Chapter 19: The Gwizon (1)
In this world, there exists a concept known as a vow.
A vow is a promise made to the heavens to fulfill one's deepest desires.
And within every soul lies its fundamental vow.
'As the queen of souls, I shall govern all spirits.
Gathering all flames, I shall illuminate the entire world.
In harmony with the heavens, I shall unfold my will upon the earth.'
Such vows are known as fundamental vows.
Some refer to these as the ghost gate.
In terms of the Cheonji order, those who fully comprehend their fundamental vow are called Earthly Immortals, and those who can manifest it are known as Celestial Immortals.
+My vow.+
+My fundamental vow.+
Even the malevolent spirits have their fundamental vows.
They too possess souls.
No, they themselves are souls.
The fundamental vows of these malevolent spirits are mostly similar.
To eradicate all impurities and purify this world.
The impurity of breathing, eating, speaking, smiling, crying, sharing warmth in love, spreading violence in hatred, dancing, sleeping, a baby wriggling its fingers.
All these impurities shall be cleansed.
Humanity, being the embodiment of impurity, shall be purified.
The spirits known as evil spirits or demons mostly engrave such fundamental vows within themselves. And those who fully realize these vows are called First-Class evil Spirits or demons.
By purifying numerous humans and consuming their souls, and through relentless training and refinement, a demon can manifest its fundamental vow.
Once able to manifest its fundamental vow,
That demon is henceforth known as the King of Spirits or Gwizon.
“My ghost gate is being manifested.”
A soul, once known as an evil spirit or demon, began to speak through its vocal cords. Having become the Gwizon, it is no longer a mere spirit of the shadows, is now eligible to challenge the dual gods, capable of creating a physical body to form a yang spirit
In other words, from the Gwizon onward, a real physical body exists in reality.
In a place once known as Bulgogi GP,
There was a man, marveling at his own hands as if they were a wonder.
Around him were strewn numerous corpses.
The states of the corpses varied greatly.
A corpse with its eyes gouged out, one with its head split in half,
A body severed between its upper and lower halves.
But the commonality among the corpses was that they all bore expressions of tremendous terror.
"Congratulations on receiving your new title of nobility."
Spoke a corporeal malevolent spirit. Beside it stood another demon with a physical body.
"Every human who entered this area today will die!!! Especially the offspring of the Phoenix, they must be killed without fail!!!"
"We will handle Gamlo; you focus on capturing and consuming the essence of the Phoenix to stabilize your realm. As for Gamlo, well, it's like the clouds that fly away too quickly to be caught."
The three Gwizon laughed.
Witnessing this, a man hiding nearby pressed a gun against the roof of his mouth and pulled the trigger. However, the bullet did not fire.
"Ghh... Ghhk... Ghhh..."
The three Gwizon gazed upon the surviving man. He tried to bite his tongue to commit suicide, but it was impossible. His mouth had already disappeared.
The man was unable to scream.
* * *
Gamlo realized that the situation was turning grim.
The annihilation of what was thought to be the safest, the GP team.
This was certainly impossible without the intervention of another Gwizon.
"I thought at most one would come as backup. My plan was to quickly deal with the one who came as support and then eliminate the newly born Gwizon."
The role of the students was to hold off the newly born Gwizon until Gamlo could eliminate the supporting Gwizon. However, Gamlo hadn't anticipated that not one, but two Gwizon would come as backup.
Without the command of a Supreme Spirit, it was rare for Gwizon to unite.
Gamlo looked at the man and woman who appeared before him.
They were all Gwizon.
And they were famous for having destroyed several cities - ancient and powerful Gwizon.
The old man with a bloodied mouth was known as Kuro, and the young woman with bloodied hands was called Chahwa. Both were experienced Gwizon, having slaughtered hundreds of thousands of humans.
"Gamlo, that's quite an arrogant thought."
"You damn b*tch!!! You underestimate us?! We'll make sure to torment your corpse!!!"
Speaking alone is enough to corrupt the mind with stickiness, and now two such Gwizon have descended. Gamlo formed a bitter smile and forged a connection.
"The tiger is going to prey."
"Bluster all you want. I know that all other Celestial Immortals, except you, have gone to seal the gaps in the Great Divine Gate. Especially the tiger, a key force, would surely not be missing."
There's a traitor within the Cheonji.
Gamlo sent a telepathic message with a bitter smile.
+Gooju-nim. Gather the survivors and escape through the DMZ. All students and reinforcements must evacuate.+
+What are your plans, Gamlo-nim?+
In that moment, Gamlo thought of a man.
The man was known as Yoo Hajin.
+I will confront and fight.+
For humanity, it seemed right for her, a Celestial Immortal, to survive and use everyone here as a discardable piece. After all, the chances of them surviving and becoming Celestial Immortals capable of confronting a Gwizon were slim.
'But that man would not make such a choice.'
Therefore, Gamlo decided to confront and fight today. When Gamlo chose not to flee, the Gwizon twisted their mouths grotesquely and shouted.
“Manifestation of the Ghost Gate.”
“Manifestation of the Ghost Gate.”
* * *
Boom-boom -
A loud noise could be heard from a distance.
Such explosions usually occur when things are going awry. For instance, like being an extra in a Michael Bay movie or being part of a trio flying away chased by an electric mouse.
"Tsk, why does it have to be so scary?"
I kicked a stone in frustration.
Because I felt uneasy.
"Captain, it seems likely that a Gwizon might appear on our side. The heavenly energy is very unstable."
"Right. If it had appeared somewhere else, the test would have been over by now. There's nowhere to run there."
"If a Gwizon appears, what do we do, Captain...?"
The kids kept freaking out about the appearance of a Gwizon.
So, I sneakily looked up 'Gwizon' on Wiki.
"Damn, why did I even search this."
<Gwizons are essentially the pinnacle of evil spirits... Practically impossible to defeat without a Celestial Immortal spiritual ability user... A recent incident in a small Spanish town resulted in its disappearance... If encountered, it's best to commit suicide as quickly as possible. This isn't a joke, it's genuine advice...>
There was nothing but chilling information.
Seeing that, I made up my mind.
If a Gwizon appears, I've got to run like hell.
We're just Bronze and Silver level – what could we possibly do against something only a Celestial Immortal can defeat? It'd be a miracle if we didn't mess up in a group fight.
"AAAAAHHH! Over there! Over there!!!"
“Cough, cough. Cough. Ugh.”
"This can't be happening, this can't be happening."
Suddenly, the kids start panicking.
What the heck? Has a Gwizon really appeared?
I guess that old man will read my will and delete my computer files, right?
I’m f*cking terrified, damn it!!!
I was tense and cautiously watched something approaching from beyond the bushes.
"What is that?"
It was a man. And not just any man, but a complete weirdo, walking around with his lower half exposed. His arms and legs were so skinny that he probably weighed thirty to forty kilograms.
"Guess he'd be flattened if he faced a Taekwondo 4th Dan."
Sigh, at least I could see him, so he wasn't a evil spirit.
"Hey, you idiots, don't be scared!!!"
Even though I shouted for them not to be scared, the kids just trembled more.
"Hey, you pervert!!! Because of you, our kids are freaking out!!!"
As I yelled at the man, he laughed as if amused and said,
"This is the first time I've seen humans go crazy like this. Is it because the fear is so intense that they've forgotten their fear? Humans really are disgusting."
What's with this guy? This naked man is completely insane.
"For someone who dared to show courage, you seem to have no spiritual abilities at all. Fine. I'll reintroduce you to fear. Melting a few of those kids over there should reignite the terror. Then, I'll slowly devour you bit by bit."
I pulled out some tools from my waist.
They were tools I brought to fight a superpowered assassin named Guon, but I never expected to use them on a crazy guy who just appeared from the bushes.
"By the way, who is Fengchu? Ah, that kid over there."
I aimed the stun gun silently at the neck of the madman.
If he's looking for Fengchu, he must be one of the assassins.
Good timing. These tools were meant to take down guys like you.
"Beep, beep."
A pink-haired girl was crying tears,
Uttering strange noises in sheer terror.
Just as the man's hand was about to touch the chick's cheek,
I pressed the button on the stun gun.
* * *
Overwhelmed by unbearable pain, the Gwizon screamed.
"Aaaargh!"
What the hell? What kind of power could penetrate the Gwizon's defensive spells? He had defended against all human spiritual abilities - the Qi waves of Gikongmun, Ilwol-Oakmoon Sect, the Holy Flames of Jinga, everything!!!
'How dare a repulsive human inflict such pain on me.'
'First, I will gnaw your limbs to the bone, and then, I'll crack open your skull and feast on your brain while you're still alive. I'll show you what that kind of torment feels like.'
The woman in the tunnel who went through that begged to be killed later, betraying all her comrades.
The Gwizon turned around with an evil smile.
But that smile soon disappeared.
"For God’s sake, don’t touch the chick, you bastards."
The man was now in a boxing stance with knuckle dusters on.
“Eighty-four punches.”
Following the ancient rule of one strike per second under the bridge, a terrifying onslaught ensued. Each hit was a bone-crushing, flesh-tearing blow.
"Th-that's not the Eighty-four punches technique..."
"Take it. Take this. Take it. Take this!!!"
In just a few seconds, the Gwizon felt a threat to its life.
'No, no way!!! I am a spirit of a clam!!! Clams have hard shells!!!'
But the man seemed oblivious to any shell, striking the Gwizon with precision. The fact that a high-ranking spirit couldn't defend itself in close combat was astounding.
The difference in attack and defense was so overwhelming it defied all expectations.
'A Gwizon being outmatched in combat...?'
The pinnacle of humanity. The Honored ones and the highest echelons of Cheonji.
Could it be that an unknown Celestial Immortal power was present here?
The man's assault momentarily ceased.
In that instant, the Gwizon, its teeth completely knocked out, grinned with a toothless mouth.
"Spiritual manifestation. Shell Poison Water."
Intending to make the spirit fighter regret engaging in close combat, it opened its shell to release a cursed liquid. The man should have dissolved without a trace.
But the man was unscathed.
No, he looked as if he hadn't been attacked at all.
"Hey, I freaked out thinking you were a Gwizon because of you!!!"
"Me, a Gwi-..."
"Now take this!!!"
The man's relentless beating resumed.
– – – The End of The Chapter – – –
