Death Match

Erik was a Level 2 mage.

He wielded fire, the most destructive among elemental types, but his capacity was low—clumping it together and shooting it out was his limit.

Moreover, he had a chronic problem where his field of vision narrowed when he focused on one thing.

Erik himself knew of this weakness that had been pointed out even before he participated in the death match.

After striving to improve his vulnerability to ambushes, he achieved the feat of creating two fires simultaneously.

One for offense, the other to hide in places beyond his line of sight.

Whoosh!

The defensive ember he’d completed through blood-soaked effort sent him a signal.

‘Behind me?’

As soon as Erik came to his senses, he swung his steel club without even looking back.

Clang!

When he belatedly turned around, the boy was bringing his medium sword down in a chop.

‘When did he get here?’

It was a rear ambush that came just as he thought he was driving people back.

‘Was he concealing his presence? An assassin?’

If the ember hadn’t signaled him, his head would have been split in one blow.

Erik tried to shake the boy off at the unexpected eeriness.

“…!?”

It felt like a boulder was hanging from the end of his steel club.

From that emaciated body, he felt the weight of a seasoned swordsman.

Creak!

Once being flustered was enough.

Erik gritted his teeth and swung his other hand wreathed in flame at the boy.

Whoosh!

Erik’s hand swept through empty air.

The boy flowed down the steel club like water and took stance at Erik’s feet.

It was an incredible feat that seemed unbelievable even while watching.

However, there was no time to be lost in admiration.

A sharp wind sound swept past his exposed flank as he swung his arm at the boy.

“Kugh!”

Rolling sideways to dodge, Erik simultaneously shot fire forward.

The boy, Pernok, withdrew backward without hesitation as if he’d finished his task.

“You little rat…!”

The surging pain from his flank cut off Erik’s words.

Erik swept his palm up his flank and froze stiff.

Thick blood was flowing out enough to drench his palm.

“The mage is wounded! He’s alone! We have to attack now!”

When Pernok incited them, the remaining people glared at Erik’s wound.

The atmosphere changed.

The people who’d been terrified of fireballs until just moments ago began taking tactical movements like hunting a monster.

Erik tied his flank tightly with his clothing and shouted.

“You think this is the first or second time I’ve dealt with such an obvious situation?!”

Erik picked up his steel club and struck down at the fireball.

The fireball transformed into dozens of small orbs and fell like raindrops.

“Gyaaaah!”

“Keep pushing in!”

Screams and shouts ran rampant.

In this place without even a bucket of water, putting out clinging fire by rubbing one’s body on the ground was difficult.

Moreover, fireballs generated by mana were several times more vicious than ordinary flames.

Crackle!

The encirclement was swallowed by flames in an instant. The heat inside the arena seemed to crush even people’s will.

‘Where is he?’

Erik, who’d been looking around, found Pernok in the smoke and his eyes widened.

Because Pernok had lifted a corpse like a shield and blocked the fireballs.

It was something ordinary courage couldn’t even conceive of.

Meeting Pernok’s composed expression sent chills down his spine.

“This crazy bastard!”

Erik poured out fireballs like a desperate struggle. But the fireball generation speed was slower than at first.

As blood flowed out, his concentration scattered and his mana gradually showed its bottom.

Clang!

The dagger Pernok threw drummed the empty spot.

If Erik hadn’t reflexively dodged, it might have pierced his heart.

“Thanks to you, only two of us remain.”

Pernok leisurely picked up a corpse’s weapon.

Despite being defenseless, Erik could no longer create fireballs.

“Huff, huff.”

His breath rose to his chin and cold sweat flowed down.

Having received a wound dangerous enough to need immediate treatment, dodging the weapons Pernok threw made the wound tear open more severely.

His mana circuit became tangled and his body went limp as if exhausted.

Before he knew it, blood had drenched his clothes red and overflowed onto the floor.

When his complexion turned deathly pale, Erik realized.

‘This bastard only ever intended to wound me from the start.’

Pernok never intended to fight head-on from the beginning.

Pulling risky moves like a tug-of-war with an unfamiliar power would only result in losses for this side.

It was enough to set up the board so the opponent who volunteered to be the villain would get what they wanted.

Thus, Pernok inflicted a conspicuous wound on Erik and incited the people.

‘He induced me to pour all my mana into the other bastards.’

Pernok thoroughly exhausted Erik.

Calculating when his strength would run out, he threw small weapons from long range.

Each time Erik dodged, the wound tore open and mana was consumed together.

Like a hunter toying with prey, he was thoroughly trampled.

“Th-this damn brat!”

Beyond vicious, it was downright cruel.

From Pernok who selected only harsh methods, the image of an experienced veteran overlapped.

Erik ultimately couldn’t put up proper resistance and knelt.

He didn’t look like he had any strength left to resist.

Pernok gripped his medium sword and charged in.

The moment Erik lowered his head deeply, Pernok raised his medium sword high.

Whoosh!

Suddenly, flames generated between the two shot toward the ceiling.

Erik raised his head, discovered Pernok keeping his distance, and made a despairing expression.

It was the final mana he’d saved until the very end to hook the hunter who thought he’d caught all his prey.

But Pernok skillfully dodged as if he’d even anticipated that.

“Recklessly throwing magic around makes your vision narrow.”

“Gyaaaaaaaah!”

Hearing words like his shame at a critical moment snapped Erik’s reason.

Erik, who had no more mana, abruptly stood up and swung his steel club like a madman.

It was a struggle without any form.

“Come at me!”

Watching the wounded prey with poison rushing through its veins finish preparing for self-destruction, Pernok sneered.

There was no reason to give the merciless slaughterer the head-on confrontation he desired.

“Come at me, you bastard!”

As soon as Erik took one step, he staggered and collapsed.

It seemed the blood had drained out and made him dizzy—he began shaking his head.

“Come… at… huff… sssss… huff…”

Thud!

Finally, the large frame toppled forward.

No more mana or strength remained.

Pernok placed his sword on the back of his neck.

“I like straightforward fighters like you. They’re simple, so easy to lead around.”

“Co-coward…”

“Everyone says that. Ugly, after they lose.”

Pernok drove the sword straight down.

With the sound of neck bones breaking, Erik went limp, and simultaneously spiritual power bloomed.

The mage’s soul boasted spiritual power with far greater density than ordinary people.

‘The quality and quantity are incomparable.’

Pernok immediately absorbed the luscious spiritual power.

Synchronization Rate – 6.3%

Erik alone raised the synchronization rate as much as all the death match participants combined.

That wasn’t all. The Divine Mandate Pernok anticipated activated.

[Fireball Lv.2]

Creates fire kindled with mana in the form of an orb.

Divine Mandate judged magic as talent engraved in the soul.

The hypothesis proved correct, but Pernok’s expression was subtle.

Uses 1/1

An explanation he hadn’t seen in the Netherworld had been added.

‘Single-use?’

For Pernok, who’d used the absolute beings’ talents infinitely, it was absurd.

‘Why?’

The reason for a restriction existing in the lower world that didn’t exist in the Netherworld.

‘If magic is inherited across eras like bloodline succession or constitution, absorbing the talent itself should be impossible.’

Pernok, who’d been pondering the fundamental problem, finally reached an answer.

‘Is it form?’

Souls have no form. The dead can transform into various appearances.

Pernok also absorbed other absolute beings’ talents and refined them into suitable forms.

But this place already had a predetermined body.

If he forcibly absorbed powers unsuited to it and used them without restriction, the body might break.

Divine Mandate placed restrictions so talents would manifest within limits the body could bear, as a warning.

‘If I raise the synchronization rate and bring forth my spiritual power, this body’s overload will be resolved too.’

Pernok found the answer, but didn’t particularly want to cling to magic.

‘I’ll be able to use magic freely, but by then I’ll be drawing on my soul’s spiritual power infinitely. Is there any need to rely on magic?’

If it’s magic that disappears after one use, it wouldn’t be bad to utilize it like a dagger instead.

‘Moreover, this magic follows the level of the one absorbed. A Level 2 mage’s magic is Level 2, a Level 3 mage’s magic is Level 3—there’s no sign of growth from here. It’s magic that maintains the current state, but it has tactical value.’

Magic usually has only one per person.

Occasionally exceptional beings exist, but Pernok could contain numerous magics, even if single-use.

If he pulled them out one by one, he could throw opponents into confusion.

Until he could freely wield spiritual power, it was enough to use magic as consumables like arrows.

‘But…’

What surprised Pernok more than magic was something else absorbed in Divine Mandate.

‘This doesn’t disappear.’

Mana, which only those born with magic talent were said to use.

The mana that came over with Fireball was planted in Pernok’s soul like a seed.

Mana surprisingly moved in sync with Ataka’s breathing.

It could be extracted and used separately even without manifesting as magic.

Pernok observed with interest the mana moving like spiritual power.

“Victor, Pernok!”

The moderator’s words didn’t even reach his ears.

A strange smile played across Pernok’s lips as he contemplated the mana.

* * *

The death match ended, but no particular measures came down.

Rather, the treatment improved significantly, with things like putting meat in the cell.

Pernok researched his newly obtained power without any worries.

‘Mana has good versatility like spiritual power. It harmonizes with anything while transforming into various forms. However, while spiritual power replenishes consumed value by absorbing from the dead. Mana recovers naturally following Ataka’s breathing.’

Mana was a perfect match with Ataka.

When Ataka transcends its limits, it draws out humanity’s mysterious power, and mana accelerates this process.

‘What if I crystallized mana to be solid or sharp in itself, rather than as a resource for magic?’

Using Ataka’s breathing, the mana planted like a seed roamed through the body.

About three hours were consumed until it circulated once through the entire body in a thread-like form like nerve fibers.

And for the long time invested, the body’s vitality was activated more than before.

Not only that, mana seeped into muscles like nutrients and made them solid.

When he tried to extract the remaining mana outside the body, an amazing thing unfolded.

‘It coats the body?’

Mana was overlaid on the skin like a thin membrane.

Using Ataka to tense the muscles, the mana on the skin also became dense accordingly.

Thud! Thud!

When Pernok knocked on the wall in that state, his fist became as heavy as a rock.

‘Weaponizing the body.’

Moreover, mana doesn’t discriminate by properties and is utilized as the driving force for various magics.

What if mana that converts into multiple forms even possesses properties that repel opponents’ magic?

‘A highly developed body is in itself a legendary sword and shield.’

Thanks to mana, the foundational framework for freely wielding Spiritual Law became far more solid.

“Um…”

Pernok opened his eyes and turned his head to the side.

Yak asked cautiously.

“…Can I also learn what you’re doing right now?”

Ataka was a technique completed through postnatal effort.

He had to overwork muscles and bones to make them solid and pull the body’s hidden strength into a transcendent realm.

There was no need to look long. It was impossible with Yak’s skeletal structure.

“Why?”

“I want to be helpful to you.”

“You’re already sufficient.”

“But…”

As Yak hesitated with regret, Pernok spoke firmly.

“This technique should be started from childhood. People who tried to learn it at an older age died with high probability from their bodies bursting. Do you want to die futilely too, old man?”

“I-I see.”

“Don’t be impatient. Rather, the other side will be anxious.”

When Yak smiled awkwardly and nodded.

Familiar footsteps stopped in front of the cell.

The guard captain with his pointed hat pulled low looked down at Pernok.

“It’s been a while. Has the next match already been set?”

“There are no more death matches.”

Pernok instinctively knew the moment he’d been waiting for had arrived.

“Pernok.”

The guard captain stared at Pernok.

“Come out. It’s a VIP summons.”