The Human Emperor shot through the sky like an arrow, pursuing the source of the strange sense of danger he had felt moments earlier.
His speed was overwhelming, so great that the winds themselves seemed to tear apart as he raced across the heavens.
As he flew, he continuously released his aura in every direction, attempting to track that mysterious presence.
He suspected that one of the followers of the Nine Demon Rulers was secretly watching him.
He intended to find the intruder quickly and eliminate them before the dragons could earn the honor of killing or discovering them.
For that reason, he pursued with everything he had.
A long time passed as he continued flying.
The Emperor had traveled far from the island he was responsible for protecting.
While continuing his search, he suddenly frowned, as though a strange thought had crossed his mind.
He said to himself,
"Could this merely be a trap?"
Before he could finish the thought...
He sensed a terrifying danger rushing toward him from behind at an unbelievable speed.
His eyes widened.
At that very instant, he condensed devastating golden flames around his right arm and swung it backward with all his might.
But...
The surprise attack was even faster than he was.
The strike arrived with horrifying speed and power.
Suddenly, an enormous explosion of black energy erupted in the sky, crashing directly into the Human Emperor's back.
His body shook violently.
The severe blow forced him to spit blood into the air.
He was thrown forward several meters before quickly regaining his balance.
He lifted his head in fury.
Then he looked at the one who had ambushed him.
He saw a mysterious figure dressed entirely in black, surrounded by a dense black aura that concealed most of the person's features.
The Emperor's anger burned even hotter.
He could sense that the individual before him belonged to the human race.
So he shouted with a voice that shook the heavens,
"How dare you attack me, you wretch?!"
"Do you not know who I am?!"
"I am the Human Emperor!"
Before he could finish his words...
The man in the black robe calmly raised his hand.
In the very next moment...
Savage and bizarre monsters emerged from multiple locations around the Emperor.
They were gigantic creatures with twisted black bodies, unlike any beast the Emperor had encountered throughout his entire life.
They emerged from the darkness, roaring violently before charging at him from every direction.
The Human Emperor frowned deeply.
Although he had been caught in an ambush and seriously wounded only moments before, he did not lose his composure.
Instead, his mind remained perfectly calm.
Throughout his life, he had fought countless battles and survived situations far more dangerous than this.
Therefore, he swiftly drew his sword.
The instant it left its sheath, brilliant golden flames ignited along its blade.
He swung it with tremendous force toward the monsters surrounding him.
Suddenly...
A golden fiery aura burst forth around the Emperor from every direction.
Then the aura expanded without warning, transforming into a devastating wave that swept across the battlefield.
Within only a few seconds...
Every one of those monsters was reduced to ashes and vanished without leaving a single trace behind.
Silence filled the air for a moment.
Then the man in the black robe sighed when he witnessed what had happened.
He spoke in a mysterious and eerie tone filled with danger,
"I see..."
"So these creatures were unable to affect you."
The moment he finished speaking...
The Human Emperor vanished from where he stood with astonishing speed.
In a fraction of a second, he appeared behind the mysterious figure.
He raised his sword with all his strength, intending to end the battle with a single decisive strike.
Then he brought the blade down.
A tremendous slash tore through the air and struck the mysterious man's body directly.
The Emperor smiled for an instant, believing the battle was over.
But...
As he focused his gaze more carefully, his brows slowly knitted together.
He sensed that something was wrong.
And his instincts were correct.
He watched as the body he had cut slowly transformed into a dense black mist.
Then it completely faded away.
At that same moment...
That black mist condensed again some distance away, reforming into the very same mysterious man, as though he had never been injured at all.
The Human Emperor came to a halt.
For the first time since the battle had begun, an expression of shock appeared on his face.
He realized that his opponent did not rely on strength alone...
But possessed mysterious abilities unlike anything he had ever encountered before.
Yet he did not utter a single word.
The Human Emperor continued staring silently at the mysterious figure before slowly raising one hand.
In a single instant, golden flames began condensing within his palm at an incredible speed until they formed a gigantic sphere of fire the size of an entire ship. Its heat was so intense that the air around it became visibly distorted.
The Emperor looked at it with cold eyes and thought,
"Defeating him with my sword would be far too troublesome, especially after witnessing his trick with my own eyes."
"So..."
"I will erase him from existence completely."
The moment he finished thinking, he thrust the massive fireball toward the mysterious figure with all his strength.
The golden sphere shot forward at tremendous speed, leaving behind a blazing trail that stretched across the sky.
Yet the mysterious figure showed neither fear nor any intention of dodging.
Instead, he calmly raised his hand, as though performing the simplest of actions.
Suddenly...
A terrifying black aura gathered within his palm until it formed a dark sphere no smaller than the incoming fireball.
Then he launched it directly toward the approaching attack.
In the very next instant...
The two spheres collided.
An enormous explosion of energy erupted, shaking both the heavens and the sea.
Golden light and black darkness merged together, turning the entire area into a violent storm of energy.
The shockwave was so powerful that it hurled both the Human Emperor and the mysterious figure away from the center of the collision.
After the storm settled somewhat...
The Emperor opened his eyes.
Then he looked ahead.
But he froze in place.
The mysterious figure had not died.
Nor had he been destroyed.
Instead...
He had multiplied.
Yes...
He had multiplied.
The entire area was now surrounded by hundreds of mysterious figures wearing identical black robes and radiating the very same dark aura.
And the Emperor could sense that every one of them was the same person.
His brows tightened.
Then he glanced at the wound he had suffered from the surprise attack.
After a brief moment...
A faint smile appeared on his face as he said,
"I had no intention of fighting at my full strength just yet."
"But it seems you've forced me to."
The moment he finished speaking...
His entire body burst into brilliant golden flames.
His appearance and aura changed dramatically.
The power radiating from him became vastly greater than it had been only moments before.
He raised his hand once again.
Within it, a massive ring of fire took shape, glowing like a blazing circle.
Then the fiery ring began spinning at incredible speed.
Suddenly...
It gave birth to a colossal fire tornado that surrounded the Emperor from every direction until it seemed as though he were standing within a miniature sun.
As for the mysterious figure...
He frowned for the first time, realizing the danger before him.
He extended both hands from beneath his black robe.
Then he condensed an immense dark aura before himself until it transformed into a gigantic black hand.
At that same moment...
Every one of his duplicates did the same.
Hundreds of enormous black hands appeared across the sky.
Then they all rushed toward the blazing tornado.
They seized it with overwhelming force.
Moments later...
Those giant hands succeeded in containing the fiery vortex and extinguishing it completely.
The flames vanished at once.
But...
When the duplicates looked inside...
The Emperor was nowhere to be found.
The mysterious figure frowned.
Before he could utter a single word...
He suddenly sensed something strange above him.
He quickly lifted his head.
There, in the heavens, thousands of gigantic fireballs were descending toward him and all of his duplicates like a rain of destruction.
For the first time...
He felt genuine danger.
The mysterious figure swiftly waved his hand.
All of his duplicates transformed into pure black energy.
Then they gathered above him, forming a colossal dark canopy that covered the sky and shielded him from the incoming assault.
And indeed...
Thousands of blazing fireballs crashed against that enormous canopy.
The heavens trembled violently.
Shockwaves spread in every direction.
Yet the dark barrier successfully withstood the massive attack.
The Human Emperor watched the scene unfold.
Despite his surprise...
He suddenly laughed and said,
"This is truly entertaining."
Then a smile filled with excitement appeared on his face.
He launched himself toward the mysterious figure at astonishing speed.
As he charged forward, the golden flames surrounding his body intensified and began to transform.
Soon, the image of a gigantic phoenix made of fire emerged behind him, enveloping him like a legendary spirit accompanying him into battle.
The mysterious figure gazed at the fiery phoenix rushing toward him with terrifying speed.
Then, behind his mask, he smiled coldly.
He also surged forward.
As he charged...
The black aura surrounding his body condensed to an astonishing degree.
Until behind him appeared the form of a colossal black raven, its violet eyes gleaming as it spread its immense wings across the heavens.
From places far, far away...
Everyone could witness what was happening.
The sky in that region had been divided into two opposing halves.
One side was engulfed in golden light and the blazing flames of the phoenix.
The other was consumed by black darkness and the overwhelming presence of the giant raven.
It was as though the heavens themselves had been split between light and darkness by the power of the two warriors.
Meanwhile, far away from that battlefield...
Odin suddenly raised his head.
He looked toward the distant sky, whose colors had changed in a strange and unnatural way.
Then he furrowed his brows slightly.
(Author's Note):
Hello everyone! Thank you for your continuous support of this novel; your comments and interactions mean the world to me.
Stepping away from our story here for a moment, I wanted to share another project I've been working on with great passion. I have started publishing a webtoon (comic) on the Webtoon platform titled "Me and the Wolf."
It is a [Comedy / Fantasy] story about a miserable young man and a cunning wolf who is constantly getting him into trouble! If you enjoy my writing style and the way I build scenarios, I promise you're going to love this comic.
I would be so grateful if you could go check it out, subscribe to the series, and let me know what you think in the comments there!
🔍 Search on the Webtoon app for: [Me and the Wolf]