Demonic (1)
Mana and magi seemed similar at first glance, but their fundamental natures were clearly different.
Magi was everywhere and incredibly powerful, yet only a limited few could wield it. It was highly dangerous to living beings.
Mana, on the other hand, was friendly to lifeforms, but its explosive power and ease of replenishment couldn’t compare to magi.
In the early days of the world, those who could handle magi naturally rose to the top.
They were the descendants of demons born in the demon realm—the demon race.
So it was no surprise that they eventually became the dominant force in the middle realm.
Humans believed that if they too could wield magi, they could stand against them.
They poured endless research and training into turning that magi into their own power.
But every single person who built that tower of Babel met a tragic end.
In the end, they declared that magi was not meant for the human domain.
And they devoted themselves entirely to the study of mana.
‘That’s pretty much how the history went.’
Junil sometimes thought about it.
If only he had read a few history books right after arriving in his first round, he wouldn’t have had to test it out on his own body…
‘This is why people need to study.’
If he had known what happened when a hero used magi—or even if he had simply been able to properly distinguish between magi and mana—he wouldn’t have had to watch a comrade die with that expression on his face, stabbed by a hero’s blade.
“Edan…?”
“Y-Yulian, sir. Why…?”
The loyal young soldier Edan, who had admired the hero, would never have met such a ridiculous end—impaled by a hero’s blade tainted with magi.
‘Damn it.’
The sensation from that time was still vivid in fragments.
His hands had turned pitch black.
The sword completely lost control and sprayed blades of magi in every direction. Long claws sprouted from his fingers.
But worst of all was the headache—so intense that every thought in his head was wiped clean, leaving only white.
“G-Graaaaaaaaah!!”
The world flipped upside down.
The sky became the ground. The ground became the sky.
When the eyes that viewed the world were inverted, everything else followed suit.
The world seen through inverse eyes was utterly horrifying from a human perspective.
The air in this world was as cold as ice. Sunlight burned like the fires of hell.
The smell of earth clogged his throat like a biochemical weapon.
The only salvation was the black currents dissolved in the air…
Magi. That was all.
Yulian absorbed it without pause.
‘Q-quick, that stuff!’
If he didn’t, he felt like he would die.
It was as if he had fallen into the deep sea, into lava, into the bowels of the earth.
While all of nature rejected him, a disturbing wave rode the air and reached his ears.
“I-Inverse eyes…! Yulian! Yulian used magi!”
Meyrin was screaming at the top of her lungs behind him.
“Don’t go near him! Meyrin! It’s dangerous!!”
Tou shouted for her to stay back, yet he himself was sprinting toward Yulian faster than anyone.
He was going to throw his own body in the way.
Of course—
“That guy… is no longer a hero!”
Because Yulian was no longer a hero.
Even as tearing agony ripped through him, Yulian heard Tou’s words and repeated them in his mind.
‘Not… a hero?’
No way.
‘Why me?’
His very identity was shaking.
Yulian looked up at his own shadow stretching across the sky.
A pair of massive horns had sprouted from above his head.
Junil stared at his own shadow stretching long across the rooftop floor.
It was a painful memory.
The first-round villain would probably call it one of the greatest scenes ever, but just remembering it still made Junil’s stomach churn.
It wasn’t even anger.
It felt like pure, refined despair—molten heavy metal poured straight into his heart, pumping hopelessness through his veins and into every corner of his body.
But there was always something to be gained from overcoming endless despair.
Thanks to that, he had become one of the very few humans capable of handling magi—even if only in a limited way.
‘Then and now… it still feels filthy.’
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
Black magi bloomed from Junil’s hand and formed a sword.
The handsome man was genuinely shocked for the first time since arriving here.
“You… How are you able to wield magi?”
The sword the masked man had drawn.
Belzerak’s Phantom Blade.
It was unmistakably an artifact from the demon realm.
The fact that he could summon and wield it meant he had to have demon blood flowing through his veins.
Yet the man gave off no scent of demon blood whatsoever.
Even so, horns had sprouted above his head, and he held a sword forged from magi in his hand.
Sniff sniff.
The handsome man, trying to catch the scent of blood, caught a peculiar fragrance instead.
The guy was using some kind of item.
“An artifact…”
He instinctively realized that the entire area—and even himself—had already fallen under its influence.
‘This is dangerous.’
The handsome man judged it to be dangerous.
He cast quickly.
Hand of Envy.
Tang!
The moment the handsome man snapped his fingers, dozens of magic circles floated up and hundreds of Scra were summoned.
Ten pairs of black hands bloomed around him.
With a single gesture, everything charged straight toward Junil.
And then—
“!”
Whoosh!
Junil’s white pupils shrank endlessly.
“Mana storm.”
He unleashed the mana storm that he could only use when he had reached the pinnacle with Mana Blade.
Well, it should technically be called a magi storm now.
The “mana” part was just a proper noun leftover from the Mana Punch that Meyrin had taught him.
The materialized power was completely different from that of mana.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa-kwaaaa!!!
Black magi swirled like a storm and shredded every single Scra into thousands of pieces.
It resembled the dual-sword style Kim the Thief had used, but this was far more advanced and intricate—an effect created by arranging magi through a much higher-order process.
The scalability of the technique was on a completely different level.
Kwaaaaaaaa…!
The storm that had swept away everything around him now spread in all directions.
“!”
And then it all shot straight toward the handsome man.
The handsome man tried to block the storm with his black hands like before.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwa!
Nearly three or four layers of black hands were all pierced through.
“Tch.”
The handsome man quickly planted his hand on the ground.
Thud—
Impell Gate.
An ancient demon’s sealing gate rose up.
In the center of the gate was carved the maw of the glutton known as the Abyss Eater from the bottom of hell.
It wasn’t just decoration.
Graaaawr!
The maw opened as wide as the gate itself and devoured the entire magi storm. The gate swelled like a balloon, twitching as if it would burst.
But it soon subsided.
Even though the attack had been blocked, the Constellations couldn’t help but be amazed.
After the gate that had completely neutralized the magi storm vanished, the handsome man still stood behind it with his hands clasped behind his back.
His arrogant tone hadn’t changed either.
“Hah. You even granted attributes to magi. You’re no ordinary fellow.”
The Constellations tried to guess what the handsome man meant, but of course it was impossible for them to fully understand.
The handsome man asked Junil directly.
“How can a human use such power? Did you sell your entire soul? If so, that’s a great deal only for the demons.”
“Old man. You’re scared, so you’re talking too much.”
“…What did you say?”
“If I made a contract with a demon, wouldn’t the woman behind me be helping me?”
Junil pointed upward with his finger.
‘What’s above… huh?’
The handsome man looked up and swallowed dryly.
A massive area was completely covered in a hazy crimson hue.
It was perfect isolation and spatial quarantine.
They hadn’t been physically moved anywhere, but in reality, there wasn’t a single human—including himself—who could break through that barrier and enter.
So they were effectively isolated.
“I admit it’s impressive magic… but how exactly is that helping you?”
The handsome man was puzzled.
He understood that the elf woman had cast this spell.
But he couldn’t figure out how it was supposed to be helping the masked man.
It had simply cut them off from the outside, hadn’t it?
However, the man never got to hear the answer.
Flash Step.
Swish!
Junil’s figure vanished, and the attack began in an instant.
As if to say he would learn the reason soon enough.
Wind Slash.
This time, attacks forged from wind like blades shot forward.
Shaaaaaaa!
The projectiles, drawn in arcs, sliced through everything they passed.
It was an incredibly threatening attack, yet the handsome man remained with his hands behind his back, twisting his body in bizarre ways to dodge them all.
Sway~!
“Not bad. It’s been a while since I felt like this.”
While the application was impressive, the attack’s range was narrow. To someone who had strengthened his entire body and dynamic vision with magi, it was completely ineffective.
It only forced him to move his body a little more actively.
In the end, the projectiles Junil fired seemed to deliberately avoid the handsome man and fly past him—
‘Huh?’
The handsome man’s eyes widened.
Swish!
Suddenly one of the projectiles transformed into Junil and appeared.
‘What is this?’
From this moment on, the handsome man realized he was being caught in some strange trick.
‘Illusion magic?’
But he had no choice but to take the hit for now.
“Ugh…!”
Junil had no intention of letting this opportunity slip.
Shhh…!
Black flowers bloomed around them, and several more copies of Junil appeared.
The handsome man was flustered.
He had never expected to fall for an illusion like this.
‘That strange smell…’
Watching the handsome man frown, the lips behind the mask curled into a smile.
‘Of course. Even Sirvelis fell for Belzerak’s illusion techniques.’
Belzerak might not have been a combat specialist, but when it came to his specialty—espionage—he far surpassed Sirvelis.
Since this suspicious young man was also at the corps commander level like Sirvelis, Junil had naturally assumed Belzerak’s techniques would work.
And he had been right.
“Tch…!”
For the first time, the guy was frowning.
‘Now’s my chance.’
Junil didn’t miss it and unleashed a flurry of attacks.
Wind Slash!
Shaaaaack!
Slash!
The demonic sword began carving the handsome man to pieces.
The handsome man, who had been dodging while swaying, was gradually reaching his limit.
He finally lifted the left hand that had been clasped behind his back.
“You’re making me use both hands.”
The black hands around him raised swords.
Rumble…!
They were swords the size of houses.
Hand of Envy + Witch Hunter Blade.
Kwaaaaang!
In the blink of an eye, it swung and sent Junil flying.
Bang!
But it was an illusion.
Once again, the next Junil drew his blade.
However—
Claaaaang!
A massive hand holding a massive sword blocked it.
That enormous blade moved with terrifying speed. If Junil imagined taking a direct hit from it, his skin crawled.
“Be sliced in half, you insignificant bug.”
Whoooosh—
A black shadow loomed from above.
Junil’s figure quickly scattered and retreated backward.
Kwaaaaang!
Finely ground concrete powder scattered where he had been standing.
But—
“Where do you think you’re going!”
The handsome man swept his left hand through the air, and a black hand charged at Junil from behind.
Rumble rumble rumble—
“Whoa?!”
It was a blind spot.
Crunch…!
He was caught.
In that state, Junil was dragged right in front of the handsome man. When the man spun his right hand once, a giant demonic maw was summoned before him.
Hound of Envy.
“Graaaaaah!”
The massive wolf-like creature lunged forward to swallow the dragged-in Junil.
Bang!
“…!”
It was another illusion.
Instead, Junil came flying in from the left.
At the same time, a slash.
Shaaaaack!
“!”
The handsome man’s wrist flew off.
“Just… what the hell are you?”
Vrrrr…!
The handsome man grumbled and quickly regenerated his wrist.
It was a high-level technique that combined summoning arts with magi regeneration—essentially a resurrection spell limited to the undead.
‘To think I’d have to use even this.’
Just now, the handsome man hadn’t even been able to perceive what had hit him.
He realized it.
‘Some attacks don’t show up at all.’
Certain attacks were completely imperceptible.
The guy had two kinds of swords.
‘There’s also an invisible blade.’
One was a demonic sword. The other was an invisible sword.
This felt completely different from facing only the invisible blade.
‘The manifestation of his magi isn’t even that impressive.’
Aside from the magi storm, the opponent’s firepower wasn’t as high as he had expected.
It was just that his tactics were incredibly difficult to deal with.
Fast, confusing, and even seductive…
‘This is…’
There was a word the demon race used for this.
‘Demonic.’
The control over illusion clones was so perfect that even the Constellations couldn’t keep up.
Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang!
The handsome man swung his arm violently, sweeping away all the Hands of Envy—
‘Huh?’
Stab!
In the end, he couldn’t tell them apart.
Not until the real Junil’s sword stabbed him from behind.
The tip of the blade pierced straight through the back of his neck.
“You…?”
Only then did the handsome man realize it was the real one.
But the moment Junil grinned.
“Boom.”
Magi exploded from inside his head.
Booooooom!