Chapter 262

The blue sky seemed to split apart.

The silver energy erupting from the Heavenly Demon’s entire body surged upward, writhing like a living creature.

Everyone had misunderstood, but [Heavenly Demon Divine Art] was not a martial art made up of fixed techniques.

[Heavenly Demon Divine Art] was the [Innate Domain] possessed by the Heavenly Demon.

It was the ‘Domain of the Absolute Being’ that devoured the world and made it his own.

Now, the Immortal Realm no longer belonged to the Immortals.

In an instant, the master of the world became the Heavenly Demon.

Commonly known as [Heaven Splitting].

Before they realized it, all attacks had ceased.

They had no choice.

There was no way they could fail to recognize this [Innate Domain].

The one whom none can approach.

Because it was a domain no Existence of Anomaly could ever imitate.

Only the Heavenly Demon could split open the heavens, overturn them, and stand above them.

“Ah……”

“Could it really be……?”

“Heavenly… Demon…?”

There was no longer any room for doubt.

The Heavenly Demon who had vanished had returned.

The Heavenly Demon looked around with weary eyes.

To ascend as a new heaven.

That meant the sun above the heavens had become a god.

Since two suns could not coexist, it meant he had become the strongest existence in this world.

The Sole God, Heavenly Demon!

This world would strip away the immortality of those not acknowledged by the Heavenly Demon.

In other words—

“You are weak.”

A world ruled by the absolute law of the jungle, where the weak could not survive, was being created.

The moment the Heavenly Demon’s words ended, the energy of the Immortals and Taoists began to rapidly drain away.

Their bodies shrank, and the brilliant light they radiated dimmed noticeably.

“Wh-why?”

The Immortals were instantly bewildered.

If this truly was the Heavenly Demon they had worshiped and followed, then why was he trying to take away their power?

Had he not returned to lead them?

However, such emotions did not exist for the Heavenly Demon.

No matter how long they had followed him, the weak were nothing more than insignificant things that deserved to die.

What did it matter if they had followed him their entire lives?

Even if they possessed demigodhood and overwhelming martial might, what use was that?

The fact that they had tried to create a new heaven simply because they could not wait for him was proof enough of their weakness.

“Because you are weak.”

Yes. They were weak.

Both in body and in spirit.

Because they were weak, they gave up, despaired, and clung to futile things.

The very act of relying on another heaven without even considering rising up themselves was utterly pathetic.

They did not belong in the Hall of all Gods he had created.

But……

In the Heavenly Demon’s eyes, the Immortals were already gone.

They were not worth his attention.

What the Heavenly Demon was looking at lay beyond them.

The giant egg that enveloped Taebaek.

At the very least, the aura emanating from Taebaek was better than that of the Immortals.

Because he felt a powerful will to ascend to heaven.

After all, he had been created to replace him.

At the very least, that spirit ought to resemble the Heavenly Demon’s.

“You are not weak.”

He acknowledged it lightly.

However, Taebaek was far from an ordinary life-form.

He did not know what kind of Anomaly Taebaek had been born from, but his insides were empty.

The only emotion he felt from him was the desire to grow stronger.

That burning desire to devour and evolve was like witnessing a Great Sin.

He knew no fear.

No terror.

He had lived his entire life only as the strong.

He had never encountered an existence stronger than himself.

Therefore—

“I shall carve the heart of the weak into you.”

He would make him realize that there was a heaven above the heavens.

Even if this flesh perished, it had nothing to do with the Heavenly Demon.

The Heavenly Demon clenched his fist once more.

But this time, it was different.

Kwooooooooooooooo!

A vast surge of mana.

Dragon God Sephiro’s mana instantly circulated through his body and coiled around his fist.

His skin tore open, and it felt as though his whole body would shatter, but he did not care.

All his nerves burned, and black blood flowed from his eyes.

The [Terminal] status inside Park Chan-woo could not stop the Heavenly Demon’s actions either.

Because the Heavenly Demon was merely fulfilling the terms of the contract.

To land one blow on Taebaek.

He was carrying out something impossible for the current Park Chan-woo, something that might barely become possible only in the distant future.

An ideal that could only be reached after becoming stronger at this pace for ten years, perhaps even longer.

The Heavenly Demon intended to personally demonstrate the ultimate potential Park Chan-woo possessed right now.

At the very least, as far as he could tell, the potential of this flesh was clearly connected to his own.

Naturally, it should also bear the corresponding risk.

―Heavenly… Demon……!!

That was the moment.

Just as the Heavenly Demon was about to throw his punch.

The voice of the Outer God Charpham struck the surroundings.

At the same time—

Whoooooosh!

Charpham’s [Innate Domain], [Dimensional Interloper Charpham], unfolded.

It carved a small crack into the Domain of the Absolute Being.

It was astonishing.

That Charpham, whom he had tamed and controlled, was rebelling.

Even though he should have been sealed inside the [Sealed Demon God’s Grail], he was baring his fangs while consuming his own Existence Force.

In other words—

“Do you mean he considers him stronger than me?”

It meant he would side with Park Chan-woo rather than the Heavenly Demon.

Did he believe Park Chan-woo was stronger?

Or was it simply because he was still trapped in the past?

―You are the one I cannot forgive.

Charpham tried to seize control of the body.

Even though he clearly knew that emerging from the [Sealed Demon God’s Grail] without a contract was an act of suicide.

For the first time, the Heavenly Demon smiled.

“You truly are weak, Charpham.”

It only proved that his thoughts had not been wrong.

Charpham was still a fool.

On the contrary, it was good.

The Heavenly Demon turned around and plundered Charpham’s Existence Force instead.

And then, precisely—

Kurururururururururur!

He unleashed a proper ‘one blow’ toward Taebaek.

===

“You are not weak.”

…In the distant past.

[Dimensional Interloper Charpham], which had appeared through the Great Rift, was defeated by the Heavenly Demon.

However, the Heavenly Demon did not kill Charpham.

“Come with me. I will create a world for beings like us.”

Instead, he sought to bring Charpham under him.

Even though he had killed countless Outer Gods, it was strange that Charpham alone had been spared.

But Charpham was an Outer God. He had a mission to destroy the Abyss.

Even after that, the Heavenly Demon sought Charpham out several times.

Out of curiosity born from that persistence, Charpham merely thought he would follow along for a while.

At some point, Charpham found himself following the Heavenly Demon.

“My name will be remembered forever. Together with yours. In this free world we created together.”

On the day the Hall of all Gods was created.

The Heavenly Demon said that to Charpham.

Charpham agreed.

Because their followers had become countless, and just as he had said, a world for them had opened.

Charpham naturally became the Guardian God of the Hall of all Gods.

He watched from the side as the Heavenly Demon opened the horizon of a new world.

But.

The Heavenly Demon fled.

Into the grail.

And sealed Charpham along with himself.

A free world?

Nonsense.

The inside of the grail, the Negative Realm, was a bitterly cold place.

The Heavenly Demon had imprisoned himself in a suffocating world where no freedom existed.

Why?

In a place where not even a single inch of movement was allowed.

To preserve himself, Charpham had to forget everything.

He barely maintained his existence by forcibly erasing his memories.

Then one day.

Someone released him from the seal.

Park Chan-woo.

He was different from the Heavenly Demon.

He did not whisper sweet words or tell obvious lies about granting freedom.

From the moment one was bound to the [Sealed Demon God’s Grail], true freedom was impossible anyway.

It was a relationship where they thoroughly used one another.

At first, Charpham only intended to tolerate Park Chan-woo for the sake of tasting brief liberation.

That was all he thought.

But.

The path Park Chan-woo showed him gave Charpham hope just from watching it.

‘Perhaps……’

He is different.

He was clearly different from all the previous masters who had possessed the grail.

Park Chan-woo was a Liberator.

A savior who broke curses, listened to the stories of the wronged, and set them free.

One who did not know surrender and made the impossible possible.

A strange man who, despite always standing on the side of the weak, always hunted the strong.

Though he was clearly the weakest, it was almost marvelous how he always caught the strongest.

So perhaps……

Could he not also break the seal of this damned grail?

He thought about it for a long time.

Why had the Heavenly Demon imprisoned him along with himself?

But he could not find the answer.

No matter how much he thought about it, it was nothing more and nothing less than the bastard’s whim.

Therefore.

Charpham chose Park Chan-woo.

Even if he perished, he could not allow everything to proceed according to the Heavenly Demon’s will.

‘I am not weak, Heavenly Demon.’

I will protect Park Chan-woo.

Charpham forcibly broke the seal.

To do such a thing from within the [Sealed Demon God’s Grail] meant immediate annihilation.

At best, an instant.

Not even a few seconds of time.

The Heavenly Demon would think he had stolen Charpham’s existence in reverse.

But Charpham’s intention was singular.

To make this one blow.

Be executed by Park Chan-woo, not the Heavenly Demon.

Annihilation for that single purpose alone.

To awaken Park Chan-woo’s spirit and blur out the Heavenly Demon’s existence!

The Heavenly Demon had been mistaken.

He thought Charpham was desperately struggling to seize the body.

Arrogant and selfish, the Heavenly Demon knew nothing of words like ‘sacrifice.’

He could never have perceived Charpham’s true intention.

To him, even his own death was not a waste.

‘Charpham……!’

In that instant, the Heavenly Demon lost control of the body.

Because he had only been wary of Charpham, he had never once considered that Charpham would sacrifice his own existence just to awaken Park Chan-woo.

He clearly thought he had thrown the punch, but he had not.

The Heavenly Demon’s consciousness was shoved behind Park Chan-woo.

He lost control.

And then.

Park Chan-woo, who had been buried deep in that abyss, opened his eyes.

After watching everything and finally opening his eyes, he frowned and said,

“You, who have nothing to protect and do not even try to protect anything, are the weakest. Heavenly Demon.”

The truly weakest man, Park Chan-woo, spoke to the strongest.

Heavenly Demon.

The weakest weakling in this world is you.