Chapter 230 — 아자젤

Episode 230

Azazel

Rumble, rrrumble—

KRA-KA-BOOM!

Darkness that had smothered the world was ripped apart as another darkness spread like wildfire through it.

Like a bolt of cloth going up in flames.

Kyaaaaaa!

A ghostly wail rolled out, as if proclaiming the end of the dark.

The blue sky was just barely beginning to show itself again.

But—

“…Here we go again.”

Mephisto growled at the sight, bored to death by it.

And barely had the words left his mouth—

Fwaaa—

From somewhere, a black wind came surging in, twisting into a vortex and taking the shape of a colossal raven.

A raven whose wingspan could cover the sky.

“This is getting real tiresome.”

Mephisto snarled up at the thing. The horned wolf that coiled about him gave the same wet, phlegmy rumble.

He couldn’t even guess how long they’d been crashing against that damned thing.

Time flowed nothing like the real world here; he knew there was no point in trying to measure it.

Still, there had to be limits. If something kept resurrecting, endlessly looping the same scene, your thinking changed.

“What’s this? Already over? That’d be such a disappointment.”

Heh-heh-heh…

The raven’s eyes lit crimson as its beak opened. A chill voice spread out.

A voice steeped in madness.

“Wasn’t it you who said you’d drag me out of here by force?”

At Azazel’s laughter, Mephisto’s expression knotted again.

In truth, his fight with Azazel was almost dead even.

Their personalities were polar opposites, sure—but both had once been Great Demon Kings favored by the Demon God.

They’d been born with comparable power; their duels had swung back and forth.

But there was one very big problem between them now.

Mephisto was a parasite clinging to Elric, while Azazel all but ruled Elric’s unconscious world.

The difference was enormous.

This entire place, to Azazel, was essentially a demonic domain.

Here, he could resurrect and regenerate without end.

So even if their raw ability was matched, Mephisto’s wounds took time to mend, while Azazel could simply spin up a new body any time he wished. The gap was baked in.

That was why, as time dragged on, Mephisto kept getting pushed back and Azazel inexorably seized the initiative.

Nahatram, Țepeș, and Damir—who were covering Mephisto and trying to press Azazel—were in the same bind.

“Truly endless. I’ve never dealt with anything like this even outside.”

“We’ve shredded him this much; his psyche should be fraying at least a little. Why isn’t it?”

“If we were outside, we’d just force-purify him with holy power. Hmph…!”

Keep this up and we’ll lose.

The thought flickered through all their minds.

Azazel sneered openly at them.

“I told you. You can’t catch me. So be good and let me eat you. Stop your useless flailing!”

Shh-shh-shh-shhk!

Once more, raven feathers fell like a squall.

As the three vassals intoned their spells again—

‘Do I have to pull that out?’

Mephisto twitched his fingertips.

As if about to seize something.

It wasn’t that he had no hidden cards like Azazel.

It just wasn’t something he’d meant to use here.

Farther down the line.

After he’d reclaimed all his power—he’d planned to reveal it then. If he showed it now, it wouldn’t be worth much as a trump when the time came.

‘Do I watch a little longer…?’

He glanced over his shoulder.

Where his gaze fell—

Far off, Elric was still sunk in meditation.

* * *

Crunch.

Nothing around them was actually breaking.

But sounds like that kept coming from near Elric.

A faint line creased his brow. Cold sweat ran down his cheek.

“It snapped. Again.”

Mia, beside him, only repeated her curt order to try again.

Elric worked to sink his awareness deeper.

Linking to the mindscape.

It was anything but easy.

“Focus on every sense but sight. The Agwi-sense, remember? Keep spreading it wide.”

Mia kept ordering Elric to paint the mindscape in his head.

To take everything his senses picked up and give it shape, make it identical to the outside world.

That, she said, was the only way to fully link to the unconscious world.

After several tries, he managed it to a degree.

He heard the Six of Winter clashing, smelled the residue of magi Mephisto was exuding. The tremor of the earth carried, and the frenzy blanketing the sky pressed down.

A seething frenzy. A madness that felt like it could devour everything.

Thanks to it, the mindscape Elric sketched wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was believable enough.

And then—

Clack.

He heard that sound too.

The sound of a piece of the mindscape meshing with the unconscious world.

Like a small gear catching a huge one. The very first coupling was a massive step.

He began to expand the bounds of the mindscape.

First a hundred meters, then two hundred, then four hundred…

That’s when the problem cropped up.

As the range expanded, the mindscape thinned—and then the link to the unconscious world snapped with it.

“It’s because the surroundings are changing so chaotically right now. Slow and steady. Calmly. Think of it as reclaiming what’s yours.”

Elric did as Mia said, exhaling deep and trying to steady himself.

As if reclaiming what’s mine…

He honed his senses again.

After all the training, his Agwi-sense, already razor sharp, spread outward once more.

Before, all he could do was catch terrain and presences. Now his Agwi-sense braided every sense together and sketched a new world in his head.

He’d stepped into the realm of a sixth sense.

A world seen with eyes closed.

No—because his eyes were closed, he could make out what sight alone would miss.

One step.

Another step.

As he pushed the boundary out bit by bit, he felt his whole awareness being drawn into it.

Clack!

The gears meshed.

“Good. What you’ve got hold of now is the domain you’ve set. Feel it more concretely. As if it’s right in front of you.”

This had always been the stumbling point.

Domain control.

That’s what Mia called it. Moving the domain you set in the direction you want.

If he kept the mindscape crisp and clear, he’d be able to seize it fully, she said.

Then he just had to turn the “axis” embracing the unconscious world.

But—

This was where it felt wrongest to Elric.

Feel it?

More than this?

Yet he was sure.

No. That’s not it.

Mia seemed to dominate the unconscious world by “drawing” it—but to Elric, that phrasing was so vague it never really landed.

He preferred what he could grab with his hands and touch for himself to leaning on imagination.

In that case—

Was there a way to “touch” this world?

There has to be a method that fits me…

His thoughts deepened.

What is it?

He considered the difference between himself and Mia.

No—his edge over others.

What others couldn’t see but he could. What others couldn’t touch but he could.

Or—

What he handled best.

Gyeol.

A spark cracked through his mind.

Insight-sight. I had that.

Elric recalled a technique that had always been faintly linked to his Agwi-sense but never used because his eyes were shut.

Why hadn’t it occurred to him?

Insight-sight pierced the root. If so, couldn’t it pierce the root of the unconscious world?

If he could look at the mindscape his Agwi-sense drew through Insight-sight—

He’d see what was hidden within.

Then he wouldn’t need to force the Agwi-sense’s reach any wider.

Fortunately—

Elric now handled Insight-sight at a level no one else could touch.

He brought that sense over and tried to open it inside the mindscape painted in his head.

At first it balked, but after a few tries it came easily.

Clack—

And in that instant, the gears bit deeper than before.

“What…?”

Mia cut off mid-explanation, eyes widening at the new current that swept around Elric.

A world that had done nothing but hover, as if rejecting him… began to turn around Elric.

Vwoooooom—

His contact with the unconscious world had grown more intimate.

“All of a sudden?”

Mia knew better than anyone that Elric still hadn’t rendered the mindscape properly. That made it all the more shocking.

And her shock didn’t end there.

Gggggrrk—

For the first time, the meshed gears began to turn.

She hadn’t even explained the next step yet, but the laws of the world had started revolving around Elric!

“Im—imagine the law like it’s sitting in your palm. Picture the mindscape laid out before you and, like stacking blocks, nudge it little by little the way you want…!”

She didn’t know what had just happened, but she knew this was the critical moment, so she hurried to tack on instructions.

But—

No. Not blocks. Like winding a skein of thread.

Elric was already walking a path far from her guidance.

The only reason he’d stalled was because he’d tried to follow Mia’s words to the letter.

He owed most of his magical framework to her; without thinking, he’d assumed her explanations were always right.

But Elric’s magic now was Wordcraft, and its operating logic had diverged from the lineage magic of before.

If before I’d bunch the Gyeol to form a mana field, now I’ll touch it, draw it in…

He reached out. A single strand of Gyeol caught on his fingertips.

Before, he could see it but never grasp it. Now he felt it.

A result of sharpening his Agwi-sense.

Which meant Mia’s training hadn’t been wrong.

Elric drew the Gyeol hooked on his fingertip inward.

Like a skein unwinding, the strand came free, coiling around his hand.

Its end reached far off—up into the black sky Azazel had seized.

What do I do with this?

Elric could tell the skein of Gyeol in his hand was the “law” of the unconscious world Mia kept harping on.

He held the control in his hand; what he did with it was up to him.

If I can use it as a mana field—

With that thought, Elric opened his eyes.

“So wind it and—hey, what are you doing opening—”

Mia’s eyes popped wide, thinking he’d failed again—then she let out a stunned little laugh as she realized he’d completely seized a portion of control.

Elric, still clutching what he held, pointed his hand toward Azazel.

He finally had a chance to land a clean hit. Might as well use something the bastard would absolutely hate.

There was a perfect choice.

Stance of the Thunder Wall.

It was Primal Magic.