Ch-383. **Heavenly Demon Slaughter**
—
*A counterfeit,* he says.
Who is calling whom a fake?
“I’ll tear that mouth apart.”
The Heavenly Demon’s expression hardened.
He intended to rip that babbling mouth open and make sure it would never spout nonsense again.
And even if what that bastard said were true—
‘I have already surpassed the First Heavenly Demon.’
His martial attainment had already entered the realm of infinity.
With a mere act of will, he could kill—**Mind Is Kill**.
With no equal under heaven, he dared to call himself the greatest of all time.
Even if the First Heavenly Demon trembled in fear, there was no reason for *him* to fear as well.
Rather—
“…If I devour you, I’ll be able to open the Sixth Gate.”
Wasn’t this perfect?
No longer would he need to seek out another Fifth-Gate opener.
He only had to absorb the power of the one standing before him.
And thus be reborn as a flawless, perfect **Demon God**.
He would reign over every land his feet touched.
That thing before him was nothing more than prey for that purpose.
The Heavenly Demon lowered his stance.
And the moment he gripped the Heavenly Demon Blade diagonally—
—**Heavenly Demon Illusion.**
A supreme technique.
The first form of a sword art composed of three techniques.
Heavenly Demon Illusion was a sword technique that allowed **ten thousand variations simultaneously**.
In the next instant, slashes far faster than before poured down upon his opponent like a torrential rain.
**Kwakwakwakwa-kwaang!**
It was truly a rain of sword energy.
In a single moment, ten thousand slashes unfolded, each one manifesting as a devastating blade aura.
There was no pattern, no flow—nothing to read.
It could not be blocked.
No one existed who could endure this ever-changing martial art.
—**Heavenly Demon Flash.**
But the Heavenly Demon did not stop.
He intended to sever that bastard’s life completely.
Flash!
The moment the Heavenly Demon Blade flared with light, **Great Annihilation** surged forth once more—
not just one, but dozens of Great Annihilations raining down mercilessly.
At a speed like light itself.
Can one block light?
Of course not—one can’t even think to block it.
**Kuaaaaang—!**
They were shredded against the holy barrier.
The remnants of Great Annihilation that burst past the barrier smashed into the earth.
The ground split apart.
The land itself screamed.
At the same time, the terrain warped, elevations collapsing and rising.
An explosion powerful enough to erase several cities with ease.
Smoke billowed upward so vast that heaven and earth blurred together.
But as the Heavenly Demon peered into the smoke, he had no choice but to frown.
“…Is that all?”
“……”
Because the bastard was completely unharmed.
Not even the faintest scorch mark.
His attacks had been blocked with absurd ease.
How had he stopped them?
The answer lay in the sword the man was holding.
‘So I didn’t see it wrong.’
The sword of fate he had glimpsed during the first Great Annihilation.
For a brief moment, a blade as large as a mountain had appeared in midair, evaporating the Great Annihilation.
That was unmistakably it.
But it wasn’t in the same form he’d seen before.
It had shrunk to the size of a normal sword, wielded as casually as a toy.
“Still, that was decent. If you were just a bit stronger, you might’ve managed to scratch me.”
What nonsense was he spouting now?
One thing was clear—this man did not see him as an *enemy*.
His demeanor was relaxed, as though watching a child show off.
In all his life, the Heavenly Demon had never been treated like this.
‘In a mortal form, I cannot deal with this thing.’
A living form has limits.
Only an immortal being—one without limits—could face this.
And thanks to that realization, he understood something.
The Heavenly Demon slowly raised his head and spoke.
“I see now. You… you’ve already died once, haven’t you?”
That bastard was an immortal as well.
Or at the very least, someone who had died once and been resurrected.
A being who had cast off the constraints bound to living flesh.
*Heh.*
“Does it look that way?”
…Was that an admission, or a denial?
Either way, the Heavenly Demon believed his judgment was correct.
Which meant he, too, had no choice but to use his final trump card—
a last, forbidden technique he had sworn never to use, even at the cost of his life.
‘Originally, I planned to use this after opening the Sixth Gate.’
But there was no helping it.
In his current state, defeating this thing seemed impossible.
**Goooooo—!**
The Heavenly Demon drew up every ounce of internal energy he possessed.
—**Heavenly Demon Slaughter (天魔殺).**
The two sword techniques he’d used earlier were nothing more than warm-ups for this.
The third and final sword form was so dangerous that merely using it could result in death—
yet it was incomparably powerful, a secret ultimate art.
He unleashed ten thousand slashes and opened his **Lower Dantian**.
Dozens of Great Annihilations, unleashed at light speed, roared through his **Middle Dantian**.
And then—one single death.
Compressed.
Compressed again.
Compressed yet again.
All of it was condensed into the tip of the Heavenly Demon Blade—
and with that, he opened the **Upper Dantian**.
**Thunk.**
The Heavenly Demon stabbed his own abdomen with the blade, filled with every ounce of his essence.
*Throb.*
His divine form twisted grotesquely.
His body shook violently, his entire form turning pitch black with dead blood.
*Snap.*
His head slumped.
His heart stopped.
…He died.
But death did not last long.
**Fwoooosh—!**
The golden torrent from the Fifth Gate Opening flowed back into him.
And then the Heavenly Demon opened his eyes.
His pupils gleamed gold, a smile curving his lips.
‘So this is the realm of gods.’
Everything looked different.
He had now become a true **Demon God (魔神)**.
Heavenly Demon Slaughter was a technique that forced all accumulated essence into the Upper Dantian, allowing one to briefly experience the realm of gods.
A final supreme art—killing oneself to become a god for an instant.
Layer that death once more through the Fifth Gate Opening, and one becomes a flawless god.
Had he opened the Sixth Gate, he would have revived outright—
‘But this isn’t bad either.’
Becoming a god while dead felt… strangely pleasant.
As if he had become a god of death itself.
He straightened his twisted head and leisurely looked back at his opponent.
The man watching him spoke with interest.
“As expected… Did you try to imitate me to reach that state? Still, you’re a bit early.”
He acknowledged it lightly.
Better than expected.
But he also immediately saw that this was not a complete form.
Without opening the Sixth Gate, it was only a half-finished Demon God.
The Heavenly Demon—
no, the Demon God—smirked.
“This is more than enough to kill you.”
More than enough.
He had exceeded every requirement except opening the Sixth Gate.
He had absorbed abyssal poison and essence accumulated over countless ages, and inherited all the enlightenment of the First Heavenly Demon.
And that wasn’t all.
The cores of the Abyssal Lords he had slain, the essence of the Water Spirit King, and—
—Aaaargh!
—Oh Heavenly God!
—Long live! Long live! Long, long live!
The souls of all the faithful of Heavenly Mountain who followed him.
They had willingly offered their souls to the Demon God.
Above all, this place overflowed with abyssal poison—
more than anywhere else in the Abyss.
The very source of a Demon God’s power lay in this abyssal poison.
So then—
how could he possibly lose?
*Shhk—!*
In an instant—
**Slash!**
As the Demon God passed by,
fresh blood sprayed in all directions.
At the same time—
*Thud.*
A severed **left arm** rolled across the ground.
—
—
The **Primordial Heavenly Demon** escaped the Gate of Truth and immediately bound itself to a body.
After that, it waited patiently for an opening.
‘There’s no gap.’
No crack it could force itself through.
This human body possessed countless identities, and through them had forged an unshakable sense of self.
To think such a human could exist.
In its prime, stealing this body would have been trivial.
But after being sealed in the heavens for far too long, the Primordial Heavenly Demon had lost most of its power.
To recover, it would need to devour demons—
but for now, it lacked the opportunity.
So it observed the body more closely.
And trembled.
‘A truly omnipotent vessel.’
It was far more incredible than expected.
A body that could contain anything, become anything—
a perfect vessel.
Even the gods of heaven would covet it.
If it could claim this body, perhaps revenge against the heavens would be possible.
Was it not tempting?
Now it understood why an opening had appeared in the Gate of Truth.
Even Truth itself could not have foreseen such a being.
And so it waited.
When the Heavenly Demon finally appeared, amid the chaos, it tried to seize the body—
‘…Did he realize my origin in that instant?’
Instead, the human sealed it even deeper within himself.
He had realized, in that brief moment, that it had escaped from the Gate of Truth.
Normally, even seeing something within the Gate of Truth would not allow one to recall it—
especially for a living being.
That it was possible was not because of Park Hyun-myung—
but because of the other half.
‘Randolph. A being like the incarnation of darkness. This one is the true demon.’
Yet something felt off.
Even after splitting light and darkness, the balance was uneven.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon realized why immediately.
‘Ah… Randolph’s body has its limiter removed, but the other half does not.’
Randolph’s body had no limits.
Its restrictions were gone.
But Park Hyun-myung’s body still bore limits.
Because unlike Randolph, Park Hyun-myung had never truly died.
Of course, death would be the end.
There would be no resurrection.
The authority of resurrection had likely already been used on Randolph—
an eternal authority that could not be used twice.
—*Let us make a deal.*
The Primordial Heavenly Demon spoke heavily.
—I will break your limits, your restrictions. In return, let me devour that one.
It believed it could solve this problem.
No—only it could solve this problem.
In exchange, it wanted a demon.
Devouring the one who called himself the Heavenly Demon would restore a portion of its power.
And Park Hyun-myung replied—
“Do it.”
…So readily that it was almost absurd.
So clean, so decisive that it was baffling.
Did he not understand how dangerous it was to yield control of his body?
Or did he believe he could reclaim it at any time?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
In any case, breaking the body’s limiter had to come first.
Only then could the Heavenly Demon be devoured.
*Thud.*
Afterward, the Demon God’s left arm was severed.
An arm he could not cut off himself—
because the **power of an Outer God** dwelled within it.
*Heh.*
The Primordial Heavenly Demon smiled.
“I knew you’d be able to cut it.”
Even with his arm severed, he laughed brightly.
Because from the start, he had guided events so that the arm would be cut.
*Throb! Throb! Throb!*
The severed left arm wriggled madly on the ground.
It rose into the air, trying to reattach—
**Crunch!**
But the Primordial Heavenly Demon did not allow it.
He stomped down, pinning the arm in place.
Then, with his remaining right hand, he grabbed the left arm.
**Fwoosh—!**
The arm transformed once more into feathers.
Feathers of an Outer God.
The Primordial Heavenly Demon’s smile deepened.
He had been curious from the beginning.
Not only about the owner of this all-purpose vessel—
but also about the owner of these feathers.
‘To find traces of the Blue Bird here of all places…’
*Crunch.*
The Primordial Heavenly Demon devoured the Outer God’s feather.
