Goblin Krix(2)
The moment the Twilight Devourer effect awakened.....
The violently swirling corruption in the room suddenly slowed.
The dark, toxic energy physically touching the blade of Dawn's Edge began to dissolve.
It wasn't being forcefully destroyed. It wasn't being violently erased from existence.
It was being gently, methodically separated.
The deep hatred. The suffocating despair. The cosmic madness. The alien poison.
Everything foreign was being carefully peeled away.
Like a master healer drawing black poison from a deep, festering wound.
Krix froze mid-motion, the blade inches from his own heart.
"What..."
Seo Jun stepped perfectly into the goblin's guard.
"This is exactly why I forged this blade," Seo Jun declared.
He looked down at the starry abyss of Dawn's Edge.
Then he looked back up at the terrified eyes of the guide.
"It was not made to destroy. It was forged to reach what remains."
The black blade moved.
It didn't thrust toward Krix's heart. It swept outward, slicing directly into the thick, parasitic chains of corruption choking the goblin.
The moment Dawn's Edge touched the absolute darkness… A brilliant, warm blue light spread.
The corruption let out a literal, deafening scream.
And somewhere, buried deep beneath that horrific cosmic shrieking…
A familiar, gentle voice whispered. A voice that had been buried alive for countless thousands of years.
"...help me..."
Seo Jun's dark eyes sharpened with absolute resolve.
Krix. The real, original Krix. He was still in there, fighting a war no one could see.
The next moment…
The darkness violently recoiled, attempting to swallow the goblin whole to protect itself.
Dawn's Edge moved in response.
A flawless black arc cut through the heavy air.
The slash was aimed precisely toward Krix's ribs. Not his heart. Not his neck. Not a single vital point.
Seo Jun was deliberately avoiding anything that could end the guardian's life permanently.
He was threading a needle in a hurricane. The corrupted entity noticed the restraint. And that realization angered the parasite deeply.
"Still holding back?!"
The voice that echoed from Krix's throat was distorted, layered with a dozen cosmic echoes.
"Even now, you arrogant insect?!"
The corrupted guardian stepped forward, abandoning all defense. His blade moved faster than lightning, carrying apocalyptic force.
CLANG!!
Yet…
Something miraculous happened.
The exact moment their blades touched… The thick purple energy coating Krix's sword trembled in terror.
Then, slowly… inevitably… It began moving. It did not flow toward Seo Jun to infect him. It flowed directly into the starry abyss of Dawn's Edge.
Like a puddle of darkness being relentlessly pulled into a bottomless, purifying void.
Krix's glowing eyes widened in absolute shock.
The cosmic corruption surrounding his blade was being forcibly drawn away from his soul.
Not violently destroyed but separated.
Devoured. Purified. And then converted to strengthen the user.
Dawn's Edge eagerly absorbed the foreign malice and filtered it apart perfectly.
A quiet, powerful pulse spread from the black blade, traveling up Seo Jun's arm.
Unlike the violent, erratic corruption filling the chamber, this power was profoundly calm.
Everything that did not originally belong to Krix was slowly, painfully being stripped away.
"What..."
The voice from the goblin was faltering. The distortion was fading.
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"What kind of cursed weapon did you bring here?"
Seo Jun looked down at the blade, feeling the warmth of purified mana filling his exhausted veins.
He looked back at the terrified entity.
"It is a weapon."
He paused, taking a slow breath.
"...created so that hope could survive the end of the world."
The corrupted entity's expression stiffened.
"Hope...?"
A bitter, mocking laugh escaped the goblin's lips, fueled by the parasite.
"Everything else survives in this universe. The Outer Gods survive. The corruption survives. The endless, miserable cycle of the Tower survives."
Dark purple energy violently erupted around the goblin once more, desperately trying to regenerate.
"But hope..."
The golden eyes slowly lost their remaining warmth.
"...hope is always the very first thing to die in the dark."
BOOM!!
The floor of the chamber exploded entirely beneath his feet.
In the blink of an eye…
The corrupted Krix was already directly in front of Seo Jun. His blade descended like a falling meteor.
CLANG!!
Seo Jun blocked it perfectly. But the sheer kinetic impact forced him several steps backward.
The parasite didn't give him a single moment to recover his balance.
Another devastating slash followed immediately. Then another. Then another.
Each strike was perfectly, mathematically calculated.
Every attack aimed at the smallest, most microscopic weakness in Seo Jun's defense.
The entity wasn't fighting like a beast consumed by mindless rage anymore.
It was utilizing Krix's body perfectly. It was fighting like a guardian who had spent an eternity mastering the absolute art of protecting others.
And that…
That was the greatest, most sickening tragedy of all.
The very beautiful, elegant swordsmanship that had once existed solely to save human lives...
Had been hijacked to become a weapon meant to end them.
CLANG!
CLANG!!
CLANG!!
Toxic purple light and pure blue starlight collided again and again and again.
Neither sword yielded an inch. Neither warrior's will wavered.
The corrupted attacks became fiercer with every passing exchange.
Faster. Sharper. Infinitely more desperate.
Each strike carried the suffocating weight of thousands of years of loneliness.
It wasn't simply physical strength pouring from the blade…
It was pure, unadulterated desperation.
"Why?!"
The distorted voice echoed painfully throughout the chamber.
"Why do you keep standing back up?!"
Another massive strike descended from the heavens.
Seo Jun met it head-on, rooting his feet into the stone.
CLANG!!
Seo Jun violently pushed Krix's blade aside, creating a momentary stalemate.
He looked directly into the glowing eyes and calmly answered.
"Because I know exactly what happens to the world when people stop fighting."
The corrupted entity's eyes narrowed in fury.
Seo Jun didn't stop speaking. His voice cut through the noise of battle.
"Giving up doesn't end the suffering. It only gives the monsters permission to continue it."
The parasite twisted Krix's face into a mocking sneer.
"You speak as if you've suffered. As if a fragile mortal like you could ever understand true cosmic despair."
Seo Jun remained completely silent for a moment. The chaotic sounds of the chamber seemed to fade away. He answered quietly, his voice heavy with the ghosts of his past.
"I do."
The chamber seemed to grow deathly still.
"I've watched my entire world collapse into ash. I've seen brave people fight with everything they had, even after they knew they would never see tomorrow."
Fragments of his previous, doomed life flashed vividly through his mind.
Beautiful cities swallowed by an endless tide of darkness. Loyal companions falling into the mud, one after another. A sky permanently stained a suffocating, dead black.
Yet, not a single one of them had ever stopped swinging their swords.
"They knew they might fail," Seo Jun said.
His grip tightened around the leather hilt of Dawn's Edge.
"But they fought because they believed someone would continue after them. That absolute belief… became my only reason to keep walking."
The corrupted entity stared silently. But somewhere deep inside that shell, something trembled profoundly.
Then…
BOOM!!
The corruption erupted with apocalyptic violence.
Thick, throbbing black veins spread across Krix's entire body. It wasn't because the Outer God's power had suddenly grown stronger… It was because Krix himself had begun actively resisting it from the inside.
His sword trembled violently in his grip. His breathing became incredibly uneven, hitching in his throat.
"Ngh..."
His free, green hand shot up and clutched his own head. Pure, agonizing pain distorted his scarred face.
"No..."
His true voice shook, breaking through the distortion.
"Get... out of my head..."
The cosmic corruption writhed like a living, panicking creature.
It wasn't merely controlling his physical limbs anymore.
It was desperately trying to bury the noble guardian awakening inside the mindscape.
Fragments of beautiful, forgotten memories flooded back into Krix's mind.
The very first human candidate he had ever welcomed to the Tower. The young, brave children who had entered the Verdant Hell with frightened but determined eyes.
The countless people who had smiled and thanked him before climbing to the higher floors.
"I..."
His small knees shook violently, threatening to give out.
"I remember them..."
The corruption screamed in absolute terror. It tightened around his physical heart like a vice.
Trying to drown those precious memories in a sea of blood once more.
Seo Jun lowered his sword slightly, leaving himself open.
There was absolutely no killing intent in his dark eyes.
Only absolute, unwavering certainty.
"Krix," Seo Jun called out.
The struggling guardian slowly forced his head up to look at the human.
"You've been fighting it all this time," Seo Jun stated.
Krix's golden pupils trembled with unspeakable emotion.
"...What?"
Seo Jun took one slow, highly deliberate step forward.
"If your soul had truly surrendered to the dark… it wouldn't need to suppress you this violently right now."
Absolute silence fell over the two warriors.
For the first time in countless millennia...
Krix smiled.
It wasn't a smile of bright, unburdened happiness.
It was the broken, exhausted smile of someone who had finally realized he had never completely given up.
"I..."
His small, green shoulders shook as a sob caught in his throat.
"I was still fighting..."
Even after all these lonely, agonizing years. He had never truly yielded.
The corruption exploded in absolute, mindless fury.
Pitch-black darkness surged toward Seo Jun like a massive tidal wave meant to erase him.
But Dawn's Edge answered the challenge. The galaxy of stars within the black blade fully awakened.
Not with an overwhelming, blinding brilliance that burned the eyes.
But with a quiet, persistent light.
Like the very first ray of dawn breaking after an endless, terrifying night.
Every single strand of corruption that touched the edge of the blade dissolved.
They turned into countless, harmless black particles of ash.
The deep hatred.
The suffocating despair.
The insidious lies whispered into Krix's heart for centuries.
One by one… they were flawlessly stripped away.
Not torn from his physical body… gently lifted from his very soul.
Its vice-like hold over the ancient guardian weakened with every passing millisecond.
Krix slowly straightened his back. His erratic breathing steadied into a calm rhythm.
The manic, toxic light completely faded from his eyes.
And for the very first time since Seo Jun had entered the clockwork chamber…
Supervisor Krix looked at the human with clear, conscious, and deeply grateful eyes.
There was no hatred left. There was no cosmic despair.
There was only the quiet, profound exhaustion of a guardian who had carried an impossible burden for far too long.
Krix's small body trembled violently.
The light that had finally returned to his eyes flickered, threatening to dim.
For a brief moment…
Panic crossed his peaceful face.
"Seo... Jun..."
His voice cracked, weak but utterly human.
"...Don't stop."