The Cardinal

The Cardinal.

Not merely some cardinal — a cardinal of the Demon God Worshippers. Of the Cult itself.

Anyone who knew even a whisper of the Cult's infamy would feel their knees go weak at that name alone. Yujun was beginning to understand why the two Demon God Worshippers he had captured had waited for the man so desperately. His presence was on another level. The mere fact that he was coming seemed to change the air, not only inside the vast mansion but across Heaven itself, and the shift was far too stark to dismiss as imagination.

So he isn't a cardinal for nothing.

The Cardinal might make excellent experience fodder, but swallow a meal like that too hastily and you would choke on it. In plainer terms, Yujun could not afford to let his guard down. He had to fight with everything he had.

He glanced at Armene and Sultan.

I'll keep them alive for now.

It wasn't time yet.

Late at night, beneath a moon shining cold and aloof, the Cardinal stepped into the mansion. Nerves drawn tight, Yujun drew his sword once more.

Whether because of the barrier sealing off teleportation, the Cardinal came to the great hall on foot. Yujun watched closely as he opened the grand, ornate doors and entered with perfect composure.

A demonkin?

Demonkin were unusually common among the Demon God Worshippers, and yet it had been quite a while since he had seen one. Not because the race was weak — more likely because he had simply spent so long in Heaven, where demonkin were a rare sight.

The power rolling off the Cardinal exceeded his expectations, but Yujun trusted the privilege of the Primordial Player. To lose to a Demon God Worshipper even with a boon like that would be humiliating. Cardinal or not, it didn't matter. Hadn't that privilege been granted precisely so he could beat the Demon God Worshippers into the ground? He meant to bring the Cult down without a single defeat. Only natural, really. On this path, defeat meant death.

"Armene... and Sultan, is it?"

"Y-yes, that's right!"

"We've been holding on with everything we—"

That was as far as they got.

At a single gesture from the Cardinal, Armene's and Sultan's bodies vanished. Yujun, who had been resting easy with the pair pinned under Space Domination, frowned.

"How did you do that? Did you kill them?"

"Hm...? No?"

The Cardinal looked like a male demonkin, and yet there was something strangely androgynous about him. Gender was impossible to pin down — or perhaps, for some reason, he simply had none, the way a spirit might not.

"Master. This... might I be of any assistance?"

"Stay back and wait. No — go back in. Come out only if it looks like I'm in real trouble."

"As you command."

If the Cardinal struck Paranet first and forcibly unsummoned him, Yujun would not be able to use the skeleton when he actually needed him. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Leaving him unsummoned was the right call.

"Dad, I can help!"

"Yeah. Let's fight together."

The stronger Yujun grew, the stronger Harp grew alongside him. Whatever the little beast did, it was bound to help.

If I'd brought Manuela and Yenil along, this could have gone very badly.

Had the Cardinal taken them hostage, Yujun was not confident he could save them. Facing the Cardinal alone was the best possible situation, which meant now was the right time.

Yujun kicked off the ground.

Tadak!

He vanished from the Cardinal's sight, and a tremendous roar shook the great hall, the impact booming through the chamber. It was the shock of Yujun's sword meeting the Cardinal's blue staff.

Astonishingly, the staff that had collided with the Planet Destroyer's Sword was only faintly scratched. It did not break. That meant it was not an item carrying an Indestructible option — and, at the same time, proof that it had withstood Yujun's attack power.

That staff... looks pretty good.

In the brief moment he faltered, the Cardinal moved first. His feet stayed planted; only the staff thrust straight out. It was a simple jab, and yet some instinct screamed that he had to dodge. So he did.

A high-density mass of energy shot from the staff and grazed past him, then struck the wall at his back. It did not merely shatter the wall. The blast was strong enough to grind even the fragments to dust, and the wall vanished as if it had never been there. The castle lord's great hall began to collapse.

Not much for thinking ahead, this one.

Yujun retreated at once, making for the bed to check on the castle lord first.

"A-are you unharmed?"

"I should be the one asking that. What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"Just get far away from here. You'll only get in the way."

"Very well."

It was the sort of thing that might wound a castle lord's pride, but it was also true, and there was no time to quibble. He rushed to the gaping hole in the wall and leapt. The sight of the lord scrambling away in a panic was so ridiculous that Yujun laughed before he could stop himself.

He must have been desperate.

He turned his gaze back to the Cardinal. The Cardinal had not tried to ambush him while he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠distracted — not that Yujun, with his senses pushed to their limit, would have fallen for an ambush anyway.

The Cardinal stood a full two meters tall, quite large even for a demonkin, and yet lean, with little muscle to speak of. He simply stood and watched the building come down, utterly unmoved by the chaos around him. There was even a detached calm to him, as if he had already let go of everything.

Yujun left the building. The Cardinal was no ordinary opponent, and the fewer variables, the better. He landed lightly and threw up a barrier just in time to catch the mass of energy screaming in from behind. Woven of New-Generation Magic, the barrier snuffed the blast out in an instant.

For the first time, the Cardinal's expression changed. His eyes flew wide, unable to hide his shock.

"Absolute Barrier?"

"Is that what it's called? I had no idea."

"How are you using that?"

"They didn't tell you?"

"Who?"

"The two DGWs you just made disappear."

"DGWs?"

"Your underlings."

"Ah..."

The Cardinal's mouth parted slightly, then he tilted his head.

"Don't tell me those two handed you a barrier item."

"No comment."

Yujun figured it was better to let the Cardinal misunderstand than to tell the truth. If the man flew into a rage over a member of the Cult passing an item to their greatest enemy, he would be that much easier to handle. But the words did not seem to anger him at all. He only kept tilting his head.

"Strange. Even with the prohibition I placed myself, that should be impossible."

"Think whatever you want."

Yujun took his sword in hand and settled into a stance. Better to meet the Cardinal with the swordsmanship he had used ever since becoming a player than with New-Generation Magic he still was not fully used to.

Then the Cardinal drew up his mana, as if to seize the initiative.

Huh? The purity of that mana seems a little low.

The mana pouring off the Cardinal felt feeble compared to the presence he carried.

What is this?

He could not simply ignore the dissonance.

Don't rule out the chance that this Cardinal is just bait to hold my attention.

Yujun doubted everything he saw.

The Cardinal had not released that mana to cast a spell. He had used it to amplify his body, and his speed shot past what Yujun's eyes could ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠follow.

"...Hup!"

Yujun thrust his sword forward at once, but he only pierced an afterimage. The instant he registered the miss, he used Flash. The Cardinal's staff swept through the space where he had been standing.

That speed is insane.

It did not seem like raw physical stats alone. There were probably several traits or skills reinforcing that body.

Well. He is a cardinal. Of course he'd have more abilities than I do.

The years they had lived were not even comparable, and sitting where he did, the Cardinal had surely monopolized every reward that came his way. He was a perfect specimen of that law as old as the Tower of Infinity itself: those who have, gain more. Yujun was the greatest beneficiary of the strong devouring the rest, but his reign had not lasted long — short enough that comparing it to the Cardinal's felt almost unfair.

"A deep-rooted evil among deep-rooted evils, huh."

"What did you say?"

The Cardinal stopped dead mid-approach. Yujun shook his head.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I was talking about you."

He had been talking about him, and now he was telling him not to worry about it? The Cardinal laughed as if he could not believe it.

"...You really are a peculiar human."

"Let's start. And don't even think about taking it easy on me."

"Gladly. A powerhouse like you is not something one sees often. I will take this seriously."

The Cardinal's delighted face flickered past Yujun's vision.

What? Does this guy actually know how to enjoy himself?

Kaang! Kang!

Once again Yujun's sword met the Cardinal's staff, and once again the staff refused to break. It was not entirely unscathed, though. Fine cracks were beginning to show, as if damage were slowly accumulating. The change was minute, but the moment Yujun recognized that his sword outperformed the staff, the shape of the fight changed. He charged in without mercy, and at the full measure of his speed the Cardinal could only answer with strain.

"Madness! Can a mere human truly grow this far?!"

Admiration bled into the Cardinal's astonishment, and the smile at his lips deepened.

"Show me everything you have!"

The force with which he met the attack surged. Yujun realized the Cardinal was giving everything he had right now.

No hidden card after all?

Staring harder would not reveal one, but it felt like time to end this. Yujun activated Super Concentration.

Jiiing—

In a world that had slowed to a crawl, only the Cardinal's eyes still darted, quick and sharp. Aside from the absence of Manuela's buff, Yujun was at his very best.

Each of them lent tremendous weight to a single swing of the sword. The blade came down like lightning and sheared through the Cardinal's right arm.

Seogeok—

Whether he felt no pain or simply refused to show it, the Cardinal thrust a foot forward with a blank face, meaning to open the distance before a follow-up could land. Yujun had already read that, too. From the moment he had used Super Concentration, everything flowed exactly as he willed it. Even the left leg the Cardinal had extended was severed. The armor he wore meant nothing at all.

Funny. The staff is far harder than the armor.

Watching the Cardinal fall back, Yujun's thoughts ran elsewhere.

Could I seal the Cardinal, too?

There was no reason it should be impossible. If that form was not his true body, though, it would become a very large problem. He could not judge without at least trying. Drawing a sealing orb from his inventory and closing it in one hand, Yujun prepared New-Generation Magic to pin the Cardinal down.

It was the most basic of basic spells, but Yujun had upgraded it through several successive stages. He could not claim the name or the form had changed much, yet its power had risen dozens of times over what it once was — and when the spell unfolded from his own hand, that power would climb dozens, even hundreds of times further still. He had prepared Ice Ring precisely because magic on a grand scale was too overwhelming for a handful of enemies, and he could not rely on those spells alone.

Rings of ice that could neither be cut nor broken closed around the Cardinal, binding a body that had already lost two of its four limbs.