The Truth of the Twin Gods
With a casual flick of his index finger, Laktakalion pointed. At the same instant, crimson beams of light lanced from behind him at terrifying speed.
They looked almost like lasers.
“?!”
Wooooong!
Finger Flick Technique · Jade Rising Azure Force.
Thududududung!
Do-ha immediately swatted the incoming beams aside with Finger Flick Technique.
That just now… was Fire Arrow.
But unlike an ordinary 2-Circle Fire Arrow, it stretched long and fast like a laser.
Had he compressed it?
Or mixed it with another spell?
If he mixed two or more magics together…
Laktakalion’s magic was clearly on another level entirely.
No one currently alive could wield magic of that caliber without a chant—except the Dragon God.
No. I need to correct that.
A soft motion.
Piiiiiing!
“!!!”
Zwaaang.
Thududududung!
“Like this, right?”
Except for the Dragon God and himself, no one else could do it.
When Do-ha perfectly mirrored the magic, the Dragon God’s pupils shook once more.
“I truly cannot believe this.”
Laktakalion let out a shallow sigh of frustration.
How was he supposed to describe this feeling?
An utterly unreal existence stood right in front of him, and he could neither believe the situation nor even put into words the emotion of looking at the man.
It left him unbearably stifled.
“Then try copying this as well.”
Shwaaaaaaak!
Laktakalion raised his hand, and four elemental magics began to fuse.
Fire, water, earth, wind.
The four gathered into one, forming a sphere roughly the size of an apple.
Yet the power packed inside was anything but small.
“This insane bastard…”
If that apple-sized mass of energy detonated, everything within a ten-kilometer radius would vanish without a trace.
Fortunately Korea itself would escape the blast radius, but the real problem was that other people might come running at the sight of it.
And if that happened, the ones who died would be humans.
“What’s the matter? Copy this too.”
Laktakalion smiled.
This spell was one he had created personally; no one else in this world knew the calculation formula.
“Judging by how hard those eyes of yours are working, it seems you can’t copy it after all.”
A soft motion.
In the end Laktakalion moved his hand, and the magic began to drop toward the ground.
And at the same moment—
Tszzzzzzt.
Paat!
The magic that had nearly reached the earth vanished in an instant.
“…What did you just do?”
As the spell that had almost settled onto the ground disappeared, Laktakalion stared at Do-ha.
It hadn’t been knocked aside by another spell, nor had it detonated.
“Hoo… this goddamn lizard bastard twisted the magic formula into a complete fucking mess.”
“Don’t tell me… you dispelled it?”
How?
As he had said earlier, only he knew the calculation formula for the magic.
To reverse-engineer it, one would at least need to know the formula—yet Baek Do-ha was seeing this spell for the first time, was he not?
So how had he dispelled it?
“If you didn’t want it dispelled, you should have done it like this.”
Shwaaaaaaaaak!
Do-ha raised his hand. The four elements, plus Fire Art, Water Art, Earth Art, Thunder Art, and Poison Art—every single one of them—began to mix together.
In truth he had experimented with mixing them this way many times before.
The power was strong, but the efficiency was so poor he rarely used it in actual combat.
“Heh heh…”
At the sight, the Dragon God let out a hollow laugh and a long sigh.
The Baek Do-ha standing before him was not a being he could predict.
“Enough. I lose.”
In the end the Dragon God waved a hand, calming Do-ha down.
He had never come here to fight like this in the first place.
“I apologize for the Legion matter. Had I known earlier, I would not have acted so aggressively.”
“Suddenly tucking your tail?”
“Have I not been saying from the beginning that I had no intention of fighting?”
“You’re clearly holding back.”
Tszzzzz.
Shwaak.
Do-ha extinguished the energy and shrugged.
“Holding back? What do you mean by that?”
“You’re conserving your strength so you can fight a god.”
“….”
At Do-ha’s words, Laktakalion’s brow twitched.
How in the world did he know that?
“Don’t look so shocked. Anyone with a brain could figure it out.”
Weakness unworthy of the name Dragon God.
The rumor that he had died fighting a god.
Those two facts alone made it obvious that Laktakalion’s current body was far from normal after being heavily wounded in a battle against a god.
And the reason he was holding back was surely so he could fight that same god again someday.
“Indeed… the arrogant moniker of Absolute Being is not one you carry for nothing.”
“Then I should receive compensation, right?”
“Compensation…?”
What compensation was he suddenly talking about?
He had never said he would give anything if he lost this fight.
“You started the fight, and you were the one who called it off, so I’m the one granting your request. Therefore you ought to give something in return.”
“Ah… no, what kind of absurd logic is that…”
“Why is it absurd? Suppose I accidentally destroyed your lair. What would you do?”
“I would hold you accountable.”
“And if I restored the lair and restocked all the gold and treasures that had been inside?”
“I would forgive you.”
“See? Same thing. You started the fight, and I forgave you. Yet there’s nothing here for that forgiveness.”
“….”
Do-ha held out his hand and wiggled his fingers. Laktakalion’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly.
He desperately wanted to say something, but the man’s words were correct, so he could not even make an excuse.
If he truly did not want to hand anything over, he could simply fight to the death—but that was not an option either.
“Wh… what is it you want? For reference, I have no lair, so I cannot give you gold or treasures.”
“Come on, would I really ask the Dragon God for something as petty as gold and treasures?”
“Then what…”
Shuuuk.
Thud.
Metatron and Baal, who had been watching from a distance, approached Do-ha’s side.
They had come because the two seemed to have stopped fighting and started talking.
“Is the battle over?”
“Yeah.”
“Then what is that hand for?”
Metatron stared at the fingers Do-ha was still wiggling.
It looked exactly like he was shaking the Dragon God down.
“I will say this in advance: I possess nothing. Instead, I could teach you magic…”
“I can just copy it. Why would I need to learn?”
“….”
At Do-ha’s words, Laktakalion closed his mouth.
Only Baek Do-ha would treat the Dragon God’s magic so casually.
Even if one offered a mountain of priceless treasures, the Dragon God’s magic was something that could not be learned…
“What, were you really shaking down a god?”
“Where the hell did you learn the expression ‘shaking down’…”
At Baal’s words, Do-ha’s face went blank with disbelief.
Seriously—Canteas was one thing, but why did every single one of them pick up the weirdest slang the moment they lived on Earth?
“Anyway, there is one thing I want from you.”
“If it is something I can give, I will give it.”
“Information.”
“Information?”
“I want three pieces of information.”
“Three whole pieces… you are a greedy Absolute Being. Very well. What is it you wish to know?”
“First. What is the Demon God Cult doing right now, and what is their current situation?”
“Well… as I said earlier, I did not take the Cult’s side, so I have no idea what plans those fellows are hatching.”
It was not a lie told out of reluctance; he truly had no interest in the Cult.
The Cult had never tried to teach him anything or win him over either.
“Hmm… then second.”
“?”
When Do-ha suddenly stopped speaking, the Dragon God tilted his head.
What question could make his expression harden so instantly?
“Depnius… do you know why that bastard joined the Cult?”
In other words, the reason he had betrayed him.
He wanted to know why Depnius had betrayed him, killed even his friends, and sided with the Cult.
He had pretended not to care, but the question had always lingered.
“That too I do not know. I never held private conversations with Depnius in the first place.”
“Then what the hell do you actually know?”
“….”
For a moment Laktakalion felt a surge of irritation.
He only asked about things he did not know, then demanded to know what he did know…
If he had asked about the origin of dragons instead, he would have explained it in detail.
“You’re not going to say you don’t know this one either, are you?”
“Ugh… what is the last one?”
“The god you fought. Who was it?”
Even in his weakened state, the Dragon God was stronger than Do-ha was right now.
That meant he had been far stronger in the past.
Do-ha was curious who the god was that had defeated such a Dragon God.
“Hoh.”
At the unexpected question, Laktakalion narrowed his eyes.
Truly befitting the God of War.
A soft glance.
“?”
When Laktakalion looked at him, Metatron tilted his head.
Why was he suddenly staring at him?
“Well… whether the one I fought was the Heavenly God… or the Demon God…”
“What kind of nonsense is that? Did you fight the Heavenly God or the Demon God?”
“I cannot properly define it myself, but the first one I fought was the Heavenly God.”
“?!!”
At the Dragon God’s words, Metatron’s eyes went wide.
The Dragon God had fought the Heavenly God—the master of Heaven itself?!
“Judging by that reaction, you truly are an angel.”
Seeing Metatron’s response, the Dragon God wore a bitter smile.
From the first moment he had felt a strangely familiar energy.
“And you are a demon. An Archduke-class one at that.”
The demonic energy was equally familiar.
“What did you mean just now? Did you fight the Demon God as well?”
“Absolute Being. You still do not know the truth.”
“What?”
“The Heavenly God and the Demon God. Those two are one single existence.”
“Bullshit!!”
Kwaaaaa.
At the Dragon God’s words, Metatron erupted in fury.
How dare he insult the Heavenly God.
How could he claim that the Heavenly God and the Demon God were one and the same?!!
“Child, you do not know the truth. No—you never even try to know it.”
The Dragon God lightly clicked his tongue as he looked at Metatron.
The heart that could not accept it.
He understood.
But it was fact.
“So he went back and forth between Heaven and Hell pretending to be different gods?”
“That is not it. The two were merely separated.”
“Separated…”
“Yes. Originally a single god split into the Heavenly God and the Demon God.”
“….”
At the shocking truth, not only Do-ha but Metatron and Baal as well were left speechless.
How could anyone simply accept such a fact?
“That is why I was curious. What sort of person the Absolute Being who drove the Demon God to the brink of death truly was.”
He himself had been defeated by the Heavenly God.
Of course Baek Do-ha had also been defeated by the Demon God, yet there was one difference between them.
Namely, how far each had pushed their opponent.
“I failed to inflict a fatal wound on the Heavenly God.”
Laktakalion looked down at the ground as if ashamed.
Even after pouring out every last drop of his power, he had been unable to deal any meaningful critical injury to the Heavenly God.
But Do-ha was different, was he not?
“Does that mean the Heavenly God is stronger than the Demon God?”
“Well… since I never fought the Demon God, I would not know.”
Rather, that was something he himself wanted to ask.
What the Demon God had been like.
How strong the Demon God had been.
Yet looking at Baek Do-ha’s current state, he could roughly guess just how powerful the Demon God must have been.
“Have your questions been answered now?”
“Yeah.”
Do-ha nodded and glanced at Metatron standing beside him.
The angel was still standing there blankly, so deep was the shock.
“Then I shall take my leave.”
A soft turn.
“Wait.”
“?”
When Laktakalion turned his back, Do-ha called the Dragon God once more.
“Once your body returns to normal, do you intend to fight the Heavenly God again?”
“What about you? Once you regain your former strength, do you intend to fight the Demon God again?”
“Of course. This time I will definitely cut the Demon God’s life short.”
“Heh heh, I am the same.”
Shushuk!
Laughing, Laktakalion vanished via teleportation.
Even though the man was an enemy of the angels, Metatron still could not pull himself free from the shock.