Chapter 95: Prelude to the Demon King (3)

As mentioned before, the Demon King’s unique authorities, Dread Sovereign’s Aura and Pitch-Black Scripture, were types that human strength could not resist.

But what if it’s a god?

And what if it’s the Status of Victory, called the one and only god?

[Resisted Dread Sovereign’s Aura.]

[Resisted Pitch-Black Scripture.]

Resisting the authority of something like a Demon King was no trouble at all.

“W-What?!”

The pinnacle of all things.

Even the arrogant Demon King, who stood above everything, could not help but be flustered in this situation.

“Are you surprised?”

“……”

“Well, you have no choice but to be surprised. According to the original history, obtaining a status at this point in time should be impossible.”

The original history.

If it were the me of the past, I would have had the skill to handle a company commander at best.

I don’t know how the trials of this Tower were implemented, but it’s clear that data was formed based on my past memories.

Therefore, my current transformation is at a level that cannot be dared to be predicted.

However, it is too early to be relieved.

‘There is no time.’

The current me was being chased by time.

Time is not on my side  because the Status of Victory I had forcibly created was already scattering.

In the past, I obtained a status and became the God of Victory.

However, I gave up the position of a god and became a human once again.

Why?

The reason is simple.

The moment one becomes a god, they have no choice but to wear the Shackles of Causality.

What is the point of enjoying an eternal, immortal life?

I cannot act as I please, and every time I try to do something, I am restricted by causality.

That is why I gave up on being a god.

I chose to be a dog running freely in the fields rather than a king tied to a palace.

It was a position I threw away myself, and this time, I replaced part of the faith and belief I obtained with a status.

But because that belief was not truly directed at me, it was incomplete and, above all, weak.

It meant I could only act with the Status of Victory for a mere moment.

Because of that.

“Boom!”

I surge forward, kicking off the ground.

No, the moment I thought I moved, I had already leaped through space to reach the Demon King’s immediate vicinity.

It was a movement that transcended time and space, moving beyond the realm of speed.

“It’s futile!”

He isn’t the Demon King for nothing.

Responding to that movement that transcended even time and space.

“Swish!”

He scratches with sharply risen claws.

Those are no ordinary claws.

The Demon King’s claws are harder than any material in the world, and the energy dwelling in the claws is the source of darkness.

They are like the ultimate poison of life that leads to annihilation instantly with just a slight scratch.

But this threatening attack did not touch me.

“W-What?!”

“Zing, zi-zi-zing—”

How should I put it?

It was as if the screen was playing in slow motion; it stopped just before touching my body.

No, it didn’t stop.

Formula of Victory: Infinite Evasion

What is needed for victory?

One of them is precisely not being hit by the enemy’s attack.

Infinite Evasion was the implementation of one of these formulas for victory.

Right now, an infinite realm has unfolded around me.

To the naked eye, it looks like a distance of about 1 meter, but due to the formula of victory, that distance is infinitely wide.

No matter how fast the Demon King attacks, he cannot close that infinite distance at once. 

Even now, while appearing to be stopped, the Demon King’s attack was surging toward me at an incredible speed. 

It was just that the distance was so far, twisting time and space, that it simply couldn’t be seen.

And in the time given like that.

-Slide.

I just have to avoid it.

After easily evading the fellow’s claw attack, I extended my fist.

“You bastard!”

Although the attack did not succeed, the Demon King also has a specialty in movement.

He slides away like a ghost, escaping the range of the punch.

‘Formula of Victory: Absolute Hit’

The second formula of victory.

One cannot win just by evading well.

If you can avoid the opponent’s attack, now you must make your own attack hit.

Evade well and hit well.

And the formula of victory makes it possible to realize such a simple task.

Absolute Hit, it is an attack that does not miss.

Even if the opponent shows a perfect form of evasion, it forcibly creates the causality of a guaranteed hit.

The moment this authority was manifested, it was as if all my attacks had already struck the Demon King’s body.

Because of that a fist embedded in his abdomen.

“Thud!”

“Guh!”

It clearly missed.

But due to Absolute Hit, the causality is processed as having hit, and this nonsensical result appears.

The same went for the next one.

“Thud, thud-thud-thud!”

I swing my fists haphazardly.

It’s a poor movement that even a neighborhood thug could likely avoid.

However, all those fists struck the Demon King’s body due to the causality that they must hit.

This is the Demon King.

The Demon King, who had never allowed an attack from anyone other than the Hero, could not avoid my simple fist strikes.

“Aaaaaagh!” 

A battle cry filled with that rage.

Of course, it wasn’t a simple battle cry.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom!”

A fierce momentum like a storm pushed me outward.

This is also a disadvantage of Absolute Hit.

The area that can allow Absolute Hit is extremely narrow.

That is why it cannot defend against wide-range attacks.

The Demon King must have noticed that point.

He had no choice but to.

‘Third Eye’

An eyeball that appeared above the Demon King’s brow.

That was the Third Eye, one of the authorities bestowed upon the Demon King by the Order of Darkness.

The role of this Third Eye is simple.

Analysis and grasp of all attacks, and it is even capable of predictions like the future vision possessed by Omen.

The Eye of the Sage.

The Eye of the Demon.

The Eye of All Creation.

Opening that which is called by many names is no different from the Demon King intending to show his true sincerity.

‘Is this phase 2?’

The Demon King is arrogant.

Therefore, he does not give his all from the beginning.

The opening of the Third Eye is an act of showing a certain level of sincerity.

It could be seen as a form like a phase 2.

“That grand evasion. Let’s see if you can take this as well.”

Through the Third Eye, he must have found a way to break the absolute hit.

And the next moment.

-Vrr, vrrrrrr!

Something bloomed from the fellow’s fingers.

‘True Demon Prison’

It was precisely the True Demon Prison that had been showcased previously through vision sharing.

However, it wasn’t just one.

Ten fingers—10 True Demon Prisons blooming like decorations on top of them were radiating an intense energy.

“Try avoiding this as well!”

The 10 True Demon Prisons surge in different directions, with gaps in timing.

At a glance, they look easy to avoid but the authority of an Absolute hit was dwelling within them.

‘The authority of an Absolute Hit.’

The fellow is also a being who has reached the realm of touching causality.

That is why he granted the will of an Absolute Hit to the 10 True Demon Prisons.

The way to escape an Absolute Hit?

It’s simple.

Offsetting.

I just had to offset the attack with an attack but even that is not feasible.

The True Demon Prison is an authority in the form of a nuclear warhead that causes an explosion at even a small impact.

Offsetting the True Demon Prison immediately implies Self-Destruction.

It means it is an attack that can neither be avoided nor offset.

Even knowing that, I did not panic because right now, I am not the human Kim Si-won, but the Status of Victory.

The Status of Victory is the one and only god that promises victory in any situation.

‘Will Extinction’

Breaking an attack that can neither be avoided nor offset is surprisingly simple.

What is loaded into every attack is will.

What dwelt in the 10 True Demon Prisons flying toward me was malice directed at me, who had obtained the Status of Victory, Kim Si-won.

But what if I can extinguish that malice?

Through the Divine Eye that surpassed the Insight Eye, I found the malice granted to the True Demon Prisons.

-Sssssss.

I absorbed it.

Absorbing the Demon King’s terrible malice was a considerably difficult task, but it is possible because I am the one who obtained the Status of Victory.

What happens to the True Demon Prisons after the malice is absorbed?

It’s simple the True Demon Prisons, having lost their purpose, fell straight to the ground.

“Clatter, clat-clatter!”

Originally, an explosion should occur at even a small impact, but the will has disappeared.

It is like a missile without a warhead, a gun without a primer.

“……”

The Demon King was lost for words at this ridiculous sight.

It must be a sight he is seeing for the first time in his life.

He had to be.

Eliminating the will dwelling in an attack is something no one but me could imagine.

Because it is an ability implemented through a genius flash of inspiration solely for the purpose of victory.

An idea that no one, not even a great god, had ever thought of.

I was the only being who could apply this to combat.

Furthermore, the extinction of will does not end with breaking the opponent’s attack.

‘Will Granting’

I grant my will to the True Demon Prisons, which look like black iron marbles rolling on the floor.

Into those that were originally supposed to be filled with the Demon King’s malice, my will—victory over the Demon King—was granted.

In that moment the 10 True Demon Prisons that were heading toward me a moment ago began to surge fiercely toward the Demon King.

-Swish!

“Oh no!”

An attack that no one can avoid, an attack that no one can block.

However, the Demon King, who was about to be hit by it in reverse, let out a cry of shock.

Unfortunately for him, he has no means to extinguish will.

Then, will he be defeated just like this?

No.

The Demon King was not weak enough to be defeated that easily.

‘True Demon Prison’

By implementing 10 True Demon Prisons just like before.

“Boom!”

True Demon Prison and True Demon Prison collided.

Although they are only about the size of a small bead, the will of destruction dwelling within them is powerful.

That is something one could tell just by looking at how they devastated the Order of Light previously.

But how powerful would it be if a total of 20 True Demon Prisons collided and caused an explosion?

The answer to that question unfolded before my eyes.

“Kaboom!”

A shockwave rising along with the chain explosions swept through the area.

Of course, because I foresaw that explosion, I moved quite a distance away.

Even so, the shock I had to endure was no ordinary thing.

How much more so for the Demon King, who was in the closest spot.

“Huff, huff!”

The place where the aftermath of the explosion ended.

I could identify the Demon King there in a pathetic state.

The neat and arrogant appearance from the beginning could not be found.

His hair was singed by the explosion, and his skin was red and swollen in various places.

Through the fangs protruding between his face, which was hideously distorted like a demon, he spat out saliva.

A broken appearance he had never shown before.

Furthermore, since it was an event caused by the True Demon Prison he used himself, the shock and rage would have no choice but to be even greater.

“When you said you would challenge me…” He delivers his words with a distorted face, “…I thought it was arrogance. To think a mere human would dare challenge me. I intended to make you pay the price with death, but you… have far exceeded my expectations.”

A compliment from the Demon King that rarely comes out.

However, it was closer to a warning than a compliment.

(I will recognize you as a being capable of making me show my original power, my true entity that I have never shown to anyone until now.)

“An opponent.”

Until now, I had thought the Demon King’s full power was his current form with the Third Eye opened.

That was because he maintained the appearance of the Third Eye even when facing the Hero.

Of course, that’s because he was in front of the person he loved.

He wouldn’t be able to reveal his hideous true self in front of the Hero, in front of the one he loved.
Precisely.

“Behold! This is the entity of glory that the Order of Darkness permitted me!”

-Sss…

Darkness swallows the area and that darkness gathered to create one giant form..

“Rip, r-r-rip!”

A black silhouette.

And hundreds, thousands of eyes decorating its surroundings.

Those were eyes possessing the same authority as the Third Eye that had decorated the Demon King’s brow moments ago.

Thousands of Third Eyes—which means the Demon King’s current ability is to place time, space, and everything else under his control.

“I’ve been… waiting for that.”

However, I couldn’t help but be pleased by the fellow’s true entity.

The reason?

It’s simple.

Status of Victory.

In fact, when I obtained that status, I had set one restriction.

That was precisely.

‘Formula of Victory: Twilight of the Gods’

It was an absolute condition where I would never lose as long as the opponent was a god.