Chapter 323 : O Judge.

The moment I held the red bead, the world went black.

The raging storm of demonic energy disappeared, and a quiet night sky unfolded above my head.

I looked around and soon realized that this was inside my mind.

Because the Heavenly Demon was standing next to me.

"Master."

The Heavenly Demon, with his hands behind his back, looked up at the night sky and muttered.

[That lizard fellow has given you something absurd. How are you supposed to handle this?]

I followed the Heavenly Demon's gaze and looked up, and instead of the round moon that was like a silver platter, a red moon, tinged with red, was looking down at me, exuding a strange energy.

It was an ominous sight.

"That is..."

The Heavenly Demon clicked his tongue.

[I had a feeling it would be like this. I hate having to clean up after others.]

Something was slowly coming down from the red moon.

When I looked closely, the red dragon that had been living on the dark side of the moon was coming down from the sky.

"What is that?"

[My disciple, I don't have much time, so I'll be brief.]

The Heavenly Demon looked at me.

[In this battle, you will either lose everything, or you will gain a power so great that it will be difficult to handle.]

I stared blankly at the Heavenly Demon, who was speaking in a rarely serious tone.

[He is too much for you right now.]

"Who is my opponent?"

[Look.]

I looked where the Heavenly Demon was pointing.

The red dragon was coming down from the moon, and the red giant was reaching out its hand towards the moon as if to greet it.

[It is yourself.]

"No, that bastard?"

[If you lose to the heart demon, you will be swallowed whole.]

"Is it a state of qi deviation?"

[That's right.]

I looked at the red dragon coming down from the moon, and the red giant who was grinning from ear to ear, greeting it, and asked.

"...If I win?"

[If you win, you will become the strongest in the world.]

I looked at the Heavenly Demon.

"Really?"

[He who defeats others only has strength, but he who defeats himself is truly strong. Who could be stronger than a man who fights and wins against himself? Only he who stands alone will be able to hold everything in his hands.]

The Heavenly Demon, with his hands behind his back, recited in a plain voice, as if reciting a poem.

[When the battle is over, and you are standing alone. You will surely be a different person from who you are now.]

"Hmm."

[This is too much power for you right now. That lizard fellow. He must have thought I would act as a nanny in the middle, but I have no intention of doing so.]

The Heavenly Demon looked at me.

[To put it simply, it's a battle of whether you break out of the egg, or you are crushed as you are. Will you do it?]

I stared into his eyes, and then turned my head and looked up at the red moon.

"Why do you say it so strangely? When has it ever been otherwise?"

Most of the battles I had fought so far had been battles of life and death.

And, a significant number of them had been against those who were stronger than me.

It meant it wasn't unfamiliar.

Rather, it meant it was familiar.

[Now that I hear it, that's true.]

The Heavenly Demon laughed softly.

[Are you prepared?]

I took a step, watching the red giant, who had stretched out his hand with all his might, and the red dragon, who had come down from the sky, make contact.

"Anytime."

A low laugh saw me off.

[Good luck.]

Thump!

———————————!!!

The heart demon, which had accepted the power of the red moon and had grown several times in size, roared.

The heavens and the earth trembled, and the stars that had been watching quietly trembled.

As a result, the trees exploded, and a large clearing was created in the forest.

"It's so noisy."

I walked to the battlefield he had created so loudly and held out my hand to the side.

Swoosh—

Moonlight bloomed in my hand.

It was tinged with various colors such as blue, white, and black...

And finally, it took on a blood-red light.

Its color was darker than the heart demon that was standing there proudly.

"Come on, you lackey."

I pointed at him with it.

"Last time I tore you vertically, so this time I'll tear you horizontally."

The heart demon roared and rushed at me.

* * *

He was me.

My twisted anger and hatred, sorrow and joy, regret and lament. The bright red madness that flowed from there.

The one who knew me better than anyone, and the one who understood me better than anyone.

BOOM!

And that guy had obtained the power of a dragon.

Perhaps, the result was as obvious as day.

In a word, as the Heavenly Demon had said.

He was too much for me.

Thump, thump...

I don't even remember how many times it was.

I was lying on the ground, catching my breath for a moment, and then I got up, holding my heavy legs, and rushed at him again.

Because, in my dictionary, there was no such thing as giving up.

My vision was dizzy.

I couldn't tell if I was swinging the sword, or if the sword was swinging me.

He was already playing with me.

The only reason I hadn't been eaten by the heart demon yet was because I hadn't given up.

Because I was a guy whose ego was formed by a bundle of stubbornness and self-righteousness.

The heart demon, while continuing to knock me down, break me, and shatter me, looked down at me, sneered, urged me to give up, and was melting me like a candy, little by little.

While I was getting weaker and weaker, he was getting more and more energetic.

Everything I had built up while going crazy was flowing to him.

And so, after falling and getting up again hundreds, thousands of times.

Now, all I had left was a faint moonlight sword that was about to scatter at any moment, having lost everything.

The heart demon, who was sure of his victory, grinned from ear to ear and looked at me, who was walking out of the pit I had been thrown into.

Was this the end?

Still, I would not give up until the end.

I swung the moonlight.

Suddenly, I was lost in thought.

Even as I was swinging the sword like crazy, I was engulfed in a dazed feeling, as if I were dreaming.

What was this feeling?

It was the last battle.

It was a momentous battle where everything I had built up, everything that made me who I was, was collapsing.

No, was it because of that?

As I swung the sword, I felt as if I were swimming through a dream, through the past.

With one sword strike, memories were cut.

With one sword strike, the damn hatred.

With one sword strike, the gaze that looked down on me.

With one sword strike, the gaze that feared me.

With one ofe sword strike, the hands that were held.

With one sword strike, the pouring rain.

With one sword strike, the cold killing intent and the hot anger.

With one sword strike, the countless meaningless screams that faded away.

With one sword strike, the stench of the familiar back alley and the primitive violence.

With one sword strike, the bright red hatred and the anger that had lost its way.

With one sword strike, the line called a fleeting moment was cut.

With one sword strike, life and death, life and death, good and evil were divided.

With one sword strike, the sorrow that rose so clearly.

With one sword strike, the small tremor that was felt at the fingertips.

With one sword strike, the old promise that was cut.

With one sword strike, the reason that was cut, the memory of you that overflowed.

With one sword strike, the countless lives that faded away.

The blue flame and the white cold.

The black night sky and the sparkling starlight.

And the quiet moonlight.

My nightmare spoke to me.

—Do you have any regrets?

Why wouldn't I?

They are as countless as the stars in that sky.

—Do you have the right to judge anyone?

Right?

I never wanted it in the first place.

That kind of thing is just an illusion.

—Think of the countless lives that have faded at the tip of your sword. Do you really think you have that right?

I don't know.

I've never thought about it.

Now that I see it, I was dancing with a sword.

The steps I took, the sword I swung, the dodges, the stabs, all the movements felt like a part of a sword dance.

But the heart demon was as cunning as I was.

He watched me dance the sword dance for a moment, and then snatched me up at the speed of lightning.

And then he held me up in front of his eyes and squeezed his hand.

Crack!

The last remaining moonlight scattered in vain.

"Ah..."

A sigh escaped my lips.

I had finally lost everything I had built up.

What was left for me now?

The heart demon grinned from ear to ear.

[My victory, you coward.]

Crack...!

The giant's hands slowly began to crush me.

Darkness came.

A pitch-black darkness without a single point of light.

In that moment.

The darkness whispered to me.

—O Judge forged by trials. Do you finally break? Where is the vow you made to fight until the very end, until the end of death?

No. I just wanted to live.

I just didn't want to lose anymore.

—Do you not see the countless lives that have faded at your feet? Did you kill them so mercilessly just to become like this?

Ah, I'm sorry.

That sin is mine, it is the sin I must carry, so don't even think about taking that away from me.

—Since you killed to survive, you must survive with a value equal to that weight. That is your sin, so do not even think about turning away from it.

...

—The time has come. Break out of the egg and come into the world, O Judge.

But, I have nothing left.

That monster took it all.

—That is not so. Is not the most precious thing left?

The most precious thing...?

In the pitch-black darkness.

A small light was sparkling like a star somewhere.

It was so faint that it seemed it would disappear at any moment, but it was a clear light.

Something hard that was at the very core of all the life and memories I had built up.

A small piece that was hidden in the deepest place shone.

—Do you know why flowers are beautiful?

When I carefully touched the light,

Someone's voice brushed past my ear.

The small piece that was emitting a faint light.

The driving force that makes a person live, and a sharply cut piece of conscience.

The most basic guide to life that suggests a direction, and the minimum ego that distinguishes me from others.

The reason for life that is engraved in the deepest part of memory, and the crystallization of emotion.

The essence of life, and the last consciousness.

The purest form of the first snow, and the eternal snow that has piled up in the lowest place.

The first sense of sin, and the original sin.

And, what some call the soul.

—Life is worth living.

A brilliant jewel that was hidden at the very bottom.

A piece of the soul that I had cherished.

Even if everything was taken away, this alone could never be taken from me.

Hwaaaaaak!

Light drove out the darkness.

* * *

The Heavenly Demon, with his hands behind his back, looked at the fist that the red giant was clenching with all his might.

His pathetic disciple was in there.

[Does he finally break, or does he break the world?]

It is natural that he who has a stronger will will obtain a stronger power.

It is extremely natural.

Because he has overcome the trial.

[The more you strike it, the harder it becomes.]

Although his disciple was on the verge of death, the Heavenly Demon was just watching quietly.

Because this was also a trial.

His intervention was unnecessary.

[If you want to contain the sea, you must become a vessel that can contain the sea.]

The Heavenly Demon recited in a quiet tone.

[Break the vessel.]

Just then.

Light began to leak from between the tightly clenched fists.

Paaaaat!

With a dazzling light, the giant's hands that had been imprisoning him were shattered to pieces.

The Heavenly Demon, who had been watching, smiled with satisfaction.

[That's right.]

In the place where the light had disappeared, a man was standing on the hand of the tattered red giant.

In one hand, he was holding something he was holding very preciously to his chest, and in the other hand, he was holding a fiery red sword.

The man raised his head.

His eyes were burning with a blood-red light.

He swung his sword towards the sky.

The blood-red sword energy that stretched out from there hit the night sky and created a crack.

Crack!

Crack... crack, crack, crack...

The crack quickly spread across the entire night sky.

Clang!

Finally, the sky shattered, and its pieces fell like rain.

They poured down on the space inside the mind, and some of them fell into the lake.

Plop! Plop!

The lake began to swell at a terrifying speed.

Swoosh—

The water that overflowed from the lake soaked the Heavenly Demon's ankles.

[All that flows will reach the sea at its end.]

The Heavenly Demon, with his hands behind his back, muttered.

[All streams return to the source, and all rivers return to the sea.]

The egg is the world.

Finally, the man who had broken out of his own world raised the red-hot sword and pointed it at the heart demon.

"Bring it. That is mine."

In the shattered world.

A creepy red moon was rising behind him.

(End of Chapter)