Chapter 304 - Like A Zombie Movie Death Flag
"Why is... demonic energy..."
Uriel's eyes trembled, but the demonic energy could only be felt for a brief moment. Oh Kang-Woo's golden energy set the demonic energy ablaze as they clashed.
"Cough!"
Kang-Woo bent over like a bow and coughed blood. It was dark red, proving he had not been encroached upon by demonic energy and was purely human.
"A-Arghh."
Blood poured from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. So much blood to the point that it was a wonder if humans had this much blood poured on Uriel's body.
"Wh-What the..." Uriel's voice trembled.
His eyes wide open, he held the bleeding Kang-Woo.
"Sh-Shit!"
He chanted divine magic. It wasn't time to think about why demonic energy was flowing out of Kang-Woo's body. Uriel kissed Kang-Woo without hesitation even though blood was still coming out of his mouth.
Whoom!!
Radiant sacred power entered Kang-Woo's body. It was the strongest healing divine magic Uriel could use. The magic that only activated through mouth-to-mouth healed Kang-Woo, but...
"Cough!"
Once again, dark red blood spurted out of Kang-Woo's mouth.
"Wha... Wh-Why?"
Uriel's face paled.
Although it had a bothersome condition of requiring mouth-to-mouth contact, it was a highly advanced divine magic. It made no sense that it didn't have any effect.
"Kehehe, it's pointless."
A chilling laugh reached his ears, and Uriel turned his head. He saw Rakiel making a sly smile as he looked at the collapsed Kang-Woo.
Crackle!
Uriel's sky-blue hair slowly rose up, and blue lightning danced around him.
"What did you do... to Kang-Woo?"
It was the second time that he had seen Kang-Woo like this. To make matters worse, demonic energy had even flowed out of him this time.
'There's no way this is a coincidence.'
Rakiel had definitely done something.
"Pfft, bwahahahaha!" Rakiel burst into laughter, and thick demonic energy burst out of him.
Rakiel swept up his silver hair and said, "Fascinating. Since when have angels cared for humans this much?"
"Rakiel..." Uriel said in rage. "I asked you what you did."
Blue lightning swept through the surroundings like a storm.
A barrier of demonic energy blocked the lightning storm.
Rakiel leisurely answered, "I didn't do anything."
"You didn't do anything...?"
Split.
Cracks formed on the ground Uriel stood on.
"If you didn't do anything, then why is this human emitting demonic energy?!" Uriel's rage-filled shout echoed throughout the mountain.
Rakiel made a sly smile. "Pfft, I guess you have a point."
"Rakiel...!"
"Jeez, don't get so angry. You're scaring me."
Rakiel hugged himself and trembled.
Uriel bit his lips. He felt that something was strange at that moment.
'What?'
Uriel bit his lip. Just then, a strange feeling passed through his mind.
'What?'
Uriel stared at Rakiel while narrowing his eyes. He was soon able to figure out what the source of his strange feeling was.
'His eyes...'
They were off. Although Rakiel was smiling, his eyes were empty. It was as if someone was controlling him.
'What in the—'
"Do you want to know why that human is acting like that?"
Uriel's thoughts didn't last long. He drew out his power again as Rakiel continued his mocking.
Rumble!!
A blue bolt of lightning shot toward Rakiel.
"Whoa!"
Rakiel flapped his wings in an exaggerated motion and dodged the bolt.
"Kehehehe." He snickered while grabbing his stomach. "I get how much you care for that human now, so stop becoming so hot and bothered. What are you gonna do if that human dies because you're so busy dealing with me?"
"Kuh..." Uriel grimaced.
Just like he said, Kang-Woo was in such a serious condition that he could die at any moment.
"Have you heard that I had kidnapped that human before?"
Uriel had heard that, while he was chasing after Satan, Kang-Woo had been ambushed by Rakiel.
"Back then..." Rakiel said as he hummed, "I pulled a small prank."
"A prank... you say?"
"Yup." He snickered. "I poured a tiny amount of my demonic energy into him."
"What...?" Uriel's eyes widened.
There was no way Uriel wouldn't know what accepting demonic energy meant for a human.
'He'll either become a demon, or...'
It would be better if he just became a demon.
'He'll become... a demonic beast.'
They were monsters with no sense of reason. Their bodies became distorted to the point that they wouldn't have a proper form and would live only for flesh and blood.
"Th-That's nonsense!" Uriel shook his head. "There's no way a god's apostle would become a demonic beast just because he took in a bit of demonic energy!!"
If people could be turned into demons or demonic beasts simply because demonic energy flowed into them, the world would already be in the hands of demons. The greater the power one possessed, the more exceptional their ability to resist demonic energy was.
"You're right." Rakiel nodded. "It certainly hadn't been enough to just pour in some demonic energy. That annoying golden light kept burning it away."
He pointed to Kang-Woo while laughing. Just like he said, the golden light from Kang-Woo's body was burning away the demonic energy.
"But..." a smile crept onto Rakiel's face, "I am Rakiel."
Just that alone could explain everything. Even if Kang-Woo was a god's apostle, as long as he was fundamentally a human, there were limits to his power. Rakiel, the star of Corruption among the Constellations of Evil and one of the elite soldiers of the Demon God, would easily be able to turn a human into a demonic beast if he wanted to.
"Hehe. No need to be so frustrated." Rakiel shrugged his shoulders. "I will admit. That human is formidable. I never expected him to resist the encroachment for months after the incident."
"... What does that mean?"
"It means exactly as it sounds.
"I don't know how he is managing to do it, but that human has been resisting the encroachment and staying as a human. Kehehe, I must applaud his endurance."
"Resisting... you say?"
Uriel thought of the past few months he'd spent with Kang-Woo. His strange behaviors of sometimes staring into the air or suddenly grimacing while holding the back of his neck.
'Was all of that... him resisting the encroachment of demonic energy?'
"But it seems the transformation is commencing, albeit very slowly. Mm. Let's see... I'd guess he has mostly lost his sense of taste by now."
"... What?"
"Mm? I'm sure you know demons also have underdeveloped taste buds like angels. I'm sure that human has also realized while eating every day that he is slowly becoming a demonic beast."
Uriel's face paled. He recalled Kang-Woo saying earlier today that he did not have an appetite with a serious face.
"A-Aaaahh."
Tap.
Uriel knelt. He wasn't dumb enough to deny reality when all of the information was right in front of him.
Uriel embraced the collapsed Kang-Woo.
"You've been... enduring it by yourself all this time."
He had been suppressing the encroachment of demonic energy, likely while coughing up blood like this.
Uriel bit his lip; his shoulders trembled. He would be lying if he hadn't expected nothing was wrong. He had known that Kang-Woo was hiding something from his occasional strange behavior and how he brushed it off as nothing while smiling awkwardly.
"But I..."
He'd only thought of himself. Despite having acted all high and mighty while bragging about having lived thousands of years, he had not once looked at Kang-Woo. He had only tried to fill the void in his heart that Raphael had left behind with Kang-Woo and be consoled for his sorrow, thinking it couldn't be helped since obsession was an angel's instinct.
"I...!"
Uriel hugged Kang-Woo tight.
"Kehehe, what a tearjerker."
"Rakiel..."
Uriel put Kang-Woo down on the ground and slowly stood up. His blue hair floated up, and intense blue lightning poured from him.
"No need to be so impatient. It is not yet time for us to fight."
"That's what you think," Uriel said as he put strength in his legs to shoot toward him.
Rakiel smiled. "Are you sure you want to leave that human to his own devices?"
"..."
"Kehehe, it would be difficult for him to neutralize the encroachment on his own."
"Kuh..." Uriel bit his lip and closed his eyes.
He wanted to charge straight toward Rakiel, but he couldn't ignore what he just said. If he left Kang-Woo alone, he would become a demonic beast.
"Rakiel..."
"Hehe. I will get going. Oh, and there is no need for you to look for me. I will come to you when the 'time of prophecy' arrives. Well then, I will be looking forward to seeing if that human... is still human until then."
"RAKIEEEEEEELL!!"
Crackle!!
Uriel raised his hand in rage and quickly shot out blue bolts of lightning, but Rakiel deflected the bolts with ease.
Rakiel turned around and leisurely disappeared.
"A-Arghh."
Just when Uriel spread out his wings to chase after Rakiel, he froze after hearing Kang-Woo's groans.
"Shit, shit, shit!!!" Uriel cursed and approached Kang-Woo.
Since he had found out that Kang-Woo's symptoms were due to demonic energy encroachment, it was simple to treat.
Whoom!!
He placed his hands on Kang-Woo's chest. Pure-white light flowed into Kang-Woo's body. Uriel's sacred power was neutralizing the demonic energy.
"Ah..." Kang-Woo slowly opened his eyes.
He looked around after coming back to his senses, and then discovered the pool of blood that he had made. Kang-Woo's expression hardened.
There was a heavy silence.
Kang-Woo sighed. He averted his gaze from Uriel while making a bitter smile. "I guess it ended up like this."
"You..." Uriel looked at Kang-Woo with sharp eyes. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"..."
"Answer me." Uriel grabbed Kang-Woo's collar and screamed, "Why didn't you say anything?!!"
Kang-Woo grabbed Uriel's hands on his collar while making a fragile expression.
"I told you. That I... didn't want to lose anything else."
Uriel let go of his collar. "Is that why... you've been enduring it by yourself like an idiot?"
Uriel had never experienced demonic energy encroachment before, but after witnessing Kang-Woo in agony and spewing blood, it was not hard to tell how long Kang-Woo had suffered all by himself. Kang-Woo had gone through it all by himself, while Uriel had been forcing him to fill the void left by Raphael.
"Don't... screw with me," Uriel mumbled. Tears dripped down his cheeks.
"Lord Uriel...?"
"Don't screw with me!!" Uriel grabbed Kang-Woo's shoulders. "Who gave you the right to fuck around all by yourself?!"
It was a scream directed at himself, not Kang-Woo.
"Just you wait." Uriel bit his lip. "I won't let you become a demonic beast."
"..."
"I'll stop it! No matter what it takes!"
He thought of Raphael, his old friend whom he had killed with his own hands.
Grit.
He refused to feel the despair and failure he had felt back then ever again.
"Oh Kang-Woo," he said while looking at the young man he had known only for a few months but was already filling the space Raphael had left behind. "I'll protect you."
* * *
'Shiiiiiiiiiieet!! That was fucking awesome!!'
- I'll protect you.
'Holy crap, you're gonna make me fall for you.'
Kang-Woo cheered in his mind.
'It was perfect. Uriel completely fell for it.'
He needed to push Uriel's obsession to borderline madness to resume the Seed of Corruption's growth.
'A friend turning into a monster, and the protagonist trying to protect him...'
Just that phrase was enough to paint the whole picture in his head. It would also obviously be super effective on Uriel, who had killed Raphael with his own hands.
'Huehuehuehuehue.'
He suppressed his laughter as best he could. It was too early to celebrate.
'This is where it really begins.'
The foundation was perfect. He had built up an affinity with Uriel in the past few months, and their affinity had even skyrocketed with the serious conversation they had earlier. And now, he had managed to create a tear-jerking scene thanks to his newly acquired Rakiel Coin.
'Time to add even more spice.'
He'd already decided on what to say.
"Lord Uriel."
"...What is it?"
"If I... on the very small chance..." He grabbed Uriel's hand while crying. A single tear dripped down his face, and he made a frail smile. "I become a demonic beast..."
"..."
He tightened his grip and prepared the staple death flag of all zombie movies.
"Please kill me... with your own hands."
'Shiiiet! Hell yeah! This is it! You can't go without this line!'
His shoulders unwittingly shook in excitement.
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