Book Eater

Chwaaaak!

Blood spurted from the heavenly demon’s heart. The blood that was blacker than ink soaked the land around the heavenly demon, and weeds started to mutate into a weird form. It was blood that turned normal plants and animals into monsters in seconds!

The phenomenon proved that the wound was a fatal injury. Blood was concentrated in the heart, but the pollution wouldn’t normally occur to this degree. This meant even the heavenly demon’s regenerating ability couldn’t heal the damage.

“You, you, you will regret this!” The heavenly demon fell to the ground cursing.

Kung.

Light disappeared from his red eyes, and the presence that could crush the heavens gradually faded. This was the moment when the heavenly demon, the demon king born from Lust, died.

Theo coughed up blood. “Weeeeeek!”

However, it wasn’t dead blood. Red blood, the blood of life, spilled over his lips. There was something strange about the appearance of the winner. Theo collapsed on a nearby boulder because of a lack of blood.

I-I almost died... It is self-destruction. It isn’t something that can be used as a joke.

Grand Cross, the transcendent technique which had been used as the last trump card, was his problem. At that moment, Theo had looked at an area that went beyond Lee Yoonsung, the one who had bequeathed his martial arts to him. It wasn’t a purely off-limits area, but it was a power he couldn’t endure right now. In any case, the force, which shouldn’t have been allowed, had lent him strength in the name of the guardian of the world. Despite being a transcendent, the two ultimate moves shouldn’t be used as one. Their combination produced a fearsome reaction.

Clang!

Two of Theo’s clones shattered instantly while the artifact cracked. The heavenly demon hadn’t touched it, but the treasure had broken in reaction to the technique. Moreover, this was despite the fact that he had handed more than half of the burden over to the Eight Jade Magatamas. In the case of the Heavenly Sword he had used with Grand Cross, the sword’s tip had broken off.

“... Still.”

He had won. Theo was relieved as he straightened.

The Circles are a bit creaky, but it isn’t bad. They can recover in a month or so.

Since he had been prepared to die together with the heavenly demon, this result was sensational. There would be no future for the material world if Theo had been defeated. So he had prepared a trap from the moment he negotiated with Lust.

“Mutual Destruction, release.”

Needless to say, it had been implanted in the seed Lust had taken. If he hadn’t won the battle, he had intended to use Mutual Destruction to force both of them to die together. No matter how great their vitality, there was no way to stop the suicide spell contained in one’s soul.

At that moment…

“······■■■■■.”

The dying heavenly demon growled as he turned into black mist.

“What?”

Theo hastily put up a shield faster than the black fog and was immediately amazed. His left arm was being eroded by something black.

It wasn’t physical.

If this... this erosion―no way.

“Coming back through the path of the suicide spell that I planted!”

It was ridiculous. The heavenly demon transformed his body from physical form into information and jumped on the suicide spell that had targeted him. In fact, the heavenly demon had lost eighty percent of his existence during the transformation. Nevertheless, the erosion was indeed a threat to Theo.

「 Pause! 」

The speed dropped remarkably once he had given the order, but the erosion didn’t stop thanks to the heavenly demon’s inherent magic resistance. If it continued, Theo would inevitably become another heavenly demon. Theo pulled out Soul Caliber with his right hand. He was going to stop the erosion, even if it meant cutting off his left arm.

[Wait.]

If Seimei hadn’t intervened, he certainly would’ve done so.

“Seimei? When did you come back?”

[It has been quite a while. My soul, which was removed from the Eight Jade Magatamas, belongs to the grimoire. Once removed from Suzuka’s body, I returned.]

“No, I don’t need an explanation for that! Why are you stopping me?” Theo asked urgently.

Seimei laughed.

[Well, you sure have a temper. Since you have taken care of my regret, I’m just giving you a reasonable reward.] 𝒷𝓮𝒹𝓃ℴ𝓿𝓮𝓁.𝓬𝓸𝓂

“What is this situation?”

[It doesn’t look good if the main character of the victory loses an arm,]

Seimei spoke lightly of the reward like it was a joke.

[Object name ‘Abe no Seimei’ has requested the completion of his quest. Reviewing the achievements of the target, the progress and the surrounding situation...]

[The request of object name ‘Abe no Seimei’ has been accepted.]

[Verified the completion of the quest. In thirty seconds, the Transmission of Abe no Seimei will begin―changed. Verified that your current capacity is close to saturation. Confirming a separate compensation...]

[In conclusion, it has been left to object name ‘Abe no Seimei’s discretion.]

After compromising with the system, Seimei explained.

[You should know it already, but if you accept my power with an already transcendent body, it will only burst. Therefore, I will give you my power in a different way.]

Seimei’s soul started to disperse. The innate power of onmyōdō wasn’t studied in magic. Seimei’s soul split into small particles, interfering with the astral dimension. The ultimate magic which controlled the spirit transformed Seimei’s soul into a string and weaved it around Theo’s left arm, which had turned black. Theo felt the erosion, which had swallowed his arm, come to a stop, and sensation returned to his arm.

[Yes, it is now time to say goodbye,]

Seimei said goodbye in a hollow voice.

[I will take my little brother away. There will be some impact on you, but you can handle it well. Eat and live well for a long time. We will meet again on the other side.]

“Wait, Seimei...! You are leaving this way as well?! Why are all the great people like you?”

[Hahaha! I have nothing to say. I’ve heard many things since I was alive!]

Despite the increasingly blurred voice, Seimei laughed pleasantly.

This was the end of the onmyōdō master, Abe no Seimei, who had been born between a youkai and a Seven Sins’ grimoire, and was the savior of Japan. As Seimei’s soul burned away, he left a final message,

[When the day comes and you stand at a crossroads, remember yourself.]

Before Theo could ask what Seimei meant, Abe no Seimei’s soul completely disappeared.

“... Tsk.” He replayed it several times in his mind before muttering, “I will see you again, Seimei.”

If an afterlife really existed, they would meet again one day at the end of a long and distant journey. Theo looked down at his left arm. The erosion ran from his shoulder to below his elbow, but the consciousness of the heavenly demon no longer remained. Then Theo discovered what Seimei had meant by impact.

“...Thirty, no, twenty percent?”

In response to Theo’s confusing words, a voice replied.

- To be precise, it’s eighteen percent of the heavenly demon’s database that was implanted.

“Gluttony.”

- You can’t force a load that doesn’t fit your body…

However, it was still a big profit. Maybe he could use some of those techniques. The power to absorb the spirituality of others was a power that had raised an immature heavenly demon to the level of a demon king. It wasn’t unreasonable that Gluttony would drool after indirectly obtaining it. However, Theo didn’t talk about his arm anymore. He moved to finish what was left.

“You would know. What is the location?”

- Yes.

Theo read the space coordinates from Gluttony and took a step. At the same time, a light flashed, and nothing remained.

***

Kukukung…

The collapse of Hwang Mountain, which had started due to the collision of two transcendent beings, was still ongoing. The landslide was still creating massive cascades all around the mountain. The dirt rose up like a volcano and seemed to reach the moon and stars, while darkness covered the castle.

“... Hoh.”

An unrealistic beauty was sitting there in the middle of the hellish landscape. Her lower body was torn apart by heat and an explosion, while her beautiful appearance was distorted by ugly burns. Even so, she could still take away a person’s reason. It was the Seven Sins’ grimoire, Lust.

She almost seemed lively, in contrast to her dying body, “So you took down that child, Gluttony.”

The rumbling footsteps were like an answer. Of course, Theo was walking toward her. “Did you know this would happen?”

Lust shrugged. “Perhaps.”

Despite knowing that the heavenly demon had died, there was no change in her complexion. It was obvious; Lust didn’t have any sentiments of a mother. Her children were only conceived and born for the purpose of her existence. She didn’t care about them after giving birth. They were just trials and failures, cornerstones of the ultimate creature that would someday be born. Even the fearsome heavenly demon didn’t escape those standards.

“Your arm... Ah, so that’s what happened. How interesting. I got satisfactory data. Isn’t that right, Gluttony?”

“Shut up.”

Theo pointed at her.

Ping!

Despite the light from his fingertip piercing Lust’s abdomen, she just stared at Theo without moving an eyebrow. “Why are you angry? Well, it doesn’t matter. This terminal will die soon, even if you don’t do anything. It will take ten thousand years for me to show up again, so you will never see me again.”

“...”

“Yes. Should I say congratulations before I disappear? Now there is no threat to this planet.”

She was correct. Now that the heavenly demon was defeated, there was nothing in the material world that could pose a threat to Theo. An ancient dragon? He could now fight three by himself. A senior demon? If it wasn’t a demon king, he could defeat them with ease. Furthermore, Sloth’s banishment had thickened the walls of the dimension system. A demon-king class existence could no longer step foot into this material world. No stronger existence would ever be born in the material world.

“So?”

However, Theo could feel it…

“What do you want to say?”... The sexual desire and ridicule in Lust’s voice, a Seven Sins’ grimoire. Lust smiled and licked her lips, but no sound came from the friction. “―Why should I tell you when I am dying? Ask Gluttony after I am gone.”

“What?”

Lust smiled ominously. “I mourn the destruction that will come...”

That was her last action.

Jjeok.

Lust’s body turned into plaster, with her skin falling off as her body collapsed. She had never had any fighting ability, so her end was miserable.

Theo stood in front of Lust’s corpse and frowned. “Glu...”

“... Theo!” Before he could talk to Gluttony, he heard a voice calling him from far away.

“Sigh.”

In any case, that was all he needed to do today. Theo turned to look at the destroyed Hwang Mountain. He had annihilated the terrible monster. He could deal with the next crisis tomorrow. Theo wrapped his left arm with a torn robe and turned in the direction of his colleagues’ voices.

This was a victorious return after stopping the disaster.