Every breath brought the smell of blood through his throat, dizzying his mind. Like a giant heartbeat pounding against his ears, the monstrous cries of the Mutants writhing beneath the twisted earth echoed like a wave, and beyond those cries, the still-faint screams of humans overlapped.
This place was already the Tower.
No, to be more precise, it was a deformed space where the Tower and reality had been cunningly mixed together, their boundaries erased.
Kkwaak!
Seo-jun slowly gripped the Soul Sword. His fingertips, clenched around the sword, tingled and lost sensation, and a faint red will scattered hazily from the blade, which was full of cracks.
The moment he let his concentration slip, even for an instant, this place would swallow him whole.
The citizens barely maintained their human forms. But these beings, already twisted and distorted beyond recognition as people, filled this space in countless numbers.
If he hadn’t activated Insight Eye, he might have mistaken them all for monsters and slaughtered them with his blade. But he saw it clearly: the faint traces of humanity remaining beneath their distorted skin. Those traces held him back.
He could not kill them. No, he must not kill them.
He swallowed his breath. He suppressed the rage and desperation burning fiercely in his chest. There was only one thing he could do: remove the mutation and return them to human form.
But the process was too painful, inefficient, and endless.
Kkwajik!
After neutralizing one and barely catching his breath, others emerged from the darkness to fill the gap. Fatigue and pain seeped into his bones, and his exhausted breath had already been on the verge of breaking several times.
Yet the more it happened, the harder Seo-jun’s gaze became.
He realized that this space was a cycle of pain that forced endless repetition. And now, if he couldn’t escape this cycle, the corruption of this place would fully take root before Kim Si-won even arrived.
Then it happened.
Far across the sky.
Jjjeojeojeok!
From the gap where red light and black light mixed, a giant, massive Mutant revealed itself. A grotesque form made of flesh tangled with the city’s ruins, distorted bones, and tentacles, and at its center, a crest of corruption pulsated.
Instinctively, Seo-jun sensed it was the core of this space. If he didn’t bring that thing down, nothing would end.
He squeezed out his will.
Wungwungwungwung!
The Soul Sword in his hand trembled as if it would break, glowing red. He didn’t even catch his breath. Pain was already familiar. He only moved forward.
Piercing through the despair covering his entire body and the pressure of the twisted space, he walked toward the heart. Step by step, the ground crumbled with each footstep, and the space shook.
But he didn’t stop.
Dozens of Mutants surrounded him, reaching out tentacles and screaming as they charged, but he swung his sword.
Seogeok seogeok!
They were cut. But he didn’t kill them. Instead, he tore away the membrane of mutation that enveloped them. Without defying life, preserving the traces of humanity, he moved forward.
Kuaaaaaah!
The monster’s roar tore the sky.
Deudeudeuk!
The ground shattered, and the world twisted. The massive core of corruption poured out fleshy tentacles to swallow him.
Seo-jun raised the Soul Sword high toward all of it. And once again, he took a step forward to surpass his limits.
In the end, he might survive. No, perhaps he might die trapped in this space. But he wouldn’t stop.
This was Seo-jun’s path.
“This is the path… a human must walk.”
And it was also the path of asceticism that humanity must walk.
“Haaaap!”
With a powerful shout, Seo-jun moved toward the corruption, toward the monster that had swallowed Japan.
—
The flame of his will was dying.
The sound of flesh and blood tearing, the throbbing of black poison digging into his bones, rang in his ears.
“Hggh… “
He couldn’t breathe. Not air, but despair covered his lungs. His vision blurred.
Beyond the blurred vision.
Kuwung!
The form of corruption approached, mocking. The giant shape. The monster of abomination’s flesh and tentacles, blackened rotten bones and marrow tangled together, was no longer a creature of this world. The hatred, fear, and remnants of Nepas of all of corrupt Japan were mixed in that monster, rejecting all logic and rules, existing solely for destruction and annihilation.
Kwuaang!
The flesh sprang up. The body rose like a mountain and trampled the ground. Fragments and red liquid burst out, and Seo-jun’s body flew helplessly in the center.
Kudangtang!
His body, thrown through the air, crashed into the concrete floor. Bones shattered, flesh tore. Blood filled his mouth. It was hard to even make a sound now.
But the attack didn’t stop.
Chwaak!
A tentacle of flesh shot out like lightning. Seo-jun barely reached out his hand and lifted the Soul Sword. But it was weak. The sword was knocked away from his powerless fingertips without any real resistance.
The tentacle wrapped around his body.
Ppudeuk, ppudeudeuk!
Breaking, tightening, twisting. The sound of bones shattering was clear. Arms, legs, ribs. Every corner of his body collapsed. His heart raced wildly, and his consciousness faded faintly.
Beyond pain, death tightened around the nape of his neck.
‘…Enough…’
For a moment, that thought occurred. It hurt too much. Destruction far beyond the boundary of pain a human could endure. Organs burst, blood vessels snapped, bone fragments pierced flesh.
‘…Give up.’
The form of corruption whispered. The whisper seeped deep into his consciousness at his ear.
‘You are weak.’
‘Humans… end like this after all.’
Maybe so. From the start, this wasn’t a fair fight. This monster, fused with a portion of the source of fear, was a being beyond simple strength. Corruption that encroached on the realm of gods. And all he was, was just human.
‘…No…’
But at that very moment, a realization flashed. Yes. He was only human. He had been forgetting that fact until now.
What was needed to defy this despair was not the power of immortality, not divine authority, not an external miracle. As a human—the most incomplete and weak yet simultaneously the most extreme possibility—to break through limits head-on.
Seo-jun’s blurred eyes slowly revived. His blood-soaked lips twisted faintly, but unmistakably.
‘…It’s not over.’
In that moment, he could feel it. Since being born into this world as a human, the wall that no one had ever crossed. An inexplicable, invisible latch that someone had placed on all of humanity.
‘Limit.’
He… felt its existence. Seo-jun’s vision stopped. His breath, his heartbeat, even the pain became still, as if frozen. And he realized.
The key to escape this place. The only way to defy this despair.
The invisible limit that someone had placed on the very origin of the human species. Breaking that latch.
A massive resonance burst from within his chest. His heart throbbed. No, more precisely, the very existence called ‘human’ began to resist the limits imposed by this universe.
The will to trample all the fate, despair, and impossibility that someone had set.
Kwaaaaaaang!
Instantly, the aura of corruption that had wrapped around Seo-jun’s entire body scattered into pieces. The black poison flowing under his skin vanished, and his stiff limbs loosened. Red will surged up like an explosion.
And within it, the true power of a human raised its head. His skin split, bones screamed and twisted. But Seo-jun’s gaze didn’t blur even a single inch.
Everything that was impossible because he was human—defying that limit head-on, he finally released his limit.
Hwiooooh!
The surrounding space shook. The Mutants flinched, and the core of corruption tilted its head. Even it sensed this change. This being that had torn down the line that could not be crossed as a human.
Seo-jun slowly straightened his back. His body was covered in blood, and the Soul Sword was already broken, but his will was stronger than ever. Instead of a sword, he gathered the will imbued in his own fingertips. It was no longer just a human power. It was the very potential of humanity.
“Now… I understand.”
Seo-jun’s voice echoed far away.
“I don’t know who set limits on us… but I don’t need such old shackles.”
Kkwajik!
As he clenched his fist, space split. The limit placed on the essence of the human species shattered, and Seo-jun’s existence was completely reorganized. No more oppression, no despair, no fate. Only… choice remained.
He slowly raised his head. Looking through the core of corruption and the distorted space, he declared quietly.
“From now on… it’s real.”
In that moment, the heart of corruption, which had been howling, shook, and the battlefield began to completely overturn.
Instantly, the wave extending from Seo-jun’s body shook the earth. Red blood surged, and torn muscles and bones twisted as if screaming. But it wasn’t pain. It was rebirth.
“…Finally.”
Seo-jun slowly raised his head. His once-blurred eyes cleared. His gaze changed. Fear and despair could no longer shake his consciousness. With just his bare body, bare fists, and the very existence called human, he was complete.
The form of corruption flinched. The abomination that didn’t understand fear showed, for the first time, a response close to the concept of terror. An alien wave tightened the flesh of corruption.
Kkwajik!
As Seo-jun took a step, the ground split. The air tore. Not the broken and twisted body of before, but a new being that had crossed the boundary of humanity dominated his body.
The tentacles of corruption shot out like lightning. Seo-jun didn’t dodge.
Sweuk.
He just reached out. No weapon, no flashy divine power. Just one palm. He caught the approaching tentacle.
Kkuuuuuk!!
The twisted flesh burst. The tentacle imbued with abyssal energy was crushed instantly.
Uuuuuu!
A scream spread. The form of corruption reeled back, roaring with nervousness. Seo-jun didn’t even grip his sword. He didn’t need it anymore.
‘From now on… I fight with everything I have.’
Kwuang!
His foot kicked the ground. In an instant, his vision tore. Closing the distance in a flash, Seo-jun twisted his body and threw a punch. The blow, cutting through the air and slamming down, pierced the flesh of corruption.
Peoeng!
The monster’s body burst. Flesh and tentacles scattered into the air. Part of the writhing fear crumbled away. The form of corruption staggered backward.
But the outcome was already tipped. Seo-jun’s existence, the essence that had surpassed human limits, was itself resistance.
Kkwajik!
Kkwajik!
Kwaang!
Punches and kicks, the wave wrapped around his body exploded in succession. Overwhelming power cut through the air, and the flesh of corruption twisted, unable to maintain its form.
—
…It’s over.”
Seo-jun approached for the last time. He firmly clenched his fist. Not strength, but will. Against corruption that denied existence, the final blow struck down by the extreme of humanity.
Kwaaaaaang!
An explosion rang out. The form of corruption burst in the air. Black fragments scattered in all directions. The abomination’s flesh evaporated in the air, and the abyssal pressure that had weighed down the space disappeared like a lie.
Standing alone in the red wave, Seo-jun exhaled deeply. His broken body didn’t regenerate, nor did a miracle occur. Simply, the essence of humanity, as a result of releasing all limits, made an extreme fight possible.
Nevertheless, he smiled. It was the smile of one who realized that he had finally earned the right to fight as a human.
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