Now Even Magic Must Be Sealed
A fireball streaked toward the monster of the black moon, trailing a long tail of flame. The overwhelming size of the beast made the orb—barely larger than a palm—seem utterly mismatched. It was like tossing an incandescent bulb into an endless pit.
"Hmm. Was that attack too weak?"
Sung-tae watched the fireball arc through the air like a firefly, a flicker of unease crossing his face. He knew he was strong, but this felt too feeble against such a foe.
"Come on, hit it. Hit..."
Moreover, the fireball's speed was glacially slow, wobbling like a drunk driver. Even he lacked confidence in it. Still, its power had to be immense. It has to be. Staring intently, Sung-tae willed it forward. At that moment, the monster finally revealed its face and bellowed.
"My master! Your creation has returned! Accept me once more...!"
"It hit!"
Simultaneously, Sung-tae's wobbling fireball slipped neatly into the monster's maw. And then...
Piiiing—!
A blinding flash swallowed the black moon. The intense light dyed the sky before the sound even reached them. Three seconds later, the explosion roared into their ears.
KABOOM!
"Danger!"
Aurelie, who had barely recovered her strength from Sung-tae's life force, poured everything into erecting another dimensional barrier to keep the blast from reaching the city. The blood-rain clouds and the black moon's darkness vanished cleanly in the explosion. Flames from the blast then painted the heavens red.
"......"
The sky brimmed with crimson fire. It coalesced into clouds that birthed scarlet lightning. The barrier shuddered under the onslaught as Aurelie desperately channeled more mana to contain the catastrophe Sung-tae had unleashed. Her repeated barriers had left her haggard once more.
The sky was no longer a sky. It was as if hell had descended upon the mortal world, filled with inferno.
The black moon left not even fragments behind.
"Ugh. What the...?"
"Th-the world's ending!"
The mages, finally snapping to their senses, gaped at the heavens in horror. To them—and to Sung-tae's group, who had caused and witnessed it—it looked the same: the world's destruction. More viscerally real than even the black moon's arrival.
"......"
Sung-tae stared at the hellfire sky and the vanished moon, speechless. He knew he was strong. He'd even anticipated the outcome.
'Graaah! S-such an attack!'
'Heh. Behold the invincible fireball!'
'I-I won't die from this!'
'Then taste my fist!'
The enemy crawling from the black moon was a terrifying monster. In a game, comic, or novel, it would be the final boss—the strongest foe the protagonist defeats at the end, sacrificing allies and part of himself.
Yet it vanished without a final cry.
"This isn't what I imagined..."
"What are you doing?! Help me! I can't hold it much longer!"
Aurelie screamed desperately, her barrier straining. This aftermath was harder to contain than the life-and-darkness fusion spell. Normally impossible to block. Only Sung-tae's life force had empowered her own, letting her endure. But now her trembling limbs looked pitiful.
"R-right. I'll give you life force bit by bit. Hold on as best you can!"
"No! That mana from the sky... it'll burn forever without end."
"Then what, dispel it?"
The enemy had shifted from monster to the spell's backlash. Sung-tae pondered how to extinguish the flames.
"Fire needs water. Water magic... Right, Water Ball!"
This time, a blue watery orb formed instead. He hurled it at the blazing sky, triggering another massive explosion.
"Th-the sea! A sea in the sky!"
"O... oh God."
The watching mages' jaws dropped. Upon contact, a vast ocean manifested overhead. Where hellfire met ocean, steam erupted, shrouding the sky in mist.
"Sung-tae, the sky's gone white."
"Yeah. Weather's gettin' muggy."
"Huff. Huff. You all leave it to me and chat so casually..."
The steam clouds blanketed the city like a legendary floating continent. Rain began pouring over the shadowed streets. Sung-tae thought it resembled Noah's flood from the Bible.
"It's raining."
"Yeah. Pouring, even."
What rises must fall. The steam clouds unleashed a deluge, washing blood from the city. Thankfully, they spread across the continent, averting floods.
"Hmm. Who are you, really?"
"You... how did you use magic without instruction...?"
Aurelie and Huwiger stared at Sung-tae. He grinned sheepishly under their intense gazes.
"Guess I gotta seal magic too."
＊＊＊
[Graaah!]
A single spark pierced the downpour, plummeting toward the city. Amid the chaos, it crashed near the intact Red Tower, its flames extinguished by the rain.
[The hour of doom had come, yet how did a mortal block the descent of god?!]
A grotesque voice wailed from a single book. The face-skin on its cover pierced the rain with its cries, but no one answered.
[Such fearsome power! It feels just like Master!]
At the fireball's epicenter, only this book survived, flung away unscathed. The abyss's power had concentrated there, but its small size went unnoticed amid the blast. No one imagined a mere book enduring.
[I haven't met Master yet! Ah! Great purpose!]
The black book felt wronged. It had sensed Master's aura and come here, yet he was nowhere. It felt him nearby, but where? Desperate to reunite, it chose its final gambit.
[If I descend in the flesh Master made for me, surely he'll recognize me. If I destroy the world, he'll appear!]
The book knew its mission—its purpose, its heavenly mandate from Master. He had said it would execute that mandate upon his return, awakening it with his aura. Why hadn't he appeared?!
[You haven't appeared? Was it all my delusion?! Great One, Ruler of All Wills!!! Answer me!!!]
"Ugh. So noisy."
Squelch, squelch. Mud clung to leather boots with wet smacks.
A man in a leather vest pushed through the rain toward the fallen book.
"See, Collie? I told you—good things happen around that guy."
The woman with an umbrella nodded slightly beside him. She disliked this dangerous city—Yuglatsil—but couldn't deny his choice was right. Still, her silent nod irked him. The sunglassed man grinned, baring teeth.
"Ahh. Lucky break. He's really gone. No worries there. Now, then..."
He reached for the book. Instantly, its darkness surged up his arm, enveloping him—the same abyssal mana that had despaired the tower lords.
[Good. Mortal, offer your flesh as tribute to god.]
The writhing abyss crawled over his skin. The book's desperate bid to seize a body and flee. But Mamon calmly gripped it.
"Sorry, no dice. I got this book first because of pests like you."
[Resist not, mortal.]
Ridiculous. Its power was irresistible to humans. But then it sensed it: deep within this man, a slumbering force surpassing it—the embodiment of evil.
"Angra Mainyu, as expected. True to the Principle of Evil—immunity to all darkness. Without it, this body would've been devoured instantly."
Mamon brushed off the abyss like dust. Smiling at the face-skin cover, he greeted it.
"Pleased to meet you, remnant of the great ancient one."
＊＊＊
"Who'd have thought I'd find it here after searching everywhere. That guy's a walking magnet for fate!"
[Release me, mortal!]
Mamon gripped the quivering book tightly. It spewed abyss to escape, but the Principle of Evil absorbed it effortlessly.
"Too much ego to be useful. That's why Pride discarded it—a failure. Talks too much."
[Eternal darkness that kills even death shall descend with frost. That is your final moment—withdraw your profane hand, or...]
The words cut off. The book shrank, sandwiched between a larger one. Mamon swatted it like a fly—his first book, Angra Mainyu.
"So damn noisy."
Angra Mainyu shuddered briefly. Black smoke trickled out like a satisfied belch after digestion.
"Chairman, weren't you after the book?"
Collie adjusted her glasses, puzzled. She'd opposed coming but followed his greed. Feeding the book to another baffled her.
"I already got what I wanted—its spiritual power."
"Spiritual power?"
Mamon lowered his sunglasses. His four eyes flashed with fleeting abyss.
"When it tried devouring me, Angra Mainyu reversed it and absorbed everything. Fitting for Pride's test run before his final creation. A prototype for the masterpiece—that's Angra Mainyu."
"I see."
"As my secretary, keep up."
She glared, narrowing her eyes. He never shared vital info beforehand—always at his whim.
"Anyway, to claim that book, I needed soul reinforcement. Flesh via Angra Mainyu, soul via the ancient remnant. Minimal prep complete."
Mamon eyed the golden light beyond the rain. Sung-tae's life force dominated, but similar mana lingered like yellow pollen—his remnant. Long gone?
"His final creation."
Traces scattered across the city and continent.
"Better grab the third book as insurance. Double coverage is smart, but that's no book and hard to get—pass. Now, then..."
Angra Mainyu glowed, becoming a tattoo on Mamon. It then slapped onto Collie.
"How long you gonna leave me like a drowned pup?"
"...Too clingy, Chairman."
"Leather vests stink when wet."
"Already does."
He hugged her waist, but his gaze fixed on the city—Sung-tae's golden life force.
Different now. Tempered? Like liquid in a clear flask.
Before, it was wild, formless. Now, it shaped itself.
White Tower teaches life magic. Learned fast?
Dangerous. One wielding such power freely? Unbeatable.
"No plans to fight, but... time to meet soon."
"Who? Schedule's clear this week."
"...Collie, your tact is zero—blessing in disguise. Let's go."
Mamon glanced skyward one last. Sung-tae's life force entwined with the remnant like a golden Milky Way in black night.
Similar. To his aura... too similar.
"Chairman?"
"Yeah. Let's head back."
The pair vanished without trace from the mage city. Only the golden Milky Way—visible to few powerhouses—silently watched below.