Chapter 495

〈 Chapter 495 〉 Part 1, Chapter 20, Section 27

“You dare to insult Her?!”

Seongju throws a punch. I dodge by tilting my head. A vein pops on my cheek.

“Insult?! It’s the truth! Though I’m currently in love with Blazing Phoenix, I’ve done the deed with Yuna a hundred thousand times—it’s a fact!

This time, I throw a punch. Seongju blocks it by crossing his arms. His body slightly retreats, and I twist my waist.

“The Goddess isn’t just any Goddess!”

“You perverted bastard! The Blazing Phoenix inside you will cry!”

“She acknowledged it herself, right?!”

I attempt to kick his waist, but he counters with a leg raise. As soon as my attack is blocked, Seongju starts retaliating.

“Let’s say I did it a hundred thousand times with Yuna! And also a hundred thousand times with Blazing Phoenix! So what?!”

“How could that be considered acknowledgment?! Doing it a hundred thousand times?! You deserve to die a hundred thousand deaths!”

“Then kill me if you can!”

He tries to grab my ankle and throw me, but I float in mid-air and kick his chin. Was it a clean hit? No. Seongju intentionally took my attack.

“Die, Phoenix!”

Even though his head was thrown back, he grabs my legs with one hand and swings me around like a baseball bat.

“Just this much?!”

As my body spins through the air, thorny magical powers made of corrupted organs sprout from the wall. I immediately spread my wings and hover in the air. Then Seongju follows.

“If you can dodge, then dodge! But death cannot be avoided!”

An uppercut aimed at my sternum is dodged by leaning back.

“You die! For me and Blazing Phoenix!”

I gather magic power sharply into my heels and kick his stomach. The blade of magic should have pierced through, but kicking his abs instead broke the blade.

“Why is your stomach so hard?!”

“I trained for Her!”

Seongju’s fists start glowing purple. It’s too late to evade, so I raise my guard and form a protective shield with magic power.

“Since you can pierce my skin with nails while sharing love! Go ahead and stab all you want! There’s no way you can tear my skin with just that!”

“Yuna doesn’t dig her nails in!”

“You son of a bitch!!”

The provocation is working perfectly. Though our martial arts are excellent, we’re weak when it comes to verbal sparring. Seongju easily falls for the bait.

“Yuna is kind and presses with her fingerprints! She doesn’t even grow her nails long! She worries about leaving marks on my back!”

“You insane guy! How can you make jokes like that when Blazing Phoenix is inside you?!”

“It’s not a joke! You saw my memories, and so did Blazing Phoenix—she saw everything!”

Seongju relentlessly beats the shield. Every time he throws a punch, the shield shatters. I create a new shield behind the broken one and retreat.

“Joke? Do you really think I’d joke about something like that with Yuna? With Blazing Phoenix listening inside me?!”

The shields keep breaking. Even a single punch breaks both the existing shield and the newly created one. If this continues, Seongju’s fist will eventually reach me.

“I’ve revealed everything to Blazing Phoenix! Every fragment of my memories! I’ve even entrusted my memories to her! I don’t hide my heart!”

Kaaang!

“Blazing Phoenix understands and accepts me! She knows about my past with Yuna!”

The final shield breaks. Seongju pulls his shoulder back and focuses magic power into his fist.

“Then answer me! If you had to save either Yuna or Blazing Phoenix, who would you choose?”

It’s more childish than asking whether mom or dad is better. The answer was decided from the beginning, and I reply without hesitation.

“That’s obvious, isn’t it!”

“If you say both, you’ll die!”

I stretch out the same arm as Seongju and twist my waist. I try to suppress the corners of my mouth curling up.

“Of course, Blazing Phoenix!”

One punch. I concentrate magic power into my fist and strike. It’s a simple punch, but it’s not just swinging my arm—it’s throwing my entire body into the punch.

——-!!

My and Seongju’s fists collide. Neither of us avoids the attack, neither flinches, and neither of us steps back. We meet attack with attack.

“Guuhh!”

Just from the punch, blood spurts up inside me. The yellow storm flowing through my fist and arm engulfs my whole body and wreaks havoc on my insides.

“Kuhhh!”

Seongju also lifts the corners of his mouth with a mouthful of blood. Flames start to burn along Seongju’s arm.

“Contradiction! Contradiction! You claim to choose Blazing Phoenix, yet you can’t cut ties with Yuna!”

“How many times do I have to tell you?! I merely follow Blazing Phoenix’s will!”

The fists that clashed are now tattered. But I withdraw my arm and forcibly pump magic power into it. The gloves burst, veins pop on the back of my hand, but my fist remains unopened.

“But I don’t care what happens to Yuna in this world! The Yuna I loved and the current Yuna are different Yunas, and my love now is Blazing Phoenix!”

Right punch. Same as the left, I condense magic power. Since the first attack didn’t knock him down, I’m putting even more magic power into this one.

“Yet Blazing Phoenix wishes to save Yuna! That reason is enough!”

“You bastards!”

Kaaaang!!!

Seongju raises his guard, and I accurately strike where his arms form an X. Seongju retreats significantly, and I realize my arm is slowly breaking.

Pssshuuuut!!

All sensation disappears from my arm. Only pain remains. From my shoulder to my fingertips, my skin, muscles, and flesh explode due to the magical explosion and impact.

“Guhhhh…!”

Even the body of an immortal isn’t perfect. In the end, it’s still a body that failed against Seongju, a mixture of various organic compounds. The two arms that defended against my second punch are charred black and dried up. Blood, bodily fluids, everything—only the skeletal structure and remnants of muscle remain after burning away.

“You’re insane, insane! Even being inside a human body, I can’t understand it!”

Still, Seongju doesn’t die.

“Yuna was probably a past connection for you! Why do you care so much about such an existence?!”

“Nothing special.”

I regulate my breathing. Magic power still boils over, but my arms and body can’t endure it. If I throw another punch, my whole body will surely explode.

“I’m sorry.”

But I pull my arm back. My trembling hand clenches tightly, gathering all remaining magic power into my fist.

“Thank you.”

If I can’t kill the enemy with two punches, I pour everything into the third. That’s the hidden powerhouse Kim Chul-soo’s ultimate move that sealed the strongest monster from the original work.

“And above all, because Blazing Phoenix wishes it.”

Triple punch kill.

“Can people sell others out and still be happy? Well, let me explain it simply for someone like you… alien… it’s called…”

Humanity, you mushroom-head!

“!!!”

Does saving a person require a reason?

“Foolish Phoenix! If you use that attack, you will die!”

“You’ll die too!”

I take a step forward. But throwing the punch feels ominous.

‘Again.’

If I die, I’ll restart. I’ll have to go back in time again, die over and over in lava for twenty years, break through the volcano, and start all over.

‘Restarts are getting old.’

If I don’t throw the punch, there might be room for negotiation. With Seongju’s help, maybe Blazing Phoenix and I can exist separately right here.

‘But I don’t want to follow Seongju’s will, do I?’

Is it an illusion, or the effect of magic power? Blazing Phoenix gently places her hand above my fist. Blue magic power begins to fill my ruptured veins and muscles.

‘If I throw this, everything ends. This is the last time, so do whatever you want.’

Blazing Phoenix tightly grasps my fist. I can push forward or pull back. Perhaps for the first time in my memory, Blazing Phoenix has entrusted her choice to me.

‘If I do what I want, it means you do what you want too.’

I also entrust my choice to Blazing Phoenix. Though it seems like we’re passing responsibility back and forth, we already understand each other.

What Blazing Phoenix wants.

What I want.

They’re the same. We connect. Words aren’t necessary; action alone is enough.

Moving forward.

Not restarting the past, but enduring together, Blazing Phoenix and I have been moving forward until now.

Triple punch.

Blazing Phoenix and I throw the punch together. It’s a simple punch, but though there’s no need to shout, Blazing Phoenix and I simultaneously voice our battle cries.

“Blazing Phoenix Revival—-!!”

The final blow pierces through the immortal’s chest.

***

Pssssh—

The heat dissipates. The condensed magic power within my body can no longer bear the strain and releases.

“Haha, ha.”

My vision gradually lowers. My stature begins to shrink. The arm I threw the punch with starts to shrink from the muscular adult male arm to the delicate woman’s arm.

“…It’s over. Completely.”

Even my voice becomes feminine. The clearly male vocal cords gradually return to their original voice—the voice of Blazing Phoenix.

“Really… I can’t comprehend it.”

Seongju looks down at me with a detached face. Until just now, our eyes met, but as I begin transforming back into Blazing Phoenix’s body, I have no choice but to look up.

“Do you know what you’ve done with that previous attack?”

“I do.”

Even my tone returns to normal.

“…I never thought I could lay a hand on you. Eventually, I had to sacrifice something. One card in my hand had to be discarded.”

“Was it the body of Baek Cheonghwa? Abandoning the body of a man?”

“That’s right.”

There’s no regret. Well, a little regret lingers. Baek Cheonghwa’s body couldn’t withstand the Triple Punch Kill, and ultimately exploded under the surging internal magic power.

‘Looks like I won’t be able to do it with Blazing Phoenix in reality anymore.’

Though there was no grotesque scene of the body exploding due to magic saturation, it completely disappeared. Thus, I can no longer assume Baek Cheonghwa’s body.

“Aah, it’s disappointing. Still, it was quite the masterpiece of physical beauty, arguably the best in the world.”

“…It was the only path maintaining synchronization. Now it’s undone.”

Seongju scolds me with an exasperated expression. Thanks to that, Seongju easily grabs my wrist.

“Don’t touch me. This is Blazing Phoenix’s body.”

“I’m just extracting it.”

Seongju grabs my wrist and pushes. I withdraw my hand and step back. Seongju gazes at me with a complicated expression.

“The synchronization has collapsed. It’s not just canceled. The fusion has broken. A shattered vessel can never be mended.”

“But the goal was achieved.”

I point at Seongju’s sternum. Beyond the hole I made in his chest with Baek Cheonghwa’s body lies nothing but blackness.

Through Seongju’s chest, the universe is visible.

There’s a gaping hole through Seongju’s chest.

“Disappointing. If you weren’t a godless being but rather a replica of Hwakwon’s body, you might have been able to defend against it. Water attributes reduce fire damage, but they don’t absorb fire like Fire attributes.”

“Are you giving me a lecture on magic power right now?”

“Pfft. What’s wrong with lecturing? The winner gets to talk freely.”

“That’s true.”

Third punch, Blazing Phoenix Revival.

Our punch pierced through Seongju’s chest.

In exchange, our synchronization collapsed. I maintain Blazing Phoenix’s body, but magic power begins to slowly drain.

“Let me ask one thing. Is the real reason you didn’t give Yuna to me entirely because Blazing Phoenix wished it? Or because Blazing Phoenix wanted a three-way with Yuna and you?”

“…No, there’s that too.”

I regulate my breathing and raise my hand high.

“Do you remember what Blazing Phoenix said when she first revealed her memory to me?”

“…?”

Even reading memories, there are things you wouldn’t know, right? I hold the biggest smile I can muster and ignite a spark in the sky.

“When someone moves according to others’ wishes, it’s disgusting.”

Actually, it was a bit more extreme, but fundamentally, Blazing Phoenix isn’t an entity that follows anyone’s orders.

A being akin to the sun. The sun itself. Alone, grandly floating in the heavens, not a chess piece moved at someone’s whim.

“In the original story, knowing that working like a dog under you led to self-loathing, she transferred her power and vanished—but how much worse now? Pfft.”

My heart pounds. Inside, Blazing Phoenix keeps telling me to stop talking nonsense, but her voice gradually sounds like Morse code.

Pssss.

The feathers on the wings spread across my back begin to fall one by one. The steel-like wings that traversed the world start weakening their magical bonds.

My body begins to collapse.

Even though the original owner of the body has emerged from the core and can fully exert influence, since the guest still controls the body, it’s rejecting it.

“…Blazing Phoenix’s flames purify foreign objects. That includes your soul too, Phoenix. Until now, the pieces I placed suppressed those flames…”

“Synchronization removed that too, didn’t it? I get it. Even if I transform into a monster, it’s just form. I can’t maintain this body anymore.”

“Yeah. Your battle with me is over. …Blazing Phoenix lacks the will to fight. Blazing Phoenix stepping forward means you’ll completely vanish.”

Seongju points out the weakness of my current situation.

“It’s not about mixing souls. ‘You’ will completely vanish. An outsider who has no enemies left besides monsters gives their body to spirits and vanishes.”