The Black Flame's Absolute Instinct
The moment the war in the Spirit Realm reached its climax, the voice of the Black Flame Absolute boomed across the battlefield.
Crack—! The instant those words reached his ears, a thick vein bulged on the forehead of the Magic God of Dimensions.
‘As expected, these morons are completely brainless—! They want a Magic God who wields the absolute authority of dimensional power to play goddamn babysitter? And not just any kids—these are members of the Black Flame Clan. Sure, they’re technically living beings, but they’re transcendent entities comparable to Eternal Beings. Their infancy alone lasts over ten thousand years by default! Why the hell should I be the one raising all of them? They said they’re new recruits, right? Then the arrogant old-timers should handle the hard stuff—!’
Even without fully unleashing his titles, the Magic God of Dimensions possessed enough dimensional authority to be considered an Absolute Being within the main universe. But in the Absolute Realm, where the Black Flame Clan reigned supreme, he was nothing more than a glorified nanny. The gap in raw power was simply too vast; at best, he barely scraped into the transcendent tier.
‘Besides, even if I accelerate growth using my current dimensional authority, there’s a hard limit. Without utilizing a Karma Contract of the Absolute grade, I can’t speed things up by more than ten thousand times. And even then, I can only affect an extremely narrow localized area. The computational power and vitality required would consume everything I have—I wouldn’t be able to move an inch! Yet after going all out like that, I’d only be able to look after the infants of the entire Black Flame Clan? Who the hell are they trying to piss off to death?’
This was something the Magic God of Dimensions could never accept as part of his life’s purpose. Channeling that fury, he swallowed the Black Flame Clan members—who had frozen in confusion at the Black Flame Absolute’s warning—into a dimensional shift.
Whoosh—! Flash—!
The sudden disappearance of the Black Flame Clan made the Black Flame Absolute narrow his eyes slightly. The bodies of the Black Flame Clan, empowered by authority that normally surpassed even Eternal Beings, were supposed to resist any form of external power. Yet they had been swallowed and relocated as easily as if they were weightless.
‘Forcing a dimensional shift on the Black Flame Clan. It can’t affect their physical forms, but it can change their position. So this is the spatial dominance of an Absolute-tier authority, not merely transcendent? On top of that, his time authority is nearly at the Absolute level. If that’s the case, it should work unconditionally on the Black Flame Clan infants. We might actually be able to shorten that horrific infancy period.’
All eight lineages of the Absolute Beings were powerful, but their nightmarishly long infancy periods were a serious problem. Without sufficient supplementation from the Wind Star, the clans themselves would struggle to survive. Among them, the Black Flame Clan—born from the extremes of fighting spirit and murderous intent—faced the harshest conditions. Only those who survived brutal battles could become full members, so despite their overwhelming strength, their numbers remained small.
Just thinking about the future results put the Black Flame Absolute in a good mood.
But the next scene sent his blood pressure skyrocketing.
Fwaaaaaah—! Shaaaaah—!
The place the Black Flame Clan had been forcibly shifted to was directly in front of his face. For a split second his vision was blocked, and he sensed twenty-six ominous presences attempting to dimensional-shift his mate and child.
‘I knew something felt off earlier. So this was it. Well, if I were in their position and wanted freedom through promotion, I’d probably target Black Flame infants too. But that’s absolutely impossible.’
It might have looked sloppy, but the Black Flame Clan didn’t gather like this for no reason. Though their individual levels were low, they were stacking thousands of overlapping defensive barriers based on Always Coin Heads. Moreover, the females holding the infants were clearly full Black Flame Clan members as well. Their detection abilities, backed by raw destructive power and maternal instinct, were in no way inferior to the males’. And finally, there was the Black Flame Absolute himself, who could activate a perfect Always Coin Heads.
That combination had thwarted every single surprise attack on their infants so far.
The problem was that all those defenses were designed for physical attacks or standard mental-concept authorities. They were useless against this bizarre hybrid of time and space authority. It was only natural to be surprised that someone had trained the most complex and difficult compound authority of time and space to this degree.
‘In the end, I have to move personally.’
The fact that someone had targeted his own child—and that he had to act directly—caused curses to erupt from his mouth as his Black Flame fighting spirit exploded outward like a volcanic eruption.
“Huk—!”
Thududududu—! Boooooom—!
With nothing but the explosive release of his fighting spirit, he blew the Black Flame Clan members—who had been blocking his view with their dimensional shift—away like dry leaves in a hurricane. After flinging the disobedient clan members into the distance, he launched his own body backward as well. Standing protectively in front of his mate and child, he smashed every single one of the dimensional-shifting objects with his Black Flame authority.
Crack-crack-crack-crack—!
The bricks, infused with immense magical power and authority, shattered into countless pieces and scattered through the air. From within the cloud of dust and debris, the Black Flame Absolute spat out harsh words.
Clang—! Clang—!
The Sword of Ruin and Soul reappeared without mercy and slammed straight into the Black Flame Absolute’s head, producing a sound like metal striking metal. Unable to withstand the impact, he clutched his head and collapsed. Above his crumpled form, a disappointed will echoed.
It was the will of Jinri, embedded within the Sword of Ruin and Soul that had struck him over hundreds of millions of times already.
The authority of Black Flame was built solely upon fighting spirit and murderous intent, maximizing physical destructive power. As such, its close-combat prowess stood at the pinnacle of the Absolute Realm. With the ultimate destructive weapon Pahoton and the perfect mastery of Always Coin Heads—which nullified any authority and guaranteed direct hits—there were almost no beings capable of defeating the Black Flame Absolute.
“Even I suffered countless defeats when facing Black Flame in the past. But when the Black Flame Absolute begins to worry or get emotional—things that don’t suit him at all—Always Coin Heads wavers and attacks miss their mark. That was how the eight Absolute Beings fell, and how their Absolute Realm met its end at that time.”
Jinri emphasized once more.
The deeper one thought, the more one distorted facts to suit oneself. The more one worried, the more one viewed the surroundings through a skewed lens, trying to bend everything to one’s advantage. In the end, this only delayed the completion of the most crucial authority: Always Coin Heads.
“The same applies when leading your clan. Kill when you must kill. Spare when you wish to spare. But rely entirely on your own instinct rather than emotion. As the representative of the clan and the one who holds the Origin authority that forms the basis of your power, your responsibility is immense. Therefore…”
The automatically replaying will of Jinri suddenly cut off. The Black Flame Absolute, who had been quietly closing his eyes and nodding, suddenly had the Sword of Ruin and Soul raised above his head once again. A harsh voice rang out.
Whiiiiiiiiiir—! Whaaaaaaaam—! Urrrrrrgh—!
The mercilessly swung Sword of Ruin and Soul smashed into the Black Flame Absolute’s forehead. This time, the sound of bones rattling accompanied his scream. He was always the one getting beaten, yet whenever the topic of the clan came up, drowsiness would overwhelm him. Reflexively, an excuse tumbled from his lips.
But it was the same thing that always happened. As if to say “as if,” the Sword of Ruin and Soul slammed his face into the ground and ground it in mercilessly.
Grrrrrrrrrind—! Urrrrrrrrgh—!
The instinct that had transformed into the absolute authority of Always Coin Heads after countless struggles would never allow loss or ruin—whether in battle or daily life. No, if there was even the slightest chance of victory against any opponent, it would never permit defeat. The Black Flame Absolute was the pure incarnation of fighting spirit and murderous intent who crushed all enemies with supreme destructive power and absolute choices.
The Black Flame Clan members watching their Origin get pummeled by the Sword of Ruin and Soul stared at the scene with eyes that had long since given up.
‘At first we were shocked, but by now it’s happened hundreds of millions of times.’
‘And yet Always Coin Heads still hasn’t been perfected.’
It sounded nice to say “rely on instinct,” but abandoning thought and emotion entirely was no easy feat.
‘Even we use it, but only as support for decision-making and combat sense. It’s not an authority we can rely on completely.’
But when the Black Flame Absolute went berserk in battle, the way it activated perfectly showed them exactly why it was an authority of the Absolute.
‘Once activated, he almost single-handedly repelled all the other clans and the other eight Absolute Beings during the ranking competition.’
Applying that same state naturally in daily life was the complete independence condition given to the Origin of the Black Flame Clan. Yet they still hadn’t managed to achieve it. Because of that, the Black Flame Clan could only watch as their numbers increased at a painfully slow pace.
Thud! Kwaaaaang!
Pow! Thud!
While the Black Flame Absolute was being beaten in midair by the autonomously moving Sword of Ruin and Soul, the Magic God of Dimensions let out a bitter sigh. He stood at the exact spot where the Black Flame Absolute had been moments ago, gripping the most power-infused jet-black brick—resembling a black pearl—that he had prepared in advance.
‘Fortunately, I was able to move him so easily. If the Black Flame Absolute had fully trusted that incredible instinct of his instead of occasionally deviating from it, this would have been impossible.’
Without the automatic disciplinary action of the Sword of Ruin and Soul, seizing this position would have been far more difficult.
‘If I had even the slightest ability to harm the Black Flame Absolute, a farce like this would never have occurred.’
The fact that he was so weak he was completely ignored by the Black Flame Absolute’s instinct—and that he couldn’t deny it—made it even more depressing.
“So I’m not an existence that can pose any threat to the Black Flame Absolute, huh? Well, no current method would work anyway. Whatever. The objective has been achieved. Alright—! It’s time to begin. I’ll end this in one go and pass the ‘Test of Eternity.’ Activate for the sake of ‘nothing but victory.’ My ultimate magic.”
Crunch—! Click—! Clack—!
The obsidian-like bricks were sucked into the empty air and vanished. The sound of gaps interlocking echoed loudly. Then, bricks began appearing throughout the sky in every direction.
The pattern drawn by the bricks formed a mysterious magical formation. In an instant, it spread across the entire Wind Star.