Chapter 618 – Dual Patriarchs

The horizon of ruins, reduced to ashes.

Two individuals, distanced afar, appeared to lean forward, and in the immediate aftermath, their forms vanished as they violently clashed.

─Crash!

Blood, of uncertain ownership, splattered.

As the sun began its descent, two streaks of magic erupted into the twilight.

“…….”
“…….”

Indistinguishable was the king from the demon.
The fists they bore against each other carried distinct gravities.
The turbulent currents of their intermingled magic, haphazardly thrown about, merely reverberated through the surrounding air.

─Thump-thump-thump!

It seemed they both understood that their lengthy war of attrition had drawn to a close.
A bone-grinding melee began.

They kicked against the earth, soared through the sky, and engaged in a contest of strength.

The hour when the sun drowned and the moon ascended.
As the heavens, skewed at an awkward angle, began to glow under the illumination of the two celestial bodies.
Beneath the darkened intersections of Seoul, devoid of a single lamplight.

Lee Si-heon…

─Boom!

…hurled his fist.

In response to another self. The tattered cloth and the hem of the black dragon robe brushed past one another.

Thud. The ground grew saturated with blood of a deep crimson.
Boom. The earth’s tremors choked the throats of all who bore witness.

For whom was this desperate struggle?
Was it a noble act to safeguard the crumbling dimension?

“Lee Si-heon!!!!!!!”

The worn and sullied king bellowed out his name with a voice hoarse and split.

A scabrous shell enveloped his lacerated skin.
The bark that had once served as his protection was now but a deep scar, a second skin covering his burnt flesh.

A body fraught with shame.
Like the torn manuscript of a writer who had broken his quill, his fist was brutally disfigured.
Yet, he harbored no reluctance in shouting his name.

Perhaps, at some point, the king had abandoned self-recognition.
Compared to the other versions of Lee Si-heon, he who had become a slaughterer crossing dimensions could not be a father of pride.

‘Why.’

Why couldn’t he have been stronger?
Why was he destined to lose?

Everyone’s life had commenced from the same point, making it a bitter journey of injustice.
The simmering, envious, and jagged heart of man filled the king’s mind, disgustingly so.

─Kaboom!

Upon the meeting of their fists, Lee Si-heon’s body tilted.
The demon, seizing the opportunity, smote his shoulder.

Muscles were torn and bone fragments scattered. As one of his arms was completely severed, the blood vessels in Lee Si-heon’s eyes ruptured.

“I-“
“!”
“-my child. No matter what…”

The demon, who had gripped Lee Si-heon’s arms, repelled him while imbuing his hand with magic.

─Whoosh!

“Must survive!!!”

A frenzied gust sheared the faces of the two men.

‘I despise you.’

The demon abhorred himself.

Even I, who tore my daughter’s heart to shreds by cloaking indifference in the guise of love.
Even I, who shattered countless dimensions.

Blood and hollow tears welled in the gaping wound of my chest.
The hatred that blossomed in vain incessantly drove me.
I cut my way through the forest lodged in a corner of my heart, cultivating a devious viper.

-Crash!

The saneness crumbled by this act shortly morphed into a terrifying and grotesque monstrosity.
Even while teetering on the precipice of death, the demon acted, craving nothing but his own suffering.

“Ugh!”

A branch sprouting from Lee Si-heon’s forearm gnawed at his flesh.
The burst wound spewed forth, delivering an agony beyond comprehension.
The demon’s power could have inflicted even more.

He augmented his senses, amplified his pain.
A furious blend of pain and anger melted into Lee Si-heon’s countenance.

‘Yes.’

He yearned for more pain.

‘The sense of injustice is so overwhelming that it’s unbearable.’

He could not accept this realm as reality.

Why?
Why him, of all people?

The man who, in a lust-fueled frenzy, committed all sorts of actions, brutally violating the hearts of his daughter and his lover.
The fact that he occupied a superior boundary compared to himself, who was even willing to die to protect everyone.

I committed an unforgivable act just to save a single child.
How could I come to terms with the fact that I am spiraling in the abyss, lower than that man soaked in self-consolation and justification?

-Screeeeech!!

The king bellowed like a ‘branch.’
Baring his jagged, protruding teeth, exposing his uvula and sunken tongue.

‘I didn’t want much.’

My own child.
All I wanted was to hold that child in my arms just one more time.

Is it so difficult to turn back just once?

-Drip.

Strange.
Not a drop of blood should flow from my body.

Suddenly, the demon realized that blood was streaming from his eyes.
The ceaseless flow of bloody tears seeped through the gaps in his teeth, trickling down to his chin.

-Wham!

Seizing a fleeting gap, Lee Si-heon put distance between them.
His appearance was pitiful. One of his eyes was swollen and reddened, his arm had been shattered long ago.
The ‘branch’ clung to his body like a leech.

The extent of the pain inflicted on that body is unimaginable.
The demon, trembling, twisted his body.

He must be enduring a torment so severe that death would be a preferable option.
Yet, Lee Si-heon was preparing to confront him nonchalantly.

“… Why. Why don’t you give up?”

He, too, was accustomed to suffering.
However, there was a significant difference between the bodies of a human and a tree. It wouldn’t be strange if he were to faint or seize up, and yet why?

The demon inadvertently turned his head.
Countless people were shedding tears of despair over Lee Si-heon’s body, which had been ripped apart.

‘They should be your enemies too.’

Why on earth is he protecting them?
There must have been a way to exclude them.
It’s a deluge of incomprehensibilities.

Then Lee Si-heon made his move.

-Tah!

His elegantly fluid fist turned in mid-air and thudded against the unsuspecting demon’s head.

“Krugh!”

His face submerged as splintered teeth flew. The demon, sent flying backwards, steadied itself with a hand on the ground, consciousness returning.

He doesn’t cease.
Lee Si-heon’s martial stances obstructed the demon’s motion.
In the demon’s mind, a memory of Heaven, seen long ago, surfaced.

“…”

He had faced a user of Heavenly Demon Martial Arts numerous times.
A menacing aura erupted from the demon who had raised his fist.

-Thump!

Yet,
Why can’t he decipher that man’s form?

-Swish!

When the fists collided. Lee Si-heon’s arm, having shifted its trajectory, struck the demon’s torso.
The subsequent motion landed a blow on the demon’s jaw.

Striking the solar plexus, the armour enveloping the demon shattered.

‘Why-‘

No hesitation. Despite the horrendous physical state where even a glancing blow could bring death.
He engages as if he alone exists, unspooling his martial arts.
His demeanor briefly instilled a sense of terror.

-Crack!

The demon’s body is violently shattered.
The demon, having regained consciousness, recoups its body and pushes against Lee Si-heon once more.

Yet,
The stark difference in power and magic.

The demon’s fist, clenched around a bloody maw, penetrated Lee Si-heon’s abdomen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Pain.

Even a modicum of focus on the senses feels as if it could sever the tenuous threads of consciousness.
Not even during training under the old Heavenly Demon was the pain this intense.

“Heugh.”

-Poof!

He seizes the demon’s fist that pierced his abdomen, raises his leg, and delivers a kick to the chest.
With the demon’s arm yanked out, a brief respite arrives.

【 … Your intestines- 】

‘I know.’

【 Why, to such an extent… 】

It’s a consequence of my own actions,

‘I have to be the one to end this.’
【 I can’t understand, the difference in power is clear. Release the Spiritualization. I’ll handle the rest- 】

What could you possibly accomplish if you emerged now?
There’s nothing but this state that can respond to that speed right now.

“Hehe.”

He laughs, restoring his organs and muscles.
His hands tremble in pain. The ‘branch’ implanted within me incessantly drains my magic.

It needs to be severed, but my hands don’t respond. My feet won’t lift.

I clenched my fist and tapped my thigh. My muscles spasmed, barely wresting control away from instinct.

【 ……Why. 】
‘Why are you so curious?’
【 You’re really going to die. 】

I know.
Just seeing Cornus attempting to burst forth from the other side is enough to confirm that.
Fortunately, Alba blocked Cornus, allowing me to fully immerse myself in the fight.

‘Your attempts to help right now are more of a hindrance.’

I closed one sightless eye, focusing on the senses around me.

‘Alba. Can you hear me?’
‘Yes.’
‘…Could you dampen my senses a bit?’
‘Just a moment, immediately….’

A slight alleviation of pain allowed the suppressed breath to finally break free.
The weak thumping of my heart was overwhelming. With blood smeared hands, I rubbed my face, trying to adjust my blurry vision.

【 ……. 】

Erinies was rendered speechless.
The initial tenacious aura was gone. Instead, the emotions flowing through our connection felt less like ‘satisfaction’ and more like ‘anxiety’.

Alba sent her final message.

‘…Stay strong.’
‘I have to.’

Why else had I fostered such strength?

A moron who betrayed himself and fell into the abyss of insanity.
That was the reason for all the grotesque spectacles I had created.

‘See?’

I wasn’t mistaken.
I knew I would have to use my strength someday.

Even as filthy, vile a human as I was.
I, who had embraced all kinds of trees and women, shamelessly endured the abandonment from my lover.

– Gasp.

That’s why I can still stand here.

I applied force to my hand and extended it.
Magic surged along my arm.

– Humming.

Then, a faint magical aura wrapped around my body.

【 …I’ll share your pain. 】

As the assimilation deepened, my body lightened. The subsiding pain stilled the trembling in my limbs.

Though it was merely a slight relief, it helped.

【 Ugh, turn it off. Ugh!! 】
‘Well done.’
【 Enough, no more losses please! 】

Facing the demon, a smirk formed on my lips.
I moved my left hand, removing the ‘branches’ embedded in my right arm.

I want to win.
I must win.

If I use up all my strength here and crumble, someone might try to kill me. But I don’t think about what comes next.

“Hm.”

To save Shiba, it has come to this.
I spat at him as I opened my newly healed eyes.

“Do you think you’re the only father?”

With my mouth twisted in a strange pronunciation, the demon’s face contorted.

I moved forward, gathering strength in my fist.
I waited until the magic in my fist began to gnaw at my arm.

– Roar!

The demon’s body levitated, striking down in a flash.

I waited.

‘….’

Moon above my head,
I twisted my waist, engaging my muscles.

Shoulder. Arm. Wrist.
I waited for each sensation of the magic-infused veins burning.

Just before launching the sweeping punch.

– Thud.

With the fresh scent at the tip of my nose, I felt the presence of three individuals.

A rabbit-like movement approaching with small, quick steps.
Chirp-chirp, in a bouncing voice.

“You…! Shiba over there-“

Alba’s voice echoed in my ears. The names of the two kids brought my movements to a halt.

Both the king’s and my head turned simultaneously.

There, Shiba, who had triumphed over ruin and wind, stood frozen at the sight of me.

“…Da…Dad?”

Upon seeing my injuries, Shiba clenched her fist as if doubting her own eyes.

Why has Shiba aged backwards? As if some divine prank, I doubted my eyes and ears at the inexplicable phenomenon that had suddenly occurred.

“Dad.”

This was not some dream or illusion.

Upon seeing her father, Shiba’s face crumpled. Her adorable face contorted, her large eyes shimmered. Tears began to drop.

“Da…Daddy…”

Tears on the brink of overflowing. As the king extended his hand toward Shiba, I too acted.

─Snap!

The king’s ‘cock’ targeted Shiba. My hand tugged at the hem of Shiba’s hood.

In that moment both violence and protection occurred. I made a different choice from him. I held Shiba close, taking the ‘cock’ for her.

“…”

For a moment, it was as if he couldn’t believe what he had done. The devil’s face transformed.

It didn’t matter if my body was riddled with holes. I hastily reached out and stroked Shiba’s forehead.

“Daddy. Da-dad…? Da…Blood.”

Shiba’s wailing erupted from within her father’s embrace.