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Even as he lost his balance and fell, the Blood Demon laughed.

Seeing his expression made it clear.

Just like a player enjoying a game, to him, this entire situation was nothing more than a game.

The Blood Demon was truly reveling in this moment.

Perhaps that was why he had grown so strong. The life-or-death intensity of battle was nothing more than a game to him, meaning he never hesitated. A pure pursuit of strength. He was remarkably suited to be the cult leader of the Bloodstone Cult.

After all, to the characters inside a game, a player must seem like a madman.

A lunatic, a player, a cult leader, the Blood Demon, and the final boss—all laughing as he toppled to the side.

Watching him, I suddenly felt as if I, too, had been pulled into a game. Rather than Fantasy X Academy, this felt more like a one-on-one fighting game. The kind where you grit your teeth and charge at an overwhelmingly skilled opponent.

The key to close combat is balance. My magic staff—no, the ether I had shaped into the form of a wooden club—swung toward his center of gravity.

The Blood Demon’s left hand exploded outward like a sonic boom, using the recoil to immediately regain his weight distribution. The next moment, my vision went black. His fist had struck me. The way his flowing robe billowed made it seem as though his fist had swallowed the entire world.

I twisted my legs, spinning my body in a wide arc. His power was overwhelming; taking him head-on would be unwise.

Every decision had to be made in an instant.

There was no time for elaborate spellcasting when the exchange of attacks happened in the blink of an eye.

Crack!

I kicked the dirt beneath me upon landing, buying myself a brief moment.

“[Leap].”

With the ether-club in my grip, I accelerated my motion with the momentum from the Leap and swung at the Blood Demon.

He took a step back, but realizing he was still within my attack range, he reached out with his right hand.

Boom!

My grip nearly gave out from the impact. A physical attack still followed the laws of action and reaction. My right hand, filled with pain, clutched the club tightly, while my relatively unharmed left hand launched another strike.

This time, it was infused with an abundance of divine power.

‘It hit.’

Or so I thought.

Swish.

My hand cleaved through empty air.

The Blood Demon, now crouching low to the ground, had grabbed my club with his right hand while extending his leg for a sweeping kick.

‘Damn.’

I had no means to block from below. In desperation, I mixed another Leap into my motion, lifting my feet from the ground. I avoided his low kick, but the situation was still unfavorable. My upper body was still connected to the Blood Demon through the ether-club.

He suddenly yanked the club, pulling me toward him.

Flash!

His knee shot up, aiming to crush my face.

I hastily absorbed Ether and deployed it as a barrier in front of my face.

Boom!

The impact was immense. My body was sent flying high into the air, leaving me no time to regain my senses.

‘Shit.’

Had he decided that, with his Dantian shattered, fighting at close range was the best option? Below, the Blood Demon had already positioned himself where I was expected to land.

It seemed he truly wanted a fight where sweat mixed between us.

But sweating with another man wasn’t my idea of fun.

As I neared the ground, I used Leap to propel myself backward, manipulating the earth beneath me to gain distance.

The Blood Demon, instead of chasing, simply spoke.

“Your movements are fascinating every time I see them.”

“It’s nothing special.”

“It is special. In all my 300 years, I have never seen such seamless teleportation magic. That alone rivals the skills of even the greatest archmages.”

“Thanks.”

“But in close combat, you still have room to improve.”

Was he about to give me a lesson?

His expression didn’t seem like he was trying to lecture me.

Rather, it felt like the post-match discussion after a fight in a game—exchanging feedback on how to improve.

It was also the moment when skills developed the most. There was no reason to refuse.

“What part seemed lacking to you?”

“When you broke my balance and tried to land a decisive blow, your precision and force were good. But your speed was the issue. It was slow enough that I could see and evade it. A faster attack would have been better.”

He was referring to the moment I had used Leap to deliver my strike.

“I had to use magic to enhance my body. That was my limit.”

“You’ve learned the Bloodstone Cult’s techniques. You can use life force, can’t you?”

“Even if I used life force, I’d still need to enhance my body, wouldn’t I?”

“No.”

The Blood Demon assumed a stance in midair.

“You use it like this.”

Before he even finished speaking—

Boom!

The shockwave engulfed the surroundings.

Even with my enhanced perception, it was almost too fast to track.

But it was enough for me to understand the mechanism of the attack.

“You use life force as an energy source for your muscles?”

“Exactly. You’re quite observant.”

“And you’re quite skilled with your body.”

That brief exchange of praise signaled the next phase. The Blood Demon immediately closed the gap. He was clearly wary of giving me any opportunity to cast spells.

‘Could he have realized the existence of Infinite Cataclysm?’

Hesitation could reveal uncertainty. The Blood Demon seemed particularly perceptive. I focused entirely on the fight. I had no choice but to backpedal, retreating as the Blood Demon relentlessly pursued me.

“Unleash your life force.”

Whoosh!

The Blood Demon threw a punch, speaking casually as he did so. The real problem was how impossibly fast his punch was.

He was trying to force me into using my life force.

That bastard.

I knew very well that doing so would shorten my lifespan.

Overusing it could cripple me.

But this was already a battle where I had resolved myself to die.

I drew upon my life force.

I had merely changed the fundamental principle of my movements, yet it felt as though I had entered a realm of enlightenment. The Blood Demon’s punches seemed slower, his footwork suddenly predictable.

The corners of his lips curled upward.

“This is amusing.”

Was he entertained by my growth, or was he simply enjoying the fact that he could now clash with me even more intensely?

After exchanging about twenty blows—

‘How do I unleash Infinite Cataclysm?’

My mind was entirely consumed by Infinite Cataclysm.

If I could just activate it, maybe I could escape this hell.

But the Blood Demon left no openings.

I deliberately tried speaking to him.

“As a player, I’ve always wondered—why would you want to become a demon god?”

“Because a demon god is the strongest existence, is it not?”

“I finally understand now. You… You just wanted someone to acknowledge your strength, didn’t you?”

A provocation. I had to find something that would shake his composure.

“What are you saying?”

“There are players who can’t be satisfied on their own. They only feel fulfilled when others are amazed by them, when others praise them. You’re one of them.”

“I have trained alone in this place for three hundred years. Do you really think so? I am three hundred years old. How could I still harbor such childish thoughts?”

“Three hundred years? Don’t give me that crap. You never aged a single day. Since you see this world as a game and perceive yourself as an outsider, time here must have been meaningless to you.”

“…What?”

“You treated this place like a game, which means you’ve just spent three hundred years playing it. How could you possibly have grown? You’re still just a child.”

“Haha.”

He let out a light chuckle.

The Blood Demon’s aura began to shift.

The air around him changed—his every movement now left behind streaks of crimson energy.

“Ugh.”

My instincts screamed danger, and I quickly widened the distance.

His body flickered, blending with the red energy that surrounded him, making it impossible to distinguish between flesh and aura.

“A second phase already? That’s overkill.”

“Try stopping me.”

Screeeech!

The Blood Demon lunged forward, a true specter of death.

Flash!

I instinctively activated [Leap] at full power. I wasn’t necessarily trying to run, but my body moved on its own. Something told me that if I got caught in that attack, I’d really die.

The Blood Demon, now fully engulfed in aura, had transcended physical limits. When he threw a punch, it was not his fist that reached me, but the shockwave of his energy. His strikes were no longer just physical attacks—they were practically magic.

Boom! Boom!

The very landscape where his energy waves landed was left in utter ruin.

I jumped high, twisted midair, and did everything I could to avoid his blows. I had to admit it—sometimes, running was a skill too.

When it became clear I wouldn’t last much longer, I slammed my foot into the ground, sending a spray of dirt into the air, forming a temporary wall.

It crumbled almost instantly, but it was enough to momentarily block his vision.

I followed up with consecutive earth spells—sending pillars of stone shooting toward him.

The Blood Demon shattered them with a single punch as if they were nothing.

That was expected.

But I still didn’t have time to activate Infinite Cataclysm.

I needed to buy time.

But how?

I ran through everything I had at my disposal.

Thinking back.

Retracing my steps.

But “thinking back” wasn’t exactly the best strategy when my body was accumulating damage at an alarming rate. Every time the Blood Demon landed an attack, new wounds appeared—flesh torn from my arm, long gashes carved into my face, the tip of my ear sliced clean off. None of them were fatal, but the onslaught was relentless.

I could probably survive for another hour or two at most.

But that was all it would be—surviving.

And more importantly—

Fwoosh!

As his fist grazed past me, the sheer friction of the movement ignited a burst of flames, and a chunk of my hair burned away.

Luckily, it wasn’t from my crown—just the side of my head.

Still, if it had been my scalp, I would’ve looked utterly ridiculous.

I felt a genuine sense of danger.

I had to think.

I needed something—anything—that could capture the Blood Demon’s attention.

Digging deep into my mind, reaching for the very bottom of everything I knew…

I found it.

The reason all of this was happening.

“The developer is here.”

“…What?”

The moment I uttered those words, the Blood Demon froze.

I had just stopped his second phase with a single sentence.

Feeling victorious, I smirked and spoke again.

“The developer who possessed us— is in this world.”