Chapter 73. I Shall Open the Way
Kuku-kung!
An enormous amount of lava rushed towards Sirius and Andras.
It seemed difficult to block with any defensive technique.
“What should I do about this… Ugh!”
Sirius immediately grabbed the nape of Andras’s neck and soared into the sky.
As he jumped high into the air using ‘Levitation’, this time, the lava shot up against gravity.
“Hyung-nim, you take care of yourself.”
“What?!”
Swish!
Sirius threw Andras high into the sky.
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Since he can use Flight Magic, he’ll be able to shake off the lava and escape as long as he gets his senses back.
Of course, it’s not over just because he escaped.
If he can’t break this illusion, he won’t be able to survive.
“It seems you can’t use Flight Magic. How do you plan on dealing with this?”
As the voice of the Grand Magus rang from somewhere, Sirius couldn’t fly in the sky.
With his current internal energy, it was impossible to use ‘Treading the Void’ or ‘Walking the Sky’.
But that didn’t mean he had to fall into the lava.
Sirius concentrated the White Wave’s energy onto his feet.
Similar to the ‘Sword Curtain’, he created a protective barrier of cold air, and he succeeded in kicking off the lava and jumping up again.
“Not bad!”
The lava writhed like a fire dragon and attacked Sirius from all directions.
Amidst that hellish sight, Sirius raised his sword.
He swung the ‘Jagged Sword’ imbued with the White Wave’s Sword Qi, and he cut down the fire dragons one by one.
Sometimes, he cleanly cut the fire dragons in half, and sometimes, he released sword winds and tore the fire dragons to shreds.
No matter how many fire dragons were sent at him, Sirius didn’t even flinch, so a lava giant appeared this time.
“……!”
BAM!
The giant whose head seemed to touch the heavens swung its fist down.
Sirius dodged the fist, but when it struck the ground, all sorts of rocks flew up.
He spread a sword curtain to defend against the irregularly flying rocks, but this time the giant raised both hands.
Like catching a bug, it tried to crush Sirius with its two hands.
But Sirius had no intention of dying like a bug.
He twisted his body in the air, filling the blade with the aerodynamics of Baekrang.
And he attacked the giant’s right hand with all his might.
BOOM!
He pierced through the giant’s crumbling right hand and fell to the ground.
The moment he barely landed in a place without lava, his surroundings suddenly turned dark.
“Kyaaah!”
This time, hideous, screaming black demons appeared.
If an ordinary person were to see them, they would wet themselves and collapse.
Even so, Sirius’ expression did not change.
He remained calm and swung his sword.
He unfolded Baekrang’s sword energy and cut down the demons one by one.
As he was cutting down the demons left and right.
He felt a cold sensation on the back of his neck.
“It’s no use.”
“Ugh…!”
Slash!
The wrist of Hwanwang, who had been aiming for Sirius’ back, flew off.
But Hwanwang’s hand did not fall to the floor.
It just disappeared into flower petals.
“It seems that even if you get hurt in this space, it doesn’t matter much to you, old man. Isn’t that unfair?”
“That’s because I’m maintaining my ego properly even in this space.”
Hwanwang laughed in the darkness.
“Can’t you die even if your neck is cut off?
“Let’s try it.”
Hwanwang’s figure multiplied into dozens.
And they all reached out to Sirius at the same time.
His hands were enveloped in an indescribable light, and it seemed that just by touching it, his life force would be sucked out.
Sirius cut Hwanwang, cut, and cut again.
Hwanwang’s clones scattered into flower petals.
“Which one is the real one among the dozens of clones?”
Hwanwang’s laughter could be heard from all directions.
“Was the real one even mixed in to begin with? Take a guess.”
“I have no idea.”
To begin with, it was Sirius’ first time experiencing illusion magic.
Moreover, this wasn’t an ordinary illusion, but a unique spell created by Hwanwang himself… It wasn’t easy to understand.
“It’s too perfect and sophisticated.”
“hahahaha, of course.”
“But I figured out one thing.”
“What are you talking about?”
“How to destroy this space.”
“Wha…”
Sirius raised his internal energy to the limit.
And he unfolded the force of the North Star, generating a tremendous suction force.
“This is…!”
The first stage of Cheonrangsingong: North Star.
It’s a force that devours everything like the dark northern sea.
Of course, it was impossible to completely devour Hwanwang’s illusion, a 9th-circle great demon.
At best, he could only suck in some of it.
But Sirius had already found out where the ‘skeleton’ of this space was.
This was an extremely sophisticated space.
That’s why if the skeleton supporting the space is even slightly misaligned… the entire structure starts to warp.
“Dark magic?! No, this is…!”
Hwanwang tried to restore the space in astonishment.
But it didn’t work properly.
The black force that Sirius unfolded was difficult for Hwanwang to understand with his magical knowledge.
That’s why he couldn’t respond effectively.
“Ugh, ugh…!”
Until now, Hwanwang’s voice could be heard from all directions.
But from a certain moment, it could only be heard from one side.
Sirius threw his jagged sword in that direction.
The jagged sword filled with the force of the North Star distorted the space and charged forward.
“Keuk!”
The moment a fierce scream rang out.
All the illusions collapsed, and the space returned to its original state.
“Huff, huff…”
Looking around, I could see Andres sitting on the floor of the shabby restaurant, breathing heavily.
Thanks to Hwanwang focusing only on attacking Sirius, Andres was able to endure until the end.
“Ugh…”
Meanwhile, Hwanwang… was kneeling on one knee, hunched over, and vomiting blood.
It was similar to the state of a martial artist who had suffered internal injuries.
“How on earth…”
“Actually, I experienced a similar illusion in the past.”
“Wha, what are you…?”
There were many who used illusions in the Heavenly Demon Church as well.
Having fought them before, he was able to calmly deal with the Dread King’s welcoming magic.
“But your welcoming magic is truly amazing. I don’t really understand the principle behind it.”
“Of course not. If it were easy to understand, would it be unique magic?….”
The Dread King grumbled as he coughed up blood.
“Dammit, to think I’d be defeated by this brat who’s not even a Sword Emperor or Flame Emperor…. All that time spent training was in vain.”
“There’s no need to belittle yourself. I think it’s quite a formidable power.”
Saying so, Sirius reached out to the Dread King.
Thinking that he was about to take his life, the Dread King flinched.
However, Sirius only poked the Dread King’s body here and there with his fingers.
“Ugh…!”
The Dread King suddenly coughed up blood.
That was because Sirius had pressed on several of the Dread King’s blood points.
“You should feel a bit better now. Please sit down in the chair.”
“What…”
Looking at Sirius sitting down on the chair, the Dread King opened his eyes wide.
“What did you just do….”
“So, about the promise we made earlier.”
Sirius said, looking at the Dread King.
“Will you become my subordinate?”
“……!”
The Dread King was at a loss for words as he looked at Sirius.
However, Sirius just looked at the Dread King without saying anything.
“Are you serious?”
The frustrated Dread King asked in a rough voice.
“You want me to be your subordinate? Me, the Dread King, the 9th Circle Great Mage of the Alliance?”
“Didn’t you make a promise? If you won, I would become your subordinate, and if I won, you would become my subordinate.”
“No, even so…!”
As the unconvinced Dread King raised his voice.
Sirius said in a calm voice.
“Dread King.”
“……!”
“I don’t make this kind of offer to just anyone.”
The Dread King flinched.
It wasn’t simply because Sirius had spoken informally to him.
It was because he felt a sense of weight coming from the twenty-something brat that didn’t match his age.
“If you had tried to kill us with magic the moment you found us, I wouldn’t have made this offer.”
If that had happened, the old lady who was dozing in the kitchen over there would have died too.
In that case, Sirius would have fought the Dread King without hesitation.
Until one of them died.
“Even if that hadn’t happened… if you had tried to force your values on us as soon as we met and crush us, it would have been the same.”
Lately, there have been guys like Shahitna and Pasaria.
Sirius drew a picture on an empty plate as he recalled their faces.
Using the thick, dark sauce from the leftover bean soup, he drew a black circle.
“I don’t go out of my way to keep guys filled with this much darkness alive.”
“…….”
“But you weren’t like that. Even though you were in a position to arrest us, you tried talking to us first, interested in what kind of people we were. You tried to understand us, and you tried to make us understand you.”
As he spoke, Sirius drew a new image on the empty plate.
“That doesn’t mean you’re a pure, white figure. As someone who belonged to the League, you must have done a lot of evil in the past……. But I don’t think you’re a one-dimensionally dark figure either.”
“…….”
“I’d say you’re someone with both darkness and light.”
Not a black circle.
Not a white circle.
Not a circle evenly divided between black and white.
A harmonious blend of black and white.
The yin-yang symbol.
Sirius showed it to him and said,
“This shape represents harmony, but it also represents change. Sometimes it’s black, sometimes it’s white…… You’re someone who can change like that.”
“…….”
“So, I think there’s a chance for you to be reborn.”
Hwanwang couldn’t say anything for a while.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the black-and-white symbol that Sirius had drawn.
A magician who had surpassed the 9th circle and was challenging the 10th circle.
He could understand perfectly what this symbol meant.
“What the hell is this?”
Hwanwang asked in a stiff voice.
“Are you actually old, like me?”
Surprisingly, he had seen through Sirius’s true nature.
“Hwanwang, you’ve lived in a dark world up until now. But no matter how much you struggle there, you won’t reach the level you want.”
“……!”
“You know it too. You refused the League’s orders and devoted yourself to training alone…… But you still haven’t surpassed guys like Gumje or Noje.”
Hwanwang’s expression hardened.
“So let’s change things up. Now, try living in the world of light.”
“What the hell are you…….”
“You’ve only been doing evil in the dark world, so you can’t move on to the next level. If you live a good life in the world of light, won’t you be able to find new clues?”
This is sophistry. A leap of logic.
But even as he thought that, Hwanwang felt a strange sense of persuasion.
He felt like this young boy, barely in his mid-twenties, had a deeper understanding than he did.
“Be reborn, Hwanwang.”
“…….”
“I’ll open the way for you to the world of light.”
With that, Sirius shut his mouth.
However, Hwanwang wanted to hear more details.
Just as he opened his mouth to ask for further explanation.
A feeble voice could be heard from somewhere.
“Your food is here……”
The old lady who owned the restaurant, brought the food while staggering.
Hwanwang felt puzzled as he looked at her.
“I haven’t even ordered yet?”
Sirius checked what the food was.
Rye bread, bean soup, roast chicken.
It was the food Sirius and Andres had ordered earlier.
It came out again.
“Not only are you hard of hearing, you also have dementia……”
Sirius groaned and Andres also made a pitiful expression beside him.
“Just eat, Hwanwang.”
“What……?”
“Since we didn’t order it, we can’t tell her to take it back.”
Sirius lifted Hwanwang up and sat him on the chair.
From Hwanwang’s point of view, the situation was extremely absurd.
Is this really the time to be doing this?
“Hey, right now……”
At that moment, a commotion could be heard from outside.
The sound of horse hooves and people’s shouts could be heard.
“Ah……!”
Hwanwang realized right away.
The pursuers from the Southern Branch had finally arrived, chasing after Hwanwang.
“Hey, right now outside……”
Hwanwang stopped as he was getting up from his seat.
He didn’t understand what he was trying to do right now.
Was he trying to tell Sirius that the pursuers from the Southern Branch had arrived outside?
For Sirius?
“Just eat, Hwanwang.”
Sirius pushed Hwanwang’s shoulders and sat him back down.
“Let’s talk after you’ve finished eating.”
Hwanwang looked at Sirius, lost for words.
The boy in his mid-twenties began to feel like a senior in life.
“Hyung, get ready.”
“Ah, right.”
But right then.
Sirius and Andres began to take off their clothes in the restaurant.
And they change into jet-black clothes.
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“Hyung-nim, your fashion sense has improved.”
“I borrowed a needle and thread and fixed it.”
They put on black hoods and black masks and went outside the restaurant.
Hwan-wang looked at the backs of the two men with a bewildered expression.
What the hell are these guys doing?
“They said they were going to the white world, but they changed into black clothes?”
Andres turned his head and looked at the plate Sirius had been drawing on.
The pattern of black and white was still there.