The Black Flame's Instinct
The Origin of the Mage God’s gaze sharpened once more as he stared at me. A high-pitched ziiiiiiing rang through the air. I tried to point out that the Magic God of Dimensions, infamous for his brutal combat style, probably shouldn’t be saying such things to another clan member, but all I received in return was a glare that clearly warned: argue and I’ll beat you right here and now.
Obviously, that meant I was about to get hit, so the Magic God of Dimensions wisely clamped his mouth shut. After grinding his teeth in fury for a moment, the Origin of the Mage God looked at me with an expression that said he had finally given up and began his explanation.
“The Black Flame Absolute uses Always Coin Heads to eliminate the judgment process for hitting. It’s an authority that guarantees perfect accuracy and critical strikes, so that’s more than enough. Attack decisions are handled entirely by the Authority of Black Flame itself. That authority, a fusion of killing intent and fighting spirit, will pulverize any enemy within its range without a single thought. The first Black Flame Absolute would reflexively slaughter anyone he recognized as an enemy the instant they were identified. Most opponents died the moment they were perceived as enemies, without even having time to react. Only members of the Wind Family could barely block such attacks at close range. That’s how terrifying this authority is in melee combat.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“You idiot—! Why can’t you understand something so simple? Because there’s no judgment process for attacking or hitting, the speed is at least three times faster than a normal warrior who has to go through all three steps. That’s why the Authority of Black Flame entrusts all combat to instinct rather than reason. The battles of Black Flame have only one purpose: the elimination of every existence except itself. In the end, it becomes a berserker who goes mad solely to kill the enemy. How can you not understand such an easy conclusion?”
“Huh—! You call that an easy deduction?”
“This stupid bastard—! Isn’t it obvious that the ultimate conclusion of fighting spirit and killing intent is the eradication of everything except oneself?”
“That’s not… obvious at all.”
Anger flared up and I almost snapped back, but the Sword of Ruin and Soul hovering nearby shook as if deciding whether to strike me right then. Complaining would obviously lead to a beating. In short, the Authority of Black Flame ultimately created a berserker that instinctively annihilated any enemy showing fighting spirit or killing intent. But there was no way something like that could be an Absolute authority. It was nothing more than a training method for a God of Destruction and a berserker. There had to be some form of control.
But was there really a way to control a being driven mad by frenzy?
The ability to restore a madman to sanity fell into the realm of mental manipulation—an extremely difficult field even for someone like me who had mastered dark magic. Intelligence and reason required such vast and delicate computational power that even the divine races, who were spiritual beings, found it nearly impossible to touch. If mental manipulation were easy, would they really go through all the trouble of granting miraculous benefits just to create believers?
Yet the warriors had somehow solved it. That natural question arose, but the explanation continued without pause. The training speed was so fast it was impossible to keep up. At first he had tried to make me understand, but after repeating himself several times with no success, he switched to forced implantation.
“Your job is to completely anchor the Authority of Black Flame into your instincts. That is the only way you can endure against the current bait, the All-Powerful Splendor.”
“Then wouldn’t I go berserk the moment I sense an enemy’s killing intent? If there’s no control method, sealing it should be the top priority.”
That was why I had no choice but to ask even at the risk of getting beaten. The worst-case scenario could occur where I learned an authority I couldn’t even understand. It already seemed like something had been set in motion, yet the person at the center of it—me—knew absolutely nothing. That was only natural. And there was no way a body completely dominated by the instincts of fighting spirit and killing intent could be controlled. Most berserkers ended up self-destructing at the end of their physical rampage not because their reason was weak, but because the reason itself that could stop the rampage had vanished.
Yet if the instincts of killing intent and fighting spirit were permanently anchored to always remain active, the moment I sensed them I would go mad and try to annihilate everything in front of me. That was exactly what a God of Destruction was.
“You’re finally starting to understand. That’s why Black Flame absolutely requires this kind of training. They’re an extremely high-maintenance clan, authority, and pack of mad beasts.”
“Hiiiiiik—!”
The fighting spirit and killing intent radiating from the Origin of the Mage God filled the entire space and pressed down on me directly. I’ve only just completed the 11th circle and am looking toward the 12th, but the Origin of the Mage God is definitely above the 14th circle. Considering that the gap between circles grows exponentially harsher the higher you go, the difference was almost like that between an ordinary human and a god. The psychological shock was enough to make me scream involuntarily, but suddenly black flames erupted from my body.
The Magic God’s authority had been thoroughly sealed by the Origin, and my body had been nearly destroyed under the pretext of forced training. Both my body and my magic were in the worst possible state, leaving me with no way to respond. As a result, the Authority of Black Flame that had been buried deep within to avoid interfering with my calculations began to move on its own.
It roared and bared its fangs as if revealing its true nature in response to the killing intent and fighting spirit of a higher being that reason could not handle. It was an uncontrollable frenzy of combat. It was the crystallization of a stubborn will that refused to yield to anyone.
“In the worst possible condition, you encountered an overwhelmingly strong opponent you could not face. The reason and body that recognized a higher existence naturally wanted to refuse combat and submit. However, the opponent was an Eternal Being who had come to absorb them. The instinct realized that submission would solve nothing and forcibly seized control of both reason and body to begin the fight—armed only with the most intense fighting spirit and killing intent. That was the beginning of the Authority of Black Flame: the frenzied instinct of fighting spirit and killing intent that fought without any restrictions in order to survive. Originally created so that spiritual beings could resist higher Eternal Beings, strengthen themselves, and continue fighting, the authority evolved over time and finally became an Absolute authority. The problem is that if you learn it poorly, you won’t be able to distinguish friend from foe and will rampage until you self-destruct. That’s why they’re called mad beasts. And they grow endlessly stronger in order to destroy higher beings. As the Magic God, you must be able to stop this with reason. No—you must anchor the Black Flame perfectly into your instincts and still be able to freely wield magic with complete rationality. Otherwise, the Authority of Black Flame is nothing more than a bomb you cannot use. You won’t even serve as bait; you’ll simply be subjugated.”
“Kuuuuurgh—!”
Puhahaha—!Crack!Riiiiip!
The Authority of Black Flame, having fully revealed its true nature in response to the higher being’s killing intent and fighting spirit, went completely berserk. It arbitrarily strengthened the body and began seizing control from the reason and flesh that desperately tried to stop it. The black flames consumed all reason and even took over control of the body itself.
It looked as if it were devouring both body and reason to use them as fuel in order to fight something stronger than itself.
In the crisis of my body, I realized one thing in an instant. The abnormal power of Black Flame came from exactly this. And the reason it required such enormous computational power was because it needed to be fed a massive amount of “prey.”
The Authority of Black Flame itself is absorbing the cognitive domain of reason to strengthen itself. Trying to suppress it with reason is insane. If I continue like this, I’ll go mad. I’ll become a God of Destruction. What kind of training is this?
Contrary to my own desperation, the Magic God’s voice rang out calmly. It sounded so natural, as if he had repeated these words countless times before. When I urgently tried to process the content, I was stunned. While I was going mad from being taken over by the Authority of Black Flame, he was calmly reminiscing about the past in a monologue. The content was truly absurd.
“That’s why this process is exactly like taming a wild beast. Once the Authority of Black Flame has completely seized reason and body and activated, controlling it is naturally impossible for the person himself. So we train the authority itself. The sense of crisis that if you recklessly charge at a strong opponent, you’ll be beaten endlessly without being able to do anything—! The desperation that if you want to escape this horrific situation, you must immediately hand control back to reason—! No matter how much the Authority of Black Flame strengthens the body, it teaches the survival instinct to the fusion of fighting spirit and killing intent that cannot overcome an overwhelmingly powerful enemy who reveals hostility. But can the instinct of fighting spirit and killing intent be educated? Then wouldn’t it be reason? It’s absurd. Heh heh—! Even I was dumbfounded when I first learned it. But somehow it actually worked. It just takes an absurd amount of time and effort depending on the realm. To complete this Black Flame Absolute, Grandfather Truth stayed in the Wind Castle of Black Flame for over a billion years, personally beating him every time he had a seizure. Or has he automated it by now? Well—! This guy is the lowest rank among the Black Flame Race, so there’s probably no need for that much effort. He has some talent in this area, so I’ll give it a try.”
This is really driving me insane. In the end, it just means they’ll keep beating the combat instinct until it can judge the surrounding situation, right? How is that any different from the nonsense that you have to keep hitting a madman until he comes to his senses? And crisis? Desperation? Survival instinct? Those words sound way too familiar… Kuuuurgh!
“Kuuuuurgh—! Grrrrrrk—!”
My thoughts were short-lived. Even the computational power I had cultivated as a Magic God at the Transcendent realm only bought me a brief moment against the fully activated Authority of Black Flame. The Magic God of Dimensions, whose reason had completely flown away and who had begun emitting beast-like groans, was wrapped in black flames that produced a deafening roar. It sounded like his heart was exploding. At the same time, the blood vessels in his body swelled as if they would burst, and his muscles ballooned like inflated balloons. It was as if bombs were detonating inside his body, and the black flames were controlling the explosions.
And from the eyes of the Magic God of Dimensions, whose reason had completely vanished, blades of killing intent and fighting spirit poured out.
“Huh—! The initial stage of Exploding Blood, the strongest physical enhancement authority? Even though he’s the lowest rank, he’s still of the Black Flame Race, huh? But it’s only the first stage, Explosive Sound? This round is a failure. I had high hopes since he showed some aptitude here, but as expected, the first try doesn’t work. Well, if it could be done in a day or two, the Black Flame who barely completed his authority wouldn’t be the strongest in close combat among the 10 Mainstays. Since we can take as much training time as we want with this guy’s dimensional authority, that’s good. And we have plenty of Swords of Ruin and Soul, so shall we go all out?”
He casually lifted the wooden sword with one hand, raised it above his head, and swung it at the Magic God of Dimensions as if it were a joke.
“Reason—return to position—!”
CRAAAAACK—!
“Kkyaaaaaaaaaack—!”
Despite the rather grandiose display, I couldn’t even withstand a single blow from the Sword of Ruin and Soul that slammed into my forehead. The sight of myself collapsing to the floor screaming flickered before my eyes. If it weren’t for the Sword of Ruin and Soul that granted the properties of non-killing and non-destruction to its target, the impact would have erased me instantly. It also proved that no matter how much you strengthened yourself with the Authority of Black Flame and rampaged freely, it was useless if the gap in power was too great. In the end, completely surpassing your original realm was impossible.
The activated Authority of Black Flame vanished without achieving anything, and my body—completely shattered yet still breathing—revealed itself. Limp. Limp. Every bone was broken, every organ turned to mush. I couldn’t move at all. I looked like a boneless mollusk, like an octopus. Yet the fact that I was still alive was thanks to the absolute authority of the Sword of Ruin and Soul. The divine weapon that would never kill any opponent weaker than its master displayed its true power.
But at this point, I couldn’t help thinking that dying might be better. Having the damage that should have erased me converted directly into pain while remaining alive was agony beyond description. And thanks to the non-destruction effect, I would slowly recover to my original body at the same speed as my natural healing rate. It was clear proof that Truth had created something that gave both reward and punishment at the same time.
Just thinking about that moment made my body convulse. Wobble—! Wobble—! Even though I was a divine being, I felt like I was about to get dizzy like any other living creature. What followed was a scene repeated countless times. Every time I tried to strengthen my body and go berserk using the forcibly awakened Authority of Black Flame, the Origin of the Mage God would beat me like a dog with the Sword of Ruin and Soul, restore my reason, and let natural healing take over. Once the healing was complete, he would forcibly awaken the Authority of Black Flame again.
I don’t even remember when this process finally ended.
All I remembered was the sight of myself with both arms buried up to the shoulders in the ground. The only thing I recalled was the moment I forcibly stopped my body from trying to charge at the Origin of the Mage God while trembling violently, and my mind finally returned. The voice of the Origin of the Mage God admiring me still rang in my ears.
‘As expected, you have talent for this. To learn the survival instinct of fighting spirit and killing intent so quickly—you really are outstanding. Good—! Let’s move on to the next stage. If we do well, we might even be able to drag Gold into this.’
It was the first compliment I had received from the Origin of the Mage God, yet it brought me no joy at all. What followed was a continuous series of training sessions as a Magic God that I didn’t even want to remember. When the memories of that forced training came back, they weren’t even romanticized by nostalgia. Instead, I suddenly wanted to rest so badly it drove me insane. Forever.
The moment I reached the bedroom, the Magic God of Dimensions collapsed into sleep. He knew he shouldn’t fall asleep so defenselessly, but he no longer needed to worry about safety. Now he understood.
That even if his reason and awareness were cut off, the Authority of Black Flame was already automatically active within his instincts.
The authority that originally required complex activation through judgment and divine power supply was now permanently active on his body in a fully automatic state. It was astonishing that activating an Absolute authority required zero computational power. Thinking back to the battle with the Sage of Omniscience earlier, his body would probably fight well on its own the moment it encountered an enemy. He had no idea how it had come to this, but for now, rest came first.
Huff—! Huff—!Fwoooooosh—!
Black flames suddenly blazed up from the deeply sleeping body of the Magic God of Dimensions. The only things felt within those flames were killing intent and fighting spirit. At the same time, his body twitched as if about to vibrate, but it suddenly stopped dead. No—it trembled violently as if in terror, and the black flames hurriedly retreated back into his body.
Above the head of the Magic God of Dimensions, the Sword of Ruin and Soul had appeared at some point. It circled around as if monitoring the Authority of Black Flame that had emerged the moment he fell asleep. Once the signs completely disappeared, it vanished once more. It was exactly the same as the education the Black Flame Absolute received from Truth.
‘To a true warrior, rest is nothing but defeat and the death of giving up on challenge. They endlessly train and challenge themselves, turning the impossible into the possible.’
And so, the training of the Wind Family—the pinnacle of Transcendents who had surpassed all limits—was something that would never end.