D.I.O

‘What is he thinking? Is he just planning on catching us without considering the aftermath? Why the hell did he choose to disregard all liabilities and attack us here? Why is an ancient dragon thousands of years old taking such a huge risk!’

While Yongno was in a state of panic, Seyoung immediately attacked Tan without any chitchat.

Flash!

A beam of light cut through the air. Its strong momentum and aura seemed to split the world in half, but Tan’s image had already disappeared.

“Right there!”

Another burst of light. Seyoung’s light attacks seemed closer to flashes of light from a burst cannon than something shooting from his sword.

“Funny.”

However, as Tan gestured lightly, the beams of light bent and burst through the clouds before dispersing harmlessly. Tan had deflected the beams and changed their trajectory.

Arthur looked at Tan as the latter stared back without a hint of surprise. The user said, “… Why did you kill my mother?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Didn’t that happen between you humans?”

Tan responded calmly. His confident attitude was enough to easily dupe someone into accepting that Tan had nothing to do with the death of Arthur’s mother.

Yet, Arthur repeated his question.

“I’ve been wondering about the reason. Why? To me, you were a benefactor who saved my mother’s life. Wasn’t I already, for all intents and purposes, your subordinate? I would have carried out any request, no matter how difficult. So, why?”

“Didn’t I already state that I had nothing to do with your mother’s death? I don’t know why you think I would do such a thing when, as you said, you’re no different from my subordinate. Is it that you need a target to resent for the death of your sole family member?”

“I thought it over several times - the reason you killed my mother… But I couldn’t figure it out.”

“Hey, you….”

“Why did you have her killed?”

The atmosphere and mood became serious. However, rather than focus on the conversation, Yongno scanned his surroundings, gauged his magic power capacity, and estimated the power level of the other parties.

Although Yongno overheard the discussion, his curiosity wasn’t going to take precedence. If he was put in an unavoidable situation, he needed the means to fight back.

‘Earth’s Planet God is suppressing Tan from utilizing his full power, but even so, it’s still an uphill battle. Although he’s suppressed, he’s still a complete transcendent.’

Of course, Yongno had already defeated two transcendents recently, but those victories were only possible because special conditions had been met.

‘Think.’

How could he kill two transcendents? How were those feats possible?

It was because his opponents had been careless.

Undoubtedly, his Irrational Hand Strike was a powerful attack. Six thousand four hundred years, or a little over 100 cycles, was more internal energy than a being should be capable of carrying. However, this force was put into a single blow, enough to overwhelm a superpower several levels more powerful.

A single blow destroyed Skill Master Marionette Hold’s strong qi defensive barrier and Igniz’s magic barrier, which stood dozens of layers thick. Furthermore, Merlin’s Irrational Hand Strike continued and finished off his opponents. That fact alone spoke volumes.

If used properly and repeatedly, the Irrational Hand Strike could regularly defeat transcendents… but it had a fatal flaw.

‘They can just avoid it.’

The scary thing about Merlin’s Irrational Hand Srike was that the enormous energy concentrated on a single point. If this were reframed, though, it also meant that if the target deviated from that single point, the damage would drop dramatically.

Due to this, Yongno took advantage of Mary and Igniz’s carelessness to land the perfect strike. In Mary’s case, by utilizing DIO’s non-destructive system setting on his allies and wasting her time, Merlin tricked Mary into strengthening her defenses without taking other precautions. As for Igniz, Merlin took advantage of the exact moment Igniz entered DIO to exact his finishing blow.

However, when he stood face-to-face with a transcendent like the situation with Tan…

‘There’s no opening. I can’t win.’

In this case, it was actually bad luck that Arthur could utilize strong qi.

Since Arthur grew stronger on top of being as fast as light, his attacks had reached a level where even transcendents needed to remain vigilant. Thus, Tan wouldn’t be letting his guard down anytime soon.

‘No, actually, that’s not the only problem.’

Flash!Bam!

Yongno’s expression turned more severe as he watched the battle. Seyoung was turning into a brilliant ray of light, while Tan blocked every attack by casting barrier and quick-cast spells.

To be honest, in terms of power level, Arthur should’ve been defeated long ago. Even after just a few glances, Yongno clearly realized this fact.

However, the battle didn’t continue until now because Tan was toying with Seyoung.

“Is this all you have to show for yourself? Is this all you’ve got?”

Tan blocked Seyoung’s attack with a relaxed smile.

Yet, Yongno read something different in his expression.

‘There are no gaps.’

This battle did not go on for so long because Tan was toying with Seyoung; instead, Tan was being extremely careful to prepare for the unexpected. Tan had heard the news that Igniz, whom he had confidently sent to retake DIO, had been killed.

Hence, Tan knew that Yongno and Arthur possessed a [trump card].

‘Irrational Hand Strike can cross through space, but still… I can’t land a hit when he has his guard up like this.’

Any surprise attack was futile against the current Tan, who was not only maintaining his vigilance but was a pinnacle martial artist as well.

Obviously, Irrational Hand Strike was an intangible, silent, dark art form of attack shrouded in secrecy, but how was Merlin supposed to hit such an alert transcendent?

If Yongno used his trump card, he’d only be wasting it and opening himself up to a counterattack.

‘Moreover, I can’t even use the maximum output right now. Unless I somehow pull him into the Magic Tower, my Irrational Hand Strike would be limited to 1,600 years of internal energy. I’d also have to risk my life as collateral just to produce that amount.’

The [Non-Destructive] system setting couldn’t be established in reality, as it was a DIO system calibration that could only be applied within the boundaries of the service. As such, this further decreased the chances that Yongno’s Irrational Hand Strike could incapacitate Tan.

Of course, the situation would be a bit different if Tan stepped into the Magic Tower, but….

Yongno judged that Tan wouldn’t be that stupid or foolish. Somehow, Yongno had to find a solution outside DIO’s boundary.

For these reasons, Yongno turned his head to tell his party to safely flee the area.

“Hey, Eunhye…”

“Arc Ilensia.”

Instead of answering Yongno, Eunhye manifested.

With a quiet chant, a magic tattoo appeared on Eunhye’s skin, and soon, black armor covered her entire body.

Her black leather armor, which covered her face and hid her eyes, showed that she wasn’t planning on backing down.

“… Merlin Emrys.”

After he muttered his own manifestation chant, Yongno’s body was covered with static noise, and in an instant, he was wearing a red robe.

“Hey, don’t leave me out!”

Then, Miho jumped down from inside the Magic Tower, wearing a white coat and holding Hydra, a red staff taller than herself.

The lack of the six tails always hanging from her hips meant she had manifested as a user.

When Merlin looked up, he saw Cruze aiming a sniper rifle from the corner of the broken tower wall, with Lancelot standing beside her.

‘If Sungmuk and Snowflake Flower were here as well, we would have made quite an imposing force.’

However, that scenario was impossible. The two were DIO NPCs and only existed in the Magic Tower, the expanded boundary of DIO’s system.

Even if the outer wall of just one floor had a hole, the two could no longer exist there.

“… I might die.”

As he looked at Tan as the latter leisurely dealt with Arthur, Merlin muttered under his breath.

Despite fending off Arthur’s constant attacks with all his might…

Yongno felt that Tan wasn’t taking his eyes off of him, not even for a moment.

If Merlin cast a teleportation spell, Tan would probably have a countermeasure ready and waiting.

‘Neither the Celesti World nor the Nether World is responding… I knew I couldn’t count on them; I knew they weren’t trustworthy… so why didn’t I prepare more beforehand?’

As Yongno smiled bitterly at the despondent situation, Eunhye looked at him and spoke.

“It’s okay if I die…”

She spoke in a low voice.

“... as long as I’m with you.”

“Eh! Don’t even think of scoring some points in this situation! I already died once for Merlin… you know that, right?”

Miho cracked a joke while preparing herself for battle. It was time to fight, even if the odds of winning seemed slim. Yongno raised his right hand.

“Come.”

When he cast a Calling spell, the Editor Blade he had thrown to repair the Magic Tower’s broken outer wall came flying back to his hand, and soon, Yongno wielded the dagger.

Boom!

And once he grabbed the Editor Blade, Muspelheim, the burning staff, rolled on the ground.

“Hmm?”

Everyone briefly froze after seeing an unexpected scene.

Muspelheim was suspended in the air as it was still stuck to the Editor Blade. However, Muspelheim was also burning and rolling on the ground.

“What?”

“Eh?”

Forgetting the somber atmosphere, Merlin, Arc, and Miho looked at the two staffs.

“Two staffs?”

That’s right. There were two staffs.

The two Muspelheims were quietly burning.