Book 2: Chapter 444
He didn’t want to fight. That was the first thought he had.
But, contrary to his wish, he knew there was no way to avoid a confrontation. Lukas reached up to touch his carotid artery.
…He had no idea what kind of power she’d use.
He knew about her fighting style in the past when she was an Absolute and after her fall. But Sedi would probably show a completely different fighting style now.
‘Because she couldn’t have defeated Kasajin, who was the [0th Demon] with the power she had at that time.’
He could feel tension begin to seep in from his head to his toes.
Lukas hadn’t seen her fight. He regretted that. If he knew something like this would happen, he would have tried to accompany her somehow when she went to fight Pale.
Of course, this wasn’t the time for regrets.
Instead, his mind drifted to Lee Jong-hak.
To be precise, he thought of the Lightning God hidden within Lee Jong-hak.
Ssss-
He could feel darkness wriggling all over Sedi’s body. At first glance, it seemed like the darkness was moving secretly, but in truth, the darkness had no intention of hiding its presence.
Did she not want to attack?
Or did she think it didn’t matter if he noticed or not?
In the next moment, he realised it was the latter.
Paak!
The darkness shot to Lukas in the shape of a thorn(1*). It moved at a speed that was physically impossible.(*:Previously ‘horn’, explanation below.)
Nevertheless, Lukas had completed his preparations. Opinions about whether those preparations were enough or not would probably differ, but he didn’t act carelessly.
Sedi’s first attack lacked decisiveness. Instead, it was more of a check or probe. He could easily tell that much.
There was definitely a difference in level between the two of them. However, if it was an attack that was only intended to probe, it could be handled without difficulty.
Or at least, it should’ve been.
Puk.
“…!”
He felt a sharp pain in his abdomen.
Unable to withstand the force, Lukas was sent flying backwards, blood spewing from his mouth. The wall did nothing to stop his flying body. Instead, Lukas broke through dozens of walls with his back, and before long, he appeared outside of the castle all together.
This castle was like a bat stuck to the ceiling. The only place to stand outside of it was the small piece of land in front of the entrance.
What unfolded for Lukas, who had broken through the walls of the castle, was the view of a long fall.
But Lukas’ body didn’t fall. This was because the thorn that pierced through his body was firmly holding him in the air.
“Kuk…”
The pain of the thorn piercing his body was quite formidable.
The power of a Ruler.
It was said to be the next stage of external force, the power that the Lightning God used was called [Thunder]. This thorn probably contained the same kind of power as the Lightning God’s ‘Thunder’.
Sedi was freely using this power.
‘…a power that directly opposes Void.’
Once his body was attacked with this power, he would essentially be helpless afterwards. So the minimum condition to win this fight would be to not touch the thorn at all.
Lukas grit his teeth.
Void.
He was unable to use the power he devoured countless Lukases to obtain.
“Cough!”
Unable to suppress the blood rising up his throat, he coughed it out. The blood was the colour of burnt ashes.
This thorn that had pierced him… was dangerous.
It felt as if it wasn’t just his body, but something more important that had been pierced and held in place. It also felt as if the thorn was sucking his energy out.
Lukas grabbed the thorn with both hands. Then, he tried to break it forcefully. His void might not be available, but his current physical ability was nothing to scoff at.
He could probably fold a thick steel bar five times with just his grip.
But the thorn was unmoved. There were no signs of it breaking.
Lukas realised.
He would not be able to break this thorn. It was impossible for him to even bend it or interfere with it in any way.
Tap tap-
On the thorn that pierced Lukas’ body, a girl could be seen walking from the castle.
“What are you going to do when you’re so weak?”
Her long hair swayed back and forth as she walked.
“Father, did you know, I changed my view of humans.”
At the sudden remark, Lukas coughed up blood once more before opening his mouth.
“What…?”
“Father is a human who couldn’t live and can’t die. Humans as individuals are weak like bugs, but the higher their numbers go, the greater the synergy they create. They are the race with the greatest potential in the Three Thousand Worlds.”
Her quiet, muffled voice approached.
He’d lost too much blood. His consciousness was fading.
Being unable to use void meant that the ability to recover from injuries had also been lost. Nevertheless, Lukas forcibly focused his blurred vision. Then he looked directly into the eyes of Sedi, who had drawn near.
Sedi’s gaze darkened.
“I hated humans. I thought that they were so united because they were all weak. But it wasn’t like that. I was actually envious of them. Although they were weak, they acknowledged their weakness, and joined together to make up for their weaknesses with their strengths.”
“…”
“I acknowledge that fact now. And I’ve come to fully understand the human race. Relationships built on relying on each other… It’s amazing. I thought Father and I could have a relationship like that.”
Then she looked at Lukas with anticipation filled eyes. But in the same instant, her gaze became one of disappointment instead.
“…there is no response. I thought Father would be happy if I said this.”
She had twisted it.
Lukas couldn’t help but think so.
The current Sedi, she didn’t understand the beauty of humans at all.
She was just trying to force a concord. In truth, it was a very obsequious way of speaking to bring up topics that one had no real interest in.
Even with his blurred vision, Lukas could see that much.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Did I say something wrong?”
“…do you rely on me?”
“Of course not. But just looking at Father gives me a lot of strength. I feel like I can do literally anything.”
“…that’s not what it means to rely on someone.”
Lukas continued to speak in a faint voice.
“You’re forcing me to be your father.”
“…”
“Your only goal is to receive an extremely selfish satisfaction from it. Because you need to truly care about someone to fully understand.”
He looked at the thorn piercing his body.
“Your actions don’t show that at all.”
“-then what if I had cared for you?”
Sedi’s voice rose sharply.
“Is it considered caring if I’d let Father go when you said you were leaving? When I don’t know if we’d ever see each other again? I…”
Her face became distorted and her hair began to flutter.
Then, her raised voice took on a dark tone.
“I gave up everything, and I came here for what I gave everything up for!”
“…Sedi.”
“It’s not like that. You’re wrong. I’m not being selfish. It’s Father.”
“…”
“Right, right I understand now. That is also a possibility. Now that Father is weak, your mind and body can’t be separated. Because Father is weak. Huh. And it’s not strange for the weak to be wrong about things.”
…It was different from Lee Jong-hak.
‘Sedi Trowman’ was the one who was currently in control of her body.
He could feel the Black Horned Demon God’s power, but not his consciousness.
While it might seem fortunate that she was able to keep her mind, in truth, it might be even worse.
Sedi’s mind now… had been tainted.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Sedi smiled brightly.
“I don’t like that look.”
At those words, a thorn extended from his index finger and stabbed Lukas’ right eye.
Puk.
“Kuk…”
As his vision darkened instantly, Lukas couldn’t help but let out a groan.
“As expected, Father is amazing. This thorn can stimulate your nervous system to the maximum, and the pain is usually thousands of times more than normal. If it was a weak person, just a stab to the finger would probably be enough to melt their brain and make them die of shock. Isn’t that interesting? Kikiki.”
Sedi spoke in a blissful voice.
“And yet Father barely groaned. This proves that your mental strength far surpasses the level of Absolutes. Nevertheless, it’s time to put a stop to this, isn’t it? You lost a lot of blood, so your consciousness is probably blurred.”
“…”
“Get some sleep. And leave everything to me. Then everything will be fine.”
He couldn’t lose consciousness.
It would be dangerous to lose consciousness right now.
Nevertheless, his eyelids were becoming heavy. And his consciousness was gradually fading to darkness.
Lukas’ head dropped.
* * *
He felt moisture.
Drip.
And a cold feeling.
…Was it a drop of water?
Lukas opened his eyes. To be precise, he only opened one eye.
‘This place…’
It was very dark. There was only a flickering lamp in the corner of the room that seemed like it would go out at any moment. The overall scene was reminiscent of a dungeon.
The iron bars were strangely cold as if they were covered in a desolate aura.
Rustle-
Instinctively, he tried to move his arm, but he couldn’t.
That wasn’t all.
“…”
He had no hands… or feet.
Lukas’ arms had been cut off from the forearms, and his legs had been cut below the thighs.
“Kuh…”
It was only then that he noticed the horrific pain. The pain was so severe that even Lukas, who had an extreme tolerance for pain, couldn’t help but groan.
He realised.
The thorn that had pierced his eye, his limbs had probably been cut off with the same thorn.
He had once shown Sedi his power of void. That wasn’t all. It was none other than Lukas who had healed her wounds after her fight with Pale.
The amputation of his limbs had probably been done while keeping void in mind.
But, in truth, it was an unnecessary measure.
The current Lukas couldn’t use the power of void.
“…why?”
A cracked voice leaked out.
‘Why can’t I use void?’
He asked the voices that had always been screaming annoyingly in his head.
[…]
[…]
But all he received was silence.
At some point, the voices had disappeared entirely and he could no longer hear them.
“…haha.”
Lukas let out a dry laugh.
‘Why were they no longer here?’
No. That wasn’t it. Lukas ridiculed his attempt to ignore reality.
This was the result of his own actions, and it was the karma that Lukas had to pay.
They hadn’t abandoned Lukas.
It was Lukas who had broken his promise to them.
He was the one who chose to throw away his responsibilities first.
‘They didn’t want me to play that kind of role.’
He wasn’t supposed to entrust his responsibilities to anyone, even Sedi, who said she was his daughter and who Lukas considered to be such.
Because they were all Lukas.
Even though they had all lived different lives, had different values, and had different personalities, they were all undeniably Lukas.
‘Had I really been convinced?’
He hadn’t.
It was as Kasajin said.
He knew. He knew everything.
And yet, he pretended not to know.
He’d wanted to stay a bit more ignorant.
He knew all too well that not knowing would make him happy and knowing would make him unhappy.
…He didn’t want to wake up.
The brief dream in the castle had been so sweet.
He was so comfortable and happy that he could cry, so he ignored his discomfort. He ignored the warnings.
And this was the result.
Creak-
Then came the sound of the iron door opening.
Tap tap, he felt someone enter this space.
Lukas looked through the iron bars with his one remaining eye.
“How are you, Father?”
Tap tap, tap.
“…”
Lukas looked at Sedi for a moment.
Then, his gaze turned to something she was holding in her right hand. Holding like it was a package.
Of course, it wasn’t a package.
“Looking at your face, you seem fine. Did you just wake up?”
“…what are you holding?”
“Ah. By the way, not a lot of time passed. In our concept of time… it should be about half a day.”
“What are you holding?”
“I wanted to come right away, but I had some things to take care of, so-”
“Sedi Glaston.”
Sedi, who had been talking with a bright smile, stopped.
The air seemed to freeze.
But Lukas continued in a heated tone.
“What are you holding?”
Sedi looked at Lukas with a blank expression, then she opened the iron door and walked into the cell.
Clang, creak…
Then, she rolled the thing she was holding in her right hand over to Lukas.
Clatter-
“It’s the result of the purge. I came here as fast as I could. Father knows, right? Corpses in this world disappear quickly.”
“…”
That head.
That head, which had come to a stop right in front of Lukas, had a very calm expression.
The furrowed eyebrows and closed eyes allowed one to feel this guy’s characteristic stubbornness.
A face he could envision even while asleep.
It was Kasajin’s defenceless face.
“I clearly warned him. I told him not to speak nonsense, it was this guy who broke it first.”
Lukas looked up.
“So, I killed him.”
He was looking at the severed head of his best friend, the Magic Warrior King, Kasajin.
Shwaa-
Then, right before Lukas’ eyes,
Kasajin’s head disappeared as if it had evaporated.
“He was kinda annoying.”
Sedi smiled sadistically at the stunned Lukas.
(TL: Well this took a turn.)
(Note:
1.I was going to stick with it, but now that it is appearing more often I figure I might as well fix/explain it. Long story short, the Black Horned Demon God should have been the ‘Black Thorned Demon King/Demon King of Black Thorns’(changed to Demon *God* to avoid confusion) but I believe that I made a typo and wrote ‘Horned’ instead. Usually with titles, I just go back to check/copy what I wrote before since there are so many ways to interpret them hence why it stayed as ‘horned’. But a while ago, when they started mentioning the name more often I actually ‘looked’ at it and noticed that I’d been calling him ‘horned’ this entire time. I used ‘horn(s)’ to describe the power before for the sake of continuity and to avoid confusion, but I decided to correct it to ‘thorns’ since it is a bit debilitating. It has been corrected in the previous chapters(as far as I could remember it being mentioned)
I will continue to use the name ‘Black Horned Demon God’ because I find it amusing that this happened again(something similar happened in S1 with Frey’s mother’s name).
For reference, horn is ‘뿔-ppul’ while thorn(and a lot of other things that are thin and sharp) is ‘가시-gasi’.
TLDR: Black Horned Demon God uses the power of thorns.)