Chapter 279

However, the seal was not completely dismantled. This was because if the Fallen Ruin were to be fully released, even the Demon King of Azure Flow would not be able to handle it.

Beside him, Kashmir asked with fearful eyes.

[What do we do about that being?]

[We have to pass through.]

[…I don’t think it will let us pass.]

The face attached to the giant body moved toward them. The Fallen Ruin’s face was completely different from a human’s. It was made of a chaotic mist with no facial features. A horrifying black light flickered within it, and they could feel it watching them.

If it weren't for the sealing formation, they would not have been able to maintain their sanity from the Spiritual Pressure alone.

But suddenly, a voice was heard.

[Trying to do something reckless again, I see.]

It was the Demon King of Azure Flow! She was projecting her will from a great distance.

[You’ve been running wild until now. Good. I’ll take this opportunity to deal with you.]

Rumble.

The sealing formation carved onto the body of the Fallen Ruin began to tremble. The Demon King of Azure Flow had begun to make her move.

-Ooooooooh.

The Fallen Ruin let out a monstrous shriek, as if it were wailing. It was a shriek that echoed directly in their souls.

Kashmir’s face turned deathly pale. If Chris hadn’t quickly cast a dark magic spell to protect his mind, he would not have been able to endure it.

[Your Grace! We must go back, even now!]

But Chris showed an unexpected reaction.

[It’s fine. Could you use the ‘Expel Spirit’ dark magic to move me toward the Fallen Ruin?]

[Your Grace?]

[Hurry! You must use all of your strength!]

Kashmir gritted his teeth.

Fwaaat!

Expel Spirit was a dark magic spell that forcibly banished spiritual bodies like ghosts and evil spirits. Kashmir adjusted the direction and pushed Chris, who was in a spiritualized state, toward the Fallen Ruin.

Whoosh!

In an instant, he drew closer to the Fallen Ruin, and a horrific Spiritual Pressure crushed down on his soul.

But Chris, on the contrary, twisted the corners of his mouth into a smile.

Here’s a question.

Could he have not predicted that the Demon King of Azure Flow would act this way?

Not at all.

He had calculated everything.

‘This is an opportunity.’

Chris took out a sword.

It was Andril.

The Sword That Kills Stars.

‘Originally, it would have been impossible to harm the Fallen Ruin even with Andril.’

It was because of the seal.

The seal carved by the Demon King of Red Heaven had acted like armor, protecting the Fallen Ruin, so there was no way to pierce it with Andril.

But now, things were different.

Thanks to the Demon King of Azure Flow, a faint opening had formed in the seal. Meanwhile, the Fallen Ruin had not yet been able to unleash its power.

‘I can’t miss this moment.’

Chris did not miss the fleeting gap and stabbed Andril precisely into the opening in the seal.

And then.

-Goooooooooooh!!!!

The Fallen Ruin let out a wretched scream.

As mentioned before, although the Demon King of Azure Flow had weakened the seal, it was literally only a ‘part’ of it. Since most of its power was still bound by the seal when Andril struck, it was in the same position as prey caught by a beast.

‘No, to be precise, it’s a sacrifice.’

Suddenly, a terrifying wave of energy began to surge. It was an energy that erupted from Andril.

At the same time.

-Kikikikikikikikikik.

Andril’s soul-shaking laughter echoed out. It was the joy of feasting.

‘Because a Constellation is Andril’s prey.’

The Fallen Ruin screamed and tried to struggle, but it was useless as it was still bound by the seal. Like a demon devouring a sacrifice tied to an execution block, Andril began to eat the soul of the Fallen Ruin.

It was a chilling sight.

Chris shook his head, then let go of Andril and moved away. It would take quite some time for Andril to completely devour the Fallen Ruin, so his plan was to leave it and go to take the Primordial Well of the Flame of Ruin.

When the feast was over, Andril’s appearance would be further transformed.

‘By the way.’

Chris turned his gaze. He looked in the direction where he had felt the presence of the Demon King of Azure Flow earlier. He was sure she was still watching even now.

[Next time, it’s your turn, Demon King of Azure Flow.]

[!!]

[Get ready to fall into Gehenna.]

He could feel the Demon King of Azure Flow’s rage across the distance. But Chris scoffed.

‘It’ll be soon now.’

Just then, the Fallen Ruin screamed again.

-Goooooooooooh!!!

At the same time, the lava began to churn violently. With the Fallen Ruin, which had acted as a lock, now collapsing, the eruption of the Flame of Ruin had accelerated.

[Let’s hurry.]

Fwaaak. He manifested his dark magic to move quickly, and finally, his destination began to come into view.

‘That’s the Primordial Well of the Flame of Ruin.’

Chris swallowed hard.

He saw a white, burning sphere. It was a White Flame, shining clearly even within the lava. It was the crystallization of the pure energy of destruction.

‘Terrifying.’

If the Venom Source was murky like an abyss, and the Sacred Black held an infinite depth, then the Flame of Ruin held a violence that seemed to annihilate everything it touched.

‘I have to take the core from that energy of destruction.’

Of course, he wasn't going to take all of that energy. The key was to take the core that was its source.

‘The problem is that it’s an incredibly difficult and dangerous task.’

He had to take the core while controlling the overflowing energy of destruction around him with his own demonic energy. A single mistake would mean death.

A further problem was that the core had become excessively large, having been condensed over many long years. If one were to say the amount of energy in the core that the magi of the Destruction Demonic House had absorbed in the past was 100, then he now had to absorb more than double that amount.

‘They said that absorbing just 60 to 70 percent of the original level of energy was considered an amazing achievement, ranking one among the best of their generation.’

Absorbing the Flame of Ruin had some similarities to absorbing the Sacred Black. Just as absorbing 60 to 70 percent of the Sacred Black was considered a top achievement, the same was true for the Flame of Ruin.

‘Didn’t they say that the 4th ranked Demon King of Red Heaven had absorbed a little over 90 percent of the Flame of Ruin?’

But now, the energy of the Flame of Ruin’s core was twice as concentrated as it was before.

To make a simple numerical comparison: If the amount of energy the Demon King of Red Heaven absorbed was 90 out of 100, then Chris, who had to absorb a core that was twice as condensed, had to accept an amount of over 200.

‘Even for me, that’s impossible.’

Chris shook his head. He, too, was a mortal. Talent aside, his vessel had its limits.

So what was he going to do?

‘I have to utilize that energy in a different way.’

Simply absorbing energy wasn't the only way to become stronger. Rather, what Chris needed now was a different kind of leap forward.

Chris thought of a more specific method.

‘I will use the energy of the Flame of Ruin to make my soul into the perfect form of a Transcendent Being.’

It was an astonishing idea.

His current soul was in a state that had surpassed the level of a half-demon after absorbing the Venom Source. But this meant he would go beyond that and obtain the true level of a Transcendent Being, like a Devil or a Constellation.

‘Of course, it won’t be easy.’

No, it was more than that. Obtaining the level of a Transcendent Being was an incomparably more distant goal than becoming a half-demon.

‘Still, it’s possible.’

Chris recalled the words the Demon King of Azure Flow had spoken before.

- Black is the Foundation, Poison is the Tempering, and Ruin is the Void.

The reason the Demon King of Azure Flow was trying to take the Three Primordial Wells was to shed the shackles of a mortal. In other words, what she had said back then was the method for using the Three Primordial Wells to become a Transcendent Being.

‘I must prepare the Foundation by absorbing the Sacred Black, Temper my soul with the Venom Source, and then return to Nothingness through the Flame of Ruin to be reborn anew.’

In other words, he would use the Flame of Ruin to return his own soul to a state of nothingness.

‘One wrong move and my very existence could be annihilated. But I still have to do it.’

If Chris’s final opponents were simply the Four Kings’ Castle and the Mystic Demonic House, he might not have needed to go this far. It would have been enough to reach high 9-Star with the soul of a half-demon.

But the situation had changed.

‘I have to consider the possibility of fighting the Central power.’

Chris’s gaze grew heavy. He recalled the Magus Chancellor he had seen a short while ago. That feeling of falling into a bottomless despair. And the Chancellor was just the beginning; what about the Demon Emperor?

‘Only by obtaining the level of a Transcendent Being now will I be able to face them in the future.’

Obtaining the level of a Transcendent Being wouldn't create a huge difference right away. His vessel was still insufficient to fully reflect the level of a Transcendent Being. But as he grew stronger, and his vessel began to reflect that level little by little, the difference would grow to an incomparable degree over time. Eventually, he would gain the potential to surpass the Magus Chancellor, and even the Demon Emperor.

‘Let’s begin.’

Fwaat!

He manifested his Dark Demonic Energy. Dark Demonic Energy was a power of dominance that held superiority over all other energies. The rippling energy of destruction from the Flame of Ruin tucked its tail and cleared a path, exposing the energy of the core.

Woooong.

The energy of the core began to enter his body. First, his plan was to absorb the Flame of Ruin into his core in the normal way.

‘After I have made the Flame of Ruin completely my own, I must transform my soul.’

Bit by bit, the energy of the Flame of Ruin began to fill his core. Unlike when he had absorbed the Sacred Black, the process was not difficult. This was because Chris had already absorbed 100 percent of the Sacred Black. The dominance of the Sacred Black was forcing the energy of the Flame of Ruin that entered his body into submission, so there was no backlash.

Before long, an amount of the Flame of Ruin’s energy equivalent to a value of 100 was absorbed into his core. It was the amount that reached the limit of a mortal’s vessel.

Fwaaaaaaat!!

Chris’s dark energy, now imbued with destruction, transformed. Within the deep, deep abyss of his darkness, a blade-like sharpness began to ripple. He had now come to possess an essence of destruction more powerful than anyone in the Destruction Demonic House.

‘The real part starts now.’

Chris took a deep breath. Although he had absorbed a considerable amount of energy, a vast amount still remained in the core. He had to use that energy to have his soul be reborn.

‘The Void of Emptiness.’

Chris’s thoughts sank into the darkness of his Blooming Realm. Within the infinite possibilities drawn by the darkness, he reflected upon the highest True Essence of the direct line of the Destruction Demonic House.

‘The Void of Emptiness is a True Essence where one uses their will to artificially create the concept of a Void, and then uses the energy of destruction to return it to Emptiness, thereby annihilating the target.’

Now, he had to cast that upon his own soul. It was a method that would make even Chris feel fear. But he had to do it.

Fwaaaaat!!

Through his Blooming Realm, he materialized his own soul as the target and applied the True Essence of the Void of Emptiness.

Fwoooosh!

The energy of the Flame of Ruin enveloped his soul.

[Grand Duke Christian!!]

He could hear Kashmir’s shout from a great distance.

Chris gritted his teeth through the pain of his soul collapsing.

‘I have to forge a new soul from within this annihilation.’

The end is another word for the beginning. Only by being annihilated could he be born anew. The problem was whether he could find the answer that would lead to transcendence.

‘If I can’t find the answer, this will just be a meaningless death.’

Within his flickering consciousness, a torrent of countless thoughts flashed by. The experiences of his past life, where he had lived through the Age of Ruin, and of his current life combined with Chris’s talent, repeatedly giving birth to numerous enlightenments only for them to disappear again.