Flames of Faith
"......."
The Black Flame Dragon stood there, arms crossed in silence. His roughly thirty subordinates, reaching up to A-rank under their boss's lead, began murmuring among themselves.
"...Foolish lot."
The Black Flame Dragon muttered softly under his breath, too quiet for his men to hear.
"They'd only open their eyes if they witnessed Her divine presence firsthand."
He swept a pitying gaze over his subordinates. Their eyes widened in terror at the sight of his pupils, which had darkened even further upon reaching A-rank.
'Numbers have really dwindled.'
Over half of his original hundred-plus crew had fled amid the desperate battles with heroes. Some had run because they feared the heroes more, others because they feared him even more—but the Black Flame Dragon didn't care a whit. A true prophet walked alone, after all.
He knew full well that fierce combat was raging in Gangnam, yet he endured in stoic silence. Until the messenger of the divine arrived.
And then, a single blue bird flying through the sky alighted on a power line.
The Black Flame Dragon dropped to his knees in welcome.
"You have arrived."
* * *
Bzzt.
The mini-Phoenix landed before the Black Flame Dragon. The Phoenix in Yeouido spoke through the mini-Phoenix's beak, issuing orders.
"Mike test. Can you hear me?"
"Loud and clear, O Divine One. Your voice reaches me through the messenger You have sent. This humble servant has completed preparations to receive Your oracle."
"......."
Weird. He'd awakened an ability and somehow pivoted straight into cultist mode. The Phoenix cleared her throat awkwardly in her mind.
"Ahem. Preparations complete?"
"Of course. Though many comrades departed in their foolish ignorance, blind to Your glory due to my own shortcomings, over a hundred faithful brothers now await Your words in reverence."
The Phoenix glanced back casually. The villains trailing the Black Flame Dragon all looked terrified, dragged along against their will. Divine awe was just another word for fear.
"...Good. Here's your orders: Link up with Haneulseong's gang in Gangnam and drive out the heroes. Do not kill any downed heroes—take them hostage. Bring all captives here. Got it?"
"As You decree! O faithful!"
The Black Flame Dragon raised his fist. His men half-heartedly raised their weapons in response.
'Morale's in the toilet.' What good were reinforcements like this? The Phoenix maneuvered the mini-Phoenix to scan her troops' aptitudes. Spotting one whose fire affinity barely topped 50, she zeroed in.
Fwoosh.
The mini-Phoenix fluttered flames as it landed before the villain. The glasses-wearing one cowering at the rear was a powerless normie.
"Eek!"
He yelped as the mini-Phoenix approached suddenly. It perched on his head, pressing its beak to his crown.
Peck!
The mini-Phoenix stabbed its beak into the villain's scalp. At once, the dormant mana in his body surged to life, coursing through his veins.
Bwoom—!
A bizarre glow emanated from his frame. The other villains gawked in shock and awe.
"O-oh! Ooooh!"
The awakening of an ability—every modern soul's dream. Mana erupted from the glasses villain.
"...Baptism! The Divine has bestowed baptism! She has elevated this lowly fool into Her servant!"
The Black Flame Dragon grabbed the newly awakened ability user's shoulders, shaking him with envy.
"I'm... really an ability user...?"
The villain stared at his hands in disbelief. Flames bloomed around the baseball bat clutched in his right fist. He'd been a normie, but the Phoenix had forcibly awakened him into a C-rank ability user.
"As you see. This is the power of Cheonghwa-dan."
The Phoenix looped the mini-Phoenix once overhead. Two hundred eyes followed its feathers raptly.
"Want to awaken your ability? Reach greater heights?"
They all nodded fervently.
The Phoenix spread the mini-Phoenix's wings, pointing the way.
"Aid for those who strive. Rewards for those who deliver. Now go—repel the heroes!"
The mini-Phoenix soared skyward again. The Black Flame Dragon and Gangdong's villains charged like rabid dogs, flanking the heroes. The path cleared by the Phoenix's hellhounds was a virtual highway, and leading the vanguard was the freshly awakened one.
Moments later, Ji-hwa reported the battlefield shift to the Phoenix.
"Waiting for Gangdong's move... or something?"
"Puhuhu. Nice. She's useful for now, so let's make her dance."
The heroes, suddenly surrounded on three sides, calmly formed a defensive line. A fierce exchange erupted across the four-lane boulevard. Guro had fallen to traps; Gangnam would soon be encircled by villains. I turned my gaze toward Anyang beyond Gwanak Mountain.
"If they don't play their hand soon, game's over."
Hoarding your cards too long just turns them to shit, as the saying goes.
* * *
"Ohoho! The baby spirit shall deliver punishment!"
The Shaman Lady scattered rice toward the sky. The handful swelled massively under her mana.
"Punishment my ass!"
Usa swung his staff, firing water bullets. The rice bombs arced down, bubbling on the verge of explosion.
A bomb shaman who infused talismans and rice with mana to detonate like grenades—that was her ability.
BOOM! KABOOM!
The small rice bombs detonated on impact with the water bullets. Usa clicked his tongue, gathering mana for a water stream.
Black flames flashed from the front.
"Receive the flames of the divine!"
The Black Flame Dragon leaped over monster corpses, black flames wreathing his fists as he unleashed them earthward.
"Ngh!"
Usa swiftly unfurled a massive water barrier like an umbrella. The two manas clashed, birthing a huge steam cloud.
"Hahaha! Fools, utter fools!"
The Black Flame Dragon cackled madly, igniting his entire body in black flames. The heroes recoiled at his frenzied charge, cloaked in self-inflicted fire. His mind seemed unhinged, but his power was solidly A-rank—and his flames' mana was purer and vaster than any hero's here.
Usa frantically searched the villain database. Black flames wielder.
The real-time updated database yielded one match.
"Black Flame Rat?!"
The arsonist villain who'd torched a detention house and fled. His recorded rank was B.
"HQ! Update villain intel! Bump Black Flame Rat to S—no, A-rank!"
Usa grimaced at the database's update log. Just a month ago in Gangdong-gu, he'd been B-rank. A-rank in a single month? Nearing S-rank territory, no less.
"Hoo, you. What the hell are you?"
Usa called out to the Black Flame Dragon. The other heroes were locked in combat with villains, but how he'd boosted his power was every ability user's burning question.
"Heh heh... heh heh heh... HUHAHAHAHAHA!!"
The Black Flame Dragon's shoulders shook. He unwound the bandages on his hands.
"Behold! My skin reborn by divine grace! Scars even doctors deemed hopeless! Through baptism, this lowly one was reforged in flames to burn Your foes as Your dragon! I am the sublime Black... Flame... Dragon!"
"Fucking psycho."
Usa wrinkled his nose in disgust. Ability awakenings occasionally shattered minds into madness, but this guy was extreme.
"Middle school syndrome at your age? World's ending for real."
"Kekeke. Middle school syndrome? No, you wouldn't understand! Only those blessed directly by Her grasp the truth!"
The Black Flame Dragon stomped in fury. Black flames erupted from his feet, melting the asphalt as they surged upward.
KIIIIIAAAAA!!
A colossal flame monster rose behind him—serpentine body, horned head, roaring flames like a true dragon. The heat stung Usa's skin.
Usa slammed his staff into the ground, gathering mana.
"...Fire types are popping up way too much lately."
First the world's inaugural fire dragon from a gate, now two flame mages rarer than commanders—one a raving A-rank, but still salvageable.
"Sorry, but you're getting arrested and shipped straight to reform school! We excel at curing chuuni syndrome!"
"It's not chuuni! Blaspheme not the divine!"
The Black Flame Dragon lunged at Usa. As Usa levitated, the dragon matched him mid-air.
"Old man!"
"On it!"
Poong Baek, who'd been toying with Haneulseong, slid under Usa. The winds coiling his legs became a gale, halting the Black Flame Dragon's charge.
Usa raised his staff high. Atmospheric moisture gathered at its tip.
"Think we'll let you?!"
The Shaman Lady fanned a razor gale. The Black Flame Dragon countered with distant flame blasts.
Woooong—!
Vast winds rose like a barrier to shield Usa. Inside the whirlwind's eye, he began chanting.
"Block 'em! Joint technique incoming!"
The Shaman Lady scattered talismans. Blood-inked papers fluttered, then rocketed like bullets at Poong Baek on her fan's wind.
"Not on my watch!"
B-Team heroes formed ranks to protect Poong Baek and Usa. Her talismans stuck to innocents and exploded.
Bang! Kaboom!
"Urk!"
A full-plate armored warrior hero vomited blood through his visor. He'd blocked the most talismans up front; his armor was dented everywhere.
"Outta my way, you idiots!"
The Black Flame Dragon swung wild fists, desperate to breach the line. But the heroes dodged and harried him from range.
Thud! Boom!
Haneulseong charged bull-like. Three A-rank heroes braced weapons to halt him.
"RAAAAAAGH!!"
He bellowed, shoving—but three A-ranks proved just enough to hold. Impressive monstrous strength, but even he couldn't block Usa and Poong Baek's combo.
"Here it comes!"
"Draw it!"
Poong Baek's mana shot skyward; Usa drew it into his staff, infusing the massive water orb atop it.
Woooong—!!
Winds whipped inside the orb. Poong Baek's rising wind barrier faded with time.
"Crazy bastard!"
The Shaman Lady recoiled from the house-sized water mass hovering over Usa.
The trio's joint technique: Storm Rain. Far deadlier than its straightforward name—enough to sweep Gangnam's villains clean.
Woooong—!
Storm winds battered from beyond the hero lines.
"Gaaah!!"
The gale's radius expanded, sucking villains into the vortex. They spiraled into Usa's water orb.
Glurp, glurp!
Usa drained mana from trapped villains, accelerating the storm's spin.
"No good—run!"
"...Ngh!"
The Shaman Lady retreated. Haneulseong grappled heroes still. The Black Flame Dragon stood firm.
Whoooosh!
The intensifying storm soaked his clothes, dousing his flames.
"Are You watching, O Sun?!"
He bellowed skyward. Gray clouds from Poong Baek and Usa blotted the heavens.
"Behold the power You granted—witness it now!"
The Black Flame Dragon mounted his flame dragon's head. It roared skyward like a living beast.
"What?!"
The burning black dragon soared over the heroes toward Usa's water orb.
"Stop him!"
Ranged heroes fired desperately. Mana bullets pierced the dragon's body, but it pressed on.
"You!"
Poong Baek flew up, striking from below. Usa, expanding the storm, was defenseless, all mana in the gale.
"Hyaat!"
The Black Flame Dragon leaped from the dragon's head. It burst under Poong Baek, but his flying dropkick arced perfectly toward the orb—like a long jumper.
Fwoosh!
Black flames bloomed from his feet. Curling mid-air, he concentrated all mana into his soles.
"FIIIIYAAAAA!!"
With an inexplicable kiai, mana exploded from his back. Accelerated like a bee, he rocketed into Usa's water orb.
"Like hell!"
Usa poured every drop of mana to reinforce the orb's shell.
The Black Flame Dragon's flying dropkick slammed it.
□□□□□□□——!!
In Gangnam's boulevard heart, two colossal manas collided and detonated.