"Kugh... Please! Open, please!"
Liu Bei clawed at the thorn vines with his bare hands like a madman.
His reason had long been paralyzed.
Only the instinct to save them, that everyone would die if he didn't cross this wall, moved his tattered body.
Skreeek, crack.
The thorns of the 'Iron Vine,' harder than steel, dug into his palms and finally flipped his fingernails back.
Red blood flowed between his trembling ten fingers along with a terrible rupture sound, soaking the mud on the floor dark red, but he didn't even seem to feel the pain.
Rather, the pain felt like a whip telling him that he was still alive, so he shouldn't give up.
"Ehehe... Family... Let's mix flesh... Happy..."
"Warm... You come too... Let's melt together..."
Behind his back, his kin encroached by the purple mist were approaching, shedding bizarre laughter.
Their eyes were no longer those of the good neighbors Liu Bei knew.
They were filled only with madness glistening in neon violet.
They pulled at the hem of Liu Bei's tattered robe.
It was like the hands of the dead trying to drag him into the swamp of hell.
"Captain... Why aren't you smiling? It doesn't hurt if you smile..."
The bright smile of the child biting his leg.
It stabbed Liu Bei's heart deeper than a blade.
A cold steel wall that couldn't be pierced in front, and the hot body heat of his mad family behind.
Tears mixed with blood fell from Liu Bei's eyes.
"Someone... Anyone, please..."
It was the extreme limit where even his voice wouldn't come out.
Just as the string of all hope was about to snap.
Thud-!!!
A roar like lightning falling as if the sky was collapsing hit Liu Bei's ears.
It wasn't a simple landing.
A shockwave as if a giant meteorite was falling shook the earth.
At that tremendous pressure, Liu Bei and the zombies clinging to him floated into the air like fallen leaves and tumbled backward.
"Cough, hugh...!"
A thick dust cloud blocked his vision.
Through the dusty haze, a man stood arrogantly blocking the way between Liu Bei and the firmly closed castle gate.
"Ah, so frustrating! Move aside!"
It was Sun Wukong, the Great Sage equal to Heaven.
He picked his ear with his pinky finger and looked down with a pathetic gaze at Liu Bei, who was sprawled on the ground staring up at him blankly.
"A grown man crying because he can't open a single door? How embarrassing."
Sun Wukong didn't even wait for Liu Bei's answer and lightly tossed Ruyi Jingu Bang, which was draped over his shoulder, into the air.
The black iron rod falling while spinning.
The moment Sun Wukong snatched it with one hand, his arm muscles hidden under the loose leather vest swelled up like a scream.
Crack, crunch!
Blood vessels surged as if to burst, and the golden Ki spewing from his whole body distorted the space.
The surrounding air expanded, and stinging static electricity arose.
It wasn't a simple display of strength, but a notice of overwhelming violence.
Sun Wukong recited quietly.
"Grow."
With that short Mantra, the laws of physics collapsed.
The metal rod, barely 2 meters long in Sun Wukong's hand, began to expand exponentially.
Rumble-!
It instantly grew to several meters in diameter and tens of meters in length; it was no longer a weapon.
It was a Heavenly Pillar supporting the sky itself.
The giant Ruyi Jingu Bang blocked the sunlight pouring down, casting a massive shadow over the entire valley.
[W-What?! What the hell is that...!]
Liu Zhang's face, which had been watching leisurely with his arms crossed atop the wall, turned pale with shock.
A black pillar of overwhelming mass, larger than the thorn barrier he created, was about to fall on his head.
It was a disaster that couldn't be dodged or blocked.
"Homerun."
Sun Wukong swung the giant Ruyi Jingu Bang lightly like swinging a baseball bat, but with full power.
Kwa-a-a-a-ang-!!!
It wasn't a simple impact sound.
It was an explosion sound.
The entire valley shook violently as if an earthquake had occurred.
Along with a roar that seemed to burst eardrums, the atmosphere screamed.
The 'Absolute Defense' Iron Vine that Liu Zhang had strengthened with the power of the
The steel vines, which were said to be impenetrable even if a steam tank unit swarmed in and reflected any physical force, crumbled helplessly like rotten straw.
Crackle! Bang!
The shockwave didn't stop there.
The heavy castle gate holding out behind the vines, and even the upper part of the wall, were blown away entirely.
Liu Zhang, who was standing on the wall, bounced into the air along with the broken rubble without even being able to scream.
Like a shabby doll.
[Kuaaagh!]
A thick dust cloud rose up.
After a while, as the wind cleared the dust, the scenery beyond the gaping entrance was revealed.
Unlike the outside covered in the fog of death, the inside remained the peaceful scenery of the 'Peach Garden'.
Peach blossoms in full bloom and warm sunlight.
That unrealistic tranquility spread out like a painting beyond the destroyed gate.
Sun Wukong draped Ruyi Jingu Bang, which had shrunk back to its original size, over his shoulder again and smirked at the stunned Liu Bei.
"Knock knock."
He stood on the debris of the destroyed gate and added arrogantly.
"I told you to open the door."
"..."
The gate opened.
The physical barrier was pulverized before Sun Wukong's overwhelming force.
But hell wasn't over yet.
"Ehehe... The door opened... Paradise opened..."
"More... I wanna eat more... Happy..."
The 'Spores of Bliss' scattered by Zhang Lu still filled the valley thickly.
The refugees turned into zombies didn't care even about the explosion sound that seemed to split heaven and earth.
Even though their eardrums burst and blood flowed from their ears, they were still giggling, tearing at each other's flesh, or crawling toward Liu Bei who was sitting on the ground.
Sun Wukong frowned.
He could blow their heads off with Ruyi Jingu Bang, but he couldn't beat up the 'madness' that had already spread.
No matter how strong he was, he couldn't physically destroy a virus spreading in the air or magic dominating the mind.
"Damn it. This isn't my specialty."
It was when Sun Wukong clicked his tongue and scratched the back of his head.
Thud.
Someone walked into the thick purple miasma.
Soot-stained silver hair, clothes torn in places.
But the noble holiness that couldn't be hidden even by that tattered appearance overwhelmed the surroundings.
It was Lucifella.
She struggled to unfold the wings behind her back.
That appearance was wretched yet strangely beautiful.
One wing was scorched with half the feathers burnt remaining, and the other was just a bare skeleton as the fire demon had swallowed everything.
But surprisingly, life was sprouting from that dead skeleton.
As spring buds sprout on dry branches, small and soft black feathers were carefully blooming on the gaunt wing bone.
It was evidence of the pain and recovery she was enduring, and wings of will that never broke despite falling.
"Hup..."
As she endured the pain and spread her imperfect wings wide, faint particles of light scattered between the black feathers.
Lucifella clasped her hands together and closed her eyes.
A melody without lyrics flowed from between her pale lips.
[Song of Purification]
"Ahhh... Ah..."
It wasn't a song heard with ears.
It was a resonance ringing the soul.
Transparent and clear 'Holy Waves' spread from her body like ripples.
It was the complete opposite of Sun Wukong's destructive fighting spirit that tore enemies apart.
It was soft and warm like a mother's lullaby soothing a child having a nightmare, and at the same time harbored a firmness pushing away all things unclean.
Woong- Woo-woong-
A miracle happened.
Lucifella's song woke up the plants growing naturally around the forest of the Western Demon Realm, 'Hagon's Terrace.'
The bioluminescent plants, which had been discolored red or purple by Zhang Lu's magic, began to tremble in reaction to the holy waves.
Soon, the plants regained their original light, and the dew on every blade of grass shone with a clear emerald light and floated into the air.
Shhh.
The entire forest emitted blue powder.
It was a spectacle like a swarm of fireflies dancing.
Particles of clear blue light embraced the sticky purple spores floating in the air.
As light and darkness collided, the miasma was neutralized with a sizzling sound, and the evil purple fog began to clear.
"Uh...? Uh uh?"
Wherever the song touched, madness stopped.
The movement of the youth who opened his mouth to bite Liu Bei's ankle hardened like a stone statue.
"Ugh... Ah..."
The madness slowly faded from their eyes, which had been glowing neon violet.
Although their focus didn't fully return, at least the terrible murderous intent to eat each other disappeared, and they became blank.
The manic laughter filling the valley subsided, and silence came.
"W-What is this?!"
Zhang Lu, who was watching the situation from behind the forest, panicked and shook his chains.
"My spores! My children...! Who dares disturb my paradise!!"
Zhang Lu rampaged, but the spores were powerless within the range Lucifella's song touched.
But the price was harsh.
"Cough!"
As the fog cleared to some extent, Lucifella staggered and vomited a handful of red blood.
The wings where black feathers were sprouting trembled.
It was because she forcibly drew holy power, which was antithetical to her fallen angel body, cutting away her own life.
Her heart raced as if stabbed by a knife, and her vision blurred.
'This is the limit...'
A perfect cure was impossible.
She only bought time for a moment so they wouldn't kill each other.
Lucifella wiped the blood from her lips and looked at Liu Bei with blurring eyes.
The hornless king sitting blankly covered in blood.
Her eyes were speaking.
'I opened the path for you. I calmed the madness too. Now... it is your turn to prove it.'