524 Black Flame Phoenix

524.

Goldman and Mayor Hagines seemed to be instantly dead. They were fools. I looked at the fallen men without much emotion. And I raised my head towards Robia in the sky.

I could only see him from afar, but I could tell. He felt very different from yesterday. The freshness or clumsiness I felt while talking to him yesterday was nowhere to be found in him now, floating in the sky.

Robia had a face like an ogre in every moment of yesterday’s conversation. Now that he’s returned from the Black Wizard, I had a feeling that something might have been done to him. Some kind of measure to stimulate his desire for revenge.

I flew up and went right in front of him. Robia was as quiet as a mouse, just watching Irene’s people come and go on the ground.

“Robia…? Are you, are you okay?”

His new mask felt even more gruesome. Robia’s face was barely visible through the bluish lenses on his eyes. The overall impression was that of a harbinger of misfortune.

“Hero…”

Robia’s voice was not normal either. It was a monotonous tone without strength. A sinister voice. As if possessed by something…

“Robia, the revenge is over now. Grenberg is already broken, and Goldman and Mayor Hagines have been dealt with. Now you are free, Robia. So…”

“No, no… it’s not over.”

“Robia?”

“There’s still something to get back. From those who have enjoyed my sister’s death without knowing it! From those who must repay the debt of ignorance! Nothing will be over until I get all of Robia’s blood money from Goldman’s accomplices who fill this Irene! I must bring down divine punishment! In the name of Robia, the apostle of revenge!”

Robia spewing out gruesome words as if having a seizure. Robia’s condition is definitely not normal. It seemed like his mind had been firmly manipulated by some means.

I can’t see the face under the mask. But I could guess that Robia was now making that scary face he occasionally showed yesterday.

I have to stop him. I pulled the True Abyss Sword from my waist.

I don’t intend to kill him. Robia has lived a life of only being deprived, so it’s too much to hold him accountable for the massacre at this moment. So, my judgment as a Hero is that he needs to know this world until he realizes the weight of what he has done. Robia must not die until then.

But from between Robia’s wings, the black feathers, blue flames began to burn. Blue flame wings. I knew the meaning of those flames from Robia’s story.

“Those flames… no way, Robia!”

“Don’t interfere, Hero!”

At the same time as Robia’s cry, countless blue flames in the shape of feathers poured down on me. While I was cutting them down with Whirlwind Slash, Robia’s new double-barreled beam cannon was pointing at me.

“Keuk…!”

Two beams of light hit me directly. An explosion occurred with a loud roar.

It hurts. I hurriedly took a defensive stance, but the shock of the explosion shook my whole body. A burning pain was felt on the outside of my arm that took the hit. To inflict this much damage on my body with Overdrive activated, it seems that it’s not just two Cyclops Blasters attached.

Before I could even catch my breath, the next attack came. A ball of blue flame. A fireball bigger than Robia’s own body fell from the wings of flame and flew towards me at high speed.

This one is much more dangerous than the beam cannon from earlier. I had a feeling. Besides, it wasn’t the right timing to dodge. I swung the True Abyss Sword horizontally with all my might. Almost with all my strength.

The giant fireball split in half. It lost its momentum and fizzled out in the air. In the meantime, I flew straight in.

“Now it’s my turn!”

There’s no time to hesitate. I know that using the Phoenix’s flame means death for the still young Robia. He’s already using the flames to a considerable extent. I have to stop him right away.

“Giga Thunder!”

The magic of electricity was effective in stopping his previous movements. Scattering Giga Thunder, I quickly approached Robia.

Puh-ung! Robia’s beam cannon, which was charging, caused a small explosion when electricity flowed through it. Robia threw it straight down, probably worried about additional explosions. In the meantime, I quickly closed the distance to right in front of Robia.

But…

“Ugh…! This is…!”

I had no choice but to stop approaching. This is because a barrier of blue flames had formed around Robia. A fiercely rotating vortex of flames. I tried shooting Giga Thunder, but it was deflected, and I had no choice but to stop in front of it.

The heat being transmitted is considerable. According to Selena, there are still many things about the Phoenix’s abilities that have not been revealed. This unusual heat of the blue flame must be one of them.

But if I hesitate here, I’m not a Hero.

The offer to Robia to become a companion was not just lip service. I really wanted to save that boy. This is the moment to prove that fact with my own actions.

The flame, which had stopped rotating and became spherical, looked like an egg. I thrust both arms into it.

“Keuek…!”

It’s hot. It’s an intense flame that makes sense that it would burn your own body. The pain of searing my arms raw was hard to endure without gritting my teeth. But it just hurts. I soon pushed my body into the flames.

“Robia…! Take my hand…!”

Inside the flame barrier, Robia had his eyes closed. The equipment he was wearing was almost burned to ashes, and he was half naked. The black beak mask that covered his face had also been removed. But what shocked me was not those things. Robia’s lower body was already in flames.

Robia’s lower body, which had become part of the blue flame, was burning and swaying. Black flames were also mixed in there. The blue and black flames were still eroding Robia’s body.

It’s already too late. It’s too late.

I had that feeling. Robia slowly opened his eyes towards me. Clear and sparkling, a boy’s eyes.

“Hero-nuna…”

“Robia, it’s not too late yet, right? Stop the flames quickly! You were going to be my companion!”

With a calm and composed face, Robia quietly shook his head. Looking down at his body turning into flames, Robia said.

“Eung, no. This is a flame that won’t go out… You never told me, nuna, but I can instinctively tell. Maybe I won’t be able to stop myself until I burn down everything I’m aiming for, this city.”

“You’re back to your senses now, right? It’s your own flame, can’t you control it?”

“It’s impossible. This is no longer my own flame. A black will, a will that is not mine, has mixed in. So, I have something I want to tell Hero-nuna. I don’t have much time left, so I’ll say it quickly.”

“Something you want to tell me?”

“Yeah. First of all, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you. Um, and… I’m sorry for making you go through so much trouble. I was really grateful and happy for Hero-nuna’s offer to become a companion.”

Robia’s blue flames had now eaten up almost all of his body, leaving only his face.

“One last request. Please stop me. I don’t have the face to ask for this, but… please stop me from destroying Irene. Please stop me from doing any more bad things.”

I nodded firmly. Robia smiled brightly and left one last word.

“My name is Roha, nuna. Please remember me.”

Roha’s body was completely covered in flames. The flames that swallowed Roha swelled up and began to form the shape of a giant bird.

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“Hero-nim!”

When the flame egg was released, my companions were in the sky outside on Selena the dragon. And on the opposite side, there was a giant phoenix spreading its black flame wings and flapping as if to devour Irene.

“Ugh… even at this distance, this heat… the moment that thing lands on the ground, a major disaster will definitely occur… what should we do, Hero?”

Is it because it’s a flame that even sacrificed his life, or is it because the Black Wizard planted black flames, Roha’s last flame was on a scale that was no exaggeration to call a major disaster. It was descending towards Irene as if we were not even in its eyes.

Mulling over Roha’s last words, I said in a low voice.

“Riel, buffs please.”

“Ah, yes! Hero-nim!”

Riel spread her red wings and cast a full buff. When Riel’s buff came in, my body felt much lighter and full of energy. The remaining time of Overdrive is now very little. But that was enough.

I began to infuse all of Overdrive and the Hero’s power into the True Abyss Sword. A brilliant pillar of light was emitted from the sword, and I flew that enormous power towards the Black Flame Phoenix.

“Brave Sword!”

The moment my ultimate strike, Brave Sword, containing all my power, collided with the Black Flame Phoenix, the phoenix’s body, made of intense flames, began to scatter. After a flash of light that was blinding, the blue flames could not be found anywhere in the sky. Of course, neither was Roha’s figure.

“Waaaaa!”

“The Hero did it!”

Cheers were heard from the ground. From the outside, it would only look like I, the Hero, had 멋지게 (meotjige) defeated the disaster that came down from the sky. But I couldn’t hide my bitter feelings.

“Black Wizard…”

The mastermind who planned all of this, thinking of him, my clenched fist naturally tightened.