Chapter 16 - What is that Between his Legs?

Krurururuuruku!

"Aaargh, damn it, Master!"

The shinsu pressed Arisha hard on the ground. No matter how much force she used, she couldn't stand it. The pressure was too great.

'Damn...!'

When did this start? Arisha looked at Uriel still with a black crust of blood covering his entire body. However, beyond the black seam, a dark purple glow shone strongly in the center of his chest. That's when this purple glow appeared. The scarlet-black shinsu that covered Uriel's body expanded and swallowed the entire dormitory, and when it did, a gigantic pressure hit Arisha.

Crack!

"Aaaaargh!!!" Arisha felt her bones slowly being broken and internal wounds were already starting to form on her body.

'Should I try to wake him up...?!'

Arisha gritted her teeth. None of the Rankers seemed to be noticing what was happening in that room. Waking Uriel was something to consider.

However, she dismissed that idea.

'Unless my life is in danger or his eyes go completely black, I shouldn't make such a risky bet.'

Even if she could survive waking Uriel by force, what if he got angry and killed her soon after? Then what she had done would have been pointless.

'Then... I should at the very least do my best to stay alive!"

She bit her lower lip hard and a determined gleam flickered in her eyes.

Clang—

Puk!

Her hand reached for her sword and she propped it on the ground. She used the sword as a cane trying to get up. The pressure of the shinsu was enormous, she could feel her whole body breaking down with every extra inch she stood up.

"Urghhh!"

She gritted her teeth and used all her strength to keep herself upright.

"... Pant... Pant... Pant..." Arisha breathed heavily with her legs wobbly and trembling. A proud smile was on her lips. She had done it! She stood upright over the tremendous pressure of the shinsu.

She squinted her eyes.

'Now... what happened to him...?'

In the direction of her gaze, Uriel's eyes were beginning to take on a black tint and she could see that his body was trembling slightly.

***

Just before...

Uriel had started to cultivate with the devil seed.

What is a devil? This was a question he had asked his master a long time ago.

His master's answer to his question was quite simple.

'A devil is the very definition of freedom. They are not influenced by anything. A devil creates and shapes his own rules and beliefs. They do not follow a pattern. Devils are completely unpredictable beings!'

Unlike devils that existed since the beginning of time, devils began to appear several eras later.

There was an age that became known as the Devil Age when a huge amount of devils were roaming around everywhere. However, at one point in history, this huge amount decreased to the point that it was almost impossible to find a devil. The reason?

'Those bastards of the Demonic Ancestors sealed them off. They couldn't support a new race that could freely use demon energy as much as they did. Hehehe, the Demonic Ancestors killed them and sealed their 'souls' or their 'essence' into the demons attached to the Demonic Villages.'

'The poor bastards thought that this was a way for the Demon Ancestors to show how much confidence they had in them, and they were happy and overjoyed. Hehehehehe, what they didn't know was that instead of a blessing, that was a curse!'

After the Demon Ancestors died, it was discovered that if one successfully absorbed the devil essence in the hearts of the demons attached to the Demon Villages, that person would turn into a devil. So their hearts were called 'devil seed' by many.

Despite this, the demons attached to the Demon Villages were relatively powerful, and not just anyone could obtain their hearts. And those who were strong enough had no interest in something like becoming a devil. So even if there were the emergence of new devils, there was never a huge swarm of them again.

'Well, it would be really dangerous for several devils to emerge.'

Uriel smiled and swayed to get rid of these useless thoughts. Soon, he concentrated completely on the heart in his hand and began to cultivate.

Ssssssk—

The demonic energy in every corner of the Demon Village began to surround his body and be absorbed into the heart in his hand.

With the increasing demonic energy absorbed, the heart began to turn a purple coloration.

"Fuuh..." Uriel exhaled, and suddenly...

Rumble!

The place shook and a strange purple smoke coming from the heart began to be inhaled through his nose.

The purple smoke traveled through his soul and slowly began to infect even his distant physical body and transform it. Purple veins began to appear all over Uriel's body and he gritted his teeth in pain. Blood was beginning to pour out of his nose and mouth.

'Damn, that really hurts...!'

It seemed as if his body was being mutilated into millions of pieces and, at a much slower rate, reconstructed.

His eyes widened and he kept his concentration so nothing could go wrong.

"Ugh..."

He bit his lips hard as he endured the pain.

***

Crack! Crack!

".....?" Arisha still using all her strength to stand upright looked at Uriel. The huge pressure she was feeling was lessening and Shinsu's Flow was returning to normal.

She frowned slightly, the strange black crust on Uriel's body was beginning to crack.

'Did it work?'

Her eyes looked anxious watching the cracks in the expanding black crust.

Crack!

Soon, Uriel's face became visible again. And in a few moments later, the black crust cracked completely and his entire body became visible.

He was different again. In his black hair, a few purple locks could be seen and a mysterious aura surrounded his body. In addition...

'Beautiful...'

His previously deformed face was completely healed, making Arisha let out a sigh of admiration. That snow-like white skin, his sharp golden eyes. His perfect face, his toned body.

'Hmm? Wait...'

Suddenly, as Arisha watched Uriel's body, her gaze stopped on a certain thing in between his legs. What could that possibly be? She wondered.

She soon felt her blood rising and her temperature rising. Her face turned red like a beet.

"Kyaaaa!" She screamed before losing her consciousness and falling to the ground. Her body was already tired from dealing with the pressure of the shinsu and now...

... Seeing Uriel's naked body. That was too much for her to handle.

"Haa. Haa... that was almost."

Uriel was panting as sweat covered his body. If he had continued, his physical body would not have been able to withstand the transformation process and would have exploded. He had almost forgotten how weak his physical body currently is.

'Fifteen percent, huh...? I think that's enough for now.'

His body and soul had been transformed fifteen percent into a devil.

It might not seem like much, yet for now, it was enough for him.

A satisfied smile was on his lips. He observed his surroundings and saw that the floor and ceiling of the room were full of cracks, moreover...

'She couldn't take the pressure, huh.'

...Arisha collapsed on the floor.

Uriel ignored her for a moment and stretched out his palm.

He did the first thing he learned to do with the shinsu. The shinsu started around him, focused on his palm, and soon a small ball of light formed in his hand.

Woong!

A Baang.

However, this Baang was different from the first time Uriel had made one. In fact, its color was different. Before it was only a white ball, however, now the Baang was of a strange light scarlet-black coloration.

Furthermore, the shinsu that formed the Baang emitted a strange vibration. It was violent and uncontrolled as if it wanted to attack and devour everything around it!

Uriel smiled.

'So it really worked.'

If any demons were there, he would notice immediately. The shinsu contained properties of demon energy!

That is the main difference between a devil and a demon.

Unlike demons that produce and replenish their own demonic energy, devils distort the energy around them to contain the properties of demonic energy.

In the old days, the first devils were demons who had lost their ability to produce demonic energy naturally and were driven out of their Demon Worlds, losing the chance to cultivate demonic energy and replenish it.

They didn't want to try to master other types of energy, such as spirit energy or qi. So to solve this, they distorted the energy around them to contain the properties of the demonic energy so they could use this energy without having to train and cultivate it.

At first, Uriel had his doubts about whether this would work on the shinsu. However, the Baang in front of him erased his doubts completely.

Besides...

'That wasn't the only gain.'

He could feel his body getting stronger. He moved his hand in the air and realized that his body was also much more agile.

'Although it probably can't be compared to that guy yet...'

He smiled wryly remembering Urek.

Urek was without a doubt one of the biggest monsters he had ever encountered.

It wasn't his strength. He could be overwhelmingly strong enough to defeat Uriel with one punch...

However, Uriel had met stronger beings and people before.

In truth...

'It was his instinct.'

He had realized. Urek was like a complete beast. With every blow he exchanged with Urek, he felt that the latter was attacking solely on the basis of his instincts. Moreover, the fact that he could control the shinsu instinctively...

This is something absurd in Uriel's view.

After all, in the Abyss it is practically impossible for someone to control spiritual energy based on instinct. It was necessary to cultivate first.

'No, not just in the Abyss.'

Even if it was in other worlds, he had spoken of only a few people who controlled energy instinctively. And it was a specific kind of energy, which in this case was either internal energy or qi.

Uriel knew that in the Tower of God there were several people who controlled shinsu instinctively. However, unlike them... Urek Mazino had only been in contact with shinsu for less than 30 minutes.

Now that it had been a few hours, could he have gotten even stronger?

"Haaah... Well, leaving that aside. I think it's time to rest."

Uriel was beyond exhausted. Hell, it had been less than a day since he had entered the Tower and so many things had already happened.

He shook his head and looked down at his bed. A bitter smile appeared on his face, the bed was completely destroyed...