Heavenly Demon Cultivation Simulation-Chapter 542: Demon Lord (7)

Tap. Tap.

Only the Demon Lord moved within the frozen world.

One step.

Heavy. The density of time made the air like lead.

A space where sound had vanished. Even breaths had hardened like metal.

Another step from there.

Slowly but surely he executed the next motion.

Meanwhile the Earth Demon remained frozen.

Solidified like a shard of stone.

‘Good.’

By the time there were four steps left between them.

Crackle.

A strange qi blossomed from his hand.

Flame and a sheet of ice began to take form. Astonishingly, even in stopped time the Absolute Supreme Demonic Arts was being completed.

Three steps.

Rumble,

The four-color aura compressed to its limit.

His palm shone like the sun.

Two steps.

‘It’s over!’

Suddenly his body felt light. He had fully adapted to the time stop.

Perhaps because of that, his movements quickened.

Ssssh,

With one final step left, his hand stretched toward the Earth Demon’s face.

Right before him. A single inch.

In the extreme frozen moment where neither evasion nor defense was possible.

‘Dieee!’

It would have struck his face. No, he thought it would.

Crack.

But then a strange sound was heard—like bones crushing, like space splitting.

‘What is that?’

The Demon Lord realized in an instant.

That he could not move.

His hand had stopped just in front of the Earth Demon’s face.

Kugugugung.

A deeper silence, a heavier density. A time stop within a time stop.

Within that density he could barely even be conscious.

‘This can’t… be…’

A blink.

The Earth Demon’s eyelids moved.

Slowly, very slowly he opened his eyes.

The Demon Lord couldn’t even roll his eyes or breathe in that space where thought itself slowed.

Swoosh,

The Earth Demon turned his head to the side. So naturally.

Tap.

He stepped back. Then he slipped around the Demon Lord’s hand and moved aside.

“You used something like this?”

He muttered mockingly.

“On me?”

Tuk.

The Earth Demon’s finger brushed the Demon Lord’s shoulder. Lightly. Really lightly.

“This is enough.”

And with that the Earth Demon passed by the Demon Lord. One step, two steps, three steps….

Rattle,

The view, the world, began to tremble. The precursor to the time stop lifting.

Whoosh!

In an instant everything returned to normal.

“Kraaak!”

The delayed pain surged all at once. Not just the shoulder—the entire arm shattered. Bones became powder embedded in the muscle.

Thud.

The arm drooped. Held together barely by tendons.

‘Is this… real…’

The Demon Lord sank to his knees. The gap was overwhelming. The difference between power gained from the system and a realm built with blood and bone.

It was as far as heaven and earth.

‘Did he spare me?’

A single contact within time compressed to the extreme. That alone shattered his arm.

If he’d aimed for the neck, it would have been instant death. That cold certainty ran up his spine.

“I’ve faced someone like you before.”

The Earth Demon turned his back and looked up at the sky. Clouds swirled.

“Special weapons, special abilities. Special functions…”

His voice deepened.

“They used everything the system offered. Space suppression, ability sealing, even absolute powers that steal an opponent’s energy.”

The Demon Lord was hearing the story of a name he didn’t know: Jang Dal.

“He was far superior to you. In system usage, combat sense, every aspect.”

Swoosh.

The Earth Demon slowly turned his body.

“And yet he lost. Do you know why?”

“….”

“Because of the system.”

Whooosh.

The wind blew. The Demon Lord’s hanging arm trembled.

“Power piled on with luck, a foundation not earned by experience. It’s like a sandcastle…”

“….”

“It collapses in unforeseen situations. Especially you now.”

The Earth Demon’s gaze shone coldly.

“You are not even a match for me.”

Kuk.

The Demon Lord slowly clenched his teeth.

Anger? No. It was emptiness.

The absolute authority he desperately sought, the godly realm. The moment he thought he had it all.

There was a higher heaven.

“Why…?”

Clutching his shattered shoulder, the Demon Lord asked.

“Why try to kill me? You’re already far stronger.”

It was a desperate question.

As gods, there was no reason to fight.

They could each make their own world and be done with it.

“If you exist, the world will fall into chaos again.”

“You’re a god too!”

The Demon Lord shouted.

“How are you any different from me!”

Silence.

After a long stretch of silence—

“Yes. I am a god too.”

The Earth Demon admitted.

“Someone chosen by the system like you. But…”

His gaze drifted, as if staring at something unseen.

“The goals I pursue and my philosophy are different.”

Vrrrr.

The air trembled. The qi emanating from the Earth Demon changed—something other than murderous intent.

“A twisted world—I wanted to live there, and save my people. But they died in the end. It was a world designed by someone.”

“….”

“So I wanted to fulfill the dreams of the unjust deaths and twisted bonds I met there. At least in the original world…”

His gaze faltered. Something that hadn’t been erased over those long years.

“I hoped they could live properly. That’s why I returned here.”

“….”

“But then I suddenly realized.”

Swoosh.

The Earth Demon lifted his eyes. It seemed he was looking beyond the sky.

“If this is truly the original world, wouldn’t that bastard appear again?”

Crackle.

The sound of air splitting. The Earth’s Demon’s killing intent leaked out.

“That twisted world was made by him. And it was generated based on this world… But really.”

The Earth Demon’s gaze locked on the Demon Lord.

“You really have appeared.”

There was a note of awe in his voice.

‘Jang Dal…’

The Earth Demon, Seol Hwi, thought of that name inwardly. The creator who modeled the original world. The one he had always sought to avoid was himself—the Earth Demon.

Yet the Demon Lord had appeared.

“I don’t know all your long-winded talk…”

Kuk,

The Demon Lord gripped his broken shoulder and raised his head. A strange light stood in his eyes.

“From where I stand it seems the opposite.”

“What?”

“You said you were the third Administrator, right?”

The Demon Lord snorted a laugh. Blood ran from his mouth but he paid it no mind.

“Then when returning to the original world, shouldn’t the one to appear be the first Administrator, not me?”

The Earth Demon stiffened.

“Think about it. In any case, you’re in the same situation as me. Chosen by the system, you became a god. You became a god too.”

The Demon Lord slowly rose. He staggered, but his gaze was sharp.

“The simulation said there were four Administrators. And that you, the third, killed me.”

Drip.

Blood fell.

“Then I was the second. And I became the fourth in this world.”

The Demon Lord’s voice deepened.

“If, as you say, this is the central world modeled by all gods…”

He widened his eyes.

“Shouldn’t the one who ought to be here be the first, not me?”

Boom,

Silence fell.

For the first time, the Earth Demon’s face was touched by agitation.

‘He has a point.’

As the simulation said, four Administrators. He was the third; the Demon Lord was both the second and the fourth.

Then who was the first?

‘Could it be…’

A foreboding rose along the spine.

“And that first one…”

The Demon Lord grinned.

“Maybe it’s you. You just don’t remember.”

The Earth Demon’s pupils trembled.

At first he thought that line was nonsense.

But strangely, blanks in his memory were accepting that possibility.

Because in the original world a second Jang Dal had been created again.

Then there’s no law saying the original me wouldn’t exist in this world.

‘It might be that virus…’

Memories from the past flickered in the Earth Demon’s mind. The voice of Siming Star echoed.

“He is a being that circles the system, treated as a virus.”

“Virus?”

“We call any being that can destroy the system that.”

He had said it.

That he was someone who destroys the system.

So he might once have been a being within the system.

<Method found!>

Meanwhile the Demon Lord had seized the Earth Demon’s agitation and was eyeing a final chance with the simulation.

He was going to die anyway; he had to try anything.

<This is a method to maximize his confusion. We will disguise you as the first Administrator.>

‘What?’

<If you delegate part of your authority to me, a perfect act is possible. The Earth Demon will perceive you not as the second but as another being, and surely an opportunity will arise. Will you delegate part of your Administrator authority to me?>

<Accept./Decline.>

The Demon Lord had no choice.

He judged this to be the only way.

<Accepted.>

The Demon Lord took three breaths. Then a low, cold voice flowed from his tongue.

“Why is that story impossible?”

The Earth Demon’s eyes widened at those words.

The Demon Lord’s expression had changed entirely from a moment ago. His voice was different too.

<You were the first.>

The system’s voice flowed through the Demon Lord’s mouth.

“You were the first.”

Crackle.

The Earth Demon’s eyelids twitched.

Since becoming a god, the unshakable rampart around him began to crack.

“In the beginning of all this…”

Kuk,

The Demon Lord propped himself on his broken shoulder and approached again.

Blood flowed between his fingers, but his eyes shone alien.

“Neither the Demon Lord nor the system was made by Jang Dal.”

Thud.

One step. The ground cracked and red earth spurted up.

“You made them. You were the one who summoned the players.”

“What…?”

The Earth Demon’s voice cracked.

Tap. Tap.

The Demon Lord stepped closer. His shattered arm hanging limp.

“You rose from player to god. You became stronger than Jang Dal. Think about it: among countless players, why was it only you who could surpass Jang Dal?”

The Earth Demon’s breathing grew rough.

“Effort? Of course. Talent? I’ll admit it. But is that all? Was there something… special that others didn’t experience?”

Crack,

Something broke in the Earth Demon’s mind. Fragments of memory stabbed his consciousness like blades.

‘Another god…’

The being once called a virus, who neutralized the system and helped only him.

He even shattered Jang Dal’s time density.

“Yes. You remember. That’s it. That’s exactly why you…”

The Demon Lord’s remaining hand slowly rose.

The Demon Lord was now within reach. He smiled and spoke.

“Because you were the first to utilize this system.”

“…!”

The Earth Demon widened his eyes. A powerful directive was issued to the Demon Lord standing before him.

<The target's sensory functions are decreased by 99%.>

<The target's cognition and judgment are decreased by 99%.>

<The target's bodily responses and muscle control rate are decreased by 99%.>

<The target's defense, regeneration, and energy circulation are decreased by 99%.>

<All of the target's combat and extrasensory abilities are forcibly suspended.>

Thud.

The sound of the sky collapsing.

In that moment, only the Demon Lord’s breathing remained in the world.

<Now!>

And finally.

The system reacted directly inside his head.