City ​​of Witches 1228

Chapter 1228 – #288_Metamorphosis (2)

#1222

1.
“Wow, fuck. I’m screwed.”

First, I understood.
This was probably the most reckless and stupid thing I’d ever done in my life.

From the moment I started climbing, searching for a completely new path, doubts and inner demons came to me every moment.

Is this really right?
Wasn’t the methodology I’ve used so far the best path?
Does it make sense to abandon everything I’ve built up and try something new now?

The path Siwoo was trying to take was to abandon calculations and build magic solely based on intuition.

This path was riddled with paradoxes.
A series of terrible contradictions.

This was because magic was not a ‘magic’ that embodied transcendental mystery, but a discipline.
Just because one’s mindset changed didn’t mean that the immutable truth changed with it.

Therefore, to weave magic with only intuition without the intervention of calculations that I had relied on so far was like looking up at the sky and down at the ground at the same time.
Like keeping the form while forgetting the form.
Like walking on the path while being off the path.

Was it really possible for a mere human’s intuition to create something from nothing in the true sense?

Siwoo didn’t know the answer.
He didn’t know, but he had to move forward, so he just kept taking the next step, staggering precariously.

Erelim was the owner of the ‘Celestial Void Record’.
This Void Record, which originated from the Spirit Realm, allowed access to the self-magic that witches who had completed their succession possessed.

Therefore, there was no type of magic that Blanche Erelim didn’t know.

Even the magic that the other ‘Shin Siwoo’ used, although she judged that its wonder could not be matched, she grasped its nature and system.

However, the magic of Shin Siwoo, who was constantly undergoing metamorphosis, was something even Erelim could not fully grasp.
What was its original form, what was it manifesting, and how? She could only vaguely guess.

Like a cocoon about to break open and sprout wings, every time the magical field around Shin Siwoo fluctuated, the unfamiliarity of the magic he wielded increased.

-Kwang! Kwaang!

Shin Siwoo was running through the pouring magic, barely dodging.

A lightning bolt that struck diagonally shattered his helmet, revealing his bare face.
Even though he had almost lost his life a moment ago, he still had eyes that were looking far away.

What the hell was he doing?
Where was he looking?
Why did he feel such a chilling sense of intimidation?
How was he able to approach without being shot down, despite having such inadequate skills?

Erelim swallowed countless questions.
Her intuition, which had regained its past sharpness, had reached the realm of foresight, and her decisions were made at the same time as her judgments.

She couldn’t give Shin Siwoo much time.

It was an instinctual urge.

-Chwaaak!

The wings of Akasha folded.

At the same time, riding the spatial vibration that occurred, her body shot straight towards Shin Siwoo.

There were two reasons for this action.

It was a waste of time to use ‘light’, which was still not fully controlled, from a distance.

Erelim was able to ‘analyze’ the opponent’s magic and choose the magic that was its opposite, but his magic now was an original that didn’t even have an original form in the Void Record.

Then, it was better to settle the matter with close-quarters combat.

It was common sense that witches were weak in close combat, but among the magic she wielded, there were various self-magic specialized for close combat.

Self-magic that automatically set up a fighting style or awakened the senses.

The reason why she was able to twist Shin Siwoo’s spear strike with the subtlety of Hwagyung (化勁) and pierce his heart by unleashing a dimensional vibration as a strike was because she had learned such self-magic.

-Kiiing!

Erelim’s wings, which were rotating in an infinite loop and amplifying her magic, vibrated.
A pure white sword appeared in Erelim’s left hand.

The concentrated power, without scattering elsewhere, was fully loaded at the tip of the sword, and her sword tip danced in a neat straight line.

Half-Moon Mirror.

The subtlety that a witch who first incorporated magic into swordsmanship had put into her self-magic.

She was satisfied with a smile after splitting the moon, which was like a hole in the black sky, with a single swing.
The sword path, as clear as moonlight, penetrated not only the gaps in the weapons but also the gaps in perception, so the moon shone without knowing it had been cut.

The sword path, which contained the image of a half-moon that was split and tilted, penetrated Siwoo, who was falling into a state of trance.

The timing, the power in her fingertips, and the true gait that moved smoothly as if cutting through the night sky, all predicted a sure hit.

However.
Erelim was making a fatal mistake.

The reason why she was able to plant a strike in Siwoo’s chest before was not because Erelim was superior to Siwoo in close combat.

At that time, Siwoo was in a hurry to settle the fight before everything was exposed to the Celestial Void Record, and he also did not expect that Erelim would possess magic based on swordsmanship and martial arts.

-Thud!

“What are you doing?”

The moonlight that had shone so brilliantly shattered like a glass mirror.
The sword, which had been heading towards his heart so cleanly, was deflected by the spear shaft that coiled around it like a snake, and Erelim’s torso was completely exposed.

“……!!!”

An attack that was rendered useless as if twisting a child’s wrist.
As Erelim’s shocked gaze showed, the blow that she had been confident in, having been swung in the midst of her own enlightenment, was thwarted as if blocked by an insurmountable wall.

The enormous power that contained the dimensional vibration in the strike was also guided by Siwoo as he wished and flowed to an unexpected place.

There was no need to think hard about this result.

Like Erelim, Siwoo had the magic ‘Contract of the King of All Diseases’ that allowed him to handle all the weapons in the world in the most optimal way.

However, if Siwoo from that time and Siwoo from now were to fight with pure swordsmanship, Siwoo from that time would not be able to touch even a single thread of Siwoo’s clothes now.

The enlightenment gained from the teachings of the War God Eloa and the Sword Demon Rinne.
The subtlety unique to Siwoo that he had obtained after risking his life in actual combat.

There was a vast gap that could not be overcome by Erelim’s swordsmanship, which only followed the form.
It was to the point that Siwoo, who was allocating more than half of his consciousness to ‘metamorphosis’, could casually block it without much effort.

-Crack

The price of the mistake came immediately.
Siwoo’s spear tip, which had scattered Erelim’s offensive, pierced Erelim’s left eye like a fluttering leaf.

A terrible pain as if all the sensory nerves were boiling at once.
It was not just any spear, but a red branch optimized to destroy the very composition of the spirit body.

However, as a result of building a precarious defense and adding it to the autonomous defense, she managed to prevent the spearhead and distortion from penetrating her brain.
This was also a preparation that was only possible for Erelim.

“Hic…!”

Erelim, who had closed one eye, was trying to create distance while shedding literal tears of blood.

Ah.
Her brain was boiling like a furnace.

New enlightenment began with melting down the old, and the pain of collapsing and the joy of creating innovation were mixed up in a mess, making her feel like a volcanic eruption was happening inside her skull.

But if she had to say which one it was, she felt good.
Like she was completely drunk, enjoying good liquor with good people on a good day.

The ambition as a scholar and the inquisitiveness as a witch were accepting even the moment of awakening that could bring about irreversible death as a thrilling pleasure in a state of trance.

That was why Siwoo was quite out of his mind.

With his mouth half-open, unfiltered words flowed out.

“Hey, are you leaving already, Auntie? Stay and play a little more. Does it hurt that your eye got poked a little? You’re trying to kidnap someone else’s precious daughter, and you’re backing out because your own body hurts a little. That’s so infuriating.”

Nevertheless, he was trying to tenaciously cling to the distance that Erelim had carelessly allowed.

Indeed, instinctively.
He was trying to keep Erelim at a favorable distance until this agony and metamorphosis were over.

-Hooong! Hooong!

“Three Thousand Hungs! Three Thousand Hungs! Three Thousand Hungs! Where are you running off to! Show me your pussy!”
“……?!”

Erelim felt that it was difficult to control her body due to the pain, but she somehow managed to build a defense.
It was a mix of the defenses of the most powerful witches of all time, redefined by Erelim.

Shin Siwoo was mindlessly pounding on it like a possessed hitter.
Each time, a heavy shockwave that made the bones vibrate scattered in all directions, shattering the battlefield.

“Hic… Hic Siwoo was a bit lacking… but he was still a good guy…”

Suddenly, Shin Siwoo lowered his head and trembled.

“The enemy of Hic Siwoo! I can’t forgive you! No, actually, I can forgive that.”

When he raised his head again, he was grinning.
He had an expression that was out of his control, like an addict who had heavily inhaled drugs.

“But you’re going to take my daughter? Is this bitch crazy? Hey! Huh? Even if I’m an expert at being kidnapped, do you think I’d do that to my daughter?!”

“I’m very disappointed in you. Both with Amelia and when you were trading with Lydia behind the scenes, and when you were backstabbing us in the war. Now that I see it, wouldn’t the title ‘Witch of Betrayal’ suit you better? Seriously consider it.”

“Why do you suddenly want to call it a draw? Huh? Absolutely not~ Go back~ I won’t change it~”

“There’s a crazy witch who challenged the Demon King Shin Siwoo to a close-quarters fight? No, absolutely not.”

He was rambling and muttering madly, spouting crazy lines as if he was enjoying this battle, raising the corners of his mouth to the point of bursting into laughter.

“Kyahooo! Aaaah! Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! Absolute flexibility. Don’t cling to formulas. True freedom is in enlightenment, so don’t resist the flow, don’t follow the flow, but go against it, and the gnosis that co-evolves every moment will set you free.
You must be based on existence, not non-existence. Implicit art? Structural flexibility? The act of abandoning what has been acquired and reflecting on the new? No. This still won’t work.”

Thump. Thump.
Shin Siwoo’s magical field was fluctuating again.

As if shedding another layer of skin, his prayer changed.

“You say you have to break free from the form, but you’re trapped in wordplay again. You’re talking about true freedom, but you’re going back into the prison of language that you created yourself. The limit of language is the limit of the world. Therefore, those who want to transcend the world must first transcend the limits of language.”

Shin Siwoo’s eyes shone coldly, and he asked in a low voice.

“Don’t you think so? Duchess Erelim.”

Erelim couldn’t understand a word he was saying.