Became the Patron of Villains

“Ha—”

Al-Akulakka tore open its chest and revealed the core inside while wearing a sticky smile.

Seeing that, Alon let out a hollow laugh without realizing it.

And it was not only Alon.

Evan, who had stabbed what they thought was the core.

And Penia, who until just moments ago had been covering her mouth with her arm as though nauseated, now stared with her eyes wide open in disbelief.

Their reactions were natural.

Because the fact that the core was inside the body of the Karma of War—

Put simply, it was no different from saying Alon’s group had already lost.

“......”

Alon did not have much time left now.

From the beginning, Sia and Alon’s group had arrived here just before Al-Akulakka’s ascension.

They had broken through the countless flesh masses outside the capital and waited for the moment when Al-Akulakka would be at its weakest.

However, at this very moment—

The month they had spent waiting for the moment of greatest weakness instead returned to them as something fatal.

The ability of the Karma of War was simple.

As long as it did not lose its will, it would not die.

Of course, they could begin fighting now and kill it hundreds of times, eventually driving it to the point where it could no longer endure through willpower alone.

But to do that, Alon would also need a great deal of time.

......And the current Alon did not have much time left.

“.......”

Silently, Alon looked up at the sky.

The violet clouds that had covered everything with Divine power were slowly fading.

What became visible again was the black organs and the gigantic mass pulsing even more violently than before.

Looking at it, Alon realized—

There was not much time left until ascension.

And then—

Craack—!

In a fleeting instant, Alon’s heart was pierced through.

“—!”

Bright red blood burst from his chest.

And after that, what he saw was—

[Do not let your attention wander.]

The face of a dragonkin covered in flesh masses, staring at Alon with crimson eyes as it warned him.

Crunch—!

Without realizing it, Alon gritted his teeth.

He immediately raised his hand and cast aside the useless thoughts surfacing in his mind one by one.

‘There’s no turning it back now.’

Alon quickly accepted reality.

The situation had already unfolded.

He did not know what method Al-Akulakka had used, but rather than gaining the cooperation of the Karma of War, it had taken over its body.

And Al-Akulakka, possessing the body of the Karma of War, had embedded the core in its heart and activated its ability.

Now, with not much time remaining until manifestation ended—

“Hoo...”

Even with the hand still buried in his chest, Alon let out a breath.

He could not panic.

No, there was no need to panic.

The situation had twisted, making it seem as though their immediate goal had become impossible, but regardless—

What needed to be done was still clear.

‘Stop Al-Akulakka’s ascension.’

The process had merely become tangled, and the situation had flowed in an unforeseen direction.

But in the end, what they had to do remained unchanged.

Alon extended his hand forward.

Toward Al-Akulakka, who was once again wearing that grotesque smile with those dull black eyes.

And then—

With a crackling sound—

Its head flew off.

It happened instantly.

And just like that—

The battle began.

####

Naturally, after coming to the past, Alon was unable to use laws.

That was only natural.

This world was a timeline where laws had not yet been created.

But despite that—

Craaack—!

Alon was fighting Al-Akulakka on equal footing.

Crush—!

Al-Akulakka, wearing a smile eerie enough to send chills down one’s spine, smashed apart Alon’s head.

And Alon, not caring in the slightest even as his head exploded, merely raised his hand—

Crush—!

—and completely blew away Al-Akulakka’s upper body.

In the fleeting instant before either could even comprehend what had happened, the two had already taken each other’s lives once.

Grin—!

Watching Al-Akulakka grin widely at him, Alon thought—

‘As expected... it was the correct answer.’

During the month they had spent waiting for the moment of Al-Akulakka’s ascension, when it would be at its weakest, Alon had devoted most of his time to magic.

What he had gained during the first two weeks with Sia’s help was the complete establishment of his own system.

A usable framework that would not feel awkward even once he returned to the future and used laws again.

However, even that was closer to a preparatory process for facing Al-Akulakka and the Karma of War.

The system could raise Alon’s overall combat power by several levels, but in the end, it was merely a foundation.

And so, during the remaining two weeks after establishing that system, what Alon did was research two spells.

One of them was the study of “Thunder God Form.”

In a battle against the Karma of War, Thunder God Form was essential.

From the moment he could not use Thunder God Form, he would be forced to accept one-sided attacks from the Karma of War’s extreme speed.

That was why, over those two weeks, Alon researched Thunder God Form.

Remembering the limits of the Thunder God Form he had once refined to the extreme.

Reorganizing its structure.

Reestablishing the spell formula.

And finally—

Crush—!

—granting it a law through Divine power.

And thus, what he created was this.

Thunder Shadow.

Crackle—!

As he burst apart Al-Akulakka’s heart while it was still regenerating its head, Alon’s body moved without remaining fixed in place any longer, endlessly fluctuating.

It flickered unstably as though its form might collapse at any moment into scattered particles, yet its shape never actually broke apart.

And whenever Alon moved—

Crack-crack-crackle—!

Violet lightning engraved itself through space.

Lightning traced itself along the ends of his black coat.

And once more, he extended his hand toward Al-Akulakka, whose face had regenerated again.

Crush—!

In that fleeting instant, Alon’s body, which had briefly solidified, shattered Al-Akulakka’s head.

This was the first result of the magic Alon had researched over the past two weeks.

A spell that kept his body in a constant molecular state for as long as his mana and endurance allowed.

Thanks to that, Alon was able to fight without being pushed back in his battle against Al-Akulakka.

[Kh—!]

Watching Al-Akulakka regenerate its face while grinning, Alon moved backward again as the battle continued, and realized several things.

The first was Al-Akulakka’s combat ability.

‘As expected—’

Al-Akulakka’s physical abilities were definitely equal to, or perhaps even faster than, those of the Karma of War.

Of course, that was considering how the flesh masses attached to its one remaining arm constantly ruined its physical balance and occasionally caused it to stumble.

But even so—

‘It’s weak.’

Al-Akulakka was weak.

More precisely, it seemed utterly ignorant of close combat.

Right now, Al-Akulakka was simply using this ability and the Karma of War’s physical capabilities as a base to pressure Alon, without displaying the true combat techniques the Karma of War had once shown.

In other words, the reason Alon was able to fight on relatively equal footing even in this situation was because Al-Akulakka had become weaker.

However—

Crush—!

“!”

—even weakened, it was still using the physical abilities of the Karma of War.

That fact had not changed.

Which was why Alon could maintain a close battle, but could not overwhelm it.

Perhaps because his heart had been pierced moments ago, thick red blood surged up from his mouth.

Spitting it out, Alon once again blew apart Al-Akulakka’s head while continuing his train of thought.

‘And the core still isn’t breaking.’

Alon lowered his gaze.

Just as Al-Akulakka had done to him earlier, Alon had pierced straight through its heart.

Yet strangely enough, the core embedded inside Al-Akulakka remained intact.

Even in the center of that hollowed-out chest, it maintained its form as though ignoring every kind of attack.

And the same applied to—

Fwoooosh—!

Penia’s magic as well.

The moment Al-Akulakka finished regenerating, Penia unleashed her spell as though she had been waiting for exactly that instant.

But even after taking her attack directly, Al-Akulakka’s core remained unchanged.

As though there was no need to use this ability at all because neither Alon nor Penia could destroy it anyway.

‘Why?’

Watching that, Alon felt confusion rise within him.

According to Sia’s explanation, Al-Akulakka had placed a restriction upon itself.

So that anything other than a “human” could not kill Al-Akulakka.

But a “human” could.

Alon had already expected his own attacks to be partially ineffective.

Sia had said that only pure humans could attack Al-Akulakka.

Of course, racially speaking, Alon himself was undoubtedly a completely pure human.

However, he could already use Divine power and even manifest.

So in a certain sense, it was understandable if he no longer qualified as a purely human existence.

And because of that, he could understand why his attacks were ineffective.

But separate from that, he could not understand why Penia’s attacks also failed.

Unlike Alon, she was human.

And yet, just like Alon’s attacks, her attacks damaged Al-Akulakka’s body but failed to harm the core itself.

“......”

A shadow fell into Alon’s eyes.

He still had no idea how to deal with the Karma of War’s ability, and now this newly discovered problem further complicated his thoughts.

And at that moment—

“Hup—!”

Alon saw Evan appear beside Al-Akulakka and swing his sword.

A strike that completely disregarded his own life, aimed solely at landing a decisive blow.

However—

[Hmph—!]

As though it had anticipated the attack beforehand, Al-Akulakka immediately twisted its body to avoid the strike, then swung its right leg and kicked Evan away.

“Khagh—!”

Along with that, Evan’s body split apart instantly as he was crushed and sent flying.

And in the middle of Alon’s chaotic thoughts, a fleeting instant entered his vision.

For the briefest moment, crimson light flashed within Al-Akulakka’s eyes, which had until now only emitted a dull dark glow.

‘What was that?’

Alon felt puzzled.

Honestly, in the current situation, glowing eyes appearing and disappearing in the opponent’s gaze was not something worth paying attention to.

And yet strangely enough, that crimson glow, which seemed to appear only at specific moments, bothered him.

Almost like instinct.

Because those crimson eyes were identical to the eyes the Karma of War had once shown.

‘......Come to think of it, even at the beginning—’

He recalled the moment the Karma of War had first appeared.

When it looked at Alon and said it had been waiting for him.

However, immediately afterward, the crimson glow vanished and Al-Akulakka began speaking instead.

And from then on, the crimson glow appeared only during very brief moments—

But only during certain specific moments.

“—”

His thoughts continued.

The moments he had unconsciously overlooked replayed rapidly inside Alon’s mind.

What he searched for was the timing when the Karma of War’s eyes glowed red.

And finally, Alon realized something.

‘......Only when Evan attacks?’

The crimson glow appeared only when Evan attacked.

And the instant he realized that, a hypothesis began forming in Alon’s mind.

A hypothesis still filled with unresolved questions, yet one that held enough possibility.

......A possibility for victory.

“......Found it.”

Alon muttered quietly.