The Main Characters That Only I Know

"They’ve started fighting over there too, huh?"

Magni gripped Mjolnir firmly as he gazed at the swirling dark clouds in the distance, resembling the eye of a storm.

"Shouldn’t we be starting soon as well?"

"You don’t need to tell me that," Kwon Jia responded, her eyes never leaving Magni.

The overwhelming aura he had been exuding for a while now prevented her from relaxing even for a second.

Though he had a smile on his face, his eyes weren't smiling at all.

The moment she let her guard down, Mjolnir would be aimed straight at her head.

"I’ve been looking forward to this. I wonder just how much of Fenrir’s power you’ve inherited, which I thought had long disappeared. If you’ve inherited that lineage, you should be able to entertain me sufficiently, right?"

"Didn’t you feel it enough that time and flee?"

"Hey now, that’s something I’m not even going to bother correcting. You’re the one who interfered in the fight back then. I already had a prior engagement."

Magni openly expressed his displeasure, saying he wouldn’t have had to flee if not for that.

"Wasn’t it you who interfered in Yu-hyun’s battle first?"

"If you can even call what he did a fight."

"Really? For something like that, you brought quite a number of subordinates, didn’t you?"

Kwon Jia sneered as she glanced at the distant Asgardian soldiers standing in formation behind Magni.

At her words, Magni let out a long sigh and roughly scratched his head with his left hand, the one not holding Mjolnir.

"Those guys won’t be joining the fight. To begin with, I’m more than enough on my own."

"Such arrogance."

"Given your level, even if a few of Asgard’s warriors rushed at you, the damage would only increase. Those guys are just insurance for unforeseen circumstances."

"Unforeseen circumstances? You’re speaking as if you’re expecting something more to happen."

"Well, it’s only natural."

Magni chuckled as he shifted his gaze toward a direction completely unrelated to the ongoing war.

"You lot might not realize it yet, but I can feel it. Those Olympus guys seem determined to seize this opportunity. Of all times, they’ve summoned *him*…."

"What?"

"Never mind, that’s just me thinking out loud. What matters now isn’t that."

Magni readjusted his grip on Mjolnir and burst out in laughter.

"Let’s have a proper fight then, shall we?"

Kwoarrrrng!

Dazzling lightning coursed through Mjolnir, swirling around Magni’s body.

At the same time, Kwon Jia unleashed all of her power. A purple aura flickered behind her, transforming into the form of a gigantic wolf.

Simultaneously, the hood she had been wearing was thrown back, revealing her wolf ears.

"I’ll smash your head in."

"I’ll tear out your throat."

* * *

"The battle has begun."

Crown Prince Patrick mumbled quietly as he turned to look back from the high-altitude airship that had pulled back above the storm clouds.

Behind him stood the Alpha Team of the Magic Corps, lined up in perfect order.

Patrick himself was no exception. As someone who prioritized safety, his entire body, aside from his head, was covered in magical equipment.

"You know what our mission is, right?"

There was no reply from the unit members, but in their silence, Patrick found confirmation.

Their mission was to eliminate the core of the alliance that sought to rebel against the Salio Empire while the war raged on.

With the bulk of the enemy forces, from monarchs to transcendent beings, absorbed in the war, only those who couldn’t fight were left behind at their base.

If they could eliminate the key figures of the alliance, the enemy would lose the main driving force needed to continue the war.

In a way, the speed of their actions could determine the outcome of the war.

Patrick activated a holographic map in midair.

"We’ve already analyzed the terrain. Everyone, familiarize yourselves with the optimal route."

"Your Highness, what about the ones inside?"

"Do I really need to explain that? They’re rebels against our Salio Empire. Kill them all. Leave no one alive."

There was no hesitation or refusal.

As expected of the Alpha Team of the Magic Corps, Patrick thought as he finished his preparations.

Patrick and the Magic Corps boarded the drop pods, with four members assigned to each. Soon, the pods moved through the silos.

At the same time, the enormous cannons of the airship aimed at the ground.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

The cannons fired the drop pods, initiating the airborne deployment towards the ground.

The pods plunged vertically toward the surface, piercing the ground and burrowing deep underground.

"Horrific things are happening on the surface."

Patrick shuddered, having briefly witnessed the massive natural disaster caused by the three elemental stones Yu-hyun had used, through a transparent barrier.

Such was the battle between beings known as monarchs. He had no intention of getting involved, nor even the courage to keep watching the mythical-scale war.

‘Yes, we need to do what we can.’

The pods continued burrowing underground until they reached their destination.

The well-trained magic soldiers swiftly disembarked and surveyed the surroundings.

Patrick, shielded by their escort, gave the order.

"Kill them all."

* * *

Yu-hyun clashed with Deolraka.

In an apocalyptic landscape, where layers of the earth were being overturned, enormous plants sprouted, and endless rain poured from the dark clouds in the sky, the two focused intensely on each other’s movements.

Deolraka’s hand blurred. Yu-hyun immediately leaned his head back. A massive slash grazed the top of his head, cutting diagonally through the scenery behind him.

Deolraka’s attacks didn’t stop there. His will resonated with the world, unleashing countless slashes around him.

Yu-hyun didn’t falter, blocking and parrying Deolraka’s strikes with his own, empowered by the Seven Demonic Black Sky Divine Art, even managing to counterattack occasionally.

Yu-hyun didn’t stop there, either. He utilized Descartes’ power, summoning numerous illusions around him to bewilder Deolraka.

"Ridiculous tricks."

"You’ll only know after you try."

Their bodies clashed head-on. Deolraka's sword and Yu-hyun's *Baekryun* (White Lotus) were locked in a battle of strength.

Deolraka’s eyes widened as he saw *Baekryun*.

"Where did you get this?"

"What do you care?"

"Did you steal it from the royal family?"

"You sound just like Piren."

At the mention of Piren’s name, Deolraka’s eyebrows shot up.

"Don’t you dare speak that name!"

"Was she your cherished disciple or something?"

Yu-hyun struck right at the heart of the matter. Deolraka gritted his teeth, attempting to push Yu-hyun back with force. However, he gradually realized that his own body was the one being pushed back.

‘What kind of monstrous strength is this…?!'

He had wielded a sword for many years, never once letting it go from his hand, and yet, he was being overpowered by the much younger Yu-hyun. The realization was hard to believe.

Deolraka decided that he needed to suppress his rage for a moment. This man was the enemy who had killed his disciple, but charging in blindly would not work, as Yu-hyun’s skills were formidable.

Though Piren was considered the weakest among the enforcers of the Salio Empire, she was still an enforcer nonetheless. And Yu-hyun had defeated her. There were even rumors that he had bested Choi Do-yoon, the Sword Lord.

‘With the Heavenly Demon gone and the Sword Lord injured, I thought now was the perfect time for our victory. But where did this man even come from?'

Deolraka still didn’t know Yu-hyun’s identity. He neither knew nor cared to know.

Deolraka channeled his *Intent*. Around him, an army materialized, one that only those who had awakened the power of *Intent* could see.

"Are you summoning soldiers?"

"They are my comrades, who have fought alongside me."

"You’ll be joining them soon enough."

Deolraka didn’t rise to Yu-hyun’s taunt. The soldiers, formed from *Intent*, rushed toward Yu-hyun from all directions. Their movements defied the laws of physics—some sprang up from the ground, others dropped straight down from above.

Yu-hyun, wearing the Mask of Aporia, read the future with his eyes.

A slight headache throbbed in his skull, but he found the optimal route to evade them.

It was far easier than breaking through Kang Hye-rim’s Spiral Black Swords when she had been the Black Thunder Lord. Just that fact alone gave Yu-hyun a clear measure of Deolraka's abilities.

"You're weak."

Weaker than Kang Hye-rim. Weaker than Choi Do-yoon.

Though Deolraka was hailed as a transcendent enforcer, in the end, that was just a title they gave each other within their own territory.

True power wasn’t bound by such titles.

"Spiral Black Sword."

The ability Yu-hyun had gained from reading Kang Hye-rim’s book.

Yu-hyun spread his hand wide, summoning a sword of lightning. Countless blades spiraled in a double helix formation, surging toward Deolraka.

Sensing danger, Deolraka bit his lip and activated something.

Boom! Boom! Two massive shields fell from the sky, blocking Yu-hyun's Spiral Black Swords. The shields didn’t last more than a second, but it was enough time for Deolraka to retreat.

Watching the aftermath of his attack, Yu-hyun narrowed his eyes behind his mask.

"So you act like you're fighting barehanded, but in reality, you're relying on all sorts of items?"

"I knew I had no choice but to."

"I see. I understand what your disciple learned from you quite well."

Crack! At the mention of Piren, a vein bulged on Deolraka’s forehead.

Mechanical constructs began floating around Deolraka. Seeing the autonomous combat magical devices supplied by the airship, Yu-hyun readjusted his grip on *Baekryun*.

It would be a mistake to underestimate those devices just because they were magical. Each of them was dangerous in its own right.

Yu-hyun glanced down at the *Baekryun* in his hand.

If the Salio Empire truly was the one that forged this weapon, then it meant they could create even a few items at a mythic level.

Realizing this, Yu-hyun smirked. What was he even worrying about? It didn’t matter how strong the enemy was, or how dangerous the tools they wielded were.

"Are you all prepared now?"

"What?"

"I'm getting tired of waiting. Pull out everything you’ve got."

"Have you lost your mind? You’re giving the enemy a chance? You should be pushing so hard that I can’t even breathe!"

"And if I don’t?"

"…You’ll pay dearly for underestimating me. Just don’t regret it later."

The swords and shields that had blocked Yu-hyun's Spiral Black Swords began spinning around Deolraka again. The shields, which had briefly held off the attack, were also part of this system.

Surrounded by numerous mechanical constructs, Deolraka raised his sword and aimed it at Yu-hyun.

In the sky, the Salio Empire's Magic Corps hovered above, looking down at Yu-hyun.

In the end, there was no such thing as a fair one-on-one fight. No one expected an honorable battle in war.

‘At least the others seem to be fighting well enough for now.'

Wilford and the other monarchs of the alliance were holding their ground against the last enforcer of the Salio Empire in the midst of the disaster caused by the elemental stones.

But even that was only a matter of time. The Salio Empire wouldn’t just sit back. Moreover, the gap in weaponry was significant. Though they had caught them off guard for now, the situation would soon reverse.

That was why they needed to cut off the enemy commander’s head first.

‘I’ll control the flow of the battle.'

It wasn’t enough to just defeat the enemy.

He had to overwhelm them with the disparity in power so as to crush their morale. That’s why Yu-hyun was waiting for Deolraka to fully prepare himself.

Soon, Deolraka made his move. The swords and shields floating around him reacted simultaneously.

It had begun.

The sword aimed at Yu-hyun, then suddenly split down the middle, firing a laser.

To think the sword itself would fire lasers like that. Although Yu-hyun had already foreseen it with Laplace's Eye, witnessing it in person was something else entirely.

Dodging the beam with fluid motions, Yu-hyun advanced toward Deolraka.

"Stop him!"

"Kill him!"

Simultaneously, the Salio Empire’s Magic Corps aimed their spears at Yu-hyun and charged.

Amidst the countless bombardments and enemy assaults crossing the air, Yu-hyun stood alone, confronting them with nothing but his own body.