Dancing on the golden ashes

Jieun flapped her wings, each motion leaving behind a shimmering trail of cosmic dust, like the remnants of galaxies unraveling in her wake. From high above, she looked down on everyone—not like a soldier on a battlefield, but like an immortal empress overlooking ants. Her gaze alone carried weight. If looks could kill, hers would erase someone from existence without even trying.

Something inside her pulsed with raw, overwhelming power. It was heavy… suffocating. Even I felt it. That pressure wasn't something a normal being could survive under.

She raised her hand.

From her fingertips, small celestial orbs began to form—each one glowing, spinning, alive with starlight. They resembled miniaturized suns, condensed galaxies, fragments of the universe itself compressed into a shape that only someone like her could control. They floated around her in orbit, radiating energy that bent the very fabric of space.

And then—she laughed.

A light, casual laugh. As if this was fun. As if it was a game.

She let them go.

I stood still, Malrang in my arms, watching without a word as five massive explosions swallowed the battlefield whole. The ground cracked open, flames soared into the sky, and shockwaves leveled everything in their path. Entire legions vanished in the blink of an eye. Hundreds of thousands—gone. Wiped from the map in a single breath.

Yes… that was the power of celestial magic. And in the hands of someone like Jieun—a genius with a cruel glint in her eye—it became something beyond devastating. With just that, she could've ended the entire battle by herself.

But the enemy wasn't just sitting around, waiting to be slaughtered.

Thousands of long-range attacks rained down from the skies. Arrows glowing with divine energy, swords of light, beams of holy fire—everything they could throw, they did. The demons and beasts clashed with them head-on, fighting to the bitter end. Some fell. Most held their ground. Every last one of them gave everything.

To be honest, I felt like the final boss in some video game. That unbeatable last stage.

Nobody could reach me.

My people were the ones facing the so-called heroes—holding off the "good guy" faction with overwhelming force, while I simply stood back, watching it all unfold.

I could feel Malrang tremble slightly in my arms. Her small body shook—not from fear, I could guarantee that much. No, she was holding herself back. The way her ears twitched, the slight tension in her tail… it was obvious. She wanted to prove herself too.

"You wanna go?" I asked casually, not even glancing down.

"No, it's okay. I can stay here with you," she said, shaking her soft fox head, her voice light. But I already knew what she really thought. Her energy pulsed with anticipation, her claws slightly tensed. That wasn't the behavior of someone who wanted to stay behind.

"Go," I said. "I'm fine. I'll keep watch in case someone—or something stronger—shows up. I have a feeling that fool didn't expect his army to crumble this easily."

I nudged her forward. I wasn't worried about feeling lonely. I couldn't feel that anymore.

Her expression shifted. She looked up at me with that wild, fiery grin I'd seen many times before.

"Alright, watch me, Gaon. I'll show you what hell looks like in real life."

She leapt from my arms, her body twisting midair before bursting into motion. That wild aura exploded from her like a detonation of chaos, a storm of hellfire and glee all wrapped into one. Her fox body shimmered for a moment—her form glowing with twisted elegance as her demonic features took hold. Wings sharp like obsidian blades. Her single crystal-infused tail gleaming with wicked energy. Horns shining like cursed gems. Her eyes were no longer playful—they were those of a predator with no leash.

If she hadn't followed me… she probably would've ended up as an overlord, a demigod beast ruling her own infernal realm, a terror whispered about by other monsters. Cute on the outside, but the deeper you looked, the clearer it became—

She was a devil.

And now, she was going to play.

She danced in the sky, her wings slicing through the wind, each beat leaving behind a scorching trail of fire. But it wasn't flight—she was running. She ran through the air itself, her paws blazing across the heavens at breakneck speed, hellfire raging behind her like a comet tearing through the atmosphere.

Then, without warning, her body erupted into flames. In a flash of burning light, her small form expanded violently, reshaping in midair.

A monster—no, a goddess of destruction—dropped from the sky.

Over a hundred meters tall, her massive body was a blazing storm of fur and flame. Nine long, sweeping tails flowed behind her like rivers of molten wrath, each one crowned in purple hellfire that crackled and screamed as it burned. Her fur shimmered with unnatural beauty, wild and radiant even in her monstrous form—no less majestic than her tiny body, just far more terrifying.

Her jaw opened wide, glowing with purple flames of damnation. The next moment, the world below her was set ablaze. Screams echoed across the battlefield as entire squads were incinerated, vaporized before they could raise a hand in defense. But not a single ally was touched.

She dodged them all.

Every demon, every beast, untouched. It wasn't coincidence. We can feel each other now, I realized. That connection between us allowed for precision—deadly, perfect coordination. And with that, the slaughter became easier.

"RRROOOAAARRR!!!"

A roar exploded across the battlefield, shaking the sky itself.

From a freshly torn rift above, a golden beast leapt out, its fur shining like divine metal, claws sparking like lightning. It was massive, majestic—but it was not holy. It was furious. It radiated death. A golden tiger, monstrous and divine, and I knew the aura wrapped around it.

A surviving demigod. But no… not just any. Its power was ten times greater than any I had faced before. Stronger. Sharper. Controlled.

More rifts began to split the sky apart, like shattered glass being peeled open by claws of the void. One after another, titanic beasts descended—each one radiating power beyond anything else present. Their auras choked the air, suffocating, pressing on the battlefield like the judgment of forgotten gods.

"So you're sending everything at me…" I said, my voice cold, flat. I didn't need to shout. I didn't need to raise a hand.

"Does that mean you can't come yourself anymore?"

Another rift cracked open behind the clouds, but I didn't look.

"Good," I said, still staring forward, watching the world burn. "Then this world will belong to me."

I lifted my gaze toward the cosmos, where the unseen god still watched in silence.

"And you… are banished from it."