Childhood Friend of the Zenith Novel MTL - Chapter 1006

Chapter 1006

WUUUUUUM—!!!!

A thunderous vibration swallowed all sound.

The air itself was being shredded, beyond the threshold of any recognizable noise.

It was pure, raw force.

The earth quaked and fractured.

The heavens bellowed as if on the verge of shattering.

And it continued to scream—ceaselessly, without end.

Time crawled by.

The violent shaking slowly began to ebb, as if its task was complete.

Only then—

«AAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!»

Only after the power had faded did true sound rush back into my ears.

That scream—

The raw, unfiltered cry of something twisting in absolute agony.

The power born from that terrible friction was known as chaos,

And at its very heart—was violence.

Unmatched savagery, pure and untamed.

It was a force conceived with that single purpose.

KIIIIAAAAAA—!!!!

Black and deep.

Yet streaked with gray, a spiraling, uncontrollable energy consuming all it touched.

Its reach was boundless.

What was once a beautiful plain

Now lay exposed as the energy receded, a landscape utterly transformed.

A barren desert.

The ground was scorched and dead, robbed of even a single blade of grass.

Massive craters, as if great lakes had been boiled away, testified to the absolute destruction that had occurred.

Residual energy mingled with the dust, churning malevolently in the air.

A polluted haze now stained the sky I had forged.

Step.

I took a single step forward.

A flick of my fingers, and the dispersed energy streamed back into me.

As the lingering force returned, I continued walking.

At the very center of the crater—

Something lay within the depths of the pit I had made.

«Kuh… Kuaah… Kuaaah…»

It twitched and jerked, convulsing violently.

A broken, shattered Yusa.

Its entire form was torn open, flesh stripped away to expose the bone beneath.

Blood saturated the earth, pooling from its mutilated body.

Any other creature would have long since perished from such wounds.

«Kuh… Kk… Ah… Ugh…»

Yusa trembled in torment, yet its life stubbornly persisted.

Was its regeneration still sustaining it?

Tough bastard.

But there was something even more peculiar.

«Kuh… Hrrgh… You… What in hell…?»

As I drew near, Yusa looked up at me, its shock plain to see.

Of course.

Its body was desperately trying to mend itself—

SIZZLE—!!

«GAHAAAAAH!!!»

Only for its flesh to be seared away the instant it regenerated.

What was happening?

I observed closely and soon understood—

«The energy remains inside it.»

The lingering aftermath of the Cheonma Divine Art—fused with the Flame Core and Heaven-Shattering Fist—

The Cheonma Chaos Core.

Its effects were still churning within Yusa’s body.

The Flame Core excelled at widespread devastation and explosive force.

Heaven-Shattering Fist took that destructive quality and compressed it into a single, concentrated blow.

Alone, the Flame Core covered a broader area than Heaven-Shattering Fist.

But—

«Combining the two…»

Merging their natures had magnified their power to an overwhelming degree.

An immense radius of ruin.

An unequaled force of annihilation.

But above all else—

«Because of Tua Pacheonmu, it is devouring its own flesh.»

The thing suppressing Yusa’s regeneration—was Paejon’s technique.

The heat and persistent energy from Tua Pacheonmu had turned its internal force into countless razor-edged blades, ceaselessly shredding its body from within.

It wasn’t merely slowing the healing—it was canceling it outright.

«Fascinating.»

It truly was.

«And incredible.»

Beyond my expectations.

Chaos—

It was named chaos because its elements refused to unite, clashing violently instead.

Yet, when forged into a martial art, it had become something else entirely.

A power born from conflict.

By channeling that friction into energy, even its internal strife was converted into pure strength.

Then—

«Deceitful… Deceitful bastard…»

Yusa muttered, its voice weak and ragged.

At that, I tilted my head slightly.

What was it calling deceitful?

I looked down, curious.

Yusa glared back, eyes burning with fury.

«You tricked me…!»

«Ah.»

Now I understood.

I had claimed I could not use Dominance—

And then, I had used it.

That must have been the source of its rage.

«Hah.»

Realizing this, I let out a soft chuckle.

Perhaps it was just my impression,

But I had noticed something odd about the beings of Mangye.

«You’re more naïve than you appear.»

«What…?»

«No, perhaps it’s because you’re a beast. ‘Naïve’ isn’t quite right—‘simple’ fits you better.»

It had been the same with the Red One.

And with the Blue One and the Black One as well.

Even Yusa, for all its status as a General, was no different.

All of them—

Were profoundly simple.

«The way you fight, too.»

Your strength and mastery are indeed on par with the Three Lords.

But how you move—

How you wield that power—

It is too rudimentary.

Certainly, your instincts let you adapt and counter,

But that is all it is. Instinct.

Even if that weren’t the case—

«You shouldn’t be so quick to trust everything you see and hear.»

«You bastard…!!» «Kugh—!»*

SPLURCH—!!

Blood gushed from Yusa’s mouth.

The energy was still ravaging its insides.

It tried to move, to fight back—

But the more it struggled, the more control it lost.

It flailed, convulsing like a creature in its death throes.

I watched it carefully, then spoke.

«Is this all you have?»

«……!»

«Just like before… how disappointing.»

I spoke, my voice empty of any emphasis.

«I believed you had something worthwhile to show. I was prepared to indulge your little display… but this is it?»

Half of that was genuine.

Unlike the wary anticipation I felt at our first confrontation, this had concluded far too simply.

An opponent like this wasn’t common.

I wanted to observe it more—

«There is still much to see.»

Why had my ultimate technique failed to fully manifest earlier?

How much further could I push the Cheonma Divine Art?

Was there anything else I could learn from this creature?

If it ended here, I would be left unsatisfied.

«Not yet…»

Yusa shuddered violently at my words, forcing its shattered body to respond.

«Not yet… I am General Yusa… I will not be defeated by this…!»

I could see its pupils shaking.

The lingering chaos was fading, allowing its regeneration to slowly restart, barely clinging to life.

«If only… if only it were night…!»

«I concede. Had it been night, things might have differed. But—»

That was irrelevant to me.

My interest had already waned.

«It is a pointless guess about a circumstance that did not occur.»

I took another step, my eyes locking with its.

The pain in its gaze was slowly overwhelming its strength.

Seeing that, I asked—

«I will ask you again, General. Where is the Sacred Tree of Yahwol?»

«GRRRRR—!!»

The moment I named the Sacred Tree, Yusa’s reaction turned ferocious.

CRACK—!!

It tried to swing its skeletal arm in an attack, but I merely glanced at it—

And swept my hand through the air.

CRUNCH—!!!

«……!!!!»

Its massive arm was torn clean off.

A wretched scream burst from Yusa as its body convulsed.

Blood sprayed from the new wound.

THUD.

I indifferently tossed the severed limb aside.

Then, I observed the empty shoulder.

«Judging by the state of it… without interference, you would have healed in an instant.»

The flesh and bone were already trying to regrow.

If the chaotic energy hadn’t clung to it, the regeneration would have been immediate.

«Khh… KHHHHK…!!»

«I will ask one final time. Where is the Sacred Tree of Yahwol?»

I gathered energy into my palm—

A Flame Core infused with Demonic Qi.

I held it before Yusa, making the threat explicit.

But—

«Khh… Hah… Hahaha…»

It laughed.

Even while facing the Flame Core, it laughed.

Like a mad thing.

«You… understand nothing.»

«That is not the answer I seek.»

«Changing Mangye…? I don’t know your aim, but you will change nothing.»

«……»

«For a moment, I wavered… but now, I see clearly. You comprehend nothing, do you?»

There was conviction in its tone.

The same conviction it had when certain I couldn’t use Dominance.

This time, however, it was correct.

«If you knew anything, you would never have spoken of the Sacred Tree… What is your true goal?»

«Hmm.»

Hearing that, I scratched my chin behind the mask.

So there was more to it.

«You’re perceptive. Ah, that one is sincere.»

«Grrr…»

«You are right. I do not know much. However—»

GRIP—!

«Gah—!?»

I reached out and seized Yusa’s thick neck.

My hand was far too small to encircle it completely—

But what I lacked in size, I compensated for with pure strength.

«Does it matter if I am ignorant? Such details are trivial. And as for your claim that I will change nothing…»

From the very start—

«I never had any intention of changing Mangye.»

«……!!»

Yusa’s eyes went wide.

«What…!!»

It tried to speak—

But I paid no heed.

«I will not continue this discussion. If you refuse to speak of the Sacred Tree, then you will not.»

If it would not talk—

I would compel it to talk.

THUMP—!

I focused power into my heart—

And drove Demonic Qi into Yusa’s body.

More than the Sacred Tree,

This intrigued me far more.

Would a General yield to corruption?

Like the Black One,

Could a being of its rank still be overcome by Demonic Qi?

Before the moon could rise—

I planned to discover the answer.

SSSSHHHH—!!!

«KHHHHG!?»

As the Demonic Qi invaded its system, blood vessels ruptured in Yusa’s eyes.

Seeing that—

I forced the Demonic Qi in even deeper.