The weight of years was heavy. It was never easy even for those mighty beings who lived for more than a thousand years to remember the things of the distant past.

It was even hard for them to count the number of their past events. Thousands and tens of thousands of days were blocking the gap between now and the past.

But Gusion remembered it. He could vividly recall what had happened more than a thousand years and an even more distant past than the day King Mammon died, as if it were yesterday.

He watched the king from behind.

The king's back view.

He once decided to follow him. He was immature in those days.

"Master."

My Lord. My King.

Gusion looked at the present, not the past. At that moment, he saw a man rus.h.i.+ng toward him in an eternity of moments that had been split every second.

The successor of the king and the man who resembled the king but looked different.

Gusion clenched his fist. With a hearty laugh, he moved on fast. He focused on the present with the time that started flowing again.

He clashed with Yong-ho. There was a big roar when they clashed.

***

The time he climbed the 30th floor, Yong-ho could not use the power of his subordinate spirits. He could bring out the power of Mammon's 12 Spirits through Mammon's G.o.dly Energy, but he could not inside the arena.

Therefore, his fighting on the 30th floor reminded him of his final battle with the King of Gluttony.

And that was the same when he fought on the 39th floor, the top floor of the arena.

Hitting the ground hard, he activated the heart of the Demon G.o.d. Without going through the due step gradually, five of the seven claws immediately penetrated his chest.

It hurt. At the same time, however, he felt power was soaring from inside.

He pondered over it overnight. His fight against Gusion was not supposed to last long. For nearly half a year, he had been with Gusion. Given that the pa.s.sage of time was not so clear in the arena, he might have spent more time with Gusion than he thought.

Gusion did not spare his power. Since the day Yong-ho first asked Gusion to teach him, he tried to pa.s.s on to Yong-ho everything he knew.

So, Yong-ho knew that it was impossible to maintain the distance with him or to make use of his superior mana to engage in a protracted fight. There was only one way for him to defeat the beast named Gusion, which was the primitive battle between the power of the two.

Yong-ho was determined to demonstrate all his power available. Gusion might have felt the same way. This was going to be a fierce battle.

Yong-ho concentrated. Gusion clenched his fist.

Yong-ho tightened his legs and hit the ground. With tremendous power, he traversed the s.p.a.ce quickly. He saw Gusion throwing his punch.

There was a clas.h.i.+ng noise. It wasn't something hitting against each other. Their fists clashed against each other in the air. When the clas.h.i.+ng sound exploded, Gusion punched him, which gently touched his cheek.

Yong-ho avoided his first blow. Needless to say, it was a miracle. As the strongest Red Demon, there was no mistake in Gusion's punch. Since his body and mana worked together at the moment he intended, Yong-ho could not discern the flow of Gusion's mana as he used to. That was why it was a miracle that he avoided Gusion's fatal blow. It was impossible for him to explain how he avoided Gusion's attack. Maybe he did it instinctively or by experience.

Yong-ho's eyes moved. He looked over Gusion's huge left arm. His eyes met Gusion's.

Gusion was laughing.

Bang!

There was a deafening roar for the second time. Once again, a miracle happened. Gusion rotated his body then threw his right punch, but it missed the target. Before his punch broke the ground, Yong-ho rushed toward him bravely. He rotated his body in the same direction as Gusion and stood behind his back.

The waves that shook the atmosphere reverberated on the ground this time. The ground that could not withstand Gusion's mighty punch was torn in all directions.

Yong-ho moved his right hand. He didn't sense the moment he did it. At the moment, no one could have guessed, Aamon, with ultra-high green flames, became a flash of light.

Gusion punched his jaw while the magic spear of Aamon cut through the air. Gusion, getting close to Yong-ho, threw a punch for the second time.

His punch bounced out. A s.h.i.+eld of distortion released from his left hand twisted the trajectory of Gusion's fist. Both eyes met over Yong-ho's silver dragon armor which was smashed by his punch. The two launched another attack against each other.

There was a series of roaring whenever they clashed. Their close-range fighting brought about unimaginable results. Their mana collided. They hit then avoided each other's attack. Since their fighting was straightforward and simple, it was so intense and fierce.

Gusion's armor was stained with blood. The leather clothes that covered his red upper body were already burned with the green flames.

Yong-ho wasn't that different from Gusion, either. The silver dragon armor was already in tatters. Each time he attacked Yong-ho, its fragments scattered in the air.

They now sped up their attack. The breathless fighting seemed to blow away Yong-ho's consciousness at any moment.

On the other hand, Gusion felt extreme joy. It wasn't just because Yong-ho was fighting better than he expected. He just took great delight in fighting itself.

While over a thousand years were pa.s.sing outside the arena, Gusion trained himself. He didn't care about the loss of mana caused by the death of his master—Mammon. He was a Red Demon who fought physically. Although his mana was weak, he was not weakened.

He was still the strongest Red Demon ever.

Bang!

There was a change in his blazing fast attack. Instead of attacking Yong-ho, Gusion soared vertically. He jumped more than a dozen meters at once and rotated his body. He hurriedly raised his head and rushed down to Yong-ho with a mighty punch. His vertical attack was like a meteor burning the atmosphere.

Gusion's striking was so powerful as to break everything on the ground, but it missed its target. But he didn't care. What he wanted from the beginning was not to destroy Yong-ho.

The air shook with the release of mana. The floor of the stadium collapsed at the moment his punch hit the ground. Hundreds of fragments that lost gravity because of his overwhelming force scattered into the air.

Yong-ho saw him amid the chaotic moment. As Gusion was on the offensive, he was not distracted by anything around him. He threw his right punch toward Yong-ho, who missed the chance to counterattack in the fast-changing environment.

This time, Gusion didn't use his fist. Instead, he grabbed Yong-ho's left hand with his right hand. Without ever crossing each other's gaze, Gusion used his Herculean power. Gusion let out a powerful force by swinging his right hand as hard as he could.

Yong-ho screamed. His left arm was torn out. His muscles were torn and his bones broke. The shock of his left arm being ripped from his body made him feel hazy.

Gusion threw away his left arm. Blood gus.h.i.+ng from his left shoulder splattered over him and Gusion. Gusion didn't clench his right hand, which tore off his left arm. With the fragments of the destroyed ground falling down, Gusion resumed his attack.

Yong-ho couldn't avoid or prevent it. None of that was allowed. For the first time since they fought in the arena, Gusion mounted a perfect attack.

Yong-ho, who was struck between his left chest and waist, was thrown away tens of meters and hit against the wall of the stadium. He felt like his body was being smashed just by the impact of it colliding against the wall.

Gusion saw Yong-ho. He was squirming, stuck in the smashed wall of the stadium.

Gusion clenched his teeth. Without any regret, he moved toward Yong-ho. As he promised to Yong-ho at the start of the fighting, he needed to beat him and end the fighting. His decisive attack created this situation. If Yong-ho had struck him down decisively, he, not Yong-ho, would have fallen on the ground.

Gusion raised his head and looked outside the stadium. Kaiwan and Catalina were crying. Ophelia was trembling, squatting on the stand, Eligos denied what was happening before his eyes. Tigrius gnashed his teeth with his eyes closed. Only Skull stood firmly, facing Gusion.

Gusion turned his gaze from them. He took another step. He grabbed his right hand stained with Yong-ho's blood. The flames of the red lotus blocked him at the moment.

It was a waterfall of fire. Starting from the red lotus, it became the green flames. A huge chunk of mana engulfed Gusion.

Gusion felt the presence of Aamon from the flames. United with Yong-ho, Aamon was different from his other subordinate spirits. Even inside the stadium, Aamon could enforce his own intentions.

Aamon's efforts were useless. Gusion generated mana and grabbed the curtain of fire with both hands. He pushed Aamon out, who was rus.h.i.+ng toward him without giving up.

The fight was already over. Yong-ho could not beat Gusion in his current situation. He was so wounded that he could not even stand up.

So, Gusion had to wrap up the fighting now.

The curtain of fire was gradually split. Gusion looked straight ahead, stepping through the gap of the splitting curtain.

Yong-ho was sitting among the fragments of the collapsed wall. Barely raising his upper body, he raised his right hand.

Gusion looked into his eyes and felt great joy and sadness together. Fighting spirit was still burning in his eyes.

Yong-ho opened his lips. Gusion was tens of meters away from him, but Gusion could hear his voice. So, he hurried. He urgently released power and tore the curtain of fire. Then he rushed to Yong-ho.

Yong-ho saw him charging toward him. Instead of closing his blurry eyes, he grabbed his chest with his right hand. He managed to speak it out, "Synthetic reinforcement!"

He could not put it off anymore, nor should he.

A green light was flaring up in his eyes. Once again, Aamon intercepted Gusion rus.h.i.+ng toward him. The waves of the green flames helped Yong-ho gain time.

Mana, the target of the synthetic reinforcement, began to swirl in the heart of the Demon G.o.d. Greed and Gluttony roared at once.

The moment Gusion finally crossed all the waves of the green flames, a strong light arose.

The sixth claw was triggered from the heart of the Demon G.o.d who became united with Yong-ho in a true sense.

The arena beyond the fighting area reverberated. A terrifying mana was released from his body, along with the green flames. A temporary seventh horn in the shape of light came out between the six horns.

Yong-ho was exhausted and his bones were broken. Even handling the released mana was difficult for him. He didn't even know how long he could stick it out.

Nonetheless, he could still fight.

Gusion laughed. He burst into laughter before he knew it. He gladly clenched his fist.

Yong-ho also laughed. With his right hand, he grabbed the air. Then he stood up and let down the magic spear, Aamon, the red lotus.

The two looked at each other, then fought again.