[Translator - Helga ]

[Proofreader - Starfall ]

Chapter 219: Incarnation (2)

“You mean to face me without using your Vessel’s power…?”

Kwon Hyuk echoed skeptically.

“You expect me to believe that?”

“Well, you don’t have to,” Kwon Hanul said casually. “I’m not here to convince you, Uncle.”

Kwon Hyuk scrutinized his nephew’s expression, then slowly stood up.

“…It doesn’t seem like a lie.”

“I’m not like you, Uncle. I don’t wear two faces.”

“You’ll regret this.”

“That’s my business, isn’t it?”

Keh.

Kwon Hyuk scoffed, mocking him as he readied his stance. Draconic demonic energy cloaked his body.

Kwon Hanul summoned his own demonic aura. Both men stood shrouded in black flames, glaring at each other.

“I’ll teach you a lesson.”

“Not sure you have anything worth learning.”

Kwon Hyuk slammed the ground, a wave of black fire surging toward Kwon Hanul in an instant. He twisted his waist and swept his leg—his shin wrapped in draconic aura—straight at Hanul’s temple.

Hanul blocked it with his forearm. The two different auras clashed violently, pushing both of them back.

“Not bad!”

Kwon Hyuk lunged again, swinging a knifehand strike toward Hanul’s neck.

Hanul tilted his head to evade and countered with a punch to Hyuk’s abdomen.

But just before it connected, black dragon scales armored Kwon Hyuk’s torso.

The moment Hanul’s foot collided with the scaly armor, a powerful rebound hurled him backwards.

“Hahaha!” Hyuk laughed, stroking his stomach. “The power of True Blood is… ecstasy! It’s not even close to what pure bloodlines can offer!”

Kwon Hyuk, once the pinnacle of the pureblooded Hyukcheon clan, had now attained True Blood. At this moment, he could be considered the strongest in the clan’s history.

“Let’s turn up the heat.”

A third eye opened on Hyuk’s forehead. Horns sprouted from his head. A large glowing orb floated around him.

The Dragon Eye that controlled the battlefield, the Azure Sea Dragon Horn that amplified the user's essence, and now the Dragon Pearl hovered beside him.

Kwon Hyuk’s presence surged severalfold. It was as if the entire world now fell under his domain.

“Come! Let’s keep playing!”

He stomped the ground, releasing a torrent of draconic aura at Hanul. Hanul countered with his own aura, but in that moment—Hyuk appeared before him.

“Ahahahaha!”

Hyuk unleashed a flurry of attacks, his every movement draped in demonic fire that swept across the world.

“Why aren’t you resisting? Aren’t you also of True Blood? Shouldn’t you be able to fight back?!”

Drunk on ecstasy, he drove Hanul relentlessly.

“This is all you’ve got? Let’s see those other bloodlines you’re so proud of!”

“I was planning to,” Hanul replied calmly—then lunged forward and kicked Hyuk square in the solar plexus.

Once again, Hyuk’s Blackscale Armor shielded his torso.

But this time, the moment of impact shattered the armor into pieces.

Hanul’s kick crashed directly into Hyuk’s abdomen, causing searing pain as if his insides were rupturing. Hyuk was sent flying.

“Gah! Cough! Ghhhak!”

Coughing blood, Hyuk groaned in agony. He couldn’t comprehend it—how? The Blackscale Armor was supposed to be impenetrable!

“Black Dragon Bloodline is impressive,” Hanul said.

It imbues the user with a dragon’s instinct for combat and grants extraordinary powers.

It’s no wonder the Hyukcheon clan is considered the world’s strongest—thanks to the power of the Black Dragon Bloodline.

“But it’s not the best in every category.”

Hanul’s leg shimmered with golden light. The ability that destroyed the armor and dealt a critical blow—was from the Superhuman Bloodline—the power Indestructible Vajra.

“The Blackscale Armor is excellent for defense. But in terms of raw physical strength, it can’t surpass the Superhuman Bloodline.”

When it comes to hand-to-hand combat, even the Hyukcheon clan acknowledges the superiority of the Superhuman lineage.

“Tch… Took a hit, huh.”

Hyuk wiped the blood from his lips. His color returned quickly—his internal injuries already beginning to heal.

The regenerative ability granted by True Blood.

“I won’t hold back anymore. Time to get serious.”

He summoned more aura—but then froze.

“……What the hell is that?”

Crimson-black blades formed from murderous aura were floating around Hanul.

“Nothing special. It’s from the Shura Bloodline.”

“Nothing special?”

Each blade cut through the air with a sharpness that felt like it could split flesh without even touching it. Their killing intent was that dense.

For someone as powerful as Hyuk to feel that threatened—and Hanul called it “nothing special”?

“You wanted to see my powers. So here they are.”

Before the sentence was even finished, the blades flew at Hyuk.

Hyuk smashed them down with his aura-imbued fists. The blades shattered like glass.

“Hmph. Not much after all.”

But another blade followed, darting toward him.

“What are you trying to do with these mosquito tricks?!”

Just as he prepared to swat the blade, it veered sharply—and buried itself in his thigh.

“Ggh?!”

Hyuk crushed the blade, but the wound remained. He had no time to treat it—more blades came swooping in.

They danced in unpredictable arcs, dodging his punches and striking at exposed flesh whenever they saw an opening.

“What?!”

This was impossible—such precision required reading the opponent’s every move.

But that only worked if there was a significant skill gap.

And Hyuk was second only to Kwon Seonwoo and Kwon Myung-woo in the entire Hyukcheon clan.

The idea that Kwon Hanul was more skilled than him?

“Nonsense!”

Furious, Hyuk unleashed his aura and armored himself head to toe in Blackscale Armor.

The blades might be sharp, but they couldn’t pierce that.

“No more cheap tricks!”

Using that momentum, Hyuk charged. He would close the distance and finish it.

Even with his enemy rushing forward, Hanul made no attempt to dodge. Instead, he closed his eyes, fists clenched.

“Fool! What are you doing with the enemy right in front of you?!”

Hyuk closed in—only steps away—when suddenly, radiant light burst from Hanul’s body.

“Took a while to prep. I only just figured this out. Needs some setup before I can use it.”

Hanul raised his glowing fist.

Hyuk’s eyes went blank as he saw it. Then he muttered in disbelief.

“…Condensed Aura?”

A transcendental technique.

Unrelated to bloodline—attainable only by pushing one’s personal skill to the utmost limit.

Even within the Hyukcheon clan, famed for its martial prowess, only Kwon Myung-woo had ever mastered it.

“Bite down hard, Uncle.”

Hanul struck.

The radiant fist pierced Kwon Hyuk’s body.

Hyuk gathered every bit of his mana to block it.

But Condensed Aura obliterated his aura and Blackscale Armor, slamming directly into his torso.

The power had weakened enough to avoid blowing a hole clean through, but—

“Hahh—huff—hahh…”

His stamina was utterly depleted. Hyuk collapsed to his knees, panting.

“Hahh—huff…”

It was humiliating beyond belief.

“Uncle, are you not getting up?”

Hanul looked down at him.

“Don’t tell me this is it?”

Grit. Hyuk ground his teeth. Wiping the blood from his lips, he rose.

“You kidding? The main course hasn’t even started.”

“I look forward to it. Let’s see it, then.”

“Gladly.”

Hyuk’s mana exploded outward. A chilling aura engulfed the area—and a massive dragon took form.

Now in his true draconic shape, Kwon Hyuk glared down at Hanul.

—Now, the real fight begins!

Incarnation Form.

A power only granted to those who reach the pinnacle of their bloodline.

Those who obtain this can transform into the primal creature their bloodline descends from.

The strength it grants defies imagination. Even Kwon Seonwoo, with this power alone, had nearly annihilated the entire Mei clan.

—Yes, this is it.

Drunk on power, Kwon Hyuk muttered with a blissful expression.

—This is what truly brings me joy. I’ve never felt such omnipotence and liberation before!

Hanul then asked, “Uncle, do you know how one attains Incarnation Form?”

Hyuk faltered and looked at him.

—What are you babbling about now?

“I’m not talking about shady experiments like yours. I’m asking if you know the proper way to obtain it.”

Hyuk didn’t answer—couldn’t.

“Director Kwon Myung-woo, known as the best in the Hyukcheon clan, hasn’t attained it. But Chairman Seonwoo has. Do you know why?”

—What’s your point? Stalling for time?

“I recently found the answer. It’s through anguish.”

Hyuk frowned.

—What kind of nonsense…

Hanul continued, as if he didn’t expect a response.

“Through anguish, through endless conflict and self-doubt, a person begins to truly reflect upon themselves. And in that moment—they ascend. That’s the threshold of Incarnation.”

Kwon Seonwoo lost his beloved child due to his own stubbornness. Ironically, it was that grief and suffering that allowed him to complete the Dragon Pearl and attain Incarnation.

—So what?

Hyuk scoffed.

—I already have Incarnation. I don’t need your philosophical garbage.

“Don’t you want to know how I figured this out?”

A bad feeling flashed through Hyuk’s mind.

—No…

That premonition became reality as Kwon Hanul’s mana surged.

His body began to change—

The third dragon revealed itself.

[Translator - Helga ]

[Proofreader - Starfall ]