The Heavenly Phoenix's Assault
The Heavenly Phoenix. Ji Jung-chul's life's masterpiece. Infinite form, infinite strength, infinite change. A weapon without limits in every sense.
But is having no limits always an advantage?
Baek Yeon-woo, the Heavenly Phoenix's wielder, could confidently say no.
Limits are lines. Lines are common sense, and the world we live in is built on common sense.
The Heavenly Phoenix lacks that common sense. It exists far beyond the very concept of what a weapon should be.
That was why Baek Yeon-woo bared his fangs at his opponent, Bang Hyun-soo.
“You bullied Soo-pil, didn’t you?”
“Wh-what the hell are you talking about?”
Bang Hyun-soo genuinely believed he had never bullied Choi Soo-pil. Why would he have any ill will toward the guy? Sure, it was annoying when someone he looked down on kept clinging to his ankles, but he had never actually lost to him. Their duel had been a normal tower match, with the usual trash talk and inevitable physical contact.
Calling that bullying? What was he supposed to do, play rock-paper-scissors?
More importantly, they should ask Choi Soo-pil what he thought. The man was proud enough to demand that Park Su-bin and Baek Yeon-woo call him “hyung” while bringing up his long-gone “Fast” days. That meant even if he had been beaten, he would never whine to Yeon-woo about it.
A fight where neither the hitter nor the hit existed.
So was our genius Baek Yeon-woo attacking an innocent man right now?
Correct!
Having no common sense or concept meant everything was unknown. Naturally, there was no manual or instruction manual.
Baek Yeon-woo still vividly remembered the first time he held the Heavenly Phoenix. It must have felt like this for the first primitive human who discovered fire.
Though it took the shape of a sword, it was completely different from any sword that had ever existed. He had to relearn everything from the very basics, including how to grip it.
That was how Baek Yeon-woo, together with Lee Shin, came to understand the Heavenly Phoenix and discovered that the weapon responded to emotions.
The Demonic Sword and the Holy Sword.
If the Demonic Sword stirred negative emotions like desire and jealousy, then the Holy Sword responded to positive emotions like conviction and fighting spirit.
It was like poison that could kill when misused, yet medicine that could save countless lives when used correctly.
Honesty.
What was good? What was unpleasant? What was precious, and what did he want to possess?
Lee Shin told Baek Yeon-woo to honestly reveal the emotions buried deep within his heart as a human being, and Baek Yeon-woo found his answer.
I want to win!
He would win, keep winning, and claim victory!
Shhhk——!
In that instant, the Heavenly Phoenix responded to Baek Yeon-woo’s emotions. The sword he was swinging suddenly accelerated, transforming into a whip that battered Bang Hyun-soo’s shield.
“Say you bullied him, now!”
It grew faster.
“You mocked Soo-pil by calling him an old man!”
Even faster.
Stabbing, striking, whipping, a dazzling storm of light. Bang Hyun-soo curled up behind his shield, desperately enduring.
“Wh-when did I?!”
“Shut up!”
Whether he had or hadn’t didn’t matter. The opponent was an enemy, and this was a duel arena. In the world of competition, only one victor remained standing at the end.
The desire to win.
Baek Yeon-woo was forcibly stoking his own competitive spirit, using his opponent as fuel.
“Soo-pil’s mortal enemy!”
“N-no, I’m not!”
“Bring Soo-pil back to life!!”
“Are you insane… Ghh!!”
Kaaaaang——!!
Bang Hyun-soo was knocked backward by the sudden impact. The white whip that had been raging like a storm transformed into a massive scythe and swept the area. The crescent-shaped torrent finally shattered Bang Hyun-soo’s once-solid defense.
Baek Yeon-woo would never miss that opening. He leaped. In that split second, the Heavenly Phoenix had become an axe. The two-handed axe raised high aimed to cleave the earth. The opponent, desperately raising his shield to survive, was sent tumbling backward once more.
For a moment, the pupils of Baek Yeon-woo’s sky-blue eyes dilated.
An opening!
Baek Yeon-woo shot forward. The Heavenly Phoenix, now transformed into wings, flapped and launched him like a rocket. He delivered a kick to the side of his desperately fleeing opponent.
“Ghh!!”
Bang Hyun-soo curled inward. Baek Yeon-woo did not stop. The Heavenly Phoenix in his hand had already become a war hammer. Using the momentum, he swung upward from below, smashing the barely maintained shield with the war hammer.
Kwaaang—!!
The shield was sent flying into the sky from the impact. In that gap, Baek Yeon-woo lowered his stance. His sky-blue eyes locked onto the opponent’s neck for a brief moment.
Starting as a sword, then whip, scythe, axe, wings, hammer, and returning once more to a sword—the Heavenly Phoenix became a single streak of light.
Shhhk——!
Bang Hyun-soo scattered around the gaping hole in his neck. Through the dispersing mana, Baek Yeon-woo’s smile could be seen.
Victory was always right.
You have defeated the enemy.
* * *
The balance had collapsed. The momentum had shifted. And the dragon, as always, began to ravage its opponent.
“Kim Jong-phil” has defeated “Yamada Yoshinobu”.
Kill!
“Kim Yu-shin” has defeated “Shimizu Ryota”.
Kill!!
“Baek Yeon-woo” has defeated “Bang Hyun-soo”.
Kill!!
Kill announcements echoed throughout the canyon from all directions!
― “Emergency!! Super emergency!!”
― “Royal Sword Guild is rapidly collapsing after the genius’s solo kill in the top lane!”
― “They can’t get their heads straight. Even I can’t keep up with Mir Guild’s all-out pressure on Royal Sword Guild!”
What was Mir Guild’s original winning formula?
Baek Yeon-woo in top applies pressure. Yu Ri-ra in bot survives. Park Su-bin in mid holds the center. From there, the Hwarang & Sanwang duo intervenes and operates to crush the opponent.
But… the current Mir was completely different.
― “The order has changed! Previously, the three would hold their lanes while the Hwasan duo intervened. Today’s match started with the Hwasan duo deleting the enemy jungler and support!”
― “As the Hwarang and Sanwang duo kept pushing back Pungnim Hwasan and the Spider, preventing them from even crossing a quarter of the canyon, natural 1v1 matchups formed in each lane.”
And so it began. The death lane battles.
― “The genius Baek Yeon-woo’s pressure has gone beyond what you can even call pressure! He’s outright slaughtering them!!”
― “Bang Hyun-soo was a top tank who showed good defensive stats last season, but now he’s at 4 deaths. And three of those kills were solo kills.”
The genius had blown up the top lane.
― “Blitz Yurira was completely different from last set too! It’s like she’s saying, ‘You’re leaving me alone? You’re gonna regret that!’”
― “The CS difference between Blitz and Royal Sword’s marksman has already exceeded 40. It’s practically an irreversible growth gap.”
Blitz suffocated the bot lane. And the Colossus dominated mid.
― “He, Park Su-bin, I mean the Colossus… it just doesn’t make sense.”
― “Let me put it plainly what the Colossus has done so far. He solo-broke the mid first tower that Gwanggeom was defending. He hunted all major objectives with the Hwasan duo. He got kills in both ganks, and at 14 minutes 31 seconds, he solo-broke the enemy second tower as well.”
― “The gap in class. He’s creating a class difference against Gwanggeom, last season’s ranker.”
It was like Option 1 roaming warfare, yet different. Similar to Option 2 blitz warfare, yet different. A full-court press combining the advantages of both options, seizing the initiative based on perfect lane-wide class superiority.
Named: Pressing.
It was the word that symbolized Mir Guild this season.
― “Mir Guild is pushing their proud Children of God to the extreme. They have the 8th-ranked Blitz, 6th-ranked Genius, and 1st-ranked Colossus. All their laners are single-digit rankers!”
― “And we can’t leave out the Hwasan duo.”
― “Exactly. 3rd-ranked Hwarang. And the eternal legend, Sanwang. A world-class duo that changed the league’s paradigm last season.”
Lee Shin always said the same thing. Simply. Straightforwardly.
Just like he said, no need to overthink it. They had Hwarang and Blitz. They had the Genius and the Colossus. They were the guild that possessed the Mountain King.
If it came down to a battle of raw class, they would never lose.
― “The inhibitor is already breaking!!”
― “Current time: 17 minutes!! Royal Sword Guild is in danger!!”
·
·
Sanwang, who had been blocking the enemy’s resistance with plants, swept his indifferent gaze around before opening his mouth.
“No need to drag this out. Let’s go in right now.”
““Yes!!””
The moment Sanwang’s signal dropped, positions shifted. Park Su-bin the Colossus took the lead, Kim Yu-shin the Hwarang guarded the rear, and on the wings stood Kim Jong-phil the Sanwang and Baek Yeon-woo the Genius. At the very center, as always, Yu Ri-ra the Blitz held her gun.
“Fire!”
Thud thud……
“Shoot!”
Bang!
Yu Ri-ra fired her pistol toward the sky with a bright smile. Then, five sniper rifles charged with lightning rained bolts from above.
Kaaaaaaaa———!!
Lightning struck from the heavens. The enemy’s tightly closed defensive line melted away. And through the smoke appeared Park Su-bin, his black mink coat fluttering.
The barrage of attacks from Royal Sword was blocked by metal before reaching his body. Once he had secured space with his entire frame—
Three figures burst out from three directions like fired bullets. Hwarang, charging like a runaway train, stepped on the Colossus’s shoulder and leaped, preparing his signature wide-area stun. Sanwang, who had shot to the right, lifted the plants connected to the ground as if shaking out laundry. The Genius, who had dug in from the left, had already covered the sky above with the Heavenly Phoenix transformed into a net.
Ground, underground, sky—techniques linked as one body activated!
Kwaaaaaang——!!
― “It’s a wombo combo!!”
― “This is insane!! How is that even possible?”
― “A completely new combo. Hwarang’s wide-area stun, Sanwang’s wide-area air launch, and the Genius’s wide-area bind! Royal Sword Guild’s entire team is left in a defenseless state!”
― “It was a clear case of carelessness. Royal Sword Guild only thought about blocking Mir Guild’s major skills. Conversely, Mir Guild knew exactly what they were going to do.”
Just as he said. Royal Sword’s minds had been filled only with countering last season’s Mir Guild patterns—the World Tree attacks of the White Calamity Sanwang, and the swift ambushes of Blitz Yu Ri-ra and Genius Baek Yeon-woo.
But Mir Guild had brought a completely new pattern, as if mocking their preparations. And the reason this was possible was because of Park Su-bin, who had become the Colossus!
“Gant, sir.”
The moment the miniature Gigant pounded its chest with its cute arms and puffed out smoke, the pipe rising behind Park Su-bin also released smoke.
Pwooooooo———!
Level 2. At the sound of that miracle, the upper body of the mechanical giant rose.
“The God of Machinery” deletes the enemy.
The mechanical giant’s upper body slammed both raised fists into the earth.
――――――――!!
Everything around the impact point floated upward. The ground, the buildings, the people. And those gradually being deleted.
You have defeated the enemy.
Pungnim Hwasan, the closest, scattered into dust.
Double Kill
The Spider returned to mana.
Triple Kill
Quadra Kill
Bang Hyun-soo and the marksman scattered. Finally, Gwanggeom returned to nothingness. At that moment, Gwanggeom’s half-dispersed mouth moved.
“You crazy bastard.”
Penta Kill
* * *
― “Every lane carries. Every lane dominates. And every lane has the power to end the game.”
― “Everyone, I, Choi Moon-sung, will say it boldly. We are witnessing the craziest team in Korean league history.”
― “The Nexus is breaking!!”
― “Mir Guild wins their first match of this season 3-0!!”
Round 1
Mir Guild (3) : Royal Sword Guild (0)
Mir Guild Victory (+3 points)