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Chapter 295: The World is Stained

All sorts of colors, that one would hardly see in nature, engulfed the world as if the sky were closing the curtain on a play.

The world was shutting down. At this rate, not just the Hyungwon City but the entire region would be found petrified, hardened like stone.

The air, the earth, even the clouds and birds drifting in the sky couldn’t escape this phenomenon.

Inside the tent, Ain sensed it and rose to her feet. The healer, seeing her, gasped and tried to stop her.

“You can’t get up!”

“I know. I’m aware, but I have to stand now.”

“What do you mean…?”

While the healer hesitated at Ain’s cryptic murmurs, Ain staggered to her feet and tore off the blood-soaked bandages around her eyes in one swift motion.

The blood, hardened and stuck to the wound, felt agonizing, but she showed no signs of pain.

Despite the healers’ attempts to hold her back, Ain stepped out of the tent and looked up at the sky.

She felt a complicated mix of emotions thinking that her mother was merely a phenomenon and that the genes used to create her were just accessories gained from becoming the Demon King.

Yet, she didn’t feel bad about it.

She was far from being something that transcended the concept of good and evil, which was hard to even express.

Even if the power was inherited from the refuse of the world, wasn’t it still a necessary power for her now?

A dull throb jolted her eyes. How far could she go in this state? How much could she open up, and what could she see?

Her vision was dim. For the first time in her life, she was only focused on what was before her, not some far-off place.

‘My eyes hurt, but my body feels light.’

She felt as if she could fly. Beyond the sky, she couldn’t see beyond the clouds. The ground looked unusually solidly closed off.

It was a landscape she had always wanted to see. She had simply adapted to looking far away, yet she never wanted to live looking that way.

‘I feel like I can do anything.’

Kyi-iiing-!!

The swirling currents of mana began to warm her eyes. There was no restraint or consideration. Why would someone trying to oppose this phenomenon ruling the world set their own limits and not cross the line?

Every turn opened a new world. Like adjusting a camera’s focus ring, mana seeped into the path that had been blocked by seals and began to reveal more distance.

“When I kill you, maybe I’ll feel free.”

Ain blinked rapidly. The ring-shaped light flowing out began to expand, moving toward the sky.

*

Slice, slice, and keep slicing until I can’t anymore. Absurdly, what was holding this world together was solely her power.

If one thought that losing her power meant the end of someone’s life, an indescribable sense of physiological fear crawled up her body.

The sound of swords clashing, someone’s screams, and cries all hit her ears at once. It was war.

At some point, the Demon King of Shuyo, despite using the power of her eyes, seemed unhappy that the world hadn’t turned to stone, tearing up bitterly.

A single speck of evil, the Demon King clinging to a phenomenon beyond good and evil, was ruining everything.

The tears were the issue. For some unknown reason, the tears that touched the ground began to turn people into stiff statues.

She didn’t have the time to take a good look at what was happening, but it was easy to conclude that those were the people whose lives were obliterated by the Demon King of Shuyo. She could control those whose lives she had turned to stone.

“Dad, stop it, please…!!”

Shar was crying as she held onto Yeon-woo, who was swinging her sword while spitting blood to try to stop her.

Yeon-woo didn’t want to inflict such excruciating pain on Shar, and she had severed her bond with her.

As the Stigmata of Dawn allowed her body to regenerate slightly, her wounds burst open again. It wasn’t solely because Yeon-woo was overexerting herself.

The aftereffects of being overly exposed to the accelerating time rushed in as soon as she released her bond.

The situation was hopeless. There was no way to kill or drive it away. That meant she had no choice but to endure indefinitely.

Like waiting for a storm to pass inside a house, it would continue endlessly.

‘I never thought it would be a phenomenon.’

Bleeding excessively and fading in and out of consciousness, Yeon-woo thought this. In order to stab it, a tangible form was needed, but this thing had no substance.

The phenomenon of her body going stiff was merely an accident of obtaining the status of the Demon King.

After asking Dawn and Lunaria, it turned out there was a way to kill, but it wasn’t feasible in the current situation.

‘If I could open the laws of the world and strike down only the portion of the Demon King clinging to the phenomenon.’

It was indeed possible; the two gods said so. However, she didn’t know how to open the laws of the world or find the location of Shuyo’s Demon King within that.

It was truly a mountain beyond a mountain. The fact that this mountain was so enormous was the problem.

‘What a foolish thing I started, Yeon-woo.’

Strangely, things were going well. It wasn’t like everything I did was going to succeed. Feeling self-deprecating, she sought to buy time somehow.

Countless people were trapped in Hyungwon City. She planned to buy enough time until those who needed to escape could do so.

“It’s okay, Shar. We aren’t affected by the mana anyway. All we need to do is buy time.”

“If you say that, then we don’t need to be doing this…!!”

That statement wasn’t entirely wrong. If she didn’t resist the mana and let the Demon King petrify Hyungwon City, once the Demon King was gone, Yeon-woo could revert everything back to how it was.

It wouldn’t take long for Yeon-woo, who had already mastered cutting the flow, to accomplish that.

“But I still have to take responsibility. It’s better for even one person to escape than for all these people to lose weeks of time.”

“More than those people, Dad is the most precious to me…. I just…. I just wish Dad wouldn’t be in pain…. Even if you hate me for being a bad child, please….”

Seeing Shar break into tears, Yeon-woo felt a deep sense of regret.

In truth, it was only natural. Family is more precious than strangers one doesn’t even know.

Yeon-woo felt the same. Family was precious. Yet, there was a part of her that couldn’t give up on strangers whom she didn’t know.

To Yeon-woo, being a hero and a warrior meant just that.

“…What’s that?”

With a bitter smile, Shar tugged at Yeon-woo’s pant leg as she swung her sword.

Wondering what was happening, Yeon-woo glanced over and saw a ring of light slowly pushing back the negative filter staining the world.

At the edge of her vision was Ain, gazing blankly at the sky while blood was pouring from her nose.

Her eyes, glowing with radiant light, appeared to be looking beyond the Demon King floating in the sky.

“What’s that sickly guy doing over there…?”

Although not as bad as Yeon-woo, Ain’s condition was hardly normal. That was to be expected. It was strange to be unharmed after confronting the Demon King in her domain straight on.

In that moment, a multitude of magic circles began to emerge around Ain, enveloping her eyes. Viewed from afar, it resembled a cannon being prepared.

The moment the cylindrical magic circle was completed, furious mana whirled around Ain. The heat was palpable, causing even Yeon-woo to stop and stare.

────Kuwaaaang!!

A flash shot out, followed by the sound of an explosion. It was a phenomenon that could only be described as a laser.

From Yeon-woo’s perspective, it was merely an act of witnessing one tremendous strike.

Yet, the reason she began to understand what had happened, even late, was because a dense trace remained, as if it had stuck in the air.

Following Ain’s staggering gaze, the sky split apart. The clouds, the moon that had started to rise, and something that transcended even the cosmos revealed itself through the cracks.

“Ugh…!”

Zing! With her eyes unintentionally focused on the gap, Yeon-woo felt a sharp headache and clutched her head.

“Ah, Dad!”

Something warm began to run down her nose. It was blood. A familiar pain and a familiar symptom.

In the past, when Yeon-woo had been overwhelmed by excessive amounts of information due to not being used to manipulating the gap, her brain had similarly reacted with pain.

“Could it be…?”

“Ugh, Dad, don’t look!!”

It seemed Shar had looked up to see what was happening and was also expressing pain.

It was painfully obvious. That was something that shouldn’t be carelessly observed. But…

“Shar, can you see? Ain’s senior figure.”

“I, I can see…. But….”

Ain was currently writhing on the floor like a madwoman, clutching her eyes as if they were on fire.

It was obvious. She had forcibly pried open the space inscribed with the laws of the world using her eyes. It wouldn’t be strange if she died at this point. Losing sight would be a small price to pay for such an accomplishment.

The only way to sever the cancer that was the Demon King was for Ain to risk her life to create it.

However, if no one utilized that opportunity, Ain’s efforts would bear no fruit and end in tragedy.

“Please, Shar. We can end it with this. Everything is in our hands.”

Hunters, mindlessly gazing into the void, began to collapse in succession. What was not permissible for humans. The same applied to Yuri and Hyuk Mu-ryeon.

Not even gods could surpass that law. The laws of the world were not allowed for anyone. Even Dragons and the Demon King were subject to that law.

However, Yeon-woo, who was neither human nor dragon but a middle-ground existence, could see it, even if just a little.

If she borrows Shar’s power, she might be able to find where the portion of the phenomenon that had become the Demon King was hiding.

Shar, who hesitated at Yeon-woo’s words, nodded. Although she couldn’t reclaim the bond she had already released, at the very least, it was possible to shroud Yeon-woo’s vision with a filter.

Yeon-woo focused on numerous strings written beyond the gap in the sky. An intense pain struck her head, but she didn’t mind.

Angered, the form of the Demon King began to twist and rampage, but already captivated by the laws, Yeon-woo had no time to notice.

(To be continued)

 

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