The light that swallowed the Demon Duke pierced through the Life Spirit’s armor and streaked into the distance. From the deck of a dimension ship ten kilometers away, Han Junghwa witnessed the flash.
“Yunseo, a beam just fired from inside the Life Spirit. Did you see it?”
“I saw it.”
Choi Yunseo was flying above the deck, her expression grim. Having cast fire magic dozens of times already, she was sweltering inside her armor; more importantly, the news that the Life Spirit had been breached was anything but good.
“I should go, shouldn’t I?”
“You’re the only one here who can stop a Demon Duke, Ma’am.”
“Is there anyone to take me there?”
“I’ll look for a Gale-attribute mage.”
One name came to Choi Yunseo’s mind: Joo Eun-jong, a man rumored to have been set on the right path by Choi Kangjoong. When she paged him through the command network, he quickly flew to the dimension ship where the two women were waiting.
“What is it?”
“Take Ms. Han to the Life Spirit.”
“Understood.”
Eun-jong complied without a fuss. Gone was the man of the past who would have flown into a rage, asking if they took him for a delivery boy. He landed on the deck, offered his hand to Han Junghwa, and took off again.
“We’re heading to the Life Spirit. What’s the status?”
The command center answered Junghwa’s radio call almost immediately.
- Demon Duke confirmed eliminated. The Life Spirit is safe.
“What was that light coming from the ship earlier?”
- That was the Life Spirit’s main cannon. They turned it inward to take out the Demon Duke.
“It wasn’t the demon’s doing?”
- Mr. Serad fired it.
“Then I guess I don’t need to go?”
- They’re clearing the interior now and say no backup is required.
“Okay. Confirmed.”
Eun-jong, picking up on the cue, dropped her back on the deck. Yunseo landed beside them as Junghwa explained the situation.
“That was the Life Spirit’s main cannon?”
“That’s what they said. I knew it the moment I saw it. It was way too clean to be a demon’s attack.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“When have you ever seen me lie?”
“At least a thousand times.”
“I can leave now, right?” Eun-jong interjected.
“Ah, sorry. You can head back.”
“Yunseo, why send him back so soon?”
Yunseo couldn’t bring herself to say that being around him was awkward because of his past mistakes. “Why? Is there something you wanted to ask him?”
“He’s a mage! Gale-attribute!”
“Ah…”
Gale mages, who used the wind to attack enemies and support allies, had a certain nickname: the battlefield’s electric fans.
“You can do that for us, right?”
“Hey, now. I’m not some household appliance,” Eun-jong snapped. He could tolerate a wasted trip, but being treated like a cooling unit was another matter.
“Oh, come on, you can do that much. Don’t you see how hot Yunseo is? You can ask her to start a fire for you when it’s winter or when you’re cold.”
Yunseo was already fanning herself with her hand, trying to cool the sweat rolling down her cheeks. It was the perpetual struggle of a fire-attribute mage.
Han Junghwa waved her hands, and the sheer power of an S-Class Warrior stirred a strong breeze. Eun-jong suddenly remembered who Yunseo’s brother was and softened his expression.
“You’re very hot, aren’t you?”
“It’s a total sauna inside this armor.”
“Wind coming through.”
Eun-jong cast Wind Blow, the most basic gale magic. A breeze far superior to hand-fanning swept over them. Yunseo and Junghwa spread their arms, savoring the cool air as their hair whipped around. Their bodies and armor cooled instantly.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll make a fire for you when it’s cold.”
While creating fire or wind were magical basics that both could technically do, the efficiency was leagues apart. Eun-jong gave a curt nod and quickly took flight. He wanted to get away as fast as possible; Yunseo made him uncomfortable, and Junghwa was far too bossy.
After waving goodbye to the departing Eun-jong, Yunseo and Junghwa moved toward the Titans, where a fierce battle was unfolding on their backs.
Blue spheres manifested around Archduke Ventresca. They were Chaos Balls—chaos magic the size of a human head that erased everything they touched.
The Chaos Balls were fired with explosive force. They accelerated to supersonic speeds in less than a second, yet they were eerily silent. The moment the atmosphere—which would normally cause friction and sound—touched the blue spheres, it simply vanished.
Choi Kangjoong tracked the Chaos Balls with his eyes. True to the nature of chaos magic, they moved in bizarre trajectories that defied inertia and gravity. Even Ventresca couldn’t predict their exact paths; there was only a general tendency for them to move toward Kangjoong. Some even tore through other demons, killing them in the process.
“It’s like a reaction time test.”
Sshrk.
Kangjoong cut a Chaos Ball. His death mana dismantled the sphere’s demonic energy structure. The ball dissipated, but he couldn’t relax yet. At least thirty more were closing in, zigzagging and curving through the air.
Sshrk. Sshrk. Sshrk.
Kangjoong’s Death Blade danced. Any Chaos Ball that entered a certain radius was destroyed, venting its demonic energy. Once all the spheres were cleared, Kangjoong transformed his arm into a Mana Cannon and fired.
Archduke Ventresca blocked the shell easily. He hadn’t expected to kill Kangjoong with such a simple move anyway.
“There are no rules beneath chaos.”
Demons of Chaos linked themselves around Ventresca. They were forced to share his thoughts and will. This concentrated consciousness bound and arranged demonic energy with immense power, manifesting Ventresca’s will into reality.
Crack.
Sound vanished and returned in thunderous bursts. Vision distorted; objects suddenly floated or plummeted. Magic beasts flailed as if drowning, unable to control their bodies. Even the demons were barely able to stand, their sense of balance and motor functions thrown into total disarray.
“Broken Rule. Against my great magic, the laws of the world are meaningless.”
In a place where everything had met chaos, only Ventresca remained unaffected. As the one with the deepest understanding of Broken Rule, he should have been the only one capable of flying and using magic freely.
That was how it was supposed to be.
But then, something strange caught Ventresca’s eye. Choi Kangjoong was flying in a perfectly straight line. He should have been stumbling or crashing into the ground, yet his flight was incredibly stable.
‘Is he using Root Magic? A mere human?!’
There was only one way to escape the influence of Broken Rule: countering it with Root Magic. Since it was a spell that twisted the very concepts of reality, no being should have remained unscathed.
Ventresca fired more Chaos Balls. The blue spheres flew in various trajectories. Because they contained Source Energy, the core concept—that Kangjoong was the target and would be erased—remained unchanged.
Sshrk. Sshrk. Sshrk.
The Chaos Balls were sliced in half by the Death Blade and vanished, just like before.
“What about Root Magic? Is it some sort of crime for a human to use it?”
“Root Magic is a secret technique permitted only to mighty beings capable of changing the principles of the world. It is a realm a mere human can never reach.”
“And why can’t humans reach it?”
“Because you are vermin with short lifespans and feeble souls!”
“You really only say things that’ll piss a human off.”
“It is the absolute truth.”
“Then what about me using Root Magic?”
“Then you must be a being that has transcended humanity.”
Kangjoong saw no reason to argue further. Whatever he said, Ventresca would view him as something other than human. It felt strange to bicker with an opponent who would soon be dead anyway.
Even though he realized Kangjoong was using Root Magic, Ventresca remained composed. Even if the human could use it, there was no way he could compare in the sheer quantity of Source Energy. It was a delusion born from the same logic Archduke Luderlock had used.
“Let’s end this.”
Grrr.
Grrr.
Kangjoong expanded his Apocalid World even further. By infusing it with Source Energy, the Apocalids within it were no longer affected by Broken Rule. On the other hand, the demons were so crushed by the Magi Suppression that even Count-class demons were falling to Walkers.
Kangjoong and the two Lutals charged. Ten Scythe Claws lunged for Ventresca. The Archduke was kept busy dodging the Death Blade, and even that was becoming difficult.
On the ground, the Lutal without a booster led the assault. If he flew up, the booster-equipped Lutal attacked, and higher still, Kangjoong fired his Mana Cannon or slashed with his Death Blade whenever the demon drew near.
Ventresca was forced to fly higher. On the ground, he was being ganged up on by all three; in the sky, he only had to fight two.
Having ascended a kilometer during the fight, Ventresca checked on Archduke Luderlock’s situation. Even a glance told him it wasn’t going well. Luderlock’s great magic couldn’t do a thing against a single Battle Titan wreathed in flames. Dielka’s arrows harassed Luderlock incessantly.
Iselin was even worse. Surrounded by dozens of wind spirits in the form of blades and spears, she was grinding through demons and magic beasts. Only corpses remained in her wake, leaving a feast for the Walkers’ transport parties. Furthermore, the Immortal Legion, deprived of support from the Chaos Legion, was being decimated by artillery fire.
And the Dimensional Sea? It wasn’t much different from the ground. The Life Spirit, which had risked everything to breach the Demon Duke’s position, remained intact. Though it had sustained 30% damage from the internal cannon blast, its core functions were fine. In contrast, the demon dimension ships were down to 50%. With the expedition fleet providing fire support while taking almost no damage, the direction of the sea battle was clear.
‘At this rate, we will lose.’
It was unbelievable, but it was reality. It was something that absolutely could not happen. An Archduke of the Demon Realm losing to a mere human and failing a task decided by the Legion Meeting? Not only would he lose his position as Archduke, but he could be torn apart to serve as raw material for the birth of other demons.
‘I must revise the strategy. I have to suppress the Dimensional Sea first.’
The range of Ventresca’s Broken Rule was far wider than Kangjoong’s Apocalid World. If he used this advantage to bring down all of Kangjoong’s bio-dimensional ships and then seized control of the ground, he still had a chance.
‘If it comes to the worst, I’ll have to wake that thing.’
The Devil of Devouring, currently slumbering within Ventresca’s fleet. If it was the one that had dominated other Devils of Devouring, it could be a sufficient variable on this battlefield.
Soaring high, Ventresca dove into the fray where the Apocalids and bio-dimensional ships were entangled. His Broken Rule sent the Apocalids into a state of confusion. The high-intelligence demons fared slightly better, and the demons of chaos were somewhat accustomed to such conditions. Because of this, the kill ratio began to flip. The tide of battle seemed to be turning.
Ventresca felt a sense of satisfaction as he dodged attacks from Kangjoong and the Lutals.
“The moment your Source Energy is exhausted, you are finished!”
Ventresca shouted his declaration. However, Kangjoong’s Root Magic showed no signs of fading. It was only natural—he was receiving Source Energy from the Apocalids that possessed Source Generation Organs. Ventresca was essentially fighting a hundred-to-one battle, though he remained blissfully unaware of that fact.
When the remaining demon dimension ships dropped to 30%, Ventresca could no longer hold back. He gave the order.
“Wake the Devil of Devouring!”
The Chaos demons on his flagship left the vessel and flew downward. There, the Devil of Devouring lay dormant. Like the one that had appeared in the Kraken Sea, its entire body was covered in mouths, but it was far more massive—easily over thirty kilometers long.
The Chaos demons released the chains and pushed the creature. The massive form in the rear slowly drifted closer to the battlefield. Once they had moved it near the Apocalid formation, they stimulated it with chaos magic.
The mouths covering the Devil of Devouring’s body tore wide open.
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