“Agh!” Cheon Woo-Seong was hurled backward from the blow to his cheek, the impact ripping open his wounds even more and splattering blood across the tunnel.
Gripping his cheek, he staggered to his feet. “A... pathetic belief, you say?”
Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue. Damn, he's still tough as hell. I just hurt my fucking hand.
“What gives you the right to run your mouth?!” Cheon Woo-Seong shouted, nearly convulsing in rage. “You know nothing! Nothing at all!”
The boy—hiding behind the mask of a man—unleashed his flood of emotions at Kwon Oh-Jin in the form of a tantrum.
Kwon Oh-Jin silently stared into his untainted eyes, which were filled with raw emotion.
Has he been stuck all this time?
Cheon Woo-Seong’s time had stopped nine years ago when Awakeners killed his mother. He had grown physically, but his soul remained trapped in that moment.
If... If I lost Ha-Eun... If someone took what was precious to me, would I end up the same way? He shrugged. Who knows? What matters now is...
He grabbed his spear embedded in the ground.
“You're right. I don’t know, and I don’t care.” He aimed the spear at Cheon Woo-Seong. “But isn’t that the same for you?”
Just as he didn’t understand Cheon Woo-Seong, Cheon Woo-Seong didn’t understand him.
Kwon Oh-Jin launched himself forward. “Since we don’t know each other, let’s just fight for our beliefs.”
He thrust his polearm at Cheon Woo-Seong’s neck.
“Ugh!” Cheon Woo-Seong quickly pulled back as he created another sword out of black feathers. The spear and blade collided, sending a shockwave rippling through the tunnel.
Barely managing to deflect Kwon Oh-Jin’s spear, Cheon Woo-Seong gasped for breath. “Haa! Haa!”
He was starting to lose ground. Kwon Oh-Jin precisely targeted his blind spots.
No way! How can a mere five-star be this strong?
Even though he was severely wounded, a five-star Awakener couldn't possibly overwhelm him to this extent.
It’s a whole three-star gap between us!
Cheon Woo-Seong wasn’t an eight-star greenhorn. He was a skilled fighter on the verge of transcending to the next level.
I should be able to destroy him with a flick of my wrist!
However, Kwon Oh-Jin's spear struck him in a relentless barrage, giving him no room to breathe.
Punches and kicks came down like a hailstorm while wires coiled around him to restrict his movements.
He asked himself if he could have withstood such a battering even if he'd been in perfect condition.
Why is this happening...?
“You just got lucky!” he screeched in frustration.
How can someone be this strong just because of a Celestial's blessings? He didn't even go through any hardships or pay a price!
Amid Cheon Woo-Seong's shock, one of Kwon Oh-Jin's strikes connected cleanly.
He was sent flying, tumbling violently across the ground.
His wounds had stopped bleeding—maybe because he’d already lost too much. He pitifully crawled across the floor.
“N-No... Things can’t end .” He staggered to his feet. “Mom...”
In the tunnel shrouded in darkness, Cheon Woo-Seong ruefully stretched his hand up toward the ceiling, like a child reaching for the night sky.
“Give me strength, Mom.”
His heart pumped faster, and the Stigma on his chest emitted a brilliant glow that soon engulfed him whole.
His enormous black wings wrapped around him defensively.
Kwon Oh-Jin stepped back, narrowing his eyes. “What the hell?”
Is this another blessing from his Celestial?
He tightened his grip on his spear and analyzed Cheon Woo-Seong.
No... it’s different from what happened with Park Geon-Woo and Ashad Khan.
His skin didn't wrinkle, and his back didn't hunch. He was simply surrounded by a radiant light.
There was only one reason a Stigma’s light would envelop someone.
Is this bastard ascending right now?
Driven by his memories of his mother, Cheon Woo-Seong was attempting to reach a new realm in that moment of crisis like a cliche shonen manga protagonist.
Kwon Oh-Jin scoffed. “For fuck’s sake.”
What kind of shit show is this? He furrowed his brow and raised his spear. I need to put a quick end to this.
If the King's Proxy advanced to nine stars, he would become a high-ranking Awakener, entering the realm of superhumans.
That’ll be the end of me.I have to kill him before he ascends!
He wasn’t foolish enough to stand around and wait for his opponent to finish transforming. This wasn't some cliche villain moment.
If Cheon Woo-Seong was drawing strength from memories of his mother, Kwon Oh-Jin just had to send him to her side in the afterlife.
He launched himself forward and concentrated all his mana on his spearhead. He then thrust it at the black wings covering Cheon Woo-Seong.
Sparks flew as the wings blocked the spear.
He put more force into the attack to cut through, but the spear barely sank a third of the way before it was forcefully pushed back.
Black feathers suddenly shot out from the wings, impaling Kwon Oh-Jin's shoulders, thighs, and sides.
Gritting his teeth, he thrust his spear forward again, but a sharp, jarring force deflected it.
Then, he heard a faint bubbling echo.
The dent he'd managed to create in the wings after ceaseless spear strikes healed in the blink of an eye.
That shit is disgustingly tough and even repairs itself. I can’t do this at my current level.
If he couldn’t break through even with Exceed and Lightning Flames, other skills like Explosive Lightning wouldn’t work either.
I have no choice but to attack around the wings. That won't be easy. There are virtually no gaps at all.
Meanwhile, the wings continuously fired more feathers at him.
The light engulfing Cheon Woo-Seong grew brighter with each second.
Damn it, I'm running out of time. Kwon Oh-Jin gritted his teeth and unleashed a flurry of attacks on the wings.
However, his spear bounced off the wings each time, while more feathers dug into his flesh.
Kwon Oh-Jin anxiously bit his lip, feeling like he was up against an impenetrable fortress.
Attacking won’t do any good.
The wings regenerated too quickly for his continuous attacks to be effective.
I need to break through in one strike. But how?
The Black Heaven and the Stigma of Lyra had helped him stand his ground against an eight-star Awakener, but at the end of the day, he was just a five-star with a large mana reserve.
My narrow mana circuits are holding me back, and I’m already using Exceed.
Exceed worked by compressing mana and forcing it through the circuits at a rapid pace, but it wasn’t suited for releasing a large volume of mana in a single burst.
Kwon Oh-Jin’s gaze sharpened as he stopped and lowered his spear.
If there’s a limit to how much mana I can release at once...I'll stop altogether and accumulate it instead. Condense and compress it, Oh-Jin.
As he slowly infused his spear with mana beyond its limits, it began to twist like a pig’s tail.
No, this won’t work. It can't withstand the strain. If the spear won’t do...
He glanced down at his hand gripping the spear and began condensing mana into it instead.
As his hand trembled violently, still clutching the spear, a red warning window appeared before him.
[Warning! Mana is being condensed beyond its limits!]
[If mana is not released, Kwon Oh-Jin will be incapacitated!]
This is what killed Lee Shin-Hyuk, isn’t it? he thought.
Smirking, he forced even more mana into the circuits until his blood vessels began to rupture.
Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears.
[Warning! Mana is being condensed beyond its limits!]
“Shut up,” he muttered as he gripped his spear tighter.
The strain was too much for his hand. A sickening sound echoed as his bones grotesquely bent out of shape.
His fingers and his wrist twisted at unnatural angles. Using a wire, he tightly bound his mangled hand to the spear.
He poured more mana into his hand until bone fragments tore through his flesh.
Even then, he kept going.
He compressed more mana again... and again... and again.
Red filled his vision as more warning windows popped up.
Excruciating pain swallowed him whole like sharp hooks ripping apart his flesh. Amid the relentless agony, he began laughing.
[Kwon Oh-Jin has mastered the manipulation of lightning under extreme conditions!]
[Kwon Oh-Jin has acquired the skill Lightning Charge Lv1!]
[Kwon Oh-Jin has acquired the skill Lightning Discharge Lv1!]
[Thunderbolt Lv9 has influenced the proficiency of Lightning Charge and Lightning Discharge.]
[Lightning Charge has reached Lv6.]
[Lightning Discharge has reached Lv6.]
The knowledge of the new techniques flowed into his mind.
I’ve already charged more than enough, so now...
“Haa...” He stared at the black wings, inside which Cheon Woo-Seong was heading toward the next realm of power.
Is he seeing an illusion of his mother? Kwon Oh-Jin could hear him sobbing within the feathered cage.
“Ah, Mom... thank you.”
“Don’t worry, kid...” Kwon Oh-Jin mumbled with a smirk. Blue lightning condensed to its absolute limit. No, beyond its limit, and raged within him.
“I’ll make sure you see your dear mom real soon!” he shouted.
A torrent of blue lightning crashed down on Cheon Woo-Seong, who was still concealed within his black wings.