Chapter 352

Chapter 352

Zeon firmly refused to negotiate with Johan.

Through a moderate negotiation, both sides could have taken a step back. If they did, they could maintain a moderate peace and live with moderate ease.

But Zeon knew very well that peace gained that way would not last long.

This was not a fight Zeon had wanted.

He had not started it either.

Johan and Dongdaemun had caused it.

Then they had to bear responsibility for this fight as well.

Not something vague and muddled, but a clear responsibility anyone could accept.

In this era, where one died if they did not kill others, responsibility was nothing special.

It was one’s own life.

There was no way they could cause something of this scale and bear no responsibility.

Johan bit his lip until it bled and said,

“So you intend to go all the way in the end? You won’t come out of this unharmed either.”

“I suppose not.”

“And you still don’t care?”

“When you fight, flesh bursts, muscles tear, bones break, and blood sprays……. Isn’t that only natural?”

Zeon rarely suffered wounds anymore, but during the early days after his Awakening, he had wandered between life and death every day.

Among the beings he had faced in the desert, not a single one had been weaker than him.

Every day, he suffered terrible wounds, healed, and repeated the process.

If not for his super-regeneration, Zeon would already have died several times over.

To Zeon, being wounded and feeling pain were not problems.

He was far too used to them.

That was what battle meant to him.

Being wounded himself while suppressing or killing the enemy.

Johan, on the other hand, was different.

After building his own kingdom in Dongdaemun, he had never once fought personally.

There were plenty of people who would fight for him, so there was no reason for him to fight personally like a barbarian.

Naturally, he had never bled like Zeon, nor had he ever wandered between life and death.

That was why, once all the shields that protected him vanished, he could not hide his bewilderment.

He still had subordinates left.

Joshua, his closest aide, was alive, and a small number of Dongdaemun elites remained. But stopping Zeon with them was impossible.

Even their finest elites, the Paladins, Heresy Inquisitors, and Dark Saints, had all been swept away. Thinking the remaining forces could do anything to Zeon was nothing more than delusion.

Perhaps his throat was dry, because Johan licked his lips with his tongue and said,

“Do you truly intend to go all the way?”

“Didn’t you invade Shinchon with that very intention?”

“Hah! You truly are Satan. An existence that denies God’s providence and drags everyone into the abyss of hell. Because of you, the people of Shinchon will not escape the curse.”

“You talk too much. Why are you making such a long speech now?”

“Very well! Now that it has come to this, let us go all the way, Zeon!”

Johan cast aside his hesitation.

Countless people were watching him.

If he withdrew here today, Johan’s dignity would fall to the floor, and the Church’s authority would plummet as well.

If that happened, no one would fear Dongdaemun.

Johan could feel how worthless and insignificant the end of a religious group that had lost respect and fear would be.

Johan walked toward Zeon.

There was no longer any fear or hesitation in his eyes. Once he resolved himself to die, peace came to his heart instead.

His opponent was a Sandmancer.

As Johan had seen with his own eyes, Zeon possessed a broken ability. But Johan’s ability was not insignificant either.

Johan cast all kinds of buffs on himself.

His calcified bones became as hard as steel, and his lifeless muscles regained elasticity.

Crack, crack!

His bent waist straightened, and his shoulders broadened.

His wrinkles vanished, and an intense eye-glow radiated from his once-cloudy eyes.

In an instant, Johan regained his youth as though he had gone back several decades in time.

His muscles contained tremendous power like a volcano on the verge of erupting, and inside his body, terrifying strength swirled as it searched for a place to burst out.

In exchange for defying the natural order, he gained tremendous power. But the price he had to pay was no small thing either.

His lifespan had been cut away in chunks.

Zeon was an existence Johan could only face by consuming his own life force.

Johan decided not to think about what came afterward.

After all, if he lost to Zeon, there would be no afterward for him.

Win or lose, he had to end it here.

Johan walked toward Zeon.

The trembling in his eyes and the faint spasms had disappeared.

As Johan walked with his eyes half-open, a halo shone around him. It was a phenomenon caused by aura flowing out from inside his body. But to the eyes of ordinary people, it simply looked sacred.

Johan murmured,

“God shall be with me. God’s Judgment!”

Flash!

At that moment, a beam of light fell from a clear sky.

The place the light headed toward was precisely above Zeon’s head.

BOOM!

Zeon avoided the beam of light by a hair’s breadth.

A deep hole with no visible bottom was pierced into the place where the light fell.

It was truly tremendous power.

Johan quietly stretched out his hand and pointed at Zeon. Then another beam of light fell from the sky.

At that moment, Zeon formed a Sand Curtain above his head and blocked the beam of light.

BOOM!

With an explosion, Zeon’s body was flung backward.

In exchange, all the sand struck by the beam turned pitch-black and became ash.

If the Sand Curtain had not bought him time, Zeon would have suffered serious damage.

Johan pointed at Zeon with his hand once again.

Each time he did, light fell from the sky.

“This is God’s wrath, Satan!”

Johan’s voice echoed through the street.

“God’s wrath, my ass.”

Zeon gave a small laugh and swung his hand. Then the sand on the ground became snakes and attacked Johan.

It was one of his Skills, Sand Viper.

Dozens of sand snakes opened their mouths to bite Johan. But the Sand Vipers never tore into Johan’s body.

Flash!

Just before the Sand Vipers could bite, sacred light burst from Johan’s body.

The sacred light erased the Sand Vipers as they were and surged toward Zeon.

“Ghk!”

The moment the light touched his hand, Zeon felt extreme pain.

His skin burned as if he had been scalded, and pus flowed from it. The light contained such intense heat that if he had been exposed to it only a little longer, even his muscles would have burned away.

Johan approached Zeon and said,

“Do you understand now? This is proof that God truly exists. This light is made from God’s divine power. It is not something mere humans can do anything about.”

“Divine power, my ass.”

“Do you still deny God? God’s Judgment!”

At that moment, light fell from the sky again.

Zeon used Sand Walk and avoided the light.

BOOM!

With an explosion, a deep hole was pierced into the ground.

It really looked as though God was attacking Zeon with light from the sky.

But Zeon knew.

This was neither God’s wrath nor God’s attack.

His gaze had been fixed on Johan’s neck for some time now.

More precisely, on the cross hanging around Johan’s neck.

Each time Johan gestured or spoke, the cross flashed.

‘It’s an item.’

This was the first time Zeon had seen an item in the form of a cross. But its form was not important.

What mattered was that the cross responded to Johan’s will and attacked Zeon.

BOOM! BAAANG! BOOM!

Beams of light struck one after another at the place where Zeon was.

Under the relentless attacks, which left him no time to breathe, Zeon had to move without pause. But it was impossible to avoid the beams of light forever.

BAAANG!

“Ghk!”

In the end, Zeon took a direct hit from a beam of light.

Zeon was flung back several dozen meters and slammed into a wall. The impact caused the wall to collapse, and Zeon crashed into the rubble.

Johan spread both arms toward the people of the slums and said,

“Did you see? This is God’s authority. No one dares escape God’s wrath. Believe in God. Believe in me. Those who do not believe in me shall be struck by God’s Judgment.”

“Ahhh!”

“Does God truly exist?”

At Johan’s words, the people of the slums trembled.

In their eyes, the miracle Johan had displayed looked like God’s authority.

It was then.

“This is not God’s wrath. Nor is it God’s power.”

Zeon said as he pushed aside the rubble covering his body and emerged.

Anger appeared on Johan’s face.

“And still, the unbeliever……”

“God’s wrath is not this trifling. God’s power is not this weak either. Nor does God descend upon such a pathetic human.”

His hair, which had been burned to a pitiful state, quickly regained its luster, and the burned areas returned to normal before anyone noticed.

It was thanks to the authority of super-regeneration.

Zeon was a Sandmancer, but thanks to the Gauntlet of Extreme Heat, he could use flame Skills freely, and he possessed the authority of super-regeneration.

Johan was the same.

He was a buffer, but by borrowing the power of the cross, an item, he could use an unidentified attack Skill.

Johan was not God.

Nor was he communicating with God.

He was merely an Awakened using the power of an unidentified item.

He was just a human like Zeon.

Zeon had no intention whatsoever of losing to a human.

Zeon summoned Sand Soldiers.

Dozens of Sand Soldiers gathered around Zeon as though guarding him.

Seeing that, Johan shouted,

“God’s Judgment!”

Flash!

Once again, a beam of light fell from the sky.

This time, Zeon did not dodge in such an unsightly manner as before.

BOOM!

The beam of light struck. But Zeon was unharmed.

That was because the beam had fallen not on Zeon, but on the Sand Soldier right beside him.

The Sand Soldier struck by the beam vanished without a trace, but thanks to that, Zeon remained safe.

“Ghh! God’s Judgment.”

Johan screamed and dropped another beam of light. But this time as well, it struck not Zeon, but a nearby Sand Soldier.

Johan’s eyes shook.

That was because he could not understand the phenomenon happening before him.

Zeon smiled coldly.

If God were truly attacking Zeon, He would never have been deceived by such a simple trick.

The fact that the attack could not even distinguish between Zeon and a Sand Soldier, and simply bombarded them indiscriminately, was proof that Johan’s attack was not God’s authority.

Johan used God’s Judgment again and again.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM, BOOM!

Light flashed, and explosions erupted. Sand Soldiers burst apart one after another. But they had no effect whatsoever on Zeon, the actual target.

The Sand Soldiers acted as a kind of lightning rod and protected Zeon.

Thanks to that, Zeon could stand before Johan without harming even a hair on his body.

They were close enough to feel each other’s breath.

The movement of their eyebrows and even their breathing could be clearly sensed.

Zeon saw Johan trembling.

His eyes shook, his heart pounded violently, and his breathing grew rough.

If he had gone through many harsh things or fought his way through paths of death like Zeon had, he would not reveal his agitation so plainly just because things did not go his way.

That sequence of reactions showed just how much Johan had lived protected like a flower in a greenhouse.

In contrast, Zeon was a wild grass that had grown while enduring every storm and hardship of the harsh desert.

There was no comparison with Johan.

Johan knew that difference, and Zeon knew it as well.

That was why Johan was intimidated by Zeon and revealed his emotions.

A smile formed at Zeon’s lips.

It was a smile as cold and biting as ice.

The moment Johan saw his smile, he felt a chilling cold spread through his entire body.

“If you truly heard God’s voice, if you truly use God’s authority, then try surviving this.”

“What?”

“Sand Blender!”

At that moment, the sand piled beneath Johan’s feet began rotating at terrifying speed.

The sand scattered across the street was sucked in, swelling fiercely.

“N-no!”

GRIIIIIND!

Johan’s despairing cry was buried and vanished beneath the sand spinning at high speed.