The Great Mage Returns After 4000 Years (Web Novel KR)

“…Blue Knight.”

The Demon God murmured. His voice was still as emotionless as before.

With a smile still on her face, Pale swung her sword. It was a light movement, like stretching a joint, but the maelstrom it created was by no means normal.

“You seem upset.”

The curve of her lips deepened.

“Have you met me before?”

“No.”

“Then why does it seem like you know me?”

“…”

The Demon God didn’t respond. Shrugging her shoulders, Pale continued.

“I haven’t even put my armour on yet, but you called me Blue Knight.”

“You’re the same. You must know who I am as well.”

“I don’t.”

At that, the Demon God stretched out a finger. A black thorn shot out towards Pale at a tremendous speed.

Shwak.

Pale swung her sword again, cutting the thorn.

“That should be enough for my introduction.”

“Black thorn?”

Kekeke, Pale let out a chuckle.

“The Black Horned Demon God.”

“That is my name.”

“I don’t really care about who you are. You still didn’t answer my question.”

“Persistent.”

There was a hint of irritation in the Demon God’s voice.

“Is that topic really that important? To the point where you stick to it like this?”

“Of course it is, you didn’t even need to show me that black thorn. I saw the thorn that pierced the ceiling of Demonsio while I was outside. The moment I saw it, I immediately knew who was here. Besides, as I look at you now, I can see an energy that doesn’t exist in this world swirling around your body.”

“That alone was enough to convince you… despite never seeing a being like a Ruler before?”

At first glance, it seemed like the Demon God and Pale were arguing. No. They were actually arguing.

But their argument made Lukas feel frightened.

Rumble-

The fight had already begun. Their battle of wills was causing space itself to distort. It was a ridiculous sight. Of course, Lukas had seen people distort space with their auras before.

But that was only a visual illusion. Just like heat shimmers in a desert could be mistaken as waves, the aura they released didn’t actually affect space.

This was different.

The energy being released by the Demon God and Pale was actually distorting space. If they were to increase their momentum even a bit more, they might end up creating several black holes in this place.

“It’s not like that. I know you all very well. I’ve been observing you for a long time.”

“That’s an elegant way to gift wrap the word ‘peeping’.”

“Peeping. Well…”

Just as Pale smiled.

“Right. I peeped. However.”

Her tone of voice sank.

“You can’t.”

“…”

“Hey. Demon God. Didn’t you realise it yet? Peeping is a privilege of the losers. We are free to observe you regardless of where you are. Free to analyse. But you can’t. Because that would be a serious violation.”

The Demon God’s expression darkened. That seemed to show that even a Ruler couldn’t help but show disapproval at Pale’s obstinance.

“Look at you now. Did you think you could analyse this place that you despise as a trash can, sneak in, and come up with some sneaky plan without us knowing?”

“…”

“I’m not really sure. When am I supposed to see the dignity of a Ruler?! Hmm. Or does ‘ruling’ mean something different over there?”

Then, Pale accomplished something that probably no one in the multiverse had even attempted before.

She caused the Demon God’s face to contort.

“…this is a new feeling. Thanks to you, I was able to figure something out. It seems I’m not very tolerant of insults.”

“Ahaha.”

Lukas looked at the two beings facing each other.

‘Which one?’

Which one, between the two of them, was stronger?

Personally, he thought it was Pale. After all, she’d managed to win an overwhelming victory against the Lightning God who had taken over Lee Jong-hak’s body.

However, this time, her opponent was the Demon God, not the Lightning God, and the being he was possessing was Sedi, not Lee Jong-hak. She was a being that was on a completely different level from Lee Jong-hak, so, naturally, the amount of output the Demon God would be able to produce would be much higher.

‘On my own.’

The current Lukas had a 50% chance of winning against the Lightning God Lee Jong-hak, but he had been defeated by the Demon God by an overwhelming margin.

‘The Demon God didn’t reveal his true power in the fight against me.’

He had probably only shown his true strength once.

That was when he’d used the ‘Thorn of Pain’ to penetrate the maximally amplified spell Lukas had used. Without a doubt, the power he experienced at that time was more devastating than anything he’d ever experienced before, and he hadn’t even managed to escape from its aftermath yet.

It truly suited the name ‘Thorn of Pain’. Even at that moment, Lukas had a hard time thinking because of the pain that seemed to twist his mind.

“Good. Now that we both have a proper hatred for each other. It’s time to stop all the nonsense talk.”

Chrrk, blue armour began covering Pale’s body.

“Shall we begin?”

Just before the helmet covered her face, her eyes curved like crescent moons.

And just as those two shapes disappeared.

‘—.’

Lukas felt as if he was at a crossroads.

Before making a decision, he checked his physical condition first.

…It still wasn’t good. As mentioned before, the ‘Thorn of Pain’ which was embedded deeply into his body was very annoying. The thorn was also gradually eating away at Lukas’ life force. If he didn’t pull it out as soon as possible, he would die. In truth, his condition was so bad that it wouldn’t be strange for him to suddenly lose his life at any moment.

If he were to use all of his physical and mental strength, he might be able to pull the thorn out.

However, if he did that, he wouldn’t be able to witness the scene that was about to unfold.

“…”

He was conflicted for a moment, but in the end, Lukas made a decision.

‘I should watch.’

He would give up everything to watch the scene that was about to unfold.

Lukas used all of his remaining mental power to enter the minimal time zone.

Then it began. The fight between two Absolute beings who had entered the [minimal time zone].

“…”

He saw Pale holding her sword. He could not feel any momentum from her body which was covered tightly by armour. It felt like her momentum had been trapped inside.

On the other hand, black energy swirled all over the Demon God’s body.

—Then it shot forward.

Lukas could feel it.

The extremely thin thorns, the thorns that he had failed to recognise at first, were now being aimed at Pale.

But Pale didn’t stop moving forward. She also made no attempts to block.

Did she not notice?

No. Surprisingly, the thorns had already reached Pale, Lukas had simply failed to notice it at that time. Nevertheless, Pale continued walking.

There were no signs of her being obstructed. The thorns couldn’t penetrate the armour covering her body.

Like toothpicks stabbing a shield, they either bent or broke as they came into contact with her.

‘It’s some kind of defence.’

The Demon God’s thorns, which Lukas had no choice but to dodge, were being blocked purely with the defence of her armour.

The Demon God’s eyes narrowed. It looked as if he was thinking about something.

‘What will he do?’

When Lukas and Sedi were fighting, Sedi had chosen to narrow the distance.

The current situation was the opposite.

It was Pale who was steadily advancing towards the Demon God, and it was the Demon God who now had to choose how to fight.

“…”

The Demon God stretched out his palm.

Crack, huge thorns shot out of his spread palm. The thorns didn’t detach, and instead remained affixed to the palm they shot out from. It seemed more appropriate to call them awls than thorns.

He then produced a similar thorn from the other palm before rubbing the two together and nodding.

“Hmmm.”

After making a sound of satisfaction, he bent his knees slightly. Then, he aimed the two thorns at Pale like spears.

“…”

It looked like a close combat stance, but somehow, it seemed clumsy.

The two thorns the Demon God had pulled out of his palms were strange.

‘They seemed to be on the same level as the [Thorn of Pain].’

It seemed that he intended to hold them in his hands and use them like weapons. Of course, Lukas didn’t quite understand.

If he wasn’t mistaken, the Demon God wanted to fight a hand to hand battle with Pale.

[That’s a novel form.]

Pale spoke in an interested tone.

Her voice changed when she became the Blue Knight.

Was it just the way she spoke, or did her entire personality change? Lukas wasn’t yet sure.

What he did know was that Pale as the Blue Knight spoke very little and rarely expressed emotion. But now, she expressed interest in the Demon God. Not ridicule or mockery, but genuine interest.

‘Is she saying that’s not the wrong choice?’

Did that mean that it was more advantageous for the Demon God to use hand to hand combat instead of fighting at a wide distance?

He couldn’t tell. Not until he fought her himself. Lukas shook his head. That wasn’t a problem he needed to consider for now.

The distance between the two combatants was now reduced to two steps.

Even without thinking about it, the result would soon be revealed.

[…]

“…”

The Demon God and Pale.

A Ruler and one of the Four Knights.

Two absolute beings stared at each.

Then, without another word, the great hand to hand battle commenced.

Their movements had no form.

Swordsmanship, sword techniques, martial arts. There weren’t any moves graceful enough to be called that.

Instead, it was primitive, instinctive. Like two beasts going head on against each other.

At the extreme, a fight devolved to its most primitive form. That was the vague thought that Lukas had as he watched the scene unfolding before his eyes.

A chaotic hit for hit battle.

No dodging. No backing down.

At a distance of only a few steps, two thorns and a sword swirled like a storm. Their weapons rarely came into contact with each other. Most of the time, their weapons struck their opponent’s body instead of their weapons. This was proof that both Pale and the Demon God were ignoring defence.

Fragments of blue armour fell in every direction, and more than twice that amount of flesh fell to the ground.

‘This fight…’

Was this really high level? Wasn’t it low?

He really couldn’t tell.

They were immersed in a fierce battle, surrendering themselves to their base instincts.

He knew how much power was contained in that aspect. However… was that it?

‘No.’

What he was seeing wasn’t all.

Lukas was simply unable to grasp everything happening in this fight. At least for now.

So what he had to do now was simple.

He would watch everything closely. And remember every little detail.

—.

In a portion of time where no sound existed, the fight gradually heated up. The fight hadn’t lasted very long. In the first place, it was never meant to. The result would be made in an instant.

Shuk.

—Just as he had that thought, the Demon God’s head flew up into the air. Blood gushed from the separated body.

It was settled.

The Blue Knight had won again.

[…]

Pale still didn’t show any emotion. She simply shook the blood from her sword in a restrained manner.

The match had ended.

And as Lukas predicted, the Blue Knight, Pale, won.

This time, again, there were no fatal wounds on her body. Although the damage to her armour was much worse than after the battle with the Lightning God, there were no signs of blood or exhaustion.

“…”

Lukas turned his eyes to another place.

The Demon God hadn’t left any last words. He wondered what this defeat would mean to him, but he’d never be able to find out.

His decapitated head had regained Sedi’s appearance.

Sedi Trowman, who had sacrificed her body to come to the World of Void and abandoned everything in Demonsio, had become a cold corpse. Soon, her body would disappear without even leaving a trace.

“Boring.”

Pail murmured.

“I was hoping for a big fight against the Demon God.”

“…”

“Since we just fought, I got a good understanding. The Demon King had expended at least half of his power on Uncle.”

…He hadn’t known that.

Right. So he used half of his full power on the Thorn of Pain that he shot at him.

He wasn’t sure if he should feel happy or upset at this revelation.

“From your expression, I guess you only just realised that. Well, it’s already too late.”

Pale chuckled. Now that he thought about it, he realised she was still holding her sword.

At that moment, Lukas was filled with indescribable anxiety.

This was dangerous. Really dangerous.

It didn’t matter what he said, he just needed to keep talking…

“Pale.”

“Yes.”

“…”

He couldn’t think of anything to say.

Pale tilted her head to the side for a moment before chuckling.

“Well, you don’t have to say anything. Because it won’t change anything.”

After speaking in a clear voice, she began to walk towards him. Kukukuk, she allowed the tip of the sword to rub against the ground, the sound exceptionally clear in his ears.

Pale was about to kill Lukas.

…He was prepared to die.

However, he didn’t want to just accept death calmly. He had to struggle to stay alive at least a little bit. He had to gain something, even if it was just a little.

“Wait a minute. I-”

Before he could finish talking, he felt himself get cut.

Shuk.

‘…shit.’

But it was only a moment later that he realised that he had been decapitated. His consciousness began to fade.

Originally, decapitation wouldn’t have been enough to kill him. In fact, it wouldn’t normally be so easy for Pale to kill Lukas. This was because the source of her power came from the World of Void. It would not be easy for her to deal a fatal blow to Lukas who used the power of void. But now, Lukas was unable to use void because of the mental strain left by the Thorn of Pain that the Demon God had stabbed him with.

At that moment his physical and mental strength were already at their limits.

“Sleep well.”

With that last whisper, his vision darkened.

And Lukas died once again.