Chapter 243

Chapter 243
## Chapter 243

—

Heavenly Demon VS Randolph

Star Crusher.

A giant with crimson skin, an ogre of legend.

Clad in a tattered mantle and plate mail scarred by countless battles, he gripped a pair of colossal greatswords, each matching his own towering height, in his thick hands.

His gaze fell upon the ‘Mass of Calamity’ that slithered along the earth before him.

Ssss. Sssssssss.

The grating, stomach-turning friction of raw meat dragging across the soil.

An odor so putrid it threatened to seize his breath.

A predator among predators, a void that consumed every speck of matter it encountered!

‘The Unborn Being.’

The golden rule was never to lock eyes with it.

To look was to be swallowed whole.

However, that warning was meant only for those ignorant of the ‘Unborn Being’s’ true nature.

“……That thing is nothing more than the dregs of a leaked Holy Grail.”

The Holy Grail.

A vessel revered as a sacred relic and an instrument of the divine by myriad faiths.

Most Holy Grails were fashioned as icons of the deities they served.

Yet, the Star Crusher was not referring to such mundane artifacts.

The birthplace of ‘that thing’ was the Holy Grail of the gods themselves.

The deepest well of the Grail, a reservoir filled by the confluence of countless divine spirits.

The sediment where every foul and monstrous impurity gathered.

Indeed, if one had to distill this sight into a single thought.

“Repulsive.”

It was beyond loathsome.

Even for the Star Crusher, who had spent an eternity hunting the myriad horrors of the Abyss, the ‘Unborn Being’ was an unwelcome sight.

Its very existence made the Abyss feel like a dumping ground for celestial waste.

A localized apocalypse that scoured the gutters of the Abyss like a sewer rat, eating everything in its path but never finding satiety.

‘That creature has no right to step foot here.’

The Star Crusher felt a flicker of confusion.

Why had such a thing wandered all the way to the Island of God?

It wasn’t a being capable of following orders or serving another’s agenda.

It belonged to a race fueled by nothing but the primal desperation to ‘be born.’

It triumphed through pure instinct and pressed forward without end.

Yet, because it carried a heavy curse ensuring it would never truly manifest into life, it was, in a sense, the most wretched soul present—.

“If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have spared it a glance. Should I thank you for the entertainment?”

With a grimace of a smile, the Star Crusher turned his attention to the woman standing across from him.

The Whale of the Heavenly Axis.

Her expression was an icy void, her eyes hollowed of any recognizable feeling.

She offered no reply.

Even if she had spoken, he wouldn’t have understood her.

The only entity capable of conversing with the Whale of the Heavenly Axis was Destruction itself.

The Star Crusher gave a nonchalant shrug.

“You’ve certainly changed. When you first descended into the Abyss, you were such a guiltless, naive little whale.”

“……”

“I can still see the day the Heavenly Axis shattered as clearly as if it happened an hour ago.”

The Star Crusher drifted back to those memories.

The moment when the Goddess Rhea and a host of divinities sacrificed themselves to hold back ‘Destruction.’

That whale had splintered the Heavenly Axis, causing all cosmic walls to crumble.

Simultaneously, the forbidden overflow of the heavens cascaded down, turning the world below into a nightmare landscape.

The dead rose, impossibilities took form, and things lost to time re-emerged.

…In that chaos, the Abyss reached its final form.

Had the Goddess Pina, Rhea’s twin sister, not managed to buoy the surviving continent at the last second.

The people below would never have had the chance to gaze at the ‘stars’ or the lands above.

“These days, the filth falling from above is caught by ‘towers’ to be burned away, but…… what spilled out back then was the concentrated rot of eons.”

The memory was too sharp.

So vivid it felt like a slow descent into madness.

No matter the passage of time, the image remained.

He wished to forget, but he was denied that mercy.

What curse could be more agonizing?

“So I’ve been wondering. Whale of the Heavenly Axis, why did you do it?”

“……”

“And—why is that ‘mass’ hovering around you?”

“……”

“Are you providing for it? Is it the same way you fed it the ‘Storm Scaler’?”

The Star Crusher saw through the situation instantly.

He knew exactly what the ‘Unborn Being,’ that lump of concentrated curses, was currently breaking down.

It was the ‘Storm Scaler.’

A contender on the Island of God and a tyrant who ruled vast stretches of the Abyss.

Even after consuming such a powerful force, the mass remained ravenous.

Ssss.

Ssssssss.

It stayed close to her, its hunger directed toward him.

‘That thing didn’t just wander in by chance.’

Ah.

A sudden realization struck the Star Crusher.

It hadn’t drifted here.

It had been led.

By the Whale of the Heavenly Axis.

By the woman known as the Princess of the Abyss.

Many in this dark realm claimed titles of kings, queens, or princesses……

But she was the only one who truly held the bloodline.

It wasn’t strange at all that the Unborn Being trailed behind her.

“What is your goal? What are you trying to force into existence?”

That creature was cursed to never be born.

Yet, her act of feeding it suggested a deliberate plan.

What was it?

What life was she trying to spark?

She intended to let it feast on every soul on the Island of God.

To what end would she go to such lengths?

Surely it wasn’t… Destruction?

But the one who commanded Baal was already present.

The Terrible Omen.

The man everyone suspected to be the new avatar of ‘Destruction.’

Of course, that was merely speculation.

‘You can’t accept him. Is that it?’

Indeed.

Was that why she sought to craft her own version?

Was she attempting a resurrection!

“I can’t let your little project reach fruition. Whale of the Heavenly Axis, you truly are a pathetic Princess of the Abyss.”

Chwaaaaaak!

Extending his arms, he gave his blades a sharp flick.

He had no interest in a formal starlight challenge.

The Whale of the Heavenly Axis and the Unborn Being.

‘I’ll put an end to both.’

That was his singular objective.

—

The island trembled.

Colossal powers were clashing somewhere in the distance.

Half a day passed in that state of violent friction.

Eventually, as if a verdict had been rendered, the chaos subsided, and the shroud of night descended.

Night.

A pitch-black firmament without a single glimmer.

The Heavenly Demon began his trek.

‘My vital energy and physical strength are fully restored.’

He felt normal.

No, he felt superior to normal.

He could sense he had crossed a threshold he hadn’t reached before.

‘This is where I will reach Great Completion.’

His mastery of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art had climbed another rung.

This island was proving to be the perfect crucible for his evolution.

Boundless reservoirs of energy and foes of immense caliber.

Furthermore, the Heavenly Demon Map was lending him its latent power.

“Exhilarating.”

While the recent events had been nothing but aggravating, he could now view them as necessary trials on his path to perfection.

A life-or-death struggle with a true master was what he had sought from the start.

However, the one left standing at the end would be him.

The same as it had always been.

‘Those wretched insects gave me quite a bit of trouble, though……’

The parasites of the Sunken Emperor that had burrowed into his flesh were stubborn.

Only by pushing his internal energy to a searing, volatile peak was he able to incinerate them.

During that ordeal, he had stared death in the face multiple times.

His energy channels had nearly knotted, and he had come dangerously close to permanent paralysis on several occasions.

‘But because of that, I’ve transcended.’

Enlightenment had been the byproduct of that agony.

Adapt or perish.

Between those two outcomes, he had chosen to evolve.

In the vast, oceanic expanse of martial arts, he had finally carved out his own territory.

The path to Great Completion was now visible.

‘The Sunken Emperor and the Terrible Omen.’

The scales would be balanced differently now.

He had two primary marks.

Those two, at the very least, would die by his hand alone.

The island had been rocking since dawn, but he couldn’t sense the signatures of those two specific enemies.

He pushed the thought aside.

He would hunt them down, kill them, and then deal with whatever remained.

How long did he spend prowling the island, tracking a familiar aura?

‘……Found you.’

He finally locked onto one of his targets.

However, he couldn’t simply charge in the moment he saw him.

The target was accompanied by a ‘Specter of the Night.’

The night belonged to the ghosts.

Attempting a duel under these conditions was a losing game.

He would only lose his ‘most precious thing’ again and find himself back in the dungeon.

So, he remained in the shadows, observing.

‘What is his game?’

The Terrible Omen.

And the Specter of the Night.

Working in tandem.

Tucked beneath a massive stone, they were focused on something radiant.

‘Starlight.’

It was a shard of starlight.

And not just any shard, but one glowing with a vivid, crimson hue.

But no matter how he looked at it, the scene was bizarre.

Why were a ghost and the Omen standing together by the starlight?

‘……Did the Specter of the Night lead him to it?’

What exactly was that specter?

It wasn’t enough to act as his guardian; was it now acting as his scout?

If they were allied, it presented a major obstacle.

The morning was the designated time for a starlight duel.

But those duels weren’t lethal.

What the Heavenly Demon craved was the man’s heart on a platter.

He needed to strike at night, but with a specter flanking the Omen, a direct approach was suicide.

‘I need to erase that ghost first.’

If he kept his cool, there was a way.

Having been sent to the prison twice, he had eventually figured out how to dispel a specter.

“Quit scurrying around like a vermin and show yourself, Heavenly Demon.”

The voice rang out.

It was the Terrible Omen.

Srrr.

The Heavenly Demon stepped out from the shadows to face him.

“Your senses are sharper than I gave you credit for.”

“……Hard to miss someone who’s practically screaming their murderous intent.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The Heavenly Demon had been radiating bloodlust from a distance.

While keeping his distance from the ghost, he had let his fighting spirit flare toward his rival.

He wanted to see how the man would react.

The Heavenly Demon tossed out a taunt.

“What do you say? Shall we see who dies first? If you’re trembling, feel free to hide behind your ghost friend.”

The Omen, holding the starlight, let out a dry laugh.

“A pathetic attempt at a provocation. Still…… I’ll bite. I happen to be in an excellent mood.”

He accepted the challenge.

Yet, the Heavenly Demon felt a prickle of unease.

He had agreed too easily, but beyond that, something was off.

‘……He’s different.’

He couldn’t pin down exactly what had shifted, but the man was not the same.

They had only met twice before, yet the transformation was palpable.

He felt more volatile, more opaque.

An eerie sensation, as if he were staring at a different species entirely……

‘The Heavenly Demon Map is staying quiet again.’

Furthermore, the Heavenly Demon Map had retreated into his subconscious.

As if it were genuinely terrified.

He had reached a new height of power and energy, so he had expected the Map to be emboldened.

What was it about this man that made the Map cower?

‘No matter. It doesn’t change anything.’

He was a master in his own right, even without the Map’s guidance.

Now that he was on the doorstep of Great Completion, no one could stand against him.

At that precise moment.

Kwarreung!

The Omen slammed his foot down.

The earth groaned, and the very air vibrated with energy.

A crushing weight descended, pinning him in place.

An absolute dominance established by a single stride.

The Heavenly Demon’s brow twitched in shock.

“Heavenly Demon…… Sovereign Step……?”

For a heartbeat, his mind went blank.

He couldn’t fathom how the man had just executed that specific move.

The Heavenly Demon Sovereign Step.

A footwork technique that was the exclusive right of the Heavenly Demon.

And if he could perform it.

“You……!”

It was impossible.

During their first encounter, there hadn’t been a hint of this.

Nor during the second.

So when.

More importantly, how?

“Have you…… mastered the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?”

Was he suggesting that he had learned the secret technique that was meant for the Heavenly Demon alone!

The Omen’s face twisted into a sneer.

“Didn’t your little Map mention it?”

“The Heavenly Demon Map……?”

“Ah. It must have realized that I was the one destined for Great Completion, not you.”

“……You’ve lost your mind.”

If he wasn’t joking, he was a complete lunatic.

The idea that the Heavenly Demon Map would hand over his legacy to this stranger.

In all his years, he had never heard a more absurd claim.

The Heavenly Demon’s face turned to stone.

“I’ll make sure your death is anything but peaceful.”

He would rip this man apart piece by piece.