Both Seokjin and Hyunsoo stared at eachother.
The atmosphere grew heavy with mana and aura.
In a second, they both rushed.
Hyunsoo shot out his fist, just for it to hit the green barrier. Seokjin immediately threw his fist at the liver of Hyunsoo. But it was stopped by his elbow.
They both exchanged fist for a time, Hyunsoo dodged and Seokjin blocked.
Suddenly, an explosion occurred. Blasting the door, right at Hyunsoo, he crouched to avoid it, but was hit by Seokjin's fist.
He was thrown into the hard wall, and cracked it. Blood started coming out of his mouth.
In front of the door, was Jiwoo.
He stood with a massive wand — taller than him — slung over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. The wand's core pulsed with mana, its tip glowing an eerie, unstable orange.
Steam hissed off the concrete where he stepped.
Seokjin frowned. "Jiwoo, that wand's for city-level raids."
Jiwoo cracked his neck. "Yeah? So is Hyunsoo."
Hyunsoo's eyes narrowed. "Didn't know you were the 'bring a cannon to a knife fight' type."
Jiwoo raised the wand off his shoulder, planting its base into the floor with a loud thud.
"This is a knife," he said. "You're just built different."
The wand glowed brighter — mana symbols lighting up down the shaft, one by one.
"Don't do it, Jiwoo," Seokjin warned, his barrier flaring again.
Jiwoo didn't look at him. His gaze was locked on Hyunsoo.
"Seokjin's too nice," Jiwoo muttered. "I'm not."
Hyunsoo stood, brushing dust off his shoulders, the wall behind him cracked like a spiderweb. "So what, you gonna blow me up too?"
Jiwoo smiled. But it wasn't friendly.
"Probably."
Mana gathered at the tip of the wand, now humming like a reactor. The glow bathed the room in orange light.
Hyunsoo tensed. "Try it."
Jiwoo raised the wand.
Seokjin dropped his stance into defensive mode.
The air vibrated.
Then Jiwoo slammed the wand down.
A blinding burst of fire and wind erupted from the center, splitting the air like thunder. The impact scorched the ground, sending a shockwave across the entire basement.
And in that moment—
Hyunsoo rushed.
Straight through the flame.
Unscathed.
His aura flared, black and blue threads wrapping around his limbs like burning tape.
He spun past Seokjin—
Jumped past the blast—
And punched the wand.
Not Jiwoo.
The wand.
CRACK!
The wand's outer layer shattered. Mana backfired. The light flickered.
BOOM!
The wand exploded, although Seokjin put the barrier on himself as well as jiwoo just in time, it still wounded them.
The basement had exploded, Hyunsoo had already ran away before the explosion, just as he exited the building. He wanted to wish he hadn't.
In front of him, stood about 8 people. He could recognize them all. The top S-Rankers of Korea. All gathered to surround him.
One of them stepped forward — a tall man with a greatsword strapped to his back, sunglasses on even though it was dusk. It was Hunter Kang Minsoo, Rank 10.
"How about we let this slide...?" Hyunsoo politely asked.
"Nope," he said casually, cracking his neck. "You injured the Healer's boyfriend. That's a death sentence."
Behind him, Mira crossed her arms. "I'm not even mad, actually."
She looked very mad.
Hyunsoo raised both hands. "Guys. Let's talk. Words are stronger than fists. Peace and love—"
A throwing spear flew at his face, though He tilted his head just in time.
Hyunsoo sighed, his eyes scanning each of the S-Rankers. His mind raced. He could maybe take two. Three if he played dirty. Eight?
Suicide.
But his body was already moving.
He ducked the next spear, kicked a piece of broken concrete into the air, and vanished.
"He's using Blink!" someone yelled.
But it wasn't Blink.
It was just speed.
Pure, unfiltered movement boosted by his aura. His figure blurred, zigzagging past the first hunter — a speed-type with red goggles — and elbowed him in the ribs hard enough to knock the wind out.
Then he backflipped off the guy's chest, landing behind Mira.
"Sorry about the boyfriend," he whispered.
She turned—
Too slow.
Hyunsoo tapped her shoulder, aura crackling on his fingers. A moment later, her barrier exploded in a mini burst, flinging her sideways into a parked van.
"Two down," he muttered.
Minsoo was already there.
Greatsword unsheathed.
Aura ignited.
No talking. Just swinging.
CLANG!
Hyunsoo caught it — barely — his arms trembling under the weight.
"You're fast," Minsoo said, smiling like a monster.
"You're heavy," Hyunsoo muttered, gritting his teeth.
Minsoo pushed. Hyunsoo skidded back, boots dragging across the ground.
Then he twisted, redirected the momentum—
—and slammed Minsoo into the pavement.
He stood there but no for long, as he immediately got attacked by a dagger from behind.
He ducked, just in time to save his head from severing, but late enough to leave a scratch.
And then—He suddenly vanished.
Appearing just above the assasin, and kicking him into the ground.
He then threw a punch straight at the assasin stuck in the ground, but a barrier appeared in front of his fist, stopping it just in time.
Before Hyunsoo could react, he was shot in his hand by a magic bullet. Just after, he recieved a hit from Minsoo, blocking it with his injured arm, which made it even more injured.
He was sent flying and hit a building. As he got up, in front of him was.... The Sun? No that was a huge fireball, so massive that it covered the whole already run-down city.
"Holy....". Hyunsoo was taken aback by just the sheer heat that huge ball radiated. He immediately looked around trying to find anything, anything sword-like.
The hunters were already gone, seems like they had used that teleportation thing to get away in time.
At last, he found a broken street-lamp, half-melted, the steel warped into a jagged blade shape. Good enough.
Hyunsoo yanked it free, aura flaring to weld the metal together in his grip.
"DIY Excalibur," he muttered. "King Rat could never."
The fireball kept swelling, a miniature sun swallowing the skyline. Roof tiles popped like popcorn under the heat. Windows liquefied.
> [System Alert:
☀ Cataclysm-Class Spell detected.
Recommendation: Run, dummy.]
"Thanks, Siri." He planted his feet.
Thirty meters above, the spell-caster hovered on a mana platform—Jiwoo nam. purple coat fluttering like he was modeling apocalypse-wear. Lightning danced in his palms, feeding the core of the fireball.
Hyunsoo twirled the lamppost.
Option A: outrun a nuke.
Option B: punch the nuke.
He chose C: be stupid.
He held his sword-or rather the half melted street lamp in his hand, his right foot two steps forward, and his left one step backward. He crouched a little, just enough to get the best momentum for his swing.
He inhaled, then exhaled.
Closed his eyes, then opened.
---
"Hey, Master. How did you slice the mountain with that small stick? The tip didn't even reach there." Hyunsoo asked curiously, staring down the laid so-called "Demon King of Pride"
Lucian side-eyed him, then closed his eyes again and started sleeping.
"Hey, you can't just do that! Wake up!!" Hyunsoo started shaking Lucain's body, trying his hardest but he could even budge it.
"Stop pestering me. I will tell you." Lucian sighed and sat up.
"Yay!" Hyunsoo jumped like a little girl getting an aggreement from her dad.
"First, get in a cool position to swing your sword."
Hyunsoo took a second to process, sighed, and then did whatever pose he could think of.
He gripped an imaginary sword, crouched, right leg two steps ahead, left leg one step back. He slightly twisted his hip towards the left in a reflexive instict.
"Good, See that tree? Cut it down." Lucian pointed at a huge tree just in front of him.
Hyunsoo didn't think any longer, he proceeded to swing his invisible sword.
Nothing happened.
Lucian yawned. "Try again. But this time, believe the tree's already cut."
"What?" Hyunsoo blinked. "That makes no sense. That's not how physics works."
Lucian snorted. "What's physiqs? Whatever! Just do it."
Hyunsoo frowned, squinted at the tree like it owed him money, and took the stance again.
He whispered, "It's already cut."
Then swung.
WHOOM.
The air cracked.
A gust of pressure roared forward—
And the tree split in two.
Not from contact.
Not from force.
But from intent.
Leaves scattered like a firework, and the trunk thudded down just in front of Hyunsoo and Lucian.
His jaw dropped.
Lucian laid back down. "See?"
"That's cheating."
"That's magic."
---
Hyunsoo looked up at the massive fireball, with a blue and yellow energy between it.
'That's probably the weak point. Tch! Whatever!'
He once again exhaled, and swung the lamp upward.
At first, everything seemed to come to a halt.
But in the next second. The fireball exploded in the sky, the explosion caused a severe ear-ringing sound, which could be heard through the whole korea, or more. After a while, the fireball vanished, leaving behind a beautiful yellow snowflake-like ashes.
Hyunsoo stood in the middle of it, panting, bloodied, and his upper cloths torn. He sighed dropping the lamp and looked up, he was probably enjoying it.