Episode 65: Apostle (7)
Barkus was at a loss amidst the chaos, unable to grasp the situation.
He had certainly detonated his thunder energy.
At this level, that pathetic human should have been reduced to ashes. He had expected him to collapse, yet the man endured even that.
“Khuaaa…”
Even amidst the stench of burning flesh, the man still held his spear.
It was a rat-like ambush.
He had exploited a weak spot, like a beast sinking its fangs into the nape of its prey.
His force field had been torn apart in an instant.
‘How…?’
Barkus couldn’t understand. This was impossible.
The blessing—no, the restriction—bestowed upon him by his master. This force field was something no mere human should be able to penetrate.
The spearhead had pierced deep into his heart. The ominous energy infused in the weapon’s mana was preventing his wounds from healing.
It gnawed away at the wound, slowly consuming it. His heart refused to regenerate. The injury only deepened.
He looked up at the man—he had already lost consciousness.
With his entire body burned to a crisp, maintaining awareness should have been impossible.
And yet, he refused to let go of his spear.
Moreover, there were insects waiting for the storm of lightning surrounding them to subside.
Even if Barkus managed to shake the man off, the wounded state he was in would only make him an easy target for those lurking around, ready to finish him.
They watched with glowing eyes, waiting for an opening.
Even for Barkus, dealing with them in his current state wouldn’t be easy.
‘Death.’
The moment that word crossed his mind, every nerve in his body stood on edge.
Unacceptable.
He could not allow himself to become a stain on his master’s grand plan.
The reason he had left an opening for that man was the terrible news he had just heard.
‘All four Apostles, except for Barkus, have retreated.’
It was an unbelievable situation.
On the battlefield, every Apostle except for Barkus had withdrawn.
It was not a retreat due to success—it had been a forced evacuation.
In Barkus’ mind, the idea of the other Apostles being defeated had never been a possibility.
It simply didn’t make sense.
No matter what, he had to survive.
For this mission, his master had granted him yet another power.
Though he had felt disgusted at the thought of using it to deal with mere insects…
Now, there was no reason to hold back.
‘I cannot die here.’
At the very least, retreat.
He had to be satisfied with escaping.
A barrier of thunder engulfed the surroundings.
Within it, space distorted.
Even with the spear still lodged in his heart, Barkus’ body flickered.
—Pah!
In an instant, Barkus vanished.
A black lightning enveloped Jung Haein.
And then, both of them disappeared without a trace.
***
A void where time and space stood still.
Barkus took a deep breath, savoring the overwhelming relief that engulfed his entire being.
The terror of death had completely faded.
Dark crimson blood still flowed from his wound, but it no longer mattered.
“I offer my deepest gratitude…”
Barkus murmured reverently to the great being who had granted him this power.
Overcome with devotion, he knelt.
Minutes passed before he finally rose with a composed expression.
It was time to crush the insect.
It had been a surprise attack—an all-out strike with no regard for defense.
For a brief moment, he had been distracted, and in that lapse, he had allowed the attack to land.
Objectively speaking, it was impressive.
For an insect, at least.
But that was only by human standards.
By all rights, he should not have suffered even a scratch.
And yet, the spear’s tip had pierced his heart.
‘Mana.’
That ominously pure mana had shredded his force field and prevented his regeneration.
“…”
For some reason, an ominous feeling crept in.
The thought flashed through his mind—this had to end here.
Barkus crossed the empty space, heading toward his opponent.
But—
“Huh.”
He had expected him to be sprawled out unconscious.
Yet, defying all expectations, the man was sitting there, perfectly lucid.
His body, drenched in blood, barely managed to lift itself as he perched on a tree stump.
“Impressive.”
Did he still have the strength to endure?
He was like a candle with its wick completely burned out.
Still, at least he could serve as a stress-relief punching bag.
Then—
“…I gave it.”
The man muttered, as if reciting something to himself in his broken state.
“What?”
Barkus frowned.
“You really did well. You’re… better than me. Truly.”
Only then did Barkus notice his expression.
His eyes wavered slightly.
The emotion in the man’s face was neither fear of death nor anger.
Instead, a pure smile had surfaced.
He was smiling brightly.
Tears of joy streamed down his face, his expression transcendent.
Like someone who had finally cast off the burdens he carried, floating away, radiant.
He was undoubtedly crying, yet anyone who saw him would recognize it as a cry of happiness.
The man rose to his feet.
—Crack.
A chilling sound of something rupturing echoed in the space.
A noise born from pushing a body beyond its limits. He was already as good as dead.
“Tsk.”
‘So, it was already over.’
Barkus lost interest.
The fact that he stood was remarkable, but in the end, he was nothing more than a remnant of a defeated insect, incapable of fighting. There was no need to waste time.
Barkus turned his gaze away, his interest fading.
More importantly, he needed to check on the other apostles—what exactly had happened to them?
“Back then, and even now.”
Then—
A chilling voice brushed past his ear.
Barkus instinctively turned his body.
“You’re running away again.”
The man slowly lifted his head.
The faint traces of tears remained on his face.
But his eyes—his gaze—had completely changed.
His lips trembled, as though even speaking was a struggle.
Yet, he slowly opened his mouth.
“You are the very embodiment of unfairness.”
Barkus’s brows furrowed.
At first, he didn’t care. He dismissed it as the nonsense of a dying man.
But then—
Somehow, the man was holding a spear.
It was the same man he had fought just moments ago.
Promising, perhaps, but still far from a real threat.
And yet—
‘Who is this?’
It was like looking at a completely different person.
The same face, yet no longer the same existence.
“At last.”
The man slowly tilted his head.
—Creak, crack.
“It feels like the scales have finally balanced.”
His lips curled upward.
A twisted smile formed on his tear-streaked face.
“I won’t miss this time.”
—Shff.
In an instant, the man’s form vanished.
Barkus’s arm moved reflexively.
A primal defensive reaction.
But even that was too slow.
—Crunch!
The man’s figure distorted before his eyes, and before he could react, the spearhead had already pierced through his arm.
“You and I were never meant to meet in the first place….”
Blazing Eyes, a Mocking Whisper.
“Give thanks to your god for allowing us to meet again.”
With a chuckle, he sneered.
“You dare!”
Barkus’s heart pounded violently.
He couldn’t fully comprehend it, but he felt it—a mockery directed at Him.
He immediately swung his fist, his entire body lunging forward.
Then—
-Crash!
“Arghhh!!”
Even in the moment when his balance was breaking, it was as if his opponent had planned for it.
As if waiting for that opening, the tip of the spear pierced through the hole in his left chest.
Blood and mana surged out violently.
Barkus instinctively reached out, but he couldn’t stop it.
-Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Ruthless.
Brutal to an obsessive degree.
Barkus struggled desperately.
Summoning all his strength, he unleashed a thunderous explosion.
-BOOOOM!
He leaped into the air, amplifying his force field to the limit, widening the gap between them.
“…….”
But his opponent didn’t even look at Barkus’s retreat.
Instead, he simply raised his hand.
-Scratch, scratch, scratch.
The space around them distorted, and from the ground, countless shapes began to form.
Clones.
Slowly, they started to merge, thousands intertwining into one.
At last, they coalesced into a single, colossal spear.
Barkus’s breath caught in his throat.
“What the…?”
It wasn’t just one spear.
The very same spear that had impaled him moments ago—
Now, its power and numbers had grown beyond comprehension.
Fifty…? A hundred…?
There was no need to count.
The moment he was struck, he would cease to exist without a trace.
Each spear carried an ominous presence.
This is…
No.
But there was no time for hesitation.
At that moment, his opponent whispered just one word.
“Phalanx.”
And with that—
-BOOOOOOM!!!!!!
A burst of light.
A deafening roar.
Space itself twisted.
In an instant, Barkus’s consciousness turned white.
***
A man walked toward a massive crater.
A deep and enormous pit, as if a meteor had struck.
He slid down toward its center.
His entire body was charred black by lightning.
From afar, he looked as if he were draped in a black cloak.
Only his sheer willpower kept him standing.
His body had already reached its limit.
It wouldn’t be strange if he collapsed at any moment.
And yet, he couldn’t fall—not until he finished this.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
He was a being bound by suppression, one who could never escape.
But now, someone strong enough to bear that suppression had pulled him out with his own hands.
The Evil God.
His transcendent intuition—
For once, it had worked against him.
Before he knew it, his foe had reached him.
Half of his head and arms had already been torn away.
“Ku…hahaha.”
What was so amusing?
Blood-soaked lips curled into a smile as Barkus chuckled.
A faint, yet eerie laugh.
“To think… someone like you existed.”
He murmured to himself.
“This will be worth reporting to Him.”
A hollow laughter lingered in the air.
But the man facing him also smiled.
The reason Barkus could remain so composed—
He was absolutely certain he wouldn’t die.
This place was a sanctuary that protected him.
His kind had always fought from an overwhelmingly advantageous position, never engaging in battles they could lose.
Disgusting creatures.
It was time to shatter that illusion.
The man squeezed out the last of his strength.
At that moment, as if stars were vanishing from the night sky—
Everything in that space began to fade.
An infinite black void.
A domain unfolded, swallowing the massive crater whole.
The man had no fragments of himself left.
To survive, he had to create anything and everything.
He had struggled, devised, and agonized, desperately clawing for a way forward.
And finally, he had reached this state.
A fanged weapon, forged solely to rip apart the taboos of the Demonic Lords.
The Domain of the Abyss Phantom was now unleashed.
[Wu Wei Wu Xiang : The Formless Abyss](無爲無相)]
Absolute beings, transcendentals, gods—
It didn’t matter who they were.
Restrictions? Divinity? Space-time?
All concepts ceased to exist within this realm.
Within this domain, all laws were meaningless.
“Haa…”
The man exhaled.
“What… is this…?”
Barkus’s expression twisted.
“This… is impossible….”
Like a worm, he scrabbled at the ground with his hands.
It was as if all his senses had been severed.
He must have realized it instinctively—
That even He couldn’t save him here.
In the end, strip them of their masks, and they were fragile beings just like any other.
The man staggered, gripping his spear with both hands.
His arms trembled, but—
At the very least, he could still strike down.
“No… no…!”
Barkus’s hands flailed, clutching desperately at the man’s legs.
There was no time to hesitate.
Even the slightest delay, and he would be the one to collapse.
-Thunk!
The spear was wrenched from the ground, aimed directly at Barkus’s head.
And then—
“Nooooo!!!!!”
“It’s…”
-CRACK!
“…over.”
With a final death cry,
The man’s body crumbled as well.
And beyond the black domain,
The space of nothingness, where time and reality had been frozen—
Began to collapse.