After Ten Millennia in Hell

Black blood sprayed in all directions. Four of the five demons instantly died from Satan's attack.

[Wh-Why are you doing this?!] the one surviving demon quickly shouted.

The red mask tilted.

[Why, you ask?] Satan snickered. [Do demons need a reason to go to war?]

[Kuh…]

[Talk? How absolutely ridiculous. I would expect nothing less from Lucifer, that pathetic mongrel.]

[Do not insult Lord Lucifer, Satan!!] the demon shouted while glaring at him.

Satan turned toward the demon and challenged, [Then prove to me that he is not pathetic.]

He extended his hand and grabbed the neck of the three-meter-tall demon.

Satan continued, [We were born to kill and crave blood. Tell Lucifer this: if you are not confident enough to cross over to this world yourself, stay the fuck out of my sight.]

[You… have no idea what situation my lord is in.]

[Hahaha! You are right. I do not know or care about his situation,] Satan said. The yellow irises behind the red mask stared at the demon. [But what I do know is that he seems to be in quite a predicament, which means this is the perfect opportunity for me to take his soul.]

[This is not the time to be fighting among ourselves! Are you unaware of the forces of the celestial realm moving to eradicate the demons?!]

'I knew it had something to do with the celestial realm,' Kang-Woo thought.

[Earth will be next after the continent of Aernor! Do you want the demons to be eradicated by the forces of the celestial realm while we engage in battle?!] the demon desperately shouted.

Satan laughed. [The celestial realm? Has he been struggling against those insignificant beings all this time?]

[Insignificant, you say?!] the demon continued shouting like a madman. [They are not insignificant! You must know how weak the Nine Hells have become at the hands of Demon King Oh Kang-Woo! He's driven Hell to the brink of extinction! The celestial realm has been accumulating power during all those years of war! If we do not work together, we will not be able to stop them!]

The demon rambled on about the desperate reality that the demons had been placed in, but Satan paid no heed to it.

[I killed the demon king with my own hands and acquired the Demonic Sea. The forces of the celestial realm are no match for me,] Kang-Woo replied relaxedly. [Tell Lucifer this: stop cowering from the angels and come to find me. Fight me, and take the Demonic Sea, if you can.]

[Must you truly choose the path of self-destruction?!]

[Self-destruction? What a ridiculous word.] The red mask tilted. [Since when have demons battled while caring about when they would meet their demise?]

[…]

[Not only is he weak and cowardly, but he is also disgraceful.]

Satan waved his hand, producing a strong force that pushed the demon back and embedded him in the wall.

[Listen well, retainer of Lucifer,] Satan said with a laugh. [There is no such thing as compromise for demons.]

* * *

"Well, that takes care of that," Kang-Woo mumbled while looking down at the unconscious demon.

He had controlled his strength, so the demon would soon open his eyes. Then he would return to Lucifer and report to him what had happened here.

'No matter how much of a predicament Lucifer is in, he won't be able to let it slide this time.'

Lucifer was not patient enough that he would try and talk things out again since Kang-Woo had firmly expressed his will as Satan.

'He will come here.'

As a prince of Hell, Lucifer had been humiliated in an unforgivable way. He would take action to kill Satan.

'And he will fight the forces of Satan, the Demon Cult.'

Kang-Woo grinned.

He had the feeling that the image drawn in his head would soon become a reality.

'That aside…'

Kang-Woo thought about what he'd heard from Lucifer's retainer.

'So, demons are on the brink of being exterminated.'

He narrowed his eyes.

It wasn't something he could be happy about though. Demons were necessary for him to regain his strength and become even stronger. They were like nutrition to him, so losing them wasn't good news for him.

'If the celestial realm were to exterminate the demons, I may be able to live in peace, but…'

The chances of that happening were low. If the angels were trying to exterminate the demons, then Kang-Woo would be a target too.

'I guess it means I'll have to fight that Michael guy or whatever his name was.'

He couldn't help but curse.

'But it's not an imminent thing.'

Lucifer's retainer had mentioned that Earth would be the angels' next target after the continent of Aernor. In other words, as long as Lucifer's forces remained, the angels wouldn't attack Earth.

'And after what happened today, they'll think that Satan killed Demon King Oh Kang-Woo.'

Kang-Woo knew he wouldn't be able to deceive them forever, but his act as Satan would be enough to buy him some time to prepare countermeasures.

'I'm going to raise the conflict between Lucifer's forces and the Demon Cult to its utmost limit.'

He was after Lucifer's soul. It wasn't going to be easy to get it, but it wasn't impossible.

'And for that plan…'

Kang-Woo turned his head and looked at the three Demon Cultists who were stricken with fear.

"Eek!"

He walked toward them.

"A-Are you…"

"T-Truly Satan?"

They stammered at the sudden appearance of Satan.

Kangoo smiled and tapped his mask. The red demon mask turned into a white one with a shield engraved on it.

"Huh?! Th-That mask!"

"The Guardians?!"

They shook their heads as if they couldn't understand what was going on.

"There are a few things I wanted to ask you," Kang-Woo said.

His original reason for venturing to this base was to check how far the Book of Hell had spread. Meeting Lucifer's retainers had been nothing but a coincidence. Now, it was time to achieve his original goal.

"Hah! Like we would answer questions from a retainer of Ga—"

Whack!

The head of the Demon Cultist who was yelling exploded.

A wide grin appeared on Kang-Woo's face, and he walked toward the other two Demon Cultists.

"It's not up to you to choose whether you answer or not," he stated.

"E-Eek!"

The two Demon Cultists looked at each other.

"Mm. Come to think of it…" Kang-Woo began as he narrowed his eyes.

"I don't think that I'll need two mouths…" he said in a playful tone of voice. "Who wants to speak first?"

* * *

"So… you don't know how far the Book of Hell has been spread?"

The two Demon Cultists nodded.

"Y-Yes. Its contents seemed unsubstantiated, so… a few branches just took a few copies out of curiosity."

"And where are those branches?"

"W-We don't know. We weren't informed of the exact locations of the other branches. We simply gave them the copies while exchanging information and materials required for summoning rituals."

"But you must have a meeting place for those exchanges."

"We do, but…"

The eyes of the two Demon Cult members quivered.

That answer was the extent of what they could say.

"I guess you'll die if you say it."

"…"

There was silence.

The two Demon Cultists looked at each other.

"W-We can tell you the country where the meeting takes place!"

"Where?"

"Ch-China."

The scope was far too wide. This information wasn't very useful.

'But at least I managed to find out that the secret Demon Cult meetings take place in China.'

Kang-Woo would need to ask Tian Wuchen to investigate China.

'First off…'

He got his thoughts in order.

'I obtained three pieces of information.'

The first piece was that Lucifer was being attacked by the forces of the celestial realm. The second was that the Book of Hell hadn't been properly distributed. Moreover, most of the Demon Cultists thought of it as a novel, so he didn't need to worry too much about it.

The third was that there was a secret meeting place for Demon Cultists in China, and that might be where the Chinese Demon Cult branch was.

'Not bad.'

Kang-Woo thought that he'd obtained enough useful information here.

"How many Demon Cultists are in this branch?" he asked.

The two Demon Cultists quickly proceeded to shout in response.

"Th-This is only a small branch of about fifty members!"

"And we have never taken part in demon-summoning rituals!"

They then knelt in front of Kang-Woo and raised their two arms.

"W-We will turn ourselves in."

"We will subject ourselves to lawful judgment."

Guardians was an international organization that fought for the good of the world. Just like how law enforcement authorities couldn't just kill a serial killer if they turned themselves in, the Guardians' rules dictated that they had to be humane toward Demon Cultists who had surrendered. The Demon Cultists had sacrificed numerous innocent people to obtain power, but they still had human rights.

"Hm," Kang-Woo murmured.

He couldn't simply ignore them as he had done before.

'Because I'm also a member of the Guardians.'

Kang-Woo had the title Warrior of Light now, so he couldn't infringe on human rights.

He sighed and shook his head. It seemed he had no choice but to treat them as humanely as he possibly could.

"Haaa. I guess I have no choice."

"Ah…"

"I'll let one of you live.

"Huh?"

The Demon Cultists' eyes widened.

"There's one more thing you have to do for me, but I don't need two people for that. So, I'm going to let one of you two live."

"W-Wait!"

"We've surrendered to the Guardians, have we not?!"

"You have."

Kang-Woo used the Key of the Demonic Sea to create two daggers without a word and threw them at the protesting Demon Cultists.

"What are—"

"Kill each other."

"I'm sorry?"

"The one that wins will live."

Gasp…

The Demon Cultists' eyes widened after hearing Kang-Woo's horrifying condition.

"This goes against human rights…"

"How could someone called the Warrior of Light do something like this!"

"Guys," Kang-Woo said and snapped his finger.

An enormous energy spread and weighed down on the Demon Cultists.

Kang-Woo told them quietly, “What I gave you two is a choice, not the right to choose."

"…"

Silence fell, and the two Demon Cultists trembled while looking at each other. They were moving slowly, but it was obvious that they would soon grab the daggers.

Kang-Woo sat on a chair and crossed his legs.

"Urgh!"

"D-Die!!"

They grabbed the daggers and charged toward each other. Dark red blood splattered all over as a battle to live took place.

Stab!

"Kurgh!"

'You shouldn't move like that,' Kang-Woo thought.

"ARRGGHH!!"

'Ugh, they're so bad at fighting.'

"Kuh!"

'Oh, nice!'

Kang-Woo watched the battle between them with great interest. The fight was fierce and bloody.

"Y-You scum!!"

"How could you do something so horrifying in the name of light?!"

The two Demon Cultists shouted and cried amid the fight.

Kang-Woo tilted his head.

'Guys, I gave you both an equal chance to live based on your skill levels.'

He could've killed both, but he'd given one of them a chance to survive through their own strength and will.

'Is this not the epitome of humane?'

Kang-Woo shook his head.

After listening to their criticism, he thought about how he could have done things more humanely, but he couldn't think of a better way than this.

"That's not very fair of you," Kang-Woo replied.

They were criticizing him as if he were a piece of trash.

Kang-Woo frowned at the injustice and said, "People would think I'm scum if they didn't know any better."