Phoenix of the Flame – Chapter 4

〈 Chapter 4 〉Part 1 Chapter 1 (3)
“Are you sure about this?”
The resonant voice of the middle-aged man who had been conversing with the branch manager just moments before echoed in the air.
The surprising part was that the voice didn’t come from inside the mask, but from the mouth of the red horse clad in Mana armor.
“The opponent is at least an S-class.”
The masked warrior silently nodded.
“…Yes.”
A faint, almost inaudible voice of a woman. Yet, the veins on her hands gripping the glaive’s shaft stood out.
“The opponent is a Monster with Mana exceeding that of a Black Scorpion. If it were in the sea, even I couldn’t go-”
“It’s in the sky.”
The woman’s voice, cutting off Red Hare, was certain.
“The enemy is in the sky.”
Her eyes, fixedly staring in one direction, held a blue light.
“Indeed. Have you already found it?”
“No. I felt it.”
“I see. If it were in the sea, it would be a problem, but-”
Red Hare snorted and spurred its pace even further.
“‘If it’s a place where I can run,’ there’s no place this Red Hare can’t run—!”
Red Hare’s Mana armor began to glow red. Its movements became even faster than before when it was running through the sky, and its rider was headed towards the unidentified enemy.
“…Hoo.”
The woman regulated her breathing, lowering the glaive’s blade to the right.
The hotter the air became as she sliced through the wind. It felt as if her whole body would burn from the increasingly stifling heat, as if she were flying towards the sun.
“…Heh heh, hoo.”
The more it was like that, the more worthy the opponent would be to compete with.
She had set foot on this land as a woman, but from the moment she awakened as a hero, she had become a ‘warrior’ transcending gender, nation—and even race.
“Come… show yourself…!”
The God of War suppressed her increasingly boiling blood, scanning the remnants of Mana scattered in the air.
The intense Mana that tried to hide but couldn’t. The heat that felt like it would burn her brain just by sensing it.
A Monster? Or a villain disguised as a Monster’s reaction? Or both? The opponent wasn’t visible right now.
Then, she had no choice but to make it appear.
“Haaa—”
She took a deep breath, gathering her Mana.
If the opponent was a petty coward trying to hide and avoid the fight, she would just have to make them reveal themselves.
Crackle, sizzle.
She amplified her vision by surrounding her eyes with Mana. Within the remnants of the massive Mana flowing in her sight.
‘I see it.’
Straight ahead.
An existence hiding its body with wings of blue flame. It hid itself within the shimmering light, but the heat it emitted was unmistakable.
‘I’ll just slash it first.’
Mana flowed on the surface of the glaive held by the God of War. A massive slash carrying Mana from the crescent-shaped blade. If she unleashed the slash with a short charge, it would reveal its true form-
Whoosh.
She felt heat that seemed to burn the hair hanging down from under her mask. The God of War quickly turned her horse away from the direction where she felt the Mana.
Woooooong—-!
A massive Mana was exploding and burning in the sky.
There, a giant bird of flame was spreading its wings.
□□□□□□!!
It was truly like a phoenix from legends. The heat from its mere presence made her skin tingle, and even Red Hare stopped in its tracks.
“……..”
And in the very center, there was a girl with blue hair.
“……Are you going to fight?”
Red Hare kicked at the air and moved its neck from side to side. The tension that he had never felt in any battle he had experienced while roaming the battlefield with her was buried in his voice.
“Yes.”
The God of War responded by nodding. Red Hare sneered, stomping its hooves in the air.
“Anyway, you and that guy are the same when it comes to liking to fight.”
“You’re the same.”
“That’s right!”
The God of War kicked Red Hare’s waist and gripped the shaft of her glaive tightly.
“If the opponent is a villain!”
“We won’t lose!”
Red Hare began to run towards the blue-haired girl.
* * *
Fast. The aura of red and green flashed past my eyes, and at the same time, the blade of the glaive aimed for my neck.
Clang!
The barrier made of Mana collided with the blade. Thanks to cramming in a ridiculous amount of Mana, the barrier didn’t break, but the problem was that the slash wasn’t going to end with just one strike.
Clang! Clang!
If it hit my back, it would strike my side in the blink of an eye. The moment I misjudged by even 0.1 seconds, the glaive would flash its blue blade and tear my body apart.
‘Of all people, it has to be Unjang.Unjang (Cloud General). An ability user based on Guan Yu, the God of War from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
‘From the very beginning, it’s the strongest in China.’
As befitting her name and motif, Unjang was flying through the sky with overwhelming speed, threatening me. The driving force that allowed a mere human to dash through the sky was the warhorse she was riding, Red Hare.
Clang!
Red Hare’s hooves tried to stamp on the crown of my head. I reached out to burn the hooves, but Red Hare had already gracefully slipped out of my reach.
“Slow!”
“……That’s.”
How audacious, a provocation. No matter how much she boasted about the martial prowess of the unity between man and horse, discussing speed in front of Phoenix was like showing off wrinkles in front of a silkworm.
‘Let’s see how you do.’
As long as I had the barrier up, I would never get hurt.
Woooong-
I pulled the barrier away from my body until it almost touched my skin, and spread my wings to chase after Red Hare.
“You’re chasing me?!”
I could hear Red Hare’s surprised voice all the way here. I could vividly hear Unjang holding her breath.
‘You’ve probably never been caught up to in terms of speed before!’
I flapped my wings once, powerfully. The Mana spewing out from behind my wings accelerated like a jet propulsion, successfully catching up to Red Hare’s tail.
“Red Hare!”
At that moment, Unjang grabbed the reins. A red aura spewed out from Red Hare’s body.
“Tch!”
I moved my wings and sharply changed direction upwards. Red Hare, running through the sky while scattering red Mana, turned its horse at ‘three times the speed’ as before and charged straight at me.
Swoosh!
“Kuuh!”
Unjang’s glaive flashed. The glaive, imbued with blue Mana, horizontally cut my right wing.
“……Heh.”
I could hear Unjang laughing at me from under her mask. I also smiled back at Unjang.
Brrrr-
The feathers of the severed wing began to tremble. I could feel shock filling the green eyes behind the red mask.
“Bang.”
I playfully clapped my hands, and soon caused a chain explosion in each feather from the severed wing.
Kwaaaang—-!!
A massive explosion of Mana engulfed Unjang and Red Hare. The man and horse fell vertically towards the sea, and just before crashing into the surface of the water, Red Hare barely managed to stop its body by stepping on the air.
“Tch. Too bad.”
I should have just trusted my barrier and detonated it more powerfully.
‘I was scared of my own power and detonated it as weakly as possible.’
I knew it in theory, but actually experiencing it made it even scarier.
The manifestation of Phoenix’s power was incineration and explosion. I had already detonated my wing before Unjang cut it, and Unjang, unaware of this, cut the wing and triggered the explosion.
“Cough, cough!”
Unjang coughed roughly. Even though the explosion just now wasn’t very strong, it must have dealt a great blow to Unjang’s low Mana reserves.
‘Her Mana control is excellent, but her absolute Mana reserves are very low.’
That was the chronic problem that prevented Xiao Lin, the strongest in China and a hero belonging to the 12 Heroes—the Round Table, ‘Unjang,’ from reaching the ranks of the strongest in humanity, the SS-class.
‘The development of the heroine route is related to overcoming that weakness.’
Why hide it? That Guan Yu cosplayer looking up at me from below, burning with fighting spirit, was one of the 16 main heroines.
“Normally, the first battle is with a combat power measuring device, but….”
Did she hear me? She must have heard me. I spoke with Mana, so she must have heard me clearly with her excellent Mana sensitivity.
“It’s not bad to gauge my strength by fighting you.”
“…How insolent!”
Unjang’s Mana became rough. Red Hare also snorted, explosively releasing Mana.
‘She took the bait properly.’
Because she had unwavering confidence in her martial prowess, she absolutely couldn’t stand someone looking down on her from above.
‘It’s a little early, but.’
‘But this is the limit right now.’
Unless she met the protagonist, experienced the event, and completed her ‘awakening,’ she was just an ordinary hero who had reached her limit.
Unless she shed the shell of Unjang and was reborn as a true God of War, she couldn’t defeat me.
Whoosh. Flames bloomed from the wound, and feathers sprouted again.
“It even regenerates?!”
Red Hare screamed in surprise. It wasn’t actually regeneration, but there was no reason to correct the misunderstanding.
I spread my wings wide, showing off my well-being.
Whoosh, whoosh!
“Kuh!”
Xiao Lin groaned at the powerful Mana storm that resonated just from spreading my wings.
“Strong…! But I can definitely cut it-”
♩♬♪ ♬
With my small cry, numerous spheres of flame were created under my wings.
“Usually, those kinds of attacks are guided missiles.”
Red Hare said, grinding its teeth, and I smiled.
“Correct!”
Paaat-!
Like hitting a baseball with a bat, I strongly struck the fireballs with my wings.
“Damn it!”
There were a total of eight fireballs. The flames of Mana drew their own trajectories like missiles, chasing after Xiao Lin.
“Fast!”
Red Hare once again displayed its ability and ran with swiftness, but the fireballs also chased after them with comparable speed.
“I’ll intercept them!”
Xiao Lin spun her glaive around and cut apart the fireballs that had come close.
Kwaaaang!!
The fireballs exploded at the point of interception, and Red Hare’s legs momentarily faltered, but it quickly regained its posture and dashed through the air.
Kwaaang!
In the meantime, Xiao Lin cut down one of the fireballs that had approached from the side, and then held the glaive horizontally and knocked away another fireball with the flat of the glaive.
Kwaaang! Kwaang!
The knocked-away fireball collided with an incoming fireball and self-destructed. The number of remaining fireballs was four.
“I’ll detonate them all at once!”
Blue Mana began to condense once again on Xiao Lin’s glaive. Red Hare, which had been zigzagging, ran in a straight line, and the fireballs chased after it, gathering in one place.
Xiao Lin didn’t miss that moment and unleashed a slash.
“Haaat-!”
—————!!
The four fireballs exploded at once, creating a massive explosion. Just considering the power of the explosion, it was a spectacle that made me think it was at the level of an ordinary bomb.
Woooong—!
Xiao Lin, who had deflected the explosion with the wind pressure by spinning her glaive amidst the explosions, held her glaive with fighting spirit burning in her eyes.
“Oh my. Do you still think you can win?”
“……There is no defeat for the God of War.”
“Fufu, then shall I fix that arrogant temper of yours!”
Whoosh.
I created flames in each of my right hands. Like throwing a baseball, I threw the fireballs I had clenched in my hands.
Whizz—Kwaang!
The fireballs exploded, blocking Red Hare’s path. Blue flames erupted, and white smoke rose.
“Tch.”
I regenerated my wings again and soared high into the sky.
Paaang–!
Unjang appeared, tearing through the white smoke. It seemed that she had entrusted the maneuvering to Red Hare and concentrated on intercepting the fireballs with her glaive.
“Then one more.”
I created another fireball and threw it in Red Hare’s path.
“Hee-hee-ing!”
Perhaps because it had anticipated it this time, Red Hare dodged the fireballs by running in a zigzag pattern through the vertically running sky.
“Aww.”
“Don’t mess around!”
“Then should I get serious?”
Pat. In the blink of an eye, I created dozens of fireballs in the air. Perhaps Red Hare and Unjang were also stunned by this spectacle, as they stopped in their tracks and looked up at me.
“Ah….”
There was definitely fear in Unjang’s voice, which sounded like she was about to cry.
♪♬
A whistle came out on its own. I smiled refreshingly and pressed.
“You told me not to mess around.”
Whoosh, whoosh.
The fireballs seemed to self-replicate, doubling, quadrupling, and octupling. Each time they multiplied, their size decreased, but each one contained the destructive power of the fireballs that Unjang had intercepted.
“Wh-What is this….”
Even Red Hare opened its mouth wide and was at a loss for words. Seeing that, I almost said something to them, but barely managed to hold back.
‘I kind of understand now why villains say those things.’

It was a moment where I understood the feelings of the final boss, no, the not-quite-final boss, who would cast meteors with timed delays against the rabble.
Clatter, clatter!
Xiaolin was blankly trembling, and Red Hare was instinctively trying to get away from me, running at full speed towards China.
“Ah, how can you just leave?”
‘Fleeing’ would be the accurate term, but for his pride, I silently prepared to shoot a fireball.
‘Still, she’s the main heroine, so you’re not planning to hurt her?’
I have no intention of killing her, nor of hurting her.
However, I have some memories of being tormented in Xiaolin’s individual route, so I just want to torment her veeeeeery slightly.
Absolutely, absolutely not holding a grudge.
‘Okay, then, I’ll fire… Huh?’
I feel an unpleasant Mana from the direction Xiaolin is fleeing. A discomfort that touches my instincts. That presence was rapidly shooting towards me from beyond Xiaolin.
‘Something’s flying towards me really fast?’
I extinguished all the fireballs obscuring my vision, confirmed something passing by Xiaolin, and blinked.
‘…?’
A steel stake? A drill? I don’t know what it is, but the object flying towards me was enough to blank my mind.
‘A missile?’
They shot a missile? Now? At me? From where?
‘First, block it-‘
Clang!!
“Puh!”
The tip of the missile pierced my stomach. It didn’t hurt because of the shield, but I had to fly along the missile’s path.
“Sh…it….”
If I forcibly stopped it, it felt like it would explode. But if I evaded it as it was, the missile might hit the Korean peninsula’s sea.
‘Is this going to cause a Sino-Korean war because of me?’
Even if the side that fired the missile first was responsible, ‘China in this world’ was likely to use it as an excuse to pick a fight and start a war.
‘Let’s detonate it here.’
I scattered Mana around my abdomen. The cyan flames flowing along the missile wrapped around it like a snake.
‘Trusting in the shield’s durability… Detonate it!’
There was no reason to create problems unnecessarily. I watched as the flames began to crush the outside of the missile, and strongly enveloped my entire body in Mana.
‘It’s going to explo-‘
KWA—–ANG!
The missile, unable to withstand the flames of Mana, caused a massive explosion. Most of the explosion was violently absorbed by the cyan flames, but the aftermath of the explosion covered my body’s shield.
“Hiiiiek?!”
I was bounced off in the air with the shield intact. My body plummeted straight into the sea.
‘Getting missile-belly-punched less than 30 minutes after coming out….’
It was so absurd that I even laughed. The guy who suddenly fired a missile, and Phoenix’s power to block the missile’s speed and explosion with just Mana, made me chuckle in disbelief.
‘This is ridiculous.’
Glug.
I sank straight into the seawater.