Chapter 89

The Sage of Shakyamuni said, “There is no one like you under heaven and earth.”

Breaking the deeply embedded shackles and fetters, I fully resonated with those words, feeling entirely free in the midst of the rhythm of all life flowing between heaven and earth.

What surfaced in my half-open eyes was Algul, looking at me with a dismayed expression.

This being, who possessed a strength that could be counted among the most powerful on this land, looked like a fragile, small animal in comparison to my stature, which might appear like an infant in front of a saint.

The confusion Algul was experiencing through the white-hole passage reached me.

In truth, I was equally bewildered.

Having suddenly crossed a wall that I thought I would take at least decades to overcome by breaking the lingering attachments and shackles of my past life, which I was not even aware of.

Or perhaps, had I not realized it, I might never have reached such a point.

I was not a normal being.

Ultimately, all existence must be alone in the end.

But unlike other life forms, I had two lives.

To move on to the next realm, I had to break away from my past life as Gongsunhee and fully embrace and live my life as El Araya.

Harmony of the spirit of the divine. Three transformations and purification. Harmony realm. Great atmosphere of divine beings.

Even if there is a vessel that can hold everything, if what it holds is not correct, a proper world cannot come into existence.

For that reason, I was grateful.

Even if it was merely a result of being a means to take each other’s lives.

I expressed my gratitude to the one who made me realize what I might never have understood.

“Then let’s start over again.”

At those words, Algul’s face became rigid.

As I stretched my hand forward, shadows crawled across the ground and approached, as if a river of shadows were flowing.

I lightly stepped forward.

A stepping stone of light appeared where I placed my foot, scattering the shadows.

“…Don’t come near!”

Algul shouted in a voice tinged with vague fear.

A huge fist came down alongside his shout.

The ground thudded and trembled with a cry under Algul’s immense strength.

“Ugh!”

After avoiding it with a slight motion and approaching Algul, I drew out the Bulrak embedded in my body, causing Algul to recoil and distance himself while I inspected the Bulrak.

The blade was filled with sticky blood and oil.

As a gentle energy swept over the blade, the beautiful silvery-white blade of the Bulrak revealed itself.

I brushed the blade with my fingertips and spoke.

“What you desired was not the case, yet what you did has turned out beneficial for me. This is a favor.”

I aimed the blade at Algul, tracing a soft, black trajectory as if in a dance.

“I will forgo three opportunities to attack. Until you complete three attacks, I will not strike.”

With that, Algul’s eyes gleamed with rage and humiliation.

No matter what my good intentions were, a prideful person would know the meaning of this action.

However, it was a blood battle where lives were at stake.

Algul seemed to have no intention to waste such an opportunity in reckless bravery.

As Algul continued to observe me, unsure about whether I would attack, he briefly lowered his guard.

“Ugh… Ugh!”

With that, Algul’s body bulged.

His form, initially larger and thicker than an average male human, suddenly expanded to nearly double its size.

“…It’s a bit unsightly.”

With his body now almost half the size of Titan, Algul, whose clothing was already tattered from battle and not that sturdy to begin with, became a sight that made it difficult to look at.

But regardless of that, I could feel the bursting muscles and the skin that had originally been green turn a dark red as blood flow accelerated.

‘…Has he drawn on his innate abilities as well?’

It seemed he was burning not only all the power he once possessed but drawing on the potential of the future as fuel.

However, if it was for a life-or-death short-term battle, there could be no surer way.

“You’ve become a filthy sight. You’ve lost everything, including your abilities and some of your lifespan.”

“Isn’t the life of most beings living beneath this sky like that?”

“…That remark is exquisite.”

Algul’s eyes turned crimson.

Due to the accelerating blood flow, it seemed like his eyes had burst with blood vessels.

“Hoo… Hoo–”

Just as Algul was panting, seemingly struggling to contain the boiling power inside, his new form vanished.

Along with that, his body danced, tracing a smooth trajectory with the sword.

One second later.

A deafening sound erupted as the air exploded from the place where Algul had initially stood.

An attack launched first, followed by the sound.

It leapt into the realm of sound solely through physical force.

However, the subject of that attack, Algul, was tumbling through the air.

“One move.”

Boom!

With the casual utterance of that phrase, Algul’s massive body, which had been tumbling in the air, crashed into the ground.

“…What happened?”

“What… did I just let go?”

“…Hoo–it seems that won’t do.”

Algul’s new form extinguished once again.

With a gust of wind passing through, the sound followed.

Surrounding us was now a storm.

Having stood still without performing any movements, my body, which weighed no more than that of a small girl, was swept into the aftermath of the storm and lifted off the ground.

At the same time, a massive mass flew through the storm at supersonic speed, piercing through the fog.

My feet touched the air.

Wherever I set my sights, whether it was the ground or the sky, it did not matter.

I embraced the lightning that came down softly in a free line.

The lightning was led astray, lost from its original path, following the line I drew.

‘…Don’t make me laugh!’

As a decisive blow aimed at the ground approached, Algul’s desperate thoughts reached me through the gap of the white-hole blood flowing between heaven and earth.

If he used his power without reserve, that mass—at that speed—would surely cause irreparable damage upon crashing into the ground.

Suddenly, the shadow that appeared swallowed Algul whole.

Simultaneously, from another shadow, Algul charged forward once more, maintaining his speed.

An impossible maneuver that defied the laws of nature.

Boom!

“…Ugh!”

My hand went numb.

The shock that I could not completely release caused my body to soar through the air like a cannonball.

‘…It’s like Gal’s strike.’

It had been a long time since I had experienced being launched due to not being able to release everything properly.

A body half the size of Titan, comparable in physical strength to Gal, who was twice the size of Titan, was astonishing.

“…Two moves. The concession of opportunity ends here…?”

As I oriented myself after endlessly soaring through the air, shadows began to gather toward Algul from a distance of about 300 ja (900~1000m).

From previous experiences, it could simply be construed as a typical preparation for the next technique, but…

‘He’s trying to escape.’

For some reason, I understood it all too easily.

If given just a little more time, Algul would attempt to flee.

‘That cannot be allowed.’

As the energy surged into the blade of Bulrak, a line was drawn in the air.

“…!”

During the incantation, sensing something strange, Algul moved his body.

Simultaneously, one of Algul’s massive arms flew into the air.

Algul saw his arm intersecting the space it had created and began to chant faster.

As Algul completed his chant, his body transformed into a black liquid, melting and seeping into the shadows.

“It’s a power.”

All the mana in this space was following my command.

If internal phenomena, such as martial arts, were centered around the individual, external phenomena, like magic, were all under my control.

However, for it to be possible as a spell, it could only be the power that inherently contains innate qualities.

“Even so, I can’t let you go.”

The shadows spread out into 360 directions from where Algul had melted away.

I instinctively felt that if I missed even one direction, I would lose Algul.

With a single gesture, Algul’s cage, broken in two, soared into the air.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The two pieces of the cage began to crack and shatter into pieces.

From this, 360 pieces of fate were created.

“Descend once more.”

Araya Technique.

Swordsmanship, Silver Scales under the Starry River.

Tiny meteors, no larger than two finger joints, radiated light as they fell.

The meteors that plummeted toward the scattered shadows created a pit large enough to easily fit two people upon impact with the ground.

“…Did I miss?”

As the meteors crashed, I scanned the horizon of the plain, where dust and dirt were spraying everywhere, pondering whether to pursue.

“…If I’m lucky, I might be able to escape.”

Sensing the presence that had been watching the battle between me and Algul from a distance had disappeared, I murmured.

“I must go back.”

◈ ◈ ◈

“…Keheh… Hah—!”

After moving a sufficient distance, Algul let out a painful groan as he jumped out from the shadow.

The unleashed power had destroyed all bodily functions, and the meteors aimed at capturing the escaping Algul had struck him squarely.

Surviving against Araya was a miracle, but I couldn’t find joy in that survival.

With such a monster in existence, all of his forces left behind would surely perish.

All of his mana had been lost, and the staff made from the fallen star had also vanished.

Moreover, he had lost an arm, his body was in tatters, and his very aura was wounded.

The losses were beyond description.

“You truly look like a pitiful fake, insignificant creature.”

A casual voice echoed behind Algul as he mulled over his defeat.

When Algul barely turned his head toward the source of the voice, despair washed over him.

In Algul’s inner vision, a being shining like the sun illuminated the scene.

It was Araya, whom he had just barely escaped from earlier, now radiating even more brilliance.

“You’ve woven together power that doesn’t befit your class. Though it seems you were the same at birth, the outcome at the end is distinctly different. Indeed, you are my Araya.”

The Gal Dragon, enveloped in a golden hue, was unable to hide his satisfaction towards his treasure, his expression indifferent.

“…Ugh… ugh…!”

“How I wish you had merely led that pitiful life at the eastern end. Blame yourself for wanting what you were not meant for.”

Along with that, the atmosphere—the entire space began to ripple.

At the moment the Gal Dragon extended his finger towards Algul, decreeing his death,

“…!”

“…!”

Despairing looks etched on both Algul and the Gal Dragon turned in the same direction.

A fog began to roll in, filling the space without a single mountain to block the wind.

Boom! Boom!

With that came a sound akin to moving mountains, and the ground began to rumble.

“Ah… Aaaaah!”

Algul, overwhelmed by added despair, was on the verge of fainting.

And the Gal Dragon stiffened his face, gazing beyond the fog as he muttered.

“…A great monkey.”

「Didn’t I tell you not to call me that?」

With that, a voice echoed from the sky.

It was soft, yet the tremendous presence of the voice silenced all life around.

Along with several resonances, a part of the fog parted, revealing an enormous, overly massive leg.

The height of the giant’s leg appeared as if it barely reached the Gal Dragon’s knee.

The Gal Dragon slowly tilted his head upward toward the sky.

If he were an ordinary being, he would have been obscured by fog above the knee, but both the Gal Dragon and Algul could gaze upon the enormous giant’s presence beyond the fog.

“…Terato.”

「Ha. Ha. Ha. That is correct. My long-time adversary.」

The king of giants, upon hearing the Gal Dragon call his name, seemed to smile in delight, and the world shook.

As Terato laughed lightly, he looked down upon the Gal Dragon, who had once been tied to him by fate.

「I am Babel Terato, entitled to rule this world and to reach the sky.」

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