Failed Possession Chapter-89

## Ch-89.

—

In the chest of the gigantic beast—

Yuri’s fist was embedded at its very center.

At most, it was the punch of a Fifth Rank martial artist.

Even if struck, it should have dealt no real damage.

But Agwi knew—

That was not true against that *fist*.

The right hand that had once received it had still not regained sensation.

Blocking or evading was impossible.

His limbs were constrained by Orca’s lightning—the lightning he wished to kill her for.

If so, there was only one option: take the blow and endure.

Agwi concentrated all the power he could muster—soul-force, divine power, every ounce of strength—at the point where the fist struck.

The attack felt unsettling, its nature unknown—

But there was no way it could pierce defenses of this magnitude.

The previous strike had only worked because Agwi had not bothered to defend.

The difference in Rank was immense.

There was no way it could work.

—Thud.

Even that assumption proved false.

The instant the fist made contact—

Something lodged within it entered Agwi’s body.

It was nothing more than a tiny spark.

But once inside him, that spark became a conflagration of calamity.

The very power he had concentrated to endure became firewood feeding the flame.

“Keuh—!”

This was nothing like when he had blocked with his hand.

Whether intentional or coincidence—

That punch had struck precisely at Agwi’s center.

If the body were a miniature universe—

Then that spark was a black hole at its core, devouring everything and growing.

‘What is this…?’

The flame did not diminish.

It grew larger.

Soul-force and divine power burned to ash and vanished.

This was annihilation of the root!

Agwi’s mind went blank.

If the foundation itself burned away, recovery would not be easy.

There was no longer time to choose between options.

Agwi drew upon even his True Essence.

Better to burn and survive than be extinguished entirely.

If he lingered longer, irreparable aftereffects would remain.

No—if he did not escape now, even fleeing would become impossible.

Too late.

Kwagagagak!

A crimson slash tore through the sanctuary’s darkness.

It struck precisely at the base of an invisible “tree.”

Kuuung!

The main body of the Spirit-Devouring Tree trembled.

Blood burst from Agwi’s mouth.

Catastrophic Tempest.

Eleia stepped boldly into the not-yet-dispersed darkness.

Seeing that the Spirit-Devouring Tree had not been fully severed, she raised her greatsword again.

To destroy Divine Authority required an attack of equal standing.

Her slash, heavy with Intent, swung again at the tree.

Once locked onto, distance meant nothing to Eleia.

Her greatsword now resembled an axe more than a blade.

Kuuuuung!

Beneath the swaying great tree, ready to topple at any moment—

Agwi opened his jaws wide.

Drawing upon True Essence allowed him to move.

Yuri’s fist was still embedded in his chest.

I’ll bite him in half.

Killing Orca had failed—

But this bastard must die.

Agwi lunged to tear Yuri apart—

But blackness blocked his sight.

Haryeong.

Leaping onto his shoulder, she drove the Black-and-White Twin Fangs downward.

Ppeok!

Both daggers plunged into Agwi’s right eye.

“Kah—!”

Blade aura surged from the daggers, destroying his eyeball.

Haryeong did not stop.

She pushed the daggers deeper—

Aiming to turn his brain to mush.

But after shattering the eye, the blades struck an unyielding wall and could not advance further.

She did not linger.

Yanking the Twin Fangs free, she sprang backward.

The ultimate technique of Tang family hidden weapons—Ten Thousand Flowers Rain—manifested imperfectly.

Pupupupupupuk!

Countless hidden weapons and aura-forged daggers buried themselves in Agwi’s face.

Some even grazed the remaining eye.

“Grrrr…!”

Agwi shook his head violently, on the verge of madness—

Still trying to bite Yuri.

But once more, he failed.

Through blurred vision, he saw a brilliant light block his fangs.

Estor’s light blade.

The blade he had swung tirelessly to support Eleia now cleaved through Agwi’s fangs.

In terms of cutting power alone, the light blade far exceeded Fifth Rank sword aura.

It split his teeth and tore through his muzzle.

“You son of a bitch.”

Estor spat the words through clenched teeth, eyes brimming with killing intent.

Agwi now bore the form of a massive wolf—

The insult fit perfectly.

Estor did not suppress his rage.

His light blade hacked savagely at Agwi’s face.

“Kaaagh!”

The pain in his face was maddening—

But more urgent was the flame burning within his chest.

Even drawing upon True Essence to suppress it, the unknown fire showed no sign of extinguishing.

That fist was a wedge.

Unless the wedge was removed—

The flame would not go out.

Agwi barely glimpsed Yuri’s face.

The brat’s eyes were focused on nothing but his embedded fist.

Whatever chaos unfolded around them—

There was no intention of withdrawing the wedge.

Only obsession.

Only venom.

‘You madman…!’

The lightning binding his limbs weakened.

Orca’s power—operating through Lacy’s body—was reaching its limit.

Agwi seized that opening and swung his freed hand at Yuri.

But once again—

He failed to kill him.

Haryeong, who had retreated, grabbed Yuri’s body and leapt back.

Estor roared and intercepted Agwi’s hand, preventing pursuit.

Instead, Estor himself was struck and slammed into the ground—

But he did not scream.

He rose instantly and charged again.

Kuuung!

At that moment—

The Spirit-Devouring Tree snapped.

“Keuh!”

The backlash of forcibly shattered Divine Authority struck.

Agwi’s body convulsed.

Black, dead blood spewed from his mouth.

With the wedge removed, the flame ceased spreading and quickly died—

But what had already burned did not return.

‘This is… truly…’

It’s over.

Agwi staggered backward, gasping.

How had it come to this?

*You played for too long.*

Orca’s mocking words rang in his head.

Wasn’t it natural for the strong to toy with the weak?

Had this truly happened because of that?

But at this point, he could not deny it.

If he had killed them from the start—

Orca would not have come.

The Rift would not have failed.

The sanctuary would not have collapsed.

The Spirit-Devouring Tree would not have broken.

What maddened him most—

Was the weak brat’s flame driven in like a wedge.

How much divine power and soul-force had burned?

How much True Essence had he expended to suppress it?

Even conservatively—

Ten years of Agwi’s power had vanished.

Worse still—

This was not yet the “worst.”

The worst was beginning now.

As if to confirm it—

The ground beneath Agwi surged upward.

Kwa-ddeudeuk!

Earthen shackles seized his lower body.

“Got you.”

Guzel.

Mounted atop a massive earth golem, Guzel entered the sanctuary with heavy steps.

He paused briefly at the sight of lightning-wreathed Lacy—

But there was no time to ask.

The opponent was Agwi—

One of the Saints of the Evil God.

Information on the Saints was scarce.

Securing Agwi alive held immense value.

They surrounded him.

Orca, reaching her limit, reduced her lightning output and handed control over to Guzel.

Guzel’s magic took hold seamlessly, binding Agwi tighter.

From the waist down, his body was already swallowed by earth.

He no longer felt sensation there.

Though he poured every remaining ounce of strength into resisting—

He could not last long.

Eleia, greatsword resting on her shoulder, aimed at him as well.

There was no answer.

It was over.

Agwi’s eyes trembled.

He had reached a ruin he had never imagined.

Should he commit suicide?

Or—

He seriously considered it.

Facing humiliation and torture—

Perhaps death would be salvation.

But Agwi did not possess the courage to decide and act immediately.

For decades in this world he had been revered as a Saint—

Yet at his core, he was nothing more than a man inferior to ordinary.

“Grrr…”

What Agwi had learned over decades here was not how to overcome fear—

But how to hide it.

With his blood-soaked head still unrecovered, he shook it wildly—

Bar­ing his beastly fangs.

Unfortunately for him, no one around him was frightened by a few broken teeth.

Iron Fortress tightened the foundation with a twisted expression.

Eleia poured power into her greatsword, ready to respond the instant Agwi thrashed.

Even Yuri—panting heavily while supported by Haryeong—glared at Agwi, and Estor beside him stared with undisguised killing intent.

Priests of the Earth Church took their positions around Agwi.

The long-standing alliance between the Havert Magic Tower and the Earth Church existed for a reason—their compatibility was excellent.

As divine power began to reinforce the earthen foundation binding Agwi, his eyes trembled more violently.

The transformation magic sustaining him was forcibly unraveling.

Tufts of fur fell away, and his massive body rapidly shrank.

“What happens now?”

Estor, examining Yuri’s wounds, spoke up.

One of the priests channeling divine power answered.

“If we contact the Union, high inquisitors from each Church will arrive.”

The priest’s voice carried unmistakable excitement.

Capturing a Saint of an Evil God alive was unprecedented.

“Aaaaaaaah!”

He was being forced to choose.

If high inquisitors from the Union arrived, he would suffer pain worse than death.

Would that suffering ever end?

If things went poorly, his soul might be preserved in agony and condemned to eternal punishment.

So Agwi erected an altar in his heart and offered himself.

Geas.

If the price was sufficient, even the impossible could become possible.

Even if he were to live a fate worse than death, it was better than dying now—

Better than being dragged away by high inquisitors.

“Kyaaaak!”

The priests pouring divine power into the foundation screamed and writhed.

An overwhelming force they could not defy shattered their miracles and made tears of blood stream from their eyes.

Light rose from the earth and enveloped the priests—the divine power of the Earth God they served.

But what was being offered was different.

No matter how many ordinary priests gathered, they could not overturn the disparity.

From the Rift still lingering in the sky, a long finger descended.

At the same time, black mist—like the embodiment of ill omen—surged forth.

“Evil God!”

Eleia shouted.

Without the slightest hesitation, she kicked off the ground and flew toward the finger.

Her blade aura, filled with Intent, moved to slay a god.

It was stopped.

The greatsword halted before reaching the finger.

In that instant, the descending finger seized Agwi’s head.

“Kk—Aaaaargh!”

Though it merely touched him, Agwi let out the most horrific scream of his life.

Crack—crackcrack—

What Agwi had wished for was to escape this place alive.

But the Evil God did not grant miracles so kind.

Crunch!

Agwi’s body, bound by the foundation, was torn apart grotesquely.

His lower half buried in earth—

His right arm—

His abdomen—

All were severed.

Only his head, shoulders, and chest—barely unbound—were gripped by the finger and lifted into the sky.

The horrific sight rendered everyone speechless.

The miracle had rescued only Agwi’s *body*.

The robe he wore, and everything else—blood, flesh, and organs—fell below in wet heaps.

“Kaaah! Aaah!”

Though more than half his body was gone, Agwi did not die.

With a split, broken voice, he screamed as he rose higher and higher with the finger.

Soon, the finger holding Agwi disappeared into the Rift.

“…”

They had captured a Saint of the Evil God—

And yet he had escaped.

No one could speak.

They instinctively understood that what had just occurred was impossible to prevent.

And Agwi’s final state had been too horrific.

“Geas.”

Orca, staring blankly at the sky, muttered.

“Geas? Something like that is possible through Geas?”

Yuri asked, unable to comprehend.

“Geas… is a miracle demanded by offering a price,”

answered one of the Earth Church priests, who had collapsed and was coughing blood.

“It is common to gain special power through prohibitions and vows—but a Saint closely tied to a god can offer much more to invoke a ‘true’ miracle.”

“To escape alive from here, Agwi must have offered an immense price,” Orca said, shaking her head.

“The fact he did not wish for a miracle to kill all of us means he could not afford that price. Or perhaps even a Geas has limits.”

Her head was beginning to throb. Her body ached.

For Orca, who would return, it mattered little.

But Lacy would likely spend days bedridden paying the price.

“We could not capture him for interrogation, but we achieved something,” Orca continued.

“Even if he barely survived, Agwi will no longer be able to wield power befitting a Saint.”

“We should’ve killed him.”

Yuri muttered darkly.

Orca smirked and approached the foundation.

“We did not kill him—but in fleeing with only his body, he left much behind. If we recover and examine these, we may extract information about the cultists.”

What was lost was lost.

What could they do when the Evil God’s own finger had taken him?

Orca did not dwell on regret.

She stepped toward the still-intact foundation.

“…You’re Orca Dercia, correct?”

Guzel, face twisted, looked down at her.

Orca looked up at him from below the golem and smiled faintly.

“Guzel Havert. I didn’t expect we’d reunite like this.”

“Hmph… You’ve made another strange spell. Possession?”

“I transmitted a fragment of my soul through a terminal. My true body remains at the Dercia Magic Tower.”

“A convenient but dangerous spell. Possessors erase the original soul when they inhabit another’s body. Yours carries no such risk?”

“None. Only a fragment is transmitted. But if one plays too long, the vessel may shatter—or the souls may mix.”

“That sounds excessively risky.”

“If you’re cautious, it’s fine.”

“Hah… You’re not foolish enough for suicide.”

“We can catch up properly when I return in person. Before that, I’ll see this through.”

Orca’s gaze fell to the foundation.

Guzel nodded slightly and collapsed it.

The robe and Agwi’s severed lower half dropped heavily.

The raggedly torn cross-section was grotesque to behold—

But Orca’s expression remained indifferent.

“…”

Lifting the robe covering the lower body, Orca’s face showed rare surprise.

“…Why was he wearing only underwear under his robe?”

Among what Agwi left behind—excluding his flesh—were a black robe, a gold bracelet and necklace, and the mask with the torn mouth.

And one large piece of underwear.

“This bastard was wearing nothing but underwear under his robe?”

Orca’s surprise shifted into pure disgust.

The thought that they had fought a madman clad only in underwear beneath his robe was profoundly unpleasant.

“What kind of lunatic does that?”

Guzel muttered incredulously.

“… ”

Yuri said nothing.