A Stretch After 500 Years
Kugugung―.
The absolute being who supported the sky of the Demon Realm, the Demon Buddha Samjang's death.
In the aftermath, the summit of the Five Elements Prison, having lost its centripetal point, began to collapse with a scream.
Amidst the chaos where stone rain mixed with red blood ruthlessly pounded the earth and house-sized boulders poured down.
As if mocking all that confusion, two golden glints flashed from deep within the pitch-black underground hole.
Soon, a roar steeped in boredom, piercing through the abyss, sharply tore the atmosphere of the battlefield.
"Aaaaaah!! I thought I was going crazy from frustration!!"
Kwa-aaaaang!!
With a roar that shook the earth's axis, a red flash soared from deep underground.
Blowing away the massive rocks that had crushed him for 500 years like a sandcastle, the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Yeouibong), wrapped in energy like crimson lava, shot high into the sky.
It was the complete release of the seal and a signal flare announcing to all that the strongest battle god of the Demon Realm had returned.
A thick dust cloud shimmered where the signal had been fired.
And tearing through that hazy curtain, a man finally revealed himself.
Dark brown hair sticking out haphazardly.
On his muscular upper body was just a single torn leather vest, and around his waist, he roughly wore crude leopard-print pants.
He cracked his neck left and right, listening to the popping sound of his joints as if enjoying it.
The Great Sage, Heaven's Equal (Jecheon Daeseong), Son Goku (Sun Wukong).
"Phew, stiff. Sleeping on a stone bed for 500 years really wrecked my back."
Son Goku smacked his lips and looked around.
"Hey, baldy! I'm out! Where are you? You didn't get scared and run away, did you?"
But there was no answer. All that could be seen were the shattered remnants of the Five Elements Prison and the fishy red rain falling stickily from the sky.
He spotted something fallen at his feet and paused.
A fragment of a half-broken skull necklace.
It was the item Samjang used to wear as if it were his life.
Son Goku tapped the fragment with his toe.
"...What? Did he really die? That stubborn old man?"
A hollow smirk hung on his lips.
"Ha, this takes the fun out of it. I was planning to give him a good punch as soon as I got out."
He kicked the skull fragment as if he had no lingering attachment.
The fragment drew a parabola and disappeared below the cliff.
Just then, an alien energy wafted into his keen senses.
A noble yet burnt scent, mixed with the smell of blood but clearly different.
Son Goku's golden pupils, the Fiery Golden Eyes (Hwaan Geumjeong), narrowed.
"...Huh? What's this smell? Fishy divine power... and a burnt smell?"
Son Goku followed the scent, moving through the gaps in the collapsed rocks.
At the center of a crater gouged out by the impact of the explosion lay a woman.
A meteor fallen from the sky.
No, it was an angel.
However, her appearance was far from 'noble'.
One wing had all its feathers burned away, leaving only a gaunt bone structure hideously exposed, and the other was about half left, but the tip was charred black like charcoal.
Her face, visible through the singed silver hair, was breathtakingly pale and beautiful, but the white clothes she wore were a mess with red blood and ash.
"I wondered what kind of bird had fallen... so it was an angel? But you look like a mess, don't you?"
Son Goku squatted down and watched with interest.
He poked Lucifella's pale cheek with his index finger.
There was no reaction.
He sniffed near the nape of her neck like a beast.
"Wait... why does she smell like that baldy? Did the two of them crash or something?"
A smell where Samjang's demonic energy and the angel's divine power were strangely mixed.
It was the moment Son Goku tilted his head.
Kieeeeeek―!
A bizarre scream like scratching metal rang through the ruins.
Son Goku clicked his tongue as if annoyed and turned his head.
Then, through the deep darkness where red rain poured, dozens of pairs of gleaming eyes seeking prey began to shine eerily.
They were the beasts of the Demon Realm who had picked up and eaten the fine powder that fell as the scripture scattered and mutated, the Golden Devourers.
Their forms were horrific.
The original forms, which might have been goblins or wolves, were nowhere to be found.
Because they had swallowed energy they couldn't handle, their muscles had abnormally swelled, tearing their skin, and through those cracks, crimson muscle fibers and unstable golden light flowed out like lava.
The monsters, shooting golden glints from their empty eye sockets, opened their mouths as if their jaws would dislocate and drooled looking at the 'massive energy source,' Lucifella, fallen on the ground.
"Grr... light... more light...!"
"Eat... chew...!"
The greedy gazes of the monsters who had lost their reason fixed on Lucifella's heart.
At that disgusting killing intent, Son Goku frowned and picked his ear with his pinky finger.
"Ah, noisy. I just woke up, why are dung flies swarming and making a fuss."
"Kiek! Meat! Fresh meat!!"
One Golden Devourer at the front kicked off the ground and sprang up.
Its hugely swollen thigh muscles burst, and with that propulsion, it rushed toward Lucifella's nape.
Just as its sharp claws were about to tear her white neck.
"Get lost."
Son Goku didn't even give the creature a glance.
He just snatched the Ruyi Jingu Bang floating in the air as if it were a bother and swung it lightly with just a snap of his wrist.
Puck―!
A dull rupture sound rang through the ruins, and the beast's head exploded without a trace.
Hot golden body fluid scattered in all directions.
Beneath that sticky liquid pouring down like rain, the massive headless body collapsed weakly at Lucifella's feet.
Son Goku draped the fluid-stained Ruyi Jingu Bang over his shoulder and looked down at the remaining monsters, standing crookedly.
"Yaaawn..."
He let out a long yawn and wiped a tear from his eye.
"Hey, looking at you guys, your bones look so weak they'd break with a tap. Why don't you just go on your way? Big brother here isn't in the mood to warm up."
But they weren't opponents that could be reasoned with.
The smell of golden blood bursting from their comrade's death rather stimulated their madness.
Dozens of devourers opened their mouths simultaneously and screamed bizarrely.
"Grrrr... Kill! Eat!!"
"Light! Give us the light!!"
Was it because of the fluids they drooled and their gleaming glints?
The herd of monsters was rushing fiercely like a massive golden wave.
Even in front of that overwhelming number, the corners of Son Goku's mouth curled up fishily.
"Ha, they say a club is the medicine for a beast that doesn't understand words."
His golden eyes shone menacingly.
As Son Goku adjusted his grip on the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the dragon pattern wrapping the staff glowed red.
"Guess I need to educate you."
Kwa-aang!
Son Goku's figure blurred.
What followed was one-sided violence.
Every time the Ruyi Jingu Bang traced an arc, golden fireworks exploded in the air.
Arms were torn off, waists were snapped, and heads were crushed.
Fragments of monsters exploding before they could even scream scattered in the air, mixing with the red rain.
Overwhelming slaughter.
It took less than a minute for that swarming herd of monsters to fall silent.
Only silence remained in the ruins again.
Only the remnants of beasts oxidizing into golden light were scattered on the ground.
Son Goku brought the massive Ruyi Jingu Bang he had draped over his shoulder to his lips.
"Hoo―."
As he blew lightly, the steel staff that was heavy enough to crush the world shrank to the size of a needle as if it were a lie.
Son Goku skillfully shoved the shrunken Ruyi Jingu Bang into his earhole and grumbled.
"Tsk, playing with boneheads really doesn't give a good hand feel."
It was then.
"Ugh..."
Lucifella, who had been lying on the ground, groaned low and struggled to open her eyes.
Then, beyond her blurry vision, the silhouette of a wild man standing against the backlight in the red rain slowly came into view.
"...Where is this... who are you...?"
At her cracked voice, Son Goku picked his ear and squatted down.
"Oh, you're up? Your mental strength is usable. Surviving a fall from that height."
"Ah...!"
Lucifella, coming to her senses, hurriedly checked her body.
And the moment she confirmed her wings burnt like charcoal, her pupils shook as if an earthquake had occurred.
"My wings... Samjang... Don't tell me I... him...!"
Lucifella dropped her head in despair.
The guilt that her fall had killed the absolute being who protected the order of the Demon Realm seemed to crush her.
Son Goku plopped down in front of her, thrusting his golden eyes close and giggling.
"Yeah, you turned that baldy... no, that gentleman who became the Demon Buddha into dust. Thanks to that, this body got some fresh air for the first time in 500 years."
Lucifella raised her head with a blank expression.
"...I released you?"
"It probably wasn't intentional, but that's the result. I have a personality where I can't live owing a debt."
Son Goku grinned and spread three long, thick-knuckled fingers in front of her eyes.
"I should repay you, right? Exactly three times."
"...What?"
"If you are in danger of dying, this Great Sage will personally save you. Exactly three times. After that, you survive on your own."
Lucifella stared blankly at the three rough fingers spread before her eyes.
Absolute favor proposed by the strongest battle god of the Demon Realm.
But instead of grabbing that hand, she bit her trembling lip and looked up at him with desperate eyes.
"...Then, please help me find the scattered scripture."
"Huh? Scripture?"
Son Goku raised an eyebrow as if surprised.
Lucifella staggered and struggled to raise her upper body.
"Of course, it's not for free. The fights with the strong that you want... will be overflowing where the scripture fragments are."
A grim flame ignited in her eyes.
"Stopping them and retrieving the scripture... that is my atonement."
It was the very moment Son Goku's lips curled up as if interested.
The Ruyi Jingu Bang in his ear hummed and vibrated slightly.
It was clear it had also smelled a blood-spattering fight.
"Ho? Atonement. And strong guys..."
Son Goku slapped his knee and stood up.
"Well, it wouldn't be bad for killing time. Alright, accepted!"
He grabbed the arm of Lucifella, who was sitting on the ground, and pulled her up roughly but lightly.
As she stumbled to her feet, Son Goku's gaze lingered on her back.
The right wing that had been burnt to just gaunt bones.
But surprisingly, black feathers were sprouting between the knuckles in that short time.
"Huh? By the way, feathers are sprouting again on the wing that was just bones?"
When Son Goku asked as if fascinated, Lucifella retorted, putting strength into her voice.
"I was an archangel in the Celestial Realm, you know?!!"
"Hahaha~ I bet you were~"
Son Goku's hearty laughter shook the battlefield where red rain fell.
And over the ruins of the collapsed Five Elements Prison, the long shadow of the bizarre duo who would overturn the Demon Realm was cast.