After Ten Millennia in Hell

Side Story Chapter 81 - There is No Light Here (6)

'I guess he wasn't bullshitting when he said he learned the attack pattern.'

Oh Kang-Woo thought Kim Si-Hun was just making excuses because he didn't want to acknowledge his defeat.

'I mean, I have to admit Si-Hun is overpowered as fuck.'

No matter how complex and extraordinary the opponent's martial art was, it would not work on him more than once. He gained a perfect understanding of the martial art's movements and weaknesses after seeing it once and would use that against the enemy the second time it was used.

It was impossible to defeat Si-Hun purely with martial arts; one would either have to overpower him with pure physical prowess or face him with magic no one had ever seen before or something like witchcraft.

"Th-This can't be," the pastor muttered.

"It can," Si-Hun replied as he stabbed his sword into the collapsed pastor's shoulders.

Crack!

White frost spread from the young pastor's shoulders and instantly froze his arms.

"He's been neutralized, hyung-nim."

"Good work, Si-Hun," Kang-Woo said as he patted Si-Hun's shoulder.

Si-Hun slightly blushed.

'Why the hell are you blushing? You're making it weird.'

"That aside, I guess you weren't lying when you said you learned his attack pattern."

"Oh, that's..."

"To be honest, I thought you were lying because of embarrassment."

"..."

Si-Hun smiled awkwardly and remained silent. Kang-Woo stared at him curiously.

"What's wrong?" Kang-Woo asked.

"To be honest... this pastor was far weaker than the one I faced. That was the only reason I could win this easily."

"Oh, is that so?"

Kang-Woo thought as much; Si-Hun had overpowered his opponent too easily, even taking into account he learned his opponent's attack pattern.

"Yes. There was a gap in overall skill as well, but... there was a huge difference between them in general combat prowess. The attacks of the pastor I faced were so overpowering that I thought my palms were getting torn apart just from blocking his spear."

"Hmm. I see." Kang-Woo nodded and slowly walked toward the young pastor squirming on the ground like an insect. "Right then, shall we begin?"

"B-Begin what?" the young pastor asked.

"Come on, I'm sure you know what."

Kang-Woo smirked. There was only one thing to do after capturing an enemy alive.

"Do you wanna do this the hard way, or do you just wanna talk?" he asked.

"Kurgh! We do not submit to pain!"

"That's what you think."

A human who did not submit to pain did not exist.

'I mean, I don't know whether he's human or not yet.'

The young pastor glared at Kang-Woo and shouted, "Pastor Salvatore will not forgive this abominable act!"

'Pastor Salvatore?'

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He was likely the pastor who fought against Si-Hun; after all, there likely weren't many who could physically overpower Si-Hun.

"Alright. First, why don't you tell me where this Pastor Salvatore is?"

Kang-Woo cackled as he approached the pastor. He placed his foot over the pastor's knee and stomped down with all his might.

Crunch!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!" the young pastor screamed.

'Alright, I've confirmed he can feel pain.'

In that case, there was no point in checking whether he was human or a different entity in the form of one. As long as he could feel pain, he wouldn't be able to handle the painful torture.

"I... cannot... say."

"Yeah, I thought as much. But you see, you won't be able to handle not telling me soon," said Kang-Woo as he leaned toward the young pastor with a bright smile.

"Wh-What are you planning to do?!"

"Nothing special."

Kang-Woo stuck his finger into the hole in the pastor's shoulder that Si-Hun made.

"Argh!" the pastor screamed in pain.

"Have you heard about molting?" Kang-Woo asked.

"Mol...ting?"

"Don't be so confused. You'll know once you experience it for yourself. I mean, it's not complete molting, so you don't have to worry. I'm just going to inject some demonic energy from the Abyss into you to imitate it."

"Wh-What are you talking ab—"

"Right, then."

Kang-Woo injected demonic energy from the Abyss into the young pastor through his finger in the pastor's shoulder.

"Ah."

The young pastor's eyes widened. The demonic energy of the Abyss was like a deadly poison to anyone who didn't possess the Demonic Sea. The demonic energy inside the pastor began to tear him apart from the inside.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" the young pastor screeched inexplicably. It sounded like something a monster that crawled out from an eternal nightmare would make. "ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Blood poured out from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. His skin split, his muscles and blood vessels protruding from the ends.

"KARRRGHHH! GURGHHH!"

The pastor's eyes rolled backward, and he foamed at the mouth as he convulsed uncontrollably.

"That's enough."

Kang-Woo retrieved the demonic energy of the Abyss he injected into the pastor. The screaming and convulsing pastor panted heavily.

"Huff! Huff! Huff!!"

Tears flowed down his cheeks, and his eyes filled with terror darted all over the place.

"Okay, do you feel like telling me now?"

"A-Aaaahh."

"Haven't had enough yet, have you? I guess we can go another round, then."

"W-Wait!! Please wait a second!!" the young pastor shouted intensely.

Kang-Woo smiled widely.

"Pastor Salvatore is..." the young pastor continued with bloodshot eyes and a trembling tone, "the one who will save this world."

"What?"

Kang-Woo frowned.

Whoooom—!!!

Just then, immense golden light poured out of the balance scale necklace the young pastor was wearing.

"Oh, fuck!"

Realizing something was wrong, Kang-Woo quickly reached for the necklace to rip it off the young pastor's neck.

Sizzle—!!

"Arghh!!!"

Kang-Woo's hand burned the moment he touched the necklace. Intense pain traveled up from his hand as the skin on his hand was charred black.

"It is... too late," the young pastor said with a smile.

The immense golden light wrapped the young pastor.

"Shit!" Kang-Woo cursed and bit his lip as he helplessly stared at the golden light getting brighter.

"Haha. No matter how hard you try to interfere with the Great Akart's plan... his will cannot be bent. He will bring salvation to this world... which is already crashing and burning."

The young pastor smiled even wider.

"Soon... no, today, everyone on Earth will know the Great Akart's will... and his almighty name."

"Today? What the fuck are you talking about?" Kang-Woo asked as he glared at the pastor.

Akart's existence was one of the most tightly-kept secrets. Forget ordinary citizens; only a select few in Guardians knew of his existence.

"Huhuhu. Today... the balance will be met..."

The golden light enveloping the pastor reached its peak brightness. The immense energy swelled as if it would explode at any moment.

"Fuck! Run, Si-Hun!!! This shit is gonna blow!!!" shouted Kang-Woo as he quickly turned around.

"H-Hyung-nim!!"

'That's for sure an "Art is an explosion" moment!!!'

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!! MOTHERFUCKER—!!!" Kang-Woo cursed as he ran like hell.

The golden storm was already right behind him.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

"HYUUUUUUUUUUUUNG!!!"

A golden explosion shook the entire slum along with an ear-splitting sound. Kang-Woo faintly heard Si-Hun's voice between the noise.

"Motherfu..."

Kang-Woo was swept into the explosion, but he felt something sturdy envelop him.

RUMBLE—!!!

An enormous mushroom cloud formed in the obliterated slums before Kang-Woo could see what it was. He passed out along with the feeling of floating in the air.

***

"Kurgh! Cough!"

Kang-Woo stood up and coughed heavily. The debris from the destroyed buildings was all around him.

"Goddammit," he cursed as he grabbed his forehead.

He never expected the pastor to self-destruct. Not only that but the explosion was so massive that it destroyed the entire slums.

'But why am I almost completely fine after that massive explosion?'

The Light of Akart was deadly to him. Considering the density of light he felt, it wouldn't be strange for him to have lost consciousness for several days like what happened in Singapore. Despite that, he couldn't see any significant physical issues.

"Wait a second..."

A bad feeling went down his back. He threw aside the debris of buildings around him with shaking hands.

"A-Arghh... Cough! Cough!"

Under the debris was the heavily coughing Si-Hun, in terrible condition.

"..."

Kang-Woo froze. He could easily figure out that Si-Hun was the one who shielded him from the explosion.

"A-Are you okay... hyung?" called Si-Hun, his voice so faint he might pass out at any moment.

"Kim Si-Hun..."

"H-Haha. What a relief." Si-Hun smiled faintly and collapsed with a satisfied expression. "I was... able to protect you... this time."

"..."

Kang-Woo bit open his thumb in silence, his expression completely frozen. He let the blood flow into Si-Hun's mouth and used the Authority of Regeneration.

"Kurgh! Cough! Haaa, haaa. I'm okay, hyung."

"Just shut up and drink."

"Hehehe. This isn't enough... to kill me. The Light of Akart... doesn't have any significant— Cough! Effect on me."

As Si-Hun mentioned, his injuries were serious, but he wasn't on the verge of death. His injuries couldn't be instantly healed with the Authority of Regeneration because the Light of Akart drastically reduced the speed at which wounds healed but his complexion was slowly improving.

"..."

Relief momentarily gleamed in Kang-Woo's eyes and immediately disappeared. He expressionlessly picked up Si-Hun.

- Tonight, we bring you a live broadcast from Manchester Arena!

Just then, something noisy lit up among the debris. Kang-Woo turned to see that it was a smartphone on the ground with no owner. It was a miracle it managed to survive the explosion.

- There was huge news because of the sudden participation of a famous Korean idol! Of course, she is yet to be popular enough to perform on a global live performance like this, but she is garnering much attention from the audience thanks to her cuteness and extraordinary voice!

Kang-Woo focused on the smartphone screen.

- Right, then! Let us head right to the live stage! Please, come out!

The program host shouted excitedly.

- Greetings, everyone. My name is Salvatore. I am a pastor here to deliver to you all the words of the Great Akart.

- H-Huh? Wh-Who are you people? What? What's going on?

The host sounded confused. The screen showed a group of people in formal suits and wearing a golden balance scale necklace. Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes as he stared at the smartphone screen.

"Today, everyone on Earth will know the Great Akart's will... and his almighty name."

Kang-Woo recalled the young pastor's final words.

"I see now."

He finally understood what the young pastor meant. He picked up the smartphone on the ground. Chaos had fallen on the live stage after the pastors took control of it. Kang-Woo smirked wickedly like a demon as he stared at the smartphone screen.

"There you are."

Crack.

Kang-Woo crushed the smartphone in his hand.