The scenery around them began to lose its light.
When the moon completely covered the sun, a thin ring shone for a moment, then even that vanished.
And so the world was plunged into utter darkness.
Snap!
Geom Mugeuk flicked his finger again.
The space they occupied changed into another place.
Whooooosh.
A sandstorm blew across it—a desert beyond the frontier, with not a single place for a shadow to fall. The sun should have been illuminating the world more fiercely than anywhere else.
And yet it was still dark. Even in this space, the eclipse continued.
“It’s no use, Young Cult Leader. Once the eclipse has begun, you cannot dispel my darkness.”
No matter how much time passed, the eclipse would not end. Not unless that Dark King ended it.
Geom Mugeuk silently looked up at the sun, now completely obscured. It was as though the moon had been embedded in it. As expected, the Dark King’s dark sorcery was astonishingly formidable.
“Since you invited me here, you should have been prepared for at least this much.”
As darkness descended, the white rims around the Fighting King’s pupils had thickened once more. The Dark Heaven Night Divine Art had begun to manifest again. Once again, the initiative had passed to the Fighting King and the Dark King.
It was then that Geugak Soma opened his mouth for the first time.
“You’re the ones who should have been prepared.”
He meant: had they truly been prepared when they chose to lay hands on the Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult?
The gazes of the Fighting King and the Dark King turned toward Geugak Soma. The Dark King’s mysterious voice rang out through the darkness.
“You certainly have the right to say such a thing.”
After all, she had not expected him to dispose of the dog butcher so quickly.
That was why the Dark King needed to break Geugak Soma’s momentum.
“You will become the first Demon Venerable to die because of the Young Cult Leader.”
Geugak Soma’s eyes smiled. Die for the Young Cult Leader?
“As reasons for my death go, that would be the best.”
At Geugak Soma’s words, a smile formed at the corner of Geom Mugeuk’s lips.
‘You already died once because of me. I won’t let you die again.’
And at that moment, Geom Mugeuk grasped one fact.
“It seems you cannot escape this place with that Dark Road Return Art of yours. If you could, you would have left this place instead of needing to cover the sun.”
The Dark King said nothing. It was a silence of affirmation. Though she could create darkness here, anything beyond that was impossible. The Space-Time Transposition Art allowed no one to enter or leave without permission.
Thoom! Thud!
Just then, the Fighting King slammed his fists together, producing a metallic sound. His eyes brimmed with killing intent.
“Even if I could leave, I have no intention of doing so.”
His gaze said that he would see this through to the end here.
Geom Mugeuk instantly broke that momentum.
“Is that your will? Or the will of the woman controlling you?”
The Fighting King’s face twitched.
“Of course it is my will!”
The Fighting King surged forward, throwing a punch. In a flashing instant, he was already right before Geom Mugeuk’s nose, his fist flying.
Whoooom!
The fist aimed at Geom Mugeuk’s face grazed past it by a hair’s breadth.
The sword he had swung in counterattack while evading changed direction.
Clang!
The Fighting King’s second fist was so fast that Geom Mugeuk abandoned his attack and struck it aside with his sword.
The Fighting King’s consecutive attacks sliced through empty air.
When he stamped down and unleashed a powerful punch, the surrounding sand erupted upward.
And in the very instant everyone’s vision was obscured—
Shwoook!
Geugak Soma’s first Blood Calamity Finger shot forth.
Thud!
When the dust settled, the Fighting King’s expression was twisted.
Drip.
Blood was flowing down from his shoulder.
Just now, the Blood Calamity Finger had brushed past Geom Mugeuk’s shoulder and struck his own.
It had been an attack that flew in at an utterly unexpected moment, from an utterly unexpected direction.
Geugak Soma was supposed to be protecting the Young Cult Leader, and yet in a situation with no visibility, he had launched such a dangerous attack? It was truly an attack that caught them off guard.
Then black smoke gathered over the wound on his shoulder. The flowing blood stopped.
The Dark King’s voice came.
“It seems our Demon Venerable is not worried about the Young Cult Leader’s safety.”
Her words were meant to restrain Geugak Soma’s audacious attacks, but Geom Mugeuk instead used them against her.
“You seem rather unconcerned about the safety of the one accompanying you.”
“What do you mean?”
“Merely descending into someone’s body must have a severe ill effect on that person. And now you’re even treating him with the energy of darkness? Are you not simply treating him as a tool to use and discard?”
In truth, he did not know the exact details—what sort of ill effects the Dark King’s descent had on the host, or what consequences that sort of treatment would bring.
But he had this thought: how could such an abnormal state possibly be good for a person? And so he spoke from conjecture.
Darkness had fallen, and the initiative in the fight had passed to them. He had to shake them somehow.
“He was revived at far too great a price to be used as a mere tool.”
The Dark King responded calmly, but her opponent was Geom Mugeuk.
“If you win this costly fight, then he’ll have paid his worth. Killing me, the one who has interfered with you until now, seems like more than enough of a role.”
After a brief pause, the Dark King said,
“As expected. There is no matching the Young Cult Leader in words.”
“That is true. But at least in this situation, did you not lose not a battle of words, but a battle of truth?”
Geom Mugeuk shifted his gaze from the Dark King beyond the shadows to the Fighting King’s eyes.
“Of course, you do not seem to care much.”
The Fighting King was staring at Geom Mugeuk with a terrifying gaze. How could he not know this was an attempt to sow discord and shake him?
Discord was something one suffered even while knowing it for what it was. Once heard, it began as an unpleasant feeling in a corner of the heart.
“So long as I can kill you, I don’t care!”
The Fighting King launched himself forward again. His punch, now laden with his fury, came in even stronger than before.
Clangclangclangclangclang!
Sword and chains collided, sending sparks flying. In the darkness, those sparks were a beautiful spectacle.
But Geom Mugeuk’s expression was hard. The Fighting King with the Dark King descended into him was truly strong. Every time he clashed with the Fighting King’s fists, he genuinely worried that the Black Demon Sword might break.
Unable to endure any longer, Geom Mugeuk escaped the attack with the Dark Shadow Step.
The Fighting King stuck to him like a shadow.
Shuk! Shuk! Shuk!
Blood Calamity Fingers flew in at just the right moment, striking the Fighting King’s shoulder.
With a thud, the shaken Fighting King kicked off the sand and flew toward Geugak Soma.
“I’ll kill you first!”
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Blood Calamity Fingers cut through the air.
The Fighting King twisted his body to avoid them. One of the three Blood Calamity Fingers struck him, but it did not pierce a hole through his body. The Dark King’s dark energy had become protective astral qi and shielded him.
Just as the Fighting King’s fist was about to strike Geugak Soma’s chest—
Kaaang!
Sparks burst before Geugak Soma.
Geom Mugeuk had cleaved through the air with Flicker Step and struck down to cut off the Fighting King’s arm.
It was fortunate that he stopped his attack and let the sword strike down onto his fist; had he continued attacking Geugak Soma, his arm would have been severed.
Shiiik!
Geom Mugeuk’s sword struck repeatedly at his arm.
Clang! Claang! Clang!
The Fighting King pulled back his arm and blocked the attacks with his fists.
He had expected the final move to aim for his shoulder or neck.
Slice! Spurt!
Geom Mugeuk’s sword flew in along an unexpected trajectory and cut the Fighting King’s waist.
Spurt!
Blood sprayed from the Fighting King’s waist. It had clearly struck true.
Yet the Fighting King counterattacked immediately, throwing a fist.
Whooooong!
Geom Mugeuk avoided the first punch.
The second punch flew in, but this time, a succession of Blood Calamity Fingers blocked it.
The Fighting King retreated and cursed Geugak Soma.
“You cowardly bastard!”
There was no way Geom Mugeuk would let an insult against Geugak Soma pass.
“Say that to your waist. You cowardly bastard of a waist!”
Black energy was billowing from the wound on his waist. Once again, the dark energy had sealed his injury.
“You’re going to be in serious trouble at this rate. Even if you win this fight, what will you do about the side effects? Are you planning to leave, ‘I killed the Young Cult Leader and Geugak Soma,’ as your last words?”
The Fighting King did not care at all about Geom Mugeuk’s words.
“I do not fear death.”
“I know. I know that is the kind of person you are. But that and dying as a fool are different matters. Why is it only your life? If that woman is clinging to your body, she should fairly put her own life on the line too. Why are you the only one shortening your lifespan as you fight?”
Then the Dark King’s calm voice flowed out.
“Do not fall for his discord.”
Geom Mugeuk spoke again.
“You’re fighting while panting for breath and nearly losing an arm, yet that calm voice sounds a little too selfish, does it not?”
In the end, the Fighting King could not endure it and raised his voice.
“Shut up!”
Though Geom Mugeuk had spoken as if he cared for him, in the end, it was mockery: You are being used right now. Originally, he had hoped the Dark King would reveal emotion, but this time too, the Fighting King was quicker.
The very moment he grew enraged—
Geom Mugeuk’s sword cleaved through the air like lightning. He had provoked them precisely to use this one move.
Whoosh.
Darkness descended upon darkness.
A single pure-white sword line cut through that darkness.
Ninefold Demonic Art, Fourth Form: Dark Flash.
Kaaang!
With a metallic sound that seemed to tear the ears, the Fighting King’s figure appeared.
The Fighting King’s hand, thrust out before his neck, was trembling.
Crack.
A fissure appeared in the chain wrapped around his fist. But it did not shatter. Black energy rose from between the cracks.
Astonishingly, he had blocked Dark Flash. At the seventh-star level, Geom Mugeuk still could not cut down one who bore the combined strength of the Fighting King and the Dark King.
“To use a technique that draws on darkness against me?”
Because the moment Dark Flash was unleashed, the surroundings had turned pitch-black.
“Who knows? If you let your guard down, perhaps your neck might be sliced clean off.”
He had needed to try it once to confirm. And the result confirmed, as expected, that darkness was on their side.
Compared to the composed Dark King, the Fighting King’s killing intent grew even more intense. He had blocked it, but the thought had occurred to him: if the Dark King had not descended into him, that single move might have severed his neck.
“You will have no more chances to use the Ninefold Demonic Art!”
The Fighting King fiercely pressed Geom Mugeuk.
A fist wind raged from his fists. Sand whirled around them in a vortex.
The Fighting King attacked Geom Mugeuk without pause. He did not spare his internal energy. As attacks laden with extreme internal energy continued, Geom Mugeuk could not meet them head-on and could only dodge frantically.
In this fight, Geom Mugeuk was experiencing his limits. These were not merely attacks being poured out at random. They were the attacks of the Fighting King with the Dark King descended into him. And with what seemed like nearly limitless internal energy.
It felt as though he were fighting beneath the surface of a lake frozen solid with thick ice. Each time he felt he might suffocate and die, a breathing hole opened in the ice.
Shuk!
The instant the Fighting King flinched from a Blood Calamity Finger was the instant Geom Mugeuk escaped crisis.
The Fighting King twisted his body to avoid the Blood Calamity Finger that flew past Geom Mugeuk. This time, he had no choice but to dodge. The Blood Calamity Finger had flown straight for his eye. If Geom Mugeuk had turned his head even slightly to the side, the back of his skull would have been pierced.
The Fighting King cursed him as a madman, but that attack had been born solely from trust.
Geugak Soma trusted his own skill, and he trusted Geom Mugeuk. Without that trust, sending Blood Calamity Fingers so narrowly as he had just done would have been madness.
There was no choice. Unless he attacked this boldly, they could not face the Fighting King and the Dark King.
That was why Geugak Soma did not waste his attacks. He conserved his internal energy and attacked only at precisely the necessary moments.
Had it been before his skills had improved, he would actually have attacked even more than now. Back then, he would not have been able to unleash Blood Calamity Fingers with such precision.
Each time, the Fighting King aimed for Geugak Soma, but Geom Mugeuk did not allow it.
As they charged together and Geom Mugeuk thrust his sword—
Puk!
The Black Demon Sword sank into the Fighting King’s body. Judging by the skill he had shown until now, the Fighting King should not have been pierced by such an attack.
Whoooosh!
The instant Geom Mugeuk pulled out his sword, something pitch-black followed it out from the Fighting King’s abdomen and spread over him like a wrapping cloth.
In that moment, Geom Mugeuk found himself standing in pitch-black darkness where nothing could be seen. It was as though he had been trapped inside the belly of a whale.
Then the Dark King’s voice came.
“It is the Dark Curtain.”
The Dark King, who had been waiting for her chance all this time, had finally unleashed her hidden trump card.
“Until I release you, you can never escape. When you emerge from this place, you will see Geugak Soma’s corpse.”
Her voice vanished into the darkness.
Geugak Soma was struggling to tear through the curtain of darkness.
The black curtain, blooming like a flower bud, would not tear—not under the Blood Calamity Finger, nor under the Demonic Extreme Berserk Palm.
The Battle King watched the sight at his leisure. By now, his expression said that victory was completely in his grasp.
“You will never be able to tear it unless I release it.”
There was ease in the Dark King’s voice. If they killed Geugak Soma, they would naturally be able to kill Geom Mugeuk as well.
“You use the word never far too lightly when it concerns the Young Cult Master.”
The Battle King thrust his fist toward Geugak Soma. The powerful energy carried in that fist sent Geugak Soma sliding backward. He stopped only when his back struck the curtain of darkness behind him.
Geugak Soma sensed that he could no longer hold out. The internal energy he had continued to expend while dealing with the dog butcher was nearly exhausted.
“That internal energy of yours—where in the world was it passed down from?”
At Geugak Soma’s question, the Dark King answered meaningfully.
“You can learn that secret only by dying.”
As he strode forward, the Battle King spoke this time.
“I’ll tell you the secret!”
Leaning against the dark curtain, Geugak Soma said,
“Please come out quickly, Young Cult Master!”
The Dark King laughed sweetly.
“Our Demon Venerable has a more sentimental side than he appears to.”
The Battle King thrust out his fist to deliver the final blow.
Shiiiiing!
It was at that very moment.
Puk!
The Black Demon Sword pierced through the curtain of darkness behind him and, before the fist could reach Geugak Soma, stabbed through the Battle King’s shoulder first.
Slice!
It was such an utterly unexpected strike that he had no way to defend against it.
In that instant, the Dark King and the Battle King screamed at the same time and retreated. The Battle King’s shoulder had been properly pierced, and the Dark King had suffered internal injuries as the dark sorcery she had cast was broken.
Riiiiip.
The curtain of darkness began to tear in a long line.
A flash of shock crossed the Dark King’s eyes.
“How did you break the Curtain of Darkness!”
For the first time, the voice that had always remained calm trembled.
She did not know that, in Geom Mugeuk’s eyes, a bluish method for breaking it had been visible. It was the effect of the Blood-Eye Essence and the Divine Eye Art combining.
Originally, the Blood-Eye Essence could see through the methods to break the Blood Cult’s sorcery, and her dark sorcery, too, was deeply connected to the Blood Cult’s martial arts if one traced it back to its source. That was why she had been able to cause an eclipse here.
“I happen to hate feeling stifled.”
Geom Mugeuk’s gaze turned toward Geugak Soma. The two looked at each other and smiled. Geugak Soma had truly believed that Geom Mugeuk would come out. It was because of that belief that he had taken the Battle King’s attack with his back turned.
‘I should be of greater strength to you.’
How could Geom Mugeuk fail to read his heart?
“Do you know this? I like you all the more, Lord Soma, because you have that sentimental side.”
At those words, Soma’s eyes behind the mask smiled.
On the other hand, irritation surged all the way to the top of the Battle King’s head.
“You damned tenacious bastards! Even so, nothing changes!”
He was still full of vigor. Though the Dark King had suffered internal injuries, it was clear that her internal energy was still supporting him. However, perhaps because of those internal injuries, the black energy was unable to fully heal the wound on his shoulder.
“Let’s go.”
Geugak Soma turned toward the Battle King first. Even with his internal energy at rock bottom, Geugak Soma showed no fear at all. Rather, his eyes shone even clearer and more intensely.
Walking side by side with Geugak Soma toward the Battle King, Geom Mugeuk said,
“That’s right. Since when did we ever fight because we had an abundance of internal energy?”