CH 256

Qzatquizail’s tentacle started tearing the world apart.

The Crack grew wider and bigger, and there was an incessant tremor that seemed as if it would collapse the empire. It seemed impossible to survive the earthquake that Qzatquizail was causing by striking at the ground as if it were trying to level the entire northern mountain range.

“Gerard!” Juan was furious, and he approached Gerard. Gerard neither dodged nor attacked Juan. He only concentrated on tearing the world apart until Juan got even closer to him.

However, the tempestuous winds and the debris flying everywhere were dangerous enough to threaten Juan’s life. Juan’s flame seemed small as a candle flame amidst a great storm.

However, Juan gritted his teeth and stubbornly stepped into the air to walk toward Gerard. He finally pulled out Sutra. Sutra, which had turned into a dark gray color, started heating up as the flames in the middle of Juan’s forehead began to burn.

“If this world is meaningless in your eyes, then why are you trying to destroy it? First of all, this fight is between us!” Juan roared.

The crown’s flame grew bigger and brighter as Juan got even closer to Gerard. The flame turned from red to blue before eventually turning white.

Gerard also took out his crown. The flame from Gerard’s crown wasn’t only much bigger and brighter than Juan’s, but the light was so bright that it couldn’t even be seen anymore.

“The true owner of the crown is clear,” Gerard looked down at Juan and murmured, “Is your immortality because of the crown as well? Like the first time you were resurrected?”

“Yes. It’s an ability I could have never known if you hadn’t killed me. No, I can’t even call it an ability. A flame cannot be cut down by a sword, and will you call that an ability? Is the sun’s permanence considered its ability? No, it’s not. I was born this way,” Juan answered.

“Sure, but I can still remember how Elkiehl had no issues going right through you.”

Juan only smiled at Gerard’s provocation.

“I got too engrossed in my physical form. I died because I thought I would die. In the same sense, I was resurrected because many people believed that I was still alive—even if I thought I died, the others thought I was still alive.”

Juan spread his arms before continuing. “I was resurrected because of those who had doubted my death and had never believed—even for a second that I had died. They believed in my resurrection and return.”

Gerard tilted his head in wonder at Juan’s words. “If there were many people who believed in your resurrection, then why did it take you so long to be resurrected?”

“Those beliefs were for my deceased physical form,” Juan smiled, revealing his teeth before saying, “Someone also told me that she would give birth to me again even if I were to die; of course, you don’t have someone like that.”

Gerard fell into deep contemplation upon hearing Juan’s words.

He had the Order of Lindwurm beside him, who had served him since when he was the captain, and he also had the Thornbush Priest Organization, who came to find him after thousands of years of longing for Qzatquizail’s return.

There was also Aruntal, who had sacrificed everything for his resurrection.

However, their faith wasn’t as strong as the Northern Army’s faith in Juan.

Those people were only serving Gerard to fulfill their own goals, greed, and desires.

“You are my desire, and I am your guilt. We should have never existed in the first place,” Juan muttered as he urged Sutra’s flames to burn even harder.

Juan’s words bothered Gerard. Gerard finally realized that destroying the world like this was no different than venting his anger which would cause no harm to Juan. Gerard could simply leave after completing his synchronization with Qzatquizail, but he figured that he had to completely Juan down.

‘The more I erase everything I have in this world, the higher the synchronization will be.’

This was what Gerard thought of Qzatquizail. The idea of Juan being his father and the emperor had always been his biggest trauma, guilt, and the reason for his inferiority complex.

Therefore, Gerard wasn’t sure if he could even achieve complete ascension without erasing Juan’s existence inside of him.

“I will cut you down…” Gerard hesitated, but he soon pulled something out of his waist.

It was Elkiehl, a thornbush-like sword emitting black light.

“So I can finally become my own.” Gerard declared. He would no longer chase after Juan’s back but would start standing up for himself.

Juan smiled upon seeing Elkiehl.

“It’s nice to see you drawing Elkiehl from the front, not from behind my back.”

Gerard ignored Juan’s sarcasm and repositioned. His consciousness accelerated, and time itself seemed to have stretched out into infinity as he took a deep breath. Gerard turned into light itself within the frozen time.

Gerard pondered quietly, ‘What is the fastest way to cut him down? Baltic Sword? No…’

Baltic Sword was the swordsmanship that Juan had left behind. Gerard wanted to face Juan with his own techniques. Gerard had plenty of time. Even with his imperfect physical form, Juan managed to perform the miracle of controlling time and causality.

However, Gerard was much stronger than the Juan of the past. Hundreds of millions and trillions of possibilities of killing Juan in the fastest and the most powerful way unfolded in Gerard’s head.

‘In what way and trajectory should I swing my sword so that it is impossible for him to dodge?’

Gerard examined all the possibilities in a calm and meticulous manner in his accelerated consciousness. Gerard thought that nine hundred and ninety billion attacks out of a trillion would be successful with his abilities alone. However, Gerard couldn’t be satisfied with such a possibility.

Gerard wasn’t fully cognizant of Juan’s capabilities. Knowing Juan, he could have already mastered the eighth stage of the Baltic Sword—no, he could have gone past that into the double digits.

All of a sudden, Gerard recalled what Nienna had said to him—the emperor had to perfectly crush his opponent in an overwhelming manner.

‘I will cut him down with an attack that is closest to perfection so that it can neither be avoided nor countered.’

After reviewing all the possibilities, Gerard finally found the perfect attack to use against Juan. Gerard felt like his blindfolded eyes could finally see, and it was all thanks to a glimpse of multitudes of possibilities.

He could see the future. He could see himself cutting Juan down and pulling out the latter’s crown to absorb. He also saw himself fully synchronizing with Qzatquizail and taking control of it.

His clairvoyance had always been working, but this was the first time he had seen the future so vividly rather than fragmented blurry scenes. Therefore, Gerard became sure of it. He became sure that victory was awaiting him.

It didn’t matter how good Juan was at Baltic Sword; there was no way he could counterattack, not to mention dodge.

Gerard inhaled lightly and jumped toward Juan.

The word jump wasn’t enough to describe Gerard’s move.

Bang!

Elkiehl pierced Juan’s heart, and it all happened the moment Gerard decided to make a move. Juan seemed like he still had no idea that his heart was pierced, let alone dodging or counterattacking.

Gerard mercilessly dragged Elkiehl down, tearing Juan apart.

‘It worked…!’

The crown was detaching from Juan. Gerard thought that Elkiehl could be ineffective against Juan once again, but it finally worked. Now, he just had to absorb the power of the crown.

However, Juan suddenly grabbed Gerard’s hand.

Gerard flinched and looked up.

“You’re finally reaching out,” Juan said with a smile.

Gerard finally realized that Juan had no intention of dodging his attack from the beginning. Clairvoyance and the ability to simulate infinite possibilities were useless because Juan never had any intentions of dodging Elkhiel.

The flame of the crown burst from Juan. He looked like he had become fire itself as the flames around him surged everywhere. The seemingly unsteady flame started digging into Gerard’s skin as if it were spreading through a dry field.

“We are one in body and soul, so how about we start from the beginning?”

Juan’s flame didn’t just remain steadfast; it started absorbing the crown inside Gerard.

Gerard was dumbfounded. Juan had almost lost the power of the crown to Gerard once, and the only power that was left in him should have been barely enough to keep him alive. Furthermore, Gerard wasn’t only much more powerful than Juan, but his ratio of the crown was higher as well.

Juan’s actions were tantamount to pouring a bucket of poison into the boundless sea in an effort to harm it.

Unfortunately, Juan’s poison was extremely strong.

“Ah!”

Gerard could feel that Juan was absorbing a vast amount of the crown’s power in him.

He was stupefied. Gerard had become even stronger after assimilating Mananen McLeir’s heart and synchronizing with Qzatquizail, but Juan’s actions of moving a tremendous amount of power still managed to stupefy him.

Juan flickered like a flame after being stabbed. However, the flame quickly became a wildfire as he absorbed the power of the crown. The flame had grown so large that it seemed like it would fill half of the Crack.

The sight resembled a giant butterfly emerging out of its chrysalis.

“I apologize for the pathetic display in the West,” Juan whispered into Gerard’s ear, “But it is too insulting for you to think that what you had seen were my true self and my entire will.”

Juan was now controlling the crown. It looked as if a tiny creature was holding a mountain in its hand and was swinging it around.

Gerard wanted to refute.

‘Will? My will is weaker than his?’

Gerard refused to admit it. The relationships, feelings, and honor that he had abandoned—the pain, despair, and guilt that had always been hiding in the deepest recesses of his mind popped up.

It couldn’t be helped; it was difficult to abandon them thoroughly.

Despite the many hardships, Gerard managed to come this far because of his will—his will to become a better emperor than Juan.

“A-are you saying that my will is weaker than yours?” Gerard growled and glared at Juan.

All of a sudden, Juan felt that the one-sided tugging of the crown’s power had abruptly come to a halt, entering a tight stalemate. Juan felt perplexed for the first time. Gerard’s will, which had turned into an obsession beyond stubbornness, wasn’t light at all.

Gerard bit his lips until they bled and reached out with his left hand. He was about to gamble in a precarious situation where a moment of distraction was not allowed, but Gerard wanted to show his will to Juan.

“If death has made you stronger, then there’s no reason that I can’t do the same!”

Juan’s eyes widened.

Gerard wounded his left palm using Elkiehl. When the wound was made, flames immediately rose from the wound. The same was true of the wound on his left cheek, which was still bleeding.

Soon, Gerard’s physical form started crumbling to become a massive flame similar to Juan's flames. However, his flames weren’t the same color as Juan’s flames.

Gerard’s flames were purple and were giving off ominous energy.

“I am myself! I will never become one with you!” Gerard screamed as he started breaking down. “I am now beyond you!”

Gerard’s flames started flying toward the Crack. Juan realized that Gerard had separated the crown from himself before he could completely absorb it.

Qzatquizail started absorbing the crown.

Gerard’s gamble was to accelerate the process by sending out the power through Elkiehl.

Juan gnashed his teeth and grabbed Gerard by the collar.

Crash!

There was an odd sound as Gerard turned into ashes.

All that was left in Juan’s hand was a handful of ashes.

Juan looked down at the bottom of the Crack and saw the birth of destruction after the world’s division.

***

Black Aldebaran looked around.

Most of the thornbush priests and the monsters had already been annihilated helplessly by Qzatquizail, but she managed to survive. To be exact, she knew how to survive because she already knew Qzatquizail’s movement patterns.

“It’s ridiculous that we’re going through this. If only we managed to buy time—”

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Black Aldebaran suddenly turned her head at the unfamiliar wind blowing toward her.

The wind was a tremendous flow of power, and it was her first time encountering such a vast amount of power. It was then that she realized that the moment her master and deacons had been talking about was finally about to arrive.

“He’s coming…!”

Black Aldebaran trembled with joy.

“The being who will usher in a new era…!”

Something caught her eyes—it was the Dragon Citadel crashing to the ground.

***

The warriors screamed as the Dragon Citadel sharply dropped in altitude. The warriors of the North were brave, but it would be their first time falling from such a great height.

Furthermore, there were tentacles the size of a mountain range on a rampage right next to them. They were courageous, but they couldn’t help but break out into a cold sweat at their current predicament.

“We’re falling!”

Someone’s loud scream burst out as the Dragon Citadel quickly approached the ground. The warriors could already see their deaths when they saw the ground getting closer and closer to them.

Everyone closed their eyes.

Opert produced a strange note using the horn, and the Dragon Citadel finally crashed.

Upon impact, everyone felt a sense of weightlessness as they were thrown into the air.

They crashed back down and started rolling amidst the screams and chaos.

However, the scene of destruction befitting a crash landing couldn’t be seen.

There were no torn corpses and broken walls.

It turned out that the Dragon Citadel quickly leaned to one side before it crashed, burying a corner of it into the ground, which managed to arrest most of its momentum without completely destroying the entire thing.

The soldiers started groaning in pain; they couldn’t move even an inch.

Opert was also lying on the ground with the soldiers. Opert got so nervous that he accidentally bit the horn too hard, breaking it. There seemed to be broken pieces of the whistle stuck here and there in his mouth.

‘It’s a good thing I paid attention to the notes that the Order of the Lindwurm had produced…’

Opert’s attentiveness saved everyone.

“Is everyone alive!?” Nienna’s roar suddenly echoed throughout the entire Dragon Citadel. ”The dead should lie down and rest, but the living should get up!”