Chapter 991

               

“B-Bullshit!”

Demon Slayer Spear gnashed his teeth, as if he couldn’t accept that he only enjoyed fights he knew he could win.

“I’ve lived on the battlefield my entire life. It’s not about winning—I just enjoy the fight!”

He shook his head, insisting he didn’t care about winning or losing.

“I thought so too.”

Raon slightly twisted his Soul-Requeim Sword that had pierced the Demon Slayer Spear’s neck. Sticky blood trickled down his throat.

“I thought you were a warrior worth fighting.”

Since the task of tracking Merlin came from Eden, he’d thought it was possible.

“But you weren’t.”

Raon took a short breath and turned around. He bit his lip as he looked at Merlin, wrapped in tattered robes.

‘Merlin….’

Merlin’s body was covered in countless scars, on top of the stab wound in her chest.

Most of the wounds had been inflicted by the Demon Slayer Spear, and rage boiled up in Raon’s chest.

“Why do something even thugs wouldn’t do?”

Despite having the power to kill Merlin instantly, the Demon Slayer Spear hadn’t finished her off. Instead, he’d butchered her body like a child tearing off a bug’s legs.

It was so different from the Demon Slayer Spear’s bold attitude at the previous Five Divine Orders festival that the incongruity felt grotesque.

– “He was always like that!”

Wrath snorted as he looked at the Demon Slayer Spear.

– “This king has never seen a sane guy among those crazy about fighting!”

He shook his head, saying anyone who liked war was out of their mind.

‘There are exceptions.’

Raon narrowed his eyes slightly.

‘Like the Axe King Roman.’

Axe King Roman lived to fight the strong.

Even after suffering fatal wounds, Raon could never forget the satisfied smile he wore as he acknowledged defeat.

A man who remained a warrior until the very end.

– “Hmm, this king didn’t see everything, but….”

Wrath frowned.

– “That guy seemed the craziest of them all.”

He clicked his tongue, saying that kind of madness was rare even in the Demon Realm.

“No! I wouldn’t do that!”

The Demon Slayer Spear clutched his head, unable to believe he’d been terrified and toyed with.

‘It’s meaningless.’

Raon saw no reason to deal with him any longer and put strength into the hand gripping the Soul-Requeim Sword.

“Die.”

Just as his sword was about to sever the Demon Slayer Spear’s neck—

“I am Kern, the Demon Slayer Spear! I fear nothing!”

As Kern roared, black flames surged from his neck and knocked sword’s blade aside.

Kuwahhhh!

Kern didn’t miss the opening. He stepped back and stomped the ground.

A violent tremor ripped through the earth. The ground split, and vivid flames surged up from below.

‘Red flames? No, that’s….’

Raon widened his eyes at what rose from the earth.

‘A horse!’

It wasn’t fire.

A Warhorse Demon—far taller than Raon—had emerged.

A mysterious horse with a hide burning red, a golden saddle, and beside it, the Demonic Flame Halberd with a sharp blue blade.

‘Warhorse Demon Blood Horn and the Demonic Flame Halberd.’

The beloved steed and weapon that had made Kern an invincible general descended onto ground soaked in black blood.

“I was born on the battlefield, and I grew up on the battlefield! The weak and the strong are all just food to me!”

Kern shouted that that was all there was to it and vaulted into Blood Horn’s saddle.

Paaaaa!

As Kern became one with Blood Horn, the foul stench clinging to him was swept away by the horse’s snort.

“I’ll show you! Who I am!”

He bellowed and pointed his black spear at Raon. The haze in his eyes thinned, revealing their original blue.

‘That’s right.’

Raon narrowed his eyes at the Demon Slayer Spear, now sitting tall like a general descended from the heavens.

‘He originally rode that horse.’

Kern’s weapon wasn’t just the spear. He was a warrior who could only unleash his full strength while riding Warhorse Demon Blood Horn.

‘So the real fight starts now.’

As Raon clicked his tongue and readjusted the Divine Sword and Soul-Requeim Sword—

Pajijijijik!

Black flames burst from the Magic Spear in Kern’s hand, and his eyes began to flicker with a gloomy gray light again.

‘That spear….’

Raon let out a low groan as he stared at the black spear spewing endless black flames.

‘Something’s strange.’

Kern’s weapon was the Demonic Flame Halberd attached to Blood Horn’s saddle, not that black spear.

He couldn’t understand why Kern was holding such a strange spear, leaving behind the weapon precious enough to be called a Magic Spear.

‘To say he got a new weapon… Ah!’

Raon bit his lip as he recalled Kern’s words and reactions.

“You….”

He lowered his eyebrows as he met Kern’s hazy eyes.

“What did The Fallen One do to you?”

No matter how he looked at it, Kern’s current state wasn’t normal. People could change, but this was far beyond that.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s strange he was just holed up in Eden.’

Kern was a battle maniac who’d left the Five Divine Orders and sided with the Four Demons just to fight. It made no sense for someone like that to stay quietly in Eden until he received a mission.

“Done to me? What nonsense are you spouting!”

Kern screamed, insisting it was absolutely not true.

“Shut up and attack! It’ll be different from before!”

He yanked Blood Horn’s reins, declaring the real fight began now.

Kuuuuuu!

Blood Horn snorted and kicked the ground, and Kern’s spearhead was already right in front of Raon’s eyes.

‘Fast.’

Kern’s movements pierced straight through Raon’s senses. The horse was faster and more agile than a Transcendent’s footwork.

‘And the force behind his spear strikes has increased, too.’

Kern wasn’t just faster. His spear technique and Aura had gained weight and sharpness. Just by riding the horse, the very level of his martial prowess had shifted.

‘However….’

Raon twisted his wrist and slashed the frost-coated Soul-Requeim Sword diagonally upward.

Jjeoeoeoeong!

The Crimson Flash from the Soul-Requeim Sword met Kern’s fiercer, faster assault head-on without wavering.

‘Nothing much has changed.’

If it was only power, speed, and Aura, Raon could handle it with his current martial prowess.

No—he could definitely win.

“Not yet!”

Kern tilted the black spear forward like a cavalryman. Black flames swallowed him and Blood Horn as he charged, man and horse becoming a single spear.

Kugugugugugu!

The earth warped and the sky bent under the burning black heat of the charge.

Even without being touched, Raon felt as if skin and bone were being crushed.

Huuuuuuk!

As Kern’s charge reached him, Raon focused the flames of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation into the Heavenly Drive’s sword strike.

Raon Zieghart Style Swordsmanship.

Second Form, Heavenly Sky Cannon.

Golden flames compressed into a small sphere and ignited, creating a magnificent gravitational pull that seized the oncoming charge.

Kugugugugugu!

Kern and Blood Horn were dragged and halted by the Heavenly Sky Cannon’s pull before they could reach Raon.

“W-What is this….”

Kern’s hazy eyes widened, as if he couldn’t comprehend being stopped without even closing the distance.

“It’s not over yet.”

Raon shook his head as Kern faltered.

“Try to block this.”

Before the words even finished, Raon detonated the flames condensed into his sword strike.

Kuwahhhh!

A massive force exploded between the Heavenly Drive and the black spear. The earth liquefied, and golden flames surged up as if to split the sky.

“Kueueueuk….”

Kern survived by dodging at the last instant, but his face, arms, and legs were red and blistered, as if seared by severe burns.

“Why….”

He stared up at Raon with trembling eyes.

“I was definitely faster and stronger, so why….”

His whole body shook, still unable to accept it.

“That’s right. You did get stronger.”

Raon nodded calmly.

“In power, speed, and Aura only.”

Power, speed, and Aura mattered even among Transcendents.

But what mattered more was what one had forged into their martial arts—and what beliefs they carried.

Clashing blades and spearheads in the realm of Transcendence, Raon could feel it.

Kern’s soul was empty.

“Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!”

Kern screamed and raised the black spear again.

Purururu!

Blood Horn let out a sorrowful cry and kicked the ground, obeying his master.

Kuuuung!

Kern blocked Raon’s heavy sword strike and twisted his parched lips upward.

‘I can endure it!’

Raon’s sword strikes were strong and solid, but not enough to crush through bone and flesh.

If he kept fighting, he would inevitably win by leaning on the black spear’s magic.

“Let’s keep going!”

Kern roared and poured spear strikes across Raon’s entire body.

Yet Raon blocked them as if reading every move. It didn’t matter how Kern shifted the Evil Martial Divine Spear’s forms.

‘What is this guy….’

He’d faced countless geniuses through endless wars, but Raon was the first of his kind.

They were at similar levels, yet it felt like facing a Transcendent far above him.

‘It’s fine! I’ll win if I go to the end!’

He had battlefield experience and a Magic Spear that fed him endless power. If he fought to the end, he was certain he would win.

Jjeoeoeoeong!

Just as Kern deflected Raon’s fierce slashes and prepared to charge again—

Heureureureuk.

Blood Horn let out a turbid groan and trembled as if about to collapse.

“What are you doing? At a time like— Huh?”

Kern grabbed the reins to force Blood Horn up, then his eyes widened.

“Blood Horn?”

The red flames burning over Blood Horn’s body had dulled, as if about to go out.

He’d been with this steed for a long time, but he’d never seen him like this.

‘Could it be….’

Kern’s jaw trembled as he watched Blood Horn bleed—not sweat, but blood—from his entire body.

‘You… for me?’

It looked like Blood Horn had been absorbing the impact of Raon’s sword strikes so that none of it would reach Kern.

Peureureureu.

Blood Horn shook his trembling legs as if to say he was fine and snorted with effort.

“Keueueueuk.”

Kern stroked Blood Horn’s sunken mane and let out a low groan.

‘Why didn’t I realize this…?’

Blood Horn was an artifact, but also his beloved steed—his comrade and his family.

He couldn’t understand how he’d failed to notice until things reached this point.

‘Come to think of it… how long has it been since I called him?’

He used to summon Blood Horn every day and feed him the carrots he liked.

But now that he thought about it, it had been a long time since he’d called him.

‘Eden, The Fallen One… Ah!’

As Kern pressed his fingers to his temples, trying to dig through his memories, the black spear vibrated violently and black flames burst out.

Huuuuuuuk!

Something pitch-black drilled into his mind along with the flames, and he couldn’t stop it.

“Keueueuk!”

He raised his Aura to purge the strange power seeping into his upper dantian, but it wouldn’t budge.

‘Could it be….’

Kern swallowed hard as he stared at the black spear that continued to burn against his will.

‘This spear?’

The Fallen One had given it to him when he entered Eden.

He already had the Demonic Flame Halberd—his Magic Spear—so he’d refused, but he’d accepted after being told to at least swing it once.

‘I only used it once. So why did I keep using it?’

The black spear was excellent, but the Demonic Flame Halberd was a weapon as precious as his life.

He’d meant to accept it and never use it.

Yet at some point, he’d stopped holding anything else.

‘And that’s not all.’

His memories after entering Eden were hazy. All he remembered was speaking with The Fallen One once a day and receiving this mission.

“Ha….”

Kern let out a hollow laugh and bit his lip.

“To use such a petty trick!”

Now he understood what Raon meant.

He had lost something because of The Fallen One.

‘That damn masked bastard….’

It seemed The Fallen One had done this out of fear that Kern would leave Eden and go elsewhere.

“Damn it!”

Kern cursed and stomped the ground. Even now, the black spear pushed a strange force into him, as if trying to devour his mind.

“I’ll throw it away!”

He couldn’t allow himself to become someone else.

Even with Raon before him, he threw the black spear aside.

Jijijijijijik!

But even after throwing it away, his mind didn’t clear.

It grew blurrier. A craving surged up—an urge to grab the spear again, like a drug addict.

“…….”

Raon seemed to sense the change and simply waited.

“Heoeoeok….”

Kern trembled and vomited black blood.

‘Spear….’

He needed a spear.

(T/N : I should not feel bad to this bastard because of what he did to Merlin but why the fk im feeling it)

The black spear called to him, trampling his mind and heart with the residue it had left behind, demanding to be held.

‘I… I can’t help it….’

With his exhausted mind, he couldn’t withstand the temptation.

He slid off Blood Horn and reached for the black spear again.

Peureureureureu.

As he bent down, his eyes met Blood Horn’s.

In those black eyes, he saw his own reflection.

Trembling hands. Eyes like a drug addict—not a general commanding the battlefield.

His soul screamed as if it would rupture.

Jjiijik!

Kern jerked his hand back and bit his tongue so deeply it nearly tore.

“Don’t worry….”

Blood spilled past his lips.

He kicked the black spear away, grabbed the Demonic Flame Halberd from Blood Horn’s saddle, and stood upright.

“It seems….”

Kern looked at Raon and drew a twisted smile.

“As you said, The Fallen One did something dirty to me.”

He nodded, admitting it.

“Before I become his puppet again….”

Kern raised the Demonic Flame Halberd and pointed it at Raon.

“Let’s end this, Raon Zieghart!”

“It’ll be dangerous in that state.”

Raon lowered his eyebrows, as if he already understood Kern’s condition.

“There are those in Zieghart skilled in medicine and divinity. You might be able to heal….”

“No….”

Kern shook his head and spat out the black blood he’d been holding in his mouth.

“I don’t have much time to endure.”

He bit his lip, as if begging to fight while he still could.

“Send me….”

Kern lowered his head.

“Off as a warrior.”

“Hmm….”

Raon frowned at the desperation burning in Kern’s eyes.

‘What did he do to that spear?’

No—it couldn’t be only the spear.

Kern was a veteran who understood battlefields. There was no way to warp a Transcendent like him with a single weapon.

Spells, food, formations—whatever the methods, The Fallen One must have used more than one.

‘And he made it impossible to escape.’

Kern’s condition made it seem like withdrawal would tear his body apart if he didn’t hold the black spear.

There was only one thing Raon could do now.

“Come.”

Raon took a shallow breath and nodded.

“Thank you.”

Kern nodded and gripped Blood Horn’s reins.

“Let’s go! Comrade!”

He surged forward with Blood Horn, saying they would go together until the end.

Huuuuuuung!

Kern whirled the Demonic Flame Halberd above his head, conjuring enormous flames.

Kuwahhhh!

Blood Horn kicked off the collapsed earth and leapt, creating the height and angle that let Kern’s strike unleash its full power—as if he understood everything without needing a word.

Evil Martial Divine Spear Ultimate.

Limitless Burning Halberd.

A warrior and a Warhorse Demon wreathed in red flames, unleashing a strike that seemed to bring down the sky—truly a Magic Spear and a horse spear.

“With all your might.”

Raon drew a deep breath and tilted the Heavenly Drive above his shoulder and the Soul-Requeim Sword behind his waist.

The stance of hegemony.

He hardened his will to cut through anything and extended both swords.

Raon Zieghart Style Swordsmanship.

Sixth Form, Divine Demon Harmony Linked Technique, Azure Crimson Invincible Blade.

The ultimate of the Evil Martial Divine Spear—born from the unity of man and horse—and the Azure Crimson Invincible Blade—holding the pinnacle of dual swordsmanship—collided at the point where sky and earth crossed.

Kuwahhhh!

(T/N : Ughhhhhhhh. I kinda wish Raon can do something about his problem)

Terrifying forces collided, tearing open a pitch-black fissure that seemed to connect heaven and earth, while crimson whirlwinds erupted from every direction.

Whooooosh!

Raon and Demon Slayer Spear brushed past each other as if untouched by the violent aftermath, then came to a stop.

“How was it?”

Demon Slayer Spear asked without turning his head.

“Was it a spear that despised the weak until the very end?”

His voice trembled, as if he needed the answer.

“No.”

Raon shook his head firmly.

Thud!

He curled his lips as he looked down at the spear wound torn through his chest, blood spilling from it.

“It was a magnificent spear that challenged those above.”

Demon Slayer Spear’s final strike held the conviction Raon had expected from him—so much so that even with everything he had, Raon couldn’t avoid a serious injury.

“I see.”

Demon Slayer Spear nodded, finally satisfied, and then slid weakly from Blood Horn’s saddle.

“Cough….”

He let out a hollow breath as he stared at the sword mark gouged into his chest as if it meant to tear him apart.

“Even if I’d been in perfect condition, I would’ve lost in the end.”

As he admitted defeat, the blade of the Demonic Flame Halberd in his hand crumbled like an old windowpane.

“I’m like this, but I have one request.”

“What is it?”

Raon lifted his chin as he looked at him.

“That one….”

Demon Slayer Spear pointed to Blood Horn, collapsed beside him as if all strength had drained away.

“Take him with you.”

He lowered his head as he made the request.

Snort.

Unwilling to leave his master, Blood Horn crawled toward him on trembling legs.

“Thank you for staying with such an incompetent master.”

Demon Slayer Spear smiled as he stroked Blood Horn’s forehead.

“That one will treat you better than I ever could. Follow him.”

He shook his head, as if to say their journey ended here.

“Haa….”

Demon Slayer Spear lifted a hand, as though even that took everything he had left.

“Before I die, I’ll tell you what I know.”

“What you know?”

Raon narrowed his eyes.

“Eden, Derus, and the White Blood Cult are working together far more closely than the Five Kings think. And what Eden is preparing isn’t just the resurrection of the Demonic Dragon… Argh….”

Demon Slayer Spear’s breath stopped before he could finish his last words.

Neigh!

Blood Horn licked his master’s cheek as he lay there with his eyes still open, and large tears streamed from his eyes.

“…….”

Raon etched the last words into his mind, then turned back to where he had left Merlin.

‘Fortunately, she’s safe.’

He’d been careful not to harm her, so there were no new injuries.

But her condition hadn’t improved. He needed to get her back quickly.

Thud!

As Raon lifted Merlin and started to rise, a massive reverberation rolled in from outside the forest.

‘Mark Gorton.’

Mark Gorton, who had been holding back his pursuers, seemed to still be fighting. Raon had been sensing him the whole time, but it didn’t sound like he was in good shape.

‘I need to get back fast… Ah!’

Raon halted as he was about to sprint out of the forest.

‘That’s right. That bead.’

He returned to Demon Slayer Spear’s corpse and pulled the bead from his chest.

“Hmm?”

Raon narrowed his eyes at the crimson bead.

“This bead….”