The Sage's Vengeance
The Magic God of Dimensions had grown eerily similar to Jinri, who merely chuckled and called it cute even when the 10 Mainstays of the Otherworld War formed an alliance to rebel. The highest-ranking clan that had once tried to stab him in the back received only a few beatings before being forgiven. Of course, those few strikes were enough to leave them hovering at death’s door, but the fact that they dared challenge him with such power was almost admirable in its own way.
Yet he could not tolerate the Magic God of Dimensions, the past self of the Grey Absolute. The position of Sage among the 10 Mainstays should have been mine. The Grey Absolute, once the greatest sage of the Absolute Realm, was supposed to belong to me.
Though he had unavoidably taken the seat of the Black Flame Absolute for now, he had hoped the vacancy in the Grey seat would eventually be reassigned to him. Instead, that position had been stolen by the Magic God of Dimensions, who had crawled out of the Master Universe.
Now that the empty Grey seat has been filled, I will never escape this role as the Black Flame Absolute.
During his days as a sage, he had looked down on the Black Flame lineage as the lowest of the 10 Mainstays, possessing no merits beyond raw physical ability. Now he was doomed to live forever as the Origin of that very clan. Just imagining what his former colleagues from his sage days would think of him made his heart feel ready to burst.
I have no choice but to use this physical power now.
He spread both hands and charged straight at Hwi, the All-Powerful Splendor, who was lunging to seize him. The two collided like mirror images.
“Kwaaaaaah—!”
“Ho? You dare attempt something so reckless with that frail body of yours?”
BAAAAAANG—!
Drip. Drip.
They stood face to face, palms locked together in the most basic form of a contest of pure strength. No matter how superior one’s physical ability might be, this was essentially suicidal against an opponent whose divine power was more than twenty times greater. Yet he had deliberately chosen this method.
All those authorities he once possessed, all the knowledge and wisdom accumulated over a lifetime—they had been sacrificed to tame the rampaging beast that was the Authority of Black Flame. The body control he had trained under Jinri for over a billion years could not possibly lose to a vessel manipulated by a mere mage god.
Crack. Crunch. Snap.
After that, words became unnecessary. Their tempered bodies drew out every ounce of strength, shoving against each other. The moment one was pushed back, their posture would collapse and the fight would end instantly. And slowly, steadily, the body possessing over twenty times the divine power was being forced backward.
“This is impossible! With more than twenty times the divine power, I should be exerting at least ten times the strength—how can I be losing? The calculations say this can’t happen!”
The Magic God of Dimensions’ bewilderment was only natural. Combat gods were not defeated by simple superiority in strength and speed. Precise force manipulation, instantaneous reaction, and above all, senses were what mattered.
I nearly went insane trying to master the Authority of Black Flame, whose exact calculations and measurements are impossible.
He had once believed it was nothing but a brutish authority that relied solely on raw power. Only after learning it did he realize it demanded horrifically precise bodily control and authority manipulation. Fail to regulate the Exploding Blood and physical reinforcement with extreme precision, and it was over. Either that, or one had to do what the first-generation Black Flame Absolute had done—rely purely on instinct to handle everything.
The problem was that the first Black Flame Absolute was an illiterate hunter with zero scholarly knowledge. He left behind no records about the authority, possessed no ability to explain it to others, and had no clan. He was a complete blank slate.
In the end, only Jinri, who was half an Eternal Being, had mastered it through endless combat and accumulated experience.
When I asked Jinri for a safe training method, he simply said, “I did it that way too, so learn it with your body,” and refused to speak further. The number of people who died trying to learn the half-baked Exploding Blood based on vague instinct is literally uncountable.
When he said “died,” he did not mean it figuratively. Their hearts literally exploded from the blood surge, and their bodies were torn to pieces. That was why no one else could learn it, no matter how talented they were.
I died exploding countless times, only to be revived by Jinri. Eventually I realized I couldn’t live like this, so I forced my unwilling brain to work using the Authority of Black Flame. I mobilized every scrap of knowledge and authority to precisely define the relationship between the Authority of Black Flame and the body, divided it into stages from 1-star to 4-star, established the true absolute authority known as “Exploding Blood,” and even created the Black Flame Clan. All of that was entirely my achievement.
Even if it wasn’t what he had truly wanted, that alone was more than enough to qualify him as the Black Flame Absolute. Therefore, there was no way he could lose in a contest of strength to a Creator God being manipulated by a mage god.
“Stop struggling—! The body of a combat god, forged through endless training and tempering, surpasses mere calculations. No mage or computational ability can overcome this. So you’re finished.”
“Ah—! So that’s the problem. Thank you for the advice.”
Once again came that nonchalant reply that scraped at his nerves. And then the mage god did something even worse. The Creator God’s jewel embedded in his forehead radiated dimensional creative power, reinforcing the entire body once more while awakening the mind within.
“Come to your senses and rise, All-Powerful Splendor. It seems my bodily control cannot overcome the Black Flame Absolute after all. You lost earlier because you were caught off guard, but now that your divine power is more than twenty times greater, crush him in one blow.”
“What the— you—!”
Vrrrrrr—!
It seemed the mind was truly returning; light began to shine in Hwi’s eyes once more.
The Always Coin Heads sent him a warning of crisis.
The hero god of the Almighty God Tribe who mastered the incomprehensible Eight Primordial Origins through talent alone! That Creator God is by no means an easy opponent. If he possessed equal divine power, one would have to be wary. But with a gap of more than twenty times the divine power, he should definitely lose.
The Black Flame Absolute had to end this before Hwi fully regained his senses. The crisis that had always seemed right in front of him now felt strangely blurred. However, the situations shown by Always Coin Heads were never unclear. Only now did he realize that his own belief—that neither the Magic God of Dimensions nor the Creator God of the Master Universe posed any real threat—had been dulling the authority.
Changing his own mind was difficult, so he had to finish off the Magic God of Dimensions as quickly as possible.
“You bastard—! Have you no pride? The moment you’re at a disadvantage you switch sides? Can’t you fight fairly—!”
“What are you talking about? This isn’t switching sides. I’m simply using the most advantageous method available.”
“What kind of sophistry is this, jumping back and forth between enemy and ally? Use your own power to settle this fairly—!”
“……”
The Magic God of Dimensions remained silent for a moment. The Black Flame Absolute thought he might have felt some shame, but as usual, the mage god betrayed those expectations.
“As expected, you truly are the ignorant Black Flame Absolute. Those are not the words of someone once called the greatest sage of the Absolute Realm.”
“What did you say—!”
The past in which he had been respected by all as the highest sage of the Absolute Realm was as precious to him as his own memories. He could never tolerate having it denied. It was also the reason he had gone berserk during the previous ranking war.
The Black Flame Absolute spoke in a cold voice, his ears burning.
“Those who possess power may speak of conviction and honor, but for the weak who have nothing, such things are luxuries and deadly poisons. The weak who try to uphold their convictions are beaten to death by the strong. Those who claim honor are ignored and starve. Wisdom is the endless contemplation and discovery of ways to live like the strong even without power. The accumulation of such trial and error becomes knowledge. Thus, wisdom and knowledge are the only weapons of the weak. That is why sages are respected by the weak. And it is also why sages are looked down upon by true powerhouses who need neither knowledge nor wisdom. Because to the strong, such things are completely unnecessary.”
It was something he himself had known and agonized over in the past.
The Magic God of Dimensions immediately pressed the attack against the momentarily speechless Black Flame Absolute.
“Black Flame Absolute. You are a being of absolute power. There are almost no existences who can defeat you in a contest of strength, not even when facing a twenty-fold difference in divine power. Naturally, I, a mere mage god, would lose. Yet you tell me—the weak—to abandon my only weapon, wisdom, and come at you with nothing but strength. How can I not call that ignorant?”
“……”
He had declared himself the weak and justified his actions so logically that the Black Flame Absolute, whose head refused to work properly under the influence of the Authority of Black Flame, could not come up with a rebuttal. Nor did he have the leisure to try.
Hwi, now almost fully conscious, reacted with completely different sensitivity. His body now exerted power on par with his opponent. The unshakable tenacity like a mountain began pushing the Black Flame Absolute backward, forcing him to feel a dizzying sense of crisis.
Is this the true power of the incomprehensible Eight Primordial Origins? What astonishing bodily amplification and stability.
In the ranking wars, they avoided inflicting fatal wounds on each other, so matches against higher ranks were little more than arranged sparring. Simply put, if he landed a full-power Exploding Blood Pahoton on Yuil Yongsinje he would win; if he missed, he would lose. But knowing his own shortcomings, he had never pushed things that far.
This was the first time he had faced one of the incomprehensible Eight Primordial Origins with such genuine intent, and he realized he might actually lose if he slipped up. The explosive power of Black Flame and the stable, continuous power of the Wind Family’s secret arts were honestly difficult to rank in close combat. Victory depended solely on the depth of one’s training and the luck of the day.
Groooan—! Gruuu—!
Hwi’s body, which had been pushing backward, moved in a strange, coordinated manner. He readjusted his grip on both hands and suddenly shoved forward. It looked like children’s horseplay, pushing and shoving, but the moment one was completely pushed back and fell, they would be left defenseless against the opponent’s strongest attack.
The concentrated barrage of over ten thousand attacks I saw earlier is beyond what even a Black Flame body can endure. In this descended state, I doubt I could even react properly.
It was a crisis of defeat. And the Magic God of Dimensions had created this absurd situation.
What weakling are you supposed to be? You’re the one who drove me into this crisis—!
Yet Hwi, now fully conscious, asked the Magic God of Dimensions a question. He had thought the man dead after taking the Exploding Blood Pahoton earlier, but he had completely recovered and was even reinforcing the Black Flame Absolute’s opponent. Meanwhile, the Black Flame Absolute himself was weakened to a level incomparable to before, his divine power now below 5 billion. Somehow, despite the inferior divine power, he was engaged in a contest of strength that should have been overwhelmingly advantageous to the side with more power. Techniques were also extremely restricted in this state, so the odds of victory were almost entirely in his favor.
“I understand the situation. But is it all right if I win?”
The Absolute Realm was a place where beings gathered who were at least two circles higher and possessed over a hundred times the power of those from the Master Universe. Defeating one of the 10 Mainstays who ruled that realm could become a major problem. Having experienced their power firsthand, he knew the 10 Mainstays and their clans possessed strength that must never be provoked. Even if only a few members of the lowest-ranking Black Flame Clan—who supposedly possessed one trillion in divine power—gathered, the 499th Master Universe would be annihilated.
However, the Magic God of Dimensions laughed nonchalantly.
“Hahaha—! It’s perfectly fine if you win. The 10 Mainstays are so afraid of being scolded by Jinri that they never interfere outside their own domains without proper justification or orders. So feel free. Besides, what justification could there be if one of the 10 Mainstays—who exist as the symbols of absolute power for each lineage—loses in a duel? If you win, you will become the hero god of the Almighty Clan who defeated the Black Flame Absolute, possessor of the greatest body in the Absolute Realm, through sheer power. That fame will echo not only through the Master Universe but throughout the Absolute Realm itself. If things go well, you might even earn the opportunity to receive direct instruction from Jinri.”
“Direct training from Jinri… from Jinri himself.”
Jinri never permitted anyone to use honorifics when addressing him. He only allowed it from blood relatives, claiming that doing so for insignificant positions and realms bred arrogance. Anyone who broke this rule, regardless of rank, would be thoroughly disciplined.
After correcting the slip of the tongue that had momentarily lowered his vigilance, strength naturally surged through his body. If he could prove his potential by defeating the Black Flame Absolute, he might truly be able to meet Jinri and make the request. Those who received instruction from Jinri all gained power that even the 10 Mainstays could not ignore. He was not foolish enough to miss such an opportunity.
Shhhhhhhk—! Shhhhhk—!
As Hwi began exerting his full power, the Black Flame Absolute’s body started being pushed back. No matter what strength he used, the opponent possessed a nearly equal body and more than twenty times the divine power. In his true form it might have been different, but in this unfamiliar descended state, there was no way to win.
And once again, the grating voice of the Magic God of Dimensions rang out.
“The hero god who surpassed the Black Flame Absolute—symbol of power—through strength alone! Wow—! No matter how I think about it, this is tens of thousands of times better than some useless Main God title that holds no value to a Creator God. Of course, in exchange, the Black Flame Absolute’s reputation will be dragged through the mud.”
“Hey—! You bastard—! You’re part of the Black Flame Clan too—!”
Even though he needed to concentrate while being pushed back, the Black Flame Absolute could not hold back and shouted. The jewel embedded in his forehead buzzed in protest.
“Oh? Is that so? When the Origin threatens my life over something so trivial, it’s hard to feel any loyalty to the clan. Hehe—! If only you had treated me a little better normally, wouldn’t that have been nice? Suddenly ordering me to look after babies for all eternity—what kind of nonsense is that? There’s a limit to ignorance. The dimensional authority has so many uses, yet the only thing you could think of was making me a nanny? Above all, I absolutely detest little brats who can’t even speak properly.”
“……”
It was the story of how, when the Magic God of Dimensions had passed Jinri’sEternal Judgment, he had been ordered to serve as caretaker for babies whose growth took more than ten thousand years. Looking back, there had been no need for that, but that was where everything had started to go wrong.
Yet this guy still brings it up even now.
Suddenly, words Jinri had spoken in the distant past came to mind.
“The Authority of Black Flame you established is indeed the strongest in close combat. However, avoid Gold, and if Grey appears, run away.”
“Why must I avoid only those two? With the combination of Exploding Blood, Pahoton, and Always Coin Heads, I should be able to defeat any of the 10 Mainstays.”
“Black Flame may defeat Gold in short battles, but in prolonged fights it is destined to lose. No matter how much power you raise, you cannot match Gold’s endurance and recovery. The moment you tire from attacking, you lose. The first Black Flame was defeated by Gold in exactly that way and became his comrade. As for Grey…”
With a bitter smile, he scratched his right cheek with the fingers of his right hand and continued.
“Judging from the personality of the first Grey Absolute, he would not even bother to fight you directly no matter how overwhelmingly strong you are. And even if he somehow wins, that would not be the end.”
“I don’t understand what you mean by ‘even if he wins, it won’t be the end.’”
“Grey is the pinnacle of sages. He is a thorough pragmatist who views defeat only as loss. Therefore, unlike combat gods, he cannot accept a fair loss. He will first escape the situation and then continuously seek opportunities and methods to make up for the loss. If he becomes the second Grey Absolute, even you would be unable to catch him if he truly decides to flee. In short, if you earn his grudge, it will haunt you for eternity. That is why I tell you to avoid him.”
“I am also a sage, but such petty behavior… No. I am indeed Black Flame.”
The trajectory of the Sword of Ruin and Soul hovering and flickering above his head moved busily. Jinri’s voice grew louder, as if irritated.
“Tsk—! You still refuse to acknowledge your own nature and spout nonsense—! That is why the progress of ‘Always Coin Heads’ never fully completes.”
If things continued like this a little longer, it would turn into a real spar whose end no one could predict. Of course, since he would be the one taking the beating, tension gripped him tightly.
“Didn’t I say that showing off knowledge and acting superior is not what makes a sage? A sage is someone who finds answers and puts them into practice for problems everyone else has given up on. When everyone talks about honor and avoids getting their hands dirty, the sage steps forward and solves it. Naturally, the process is petty and dishonorable. Yet true sages willingly bear such stigma for the sake of their goal. Those who only speak pretty words and refuse to act are not sages—they are merely intellectuals and politicians. Because true sages do not fear personal sacrifice, they are fierce and tenacious in a sense different from combat gods. The pinnacle of sages, the Grey Absolute, needs no further explanation. That is why even the first Gold, whose power was unmatched by anyone, always avoided earning the grudge of the first Grey. Yet the ignorant first Black Flame provoked Grey with words and actions he could not understand, always suffered for it, and eventually became his eternal enemy. Whether you are different from them or not, remember that inheriting their authorities means you can commit the same mistakes. Watching the first Grey and Black Flame fight constantly was truly absurd and heartbreaking. Even if it is fate and cannot be avoided no matter how much you keep it in mind, at least make the effort.”
At the time he had thought it was simply fate and hadn’t fully understood, but now he understood completely. Beings who reached the end of any lineage eventually developed similar personalities. Because the position of 10 Mainstay was a realm impossible to reach without completely assimilating with that lineage.
The first generations fought, so it was only natural to predict the second generations would fight as well. Even the Magic God of Dimensions—who is nothing more than a fragment of the past, neither myself nor the true Grey—irritates me.
Part of it was because the man had taken the position of Grey Absolute, but every single thing he did was intolerable. So the Black Flame Absolute glared at the Creator God’s jewel containing the Magic God of Dimensions’ divine spirit and shouted.
“You cowardly yet persistent bastard—I really can’t stand you—!”
“I also find it extremely unpleasant that you push forward with nothing but strength without understanding others’ circumstances and refuse to acknowledge your own faults.”
The Magic God of Dimensions did not back down either. The way the two glared at each other, unable to devour one another, had become almost identical to the relationship between the first Black Flame and Grey.