140 In The Bowels of Hell
“–Just as I had hoped,” Jun-Seo said through heavy breaths, “Your sharpness hasn’t been dulled.”
He wasn’t up for conversation as he immediately tried to follow up with a spinning slash that utilized a blast of light again, but the GOETIA System user leapt back, using a peculiar technique to hasten his movements to leave a stuttering afterimage behind.
“…In more ways than one,” Jun-Seo said quietly to himself, wiping the sweat from his chin.
“It seems to me you’ve improved little,” He replied.
Jun-Seo laughed before stabbing his blade into the ground, cracking the bones beneath, “…Perhaps you’re right. I’d argue otherwise myself.”
“–?”
From seemingly nowhere, a bountiful aura produced itself from Jun-Seo’s body; a darkness so prevalent that it felt unmistakably from a hellish entity, yet the one before him was a man, no doubt.
In the dark winds, the red-haired man’s feathered coat swayed while his tattered, black armor was brushed around with his scars on full display as he held full confidence in his wicked smile.
“I’ll show you, Dae-Seong; the conviction of a manslaughterer.”
Abandoning his sword, Jun-Seo rushed towards him in a sudden burst, disappearing and reappearing with blinding speed.
“–?!” Dae-Seong reacted in surprise.
Jun-Seo raised his left hand, manifesting and shaping the darkness he conjured into a formless blade before slashing it towards him.
CLING.
At the last moment, he managed to use his greatsword as a shield, halting the visceral darkness from cutting him, but Jun-Seo didn’t let up: once more, he raised his right hand this time, summoning a shadowy rapier.
Another–?! He thought.
Before he could lift his greatsword to defend against the sudden continuation of the attack–the black rapier was thrust with an incredible speed, stabbing right into his abdomen.
“Ghh–!” He winced in pain.
While his expression contorted in agony, Jun-Seo seemed delighted, pushing the rapier deeper.
“Don’t fall now, Dae-Seong–! It’s just getting started! The world is changing!” Jun-Seo yelled out with a smile.
Before the malicious man could drive the weapon formed of darkness deeper into his flesh, Jun-Seo found his wrist suddenly clenched by a grip tighter than any other.
“Huh?”
The red-haired man found his gaze meeting with the fearsome, resolved eyes of Dae-Seong’s; the tight grip on his wrist squeezed, locking him in place.
Jun-Seo tried to pull back, but was unable to move as his wrist was held fervently in the silver-haired man’s hold.
I can’t move…! Jun-Seo thought.
“Convenient that you brought us to Hell…It’ll be a quick trip,” he told the man, lifting his greatsword high as he kept him perfectly in place.
The force that built around the thick steel of the greatsword came with an overwhelming density, causing the air to thin out and the domain to tremble as he manifested a blow laced with killing intent.
“…Mine is the blade that silences evil. Mine is the blood that boils with anger. Mine is the path of the righteous: Twin Paths Annihilation!”
Jun-Seo looked up after hearing the incantation, witnessing the greatsword now resemble a skyscraper of overwhelming, dense energy now being pulled downward over his head, filling his ears with an ear-piercing hum.
Die and rest in Hell, Jun-Seo–!!! He thought.
“Cancel: Death.”
–What left Jun-Seo’s lips was an invocation that made little sense to the ears of a man only vaguely familiar with the workings of the foreign System.
It was between moments, sitting between one second and another that he heard it, not stopping him as he swung his greatsword downward, slicing it right through the crow-caped man with an impact that met the ground like a meteor.
The entire domain shook violently from the aftershock, spilling out a bright energy that burst outward from their position.
He knew it for sure: he had split Jun-Seo in half, and vaporized him with the energy itself, no less.
However–
“You almost had me there.”
After the light had settled, the darkly-dressed, tattered figure stood before him, resting his glove against the surface of his greatsword that had cut through the bone-formed floor.
“What…?!” He let out.
Don’t tell me…that skill allowed him to negate his own death!? He realized.
“As somebody so closely intertwined with death, is it a surprise that I’ve learned to dance around her icy grip?” Jun-Seo asked with a smile, peering at him with his iridescent, ominous irises.
It seemed almost like an impossibility, despite the overwhelming evidence before his eyes.
Other than that, there was something else bothering him–something monumental to his fate in this clash.
…My Evolution System…I have yet to acquire a single adaptation to his attacks. What’s going on here…? He questioned. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
It was mostly a question that spurred from the new wound opened in his flesh; after the rapier had pierced his stomach and left his flesh, no adaptation came to aid his wound.
“…Perhaps something else is leaving you perplexed?” Jun-Seo asked in a demeaning tone.
“–“
“I’ll tell you, if you want,” Jun-Seo offered.
In the midst of his words, the red-haired man stepped back as a swift attempt for a counterattack was launched. He had lifted his greatsword once again, trying to behead Jun-Seo with a surprise swipe, but it failed to reach.
“Always to the point, aren’t you?” Jun-Seo continued to taunt him.
He didn’t accept the invite into a conversation, only concentrating on the singular goal of taking out the man before his eyes.
With his two long-time companions unconscious and nearby, it made it even more paramount what his own failure would mean.
As their leader, I must not fall, he resolved.
Before he could go on the offense for myself, he looked up to see a spawn of verdant flames spiraled around Jun-Seo’s position, focusing around his extended hand:
“Cast: Greater Infernal Sin.”
Launching outwards were a half-dozen pillars of the green inferno, spewing forth as some tunneled along the ground, some took jagged turns to the sides, and some flew towards him from up above.
In response, he clutched his bleeding stomach with his left and raised his right, looking the roaring flames dead-on, “Cast: Brilliant Radiant Shield.”
Around him, a miniature fortress of light manifested, rising upwards as the sparkles of divine glow wrapped into the form of an impregnable castle, bolstered by a glorious, lion-faced shield that manifested at the forefront.
The two forms of magic clashed, resulting in the verdant flames unleashing in a volatile blaze that filled the ivory, deathly domain with a sublime glow.
“Ngh…”
He held on, enduring the strain on his body as he managed to hold the defensive spell long enough as it broke just as the hellish heat diminished.
“Persistent.”
–That singular word came in a whisper to his ear as once again, Jun-Seo exhibited his sneaky, ludicrous speed that allowed him to ambush him in an instant.
He immediately blocked the incoming strike with his greatsword, guarding against the shadow-formed ax before a clash ensued.
Jun-Seo was much swifter than himself, using quiet steps to disappear and reappear–utilizing a hidden skill that he began to understand: “Blink.”
Each time the crow-caped leader of Geom Jug-Eum blinked around him, he manifested another dark-conjured weapon, attacking with broadswords, daggers, hammers, axes, spears–an onslaught of his shadow-born armory.
[0.001]
[0.0001]
[0.000014]
With each attack, the man only seemed to come faster and more violently, allowing bursts of volatile darkness to spawn from his shadow-built weapons.
He was only left with his greatsword, but it was enough to at least defend against the flurry of shifting attacks, finding himself backpedaling while using his weapon as a shield while shadowy particles danced in the abhorrent air.
The continuous hits took their toll, even through his guard:
His strength is different from before. He must’ve leveled up greatly. I feel my arms growing tired…This wound isn’t helping, either, he thought.
Glancing back, he found himself moving back towards a wall while Jun-Seo continued his devastating, aggressive combination of shadow-based attacks, manifesting shadow chains that he whipped against the man’s greatsword.
“Ghh…!” He winced, gritting his teeth.
The entire time, Jun-Seo seemed to hold a quiet delight in his unpunished offense, but–just as the darkly-dressed, red-haired man swooped in for another attack, using a [Blink] to instantly and silently appear at his side–he countered.
“God’s Silent Damnation.”
“–!”
Suddenly, a massive gash appeared across Jun-Seo’s chest, tearing through the abyssal cloth left on his torso as crimson fluid poured out in abundance.
Jun-Seo immediately jumped far back, putting space between them as he held his chest.
“Cast: Hellish Deathweeds…”
The spell manifested in the form of dark threads that sprouted from his own flesh, stitching his wound closed without the assistance of any other.
What was that? Jun-Seo questioned to himself, looking up at the man across the hellish domain.
Dae-Seong remained standing tall, regaining his breath as he adjusted his glasses once more, successfully stopping the assault.
“God’s Silent Damnation,” will only work once or twice, maybe. It can only be cast when somebody is within a one meter radius of myself, and when their entire focus is set on me. It allows me to momentarily bypass “cause” and enact an “effect”, he thought.
“…I expected you to have some tricks up your sleeve. It wouldn’t be any fun otherwise,” Jun-Seo straightened himself out, showing his confident posture once more.
Dae-Seong could only think of one thing during that moment when meeting eye-to-eye with the man he hated most in this world:
…If only I had killed you on that day, Jun-Seo. Even a world with no future would still be a better place with you erased from its soil, he thought.