#26 Black Phosphorus (黑燐)
#26 Black Phosphorus (黑燐)
Black mana spread like a cold mist, carving a rift between them.
'......'
In the darkness of the underground, black flame and black mana churned. Killing intent so absolute it seemed to loosen the very air itself.
Sssss...
The ceiling, unable to bear it, crumbled first. The moment falling debris obscured their vision, Wolf and the mage moved as if on a signal.
"Lanțul corupției—!"
A triple-layered chain pursued Wolf. Even in the confines of the room, it couldn't reach him. Agail gritted his teeth and forced back a headache.
'Let's see how long you can keep running!'
The black mana chased after the chains. Wolf didn't hesitate, dashing through the oppressive darkness. Just before the chains caught him, he kicked off the wall and leaped. Agail raised a hand, and black spikes erupted upward. As if anticipating it, Wolf twisted in the air and bared his fangs.
"Quit your games!"
The black mana launched its pursuit faster than before. Having read Wolf's trajectory, Agail spat out the incantation.
"Congelare."
A biting cold that freezes everything in an instant.
The moisture in the air froze solid in the eerie chill.
"Sloi de gheaţă— Lansa!"
His breath crystallized with the exhale. The temperature gauge plummeted endlessly before shattering. The frozen moisture molded itself into icicles and launched forward. Agail's 2nd Verse incantation melted away completely before it could reach Wolf.
'He's different.'
Something was burning inside Wolf's eyes.
'......!'
For a fleeting instant, he glimpsed a fragment of something.
'What was that?'
For a fleeting instant, he felt a gaze that seemed utterly disinterested...
'Was I imagining it?'
Agail shook his head.
'I'll find out soon enough.'
Black mana coiled around the chains of corruption. A single touch meant certain death. The chains and the black mana closed in from all sides, enveloping Wolf.
'It ends here.'
The moment the mage clenched his fist in certainty, a violent gale erupted from Wolf.
"—Ngh!"
The gale battered away the lunging chains and pushed back the black mana.
Inside the frozen room, ice shards that hadn't yet evaporated scattered. Countless fragments embedded themselves into the arms he'd reflexively raised to guard.
"......!"
Agail's eyes flashed with murderous light. Yet his mind remained cold. As long as he guarded against that wind, the flames would never reach him. Having made his dispassionate assessment, he swept a hand through the air. Mana devoured the flames that had been consuming the hideout, swallowing them whole.
"You should have just stayed gone."
The troublesome flames died down.
If the beast had fled, it might have saved its own skin.
Wolf paid little mind to Agail's sneer as he lowered his stance. Then, as the wind kicked up once more, he vanished from sight.
'How?'
In that instant, Wolf escaped the mage's field of view. The room blanketed in embers— the updrafts swept by the gust had stirred up a heat haze.
'Still just a beast.'
Agail spread his mana wide and detected Wolf's presence, but his brow furrowed.
'He's running straight at me?'
Not an ambush, then? The creature was charging from the front.
'How?'
His black mana was already encroaching on the entire room. His black mana had devoured the beast's flames entirely. This room itself had become his domain. So how?
'It's impossible.'
It should collapse immediately upon touching the black mana.
But Wolf was charging. Relentlessly, straight ahead...!
As if Agail's mana were nothing but fuel, the blaze roared to life. A black fire burning in the beast's eye sockets was devouring the mana.
'So that's it?!'
Wolf's final trump card.
Agail's eyes flew wide. The creature ran with clear killing intent, bent on murder. Its intensity was on a different level than before. A fundamentally different nature. It wasn't just burning— it was greedily eating and swallowing everything.
'How could it change so suddenly?'
Moments ago, the mana had held the advantage. So how? Had it been hiding this all along?
'I can't block it.'
Before the black flame that consumed with gluttonous frenzy as if possessed, the black mana couldn't hold on and dwindled. As their gazes crossed— Agail's expression twisted. He muttered.
"...Fine. Very well."
The beast's charge was unstoppable.
Agail didn't dodge the onrushing Wolf. Instead, he stepped forward and drew up his mana.
The greedy flame that swallowed even black mana was the creature's hidden card— if so, he would simply crush it too. Agail gathered the mana spread wide in the air. It began taking shape at his command. No— it was being reclaimed.
"——."
He called it forth.
The black rose had failed to bloom, but that did not mean it had been defeated.
Spell Retention. His final magic resurfaced, rising anew.
"O liniște nesfârșită va cădea Totul se va sparge—!"
The 4th Verse— and now he chanted the final 5th Verse that Wolf had once interrupted.
The Great Magic that Anella had so feared was finally unveiled to the world.
The moment the magic materialized, Agail dropped to a knee. Without Grand Magic Resistance (B), he would have collapsed long ago. Forcing out mana beyond his limits had brought a vicious recoil.
'I'm a wreck.'
It was the worst possible state.
It felt as if someone had shoved a hand into his body and scrambled it around. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, the shock reaching even his organs. Agail wiped his lips and forcibly seized hold of his consciousness, which threatened to snap at any moment.
The 5th Verse incantation. The 'Silent Rose.'
His body was a wreck, but he'd completed the chant.
It was over. Agail never doubted that the blooming rose would reap the lives of not just Wolf, but every living thing in the hideout.
'This is even better.'
The troublesome Three Swordsman. His foolish sister. Changseon's disciple, who'd been a constant hindrance. Even the vermin up on the surface. All of them.
'If I have the Imitation Elixir...'
Escaping the hideout, shaking off pursuit— nothing was impossible.
No, perhaps he could achieve even more than that. No matter what anyone said, it was a miracle-mimicking wonder. Agail's lips curled upward.
'Mother.'
Your decision not to kill me was a mistake. Yes. If I brought you my sister's head, what expression would you wear? Would that impassive mask of yours crack just a little? Just imagining it, he couldn't suppress the grin that split his lips.
'I'll be seeing you soon.'
***
'That black mana's a problem.'
His mana shattered and crushed everything. My Ember was no exception. The flames that had filled the hideout seemed to hold their own against the black mana, but that wasn't the reality.
'So.'
So I wished.
For a stronger flame. A flame capable of defeating him, of killing him. A jet-black flame that would incinerate everything...!
'Ghost Flame (C)(鬼火).'
[Ghost Flame (C) Lv.1 acquired.]
[Ember (D) Lv.3 has been integrated into Ghost Flame (C) Lv.1.]
[Ghost Flame (C) Lv.1 proficiency has reached its maximum. Ghost Flame (C) Lv.1 → Ghost Flame (C) Lv.2.]
[Remaining Skill Points: 1]
I poured in every Skill Point I'd been hoarding.
I'd acquired the one skill with any chance of killing him.
True to its name, Ghost Flame (C) devoured the black mana with greedy abandon, like a possessing spirit. The dynamic had shifted. Now that the black mana couldn't push me back, I was certain I could bring him down.
—Until I saw his spell.
The moment the black rose began blooming, I couldn't breathe.
'That thing.'
It's different.
Not in the scale of mana or magic— it was different on a qualitative level. I understood, then, why that woman had despaired. This was a power that should not exist. A fear so profound it scattered the honed killing intent and the churning rage inside me.
'Ah.'
I felt despair, and my chest constricted.
My biological instinct pronounced it the end.
There is no path forward. There is no time left. Your destination is right here, it said.
The black rose desecrated me thoroughly and mercilessly.
The 5th Verse incantation. The thing that had finally bloomed was the 'terminus of all life.'
A terror as if death itself had been given form. My legs trembled as I ran. I wanted to stop right there, but for some reason, I couldn't.
If I turned my back and fled. If I managed to escape somehow, maybe I could slip away from that eternal silence.
'Run away.'
My head thought that.
But— my chest roared.
It screamed: are you really going to run?
It asked: will you truly be satisfied with that?
How could I be? After coming all this way?
A voice had begun asking, over and over.
There was no time to answer.
I was just running.
I was running, but somehow I wasn't moving.
'Am I dead?'
I don't know.
In the end, I couldn't win.
And that was so unbelievably infuriating.
So infuriating, so bitterly frustrating...
No life flashed before my eyes.
Instead, time began to slow.
Slower and slower, like a spring winding down, until finally, my consciousness sank.
***
The voice that had been asking endlessly grew clear.
'What is it you want?'
Like a curious fairy. But this was no gentle fairy-like being.
'Do you want to live?'
Yes. I want to live.
That's what my head said. But in this moment, right now, a feeling surged above even that. A burning rage that would never die until every last thing in Blind Spot was ended.
'Then do you want to kill?'
...I want to kill them.
Rip them to shreds. Burn them all until not a trace remains. I swore it. I would kill them all as an offering to those without eyes, without tongues.
So I cannot fall. I cannot retreat. I must not turn my back on this feeling— and so, I kept running without end.
'You're an idiot.'
It snickered.
It mocked me as the world's greatest fool.
Fine by me. If only I can vent this rage. If only I can keep that oath.
'Silly~ those aren't even your feelings, you know?'
I gave no answer to its words.
Instead, I thought. It's not like a person can only get angry for their own sake, right? At that, it broke into convulsive laughter.
'Simpleton! Moron! A monster feeling altruism! Ha!'
It rolled around cackling for a long moment, then wiped a tear from the corner of its eye. Still carrying its mirth, it spoke.
'Alright. I'll help you.'
As if granting a generous favor. It planted its hands on its hips. Then, as if measuring me, it whispered.
'Listen closely. My name is...'
***
The spring wound itself back up.
The World began to move again.
"......?"
Agail's brow furrowed in puzzlement. He'd definitely sensed something, but he couldn't identify it. In any case, the fight ended here. Wolf, who had been running endlessly, had stopped at some point. Had it finally accepted death, now that it was too late?
"You shouldn't have come at all."
Like a brainless beast. Agail sneered at Wolf. It had caused him a headache, though. Ah, yes. For a piece of vermin, it had put up quite a fight.
'Now...!'
The black rose began to bloom.
Amidst his ecstasy, Agail felt a shudder. The scent of black mana began to spread from the 'Silent Rose.' The perfume of death that silenced every life it touched— breathing in the black rose's fragrance, Agail sank into a deep rapture.
'This is it.'
The moment he had longed for since that day five years ago— since the day he was swallowed by Greed. And as if to defy it, something began to burn.
'Ha.'
Agail made no effort to hide his displeasure.
The black fire was kindling again. A last desperate struggle. A pointless flailing. Nothing more, nothing less. But for some reason... the flame rising from Wolf did not go out.
'......?'
The beast's flame swallowed up the mana saturating the area. Agail couldn't help but be baffled.
'But it's already bloomed?'
The black rose was blooming. Its thick perfume had blanketed the area. So how was the beast still standing?
***
That was the precursor.
"......."
Flames rose from Wolf as he murmured softly. A black so deep— no, a flame so purely black it seemed to refuse any other color. Even the breaking Dawn could not illuminate it.
Instead, it was devouring the light itself. The jet-black flame blooming in the underground swallowed all light and dyed the world in darkness.
The breaking Dawn, a single tongue of flame born underground, consumed it all.
The world turned back into a dark Bam. In a world painted over in jet-black, I carefully called its name.
'Heukrin.'
[Temporarily acquiring the skill Heukrin (黑燐).]
An unranked skill— the voice that had been whispering all along.
"......?"
Feeling Agail's confused gaze on me, I fixed my attention on the scent of the black rose.
'What do I do?'
I didn't know. But I understood intuitively.
'Wish.'
Heukrin answered my desire. Burn the black rose— as if that were the only natural outcome, even the thick perfume in the air vanished completely.
'.......'
I stared blankly at the jet-black fire, and it flickered as if urging me forward.
'This won't last long.'
Next, I looked at Agail. The man's eyes bulged in disbelief as he shouted.
"What have you done?!"
Agail was screaming.
His expression contorted as if he couldn't believe it. Then, ripping through his back, a demon revealed itself.
'Greed.'
I know it.
The symbol and brand of his sin.
A demonic form manifested by a skill. When Greed finally opened its mouth, its jaws stretched from the hideout's ceiling to the floor. In that grotesque shape, Greed opened wide to devour everything, biting down and chewing through ceiling and floor. A reckless rush. This wasn't a charge that could simply be stopped.
'In that case.'
I'll just burn it.
Heukrin accepted my wish and incinerated Greed, obliterating it.
"......!"
As the demon vanished, Agail went berserk.
Casting aside every trace of his intellectual facade, his bloodshot eyes glared with fury.
"You, you...!"
—There is no power without a price. All power demands an equal cost.
'I see.'
The price Heukrin exacted was my emotions.
The bubbling, seething rage was dying down.
Now only Agail was left. His mana likely drained, he ran at me with clenched fists. Even as a mage, his potential surpassed many hunters. As I watched blankly, it quietly whispered.
'What will you do?'
I shook my head slightly. Heukrin snickered.
'Still an idiot, aren't you?'
Maybe so.
I dashed straight at the charging Agail.
"——!"
He shouted something.
He'd been making a show of nonchalance, but my mana had also hit bottom long ago. Mage and Wolf locked eyes. Nothing had changed from the very beginning.
The will to kill each other was still there.
Murderous intent and bloodlust aimed at one another.
Agail threw a punch. A heavy fist born from high potential split the air.
'He's fast.'
A movement hard to track even with my eyes. But— something is faster than sight. Intuition and Perception. I already knew he'd move like that. I ducked low and slipped under his fist. Then I sprang from that low posture, channeling Elasticity through my hind legs. His pupils quivered. His jaw was stretched to its limit. He'd already committed too deeply to pull back. Realizing it, Agail swung his other hand.
"......!"
I'd committed just as deeply. A twisted smirk of certain victory crossed his face as he threw an uppercut. Strength nearing 400. And on top of that, nearly perfect timing.
'I can't dodge.'
It was already too late. Even mustering Elasticity now wouldn't save me. A clean counter strike, adding my own momentum to his force. An instant before my gaping jaws could reach him, his fist rocketed upward and smashed into my skull.
"—Ngh...!"
Agail laughed, filled with ecstasy. The sensation left in his hand told him everything. The feeling was beyond perfect. He was certain the fight ended right here.
But—
"......!"
Crrrunch.
Wolf's fangs clenched shut.
Agail hadn't made a single mistake.
Even without mana, he was a fighter exceeding B-class. His punch carried enough force to shatter Wolf's skull in a single blow.
'Then how?'
Filled with confusion, Agail stared at the hand he'd just driven up into Wolf's jaw.
"Ah."
Finally catching on, he let out a small gasp.
"Ha..."
It hadn't been his fist that struck Wolf's skull. It had been his wrist.
'Come to think of it, he bit it earlier.'
At the final moment, a hollow laugh burst from him.
"Damn it."
And Wolf showed not a shred of mercy.