Chapter 510 - Forward, Forward

Crush—!!

A colossal— no, something so big that no word could ever describe its size shot out from Oh Kang-Woo.

"Kurgh! Argh!" Kang-Woo clenched his chest and writhed in unimaginable pain. "A-Arghhh."

His legs swayed. He could feel something in his heart struggling madly to get out.

"Ahhh."

Something was being broken; it was shattering like dropping a glasswork on the ground. His vision was blurring and he was panting heavily. His heart was not beating properly. The boundless black sea was raging and pouring out through the cracked vessel.

"Hihihihihi!!"

Kang-Woo could hear Bael's laughter. He was in far too much pain to even think that it was annoyingly loud.

'This is...'

He desperately held on to his sanity and forced the pieces of his fragmented mind back together. He looked inside his cracked vessel.

- At last! I can finally get out of this Abyss!!

Kang-Woo heard the bellows of the Titan born from the Primordial Darkness. He crawled out of the Abyss of the Demonic Sea holding him down and stood up. The power of the Titan was being transferred from Kang-Woo to Bael through the branch of the corrupted World Tree linking them.

"Kihi!! Kihihihihihi!! Ahhh, so this is it! This is the power of the Demon God!"

Bael burst into uncontrollable laughter. Kang-Woo fell to his knees. The black sea of demonic energy with no Demon God to hold it together was raging madly.

Crack.

'It's... breaking.'

Kang-Woo could feel something that was keeping him intact breaking.

"

Cough! Cough!

"

Fwoosh.

The Flames of Voracity wrapped around him were extinguished. Kang-Woo crouched and coughed up black blood.

"Heh, I'm surprised you're still conscious." Bael looked down at Kang-Woo in surprise. "I thought you wouldn't be able to handle it and go insane."

"Ba...el..." mumbled Kang-Woo as if he would lose consciousness at any moment.

He could tell what Bael did and what happened even while he was rapidly losing his sanity.

'The Demon God... jumped from me to Bael.'

Bauli had escaped the Abyss of the Demonic Sea and switched bodies using the link formed between Kang-Woo and Bael. Such a thing was only possible because the two of them were both vessels for the Demonic Sea.

"Kurgh." Kang-Woo bit his lip.

He could feel the Demonic Sea inside him falling apart. He clenched his fists. Kang-Woo was only able to trap the Demon God inside the Abyss of the Demonic Sea because it had been he who was acknowledged as the Ruler of the Demonic Sea, not Bauli.

'But...'

Kang-Woo couldn't become the root that held the Demonic Sea together because he was nothing but a vessel; he was but a puppet made to complete and hold the Demonic Sea.

"Sh...it," Kang-Woo cursed.

He was played— no, he had no other choice but to be played. He had no idea what Ingrium's true role was or that he was a vessel to hold the Demonic Sea. He did not even imagine that the Demon God, who was trapped inside the Abyss, would transfer from him to Bael.

'What should I...'

His mind was going blank. He frantically thought about a way to resolve this crisis, but...

"

Cough! Cough!

"

Kang-Woo coughed up even more black blood. This was probably what Qi deviation felt like. The rampaging energy of the Demonic Sea was tearing him apart from the inside. Demonic energy ran wild uncontrollably like water pouring out of a broken dam.

"Fu...ck," Kang-Woo cursed again.

He crouched as he coughed up blood. A single blunder— no, it couldn't be called a blunder. An inevitable disaster destroyed him with no way to resist.

- Kehehehe! It looks like the puppet finally learned its place!

Kang-Woo heard an elated voice!

- Hmm. This vessel is still incomplete, but... It can't be helped.

Bauli, who had entered Bael, clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction.

- Kehehe. At last... I get my hands on the Demonic Sea!

"Heh." Bael smiled. "What kind of bullshit are you spewing?"

- What?

"Hihihi!" Bael laughed, his shoulders bouncing up and down. "Stay the fuck down." He stared at the collapsed Kang-Woo, his eyes filled with madness. He trembled in ecstasy and said, "Don't get in my way. Do you have any idea how long I've waited for this moment?"

Bael stuck out his long tongue and licked his lips. He had waited a long time to see the moment the Demon King break down after he took everything from him.

"Kihihihihihihihihihihi!!! I told you! I did, didn't I?! Hm? I was right!!" Bael spread his arms wide and shouted madly, "YOUUUUU!!! AREEEEEEE!!! NOTHIIIIIIIIIING!!"

Boom, boom, boom.

Bael approached Kang-Woo, stomping his feet, and kicked Kang-Woo's head.

Bash!

Kang-Woo tumbled across the ground.

- Hmph. You are no different from that puppet.

The Demon God's cold voice echoed inside Bael's head.

- Do you think I will allow myself to be humiliated twice?

The Demon God cackled.

- If you don't accept me... you will also face annihilation as an incomplete vessel.

It would have been a different story for Kang-Woo since he was complete as a vessel, but Bael was incomplete; he was unable to keep the Demonic Sea intact without the Demon God's help. At this rate, Bael's body would also fall apart like what was happening to Kang-Woo and he would die.

"I don't care," the boy replied brightly with a smile.

- What?

"Hihihi! I don't care." Bael's gaze was only on Kang-Woo as if he couldn't care less about the Demon God or death. "As long as... I can grant you a terrible end... As long as I can throw you into a pit of endless despair... I don't need anything else."

Even his own life was of no worth to Bael.

- Wha...

The Demon God expressed shock. Oh Kang-Woo and Bael, two of the greatest vessels he had created, were both defying him.

"Oh Kang-Woo."

Bael ignored the Demon God's annoying screams and grabbed the collapsed Kang-Woo by the collar.

"Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, Oh Kang-Woo, OH KANG WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Bael screamed as if he were desperate.

"OKAY! NOW, ADMIT IT! HM?" He shouted as if pleading. "ADMIT THAT I'M NOT NOTHING!!!"

'Please.'

"THE MISERY THAT I ENDURED IN THE NINE HELLS!!"

'Please don't say that I'm nothing.'

"MY LIFE! MY EXISTENCE! MY DESIRE!"

'Please say that they had meaning.'

"Please..."

'Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please, Please."

"Please... acknowledge me."

Bael fell into Hell on the Day of Calamity. It was a terrifying and horrific place. Everything there tried to kill and devour him. He had no choice but to become a predator to survive there. He did whatever it took to survive. He struggled wretchedly and desperately. He needed a goal that would extend his survival within the unending despair that was his life.

- I was chosen.

That was what he brainwashed himself to believe as he used the unknown power that was the Authority of Predation. He continuously told himself that he was chosen and special, which was why this horrifying Hell was but a trial.

He gritted his teeth and endured. He endured, endured, and endured again. That one sliver of thought extended his life as his body changed the more he devoured demons and as his mind slowly broke.

"Say it... Hurry up and tell me."

However, he had not been the special one. He had not been the chosen one. The life he had endured fell apart the moment the Demon King was born.

"TELL ME THAT MY LIFE WASN'T MEANINGLESS!!"

"Fuck off... bitch," answered Kang-Woo faintly as he listened to Bael's pathetic screams. He panted heavily and smiled. "In the end, you're... just a dipshit... who can't do anything... on his own."

Kang-Woo continued with a mocking smile, "Fucking hell... Are you some... sort of edgy... teen?"

Kang-Woo couldn't even laugh at how pathetic Bael, a ten millennia-year-old geezer, was, still trying to find himself.

"You're..."

'Your life, your existence, your desire, your life that can't even be acknowledged without someone's approval is...'

"Nothing."

"..." The light in Bael's eyes disappeared. "A-Aaaahh."

He pulled his hair and crouched.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!" Bael screamed hysterically. "OH KANG WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Eyes filled with pure resentment and madness pointed at Kang-Woo.

'Fuck.'

Kang-Woo grimaced.

Bash!

"Kurgh!"

Bael punched Kang-Woo, causing him to tumble across the ground.

Bash! Bash! Smash!

Kang-Woo could feel himself getting trampled on. His ribs broke and his shoulder blades shattered. He could feel his blood flowing out of his torn skin.

"Kurgh! Krrrk."

The blood gathered in his throat turned into foam and poured out of his mouth.

"H-Hihihihi!! Forget it. I don't need your pathetic acknowledgement anymore!! H-Hehehe!!"

Bael laughed as if he had completely broken. The kicks smashing down on Kang-Woo grew stronger.

'Dammit...'

Kang-Woo's consciousness grew fainter as the violence grew more aggressive. He wanted to do whatever it took to control the demonic energy tearing him apart from the inside, but it was impossible now that the Demon God, the pivotal component of the Demonic Sea, was gone.

'I have to at least...'

Kang-Woo closed his eyes and focused.

'Close... the Doors.'

Two of the three Doors were open. He needed to close those Doors first to have any chance at gaining back control.

Crush!

"Kurgh!"

"H-Hehe. How does that feel? Stings, doesn't it? Hihi!"

Bael twisted Kang-Woo's ankle to an unnatural angle. He then placed one foot on Kang-Woo's thigh and tore Kang-Woo's foot off with all his might.

Rip!

Flesh and muscles were visible as clear as day once the skin tore off. Bael grabbed Kang-Woo's kneecap and ripped it out. Horrible pain shot up from Kang-Woo's leg.

'This is... nothing.'

He had already become used to the pain of this level through molting and opening the Doors.

"Damn... it." Kang-Woo gritted his teeth.

However, the pain from the demonic energy tearing him apart from the inside hurt far more than Bael's violence. It was as painful as tiny sharp scales circulating through his blood vessels. Pain far worse than that of molting prevented Kang-Woo from focusing.

'I need...'

He needed time.

"Hehe. Now, why don't we move on to the other leg?" said Bael as he giggled in elation and reached for Kang-Woo's left leg.

"Heavenly Dragon..."

"Sky..."

Just then, two voices overlapped with each other.

"Flash!"

"Breaker!"

Kim Si-Hun and Balrog appeared from each side of Bael.