Episode 116

Swoosh-.

The sound of waves reached my ears.

It felt like floating in a thick, inky darkness.

No, was I floating? I calmly opened my eyes, feeling the buoyancy of being on the water.

‘…Where is this?’

A black-dyed sky unfolded.

Dark.

Nothing else was felt.

Bleak. A dark sky, devoid of a single cloud, stretched high above.

I looked around.

There was the vast, boundless sea. And I was lying on top of it.

‘…’

I recognized this scene.

-This is…

Eternal Heaven, in a faint spirit form, appeared beside me.

-This shouldn’t be possible. Such an image, of this unbelievable size?

‘Image?’

Eternal Heaven’s eyes were trembling, looking at the sky.

-…You know that upon reaching the highest realm, you can imprint your own laws onto the world, right?

‘Yes.’

-That’s a bit of an oversimplification. More precisely, it’s about manifesting your own world into the existing one. And we refer to this as an ‘image.’

Eternal Heaven spoke with shaking eyes.

-A martial artist, who has built his life around martial arts, sublimates his personal image through martial arts. Hence, martial artists often follow laws. On the contrary, magicians and sorcerers specialize in distorting their own laws. That’s why martial artists have relatively smaller images, and magicians have larger ones…

Eternal Heaven looked at me.

-But Seo-ha’s image is just too, too absurdly enormous. Even those called geniuses struggle to claim even a single square meter of land…

‘Really?’

I lifted my head.

The lofty Black Heaven.

The endlessly spreading Black Sea. Just a desolate landscape.

‘Why this scene?’

I looked at this scene with dark eyes. This place was part of a world that would be destroyed in the future.

An extraterrestrial being distorted the world, turning continents into oceans.

Well, we’re fighting to prevent that from happening.

I looked at Eternal Heaven.

“Then, have I ascended to the highest realm?”

-…No. It will probably be very difficult for Seo-ha to reach the highest realm.

“…Why?”

-The image is too big. That’s actually the problem. If you bring this out into the world…

Eternal Heaven paused in thought, then continued.

-It might cause a tremendous disaster, but the burden it would place on Seo-ha would be too great as well…

However, Eternal Heaven added,

-Most of the highest realms wouldn’t stand a chance against Seo-ha at this level.

A confident tone.

I nodded calmly.

“But how do I get out of here?”

-Just think that you want to leave. By now, you must have absorbed all the levels built by the Black Dragon.

I thought, ‘I wanted to leave,’ as Eternal Heaven had suggested.

Then, I felt as if my consciousness was surfacing.

And I felt an immense sense of fullness enveloping my entire body.

‘…This is.’

My body had changed.

No, something before that had changed. Perhaps the most fundamental power that constituted my body.

Not the Energy of Defying Heaven, but a different power felt stronger.

Strength (格).

The power that divided the beings living in this world became stronger. It’s as if my existence in the world had been etched deeper.

Right now, it’s just an increased presence and a stronger power to overwhelm others, but the moment I achieved transcendence, this strength would evolve to a new level.

And.

‘Am I barely reaching the end of the intermediate level?’

I was certain.

I had reached the end of the middle strength.

Beep.

While I was excited with this strange sense of achievement, my phone rang.

‘…?’

I turned on the phone and reflexively checked the battery, only to be surprised. The battery was in the red.

I checked the time.

“Hmm…”

This was a problem.

It seems I will be late for the event.

Ershil has a bad temperament.

She indulged herself and was harsh towards others.

Ershil grew up in such an environment, naturally becoming a winner in human relationships.

Always winning. Beating those utterly boring losers. She grew up as the most respected member of her family.

At 15, reaching intermediate strength, she was raised to be more noble than even the family head.

‘He’s late.’

Ershil frowned. She was waiting for a man, but he hadn’t arrived.

The next head of the Merchen family, the embodiment of Merchen itself, waiting like this. It’s unacceptable.

“Seo-ha has been missing since the day before yesterday.”

“…He’s been completely out of sight since yesterday.”

Lee Seo-ha was missing.

This was a serious issue. It involved Cynthia, the greatest genius of the Divine Academy.

Seo-ha clashed swords with her and won with a single blow, grabbing her head with his hand.

There was a lot of talk in the world, but it ended with Cynthia being careless and the opponent being too strong.

There was much talk even in the Korea Hero School, but Cynthia was a formidable opponent. To stop Cynthia right away, Ershil herself had to step in.

‘Well, this is not too bad.’

Considering the return and risk, this was not too bad.

Without Lee Seo-ha, who defeated Cynthia in one blow, the Korea Hero School would still be reported to have won.

“Everyone, it’s almost time. Let’s do the final check.”

“Professor. Is it okay to go without Lee Seo-ha?”

“Seo-ha is strong. He indeed plays a major role in our school’s power, but you all are also very strong. There’s a possibility to win without him.”

The professor said so.

Indeed, that was the case. Lee Seo-ha was a major part of the Korean Hero School’s strength, but even without him, they were all incredibly strong beings.

Ershil, the next head of the Merchen family.

Kim Ara, who stayed within the top 200, but her skills were among the top.

And although overshadowed by Lee Seo-ha, there was a student not less capable than Seo-ha.

Then, Kim Seo-hyun.

The mysterious boy who was being taught magic by the Transcendent known as the Thousand Sorcerer and also using the original martial arts.

“That’s right. There’s no problem.”

Hong Yu-hwa spoke with a confident voice. Lee Seo-ha was not there. Her rival and the only boy who could match her was absent, but Hong Yu-hwa was confident.

Even without Lee Seo-ha, they could win.

Ershil watched Hong Yu-hwa with narrowed eyes and shook her head.

‘Am I the only one to be trusted?’

Kim Ara thought.

‘An opportunity to score points.’

Unable to progress due to Ershil at the airport, Kim Ara quietly assessed her own original power.

Park Woon-hyuk thought.

‘Am I the only one?’

He believed he was the only one who could lead them. Though the same age, Lee Seo-ha, who achieved abnormal accomplishments, was someone Park Woon-hyuk admired.

Even though he was a man, if Lee Seo-ha stood above him, Park Woon-hyuk was willing to follow.

Trying to appear calm, Park Woon-hyuk knew how noble a person Lee Seo-ha was.

Having defeated a Mine, Tak Yoon-il, and when he met the so-called ‘Witch,’ he was ready to sacrifice his life; a spirit worth emulating.

Since then, he had been observing Lee Seo-ha, wanting to be even a little like him.

“I will lead.”

“You? The one who looks like a stalker whenever Seo-ha passes by?”

“Hong Yu-hwa, why don’t you stop collecting photos of Seo-ha and sticking them in your room? You’re worse than me.”

“Please, no fighting. And both of you, stop your criminal behavior, okay?”

Ershil intervened in the fight between Hong Yu-hwa and Park Woon-hyuk, thinking.

She was really the only one to be trusted. No, there’s still one more.

“If Seo-ha isn’t here, I really don’t want to fight…”

Hearing Kim Seo-hyun’s quiet muttering, Ershil thought.

The only one to trust was herself.

Day 3.

The Divine Academy had prepared three mock battles.

The first day was for individual battles.

To account for potential injuries, there was a day’s break before the group battle on the third day.

The group battle was the highlight of the mock battles.

The entire student body of both schools competed in a mock battle format, involving a massive fight with over a thousand students from both institutions.

Given the large number of participants, the venue was spacious. To prevent injuries, priests were on standby, and blunt practice weapons were used.

“This is too disadvantageous.”

Individual battles were always won by Korea. This was because the Korea Hero School believe that an outstanding individual could be worth more than a hundred others.

Conversely, America always won the group battles.

The reason was simple.

The more united they were, the stronger they became.

America might not have five Transcendents like Korea, but from corporate CEOs to park janitors,

All of them wielded divine power.

Divine power became immensely strong when united.

“I knew this would happen.”

Ershil sighed.

The students of the Korea Hero School, who overwhelmed the Divine Academy in individual battles, was being pushed back in the group battles.

But it’s still okay. It’s not noticeable yet. Other students were excelling elsewhere.

“Everyone, get out of the way!”

Hong Yu-hwa, wearing the Crown of Crimson Lotus, spoke. Above the crown, the sun was present.

A Solar Laser.

Despite being condensed into a point, its magical power was so immense that it appeared like a sun—extreme.

As the spell was cast, a beam shot out from the sun. Its power was so formidable that even Ershil sweats.

“Such absurd people.”

A low murmur was heard. Full plate mail covered the whole body. And an enormous greatsword.

Cynthia, who had been defeated by Lee Seo-ha in one blow but still not to be underestimated, stepped forward.

“Light!”

The light condensed into the greatsword. Dozens of divinities began to gather in Cynthia’s greatsword.

In America, it was common for each individual to worship one god.

Because the vessel to receive the power of a god was usually not that large.

Saint, who had arrived at the Korea Hero School for reasons unknown, had no peers, save for Cynthia and her two disciples.

Yet, even Saint was constrained to three deities.

Cynthia, on the other hand, was in a league of her own.

She was a vessel (大器) capable of harboring a hundred gods. She had awakened her talent and expanded her capacity.

Thirty-eight divinities danced around her greatsword, their dazzling light cleaving the sky.

“…Huh?”

Out of nowhere, a black spot emerged, slicing through the light. As if in defiance of the illumination, it fragmented into dozens of shards and hurtled towards Cynthia.

Boom!

An explosion thundered, birthing a colossal cloud of dust.

Hong Yu-hwa swiftly veered off course. A laser, infused with sunlight, cleaved through the dust cloud, revealing a boy’s silhouette and voice.

“Sorry.”

His voice was calm. Lee Seo-ha, the one who had dispersed the light, emerged, wearing an awkward smile.

Just as on the first day, he stood with his foot placed on the defeated Cynthia’s head.