Surely you couldn’t do this from the start!”
“Do you still have a card hidden up your sleeve? Let’s see what you can do.”
Only upon seeing the devil’s smile did the elder understand the outcome had already been decided.
The only reason the demon didn’t wish to kill him easily was that it wanted to witness him despair after all his preparations had failed.
“By the way, I found the best weapon outside. I’ve never seen a better body beneath the sky. Like the Great General of the Big Dipper?”
*
– Elena
“Quick! Hurry up with the preparations!”
“P-Priest, just hold on a second!”
Calming my frantic heart, I urged the surrounding soldiers.
As I glanced at Seungyub beside me, his face was pale, trembling in fear.
Having returned from the barrier and just barely getting some shut-eye, my comrades had nearly all been killed!
What on Earth happened here?
When I woke up, I learned that Sister Eunsol had been horrifically murdered.
I called the comrades through the chat tab in surprise, but only Seungyub responded.
Of course, the chat tab has distance limitations, so if they were too far, they couldn’t respond—
What the hell!
Am I an idiot?
I’m not dumb enough to expect anyone to be alive in this situation!
You think my bad vibes would miss the mark?
My comrades are definitely dead, except for Seungyub and me.
At this point, I’d given up the thought of resistance.
If I wrote justice here?
I mean that thought was completely abandoned.
After all, I had used up my ominous thoughts to the max a while back, and I didn’t even know if the opponent was a person or a freak, so how could I believe in justice?
So, I dragged sleepy Seungyub and began planning our escape.
We’ve got to get out!
Let’s skedaddle toward the west like the last time!
Fortunately, the preparations for our escape were coming together quickly.
It must be because I was pushing from the side, plus the people of the Baehwa cult surely sensed something was off with what’s happening at the barrier.
As soon as the carriage was ready, Seungyub and I jumped aboard, and before a minute passed, the horses began to gallop.
“Sister….”
“…”
“Will we survive?”
“We better.”
While we spent time in tension, a loud sound suddenly erupted outside, causing the carriage to come to a halt.
Leaving the choked-up Seungyub behind, I jumped out of the carriage.
“What’s happening?”
“It’s nothing! Just get back in the carriage!”
According to the knight, it wasn’t a big deal after all.
It turned out that an uncomprehending soldier tried to block the carriage, but the martial artist dispatched by the Baehwa cult killed the soldier without hesitation to resolve the situation.
In a scenario where some unknown entity was trying to harm the emperor, no one here would care about a soldier’s life.
At that moment, Seungyub suddenly looked befuddled.
“Uh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Fortune suddenly—”
…
[The Enlightenment Mirror activates.]
In an instant, when I came to my senses—
I was at a loss for words.
What on earth is happening?
I lost consciousness to an unknown force, and the Enlightenment Mirror activated to bring me back.
The Enlightenment Mirror is a power granted by the Patron to prevent the aftereffects of ‘ominous imagination,’ so if there’s a problem with my mind, it activates after a bit of time.
So….
“Aaaaah!”
In the time it took for me to lose my sanity and for the Enlightenment Mirror to recover me, it was barely a few minutes.
“…”
Everyone’s dead.
In that brief moment, everyone from the martial artist driving the carriage to the servants had been slaughtered, and the area was filled with corpses.
N-No way, is Seungyub among those corpses?
Did I just kill Seungyub with my own hands?
How could something so horrific—
At that moment, a familiar voice broke my destructive thoughts.
“First Apostle!”
“… Seungyub?”
Staring blankly, I raised my head to see Seungyub, covered in blood, stumbling toward me with tears in his eyes.
Thank goodness.
What a relief.
At least the two of us are alive somehow—
…
‘First Apostle?’
In a situation where it was just the two of us, Seungyub called me the First Apostle.
— Thwack!
A sharp sword pierced through my heart in an instant.
What came into view was the face of a boy grinning like a rascal.
As scorching flames seemed to burn my entire body, I gritted my teeth and summoned the power of justice.
The scales of gold swirled wildly in all directions, and in that fleeting moment, I aimed to throw Seungyub’s body away—
I couldn’t do it.
First, Seungyub was a victim, having his body stolen by some unknown demon, so he wasn’t subject to the judgment of justice.
Secondly, I could already tell that my death was unavoidable, and if Seungyub died here too, then everything would truly be over.
“…”
“Haha! Even as a different person, the powers of the First Apostle of the Baehwa cult feel about the same, huh? A child must not be harmed? Or perhaps I can’t harm a victim whose body I stole?”
“…”
“You know, clinging to such trivial thoughts is why you can’t beat me. Got it?”
My body began to disintegrate.
From the start, the power of justice didn’t allow for physical recovery, so with a heart pierced, I couldn’t fight anymore.
Even if I could still fight….
With my justice, I had no way to punish the demon while slaughtering innocent victims.
It was the worst matchup.
… ‘Another kind of justice’ is needed.
To judge the demon, there must be a justice that could incinerate a million humans like feathers.
*
– Miro
I’m so scared.
I’m really super scared.
Just imagining what the demon I freed has done sends shivers down my spine.
The crippling fear threatens to consume my very soul.
Ironically, what drove me to action was the very fear itself.
Everyone except me was dead, and my death meant the end of everything, and the sheer terror of it all…
That’s why I gritted my teeth and summoned Cha Jinchul.
He used the power of stardust to break the terrain, helping me escape from Cheongzan.
I ran.
From Cheongzan to the capital, I sprinted on two legs in a short span.
For a teenage girl’s body, it was too much.
No matter how hard I tried, it was physically impossible.
But, with the battle suit that could break trees with a single punch and kick the ground to smithereens, it was doable.
…
When I finally reached the barrier, I already knew it was too late.
—
A hell that words cannot express.
A world filled with screams.
Thousands of skewers rose across the plain.
At the ends of the skewers were people dangling like marionettes.
It approached.
From afar, emerging from the darkness.
An entity that personified fear slowly walked toward me.
It recognized me.
“Wow! You’re the baby who set me free, aren’t you?”
I trembled and fished my hands into my pocket.
The clock. Not the hourglass, but the pocket clock.
My legacy. My hope.
— Clink!
“What’s that? Is it different from the hourglass back in the day? You sure have a lot of interesting items!”
The clock’s hand pointed to midnight.
My past, present, and future awakened.
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