His daughter was just as beautiful as the light—so beautiful that she would leave her position as the daughter of the Lucian Group’s CEO for a greater cause: saving the people of a famished country.

  Even if a teenager was swayed by the words of “morality” and “kindness,” putting those words into action was not an easy task. That was why he stepped back, because even if he was the strongest man, he wouldn’t defeat his child.

  In the conference the day after, the members spewed solutions for the resistance movements in Seryuu.

  “Let’s ask the chairman of the communist party to move.”


  “And I’ll contact some members of the democratic party.”


  “We’ll prepare a common lobby for the other groups to make a move, too, as it will be expensive for our group to take sole responsibility.”


  The members, who knew his common strategies, began to put forth their solutions.

  “Hm……”


  “Sir?”


  “Let’s not.”


  “What? Uh, but…… the contract we have with the Seryuu nation’s vice president says……”


  “Stepping on them too violently may have repercussions when we’re trying to make a contract with the new government. Let’s watch how their country’s situation goes.”


  “Will that be okay?”


  “Make a new plan so that our group will suffer the least damages after the nation turns to democracy. We’ll abandon the plan to have our military forces step in and intervene.”


  “Understood.”


  After sending the members away, Varka stood by the window and looked out into the city. The people rapidly crossing the road below looked like small ants.

  If I fell from here, they would swarm my body. Would you still pity them then? Haa.

  He looked at the sky. “Just return safely.”


  He checked with his secretary again. “Are the guards that are shadowing her in position, yes?”


  “Yes, they’re following her.”


  The guards were talented; that was why he had let his guard down. He had forgotten that anything could happen in dangerous places, even when protected by talented guards. He should have locked her in the house. If so…… she wouldn’t have died like that. She wouldn’t have been swept up in those ignorant peoples’ violence.

  Humans are foolish and weak. They are bound to self-destruct if they aren’t governed.

  That was why this brightness of freedom was a foolish proclamation.

  “I’ll make you realize.” Varka withdrew the Front Wheel of the Universe.

  He’s attacking again.

  Sungjin’s teammates began to prepare themselves. Something new was going to come at them. Something that could resist their two most powerful attacks.

  “Strength of Unmoving Gold.”


  Varka’s body was swept into a golden light. The hammer of a god flew down. Even within the turbulence of the highest heat, Varka’s tall body didn’t have a single injury. Even the might of the god of war, which could topple mountains, caused no tremor in Varka.

  The swords in the skies came down.

  Bang.

  Bang.

  Even the swords, which had the destructive power of comets, didn’t manage to cause a single dent on his body.

  It truly was, as it was called, the strength of gold.

  “Indestructible.” Sungjin’s eyes shone sharply.

  If Ereka’s Aegis was a salvation of promises, this was a salvation of one’s own perfection.

  The powers of both sides dissipated: The Front Wheel of the Universe and Mjolnir and Durandal. Then, all that remained was a fight of bodies. At seven to one, they had the advantage, or so it seemed.

  Varka brought out his final skill: “Dharmakaya of Enlightenment.”


  Doubles of Varka appeared by his side. The number was exactly six. The number was equal to the number of Sungjin’s teammates.

  Six doubles attached themselves to the six girls. They had no skills. The doubles only had power and martial might equal to Varka’s original body, but that was enough.

  “Kuk.”


  “Uu.”


  Even if the other six attacked with their remaining skills, the doubles’ fighting was intense.

  Like this…… Zakiya pulled out her ultimate skill Kaleidoscope of Heaven. If she could trick him for a brief while, she would be able to grant the others a chance.

  In the next moment, Varka’s fist flew toward her, not through the air but through where Zakiya was hiding behind the folds of her illusion. “Kya!”


  “How foolish. Such tricks do not work on me who has realized the truth!”


  This was not a skill but a passive skill Varka had grown by his own achievements. Mind’s Eye of Heaven.

  It was Sooryun who salvaged the disastrous situation caused by the man’s endless skills: “Heavenly Music of the Full Moon!”


  A sound wall formed in a circle. Each sound that made up the wall was an invisible blade. The ground was split circularly, and the seal closed in; a machine of death was hidden within the beautiful large soundwaves.

  “Rachel, help.”


  “Yes.” At Sungjin’s orders, Rachel’s prayer made Sooryun’s power even stronger, and between her attacks was Ereka’s spear and Eustasia’s sword. Three people attacked at once.

  “Ha!” But Varka didn’t even shake. Six body doubles stood firmly and continuously threw out their fists.

  In a single moment, an illusion of a thousand hands took place. Each continuous barrage had a huge impact, even though it was less impactful than the long-distance explosion that had attacked Sungjin.

  The Heavenly Music of the Full Moon was offset by the downpour of pure fists. The martial arts overwhelmed the skill. It was transcendent.

  This moment of equal strength was what Sungjin had been waiting for. Sungjin relentlessly ran towards Varka’s body, and Varka reflected his actions without retreating. It was a one-on-one competition.

  They ran toward each other. Both recognized the moment as their final exchange. There was no other intervention.

  “Hold on, all of you! Stat Exchange!” Sungjin chose Sooryun; there was nothing like the warrior class’s stats in pure martial arts.

  His sword stretched out.

  “Fall.” Varka made a fist.

  The sharper and longer weapon was Sungjin’s sword, but that didn’t make it more powerful in the face of Varka’s fist.

  Power exploded the moment his fist reached out. Shockwaves rang out into space. Incalculable quick blows were exchanged. Before them, Sungjin was blown away. No matter how sophisticated his swordsmanship was, the same situation repeated.

  Just then, the same shock wave exploded out from Sungjin’s sword.

  The eyes of two men met. There was surprise in Varka’s. You? How?

  I saw and experienced your attacks. Now, it’s my turn.

  That was the message the new king was sending to the former Kaiser. Their shock waves hit each other. Was it a draw?

  No. Even if the two sides were comparable in power, their body specifications were different: Varka’s shockwave overpowered Sungjin’s shockwave. The strength from Sooryun couldn’t reach Varka’s level, the place Sungjin had given chase toward but couldn’t reach: the barrier of time that lay between a master and a genius.

  At that moment, Sungjin released his sword and stretched out his fist. His fist hit the air, causing a second explosion. The shockwave created by his sword and the shockwave created by his fist resonated tore through Varka’s shockwave.

  Double resonance.

  Sungjin’s spirit overpowered Varka’s.

  What? Varka was astonished; however, even in amazement, his trained body was prepared to launch another attack. It was the result of a thousand years of training.

  Absolute discipline that shone even when the opponent exceeded one’s expectations.

  At that moment, Sungjin’s fist struck the air, and he opened his fingers. The third shock wave exploded.

  Triple resonance.

  As the final shockwave propelled the sword forward, Varka attempted to make a responding speed that was beyond his capabilities, but a sharp blade pierced the Kaiser and appeared through the other side of his body. “Ku…… Kuuk…… ” Blood spurted out from him.

  “It is my victory,” Sungjin said.

  “.……Right,” Varka admitted, nodding slowly.

  The man who dominated the past and the man who wanted to dominate the present: the two looked at each other.

  “Beyond the full control of the body…… the full control of the spirit…… did you know how to do it?” It was the secret of Varka’s martial arts: full control of “Heroic Power,” not just the “body.”


  “Ki” was something he was born with, and the origin of its principles was the same. Based on that, even when he didn’t use the skills of all the martial arts movements, he completely united the flow of energy and triggered it at will, so that the moment the fist extended, it gave a burst of power that exploded outward. Using Ki for every single moment to boost power and mobility was his mastery of martial arts, concentrated at one point, with long range and amazing momentary mobility.

  “No, I have recently gained this kind of power.”


  “But how?”


  “I have been practicing here and there by myself since I got it. Then, I could easily catch up thanks to what you showed me.”


  “Catch up……? But double resonance is a martial art that I hadn’t even thought of. To think you pulled off triple resonance…… The pulses would be canceled if they were just slightly out of sequence, but you…… Hahahahaha. You’re amazing.”


  “If you’ve reached a peak due to your advanced studies, it’s possible for the later students to reach a higher peak, is it not?”


  “Hahaha, of course, of course.” Even when he was vomiting blood, Varka laughed cheerfully.

  The interval between the master and the genius—it was the master’s mistaken preconception and arrogance, thinking that it couldn’t be overcome.

  Geniuses were called geniuses for overcoming the limit of human beings. It was his only wish for his efforts to have some meaning before such people. “Do you think humans can improve?”


  “Yes.”


  “I see. I am still skeptical of the possibility.” Varka looked at the sword penetrating his heart.

  When they first met, Sungjin had been an opponent he could defeat with his pure strength, but in just one battle, Sungjin had caught up with him and had transcended his abilities. At this point, he could admit that at least some humans had the potential for growth.

  “Ha.” It had been a team attack, but, nevertheless, he had reached a point where he could subdue everyone’s power, but in the end, Sungjin’s sword had dragged him down. “I admit it. You have exceeded me. Take the victory.”


  “I’d be grateful.” Sungjin smiled without a hint of a lie.

  It was barely a win, but Varka had been a really strong enemy.

  It was the first time he had ever been surpassed in a pure martial arts competition, although they had never been difficult otherwise because of his physical specs, his traditional armament, or because of his heroic power. It was a challenge to catch up with this man’s martial arts. Varka looked at Sooryun. “You’ve finally broken my world with this guy.”


  “You were amazing, but we won.”


  “Hope is accompanied by despair. Your efforts to create a dignified and free world for each human being will surely come back in betrayal again and again. That will be very painful.”


  “I remember the cry of those who cried that your world was better.” Although the world was artificially created, the souls of those who were there were real. Their riots were not Varka’s malice but their own choices. “But I believe in Sungjin’s words that we will do it, even in changing these people. I decided to be with him,” she said clearly, holding her hands together. She meant to go further, even if it was difficult.

  “I see. Ha. I can’t stop you anymore because you have overcome me.” Varka looked at Sungjin once more. “I’ll have a last request.”


  “What?”


  “I want to talk to you man to man for a while.” Varka wanted to leave parting words to the man who had overcome him.

  “Okay.”


  As Sungjin nodded, the other girls walked away, considerate.

  “Please take care of my daughter.”


  “As expected. Sure.”


  Even if they didn’t speak aloud the details, they both understood what the other was saying.

  “Haha. I’m relieved.” Varka looked at Sooryun. Her soul was reborn and her appearance was slightly different, but it was his young daughter in the end. I wanted to protect your happiness this time. I wanted to make a peaceful and orderly world where you could be happy forever……