Chapter 261. Revelation (1)
Thinking about it now...
he may have been the first true equal friend I had ever made in my life.
“GRAAAAAAAH!”
Belial’s body swelled grotesquely.
The pair of wings growing from his back looked almost angelic.
But the rest of him resembled a hideous monster.
Looking at his face, traces of Belial’s original features still remained here and there.
Yet most of it had twisted beyond recognition.
Overall...
he looked like the very image of an ugly demon from a medieval painting.
Belial was so beautiful before... and now he looks like this...!
I had assumed Belial was already dead.
Contrary to what I had thought, he was still alive.
But this was no situation to celebrate.
“Grrrrgh!”
Belial let out a monstrous roar and charged at us.
The moment he swung his arm, black energy erupted from it and swept toward us.
We hurriedly dodged.
“Those are blades formed from concentrated demonic nature!”
“If one hits you directly, assume it’ll kill you!”
Merlin shouted as he deployed countless defensive barriers to obstruct Belial’s movements.
But Belial ignored them completely.
He smashed through the barriers and continued attacking wildly.
“Belial! Snap out of it!”
I shouted his name.
“We have to stop Lucifer’s resurrection!”
“If you don’t stop it, who will?!”
“Lucifer...!”
The moment I mentioned Lucifer’s name...
Belial’s entire body trembled.
“Lucifer... Ooh, Lucifer...!”
“That’s right!”
“The Lucifer you revere is about to be resurrected!”
“You have to stop it!”
I kept shouting.
“You said you would never forgive anyone who dishonored Lucifer’s glorious death!”
“That’s why you joined hands with me!”
“Nameless, I... with you...”
“You said that if the two of us worked together, we could do anything!”
“So open your eyes!”
“Let’s stop Lucifer’s resurrection together...!”
“OOOOOOOOOH!!”
Belial screamed and violently shook his body.
Pitch-black energy exploded from him and swept across the surroundings.
“Nameless King! It’s useless!”
Merlin shouted.
“That demon can’t even properly control his own body anymore!”
“Even if he regains his sanity, we’ll still have to finish him off in the end!”
"...!"
I bit my lip.
Merlin was right.
If I thought about it coldly...
the correct choice was simply to defeat Belial here.
But...
“That demon.”
At that moment, an unexpected voice spoke.
“Is he your friend?”
Kang Yujin was looking at me.
“Yeah...”
I nodded.
Kang Yujin slowly nodded back.
Then he equipped the [Saint’s Divine Fist] on both hands.
“Got it.”
“Then let’s see if we can do something.”
“Kang Yujin!”
Merlin raised his voice, but Kang Yujin ignored him and rushed forward.
“GRAAAAH!”
Kang Yujin broke through the black energy with the [Saint’s Divine Fist] and approached Belial.
Belial swung an arm at him.
Kang Yujin avoided it with [Circular Step], slipped behind him...
and grabbed one of Belial’s wings.
“Hup...!”
He tore it off.
“How can he have that much strength...?!”
Alexei exclaimed in amazement.
Part of it was undoubtedly thanks to the overwhelming divine power contained in the [Saint’s Divine Fist].
But tearing apart the body of a Demon God-class demon like that was something only a handful of Constellations, heroes on Heracles’s level, could normally accomplish.
"...!"
At this point, I couldn’t just stand still either.
I rushed forward despite the danger.
Protecting myself with barriers, I drew Joyeuse.
With this holy sword containing a fragment of the Holy Spear...!
Like Kang Yujin, I broke through Belial’s attacks and tried to approach.
But Belial refused to let me get close.
“GRAAAAAH!”
The moment Belial raised one arm high...
black energy began swirling around him.
The storm-like force caught both me and Kang Yujin and sent us flying backward.
“Nameless King!”
“Kang Yujin!”
Princess Longji and Merlin hurriedly moved to protect us.
Meanwhile...
Belial charged again.
“Damn it...!”
Alexei hurriedly tried to block him.
He was no match.
With a single swing of his arm, Belial sent Alexei flying away.
Then...
he targeted me.
“GRAAAAAAAH!”
Belial’s attacks were completely irregular.
I couldn’t predict his movements at all.
There was no way I could properly respond.
“No choice...!”
Merlin clicked his tongue and reached into the air.
He summoned King Arthur’s spear that he had used during his battle with Kang Yujin...
Rhongomyniad.
Then he launched it at Belial with magic.
SHNK!
Rhongomyniad pierced through the black energy surrounding Belial...
and lodged itself in his shoulder.
“GRAAAAAH!”
Belial thrashed in pain.
At that moment, Princess Longji used the Mist-Dew Universe Net.
Chains of water wrapped around Belial’s arms and legs.
“Kang Yujin!”
“HAAAAAH!”
Kang Yujin shouted and charged again.
He broke through the black energy...
closed the distance...
and tore off Belial’s remaining wing.
“Grrrrrrgh!”
Kang Yujin continued attacking.
Using [Heavenly Splendor Great Thunder], he destroyed Belial’s limbs one after another.
Belial managed to counterattack several times, but Kang Yujin didn’t stop.
He only withdrew after Belial’s body had been battered so badly that he could no longer move.
“Kim Nameless.”
"..."
At Kang Yujin’s call...
I approached Belial.
His body had been crushed beyond recognition.
But he was still alive.
“Ghk... ugh...”
“Belial...”
“Kim... Nameless...”
His eyes turned toward me.
It seemed his sanity had returned again.
“Kill me... quickly...”
“Wait.”
“There might still be a way.”
I reached toward him.
But Belial shook his head and stopped me.
“That’s enough.”
“If you go any farther than this... it’ll be too much.”
“If you keep acting like this... everyone’s going to start finding it strange.”
"...!"
Hearing Belial’s faint voice...
I sucked in a breath.
“Belial, don’t tell me...”
Had Belial realized that I...
was a Constellation?
Had he realized that I wasn’t merely a Contractor using the false name Kim Nameless...
but the Nameless King himself?
“No matter what anyone says... I’m still a demon.”
“You shouldn’t do anything that’ll put you at a disadvantage...”
“But Belial...”
“If I’d known things would end like this...”
“I should’ve openly sided with humanity like Gremory did...”
Belial spoke with bitter self-mockery.
“And anyway...”
“I can tell.”
“There’s no saving me anymore...”
"..."
I bit my lip.
“Belial.”
Gathering myself...
I knelt beside him.
“I’ll stop Lucifer’s resurrection.”
“I promise.”
As I spoke...
I took Belial’s hand.
“So don’t worry.”
“Leave everything to me.”
“Yeah...”
“I’m sure you can do it...”
Belial looked at our clasped hands and smiled.
“After all...”
“we joined hands...”
His breathing gradually became rougher.
“Thinking back...”
“those were really enjoyable days...”
Did he mean the time we had spent together inside Pandemonium when I was still alive?
Or the days after I returned as Kim Nameless...
when we traveled around Korea and China together, plotting all kinds of schemes?
“Maybe...”
“you were... the only one... who ever stood as my equal...”
Belial’s voice trailed off.
But I understood what he had wanted to say.
“Yeah.”
“I think so too.”
We had been equals.
Friends.
The fact that he was a Demon God-class demon of Pandemonium...
and that I had once been an ordinary human with no power at all...
had never mattered between us.
Because that friendship existed...
when we met again, we were able to take each other’s hands and work together once more.
“Before I die...”
“I wanted to call you by your real name...”
Belial never finished the sentence.
A tentacle suddenly erupted from the ground and wrapped around his body.
"...!"
In that instant...
I saw the desperate plea in Belial’s eyes.
I clenched my teeth...
and swung Joyeuse.
And so...
with my own hands...
I ended my friend’s life.
I slowly stood.
The tentacle that had tried to absorb Belial had already retreated back into the floor.
“Nameless King...”
Princess Longji looked at me with concern.
“I’m fine.”
I shook my head lightly.
Then I looked toward the passage Belial had emerged from.
“Let’s go.”
“Ha Mina should be in there.”
We followed the passage deeper underground.
Eventually...
another large chamber appeared.
Unlike the rest of this place, it looked almost like a natural underground cavern.
And in the center of it...
was something resembling an enormous bulb.
“That must be it.”
Merlin frowned.
“An enormous amount of spiritual energy is being concentrated inside that thing.”
“Lucifer’s corpse should be inside it too.”
“Then...”
“The true Lucifer is being created inside.”
“You could call it... the placenta from which Lucifer will be reborn.”
Two people stood in front of the giant mass.
One was a man wearing a crown.
That had to be Bael.
The other...
was Ha Mina.
Both had their hands extended into the air, moving them as though typing on an invisible keyboard while performing some kind of magical operation.
“Bael! Ha Mina!”
When I called their names...
they finally stopped.
“Looks like Belial failed to buy us enough time.”
“It couldn’t be helped.”
“His spiritual rank had fallen far too much.”
After exchanging those words with Ha Mina...
Bael looked toward us.
“A pleasure to meet you, gentlemen.”
“I am Bael, No. 1 of Pandemonium’s Seventy-Two Demons.”
“Are you responsible for all of this?”
“You could say that.”
Bael nodded.
“My approach to resurrecting His Majesty Lucifer was different from Moloch’s and Ha Mina’s.”
“They prioritized restoring His Majesty’s flesh.”
“I prioritized restoring His spirit.”
“That is why I was gathering holy relics.”
“But after you Constellations monopolized them...”
“I had no choice but to make use of my own brethren.”
“So you turned Belial and the other Demon God-class demons into nourishment for Lucifer?”
“That’s right.”
“If enough spiritual energy from fallen angels is gathered and forcibly injected into one being, that being can be elevated to a much higher spiritual rank.”
“It is terribly inefficient, of course.”
After saying that...
Bael turned toward Ha Mina.
“At first, I believed that would be enough.”
“But after hearing Belial’s criticism, I realized a more perfect resurrection was necessary.”
“Belial’s criticism?”
“That is why I brought this woman here.”
Ha Mina had been ahead when it came to Lucifer’s physical aspect.
Bael had been ahead when it came to Lucifer’s spiritual aspect.
If the two joined forces...
they could undoubtedly resurrect Lucifer in a much more complete form.
“Is that why you brought Christina and Sylvia here too?”
“That’s right.”
“They don’t actually care about resurrecting Lucifer.”
“They only want power.”
“How did you persuade them?”
“Did you lie to them?”
“Well.”
“Who can say?”
As we spoke...
Merlin stepped forward.
“Bael, there should be two possible ways to resurrect Lucifer in the current situation.”
“Hmm.”
“And what would those be?”
“One is to create a completely new body for Lucifer from the mass of flesh being cultivated inside that placenta.”
“That was probably your original plan.”
“Yes.”
“You are correct.”
“And the other...”
“is to use a Vessel.”
Merlin glanced at Kang Yujin.
“Fuse Christina or Sylvia with that mass.”
“Or inject only its energy into them.”
“Then use the Vessel as the base for Lucifer’s resurrection.”
“That’s correct, Merlin.”
Ha Mina nodded.
“I believe it will ultimately be either Christina... or Kang Yujin.”
“What a joke.”
Kang Yujin frowned.
“And who says I’ll cooperate?”
“We can force you.”
“Even if you did...”
“do you really think I’d leave you alone after gaining Lucifer’s power?”
“Don’t misunderstand, Kang Yujin.”
Ha Mina shook her head.
“Lucifer’s personality will take control of your body.”
“I’ve been wondering about something for a while.”
Kang Yujin glared at Ha Mina.
“Is Lucifer’s soul just floating around somewhere?”
“You make him a body, then his soul just jumps into it?”
“Something like that.”
“Are you sure you people haven’t misunderstood something on a fundamental level?”
“No.”
“They probably haven’t, Kang Yujin.”
Merlin spoke.
“When Lucifer died and his body was shattered, his soul was shattered as well.”
“Some fragments probably remained in that corpse.”
“Others scattered all across the Earth.”
“Souls can do that?”
“Lucifer is an extremely unusual existence.”
“Anyway, if the flesh and spirit are prepared...”
“then through a magical ritual, it wouldn’t be impossible to summon the fragments of Lucifer’s soul scattered around the world.”
“Of course, restoring one hundred percent of it would be impossible.”
Merlin glared at Ha Mina.
“You intend to summon Lucifer’s soul fragments like that...”
“then overwrite Kang Yujin’s or Christina’s personality with them.”
“That’s your plan.”
“Exactly, Merlin.”
Ha Mina smiled faintly.
“Though Christina seems to possess the baseless confidence that her own personality would somehow win.”
Merlin tapped his staff against the floor.
“We’ve talked long enough.”
“There’s no reason to waste any more time.”
At that moment...
the magic Merlin had been preparing throughout the conversation activated.
Countless magic circles filled the chamber.
Chains shot out from them and tightly bound both Bael and Ha Mina.
“Kang Yujin, Ha Mina is one thing, but Bael will break free quickly.”
“Deal with him.”
“Got it!”
“Nameless King, it would be better to destroy that placenta using pure physical force.”
“We don’t know what kind of reaction divine power or magic might cause.”
“Then I’ll use this sword.”
Instead of Joyeuse...
I drew the sword I had inherited from the Count of Monte Cristo.
Destroy that mass.
Defeat Christina and Sylvia.
Then this would finally be over.
“You should stop there, Nameless King.”
Ha Mina called out to me.
“If you refuse to stop now...”
“we won’t remain idle either.”
“I don’t know what trick you’re planning, but it won’t work.”
“Is that so?”
“Then I suppose there’s no helping it.”
I ignored Ha Mina and continued forward.
But then...
“Nameless King.”
“We examined Belial’s memories.”
“What?”
At Ha Mina’s cold voice...
I stopped.
Merlin seemed to realize something and shouted urgently.
“Number 49! Cut the Constellation Tube broadcast!”
But...
Ha Mina was faster.
“Nameless King, you are no hero.”
“Your true identity is nothing more than a lowest-tier Contractor from the Material Realm...”
“someone who never possessed the qualifications to become a Constellation in the first place.”
