The old man gazed peacefully at the mountain.
"It's a pleasure to meet the Devil himself."
He slowly stood up and turned toward the tree behind him.
"I can feel your legendary aura. You must be him, right? I thought you were nothing more than a legend... the Heaven-Splitter Blade himself."
He smiled.
"Forgive my manners. I am the Devil."
A man stepped out from behind the tree.
He was nothing like the tales described.
No tail. No red skin. No horns.
He was simply a handsome young man.
The old man turned his gaze back toward the mountain.
"An old man once said, 'A wise man prays to God for help, but a wiser man begs the Devil for mercy.'"
He looked over his shoulder.
"Come here, and let's see which one I am."
"Very well."
The young man smiled.
"I enjoy breaking arrogant souls. I shall spare your life if you win."
His hand moved toward the blade at his waist.
"But if you lose... your soul belongs to me."
The Devil drew his blade.
In an instant—
CLANG!
Their blades collided.
The mountain trembled beneath the force of their clash.
BOOM!
And then...
The terrifying battle from years ago ends...
"Bro! I was waiting for you!"
Loki waved excitedly as Crimson approached.
"Please, Crimson. You have to come earlier more often!"
Crimson sighed.
"Hey, Loki. Nah, that's way too much work."
The two shook hands before continuing down the road toward a gigantic college campus.
Loki glanced at him.
"So, are you happy that they call you the Genius of Magic?"
"Spell theory is just too complex for simple minds."
Crimson glanced at him in disbelief.
"That sounds very arrogant, if you ask me."
"And I think your mom is a magic genius for calling you Loki. Do you know it means 'fool,' right?"
Loki looked at him angrily.
"Did you just learn the Hatï language just to tell me the meaning of my name?!!"
"No~~. Maybe yes."
Crimson laughed at his face.
Just then, a girl approached them.
"Hello, idiot duo. Nice to see my two handsome boys again."
They both slowly turned their heads toward her.
"Do you think I'm handsome?" Loki asked.
"No. I was just joking. Only Crimson is handsome."
Loki looked down in defeat.
Then suddenly—
ROOOAAAR!
A massive dragon appeared in the distance and began attacking the city.
"An A-Rank monster? At this moment?"
Loki's eyes lit up.
"I'm so happy."
A mage nearby raised his hand toward the dragon.
"Fireball!"
A magic circle formed in front of him, releasing a ball of flame toward the dragon.
BOOM!
The fireball struck the dragon...
But it didn't even leave a scratch.
The dragon roared.
Crimson stepped forward and calmly clapped both hands together.
"Heavenly Palm of Hellish Thunder."
His left palm became coated in grey lightning.
In an instant, he thrust his hand forward.
The lightning shot toward the dragon and tore through its right wing.
"Was that a Naruto reference?" Loki asked.
"Hell yeah. The Chidori."
The dragon suddenly recovered and launched itself toward Crimson.
Crimson's eyes widened.
But Loki had already seen it coming.
"Thousand Misery of Hellish Souls."
A magic circle appeared beneath the dragon.
It rapidly expanded.
Then a massive grey beam erupted from the circle and swallowed the dragon whole.
For a brief moment, the entire area was illuminated by grey light.
And then...
The dragon was completely obliterated.
All the mages looked at each other in relief. They had thought it was the end because there was no code against A-Rank monsters.
"Loki, thank God you did that to the dragon. My lightning spell was about to turn that dragon into an auto-destruction atomic bomb."
"Was that lightning spell from the school of magic you're developing?" Loki asked.
"Ruin Magic? Yep. It's one of the basic spells."
Loki and Crimson looked at the girl and suddenly jumped forward to hug her.
"Our Miss Marry!" they said in unison.
"Do that again, and I'm gonna explode both of you."
Crimson and Loki looked at her with sad faces.
"But, Mom—"
"Loki, aren't you two grown-up enough to stop calling another grown-up woman 'Mommy'?"
She raised an eyebrow.
"Both of you are so childish."
She sighed before looking at Crimson.
"Crimson, you're too handsome to always look so depressed."
Crimson sighed.
The three of them walked away toward a forest.
The forest was unusually quiet.
Loki stopped walking.
"...Wait."
Crimson looked back.
"What?"
Loki stared between the trees.
"Did you hear that?"
Marry's expression immediately changed.
"No."
A faint sound came from somewhere deeper within the forest.
Crack.
A branch snapped.
Crimson's eyes narrowed.
"That wasn't an animal."
Another sound followed.
Crack... crack... crack...
The trees began shaking.
Loki smiled.
"Maybe there's another monster."
Marry grabbed him by the back of his coat.
"Don't get excited."
"But—"
"No."
Loki's smile disappeared.
"Fine."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them began to glow.
A massive magic circle appeared beneath their feet.
Marry's eyes widened.
"Everyone, move!"
The three of them jumped away just as the magic circle erupted.
BOOOOOOM!
Trees were blown apart as a pillar of grey light shot into the sky.
Crimson landed on a nearby branch.
"What the hell was that?"
Loki stared at the remains of the magic circle.
"This isn't a monster."
Marry looked at him.
"How can you tell?"
Loki crouched down and touched the ground.
His expression slowly became serious.
"Because this magic circle wasn't created to attack us."
He looked deeper into the forest.
"It was created to contain something."
A deep roar echoed through the trees.
The entire forest went silent.
Then something enormous moved behind the trees.
Crimson slowly raised his hands.
"Loki..."
"Yeah?"
"I think we should probably run."
Loki smiled.
"Now you're finally talking like me."