Chapter 285 : The Great Counterattack (4)
Chapter 285: The Great Counterattack (4)
What reflected in Jo Yangpung’s eyes was no longer the form of a human.
The pure-white sword radiance erupting around Tang Sewoon swallowed the darkness as if a sun were rising.
That sight, irreverent as it was, made him recall the image of a being he revered.
Slash!
Screeech!
“Ke—keugh!!”
“Gwaaaagh!!”
Wherever the arc of Sewoon’s sword swept through, the demonic practitioners of the Blood Cult vanished amid horrific screams.
Sewoon’s blade did not merely cleave flesh; it annihilated even the souls they carried, creating a scene of utter devastation.
“Th-that…!”
Jo Yangpung’s voice trembled as he watched.
The opponent seemed to have reached the same Life and Death Realm as himself, yet the divine might he displayed was something Jo Yangpung could not even hope to follow.
It was power so untouchable that a groan of awe escaped him without realizing it.
‘This is impossible…! With power like this, only that being could…!’
Once again, unconsciously, he recalled the existence of the Blood Demon.
Having been filled with arrogance after receiving the Blood Demon’s power, what unfolded before his eyes was enough to shake every certainty he held.
And then—
“Vice Cult Leader!!”
“…!!”
A thunderous roar suddenly rang out beside him, snapping his mind back to reality.
It was his adjutant.
“Th-this won’t do!! We must retreat immediately and request additional reinforcements from the main headquarters!”
The adjutant’s face was filled with confusion and shock.
The confidence and blind loyalty to the Blood Cult that once defined him were nowhere to be seen.
If even he felt this way, how much terror must the subordinates be feeling?
However, Jo Yangpung’s eyes sank into icy calm.
Defeat on this battlefield meant his own downfall.
The Blood Demon never forgave the defeated.
He had to display his might and prove his worth to the Blood Demon.
And so, Jo Yangpung clearly realized what he had to do now.
“Reinforcements? It seems you have no intention of winning this battle.”
“Y-yes…? V-Vice Cult Leader?”
The adjutant staggered back in panic.
But Jo Yangpung showed no hesitation as he swung his sword at him.
Slash!
The adjutant’s neck was severed cleanly.
Fshhhh!!
Blood gushed from his body like a fountain as he collapsed to the ground.
His eyes were still filled with terror and despair.
“?!”
“H-hiiik!”
At this gruesome sight, the surrounding demonic practitioners of the Blood Cult wavered.
Fear took root in their eyes.
Jo Yangpung clenched his teeth and swept his gaze around.
“Is there anyone else who wishes to speak weakness?”
“!!”
Wherever his gaze landed, the demonic practitioners lowered their heads, trembling.
At that moment, they understood reality.
Escape was not permitted.
They had no choice but to obey Jo Yangpung’s orders.
If running meant death anyway, there was only one option left.
“Kill the leader of the Overlord Faction!!”
“Once that bastard dies, it’s over!!”
The morale that had fallen to the ground was forcibly reversed.
Bang!
Confirming this, Jo Yangpung also stomped forward and charged.
Whoooosh!
Pitch-black demonic qi erupted from his body.
Betting everything he had, he lunged straight at Tang Sewoon.
The sword in his hand exuded a dreadful aura, as if it could destroy all things.
‘I don’t know what trick you used to cross the wall of the Life and Death Realm, but you still can’t defeat me!’
Muttering this vow like an incantation, Jo Yangpung rushed toward Tang Sewoon.
The pitch-black demonic qi flowing from his body twisted the surrounding space with every step he took.
This was the power of the Life and Death Realm bestowed upon him by the Blood Demon—Spatial Flash Kill.
‘No matter how wildly you rampage, before this power you’ll have no choice but to kneel!’
Wooooong!
Sskkrrt!
Jo Yangpung fused the demonic qi erupting from his sword into the space itself.
Spatial Flash Kill eroded space itself, sealing the enemy’s movements while allowing his own attacks to rain down along unpredictable trajectories.
Jo Yangpung was certain Tang Sewoon would never be able to evade these slashes.
Kwagagagang!
With a terrifying roar, Jo Yangpung’s sword collided with Tang Sewoon’s.
Pitch-black demonic qi and pure-white sword radiance clashed, triggering a massive explosion.
A shocking sight followed—the black engulfed the white.
‘Got him!!’
At that instant, Jo Yangpung was convinced of victory.
The severed, plague-like blackened space spread out and engulfed Sewoon’s body.
A body trapped within dozens of fractured layers of space could not possibly maintain its form.
Now his body would surely be torn into hundreds, thousands of bloody fragments scattered in all directions.
“…Huh?”
But—
Tang Sewoon was unharmed.
As if night had suddenly passed and morning had arrived.
Sewoon’s body stood intact, not a single wound upon it, and his sword was still shining brilliantly.
“Th-this is…”
As Jo Yangpung stood frozen in shock—
Flash!
Sewoon’s sword cleaved through the air, as if it had predicted the attack in advance.
Startled, Jo Yangpung simultaneously unfolded Spatial Flash Kill once more, but—
Puhk!
Slash!
“Kkeugh!!”
Sewoon pierced straight through the exact trajectory.
As if adding fresh color onto a painting with a brush, every time Sewoon’s sword moved, the spatial distortion created by Jo Yangpung vanished.
Jo Yangpung was struck with shock.
It was as if his opponent saw through everything, grasping the very instant his sword moved.
Sewoon had already claimed the point where his blade would arrive, one step ahead.
‘That can’t be possible! The power of the blessing I received can’t be just this much…!!’
Jo Yangpung believed, absolutely, that he could not lose.
This immense power of the Life and Death Realm had been directly bestowed upon him by the Blood Demon.
He was convinced that this Spatial Flash Kill was a perfect force that no martial art in the world could ever block.
However, stubborn denial did nothing to erase the brutal reality before him.
Jo Yangpung’s arrogance shattered into pieces.
“UAAAAAH!!”
Screaming as if in agony, Jo Yangpung began scattering his sword with all his might.
A dreadful premonition dominated his mind—that if he did not do something, he would die a miserable death.
His sword tore through space as it scattered in all directions.
A single sword split into hundreds, then merged again, surging toward Tang Sewoon along unpredictable trajectories.
His attack was no longer in the form of martial arts.
It was pure destructive force—shredding and mixing space itself.
Kwa-ga-ga-ga!
Pa-ba-bat!
The two bodies flickered between space and space.
Their movements had already surpassed the realm that human eyes could follow.
They looked like beings who had transcended the mortal world.
Where they passed, space twisted and snapped back into place, leaving behind only horrific traces of destruction.
‘Ggh…! J-just a little, just a little more!!’
Jo Yangpung’s body screamed from the excessive use of Demonic Qi, yet he did not stop.
Killing Tang Sewoon was his one and only goal.
But unlike Jo Yangpung, who had gone completely berserk, Tang Sewoon remained calm.
His sword, like an abyss that contained everything, absorbed every one of Jo Yangpung’s horrific attacks.
Jo Yangpung’s rage and madness held no meaning before Sewoon’s sword.
Everything was already in Sewoon’s grasp.
Sewoon looked upon that sight with quiet contempt.
‘Jo Yangpung. Your power is ultimately someone else’s. With strength borrowed from another—power you don’t even understand—and with a sword no different from the past, do you really think you can leave even a scratch on me?’
Memories of the past brushed across Sewoon’s mind.
Before the regression, Jo Yangpung had defeated countless masters with this Spatial Flash Kill.
Of course, back then it had been swordsmanship of the Manifestation Realm rather than the Life and Death Realm, but aside from the scale of power, its essence was no different.
Because it was not strength he had attained himself, but power forcibly injected by another.
‘Power that contains no enlightenment is nothing but emptiness.’
Sewoon felt a dreadful hollowness in Jo Yangpung’s sword.
The power granted by the Blood Demon pursued only extreme destruction.
With such a sword, it was impossible to harm even a single strand of his hair.
With a cold sneer, Sewoon deflected Jo Yangpung’s blade as it flew toward his crown with killing intent once more.
Kwaaaang!
Clang!
The moment the swords of two absolute beings collided, a tremendous explosive boom rang out, and Jo Yangpung’s sword shattered.
At the same time, Jo Yangpung was blasted far backward by the storm-like shockwave.
Yet Sewoon appeared completely unharmed.
Lightly stepping out of the shockwave’s radius, Sewoon kicked off the air once more and charged toward Jo Yangpung.
Their gazes crossed.
‘T-this is impossible!’
Jo Yangpung was utterly terrified.
He instinctively realized his defeat.
But there was something he did not know.
Even this overwhelming gap existed because Sewoon was fighting with less than a fraction of his strength, wary that the martial artists of the Allied Forces fighting alongside him might be harmed.
Paaaat!
In that instant, the light erupting from Sewoon’s sword grew even more intense.
The sword radiance pierced through all of Jo Yangpung’s attacks and surged toward his body.
Even though he saw every ray of sword light, Jo Yangpung could not evade it.
He had already rendered his body completely defenseless and unleashed everything.
Shaaah!
Slash!
In the end, pure white sword radiance brushed past Jo Yangpung’s shoulder.
Thud.
Pshhhh!
Along with unbearable pain, his arm was severed from his body.
The sword Jo Yangpung had been holding rolled across the ground.
“KRAAAAGH!!”
Jo Yangpung let out a scream filled with agony.
Blood gushed out like a fountain from his severed arm.
Paht!
Sewoon did not stop.
He immediately pressed forward again, this time aiming not for the arm, but for the neck.
In his eyes, there was no longer contempt or anger toward Jo Yangpung.
Only a quiet stillness, as if he intended to end everything.
Sssshk!
Along with a piercing sound as the air was torn apart, Sewoon’s sword closed in on Jo Yangpung’s neck.
Perhaps sensing his own death—
Jo Yangpung’s eyes trembled as if an earthquake had struck.
‘Just… like this?’
It was a miserable ending he had never once imagined.
And then—
Kwaaaang!
With a massive explosive boom, an enormous black shadow surged toward Sewoon’s sword.
Kwaaaang!
“…….”
Along with the thunderous impact, Sewoon was pushed far backward.
An overwhelming pressure, unlike anything he had felt while fighting Jo Yangpung, crushed down upon his entire body.
Sewoon slowly turned his head.
There stood a Demonic Practitioner holding twin wheels imbued with terrifying Demonic Qi in both hands.
The Twin Wheels, shaped like cartwheels, were lined with sharp blades along their circumference.
“Only now do I understand. You are the demonic fiend. A wretched demonic fiend who dares to defile the grand design of The Master.”
It was the Right Protector, Blood Wheel Asura.
His eyes were filled with pure madness.
At the same time, the Demonic Qi pouring from his body completely overwhelmed that of Jo Yangpung.
Crunch!
Krrrggg!
If Jo Yangpung had twisted space, Blood Wheel Asura demonstrated power that crushed space itself.
Sewoon’s eyes sank into calm stillness.
In truth, the one that mattered in this battle had never been Jo Yangpung.
‘I knew you would come.’
It was the existence standing right before him.