The archmage's words were cut short as Kang-suho's summoned bear suddenly swung its massive arm, the force of it slamming straight into the floating skeleton.
Its body reeled violently through the air, robes fluttering behind it as its bones clattered out of alignment. Yet even mid-flight, it reacted, its voice snapping out another incantation without hesitation.
"Stilled~Impact!" it chanted, and in an instant, everything shifted. The air itself seemed to freeze, as if motion had been forcibly halted, the space around them growing unnaturally still.
Kang-suho stood there, his body tense, but his mind was elsewhere, caught on the words the archmage had spoken earlier. "Your skills are the forbidden forms of magi—c?" he repeated under his breath, the unfinished sentence lingering in his thoughts.
His brows furrowed slightly, confusion creeping in as he tried to piece it together. "What's a forbidden magic?" he asked quietly, more to himself than anyone else. But in the heavy silence, the question didn't go unheard.
The archmage, now hovering at a distance, turned its gaze back toward him. "You want to know what forbidden magic is?" it asked, its voice no longer distorted, but clear—calm, almost human. Kang-suho hesitated for a second, then slowly nodded, uncertainty written across his face.
The tension in the room shifted, the hostility pausing just enough for something else to take its place.
Then, the archmage began to speak.
"When god Mireuk fought the trickster god Seokga, he split his body into four different personalities…" Its voice echoed through the ruined hall, carrying a strange weight behind every word.
"Abundance—one of the personalities he loves. Prosperity—his giving nature." It paused briefly, as if recalling something unpleasant. "And the two he hates…"
"Glutton—a search for insatiable hunger… in his terms, validation," it continued, its tone lowering slightly.
"And the last… Devourer." The word lingered in the air, heavier than the rest. "A personality so evil he only used it once, and it was during his battle with Seokga."
The archmage's hollow gaze locked onto Kang-suho.
"And you… have it."
Kang-suho listened without interrupting, the information settling into his mind piece by piece. It didn't fully make sense yet, but he could feel that it mattered—more than anything else he'd encountered so far. After a moment, another question surfaced, one he couldn't ignore.
"Soo… if I have the Devourer…" he started, his voice slower now, more thoughtful. "…where are the other three?"
The archmage stared at him for a moment, its hollow sockets unreadable as if searching for something it could not grasp.
"Nobody knows," it finally admitted, its voice quieter now, almost reluctant. "Even I, an archmage, do not know where they have gone… or how they came to be separated." The answer hung in the air, unsatisfying, incomplete, like a puzzle missing its most important pieces.
Kang-suho's expression slowly changed, his eyes sharpening as something darker settled in his gaze. His summoned bear let out a low, rumbling growl, the sound vibrating through the ruined hall like a warning.
The archmage noticed immediately, its posture shifting ever so slightly in response, though it kept its composure. For a brief moment, the two sides simply stared at each other, tension building without a single movement.
"Now, you have the thoughts to attack me," the archmage said, breaking the silence with eerie calm. Its tone held no fear this time—only anticipation.
"But I… wish to feel it." The faintest twitch ran through its skeletal frame. "The sensation of fighting a forbidden magic user."
Then—without warning—
It moved.
In a blur of motion, the archmage vanished from its spot and reappeared directly in front of Kang-suho, its speed almost impossible to track.
Its hand was already raised, mana gathering violently as it began casting another spell mid-motion. The air around them distorted once again, signaling that this time—there would be no pause, no explanation. Only battle.
Kang-suho raised both of his dark daggers just in time, bracing himself as the archmage's attack came crashing toward him.
"Concentrated~Beam!" the mage shrieked, its voice echoing sharply as the spell instantly formed in its palm. A blinding beam of energy shot forward with a deafening whooosh, slamming directly into Kang-suho's blades. The force was overwhelming, sending him flying backward like he weighed nothing.
He crashed hard into a nearby pillar, the impact cracking the stone as dust and debris rained down around him.
Before the dust could even settle, his summoned bear charged forward with a furious roar, its massive body shaking the ground beneath it.
The archmage didn't flinch—instead, it calmly raised both hands, palms open, as mana gathered once again.
"Dimensional~Trapper!" it chanted, the words reverberating unnaturally through the hall. The bear leaped into the air, claws extended, ready to crush the skeleton in a single strike. But just before it could connect—
It hit something invisible.
A cage of glowing bars materialized instantly, formed from an unknown substance pulsing with mana.
The bear slammed against it mid-air, the impact echoing like metal striking metal, before dropping inside the barrier. It snarled and bit at the bars, its teeth clashing uselessly against the strange material.
No matter how hard it tried, the prison held firm, trapping the beast completely.
The bear roared in anger, its voice shaking the room, but the archmage didn't even look at it. Its attention remained fixed on Kang-suho.
Meanwhile, Kang-suho slowly pushed himself up from the rubble, his breathing heavier now, his body aching from the impact.
He rolled his shoulders back, stretching slightly as a series of cracks echoed from his bones, like he was forcing himself back into place. Then, without another word, he dashed forward.
The archmage reacted instantly, its palm opening once more as energy gathered again. Another "Concentrated~Beam" fired toward him, fast and precise, aimed to end the fight immediately. But this time—Kang-suho moved differently. He twisted his body mid-run, narrowly dodging the beam as it tore past him. Another followed. And another.
He dodged them all.
Each attack slammed into the ground behind him in rapid succession, exploding into bursts of dust and shattered stone. The floor cracked and scattered as the beams missed by mere inches, leaving destruction in his wake.
Yet Kang-suho didn't slow down—not even for a second—as he closed the distance, moving through the chaos like he had already adapted to the rhythm of the fight.