Apocalypse Hunter

Chapter 88: Kalpa (Part 3)

Recognizing the genius of the Emperor’s sorcery, Cho-yul felt humbled.

“It’s Kalpa, the Sealed Orb. Please take a moment to admire the Emperor’s greatest work.”

“Some also refer to it as ‘Aeon.\'”

“Aeon?” asked the lord.

“Aeon as in eternity,” said Zin. Observing the specks swirling inside the Kalpa, Zin continued, “Because Immortals can’t be killed, their egos need to be obliterated. That is what this device is designed to do. It annihilates the will of the Immortals with the weight of time.”

Crushing them with the weight of extremely compressed time was the only way the Immortals could be dealt with.

“One year is a hundred years inside the orb. Time is sped up a hundred times. Not quite a kalpa…, but this is the most powerful time prison made by the Emperor.”

A kalpa was 4.2 billion years. Sorcery couldn’t do the work of God, but the Immortals had been trapped there for about 10,000 years.

“W-wow, I’m speechless.”

Cho-yul couldn’t believe the intricate and miraculous work that was happening inside the orb.

“The Immortals are already in a nonexistent state. Not only are their egos destroyed, they’re not even aware of their existence.”

As the Emperor intended, the Immortals had forgotten their existence under the weight of Time. Because the space inside the Orb was boundless, the Immortals were isolated, far away from each other, and had never encountered each other in the 10,000 years they had spent inside it.

With their empty shells trapped and their physical bodies and their minds annihilated, the Immortals had already turned into an “Immortal Blob.”

The Orb was designed to trap what couldn’t be killed and put it in a state equivalent to death, which was perfect for dealing with the Immortals.

Being trapped inside the Sealed Orb was terrifying, even for the most heinous devil. Nothing could be more horrifying than eternal loneliness.

“Just sealing them inside wasn’t enough, huh?”

“A seal can be broken. If that were to happen, the process would need to be repeated. The Sealing Orb had to destroy the Immortal. This was the best choice.”

“I see…”

The Emperor understood this simple truth. The Sealed Orb could trap the Immortals, but if the seal were to break, the Immortals would become active again. Trapping them inside would only be a temporary solution.

So, the Emperor compressed time inside the Sealed Orb as a way to completely stamp out the Immortals.

Once their awareness and existences were destroyed, the Immortals would only exist as emptiness, even if they were released back into the world. They wouldn’t be able to regain power as their desire for power would’ve been erased.

Immortals from all around the world were trapped inside the diamond orb. The orb had been prepared specifically to trap the Immortals, and it was doing exactly that.

“Lord, please extract the Sealing Force.”

“Yes.”

They would remove a portion of the Sealing Force from the diamond orb. With that, Zin would neutralize the White Witch, seal her immortality and then kill her physical form. Once she was completely sealed at the Heavenly Power Castle, the mission would be complete.

Delicately handling the spiritual devices, the lord controlled the force of the Sealed Orb. The lords of the Heavenly Power clan were trained not only in sorcery, but also in controlling the Sealed Orb. As if he had foreseen what would happen, the Emperor had also passed down the knowledge of removing a bit of the Sealing Force from the Orb.

How deep was the Emperor’s foresight? The three wondered, but no one had the answer.

After much work, the diamond seemed to liquify, and then a marble small enough to fit in one’s hand appeared. The lord handed it to Zin.

“You should be able to activate the Sealing Force with this simple orb. This is all you need for that, but if you want to put the Immortal in a state of nonexistence, you have to come back to the temple.”

“I understand.”

The lord couldn’t quite finish his sentence. Zin’s face also turned grim. Would there still be a temple to return to by the time they got the White Witch?

Would the Sealed Orb still be here?

“This orb is small, but unless it’s destroyed, the seal will remain active. However, In order to prevent such mishap from happening, please keep it with you at all times.”

The seal would work even if they didn’t return to the Heavenly Power Castle.

There was no info on the devil’s chimera. If the seal broke after a part of the White Witch was sealed, would she regain all of her power? Or just half of her power?

Without knowing what would happen, nothing could be said for certain, but for now, what they had gone there for was done. They could only trap the immortality part of the witch, but the orb was ready.

“… Let’s go.”

They had no reason to stay at the castle anymore.

They had to decide whether to join the fight or not.

———-

When Zin and Cho-yul returned after a long while, the shamanic ritual was nearing its end.

“Man, these people… don’t they ever get tired?” Leona was getting exhausted from just watching the people dance without showing any sign of slowing down.

“Hey, hunter, you don’t look so good,” Ramphil said, looking at Zin.

“There’s something we need to discuss.”

There was no reason for Zin to stay and fight. Ramphil stood up without hesitation. Leona stood up more slowly with a confused look on her face. The lord looked calm, as if to say that he would bear no hard feelings even if they decided to leave.

The lord told them to talk freely and walked off to watch the ritual.

The team walked toward the entrance of the village where the music wasn’t as loud and sat down at the edge of the dark forest, exchanging glances.

“We got what we came to the castle for,” Zin reported.

“That’s good,” said Ramphil, nodding his head.

Soon, there would be an all-out war in the area surrounding the Heavenly Power Castle, and they needed to decide whether they would join the fight. However, no one could say much.

Fighting would be foolish, but not fighting didn’t sit right with them.

They all had the desire to do more in this harsh world, but Zin was the exception. He was quite sensible.

“Since step one is complete, we need to discuss the other part.”

“What is it?”

Step one was getting the Sealing Force from the orb. The other was restoring the power of the Exorcism Sword, Phantomvein, to its original state. But the only person who knew how to carry out the second part was Zin, and he had not shared it with anyone.

The devils were hunted even before there was Phantomvein. If Zin’s Darkborn could regain its original power, devil hunting would be possible, but Zin kept that to himself.

“Phantomvein works by absorbing the blood of the devil and using that power to exorcise it.”

Having just heard what Zin said, Leona, naturally, turned rigid.

“The Exorcism Sword can be reactivated by killing a powerful monster, but that could take time. Also, locating a monster powerful enough to activate the Phantomvein is not easy.”

More and more, Leona felt an eerie, chilling sensation around her neck.

“The devils are not around anymore, which makes activating the Phantomvein difficult. But, there is one other way.”

Even though Leona knew that nothing was going to happen to her, she felt a chill down her spine, and her hands began to shake. The others also looked apprehensive as they stared at Zin.

Feeling their stares, he continued, “Which is killing a devil hunter.”

No one expected to hear that.

———

Everyone was shocked by that unexpected suggestion, but Zin continued, “Devil hunters are able to absorb the blood of devils and use their powers against them. In other words… they are living, breathing Phantomveins.

“In the past, when the devils ran rampant, people used to say that there was little difference between devils and devil hunters.”

Because of their viciousness, cruelty, and fear-inducing ability, as well as the numerous acts of terror they had committed, the devil hunters had often been feared more than the devils.

“But that’s a misunderstanding,” Zin revealed the chilling fact quietly, “devil hunters are actually devils themselves.”

How could devil hunters, who drink so much of devils’ blood in search for power, be human? They say that the devils were not around anymore, but that wasn’t exactly true. Devil hunters, the world’s last remaining devils, were still alive.

People just didn’t know. They already had more devil blood flowing in their veins than human blood, so were they still human?

“That’s why killing a devil hunter would have the same effect as killing a devil.”

The first part of the prep was obtaining the sealing force from the Sealed Orb, the second was killing a devil hunter with Phantomvein.

That was why Zin had held off on sharing the second part until they were ready to face the situation.

Leona was relieved to learn that her life was no longer in danger, but she was shocked to hear Zin identify himself as a devil. It was unclear whether he had meant that literally or metaphorically out of self-pity.

What was clear was that the mission could be completed by killing a devil hunter.

“B-But… aren’t the devil hunters… your friends?”

“A lot of time has passed. Many things are not like the past.”

Right now, there was a lineage of devil hunters, and all were walking different paths. Carltz built Wargrave, the Emperor’s successor proclaimed herself as the King of the North. Leona wondered about the other devil hunters.

Zin might be the only devil hunter who remained a hunter.

“The reason why you’re bringing this up now is…?” sensing something, Cho-yul asked Zin. Ramphil and Leona could also guess why Zin was mentioning that now.

“Killing SoSeoLan can reactivate the Phantomvein.”

Logically speaking, the fight should be avoided.

But Zin had a different idea. If Phantomvein could absorb SoSeoLan’s Darkborn, the Exorcism Sword would regain its strength. Zin could also absorb SoSeoLan’s Darkborn, but for some reason, he chose to discuss activating the Phantomvein instead.

In any case, with that, they would have everything they needed to hunt the devil.

The reason why Zin decided to share some of his secrets was simple:

“Killing a devil hunter is not something to be engaged lightly. I don’t know about other circumstances, but right now…” Zin was serious, and the others listened with bated breath, “consider whether SoSeoLan deserves to be killed or not.”

According to Zin, it wasn’t about whether they could kill SoSeoLan but whether she deserved to be killed. Ridding the world of a devil hunter was a grave act that required careful consideration.

“What are your thoughts?” asked Zin as he studied the looks on Ramphil’s, Leona’s and Cho-yul’s faces, consecutively.

Zin had always thought about things by himself and had made decisions alone, but now, he was asking his three teammates. If SoSeoLan was someone who needed to be killed, the team would have to confront the Group. Although, that didn’t need to happen at the Heavenly Power Castle.

If the answer was no, they would leave.

Rather than discussing the odds of victory or defeat, Zin presented a whole new perspective, and that approach felt strange to all.