Chapter 226: The Divine Maiden
The apostle was a disaster.
To summon it, an altar must be built with millions of lives, and a transcendent being must offer their body and soul.
That’s why the probability of an apostle descending was exceedingly low, but once it was summoned, it brought unprecedented calamity.
With its infinite regenerative power, unless specific magic was involved, it could regenerate endlessly, crush things with the overwhelming density of its demonic energy, and use a part of an incomprehensible power from a god of another realm. However, the most dangerous aspect of the apostle was one thing:
Domain.
It established its own domain.
That place became a hell.
The Nazi Empire was called the hell of this world.
The moment one stepped on Nazi soil, unless they possessed powers like starlight magic or the energy of defying heaven, most people would face agony as soon as they set foot on it.
However, even the Nazi Empire’s land was like the difference between heaven and a garden compared to the apostle’s domain.It was not as vast a difference as heaven and earth, but the gap was still enormous.
That’s why facing the apostle with a strategy of overwhelming numbers was no different from foolishness.
The more humans it killed, the stronger it became. A fully descended apostle was something even dragons struggle to handle.
‘That’s why we must gather at least the highest-level forces.’
But in this martial world, there were extremely few top-level forces.
The four divine beasts that assisted the Heavenly Demon, the Three Honored Masters of the orthodox sects, the Two Lords of the unorthodox sects, and the Three Emperors of the Demonic Sect were the end.
‘Even adding me, Kim Seo-hyun, and the Thousand Sorcerer to that…’
The numbers were too few.
Even if we included me, the Heavenly Demon, and the Thousand Sorcerer, the transcendent forces amounted to only three.
Kim Seo-hyun, who just reached the highest rank, shouldn’t be included by the usual standards, but she was the protagonist of this world.
She possessed power that surpassed her rank, and much of her power was fatal to demons.
And the Divine Maiden.
I haven’t had much time to observe her because of the Heavenly Demon, but she’s monstrously strong.
If she continued to grow for another 10 years, she would surpass the Heavenly Demon.
‘The problem is that the Heavenly Demon won’t just sit around for 10 years either.’
That’s why she’d likely die at the hands of the Heavenly Demon.
I looked at the Divine Maiden.
Golden eyes stared back at me.
‘She’s somewhat similar.’
I looked at the Divine Maiden with my seven-colored eyes.
She was similar to Kim Seo-hyun. If you removed some of the functions and abilities related to martial arts, wouldn’t she be reborn as the Divine Maiden? – That’s how I felt.
That’s why the background that created her was disgusting.
Kim Seo-hyun looked at the Divine Maiden.
“What should we do?”
“……What should we do?”
Kim Seo-hyun was contemplating.
Honestly speaking, the best option in this situation was to run.
This world was, in the end, a remnant of the past.
Even though the forces of evil caused chaos, everything that happened here would eventually be forgotten.
‘It’s impossible to change the past.’
There’s an episode in Epic World where you went to the past.
It was the time just before all dimensions were unified. In that situation, Kim Seo-hyun performed magnificently.
However, the moment she returned to her original timeline, everything that had changed went back to the way it was.
To put it simply, what has happened has already happened.
It cannot be changed. It’s a law created by the highest being.
To make even the slightest change, a transcendent must use all their power.
“……I will.”
Kim Seo-hyun opened her mouth.
However, Black Heaven remained silent.
I even called for Eternal Heaven, but it too remained silent.
‘……What is this?’
Eternal Heaven was a fox spirit with a soul.
Since it originally had nothing but a soul, I fed it the energy of defying heaven, and it transformed into a fox, eventually evolving into a seven-tailed fox, a Chilmiho.
That’s why Eternal Heaven not responding to my question didn’t make sense. The same went for Black Heaven.
‘……Could it be?’
I looked at the Heavenly Demon.
No way, could it?
“Did you find out?”
“Yeah. I looked into it, and there’s been a large-scale massacre in Sichuan. It seems that the apostle or whatever is going to descend there. We still have some time before that happens, but……”
The Heavenly Demon trailed off.
I silently nodded, deep in thought.
In the remaining time, I should focus on honing my external techniques.
When I conveyed this, the Heavenly Demon’s expression became strange.
I looked into the Heavenly Demon’s eyes.
They were filled with silent resentment, something she couldn’t quite voice out loud.
……That felt rather unpleasant.
“Do you perhaps have a problem with your physical functions? No, that doesn’t seem right either.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Believe it or not, I am the most beautiful woman in the world. And I’m still young too.”
“How old are you?”
“I’m 25 now……”
“I’m only 20……”
“……I know.”
The Heavenly Demon pouted.
How did she even know that?
“Anyway, when are you planning to start training?”
“Ah, before training, there’s something I need to take care of first.”
“Something to take care of?”
“Yeah.”
I recalled Kim Seo-hyun’s last words.
-It might just be venting. But I can’t forgive them.
I remembered Kim Seo-hyun gritting her teeth in anger.
That expression was rare.
In fact, this wasn’t the best approach.
I should’ve coaxed them into joining the apostle extermination battle.
‘The ones who created the Divine Maiden are surely connected to powerful individuals.’
I pondered for a moment, but in any case, I didn’t like those people either.
‘Might as well deal with them along the way.’
The problem was the apostle extermination…
‘I wonder what kind of being it is.’
My head was swirling with thoughts.
In times like this, it was best to move the body and keep things simple.
“So, is that girl coming along too? The one who looks just like the Divine Maiden… or in this case…”
“Yeah, Seo-hyun is coming too. But there’s something we need to do first.”
“Something to do?”
The Heavenly Demon tilted her head and asked.
Yes, there was something to do.
I had to meet the Divine Maiden.
The Divine Maiden was a created being.
Long ago, there was a sacred dragon that protected this place.
The dragon became friends with humans.
Just before the dragon died, it passed its power to its friend.
That power eventually ended up in the hands of a certain eccentric.
With it, the eccentric created the Divine Maiden.
The Divine Maiden is an artificially created human, born in the martial world. She was the sharpest sword forged to kill the Heavenly Demon.
A dragon’s heart resides in her chest. Her mind is engraved with all sorts of knowledge.
The heads of the orthodox sects and the unorthodox sects imprinted their martial knowledge into her. Even the imperial family joined in. They couldn’t forget the humiliation they suffered at the hands of the Heavenly Demon.
Even the martial arts of the Demonic Sect were present.
There was a portion of the knowledge used by the Heavenly Demon, called Black God Martial Arts. They had one goal: to inflict a mortal wound on the Heavenly Demon.
‘It was all a scheme.’
It was a scheme by the Heavenly Demon.
When she heard about the creation of the Divine Maiden, she showed interest and inscribed part of her own martial knowledge onto her.
However, most martial arts weren’t suited for the Divine Maiden.
This was because the Divine Maiden’s blood was that of a dragon, and her bones were made from a dragon’s bones. Martial arts meant for humans didn’t suit her body.
Thus, the Divine Maiden refined her martial skills using the knowledge engraved into her.
As she grew stronger, a curiosity arose.
Why was she working so hard? She wanted to live freely like others.
But she was bound.
The ghosts of the martial world had engraved everything onto her.
There were also measures taken.
Loneliness.
They placed something called Yin-Yang Loneliness into her body. The Divine Maiden gained consciousness but was bound, unable to do anything.
Like a doll.
Like the women who had been near the Heavenly Demon.
The Divine Maiden reached out her hand.
The air rippled like waves. Then, a being appeared in her mind.
A being that looked just like her.
Light blue hair and light blue eyes.
She knew the moment she saw it. She instinctively realized it.
That it was a being just like her. But one that had eliminated more weaknesses, and had only strengths, with something residing within.
The moment she saw it, a thought flashed in her mind.
And that thought was something her creators would hate the most.
“I look forward to meeting her soon.”
The Divine Maiden smiled quietly.