Chapter 200 - A Hero Is Born from Despair (5)

"Si-Hun? A-Are you really Si-Hun?"

Oh Kang-Woo's eyes shook, and it looked as if he were having a bad nightmare.

"N-No. There's no way that's Si-Hun…"

His body trembled, and he grabbed his hair and shook his head. He tried to deny reality. There was no way the demon in front of him was Kim Si-Hun.

"H-Hyung-nim."

"Shut up! How dare you try to impersonate Si-Hun in front of me!" he shouted aggressively. He extended his right hand and brought out Del Lain, the sword that emitted a golden light. Powerful bloodlust rose from him.

He glared at Si-Hun and Yogg-Saron with resentment.

"Where is he?"

Boom!

He stomped on the ground, and the golden light spread in all directions.

''Where is Si-Hun, you motherfuckers?!!" he desperately shouted as if he wanted to erase the worst possible scenario in front of him and deny the reality before him.

[Kahahahahahahaha!!!]

Yogg-Saron grabbed his stomach and began laughing out loud. The tips of his mouth went up as if he couldn't find the situation any more entertaining. He opened his mouth while looking at Kang-Woo.

[You cannot recognize your brother despite him being right in front of you?]

"What… did you say?"

[Your brother is right there, human.]

Yogg-Saron raised his hand and pointed to Si-Hun.

"That demon is Si-Hun? Bullshit!" Kang-Woo shouted. However, he already knew by intuition that it was Si-Hun. He knew from the air that the demon was giving off and the way that the demon was looking at him.

"Hyung… nim."

"… No."

Kang-Woo denied it and shook his head, his expression pale. He didn't want to believe the nightmare.

"Wh-Why… How…"

"I'm… sorry."

Si-Hun lowered his head. He had been reduced to a demon. He had fallen to rock bottom after falling for Satan's scheme. He felt as if his heart were burning, showing Kang-Woo this form.

Si-Hun looked down at his own body.

'Even now…'

It still wasn't too late. He could go back. He could still make it right. Even Kang-Woo had the body of a demon before becoming the apostle of Tirion, God of Heroes.

Just like Kang-Woo, Si-Hun just had to give up the demonic energy corrupting him.

"A-Arrgghh."

A burning thirst spread through him. He felt as if his throat was being scratched with sharp metal, and his body trembled as if it were drying up.

'I have to… give it up.'

He had to let it go. He had to drive away the darkness filling him.

It wasn't difficult.

All he had to do was to give it up like letting go of a rope.

It was simple and easy, but…

"A-Aaaaaahhhhh!"

He struggled in pain. The intense urge to fulfill desires and the horrible thirst that a demon body caused, which he'd never felt before, took control of him.

His struggle to give up the demonic energy was like a drug addict's attempt to spit out a drug already on the tongue. The pain it brought was similar to watching a glass of water being poured out while one was about to die of dehydration under the sweltering sun.

No, it was worse than that.

There was a reason why most people who accepted demonic energy inside their bodies lost their minds and were reduced to demonic beasts.

Furthermore, the demonic energy Si-Hun had accepted belonged to the demon king. The desire caused by having a demon body was eating away at him like a curse.

"S-Si-Hun!"

Kang-Woo anxiously reached out to him.

Si-Hun started to convulse.

"A-Aaahhh!"

He scratched his cheeks with his claws, tearing out flesh. Black blood poured down his cheeks. His body twisted, and he grabbed his hair.

Crack.

His fingers pierced his head. His scalp was torn away, and he screamed.

Crunch!

He raised his sword and smashed it down on his arm, desperately swinging his sword to free himself from his desires. Blood splashed everywhere, and his bones became visible. But that only lasted for a moment.

As if time were being rewound, the injury regenerated in almost an instant.

Only pain remained.

"Get out of me!!!"

It didn't stop.

Tears dripped from his eyes.

At this rate, he would become Satan's puppet. He would end up killing the woman he loved and twisting the neck of the hyung he admired.

No, Kang-Woo was overwhelmingly stronger than him, so it would be the opposite. Either way, it didn't matter. Whether Kang-Woo killed him or he killed Kang-Woo, both results would be catastrophic. There would be nothing but despair.

'I have to free myself.'

He had to be free from Satan's scheme and his own horrifying desire.

He put more strength in his downswings, hoping that the pain would wash away this mind-blowing thirst.

"Si-Hun!" Kang-Woo went to him. He grabbed the sword and shouted, "Stop it, you crazy son of a bitch!!!"

"Hyung-nim, I…"

"You can tell me what happened later. First, you have to calm d—"

"I… can't."

Si-Hun shook his head. He could feel that the demonic energy was changing his body even more. It would be the end if he gave up and failed to drive out the power. He would fully become a demon and turn into Satan's puppet.

"I have… to do it… right now."

"D-Do what right now?!"

"I can… still go back. It… still isn't too late," he said in a desperate voice.

It wasn't too late. Not yet.

He grabbed the sword and mindlessly swung down at his arm again. The sharp blade cut his muscles and bones.

A horrible pain spread through his body, and it chased the thirst away.

He began to push out the demonic energy.

Crack, crunch.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The goat horns on his forehead were sucked back into his body, and the bat wings were getting smaller.

"Kuh… Argh…"

The more he pushed the demonic energy out, the more intense the thirst became.

His consciousness was fading. It felt as if the demonic energy that had devoured his body was talking to him.

- Are you really going to give me up?

The demon's sweet whisper…

He could see a red demon mask staring at him and laughing.

"Shut… up."

He knew it was an illusion. The Satan he could see and hear was fake. It was just a nightmare created by that crazy thirst, but even if he knew it was fake, it was hard to resist the temptation.

Crack.

The horns on his forehead slowly returned. His vision was distorted and covered by darkness.

"…"

Kang-Woo looked down at Si-Hun. It wasn't hard to guess what Si-Hun was experiencing.

'Not good.'

He knew how strong the desires of a demon were. When he had fallen into the Nine Hells, he had struggled a lot while trying to resist those urges.

'I guess it wasn't enough for me to appear.'

He was hoping Si-Hun could push those temptations away from the shock of seeing Kang-Woo, but it seemed the stimulation hadn't been big enough.

'If Si-Hun keeps living as a demon…'

He already used the Satan cheat code, so he had washed away the suspicions about the Authority of Subordination.

Si-Hun staying as a demon might actually be more helpful in terms of power.

Kang-Woo hesitated for a bit and then shook his head.

'No.'

Si-Hun's source of power wasn't demonic energy.

That was like putting gasoline in a diesel car. There was no telling the side effects that could arise from such a thing.

'In the worst-case scenario…'

Si-Hun would die.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes. He couldn't let that happen.

'In that case…'

It was time to use his trump card.

The tips of his mouth went up.

'This is gonna work.'

He was sure of it.

He looked at Si-Hun, who was trembling in desperation.

"Ahem."

'Gotta clear my throat.'

He closed his eyes for a moment to get into the mood.

His little brother had turned into a demon… His ally had been corrupted after being deceived by a demon… The friendship and love that blossomed in the middle of a desperate situation…

The setup was very important.

Kang-Woo slowly opened his mouth, extended his hands, and grabbed Si-Hun's shoulders.

"Si-Hun! Get it together, Si-Hun!!" he said in a desperate voice that surprised even him.

'The mood is on point.'

Riiing.

[Activating the Authority of Subordination.]

He heard the notification message at the same time he had spoken.

Black energy flowed from Kang-Woo's hands into Si-Hun's body.

"Hyung… nim."

"Get it together, dammit!!"

"I'm… sorry… hyung-nim. I…"

Si-Hun's body trembled.

"Ah."

At that moment, Si-Hun's eyes widened, and he felt an unknown urge rising inside him. He quickly turned his head.

[Hehehe. Can you feel it? That is the power of the seed Lord Satan had sown within you,] Yogg-Saron opened his mouth to say as he watched everything unfold with arms crossed.

Si-Hun's expression darkened in despair.

"N-No."

The desire to destroy, the resentment, the lunacy.

Si-Hun's hands were moving on their own.

"N-No!!"

He held back his arm with all his might, but it wasn't enough. The seed that Satan had sown sprouted inside him. A horrifying urge to kill was aimed toward Kang-Woo.

"What's wrong?!"

"H-Hyung-nim! W-Watch ou—"

Stab.

"Ah."

The sword in his hands pierced Kang-Woo's stomach.

Si-Hun's eyes widened, and his mouth fell open. He could feel that his hands were stained with blood—it was the chilling sensation of killing in cold blood.

Cough.

Blood spurted from Kang-Woo's mouth. Kang-Woo looked down at the sword piercing his stomach in disbelief.

"H-Hyung-nim. I'm sorry… I'm… sorry."

Tears dripped from Si-Hun's eyes. He was hoping that everything that was unfolding in front of him was just a nightmare, but the hot blood flowing over his hands was telling him it was real.

"Wh-what have I…"

He felt that he was about to go crazy. No, he might have already gone mad.

Kang-Woo fiercely embraced him when he was about to lose his mind.

"Hyung… nim…?"

"Haaa. Cough! Get it together, you idiot." His voice was so weak that it sounded like he would die at any moment. "I don't know what happened for you to have become like this."

"H-Hyung-nim. D-Don't talk anymore. Th-The blood…!" Si-Hun shouted while crying.

"But…" Kang-Woo ignored him and didn't let him go. "You can do it."

"…"

"You can overcome it."

Kang-Woo smiled at him.

"Si-Hun…" He placed his hands on his cheek. "Thanks for staying as my little brother."

"Ah."

Si-Hun's body trembled.

Trauma. The trauma that had been carved into his soul…

"I'm sorry for giving birth to you."

The words that had been weighing him down his whole life. He wanted to deny them, these words which were a nightmare and a curse. He had lived only to deny them.

Tears dripped from his eyes.

All this time, he had desperately wanted to hear words of acknowledgement and gratitude that he was there for someone.

"A-Aaaahhh."

He could do it. The seed that Satan had sown within him and the demonic energy filling his body… he could throw it all away.

Thirst engulfed him, but he ignored it.

A longing for power invaded his mind, but he ignored it.

'I am…'

His sight became pitch-black. He tore down the darkness through which he couldn't see anything.

The darkness disappeared and became filled with a blue light.

Si-Hun's body was surrounded by intense blue light.

Riiing.

[Assimilation with Martial God Tian Taihuang has reached 51.2%.]

[All conditions for Metamorphosis have been fulfilled.]

[Commencing body reconstruction.]

[You have learned the unique skill 'Sword Control.']

Rumble!!!

The ground shook.

As the blue light surrounded Si-Hun, Kang-Woo fell to the ground.

Kang-Woo opened his eyes slightly and looked at Si-Hun, the tips of his mouth curving up a bit.

'Shiiiet! Fuck yeah! This is it!'

He recalled his last phrase.

"Thanks for staying as my little brother."

'Dayum.'

Kang-Woo trembled in excitement at that line. He felt chills just thinking about it.

'I'm so fucking cool.'

That was why everyone loved him.