Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 252 : Demon's Lantern (1)

Demon's Lantern (1)

A white blade fell, cleaving the sword of black radiance in half.

Other than Baek Hojun and Cade, there was only one person here who had clearly witnessed it.

At a glance, it looked similar to the old 'Thousand Swords', but in truth, it was entirely different.

Not countless swords, but one.

But that was exactly why it was clear.

Hojun's sword right now...

"... It fell just a little short."

For a moment, as the flashes dispersing in all directions scattered, Cade's calm voice was heard.

Could it be that he had survived that strike just now?

"It came just a single step short of the realm of the gods."

Cade said that, and then let out a low chuckle.

Looking down, one could see his own body cleanly cut from the shoulder in a straight line.

From the finely sliced wound, black flames began to seep out little by little.

It was a strike that wouldn't have been odd if it had killed him outright, but Cade's body bore it.

Of course, that didn't mean he was unharmed.

"But it seems you've gone one step ahead of me."

Cade looked at Baek Hojun, who had stopped with his sword after swinging it.

Hojun, having swung his sword vertically, had his sword stuck into the ground and his eyes glazed over.

His faint breathing told them that he was still alive.

It was the price for glimpsing the lofty state he had so yearned for—a miracle.

"Well, I lost spectacularly."

Cade lowered the sword he had been holding.

After all, Baek Hojun would hardly be able to hear his words.

To be honest, to go up to him and swing the sword in his current role as the 'Blade of Malice' would have been expected of him.

The reason he didn't go that far was as a return for having let him witness that sword just now.

"The endpoint of the sword that a human has reached."

Cade had thought he had reached the highest level possible with his sword.

That's why he had chased one step behind the 'Demon King', burning up all his lifespan.

But, it seemed he had made a miscalculation.

To realize there was a higher realm yet, with the sword.

'This is... yes, I suppose I ought to call it bitterness.'

Hojun had lost consciousness immediately after swinging his sword.

If he approached and struck now, it would have been a tie.

Even if he died, he could take one with him.

No matter how much his body deteriorated, no one could stop the strike he would deliver in this state.

"... Lee Soo-ah."

At that moment, Cade laughed briefly as he saw Soo-ah step forward with her sword raised, blocking Hojun.

"I thought I said it. That I had lost. Even if I kill him now, it'll just be a pitiful struggle in the end, won't it?"

"The future of the demons is at stake, and yet you speak quite casually,"

Soo-ah said, watching Cade warily.

At her words, Cade shrugged.

"I told you. My role was merely to buy some time. Achieving only that is sufficient for me. Of course, it's a bit regretful I couldn't kill you all, though."

He decided to overlook that, as thanks for having shown him something beautiful at the very last moment.

"But that magic of yours, it still isn't a true miracle."

Cade spoke to Shin Ah-yeon, who was gazing at him wearily.

The perspectives of the people watching through the camera in Alencia, and the 'Wish' she was drawing some magic power from, were both inefficient.

To be exact, she couldn't convert the incoming wishes properly into magic power and ended up discarding most of it.

When she used it in Gangnam, she hadn't drawn in nearly as much at once—this time, she had lost control due to the sheer volume.

"That much won't be enough to stop the lantern of the demons."

"The lantern of the demons...?"

"Soon, it will rise. Though, whether that lantern becomes a fire to burn the world down, or merely a guiding light... I don't know either."

Kuku-kuku-kung!!

As soon as Cade finished speaking, the earth began to tremble violently.

The ground that had been shaking ever so slightly began to rise, and dirt soared upward in every direction.

'Something... something is rising.'

The first to realize the reason was Shin Ah-yeon.

Something deep underground was ascending.

A tremendous demonic energy and the power of Origin composed with 'divine art.'

"Everyone, run back! We need to get out of the demonic zone!!"

If they stayed still, it was clear they would be swept away in this sudden disaster.

At Shin Ah-yeon's urgent shout, Eugene was the first to move.

Alencia, too, after glancing briefly at Cade, reached out her hand toward the others.

'This Saintess is quite competitive.'

That look was her way of saying she hadn't intervened 'on purpose' in Baek Hojun's fight.

Perhaps it was out of respect for Baek Hojun's own will not wanting others to interfere in this battle.

"You."

At that moment, Soo-ah, carrying Baek Hojun on her back, spoke to Cade.

"Are you just going to die here?"

"That's not quite the right phrasing. I'm as good as dead anyway."

At his words, Soo-ah was at a loss for words.

Indeed, he had been burning his own lifespan to gain power for this moment.

Now, having suffered a mortal wound from Baek Hojun, he would surely die soon as he said.

"Come to think of it, that last sword was meant for you."

"......."

"Just a word of advice—better master it well and return here."

"... What do you mean by that?"

A rather meaningful statement.

To say she must master the 'Heavenly Sword' that Baek Hojun had just swung.

It sounded almost like a hint that there would be a reason she'd need it.

"I die here, but my heart remains. And there is already a herald who will come to recover it."

"!!"

At those words, as Soo-ah drew her sword, Cade smiled faintly.

"At a time like this, you should be running for your life, and you want to fight here? Just so you know, I won't die until that herald arrives. There's no way I'll let my heart be stolen."

If it came to that, the only one to die would be Soo-ah.

Plus, Baek Hojun, whom she was carrying, would be in danger as well.

"This is a warning and advice. The one to use my heart has already been chosen. And he will become, not merely like me... but closer to a demon god. Just like the Jin Su-hyuk you knew."

That was the reason Cade had burned away his life without hesitation, and why Damian had allowed it. Even if this body burned away and vanished, it was still the body of Owen, united with Cade.

Of course, that didn't mean he wouldn't die.

By becoming one, Cade and Owen were now, in a sense, perfectly reconstructed as a new Cade.

But as is the case for all demons, that heart alone would remain undestroyed.

The demon's heart, strengthened further by the combined power of Cade and Owen.

Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-KWANG!!

As the ground collapsed, Cade's body staggered.

The land of the demonic zone split into thousands of pieces, revealing the underground bedrock as it cracked open.

"Well then, until we meet again. Although, I suppose it won't really be me next time."

With those words, Cade flung himself toward the crumbling cliff.

Unable to stop or catch him, Soo-ah watched the scene for a moment before turning away.

Had she stayed, just as he had said, she would have been swept up in the collapse and her life would have been in danger.

'Cade's demon heart.'

And the one chosen to receive it.

Cade had told her to properly master the 'Thousand Swords' by the time that day arrived.

In other words, he was telling Soo-ah in advance just what she would be fighting from now on.

A being who had reached the realm of the gods with the sword.

That was the opponent Soo-ah would have to face from now on.

***

From a young age, Damian had heard countless stories about Jung-woo.

It was only natural.

The man who killed the Demon King.

The one who plunged the demon realm into ruin and hell.

To Damian, the Demon King—his father—had been the strongest being in the world.

Not simply because he had been a child.

Everyone had called his father by that title and praised him.

Even the saints, the humans most like gods, couldn't stand against his father, and it was said the heroes of many worlds hadn't even left a scratch on him.

He alone could destroy a star, and his very existence was the entirety of the demon realm.

In a world ruled by the strong, he had stood alone at the very summit for countless years.

And yet, a human appeared who killed him.

Park Jung-woo, and Estella.

The two had ultimately ripped out his father's heart and implanted it in Jung-woo.

So that another Demon King could never be born again.

Kwaaaaang!!

How many times was it, now?

Damian regenerated his broken arms and watched Jung-woo approaching.

He was a top-rank demon.

One of the strongest among even those, and at his age was so prodigious that all the demons called him the second coming of the Demon King.

'Still, I can't match my father.'

And, naturally, I can't match the Park Jung-woo standing before me, either.

He was the man who killed the Demon King.

Furthermore, he was now using even that power freely.

Give him a little more time, and he would complete his fusion with the Demon King's power.

'You're not the only one pressed for time, Park Jung-woo.'

Damian also needed to settle things before Jung-woo fully mastered the 'Demon King's heart'.

'Even if I left you alone, you would have absorbed it perfectly eventually.'

The moment his opponent raised his fist, Damian aimed for it and landed a punch square on his jaw.

Had it been a normal human or demon, their head would have burst, but Jung-woo brought his raised fist down vertically in that state.

Kwaaaang!

With a tremendous crash, Damian's body was slammed into the earth.

Kung, kuku-kuku-kung!

The ground didn't break.

It hadn't been designed light enough to shatter so easily.

Damian pushed himself up from the trembling ground.

No—before he could, Jung-woo's kick landed, sending him flying.

"Keugh!!"

Bouncing several times, he crashed into a metal wall and blood gushed from his lips.

But this wasn't enough to kill him.

The footing beneath him shook as the 'fortress' rapidly began to ascend.

As the fortress that had been buried underground shot toward the sky, the massive heart behind Damian throbbed ever more violently.

As if it were reacting to the fight between Damian and Jung-woo.

"... It seems to be responding to my use of the Demon King's power."

Jung-woo noticed it late, but the heart wasn't actually absorbing the Demon King's power.

It was simply resonating.

Naturally, that heart contained the 'remains of the Demon King' itself, so it was only natural.

"You called yourself the helmsman earlier,"

Jung-woo said, watching Damian as he slowly rose.

"For a helmsman, it seems you no longer have the Demon King's power, doesn't it?"

"......."

Damian let out a low laugh at those words.

"Isn't it obvious? I already passed all the power to another. I have only enough left to set its course."

Helmsman. Jung-woo thought the term was a bit off.

Damian was not the helmsman, but the 'key'.

The starting point to set this heart in motion.

That was all he was.

"Jin Su-hyuk, is it?"

"... Who knows."

A vague answer, but that was enough.

He never intended to fight it out here.

His purpose here was to launch this 'fortress' into the air.

And the bit of Demon King power that had been missing was replenished in the clash with Jung-woo.

Through 'resonance', by providing a little stimulus.

"Now the fortress will move along its set trajectory. Rising into the sky, it will attempt to terraform this world into a demon realm."

Kwaaaang!!

With a roar from the outer wall, Jung-woo suddenly felt his body lighten.

The fortress had broken through the ground and begun to soar toward the sky.

"I cannot defeat you, Park Jung-woo."

He had known that from the beginning.

If the Demon King couldn't win, neither could he.

As a pure demon, he simply couldn't.

"So I prepared something that can win."

Demon God.

If something could kill the monster that even the Demon King could not, it would only be the god of the demons.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

It seems Kang Min-gi will inherit Cade's demon heart.

So Soo-ah+Ah-yeon vs Kang Min-gi

And Jung-woo vs Jin Su-hyuk

30 chapters left.

「٩(๑•̀o•́๑)و」