The top of the Celestial Tower.
At the summit that stretched above the clouds, there was a space the size of a soccer field along with a chair.
"About ti you ca down."
Su-hyeon said as he sat in the chair.
[Indeed.]
The massive eye responded.
Belphegor.
King of the ten thousand demons.
The ruler of the other world, and now the transcendent who had beco the ruler of both worlds.
The one who had lurked in the abyss finally revealed himself before Su-hyeon.
It looked...
Like both a young person and an old one.
Both man and woman.
Both human and demon.
Like a black storm cloud and a solitary eye.
Like darkness and light.
"That's disorienting."
Su-hyeon comnted.
[Haha.]
Belphegor, who was everything and nothing, laughed.
[Jeong Su-hyeon. You still refuse to abandon your human flesh.]
"Is there a reason I should?"
[What an uninteresting man.]
Belphegor's voice ca from the front, back, below, and above, like both sound waves and telepathy.
[The body is rely a vessel.]
[Having realized that fact, it would be entertaining to dwell in more varied vessels.]
"Entertainnt, you say."
Su-hyeon closed his eyes.
"I don't understand why transcendents are so obsessed with such trivial matters."
[Do you truly not understand?]
Belphegor's voice sounded sotis like an innocent child, sotis like a playful elder who had set aside his dignity.
[When nothing can frighten , and nothing can trouble , from beneath the supre throne.]
[For one who has shed the shackles of mortality, nothing is as precious as amusent.]
"Well. I haven't lived that long."
After responding thus, Su-hyeon assud his true stance.
Booooom!
The mana waves spread out like a sonic boom, driving away the black clouds.
[Enough with these clumsy shows of force.]
[If you want sothing, just say it.]
[Isn't that the attitude of an intelligent being?]
"In that case."
Su-hyeon nodded slightly.
"Sit in the chair."
[Very well.]
Belphegor, returning to human form, appeared half as an old man and half as a youth of indeterminate gender, and sat on the throne.
[Let's have a conversation. Since we've gone to all this trouble.]
[You seem to have many questions, so I'll indulge you specially.]
"You must be dying to talk yourself."
[Correct observation.]
Belphegor smiled gently.
"Why did you do nothing, even as things reached this state?"
Su-hyeon asked.
"If you had wished it, you could have disrupted my plans at any ti."
[Indeed.]
[Before Nastrond opened, and after it opened as well. At any ti.]
Belphegor affird Su-hyeon's words.
"But you neither specifically rescued
nor helped . You rely left things be."
[Yes. That is the natural order.]
"Ridiculous. A transcendent like you, constrained by such soft concepts as 'natural order'?"
[Don't you know? The natural order is stronger than you might think.]
"No."
Su-hyeon twisted his lips.
"That's not all. You lied."
[Oh?]
Belphegor's throne moved closer to Su-hyeon.
[I'm curious. What lie did I tell?]
"When I was rging with Malek, dying thousands and tens of thousands of tis to beco a transcendent."
Su-hyeon closed his eyes.
"You told
that since I had crossed over to this world, I had only one life left."
Belphegor interrupted his words.
[In other words, this was your final challenge, and if I defeated it, this place would finally beco wholly my world.]
[...That's what I said.]
"You also said this: Another transcendent who couldn't defeat you brought
to this world, and if you defeated , this fight would be over."
[Yes. I did. So?]
Belphegor drew a smile full of curiosity on his face, as if eager to hear the answer.
"If that were true, you should have killed
beforehand. But you didn't. Right up until the very end."
[Correct. I certainly did not.]
Despite Belphegor's urging to hear his answer, Su-hyeon calmly continued his words.
"What was the mission of your apostle, Eligoss? It was to polish
one last ti, wasn't it?"
[Ho.]
"To return the still-insufficient experience as a transcendent... back to the state at the ti of transcendence one more ti, to finally fill in the missing links, wasn't it?"
[Indeed.]
[You finally understand the perspective of a transcendent.]
Belphegor laughed with pleasure.
"You gave
trials that wouldn't kill , trials that would make
stronger, and thus polished ."
In other words.
"You forged
into a sword."
[You may take pride. It is to your credit that you endured the hamring and the flas.]
"And finally. I have beco a transcendent equal to you and stand here."
Belphegor smiled faintly without answering.
"The fact that everything happened as a result of your machinations only becos visible after I've attained equal status with you."
[Then you must have guessed my intention. What do you think it is?]
"That's a question you should answer."
To that question, Su-hyeon asked in return.
"Were you bored?"
[Your insight is good.]
Only then did Belphegor's smile disappear.
[You are right, Jeong Su-hyeon.]
[It was truly a terrible boredom.]
[From so point on, I wished for soone who could give
death to appear.]
[But no one could do that.]
Belphegor's words continued.
[Many challengers appeared from external dinsions. But nothing changed.]
[They couldn't defeat even my limbs, let alone .]
[Hwang Won-jae. Was his cleverness too exceptional, or were you all too weak? Or was he just another sieve for 'that one'?]
[I knew that one's intentions but let them be.]
"Why?"
[Why, you ask? You know but still ask.]
[Because it was interesting.]
[But that too was only for a mont. Even joining in on hopeless struggles beca tedious.]
[But finally, one appeared. An intelligent and tenacious challenger who could give
hope.]
Belphegor raised a finger and pointed at Su-hyeon.
[That is you, Jeong Su-hyeon.]
"Is it that boring?"
Su-hyeon asked.
"Being immortal."
[Eternity is a prison, Jeong Su-hyeon.]
[I am weary. I've even grown sowhat tired.]
Belphegor rose from the throne.
[I hope the next turn will be yours.]
[Kill
and reign for countless eons.]
[For kingship is truly boring and worthless.]
"If you wanted to commit suicide."
Su-hyeon also rose from his seat.
"Why not do it yourself instead of troubling others?"
[I would have, if it were possible.]
[But transcendence is like that. Even I cannot kill myself.]
"How ironic."
Su-hyeon said.
"That the absolute being who transcended the shackles of mortality desires death. It's such an obvious cliché, it's not even funny."
[Why wouldn't it be?]
Belphegor spread both arms.
[Now there are no more hidden truths to make
curious, no higher realms to pursue.]
"You don't know anything."
Su-hyeon asked.
"Then I'll kill you, so why don't you just abdicate nicely and disappear?"
[Haha! That wouldn't do.]
[No, it wouldn't.]
A dark gleam rose in Belphegor's abyss-like eyes.
[Where would the fun be in that!]
"You've been insane for a very long ti."
Su-hyeon understood Belphegor's essence.
"A transcendent who went mad during the long reign."
That was Belphegor.
[Jeong Su-hyeon. Think about it.]
Belphegor walked toward Su-hyeon.
[The completion of a mortal is death.]
[Then what is the completion of an immortal?]
"I wonder."
[Without an end, there is no completion. Simple, isn't it?]
[But when you think about it, that's quite strange, Jeong Su-hyeon.]
[That the most complete and highest being lacks completion.]
[But this is what I think.]
[Just as it is for mortals, the completion of immortals should also be death.]
"Are you asking
to beco your completion?"
Sling.
Su-hyeon drew out his Sain Sword.
[Yes. That is my wish.]
[But I won't go easy on you.]
[It would be a sha to end it like that.]
[Now that you've finally co this far, my patience ends here.]
[I will now use my full power. I will crush you head-on.]
Belphegor caressed Su-hyeon's Sain Sword with his hand and smiled.
[It will be my most special entertainnt. Having waited for so long, it will truly be enjoyable, most enjoyable.]
[But if you fail, I must endure another long boredom.]
Therefore, said Belphegor.
[I wish you good luck.]
??????°??☆????°??????
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kaaaaang!
Every ti Su-hyeon's sword and Belphegor's sword entangled, thrust, cut, struck, and confronted each other, explosions and shockwaves shook and destroyed the Celestial Tower.
Belphegor's sword was truly exquisite, reaching a level that neither Crosell nor Eligoss could ever approach.
It was completely identical to the realm of swordsmanship that Su-hyeon had attained.
Even Lee Un-hak, Lee Cheong-myeong, and Lee Yu-jin, the most excellent swordsn as humans, would be like newborn babies before that sword.
Spacing and breathing and speed and strength and technique and moves.
It was a sword that employed all of these on a completely different dinsion.
[Amazing. A sword that has reached all realms, fused all realms, and thereby finally advanced to the highest place.]
As the battle of sword against sword gradually began to mix in hands and feet.
Bwak!
Blocking while striking.
Swoosh!
Grabbing while thrusting.
Puhwak!
Kicking while cutting.
Su-hyeon's offense and defense, having honed his unique fighting style of left hand-right sword, was being matched exactly by Belphegor's offense and defense.
Kagak.
Then Su-hyeon incorporated the technique of sword wrestling, clashing sword against sword to break the opponent's balance.
[Hmm!]
Grab and twist.
"Haaap!"
Entangle and throw.
[Not bad.]
Bind and strangle.
And finally.
Whirlik!
Su-hyeon and Belphegor snatched each other's weapons and threw them away.
In other words, they both lost their weapons.
Bwak!
The battle of the two transcendents entered the realm of fist against fist.
Swish swish swish!
Swook- Bwak!
Jabs and straights. Uppercuts and hooks. Front hand and back hand mixed in confusion.
Weaving and ducking and swaying and parrying unfolded, avoiding each other's fists.
Bwak!
Buuck!
Body blows and uppers pounded each other's bodies and faces.
Zzaak!
Bwakak!
Combinations mixing kicks were added to the exchange of fists.
Swoosh!
Front kicks and low kicks.
Bwak!
Middle kicks and Brazilian kicks.
Puuck!
High kicks and knee kicks freely adjusted spacing and height, destroying each other's flesh.
"Huup!"
Su-hyeon was the first to incorporate grappling.
As they repeatedly toppled and threw each other with techniques of hapkido and judo.
"Hup!"
The fight to topple the opponent moved to the next phase of fighting after being toppled.
Brazilian jiu-jitsu techniques, and wondrous movents beyond the principles of jiu-jitsu, repeatedly flipped and twisted the two transcendents over and under.
"Kuk!"
And thus, as Su-hyeon, with his arms and legs completely bound, was about to helplessly receive Belphegor's fist.
Swoosh!
Su-hyeon, leaping through space, appeared above Belphegor's head.
Fizzzzzzt!
Su-hyeon, who had neither magic nor special abilities, shot a massive lightning bolt no different from a natural disaster.
Hwrrrrrr!
Belphegor sent an even larger fla that devoured the lightning.
Fire devouring lightning.
A phenonon beyond common sense was occurring within the battle of the two transcendents.
Ice deflecting wind.
Telekinetic forces grabbing each other, then scattering.
Thus the battle moved from swords and fists to a battle of abilities.
Finally, it began to transcend even form and thought.
Such was the battle of two transcendents, two god-like beings.
The battle now began to rise to a clash of will against will, thought against thought.
A formless battle. A battle of concepts. A battle of law against law...
In a battle that mortal eyes could not even begin to comprehend, only one fact was clear.
That fact was that at this mont, the power of the two beings was completely equal.
[This is enjoyable, Jeong Su-hyeon.]
Belphegor, intoxicated with the battle, spoke as if singing.
[You are the fated night I have waited for.]
[Please entertain
more.]
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