Stop, Friendly Fire!

The Emperor seemed pissed; it was only natural. After all, all of the Vampires he’d dispatched had been killed, including the level 8 Steel Armor General. Even Lee Shin Woo hadn’t thought that the level 8 general would be killed so easily!

Once he’d finished cleaning up, he led his Pauls in a quick retreat. Seagald had accepted his subordinates’ summons at each base, and the Vampires were unable to withstand his assault and died.

[I apologize, Your Majesty. If I hadn’t divided our forces, then...!]

There was some good news though. Through his and the Vampires’ attacks on their bases, Anti-Skull’s forces had been cut down by a good 1/3. However, that wouldn’t be enough to cause the Emperor’s anger to abate.

[Raise your head, Arema. That won’t solve anything! We have to kill him!]

[But Your Majesty...!]

Lee Shin Woo trailed off. The Emperor should already know. That entrusting the Metal God General alone with eliminating Seagald, who could suddenly appear and disappear anytime he wanted and had even killed a level 8 Vampire, was too much to ask for.

[I’ve completely destroyed all of his forces on the surface, so he won’t be able to return. He won’t be able to fool the golem network anymore either. ...So Arema, I need to trouble you for just a little while longer.]

[...Of course. I am ready to give my life for you, Your Majesty.]

[No, I’m sorry for giving you such a difficult task. But my friend, I won’t let you die in vain. I’ll send you as many reinforcements as I can.]

Ultimately, the cowardly Emperor chose the second best plan instead of the very best.

The Emperor was under the assumption that ’Arema’ had no choice but to obey him, as he held his strings (his physical body), but to the current Arema... or Lee Shin Woo, it was the best possible outcome!

[I’ll send all the forces I have available. So remember, you have to stop him. Don’t let those filthy undead covet the surface. Understand?]

[...Understood! I promise to do as you ask!]

The line went dead. Lee Shin Woo briefly pondered and soon extended his hand towards the communication device. Then, the device made a ’crunching’ noise, turned to bone, and was absorbed by Lee Shin Woo.

[Magic has increased by 10.]

[Through your mastery of the Darkness Element, you were able to trace this darkness back to its source. The coordinates have been added to the Heaven Door’s Key.]

From here on out, he wouldn’t communicate with the Emperor anymore. He was probably sending all of his forces underground, aside from a small handful that he needed to protect himself. Since he was sending such a large force, there was no need to contact him anymore.

’I had no choice but to use my own darkness to dispose of the communication device; otherwise, he would’ve known that it was tampered with. And...’

’Would it really work out?’ Lee Shin Woo had thought, but he had achieved his secondary objective: trace the darkness back to its source and figure out where the Emperor was hiding.

When would the Emperor figure this out? ...He would probably never figure it out. By that time, he’d have a sword slicing through his throat.

"Now, let’s make a dummy and put it over here..."

Darkness radiated from his fingertips and formed into a solid shape. This dummy device was created so that the Emperor wouldn’t realize that the original communication device was damaged, and would act as a receiver that only ’received’ his signals.

"Thanks, Arema Steelworker. You really did a lot for me."

Lee Shin Woo put away the device, returned to his original form, and muttered in satisfaction. Then, he left the room and locked it. He saw Kratia right in front of him. It might’ve been just him, but she seemed pretty impatient.

"Let’s hurry up and improve the Titan."

"I have to go once the surface sends reinforcements. Can we really do it before then?"

"We have to. Seagald’s dangerous, the capital even more so. The more unknowns there are, the more you have to prepare, Shin Woo."

"You’re right, but..."

Honestly, Lee Shin Woo’s side was a force to be reckoned with. He had five level 8s, which included himself, Jin, Chi Paul, Seira, and Dana, along with several level 7 Giants, which had exceptionally high physical stats; he couldn’t even count how many he had with both hands.

Ye Jin Jin (she had recently hit level 7) wore a level 9 artifact and was accompanied by the level 8 spirit, Zenon, so she was probably more powerful than most level 8s as well.

’Even though both sides have a level 9 boss, I think I can take them on with these forces.’

Despite that, Lee Shin Woo was still busy setting up the board. Why else would he be doing this? Because something unexpected could pop up out of nowhere.

After all, Lee Shin Woo himself was an unknown that hadn’t existed just two years ago. The Underground Empire had changed this much with his sudden appearance, so it would be foolish to assume that his enemies were exactly the same. Seagald was a clear example of this.

"Where’s Seagald going?"

"He’s going around the bases and collecting all the surviving troops. He’s almost done... When he’s finished, he’ll probably go straight to the capital."

"As I thought."

Lee Shin Woo thought as much. When Seagald had come for Bayran, he thought that the battle was coming to an end. The Emperor probably thought the same; several of the 12 Generals had been killed and the capital had sustained a blast of light from the cannon.

"Shin Woo."

Kratia stared right at Lee Shin Woo, who was organizing his thoughts. He felt like he knew what she was going to say.

"I’m going too."

"You can’t."

"Jin’s going."

"She’s level 8... No, I just can’t go without her."

"..."

If Jin were here, she would’ve smiled in delight, despite knowing that that wasn’t what he meant.

Of course, Jin wasn’t the one in front of him, but Kratia. She was puffing up her cheeks. Kratia was being quite expressive for such a cold magician.

"But Seira’s going too."

"She keeps insisting that she sees her older brother’s death. And she’s level 8 too."

Originally, he hadn’t intended on bringing Seira along, but due to her insistence, as well as seeing her authority as a Banshee in the previous battle, he caved. Her abilities were really compatible with his own. He would be able to maximize his abilities as a Joker with her around.

"I can help too."

"Yeah, you would help. But the problem’s that you’ll be in danger."

"But you’re the one in the most danger."

"I’ll be fine; even if I’m killed, I won’t die. Don’t you worry, I can get out of any situation."

He didn’t lie unnecessarily. In the end, Kratia sighed at Lee Shin Woo’s boasting and said.

"...Shin Woo, you’re a precious sample, so you’re not allowed to die."

"I’m glad that you’re concerned about me, but could you do something about that title..."

He smiled bitterly and softly patted her shoulder. In order to take her mind off of it, he needed to...

"Let’s improve the Titan. I’m trusting you. Since I’m taking time out of my practice time with Jin, we have to get somewhere with it."

"Leave it to me. I’ll do it no matter what."

From that moment on, the two focused on nothing else but fusing the Titan Core and the Demon Heart together. No, it wouldn’t be a wrongful assumption to say that they were trying to use the Demon Heart to fundamentally strengthen the Titan Core.

The Titan was a weapon that amplified Lee Shin Woo’s abilities, and in order to turn it into a shield that could protect him, he overlapped all of his abilities and melted them into the darkness. But, in order to transform it into an absolute weapon that turned lies into truth...!

"...Ah."

"Shin Woo?"

"It might work if we limit its potential."

The Titan was currently infused with the Dark Flame element; divided, that made the fire and darkness elements. And the Demon Heart’s overlapping ability definitely originated from the darkness element.

When he first planned out the Titan’s improvements, he thought he could use the Demon Heart as a medium to fuse all his elements together, but that was impossible from the very beginning. Lee Shin Woo himself didn’t wield that many elements together at one time.

"But what would happen if I used darkness as the foundation and then combined all my flames with it? Won’t that work?"

"In other words, you’re going to add your Shining Flame too? But that’s the light element. The reinforcement will become unstable unless you can grasp the fusion element between light and darkness. The reason why elements can’t be overlapped is because conflicting elements can’t mix very well."

"Mm..."

Lee Shin Woo thought long and hard. It was clear that imparting his flames into the Titan during the creation stage was impossible. Instead, focusing entirely on the fire aspect and maximizing that would increase the Titan’s strength much more...

Then, Kratia spoke, as if she’d come up with an idea.

"...Shin Woo, how’s this?"

"What is it?"

Kratia was struck with inspiration. She drew a large X through their current blueprint and drew the Titan Core and the Demon Heart’s mana circuits such that even Lee Shin Woo was able to understand it. Then, she began explaining.

"Changing the Demon Heart’s properties during the planning phase is impossible. Then what about making two different types of circuits?"

"As expected."

Depending on the way the Demon Heart was used, the Titan’s functionality would change. If that’s the case, then Lee Shin Woo didn’t need to think about it. Kratia saw him nod his head, and she herself nodded and said.

"First, make a simple circuit that goes straight from the Demon Heart to the Titan Core. If you activate this line, then the Demon Heart’s defensive capabilities should transfer to the Titan. Let’s call this Normal Mode."

No matter how he looked at it, she really was a genius. He honestly didn’t really understand what she was talking about, so he felt like he had become like Jin and just nodded his head. Kratia then created an even more complicated magic formula atop the plan and said.

"If Normal Mode is when the Titan is connected with the Demon Heart, thus reinforcing it, then the next mode is a bit different. You instead connect with the Demon Heart and then that connects with the Titan Core. Let’s call this Showdown Mode. We’re going to make these two lines and make it so that you can switch between them."

While the former idea, where the Titan gains the Demon Heart’s defensive and magical abilities, was a simple concept (this improvement was always possible), the latter idea was so complex that it could only be derived from Kratia’s genius. Since this method would first involve Lee Shin Woo passing his power through the Demon Heart, thus reinforcing it, and then he would activate the Titan Core after.

"In other words, this mode will allow me to directly control the Demon Heart. You’re making it so that I can control the Demon Heart myself and preserve its overlapping ability... And that power will spread throughout the Titan."

"Yep. Then you just need to use the Demon Heart’s overlapping ability to overlap your Dark Flame and Shining Flame. Then, you apply it to the Titan. Because it’s a lot more stressful on you, the Titan’s safety and durability will decrease, but this is the only way."

"Sorry to say, but it’s too chuuni. ...And ultimately ’overlapping the Dark Flame and Shining Flame’ falls to me. Well, I was the one who suggested it, so it’s only right that I take on the burden!"

It was quite sudden, but fusing together two conflicting powers was totally like combining items! ...Wouldn’t it be possible?

"But there’s also something else I’ve thought of. If you can use the overlapping power properly, then this should be possible too."

But Kratia didn’t stop there. Maybe she’d already thought of the theory and application. She drew the structure of the core, as well as the inside of the Titan itself, causing Lee Shin Woo to sport a doubtful expression.

"Hey, this is...?"

"In conclusion, controlling the Dark Flame and Shining Flame so that they can be overlapped by the Demon Heart. There’s a way to control them. I don’t know what lays beyond that, but..."

Lee Shin Woo looked at the completed interior design of the Titan and shuddered.

With this, he could definitely...

"That... might be possible."

That night, they finished upgrading the Titan.

The very next day, the troops from the surface arrived in the Underground Empire.