Dancing on the golden ashes

Just as the blade would have struck her flesh, the woman's body suddenly melted away into poison, dissolving swiftly and evading his attack entirely. In a fluid motion, she reformed instantly below him, her mouth opening to unleash several small projectiles, each coated in a deadly toxin. The poisonous spits raced through the air, hurtling dangerously toward Ji-hoon's exposed back.

Without hesitation, Ji-hoon flapped his shadowy, tattered wings, sending ripples of pure darkness cascading through the air around him. Like an elusive vampire of legend, he vanished once more into thin air, evading the toxic assault with elegant ease.

The two assassins immediately fell into a fierce, deadly dance, exchanging rapid strikes and lethal counters one after another. Every movement was calculated, precise, and deadly, each strike aiming for vital points with merciless accuracy. It was a breathtaking spectacle—two masters of shadows, each striving to exploit the slightest weakness in the other's defenses.

"He's good," Eun-woo suddenly remarked, his powerful form effortlessly appearing beside me, floating elegantly on currents of radiant soul energy despite having no visible wings. Wisps of glowing starlight swirled beneath his feet, creating a subtle yet majestic display of mastery over his own power.

"Yes," I replied calmly, my eyes tracing the fluid movements of Ji-hoon's duel. "But he's going easy on her. He's only using soul energy." I think I felt proud of him... "if he unleashed his cosmic energy, she'd already be dead." I could feel how sharp those daggers were; if he supported himself with cosmic energy, he would be able to cut through space and time with ease.

Oh? My senses suddenly sharpened, I felt a subtle yet clear warning coming from below. Without hesitation, I shifted swiftly aside. "Watch out, Eun-woo... he's coming back."

BOOOOM!

From below, a colossal pillar of molten magma erupted violently upward, streaking fiercely toward Eun-woo with the fury of a volcanic eruption. It surged skyward, blazing and roaring like an infernal dragon intent on devouring him whole. The man Eun-woo had crushed earlier had somehow survived, unleashing every ounce of energy in this desperate counterattack.

"Annoying roach," Eun-woo sighed deeply, his tone laced with mild annoyance rather than genuine concern. Instantly, he raised his left arm, and a cosmic shield materialized from nothingness, shimmering brilliantly with nebula-like swirls of celestial power. The shield absorbed the impact effortlessly, though the force of the magma still carried him skyward, ascending rapidly into the heavens until he appeared merely as a blazing star against the infinite blue.

"That's… high," I murmured casually, eyes fixed on Eun-woo's radiant silhouette, now nearly ten kilometers above us.

And then, all at once, the sky darkened dramatically, shadows swallowing daylight itself. A blazing sun, as immense and radiant as a celestial deity, materialized high above Eun-woo. The sheer magnitude of power radiating from it was astonishing; its presence alone was distorting reality and bending gravity, causing the air itself to warp and shimmer.

"Solar Eclipse!" Eun-woo's voice thundered from the heavens, resonating with divine authority, shaking the air and commanding attention from every combatant below.

An invisible gravitational force surged outward from his hammer, its intensity so profound it froze his opponent completely in place. I watched calmly as Eun-woo descended with unstoppable might, his massive hammer blazing like a miniature star as he plunged downward. His target stood frozen beneath the oppressive weight, muscles trembling violently, drenched in sweat as though a planet itself pressed down upon him.

The descent was swift and brutal, like the judgment of a god crashing down upon the mortal world. Eun-woo collided with his enemy with cataclysmic force, his celestial hammer unleashing a devastating shockwave of pure gravitational energy at the point of impact.

SKRAAAA-DOOOOOOM!

Instantly, the ground beneath shattered spectacularly, splintering into massive, jagged fragments. A terrifying eruption of molten lava exploded from the crater, shooting hundreds of meters into the sky, painting the battlefield in blazing fire and molten stone. Massive boulders erupted violently into the air, hurtling outward like meteors, crushing and burning everything unfortunate enough to lie in their paths.

The shockwave surged outward, rumbling like an earth-shattering storm, shaking the entire continent with an earthquake surpassing magnitude nine. The battlefield trembled under the sheer might of Eun-woo's strike, fissures ripping across the landscape, carving the earth into chaotic chasms filled with bubbling lava and ash.

Eun-woo rose slowly from the epicenter, his celestial armor glowing brilliantly, completely untouched by the flames and chaos around him. His shield still pulsed gently with nebula-like swirls, and his cosmic hammer radiated blindingly bright like a newborn star. His muscular figure stood tall and proud, framed by rivers of molten fire, ash, and smoke, like a divine warrior who had descended from the heavens themselves.

Truly, Eun-woo has surpassed all limits…

I had yet to witness much from the others, but as my eyes lingered on Eun-woo, I could clearly sense the tremendous transformation he had undergone. He must have felt overshadowed all this time, especially given how he had failed to protect everyone back at the capital city. That failure probably caused him to lose his heart, plunging him into deep despair and uncertainty. Yet somehow, perhaps during those ten thousand years spent drifting in endless rebirth, he'd finally found the peace he needed to reforge himself entirely—both inside and out.

The Eun-woo who emerged from that shattered star was no longer a mortal, no longer just a simple baker who'd once stood quietly on the sidelines. Now, he radiated a brilliance brighter than any star I'd ever seen, glowing with unwavering confidence and power. It was incredible, almost poetic, how this ordinary man who once kneaded dough and smiled warmly at customers had now ascended beyond mortality, his strength immense enough to shatter and reshape stars themselves.

No wonder his role was the Star Knight. He had fully embraced and absorbed his destiny, embodying every ounce of its celestial might. He had transformed himself completely, rising from mortal fragility into divine strength—exactly as he had always been destined to do.