Chapter 475
'Manifestation of Blue.'
Emitting blue energy was possible even now.
But manifestation seemed to be something else.
'The function has been unlocked, so I should try it.'
Following the system's guidance, Seong Jihan tried manifesting the blue energy.
Then, from his body, a blue light flowed out.
[According to the Administrator's imagination, the form of Blue is revealed.]
Swooosh…
Above his head, an object was created.
'This is… a wheel?'
A golden wheel imbued with a blue glow.
It didn't have a skull like Ashoka's, but anyone could see it resembled his golden wheel.
And then.
Clank…
As the wheel moved, blue energy spread in all directions, starting to sever the red lines.
'The speed has increased drastically.'
The blue-glowing golden wheel showed the optimal effect in severing the red lines.
The Blue stat, which had been stuck at 100 and not increasing,
[A significant portion of the red's distortion has been reversed.]
[Blue stat increases by 10.]
was rising dramatically through interaction with the golden wheel.
[The Hell system's foundation is collapsing… How can the Hell I've built up for so long be blocked by something like that?]
As the destruction accelerated due to the manifestation of Blue, the red pupils reacted intensely.
"Seems like you're starting to feel it crumbling now."
At Seong Jihan's words, the pupils wriggled and looked at the Arena Owner.
[…Now is not the time to defend this place. Go and stop him! At this rate, the Hell you are to inherit will disappear.]
"Understood."
Swooosh…
The Arena Owner pulled back about half of the Void energy surrounding the pupils.
He then gazed at Seong Jihan.
Bzzzt!
Suddenly, a barrage of red beams poured down.
The Total Annihilation rushed to destroy Seong Jihan and the golden wheel floating above his head, but,
Clank…
As the wheel moved once, the Total Annihilation disintegrated and vanished in midair.
"Oh my… Your authority is truly threatening to the red."
When the Total Annihilation, the strongest in destructive power among the red abilities, disappeared so weakly,
red energy stopped flowing from the hole-filled face of the Arena Owner, and Void energy rose up.
"However, if that overwhelming power… only applies to 'red', you won't be able to subdue me."
"You're quite confident for someone who was defending by laying out Void energy."
"Until a moment ago, I thought I could win by just buying time. There was no need to confront the inner Void."
From their perspective, as long as they defended Hell, their 'investment' would pay off even if they just bought time before Seong Jihan severed the red lines.
The Arena Owner didn't need to take the risk of facing the Taiji Sword.
But now the situation had turned 180 degrees.
Seong Jihan had the advantage if he bought time, and they were the ones being chased.
"Then."
Swoosh!
The Arena Owner instantly stood in front of Seong Jihan.
"Come, receive this."
He spewed out Void energy from his entire body.
An attack method aiming for Seong Jihan to absorb the Void energy and self-destruct.
'…For now, I need to avoid it.'
If the cracks on his face progressed further here, it would be irreversible.
To avoid absorbing the Void energy, Seong Jihan stepped back for the time being.
Then,
"Where are you going…"
Kwak!
The Arena Owner grabbed the golden wheel floating in the air.
"My, my… It rapidly devours the red I possess. However,"
Swooosh…
As violet Void energy flowed from his hand,
the golden wheel slowly melted away.
"Dealing with it using Void energy is simple."
[The form of Blue is annihilated.]
[Blue stat decreases by 5.]
As the blue-glowing golden wheel disappeared, the stat decreased by 5.
"The Blue ability, in the end, is merely the antithesis of red."
Listening to the mocking words of the Arena Owner, Seong Jihan inwardly thought,
'What he said isn't wrong.'
The Blue stat, which had risen to C-grade.
However, the ability it possessed was still specialized only against red.
Of course, the very reason this ability was created in the first place was to eliminate the red factor possessed by humanity, but
for an Administrator's ability, the applicable range was far too narrow.
'Is this inevitable due to its origin…?'
Since it was an ability created by Siddhartha, the form of Blue also appeared as a golden wheel.
And because he originally designed it to counter red, even if the grade increased, it could only be applied to red.
But just because that was the reason it was created, accepting it here would mean,
'This ability loses its potential for development.'
He had become the Blue Administrator, so that couldn't be.
Seong Jihan recalled when he severed the red lines with Blue.
Blue, which said it had reversed some of the distortions.
When this power was applied, the system's distortions were corrected.
The way it was applied was by severing the distorted areas.
'Severing the system's distortions and restoring them to their original state…'
Severance and restoration.
Were these two aspects combined in the ability shown by Blue?
'…Let's see.'
As Seong Jihan focused his thoughts on the two keywords while dodging attacks,
"My, my… You're far too agile. But your abilities have certainly improved since becoming an Administrator."
The Arena Owner, who had been spewing out Void energy, gave up on chasing Seong Jihan and stood still in the air.
Then,
"I didn't want to use the power of the Arena, but…"
Tap.
He brought his hand to his top hat.
"I will open the space for the defeated."
He threw it towards the sky.
Then, centered around the top hat, a vast expanse of violet Void energy unfolded.
"Construct the execution grounds."
As the Arena Owner mentioned the execution grounds, the Void energy soon created a stage.
-Isn't that… a guillotine?
-There's also a gallows;
-This is a real execution ground.
-Such things were hidden in that hat…
The space for the defeated, the execution grounds.
Inside, the Arena Owner crossed his arms,
his starry eyes twinkling as he watched Seong Jihan.
"I will designate the defeated. Target, Seong Jihan. Recent defeats… 1 time. The Martial God system comes in handy at times like this."
Swooosh…
As Seong Jihan was designated as the defeated, violet beams of light rose from the execution grounds.
"Bring the defeated."
When the Arena Owner pointed his finger at Seong Jihan,
Bzzzzt…!
The violet Void energy began rushing towards him as if to restrain a criminal.
-The Arena Owner also resorts to just using Void energy when in a hurry…
-I wondered why he used the top hat he always wore, turns out he had that hidden…
-The Void energy is immense. To block that, it seems only the Black Sword or Total Annihilation would work…
-The Red Administrator will retract the Total Annihilation, and carelessly using the Black Sword might absorb the Void energy and become a problem.
-Right, if more Void energy enters the current Seong Jihan, he will crumble starting from the left side of his face…
-So this is how he loses soon after becoming an Administrator…
The more Void energy he absorbs, the more he crumbles.
Total Annihilation cannot be used.
In the eyes of the extraterrestrial viewers, Seong Jihan's situation seemed to be a dilemma.
And then,
Swish…
As Seong Jihan drew out his spear,
-Total Annihilation, it won't work…
-Is he trying it just in case?
-Since the Red Administrator will be focused on managing Hell, he might be aiming for this moment…
They thought Seong Jihan was using Total Annihilation just in case, hoping it would work.
However,
[You think I'll let you use Total Annihilation?]
The Red Administrator was on guard for this very situation.
He knew that subduing Seong Jihan was more important than repairing the severed lines of Hell.
And then,
Fwoosh…!
As flames soared from Seong Jihan's Phoenix Spear,
[…What?]
The Red Administrator tried to cancel it out immediately, as if he had been waiting for it.
However,
the flames that rose from the spear, far from being extinguished,
burned even more fiercely, incinerating the rushing violet Void energy all at once.
"This is definitely Total Annihilation… Seems like you can't control it as you please?"
Seong Jihan sneered.
As he swung the Phoenix Spear once,
Total Annihilation was unleashed, severing the strands of Void energy.
And outside of that red light, a faint blue glow was rising.
[Blue light? Don't tell me, your authority…]
"It's a shame I can't use Total Annihilation as it is. So I decided to let it be used a bit more."
Swish.
Seong Jihan then aimed the tip of his spear.
The Phoenix Spear harbored both blue and red lights.
* * *
The Blue ability Seong Jihan grasped was the severance and restoration of distortions.
He focused first on severing.
'The Red Administrator canceling out Total Annihilation is also him using his authority on me… If I sever this with Blue, I can continue using Total Annihilation.'
In a situation where the Taiji Sword couldn't be used due to the Void energy,
and Total Annihilation was being canceled by the Red Administrator,
to break through the current situation, an authority with that level of power had to be used.
In fact, it would be best if the Blue authority alone could draw out that much destructive power.
'But right now, I don't have the luxury to devise that.'
Seong Jihan decided to focus on what he could do for now.
Fwoosh…!
The Total Annihilation imbued with blue and red light continued to sever the strands of Void energy.
Furthermore, as it tried to attack even the execution grounds,
"Mmph…!"
The Arena Owner quickly stepped forward.
Fwoosh…!
From his body, flames soared up in an instant.
"This is quite troublesome. If there were only red, it would be absorbed…"
Tap. Tap.
The Arena Owner shook his body several times,
but the blue-red flames did not easily die down.
[Having a hard time?]
"Yes, at this rate, I will be pushed back."
Quickly assessing the situation upon seeing Seong Jihan's new power, the Arena Owner replied.
"I will detonate the execution grounds and pour out the Void energy."
He gave up on the tactic of dragging Seong Jihan to the execution grounds,
and decided to blow up the stage altogether.
[Most of your Void energy will be lost then.]
"I was going to discard the Void energy anyway."
[Alright, do it.]
"Yes."
As soon as the Red Administrator's order was given,
Crack…
The Arena's execution grounds quickly developed cracks.
Inside, a massive amount of Void energy began to rage.
By causing the Void energy within the top hat to run amok, was he trying to make Seong Jihan absorb it somehow?
'Tsk, I really don't want to take it in, but they keep trying to force-feed me.'
Seong Jihan looked at the execution grounds.
The stage of Void energy that was about to crumble upon the self-destruct command.
The amount of Void energy that would come out from there was truly enormous,
perhaps even affecting the ground below this vast sky.
'Hmm…'
If he were to risk damage to the ground, he could just flee far away and survive.
In fact, no one knew what impact the Void energy falling from this high altitude would have on humanity on earth.
Running away and severing the red threads from afar with the blue-glowing golden wheel would be more advantageous in terms of gains.
However,
'I don't think I necessarily need to avoid it.'
The abilities shown by Blue were the severance and restoration of distortions.
Here, the distortions only referred to what Red had done, but
did it really need to be limited like that?
'Severing distortions and restoring them to their original state, in other words… It's an ability to nullify the opponent's authority.'
If this nullification function could be applied elsewhere as well,
could it also be used on the self-destruct command utilized by the Arena Owner?
'Let's see…'
Swoosh.
Seong Jihan manifested the power of Blue again.
A moment ago, Blue appeared as a golden wheel.
But what he needed this time was not Ashoka's wheel.
'I'll create it as something most suitable for me.'
If it was something most fitting for himself, of course it would be a weapon.
Blue energy rose from his hand.
"No, what are you trying to do again…!"
Swish!
Seong Jihan's body instantly stepped onto the stage of the execution grounds that was about to explode.