Descent of The Demon Master [EN]: Chapter 2080

Clang!

Kang Jin-ho’s arm bent as if it would break.

Even though his arm was completely covered in demonic energy, the moment his arm and fist collided, the demonic energy, which he believed to be stronger than anything in the world, tore apart like paper.

Crack! Crrrack!

His bones screamed, and his flesh was torn. An unbelievable, searing pain surged through him.

Clearly, the Black King’s power was superior to his.

No, perhaps there wasn’t a single aspect where Kang Jin-ho could surpass him.

Clang!

Kang Jin-ho, who had directly received the Black King’s sword, was flung backward like a piece of paper. A torrent of red blood gushed from his mouth.

The Black King, charging with bloodshot eyes, looked no different from a demon crawling out of hell.

Yes. That was a collection of violence, or perhaps, the embodiment of obsession.

Having already reached the highest realm once, he clearly recognized the path he had to take, and for a hundred years, he pushed himself without a single moment of laziness. With a terrifying obsession that would drive an ordinary person insane just by harboring it.

It would be stranger if such a person wasn’t strong.

Yes, the Black King was strong.

Stronger than Kang Jin-ho.

Clang!

The demonic energy that flew in front of Kang Jin-ho exploded. A terrifying impact, making him doubt if his entire body had turned to dust, engulfed Kang Jin-ho.

“Cough!”

Blood gushed from his mouth incessantly.

‘He’s strong.’

He almost wanted to praise him.

The former Azure Demon, not the current Black King, was someone who didn’t step forward. He always enjoyed orchestrating everything from behind the scenes.

Therefore, the martial arts he had built up himself had no real use.

‘It’s ironic.’

A man who was more like a Demonic Cultist than anyone else, yet didn’t enjoy fighting. A man who said the world should be subjugated by force, yet didn’t want to crush his opponents with his own power.

Did that bastard know how strange that was?

‘He wouldn’t.’

A mass of contradictions.

That was the Azure Demon.

‘That I’m not suited to be a martial artist?’

Yes, maybe so.

But Kang Jin-ho didn’t think that was a reason for him not to participate in this battle.

It was the same for him.

The Azure Demon was also not suited to be a martial artist.

‘No, in the first place, none of us are.’

The returnees were all people who were not suited to be martial artists. If they had truly strong minds and unwavering wills, there was no way they would have committed suicide.

They were just afraid.

Humans don’t know until they experience it that their own laziness, their own choices, can push them into such hellish despair.

Yes.

Returnees were just losers. They were able to move forward again because they had experienced a terrible failure.

Human nature doesn’t change so easily.

Most returnees repeat their first lives and fade away. Perhaps there are many more in this world who are living their third lives, yet living no differently from their first.

Because not only martial artists are returnees.

In that sense, the Black King was the king of returnees. And…

The king of losers.

“Sect Leader!”

Clang!

A storm of black demonic energy tore Kang Jin-ho’s body to shreds. It felt as if an obsession stronger than demonic energy was swallowing Kang Jin-ho.

In that pain, Kang Jin-ho looked at the Black King charging at him.

He must have been alone all this time.

Always.

The burden he carried was too much for anyone to bear. But the Black King had to carry that burden somehow. Because he wouldn’t be able to endure it otherwise.

The result was here.

The Black King, who had discarded and shaved off everything that could be called ‘himself,’ and had become the embodiment of obsession and power, was right here.

‘Damn it.’

A demonic energy sword exploded from Kang Jin-ho’s hand.

Kang Jin-ho, who had kicked off the air, charged towards the Black King at light speed.

“Azure Demoooon!”

That sight was pathetically sad.

So, he had to stop him.

Because he knew, Kang Jin-ho knew better than anyone when humans felt despair.

After achieving all of this, would the Black King really be able to close his eyes, proud of what he had accomplished?

Absolutely not.

He had abandoned everything. All that was left was a shell. If he were to defeat Kang Jin-ho and enforce his will, he would have to discard even that remaining shell.

And he would fail.

Terribly.

The wheel of history, once it starts turning, cannot be stopped by anyone. The Black King would sink within the walls he had built, along with the kingdom he had created.

On that lonely throne, with no one to stand by his side.

Kang Jin-ho couldn’t hate the Black King.

He didn’t feel animosity towards him.

But his will to stop the Black King was stronger than at any other time in his life.

Clang!

Kang Jin-ho’s sword and the Black King’s sword collided head-on.

Even in the pain that felt like his entire body was being crushed, Kang Jin-ho faced the Black King.

‘If that power is so prideful, and if you are so sure of the path you are taking!’

Crack!

And at that moment, Kang Jin-ho’s sword flowed sideways like water, deflecting the Black King’s sword diagonally.

‘Then why are you making that face, you stupid bastard!’

He looked like a clown.

He was smiling, but he wasn’t really smiling. That smile was just a tool to hide his emotions.

Just as Kang Jin-ho had lived, hiding his emptiness and despair with a blank expression, the Black King was now hiding his rotting insides with a smile and composure.

Rather. Yes, rather…

He looked like a crying child.

The Black King’s sword struck down at Kang Jin-ho again.

Kang Jin-ho also met the Black King’s sword head-on once more.

Power against power!

Two people, gathering all their strength, unleashed their all-out attacks at each other.

‘Azure Demon!’

Kang Jin-ho’s eyes flashed with a chilling light at that moment.

Clearly, the Black King was strong.

If they fought properly, Kang Jin-ho would not be able to match the Black King. Because the time he had accumulated and the time Kang Jin-ho had accumulated were too different. If he had been given twenty years, no, even ten years more, he would have been able to face the Black King, but he had moved too quickly.

No, perhaps all of that was part of the Black King’s calculations.

Even if Kang Jin-ho were to stop him, he would have started everything at the moment when he could definitely win. That was what the Azure Demon was like.

But…

‘There’s one thing you missed.’

Before the swords even touched, black demonic energy sparks spread like lightning in all directions. In that very moment, when the superhumans who were watching from afar flinched to withstand the ensuing terrifying impact.

Boom!

The Black King’s eyes widened.

Kang Jin-ho’s sword, which had been explosively flying towards him, had vanished into thin air as if it had been extinguished.

‘What?’

The Black King, who had unleashed his sword with all his might, couldn’t stop his own sword. Instead of colliding with Kang Jin-ho’s sword, his sword fiercely slashed through the air.

And at that moment.

Kang Jin-ho’s right hand plunged into the Black King’s completely exposed side.

Thud!

His hand tore through skin, pierced flesh, and crushed bone as it embedded itself.

“Ugh…”

Pain he had never imagined, and the intense foreign sensation of something piercing his body!

The Black King’s jaw dropped open.

But before that pain and foreign sensation could even subside, the Black King trembled from the pain that felt like his entire body was on fire. Kang Jin-ho’s demonic energy had begun to flow through his body.

The Black King, the most powerful man in the world, screamed from the pain that felt like ants were gnawing at his entire body.

“Aaaaaaah!”

Clang!

Kang Jin-ho was struck in the face by his reflexively swung hand and was knocked backward.

“Kuh!”

The Black King looked at his side.

A large hole was gaping in his side. A hole so large that it was a miracle his intestines weren’t spilling out.

The Black King, clutching his side, looked at Kang Jin-ho with trembling eyes. The Black King, who was about to kick off the ground with boiling hatred, cowered as a terrible pain struck him again the moment he moved his body.

“You’re strong.”

Kang Jin-ho struggled to get up.

His trembling voice clearly showed that he was also reaching his limit.

But his eyes remained as deep and calm as ever.

“…Stronger than me. Perhaps stronger than anyone until now.”

“Th-this…”

Kang Jin-ho, who had risen to his feet, wiped the blood flowing down his face with his hand. His face was so battered that it was hard to recognize his original features.

“And that’s…”

Kang Jin-ho’s chilling gaze pierced through the Black King.

“The reason why you’re going to lose.”

The Black King looked at Kang Jin-ho with a face that showed he didn’t understand.

“…What nonsense are you spouting? Did you lose your mind, Sect Leader?”

He was stronger than anyone, but because of that, he would lose. It was a contradictory statement.

“Because you’re too strong.”

Kang Jin-ho said nonchalantly.

“You were able to become this strong.”

“And it wouldn’t have been just this time. You could have become stronger than me in your previous lives as well.”

Suspicion clouded the Black King’s face.

So what?

“Yet, you didn’t.”

“…Because there was no need.”

The Black King bit his lip.

“Because you can’t do anything with your own power. What I needed was the power to change the world, not the power to rise alone.”

“That doesn’t matter.”

Kang Jin-ho grinned, revealing his teeth.

“What’s important is that your goal was just to survive. Because you have a goal you must achieve. Because you can’t die. Because you can’t get away with saying you failed in a fight.”

“…Isn’t that too obvious?”

“Yes, that’s right. It’s too obvious.”

The Azure Demon had always only fought battles he could win.

That was why the Demonic Cult had never lost, and Kang Jin-ho had also lost his life in a trap set by the Azure Demon. If the Azure Demon hadn’t been careless at that moment, the Azure Demon would have remained the victor in that history.

And it was the same for the Black King.

He had waited so long. To eliminate all variables, he could have started the fight at any time when the world was weaker than it was now, but he waited and waited. Until the moment when all variables disappeared and he could achieve a perfect victory.

That meant that the Black King was someone who was already fighting a battle he had won.

“So, you wouldn’t have, would you? You wouldn’t have ever fought a battle where you risked your life.”

The Black King closed his mouth and looked at Kang Jin-ho.

“It’s not a matter of will.”

Kang Jin-ho pulled out his sword from his hand.

“What’s important isn’t will or anything like that. It’s that you don’t have the experience. The experience of risking your life and fighting an opponent.”

“You didn’t do it when you could, and you couldn’t have done it in this world. Because it would have been impossible to meet a worthy opponent in this era where martial artists have become so weak.”

Even the Twelve Heavenly Demon Generals were nothing more than entertainment for the Black King.

The Black King might not have been strong from the beginning, but he was the one who returned to this world first and started preparing first. The gap between him and those who followed him would never have been closed.

“So, right now, you are…”

Kang Jin-ho twisted his lips.

“Just a beginner with a lot of power. That’s what will destroy you, Azure Demon.”

Kang Jin-ho walked.

The path he had walked. The paths where he had thrown himself away were now pushing Kang Jin-ho’s shoulders.

MArtial arts were about building up.

All the experiences he had accumulated were contained in this fist.

“Know why you’re losing before you die.”

Kang Jin-ho stomped the ground like a king.