Became the Patron of Villains Chapter 548: Black Flesh (6)

[This makes no sense—!]

Hearing the scream erupt from Al-Akulakka, who had been reveling in victory just moments ago, Alon thought—

‘Just as expected.’

This was the reason Alon had not lost hope even at the point where everything seemed over.

Because he had realized that the Karma of War could regain control of the body.

‘Of course, it wasn’t something I expected from the start.’

He had noticed it around the middle of the battle.

Alon and Penia’s attacks had done no damage whatsoever to the core, but every time Evan aimed for a sharp strike, crimson light briefly flashed in its eyes.

At the same time, Alon remembered something.

The words the Karma of War had spoken when it first appeared.

‘I've been waiting.’

I've been waiting.

It was possible those words had come from Al-Akulakka itself, but Alon was certain that line belonged to the Karma of War.

The red glow in Al-Akulakka’s eyes had been different at that moment.

And above all, although Al-Akulakka and the Karma of War spoke through the same body, their voices clearly carried different tones.

That was where his deduction had begun.

Why had the Karma of War said it had been waiting for him?

Why did the crimson light only flare whenever Evan looked close to landing a successful strike?

And after continuous battle, Alon arrived at two conclusions.

First—

As the sage had said, the Karma of War had most likely not cooperated with Al-Akulakka, but had instead been unilaterally overpowered by it.

Second—

The Karma of War had been waiting for an opportunity.

An opportunity to break free from Al-Akulakka, who had forcibly stolen its body.

And—

[You bastaaaard-!!]

Alon’s deduction proved correct with terrifying clarity.

Right before his eyes, the dragonkin screamed madly with Al-Akulakka’s voice.

Twisting its body desperately as though trying to reclaim control somehow, Al-Akulakka suddenly looked toward Alon—

And its expression distorted viciously.

[!!!]

What that hybrid had been aiming for was not the erosion.

No—

That had merely been bait.

Bait meant to deceive even his own companions in order to deceive Al-Akulakka.

He had been waiting for this.

The moment he realized the true owner of the body could briefly regain control, even if only for a few seconds.

‘There’s not even ten seconds left now!!!’

Al-Akulakka let out a horrifying scream and looked ahead.

Craaaack-!

6 seconds.

The Karma of War’s ability, which had been shattered and reconstructed through the erosion phenomenon, began collapsing.

5 seconds.

The human holding a sword launched forward with a final step aimed directly at Al-Akulakka’s heart.

4 seconds.

‘You insane bastard! Do you want to die!? At this rate, you won’t survive either! Use the ability! Use the ability!!! No— fine! I’ll give you half of everything I have! We can both ascend together! Don’t you want ascension!? Don’t you want to rise above!?’

Al-Akulakka screamed.

At this rate, both of them would die.

Use the ability, even now.

It screamed frantically.

To avoid death.

To survive.

It threw out a sweet temptation.

However—

3 seconds.

[Do not act arrogant, fool. With someone who cannot even uphold sacred law.]

2 seconds.

And then—

[You think I would walk alongside you?]

1 second.

Crunch-!

Evan’s sword pierced Al-Akulakka’s heart.

Not magic.

Not Divine power.

A purely human sword.

And then—

[NOOOOOOOOOOOO-!!!!!]

The pulse of the black cocoon stopped.

####

The moment the sword pierced the Karma of War’s heart, a horrifying scream erupted—

And the black cocoon, which had been pulsing wildly as though something might emerge from it at any moment—

Stopped moving.

And then—

Craaack— craaack-crack-!!!

Small cracks began appearing across the gigantic cocoon.

Tiny.

Yet terrifyingly clear cracks.

And those cracks—

Craaaack-!!!!

Rapidly spread beyond recovery in an instant, expanding across the entire cocoon.

And finally—

KWA-AAAAAAAH-!

The cocoon shattered.

It broke apart while pouring out something like black mud.

“......It’s finally over—”

The moment Evan muttered blankly while staring at it—

At that moment—

KWA-AAAAANG-!

A sudden explosive roar rang out, and Evan’s eyes widened.

Because from within the cocoon, which should have contained nothing but black sludge—

“This insane—”

A black hand appeared.

And that was not all.

■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!!

At the point where the black hand connected to the cocoon, flesh masses began crawling out.

So many flesh masses that their numbers could not even be counted.

“Ascension definitely failed—!”

“It did fail......!”

“Then what the hell is that?!”

At Evan’s words, Alon unconsciously muttered as though answering him.

“......Residue, perhaps.”

Alon looked upward.

Even now, flesh masses continued pouring down along the torn cocoon.

No—

Not only flesh masses.

Craaaack-!

Something else began emerging from inside the cocoon overflowing with flesh masses.

[How dare you—]

The first thing visible was a head wrapped in black mud.

A head that had failed to form properly and constantly dripped apart.

[My ascension—!!]

Then came the eyes.

Blood-red veins filled the malformed eyeballs that still had not properly ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) taken shape as they looked down at Alon.

[■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!!!!!!!]

A horrifying scream echoed across the world.

So horrifying that even the flesh masses pouring down curled up their legs and trembled.

“Urgh—”

“Ugh-!”

Even Evan and Penia momentarily filled their eyes with fear at that voice.

But even in that situation, Alon did not waver.

Instead, he calmly assessed the situation.

‘Yes. It’s residue.’

Others likely could not see it.

But to Alon, it was obvious.

That thing was residue.

Something left behind after failing to ascend.

Proof of that was the fact that Al-Akulakka was rapidly disintegrating even though Alon was doing nothing.

Its entire body was melting downward as though sinking, while Divine power continuously poured out from it without end.

‘Then... can it be dealt with?’

Alon shook his head at his own question.

There was nothing seriously wrong with his physical condition.

The real problem was his mind.

‘......I can’t maintain this for long.’

Because of the Karma of War’s ability, Alon’s brain itself had not suffered direct damage.

However, the mental burden accumulated from fighting Al-Akulakka until now could not be ignored.

In other words—

He could not deal with that thing in his current state.

‘......But even so, ignoring it—’

Alon looked down from the sky garden, whose ceiling had been completely destroyed.

Below, he saw the final death squad desperately holding out against the endlessly surging flesh masses.

“......”

Naturally, Alon had no obligation to save them.

Nor any loyalty.

He had spent most of a month together with Sia and received her help, but even so, theirs had ultimately been a transaction.

In exchange for her assistance, he would destroy Al-Akulakka’s core.

And Alon had upheld his side of the agreement.

Everything beyond this was no longer his responsibility.

But—

[How ugly.]

The moment he hesitated, a familiar voice reached Alon’s ears.

A very familiar voice.

......A voice Alon did not particularly welcome.

Turning his gaze silently, he saw the Karma of War standing there.

Not the grotesque figure covered in flesh masses after being devoured by Al-Akulakka—

But the one-armed dragonkin whose overwhelming presence Alon had first encountered.

“......”

Honestly, part of Alon had expected the Karma of War to survive.

Even if Evan had pierced the heart perfectly, the Karma of War was still the Karma of War.

Alon knew that level of attack would not kill it even if it had used its ability.

But—

‘......I didn’t expect it to look this fine.’

Alon sighed inwardly.

After all, his ultimate goal was still to defeat the Karma of War and return to the original world.

Meaning the current situation was not exactly favorable for him.

But whether it understood Alon’s thoughts or not, the Karma of War merely stared at the sky and continued speaking.

[So this is the fragment of ascension I once desired.]

As though it had reached some strange realization.

Yet also as though it found no joy in it whatsoever.

......The Karma of War stared at Black Flesh Al-Akulakka without taking its eyes away.

Then finally, it turned toward Alon.

“......”

“......”

The moment Penia and Evan tensely raised their weapons—

[My friend, let me make you a proposal.]

The Karma of War—

“A proposal?”

[Indeed. Before we settle matters between ourselves, shall we first eliminate that unsightly thing?]

—offered Alon something entirely unexpected.

“......You want us to join forces?”

[Only until we hunt down that disgusting failure.]

At Alon’s blank question, the Karma of War answered calmly.

It was not a bad proposal for Alon.

He also wanted to eliminate Al-Akulakka.

Yet despite that, Alon could not answer immediately.

Because the proposal itself was simply too unexpected.

[What is so strange about it?]

“......”

The Karma of War questioned him.

At that moment, another gigantic hand emerged from the screaming cocoon.

A hand so enormous it seemed capable of covering the crimson sky itself.

Despairing groans erupted from both the soldiers and nobles fighting the flesh masses.

Groans close to despair.

Yet Alon’s gaze remained fixed on the Karma of War.

‘Why?’

Alon had not encountered the Karma of War many times.

But he understood its nature to some extent.

It valued duels—

No, battle itself.

And the struggle within battle more than anything else.

......Which was precisely why Alon knew this proposal did not hide some scheme to stab him in the back.

But paradoxically, because he understood those values—

“......Was battle not sacred to you?”

Alon asked.

A gigantic hand large enough to cover the world descended from the sky.

KAGAGAGAGAGAK-!

A horrifying sound tore through the air.

“Lord Alon!”

“You need to dodge!!!”

Evan and Penia shouted at the same time.

But Alon completely ignored Al-Akulakka’s descending hand and kept looking at the Karma of War instead.

And the Karma of War, which had likewise found Alon’s question strange—

[Hah—!]

Soon realized what Alon had truly meant and slowly spread a smile across its lips.

A smile that unmistakably carried goodwill.

KIIIIIIIIIIIII-!

The massive palm descended closer and closer to the ground.

Yet even then, the dark dragonkin and Alon continued holding each other’s gaze.

[You misunderstand something.]

“A misunderstanding?”

[Indeed. Did I not say it before? This is not a sacred battle.]

The dragonkin’s lips twisted upward.

[This is merely... a ‘hunt.’]

That was what it said.

And then—

Just as Al-Akulakka’s enormous hand was about to strike the edge of the castle—

The death squad drowning in despair—

Penia, frowning sharply—

Evan, raising his sword toward the sky—

Saw it.

The gigantic hand descending as though to erase everything on the ground—

■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!

Exploded apart alongside violet-white radiance.

And in the sky where Al-Akulakka’s hand had burst apart—

“......I accept your proposal.”

Stood one man—

[An excellent decision.]

And one dragonkin grinning wide enough to split its face apart.