Side Story Chapter 184 - The World Without Law (4)

Squelch.

Oozing mucus fell to the ground.

Squish, squish.

Black tentacles squirmed like alien lifeforms created by a mad scientist and sprouted toward the spears of light.

Boosh! Squelch! Squish!

“Urgh, fuck.”

The black tentacles struck by the spears of light exploded, splattering black mucus everywhere like pus. The tentacles were made of the Demonic Sea like him but it reeked for some reason.

‘Why is this happening to me? It doesn’t have to reek, does it?’

“This is...”

Akart frowned and stared at the overflowing black tentacles blocking the golden spears infused with the Primordial Light.

“I see... Let us see for how long you can block them.”

If the spears were blocked, Akart simply had to make even more. Akart smashed down the scale spear he had raised.

Crack—!!!

The ground split and the white uniform he was wearing fluttered. Cracks began forming on his pure-white skin like a rock had hit glass.

‘Ignore it,’

Akart thought.

‘This soul-crushing pain is nothing.’

“O-O Great Akart!!”

“Aaaaahhh!! Apocalypse!! The Apocalypse is upon us!!”

“Grant us light! Light! LIIIIIIIIIIGHT!!”

He could hear the residents’ voices. They were looking up at the black sun in the sky, trembling on their knees.

‘I will...’

Akart looked at the souls he had saved— Paradise's pure and innocent residents. Their expressions, which should always be joyful, were tainted by fear and despair.

‘Protect them.’

He clenched his spear and raised it high.

“If nothing else... Luceo Pure!!!” he shouted.

The spears of light filling the sky grew larger and sharper. He swung down the scale spear.

Swoosh—!!!

The large spears poured down like rainfall. An enormous energy storm shook the earth as if tearing the world apart.

“Bullshit.” Kang-Woo chuckled mockingly as he looked up at the pouring spears. “Your paradise is already done for.”

This place could never go back to how it once was the moment the residents took a bite of the sweet fruit. Luceo Pure could never return to the joyful world it used to be.

“Looks like you’re rather upset that your cherished sex toy broke.”

Kang-Woo smiled mockingly and spread out his arms again.

Squelch!

Black tentacles multiplied explosively and enveloped Kang-Woo in a dome shape.

Rumble—!!!

The golden spears poured down on the black tentacle barrier. The impact was so loud that he felt like his eardrums would burst. The shockwaves shook the paradise.

Split!! Pierce!!

Cracks slowly formed on the tentacle barrier and fragments of the spears that managed to penetrate through the cracks ripped Kang-Woo to shreds.

Sizzle—!!

His body parts that made contact with the Primordial Light melted.

“Argh, fuck, that hurts like a motherfucker!”

Kang-Woo bit his lip and did his best to dodge as many fragments as possible.

‘Heavenly Dragon Steps!’

He even used the martial art he learned from Kim Si-Hun but he couldn’t dodge all the fragments since it was literally like rainfall.

“Dammit!” Kang-Woo cursed and stopped using the martial arts.

Si-Hun may have been able to dodge them all but it was impossible for Kang-Woo since all he could do was imitate it poorly.

‘In that case.’

If he couldn’t dodge them all, he had no choice but to reduce the number of fragments.

‘It’ll take a huge toll on the Demonic Sea, but...’

Kang-Woo had already prepared an alternative solution so there was no reason to hesitate.

Boom!

Kang-Woo stomped his foot and drew out more of the Demonic Sea inside him. More black mucus poured out as thousands of black tentacles to block the fragments of light slipping through the cracks.

‘This won’t be enough.’

Even if he reinforced the barrier with more of the Demonic Sea, it was only a matter of time until even the reinforcement was penetrated.

‘In that case.’

There was no other way but to make it so the fragments couldn’t penetrate.

“Tentacle Expansion.”

Wriggle—! Squelch!

The tentacles creating the dome swelled, becoming thicker and harder.

Clang, clang!!

The spears of light falling like rainfall simply fell to the ground, unable to penetrate the expanded tentacles.

“Kurgh!”

Akart grimaced aggressively. He bit his lip to draw out more power but the number of spears filling the sky diminished.

“

Huff, huff, huff!!

”

The shower of spears that felt as if it would never end slowly lost its power and dissipated.

Squelch—!!!

The tentacle dome opened and revealed Kang-Woo.

“Haaa, haaa.”

Kang-Woo, like Akart, was also panting heavily after expending a massive amount of the Demonic Sea.

“Huuu.”

However, he couldn’t let this chance slip by. He caught his breath and stomped his foot.

Zoom—!!!

Kang-Woo charged across the town covered in black mucus. Wings burning like the black sun sprouted from his back.

‘Just like how Akart’s power is fatal to the Demonic Sea, my power is also fatal to him.’

“Kurgh!”

Akart quickly raised his spear and retreated backward but Kang-Woo chased him faster than he could fall back. Kang-Woo shortened the distance in a flash and swung up his blade enveloped in the Flames of Voracity.

Clang!

The scale spear blocked the sword. The Flames of Voracity were slowly eating away at the scale but it was too slow. Kang-Woo had exposed an opening for Akart to take advantage of after his strike he had put everything behind was blocked.

“Light... can never be covered... by darkness!”

Akart hit the sword out of Kang-Woo’s hand with the shaking scale spear and pierced Kang-Woo’s stomach with the butt of the spear.

“

Cough!

”

Black blood poured out of Kang-Woo’s stomach. However, he smirked.

“What can’t be covered... is the fact that you... don’t have a mommy!”

Sizzle—!!!

Kang-Woo clenched the spear shaft with both hands, smoking from getting burned. He shook crazily from the intense pain but it left him with an opening he could take advantage of.

“Ultimate technique: Lilith Twist.”

Squelch, squelch, squelch! Squirm!

Expanded tentacles squirmed aggressively as they wrapped around Akart.

“Do you understand now?” Kang-Woo asked.

“Kurgh! Argh!!”

Black tentacles enveloped Akart completely before he could retaliate. Kang-Woo had learned this technique from countless exposures to it over centuries.

“This is the life I’ve lived.”

The black tentacles tightened to crush Akart.

“Kurgh, gurgh!!!”

Crunch!!! Crunch!!

Akart winced in pain along with the sounds of bones breaking.

“It’s not over yet, my man.”

Kang-Woo stepped backward as he clenched his stomach with a hole in it. This was nowhere near enough to show the full weight of his life.

“Kuh...

Cough!!

”

Kang-Woo pulled out the scale spear from his stomach and chanted, “Mucus Fountain.”

He had acquired the Trait through the Trait Gacha before they went to Zexal. Sticky mucus poured out from the ends of the tentacles like a fountain. Since the tentacles were made of the Demonic Sea, so would the mucus gushing from them.

Splurt—!!!

The mucus that was pouring like a fountain gushed into Akart.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!” Akart screamed.

The golden light shining from Akart waned after being covered by the fountain of mucus made of the Demonic Sea— but only for a moment.

“Kurgh! Guuuuuuuuurgh!! The likes... of this won’t... stop meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”

The diminishing golden light burst outward, turning the black tentacles into ash.

“Huff! Huff!” Akart clenched his chest, panting heavily after being freed from the tentacles. “Kurgh, argh!”

The pain grew stronger to the point that not even the Titan born from the Primordial could barely stay conscious. It was the price for recklessly using the power of the Primordial— the end for an individual who was simply trying to save an ending world.

“Haaa, haaa!!” Akart panted even more heavily.

Cold sweats trickled down his forehead. The power of the Primordial couldn’t be easily used even by a Titan. The more they used it, the more the unfathomable power would destroy them— just like Kang-Woo before he had become one with the Demonic Sea.

Akart gritted his teeth. He added more strength to his shaking legs.

‘No.’

A pure-white conviction set ablaze from inside the torrent of agony. If he were to fall here, none of the souls in the Triad could be saved. They would all die brutally in fear of the impending end of the world.

‘That...’

It couldn’t— no, it mustn’t happen. Even if his body were to be destroyed...

“I cannot... afford to... fall here.”

He would offer them the hand of salvation. He would save the poor and powerless souls. He would rescue them from the sinking ship. He was the only one who could do it.

“I... cannot...” Akart took a step forward and clenched his scale spear. “FALL HEEEEEEEEEEEEEERE!!!”

Boom—!!!

A golden sun rose to drive the darkness away.

***

Whoosh.

A demon walked into a narrow and dark cave in an arid hill under a red sky.

“Dammit... How long must I live like this...?”

The demon was abnormally slender in the Ninth Hell filled with powerful demons and demonic beasts. He had a massive hump on his back and his face covered by a raggy robe was full of wrinkles. The demon who had once been renowned as the greatest demonic scholar of the Nine Hells had been reduced to this state.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

It was the most desolate place in the Ninth Hell— no, to be more exact, it had naturally become desolate because no one gave it any attention. After all, it was rumored to have once been a hideout for Halves.

“I should never have trusted that moron Bael!!!”

The demon spent his days in the shoddy cave in endless regret and resentment.

Boom, boom!

“What the—?”

The demon heard something falling apart in front of the cave.

“Dammit... Did it break again?”

The demon frowned, his wrinkled face getting even more wrinkled. He walked out of the cave.

“Huh...?”

However, what he saw was not a pile of collapsed rocks but a five-meter red demon looking down at him.

“Wh-Wh-Wh-Wh-Why are you here?!!”

The demon stumbled backward in fear and screamed as he crawled.

“I am here on my king’s command.” The red demon continued coldly, “Follow me, Amon.”