Side Story Chapter 84 - There is No Light Here (9)

"U-Urgh!" Salvatore's face turned pale as fear spread throughout his body like poison. "AARRRGGGGHHHHH!!!"

He screamed madly as he randomly swung his spear.

"DIE!!! EVIL DEMON!!!"

However, he couldn't feel the spear slicing anything.

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!"

Boom!

Salvatore swung down his spear on the ground with all his might.

"Huff, huff."

The ground should have been destroyed with his power, but the darkness pulsed as if absorbing the impact.

"Are you done now?"

Squelch.

Salvatore heard something stick moving. He turned to see yellow eyes staring at him coldly.

"Wh-What are you...?"

He trembled and stepped backward.

"That's strange."

Split.

Salvatore felt a chill on his neck.

"

Gasp!

"

He quickly rolled sideways. Sharp teeth bit off a portion of his neck.

"

Huff! Huff!

"

Intense fear took control of him. Cold sweats trickling down his neck mixed with the blood pouring from the wound on his neck.

The demon whispered into the collapsed Salvatore's ear, "I believe I asked you a question first."

"E-Eek!!" Salvatore rolled forward after hearing the demon's voice so close to him. "Wh-Where are you?!! Where the hell are you?!!"

He couldn't see anything in the darkness. Fear of the invisible enemy took over his mind.

Salvatore desperately prayed, "O Great Akart!!! Grant your lowly servant the power to defeat the darkness!!!"

An intense golden light burst from him.

"You're so goddamn noisy. Are all of Akart's subordinates like this?"

Salvatore heard mocking laughter.

Wriggle.

The intense golden light was devoured and vanished along with the sound of a sticky liquid flowing.

"H-How...? WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!!" Salvatore screamed, unable to accept the reality before him.

The Light of Akart was capable of annihilating evil and chasing away darkness. All evil touched by the light was destroyed as it writhed in horrible pain— at least, it should have been.

"Why...? WHY IS THE LIGHT OF THE GREAT AKART BEING DEVOURED BY THE DARKNESS?!!" Salvatore screamed in despair as he witnessed something he had never experienced before.

"It's quite obvious, really." The demon in the darkness smiled. "However potent the poison is, a drop of it in the ocean is meaningless."

"What are you talking ab—"

"It means exactly what I'm saying. Even if the Light of Akart has the power to destroy evil, it's no threat to the Demonic Sea when it's the size of rat shit."

"...!!"

Salvatore's eyes widened. The Demonic Sea— one of the two darknesses born from the Primordial. He remembered hearing about its existence from Akart.

"The King... of the Demonic Sea!"

Salvatore's eyes filled with fury— with boundless resentment for evil. He gripped his spear tightly and faced the king of demons who destroyed the balance.

He prayed, "O Great Akart, protect me with the light of truth. Guide me with your sacred wisdom and guide my soul with your divine light even if my path is shrouded in darkness."

Whoooom!

The golden light shone even as it continued to be devoured by the darkness.

"Haaaah!!!" Salvatore shouted and thrust his spear.

Since all his senses were blocked, he had no choice but to thrust his spear only with faith that his enemy was there.

Pierce—!!

He felt something. He could see the music-like darkness pulsing.

"O GREAT AKAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!"

Salvatore smiled as he swung madly at the darkness in front of him. The darkness split in two and the golden light he prayed desperately for flowed in between the split ends.

"Ahhh." Tears flowed down Salvatore's cheeks. "O Great Akart, you have answered my prayers at last—"

Fwoosh!

"Huh...?"

The golden light mixed with the darkness, golden flames wrapping around the darkness in a circle.

"A black... sun?"

[GYEEEEEEEEEEEHHH!!!]

[GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!]

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

[GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!]

The black sun opened, and countless demons poured out of it to charge at Salvatore.

"Wh-What in the world?!"

Salvatore quickly raised his spear in shock.

Slash!

Although the majority of his senses were gone, he cut down the demons with his extraordinary spear techniques.

[KIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHHH!!]

The demon slashed by the spear was annihilated. The Light of Akart nullified its immortality and burned the demon's soul to a crisp.

[GRRRRRRRR!!]

[GYAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!]

However, more demons crawled out of the black sun and charged at him endlessly like a tsunami.

"RAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Salvatore swung his spear at the endless swarm of demons. A demon was annihilated each time the golden spear shone.

However... however... however...

"O GREAT AKAAAAAAAAART!!! GRANT ME THE LIGHT TO CHASE THIS DARKNESS AWAY!!!"

It did not end— they did not stop. No matter how many Salvatore killed, demons endlessly crawled out from the Abyss. The golden light enveloping the edge of his spear grew slightly dimmer.

***

Salvatore was slaughtering countless demons inside the darkness with no light in sight. He continued to swing his spear at the demons crawling out of the Abyss; his expression dyed in fear. The demons devoured by the Abyss were annihilated with each swing of Salvatore's spear, but there were still countless more left.

"Go as nuts as you like."

Kang-Woo laughed softly as his consciousness grew fainter. Salvatore's spear attacks were indeed dangerous but it wasn't enough to defeat every demon in the Demonic Sea.

"Haaa," Kang-Woo exhaled heatedly.

He felt like he was burning from intense thirst and deathly hunger.

'It's been a while.'

Kang-Woo didn't remember the last time he felt like this. He was getting dizzy; his sense of reason was burning away and the thick smoke stung his nose.

Abyss Liberation.

It was a technique to unleash the Abyss lying deep inside him and enveloping his surroundings with it. Kang-Woo needed to take corresponding risks when using it since his body reconstruction was incomplete but he had no choice.

'I probably can't beat him with normal means.'

Not even Kim Si-Hun could defeat Salvatore; not only that but he possessed the Light of Akart, the perfect counter to Kang-Woo.

'Plus the other pastors.'

Not only were they the perfect counter to Kang-Woo but he was also outnumbered. He couldn't defeat them unless he was willing to take risks and forcibly unleash the Abyss.

'At least it's way better than when I opened the Doors.'

Kang-Woo was now perfectly one with the Demonic Sea, but there was a time when he sealed the Demonic Sea with the Ten Thousand Demon Core to use its powers. It was far better than what he had to go through back then.

"

Cough, cough!

"

But of course, the intense pain that followed did not change. Kang-Woo felt like his sanity was burning away and turning into ash. He was just barely holding on to his sense of reason, but he felt like the Demonic Sea would devour him at any moment.

It was easier to hold on compared to when he opened the Doors in the past, but he had made a massive gamble to unleash the Abyss when his body was still incomplete. He might even have to spend a long time stuck in the Abyss again.

'I can't let that happen.'

Kang-Woo shook his head as he held on to his sanity for dear life. It would be no problem for him to devour the Abyss to escape it once again since he had already done it once before.

'But...'

He couldn't spend three more years in reality and nearly an eternity in the Abyss again.

'Darling will cry.'

Kang-Woo couldn't let Han Seol-Ah cry again.

"This should be good enough."

Kang-Woo called back the Abyss he liberated. The Black sun disappeared, and the darkness enveloping the live stage dissipated. Light seeped through the scattering darkness.

"

Huff, huff, huff!

"

Salvatore's expression was grim even though the light he had hoped for so desperately was here. He collapsed powerlessly after exhausting all of his stamina facing the demons of the Abyss.

"O-O Great A-Akart."

Salvatore faintly called for Akart, but the flickering light would no longer shine brightly. The golden spear in his hand turned into powder and blew away.

Step, step.

The sound of footsteps rumbled in Salvatore's head like thunder.

"A-Arghhh."

He looked up at the person making the footstep sounds in pallor. It was a teenage boy who looked about as old as a high school freshman. The boy, who couldn't be viewed as scary to anyone who didn't know better, was terrifying beyond belief in Salvatore's eyes.

"H-How can this be...?"

Kang-Woo reached for Salvatore's neck in silence.

Sizzle—!!!

Kang-Woo's hand burned to a crisp the moment he grabbed Salvatore's golden necklace.

"..."

He paid it no mind and ripped off the necklace.

Clatter.

The necklace rolled across the ground.

"I have so much to ask you."

"A-Aaaahh. Y-Y-You..."

Salvatore crawled backward, stricken with fear. His mind was already broken after experiencing extreme fear inside the Abyss.

"But before that—" Kang-Woo smirked, gritted his teeth, and raised his fist. "You need a beating."

Bash! Bash! Bash!

"Kurgh! Urgh!!"

Merciless violence barraged Salvatore.

Crack!

His cheekbones caved in, and his ribs broke. His kneecaps shattered and his legs bent at an unnatural angle.

"Argh!! ARGHHH!!!" Salvatore screamed.

However, it was only the beginning.

"Have you heard about molting?"

"M-Molting...?"

Salvatore looked up at Kang-Woo with shaking eyes. He had no idea what Kang-Woo was referring to but he knew it wasn't good. Chills were sent down his spine.

Salvatore shouted in terror, "I-I'll talk!!! I-I'll tell you a-anything!!"

Not an ounce of dignity was left in the man. All that was on his mind was the desire to escape the demon's grasp.

"No, you don't have to tell me anything yet."

Kang-Woo grabbed the terrified Salvatore's head and placed his thumbs over shaking eyes.

"P-Please." Salvatore's teeth clacked in intense fear. He desperately prayed, "O-O-O Almighty A-Akart, grant your l-lowly servant your l-l-l-l-light...!"

Crush.

Kang-Woo shoved his thumbs into Salvatore's eyeballs. Demonic energy of the Abyss flowed into Salvatore's head through Kang-Woo's thumbs.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Salvatore was filled with unbearable pain he had never felt before. Kang-Woo smiled widely as he looked down at the convulsing Salvatore.

"I guess you can't see the light anymore, huh?"