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It’s hot.
It’s unbearably hot.
The divine power, blooming in full force all around me, seeped into the greedy maw of my gluttony, making beads of sweat trickle down my forehead.
—Whoosh!
“Huuu...”
Divine power is still divine power; the scorching pain, as if I had swallowed the sun, boiled within my gi-maek (energy meridians). If my circulation faltered even for a moment, the extreme yang energy would, as it always does, burn through my meridians and burst my heart.
‘Even so, once swallowed by the maw of the Haeng-on-ji-yok (Greed of Action), you are nothing more than a lump of meat in my belly.’
The heat, which had been devoured and merged as it cycled through my meridians several times, finally surrendered to me. It was refined into my own internal energy and seeped into the flow of the Dae-ju-cheon (Great Heavenly Circulation).
—Thump!
The first cycle. The internal energy coursing through my body boosted my vitality, steadying my trembling fingertips and filling my limbs with power.
—Swoosh...!
The second cycle. The energy circulating through my blood vessels flowed through my meridians, healing internal injuries, nourishing my five viscera, and washing away the lingering fatigue and sense of deprivation.
“Huuu...”
And the third cycle.
The internal energy, having mastered both body and gi, became incomparably pure. It piled up layer by layer from my lower dantian, raising my level. As I exhaled, the excess heat vented out, creating shimmering heat haze in the air.
“Ah, this feels good...”
Having completed the Dae-ju-cheon, I found myself smiling, overcome by an exhilaration akin to being drunk on fine wine. Perhaps it was because this was the true divine power of a god, or perhaps because this sea of suffering was filled with more spiritual and divine energy than anywhere else in Greece.
From the lower dantian to the middle, and finally to the upper dantian—the sense of fullness and elevation in my energy centers was a pleasure incomparable to anything else in the world.
“...You’re as lucky as your younger sister.”
“W-what?”
“If you had charged in without knowing any better, I would have torn you to shreds and swallowed you whole.”
Apollo had gripped the reins of his chariot tightly and hadn't dared to move until I had fully recovered. I didn't know why, but regardless of the reason, it was a wise move on his part.
The Haeng-on (Action-Greed) of the Five Aggregates. The agony entangled in all things done and felt. The Haeng-on-Gyeol (Technique of Action-Greed), which codified this into a martial art, was both an absorption technique and a gi-gong formation that boasted extreme, tyrannical power.
Of course, there wasn't a single technique among the Five Aggregates that wasn't like that, but the Haeng-on-Gyeol was particularly tricky and required a long casting time, perhaps because it was a demonic art that also touched upon the realm of sorcery. However, once activated, it devoured all energy in the vicinity until I had filled all the internal energy required to perform the action.
“But, when divine power is added to the foundation of this technique, it shows something beyond my expectations, doesn't it?”
The Haeng-on-Gyeol I unleashed today was on a different level from what I had shown when facing Artemis in Paphos.
The Tam-sik-gu (Maw of Gluttony), which had previously been nothing more than an eerie black sphere, shone darkly like a black star. Witnessing its true nature, even I couldn't help but be a little surprised. It hadn't just sucked in the divine power scattered around; it had devoured and decomposed the light, the heat, the grass and rocks on the ground, and even the insects and bloodstains scattered upon them.
Yes, like a black hole devouring everything.
The fact that the scent of grass and earth mixed with the stinging heat in my breath... was probably not just my imagination.
“If you had taken this opportunity to attack, I would have had an easier time... So, you didn't grow old for nothing, did you?”
Judging by the evolved Haeng-on-Gyeol that surprised even me, if Apollo had attacked, he surely would have been devoured. I didn't know how far the aftermath would have reached, but...
“What a pity, what a pity. It would have been a true delicacy.”
“W-what are you saying right now? Your words are as if you...”
“That’s right. I would have cut you into pieces and chewed every bit of you, down to the marrow.”
Even the divine power scattered here was this refined and hot; I wondered how delicious the divine core hidden within that handsome face and statue-like spiritual body would be.
“Usually, I would have just cut off an arm and sent you back. But that won't do.”
—Kugugugu...!
As I pulled up my internal energy, the divine power filling my three dantians exploded like a volcano, racing through my meridians. The momentum was so vigorous that it sounded as if countless warhorses were galloping in my ears.
“But what to do? I’m still hungry.”
“What?”
—Whoosh!
As I lightly kicked off the ground, the face of the Sun God, stained with astonishment, was right in front of me.
“O-oh?”
“You were the one who started this, weren't you?”
If so, I had no reason to decline this brawl.
Twelve fingers, sharpened like the claws of a wolf and blackened, swung toward that pristine face. The entire sequence of actions took barely two seconds.
With a vicious claw flying toward his face in the blink of an eye, Apollo forgot his divine dignity and was struck with terror.
“U-uaaaah!”
Apollo reflexively leaned back to avoid the attack lunging at his face. But for someone who called himself the charioteer of the sun, it was quite a sight to see him lose his grip on the reins and tumble out of the chariot.
—Crash!
“Kuhk! Ugh!?”
...Is this déjà vu?
I feel like I’ve seen this composition, this situation before...
The Sun Chariot was standing in the air, about 10 meters above the ground. To tumble out of such a chariot and crash into the ground—it was truly a spectacle. Perhaps he had come fully prepared, as he was wearing armor adorned with gold and jewels, not the simple Doric chiton I had seen last time, and he was even wearing a white cloak embroidered with suns in gold thread.
His brilliant blonde hair was soiled with dirt, and the beauty that all the priests and poets of Greece adored was twisted with pain and shock.
The Moon Goddess, who had suffered a harsh fate at my hands not long ago, had looked exactly like that.
“Do you know what they call that look in my hometown?”
“H-how dare you make me, Apollo, show such a disgraceful sight...!”
“Naryeotagon—they say that look is like a lazy donkey rolling on the ground.”
I marveled to myself, thinking, Wow, the structure of this is perfect. But this time, white light exploded from Apollo’s eyes.
“How dare you put your filthy feet on my chariot!!”
[Enkauma (Burn)!!]
As the incantation imbued with Apollo’s divine power echoed, an anomaly occurred behind my back.
—Neigh!!
The four white horses, which had been tied quietly to the chariot, suddenly went berserk, emitting blinding white light and exploding with heat, and the chariot I was standing on began to shake and burn fiercely.
“...Tch.”
In the end, I had no choice but to kick off the chariot and leap back up, but the situation didn't end there.
—Neigh!
—Snort!
The four thoroughbreds, having snorted roughly, vanished in a flash of white light, only to reappear directly above my head and charge at me.
“You insolent fool!”
Directly below, Apollo had nocked an arrow to his bowstring and was aiming at me.
“....Seriously, is there something about being twins?”
However, I stood on the air, tilting my head at the repeated déjà vu. From beginning to end, Apollo was compressing and showing me the exact same flow as his sister, Artemis.
“So. You do it like this, right?”
—Neigh!
The giant Sun thoroughbreds charged as if to crush everything in front of them. And Apollo, synchronizing his will with those horses.
“Yes, that’s how you summon them, isn't it?”
Just like when his sister Artemis had toyed with me using her omnipotent powers to try and humiliate me. Seeing Apollo handle his thoroughbreds, I was once again able to naturally grasp how to use such powers.
[Devour them!]
As I granted the command, the two-headed divine hound, which had been sleeping for a while, tore open the divine demonic energy blooming on its back and leaped out.
“Grrr!”
“Kwah!”
With a dignified and valiant appearance, devoid of the madness or the foolishness of the mind, Orthrus lunged toward the charging Sun horses.
At the momentum of Orthrus, who had regained his ancient divine status and power, the Sun horses were terrified and turned their heads, and Orthrus, excited by a real hunt for the first time in a while, fiercely chased after them.
—Neigh!
—Neigh!
—Kwah!
—Woof woof!
The divine hound and the divine horses began a chase, disordering the sky and the sea. The sight of Orthrus fiercely kicking through the darkness like a hunting dog that had caught the scent of blood, amidst the screams of the terrified horses, was truly nail-biting.
“...I can leave that side to Orthrus.”
—Whoosh!
I watched the fierce divine status of Orthrus, the first divine spirit I had come to possess—one that hadn't even been passed down through oral tradition—for a moment, before turning my head again at the golden arrow that grazed my lightly tilted head.
“Oh, right. You were still there.”
This time, on the island I looked down upon, the Sun God, with killing intent streaming from his eyes, was aiming his bow at me.
“Yes, you are no ordinary demigod.”
“Huh?”
To think he would acknowledge me like that. I had expected him to struggle, curse, and swear like his sister until the very end.
“Yes, I acknowledge it. You are surely my prey, worthy of being compared to that Python. To think you could receive Apollo’s arrow with your body and even dodge it. However, prey belongs to the hunter...”
“You’ve never fought before, have you?”
“...What?”
“That’s not how you fight.”
—Bang!
As soon as I kicked the air, my vision flipped in an instant, and a dizzying sense of weightlessness scratched at my body. And then, Apollo’s face was close by once again.
“Wh-what...?”
—Crunch!
In an instant, that pretty-boy face was caught in my grip, and I mobilized the secret of Cheon-geun-chu (Weight of a Thousand Pounds), slamming the Sun God into the ground with all my weight and speed.
—Boom!!
“It’s not over yet.”
I don't know if he realized what this was, but I intend to show this lukewarm young master exactly what a fight is, what a bloody battle is, and what it means to be defeated in one.
“Guh...”
“Hm? No tuition fee required. I’ll take care of collecting it myself.”