Would Lee Sungmin be able to possibly kill Kim Jonghyun in his transformed state?
Abel thought about it objectively.
Perhaps it was impossible for even someone as strong as Lee Sungmin. Even if Kim Jonghyun’s transformation spell was an incomplete one, it would never be easy to kill a person who had nigh-omnipotent regenerative abilities like that. If Lee Sungmin was somehow overwhelmingly stronger than Kim Jonghyun, it might be possible. But was that even possible?
“He’s too dangerous.”
Abel did not belittle the facts. Kim Jonghyun was still powerful, but it was nothing compared to the ticking time bomb inside of Lee Sungmin’s consciousness.
Lee Sungmin himself, was very aware of his own worries about losing his sanity if he borrowed too much of the power of foreign origins, and had already consulted Abel about it. It was just a slight thought that Abel had… but just maybe. Just maybe Lee Sungmin would be the Final Catastrophe and become the Apocalypse.
Lee Sungmin might become powerful and strong enough to never have that power take over him, but there was a higher chance of needing to borrow that power before then and overusing it against Kim Jonghyun.
Cain, Abel’s brother, did not believe in Lee Sungmin, but Abel believed in Lee Sungmin. He believed that Lee Sungmin would not become the Final Catastrophe. As long as Lee Sungmin was aware of his own condition and did not overextend himself, he would not become the one to end all of Eria.
‘Kim Jonghyun is still not troubled yet.’
In this situation, Kim Jonghyun was still not quite desperate from when Abel had just last seen him.
Even if Volander and the Legion of Death Knights were out of the picture now, Kim Jonghyun still could take a loss here temporarily and come back later with an even more disastrous plan. Right now, it was not a crisis for Kim Jonghyun just yet.
Kim Jonghyun still had options left.
If a Dark Wizard at the level of Kim Jonghyun decided to run away with all of his might and determination, Lee Sungmin would not be able to catch him alone. So Abel could not let that happen. Kim Jonghyun needed to be eliminated here and now.
Cain laid lifeless in the wheelchair behind Abel. Cain, Abel’s brother, remained an object of admiration and was a rival for him that he had always wanted to surpass.
Even when it came to things like magical talent and mana sensitivity, Cain had always been superior to Abel. Even in their early childhood, this had always remained the same. Even after he started to grow older, and more mature when he was a young adult… Abel always wanted to surpass Cain.(T/N : Going to use Cain which, as a reminder, is Envirus’ real name because I believe that the symbolism of Cain and Abel is something that is needed here. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, search up Cain and Abel as is on wikipedia and read about it- you’re in for a treat.)
Ever since he was young, Abel had done nothing but work himself to exhaustion in order to one day surpass Cain.
He never thought that the day he would surpass his older brother, that Abel would kill him in such a dirty way.
It was not even through fair competition of magical abilities. His brother, Cain, was not able to live up to Abel’s expectations as an amazing Grand Wizard.
Abel had learned everything he needed to become the kind of Wizard he was today, just to surpass his brother. And now, there was nothing to surpass because his brother had been reduced to nothing.
Abel bit his lower lip in frustration as the bitter feelings did not die away. His brother only had his life span left in him, and Abel had taken that away.
Even though it was Envirus’ sins that had resulted in him dying in such a way, Abel did not comfort himself in taking his own brother’s life. Abel’s sins were now growing as well by committing such a taboo.
“Please…”Frau muttered.
Thanks to the dragon blood serum, Abel’s empty mana circuits were overflowing. And thanks to committing the taboo magic he had used on Envirus, Abel had recovered some of the lifespan he had just emptied on the spell to reset the coordinates of the spell.
Abel finally looked at Frau. Frau shook her head looking at Abel with bitter eyes.
“Goodbye… Should I even say that?”
Abel laughed out loud. Frau sighed and winked at Aladdur to get moving.
Aladdur quickly helped and picked up the fainted Rubia, who had collapsed. Abel took off his wizard robe and turned his head around.
The direction he was looking in, was a place where there were several explosions and large amounts of mana and holy power flying around.
‘I’m glad the Queen of the Spirits is asleep.’
At least Abel wouldn’t have to worry about her going wild.
* * *
‘This is…’
Kim Jonghyun couldn’t even finish his thoughts. He was a Wizard who was always thoroughly prepared, and never faced such humiliating one-sided beating since becoming a half-devil. But that image was shattered as the several defensive barrier spells he had erected were being smashed apart like paper.
Right before his body was fatally hit, Kim Jonghyun used blink and avoided the strike.
The series of lightning bolts constantly were striking at the places he landed on after using blink. It could no longer be called spearmanship that Lee Sungmin was using. Merciless strikes and martial arts unfolded without discriminating on method of attack. Fatal injuries were the only things Kim Jonghyun could afford to avoid.
When he started to be pushed back one-sidedly, Lee Sungmin had no answer earlier. The transformation spell that Kim Jonghyun was using, was not a complete one but was still powerful beyond belief. Lee Sungmin had been relying on his regeneration powers to keep up with him at the expense of turning into an insane and mindless monster.
The reason why wizard Kim Jonghyun was able to overwhelm Lee Sungmin was because the spell he was using allowed him to adapt as a ‘true devil’ amidst battle and change his body to overwhelm Lee Sungmin.
But that growth and power of adaptation that Kim Jonghyun was able to use via his spell, was no longer working against Lee Sungmin.
Even now, Kim Jonghyun was growing in power and adapting to the attacks to an extent. But… he was still being pushed back. He was constantly moving to find a way out and gain an advantage with his fighting instinct as a Devil, but Lee Sungmin’s speed, power, and range of attack were completely destroying his own growth rate at an astounding pace.
[Are you okay?]
“It’s still not over yet.”
Lee Sungmin replied quickly to Heoju, who was growing more and more worried. It was an incredibly strange feeling. Lee Sungmin felt like his head was going to burst, and could feel his heart beating much too fast to be anything close to normal.
Whenever he moved his body, his headache seemed to die down though. Every swing with his spear was too much for his body to handle and his muscles burst and simultaneously regenerated. No matter how much of his internal energy that he drew from his dantian, his internal energy never seemed to get even remotely close to empty.
There was still a long way to go when comparing Sima Ryunju’s mastery of the Dark Storm Arts compared to the current Lee Sungmin. Sima Ryunju was faster, sharper and more precise than what Lee Sungmin was using…
Lee Sungmin was not his master, but he wanted to be able to show the prowess of the martial arts his master had mastered.
Lee Sungmin recalled the fight with Volander. Just what had he seen at the end of that fight? Was that his master’s spirit? Or was it just some kind of hallucination?
“AHHH!”
It was becoming a terrible situation for Kim Jonghyun. He couldn’t even count how many times it had been as his stomach was pierced once more.
A hole was gaping open as his intestines spilled to the ground and his spine was torn apart. Kim Jonghyun forcibly held onto his consciousness to not pass out from the pain. His hands turned grayish-white as he pulled all of his willpower to counter attack using the extinction magic he had taken from Arbeth.
Whoosh!
The reason Kim Jonghyun decided to attack instead of immediately focusing on regeneration and running away was because he needed a very tight window of opportunity.
In order to do that, he needed to slow down Lee Sungmin a certain amount.
Kim Jonghyun already had to acknowledge that his Demon Tongue ability and evasion techniques like Blink, were not working at all against Lee Sungmin.
But that didn’t mean his defense was for naught. Kim Jonghyun’s attacks clearly had an effect on Lee Sungmin even as Lee Sungmin was overwhelming him in terms of offense.
“Burst!”
His Demon Tongue ability may not have any effect on Lee Sungmin in terms of defense, but in terms of offensive capabilities, it certainly helped.
Woooooaaaaaaahhhh~
A huge explosion swallowed up Lee Sungmin. Although it was flashy, it was nothing more than a trick to the eye for Lee Sungmin. It was lamentable that it was only that much, but that’s all that the word ‘burst’ could do.
But the attack as a whole… was different. Kim Jonghyun poured out the magic of extinction over a wide area of effect. The extinction magic that Kim Jonghyun used, was the pinnacle of all of Arbeth’s dark magic and was something that would decay and wither anything that it touched.
Against this horrible magic, Lee Sungmin realized that the incoming attack was dangerous because of how wide Kim Jonghyun had spread it out. A layer of internal energy around his body would do nothing against this magic.
He had to create an attack that attacked the very space itself that the spell was launched towards.
Crrreuk !
Lee Sungmin’s body became a ray of lightning and he stepped back. While widening the distance, the spear in his hands started to rotate with a fierce determination.
It was an attack that could change the entire flow of the battle.
The sky turned purple. The surviving Priests and Holy Knights from the Holy Church, who were watching him from below, covered their eyes with their hands in reaction to the bright burst of light.
There was nothing in the sky when the light died down.
“Bloody hell…..”Kim Jonghyun uttered out loud as he could not believe what just happened. The space had torn apart and the locations of the widespread spell were completely erased from existence using the spatial essence in the huge attack Lee Sungmin used.
How could something of such magnitude be a result of spearmanship and martial arts? Nobody present could believe such a thing.
‘How much time do I have left?’
According to Kim Jonghyun’s calculations that he had made earlier, he should have overpowered Lee Sungmin by now. But this was a result that was completely opposite to what he was thinking.
‘This could become dangerous.’
Sooner or later, the transformation spell would end. If that happened, it would become increasingly difficult to escape with his life intact. Because of the possible scenarios playing out in his head, Kim Jonghyun realized that he was placed in a difficult place.
With that, Kim Jonghyun decided his next actions.
There was still more to be done… but if he died? None of those plans would come to fruition. Having no lingering attachment to life and dying foolishly were completely different things.
Dududududu!
A black shroud of demonic energy and mana enshrouded Kim Jonghyun. He pulled out all the remaining mana he had left. The Grimoire that was the subject of the contents of his next spell, started to shine ominously once more with a dark glint.
There would be no way to secure himself in one piece if he waited to escape after his transformation spell ended. Therefore, he had to run now and by sparing no effort in his actions.
Lee Sungmin also noticed that Kim Jonghyun’s behavior was starting to feel unusual. Kim Jonghyun seemed to be prioritizing something else instead of a confrontation. Lee Sungmin realized that Kim Jonghyun might just run away. If that was the case… there was no way Lee Sungmin could let that happen.
Whoosh~
Lee Sungmin’s movement resembled something closer to magic rather than a movement technique that martial artists used. Blink, was a spell that allowed the caster to completely disappear and reappear in a space around the caster, disregarding anything in between the two distances. Kim Jonghyun could not tell what had just happened with Lee Sungmin or his movement technique, but it was similar to blink, as he distorted the space with spatial essence and used the lightning gale movement to move at the speed of light to reappear in front of Kim Jonghyun.
In many ways, it was something completely superior to the blink spell. Although blink was able to teleport the caster in a space in front of them or behind them, it was not like Lee Sungmin’s movement technique. Lee Sungmin’s technique was able to move unilaterally in any direction and seemed to move at the same speed no matter the distance.
Not only that, but when Lee Sungmin moved, there were no traces of internal energy. When using blink, there was always a trace of mana left around to track the coordinates.
Even if the principles were similar, the movement was different than blink, so Kim Jonghyun had no choice but to be surprised when Lee Sungmin reappeared right in front of him.
Kim Jonghyun’s eyes widened as he forcibly activated a spell instantaneously. It was a spell that took a long casting time under normal circumstances, but using all of his remaining mana left into it, he got a nosebleed.
He was quite cautious, waiting for an ideal moment to strike with this attack. He didn’t plan on using this but he had no choice.
Even if it was an option that was available in the first place, it was not easy to use.
In the distracted concentration of mind amidst being surprised that Lee Sungmin reappeared in front of him, Kim Jonghyun’s eyes captured Lee Sungmin’s figure in the bolt of lightning that had moved across the space. His senses that were close to a True Devil’s were heightened at that moment and saw each and every fine detail of the movement in front of him. At that moment, Kim Jonghyun twisted his hand and shot out towards Lee Sungmin.
Amidst using the lightning gale movement, Lee Sungmin suddenly felt an odd sense of danger. It was something he had not felt even in the fight against Volander. Something was aiming at him at that moment, and he could have died.
Lee Sungmin hurriedly stopped the movement. Although he did not reach the exact spot he was hoping to arrive at in front of Kim Jonghyun, it had saved his life by not doing so.
“Avoiding me?”
Thanks to this, Kim Jonghyun had no choice but to be greatly flustered. He had no choice since Lee Sungmin suddenly stopped right in front of where he was expecting to hit him.
Lee Sungmin had gotten this far without dying due to realizing these crucial moments. Even if he wanted to be greedy and finish things right now, he felt incredulous at that moment and stopped.
Although Lee Sungmin had slowed down his speed to see what was happening, this only gave Kim Jonghyun more time to properly cast the spell.
The direction of gravity changed suddenly. Lee Sungmin, who jumped into the air and soared up, slowed noticeably with the shift in gravity.
Kim Jonghyun did not cast the spell yet, but he simply used the Demon Tongue ability along with some simple debuff spells to slow down Lee Sungmin for just a bit longer.
“It’s done.”
Just in case, a defensive barrier was also wrapped around Kim Jonghyun’s body. Kim Jonghyun was relieved only after widening his distance from Lee Sungmin.
This distance was enough for Kim Jonghyun to perform what he needed to do before Lee Sungmin came.
‘It’s not final just yet.’
Kim Jonghyun was sure of it. If so, there is plenty of time to do something like this ‘again’.
He was thinking of doing something similar. There was still more time before the Apocalypse came to do something else fun.
He was still alive. As long as he was alive, he could still find an opportunity.
‘But it’s still quite a bummer. I almost succeeded…….’
The biggest miscalculation he had made was the fact that Abel was able to use the Weiss’ spells. But that much was solved now. Even if Kim Jonghyun changed his plans in the future, Abel would not be able to interfere as much because of how much life span he had used to stop Kim Jonghyun here.
Kim Jonghyun glanced at Lee Sungmin, who was rushing at Kim Jonghyun with his spear in hand. Kim Jonghyun also realized just how much he had underestimated Lee Sungmin. It was completely unexpected just how powerful Lee Sungmin had become.
‘I should be more careful next time.’
It would be okay. Next time, he would surely be more prepared.
‘It’s a shame that I can’t even say goodbye.’* * *Abel looked down on Kim Jonghyun in the sky.
When he looked at Kim Jonghyun and the actions he had taken by massacring the entire city of Germane, Abel did not feel that what he was about to do was drastic.
It wasn’t that the spell he decided to do was similar in magnitude, it was just that Abel had little lifespan to use left.
With this, he would likely be on death’s doorstep, but it was worth it.
There was nothing to wait for any longer.
“If I knew this would happen, would I have used this magic from the beginning?”
At that time, Abel didn’t know the situation was going to unfold the way it did. He had thought this spell would be a very last resort, but even he didn’t think he would be able to use it or need to.
The false connection to the Spirit Realm, the transformation spell that Kim Jonghyun had used to gain powers that gave him near-perfect immortality… everything was a mess.
Nevertheless, everything was complete.
He did everything he could. Abel could truly say that he had done everything and more within his power to prevent Eria from facing the Apocalypse.
He gave up his remaining life span generously into the spell. Although he had surpassed his brother in the very end, he was still going to go out like this.
It wasn’t that he had no regrets or anything like that. He had done everything and tried his best to stop the Apocalypse with whatever he could.
Even if he lacked the talent of his older brother, Abel still had the Weiss to make up for that and his own hard work.
Abel did not doubt that he had the power to help prevent the Apocalypse.
No. In the end, Abel failed to change the horrible fate Eria would surely face. All he could do was prevent some of the Catastrophes that served as a prelude to the Apocalypse.
“Still… I’m glad I could at least do that.”
It was better than Cain, his brother, who did nothing in the end.
As he thought that, Abel’s lifespan was sucked completely dry into the Weiss.