Chapter 924
Episode 230: Invasion and Assault (5)
“Just now, Paelito didn’t unleash his full power against Lord Hedo. He focused all his killing intent on me while attacking Hedo.”
Yet, despite that, Hedo nearly suffered a fatal wound.
He could have died. If Paelito had directed all his hatred at Hedo, there’s no doubt he would have been mortally injured or killed.
Naturally, Paelito was the strongest among everyone on the battlefield.
But the reason the gap felt so vast was because the group barely knew Paelito. They had almost no idea what kind of swordsmanship he used or how he wielded his power.
They had some information from Biceps and Orgaro, but it wasn’t detailed.
“That black sword that almost killed Lord Hedo just now had the ability to disrupt the senses. Hedo thought his stance was broken and tried to fix it forcibly, which left an opening.”
Before Hedo could explain, Jin had already grasped the nature of the Azure Sword. All four of them facing Paelito had done the same.
Just moments ago, Vain Ayula’s spear completely disintegrated into particles and vanished somewhere. The remaining spears hovered around Paelito, ready to strike at any moment, while Hedo kept his distance to check his wounds.
Fortunately, there was no poison detected at the injury site. The fight could continue without issue.
Crunch…!
Every time Paelito released his demonic energy, the ground trembled. Rocks shattered into dust, and the group felt their bodies grow heavy.
As soon as Paelito’s sword moved again, Ayula’s spears reacted instantly.
Spears plunged down at a speed that distorted space, mixing with the sword energy radiating from Paelito’s will.
He was strong.
Not just strong—if he weren’t under Gito’s control, Jin would want to show him nothing but respect and admiration. Jin couldn’t understand how someone this powerful could fail to resist Gito’s brainwashing.
“For Gito, I would gladly sacrifice not only Sakiel but myself as well. That is the truest destiny of us Jinma demons.”
Two more spears vanished in an instant, and Jin slipped past Paelito’s side, launching a lightning-fast thrust.
A sharp blue flash grazed Paelito’s ear—less than a finger’s width off. But it wasn’t a near miss.
It was a massive miss, so wide it made Jin question if it was even possible to close the gap. Not only Jin’s attack, but those from Murakan, Hedo, and Dante all missed like this.
It felt like they were striking at illusions.
The group was overwhelmed by Paelito in every way—strength, speed, destructive power. The Azure Sword’s constant sensory disruption made it even worse.
Facing the Azure Sword, they had to doubt themselves every moment.
Were their senses truly intact? Even the four, hailed as superhumans among superhumans, couldn’t trust their own perception.
That’s why people like Hedo kept losing their stance. Each time, their comrades and Ayula’s spears protected them, but if the battle continued like this, victory would inevitably go to Paelito.
“I heard from Orgaro that you were once the leader of the Jinma resistance against Gito. That pathetic fatalism is nothing but a way to justify your own corruption.”
Crack!
Jin deflected an Ayula spear that bounced toward him. Barely blocking Paelito’s rushing strike, he caught sight of his opponent’s eyes—dark and gleaming with rage and hatred.
‘…Demonic Eye!’
Jin couldn’t tell exactly what effect the Demonic Eye had.
But his body’s warning signals were clear. He averted his gaze and put distance between them, while his comrades threw themselves into the gap to cover him.
“Ugh…!”
But he hadn’t fully evaded. Suddenly, violet spears forged from demonic energy formed in midair, raining down solely on Jin.
Replication.
It was the power of the Belgasium family’s unique ‘Abyssal Eye.’ What Paelito had just duplicated were Ayula’s spears.
‘He’s replicating through the Demonic Eye. The copies don’t have the full power of the real Ayula’s spears, so I can fend them off and keep fighting. But the problem is that he can keep replicating other powers through the Demonic Eye.’
As Jin thought this, Paelito was already duplicating the spiritual energy barrier Murakan had created. The black and violet barriers overlapped, distorting both forces.
The replicated barrier even emitted the black chains. Though weaker than the original, it was still no small threat.
Not as strong as the original, but powerful enough to be called a deadly technique that could take the life of a typical superhuman.
“This isn’t corruption—it’s finding one’s rightful place. If the world hadn’t been so chaotic, Sakiel would never have died. Especially not at the hands of mere humans.”
Only one spear remained now.
But it no longer held any meaning. While nineteen spears had shattered, Paelito hadn’t allowed a single effective hit on that last one.
The replicated spears weren’t injuring Jin, but if Paelito pressed his attack, Jin wouldn’t escape without wounds.
They needed more people.
That thought flashed through Jin’s mind. The four who had come as reinforcements from the Holy Empire wouldn’t be enough to finish Paelito.
Looking back, ‘Changsung’ was that kind of realm—one where it was unimaginable to fall into disadvantage, no matter the situation.
Shiron was like that, and so was Ban. Jin couldn’t picture either of them being pushed back, even if the entire allied superhuman force fought one of them.
The actual fight might differ, but just from expectations and perception, it was impossible to imagine.
An unfathomably strong existence—that was the realm called Changsung.
‘I’m on the verge of Changsung myself, so I thought maybe with comrades like these, I could break him. But the worlds are just too different.’
Different worlds.
No matter how close he came, no matter how similar their power levels, Changsung and below were different worlds.
The same things looked different, the same phenomena felt different. The gap between Paelito’s combat senses and those of Jin’s group was that vast.
At least Jin had experienced Ban’s senses—undoubtedly the strongest Changsung ever—so he could somewhat trace Paelito’s perspective in battle.
He also had a firm conviction.
‘The Demonic Eye that copies power and the black sword that disrupts senses are definitely dangerous, but compared to my father or the Twin Demons, they feel crude. The brainwashing lowered his caliber.’
If he kept digging into that fact, the answer would start to emerge.
‘For now, I’ll avoid fatal wounds and hold out until the sisters and other allied superhumans finish clearing the territory and send reinforcements.’
Ziiing!
Dante’s Heavenly Slash blocked Paelito’s charge toward Jin. Dante parried the counterattack with his dragon sword armor and swung Rashid again.
Everyone shared the same thought. Dante thought of his grandfather, Hedo of Shiron, Murakan of Temar, all measuring Paelito.
They were relieved that he was weaker than those legends. That meant they could somehow defeat him—whether by waiting for reinforcements, provoking his brainwashed mind, or smashing through with everything they had.
Twin Demon Unification.
That was the first thing that came to their minds. If the Twin Demons, who had overwhelmed even the Tyrant God, united, they could turn the tide in an instant.
But Paelito had come to the Holy Empire fully aware of that.
Blocking communication and spatial leaps meant the entire ‘wave tracking’ system was cut off. Twin Demon Unification relied on wave tracking principles, so until the block was lifted, they couldn’t even attempt it.
“Even when you faced the Tyrant God born in Inse, you borrowed a power humans should never have—the power of the Pluto clan’s heir called Ban. I can accept the Pluto clan having that power. They were born with such a fate. But you humans dare to challenge me, the Ultimate Demon?”
Thoom!
Paelito’s strike pinned Jin down. While holding his stance to block, Jin felt two replicated spears graze his ribs and thigh. If his comrades hadn’t altered their trajectories, those would have been serious wounds.
“Kaaah…!”
Paelito and Jin’s energies clashed, causing explosions that erased the surrounding terrain. The comrades screamed and charged, desperate to separate Paelito from Jin.
“How long do you think it took me to reach the Ultimate Demon? Over ten thousand years. We built our power before your kind even appeared, and we fought relentlessly through humanity’s cycles of destruction and rebirth. In that long, distant history, only two have reached the Ultimate Demon—myself included.”
Crack!
The ground beneath Jin crumbled.
“But in human history, more than four Ultimate Demons have already appeared. Born with such fragile bodies and lifespans barely a hundred years… This is chaos. You might feel wronged—you’re just living your natural lives, and suddenly those who preach order come to oppress you.”
“Ha, you know me well… Paelito.”
“But you too will kill ants if they settle in your city, and crush slaves if they rebel. You deny fate and order, but only accept them when it benefits you. That’s why absolute order is necessary.”
Boom! Crackle!
At last, the comrades broke through Paelito’s sword strikes and reached Jin.
Seizing the moment, Jin shoved Paelito back, but even then, Paelito lunged once more, his blade grazing Jin’s cheek. A streak of bright red blood splattered.
As Paelito retreated, Jin amplified the psychic energy in his mind.
He was preparing to unleash the Reign of the Underworld Sword. His plan was to erase the duplicated spears created by the Reign and restrict the battlefield, preventing Paelito from rampaging recklessly.
But moments later, Jin flinched, clutching his mind in shock.
‘The psychic energy… it’s not forming!’
—“He’s Paelito Velgasium. In the demon realm, they call him the Sword Demon. The sword he wields, Vaskala, has the power to nullify other abilities. He defeated me before I could even properly use my skills.”
Suddenly, Orgal’s words echoed in Jin’s mind.
Jin had been aware of this fact throughout the fight, but he never imagined that Vaskala could block even the power of his psychic energy.
From Jin’s perspective, this was no mere ability—it was his very own strength. In fact, he had been able to use it without issue until just moments ago.
Paelito, expressionless, spoke coldly.
“Didn’t I tell you, Jin Runkandel? Humans neither deserve nor have the right to wield such power.”