Demon Dragon Transformation (魔龍化)

"Lee Tae-hyun! Snap out of it! No!"

Ji Yeon-ha's scream tore out of her before she could stop it.

He had caught the machine's fist with his own body, and now he was plummeting toward the ground, utterly spent. If he crashed down like that, there was no way it would end in mere injury.

What on earth is that thing?!

She turned her gaze to the machine that had beaten him down — a humanoid figure, the crowning achievement of magitech engineering. That a mere human could give birth to such a thing inspired something close to awe.

At the very least an S-rank hunter… no, maybe even among the upper echelon of those…!

Considering its movements, its combat style, and the sheer destructive power of the techniques it had unleashed, the Deus Ex Machina had already reached the fully ripened realm of a seasoned S-rank. And that golden current in particular — powerful enough to turn Ji Yeon-ha's blood to ice.

"Beating a monster like that in his current state… it's far too cruel!"

Her expression crumpled.

Tae-hyun was exhausted. Repeated combat and the endless stacking of debuffs had piled ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fatigue on him until it threatened to bury him — enough to have broken any other hunter long before now.

And yet, even in that broken state, he had pushed the Deus Ex Machina to the brink. If it hadn't suddenly restored its defensive systems, victory might well have tipped toward his side.

Thud….

Blood scattered through the air like dry leaves. His wounded body dropped heavily toward the ground.

A bitter taste spread through Ji Yeon-ha's mouth.

"Damn it…!"

The gate raid was a failure. She had never imagined a monster like that would spring out at the very end. To overwhelm such a thing head-on, you would need—

You'd need to be World Ranker level, at least!

Had it been absurd from the very start? Had she blinded herself chasing after something beyond reach? Looked at rationally, the idea of an F-rank potential hunter defeating that machine was nonsense. Laid out in cold, objective facts, anyone would have laughed it off.

And yet….

Tae-hyun had always pulled off the impossible. Again and again, he had accomplished things that soared immeasurably past his own limits — as if the ceiling had never existed in the first place.

And so she couldn't help but hope. She couldn't help but dream of the scene where he felled the Deus Ex Machina — of him rising again, spear in hand. For a wizard as bitterly pragmatic as she was, he was the one being who made her believe in impossible miracles.

"Please… get up!"

Ji Yeon-ha squeezed her eyes shut and whispered the plea.

And in that moment—

KUWOOOM—!

A violent storm of mana erupted across the screen in an instant.

"Kyaaah?!"

The shockwave was so immense she could feel it vibrating even in ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her own chamber. The feed crackled, froze for a breath, then slowly flickered back to life.

"What in the… huh?"

And then she saw it. At the center of the garden, something was flying with its wings spread wide — obsidian-black armor and wings laden with thick, condensed mana. Eyes with vertically slit pupils gleaming in reversed sockets. A form that radiated the silhouettes of demon and dragon all at once.

"T-Tae-hyun…?!"

Having shed his human shell for the shape of the Demon Dragon, Tae-hyun smiled with satisfaction. And as she stared at him, goosebumps rippled across Ji Yeon-ha's skin.

"This is…!"

The aura radiating from him in that state — it felt eerily similar to the one she had felt standing face to face with Diana.

It had been a gamble. If it failed, I'd have taken internal damage from the skill's backlash without even a chance to counter.

But if it succeeded, I judged I could end that thing for good. And by my own rough accounting, the gamble had paid off….

"Hah."

Demonization layered atop Dragon Transformation — a body reborn in the image of a demon dragon. An intoxicating rush of omnipotence coursed through every inch of me.

"This is it."

The union of two SS-rank skills. Demon Dragon Transformation.

"A shame, my friend."

I arched an eyebrow at the Deus Ex Machina.

"You should have finished me off when you had the chance."

"…."

"Still the quiet type, huh."

The thing readied for battle without a word. Its eyes flickered several times, then it began venting golden currents in wild bursts.

The currents were absorbed into its body, and its form began to change.

CRACKLEEE—!

Its frame blazed molten gold, currents lashing out like whips on their own and carving up everything around it. No doubt about it — that was the machine's true combat mode.

"So we were both going easy on each other, huh?"

Now that every card was on the table, it was time to get serious.

Vmmm….

Inside me, mana vast enough to evoke the open sea churned and rolled. In this state I could probably cast any grand magic I pleased — the problem was that, sadly, I remained hopelessly clumsy with magic itself. Enough that even this absurd reservoir of mana felt like a waste.

"So, as a compromise."

There was nothing for it but to lean on what I actually ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠knew. Clenching the overflowing mana into a single point, I dragged the image in my mind out into reality.

"Domain Art."

Mana spent without a shred of restraint, deployed at maximum output.

"Sparrow Wings Envelop the Sky."

The wings of the Vermilion Bird.

FWOOOOSH!

Wings of sacred flame unfurled in resplendent bloom and wrapped their embrace around the entire garden. At once, the crushing weight on my body lifted as if it had never been.

The effect of Sparrow Wings Envelop the Sky is the removal of all hindrances.

Naturally, every debuff that had been inflicted on me burned away inside this domain. Back when I faced the Cheonmagwi, deploying it in even a tiny pocket of space had drained my mental strength and mana to the last drop — yet now, spreading it across a space this vast, the domain's perfection was absolute.

"Now it finally feels—"

Beating the demon dragon's wings, I leveled my lance at the Deus Ex Machina.

"—like a fair fight."

The answer that came back was not words, but a fist.

CRACK!

Wreathed in current, its strikes came faster and hit harder — near-teleportation speeds. But—

I can see it.

The me of right now was more than capable of keeping up. I drove my lance in, threading the trajectory of the fist with pinpoint precision.

KAGAGAGAGANG!

Every collision of our attacks rippled space itself, monstrous shockwaves radiating outward. The Deus Ex Machina in Battle God Mode was at least twice as strong as it had been before, if not more. Every time that current-laden fist came hurtling in, my blood ran cold.

KUWOOM! KWANG!

We traded countless blows across the breadth of the garden, and in moments the surroundings lay scorched and desolate.

A war of attrition is not an option.

I deflected an attack and ran the numbers. Demon Dragon Transformation's duration was short — at best, three more minutes before it unraveled. Its Battle God Mode, on the other hand, would surely outlast mine.

If both forms drop at the same time, the one at a disadvantage is me.

The moment Demon Dragon Transformation fell, Sparrow Wings Envelop the Sky would collapse with it, and the debuffs would come crashing back. Which meant—

I have to end this within the next three minutes!

FLAP!

Driving my black wings with everything I had, I shot toward it. The Deus Ex Machina pressed its hands together and compressed the currents between them.

BZZZRK! KUWOOOM—!

A high-powered beam of lightning came screaming at me. Then I couldn't afford to lose either.

Gathering my draconic mana, I exhaled the dragon's breath. Violet flame met the lightning beam head-on and detonated in a massive explosion — force enough to shake the earth for hundreds of paces. But there was no time to savor it. Using the blast's smoke as a veil, I instantly stretched my senses outward and pinned down its position.

It's still wrapped in a defensive system.

A different kind of barrier than before. Breaking it would require Ji Yeon-ha — but she was likely struggling just to follow this fight, let alone contribute. At this rate, a counter-solution before Demon Dragon Transformation ran out was a distant hope.

Which leaves one option.

Cut through the defensive system and cleave its torso in the same motion.

Even as I thrust my lance in, I closed my hand around the Seeker's Spear.

Above the demon dragon's silhouette, the vision of a Yasha astride a White Tiger flickered into being.

"Ngh…."

A raw ache surged up through my entire body. The strain of channeling too much power at once was taking its toll. I was running three separate skills — any one of which could flip a fight on its own — simultaneously. There was no way it wouldn't cost me.

"Going this far… just give up and die already."

Grimacing, I wrung out every ounce of strength I possessed. Moving at speeds comparable to Moss's, I swept the spear in a full arc.

CLANG!

The machine reacted a beat too late — but by then, my spearhead was already carving through it.

Nameless Spear Art

Tiger's Wrath: Roaring Thunder

A spear art unfurled on the foundation of the demon dragon's power. For all that it had shattered every attack thrown at it until now—

KRRUNCH!

—the arm caught on my spearhead split apart and shattered, utterly helpless.

"—!"

"How's that? Feeling a little on edge yet?"

That high-and-mighty defensive system of yours can't shield you completely. From here on out, the one doing the hunting isn't you.

SSSS….

Clamping down on my overheating body, I traced the second form.

Nameless Spear Art

Tiger's Wrath: Raging Storm

A gale of ferocious spearblades tore through the air. The Deus Ex Machina's body was whittled away piece by piece, its currents losing their bite.

SKREEEK… SKRIKEEK!

It hurled several desperate resistance attacks with a grotesque grinding shriek, but I parried them with ease. Lightning that had lost its light was neither fast nor frightening anymore.

This ends it.

Gritting my teeth, I prepared the final form. The instant I squared my stance and swept the spear upward—

KUWOOM!

"Kghak?!"

The backlash I'd been suppressing all this time erupted in a single instant, and my body locked rigid with pain. I had abused my strength far too recklessly on a frame that was already running on fumes. It wasn't critical yet, so I moved to resume the spear art immediately—

"——!!"

—but the Deus Ex Machina didn't miss the opening. With its one remaining hand it seized my throat and wrenched it aside, then fired its thrusters and slammed me straight into the ground.

"…Kkh!"

I barely had time to register the tearing agony across my back before a crackling voice emanated from the thing.

Words I could not simply let pass. I already knew this had long outgrown the bounds of any trial — but—

Mutual destruction? It's going to self-destruct?!

My uneasy premonition wasn't wrong. Its mana circuits flared into frantic overdrive, and I could see every last drop of its power flooding toward its core.

"You insane…!"

A machine that size, gathering its everything into a single point to detonate. If that hit me at this range with no countermeasure—

I don't even want to imagine it.

There probably wouldn't be so much as a smear left of me. And of course, I'd already burned through Protection. Somehow, I had to neutralize it before it blew.

The moment I moved to throw the thing pinning me down—

THROB!

"Ugh!"

My body, exhausted past all endurance, screamed and refused the order. From the moment I'd cast Demon Dragon Transformation on a frame that should have collapsed long ago, I had been past my body's critical threshold — and then I'd stacked Baekho's Fang on top of the Nameless Spear Art, all at once.

"Come on…! Just once more…!"

Listen to me, will you? Get us through this and I swear I'll let you rest. Otherwise we're both dying here.

Despite my pleading, my body did nothing but tremble. It would not move.

FWAAAAAH—!

The machine, meanwhile, compressed its power as though it would detonate at any second. From its heart — a chaotic tangle of lightning and mana — violent pulses burst forth one after another.

"We're screw—…."

As deep despair settled over me—

An alert I'd never expected — and never been happier to see. A wash of emerald light swept over me, dulling the pain and lightening my body by precious degrees. My arms and legs began answering my will again. A broad grin broke across my face before I knew it.

Still, at the final moment—

"She pulls her weight after all! Seo-ha!"

In one burst, I exploded the demon dragon's aura and kicked the machine pinning me down, hurling it away.

Roughly a dozen seconds remained until Demon Dragon Transformation unraveled. Pouring my last reserves of strength into the final spear art.

"From your skull to your spine."

Shatter it all in a single stroke — and end you!

Flooding my whole body with the demon dragon's power, I launched into my final leap.

HOOOOOONG!

The last spear art unfurled.

Nameless Spear Art

Tiger's Wrath: Falling Blossom

A spearhead that could part all creation struck home — destroying the Deus Ex Machina's head, then its heart, in perfect succession.

Vmmm….

The power it had gathered for its self-detonation guttered out and scattered like dust. Its bisected metallic body began collapsing feebly in on itself. The pinnacle of magitech, forged by sages. This was the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠monument of a moment when the very apex of that civilization knew defeat.