Rumble. A faint vibration rode on the wind and spread across their surroundings. Nobody could feel it, but Ru Amuh with his especially keen senses came to a stop and turned around. For a while, he simply stood there.
“Huh? Ru Amuh, what is it?” Ru Hiana also turned to see what he was looking at. “Is someone following us or something?” Seeing nothing, Ru Hiana raised her head and looked up toward the sky.
“What did you see—” Ru Hiana trailed off because she saw something strange. A part of the sky was bright even though it was nighttime, and that particular spot was brightening and darkening again and again like there was a lightning storm coming down. The two fell into silence upon seeing the strange phenomenon. And as the two people in front of the line abruptly stopped, others also began to turn their heads one by one. Soon, they had all noticed the flickering sky and were staring at it blankly. At once, the same thought passed through everyone’s mind.
“Teacher…” Ru Amuh muttered. Even without finishing his sentence, everyone knew what he was meaning to say. Where was Chi-Woo, and what was he doing right now? And how intense was his battle that they could see its effects from here?
“…It’s time for us to go,” Zelit spoke. “Let’s believe him and do our part. That's all we can do.”
Ru Amuh finally regained his senses then.
“After all, we have to welcome him back with our arms wide open,” Zelit added. Ru Amuh’s heart filled with emotions and determination. His face hardened, and he nodded before turning forward. The capital was in front of him.
While Ru Amuh led a group of recruits to take over the capital, Chi-Woo was still in the middle of his ongoing battle with a nameless god. The two had already revealed all their cards to each other, and the first one to run out of energy would be the first to fall.
“You bastard!” As his opponent dived low, Chi-Woo leaped to the side and swung his club widely. The god was struck hard, and although they tried to counterattack immediately, they faltered slightly from the impact of the recent hit. Thanks to that, Chi-Woo was able to always be two beats ahead of his opponent, and he continued to swing his club, which was shining with exorcism mana.
—Kuahhh!
The god’s voice became clearer now. Wailing in pain, they twisted their body with a growl and lifted their front legs. Then, they suddenly stopped. After relentlessly making blows at the god, Chi-Woo had escaped to the side, and he was about to aim at what appeared to be the god’s rear-end when—
“!”
As his super-senses heightened, Chi-Woo quickly ran backward.
‘What?’ His synesthesia didn’t catch anything.
Bam! An explosion pierced his ears and shook the ground around him. A cloud of wind and dust raged as if a grenade had gone off in the area where Chi-Woo used to be. Chi-Woo regained his balance after this sudden attack, and he felt goosebumps across his skin. If he hadn’t moved…
‘Then what would have happened?’ Reminding himself that this would be no easy battle even though the god had been repeatedly struck, Chi-Woo heightened his alertness again. He tilted his head at a pressing question that popped into his mind. The god had creaked like a broken robot after getting struck by Indra’s lightning, but now, they were moving fluidly like water. Like a madman, they had been moving with no rhymes or reason.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
The ground rumbled continuously. As if the god was angry that Chi-Woo kept escaping their attacks, they pounded the ground wildly. Yet these attacks didn’t have much of an effect on Chi-Woo, and Chi-Woo immediately moved and ran across the ground. He didn’t know why the god was acting in this manner, but he thought he should search for an opening. He circled around the god widely and aimed for a weak spot. He was waiting for the god to miss a beat.
‘By the way…how am I going so fast?” Chi-Woo suddenly thought while running. He thought he had become quite familiar with using his exorcism mana, but today, he found his body foreign. It was to the point that he felt like he could surpass even Ru Amuh’s fastest speed, and the god seemed stunned to be unable to follow Chi-Woo’s movements. Perhaps it was thanks to his transformed heart, which thumped like a fiercely rotating motor, so hot that it could almost burn its own body, that he could run like this. While holding that thought, Chi-Woo spotted the god faltering as they pounded the ground. Chi-Woo’s eyes shone.
‘Now!’ Chi-Woo quickly backed away and swung his club.
“!”
His flinching opponent swished backward and swung their hind legs. The god had pulled a feint to draw in Chi-Woo, but their feet swept the ground meaninglessly. Chi-Woo had already pushed himself into the air. After experiencing many battles with Hawa, Chi-Woo had gained the ability to predict his opponent’s movements somewhat. Hawa had frequently used feint attacks whether she was on the offensive or defensive that Chi-Woo could easily tell when his opponents were purposefully acting to lure him in.
Synesthesia was a good ability, but it wasn’t perfect, and his ESP ability was too sporadic to rely on. Thus, Chi-Woo needed a way to make up for what these abilities lacked, and the answer to this problem was reading his opponent’s intention beforehand.
The god continued to hit the ground futilely and then looked around in confusion. Chi-Woo was nowhere to be found. Instincts prompted the god to look up, and they saw Chi-Woo descending and spinning inside a raging whirlwind. And as he fell, Chi-Woo brought his club down on top of the god’s head.
“No time to take a breath! Five~ Six!” Chi-Woo landed on the ground and continued to swing his club nonstop.
“Ah, five, six, seven, eight!” Chi-Woo swung his club eight times in a row, and like a rabid dog biting down his prey, Chi-Woo didn’t let his opponent go; soon, he didn’t even utter his usual nonsense because his relentless barrage left him out of breath. Like a soldier drunk on the fever of battle, Chi-Woo had already lost his mind. He swung frantically with the conviction that he would die if he didn’t manage to kill his opponent. Then the god suddenly created an explosion and pushed him back.
“Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”
After rolling on the ground, Chi-Woo got up and panted like a dog overheating in the summertime. He wasn’t doing too well. He had yet to regain senses in his hands, and he felt as if both his arms would fall off. His heart felt like balls of fire, and he might as well be running a fever. The bun was tightly clutching onto the club so that Chi-Woo wouldn’t lose his grip over it, and even La Bella was giving her support. However, his opponent hadn’t completely fallen yet.
‘How persistent…’
As expected of a god, his opponent endured attacks that would have killed a vengeful spirit thousands of times. However, it looked like they had sustained serious injury. They struggled to stand up, and there were holes all over their body. Chi-Woo tried to steady his breath. All he could do was move and force himself to continue moving until he collapsed. Then, his shaking opponent suddenly took a stance and stared intently at Chi-Woo.
‘…What is it?’ Chi-Woo felt something strange from their movement. Previously, his opponent had felt like a ticking bomb ready to explode at any moment, but now, the god’s energy felt strangely more organized. Chi-Woo felt an indescribable sense of pressure and danger like when he first met La Bella. The god seemed to be leaning towards Chi-Woo, but disappeared without a trace the next moment.
Flash! A sudden gust of wind whipped through Chi-Woo’s neck. When the realization hit, Chi-Woo felt shivers running down the back of his head and neck. ‘What—’ When he noticed the imposing sensation on his back, Chi-Woo instinctively turned around. He quickly raised his club but realized he was too late. Even before he could raise the club halfway, he felt a force that was strong enough to split his face into two and found his struggle futile. Just before, Chi-Woo had thought that he had been successfully pushing the god back, but they suddenly disappeared and was now about to make—
“?” Before his opponent could reach him, they stopped as if time itself had come to a halt.
“…!” Chi-Woo’s pupils shook as he saw claws right in front of his eyes. ‘Wait. Claws?’ While the claws and Chi-Woo stayed completely still, only Chi-Woo’s eyes moved. After a while, his mouth slowly opened. He could see his opponent’s figure much more clearly than before. When he had first seen their form, the god had just been lumps of fat. However, Chi-Woo’s attack had done wonders on his opponent like a diet would, and now, he could clearly see the god’s true form—he could see their sharp claws and their silver-haired hind legs. Upon closer observation, Chi-Woo saw that their entire body was also covered in fur that fluttered in the wind.
‘A wo…lf?’ Even though there were still areas that swelled up bizarrely and a few spots that looked as if their fur had been forcibly ripped apart, Chi-Woo thought the god looked similar to a wolf—in appearance only, of course. No wolf would be able to rival the enormous presence and power of a god. Most importantly, the wolf god had made a desperate attack at Chi-Woo, but was now staying completely still.
–Growl!
The god changed direction and slipped past Chi-Woo’s face, slamming into the ground. Did they purposely miss him? For a moment, Chi-Woo couldn’t understand the situation, but then he saw the wolf’s eye, which looked equal parts dignified and holy. White tears streamed down to display their agony.
“…Ah.” Only then did Chi-Woo realize what was happening and what had happened during this fight. When he first met his opponent, he couldn’t find a trace of will in the god—they were just a machine that followed orders. However, from a certain point during the battle, the god’s condition had changed. After getting hit by Indra’s explosive lightning, the core that the Sernitas implanted in the god surfaced. Moreover, Chi-Woo stopped many of their attacks using his club full of exorcism mana, and both the lightning and his exorcism mana both had purifying effects. The attacks against the god steadily built on top of one another and left serious damage to the Serinitas system; eventually, the god regained a little bit of their consciousness.
‘Is that why…’ The wolf faltered sometimes when they tried to move. This strange behavior was understandable if their mind was confused due to the purification. ‘Then… So far…’
Truthfully, Chi-Woo didn’t think he had a high chance of winning—’low’ didn’t even begin to describe his odds. It would be nothing short of a miracle for him to defeat the god. No matter how strong he had gotten, even with his talisman and the support of others, he was still no more than a human who had only started to become a bit like a hero. In other Worlds, it would be virtually impossible to win by skipping to the final boss and facing a corrupted god. If the god had been in their right state, Chi-Woo wouldn’t be able to say a single word before meeting his demise. Nevertheless, there was only one reason why their fight had continued. The wolf, who got their mind back, didn’t want to kill Chi-Woo. Instead…
–Kill…me…
Chi-Woo’s mind was brought back into reality as he heard a faint cry near his ears.
–Quic…kly…
The wolf god was shaking like crazy as if they were about to lose consciousness again.
–I…can’t…
Chi-Woo’s eyes rolled around. He contemplated what he should do before making his decision. Chi-Woo was not a warrior. To win and survive, he couldn’t miss this opportunity even if it wasn’t fair to the wolf god.
“I’m not sure if this will comfort you, but…” Chi-Woo continued, “I’m planning to restore balance to this world.” He gathered all the remaining exorcism mana he had and tightly clutched his club. “And the group that I have to bring balance to includes the faction that turned you into this.”
Chi-Woo met the wolf’s gaze and saw their eyes curved slightly upwards—as if they were silently imploring him to please carry out his plan.
“…I hope you find comfort and peace. Please return to Saha and be at peace.” Chi-Woo finished his consolation and immediately took action. Rather than earning an honorable victory by fighting fair and square, it was now time to take advantage of an opportunity that would never appear again and end this fight. Chi-Woo went for the fourth swing. He clutched his club as if it was a bat and swung with all his might.
Bam! He felt a strong impact as he made contact with the wolf god. Like hitting a bag full of flour, he felt a dim burst of energy from the point of contact. While divinity fluttered all around them, Chi-Woo was able to see the wolf god’s face as they closed their eyes and calmly faced the end of their existence.
—Thank you…
The large star in the night sky fell to the ground.