Third Step: Heavenly Diamond Manifestation
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong, Third Step: Heavenly Diamond Manifestation.
KRAAAAAASH!
Four colossal arms erupted from Do-ha's back and began hammering the Cardinal's magic circles.
Even after unleashing Quadra Casting in a single instant, the circles held firm without a tremor. That was the caliber of a true Cardinal.
THUD-THUD-THUD-CRACK!
"You bastard!"
The moment the circles shattered, the Cardinal flooded the air with killing intent. Forcing a magic circle to break should have sent his mana rebounding in agony — yet he showed not the slightest grimace, not even a flicker of pain across his face.
Is he so consumed by rage that he can't even feel it?
If that were true, the Cardinal was a fanatic of terrifying devotion. He had never faced Do-ha himself, yet the mere fact that Do-ha had fought the Demon God was enough to drive him into this frenzy.
WHOOOOSH!
The ground began to rumble. As the Cardinal swept his staff, the desert sand around them surged skyward in a rising tide.
"What is this, a sandbox game?"
WHOOM.
Dispel.
Do-ha snorted and dispelled the Cardinal's magic.
ROOOOOAR!
But the sand kept coming — a tidal wave that refused to vanish.
"Hup—!"
Water exploded outward.
Mokhon-sura-gong, Fourth Form: Raging Sea, Desolate Lotus Flight.
CRASH!
As Do-ha unleashed the water technique, a colossal column of water twisted into a waterspout and spun with ferocious force.
HISSSSSSS.
Sand and water collided, flinging mud across the sky.
That wasn't magic.
He had tried to dispel the Cardinal's spell moments earlier and failed. There had been no mana signature, no formula.
What the hell is that power…?
They had clashed several times already, yet Do-ha still couldn't sense the distinctive mana fragrance that magic always carried. Magic circles had appeared — he had even destroyed them — but when the actual attacks landed, they weren't magic at all.
"What exactly are you? You're a strange one."
"Die!"
CRRRRRACK!
The Cardinal thrust his staff forward, and the mud hardened into enormous stakes that shot toward Do-ha.
You absolute fool.
The sand was already under the Cardinal's command — and Do-ha had just fed it water. The moisture only made the sand denser, harder, more compact.
"A small mistake will cost you your life!"
"Mistake? Please."
Listening to the Cardinal's swagger, Do-ha let out a dry laugh. Why else would he have bothered using a water technique to soak the sand? For fun? To strengthen his opponent's attack?
Hardly.
Snap.
SHHHHHHH.
Do-ha flicked his fingers, and the hurtling stakes collapsed into dust in an instant.
"Wh—what did you do?!"
The building-sized stakes crumbled into loose sand, and the Cardinal reeled in shock. That hadn't been magic — so how?
"Nothing difficult. I just erased my own power from it."
He had simply stripped away the moisture the sand had absorbed. Without that binding force, the compressed stakes shattered at once.
That's what you get for borrowing someone else's strength.
WHOOOOM!
Flames roared skyward.
"Hmm…"
Five magic circles bloomed at once, and fire surged from every direction. Do-ha's eyes narrowed. The man had the raw power to form five circles simultaneously — he was no Cardinal in name only.
But what he was using right now still wasn't magic.
He formed the circles, sure — but those flames just now weren't magic either.
Not martial arts. Not artifact-based spellcasting. That left only one possibility.
"Spirit arts."
Nothing else fit. Power of that magnitude drawn from nature itself, neither martial nor magical — it had to be spirit arts.
"You're a Dark Elf."
"…"
At Do-ha's words, the Cardinal froze in place.
A soft tug. A slow peel.
"Yes. Just as you guessed — I am a Dark Elf."
The Cardinal tore off his mask and revealed his face. White irises set in brown skin. Sharp, pointed fangs.
A Dark Elf — a race that had long since vanished from the world of Belhart — stood before him.
Elves were inherently poor at magic. With rare exceptions, nearly all of them relied on spirit arts. Selenia was no different. But Dark Elves were another matter entirely. Unlike ordinary elves, they possessed a high affinity for magic and could wield both magic and spirit arts together. In the distant past, that dual talent had made them far more prosperous than their light-skinned kin.
"A Dark Elf after all."
Every magic circle the Cardinal had formed until now had been a feint. Not a perfect one — he would have used real magic if the opportunity arose. But every circle he cast was shattered the moment it appeared, so he had fallen back on spirit arts instead.
"One of the survivors from the purge, then?"
The Cardinal's teeth ground together.
"Purge… Heh. Heh heh. You butchered our entire race with such cruelty and dare call it a purge. How infuriating."
Back in Belhart, the Absolute Being Baek Do-ha and his forces had hunted down every Dark Elf across the continents and slaughtered them without exception. Under the banner of a purge, an entire people had been cut down.
"You are a mass murderer."
"Spoken like a true Dark Elf — always someone else's fault."
"What did you say?!"
"Your race disappeared because you sided with the Demon God and started eating humans."
Empowered by demonic force, the entire Dark Elf race had turned carnivorous. They devoured pigs, cattle, sheep — and eventually humans. Once they discovered that human flesh was ideal for replenishing demonic energy, they stopped hunting beasts altogether and preyed exclusively on people. In short, they had become no better than goblins or orcs.
"And now you call me a mass murderer? There's a limit to how much nonsense I'll listen to."
They had declared themselves superior to humans and even to other elves, vowing to live in the Demon God's world — and now they wanted to play the victim?
"Are there any other Dark Elves still alive?"
"…"
"This time I'll erase you completely. No matter what world you flee to, no one will ever find a trace of your kind again."
"RAAAAAAAAGH!"
The Cardinal finally exploded with rage, his power erupting outward. At last Do-ha understood why the man had looked at him with such pure hatred.
Shing.
Do-ha drew Un-jeop-bi-jang.
The blade hummed.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique, Third Form: Silent Dragon Sea Fire.
As the Cardinal charged, Do-ha gripped his sword and moved. Empty air twisted unnaturally, shearing the enemy's power apart.
WHOOSH!
BOOM!
Strongest Dark Elf I've ever met.
Taking the spirit attack head-on, Do-ha furrowed his brow. Silent Dragon Sea Fire had cut through the assault, so the Cardinal was now attacking with wind spirits instead. His reaction speed and adaptive instincts were excellent.
But now that Do-ha understood the nature of his power, dismantling it would not be difficult.
"You know the most effective way to fight a spirit user?"
"What?"
"You cut off their vital force so they can't use spirit arts at all."
Unlike the pure force his grandfather possessed, vital force was the foundational energy required to wield spirit arts — the equivalent of internal energy for a martial artist, or mana for a mage. Pure force made spirit arts more potent and allowed contracts with higher-ranked spirits, but vital force was the baseline.
"Heh heh heh. You idiot."
The Cardinal burst out laughing. Of all the things to say — that empty nonsense. If it were that simple, would he ever have risen to the rank of Cardinal?
"How did a fool like you ever earn the title of Absolute Being…"
Do-ha ignored the sneer completely and raised his hand.
"Go ahead. Keep laughing."
SHHHHHHHHH!
Talhon-heupseong-daebup.
SHWAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Every strand of energy in the surrounding air began flooding into Do-ha's body. The suction was so violent that even the air itself was being dragged along.
"Refreshing. Feels like standing in front of a fan."
The Cardinal smirked and lifted his staff. Do-ha was working hard at something, but it didn't seem to be doing any real damage. The air was being pulled in, yes — but the Cardinal himself was fine.
"If you like the wind so much, I'll send you some—"
His expression locked mid-swing.
"What's wrong? Spirit arts not working?"
"Th—this can't be—!"
He whipped the staff again and again, panic rising. This was no ordinary magic staff. It was a weapon designed to let him cast spirit arts efficiently even with minimal vital force. So why was there no response at all?!
"Damn it! This is impossible!"
In desperation, the Cardinal thrust out his free hand. The staff was only an aid. He could still use spirit arts without it.
"Wh…?"
He stared at his unresponsive arm, mouth hanging open.
"I told you. Cut off the vital force, and it's over."
"Impossible! Humans cannot sense vital force or pure force! You are no exception! So how could you possibly block that energy?!"
He was right. Humans could not sense vital force or pure force. A rare few could, but they were vanishingly uncommon. Inability to sense something, however, did not mean it did not exist.
"What do you think eyes are for? I'm absorbing all of it right now."
Every form of energy in this world was ultimately composed of mana. Store it in the dantian and it became internal energy. Channel it into magic circles and it became mana. For an elf, it could be converted into vital force. In short, Do-ha was simply devouring every kind of energy at once.
"I've absorbed every scrap of energy in this area."
He gripped his sword and moved without another word.
As he had said — Dark Elves could use magic as well. He had to stop the Cardinal before that happened.
Myeol-hwang Sword Technique, First Form: Blood Cloud.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!
"GAAAAAH!"
The Cardinal crossed his arms to block the blade and screamed. Caught off guard by the sudden assault, he had instinctively raised his arms to defend.
Do-ha spun.
Baek-bo Myeol-hwang Gong, Second Step: Unbroken Kick.
His body rotated, and his foot drove up into the Cardinal's jaw.
As the Cardinal's body lifted into the air, Do-ha casually opened both palms toward the man's abdomen.
Whirling Wind Palm.
CRRRRACK!
The twin palms struck, crushing the Cardinal's organs completely.
Blood sprayed from his mouth as his ribs shattered and speared the organs beneath.
"I… I can't…"
Realizing the state of his own body, the Cardinal let out a broken gasp. His organs were damaged beyond any hope of recovery.
"I have to… summon…"
"That Anubis you mentioned?"
Anubis — the Egyptian god of death.
From what he said earlier, Anubis hasn't fully thrown in with the Demon God.
The Cardinal had claimed the contract period with Anubis was nearly over. What had Anubis been promised, and what price had he demanded? How had a god ended up bargaining with the Demon God Cult in the first place?
But Do-ha had no intention of allowing a summoning just to ask those questions.
"I… can't die like this…"
"Don't worry. I'll put your energy to good use."
Do-ha planted his hand on the trembling Cardinal's head and began extracting his power at once.
Damn it. This feels disgusting.
As Talhon-heupseong-daebup drank in the Cardinal's energy, Do-ha clenched his teeth.
The energy rose, floating free.
Here. Eat up.
Do-ha guided the flow, and the Cardinal's demonic energy streamed toward Baal's daughter.
As the last of the power drained away, the color faded from the Cardinal's eyes, and his breathing stopped for good.