It was getting dangerous for Lee Sungmin, as he realized an undead army, albeit weak, would be difficult to deal with, if Aine was to attack with them.
Lee Sungmin decided to start using the yokai force in earnest and roused up the monstrous power.
It was a bit dangerous to use if he wasn’t focused, but in a life and death battle, how could he be anything but focused?
Quang!
A fierce purple aura exploded at the end of the spear. Dozens of the undead that were running at Lee Sungmin with creaky bones and shredded limbs, were blown away in the fierce explosion of the aura.
“What is he?”
Arbeth’s eyes widened in shock as Lee Sungmin’s explosive strength came out of nowhere, and was miles apart from the strength he was using earlier.
Envirus was under the joint attack of Kim Jonghyun and Arbeth, but as he felt the explosive strength surging throughout the battlefield, he was inwardly relieved and gave out a sigh.
However, Envirus was on guard as the situation was still urgent.
It was because the magic circle Arbeth had been preparing before they came, which had been fully supplied with mana, had already started it’s function and was drawing in the whole area’s supply of mana and fear, giving an endless supply to Arbeth.
‘Dammit.. It’s still not enough. What the hell is Chusung doing?’, Kim Jonghyun thought the supply of mana they were receiving was large, but nowhere near the amount he was expecting.
According to the plan, Chusung should have been rampaging, causing confusion, and the resulting fear from the chaos should speed up the process. But it was slowing down for some reason.
Kim Jonghyun was suspicious, but he could not leave the area to check up on Chusung, as doing so would be signing his death note early.
He was completely unaware that the Crazy Heavenly Demon was tying up Chusung right now.
Envirus, who regained his past strength, was not at all short in regards to his title as a Grand Wizard, which was the title above Archmage.
It was a bit relieving at first that Envirus was hit with the backlash from the Fire Spirit being forcibly returned, but nevertheless Envirus had regained his composure quickly as Lee Sungmin was causing havoc on the other end.
The reason for this was because instead of helping Lee Sungmin with Aine like it was before, the Earth Spirit changed targets and struck both Arbeth and Kim Jonghyun, creating waves of mushy earth, and the water of wind spirits that were in conjunction on the attacks also pressured the two of them.
“Fucking annoying!”, Arbeth roared as the attacks were getting more and more relentless from Envirus as the spirits had been freed up to help him.
Just a little bit longer till the magic circle was fully completed, Arbeth thought. When it became full, the power he would be able to unleash would be on a completely different level than right now.
BA-dump!
The spell Arbeth fired off was completely smashed by the bombardment of the earthen wave, not only that Kim Jonghyun’s spell completely missed it’s mark due to the wind spirit’s interference.
Knowing that the magic circle’s completion should be stopped first, Envirus ordered the water spirit to attack the area of the magic circle, leaving Envirus to cast his own spells for defense.
“NO!”, Arbeth roared in anguish as he sent the black hands materialized from the extinction magic to block the Water Spirit.
Seeing Arbeth’s main source of firepower at the moment leaving to go after the water spirit, Envirus immediately conjured up a gravitational spell.
Kwoo-woong!
Under the weight of the crushing gravity, the black arm fell to the ground with a huge bang.
Arbeth gritted his teeth and rushed toward Envirus.
The ignorant and rash charge from Arbeth surprised Envirus a little, but without prolonging his astonishment, he immediately responded. The runes on both his arms wriggled.
To be honest, Envirus didn’t want to go this far. But based on the circumstances the battle should be almost done, and he didn’t want to mess things up for nothing since he made the decision to restore his powers and his soul.
Arbeth noticed things going awry and decided at that moment.
“Demon, crush it to death!”, Arbeth yelled as he contacted the demon from the alternate dimension at that point.
Arbeth’s eyes from the body he was possessing, turned pitch black at the call, as a swirling torrent of foreign and evil energy gushed from his body.
Envirus’ magic did not invade the dark death energy that suddenly sprouted out from Arbeth’s body.
Arbeth who called upon the foreign power, let the evil energy surge through his internal circuits and destroy what mana he had, letting the new power source completely take over.
“My God!”, Envirus noticed Arbeth’s mana completely shatter apart and the evil energy completely took over Arbeth’s body, as he exclaimed in astonishment.
“How dare you take the power of the Devil himself! Do you want to die?!”, Envirus shouted at Arbeth trying to warn him that this would end terribly if Arbeth took things to another level.
“Do not destroy my work!”, Arbeth screamed at Envirus in anger.
Normally having the devil you contract with descend into your body as a Dark Wizard, your soul and body would be completely and utterly destroyed on the spot. However, for Arbeth who was at the pinnacle of Black Magic, it was not the case as he held on.
Of course, that didn’t mean he could freely and willfully use the power of the devil itself to its full capabilities.
It was clear that Arbeth’s soul would be severely damaged after doing so, and it would be fatal to his body which would probably no longer be able to handle the power and corrode itself from the inside out later, leaving him to have and possess a new body if he wanted to live.
This would only happen though if he didn’t hold the power too long… If he held onto it for too long, exceeding his limits, Arbeth would surely die here.
The reason Arbeth also wanted to take Aine’s body was because of the black heart, which could freely and efficiently utilize any power that came into the body’s corpse. If he had Aine’s body, he would be able to use the power of the devil freely and never have to worry about the repercussions aside from his soul being temporarily damaged.
Arbeth managed to form a magic seal even though he felt his soul creaking and tightening under the tension.
“Ha!”, Arbeth shouted out as he cast the spell quickly at Envirus.The density of energy was much more evil and stronger than mana as it shot at the water spirit and earth spirit immediately returning them to the spirit realm forcibly, causing a severe backlash once more on Envirus.
“Huck!-“, blood spurted from Envirus’ mouth as he groaned.
Even though Envirus got out of the way of the trajectory by blinking a couple times beforehand, it was still incredibly painful and he ended up being dealt a heavy blow and lost control of his flight magic as he crashed to the ground.
Arbeth was also feeling terrible as the tension on his soul was getting intense and the backlash was looking incredibly painful for him.
His formerly pitch black eyes, returned to their white color but, the eye veins were strained red, and a black mist was oozing from his mouth unnaturally.
“Ugh…”, Arbeth groaned and grabbed his throbbing head as he glanced at Envirus.
Envirus, who fell to the floor, was lying face down helplessly twitching his muscles, trying to stand back up.
Envirus raised his trembling body slowly with great difficulty, and Arbeth’s face contorted in disgust and anger at the sight.
“You monster……!”, Arbeth uttered in a repulsive voice.
Arbeth was one to talk as he was an Arch Lich and an undead monster, but Envirus, who was holding out despite the fact he was suffering backlash from not one, but three summons and still standing, was most definitely a monster in Arbeth’s eyes.
In the meantime while this was all happening, Lee Sungmin knocked down all the undead Arbeth had arisen from his spell.
Aine was resisting fiercely, but Lee Sungmin’s level was way above Aine’s.
Arbeth tried to shout out another command to the struggling Aine, but he didn’t have the chance as suddenly a bright light emitted from the magic circle. Arbeth’s face slowly brightened up with pleasure.
Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
The earth began to vibrate vigorously and the ground shook with unease.
The only light in the entire area was being emitted by the magic circle in the center of the square.
The accumulated fear and mana that was being drawn in started to slowly leak out.
“Go into the magic circle!”, Arbeth shouted a command at Aine urgently.
Aine immediately followed Arbeth’s orders as she turned around immediately, abandoning the fight with Lee Sungmin and flew towards the magic circle.
Lee Sungmin was well aware that he couldn’t let Aine go to that magic circle.
Gwa-a-a-ang!
Lee Sungmin shot the spear forward with an incredible force. It completely blew away Aine’s lower half of her body, but Aine who was a soul-bound chimera that didn’t feel pain, didn’t bat an eyelid as she activated her wings and continued to fly towards the magic circle
“No!”, Envirus yelled as his eyes widened in fear.
Lee Sungmin suddenly had an eerie feeling that something would go terribly wrong here if he didn;t stop Aine here and now, as even Envirus who was incredibly powerful now, was frightened to death of what was about to happen.
Lee Sungmin hurriedly unfolded the shadowless technique and one thunder as he chased after Aine.
“Stop it!”, Arbeth shouted at Kim Jonghyun in anger to get him to do something as he was immobile, and Kim Jonghyun started to make hand signs.
He was making the signs, since he had to follow Arbeth’s orders…. But that didn’t mean he had to completely listen to them.
To be honest, Kim Jonghyun was curious about Aine and Lee Sungmin. He knew that Lee Sungmin and Aine had the same black heart inside their bodies.
If there is a possibility that Aine will become a completely undeniably strong force of nature by absorbing the forces of fear and mana in the magic circle, then it applied equally to Lee Sungmin as well.
Kim Jonghyun’s magic, which unfolded a little late on purpose, failed to catch Lee Sungmin.
With the magic circle in operation, the giant barrier over the city was already shattered, and Aine entered the center of the magic circle before Lee Sungmin.
And a little later than Aine, Lee Sungmin entered the magic circle as well.
When he came inside the magic circle Lee Sungmin noticed a huge flow of power fluctuating within the magic circle, but oddly enough it didn’t feel completely disturbing to him.
As Lee Sungmin was observing the great flow, Aine crawled without her legs and just her upper body to the center of the magic circle.
The center at which the forces were starting to flow strongest, started to fluctuate around Aine’s severed body and her mouth flew open as mana and fear started to surge into her body.
[Crazy bastards… I now know what they’re doing.], Heoju uttered in surprise.
[The city’s power, all of it is coming together into this circle. It’s being drawn together forcibly and that girl’s body is most likely the vessel to hold it.]
‘What do you mean?’ , Lee Sungmin was a little confused on how Aine would play a role in all this.
[This city has been ruled for many years by countless monsters. Not even Yana could completely utilize all its power, and she still can’t. However, these bastards have found that little girl who is able to hold it together somehow and it’s going to be a disaster if someone gets ahold of it!], Heoju cried out.
Normally nobody would be able to handle such immense power and their body would explode. Lee Sungmin knew Aine had the Black Heart, but even he wasn’t sure if the Black Heart could hold out against this much power. However, if it did, it would be frightening.
[It’s impossible. It’s a whole city, and not just any monster city, this city is much too large in comparison. No matter how strong your black heart is, it can’t be possible to swallow it all.], Heoju, interjected in Lee Sungmin’s thoughts trying to make sense of the situation.
There was still a slight probability though.
Lee Sungmin staggered toward the center of the magic circle. Aine had already absorbed a lot of the force coming in, but he might have a way to prevent any harmful damage from here on out.
‘Can’t I tap into the frequency of the mana and receive the power as well?’ , he thought.
[Do you realize what this could do…. ], Heoju warned ominously.
[You are fine in dealing with evil forces, because of the power left behind in your dantian by me. But that power is containable because I am here, the master of the power. That power coming from the magic circle, has no 1 master, and it’s much larger than my yokai powers alone. Taking that in could completely break the balance in your body or tilt it heavily, making you a monster in heart, mind and body.], Heoju spoke with a grave tone.
Aine and Lee Sungmin were fundamentally different even if they had the same heart.
Aine is composed of a chimera body that was built specifically and artificially to contain the power of the black heart, and unlike Lee Sungmin, it was not tied to humanity.
Lee Sungmin staggered toward Aine. The storm of mana and evil forces of fear raged inside the circle as Lee Sungmin lifted the spear.
His inner circuitry was not properly flowing due to the violent storm of mana, and the force he pulled out on behalf of Heoju was also at its limits in terms of control over it.
Lee Sungmin clenched his teeth and tightened his fists.
‘A little closer.’
Lee Sungmin aimed the speartip for Aine’s heart.
He wasn’t completely convinced he could kill Aine, but his idea wasn’t to kill her, it was to deliver a blow to the black heart itself.
His own black heart began to beat loudly.
His left eye felt like it was being seared and cooked with heat.
It was getting incredibly dangerous and Heoju shouted.
The Black Heart suddenly seemed to act like a starved monster, as Lee Sungmin entered the center of the circle, it started swallowing the energies without rhyme or reason.
A series of conflicting consciousness was starting to pop up in his mind.
Lee Sungmin sat down on the spot because his legs were incredibly weak.
Panting in and out, his sweat dripped down stickily from his body.
His arms and legs were twitching with muscle spasms. His blood vessels seemed to tear apart; his muscle fibers seemed to be tearing themselves apart and healing over and over in a rapid pace invisible to the eye.
The voice of Heoju was getting farther and farther away in his mind.
At the center of the storm, Lee Sungmin made eye contact with Aine. There was no expression on Aine’s stoic face. His consciousness was… …drifting away.
‘Hold it.’ , Lee Sungmin bit down on his lips to stay awake and focused and not lose his mind here.
The body was being torn apart and regenerated rampantly, but rather, his sea of consciousness was starting to become sharper and sharper.
No human being would possibly be able to withstand the pain Lee Sungmin’s body was being subjected to. But Lee Sungmin, was a monster in human regards to his mind, heart and body. Normally the pressure on one’s mind would make their mind become torn to shreds in an instant, and it was still very painful for Lee Sungmin. However, his 2,100 years in his subconscious were really paying off here. Instead of his mind being destroyed, it was being tempered almost.
He desperately didn’t want to be a monster. Lee Sungmin had seen several times the pitiable people who gave up their humanity and the terrible lives of guilt they led.
‘No, really? Even if they gave it up, was it that bad?’, It was a sweet and tempting whisper in his head.
Lee Sungmin realized that it was none other than himself who was whispering like that.
It seemed to be getting more and more dangerous. He did not like it one bit.
Lee Sungmin strongly denied the voices. The life that he had lived so far and the memories he made passed through his mind.
He thought of Silent Flare, Baek Sogo.
If you become a monster, and are no longer a human being, how will you be able to meet Baek Sogo again? What about Wijihoyeon the one he cared for?(T/N : looks like our mans here gonna have two wifeys)
Being a monster would mean he was no longer himself anymore. He was afraid of that happening. When he thought of his own existence and very identity as the man ‘Lee Sungmin’, he was slowly raising himself.
He started to coalesce power into the hand on the spear, as an unparalleled force of power started to wrap around violently in the spear shaft.
3 forces. Blood Rings, Nine Heavenly Spears, the forces of the Yokai. At this very moment, Lee Sungmin’s body was focused in one last attempt and re-synchronized his heart, mind and body that were getting tangled up in the storm.
Lee Sungmin clenched his teeth as he looked through his blurry vision at Aine’s motionless body sucking in the large amounts of power.
“AHHH!”, Lee Sungmin shouted at the top of his lungs and flung his spear with absolute determination.
The spear, which left Lee Sungmin’s hand, pierced through Aine’s chest undisturbed by the rampant storm around them.
Black blood spurted from Aine’s mouth and Lee Sungmin raised both his fists.
Gwa-a-a-ang!
Lee Sungmin’s two fists hit the ground cracking apart the runic language carving the magic circle.
A large crack formed where his fists collided against the earth. Just from cracking the ground apart and altering the diagram of the circle, the magic circle had become dysfunctional.
The storm disappeared like it was all a complete lie.
The City of Endless Night’s man and fear which were being forcibly gathered, dispersed immediately in all directions.
“What?!”, Arbeth, who was facing the exhausted Envirus, shouted.
It seemed like a very long time had passed since Lee Sungmin felt the pressure ease up, but in fact, it hadn’t been that long.
Envirus’ condition was not very good. It was the same with Arbeth. In fact, if Kim Jonghyun had actively helped Arbeth in earnest, he could have killed Envirus here.
However, Kim Jonghyun had no intention of killing Envirus.
Arbeth did not seem to know, but Kim Jonghyun definitely saw it with the same eyes he had used to peek at Lee Sungmin’s fate.
The love of a great being was attaching itself to Envirus. If he were involved in Envirus’ death, he would be chased by the angered presence, and Kim Jonghyun had no intentions of making an enemy out of something much more dangerous than Arbeth.
Kim Jonghyun, who confirmed that the magic circle was destroyed, glanced at Arbeth.
Arbeth was flustered, slightly embarrassed, shocked and in anger to list only a few of the emotions going through his mind, as he could not believe what just happened.
Arbeth immediately took action. Envirus couldn’t gather much of his own strength to stop Arbeth right now, and Lee Sungmin also sat down helplessly as his limbs were exhausted.
“Come this way right now!”, Arbeth yelled at Aine.Even though she was only half a body right now, and her chest was pierced with the spear, She crawled towards Arbeth, and Arbeth quickly started to move his lips for a spell.
(T/N : Noooooo I really don’t want to see this poor girl get used and treated like this…..)
First of all, he was going to exchange his soul as planned. A faint, black smoke emerged from Arbeth’s fake body he was possessing.
He had waited long and hard for this…. But it wasn’t just Arbeth who was done waiting at that moment…
Kim Jonghyun’s fingertips started to move as he started to cast a spell and looked at Arbeth.