Dancing on the golden ashes

"Why are you so eager to kill me, Gaon?" He chuckles, his hand extending. From the thin air, a crystal sword manifests, beautiful and terrible, warping the space around it as though it alone rules this plane. Even I feel its crushing presence pressing against me, trying to force doubt into my heart. But Pride inside me blazes brighter, refusing to bow. I burn with certainty that I am the most powerful existence of all.

"Why don't we have a cup of tea and talk this over like adults? What do you say?" His nonchalant words are betrayed as his sword crashes down on me. My scythe, hungering for his blood, surges to meet it. The clash shakes the world, shockwaves bursting outward like a star exploding in supernova. Mountains far below crumble into dust, and cracks spread through the very fabric of the sky. My arms tremble with pain, but my thirst for vengeance shines hotter than agony.

"Just die for me. That would be the best conversation we could ever hold, you piece of trash." I snarl, opening my mouth to spit forth a small black hole aimed straight at his face. His eyes mock me as his other hand conjures a crystal dagger. With a swift slash, he tears through my attack, detonating it into a storm of black light that devours everything around us. Space itself folds and rips, swallowing pieces of the realm into nothingness.

I feel the air shift as he pulls back, retreating. My wings flare and I launch after him, leaving the battlefield behind. Below us, blood flows like an ocean. My demons fall. The hateful angels break. Thousands of attacks exchange in chaos, tearing this realm apart. Fractures spread like spiderwebs across heaven's sky. But I cannot linger. I trust my friends. I trust my family. They will endure. My purpose is clear—I must kill the one who started all of this.

My wings carry me through the sky at the speed of light.

"Come here and face me like a real man, you betraying scum!" I roar, hurling chains of my soul through the heavens. They catch his ankle, tightening like serpents, and I drag him back to me. The sky splits with the pull, tearing into jagged seams of black void.

"You know, you sound just like her," he laughs behind the mask, the voice both familiar and alien. "What a perfect copy, hahaha!"

"Do not insult the one who loved you once! She did nothing wrong. She only wanted the two of you to stand against the world together—and you killed her!" My Wrath bursts, horns blazing, blood boiling, strength surging into the chains. I yank him close and strike with everything in me, my fist crackling with demonic might.

The realm echoes with the deafening crack of bone. His body is hurled skyward, splitting the air itself with the impact. Reality bends under the force, the clouds above shattering like glass. For a heartbeat he is broken—but then with mocking laughter he stabilizes, faster than I can react. His arm rises, and suddenly millions of meteorites rain down from the heavens, each one wrapped in holy power that gnaws at my bloodline, trying to crush me. The land below buckles, collapsing into glowing craters.

But I am not weak. I am Gaon. I am the best.

My scythe arcs, sins roaring. A black crescent moon bursts from its blade, faster than the blink of an eye—no, faster than thought itself. It carries my resolve, the fury of all my sins woven together, craving blood.

The air itself screams as my strike collides with his storm, annihilating the holy meteorites in a flood of ruin. Shattered fragments rain like dying stars. His mask hides his face, but I feel the tremor in his aura. He did not expect this. That's what he gets for underestimating me.

"Ten thousand years of destruction and rebirth, lend me your strength…" His words echo through the realm like a decree, and my attack detonates mid-air. A surge of golden brilliance descends from above, and a miniature sun manifests in his palm. Its flames devour all life—grass withers, trees dissolve, even the sky itself burns away as it crashes toward me. I know if I let it fall, it will kill me. His power is on another level. He could erase the universe itself if he willed it. He's insane.

But I want that power.

Envy claws at me, pulling the energy of the world into my body, hungering to take what belongs to him. Greed rises next, wrenching at the falling sun, tearing strips of its radiance into myself. Pride refuses to bow, and Gluttony roars, demanding to swallow the impossible whole. If the sun dares to block my path, then I will consume it.

My sins merge, weaving into one overwhelming impulse. With every ounce of my strength, I open a colossal Soul-bite in the sky, a gaping maw of devouring darkness. He gave me these powers. Let this be his downfall.

The massive sun vanishes into my attack, devoured whole, and the force of my strike surges forward toward him.

"Rest in pieces, and leave the world for us demons to rule!" I roar, shoving it with everything I have. For a heartbeat, I see his body tense. A massive crystal shield blossoms before him, and then the explosion follows—so violent that even I tremble.

The shockwave hurls me back, flinging me into the heart of the battlefield where demons and angels still clash endlessly. My skin chars, every nerve burning. There's no way he survived that… right? The thought claws through me, desperate, hoping this war can finally end, that I can return to my friends, save as many as I can.

But the unthinkable happens.

As I stagger, Seong-hoon catches me from behind, his body's warmth bleeding into mine, a fleeting comfort in the chaos. For a breath, I let myself believe in that warmth, in hope.

Then the sky splits. The Creator descends, his mask cracked in a dozen places, fragments barely clinging together. Yet he is untouched—uninjured. The same explosion that scorched my body left him as if nothing had happened. To him, it was just a walk in the park.

His laughter echoes across the realm, rolling like thunder until even the angels fall silent. Then the sound dies, and a stillness spreads. Every demon freezes as the mask slips from his face and crashes to the ground. A voice follows, one we all know too well, cutting deeper than any blade.

My eyes lock onto the Creator's true face, and my body trembles in Seong-hoon's embrace. His arms shake around me, his own strength faltering as the truth stares back at us.

"H-how… how is this possible?" The words scrape from my throat as my heart plummets into despair. My lips part again, barely able to breathe. "You cannot be—"