〈Chapter 322〉 Part 1, Chapter 14, Section 12
Seung-hyung opened his eyes. The humiliation of being knocked away with a single strike was vivid, and he clearly felt himself flying toward Phoenix.
“If I win, she said she’d teach me other techniques.”
He had lost. Without even throwing a punch, Seung-hyung had been defeated and crashed into the barrier. Fortunately, he hadn’t died or sustained serious injuries, but the pain of defeat always stung bitterly.
“But this sensation—”
“Hold still. Don’t move.”
A voice different from his master’s rang out directly above his face. Though her hair color and eye color were different, Garura, who looked exactly like Phoenix, glared down at him with venomous eyes as she hovered over Seung-hyung’s body.
This soft sensation pressing against his chest must be—
“Absolutely don’t get up. If you do, we’re both dead.”
“…?”
“Up here.”
Miraculously, they had fallen between a collapsed stone wall and the barrier. It almost seemed like Phoenix had intended it, as they were the only safe spot amidst the ‘aftermath’ of the battle.
BOOM! BOOOOOM!!
Enormous explosions of magic power erupted in succession. Seung-hyung squinted his eyes, and Garura buried her head with a troubled expression.
“…This is a fight we can’t interfere with.”
“Ah…”
Seung-hyung turned his head. Between the gaps of the collapsed stone walls, the relentless clash of black-blue and crimson-gold light was beyond what even his eyes could follow.
“What kind of battle is this?”
Even if they were spirits, could such a description ever be justified? Trapped beneath Garura, Seung-hyung witnessed an unprecedented battle with his own eyes.
* * *
Karna swung a fist towards my face. I dodged by simply turning my head.
Karna’s spear aimed for my face. I dodged again by turning my head.
KAANG!
We both had the same idea. Karna and I simultaneously kicked each other in the air.
KIIIIISSHHH!!
The dark armor and Karna’s golden armor sparked against each other. Both weapons were made of magic power, but mine was a remnant of a monster, while Karna’s was the result of “weaponization of a powerful being.”
KAANG!
I won the struggle of strength. Karna stepped back to create distance, but I chased after him and raised my claws.
KAANG!
Karna tried to block me by swinging his spear. But the distance wasn’t enough, so I slid forward by stretching my legs and ducked my upper body.
Then I lifted my palm and deflected the spear.
“GRGHH!”
The weapon was pushed aside, and Karna bit his lip. Though he barely managed to hold onto the spear, the chest area he had been guarding with it was now wide open.
KAANG!
I clenched my fist and delivered a powerful blow to Karna’s abdomen. His golden armor shook violently, and Karna grimaced. Even Karna’s golden armor, crafted from an S-Rank monster, was as sturdy as my barrier.
If the exterior is tough, then I’ll just tear through the inside.
I retracted my fist and thrust it again at the same point.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
Karna grabbed my wrist with both hands and twisted it. My body was flipped 180 degrees by Karna’s brute strength.
But the sky is my domain. As soon as I was flipped, I unfurled my wings and disengaged, while Karna slashed through my afterimage with his spear.
WHOOSH.
I countered the horizontal slash with an edge of my hand, splitting the attack. The magical energy was halved, and I flung the two halves aside before flapping my wings.
Just 2 meters. I dove the short distance and extended my leg towards Karna.
PUUUK!
My kick struck Karna’s shoulder. His golden armor shook violently once more, and my blue flame engulfed Karna’s armor.
“HMPH!”
Karna grabbed my ankle this time. Determined not to let go, Karna twisted my captured ankle with all his might.
CRACKLE!
Unlike Karna’s golden armor, my armor buckled under the pressure of his grip. I needed to escape before my leg took any more damage, so I severed the flow of magic power through my ankle and flew away.
“TCH-”
SNAP!
The moment I flicked my finger, the ankle Karna held exploded. Karna was drenched in flames, and I flapped my wings to position myself behind him before the explosion even began.
“GHAAK!”
I tightly gripped Karna’s waist from behind. It was a bear hug meant to snap his spine, but the golden armor refused to bend easily.
Then how about the impact of gravitational acceleration? I soared high into the sky with Karna in tow, and while ascending vertically, Karna struggled fiercely to break free from my arms around his waist.
[Do you like gyro-drops?]
“I don’t know what that is!”
[Then let me show you.]
Just before reaching the ceiling, I flapped my wings and flipped my body 180 degrees. My head pointed downward, and I braced one foot against the barrier on the ceiling, extending my legs fully.
KWA—ANG!!
Pushing off the barrier, I plummeted toward the ground at full speed. Sensing the impending vertical impact, Karna attempted to disengage from me.
“HMPH! You were probably planning to throw me off at the last second—”
KUUUWONG!!
I crashed to the ground with Karna still in my grasp. Both Karna and I slammed headfirst into the floor, and the shockwave reverberated through our bodies.
“??!?!”
It seemed Karna hadn’t anticipated that I would fall with him. Thanks to that brief confusion, I was able to continue my combo attacks.
THUD!
I placed my hands on Karna’s waist and twisted my body. Karna also twisted to escape from me, but I maintained my position behind him and shoved him toward the ground.
“GHRAAK?!”
Karna face-planted into the dirt and fell forward. I leapt onto his back and pressed the sharp edges of my wings against his joints.
“YOU, YOU WOULDN’T DARE!”
CRUNCH. I inserted my hand between Karna’s nape and began twisting his golden armor from the inside. The armor resisted my strength, wavering slightly, while Karna struggled and sneered at me.
“HMPH! No matter how strong you are, my armor—”
[Do you know why travelers take off their clothes?]
“What?”
[Because it’s hot.]
WHOOSH! From my hand wedged between the armor, I unleashed a torrent of flames. Karna’s body burned brightly with the blue flames.
“HMPH!”
But Karna didn’t scream. A golden earring began to shimmer faintly with a radiant glow. I immediately jumped off Karna’s back and ascended vertically.
GURUUGUU—
The calm before the storm. Golden magic power slowly gathered around Karna’s earring.
BAAAAAAAAAAAM!!
A brilliant flash of golden light exploded. The overwhelming blast swept everything in its path, and I enveloped myself in a protective barrier to deflect the explosion. Karna’s light transformed into atomic blade-like waves that battered my shield, but I poured in maximum magic power to withstand it without taking damage.
Instead, the battlefield was devastated. Due to the ‘nuclear explosion’ that erupted in the center of the battlefield, all remaining debris was pushed toward the barrier.
“Ho ho, it’s been a long time since I’ve used this.”
Karna fiddled with his earring shaped like a sun as he stood up. I planted my feet on the ceiling upside down. Karna looked up at me, and I looked down at him. Despite the distance of about 100 meters, it posed no problem for either of us.
“The ‘Brahmasutra.’ I knew someone like you could handle this.”
[An ability to create a pseudo-nuclear explosion using magic power…]
In the original story, Karna used his bow-‘Vijaya’ to fire arrows imbued with this technique. However, the current Karna, having left Vijaya somewhere, used the Brahmasutra solely as a defensive skill.
[I find it bothersome.]
I flapped my wings to stir the wind. The remnants of golden magic power obstructing my vision were weighed down by the feathers falling from my wings, and Karna picked up his spear again, aiming it at me.
“HAAA!”
Karna launched a spear vertically at me. A golden spearhead shot out from the tip of his spear and soared straight toward me. The magical blades accurately intercepted the small feathers, less than 20 cm in size, I had released.
KAWAAAAAAANG!!
Blue flames triggered chain explosions. Karna precisely intercepted the tiny feathers, and the feathers imbued with explosive magic power detonated mid-air before reaching Karna.
But embers remained. To begin with, I never expected the feathers to reach the ground.
WHOOSH.
Instead, I had hidden sparks within them, and the embers gently descended to the ground like snowflakes.
SNAP.
I flicked my finger in the sky, and the sparks began triggering chain explosions. Initiating a nuclear-missile level explosion by detonating magic power isn’t Karna’s exclusive skill.
KABOOM, KABOOOOM!!
The residual embers from the intercepted feathers, along with those that weren’t intercepted, rained down like aerial bombardments. Surrounded by blue smoke, Karna endured the explosions with his bare body.
WOOOOOOONG–
Golden light emitted from Karna’s golden armor encased him. Karna’s golden armor, granting him near-immortality, was truly a nuisance. I folded my wings and momentarily gathered my magic power, and then Karna’s attack commenced.
“BRAHMASUTRA!”
As Karna roared, baseball-sized orbs of golden light began floating around him. Similar to how I embedded explosions within my feathers, Karna infused hundreds of these orbs with explosive magic power.
But the height from the ground to the ceiling was 100 meters. How would Karna launch these orbs at me?
Tch.
Karna spun his spear shaft, lifting the orbs. The rotation of Karna’s spear never ceased, and the orbs spiraled upward, launching toward me one by one with timed intervals.
WOOOOOOONG—!!
Each orb was like an arrow, a nuclear bomb. I raced across the ceiling, unfurling my wings, and clung closely to it. Simply ascending vertically would only result in futilely pounding against the ceiling.
‘It wouldn’t make sense.’
Naturally, Karna wasn’t foolish enough to blindly attack. The leading orbs gradually altered their course and darted toward me. Hundreds of orbs chased after me like guided missiles, and I circled in the air, flapping my wings much like when I controlled Karura.
WHOOSH!
I scattered my feathers like flares to intercept the orbs. As the feathers adhered to the orbs, they wobbled and exploded minimally. The source of the explosion—the magic power itself—was consumed and extinguished by the remaining blue flames on the feathers.
Eight, sixty, two hundred. With every spread of my feathers, the orbs vanished, and by the time I completed a full circle in the airspace, nearly half of the orbs had disappeared.
But this was futile. Karna still appeared energetic and continued aiming his spear at me.
“BRAHMASUTRA!”
With Karna’s shout, a sharp spearhead of magic power fired from the spear’s tip. Karna unleashed his purified magic power toward me, and I couldn’t keep dodging these guided nuclear bombs forever.
WHOOSH.
I twisted and folded my wings, plunging rapidly toward the ground. Despite Karna attempting to intercept with Brahmasutra due to my geometric trajectory, I swatted it away with my hand and didn’t halt my descent toward Karna.
“HAAAH!”
Karna focused magic power into his spear with a shout. The entire spear gleamed with golden light, and Karna thrust it directly toward my forehead.
BRAHMASUTRA. The spearhead of magic power fired this time was incredibly fast and powerful. But it was a familiar pattern to me, and I already had a proven countermeasure.
KA—ANG!!
I raised my leg high and slid down along the spearhead Karna had fired.
“WHAT?!”
Karna was astonished to see me using his magic power as a downward slope to descend. But it was too early to be shocked. I stepped on the tip of the spear with my foot and leaped toward Karna.
“USELESS!”
Karna accurately aimed his spear at me and thrust it diagonally. Given our positions, it was an angle precisely targeting my ankle that had burst earlier.
WHOOSH.
“Pfft.”
I swatted Karna’s spear with my foot and rolled my body. Thanks to my human form transformation, Karna’s spear merely stabbed empty air.
KAA—ANG!!
My shoe collided with Karna’s spear, causing an explosion. Karna appeared confused by my sudden shift from monster form to human form but quickly regained composure.
But it was too late. The distance between Karna and me was merely 2 meters. Using the explosion from the spear tip as propulsion, I leaped toward Karna’s face.
THUD!
I grabbed Karna’s face. Startled, Karna grabbed my hands. My hands had already transformed into a monster’s gauntlets, and I stepped on Karna’s elbow with my foot while gripping his wrist.
“You don’t have armor on your face, do you?”
WHOOSH.
Maximum firepower.
An unprecedentedly massive and powerful flame erupted from my palm. The inferno wrapped around Karna’s entire body and incinerated him.
“Is this…the end?”
Amidst the blue flames, Karna was smiling brightly.
Which made me smile involuntarily.
“Isn’t this fun yet?”
“Yeah. Too fun. Fun enough to…kill you.”
Hmph. Karna grabbed my collar despite being engulfed in flames.
“Dark Legion or whatever…it’s decided.”
Karna’s face was filled with smiles even as he burned.
“Fight till death. No regrets.”
“Of course. Puhhuh.”
Does Karna realize?
That deep within him, the essence of ‘Gaechonkwang’ is gradually awakening.
“After this battle, Karna, ‘you’ will die.”
“OH YEAH!!”
Karna raised his fist toward me. Trapped, I transformed into a monster and raised my fist. We amicably punched each other in the face, marking the beginning of the true battle for my Gaechonkwang awakening.
