Chapter 118
The spectators watching the colosseum, their Creators tracking the battle in real time,
“……”
“……”
all fell silent.
That overwhelming might had reached a realm Incarnations could not follow.
It did not merely mean raw strength.
‘Does he not get tired?’
‘Against more than 150 Incarnations?’
‘What kind of monster is that?’
They could not understand.
An Incarnation, by definition, is one who contracts with a Creator and gains power beyond a typical Awakened.
Thus, the 150 opponents the Champion faced consecutively were a tier above ordinary Awakened—true elites.
Yet without rest, he seized victory over 150 in a row.
Overwhelmingly, without a single defeat.
Incarnations who witnessed it firsthand could hardly believe it.
‘He should be an Incarnation like us, no?’
‘That stamina is not something a human can have.’
‘Is he perhaps a monster of the Abyss?’
They could not think of him as human.
They had entered with the same qualifications, so how could he be so different?
As the streak continued—50 wins, 100 wins, 150 wins—the shock gave way to awe.
Could the Champion finish it?
After reaching 169 wins, could he get to Balzac?
At first, they thought it would be difficult.
Those ‘Balzac Union’ Incarnations did not fear death.
On the premise of dying, they did everything to wear down the Champion’s stamina.
It was useless.
“What… is that…?”
“Is that… swordsmanship?”
The Champion’s movements grew cleaner with time.
Extraneous motion vanished, and his reaction speed steadily quickened.
At first he reacted after seeing the enemy’s movement; by the time he passed 150 wins, he was predicting and cutting off every vector of action.
Most astonishing of all was his ‘swordsmanship.’
A blade of shadow.
The blade’s technique, the path of lines it traced—too beautiful.
It was not a haphazard swinging of skills.
That was true swordsmanship.
A proprietary art refined with professional, high-degree technique.
That skill peaked when he faced Balzac.
“They’re not even in the same league.”
“So to become Demon King-class, you need talent like that?”
“There’s a gap you can never cross with skills alone……”
Balzac sent out countless tentacles to counter, but failed.
It was more than quickly slicing with a blade—he read the exact line each tentacle would pierce and severed it by a margin as thin as a sheet of paper.
That was swordsmanship.
Until now, Incarnations had not valued learning proprietary technique.
Use a skill, and it manifests by itself.
Polishing technique professionally was a waste of time.
Until now.
But it was not only his swordsmanship that changed Incarnations’ perception and concept.
When an enraged Balzac used ‘domain magic,’
the Champion invoked another ‘domain magic’ at the same time.
【…What is that?】
【……A unique domain deployment?】
【A mere Incarnation knows how to use a ‘unique domain’?】
【Nonsense!】
【I’ve never seen that ‘unique domain’ before.】
【Is there a Demon King with such a ‘domain’?】
【If not a Demon King, then perhaps……】
【……Demon God-class?】
Every Creator watching through an Incarnation’s view, let out a gasp as if on cue.
The Incarnations, forgetting they were still linked to their Creators, were startled by those arrogant, self-important shouts.
This had never happened before.
That they were so astonished meant, in other words, that what they were seeing had reached the Creator’s realm.
“C-cold!”
“Augh! Uuugh!”
“Wasn’t the spectator stand supposed to be beyond the arena’s mana?”
It did not end there.
Centering on Balzac, every surrounding region began to freeze.
It was strange.
The spectator stands were protected from the arena’s influence.
It would be correct to say they were strictly separated.
The space was partitioned, and the arena’s mana could never reach the stands.
Yet—
…This chill, this mana, undoubtedly came from the Champion.
In that moment—
【……Flee.】
【A Demon God’s domain ignores the rules of the ‘Creators’ Abyss.’】
【Absurd.】
The Creators spoke.
They grew urgent.
Seeing the mana and the ‘unique domain’ invading the stands, they were certain.
The ‘unique domain’ the Champion held right now… originated from a ‘Demon God.’
A Demon King’s ‘unique domain’ cannot ignore the Abyss’s rules.
But the fearsome thing about Demon Gods was precisely that disregard for rule.
Demon Gods are the Abyss’s de facto administrators and masters.
The beings that exert the greatest influence over the Abyss.
Their ‘unique domains’ were not something a mere Creator’s domain could withstand.
In the end, every Incarnation had no choice but to withdraw from the colosseum in a hurry.
All except one—‘Balzac.’
—
Cold.
This place was bitingly, piercingly cold.
Balzac looked around.
Everything was frozen.
As if even time itself had frozen.
【Acknowledge defeat and escape.】
For an instant, his master’s voice came.
The Creator—the Lord of the Abyss who had contracted with him as an Incarnation.
His command was absolute.
Balzac tried to act in accordance with that order.
‘My mouth won’t move.’
…He could not declare defeat.
His body was already freezing.
This was an unbearably cold world.
【You have not frozen, Balzac. Move. Speak. Acknowledge your defeat!】
Not frozen?
Impossible.
It was this cold.
【You have lost all sensation. You cannot feel cold.】
But he felt cold.
Insanely cold.
Balzac barely rolled his eyes.
At some point, the Champion stood before him.
It was a shadow.
No—a man, not a shadow.
That must be the shadow’s true form.
【What do you see? Who stands before you?】
He could clearly see.
But apparently the Creator could not.
It was strange.
Balzac’s entire view should always be linked to his Creator.
‘The link… has weakened.’
Only then did Balzac realize.
The sharing with the Creator had been severed.
For the first time since contracting as an Incarnation, he felt freedom.
【Do you know how many Incarnations were consumed to make you! How many coins and labors it took! Answer me!】
‘Ah……’
Suddenly, Balzac let out a low sigh.
The Creator’s words brought back ‘memories’ he had forgotten.
Like every Incarnation, Balzac had been an ordinary human.
An ordinary head of a family, protecting his home and living with his loved ones.
If only he had not made that ‘wrong choice’ that day—if only he had chosen death…
‘I was fated to die.’
The day he entered the Abyss, his death had been ‘fixed.’
But at the very moment before dying,
‘the Creator offered an Incarnation contract—to save him in exchange for surrendering his will entirely…’
That was when the nightmare began.
The first thing Balzac did after surviving was… ‘murder his family.’
‘I killed my family with my own hands. Ahh.’
The Creator stripped Balzac of free will and had him slaughter his family.
Children, wife—he butchered them.
He could not forget the look in their eyes.
He screamed for it to stop, but the Creator did not.
On the contrary, he killed everyone who knew Balzac.
Friends and acquaintances, too.
‘Because of my wrong choice. Because I wanted to live. I used my own hands to do that to them all…!’
After endless cycles of despair, Balzac turned away from reality.
He chose to seal his memories.
At the same time, he underwent ‘demonization.’
A being half human, half demon.
【Incarnation of a Demon God. Show me that face. Open your eyes, Balzac!】
…They are open.
You simply cannot see.
The Creator’s impatience bled into his tone.
He seemed to have judged Balzac beyond saving.
He meant to confirm the face of the Incarnation contracted to a Demon God and plan for the future.
That information would fetch a high price.
Srrk—!
Balzac moved.
He did not declare defeat.
He simply did everything to reach the Champion.
【What is he doing? Is he moving? Without obeying my command?】
Even the Creator dimly sensed Balzac’s will.
He was running toward death.
At this, the Creator raged.
【You do not die without my permission. O great curse, power of all evil!】
The Creator used his authority to strengthen Balzac’s curses.
He forcibly evolved Balzac himself.
Such intervention demanded countless ‘coins’ of the Creator.
It exceeded the scope of contract.
Even so, he intended to deny Balzac true freedom.
How dare an Incarnation defy the will of a Creator!
Unforgivable.
Intolerable.
【Your will is unnecessary. I will become you! You shall never be free!】
‘No…!’
Balzac despaired.
His body was changing again.
Beyond Half-Human, Half-Demon—mutating into a stronger physique.
Toward complete demonization.
Into the realm of a ‘True Demon,’ one with the Creator.
Even if he wanted to die, he could not.
If he became a True Demon, then even if the opponent was a Demon God’s Incarnation, as long as he remained Half-Human, Half-Demon, he could not face it.
“Please… kill me…”
Take me out of this agony.
Balzac poured all he had into speaking.
Of course, he knew there would be no answer.
That shadow had already become ‘one.’
It had become something else—a ‘Half-Human, Half-Demon.’
Surely that being, too, had been ‘corrupted’ by a Creator or something else.
Yet a Half-Human, Half-Demon can never defeat a True Demon.
Just as an ordinary Incarnation cannot defeat a Half-Human, Half-Demon.
In that case—
“I’ll let you rest.”
…A being that should have lost will and awareness spoke.
How?
An impossible, incomprehensible event occurred.
Then Park Chan-woo moved.
And at once—
Shaaak!
He cut off Balzac’s ‘ear.’
【Fool! My authorities—Reflection and Healing—have already fused with Balzac!】
The Creator cried out with confidence.
As Balzac neared becoming a True Demon, his ‘Chain Damage’ and ‘Immediate Healing’ were almost at the verge of becoming full authorities.
Did he think cutting off a mere ear would change anything?
On the contrary, this attack would make him give up.
If he kept fighting, the one who died would not be Balzac—but that wretch.
But—
[Curse ‘Chain Damage’ activates.]
[The ‘same damage’ is inflicted on the opponent.]
[By the Great Magic ‘Reflection,’ the damage is amplified and returns!]
【……?】
The Creator was momentarily flustered.
This phenomenon had not existed before the ‘unique domain’ formed.
And ‘Great Magic,’ besides.
It was not the end.
【Guh…?!】
The Creator groaned in pain.
An incomprehensible phenomenon was occurring.
【H-How can you damage me?!】
No matter how strong the ‘link’ with Balzac had become, the blow crossed space and dimensions to strike him.
It was his first time experiencing such a thing since becoming a Creator.
And the pain did not end with one strike.
[Curse ‘Chain Damage’ activates.]
[The ‘same damage’ is inflicted on the opponent.]
[By the Great Magic ‘Reflection,’ the damage is amplified and returns!]
It repeated.
Endlessly.
Until Balzac—until he—died.
What of the other side?
【S-Super Regeneration?】
Park Chan-woo’s ear was cut, then regenerated, then cut again, in a loop.
It was a far more powerful grand magic than Balzac’s ‘healing.’
Unless it had been fully completed as an authority, it could not reach beyond grand magic.
Moreover, by the ‘Great Magic’ [Reflection], Balzac was accumulating multiplied damage.
That damage was transmitted intact to the Creator.
【S-Stop!】
The Creator had no choice but to panic.
At the very brink of becoming a True Demon—when the ‘link’ between Creator and Balzac was strongest—
[Reflection] was triggered as if it had been the plan from the start.
That magic of ‘Reflection’ crossed dimensions to inflict amplified damage upon the Creator.
It would not end.
Reflection against reflection, an infinite duel.
But there was no way Balzac—who had not fully completed as a True Demon—could withstand the amplified reflective damage.
【No, no—what is this…!】
That was the end of his words.
The Creator’s screams ceased.
Likewise, Balzac’s form stopped ‘healing.’
Thud!
Balzac collapsed.
Fwoooooosh!
Soon, Balzac’s body began to burn.
“Tha… nk… you…”
Whooooosh!
With those words, Balzac’s body turned to dust and vanished.
Ding!
[True Demon ‘Balzac’ has died.]
[The Creator contracted with ‘Balzac,’ ‘Cursed Immortal, Lord Arbanil,’ has died!]
[For the first time, a ‘Creator’ has been killed by a method other than bankruptcy!]
An unprecedented incident occurred.
A Creator—a Lord of the Abyss—died by direct damage.
Not by the Twelve Species, nor by another Lord of the Abyss, nor by a witch, nor by a divine beast.
…but by the hand of Earth’s weakest humans.
Chapter 118: True Demon