Epilogue Chapter 70 - Interlude - Insurance (2)

“D-Demon King...?”

Mus trembled subtly as he said the unsettling title. Whether the man was the Heavenly Demon or the Demon King, one thing was for sure.

‘I can’t win.’

There was no way to defeat a monster who could devour a sanctuary. Mus bit his lip and clenched his fists.

‘How... How can I...’

He racked his brain to find a way to get out of this crisis. Just then, an unexpected ray of hope hit him.

“Hyung-nim, I would like to take care of him myself,” said Si-Hun coldly as he approached Kang-Woo.

“Hm? You, Si-Hun?”

“Yes. Only then will I be satisfied.”

“Hmm... Yeah, you’ve been holding back a lot this time.”

Kang-Woo had intentionally let Kang-Hyun fall into danger because he wanted him to figure out how to open his

Door

, but that was not the case for Si-Hun. He simply complied with Kang-Woo’s plan and held back his volcanic rage despite knowing Si-Ah would be in danger.

‘Si-Hun yielded to me this time.’

Hence, Kang-Woo couldn’t refuse his wish to deal with the Celestial of Musca.

“Got it. I’ll stay out of it entirely, so do as you wish.”

“Thank you, hyung-nim.”

“Don’t thank me. I should be the one thanking you.”

Kang-Woo had set up

insurance

for any unexpected situations, but as a fellow father of two daughters, he could understand how Si-Hun felt when forced to do nothing when an otherworldly god was aiming for his daughter.

“Kurgh...” Mus gritted his teeth as he watched the two men discussing who would dispose of him.

‘Goddammit!’

He had never felt so disrespected in his life as a Celestial. He had not felt so pathetic even when forced to become a puppet after falling for the

Snake’s

words.

‘Whatever the case, this is my chance.’

Mus knew the Martial God couldn’t be taken lightly either but he would be a hundred times— no, a thousand times easier to deal with than the monster known as the Demon King.

‘I have to run.’

He had no intention of fighting the monster who devoured his sanctuary. He needed to get hold of any chance he could get to run away.

“Trying to run, are you?” Si-Hun glared at Mus and raised his sword, blazing blue sword energy wrapping the blade. “Go ahead and try.”

The blue light suddenly flashed like lightning and Si-Hun disappeared. His speed was far beyond supersonic— as if he were leaping through space itself. The earth split, unable to handle his speed, creating a storm and blowing away the trash around him.

“

Gasp!

”

Mus extended his arms forward in shock, gathering a fly army to make a wall.

“Heavenly Dragon Sword Technique, First Form.”

Rumble—!

The blue sword energy caused a thunderous boom as it surged beyond the blade’s edge.

“Flash.”

━━━━━━━!

Lightning smashed down, instantly splitting the wall created with millions of flies along with Mus’s head.

“Kurgh! Gah! Urgh!”

Green blood poured out of his split head but only for a moment. Grotesque maggots squirmed from the split sections and reattached the ends, instantly regenerating the wound.

“You... bastard...!”

Mus glared at Si-Hun and drew out sacred power.

Vwee—!

The swarm of flies infused with the energy of disease engulfed Si-Hun like a tsunami.

“Heavenly Dragon Sword Technique, First Form. Rampage.”

A storm of sword energy wiped out the fly army.

“Haha! It’s no use, human!”

Even if the human cut the flies, he couldn’t cut the energy of disease they release at their deaths. Dozens of diseases instantly filled Si-Hun.

“Even if you’re the Martial God, there’s nothing you can do once infected with deadly disea—”

Slash!

A sword flash leaped through space and Mus’s arms fell to the ground.

“Huh...?”

Slash!

His chest, shoulders, collarbones, and thighs were pierced.

“W-Wait a s— Kurgh, argh!”

His throat, protruded mouth, hideous compound eyes— they were slashed. Every movement caused his body to be slashed as if the entire world was made of swords.

“GAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!”

He drew out the power of his stigmata to regenerate himself but the destruction was quicker than his recovery speed.

‘D-Dammit!’

Mus had been mistaken. He thought he could defeat anyone as long as it was not the monster who had devoured his sanctuary. No, even if he couldn’t win, he was confident he could at least run away.

“Kuh! Argh! Krrrk!”

He was slashed everywhere. Mus stumbled backward as he screamed in agony.

“You’re tenacious... I’ll give you that.”

Si-Hun calmed his slightly labored breathing and stopped swinging. It looked like Si-Hun was overpowering Mus at a glance but that was not the case.

“

Cough, cough!

”

Several diseases had spread throughout his body. He was suppressing them as much as he could with Qi but was nearing his limit.

“So...”

Whoooom!

The blue sword energy blazed even stronger.

“Let’s end this.”

The blazing sword energy compressed into the form of a sword. It did not feel as sharp as before where it could cut everything in its surroundings, but Mus could instinctively tell.

‘If I get cut by that... I will die.’

Mus gulped.

‘N-No.’

He had run away from the Heavenly Demon to this world and struggled to regain his power and glory as a Celestial. Hence, he couldn’t let it end so pitifully.

‘There’s one last thing...’

Mus had one last card up his sleeve. He had no choice but to use the

insurance

he had set up for the absolute worst-case scenario.

“Dammit, dammit, dammit!”

He never wanted to use it but there was no other choice. He placed his hand over his heart and awakened the power of the Black Sky lying dormant inside it.

“Guh... Kurgh!”

The energy of the Black Sky awakened and began to devour his Divinity. Mus endured the soul-crushing pain and

transferred

a portion of the Black Sky’s power— into his child whose neck was broken.

“Kurgh!

Huff! Huff!

”

“What did you do...?” Si-Hun asked.

“H-Hehe. Are you curious?”

Mus smiled and snapped his fingers. The eyes of one of the flies around them lit up and a holographic video appeared, showing the dead Yeong-Woong’s corpse squirming and getting up.

“I transferred a portion of my power into my child.”

The Black Sky devoured almost half of his Divinity as a result, but it was better than dying here.

“You son of a—”

“Stop! Don’t move! Even a twitch and I will kill your daughter.”

Kang-Hyun, who had defeated Yeong-Woong after opening his Door, had collapsed from the aftereffects. No one there could protect Si-Ah.

“Hehe. Not even you can get there in time to save your daughter.”

“...”

Si-Hun remained silent as his lips quivered.

‘Alright. This will buy me enough time to escape!’

Mus smiled, sure of his victory.

“Wow, this was your final trump card?” Kang-Woo asked from behind Si-Hun, cackling. “I was wondering what you were hiding to the point that you weren’t using it even when you were almost dead, but it looks like it could only be used by sacrificing half of your power, huh?”

He understood why Mus had not used it when driven to a corner the first time. Desire was a powerful driving force— one would have difficulty letting go of a lump of pure gold even when they were drowning because of it.

“But you wanna know something?” Kang-Woo smiled and shrugged. “You’re not the only one who set up insurance just in case.”

***

“Kurgh... What... How...?”

Yeong-Woong, who had died from getting his neck broken, looked down at his seemingly unscathed self. Rather, he was brimming with unknown power.

“A-Aaaahh.”

He swayed from side to side as he walked toward the collapsed Si-Ah and Kang-Hyun to follow the

command

in his head before he could figure out what was happening. However—

“Hmm, strange. I thought oppa killed you. How are you alive?” someone said playfully.

“You’re...” Yeong-Woong turned to the voice and frowned in confusion. “Why... are you...”

Kang-Hyun’s sister, who he had taken hostage, stood up as she shook off the dust on her skirt with her hand.

“What do you mean, why? My work is done since oppa got his heroic moment.”

“What...?”

“That aside, that unnie sure pisses me off. Who does she think she is, calling herself oppa’s girlfriend when they’re not even dating?”

Kang-Hee frowned as she pushed the unconscious Si-Ah away from Kang-Hyun with her foot.

“Haaah~ Oppa, you were so cool~”

Kang-Hee hugged the unconscious Kang-Hyun tightly and rubbed her cheek on his.

“You... bitch...!”

Yeong-Woong, realizing Kang-Hee had fooled him, reached for Kang-Hee.

“Sheesh, I’m trying to have some lovey-dovey time with oppa. Could you stop getting in my way?”

Kang-Hee glared irritatingly at Yeong-Woong and lightly snapped her fingers. Two wings sprouted from her back— one was white like that of an angel and the other was black like that of a demon.

“Huh...?”

Yeong-Woong could feel himself getting compressed as if he were grabbed by an invisible giant hand as soon as the swings sprouted.

Crush, crush, crack!

Yeong-Woong was crushed until he was reduced to the size of a small ball and rolled on the ground. Kang-Hee grabbed Yeong-Woong with the tongs used to pick up trash and threw it into an empty trash bag.

“I’ll give Daddy this later. Now...”

Kang-Hee threw the trash bag aside and went back to Kang-Hyun.

“Hehe. Oppa~”

Kang-Hee kissed the unconscious Kang-Hyun on the forehead and smiled as if she were the happiest in the world.