When had it started?

When killing stopped feeling repulsive. When daily life grew boring and battles exhilarating. Around the time the chill at the base of my spine from swordwork began to feel good.

I must be properly unhinged now. Me, Lee Taebaek, the office drone who’d hunched over a desk like a shrimp. Now I was cutting down enemies like a fish in water. Taking human lives.

“Grab him!”

Fat chance.

I stepped on one guy’s shoulder and spun like a swallow in flight. My trajectory arced in a parabola. At the peak, I plunged the Para Blade deep into his trapezius.

Blood sprayed. The mage clapped a hand to his carotid, trying to staunch it. Lee Taebaek, perched on his back, spun in place. A crescent of silver sword light followed.

Squish!

With a bursting sound, everything above the trapezius went empty. Death. The mages scattered around spat curses. Their fingers screamed incantations. They unleashed spells indiscriminately. At Lee Taebaek.

Whoooosh!

Red and blue crosses bloomed in the air. Fire lances and water spears. Ranged attacks slammed in right after, slicing into his vision as they bore down on Lee Taebaek.

The battlefield was the octagon’s spectator seats. Chairs packed tight. Hard to maneuver.

Should I clear them all out? Nah, bad idea. I’d evaporate in the barrage. Even to the naked eye, those chairs had insane durability. How do I know? Lee Taebaek’s got electric chair experience. He’s got some expertise on chairs.

Decision made.

Dodging’s not viable. Block it. Ice barrier first.

Snap!

As Lee Taebaek’s fingers snapped, an ice barrier rose. A blindingly white wall of ice billowed thick fog.

The next instant, holes punched through the fog. Spells battered the ice wall. Shards flew. Twenty mages. Their magic eroded his defense like desert sands.

Did it work? No room for complacency. The enemy was the Supreme of the Ten Wings. His full power still unknown.

But one thing was certain. The Ten Wings were monsters. Supreme Lee Taebaek had faced them multiple times. Including Myo the Heavenly Demon, whom they revered.

And he’d survived.

More than that. Two had died: the Illusion Master and the Saber Master. The Mad Demon Left Guardian and the Mercenary King had fallen by his hand.

Chae Hakgyun’s most trusted mage, Shin Minseok, knew his stance clearly.

In the octagon, self-awareness is priority one.

They were the underdogs. Numbers didn’t matter. Slack off, and die.

Conversely, stay sharp, and they could win. A flash of golden future flickered by.

The Magic Tower Master marked the Supreme as an enemy.

Take out Kergel Magic Tower’s foe here? Not just a ticket back to HQ. A shot at more.

“Ah. Damn it.”

Get it together, Shin Minseok. He bit the tip of his tongue. Flesh tore free. Pain and blood taste sharpened his mind.

Good.

Shin Minseok signaled his brothers.

“Go!”

They split into trios, fanning left and right. Wings unfolding from the main force. Impressive discipline for an ad-hoc maneuver. They skirted the ice wall, positioning behind the Supreme of the Ten Wings.

The lead female mage of the left wing raced past the ice wall. She wrapped herself in a defensive force field. Single-use, but it’d deflect any one spell…

Crack!

A red line burst on her head. Forehead pierced, her body arched back. Dead in a second, she collided with the left wing tailing her. Lines broke. Bodies tumbled.

The right wing leader, closing in, panicked too late. In that split second, his collar twisted in a grip. His neck snapped sideways.

Crunch!

Slammed down. Head met floor like a water balloon bursting. Gory chunks splattered the followers’ clothes.

The guy right behind wiped his eyes. Blurry red vision. Supreme Lee Taebaek’s grin. A smile thick with bloodlust.

Accelerated. Afterimages proliferated. Rainbow hues. Clones, each a different shade, chased the real body swiftly.

Surging speed. They tried to track with eyes. Strike with attacks or spells.

Wait, why’s the Supreme on the ceiling? Defying gravity how…?

Ah.

No voice came. Speech stopped at the jaw. Maxed eye power, looked down. Gone. Just blood pouring.

The right wing straggler died that way, throat slit, eyelids fluttering unseen. Lee Taebaek grabbed the head by the hair and hurled it at the rearmost right winger. Horror froze him solid.

Makes sense. He’d just been gifted his teammate’s severed head mid-ambush.

He stumbled back blindly, exposing his back. Chest chilled instantly. Eyes dropped. Blade protruded between ribs.

“Guh, uh, uwaa.”

Split from chest to groin. Like a twin popsicle. Guts spilled out, steaming.

Right wing annihilated. Left wing rear unaware. They cleared the dead leader and charged Lee Taebaek again.

Crunch!

Para Blade pierced a neck. Left it in, thumbed Python’s hammer back. Index pulled trigger.

Bang…!

Hammer struck firing pin. Explosive kinetic energy surged through his grip. Rifling spin inside barrel thrummed. The totality fed into the bullet. Spiral violence shredding brain matter transmitted vividly to his hand.

Both wings wiped out.

The barrage on the ice wall faltered. Six vanguards dead in seconds. Not just spells—guns, blades, magic, nerfs, buffs, Bullet Time. Every trick.

“…!”

A split-second hesitation. Lee Taebaek dropped the ice barrier without hesitation. It collapsed like an exhausted curtain. He faced the mages head-on.

“Anyone who surrenders, I’ll spare now.”

“…W-Wait.”

“Three seconds.”

“Hey, you fu—!”

“Three.”

Lee Taebaek conjured ice spears in midair. Gripped one, hurled at the enemy. The shrieking lance impaled a solar plexus.

“U-Ughh.”

Buffed Strength. Pushed off, cratering the floor. Launched, slashed at the impaled man’s side.

“Shiiit.”

The stabbed one clutched the Para Blade. Sacrificing himself to bind it.

“Bro! Now!”

“Touching brotherhood. Should’ve shown it sooner.”

Lee Taebaek yanked the hilt lightly. Tendons snapped. Joint held precariously, then sheared. Blade ripped free with the arm, his struggles comical. Like a cartoon.

“Force field! Force field spell!”

“Th-The ones who could do force fields are all dead, you idiots—!”

“Then what?!”

“Why ask me, you #@$!%?!”

Predictably, shrill yells. Lee Taebaek sealed that mouth with Ice Magic. Price for touching the Para Blade.

“Ma, Ten Thousand Demons…!”

A dying gasp invoked her—not his mom, but the Heavenly Demon. How deep the gaslighting? Unsalvageable. Cut losses.

Squish!

Sliced. Kicked away a flanker. Landscape visible through the gut hole. Strength buff solid.

The slaughter flowed smoothly after. Trained mages or not, helpless. They resisted full tilt, but missed every time.

“…Fast. Too fast…”

“B-B-Bro. Do something—!”

“Ah, ah, aah.”

Lee Taebaek became a vortex, carving from the edges. Circled in widening gyres. Slashed on the run. Thrust, slashed, cleaved. Life shattering—electric thrill.

Desperate mages paled. Blood and screams scattered. Inside Lee Taebaek’s afterimage perimeter: hell itself. Truly a Demon’s Den made of human walls.

The clustered holdouts slumped, shoulders drooping. Drenched in comrades’ blood. Shared meals, beds, battles.

Shin Minseok bowed his head, raised both arms. Blood dripped from elbows.

“We… surrender…”

Afterimages slowed. Shadows converged from flanks. The encircling gale vanished like a dream.

Lee Taebaek strolled forward casually. Twirling his umbrella by the handle. Not a drop of blood on him.

“Good call.”

“…”

“I’ve got a conscience. Owe your big bro one. Can’t kill all his little brothers. Timing’s perfect.”

“Th-Thank you…”

Shin Minseok couldn’t lift his face.

Fear. And accusatory glares burning his skin. They’d betrayed their eldest, trusting only him. Blame fell on Shin Minseok.

He shook the blood off the blade. He drew the blade through the crook of his arm, cleaning off the rest. Then, sheathing it, he addressed Shin Minseok.

“Seven left. My standards are picky.”

“…Pardon?”

“I’ll take six.”

“Then…”

No answer. Lee Taebaek lounged in a chair. Arms spread, head back, feet propped cockily on the seat ahead.

“Six.”

Mages’ lips cracked dry.

“Ten minutes.”

Ultimatum dropped. Eyes darted frantically. One seized attention like a conductor. Shin Minseok. The one who’d sold out his brothers’ lives to the Supreme.

Snap.

Lee Taebaek’s nape warmed. Behind him, fire and water converged on one spot.

Water droplet about to fall from a derived spell. He unfurled the Para Blade. Umbrella up, fight erupted rearward; forward, Goeun and Chae Hakgyun stared up blankly.