Chapter 436
Fwoosh!
The Sacred Flame roared furiously, consuming Caden’s head.
Sensing the changes within him, Se-Hoon instinctively stretched out his hand and used the power of Boundaries.
Swish-!
In an instant, Caden’s body became encased in a boundary. As death claimed his flesh, the darkness of the Netherworld seeped in to drag him toward oblivion. However, just as his entire body was about to be consumed and pulled beyond the boundary...
BOOM!!
Sacred Flames erupted from deep inside his body once more, incinerating everything.
Tsk, was I too late...?!
Seeing the transparent flames flaring outward, Se-Hoon quickly retreated and watched as something crimson broke out from the flames.
Thump-
A heartbeat. Although his entire body was ablaze, it seemed Caden’s heart remained. There was definitely no more blood left to circulate, yet it still kept beating.
Blaze!
The Sacred Flames surrounding him raged wildly, slowly forming a shape—a humanoid. Seeing it, Se-Hoon instantly realized what Caden had done.
He shattered his own synesthetic mindscape to draw out more Sacred Flames forcibly... and is controlling it with Defiant Ember?
The “blessing” that purified the body and mind by burning the flesh to break free of all shackles was now being refined into a “curse” that suspended death within the infinitely burning flames.
“So this is what Sacred Flames are...”
Caden looked down at his body, completely transformed into Sacred Flames, which had been unshackled by the power he attained by discarding everything.
Primordial flames that burned all of creation, a form of the law forged by the unparalleled genius, Li Kenxie, who sacrificed everything to create it.
Feeling the result of Li Kenxie’s efforts, Caden clenched his flame-forged fist, overwhelmed by a sense of fulfillment he had never experienced in his living days.
“I have less time than I expected...”
Although he had only just ignited, the urge to throw away everything surged within him. Caden steadied his crumbling synesthetic mindscape, caught between the bliss and the terror from his own erasure, then looked at Se-Hoon.
“Looks like things are finally getting interesting, don’t you think?”
“...”
To surpass Se-Hoon, Caden had thrown his body into a realm more horrifying than death.
Se-Hoon met his gaze, full of resolve, then let out a deep sigh.
“How cocky of you.”
His fist closed the distance in a flash, slamming into Caden’s heart.
BOOM!
The strike obliterated Caden’s heart and shattered the form made by the flames, scattering them in all directions. Space itself had been distorted by the sheer force, and yet the scattered fragments of Sacred Fire weren’t extinguished; they had latched onto nearby “fuel.”
Fwoosh!
The ruins near the power plant went up in flames. And from within the inferno, a heartbeat echoed once again.
Thump-!
The human form of Caden had died the moment the Sacred Flame first ignited. Both his beating heart and flame-forged body were nothing more than remnants created from his synesthetic mindscape.
Right now, Caden was being supported solely by the Sacred Flames—making him essentially invincible until they burned out.
Staring at Se-Hoon, Caden’s flame-forged eyes gleamed as he drew out the power of the Sacred Flames.
“Equilibrium Flame!”
CRACK!
Flames burst from the ruins and formed a massive wall around the power plant. Blades of fire pierced through the cement from beneath the ground, shooting into the sky.
Like trees in a forest, the swords of flame were densely packed. They were surrounded, and just a graze from any one of the blades would turn one into a burst of Sacred Flames.
Then, from the midst of that hellscape, the summoner’s voice rang out once more.
“Black Chain.”
Clatter-
Chains of fire closed off the only escape path—the sky—completely sealing the area. With control of the area now in his hands, Caden brought his flaming hands together.
“Convergence.”
With overwhelming pressure, the flames began condensing. The blazing walls moved inward, and the flame blades rising from the ground packed in even tighter. The heat intensified, melting the outer walls of the power plant and burning everything inside.
It’s working...!
Caden marveled at his power. Seeing it, he truly believed he could face off not just against Se-Hoon, but even the Perfect Ones themselves.
Just then, Caden’s body flared violently, and something began leaving him.
“Mom... Dad...!”
Ruins of destroyed buildings; blood oozing out of dead bodies; his limp hands—the nightmare from his childhood that had crushed him with despair and forced him to rise again burned in the Sacred Flames.
“...”
The memories were still there, ever-present. Yet, Caden no longer felt a reason to dwell on them. Liberated, Caden stood absentmindedly—until a chilling voice echoed from within the condensing hell.
“Boundary Inversion.”
The flames halted. Then, from between the cracks, the cold darkness of the underworld oozed out.
“What...!”
The darkness surged in greater quantities than what the flames could consume, pushing back the hell he had created.
Seeing Se-Hoon challenging him with the power of Boundary—and slowly overpowering him—Caden was stunned. Not only was Se-Hoon wielding the power of Boundary so masterfully, he was outputting more power than Caden in his fully unified form.
“I’m... I’m not done yet...!”
He still had much to draw out. Fueling the Sacred Flames with his disintegrating synesthetic mindscape, Caden poured out even more flames.
“Wail of Flame!”
The roaring flames screamed like wails of agony, and the curse of combustion embedded within pierced through surrounding objects and ignited them with Sacred Flames.
FWOOSH!
Everything within a kilometer radius of the power plant was engulfed in flames. It formed a massive blazing tide that surged inward, maximizing Caden’s power.
But that, too, still wasn’t enough. Desperate, Caden sacrificed a fragment of himself to the flames once again.
“I will survive...!”
A battlefield soaked in death; new bonds formed; departed comrades—the will to fight, forged during his years as a conscripted child soldier, left him and went into the transparent flames, burned away into the world beyond.
“...”
What was it that kept driving him to fight? The emotions he’d felt from the countless deaths in his memories faded, leaving only a shell behind.
Without drive, Caden mechanically fused the flames that had been pushed to their peak.
“Great Wail of Flame.”
RUMBLE-!
The once-separate techniques merged seamlessly, as if they had always been one. Gone were the cracks where the Netherworld’s darkness had seeped out, completely sealed.
Caden’s output had surpassed Se-Hoon’s and now truly threatened to burn through even the boundary connected to the Netherworld—
Necromancy: Reaper’s Gate
Clang!
A chilling metallic sound pierced through the air. Then, before Caden’s eyes, the world was cleaved in two by a single black line from top to bottom. He watched as the line then opened into a massive eye that gazed down at the flame Caden had created.
Swoosh-
It slowly shut, then everything disappeared. The surrounding flames, the inferno that engulfed Se-Hoon and the power plant—all were dragged into the Netherworld and devoured by darkness.
Flabbergasted, Caden stared blankly at the vanished flames, unable to even react.
Bubble, bubble-
The power plant was simply gone, leaving not even a rock left behind. They were now on empty land, with only an entrance leading underground remaining.
And in front of that entrance, Se-Hoon stood tall, completely unscathed, gripping a massive scythe.
“Is that it?”
Meeting the gaze filled with disappointment, Caden clenched his fists.
While his past’s will to fight had vanished, his current resolve remained unbroken.
“Not so fast...!”
However, just as he tried to summon more Sacred Flames, Se-Hoon’s scythe swung toward him.
Slash!
Wreathed in the Netherworld’s darkness, Grim Reaper tore through Caden’s entire body. And as it continued along its arc, its darkness wrapped around the scattered sparks.
If someone could resist the power of Boundaries, then Se-Hoon would simply just keep cutting them apart until they couldn’t be anymore.
CRACK!
Hundreds—no, thousands—of slashes tore through the air. Over and over, Caden’s entire body was shredded and bound.
Each time Caden tried to summon more Sacred Flames, parts of his body were ripped away. Soon, his mind began to blur from the pain and disorientation.
There must be something...
If he didn’t have more fuel—if he couldn’t re-ignite the Sacred Flame—then everything would end. Driven by that single thought, Caden, just as before, threw away another unnecessary fragment of himself into the Sacred Flames without hesitation.
“Thank you, Master!”
The red martial robes; his master’s outstretched hand; the benefactor who showed him the way—the grace that had lifted him back up and taught him to move forward again faded away like a shimmering mirage.
Was he truly doing the right thing? Even though he threw the question to himself, no answer came. The moment he discarded his way forward, such a question had already lost its value.
“Scorching Flames.”
BOOM-!
The boundary binding the sparks was instantly incinerated. Caden’s white-hot, compressed fist then slammed straight into Se-Hoon’s chest.
Sizz!
“Ghh...!”
Had it struck anyone else, their entire body would’ve flared up on impact and been burned away without a trace. But Se-Hoon, who could wield the Sacred Flames as well, resisted the heat. His heart had been pierced and his body was burnt, but that was all.
Due to that, Se-Hoon didn’t even blink at the blow that would have been fatal to anyone else. Instead, he took the chance and gripped Caden’s arm tightly.
“Abgrund!”
Shunk!
A jet-black sword shot out from beyond the boundary and into Caden’s solar plexus. Abaddon then triggered, forming a black void.
Crack!
The stored compressed mana of the Netherworld erupted from Abgrund and unleashed a monstrous gravitational pull that started swallowing Caden’s white-hot body.
Before, Caden likely would have tried to respond or counter somehow, even if belatedly. As intoxicated by the overwhelming sensation of Sacred Flames as he was now, however, his focus slipped.
With no time or focus, Caden chose the simplest—yet most dangerous—option.
“Mass Incineration.”
Woong-
Before the black hole could pull him in, Caden’s body compressed into a single point and exploded outward in every direction, completely uninhibited.
Light, sound, and space itself were engulfed, all fueling the flames.
Blaze!
For a long time, the Sacred Flames roared and roared until finally, they began to flicker and die.
Everything within a three-kilometer radius from the center had been reduced to nothing—not even ashes remained.
On that scorched earth, only one thing stood.
Clack, clack-
A slow, rusty loom creaked forward. The last of the flames sputtered toward the lone Earth Weaving Loom, and from them, Caden reappeared—barely holding his form.
“I still...”
He still had something left to do. Fueled by that thought alone, Caden moved his crumbling body toward the loom—
Shunk!
Stellar Radiance pierced his heart.
“...”
The blade, like a reflection of the night sky, was so beautiful that Caden could only stare blankly down at it. He slowly turned around.
Despite having been hit by the massive firestorm, Se-Hoon stood behind him without a single wound. In truth, though, he had been wounded. He had just healed himself so perfectly that it was as if nothing had happened.
“Ha...ha... You’re... a real monster...”
On the surface, it looked like he—the being made of flames—was the monster. At the end of it all, though, Caden found out the most monstrous of them all was the man standing before him.
Hearing Caden’s murmur that carried more admiration than despair, Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes.
He’s completely burned out.
His body, his mind, even his will—everything had been incinerated. There was no way Caden could come back now.
With just one glance, Se-Hoon understood that piercing him with Stellar Radiance had been unnecessary. Regardless, it was time to finish him off...?
Fwoosh-
A faint wisp of smoke suddenly rose from Caden. Recognizing the phenomenon from earlier in the battle, Se-Hoon stared in confusion—then his eyes widened.
“Come with me.”
A child who had lost their parents; the hand they held; the grave they were buried in—from the memories that formed Caden’s existence, his love for his adopted daughter, Luo Mingmei, was now being treated as an impurity and cleansed.
“...”
Se-Hoon involuntarily furrowed his brow. The power of Anatta, which purged all impurities to craft a pure self... he had always felt uneasy about it. And now, witnessing everything vanishing for himself, that unease had changed to pure disgust.
What meaning is there in achieving such absolute purity...?
No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn’t understand why Caden—or even Li Kenxie—had chosen such a path.
“...I see.”
Slowly vanishing, Caden abruptly smiled.
“Until the very, very end... I was a blacksmith.”
Savoring the final remnant of his synesthetic mindscape, Caden—at long last—let go of everything with a light heart.
“As long as I believe so... I can win.”
He shot his remaining flames toward the Earth Weaving Loom.
Seeing that, Se-Hoon rushed forward and caught the flame to block its path. In his mind, that last-ditch effort had to be the activation of the Offering Ritual.
But that was also exactly what Caden had thought Se-Hoon would think.
Fwoosh!
The final will that had remained in the blacksmith Caden Miller’s synesthetic mindscape, the authority to manage the Offering Ritual, was transferred over to Se-Hoon. And in response, the Seeker’s heart—which had long since been absorbed into the surrounding ley lines—began pulsing violently.
Ba-dump!
“Ugh...!”
It was the same feeling that had occurred when Se-Hoon first came into contact with the Seeker’s heart. Flinching, Se-Hoon rushed to activate Soul Honing.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
His heart pounded as if it would burst. His blood flow sped up to the extremes, pushing back the invading Seeker’s heart and expelling it.
Yet, even though he had cleanly blocked Caden’s final ploy, Se-Hoon didn’t relax, urgently scanning the area with a thoughtful expression on his face.
What was that?
Caden had clearly been aiming for something. But aside from the Seeker’s heart trying to invade, nothing else seemed to be happening. The only inconvenience was that the Offering Ritual’s authority had been forcibly transferred to him, making it hard to move for now.
But even that felt like something he could fix with a little time.
“...”
If the Seeker’s heart had been the final trap, and he had defused it so easily—then it was his victory. But he just couldn’t shake off the strange sense of unease.
Raising his guard, Se-Hoon just began considering a certain possibility...
“Large amounts of energy detected in Babel.”
The Warhound’s report echoed in Se-Hoon’s ear.