[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]

Chapter 421

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The fierce exchange of blows continued.

Though Ulion’s power had been altered, his prowess in wielding the power of light was on a completely different level.

'He's going to release Stage 3.'

He had wanted to end this at Stage 2 if possible, but at this rate, Ulion would unleash his maximum power, Stage 3.

"How long do you intend to only defend?"

Ulion swung his sword downward, and Jeong-hoon raised his own to meet the strike head-on.

Rumble—

In that instant, an immense pressure crushed down on Jeong-hoon’s body, and the ground beneath his feet buckled from the impact.

The backlash was considerable.

Capillaries burst in Jeong-hoon's eyes, his eardrums ruptured, and blood streamed from his nose and mouth from the internal injuries.

'Divine Healing.'

Jeong-hoon tried to recover his body using Divine Healing.

However, unlike before, Divine Healing had no effect.

'This is dangerous…'

Janus's expression turned grave.

'A seal.'

The power of light that Ulion wielded. That power had shackled Jeong-hoon’s body.

"Huuup!"

Jeong-hoon drew forth even more of his energy and quickly shattered the shackles binding his body.

Shatter!

With the sound of impact ringing in his head, Divine Healing activated once more.

[Using 'Divine Healing'.]

Jeong-hoon’s body recovered rapidly, and his movements grew even faster.

"Hoh, to break these shackles. Indeed, Janus… you must be eliminated here."

"You are the one who will die."

"Human. I was not speaking to you."

Ulion saw Jeong-hoon as nothing more than Janus’s puppet. After all, wasn't it only because of Janus that he could cross over to the Divine Realm and stand against him? Therefore, he would kill this human and annihilate Janus right here. Weren't the preparations being made on the inside for the destruction of the Divine Realm and, furthermore, the annihilation of the High God Primatos? Janus was included in that goal. He would eliminate them all and become the true master.

"Then you shouldn't be looking at me when you say that."

Jeong-hoon once again used the Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion and stood before Ulion.

"No, you are far too weak."

Ulion’s aura grew fiercer. The ash-colored armor, which had begun to glow darkly, turned an even deeper shade, and his aura boasted a profound abyss.

That was Stage 3.

'…!'

Jeong-hoon swung his sword instinctively.

Clang!

A sharp metallic sound rang out as a shock ran through his entire body. He nearly lost his balance and collapsed.

'Swing!'

Janus shouted urgently.

'I know.'

Even if Jeong-hoon managed to defend against Ulion's strike, dozens of blades would follow, threatening his life. The speed was so fast he couldn’t even follow it with his eyes. He relied on his senses to parry the blades, but even then, he couldn’t defend perfectly, and the number of cuts on his body increased.

[Using 'Divine Healing'.]

When he suffered a critical wound, he hastily used Divine Healing to treat his body.

"How long do you think such petty tricks will work?"

Ulion's glowing white eyes scanned Jeong-hoon from head to toe.

"Of course they'll work."

The corners of Jeong-hoon’s mouth slowly curled upward.

"What?"

At the absurd reply, Ulion’s brow furrowed.

He thrust his sword forward.

Countless strikes stabbed at Jeong-hoon, and with his barriers rendered meaningless, he failed to defend against the assault completely.

"Keuk!"

As his entire body was mangled, Jeong-hoon coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Ulion, intending to end it there, pulled the sword from Jeong-hoon's abdomen, raised it high, and struck down.

CRASH!

In that moment, Jeong-hoon’s form vanished, and Ulion’s sword struck the ground.

'What?'

Ulion’s face was awash with bewilderment.

He couldn't read the movement at all.

How on earth did this happen? The man’s prowess was certainly admirable, but compared to himself, known as the god of the battlefield, it was severely lacking. It would have been normal for him to have lost his life to that attack.

Slice!

Just as that thought crossed his mind, he felt a sharp pain in his back.

Ulion hurriedly turned around.

In that instant, his vision wavered and spun.

'Huh…?'

What is happening?

Thud.

His neck had been cut.

And very cleanly, at that.

"Huu, that hurt like hell."

Jeong-hoon healed his body with Divine Healing as he looked down at Ulion.

'H-How did you do that?'

'Master?!'

Mukho and Anima, who had been watching with anxiousness from the side, were left with their mouths agape.

'Hah…'

Even Tenebris was so shocked he couldn't form words.

"This guy told me how to do it. That’s how I was able to get him."

Jeong-hoon said, pointing a finger at Ulion's head.

'He told you?'

"Yeah. About how to handle annihilation."

'Annihilation?'

Mukho tilted his head in confusion.

In the battle against Ulion just now, he couldn't recall anything related to annihilation.

"That bastard stopped me from being able to heal."

'What does that have to do with annihilation?'

"A rule."

'A rule?'

"Yeah."

The coexistence of Light and Darkness.

Ulion had shackled him by making processed Light coexist with Darkness.

And he had broken those shackles with a stronger Light and Darkness.

Jeong-hoon got a hint from that.

If Ulion could do it, there was no way he, who wielded a stronger power, couldn't.

So, he induced carelessness and set a rule of 'instant death' on the Titan's sword.

As expected, the rule-setting was successful. He focused on speed to evade Ulion's attack for a moment, then finished the battle by slicing his back and neck.

'Hoh, you have good instincts.'

Janus clapped his hands, overjoyed.

"…Let's not even talk about it."

Jeong-hoon glared at Janus for a moment before retrieving his sword.

'Hmm? Are you angry because I didn't tell you just now?'

All Janus had done was enable Jeong-hoon to wield both Light and Darkness. He hadn't offered any additional advice. In other words, when it came to wielding the ability, Jeong-hoon had to discover and apply it on his own. If he had received a proper explanation from Janus, he probably could have eliminated Ulion much faster.

However, Jeong-hoon wasn't angry about that.

"His neck was cut, but he didn't die."

Despite his neck being severed, Ulion's eyes were wide open, glaring at Jeong-hoon.

"Human… do not delude yourself into thinking you've won."

"No, however you look at it, I won."

"Silence! I only allowed myself to be defeated to buy time!"

"Ah, so you expected to lose?"

"Keuk!"

Ulion grit his teeth.

For some reason, he felt like he was getting drawn into the conversation with this creation.

Well, it’s fine. The signal just came that the preparations are complete.

The human seems to have felt it too. The look on his face is quite a sight.

"You guys… what are you plotting in there?"

An evil energy emanated from beyond the door. At the same time, clusters of light were leaking through the cracks.

"You used the Divine Realm to get one over on us. We have to return the favor."

Ulion grinned.

"Return the favor? Do you mean you intend to seize authority over New World again?"

"Huhu, do you think we were simply destroying dimensions? That entire process was for the sake of bringing down the Divine Realm."

So since the Divine Realm was pressuring them, they decided to draw their own swords.

Jeong-hoon glanced at Tenebris from the corner of his eye.

Tenebris’s face was contorted, and a look of astonishment flowed from his eyes.

'Those filthy bastards, to think they had prepared to that extent.'

"Tenebris, are you watching?"

Ulion said, looking at Jeong-hoon.

'Ulion…'

Tenebris muttered, grinding his teeth.

"Yes. You must be watching. We are very grateful to you."

'What?'

"Most of the power we sealed and took from you. We saved this power for today."

'…'

"And to that, we will add the power we sealed and took from Psyche to seize control of the Divine Realm."

The moment Ulion finished speaking, the door slid open.

'Dodge!'

Janus shouted urgently, and Jeong-hoon reflexively crouched down.

KABOOOOOM!

In that instant, an explosion slammed into his ears.

[Error! Error!]

[The system is being destroyed.]

The message that the system was being destroyed was followed by Ulion's laughter.

"Kuhuhu! Hahahaha!"

"...Shut up, you're being noisy."

Crack!

Jeong-hoon, having regained his senses, brought his sword down on Ulion's head.

"Hahaha… Gaaah…"

Only after his head was smashed did Ulion's breath finally cease.

"My head hurts."

Jeong-hoon staggered to his feet.

The door that had been closed was now wide open, and through it, the Named were slowly walking out.

Logos, Harmageddon.

"So he was defeated in the end?"

"Tsk, still, he was useful for holding out this long."

Jeong-hoon gripped the Titan and the Holy Sword tightly.

Dealing with Ulion alone had not been easy.

Now he had to face two of them at once, so he had to focus even more.

'Human! The Demon Realm has seized Earth!'

At that moment, Uriel's urgent voice reached Jeong-hoon's ears.

'Seized…'

He had expected it to some extent, but he couldn't stop his expression from hardening.

"Huhu, surprised?"

"Human, I acknowledge your skill. But you were only able to grow stronger thanks to our arrangements. Now, we will reclaim that power."

So this was why the system was destroyed.

If the system was destroyed, he would no longer be able to receive its support. This meant that everyone on Earth would become ordinary people without a system.

'That can't be allowed to happen.'

Jeong-hoon set a new rule.

'Neutralize.'

Neutralize their authority and protect the system.

[System recovery will now begin.]

[100% recovery is not possible. A maximum of 75% recovery is possible.]

However, it seemed they had prepared thoroughly, as even with Janus's power, a 100% recovery was impossible.

"Go ahead. We'll let you have the system."

Harmageddon smirked and shrugged his shoulders.

"Even while separating New World and reality, you still managed to grant yourself realism within it. A low-risk, high-return situation, in a sense."

"…"

Jeong-hoon glared at the two without a word.

Logos continued his explanation, unfazed by the glare.

"So we merged them back into one. The humans will awaken from reality, and all transcendents, including the Gods, will move to destroy Earth."

"Ah… so that explosion just now was the process of sending the transcendents to Earth?"

He had felt something being launched out with the explosion.

"Something like that."

Damn it, at this rate, Earth is in danger.

Jeong-hoon glared at the two while sending a signal to the angels outside. They were still struggling to deal with Beelzebub and didn't have the capacity to worry about Earth.

"Beelzebub is holding on quite well, isn't he."

"It's only natural, since he took the power of light."

The processed power of light that Ulion had wielded.

Their plan was to use that power to destroy Earth and seize control of the Divine Realm.

'So this is why they can't finish him off quickly.'

This was a problem.

Zadkiel's spy mission had also been successful. So he had thought that dealing with Beelzebub alone would be finished quickly.

"Ah, did you know? The Gods also possess a little bit of the power of light."

Currently, there was no one on Earth, other than Jeong-hoon, skilled enough to face the Gods. This meant that once they arrived on Earth, its collapse would be instantaneous.

'Master! Let's deal with these guys first!'

'Right. Then we can stop God's intervention!'

As Mukho and Anima said, this was the best method.

Having made his decision, Jeong-hoon used the Heavenly Demon Lord's Dominion and shot forward.

[Translator - Kiteretsu]

[Proofreader - Kyros]