After Ten Millennia in Hell

Oh Kang-Woo, who was looking up at him, nodded.

'He finally admitted it.'

Satan seemed to have finally reached a point where he couldn't lie anymore. He had finally shown his true colors after playing dumb all this time.

'I knew it.'

The truth never died. Even if Satan tried to cover the truth with lies, it was as futile as trying to block the sun with the palms of one's hands.

His shoddy lies had been exposed to the world.

"SATAAAAAANN!!"

Anger brimming from his very core, Raphael charged toward Satan.

Kang-Woo sat on the debris with his legs crossed and watched the battle while using the Authority of Stealth.

'It would be perfect if I had some popcorn.'

There was nothing more entertaining than watching fire and fights. Although Kang-Woo had never watched a film in a cinema before, he was sure that it wouldn't be more entertaining than what was going on in front of him.

'Hm?'

Kang-Woo turned his head.

"Lud…wig…"

He saw Kim Si-Hun, who had rejoined the battle after stopping the landslide from pouring toward the Guardians' rearguard.

Si-Hun stood in front of Ludwig while clenching his holy sword, which was shining with a white light.

Ludwig looked at Si-Hun with blank eyes.

"Mm…" Kang-Woo fell into thought.

'Should I make Ludwig retreat?'

Ludwig's role in his strategy was already over. If he wanted to use Ludwig in the future, having him retreat would be the correct choice.

"Shit, shit, shiiiiiit!!" Si-Hun screamed. Seeing the first friend he had made as an Undead was making him suffer.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

'Making Ludwig retreat could be worse.'

An Abyss Knight was quite useful in terms of combat prowess. After a simple test, Kang-Woo concluded that it was as powerful as Si-Hun, who had awakened Sword Control.

'But…'

That was Ludwig's limit. Unlike Si-Hun who had a bright future, Ludwig couldn't advance any further now that he was an Undead.

'Pushing Si-Hun to the edge all the time wouldn't be good.'

Si-Hun had continuously been on the losing end of Satan's evil plans and had not been able to overcome a single one of them.

'At this rate…'

Even if it were Si-Hun, he would end up breaking, and he would fall into an inescapable pit of shame for not being able to do anything.

'That won't do.'

The carrot and the stick needed to be balanced.

Granting his friend, who had been turned into an undead at Satan's hand, eternal rest would be a great opportunity for Si-Hun to shed the massive baggage weighing down his heart.

'So this is it for Ludwig.'

- Master.

Kang-Woo suddenly received a call from Vaal Zahak.

- Should I command Ludwig to escape?

"No, let him fight."

- Hmm.

Vaal Zahak didn't seem to understand why.

- Understood. In that case, I will command him to fight while holding back so that he does not injure the human.

"No need for that. Make him fight with everything he has."

- … Are you sure? Vaal Zahak asked in a worried voice.

Kang-Woo nodded without hesitation.

Based on the situation, the one who was at a disadvantage was Si-Hun. Although they were similar in terms of strength, Si-Hun had just come back after stopping a landslide with his sword. It was incredible he'd made it here without exhausting himself.

'But…'

Kang-Woo smirked.

'Si-Hun will win.'

He didn't have a reason for thinking that—it was just a guess based on his intuition.

One could call it trust.

'That's just the way he is.'

It wasn't just because his talent was incredible. Si-Hun also had an unshakable will.

'He's reckless enough to use my power, after all.'

Si-Hun would win at all costs.

"You don't need to worry about Si-Hun."

- Understood. As for me…

"Don't show yourself on the front lines. Just use the Undead to gather the angel corpses."

Numerous angels were taking part in the war, so it would be better if Vaal Zahak didn't appear.

- May your will be done, my king.

The communication ended.

Kang-Woo raised his head.

Explosive sounds were echoing throughout the battlefield from Satan and Raphael's clashes.

"How long are they gonna keep fighting?"

Kang-Woo was getting sick of waiting.

'Should I join in?'

The moment he began wondering if he should back up Raphael…

Roaaaaaar!!!

"Hm?"

He heard a sound similar to violent rapids. Frowning, he turned toward the sound.

'That's…'

Satan was holding something black that was the size of his fist. A massive torrent of demonic energy was raging around the black item.

'What the hell is that?'

Kang-Woo's expression hardened.

It wasn't a demonic crystal—it felt far too different in nature for that to be the case.

'What could it be?'

He narrowed his eyes.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

His heart beat fast. He felt his lips go dry and sensed a powerful thirst desiring to be quenched.

'Why does it feel so familiar?'

Darkness was raging.

He was certain that he had never seen such a thing before, not in the Nine Hells or on Earth.

But…

For some reason…

'I know what it is.'

His head hurt.

The demonic energy within the Ten Thousand Demon Core rampaged.

Just like he always did, he kept it in check.

'Calm down.'

He had to maintain his rationality. The moment he let it go, he would be devoured by his own rampant demonic energy and die.

He took a deep breath while clenching his chest. He stared at the raging darkness.

"Kuh! What the—?!"

Raphael was also bewildered. He felt a spine-chilling fear when he laid eyes on the darkness Satan had taken out.

'That is…'

His two eyes widened.

'Why is that here…?'

Raphael trembled.

It was the Primordial Darkness, which had been split into three and sealed by Celestial Goddess Seraph, Gaia, and Heavenly Dragon Tai Wuji in the world of gods and giants during the era of myths.

Primordial Darkness, the root of all evil. A fragment of it was wriggling in Satan's hand.

"Sa…tan… You bastard…"

Raphael's expression paled.

Satan vomited black blood as he held the darkness.

[Kuh, kargh, urgh.]

Satan was not able to endure the enormous power of the rampaging demonic energy.

[Shit! Shit!] Satan cursed aggressively.

He hadn't planned to use it like this, but since he couldn't see the demon king anywhere, he had to at least get rid of Raphael.

'I have no time.'

He could only control the power within the Demonic Origin[1] for a few seconds, so he had to finish things before time ran out.

'First, I will eliminate Raphael.'

After that…

Black blood spurted out of Satan's mouth, dying his red mask black.

To stick to his original plan, he would have needed to face the demon king and Raphael at the same time. His plan, however, had gone awry because the demon king hadn't appeared and was mocking him from a distance.

His plan had already failed.

'It is not over yet.'

Satan's eyes shone.

He knew very well how crazy the demon king was. Satan had already presumed the worst possible scenario of the demon king not dying even after he used the Demonic Origin.

'If I can drag the demon king to that place…'

He would win.

Satan accepted the rampaging demonic energy into his body and raised Wrath. Demonic energy traveled up the pitch-black sword, creating an enormous vortex.

[Die, Raphael.]

"Where did you awaken that terrible evil?!" Raphael bellowed.

His eight wings shone with brilliant light. He pointed his holy spear of light at Satan.

BOOM!

A loud nightmarish sound boomed through the sky.

Kang-Woo returned to his senses after hearing it.

"This must be Satan's trump card."

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes at Satan, who was wrapped in darkness of unknown origin. He had thought that Satan would have something up his sleeve as long as Satan wasn't stupid.

'Which was why I sent Raphael first.'

Kang-Woo scanned Satan with sharp eyes. As he had expected, Satan had revealed the trump card he had been hiding.

'That must be… how the princes of Hell were able to regain their power on Earth despite there being no demonic energy.'

To be honest, Kang-Woo was considerably surprised.

He had expected the princes of Hell to have a trump card.

Just like a sprout didn't grow in a dry land, there was no way the Demon Cult could have grown so much in a place with no demonic energy like Earth, but…

'I didn't expect anything like this.'

Satan was able to overwhelm Raphael as the raging darkness surrounded him.

If Kang-Woo had faced him upfront, he would have been no match for Satan without unleashing the Ten Thousand Demon Core.

"Well, he doesn't seem to be in good condition either."

Satan was vomiting blood as he fought Raphael.

Kang-Woo was sure that within that darkness was a power that not even a prince of Hell could control.

'Wow.'

His thirst desired to be quenched. His mouth filled with saliva. His heart began beating faster, and his body felt hot.

'I wonder what would happen if I ate that?'

"Fuuu."

Kang-Woo took a deep breath and quelled his boiling desires.

Crack!

"Kurgh! Urgh!"

He heard something being crushed. He raised his head while wetting his dry lips.

'Is it over?'

Raphael was shouting in pain after being pierced by the pitch-black sword.

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes.

'Is he dead?'

He saw that Raphael was losing a lot of white blood.

Kang-Woo clicked his tongue.

'He's alive.'

Although very slight, Raphael was still flapping his wings. He'd been critically wounded, but he hadn't died.

Kang-Woo turned his head toward Satan.

[Huff! Huff! Cough!]

Satan kept vomiting black blood. Although he had targeted Raphael's vital point, he had failed to hit it and had pierced another part of his body.

Satan grimaced.

'I cannot go any further than this.'

It was too bad he couldn't finish off Raphael, but using more of the Demonic Origin's power was too dangerous.

[Kuh.]

Satan looked around and spotted the demon king sitting on top of some debris. Although the demon king was concealing himself with an Authority, Satan could currently see through it perfectly.

'Demon king.'

Satan glared at him. He had no choice but to use the last resort that he had prepared for the absolute worst-case scenario.

Crack!

He used the raging darkness to create a black Rift.

"Argh!"

"R-Run!!"

Demons and Players screamed as they were sucked into the darkness. It was as if a mini black hole had appeared.

Satan threw himself into the black Rift.

"… Hah."

Kang-Woo laughed in disbelief as he looked up at the black Rift.

"So that's your plan, huh?"

It was as if Satan was telling him to come into the Rift if he wanted to kill him.

Kang-Woo slowly got up and stared at the black Rift.

"It's obviously a trap."

The way Satan had glanced in his direction had made it obvious.

'How cute.'

Satan was a terrible actor.

"Well, then."

Kang-Woo turned away without a second thought.

'I have no reason to fall for an obvious trap on purpose.'

No one in their right mind would go in there.

'I'll keep making good use of Sata—'

His thoughts were cut short. Kang-Woo bent over like a bow, clenching his chest.

"A-Arrgghh."

His eyes widened. A powerful desire that he had never felt before was spreading through his body.

"What… the… fuck?"

He trembled. A horrifying thirst stimulated his throat.

- Eat it.

He heard someone's voice.

- Devour it.

Kang-Woo could not defy the voice. His consciousness blurred.

"Fucking… hell."

Kang-Woo crouched and plunged his hands into the ground, clenching the earth underneath.

"Fuck… This isn't some… Dragon of the Darkness Flame shit…[2]"

He was feeling a nightmarish, uncontrollable urge. It was as if a sealed Dragon of the Darkness Flame was about to be let loose within him. Kang-Woo desperately tried to rein in the demonic energy running amok inside him.

'Shit.'

His legs moved on their own as if he'd turned into a puppet.

Kang-Woo's expression crumpled.

'I can't go against it.'

He could instinctively feel that he didn't have the power to control his urges.

"Fuck," Kang-Woo cursed.

He stopped defying his urges.

'If I can't go against it…'

He would at least enter of his own accord.

Ignoring the urges pushing him to enter, he jumped into the Rift.

Riiing.

[Entering the nightmare of the 'Primordial Darkness.']

A blue message window appeared.

['Divinity' is forcibly interfering with the system.]

[Adjusting level to 1.]

[Adjusting all stats to 1.]

1. Primordial Darkness seems to be what the Demonic Origin was referred to when it was whole. ☜

2. This is a reference to Hiei from Yu Yu Hakusho, who used to keep his right arm covered in bandages to keep the dragon from escaping. This pretty much turned into a chuunibyou thing, with the main one being Chuunibyou demo Koi ga Shitai! ☜