Childhood Friend Of The Zenith – Chapter 1263

Fwoooosh.

What rose into the air looked like a sun. The color was alien, but since the sky itself was contradictory, that grotesqueness didn’t stand out.

A gray-hued flame.

I couldn’t take my eyes off that flickering shape when—

“…Damn!”

The Cheolryong Vice Captain reacted at the sight.

“How… how is he here… now…!”

I had no chance to ask anything. The vice captain immediately seized my wrist.

“It’s dangerous… we have to run…”

“Run?”

At that, I had to knit my brows.

“You were just suspecting me of being an Apostle, and now you want to run?”

“…I’ll explain the situation later. For now, just—”

“Besides.”

Whatever he said—

“It’s already too late.”

The situation had already blown up.

Fwooooooosh—!!!

The flaming mass plummeted. Fast—like a meteor, it picked up speed.

Anyone could tell it was coming straight for us.

Before long—

Kwoooooooooom—!!!

The flame struck the ground and exploded for an instant. The shock wasn’t that strong, but—

“Ugh.”

The heat I felt made me certain again.

“…I’d heard all sorts of things, so I half didn’t believe it.”

From within the gray flame—

Step.

Someone walked out. A big frame, fierce eyes. Yet a strikingly handsome face with strong lines.

Ordinarily his eyes should have been blazing red. For some reason, his eyes were gray.

And if there was another difference—

“You look… awfully strange, Vice Captain…”

—it was the sizable horn jutting from his forehead.

“……”

Father.

Father appeared, bursting with flame.

“…Gu Cheolun!”

The Cheolryong Vice Captain gasped at that sight.

Then Father looked at me and the vice captain and spoke in an expressionless voice.

“Found you.”

His voice was low.

And then—

Fwooooooosh—!!!!

In stark contrast to the quiet voice, an enormous flame wrapped around his hand.

“…Wow.”

Cold sweat slid down my back at the sight.

“Your intention’s a little too obvious.”

It didn’t look like there was any room for conversation.

Fwoosh—!!!

The raging flame gathered in his hand. Yeomok formed—its color, of course, was gray.

‘So he became an Apostle, huh.’

Something had definitely changed.

‘That flame is way too menacing.’

It was rougher and more intense than the fire Father used in this era.

At the same time it brimmed with killing intent.

Even if his battle-spirit had always been all mixed in, I didn’t think he ever used this kind of killing intent.

I set my stance.

“Ahjussi.”

“…!”

I called the Cheolryong Vice Captain quietly.

“You should be able to move already. Get yourself out of here.”

“What are you—!”

“You’ll only get in the way if you stick around. Do you not understand plain words?”

“…!”

“Don’t make me say it twice. I’ve let you off a lot already. Please—stay out of it.”

Saying that, I kicked off the ground. Seeing me drive in, Father stretched out his hand.

Yeomok shrank in size. Then—

KWA-AAAK—!!!

It burst from his hand, pouring out like a beam.

Kwak—!!

I barely avoided it by accelerating.

Kwoooooooom—!!!

The flash streaking past us detonated on impact and blew the ground apart.

‘…Well, great.’

What was that compression and spin? What kind of change had happened while I wasn’t looking?

‘He’s beyond early Hwakyung already.’

He’d gone past the initial Hwakyung stage—looked like he’d reached a mature Hwakyung.

Maybe it was the aftermath of becoming an Apostle; I didn’t know what had happened this past year.

‘Still—’

he wasn’t dead, at least.

If that was a relief, then sure.

‘Relief, my ass.’

I reset my stance and my head.

“Vice Captain. You’ve gotten a lot nastier since I last saw you.”

I tried speaking cautiously, but—

“……”

Father didn’t answer. He simply raised fire again.

“Hmm…”

Do Apostles all end up like this? The hostility was no joke.

‘…I have to fight Father.’

Not good. Fighting Father has never once been a pleasant experience.

Even so—

‘I can’t not fight now.’

We were going to have at it anyway. I needed to see what state he was in.

Even aside from that—

‘Let’s try it.’

It was time to see if this time would be any different.

Flick—

I felt the flame. The moment I saw it, I braced my heart.

‘Tam.’

Kiiiiii—

The shadow heaved. Tam shot out to swallow Father’s flame, but—

Halt!

“Huh?”

Tam stopped right in front of it, then hid back in the shadow.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…!”

Thanks to that, the flame tunneled straight at me. I jerked my head and barely avoided it.

Kraaaaack!!!

I ground my teeth as the flame ruptured the ground.

‘Why the hell is he doing that all of a sudden?’

Tam, who had been eating just fine, refused to eat Father’s flame. What kind of crap was this? It threw me. If it was an Authority, he should gulp it down first and ask later.

‘What is that flame?’

Is Father’s fire not an Authority?

‘No, that’s not it.’

What I sensed had the stink of an Authority. It was clearly something I could feel—why Tam refused to eat it was the only mystery.

‘This is a problem, then.’

If Tam wouldn’t activate against the flame, that meant I had to go in myself.

“…Damn it.”

Thump.

I stamped the ground hard. Gray fire flashed across Father’s whole body as it blazed.

‘Should I use Tu-a Pacheonmu?’

I weighed my martial arts. I didn’t have long to think.

“Tsk.”

I was about to load Paejon’s inner art into my body when—

‘…No good.’

I changed my mind. Using Tu-a Pacheonmu in my current condition wasn’t cost-effective. I could see my qi going ragged after two or three uses.

If that’s the case, I had no choice.

Fwoosh.

“…?”

I wound blue flame around my hand. As the fire coiled, a reaction flickered in Father’s eyes.

Thud-thud-thud.

I stamped my foot on the earth. Unlike Father, I didn’t mantle my whole body in flame. I wrapped a small, condensed, compressed fire around my hand.

Yeomok.

I floated the tightly gathered sphere into midair.

Then—

“Hup.”

With a kiai, I punched the sphere.

And then—

Thunk—!!!

The Yeomok blasted toward Father at tremendous speed.

Father, seeing that, hurled the Yeomok he’d prepared.

Crack—!

The two Yeomok collided and a blast erupted. Flames of different colors tangled and shot into the sky. The air around us shifted, turning hot.

Flames warped, twisting like a whirlpool.

In that gap, I opened the Mind’s Eye.

I meant to locate Father.

‘Found him.’

Before long, I confirmed his position. Father hadn’t moved from where he was.

Now that I had his position, I needed to attack. I wrapped my foot in flame and swung it.

Guyeom Taeryun Gak.

My kick spewed a heatwave. It flew in to crash over Father.

Kwoooooooooom—!!!

The ground turned to a wreck. The blue flame blanketed the area. Ordinarily it would all have melted down.

‘Not yet.’

I believed it. That Father wouldn’t lose to mere flames like these.

Fwoosh.

I packed my body full of qi and ramped up my speed.

I dove into the fire.

Grab—!!

‘As expected.’

My hand closed on something.

Blowing air to clear the obscured view, I swept it away.

His neck. I had Father by the throat.

Still an expressionless face.

He looked at me with faint eyes—enough to raise a chill along my back.

I couldn’t help it; the look got under my skin, and I threw him, putting strength into it.

Kwang.

Father’s body crashed into the ground.

Rustle—scrape—

He slowly rose from the rubble. Watching that, I asked,

“Why did you end up like that?”

“……”

“You’re not the type to play at being an Apostle. How did you end up doing something like this?”

What even is this Apostle crap all of a sudden? If it were someone else, I might understand. Father becoming an Apostle—I just couldn’t wrap my head around it.

“What’s the story? If not, then…”

When I was trying to make sense of it somehow—

“Ridiculous.”

Father looked at me and spoke.

“What do you know about me?”

“…That’s—”

“I thought you were already dead. You survived somehow. Then it seems you’re the reason that person held doubts.”

“…Vice Captain.”

“I have no time for useless chatter.”

Fwoooosh—

Father raised flame again. Then he condensed it in his hand—and something about it was strange.

‘It’s not Yeomok.’

It wasn’t a sphere like Yeomok; it was closer to a more ordinary flame.

Then it slowly changed shape—

‘That is…?’

A bow.

It resembled a great longbow. At the same time, a flaming arrow formed on the string.

Seeing that, my body moved first.

Guyeom Taeryun A.

I expanded the flame sheathing my body and, with Yeomok in my hand again, drove in.

A technique I’d never seen before. No—was it even a technique? Whatever it was, I had to stop it.

With only that thought, I charged to strike, but—

Ssssk.

I read where the tip of the arrow aimed and my body stopped.

Tink.

The flaming arrow flew.

Not at me—at the Cheolryong Vice Captain.

Right before the arrow struck the vice captain—

“Damn it—”

PAAAK—!

I instantly recalled my flames and detonated them in my palm. Using the recoil, I blasted myself backward and planted myself in front of the vice captain.

Kwoooooooooom—!!!

“…Baek Yangcheon?”

The vice captain stared at me in shock.

“Why would you…!”

“…Ah, hell. That hurts like crazy.”

Ptui.

I spat the blood filling my mouth. One arm throbbed numb. Looked like I’d taken it full on.

At least it seemed to have stopped at a fracture.

‘I’m screwed.’

What qi I had left just got wiped out by that defense.

‘What now?’

Like this, I really was screwed.

“I didn’t think you’d fight this dirty, Vice Captain.”

I said it to Father. He wasn’t the kind of man to fight like this—stooping to something so cheap?

To my question—

“The same goes for you.”

Father raised the arrow again and spoke.

“I didn’t think you’d block it in his stead.”

“…Exactly.”

It felt like a mistake to me too.

I shouldn’t have.

“Hoo…”

I exhaled and looked at my arm. It was shaking.

What do I do? Tam won’t respond, and I’m out of qi.

What am I supposed to do with this state? At this rate, I might die to Father.

What options did I have?

I thought and thought again, but—

“It’s over.”

Tink—!

Father had no intention of waiting for any of that and simply loosed the arrow.

Right before the arrow reached us—

“Close your eyes.”

Along with a voice I somehow knew—

Sssssssss—!!!

sudden night fell upon me.