Chapter 376. Everyone’s Circumstances (2)
Though he had been pushed back with quite a strength difference, there was no way Chi-Hyun would give up. He immediately dove back into the battle and quickly moved both hands. Dozens of magic circles popped out around him, spinning and soaring upwards. He moved his ten fingers continuously and launched attacks that would each be a critical hit. Yet none of that worked. No matter how strong the attacks were, they were meaningless if they failed to reach his opponent.
Chi-Woo conjured his treasured ghost-busting club through Armed with the Sixth Element, and every time he swung his club, the magic attacks burst like fireworks. Despite being at a disadvantage, Chi-Hyun tried to overturn the situation by territorializing the space, but that was also ineffective.
[La Bella’s Bible]
[La Bella’s Sanctuary]
Chi-Woo clutched a shining book in his hand and offset Chi-Hyun’s energy by more than half its original amount, rendering Chi-Hyun’s attempt to establish his own territory pointless.
“No way you would die from this much,” Chi-Woo murmured.
[Executioner]
Crackle! A white fire burned all over Chi-Hyun’s body. He felt a terrible pain like his whole body was being eaten alive. With his mouth wide open, Chi-Hyun let out an inaudible scream. His inhumane level of endurance and grit prevented him from screaming out loud, but it didn’t stop him from dropping to one knee.
“Kuh! Kuuuuh!” Chi-Hyun let out the gasp he had been holding in and mustered a great amount of energy. The flames that had been eating away at him gradually dissipated, but Chi-Hyun’s expression remained grim. He had used his remaining energy to put out the flame, but it had been a bad exchange. He was only able to extinguish a very tiny amount of the other party’s energy by using a whole lump of his.
It was then Chi-Hyun realized why he was getting overwhelmingly pushed back. His opponent was an especially bad match for him. If they were playing a game of rock, paper, and scissors, it would be as if he could only use scissors while his opponent could only use rock. It was the battle of polar opposites and a fight he was bound to lose. After barely managing to extinguish the fire on him, Chi-Hyun glared at his opponent. The three behind him looked at Chi-Hyun in shock.
Who could’ve imagined that the legend would be beaten up so one-sidedly? Chi-Woo was equally surprised. Since the World’s fate was on the line, Chi-Woo had been determined to even draw out the mysterious power inside him; thus, he hadn’t dreamed of a situation where he would hold an overwhelming advantage against his brother. Of course, there was a significant level of strength difference between the brother he was battling right now and the brother he originally knew. After all, his brother in the future had firmly established himself as worthy of the title of legend. But even taking that into consideration, Chi-Woo still couldn’t help but think that something was wrong.
‘Why is he only using energy of the dark element?’ Was there a reason why Chi-Hyun couldn’t use anything else? Chi-Woo’s guess was pretty much on the mark. More precisely, Chi-Hyun was limited by the problems surrounding Liber. Of course, things weren’t as bad as when Chi-Woo first came to Liber, when the World didn’t even respond, but the situation was so unstable that Chi-Hyun hadn’t been able to depend on the usual backups.
Because excessively demanding backups had led to the current situation, Chi-Hyun knew he couldn’t add to the burden on top of that. It was thus difficult for him to keep all his original powers, and he ended up having to enter Liber with the bare minimum and accumulate his strength in his own ways. Fortunately, in such an unfortunate situation, he was able to join hands with the Demon Empire. And before Chi-Hyun embarked on his journey, he went to where demonic energy was the thickest in the Demon Empire and amassed his strength with the dark elements there. His past experience of learning dark martial arts in a Martial Arts World turned out useful.
While the level of strength he had amassed was lower than what he could gain from standard training, he was able to progress at unparalleled speed. And after Chi-Hyun judged that he had accumulated enough strength, he quickly set out on his journey to save the World. But he had overlooked two things when he chose the method. First, he hadn’t foreseen that someone else would step in to intervene. Second, he hadn’t expected that the uninvited newcomer would happen to use light energy, which had an advantage over the dark energy that he had decided to use temporarily.
If he had known that this would happen, he would’ve made a different decision. But it was too late to change things now. Still, Chi-Hyun didn’t give up. Even if he lost this battle, it was fine as long as he fulfilled his goal. He raised himself up and rushed forward, and Chi-Woo immediately responded.
Even though Chi-Woo was at an advantage, he was facing his brother. He couldn’t get careless and accidentally kill Chi-Hyun. Though Chi-Woo’s goal was to modify his past, he didn’t want a future where his brother didn’t exist. It didn’t take long for Chi-Hyun to realize his opponent didn’t want to take his life for some reason, and his movements grew bolder.
Chi-Hyun rushed forward while ignoring the possibility of death, and Chi-Woo was forced to pay more attention to dealing with his brother, thus leading to an opening. An invisible rope wrapped around him, and a fearsome energy fell from above. Chi-Woo freed himself from the rope and shot exorcism mana upward. The energy aiming at Chi-Woo changed trajectory midway and flew past him even without him evading it. It was then Chi-Woo realized what had happened and turned around.
The dark energy writhed and blanketed the girl sitting on the ground in a daze. It wasn’t falling towards her, but had already surrounded her. Everything happened in an instant. Shhhhhh! As if a potent acidic substance was poured onto the ground by the truckloads, smoke rose from the ground. Chi-Woo gasped. His main goal was to protect the World, but it was his mistake to focus all his attention on his brother.
“You…!” Chi-Woo’s face twisted with anger as he turned back to his brother. Uncaring about how Chi-Woo felt, Chi-Hyun smirked.
He had mustered up his remaining energy to make this attack, and he believed that there was no trace of the World left now. With this, he would have accomplished his goal. But soon, Chi-Hyun’s expression soured, while Chi-Woo’s face brightened. It was because he saw from a distance Yunael sighing with relief while holding a girl. He didn’t know when she had followed him, but it seemed Yunael had stepped in right before the girl was attacked and saved her.
“Leave this to me—!” Yunael shouted while holding the girl tightly.
Chi-Hyun murmured, “He had a companion.” He gritted his teeth hard and soon moved his hands. The energy that had dissolved the ground didn’t disappear, but instead rose and morphed into a dark blade in an instant, aiming at Yunael while she held the World in her arms.
“You’ll go that far…!” Chi-Woo shouted in astonishment and tried to block the attack while Yunael dodged out of the way, but there was no need to do that; several figures jumped in to block the dark blades flying toward Yunael. Chi-Hyun’s eyes narrowed as he saw both Boboris and the Last Dragon stretch out their hands to make a barrier.
Chi-Woo clenched his fists hard. In the original past, none of them had intervened. Even the Last Dragon, who would later recall the incident regretfully, didn’t do anything but watch. With this, everything was different. Chi-Woo didn’t know what had caused their change of heart, but two out of the three individuals supporting Chi-Hyun had changed their stance. It would’ve been unimaginable before.
“Just so you know, I’m not betraying you.”
“…”
“I simply think you’re being too hasty,” the Last Dragon said while smiling and dusting off her hand. “Didn’t that pretty angel say that she’d check what was going on and get back to you? I think we can afford to wait and hear what’s going on…” the Last Dragon trailed off and looked intently at Chi-Hyun.
Seeing the Last Dragon fall silent, Boboris put down her staff and said, “…When you first came to our world…it was really…nice.” There was no other way to describe it. It was simply nice.
“Of course, you are the worst kind of elitist, self-righteous hero who thinks nothing will work if you’re not the one doing it. You don’t smile often, have no consideration for others, the jokes you make from time to time are crude, and you emphasize efficiency so much that you even weigh people’s lives as mere numbers. But still…it was nice. Because you were trustworthy.”
He was reliable and dependable. Even though his personality left much to be desired, they could trust that if it was this hero, he would be able to save their World. Thus, they didn’t hesitate to follow him.
“No matter how difficult the journey was, I felt reassured just by looking at your back. But now…” Boboris trailed off just like the Last Dragon had, unable to finish her sentence. Still, the Last Dragon understood and nodded in agreement; she felt the same as Boboris. She was well aware that Chi-Hyun had the abilities to accomplish tasks better than anyone else. But for some reason, she couldn’t trust his decision this time.
Unlike before, the Last Dragon felt a sense of worry that something was going terribly wrong. But she had silently followed Chi-Hyun because she wondered who else would go so far to save a world that wasn’t even theirs. And like Chi-Hyun had said, she couldn’t come up with an alternative either. Furthermore, Chi-Hyun had told them that if they insisted further, he would do as they wished. However, he wouldn’t enter Liber again even if another problem arose, and they shouldn’t resent him for it.
Thus, she followed Chi-Hyun obediently out of fear, yet the sudden appearance of one man had made it so that she no longer had to hold back. Boboris and the Last Dragon had thought this man bore a strange similarity with Chi-Hyun as soon as they saw him. Although they had never met before, they also felt a startling level of trust towards this young man as they had felt with Chi-Hyun.
Boboris and the Last Dragon appeared resolute. And though Bael hadn’t stepped forward to block Chi-Hyun’s attack like the other two, she was also feeling indecisive. The companions who had accompanied Chi-Hyun to this point were turning their back on him now, yet Chi-Hyun remained calm and indifferent like always. He had expected them to act this way since the beginning when they didn’t step forward to help him. The fact that they didn’t support him while he was getting pushed back in a fight showed that their hearts had been wavering since a long time ago.
It didn’t matter to Chi-Hyun. He was used to being alone. The pressing issue for him was how he would overcome this current hurdle and accomplish his original goal, which was to extinguish the World. There was no way of winning in these current circumstances.
It was then the hologram he had turned off popped up automatically, and the semi-transparent image of an angel with blonde hair came to view.
—I-It’s an urgent message.
Chi-Hyun glanced at the hologram. Unlike her usual self, Laguel looked greatly shaken.
—It’s a message from the prophecy…
“The prophecy?” Chi-Hyun frowned. It seemed he didn’t expect this turn of events either.
—Yes…Well…
Laguel’s lips quivered as she glanced at Chi-Woo. She looked like she was hesitating to continue.
“What did it say?”
Yet she had to answer when Chi-Hyun urged her.
—It says that…Sir Choi Chi-Hyun…should leave Liber now…
“…What?” Chi-Hyun responded a beat later. He doubted his own ears. “What?” It wasn’t like he had failed to hear her. He did hear what Laguel said clearly, but he asked again because he couldn’t believe it. Laguel seemed to have expected Chi-Hyun’s response and closed her eyes.
“I-I can’t believe it.” Seeing her response, Chi-Hyun stammered uncharacteristically. “Why did the prophecy…no. There’s no way.” He shook his head in denial. What would be a wide array of emotions by his standards flashed through his expression before quickly disappearing.
“Why? Is it because of that guy? What’s the deal with him?” Chi-Hyun asked swiftly, but Laguel didn’t answer. All she received from her superiors was a one-sided order that she was to relay the prophecy’s message to Chi-Hyun. Though Chi-Hyun was greatly disturbed, he soon calmed down and announced firmly.
“I can’t accept that.”
—Sir Choi Chi-Hyun.
“Is it really telling me to leave obediently? Tell it to screw itself. Those crazy bastards. After everything that happened, they must know it.”
—But…!
“That includes you, Laguel,” Chi-Hyun said sharply, and Laguel flinched. “I won’t return. No, I can’t go like this…!” Because of the fierce determination that Chi-Hyun expressed, Laguel pursed her lips again.
“It seems like…” the Last Dragon said after listening in on their conversation. “The decision has been made.”
“Shut up!”
The Last Dragon flinched when Chi-Hyun poured out pure bloodlust at her. She had never seen him react so aggressively before. It felt as if he would burst at the slightest touch.
“I’m the one who will be saving this World. It has to be me,” Chi-Hyun said and turned to Chi-Woo. “Leave.” It was just one word, but because of the great force behind it, it sounded like an ultimatum. As if Chi-Hyun would use all means possible to reach his goal.
“…What’s your reason?” Chi-Woo asked in a low voice. “It’s not just me, but your companions and those from the Celestial Realm—they are all telling you to back away. What’s your reason for acting so stubborn?”
“It’s none of your business,” Chi-Hyun said coldly. Yes, Chi-Woo knew his older brother would respond like that. Chi-Woo looked a bit bitter and asked again hopefully.
“Can’t you just back down please?” He asked just in case. At the same time, he was letting Chi-Hyun know that he had no plans to give up either.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.” But it was the same for Chi-Hyun.
“Just promise me that you won’t kill the World. Then I’ll back away.”
“We’re back to square one.” Chi-Hyun was the same as ever. Even till his deathbed, he would maintain the same attitude…but was it simply Chi-Woo’s imagination, or did it seem like his brother was unable rather than simply unwilling to back down? It felt as if his brother was cornered to the edge of the cliff so that he couldn’t take one single step backward.
After standing quietly the whole time, the Last Dragon took a step forward. “Is the reason you can’t back down…perhaps due to what humans often talk about? You know, the thing called karma?”
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