Part 1 Chapter 2 (16)

All executives, meaning the battles with the brainwashed spirits, are fought a total of two times.

In the first phase, fighting the brainwashed executive, if you win in the second phase when they start to rampage, the brainwashing is released.

This stage applied identically to Shadow.

If the first life is a slaughtering machine trying to kill humans, the second stage is a weapon of destruction aiming to destroy the world.

‘It’s turning into a dragon.’

According to the setting, the beings called ‘Demon Species’ are referred to as Attribute-Demon-Dragon. In phase 1, they take the form of their original spirit, but in phase 2, the rampaging stage, they take on the form of a ‘dragon’.

‘Then let’s see how to catch it.’

I threw a can of coffee. The moment the can, flying in an arc, touched the rooftop floor.

Kyaoooooo!!

Shadow Phoenix, the Fire Dragon, roared.

* * *

“Ugh?!”

Lee Seung-hyung crossed his arms and covered his face from the heat spewed by the Fire Dragon.

An immense wave of mana, making it difficult even to stand. The black flames unleashed by the Demon Species blocked the Heroes’ advance.

Krrrrrr.

The monstrous bird, which had been burning with insubstantial purple flames, vanished, and a dragon, its entire body dyed black, gnashed its teeth.

“……Wyvern?!”

A monster also called a wyvern. The Fire Dragon resembled an A-class monster rampaging in places like Europe.

The difference was that it was spewing black flames from between the scales all over its body.

[Snap out of it! This is actually good! It released its own barrier!]

At Yoo Young-ho’s reprimand, the Heroes snapped to attention.

Changing its form to that of a dragon meant that the Demon Species had shed its barrier and revealed its true form.

They didn’t know why it had shed its own barrier. However, there was a part they could guess.

“! There are still flames left!”

Membranous wings that protruded like arms from its sides, not its back. The Fire Dragon wasn’t using its asymmetrical wings to fly into the sky but was covering its own back with them.

Seung-hyung could feel the blue flames hidden by those wings.

[Are you sure?]

“It’s a hunch!”

Seung-hyung replied with a voice full of conviction. The Heroes looked back and forth between Seung-hyung and the Fire Dragon with uneasy eyes.

[…….]

Yoo Young-ho fell silent. Unless those wings of the Fire Dragon were moved, they couldn’t know if the blue flames, judged to be its ‘weakness’, remained.

What if the blue flames had disappeared when it changed into a dragon form? What if Lee Seung-hyung was mistaken?

Young-ho shook his head. A commander shouldn’t waver without concrete information.

[Lee Seung-hyung.]

“Yes!”

[I trust you.]

So Young-ho decided to trust Lee Seung-hyung. An S-class’s intuition. He was sure there was something visible from a realm Young-ho hadn’t reached.

Recalling the memories of Gwanggeom, Seolhwa Princess, and the S-classes who were now gone.

[All Heroes, prepare for a full-scale attack! The opponent is a coward hiding its weakness with its wings! Wusa! Pungbaek!]

“You don’t have to tell me!”

Wusa swung her staff. The stream of water gathered in the air became a sharp spear.

Swaaaeek!

The water spear Wusa shot grazed the Fire Dragon’s neck, drawing an arc. The spearhead precisely pierced the gap between its wing and body.

Hwarureuk!

Black flames flared up. The Fire Dragon unleashed excessive mana even for an attack that was closer to a feint.

At that moment, the wind grazed the Fire Dragon’s horn.

“Old man!”

“Oh, yeah!”

Pungbaek, who had already run up its back, spun his two legs in the air, kicking. The gale wrapping around his legs swept beneath the membranous wing and surged upwards.

Kyaaaak!

The Fire Dragon swung its tail at Pungbaek. But Pungbaek leisurely dodged the attack and slid downwards.

[Firearm users, draw the Fire Dragon’s attention! Ability users, shoot at the target point!]

“You heard that?! 3, 2, 1, fire!”

With Seong-oh’s countdown, the hunters’ muzzles spat fire. The bullets bounced off the Fire Dragon’s scales, but they succeeded in irritating the Fire Dragon and diverting its gaze.

Seong-oh loaded a shell into the mortar muzzle resting on his shoulder. Gas exploded from the propellant that struck the firing pin, and the shell fell onto the Fire Dragon’s wing.

Kwaaaang!

A lump of mana, instead of gunpowder, struck the Fire Dragon’s back. One of the Fire Dragon’s legs buckled.

Hwaaaak!

The Fire Dragon raised its head and opened its mouth. At the mana reaction condensing on its slender tongue, Young-ho shouted.

[Breath!]

Young-ho’s fingers moved quickly, marking the estimated path the Fire Dragon’s breath attack would cover.

“Ugh!”

The Heroes who were in the line of fire hastily retreated and dodged. A fellow hunter who had followed Kim Seong-oh looked for Kim Seong-oh, who was beside him.

“Hyung-nim?!”

Kim Seong-oh was running along the line of fire towards the stadium wall. At the end of the line was Yang Seon-woo, who still hadn’t regained consciousness.

[What?!]

Young-ho, noticing Seong-oh’s strange behavior, was horrified.

[Why is he still here?!]

According to the frontline exclusion judgment, a D-class Hero had been instructed to take Yang Seon-woo and leave the battlefield. As Young-ho quickly tracked the vanished signal, the D-class Hero was leaving Anyang alone.

[Pungbaek!]

Even before Young-ho could call, Pungbaek was already running with the wind. But the Fire Dragon had already lowered its head,

Kwaaaaaaa—-!!

It scraped the floor of the main stadium and fired its breath attack. The breath attack was faster than Pungbaek’s quick footwork.

“!!”

Seong-oh, who was supporting Yang Seon-woo, tightly closed his eyes at the spewing black flames and embraced Seon-woo.

‘Am I going to die?’

A huge shadow fell before Seong-oh.

[Lee Seung-hyung!]

“Hwaaaah!”

Seung-hyung, who had appeared before Seong-oh, wrapped flames around his fist and struck the ground, no one knew how he got there so fast.

Kwaang!

A pillar of red flame shot up through the split ground. The Fire Dragon’s breath attack collided with Seung-hyung’s flames.

“!!”

The Fire Dragon’s breath attack failed to penetrate Seung-hyung’s pillar of flame and was deflected. The dark red stream of fire spread out to both sides and scattered.

[Lee Seung-hyung!]

Young-ho’s chiding voice echoed through the watch. Seung-hyung caught his breath and lifted the knee he had knelt on. Flames were still wrapped around Seung-hyung’s fist.

Pusheee…

The black flames, unable to overcome Seung-hyung’s mana, lost their power and extinguished. Along the path the breath attack had swept from the Fire Dragon to Seung-hyung, black flames were still burning the stadium.

* * *

“Oh. He’s using it well, considering his place, isn’t he?”

I admired him, fiddling with my veil. The fire-attribute young Hero was actively drawing out the Azure Flame’s mana embedded in his heart.

The unique attribute that only Azure Flame possesses: ‘Purification’.

Pure flames that burn away impurities are a hard counter to Otherworld Gods, whose mana is rooted in corruption.

That’s why the original protagonist, who fully inherited the power of Azure Flame, was able to kill the Otherworld God.

“…Ah, damn it.”

I felt needlessly bitter. If only I weren’t a ‘Spirit’, I would have invaded Terra and burned the Otherworld God to ashes, leaving not even a handful behind.

Only humans who inherit the power of a Spirit can kill an Otherworld God.

However, that young man, currently intoxicated by the infinite firepower spewing from Azure Flame, cannot defeat the Otherworld God. This is because only the protagonist can fully contain Azure Flame in their heart.

“Ah. I just had a good idea.”

I moved Mini Phoenix’s mana, changing its form into an ember. A minuscule mana particle, invisible even to ability users, let alone humans.

I remotely moved that particle towards the fire-attribute Hero.

“Intuition is the most fun, after all.”

* * *

“Are you okay?”

Seung-hyung turned his head and asked. Seong-oh nodded vigorously.

“Thank, thank you!”

“No problem. It was only natural.”

Seong-oh’s emotions welled up as Seung-hyung, smiling gently, moved forward, his back reminding Seong-oh of the old Fire Fist.

“You’re completely fearless, aren’t you?”

Pungbaek, who had landed beside Seung-hyung, raised his stick and tapped Seung-hyung’s head. Seung-hyung gave an awkward laugh at the worried admonition.

“Ahaha.”

[Lee Seung-hyung! What dangerous thing are you doing?!]

Young-ho’s shout echoed through the watch.

[Who’s the crazy bastard trying to take a breath attack head-on?! Even the Round Table tells you to avoid the Demon Dragons’ breath attacks!]

“I’m fine.”

Flames enveloped Seung-hyung’s legs. Ahead, where he was trudging, the embers of black flames still remained.

Pususu….

Wherever Seung-hyung’s feet touched, the black flames weakly died down. Seung-hyung spoke into his watch.

“With this power, I can do it. There isn’t much time left, is there?”

The Azure Colossus said so. That it was a flame of purification that burned away corrupted mana.

“If it’s the flame within me, I can do it!”

Seung-hyung ran forward. His speed was so fast that even Pungbaek was surprised, to the point where Young-ho couldn’t even issue a command.

Kyaaaak!

Seung-hyung checked the time on his watch.

7:28 PM. It had already been 58 minutes since the ‘countdown’ was activated, allowing foreign Heroes to intervene following the appearance of the Demon Species.

If they couldn’t defeat the monstrous bird within the next 2 minutes, Heroes from China and Japan, who were waiting outside their territorial waters, would rush in.

‘In one blow!’

Seung-hyung took a large leap forward, squeezing out mana.

The mana rushing through his body, breaking through blocked veins, was like a runaway locomotive. Seung-hyung’s skin turned crimson, and heat haze rose from his entire body.

“Ugh!”

Overheat. A mana rampage phenomenon that occurs in ability users with fire abilities. The moisture-filled field around Seung-hyung rapidly generated steam and was vaporizing.

“Praetor! Lee Seung-hyung is overheating!”

[Stop! Lee Seung-hyung! Stop! We can find another way!]

Young-ho tried to dissuade him. No matter how urgent the time, he couldn’t sacrifice a young man with a bright future, especially one who had just awakened as an S-class.

But Seung-hyung, who had already leaped into the air, couldn’t hear their words.

– Do you desire this power?

A voice that sounded like a whisper. At the end of his blurring vision, with blood vessels bursting in both his eyes, there was a giant bird burning with blue flames.

The Azure Flame Phoenix, burning incomparably pure and clear compared to the black flames.

Seung-hyung felt a warm energy burning inside his heart.

‘A flame of purification that can burn even corrupted mana.’

Seung-hyung surrendered his body to the hot mana surging from within his chest. The red flames that had been rising from his entire body instantly turned white.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!!”

With a roar mixed with pain and ecstasy, Seung-hyung swung his fist far back over his shoulder. A faint light blue began to appear amidst the white-hot flames.

Kyaaaaaaak!!

The Fire Dragon felt the spirit’s energy imbued in Seung-hyung’s flames. The entire head of the wyvern flared with black flames.

Deopseok!

The Fire Dragon’s neck instantly elongated and swallowed Seung-hyung. Seung-hyung’s matchstick-like flames were consumed by the massive black inferno.

“!!”

Pitch-black darkness without a single speck of light. Seung-hyung felt his spirit about to break from the energy of the black flames burning even inside the Fire Dragon’s mouth.

Rage, murderous intent, death, hatred. Amidst the remnants of all negative emotions in this world, Seung-hyung felt a single, powerful will from those black flames.

– I will destroy everything in this world.

Black flames enveloped Seung-hyung’s entire body. The white flames of his clenched fist were slowly turning black. His eyelids grew heavy, and his vision darkened.

Suddenly, a figure flashed through his mind.
– Is this all you’ve got?

The woman in priestly robes who was with the Azure Colossus. Veiled, she extended her hand to Seung-hyung. A small blue flame flickered on her palm.

– Is this all you’re going to do to protect the world?

Seung-hyung received the blue flame the woman offered. The woman’s body was enveloped in blue flames and vanished.

– So, please try a little harder.

Banjjeok!

Seung-hyung opened his eyes, glowing with blue light. Azure Flame blazed fiercely within his blue-tinged pupils.

Hwarureureuk!

The black flames coiled even tighter around Seung-hyung’s body. A sweet temptation to corrupt Seung-hyung and make him destroy and burn everything in this world.

Seung-hyung did not succumb to it, recalling the price of the power he had received.

World peace.

“Uwaaaaaaaah!!”

Seung-hyung thrust his fist forward with a shout.

A light blue flame, as if containing the color of the clear sky, pierced through the Fire Dragon’s neck.

Kwaaaang!

A massive pillar of flame surged, piercing through the back of the Fire Dragon’s head.

April 4, 2020, 7:29 PM.

Undiscovered Demon Species, ‘Fire Dragon’. Exterminated.

* * *

Gaeul opened the tightly closed rooftop door.

Kiiik.

The rusty iron door slowly slid open with a metallic screech. The cold night air brushed Gaeul’s cheek.

“It’s a truly beautiful evening, isn’t it?”

Phoenix leaned back in a rocking chair woven from flames, gazing at the night sky. In the night sky, where the sun had vanished and the moon was beginning to rise, stars slowly began to appear one by one.

“I think it’s been a really long time since I’ve seen Seoul’s night sky this clear.”

“…Is that so?”

Gaeul raised her head. The clear sky was cloudless. Phoenix rose from the chair. His priestly robes were uncreased.

“So, have you made up your mind?”

“Yes.”

“Oh-ho. What will you do?”

Gaeul placed her right hand on her chest. Her wide-open eyes showed not an inch of wavering.

“I will follow you.”

“May I ask why?”

Phoenix walked over and stood facing Gaeul. At the aura Phoenix, who was a fist shorter than her, exuded, Gaeul instinctively tried to step back but barely managed to stop her feet.

“Because there are things I want to protect.”

“Things you want to protect?”

Gaeul tapped her chest with her palm.

“My body, my family, my dream.”

“Gaeul-ssi’s dream?”

Phoenix tilted his head and asked. Gaeul closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“I’m going to make everyone in this world know an actress named Cheon Gaeul. The best actress in Korea. So that everyone in the world thinks of ‘Cheon Gaeul’ when they think of an actress.”

Phoenix opened his mouth in admiration. He hadn’t known the dream that Cheon Gaeul held.

The Cheon Gaeul he knew had only one wish: to live with the person she loved and forget the terrible memories of the past.

“An actress, huh.”

“Yes. There are still many roles I want to play. I want to include a ten-million-viewer film in my filmography, and I want to go to Hollywood. Coming to Seoul was, in the end, also a desire to show my acting to more people.”

The actress who should have shone on screen had been thrown into the gutter. ‘Acting’, which Cheon Gaeul cherished as much as her life to survive, had at some point become a means to kill people.

Phoenix bit his lip. He wanted to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out easily.

“That’s why I want to return to where I belong. So please.”

Cheon Gaeul lifted Phoenix’s bowed face. Phoenix distorted his beautiful eyebrows, looking as if he was about to cry.

“Please make me an ability user. So that I can return to my place and continue acting.”

“Even if you become an ability user, you’ll continue to act?”

Gaeul simply closed her eyes.

“Hoo, really….”

Phoenix smiled as if about to burst into tears.

“You really are so different from the person I knew.”

“Huh?”

Phoenix embraced Cheon Gaeul again.

“So, thank you very much. For letting me know about you. For not making me choose to kill or abandon you.”

“Were you really going to do that?”

“Yes. The story of the woman I told you about in the classroom earlier. Who do you think it was?”

Gaeul hesitated with her answer.

“P-Phoenix-ssi, wasn’t it?”

“No. It was your story.”

Instantly, Gaeul’s heart sank.

“……Huh?”

“If I hadn’t saved you, you would have been gang-raped by monsters. Hunters would hunt the monsters that lost power after the dimensional gate closed, take Cheon Gaeul, and gang-rape her in the underground.”

“……No way.”

“If you don’t want to believe it, you don’t have to. But don’t forget this one thing.”

Phoenix hugged Gaeul even tighter.

“I’ll be by your side. So that you don’t experience such a painful future. So that Gaeul-ssi can spend her life with the person she truly loves and never let go of her dream, I will be your strength.”

“Uh, th-that is….”

Gaeul’s face flushed red. An emotion far more intense than Lee Seung-hyung’s tickled Gaeul’s heart. Phoenix brushed Gaeul’s bangs aside with his left hand and cupped her cheek.

“Cheon Gaeul-ssi.”

“Y-Yes, yes?!”

Phoenix smiled, stood on his tiptoes, and kissed Gaeul’s forehead.

“So, you’ll have to die.”

“Huh?”

Azure Flame pierced Gaeul’s heart.

Gaeul’s blood splattered across the rooftop.