Chapter 520

“What the hell...”

Se-Hoon stared blankly at Erika’s new silver crow form as dozens of questions kept popping up in his mind. What was that form? How did she get here? Alas, there was no time for answers.

“Erika...!”

The Destroyer of Ruin let out a cry of joy, his voice brimming with so much ecstasy that the Evernight Seal began trembling violently. After all, Erika—the key to completing the ritual—had walked straight in. It was only natural that the Destroyer of Ruin would lose control.

Thud!

Se-Hoon threw himself to the ground, grabbing Erikas and holding her to his chest—

Venom Serpent of Bone: Black Moon Shatterglass

Not even a second later, the Destroyer of Ruin’s spell that had been cast by dozens of clones forming mudras in unison hit.

Crack!

Jet-black vertebrae shot up from the swamp, whipping through the air like spiked chains. Simultaneously, the moonlight was fragmented into countless rays that rained down on them by dozens of mirrors that appeared in the sky.

Scanning their surroundings, Se-Hoon’s brow furrowed in thought.

The single coordinated spell was clearly a defensive setup, meant not for attack but suppression of movement through the power of Premotion. Using the moonlight, it also affected the ritual with Mizuki’s curse.

So, this wasn’t his power move.

From what Se-Hoon could tell, he could easily break through if needed. But there was no point, since he’d just get caught in another unknown technique like before. He had to understand the very roots of the Destroyer of Ruin’s power first.

With his thoughts reaching that point, Se-Hoon glanced at Erika, who now sat on his shoulder.

“How did you get in here?”

“I used the Bound Celestial Garment as a gate to link directly to you.”

“You linked with

me

?”

In other words, she’d traversed the Open Gate Ritual by anchoring to him.

Seeing how Se-Hoon looked like he couldn’t believe his ears, Erika calmly added, “I don’t know why, but I just had a feeling it would work. So I modified my

replica

and sent it through.”

That’s when Se-Hoon realized: the silver crow was the replica he made. And that meant...

His eyes narrowed.

“What about Ren?”

“He’s outside, controlling the Bound Celestial Garment in my place.”

“That son of a...!”

Se-Hoon clearly remembered him telling Ren to take Erika and escape far from here. And yet he had let her pull such a stunt? It was impressive—but more infuriating.

Clicking his tongue, Se-Hoon checked his body.

Woong-

A familiar yet strange power now pulsed from his heart—what was linking him to Erika.

I see. She used our bond as coordinates to create and connect the gate through the Bound Celestial Garment,

he thought, instantly figuring it out.

Normally, no matter how deep a bond, it couldn’t be leveraged like this. But Erika’s uniqueness, combined with a simplified ritual, must have somehow resulted in the anomaly.

Such a thing would’ve been impossible before due to Soul Honing.... I guess this is also due to how my synesthetic mindscape has changed.

Whether it actually was the better option for fighting the Destroyer of Ruin, he didn’t know. Regardless, Erika was already here, so he would fight with her. Checking their link and bond, Se-Hoon then turned to the Destroyer of Ruin.

It was now ceaselessly chanting incomprehensible incantations, standing in the middle of the storm of vertebrae under the moonlight shower refracted by the mirrors.

Whatever he was doing, the full moon was growing paler and causing an ominous miasma to seep from beneath the swamp.

He’s going all out.

Intuitively knowing one of them would fall in the next clash, Se-Hoon turned back to Erika.

“Erika.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you do it?”

Even if she had the determination, it was meaningless if she lacked the strength.

Erika glanced briefly at the Destroyer of Ruin. Then, solemnly, she declared: “I’ll crush him.”

Such barbaric words? Who had she learned ‌from to talk like that? Shaking his head, Se-Hoon let out a soft laugh at the trivial thought before clenching his fist.

“Then let’s go!”

BOOM!

With Erika still on his shoulder, Se-Hoon dashed across the swamp with sharp movements.

Swooosh-

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

Seeing dozens of vertebrae swinging toward him like waiting locomotives, Se-Hoon moved to activate the Celestial Infinity Blade—

Screech-

He was blocked again by some kind of unseen force. Because of that, the converging vertebrae were able to unleash a condensed curse that immediately flooded the area to cut off all escape paths.

However, unlike before, Se-Hoon’s eyes stayed forward.

“Erika!”

Open Gate, Celestial Infinity Blade: Stellar Radiance Armor

Swish!

A star-like sword aura wrapped around Erika’s wings like armor as thousands of feathers sharpened into blades clashed with one another, sparking silver fire. Fully armed in a blink, Erika shot forward like a beam of light toward the incoming storm.

Crack-crack-crack!

She tore through everything like a tempest of swords, shredding the curses embedded within before they could even graze her.

“?!”

They had used their unique bond as summoner and

shikigami

, master and avatar, to trigger Se-Hoon’s skill by proxy?! The Destroyer of Ruin flinched, startled, before hastily redirecting the mirrors that had been scattering moonlight.

Woong!

The mirrors turned, concentrating the random rays into beams that formed miniature moons to once again illuminate the sky in a solid glow.

Moonlit Nocturne

Curses from dozens—no, hundreds—of moons torrent down, saturating the air and eroding not only the mind but the body itself.

The chorus rang loudly.

Spared of neither flesh nor spirit, Se-Hoon squinted upward. Even as it tried to burrow into his mind and soul, he endured. Like that, the moonlight soon filled his eyes... and then his pupils were transformed into full moons.

Crack-

A prickling sensation, like needles stabbing into his eyes, was the first thing he felt. After that, everything was submerged in light.

...What is this?

The Destroyer of Ruin felt something strange. Se-Hoon, who had shrugged off other curses so easily before, was letting himself be overwhelmed and consumed so easily now? Its instincts were screaming—but the Destroyer of Ruin didn’t halt the erosion. Why would it when the ritual was proceeding smoothly?

“...”

Born into the world as a tool, they simply had to fulfill their given role. Suppressing the “error” within himself, the Destroyer of Ruin continued chanting and targeted Erika next.

Rumble!

Lightning fell from the sky, striking the swamp and causing thunder to erupt as the swamp surged up like beastly fangs.

Swish!

Erika spun through the air, narrowly dodging it all. And in her wake, a storm of sword aura cut through even the thunder and lightning. The Destroyer of Ruin’s curses had failed to contain Erika.

However, despite that, the situation was practically the same.

Fwoosh!

Knowing that, Erika redirected herself toward the Destroyer of Ruin. But just then, dozens of fiery gate-pillars erupted from the swamp, releasing flames that combined to form a massive tidal wave.

Given the scale, though, its power was absolutely laughable; Erika would have no trouble cutting through in her Stellar Radiance Armor. However, Se-Hoon, who was immobilized by the moonlight, was a different story.

BOOM!

Immediately abandoning her charge, Erika turned back and repeatedly sliced through the wave. And with each swing, the light of her armor dimmed.

Perfect.

Drain Erika’s power by using Se-Hoon as a hostage, complete the ritual through his chants, and end everything—it was all going as planned.

The situation is almost too good...

Despite the situation, the Destroyer of Ruin kept glitching internally. It kept doubting whether the monster who had defeated five of the Ten Evils and subdued two Perfect Ones that had gone berserk was truly that easy to take down?

Something was off. Something was wrong. Something had gone terribly wrong.

Not just its mind, its entire being screamed at him.

And because of that, the Destroyer of Ruin’s instincts finally forced it to look at Se-Hoon.

“...Found it.”

His pupils now full moons, Se-Hoon gazed at the sky and triggered the spell he’d been preparing.

Necromancy: Moonlit Eyes of the Abyss

A border raced across the central moon, then, going outward, every other moon was also transformed into a giant pupil.

“No way...!”

Se-Hoon’s eyes became moons—no, the moons became Se-Hoon’s eyes. Belatedly, far too belatedly, the Destroyer of Ruin realized the curse had not corrupted Se-Hoon: it had been assimilated by Se-Hoon instead.

The Destroyer of Ruin rushed to cancel Moonlit Nocturne.

Woong-

But it was too late. Now fully merged, the curse had slipped from the Destroyer of Ruin’s control; one-sided deactivation was no longer possible.

Distorted Laws... projections and reflections... the ritual of incantations...

Having gained control, Se-Hoon dug into the curse to gain its knowledge. Not just the techniques the Destroyer of Ruin used but even the secrets behind the final ritual being prepared through the chants.

Everything

was understood by Se-Hoon.

And with that information, Se-Hoon wasted no time in trying to seize control of the Evernight Seal itself.

CRASH!

The mirrors shattered simultaneously, making the countless moons above vanish.

Damn... no freebies, huh?

Clicking his tongue at the unraveling merge, Se-Hoon was about to regroup when Erika zipped back.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. But...”

His gaze went above Erika to the final remaining full moon.

Crack!

Cracks were spreading across its surface, its light halved—it had taken the full backlash of the ritual collapse.

RUMBLE-

And as the moon’s power waned, its balance with the swamp also crumbled. The black sludge everywhere began boiling violently, mass-producing clones of the Destroyer of Ruin.

“Ritual... complete... extinction... research... calibration...”

Se-Hoon slowly scanned the swamp.

The clones were all reaching for the sky, mumbling nonsensical phrases ‌with still half-formed bodies—except one.

Se-Hoon’s eyes stopped on it.

“You’re the real one, aren’t you?”