Side Story Chapter 191 - Finale

[What...?] The Titan’s eyes and mouth widened, unable to believe what he had heard. [You will become the Law...? What are you talking about?]

“For f...uck’s sa...ke. Underst...and the f...irst time,” Oh Kang-Woo stuttered as he robotically munched on the Rift. He was smiling even in despairing levels of pain. “If the r...ole of the Law is...

Cough!

Argh! To cl...ose the passa...geway between w...orlds...”

Forcibly closing that passageway by devouring it would classify Kang-Woo as a Law of Titans.

[Meaning...] Akart looked down at Kang-Woo squirming like an insect as he bit into the Rift. He muttered exasperatedly, [You have not given up yet?]

The Demon King was munching away at an unfathomably large Rift like an ant— no, an insect even smaller than an ant. Akart shivered as he watched his pointless struggle, wondering how crazy one needed to be to claim they wouldn’t give up even as they were in such a miserable condition.

[You... are...]

Akart stepped backward. The black mucus restraining him weakened because the Demon King was focused on devouring the Rift.

[Just...] he slurred.

“You know nothing about me.”

Akart recalled what Kang-Woo had said to him before their battle.[1] He knew nothing about who Kang-Woo was, what he had gone through, or what kind of life he had lived.

[...]

Kang-Woo wasn’t wrong; Akart knew little about the being named Oh Kang-Woo. All he knew was that he possessed the Demonic Sea, one of the two darknesses born from the Primordial. To Akart, Kang-Woo was simply the holder of the Demonic Sea— he saw nothing else worthy of interest in him.

[You were right... I knew nothing about you.]

Akart bit his lip and nodded. He had forgotten something important. He had forgotten a question he should have naturally thought of. He had ignored a simple truth.

‘Why did the man Oh Kang-Woo have the Demonic Sea in the first place?’

One of the Primordial Darkness was inside a mere human-turned-demon, not a Titan born from the Primordial or one of the Transcendants who possessed Divinity at birth.

‘The Demonic Sea... was not what I should have considered.’

Akart had messed up the order. The Demonic Sea had not settled inside Oh Kang-Woo— he had allowed it to settle inside him.

‘How?’

Akart focused solely on the man Oh Kang-Woo, leaving aside the Demonic Sea, his countless Authorities, and endless demonic energy.

[Oh...]

His question was answered soon enough— it was resolved all too easily.

“Haaa, haaa, haaa!!” Kang-Woo panted heavily as he bared his teeth at the Rift.

Munch!

He took a large bite of the Rift, causing him to inflate like a balloon. His insides boiled as if he would burst like a bubble. He was ground and torn apart like ingredients in a pestle and mortar.

“Kurgh! Arghh!! Gah!!”

However, only for a moment. Kang-Woo regenerated through the Demonic Sea’s power and he crawled toward the Rift again. However pathetic he looked, he did not stop crawling.

“I’ve never stopped.”

As Kang-Woo had mentioned before, he did not stop. No matter how much he fell apart, he continued to move as if his brakes were broken, or maybe he had forgotten how to stop.

[You are...]

Akart had realized it at last.

[Insane.]

Words like

willpower

or

conviction

weren’t descriptive enough— he was just insane. Something in Kang-Woo was broken.

[How is this... even possible?]

The Titan’s shoulders trembled. Such a thing shouldn’t be possible.

[How, how, how, how, how, how...?!!] Akart mumbled crazily.

He was disgusted by the Demon King crawling to devour the Rift. It was like seeing an insect torn to pieces still squirming. He was more disgusted than enraged or resentful.

[How can you be like that?!!] Akart screamed.

He had no choice but to abandon his paradise when unleashing the Primordial Light. He had trampled on the lives he had tried to protect because it couldn’t be helped. Trying to grasp everything one wanted was asking for too much— it was but a greedy desire. Such a thought could only come from a demon.

[Are you trying to say... that you are different from me?!]

It was not possible— it couldn’t be. If the fact that Akart had no choice was denied, what would become of the souls he had trampled on and abandoned?

[Stop being so headstrong for no reason!! Stop with this pointless struggle!!!]

Rumble!!!

The Titan of Light raised his colossal arm. Strings of black mucus restraining him severed one by one.

[You have already done your best!!!]

It couldn’t be helped. No one had the right to criticize the Demon King even if he gave up. Rather, they would pat him on the back and say he had done well.

‘So why, why, why, why...’

[WHY?!! WHY DO YOU NOT STOP?!!] Akart screamed as he swung his blinding fist downward toward Kang-Woo.

‘With this, it is over.’

The Demon King was already at his limit devouring the Rift, so his death was without question from this attack. The story would reach its finale. No matter how hard he struggled to deny it, it would end right h—

Crunch—!!

[Gurghh!!]

Akart quickly stepped backward. The arm he had swung down had been bitten off by something. He looked down tremblingly at Kang-Woo.

“Yeah, it’s time... to end this.”

The king of demons slowly stood up. The army of the Abyss numbering millions gathered around him.

Wriggle—!

They aggregated into one mass and began to bubble.

“Haaah,” Kang-Woo exhaled.

‘How much did I eat?’

He turned to examine the Rift, which had once been large enough to cover over half of Earth. It had noticeably reduced in size. Kang-Woo had successfully devoured a portion of the Rift and absorbed it into the Demonic Sea. Of course, the Rift was still as large as ever.

‘But this is more than enough.’

Kang-Woo had accumulated enough power to face the Titan of Light— far more than enough. The power of the Rift had filled the Demonic Sea to the brim. No, it was overflowing.

A Rift was a passageway between worlds, a crack between stars. Since the universe was created from the Primordial, the Primordial Darkness had devoured its creator to fill itself.

“Right, then.”

Kang-Woo spread out his arms and the skin of his back split open. Wings made of black mucus sprouted and explosively expanded to cover the sky, wide enough to envelop the entire Luceo Pure.

[A-Aaaahh.]

Akart trembled as he looked up at the wings of black mucus. They were large enough to devour even a Titan whole.

[What... are you...?]

Such unfathomable power reminded him of the Law of Titans.

White teeth sprouted from the Rift enveloping the sky.

“I agree.”

Fwoosh—!

The black wings set ablaze, bending space and heating the planet. A red twilight rose over the horizon.

“Let this story end.”

━━━━━━━━━!

The inexplicably large blazing wings enveloped Akart whole and devoured him.

[I see...] Akart remarked as he was engulfed in flames. [The story reaching its finale was not yours... but mine.]

He looked up dejectedly and said his final words, [May the Law that is you save your world.]

Crunch—!!!

Akart disappeared into the black wings.

“O-O Great Akart...”

“AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!”

“TH-THIS CANNOT BE—!!!”

The surviving residents of Luceo Pure and the apostles cried as they clenched their heads.

“Fuuu...” Kang-Woo sighed and turned around.

He had killed Akart but it was not over yet.

‘I have to shut the Rift.’

To do that, he had no choice but to go through that endless cycle of excruciating pain again.

“...”

“Kang-Woo...”

As he walked toward the Rift in silence, he heard the loving voice that he wanted to hear the least at this moment.

“Darling...”

Han Seol-Ah approached Kang-Woo and grabbed his hands.

“Let’s... run away,” she begged.

“...”

She shouted, “You defeated Akart. This time... you did everything you possibly could have!”

Kang-Woo smiled faintly and caressed her hair.

“The Rift is still there.”

“B-But...!”

“At this rate, this planet will collide with Earth.”

“That... doesn’t matter!!!” Seol-Ah gritted her teeth and tears flowed down her cheeks. “We could just... take everyone here... and run away somewhere...”

Even if Kang-Woo were to shut the Rift, he would have to go through the excruciating pain every time such a Rift opened in the future.

“Instead, we could... settle somewhere else... R-Right! Let’s run away to Zexal! It’s safe there! You said you wanted to play that card game again, right?”

That wouldn’t work; Akart mentioned that the damage caused by Earth would spread to nearby outer worlds. Even if they ran away to Zexal, it would eventually become like Earth.

“We could stay there with Echidna, Lilith unnie, and Yeon-Joo!! Oh, and Balrog, Si-Hun, and Layla too!! Everyone!!”

“Darling...”

“We’ll all live happily ever after! Oh, why don’t we build a place to live in that valley instead of underground? I’m sure that would be more comfortable for Balrog—”

“Darling,” Kang-Woo said firmly.

Seol-Ah grew silent.

“I...” Seol-Ah grabbed Kang-Woo’s shoulders. Her forehead on his chest felt burning hot. She begged weepingly, “Don’t want... to see you... get hurt anymore...”

Kang-Woo embraced her softly. He could feel her trembling subtly.

“...”

He wondered what he should say to put her at ease. He thought about explaining in detail why he needed to close the Rift.

‘No, Darling already knows why.’

Seol-Ah likely knew nothing would change even if they abandoned Earth to run away. She just couldn’t stand to see him in excruciating pain any longer.

‘In that case...’

He would make her smile even a little by saying something only he would say.

“I won’t be able to eat it if Earth disappears.”

“Pardon...?”

“Kimchi stew. Where else am I gonna eat it if not Earth?” asked Kang-Woo as he shrugged.

“Hah...” Seol-Ah giggled without realizing it. She had so many things she wanted to say. She could say all kinds of things in return but nodded in silence and smiled. “Ha... Haha. You... have a point... Yes. I suppose you can’t... if not Earth.”

‘Yeah, a smile suits Darling best.’

“RIGHT, THEN!!!” Kang-Woo raised his arms and shouted comically as if it were no big deal, “LET’S ALL HAVE SOME KIMCHI STEW ONCE THIS IS OVER—!!!”

Crunch!

Kang-Woo bit into the massive Rift.

Munch, munch!

He swelled and the tsunami of pain smashed into him again. His teeth fell out as he writhed on the ground and his squashed eyeballs oozed down his cheeks.

“Krrrk!! Gargh! Gah! Urgh!”

Kang-Woo devoured the Rift even under an unfathomable plain. It was so painful that he felt like he would lose his mind at any second.

‘But it’s okay.’

He could overcome it somehow.

‘Because a happy ending fits this story the best.’

1. Kang-Woo didn’t say this specifically, but I guess it was something close to it. ☜