Sovereign of Judgment

Episode 12: Final Episode / Chapter 196: Ripped Wings (2)

TL: emptycube / ED: Obelisk

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Thump. Thump.

His heart raced with a determination that could smash the world.

Due to overextending his karma, his head ached and felt like it had been wrung like a dry throat, and his eyes felt hot.

Huu! Huu!

With every breath, he could see each of his enemies.

Dark-Sound would be the last one Chu Youngjin would kill as his restriction powers maintained this tense equilibrium of strength. He needed to leave him for last so that he could kill the rest, including the monsters and the witnesses.

He decided a monster would be his first target. He needed to kill one monster for the fight to be three warriors against three monsters. Also, the order would be from the weakest to strongest. Then his first target would be Kwe, whose support ability was more outstanding than its actual fighting power.

 

The unsheathed ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’ extended towards Kwe.

Even while it was flailing in Dark-Sound’s grasp, Kwe was displaying blatant malice towards them.

Every time it cursed, its vigor, which even Dark-Sound couldn’t completely restrain, shook and the attacks of the transcendent warriors narrowly missed or were deflected.

{You will be ripped to shreds! I’ll rip your souls, stick them back together, and then rip them up again! I’ll knead Dark Tribe members into mush and use them as a mold to create new monsters, rip out the souls of Armored Soul Tribe members and revert them to slaves, and stuff the bodies of the Flame Wing Tribe members-}

“Shut up.”

Crunch!

Chu Youngjin’s red sword ripped through Kwe’s cursing mouth and shot out the back of its head.

Kwe’s eyes shook with shock before its head exploded and it died. It was no longer able to curse them again.

 

Kwe, who mainly used support skills, couldn’t be Chu Youngjin’s match as the trait of his sword, like its name, was ‘Absolute’ within a close distance.

{Amazing!}

{… Are all earthings’ fates so extreme…? They are so strong too…}

Dark-Sound’s guards, Armor-Blue and Dark-Soul, sighed in admiration.

{Let’s do it again. We’ll attack them so you look for an opening.}

{It seems like it’ll end quicker than I thought?}

 

As their optimistic hopes rose, Chu Youngjin did his best to catch his breath.

Huu! Huu!

It felt like his lungs were collapsing.

Dark-Sound restrained it, Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue attacked and lowered its defenses, and then he would be a good match against it. Yet, even after accounting for these factors, there was still a big difference in strength.

After launching that one attack that held all his spirit in order to make up that difference, he lost strength in his legs and his head rang.

Chu Youngjin gritted his teeth and gathered his dispersed karma again.

 

Bang!

He exploded the karma he had gathered. His karma swept over his entire body.

Grit.

His trembling fingertips regained their strength. His sword let out a creak.

Baang!!

His karma, which he had recovered faster than before, exploded once more, this time more powerfully.

Chu Youngjin’s body shot forward. He bent his waist and shoulders to accumulate strength. He squeezed out all of his karma.

 

His second target was a monster as well. This time, it was Jae, who had lost its specialty, its mobility.

Baaaang!

Karma exploded from his foot to his waist, then shoulders and finally his upper arms.

The Weapon of Conclusion ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’ granted him absolute power within an arm’s distance. The moment he swung his red sword, it accelerated once more as though it was alive. His body followed his sword’s path.

Jae desperately tried to avoid his attack while flailing around, but it was for naught. The red sword precisely pierced its blind spot.

Smash!

While he slashed at it, it emitted the crushing sound. Jae’s body was ripped in two from its shoulder to its waist.

{No… Way…}

Its body, which was completely destroyed by ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’, had no way of regenerating. Jae died with glaring eyes.

 

{Haha! Good job, Chu Youngjin!}

Maybe it was because he took out two monsters in an instant? Dark-Sound, who had been unable to speak a word as he restrained four monsters that were on the same level as him, expressed his joy.

However, Chu Youngjin couldn’t hear him.

“Haaack! Keuk…”

He almost dropped his sword.

While he thought he was used to pain more than anyone else because he had always fought while bringing his body to its utmost limits, this pain was on another level.

The problem wasn’t that he almost dropped his sword, it was that his shoulders and arms felt like they had been ripped apart.

‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’ consumed more than his current strength. His limbs trembled, and he couldn’t breathe as if he was being waterboarded. His head ached and felt so heavy that it kept drooping. Maybe it was his heart weakening as his body was, but he felt as pathetic as a dying bug.

After flailing through this pain, sleep suddenly washed over him. A sweet flood that numbed the pain dragged his body down.

“Keuu!”

Chu Youngjin abruptly raised his head. He forced his eyes open. The more he endured, the more painful it was, making his urge to drift in a sweet sleep for even a moment grow. Nonetheless, Chu Youngjin stood enduring this.

 

{You did well. Rest for a bit!}

{When our junior is doing so much, we each need to kill at least one to save face!}

Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue ignited their fighting spirit.

Even if they excluded him, it was would a three-on-two fight. The situation became extremely advantageous for them. The two of them began to overexert themselves even further to put an end to this battle.

 

Chu Youngjin kept hold of his frequently slipping consciousness and observed the fight.

‘A little… A little more…’

He waited for the final moment even as each passing second felt like an eternity of pain.

 

Dark-Sound’s method of restraining Lan and Ryuk was intense.

His sticky, heavy darkness submerged their limbs and filled their throats. However, even this couldn’t completely restrain them. While hiding his appearance, Dark-Sound revealed his pale arms and legs at critical moments to grab, rip, crush, and bind their limbs. This looked no different from a wrestling match in the mud. Lan and Ryuk struggled to get out of Dark-Sound’s grasp while Dark-Sound used every ounce of strength to drag them into the darkness.

 

During this time, Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue battered Lan and Ryuk with their attacks.

They both used spears. As expected of guards of Dark-Sound, who possessed the strongest restraining skills in the universe, they focused on attack rather than defense.

{We’ll end it this time!}

{Heuaah!!}

Dark-Soul, who was ranked fifth in the warrior rankings, hid his spear within the darkness and precisely struck when he saw an opening. Armor-Blue, who was ranked seventh, rotated his spear like a power drill and rapidly and repeatedly stabbed his targets, trying to smash them apart.

{Kuah!}

{Grrk!}

Lan and Ryuk’s screams echoed out. No one could hold back in this fight. The two of them struggled to live while Dark-Sound suppressed their struggles and Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue stabbed at them at full speed.

{This is the end!}

{Oryah!}

The intense battle was nearing its conclusion. Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue squeezed their remaining strength and launched fatal attacks at Lan and Ryuk.

This was the moment Chu Youngjin had been waiting for.

 

Grrrt.

Accompanied by the sound of tightly gripping his sword, as if to crush it, ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’, which had been relaxed, rose into position.

Chu Youngjin could tell that this was the moment of no return.

If he squeezed out his already messed up karma again, he couldn’t revert it back. He couldn’t recover it again. Also, the moment his sword pierced through Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue, he would no longer be a great warrior of the alliance but be known as its worst traitor.

‘Yeah. Finally.’

For some reason, there was a smile on his face. The final moment had finally arrived after fighting endlessly since Lee Hyejin’s death. He might very well have lived through such a nightmarish life for this very day.

 

Rumble!

Slice!

{Keu…uk?!}

{Huh?!}

A red light swept through Dark-Soul and Armor-Blue, who had been about to kill Lan and Ryuk.

Armor-Blue’s waist was completely sliced through, and while Dark-Soul twisted his body to avoid it, a black fog flowed out from the long wound on his side.

 

{Chu Youngjin?!}

Dark-Sound, who had been restraining Lan and Ryuk, shouted in confusion.

However, he couldn’t move. Having been on the cusp of death, Lan and Ryuk seemed to have noticed this was an opportunity and, in return, restrained Dark-Sound.

{Chu Youngjiiiiin!!!}

While hearing Dark-Sound’s shriek, Chu Youngjin rushed towards Dark-Soul, who hadn’t died yet.

His vision was dyed completely red. His karma dispersed like sand and couldn’t be gathered again.

He still didn’t stop. If he couldn’t gather and explode his karma, then he just needed to burn it up to cause an explosion.

It was normally an impossible feat. However, ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’, which was created as an absolute power to protect those within his grasp, granted him his wish of burning his life to squeeze out more strength. All the karma that made up his body boiled up. Hot steam gushed out from his entire body.

Rumble!

With his signature rumble, Chu Youngjin’s sword shot towards Dark-Soul.

 

{Wait! Wait!}

Having already been inflicted with a fatal wound and unable to get in position, Dark-Soul tried to buy some time, but Chu Youngjin didn’t give him the chance.

Pakang!

His first strike hit the tip of Dark-Soul’s spear, moving it aside.

Jjok!

His second attack slashed down against the suddenly raised spear handle.

Kakang, slice!

His blade slid down the handle and cut Dark-Soul’s fingers off.

Then he grabbed him by his collar.

{Kuak! No!}

He pierced his sword into his struggling neck.

{Keuk… Keuk…}

He twisted Dark-Soul’s neck, which was releasing a dark fog, cut it off, and threw it away.

 

{Chu Youngjin!!! Just why are you doing this?!!!}

Entangled by Lan and Ryuk, Dark-Sound could only bitterly scream.

Chu Youngjin looked at Dark-Sound and said with a voice hoarse from exhaustion,

“Since she died… Died a death… Worse than a dog’s”

Whirlwinds of rage and sorrow raged in his hollow eyes and then calmed.

{Ah…}

Dark-Sound was at a loss for words when he saw those eyes. There had been a time when he possessed such eyes.

He knew better than anyone because he had become a dog of Flame-Hell, who he hated the most, and had polished his grand scheme for an immeasurable amount of time for this resentment and sorrow.

That was why he understood Chu Youngjin’s reason.

That was also why he hadn’t know until now.

{Ha, haha… So I was mistaken. I… didn’t know.}

He was aware that Choi Hyuk and Chu Youngjin possessed an unimaginable amount of rage. However, his blunder was mistakenly believing their rage was similar to his.

He possessed a cold, calculated rage, one where he searched for the person responsible, took measures so that he wouldn’t lose everything after taking revenge, and acted like his mortal enemy’s slave.

Dark-Sound thought that Choi Hyuk and Chu Youngjin would be the same since they were tempered souls who had made it to the transcendent level.

{To think they would be so insane…}

Dark-Sound said in a dispirited voice.

He had a hunch regarding his fate.

Normally, he would be able to easily kill Chu Youngjin, but he was thoroughly exhausted after fighting against the four monster brothers. Even as they died, Lan and Ryuk clutched onto him as though they wanted to drag him down with them.

Above all, Chu Youngjin, who was steaming like he would melt away, was emitting such a powerful karma that he couldn’t comprehend it.

{To think… This is the end.}

The long time he had spent enduring while thinking about his grand scheme seemed to pass by like a kaleidoscope. He recalled the alliance’s discriminatory, cruel policies he agreed on so that he could earn Flame-Hell’s trust and create his own force.

So the time I spent enduring created monsters like them.

 

Dark-Sound saw the red blade that slashed through Ryuk, pierced through Lan’s head, and penetrated his chest. He couldn’t avoid it.

Pscht!

The sensation was terrifying. It felt like his soul was being pierced.

Releasing a black fog, Dark-Sound asked.

{So you killed us all in the end… Okay… Now what?}

{Your funeral. Though that’s not something I’ll be doing…}

Dark-Sound understood the situation when he heard the word ‘funeral’.

{Ke… ke… Crazy bastards.}

 

Slash!

 

Dark-Sound’s bitterly laughing face was vertically split in two. ‘Chu Youngjin’s Absolute’ slashed up from his chest and floated away. Chu Youngjin couldn’t hold his sword anymore.

His limbs no longer trembled. Instead, he couldn’t feel anything as though they had disappeared. Chu Youngjin’s eyes, which could no longer move as well, reflected the dead Dark-Sound, whose body had turned into a black fog, and the monsters’ slashed corpses.

The last thing Chu Youngjin’s gaze landed on before his eyes went completely blurry was the various worlds piled in the monsters’ universe.

This unfamiliar sight abruptly made him think that this couldn’t be real.

While the karma and strength he had accumulated until now dispersed, in a semi-conscious state, Chu Youngjin’s final thought was…

 

‘A terrible nightmare.’

 

**

During this time, Dark-Sound’s subjugation force achieved a great victory, and the ‘wall of laws’, where Chu Youngjin and Dark-Sound fought, cleared around the time they had almost completely annihilated the monsters.

{It is a great victory!}

Shiro, who was looking for Dark-Sound and Chu Youngjin with an excited voice, stood in place when she saw the center of what had been an intense battle.

{Huh…?}

Amongst the ripped and scattered corpses of the monster brothers…

Nothing moved.