"Maschenny, let's get out of here."
When her sworn enemy, Hoaquin, smiled faintly and spoke, Maschenny looked bewildered, as if entranced.
"Hoaquin… my sworn enemy?"
"Yeah, it's . Co on, let's go."
Hoaquin opened the cell door.
So it did open from the outside—how careless, she thought, though she didn't really care right now.
"How did you even get here?"
"…No comnt."
If he said it, she'd definitely scold him.
Maschenny glanced suspiciously at Hoaquin as he mumbled to himself, but quickly moved on to her next question.
"Do you know the way out?"
"Ha, who do you think I am? I already did a reconnaissance."
"Straight ahead!" he declared confidently.
Maschenny was about to sprint forward when the passageway in that direction suddenly sealed shut.
Hoaquin frowned sharply as he turned around—Big Breeder Hwang's doing.
"I'd appreciate it if you'd open that back up."
"Impossible. I don't know how you got in here or how you broke the restriction, but I can't let you keep doing as you please."
"Then I'll open it myself."
Hoaquin swung his sword toward the sealed passage.
With a deafening explosion, a narrow crack appeared between the doors.
It was quickly regenerating—but the gap was still big enough for one person to slip through.
Realizing his intent, Maschenny imdiately leaped through.
"Maschenny—take this!"
Hoaquin tossed an Observer, which followed her through the gap. It would guide her to the exit.
As for him—he'd deal with this nuisance and then catch up.
"You've tampered with the Sworn Enemy System. Your power level is abnormally high… What trick did you pull?"
"I just… kept dying, and eventually I could feel the system's link to . So I tried pushing back."
Swoooosh—!
Hoaquin slashed at the Big Breeder Hwang.
The exit was sealed, so he'd just have to make one himself.
.....
Why are Rankers strong?
The answer was simple.
They spent centuries exposed to shinsu, their bodies gradually adapting—becoming stronger and more attuned to it over ti.
Then, what if you could accelerate that process?
That was the idea behind this thod.
It was simple—Just gather shinsu endlessly, using your heart as a core.
Over ti, an abnormal density of shinsu accumulated within my body.
What takes Rankers decades of exposure, I achieved in just a few years.
Even just storing it raised my physical power and shinsu sensitivity.
Convenient, right?
Simple—but not sothing anyone could do.
At least, from what I've seen, I'm the only one who can.
Years of compressed, hyper-dense shinsu—
Now, I released it all, converting it into power I could wield instantly.
That was Baekwha — White Blooming.
With this, even techniques I couldn't use before were now possible.
.....
"A foreign power," Zahard's data muttered as he looked at .
I didn't care.
It took years to build this up, but it would burn out in monts.
Every second counted.
There was no ti for chatter—only for victory.
White ssenger – First Strike
My sword, Baekya, erupted with a blinding white light.
The overflowing power surged out in a slash so fierce that even Zahard couldn't keep talking.
He raised his needle, Lecalicus, and thrust it forward—But it wouldn't be enough.
"...!"
As I predicted, the monstrous golden sea creature that once devoured my attacks was instantly obliterated, disintegrated into nothing.
The slash continued, striking straight through Zahard's data.
He swung Lecalicus desperately to block, but it was too late.
BOOOOM—!
Before his weapon's transformation could even complete, Baekwha's First Strike cleaved Zahard clean in half.
Split neatly in two—And yet, even bisected, Zahard's data remained composed.
"Hah… unbelievable. This much power?"
Slowly, his body began to reattach.
Not as quickly as before, but it was still regeneration.
"That's really unfair, you know."
"When you face a king, don't talk to about fairness."
Yeah, regeneration is totally unfair.
Clearly, fighting him head-on was a waste of ti.
Destroying the remaining cores was the smarter move.
Unlike Bam, I had no ans to nullify his regeneration.
Three cores left.
As I scanned the arena for their positions—Zahard burst toward with explosive speed, his strength suddenly amplified.
His needle had changed form.
The second stage of Lecalicus—Cyllacanth.
A crimson-tipped sabre-shaped needle aid straight for my heart.
Clang! Clang!
Steel clashed violently, sparks scattering.
Cyllacanth's specialty was piercing.
One direct hit would be fatal, so I had to deflect and redirect every thrust aid my way.
A head-on clash would be dangerous.
Deflect it—Or cut it away.
Zahard's data unleashed a relentless storm of attacks with Cyllacanth, desperate to land even a single strike.
I t each one — so deflected smoothly, others parried with precision — allowing not a single hit to land.
In close combat like this, I had the advantage.
I was from the Arie family, born with the finest talent of a swordsman.
Zahard, however, was not a swordsman.
Found them.
The remaining cores!
While defending and diverting his attacks, I swept my gaze across the arena — and there they were.
I'd located the last two cores.
There was no longer any reason to stay on the defensive.
Baekwha Saja White ssenger – Thousand Slashes
Baekya spun in my grip, tracing a thousand intersecting arcs.
The whirlwind of white slashes erupted, engulfing Zahard and blasting him far away.
Of course, his body began to regenerate again — as expected.
His regeneration was absurdly overpowered, but it ca with one critical flaw:
when restoring heavy damage, he couldn't move.
I spread my wings and soared upward toward the second core.
....
"That's far enough!"
Zahard-style Shinsu Control: Cosmos.
Having already regenerated, Zahard unleashed a golden surge behind .
Brilliant orbs of golden, red, and blue shinsu — like celestial bodies — began forming in the air.
Zahard-style Shinsu Control: Second Cosmos.
Another massive golden sphere joined them.
Zahard-style Shinsu Control: Third Cosmos.
"Seriously, does moderation not exist for you?!"
"My mind is made up. A being of uncertain fate like you must be eliminated here."
Three colossal celestial bodies now floated above, bathing the sky in gold.
If I ignored them and charged the core directly, I'd be vaporized.
But… sothing about Zahard's deanor was off.
Rumble—!
The three suns roared, descending upon .
By instinct, I could tell — Baekwha's duration was running out.
My ti to fight him as an equal was almost over.
Then I'd better spend what's left extravagantly.
Baekhwa Mankae – White Blooming Full Release – Soulpiercer Blade
With one swing, a massive white slash erupted forward, splitting the nearest golden planet clean in two.
The power alone was enough to be called a technique on its own — but this was just the prelude.
"Kh—!"
Blood surged up my throat.
Pushing this far was reckless, but when the blade's drawn, it must strike.
Through the pain, I forced my body to move and swung again and again.
Baekhwa Saja White ssenger – Ten Thousand Slashes: White Magnolia
Each swing blood into a petal of light —ten thousand arcs of white shinsu flaring in every direction, like a great tree bursting into full bloom with white flowers.
Beautiful —if you ignored the overwhelming killing intent behind it.
BOOOOOOM—!
The field of white magnolias consud the last two golden spheres.
The sky that had been drenched in gold turned pale with white, and even the boy who called himself king was no exception.
Kuuuuu—!
"Cough! Cough—damn, that hurts."
Blood soaked my clothes — I'd taken as much damage as I'd dealt.
Zahard's data was gone… or so I thought.
No — pieces of him were slowly reassembling.
He'd been completely dissolved by White Magnolia, but he was coming back.
This was my one chance.
I could feel the Baekhwa state fading, and when it did, I'd be defenseless.
Clang—!
I dashed to the nearest core and sliced it apart, then turned toward the last one.
Just one more—
A flash.
A piercing beam of light ca out of nowhere.
What?
He was still regenerating!
CRACK—!
I tried to block with my wings, but the beam tore through them, scattering a devastating shockwave.
"Gah—!"
The force smashed to the ground like a falling aircraft.
A deep wound burned across my abdon — a piercing strike.
I turned toward the source.
Zahard's data stood there, his body half-reford,
aiming his Cyllacanth straight at .
Ugh, disgusting.
So that beam was Cyllacanth...
"...?"
Sothing was wrong.
His regeneration was accelerating — but not just that.
There was a disturbing difference now.
Every instinct in my body scread danger.
His form — no, his presence — was changing into sothing alien, sothing that made the air itself tremble.
....
Hoaquin, son of Arie Hon.
When that strange boy's sword, blazing with a thousand arcs, engulfed , I knew with certainty—
I had lost.
I hadn't used Leviathan or any of my trump cards.
But it didn't matter — this wasn't a death match,
it was a ga with a win condition.
Even if I could regenerate endlessly, it took ti.
And that ti was more than enough for the boy to destroy the remaining cores.
Yes… I had been defeated.
Completely.
And yet, this feeling—
Not frustration, not relief.
A deep, primal hostility and rejection surged toward that boy.
Why?
Why was I… hating him?
Because he brought the 10 Great Family data here?
Were they supposed to disappear?
Why?
Of course — they had to vanish for A—
As a na flickered in my mind, the hostility exploded.
Crack—
No.
No, this isn't right.
This isn't the fate that should exist.
That boy… he shouldn't be here.
This reality itself is wrong.
I was never ant to et him.
What is this?
I can't read his fate…
That boy—
What is he?
If I can't read fate—
Then as a King, I must—
[Reorder Fate.]
Zahard's data regenerated his arm, gripping the Cyllacanth tightly, and slashed toward Hoaqin.
His very existence defied fate.
No—he himself was an error in destiny.
[Stage Deletion.]
"You, unbound by fate—you cannot survive here."
[Leviathan – Activate.]
Cyllacanth's form shifted, glowing crimson, evolving once more—
Zahard's Needle, Third Form – Leviathan.
His ultimate weapon howled, and its overwhelming power surged toward Hoaqin.
.....
Golden Do – Spectator Stands.
The data of the 10 Great Families, as well as Hwarang and Luf, all stood up in shock.
They couldn't believe what they were seeing.
When Hoaquin unleashed his final technique,
Hwarang and Luf didn't realize it, but the 10 Family heads knew—
Hoaquin had won.
Zahard was regenerating; in that ti, Hoaquin would've destroyed the last cores.
Yet now—
Zahard's body reford instantly, mutating before their eyes.
"What the hell is that?!" Eduan shouted.
"A monster—Zahard? Is that really him?!"
Their "Zahard" was gone.
What remained was sothing inhuman—a creature cloaked in red horns, radiating an indescribable presence.
Eduan and Hon leapt from their seats.
If this continued, Hoaquin would die.
That white form of his would fade any mont now.
They had to move—
"Don't just stand there! Get out there!"
The others jolted to action, ready to intervene—
But then, a voice echoed in their heads.
[Do not interfere.]
A distorted, broken voice—yet unmistakably Zahard's.
And when it spoke, their bodies froze in place.
They couldn't move.
They couldn't speak.
Their wills were locked down.
Eduan's veins bulged in fury.
"That bastard didn't just give us mirrors—he rigged them!"
All they could do was watch helplessly as the monster that used to be Zahard raged, and Hoaquin fought for his life.
.....
BOOM—!
"Gah—!"
Victory had been within reach—until Zahard's data regenerated into a monstrous form, covered in crimson horns.
"Fate… fate… nonsense," he muttered, his voice warping.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM!
Leviathan's strikes poured down like a storm.
I wasn't blocking them—just absorbing them, barely alive.
My body was wrecked beyond belief.
Not since Headon's test had I been this close to death.
The shockwave hit before I could even reform my wings.
My sword caught it—but barely.
"Kh…!"
Blood poured from .
Every nerve scread in agony.
Still, Zahard's monstrous form pressed the assault.
Sothing had snapped inside him—he wasn't in control anymore.
Then—
Crackle—
The stage itself began collapsing.
Stage deletion.
When that happens, it isolates from all other spaces—no escape.
Even the 10 Family data were gone from the stands.
Damn it. No plan left.
If the stage vanished, I'd die here… or worse, be trapped in the void forever.
The Baekhwa glow was fading fast.
When it vanished, I'd never withstand Leviathan.
Fine.
If I'm dying anyway—
I'll struggle to the end.
[Disappear.]
That twisted voice again—and another Leviathan strike ca crashing down.
Enough hesitation.
If I had one move left—this was it.
Baekhwa White teor Strike
"Raaahhh!!"
I poured everything I had left—every drop of shinsu, every shred of strength—into my sword.
From its tip burst a massive sphere of white light,
a cot screaming through the air toward Zahard.
The white teor devoured everything—even Leviathan's attacks.
And then, it detonated.
KUUUUU—BOOOOOM!
The colossal explosion engulfed us both.
[Useless.]
Even in that blinding light—he regenerated again.
Instantly.
And as my white shinsu faded—so did my strength.
"Ha… regeneration… is… cheating…"
My body fell limply toward the ground.
Zahard's data stared down coldly, Leviathan swirling for one final blow—
When—
A violet light engulfed .
"...Huh?"
"Hyung!"
Luf.
My fading vision caught the shape of the Lighthouses—three of them beneath .
He'd teleported out of the strike zone.
Leviathan crashed down instead, obliterating the ground where I'd been.
"Luf, you idiot—if you ca here too, how are we supposed to—"
KIEEEEEHH!!
A monstrous roar cut off.
I turned—
The spectator building exploded, and sothing massive burst through the smoke.
BOOOOM!
"Hoaquin! Luf! This way!"
"Hwarang?!"
Riding atop the head of a giant cobra—one with differently colored eyes—was Yeon Hwarang.
"Brother! Quickly, get on!"
The cobra lunged forward, and Luf maneuvered his lighthouses to et it.
[You won't escape.]
Zahard's monstrous gaze turned toward us, Leviathan rising—
But Hwarang raised his hand, and blue flas flickered to life.
Small as candlelight at first—then roaring into an inferno.
"That's what you think!"
Yeon Hwarang-style Shinsu Control: Transcendent Art — The Fla That Guards: Purgatory.
The blue inferno swirled into a vortex, engulfing Zahard's monstrous form—a creature now completely drowned in crimson horns.
For anyone else, Hwarang's flas would've been nothing—but this wasn't just any fire.
The Fla That Guards didn't burn to destroy.
It burned to contain.
And in that mont—it held even the monster, Zahard, at bay.
"Hoaquin, grab my hand!"
Even with barely enough strength left to hold my sword, I forced the last of my energy into my arm and grasped Hwarang's outstretched hand.
"Let's get out of this arena—"
"Wait! Maschenny's still down there!"
BOOOOOOM—!
A blinding white explosion erupted from beneath the arena floor.
The sensation was oddly familiar, so I turned to look—
"Oh, finally made it out."
From the crater below, two figures rose up through the smoke.
Maschenny—and .
Just as I looked down at the other , he looked up at .
"Maschenny, the real and my friends are up there. Go—now."
"…Sworn Enemy, what about you?"
Hoaquin's duplicate smirked faintly.
"I'll buy you so ti."
Heavenly Judgnt Sword — Rain
[GRAAAAAH!]
Zahard's data, having finally broken through the blue flas, let out a monstrous roar—
Only to be struck by countless divine blades raining down like a storm.
Massive shinsu swords fell from above, impaling the beast one after another.
"I can't hold this long. Go!"
Sweat beaded down his brow. Maschenny nodded and turned as the giant cobra extended its head toward them.
"Maschenny, take my hand!"
With Hwarang's help, she was pulled aboard.
Now reunited, all of us were together again as the colossal serpent began to ascend, fleeing the collapsing arena.
anwhile, I t eyes with my other self one last ti.
"Hey—real . Take care of Maschenny, yeah?"
"…Heh. Got it."
Just then, Hwarang, guiding the cobra, turned to urgently.
"The stage is being deleted—how do we get out?!"
"Don't worry."
The exit was already in sight.
It was ti to say goodbye to the Hidden Floor.
There are two ways to escape the Hidden Floor:
Die and be expelled—or clear a Grand Quest and register your data.
"Grand Quest: Generate."
The final quest I'd saved for last activated, and a monstrous figure spawned before us.
"ROOOAAAR—!"
KZZZZZZT—!
Maschenny-style Spear Technique – Execution Art: Gran Espada de la Luz.
There was no ti to hesitate.
Supported by Luf's guidance, Maschenny unleashed her lightning spear the mont the monster appeared.
It disintegrated instantly upon impact—and above us, a massive gate of light ford.
– Grand Quest completed! Data may now be registered!
"Let's go!"
The giant cobra surged upward, rising toward the glowing gate.
[You will not escape!]
Zahard's data—having defeated the other Hoaquin—
appeared before us once more, his monstrous form closing in fast.
"You've GOT to be kidding !"
"Cobra! Faster!"
KIEEEEEEEH—!!
The serpent roared and lunged higher.
Zahard raised Leviathan once again, ready to strike—
When—
BOOOOM—!
A blinding flash of light.
Eight figures appeared between us and Zahard, blocking his path.
All ten Great Family data had arrived.
"Heh, finally. I can move again."
Eduan turned slightly, glancing back at us.
"Get out of here. We'll deal with this fake."
[Stand aside.]
"Snap out of it, you imposter!"
The monstrous Zahard roared and charged,
but the eight family heads countered instantly—
a storm of shinsu in every color, crashing together, pushing back the golden tide.
anwhile, the giant cobra reached the gate.
We pressed our hands against the glowing surface.
– Data registered! You will now be automatically evacuated from the Hidden Floor!
[GRAAAAAAH!]
"You and I need to have a talk, Zahard."
As Zahard tried to lunge toward , Yurin seized his ankle and hurled him away.
The gate flared open.
Bathed in its radiant light, I looked back at them—
and let myself be drawn in.
I'd leave the rest to my data.
At long last…
Goodbye, Hidden Floor.
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