Whoosh!
The blue ice storm subsided, and Wrath's appearance was revealed.
Raon swallowed nervously and narrowed his eyes.
'…Is that what Wrath normally looks like?'
The most noticeable part was his eyes. The light blue eyes were thin and deep at the same time, and they were shining faintly—like glass beads.
The distinct facial features, despite the thin contours, attracted the gaze like a blackhole.
'He wasn't lying back then.'
It was questionable whether he had the best appearance in Devildom, but it would've been difficult to find anyone in the continent who matched up to him.
Even though Raon wasn't really interested in aesthetics, he could describe him as mysterious or beautiful, rather than pretty or handsome.
'I can't believe that is the gluttonous cotton candy's true form.'
It was his first time seeing someone's appearance and personality being discordant to such an extent. Raon thought that he needed to reconsider his prejudices about people's appearance.
'I wonder what Encia would say if she saw him.'
He suddenly got curious about what Encia would say about Wrath.
However, as a flaw in the crystal, there were two regrettable aspects.
First was his clothes. Wrath was wearing navy blue clothes that were rumpled and trailing like an angel in the legend.
Second was the fact that he didn't have any horns or wings. A demon king, in his imagination, had black horns and wings—but he didn't have either.
"It's been a really long time since the last time I took this form."
Wrath smiled faintly while uncurling his long and white fingers. He slowly raised his eyes to look at him.
"I had to go through all kinds of shit because of you."
"Is that your true form?"
"Indeed. The King of Essence has the best appearance in Devildom, just like he said. Don't you agree?"
"I can't tell because I've never been to Devildom."
Raon tilted his head mildly.
"Hmph, he knew you would say that, since you know nothing about aesthetics despite having that face."
Wrath frowned, and the impact of a hammer striking his head stormed throughout his body.
Wrath didn't even attack him. Raon felt like his heart skipped a beat when all he did was increase his wrathful pressure.
'What is this…?'
He even forgot to breathe from the unbelievable pressure. He breathed out roughly with a frown on his face.
"You should already be feeling it. The King of Essence's power is different from before."
"What have you done?"
They were in the spiritual world, created from the clash of souls between himself and Loctar. It should've been impossible for Wrath to exhibit power surpassing the amount of wrath he currently had.
He couldn't understand how he managed to come into possession of that much willpower.
"Insects tend to consider the soul and body separately, but the soul and body are bound to be together in the end."
Wrath raised his chin and looked down on his ignorance.
"The King of Essence materialized his soul in the shape of his original body and became capable of using a portion of his original authority."
He took another step forward. The powerful coldness and wrath emerging from beneath him made Raon's chin tremble.
"The King of Essence had to make a huge sacrifice, but it worked out in the end. He will be able to make up for all of the losses by taking over your body right now."
Wrath smiled coldly and stomped the ground. An unfathomable amount of wrath and coldness emerged in a wave.
Thud!
Before he could sense anything, huge glacial mountains burst from his sides and from behind him.
"Huh…"
Raon rolled his eyes with trembling lips. The huge frozen mountain was touching his shoulder. He would've already lost his arm if it had appeared an inch to the side.
'It burst out? Is that really what happened?'
He honestly didn't even manage to see how the glacial mountain burst out.
That meant he would've already died and disappeared if Wrath were trying to achieve that.
"You don't need to worry about it."
Wrath curved his lips into a smile while spinning his finger. He was sneering like always, but he looked elegant because of his appearance.
"The King of Essence is merciful. He won't let it end until he manages to make up for all of the grief he's had to experience so far."
"That's not called mercy. That's cruelty."
"That might be the case."
Even before his laughing voice ended, the huge amount of frost emerging from Wrath's feet flooded onto Raon like a tidal wave.
"Kuh…"
Raon bit his lip while unleashing the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.
'It would be a mistake to believe he would be the same as before.'
The wave had the same size as when Wrath used to look like cotton candy, but the energy incorporated inside of it was on a completely different level. It was definitely impossible to stop it with the same amount of power he'd used before.
Rumble!
Raon rotated the seven rings of fire at the same time and unleashed the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. He figured he could end up dying if he made the slightest mistake and decided to go all out from the beginning.
Crack!
Raon grit his teeth. He poured all his energy into Heavenly Drive's blade to unleash the Flame Dragon Art.
Wham!
The flame breath gushing from the silver blade advanced forward to clash against the wave of frost coming from Wrath.
Rumble!
The wave of frost didn't melt down as easily as before. It was pushing back the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's fire instead, despite the maximized output of the Ring of Fire.
"Kuh…"
'I won't last at this rate.'
Switching to a different technique or using footwork wasn't an option either. He needed to find a way to somehow escape the attack while using the Flame Dragon Art.
'Focus. I need to somehow… huh?'
'That's right. Focus.'
Raon nodded. The usual Flame Dragon Art was never going to last. What he needed was to focus the power on a single spot.
Rumble!
He condensed the power of the Flame Dragon Art to the size of his shoulder's width. The focused output started to slowly push back Wrath's coldness.
Whap!
The areas that the Flame Dragon Art was unable to cover had turned into a blue hill from the storming coldness.
"Haah!"
Raon gasped for breath and frowned. He would've become a part of the frozen hill if he hadn't managed to stop the wave of ice. It was terrifying to even think about it.
"I don't understand. We are currently in the mental world, so how did you manage to get so much power just from shaping yourself into your main body?"
Raon frowned while looking at the smiling Wrath.
"The King of Essence told you about this before, but the body is the dwelling of a soul, and a settlement. Without a proper body, even the King of Essence is incapable of using his true strength. Even a demon king's soul requires a shape similar to his body to use his power."
Wrath wagged his finger. He was doing the same thing as always, but he didn't look funny anymore and only made Raon nervous because of the different appearance and prowess he had.
"Don't worry. The King of Essence has no intention of killing you."
"What?"
"Considering all the time we spent together, he will lock you up in a corner to repay all of the humiliation he had to endure."
He opened his arm once again. The ground started to shake, and frozen spikes burst out.
Whaap!
Raon swung down his sword with the Revolving Sky of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. Even though the spikes clashed against the blade of fire, only a few of them were cut off.
'It's impossible to cut all of them.'
'I should dodge them instead.'
Raon used the Supreme Harmony Steps to withdraw. However, the ice spikes emerged wherever he set foot on to attack his soul.
"Tsk."
Raon briefly clicked his tongue, then used the Supreme Harmony's second step to escape the area where the spikes kept appearing.
"You are so slow."
Wrath turned his hand around, and the frozen spikes started falling from the sky instead.
"Damn it!"
Raon stomped the ground and thrust Heavenly Drive towards the sky. He unleashed the Heavenly Heavy Cannon by maximizing the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation's output.
Creak!
The powerful gravity created by the Heavenly Heavy Cannon gathered all of the ice pieces trying to kill Raon.
Wham!
Raon made the Heavenly Heavy Cannon explode the moment the hundreds of spikes gathered in one spot to destroy all of them at once.
"Huff…"
Raon bent his knees slightly while grasping his chest from the nausea. His head was feeling dizzy from spending too much willpower at once.
"The King of Essence had a great idea."
"What is it this time…?"
"The King of Essence is going to start eating mint chocolates three times a day instead of meals as soon as he takes over your body. It's great to just think about it!"
He licked his lips, showing how excited he was to carry out his plan.
"That's a humble dream coming from a demon king."
"He doesn't mind it being humble as long as it can make you suffer!"
Wrath snapped his fingers with a grin on his face. Blue clouds appeared in the sky and countless raindrops started pouring down from them.
'That's…'
Raon's hands were trembling. Every single raindrop was a powerful frost, capable of piercing through his soul.
'It's impossible to block them.'
However, it was also preposterous to try dodging them, because the cloud was covering the entire area.
'But I still have to do something about them.'
He couldn't let them turn him into an ice skewer without trying anything. He gritted his teeth and used the Supreme Harmony's second step.
Thud!
The frozen rain created by Wrath changed its direction to where Raon was moving, as if it was expecting Raon to move.
"You are running like a rat under the rain. What a sight you are!"
Wrath covered his stomach and giggled. Although his vulgar laughter didn't match his good looks, it also matched him perfectly at the same time.
"Do you want to know an interesting fact?"
"An interesting fact?"
"This world could be the hint about the Sword Field Creation that you've wanted to learn so much."
"What are you saying…?"
Raon's focus shattered from the sudden mention of the Sword Field Creation.
"The advanced technique that you humans call Sword Field Creation consists in materializing your world through your sword. That's why this mental world, where you can achieve anything with imagination, can be the foundation of the Sword Field Creation. Of course…"
Wrath snickered and shook his hand.
"It would be impossible for you, who is being crushed by the King of Essence."
He created even more frost while telling him it was the reason he explained so much to him. The increased amount of rainfall almost fell like the sky had turned into a turbulent ocean.
'He was just trying to make fun of me.'
Raon bit his lips to the brim. The damned demon king was talking about the Sword Field Creation in order to obstruct his focus and make fun of him.
Pssh!
The falling rain brushed past his left arm, and the resulting pain felt like his entire body was being stabbed by a blade instead of just his shoulder. He could guess that his entire body was hurting because his soul was forming his body.
'I won't be able to escape at this rate… Hmm?'
Raon turned around to use footwork again before his eyes widened. Fire was spreading beneath the frozen mountains and hills that Wrath had created with his first attack.
'That flame…'
It was the flame of his soul that he'd created in order to take over the space when he started the fight against Loctar. That ember wasn't being reduced in size despite Wrath's ice, and it kept spreading even further.
'Why is it not disappearing?'
His willpower was far weaker compared to the wrath and ice coming from Wrath. He couldn't understand why the flame wasn't fading away despite being under the ice's influence.
'No way…'
Raon narrowed his eyes while watching the giggling Wrath and Loctar kneeling in front of the collapsed castle.
'Is it because he's not the owner of this space?'
A hypothesis came to his mind.
The world was created from the clash of minds between himself and Loctar, and Loctar had already admitted his defeat. That was probably making the world Raon's, regardless of Wrath—who was nothing but an intruder.
'Yes, he also mentioned something like that.'
When Wrath arrived in that space for the first time, he did say that he wasn't really related to the place.
'Which means… I just need to last until the fire covers the castle, and…'
'I'll be able to escape from Wrath.'
"You won't be able to last for long if you keep dozing off like that."
Along with Wrath's sneer, a wave of frost emerged from the ground. The ice shower falling from the top and the wave of frost emerging from the bottom were a disaster on top of a disaster.
'I won't be able to dodge them.'
Raon stopped running. He judged that it was impossible to dodge Wrath's attack with his current level of martial art.
'Even then…'
'There's still something I can do.'
If he was really capable of achieving anything through imagination in that space, he just needed to use something other than martial arts.
Raon caught his breath and extended his left foot. What he imagined was the strongest warrior, Glenn Zieghart. He thought about the day he taught him the Supreme Harmony Steps.
The single step capable of bringing him anywhere in the world.
Even though he wasn't able to achieve that step in real life, he thought about his step and kicked the ground.
Whoosh!
His footstep didn't simply fold the space—it distorted the laws of reality to leap through the space and reach Wrath's back in an instant.
It was a single step. He managed to dodge all of the ice that Wrath had unleashed with a single step.
"How is this happening…?"
Wrath turned his head and his eyes widened in surprise.
"You are the same Wrath I know."
Raon nodded with an exhausted smile on his face.
"You are indeed the Giving Wrath. After all, you just gave a trial and a hint at the same time."
Even though his frost was engulfing the entire space, he still told him how to escape the situation. Although his appearance was different, he was the same Wrath, the Giving Tree, like before.
"Shut up. This is nothing but entertainment for the King of Essence."
Wrath stretched out both of his hands. A blue light glimmered from his hands, and countless storms of frost emerged from the ground and the sky.
Rumble!
The storms clashed against each other to become even bigger and more powerful.
"You will never be able to stop this one!"
"You are right about that. But I can just dodge it instead."
"You won't be able to!"
Wrath started moving his finger to directly control the storms.
"We will see."
Raon wiped off the cold sweat flowing down from his forehead and extended his right foot. The Supreme Harmony's second step advanced like a ray of light to evade the storm covering the entire space.
"Hmm!"
Wrath changed the shape of his coldness to try attacking Raon's soul, but he managed to reenact Glenn's Supreme Harmony Steps to escape the affected area every single time.
'I knew this was going to work.'
Glenn's Supreme Harmony Steps were advanced enough to make Wrath admire them to the point that he had even wanted to learn it for himself. The way it mysteriously managed to dodge all of the coldness covering the entire world was to be expected from such an amazing technique.
"Haa."
Wrath frowned while exhaling a cold breath.
"It was a mistake. The King of Essence ended up giving you some leeway."
"It's too late to feel regret."
Even though it was only in the mental world, he was capable of using Glenn's Supreme Harmony Steps. Raon was confident that he could escape, regardless of what Wrath tried to do.
"No, it's not too late."
Wrath pointed at the sky with his right hand and pointed to the ground with his left.
Rumble!
The two hands slowly gathered in the middle, and waves of frost appeared from the sky and the ground at the same time. The large-scale attack was leaving no room for Raon to escape, neither into the sky nor on land.
"You won't be able to avoid an attack like this."
Wrath's mouth curved into a wide smile, believing that Raon would be finished with that attack.
"Don't worry. He won't kill you, just like he said before. You will stay alive inside the King of Essence!"
"Haa…"
Raon sighed while looking at the ceiling of frost that started to touch his head.
"Wahahahaha! That's such a funny expression that you are making! His revenge is finally coming to pass—huh?"
Wrath burst into laughter, but suddenly stopped. When Raon lowered his head, his face was smiling instead of being filled with despair.
"You…"
"No, I was right that it's already too late."
Raon returned his sword to his scabbard with an easygoing smile on his face.
"It's pointless to bluff! If you get crushed like this, you won't be able to… Ehh?"
Wrath tried to point his finger at Raon before his lips parted.
'Why are they so short?'
His long and beautiful arms and fingers were short, and his legs weren't even there anymore. The small, blue hand told him that he'd returned to the shape that usually got bullied by Raon.
"Ugh… What is this? Why am I looking like this?!"
He couldn't understand how his body suddenly returned to its original shape when he was just about to mess Raon up.
"What did you even do?!"
"It's over."
Raon snickered and pointed to the ground. The frozen land and the palace that was brought by Loctar's soul were gone, and Zieghart's buildings—including the annex building—were the only ones left in the space.
"The master of this space has been decided."
His flame devoured the world after Loctar admitted his defeat, resulting in the disappearance of Wrath's power, which required the shape of his main body.
"Because you are just an outsider in this space."
"Ah…"
Wrath also understood the situation and scratched the back of his hand with an awkward smile on his face.
"H-How did you find it? Did you enjoy the King of Essence's joke? Ehehe!"
"You are the perfect size for a beating."
Raon clenched his fists and walked towards Wrath.
"H-Hey, the King of Essence just wanted to eat mint chocolat…."
"Let's talk about it after the beating."