The Black Flame's True Power
The tale of the Dimensional Mage God’s past, from his days as an infant all the way to the present, had stretched on for hours. Thinking that should be enough, he glanced over cautiously, only to find an expressionless silence pressing down on him like a boulder. ‘Gack—!’ The pressure was so intense it nearly forced a scream from his throat. Only after he had spilled every last memory without holding anything back did the suffocating silence finally break.
And then the spirit of the Black Flame Absolute spoke a single sentence.
“……”
‘My entire life was just the result of Jinri’s capricious prank?’
He had spoken of his brutal past in exhaustive, throat-parching detail, and the cold evaluation nearly made him flare up in anger. But he didn’t dare talk back. In body, mind, and experience, the gap between them was simply overwhelming. Honestly, they were on entirely different levels.
Though only a spirit, the Black Flame Absolute’s chilling gaze burned with unshakeable conviction, and his massive frame writhed with a colossal power built up over eons of endurance. There was no way cheap tricks would work on someone like him.
‘This is ridiculous. How can he be even stronger in a state without a physical body? It’s like he was deliberately given an incompatible vessel just to suppress his spirit. Will my future self be like this too? Surely not every one of the 10 Mainstays is in this kind of condition?’
The spirit’s displayed strength was so far beyond the Black Flame Absolute’s own state that such questions arose naturally. It made no sense that a spirit with no limits on physical power would be stronger, yet his honed survival instincts told him it was true.
Having neatly summarized the Dimensional Mage God’s past and the process of becoming the Grey Absolute as “Jinri’s whim and prank,” the Black Flame Absolute fell into thought before speaking again.
Thud—! Thud—!
Inside the Eight-Ring Seal, the Black Flame Absolute rose to his feet. The pressure and dignity he radiated now were incomparable to when he had activated his racial authority. The shadow of his colossal form loomed like a mountain about to crush him, instinctively awakening terror and drawing a scream from deep inside.
‘Hiiiiiik—!’
Now it was certain. The Black Flame Absolute was stronger without his Black Flame body.
‘Does my future self know this fact?’
Seeing that they had only sealed the spirit of the Black Flame Absolute inside the Eight-Ring Seal, he probably didn’t. The current 10 Mainstays were different from the first-generation bodies of the past.
‘To completely seal him, the Eight-Ring Seal alone isn’t enough. Could it be that he has reached a realm where a physical body is unnecessary for interfering with reality? Is this proof that he has surpassed even the Eternal Beings?’
Pushing those questions aside, the Black Flame Absolute gave his final warning.
Then he began to move. He had already located it—the tiny crack triggered by Yggdrasil exceeding its capacity. After examining the minute flaw once more, the Black Flame Absolute nodded, his expression saying it would be easy.
Thud—! Thud—! Thud—!
The sound of a heartbeat that should have been impossible without a body rang out. It was the spirit itself pulsing. And then his divinity and divine power began to surge explosively.
‘Don’t tell me Exploding Blood doesn’t just enhance physical ability? It even raises divinity?’
The Black Flame Absolute lightly raised his right hand behind his head.
‘No way—! Fifty times amplification is only the 1st star? Then what about the 2nd star? A hundred times or more?’
The answer appeared right before his eyes.
Rumble—! Flash—!
Suddenly the explosive sound of the heartbeat transformed into the crash of thunder. Lightning roared throughout the spirit’s entire body, and the flickering black flames turned into actual black lightning. The moment that black lightning gathered in his raised fist, the Black Flame Absolute slammed it straight into the crack in the barrier.
Crack—! Booooom—!
Of course the Eight-Ring Seal shook violently in resistance. The eight absolute authorities interacted with one another and reflected the force, making it impossible to break from the inside with raw power. Yet his fingers ignored that completely, digging in and widening the crack. The speed was so fast that the seal’s reaction was too slow; reinforcement was out of the question, and even restoration lagged behind. As he poured more strength into the fingers already embedded, the Black Flame Absolute’s spirit arm pierced straight through the seal like paper. What he aimed for was the central point where the eight authorities of the Eight-Ring Seal converged.
He had pierced it so instantaneously that the seal’s automatic response was delayed. The relentless hand that overpowered all eight resisting absolute authorities headed straight for the center of the seal.
Cruuuunch—!
Crushing all eight absolute authorities in his grip, the Black Flame Absolute clicked his tongue in disbelief.
As someone who knew the Eight-Ring Seal well, the Dimensional Mage God could hardly believe it, but it had been shattered from the inside by pure force. Authentication, locks—none of it mattered. In an instant, the door and its lock had been blown away entirely by raw power. The strike had been so fast there wasn’t even time to worry about an explosion.
Now the biggest problem was that the moment the inside connected to the outside, the Black Flame Absolute’s divine power blazed up as black flames.
Fwoooooosh—!
The spirit, which until now had overflowed with dignity, became wrapped in black flames. A suffocating fighting spirit and killing intent began to pour out.
It was a polite warning that still carried traces of the sage’s demeanor. The Dimensional Mage God, pride forgotten, had already scurried to the farthest corner. Seeing this, the spirit gave a small chuckle and added one more line.
With that murderous warning, his left hand thrust into the torn gap. Then he mercilessly ripped the Eight-Ring Seal apart in both directions.
Riiiiiiip—!
The aggregate of eight absolute authorities that could not be destroyed by force shattered into pieces. The Black Flame Absolute and the Dimensional Mage God returned to reality like that.
Completely regaining the Authority of Black Flame, the spirit let out a roar like a wild beast and returned to its main body. The moment it merged with the body, an enormous wave of pain crashed over it. The main body, completely defenseless against the backlash, had taken the massive damage dealt by the Dimensional Mage God and the Grey Absolute’s ultra-long-range sniping. From the howling scream, one could feel pain, humiliation, and rage all at once.
The enraged spirit of the Black Flame Absolute vanished from sight. Quite some time later, the Dimensional Mage God finally appeared and scanned his surroundings. Just as warned, he had been holding his breath inside the seal, healing the wounds on his body. He quickly restored the hole in his chest using his titles and authorities, and thanks to the aftermath of activating his racial authority, his physical condition was at its peak. Still, wary of any danger, he quickly swept the area with his senses.
Whooooooosh—!
The lingering traces of the Origin of the Mage God from the Wind Family’s absolute authorities flowed in fierce currents. Around him, five million Swords of Ruin and Soul glittered like driftwood on the sea, still radiating their power.
‘Fortunately, not much time has passed visually.’
No matter how powerful the Grey Absolute was, using both Absolute Distance Koa and Yggdrasil together meant he didn’t have the luxury to distort even the internal flow of time. Activating the highest magic and the highest sage authority simultaneously was astounding, but after witnessing the Black Flame Absolute’s true strength, it made him reconsider everything.
‘Just how strong will my future self be? If I fight the Black Flame Absolute with everything he has… I’m finished.’
No matter how he thought about it, there was no way to win. The fact that he had chosen Absolute Distance Koa as his decisive move showed he had completely given up on close combat—his weakness—and had instead maximized his strengths in long-range firepower and mobility.
‘If the Black Flame Absolute lets his guard down and ignores me like just now, maybe. But if he fights seriously with full power, I can’t possibly face him.’
Whether it was Koa or Yggdrasil, if the opponent used Always Coin Heads to dodge and charge in, he would have to run endlessly. And if he added the Black Flame Absolute’s true full power that he had just witnessed, even including the Origin of the Mage God, he had no means of victory.
‘Since that spirit is also a top-tier sage, even if the body is killed, he will only become stronger upon reappearing. There’s truly nothing I can do.’
He once again realized that the Black Flame was the natural enemy of both the Grey and the Sage. The ranking war was probably not over yet, and the plan to make Yuil Yongsinje number one was still in progress.
‘Logically, since it’s my future self and the Origin of the Mage God, I should go help even if my power is insignificant. But that future self—the Grey Absolute—tried to stab me in the back and permanently seal me. The Origin of the Mage God who allowed that doesn’t make me want to help at all. Above all, I’ve already completed the request and received three complete lives as an advance payment.’
If he went to take revenge on his future self, he would only end up defeated instead. And if he clumsily tried to help, he would be lucky not to be annihilated in the aftermath of those exalted beings’ ranking war. Finally, the Black Flame Absolute’s warning echoed in his head.
‘If I see you, I’ll kill you immediately. He did say he would protect me for now…’
The conclusion was clear. He lightly clapped his hands together and bowed his head respectfully.
Clap—!
The Dimensional Mage God put into practice the truth that giving up on impossible revenge and severed ties should be done as quickly as possible. He told himself it was absolutely not because he had been overwhelmed by the pressure from the Black Flame Absolute’s spirit. He simply felt he had glimpsed the proper path he must reach.
Looking at it coldly with his own eyes and comparing, he understood.
‘Just how lacking I am.’
Compared to the Black Flame Absolute, his own two-meter-tall shrunken Black Flame body and lame magic were far too insufficient. He didn’t know how far he could go, but finding a goal was what mattered. And then the voice of the Divine Realm’s divine self rang out.
Confirmation of survival for the Lord God, the Dimensional Mage God.
‘Ah—! So I really succeeded. As a Creator God, I ultimately defeated the Hero God, the Almighty Hwi.’
It didn’t feel real, but in the end he had obtained the position of Lord God, equal to a Creator God. He already knew what the future held. It would not be easy; it would only be difficult. That was reality. But for this one moment, he decided to rejoice purely.
All the trivial lower titles had disappeared. What remained now was simply “Lord God Dimensional Mage God.”