The battle was fierce.
The army and warhorses were summoned by the Black Sun, along with the black goats.
They clashed with dragons. Heroes collided. Most of those watching the fight trembled with excitement.
‘We can achieve greatness.’
‘This is a monumental feat. At this rate, I’ll soon reach the top tier myself…!’
Most of those who came after hearing about the all-out war against the Nazi Empire received some sort of reward.
However, the majority participated in this fight to build their “rank.” It was the most basic achievement needed to ascend to the next stage.
If they could topple the massive pillar of evil that was the Nazi Empire, imagine how extraordinary that achievement would be.
The will of the world treated heroes in such a manner.
The stronger evil grew, the more it rewarded those who vanquished it, even at the cost of its own power.
Rising in rank brought immeasurable pleasure.
This was why those specializing in heroics killed villains and monsters. Most high-ranking heroes were obsessed with building their rank and honing their “studies.”
Thus, when news of the Sword Saint’s fall in Japan spread, many top-tier individuals emerged, and when the Nazis began suspicious activities, many gathered.
Some described this as the dark side of heroism. However, even if they feigned virtue, as long as they enacted good, the world did not see it as darkness.
Of course, there was risk.
But could this even be called a mere risk?
Crackle!
Blue lightning scorched the army.
Flash!
Light radiated in all directions, erasing a third of the army. The battle situation overwhelmingly favored them. Two dragons, each exceeding transcendence, were present.
Although the opposing side had apostles and an evil dragon, the latter was forced out of the battlefield by Kim Seo-hyun and Sigurd.
Moreover, the appearance of blue lightning confirmed a significant shift in power.
It was evident that the deity of lightning, dwelling within the temple, had intervened.
The forces were evenly matched, but their presence drastically tilted the odds.
All the heroes calculated this as they began pouring their firepower.
It was a decision made because they didn’t yet know the true form of the Black Sun above.
Kim Seo-hyun was relieved by the sight. That thing, whose true form as the Black Sun remained unknown, needed to be killed.
It was dangerous.
Even with Lee Seo-ha’s sword, it had only sustained damage. It had to be finished off somehow.
He gripped his pure white sword.
The Sword of Wrath howled. Blue lightning coalesced.
‘Brilliant Divine Guiding Light.’
The power of flames combined with the power of lightning.
A technique that Kim Seo-hyun, focused solely on destruction, would have never used in the past.
It was the influence Lee Seo-ha had on her.
If the original Kim Seo-hyun maximized martial arts connections for prolonged battles, the current Kim Seo-hyun linked overwhelming martial arts to maximize destructive power.
Of course, the strain on her body was significant.
However, Kim Seo-hyun developed an external art with the Heavenly Demon.
An unnamed martial art, made solely for Lee Seo-ha.
‘Nameless Martial Art.’
In creating it, Kim Seo-hyun felt a sense of destiny.
Martial arts, often likened to clothes, varied greatly depending on one’s innate energy and physique.
The Heavenly Demon couldn’t properly use this martial art.
She grumbled, saying it didn’t suit her.
But surprisingly, it fit Kim Seo-hyun perfectly.
A martial art crafted solely for Lee Seo-ha aligned with her.
This sense of destiny was inescapable.
Crackle!
Lightning roared. Flames layered on top of it.
Combining the properties of flame and lightning proved challenging to control.
Even for Kim Seo-hyun, adept at wielding martial arts as if they were extensions of her limbs, it was enough to make her scowl.
A blue sword aura composed of lightning and flames cut through the air.
Its destructive power was exceptional.
It tore through the army, paving the way for Seolhwa Ryeon to reach the Black Sun.
“Now!”
At Kim Seo-hyun’s shout, Seolhwa Ryeon moved. She froze “space” in midair, using it as a stepping stone.
Then, she leaped.
This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.
She reached the Black Sun in an instant.
The Black Sun did not see her as a threat.
That was an unchangeable fact. She wasn’t strong enough to reach it.
However, she could bring someone capable of deeply wounding it to this spot.
‘Position Shift.’
Shadows engulfed her.
They swallowed Seo Ga-yeon on the ground.
And switched their positions.
What Seolhwa Ryeon saw was the ground below and Seo Ga-yeon, standing before the Black Sun, gathering magic that sparkled like starlight.
Seo Ga-yeon focused.
Her vision was a star-filled sky.
From there, she crafted the constellations of Lee Seo-ha and herself, then brought them forth.
In the void.
A black universe unfolded there.
The Milky Way, manifested in white magic, stretched across the space.
Just before it reached the Black Sun.
“I…”
The Black Sun spoke.
-Do you think I’ll fall for your tricks a third time?
The Black Sun disappeared.
Simultaneously, a mass of tentacles appeared.
Corpses prepared before the priest of the Black Sun shed their husks.
And countless armies blocked the starlight magic.
Then, something fell.
A head belonging to a being of unfathomable rank, staring in horror.
‘An apostle…?’
Seo Ga-yeon instinctively recognized it.
It was a being of the same rank as what Lee Seo-ha had encountered in another dimension.
‘This is…’
It bound her. Like a curse, it seeped into her body, obstructing her starlight magic.
And the Black Sun fixed its gaze on her.
A massive death force began to gather right before her face.
A tiny sun.
A small black sun compressed itself.
“Die.”
Fwooooooom!
A black flash tore through everything, exploding toward Seo Ga-yeon.
“Huff!”
She drew upon the remaining starlight magic.
Her heart was being overworked.
Even with the little power forcibly gathered, she instinctively knew it wouldn’t be enough to block the deadly flash of death.
‘This won’t work…’
Seo Ga-yeon felt regret.
Dying wasn’t particularly frightening. Her life had always been in the gutter anyway. Seo Ga-yeon’s existence was a series of resignations.
But there was one thing she didn’t want to give up.
She thought of a man who had taught her the meaning of life.
Space distorted.
A tremendous force emanated from the distortion.
A white dragon appeared and positioned itself in front of the flash.
Saaaaa—
Magic began gathering at its mouth. Space warped. Time bent. A power that distorted everything combined with the authority of breath.
Fwooooom!
It collided with the deadly flash, bending and distorting all in its path. In the meantime, Kim Seo-hyun swiftly leaped to Seo Ga-yeon and pulled her out.
As she did, she recalled the words of the Black Sun.
‘Three times?’
The answer possibly lay within herself.
The martial art known as Eternity.
There was a martial art left to her by the white entity, but she couldn’t yet use it.
This spacetime martial art, accessible only to transcendents, was still beyond her reach.
As Kim Seo-hyun puzzled over the situation, a sudden change occurred among the heroes battling the warhorses and the army.
Dozens of heroes were annihilated in an instant.
A figure in black robes appeared.
Everything about them was pitch black.
Like darkness that seemed capable of consuming everything.
“Hahaha! You’re nothing more than worms. Humans truly amount to this much at best.”
He had once been an artist.
He loved orchestrating his army like a masterpiece.
As a commander, he was unfit, but in one sense, he had the qualifications of a transcendent.
He was utterly consumed by something.
To others, he seemed no more than a madman, but the wall of transcendence fundamentally required madness to breach.
Ironically, that was what made him a priest and gave him the qualities of an apostle.
“As expected, I’m the only one who can save humanity.”
A new apostle appeared.
Everyone present realized the tide of battle was shifting.
The once-favorable situation was now turning against them.
The apostle moved.
With the power bestowed by the Black Sun, he had to purify these beings.
Those corrupted and fallen needed to be cleansed and turned into warhorses. He had to buy time for his master to recover strength.
Step.
“Ah, so you’re still here.”
The Savior.
The figure known by that title stood in his way.
As expected, this was fate.
This battle was meant to decide who the true savior was between him and the masked man.
However, the state of the masked man was strange.
What he saw was—
Lee Seo-ha, consumed by black energy.
Her gaze was unfocused.
Like a force spiraling out of control.
“What?”
And then, without hesitation, she “devoured” the Black Sun’s apostle.
“Welcome, Contractor.”
The entirely black form spoke.
Instinctively, I realized the being was the Black God.
“Contractor?”
“Yes, Contractor. We are bound by a contract. Though you might not have been aware of it.”
“…?”
“To put it simply, in your terms… always read the fine print.”
The being chuckled silently.
So, when I first agreed to the terms in that game, I unknowingly formed a contract?
What kind of absurd nonsense was this…?
“Well then, let’s proceed with the contract.”
No matter how I looked at it, this being didn’t seem to have made the contract with good intentions.
“Surrender your body.”
It opened its mouth wide, aiming for me.
Burp—
I felt an unfamiliar fullness.
I didn’t know why, but my body was brimming with strength. It felt as though some kind of impurity had entered me, like the bloated feeling after eating meat and then following it with cheap ice cream.
“How?! How do you possess the Absolute Stat…?!”
Something was stirring within the power now dwelling inside me.
[You have devoured the original owner of the Absolute Stat, the Black God.]
[The Absolute Stat Black (黑) has increased by 6.]
…?