Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Emergence (3)

A gigantic golden egg—should I call it that?

Or should it be called a heart of gold?

Thump! Thump! Thump!

While it resembled some kind of egg, its pulsing made it unmistakably reminiscent of a heart.

Every time it beat loudly, the space shook, and faint vibrations resonated throughout the anticipated structure.

"It looks like you've prepared quite diligently."

Damian gazed at it silently.

"Even so, it was completed rather barely."

Completed, huh.

If it wasn't yet awakened, it could simply be destroyed.

Just throwing a punch at it would suffice.

At the very least, it would be much simpler than obliterating the rift.

No matter how close Damian was, he wouldn't be able to suppress my attack.

So.

That's why I hesitated.

Because it was too simple.

"Park Jung-woo, what are you hesitating for?"

Damian slowly turned his gaze.

He even offered a faint smile at me, as I caught my breath and clenched and unclenched my fists.

"If you could wait for its birth, that would be immensely kind of you, at least for me."

Was he provoking me?

Or simply being sarcastic?

'Either way, it's dangerous.'

I opened the heart's door and, through my vision filled with countless flows, looked at 'that'.

The Demon God's egg.

When I fixed my gaze on what should be called that, I saw something swirling like a vortex.

Countless forces intertwined, creating a wave of gigantic spiraling currents.

Just by existing, it was a maw that sucked up everything around it.

"Well, if watching is your choice, it can't be helped."

Boom-boom-boom!!!

No sooner had Damian finished speaking than the surroundings began to tremble.

An earthquake?

No, that wasn't it.

The constructed building itself was moving.

"No way..."

"As you suspect, you're correct."

A massive flow filled the area.

And only now did I realize what it meant for this structure to move.

"Yes, that's right. In the end, your goal is to turn this world into the 'Demon Realm', isn't it?"

Everyone thought so.

So far, everyone believed that by using divine art and demon technology, they were trying to bring forth a 'Demon God'.

That's not wrong.

In a way, this wasn't strange to call a god in all its meaning.

It was something that could devour and rebirth an entire world.

"With that gigantic 'demon heart' as its core, you'll transform the very world into a demonic zone."

The demonic zone is the land most similar to the Demon Realm.

So if you turned the entire Earth into a demonic zone, it would be the same as transforming Earth into the Demon Realm.

"Correct. I really must thank Benadic. Thanks to him, we were able to accelerate the timeline more than I could have hoped for."

"... What would you have done if Benadic hadn't existed?"

Benadic's existence in this world was a coincidence.

If not for the incident at Gwaehyeoldo, the demons would never have known of the existence of divine art.

"Then we would have acted much more passively. It would have taken at least several more years to complete this."

In a way, it was because of Benadic's existence that their plot was revealed more quickly.

Rather, if they had remained hidden, they might have become even more difficult to deal with.

Of course, this is all just speculation.

'By the time I returned to this world, this building would already have been completed.'

It made sense that he had appeared to me so openly in America.

The stage was already set.

They were simply biding their time, waiting for the right moment to complete it.

"You really are competent. If you were even a little less so, we could have proceeded with this much more leisurely."

"So you intend to move forward even with it incomplete?"

"If most of Earth will be eroded anyway, then what comes after is simple."

I clenched my fist.

The building began to move slowly.

Its direction—upward.

It would probably rise above the land and into the sky.

'If I destroy it.'

Perhaps I could push it into a crack in space, like I did with the rift, and destroy it.

'I need to observe it a bit more closely.'

I couldn't act on just a simple guess.

I had to calmly and clearly read the flow and understand its nature perfectly.

Boom!

With that thought, I opened the door to my powers a little more.

I took another step—one more step—toward the throne where 'he' sat.

When I came just a few paces from the monster once called the Demon King—

'I can see it.'

Blood trickled from my bloodshot eyes.

My heart raced, and I could feel Estella's divine power fading in real time from my body.

The world the Demon King saw.

When I forced myself to reproduce his strength, I finally saw something that had eluded me.

The link between Damian and the 'heart'.

'Could it be that if just one of them were destroyed or killed...'

That wasn't all.

That massive force, coalescing into a single point like a vortex.

If I destroyed that, I could clearly see what would happen.

The answer was simple.

"You... are insane, aren't you?"

"Amazing. I didn't think you'd see even that far."

Damian placed his hand on the heart and laughed.

If that flow exploded, Earth might not even become a demonic zone.

'... It would trigger a disaster far beyond anything a rift could cause.'

It would become a wasteland even demons couldn't survive.

It would be something with divine art and demonic energy mixed.

"I'm nothing but a helmsman, Park Jung-woo."

The helmsman who kept this massive Demon God's castle afloat and steered its course.

But if the helmsman died, a world-shattering catastrophe worthy of burning the entire Earth would ensue.

What a ridiculous joke.

***

"Hurry, faster!"

Shin Ah-yeon clung to Eugene, shouting over and over.

With Blink or teleportation, it could have been simple, but that couldn't be used recklessly on this demonic land.

This ground of the demonic zone was effectively the enemy's home turf.

If interference occurred during spatial movement, it could result in a horrific disaster.

So, except for Soo-ah, everyone had to cling to Eugene and make their way like this.

"... I suppose at least one of us could have gone with Alencia."

"Less talking, more running!"

"Honestly, this is absurd."

Alencia couldn't recharge on this demonic land, so she had to conserve her power as much as possible.

Eugene was fast enough that there would have been less than a minute's difference in regrouping anyway, and so it made more sense to preserve Alencia's strength.

"There!"

Shin Ah-yeon, hanging onto one of Eugene's shoulders, reached out toward the front.

There, she saw Cade fighting Alencia.

She also saw Kian and Baek Hojun fighting the clones of Mimos they had just dealt with—'Mi-mes'.

'Raidan Bowl, you betrayed us.'

Their enemy was not just Mi-mes.

There was a human commanding them.

Raidan Bowl, previously identified as a 'spy', had finally revealed his true nature.

"You arrived quite quickly, I see."

Raidan also sensed the massive presence rapidly approaching.

Shin Ah-yeon and her companions. They were formidable foes, but right now, he had the Mi-mes by his side.

'Cade is not one I need worry about.'

Alencia moved so fast she was nearly invisible.

Her attacks were threatening enough to break Cade's armored suit several times, leaving cuts on his flesh.

'So she can't deliver a strike like when she felled the Titan.'

Perhaps she simply couldn't.

Unlike back then when she'd absorbed all of America's power, now she didn't have that much.

So, Alencia could not defeat Cade.

The environment itself was wholly unfavorable for Alencia, and even her overwhelming speed only managed to break his armor.

And the armor, even if broken, would simply regenerate.

In the end, this war of attrition would be decided when Alencia ran out of power.

And that time was not far off.

"No matter how powerful you are, you cannot fight all of this alone."

Kian exhaled after blocking Raidan's sword.

Even in their brief fight, he was covered in wounds, and the flames surrounding him had diminished greatly.

Unlike Baek Hojun, who fought the Mimos clones, Kian had faced a top-rank demon alone, so it was only natural.

"Perhaps not. But all I have to do is buy time."

Those here were surely strong.

But Raidan Bowl was best suited for defense.

Being from the same lineage as Cade, when it came to defense, none could match him.

"I just have to wait until that Saintess's power runs dry."

"..."

At those words, Kian swallowed hard.

The approaching presence of allies nearby was reassuring, but even so, it was hard to imagine anyone here could face Cade.

'That's a monster.'

When he'd first seen him in the Grand Canyon, he had sensed overwhelming power.

Still, he'd thought that with the S-rank Awakener assembled, they could handle him.

But now, that wasn't the case.

Even with everyone here combined, they still could never win.

"Sir Cade has gained strength beyond anyone, burning both his noble mission and lifespan."

Raidan raised his sword with a twisted grin.

"You people, without Park Jung-woo, cannot stop this. No, even if Park Jung-woo were here, you could not. Sir Cade is the demon closest to the Demon King!"

Kuuaaang!!

Simultaneously with his shout, something golden crashed down beside Kian.

There was no need to check what it was.

"Ah, that hurt."

Alencia groaned, struggling to her feet.

The power she exuded was clearly much less than before.

She was uninjured, but if her power ran out, it would be meaningless.

"Kukuku, look. Even that Saintess is near her limit. Your lifeline is running thin..."

Just as Raidan burst into madness-laced laughter, his body spun around.

"Huh?"

Moreover, gripping his sword, he suddenly charged at Cade, who had just blown Alencia away and was catching his breath.

"W-what is this!!"

"Wow, you sure talk a lot."

Shin Ah-yeon retorted nonchalantly at the flustered Raidan.

"Did you really think we would leave a defector like you without taking any measures?"

As she said this, she spread her hands wide.

Then the mixture of demonic energy and divine art within Raidan was activated, and he swung his sword at Cade with full force.

"Ha, what is this...?"

Cade easily deflected Raidan's sword as he charged at him.

"This is not of my own will, sir Cade!!"

"Yes, yes, I am aware."

Cade's eyes narrowed as he watched Raidan swinging his sword in a frenzy.

"You put a shackle on him. What a loophole this was."

Everyone present wore the artifacts that Jung-woo had given them.

Of course, that included Raidan Bowl and Dmitri.

'There is no artifact that could control a top-rank demon.'

The bracelet around Raidan's neck and wrist.

That was a kind of antenna made by Shin Ah-yeon to interfere with him.

'Merging a demon and human involves the use of divine art.'

In other words, its source.

And its owner—Estella, that is... Shin Ah-yeon.

"If someone else borrows mine, then surely I can borrow something of yours, too, right?"

"It's just buying time anyway."

"Your subordinate said you were burning your lifespan. You must have time to spare, then?"

At Shin Ah-yeon's mocking remark, Cade's brow furrowed.

"... You are much harsher than you were in the past."

"What an obvious thing to say."

Shin Ah-yeon's hand moved.

Just like a puppeteer controlling a marionette by its strings.

"I am not Estella. I am Shin Ah-yeon."

Following her gesture, Raidan blocked Cade's attacks head-on.

With that renowned, exceptional defense of his.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

33 chapters left.

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