Myst, Might, Mayhem

Chapter 498.3 – Side Story 7 Part 1

Oblivion (1)

“Aaaaaaaaargh!!!”

A scream erupted from the mouth of the great spirit Iron Fan Immortal, whose eyes had widened to the point of tearing.

Although she had steeled herself to some extent, seeing her son Hong Hae-a’s limbs being severed right before her eyes was unbearable.

“Chiiiiii!”

Blood gushed from the severed surfaces, and steam rose from those areas due to the heat of the lava cave.

Even for the incarnation of fire, the evaporation of blood inside the body due to heat couldn’t be prevented.

“Kuaaaaaaa!”

Despite Hong Hae-a’s agonized state, the Heavenly Demon didn’t even blink.

Instead, he spoke in a cold voice as if it wasn’t enough.

“This is just the beginning. It’s troublesome if you’re like this already.”

Pook!

“Kueok!”

The Heavenly Demon’s hand pierced Hong Hae-a’s abdomen.

Although a great spirit, Hong Hae-a was different from other spirits. He was the child born in human form to the Great Strength King and Iron Fan Immortal, so this could be considered his true form.

As such, his internal organs were quite similar to those of humans.

Chwachwachwachwachwachwa!

As sharp sword energy was injected into these organs, his insides were torn apart.

The pain was indescribable.

“Kuaaaaaaak!”

Unable to bear the pain, Hong Hae-a screamed with blood vessels bulging on his neck and face.

These consecutive screams from Hong Hae-a brought Iron Fan Immortal, who had been shrieking in shock at the sight of her child’s limbs being cut off, back to her senses.

Pak!

Iron Fan Immortal pressed down on the neck of the Diabolic Beast Alyu, whom she was holding by the leash, and shouted fiercely.

“If you don’t take your hands off that child right now, I’ll just kill this one!”

She no longer had any intention of pleading with the Heavenly Demon.

If it was a no-win situation anyway, she thought it best to respond in kind.

At her shout, the Heavenly Demon turned his gaze and spoke.

“Go ahead.”

“If you can handle the consequences that one action will bring.”

Kwadeuk!

“Kweeeeek!”

As the Heavenly Demon grasped and burst one of Hong Hae-a’s organs, he vomited dark red blood.

If he had been human, he would have been dead already.

Seeing Hong Hae-a in this state, beyond suffering and barely able to endure, Iron Fan Immortal shed tears of blood.

In all her long years, she had never seen someone so cruel.

Even the Great Strength King, called the leader of the Imaemangyangs, wouldn’t go this far.

Finally, Iron Fan Immortal released her hand from Alyu’s neck.

Of course, she didn’t stop there but also undid the leash and the leather straps inscribed with spells that were restraining Alyu’s body.

Kung!

“Kukukuku.”

The restraining leather straps must have been quite taxing, as the Diabolic Beast Alyu collapsed face-down on the ground, struggling.

Even so, Alyu looked up at the Heavenly Demon as if surprised.

‘Even though the bond was severed, you came to save me?’

He couldn’t help but feel moved inwardly.

Alyu had thought that since the bond was broken, it would be understandable to be abandoned.

Just as he was feeling grateful,

Swick!

The Heavenly Demon extended his hand towards the Diabolic Beast Alyu, making a pulling gesture.

Then Alyu’s body rose and flew towards the Heavenly Demon, not Iron Fan Immortal.

Watching this in a daze, Iron Fan Immortal spoke, suppressing her anguish and anger.

“I’ve understood enough that you won’t spare the lives of my son and me. I won’t beg pathetically for our lives anymore, so please give that child a clean death. If you want to vent your anger, do it on me instead.”

She had already given up everything.

If they couldn’t survive anyway, she only wished that her child would suffer no more.

Had her desperate plea reached him even a little?

The Heavenly Demon withdrew his hand from inside Hong Hae-a’s stomach.

Pak!

After withdrawing his hand, the Heavenly Demon placed his other hand on Hong Hae-a’s chest and performed one of the Eight Thought-Shattering Techniques, the Ritual of Binding.

Ssssssss!

“Heuk! W-what are you… y-you bastard…”

Hong Hae-a couldn’t hide his bewilderment as he felt his demon power and immortal power rapidly draining from his body.

Regardless, the Heavenly Demon continued to absorb his energy.

With his arms and legs cut off and his entire body restrained by the dark flame, Hong Hae-a couldn’t resist as his energy was taken.

Ssssssss!

“Noooo. Kueeeeee!”

As his energy was drained, Hong Hae-a’s hair rapidly grayed, and his face became gaunt.

The Heavenly Demon finally removed his hand from Hong Hae-a after absorbing most of his energy, leaving only enough for him to barely breathe.

“Thank your mother. I’m letting you live like this, at least.”

Originally, the Heavenly Demon had intended to torment them until they begged for death and then kill them.

However, moved by Iron Fan Immortal’s extreme maternal love, he was now showing a shred of mercy.

Of course, Hong Hae-a couldn’t accept this.

“Kueuuuu. Heavenly Demon! Heavenly Demon! Just kill me instead!”

What was the point of living like this, with all his power taken away?

Seeing him screaming madly to be killed, the Heavenly Demon sneered and said,

“That’s not possible. I’m going to make you just like your father, you see.”

“What?”

With those words, the Heavenly Demon turned his head to look for someone.

That someone was the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.

He had shown mercy by sparing their lives, but not wanting to leave any future troubles, he intended to ask the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox to seal them with the killing stone.

But,

“!?”

The Heavenly Demon frowned.

This was because the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox was nowhere to be seen.

He could see numerous Demon God Generals fallen on the lava ground, but she was gone.

Where on earth had she disappeared to?

He couldn’t sense where she was even with his spiritual perception.

As he was puzzling over this,

“Keuk, kukukuku.”

Hong Hae-a, who had been screaming until just a moment ago, suddenly started laughing.

Then he laughed as if he had gone mad, almost to the point of hysteria.

“Kuhahahahahahahahaha!”

At his laughter, the Heavenly Demon kicked Hong Hae-a’s face.

Tteok!

With only weak demon power remaining, even a small impact should have caused tremendous pain, but Hong Hae-a didn’t stop his mocking laughter and said,

“You… think you’ve won completely, don’t you?”

“That Monkey bastard got into trouble for relying only on strength too. I’m not the type to just take it. If I can’t win with power, I’ll use my head to pay you back.”

“Huu.”

At these words, the Heavenly Demon sighed with annoyance.

He had intended to show a bit of mercy, considering the maternal love for having a child.

But now, that feeling had completely disappeared.

Kwadeuk!

“Kuaaaaaaaa!”

The Heavenly Demon stomped on Hong Hae-a’s abdomen, crushing his internal organs.

Even as he was dying from the pain, Hong Hae-a endured it terribly and continued what he wanted to say.

“Kueuuu. Do you know… why the ancient… immortals… are so desperate to… retrieve… the Kunlun Mirror?”

“Kunlun Mirror?”

The Heavenly Demon, who had never had contact with ancient immortals, found it difficult to understand what this meant.

But he could tell that the Kunlun Mirror was that precious treasure Hong Hae-a had been wielding.

“You mean those wheels…!?”

Suddenly, the Heavenly Demon stopped mid-sentence and looked around.

Come to think of it, he couldn’t see the guy’s Kunlun Mirror.

He couldn’t even sense its energy.

“It’s useless.”

“Where is it?”

“The Kunlun… Mirror… unlike other precious… treasures… can completely… hide its own… energy.”

Kwak!

“Kueuuup!”

The Heavenly Demon crushed Hong Hae-a’s other organs and said,

“It’s impossible for the user not to know. Where is it?”

“Kuhehehehe. It’s already too late.”

“Too late?”

“The Kunlun Mirror… will explode… When the heat wave… covers the entire Central Plains… everyone will fall into oblivion.”

“What nonsense are you talking about, oblivion?”

“The flame of… the Kunlun Mirror… is the Samadhi True Fire of oblivion… It burns the memories in one’s mind.”

Burning memories?

Was that what oblivion meant?

Hong Hae-a laughed, spitting out blood mixed with foam.

Even if it couldn’t be helped with force, in the end, no one would be able to become the victor.

You too will lose all your memories due to the flames of oblivion and regress to an infant.

No matter how strong one is, if their mind is completely erased, nothing remains in the end.

That’s why the Kunlun Mirror was dangerous.

It was at that moment.

‘Vibration.’

Seureuk!

The Heavenly Demon suddenly leaped backwards, appearing about thirty jang away, and swung his formless sword towards the lava floor.

Chwaaaaaaak!

The lava split, revealing the bottom.

Surprisingly, inside were the petrified Golden Nine-Tailed Fox and the Kunlun Mirror, which was fiercely rotating and colliding as if trying to break her.

Chwaaaaa!

Seeing this, the Heavenly Demon swung his formless sword towards the Kunlun Mirror.

At that moment, a black line traced a trajectory, distorting space, and the precious Kunlun Mirror was cut in half.

Chaenggang!

As the Kunlun Mirror fell to the ground, the Heavenly Demon pulled his hand, using the Void Seizing Technique to extract the petrified Golden Nine-Tailed Fox from the lava ground.

As soon as the Golden Nine-Tailed Fox touched the Heavenly Demon’s hand after being pulled from the lava ground,

cracks appeared, and the stone shell fell off to the ground like peeling skin.

Inside, the living Golden Nine-Tailed Fox was revealed.

“Haa… Haa…”

“Golden Nine-Tailed Fox.”

“Heavenly Demon… Ah. Thank goodness.”

The Golden Nine-Tailed Fox sighed in relief upon seeing the Heavenly Demon holding her.

While dealing with the Demon God Generals created by the tower, she had suddenly lost some of her memories due to the approaching Kunlun Mirror.

To withstand the flames emitted by the Kunlun Mirror, she had used her fox bead on herself to become a killing stone.

“I didn’t forget.”

She had been afraid of forgetting the Heavenly Demon due to the oblivion caused by the Kunlun Mirror.

However, only a small part was lost, so she hadn’t forgotten.

Relieved, her face brightened, and she was about to embrace the Heavenly Demon tightly.

At that very moment,

Kwaaaaaaaang!

An enormous roar shook the entire lava cave as if an earthquake had struck, threatening to collapse it.

Kwaaaaa!

The Heavenly Demon’s gaze turned upwards towards the source of the roar.

‘Cheong-ryeong!’

It was clearly something happening above ground.

And Cheong-ryeong was on the surface.

Kwaaang!

Becoming urgent, the Heavenly Demon, without time to think, burst through the ceiling of the lava cave and shot upwards at an incredible speed.