Chapter 172
'H-how...?'
Arabis unconsciously took a step back as he watched the Demon Soul Restriction crumble so easily.
It was understandable, as the Demon Soul Restriction was a power that even noble demons found troublesome.
In fact, when used at full power, the Demon Soul Restriction had once immobilized noble-ranked demons for dozens of minutes.
Although his body wasn't in perfect condition due to consecutive injuries, it shouldn't have been a power that could be broken so easily.
'But what on earth is this...?'
It had completely collapsed in less than a minute.
Fear.
Where was the limit of this being wearing a human's disguise?
All the senses in his body sent danger signals running down his spine.
He felt a pressure that made it seem like his legs would give out at any moment.
However, Arabis's experience and will as a demon held his mind together.
'Stay calm. Surely... he must be at his limit too.'
As mentioned earlier, the Demon Soul Restriction was a concentration of demonic energy.
To forcibly break through it with sheer power would inevitably consume a considerable amount of energy and stamina.
It meant his physical condition couldn't be normal.
'If I flee right now... he won't be able to chase me.'
Having finished his calculations, Arabis moved his spread wings and took to the air.
At a glance, it seemed he had secured a minimum safe distance, but Arabis's expression was far from good.
He could sense it instinctively.
'This... this is impossible...'
He had expected there to be no strength left.
Anyone would have made the same assumption.
But what was this situation?
'...I can't escape.'
There was no opportunity to flee.
He was no different from prey caught in a spider's web.
The entire surrounding area was within the domain, the sphere of influence, of this monster-like human.
Trapped within Lee Seong-jun's domain, all Arabis could do was look around with an expression of shock.
'He still has strength left after breaking the Demon Soul Restriction...?'
Without sensation in his mouth, he couldn't speak directly, but Arabis's face conveyed his thoughts clearly enough.
Thanks to this, Lee Seong-jun nodded, acknowledging Arabis's confusion.
"I admit, you can't help but be puzzled."
To be honest, even Lee Seong-jun himself was amazed.
'This recovery ability is truly unbelievable.'
The most surprising aspect of the recent reward, 'Achievement: Elemental Dominator', was its recovery ability.
Literally, thanks to the constantly rising internal energy, despite unleashing an absurd amount of blood energy, the actual blood energy he could use had only decreased by half of what it was before.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that his internal energy had nearly doubled.
However, since Arabis had no way of knowing Lee Seong-jun's physical condition, he could only continue to be confused.
'W-what... what on earth is this-!'
While Arabis was inwardly screaming in near despair, Lee Seong-jun had no intention of kindly explaining his physical condition in detail.
"...Judging by your reaction, it seems you have no more hidden abilities."
Lee Seong-jun extended his hand towards the air repeatedly.
Sensing instinctive danger, Arabis immediately tried to fly away with his wings.
But it was a meaningless struggle.
Babababam!
Lee Seong-jun's strikes, which seemed to be aimed at empty air, were actually hitting all over Arabis's body.
"Kuuuurgh-!"
The strikes themselves weren't particularly powerful, so he could endure them sufficiently.
However, the immediate pain wasn't what mattered.
"...?!"
Arabis, his eyes wide open, hurriedly rolled his eyeballs to examine his own body.
This was because the endlessly gushing demonic energy had suddenly been blocked.
No, it wasn't just the demonic energy.
His body became immobile, as if bound by restraints.
As Arabis failed to hide his bewilderment at the sudden change, Lee Seong-jun's voice, accompanied by a smirk, echoed in his ears from the ground.
"I mixed a bit of your clan's ability with the Distant Acupoint Strike... but come to think of it, since you don't know what Distant Acupoint Strike is, there's no point in explaining."
Since it had struck the acupoints, if he were human, he would have died instantly.
However, the demon body, similar yet different from humans, doesn't die just from having its meridians blocked.
At best, it would only temporarily immobilize the body.
But that was enough.
"Let's end this now."
Blood energy surged throughout Lee Seong-jun's body.
As he extended his hand, that blood energy began to rotate rapidly, creating a massive whirlpool of blood centered on Arabis.
'Myriad Blood Demon Sea, Severing Grass, Soul Destroying Sword, Transformation, Trace of Annihilation Flower.'
The Soul Destroying Sword was a martial art solely for destroying the enemy.
But by transforming it and unleashing it as an ultimate technique, an even more threatening killing technique could be deployed.
Of course, as it was a martial art unleashed as an ultimate technique, it consumed a massive amount of blood energy, so normally it couldn't be used in a body condition that had just fought consecutive battles like this.
However, with the internal energy recovery speed achieved through the achievement 'Elemental Dominator', he could sufficiently handle it.
Indeed, Lee Seong-jun, controlling the raging red whirlpool, was extending his hand without hesitation.
Whoosh!
With the sound of a fierce wind, Lee Seong-jun's hand came slashing down.
"Uwaaaaagh-!"
Arabis, terrified by the might of the blood energy whirlpool raging all around, let out a scream of despair.
However, he felt no actual physical pain.
"...?!"
In the silence that followed, a bright smile spread across Arabis's face as he confirmed his body was still unchanged.
'As, as expected...! Right after breaking the Demon Soul Restriction, there's no way he'd have strength left. He was just putting on a brave face and enduring.'
Clearly, the thought that came to mind seemed to be the correct conclusion.
But why didn't the fear lodged in a corner of his heart dissipate?
'It's, it's just an illusion. It's just... that I've become timid from successive defeats.'
As Arabis kept shaking his head, forcibly pushing away the rising fear, a sneer spread across Lee Seong-jun's lips.
"How ignorant, to not even recognize the death approaching right before your eyes..."
As Lee Seong-jun's chilling words pierced his ears, it happened.
Wooong-!
The blood energy that had spread out in all directions began to resonate, changing its form.
Eventually, countless petals of an ultimate technique, too numerous to count, began to envelop the area where Arabis was.
At the center.
Facing those alluring red petals, Arabis was shaking his head frantically.
'This can't be... No, this shouldn't be. How could a human...!'
He couldn't believe it.
To be precise, it was natural that he couldn't believe it.
'You're saying a human can handle the Fighting Spirit Energy, which is the symbol of noble demons?!'
But he couldn't deny the reality unfolding before his eyes.
Even at this moment, the red petals were continuously closing in.
"It's over."
Lee Seong-jun, pronouncing the cold sentence, turned his back.
At that moment, Arabis, finally recognizing the death approaching right before him, hurriedly looked around.
'No...! I, I have to escape...!'
Fortunately, his superior demon body quickly completed its recovery, unlocking his meridians on its own.
There was no longer anything restricting his movement.
But Arabis still couldn't move his body.
'Where am I supposed to go....'
In a world full of swirling red petals, there was nowhere for Arabis to dodge.
There was nothing he could do except wait for the approaching death.
"Ah... Aah...!"
As a despairing exclamation flowed from Arabis's mouth, it happened.
Shishishishik-!
A horrific sound of flesh being torn and pulverized pierced his ears.
He wanted to struggle meaninglessly, but even that didn't go as he wished.
This was because his proud, strong demon body was being torn apart like paper.
In the midst of dizzying pain, his arms and legs, chest and wings, and finally his face and horns.
Without leaving even the slightest trace, he was torn to shreds.
That was the end of Arabis, the 12th Legion Commander who had plunged all of Japan into terror.
* * *
Tokyo, Situation Room of the Japanese Hunter Association.
On the TV screen mounted on the wall, the Prime Minister, cabinet ministers, and executives of the Hunter Association were watching with bated breath as black and red energies continuously intertwined.
Arabis's body, enveloped by the red petals swirling like a whirlpool, completely vanished from sight.
Hunter Lee Seong-jun had claimed victory.
They were liberated from the fear of annihilation brought by the Black Gate, the demon and monster legions.
"Waaaaaah-!"
As if they had been waiting for this moment, enormous cheers erupted from people's mouths.
Some embraced each other, crying and laughing, savoring the joy of survival.
However, not everyone was expressing joy.
"..."
Japan's Prime Minister, Nakamoto, was staring at the video playing on the wall with a hardened expression.
The drone footage continuously replaying Lee Seong-jun and Arabis's battle.
He couldn't exactly identify the nature of the red petals filling the screen.
But having seen Arabis being torn apart by the swirling petals, he could easily guess their power and the source of that strength.
Biting his lower lip hard at Lee Seong-jun's overwhelming presence, Nakamoto quickly turned his head and fired a question at the Japanese Hunter Association's analysis team sitting next to him.
"At what level would you say Hunter Lee Seong-jun's power is currently?"
"W-what? Please wait a moment..."
Caught off guard by Nakamoto's sudden question, the analysis team hurriedly gathered their thoughts and began reciting the organized information.
"Since we're judging based on video footage, an accurate assessment is difficult, but considering the power of the attack he just unleashed... we judge that he has skills at least on par with Victor Wiseman."
Nakamoto couldn't hide his shock.
This was because Victor Wiseman was ranked third in strength within the Guardians.
He was one of the world's top-tier experts.
Yet a hunter who had been officially active for less than a year was already displaying skills on par with Victor Wiseman.
It was literally unprecedented.
Moreover, this was based on the 'minimum' standard.
'...It means he might even surpass Victor Wiseman in skill.'
Even to himself, it seemed too absurd to believe, but with clear results, he couldn't deny it.
'...Hunter Lee Seong-jun's power and skills are real!'
On one hand, it was reassuring to have a world-class expert residing in the neighboring country of Korea.
But he couldn't just be happy about it.
'We've made huge mistakes, blinded by arrogance...'
Perhaps because Japan had always been called a great power?
They thought Korea would never catch up to Japan.
Because of this, they had committed numerous atrocities in Korea, trusting in their own power.
But in less than a year, the positions had completely reversed.
It meant the time had come to face the consequences of the resentment and karma they had accumulated.
'If only once... we had thought about potential futures instead of just the immediate benefits before our eyes...'
They wouldn't have acted so foolishly, unilaterally pushing Korea around.
'We were too, too foolish.'
Filled with regret for past mistakes, Nakamoto ran his hand down his face.
"Prime Minister," one of his aides spoke up hesitantly, "what should we do now?"
Nakamoto took a deep breath before responding. "We need to reassess our relationship with Korea immediately. Prepare a diplomatic team. We'll need to approach them with utmost caution and respect."
The aide nodded, looking relieved. "Yes, sir. I'll get on it right away."
As the room bustled with renewed activity, Nakamoto turned back to the screen. The image of Lee Seong-jun standing victorious amidst the settling dust was burned into his mind.
'The world has changed,' he thought. 'And we must change with it, or be left behind.'
With that resolute thought, he stood up, ready to face the new reality that Hunter Lee Seong-jun's victory had ushered in. The era of Japanese superiority was over. Now, they would have to learn to coexist as equals – or perhaps, as the lesser power – with their Korean neighbors.
It was a bitter pill to swallow, but Nakamoto knew it was necessary for Japan's survival in this new world order. As he left the room to prepare for the challenges ahead, he couldn't help but wonder what other surprises the future held, and how the rise of this Korean hunter would reshape the balance of power in Asia and beyond.