CRASH—!
"......"
The VIP lounge of the Iron-Blooded Jang Family.
An oppressive silence hung between the antique wooden furniture and the decorative objects carved from marble.
Jang Gi-han looked indifferently down at the shattered fragments of a crystal glass scattered across the floor.
Liquid had spilled onto the red carpet, darkening the area where it had soaked in. At a glance, it looked as though someone had spilled blood.
"Kim Byeong-ju was defeated?"
"M-my deepest apologies, Young Master! Brother Byeong-ju is currently being transported to the hospital, but... for some reason, his Mana Core has been destroyed..."
"Hah."
A hollow laugh escaped Jang Gi-han's mouth.
Before becoming the Golden Wheel's chief enforcer, Kim Byeong-ju had been an elite mage who'd reached Third-Circle 'Ignition.'
Yet someone like him had been defeated by a mere high school student.
And not just any high school student, but a 'No-Ma' who couldn't even use magic.
Jang Gi-han raised his unusually long fingers and lightly tapped them against his lips.
"How unpleasant."
Jang Gi-han sank deeper into the sofa.
It was an emotion he'd never experienced before in his life.
It wasn't because his toy had been broken.
What stimulated him was the fact that an unforeseen variable had appeared, something beyond his control.
"Young Master, shall we dispatch a specialized team immediately? Tonight, without anyone noticing, we could..."
"No."
Jang Gi-han's eyes narrowed like a snake's.
"That wouldn't be any fun."
"Pardon?"
"I tried thinking about when I'd last felt this way, and I realized it's the first time. This unpleasant feeling, this humiliation."
He toyed with a flame dancing at the tip of his finger.
"Now I want to test something. Whether my patience will run out first, or whether..."
FWOOSH—!
The flame began changing colors.
Red, blue, green.
Finally, it turned black.
The flame was unmistakably burning, yet instead of illuminating its surroundings, it made them darker.
"Gasp!"
The man standing at attention beside him drew a startled breath when he recognized the flame Jang Gi-han had produced.
Jang Gi-han paid no attention to the man's reaction and continued speaking.
"...that bastard will come crawling to my feet and beg for his life first."
The corners of Jang Gi-han's mouth twisted into a grotesque smile.
Simply eliminating him would be boring.
He would trample him thoroughly, plant despair in his heart, and finally make him crawl over after losing everything.
That was the way of the 'Iron-Blooded.'
"Let's prepare something entertaining at school."
"Yes, Young Master."
The storm had already been foretold.
Meanwhile, at the same time, inside the old martial arts hall.
Silver-white steam rose from Cheon Do-hyeon's body.
HUMMMMM—
The 'Steel Mana' he'd absorbed from Kim Byeong-ju.
That high-density energy had been completely broken down and digested within Cheon Do-hyeon's dantian.
Because it was the Mana of a Third-Circle mage, it had taken an entire day to dissolve it using the Great Void Primordial Unity Heart Art.
Still, the results had been worth the time.
"Huuuu..."
He exhaled deeply and opened his eyes, a flash of white light gleaming from them.
He could feel that the amount of internal energy within his dantian had increased explosively.
The internal energy coursing through his meridians like a raging torrent sharpened the senses throughout his entire body.
ROLL—
He could see the movement and flow of dust particles floating through the air.
Cheon Do-hyeon clenched his fist tightly.
CLENCH—!
Furthermore, the internal energy he'd accumulated, now exceeding one gapja—sixty years' worth—coated his bones and muscles, making them as hard as steel.
He felt as though power were overflowing from every part of his body.
And that wasn't his only accomplishment.
[Great Art of Star Absorption - Fifth Star Achieved]
The experience of absorbing an Ignition-grade Mana Core to its absolute limit.
Thanks to that, his achievement in the Great Art of Star Absorption had finally reached the Fifth Star.
Now that he'd fulfilled the minimum requirements established by the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the book permitted him to learn the next martial art.
Without hesitation, Do-hyeon immediately turned the page of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
RUSTLE—!
As he physically turned the page, he simultaneously heard the sound of another page turning inside his mind.
'What will the next Divine Art be...?!'
The Great Art of Star Absorption had certainly lived up to the name of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
After all, depending on how it was used, the Great Art of Star Absorption was a technique that combined offense and defense.
And finally, the principles and incantations of the second martial art contained within the Heavenly Demon Divine Art entered his mind.
[Chapter 2. Footwork]
Heavenly Demon Phantom Step
Heavenly Demon Dominion Step
"Footwork..."
The second Divine Art consisted of two footwork techniques.
Cheon Do-hyeon frowned as he committed their movements to memory.
He was someone who'd spent his entire life training in modern martial arts.
Boxing, taekwondo, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu.
In modern martial arts, the essence of footwork was 'efficiency.'
Approach along the shortest possible route and evade using the least amount of energy.
However, the path prescribed by the martial art known as the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step was bizarre.
[Movements based on 108 directions]
"That's inefficient."
Why take a curved route when you could simply move in a straight line?
From a scientific perspective, such movement made no sense.
But hadn't he already learned something through the Great Art of Star Absorption?
Martial Arts possessed strange powers and capabilities that he couldn't simply judge according to his own understanding.
So he decided to give it the benefit of the doubt and move his body according to the instructions.
"Empty Heart Like a Valley (Empty the heart)..."
He recited the incantation aloud, directing the flow of Qi according to the Cultivation Art.
Then came his first step.
SWISH—
Nothing unusual happened.
The second step.
'So this is when I do it?'
Do-hyeon directed the internal energy from his dantian toward the Yongquan Acupoint on the sole of his foot.
And then came his third step.
WHOOSH—!
"Huh?"
Cheon Do-hyeon had definitely taken his third step.
But suddenly, a figure identical to himself appeared before his eyes.
It remained standing at the location of his very first footprint.
'An afterimage?'
It wasn't an afterimage created through sheer speed.
It was a phenomenon that distorted the flow of energy to deceive an opponent's eyes.
As he took his fourth and fifth steps, the illusion followed two steps behind him, confusing the eye.
A perfect illusion that made it impossible to distinguish the real person from the fake.
"Hah. So this actually works."
Cheon Do-hyeon let out a disbelieving laugh.
'I shouldn't try to interpret Martial Arts as ordinary fighting techniques. This is magic.'
His mind raced as he considered the possible applications of the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step.
Most mages launched their attacks from a distance.
To fight them effectively, closing the gap was essential.
But the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step he'd just learned was the key to completely resolving that problem.
He could now deceive his targets with perfect illusions.
That would make closing the distance considerably easier!
Overwhelmed with excitement, Cheon Do-hyeon examined the second footwork technique.
"Then next..."
Heavenly Demon Dominion Step.
The name alone was outrageously arrogant.
And its description was even more ridiculous.
[Crush the heavens beneath your steps.]
"Walking is an attack?"
In modern martial arts, people often used expressions like, 'I'll kill you with my footwork!'
But that was a metaphor.
It didn't mean they would literally kill someone by stepping.
Rather, they meant they would use their footwork to defeat an opponent.
However, the Heavenly Demon Dominion Step meant exactly what it said.
Apparently, it was possible to subdue an opponent through footwork alone.
'I can't even imagine it. Let's try using it first.'
Still half-doubtful, Cheon Do-hyeon began circulating his Qi according to the incantation.
Unlike the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step, the Heavenly Demon Dominion Step required an enormous amount of internal energy from the very beginning.
'Urgh!'
The heavy internal energy drawn from his dantian concentrated within his legs.
It was an amount he never could've handled if he hadn't absorbed Kim Byeong-ju's magical power to its absolute limit.
THUD.
He took his first step.
At that very moment—
"Urgh!"
A wave of dizziness swept over him, as though all the blood inside his body were draining away like the receding tide.
And simultaneously—
RUMBLE—!
The entire martial arts hall shook as though an earthquake had struck.
It wasn't merely a vibration.
Gravity itself had become distorted within a three-meter radius centered on Cheon Do-hyeon.
CRAAAACK—!
The wooden floor beneath Cheon Do-hyeon's foot split apart like a spiderweb.
The nearby punching bags were crushed as though invisible hands were pressing down on them.
The glass cups on the shelves couldn't withstand the pressure and burst apart.
SHATTER—! BANG—! BANG—!
"Huff, huff..."
Cheon Do-hyeon hurriedly stopped circulating his Qi.
Cold sweat poured down his body like rain.
Just one step.
He'd taken only a single step, yet thirty percent of his internal energy had evaporated.
But the destructive power...
"This is insane."
Cheon Do-hyeon surveyed the wrecked martial arts hall and shuddered.
If the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step was a footwork technique designed to deceive opponents, then the Heavenly Demon Dominion Step was a footwork technique designed to destroy them.
If it possessed this much power at merely the First Star, what would happen when he mastered it?
Regardless of whether an opponent defended themselves with magic, it would become a power capable of crushing the very space they occupied.
Cheon Do-hyeon shuddered at the might of the Martial Arts.
He clenched his fists.
The Golden Wheel.
The heirs of prestigious mage families.
It didn't matter what those bastards were plotting.
If anything, he was looking forward to clashing with them.
"Come on, then. Let's see what you've got."
Every time he fought, an opportunity for growth invariably presented itself.
The seemingly insurmountable wall represented by mages no longer frightened him.
Instead, he saw them merely as nourishment that would allow him to grow stronger.
Cheon Do-hyeon's eyes gleamed with the light of a predator.
He took his stance once more.
"One more time! One more time!"
Every time he executed the Heavenly Demon Phantom Step, illusory figures of Cheon Do-hyeon flashed into existence before disappearing.
And every time he executed the Heavenly Demon Dominion Step, the building shook as though it were about to collapse.
'I shouldn't practice the Heavenly Demon Dominion Step here.'
Cheon Do-hyeon wore a boyish smile.
Right now, he was tremendously encouraged.
Ever since he'd begun learning the Heavenly Demon Divine Art left behind by his grandfather, he'd been happy to feel himself growing stronger with every passing day.
If he continued working hard like this, he could become someone so powerful that nobody would dare approach him.
That was the path offered by Martial Arts.
"Looks like I'm not getting any sleep tonight."
Cheon Do-hyeon couldn't contain himself.
'I want to become stronger. Faster. Until nobody can even come close to me.'
That desire urged him onward.
He intended to raise his proficiency in both footwork techniques as much as possible.
Cheon Do-hyeon had set himself a single goal.
To reach a level where he could combine them with the Great Art of Star Absorption.
And until he accomplished that, he had no intention of sleeping.