The Heavenly Demon Who Reigns

"Kuh..."

A groan escaped the man's lips.

His face, contorted with a mixture of rage and despair, looked as if it might shed tears of blood at any moment.

A storm of emotions warred within him, leaving him unsure of what expression to even make.

"Why..."

The man stood in a place known as the Hundred Thousand Great Mountains. Specifically, he was on Heavenly Mountain, the headquarters of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult.

The Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, also known as the Demonic Cult.

No one in the Central Plains would ever dare to look down on the Demonic Cult.

Not even the leader of the Martial Alliance.

And the cult's leader, the one called the Heavenly Demon, was a figure of terror to all.

"..."

But that was a story from the distant past.

In the present day, the Demonic Cult's prestige had plummeted.

And now, a situation that would have been unthinkable in the past had finally come to pass.

"Has the prestige of our cult fallen this far?"

Outside the castle gates, countless enemies were trying to force their way in.

At this rate, it was only a matter of time before the gates were breached.

And the Demonic Cult's forces would not be able to withstand the enemy's full might.

"Lord!"

Just then, a man approached Jang Cheon and shouted.

The man's name was Saseong.

He was the head of the Guardian Hall, a group created to protect the cult leader and other important figures.

"You must flee at once!"

As the head of the Guardian Hall, Saseong's duty was to protect the cult leader, Jang Cheon, at all costs.

But it was no longer possible to protect Jang Cheon here.

The only option left was to help Jang Cheon escape from Heavenly Mountain, away from the enemy's onslaught.

"..."

But Jang Cheon didn't move an inch.

Normally, it would be disrespectful not to wait for Jang Cheon's reply, but the situation was urgent.

In the end, Saseong risked being rude and spoke to Jang Cheon again.

"Lord, please..."

"...Who are they?"

"..."

"Who are these bastards who dare to covet our cult!"

Jang Cheon shouted, his voice filled with rage.

But Saseong couldn't answer.

Because he, too, did not know the enemy's identity.

There were countless factions that could have attacked Heavenly Mountain, too many to count on one's fingers.

"Is it the Red Star Cult, the Lunar Spirit Cult, or the Thunder God Cult!"

Jang Cheon seemed to be aware of this fact as he rattled off the names.

About a hundred years ago, the Demonic Cult had splintered into various factions.

As a result, the most important incantation of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art was lost, and subsequent cult leaders were unable to fully master the art.

In other words, the lineage of the Heavenly Demon had been severed since then.

"..."

The same was true for Jang Cheon.

He had learned the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, but it was far from perfect.

Because of this, Jang Cheon could not become the Heavenly Demon, and in the end, he had allowed the enemy to invade, just as they were doing today.

"The prestige of the orthodox sects, led by the Martial Alliance, is growing day by day, while we, who came from the same root, are fighting amongst ourselves..."

"..."

"How utterly ridiculous."

Jang Cheon said, letting out a bitter laugh.

"...Lord, I know you are filled with resentment."

"..."

"But if you die here, our cult will truly be on the path to ruin."

Saseong felt the same resentment that Jang Cheon was feeling.

But now was not the time.

Saseong believed that if they could somehow keep the cult leader alive, they could plan a counterattack in the future.

"If I live, can you say that the cult will also be safe?"

"..."

"What good is it if the head is alive but the body is dead?"

Saseong couldn't offer any rebuttal.

Just as Jang Cheon said, even if they retreated, only a small number of people would survive.

It was unrealistic to think that they could achieve the revival of the Demonic Cult with such a small number of people, something they couldn't even do in the past.

"Saseong."

"...Yes, Lord."

"If I had mastered the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, would things have turned out differently?"

"..."

An immediate answer did not come.

But how could the lost incantation be recovered?

No matter how many means they used to search for it, they had not found a single clue so far.

That meant that one had to realize the lost incantation on their own.

But that was impossible, even for someone as talented as Jang Cheon.

"...It is not your fault, Lord."

In the end, Saseong could only answer in that way.

"It might be possible to create a new martial art, but it is realistically impossible to find a lost part of an existing one."

"..."

"And what you are trying to find is the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. It is already beyond the realm of human capability."

"...Beyond the realm of human capability, you say."

Muttering to himself, Jang Cheon let out a hollow laugh.

"So you're saying that in the end, I couldn't transcend humanity."

That was why he couldn't become the being known as the Heavenly Demon.

A being with power that far surpassed that of a human.

That was what Jang Cheon had been aiming for all this time.

Boom-!

At that moment, the firmly shut castle gates swung wide open.

In the end, they couldn't withstand the enemy's onslaught, and the gates had fallen.

And from the open gates, the enemy's forces poured in like a tidal wave.

"Lord! You must go now!"

Seeing this, Saseong said in an urgent voice.

Now that things had come to this, the only thing he could do was buy time for Jang Cheon to escape.

With the resolve to become a decoy himself, Saseong drew his sword.

However.

"Then I will at least struggle until the very end."

"...?"

"Right here, right now... I will become the Heavenly Demon!"

As he said that, Jang Cheon shot forward in an instant.

In a flash, he was already rushing towards the enemies.

Seeing this, Saseong had no choice but to run towards the enemies as well.

"Uwaaaaah-!"

Leaping high into the air, Jang Cheon roared.

At his roar, the enemies below all turned their gazes towards him.

And Jang Cheon, as he dived towards them, spread his right hand.

Woong-!

At that moment, demonic energy bloomed in Jang Cheon's right hand.

It was no ordinary demonic energy.

The reddish energy gave off a sense of both ominousness and ecstasy just by looking at it.

"It's Jang Cheon!"

That unique reddish light was the most prominent feature of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

In the end, Jang Cheon's identity was instantly revealed to the enemies, and he became the target of a simultaneous attack from everyone.

Shing-.

The enemies all aimed their swords at Jang Cheon.

But Jang Cheon, as if he didn't care, brought his right hand down towards the place where the enemies were gathered.

Kwakwakwang-!

With Jang Cheon's right hand as the center, the demonic energy exploded in a chain reaction.

The explosion spread over a wide area.

And the bodies of the enemies caught in the explosion were instantly blown apart, their forms unrecognizable.

Fwoosh-.

But the enemies quickly surrounded Jang Cheon again.

Even after seeing their comrades explode before their eyes, they did not retreat at all.

"Surround him! If we kill him, the Demonic Cult will be completely finished..."

At that moment.

The man who was shouting that among the enemies could no longer continue his words.

Because a huge hand was gripping his face.

"..."

When Jang Cheon's figure disappeared from in front of them, the enemies looked around in confusion.

And they found Jang Cheon standing among them.

For a moment, they were at a loss for words at the sight of him holding their comrade's head in his hand.

"Did you say that if you kill me, our cult will be finished?"

"Ugh...!"

"Then try and kill me."

Pak-.

With those words, the man's head exploded.

When Jang Cheon clenched his hand, the head burst with surprising ease.

"..."

To be able to crush a person's head like that.

It was an abnormal grip strength.

At that moment, the enemies realized that even if Jang Cheon hadn't mastered the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, he was not an opponent to be taken lightly.

Fwoosh-.

But even someone like Jang Cheon would eventually show his limits if they pushed him with numbers.

Thinking so, the enemies all rushed towards Jang Cheon at once.

Thud-.

Seeing this, Jang Cheon let go of the man's head he was holding.

At the same time, demonic energy bloomed from both of his hands.

With his hands fully imbued with reddish energy, Jang Cheon moved through the enemies.

Pak- Pak- Pak-.

Only the sound of something exploding could be heard.

And the ground was filled with corpses that had completely lost their heads or parts of their bodies, and only one person stood among them.

"Hiiik-!"

Seeing this, one of the survivors among the enemies stepped back in fear.

Was that really a human?

Jang Cheon, covered in red blood from head to toe, was the very image of a blood demon.

"Uwaaaah-!"

In the end, unable to bear the fear, an enemy ran away.

Jang Cheon lightly flicked his finger at him.

Then, a finger bullet made of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art pierced through the back of the enemy's head.

Thud-.

In the end, the man collapsed on the ground.

The area around Jang Cheon was now filled with the corpses of enemies.

But even after killing so many, there were still too many enemies left to kill.

Fwoosh-.

Jang Cheon moved towards the enemies again.

But at that moment, someone launched a surprise attack from Jang Cheon's side.

Whoosh-.

Jang Cheon swung his right hand in that direction.

And his opponent also countered Jang Cheon's palm strike with a hand technique.

'He blocked my palm strike?'

His palm strike was clearly imbued with the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

But his opponent was also responding with a similar technique, and there was no sign of him struggling or being pushed back.

Fwoosh-.

In the end, the two exchanged an even blow and retreated.

Jang Cheon looked at the man in front of him with wary eyes and said.

"Who are you?"

"..."

"To be able to withstand the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, are you the leader of these bastards?"

"Did you call that the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"

The man said, as if mocking Jang Cheon.

Hearing his words, Jang Cheon's brow twitched.

"...Are you saying that what I'm using is not the Heavenly Demon Divine Art?"

"That's right. That's not something that deserves to be called the Heavenly Demon Divine Art."

"..."

"I was able to tell for sure after facing you directly."

Of course, Jang Cheon's Heavenly Demon Divine Art was not perfect, but its power was by no means negligible.

As proof of that, hadn't countless enemies just been blown to pieces?

But the man's tone was clearly looking down on Jang Cheon's Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

As if his incomplete Heavenly Demon Divine Art was no match for him.

That's what Jang Cheon felt from the man's tone.

"...Then see for yourself."

Woong-.

At that moment, demonic energy concentrated in Jang Cheon's right hand.

As if he had swallowed a huge flame, a red energy blazed in his right hand.

"There's no need for that."

Saying so, the man also concentrated energy in his right hand.

Then, in contrast to Jang Cheon, a dark blue energy filled the man's right hand.

And a mysterious atmosphere that made onlookers stare in a daze was felt from it.

Fwoosh-.

At that moment, as if by agreement, the two rushed towards each other.

And at the same time, they threw a palm strike at each other.

Kwang-!

Finally, the energy concentrated in both of their right hands collided.

A power so great that it was impossible to determine who was superior.

As the unconventional energies collided, it felt as if even space-time was being distorted.

"..."

At that moment, a tremendous light erupted from the point where their energies collided.

The light spread to the surroundings in an instant.

And soon, it completely swallowed the bodies of Jang Cheon and the man.

(End of Chapter)