Bahal

Bahal, the Flame Fist, is a former Arthia member and Henova's former disciple who abandons his old comrades for advancement within Red Dragon. As an executive and one of the Eighty-One Oculus, he combines battlefield command with destructive fire techniques, but his desire to secure position, power, and the Philosopher's Stone turns former friendships into disposable leverage. Those choices make him useful to Red Dragon while leaving him distrusted, and they ultimately place him in the same trap he builds for Leonte.

Biography

Leaving Arthia to Advance

Bahal once climbs with Jeong-woo, Leonte, and the other founders of Arthia, trains as Henova's disciple, and shares the clan's early victories and private routines. He nevertheless joins the members who turn on Jeong-woo when the clan breaks apart, then enters Red Dragon and accepts being known as a traitor in exchange for a new route upward. His own later account is blunt: Arthia's records still frustrate him because they erase his contribution, but the past must be discarded if he is to advance. (Chapters 68, 78, 127, 361, and 434)

Red Dragon does not grant uncomplicated belonging. Flame Beast escorts him under the Summer Queen's orders rather than personal loyalty, other executives treat an Arthia defector with suspicion, and even the Summer Queen continues testing his allegiance. Bahal responds by seeking achievements that can make doubt irrelevant. He imagines victory over the Cheonghwado fixing his reputation, silencing those who call him a traitor, and raising a useful subordinate behind him. Advancement is therefore not only greed for strength; it is his chosen answer to the permanent mistrust produced by his earlier betrayal. (Chapters 70, 78, 119, and 127)

Recruitment as Control and the Hunt for Leonte

Bahal first approaches Yeon-woo as a recruiter, offering unprecedented Red Dragon support to a novice and presenting the invitation with relaxed warmth. His actual strategy is more coercive. A personal visit marks the Hoarder as Red Dragon's interest so rival clans will withdraw, leaving the recruit with fewer alternatives; if Yeon-woo never joins, Bahal is prepared to destroy him as Red Dragon once destroyed Arthia. He likes talent, but only while it can be possessed, directed, and converted into standing for himself and his clan. (Chapters 68, 70, and 78)

The same logic governs his pursuit of Leonte. Investigating Leonte's sacrifice of Tutorial players, Bahal correctly infers that the project is a mana organ made from souls, but his response is not to stop the atrocity. He wants its procedure and product because both could strengthen Red Dragon and himself. As the former teammate best placed to predict Leonte, he leads Flame Beast in an ambush, declares the opening of war on the Cheonghwado, and offers a painless death only if Leonte surrenders the object he covets. (Chapters 70 and 78)

Turning Red Dragon's War into Personal Promotion

When Yeon-woo enters Red Dragon under the name Cain, Bahal welcomes him because the novice brings troop locations, the Martial King's children, and a chance to improve Bahal's standing. He makes Cain a Foreign Legion team leader and uses the mercenary force to widen the campaign. Although he genuinely intends to cultivate the recruit as a right hand, that investment is conditional on usefulness: Bahal envisions himself leading from the front while Cain supports from behind, reproducing a hierarchy in which promising companions become instruments of his own rise. (Chapters 118–120 and 127)

His plan for the Philosopher's Stone turns people into leverage in the same manner. Bahal needs Leonte to reveal or recreate the stone so it can repair the Summer Queen's damaged Dragon Heart, and he needs a conspicuous victory to secure his own reputation. After Cain captures the Saber God's son, Bahal mutilates the prisoner and sends the remains as demands, using parental love to provoke a Cheonghwado rebellion. The tactic succeeds in breaking the enemy's cohesion, but it also lets Yeon-woo choose the battlefield and keep Bahal focused on a prize that is no longer there. (Chapters 122, 125, and 127)

The Trap Closes Around the Flame Fist

Bahal presses the war because the Summer Queen is spending the last reserves of a broken Dragon Heart and the deception must end before the Tower learns her weakness. He attacks the already cornered Leonte, planning either to seize the stone or force its recreation from Red Dragon's vast supply of victims and materials. Leonte's use of Gungnir devastates both sides, but Bahal continues pursuing him. That persistence reflects both loyalty to the Summer Queen's immediate need and Bahal's inability to abandon the achievement on which he has staked his position. (Chapter 132)

Yeon-woo kills Leonte at the decisive moment and then turns on the wounded Bahal. Bahal recognizes Dragon Fear and tries to preserve information for Red Dragon, but exhaustion, Gungnir's damage, and Holy Fire's elemental advantage prevent escape. He uses Fire Lightning and Volcano even after losing limbs, only to have Vigrid cut through their imperfections and pierce his chest. Seeing Jeong-woo's face beneath the mask, Bahal dies understanding that the past he discarded has returned through the victim's brother. (Chapters 132–134)

A Soul Reduced to Information and Inherited Fire

Death does not give Bahal a final opportunity to revise his choices. Yeon-woo collects his soul, restrains it with Guai, and repeatedly uses Holy Fire until Bahal divulges Red Dragon's reason for war, the Summer Queen's failing Dragon Heart, the stone's intended use, and the operation of Intrenian. The once-commanding high ranker surrenders information because pain and the destruction of Leonte's soul convince him that quick disappearance is preferable to continued resistance. (Chapters 138–140)

Shanon then consumes Bahal's remaining soul and rank, taking Volcano and increasing his own potential, while Yeon-woo acquires Fire Lightning through the resulting connection. Bahal's stored materials and Key of Intrenian also pass to Yeon-woo and enable completion of the Philosopher's Stone he never obtained. Later chapters remember Bahal through stolen skills, old Arthia scenes, and Jeong-woo's question about why the traitors repeatedly chose the same betrayal, but the supplied corpus never restores Bahal as an independent consciousness. (Chapters 140, 184, 215–218, 243, and 375–434)

Appearance and personality

Bahal is an adult man with long red hair that resembles flame. His normal placid smile, warm tone, and gentle manner can make him seem benign, while the pressure around him marks the controlling presence of a ranker even before he attacks. In battle the contrast disappears: fire blooms from his fists, his expression hardens, and the destructive scale behind the name Flame Fist becomes visible. His red hair and fire-aligned presentation therefore mirror the shift from sociable recruiter to combatant rather than concealing two unrelated personas. (Chapters 68 and 78)

He is observant, politically capable, confident, and able to treat subordinates without pointless cruelty when discipline serves better. He also sees people primarily through future utility. A recruit is to be owned or destroyed, a former friend is a source of a coveted organ, and a captive child is leverage over a father. Bahal's affection can be genuine—he still calls Henova “Master” and plans seriously to nurture Cain—but it remains subordinate to advancement. His greatest blind spot is believing that discarding the past ends its claims on him, even while resentment over Arthia's records shows he has never emotionally escaped it. (Chapters 68–70, 78, 125, and 127)

Abilities and powers

Bahal is a high ranker whose fire affinity, close-quarters combat, and battlefield command earn him membership in Red Dragon's Eighty-One Oculus. His techniques are destructive enough to control large areas and threaten other high rankers, but they require substantial magic power and remain subject to elemental counters, injury, and proficiency. After his death, the skills appear only through Yeon-woo and Shanon; that inheritance records Bahal's mechanics but is not evidence that he remains active. (Chapters 68, 78, and 132–140)

Fire Lightning

Fire Lightning gathers fire energy and releases it as a fast, powerful rain over the battlefield. Its Thunder Mark increases intensity according to the magic power committed, allowing the barrage to break defenses and inflict confusion. At higher progression, Blazing Burn can add a persistent Burn status, intensify pain, and has a limited chance to destroy healing magic. The technique can be used repeatedly to restrict movement or force defensive artifacts to spend their layers. (Chapters 133 and 140)

Its costs are equally explicit. The inherited version initially cannot be used at all because Yeon-woo lacks proficiency and the required magic power, showing that possession of the skill does not supply mastery. Bahal's own weakened barrages can be split by Vigrid, absorbed by Holy Fire, avoided by reading their trajectories, or repelled through Aegis. Fire Lightning is therefore a signature high-output technique, but it does not ignore superior elemental authority, predictive senses, or Bahal's depleted condition. (Chapters 133 and 140)

Volcano and Volcanic Hammer

Volcano is Bahal's representative fire skill, producing a storm that can generate and control lava, fire, and ash across an area. He combines it with Fire Lightning as a final escalation against Yeon-woo, creating overlapping environmental heat and descending attacks rather than relying on a single fist. Volcanic Hammer shapes fire into immense striking forms that fall from above; multiple hammers can tear apart cyclones, encircle a target, and turn the surrounding ground into a sea of flame. (Chapters 78, 133, 140, 218, and 243)

Both techniques depend on the structure and magic behind them. Leonte's Mythical Dragon Neidan can swallow Fire Lightning, while Yeon-woo's Draconic Eyes and Vigrid identify and cut Volcano's imperfections. After Shanon consumes Bahal, Volcano raises the Death Knight's potential and becomes usable through a new owner, confirming that it is a transferable skill rather than an inseparable divine authority. Bahal's latest state has no personal access because his soul is consumed in that transfer. (Chapters 132–140)

Flame Fist combat and ranker pressure

Bahal channels fire through punches, hand strikes, and close-range bursts, pairing raw high-ranker magic with practiced physical combat. His pressure can isolate a conversation, weigh upon novices, and make the surrounding area feel under his control. On the battlefield, the same dominance lets him push through elite guards, fight Leonte amid storms, and continue producing explosive force after severe injury. Flame Beast extends that control by blocking escape routes and executing coordinated ambushes under his command. (Chapters 68, 70, 78, and 132–133)

That pressure is authority rather than invulnerability. Flame Beast follows Red Dragon's orders and sometimes disregards Bahal's preferences, so the unit is an institutional resource rather than a personal summon. In his last battle, Bahal's high-ranker reserves let him damage Yeon-woo even while dismembered, but Gungnir's earlier blast, magic depletion, Dragon Fear, and Holy Fire's superior property cumulatively overwhelm him. His defeat depends on those interacting limits, not on his fire suddenly ceasing to be dangerous. (Chapters 70 and 132–134)

Draconic Contract and Red Dragon command

As one of the Eighty-One Oculus, Bahal is connected to the Summer Queen through Draconic Contact. The relationship allows her to feel his state and recognize his death when the connection vanishes, while his executive rank grants access to forces, intelligence, contracts, and Intrenian. These resources make him effective beyond direct combat: he can deploy Flame Beast, assign mercenary commands, coordinate high rankers, and turn captured information into a strategic war. (Chapters 70, 118–125, and 134)

The connection is also a constraint. Bahal cannot sever it himself, his authority remains subject to the Summer Queen's approval, and Flame Beast protects him because the clan cannot afford to lose a ranker rather than because it belongs to him. His urgency around the Philosopher's Stone arises from the Summer Queen's damaged Dragon Heart and the need to preserve Red Dragon's supremacy. When he dies, the broken contact immediately informs her of the loss, and his executive access passes away with the key and information taken from him. (Chapters 70, 125, 132–134, and 140)

Relationships

• Jeong-woo: Bahal's former Arthia comrade and betrayal victim. Bahal tries to discard their shared past, but remains frustrated by records centered on Jeong-woo and dies when Yeon-woo confronts him with his brother's face.
• Yeon-woo: The novice Bahal hopes to recruit, control, and cultivate as his right hand. Yeon-woo instead uses that confidence to infiltrate Red Dragon, arrange Bahal's battlefield, kill him, and extract his secrets.
• Leonte: A former friend turned enemy whose pursuit of the Philosopher's Stone gives Bahal a route to promotion. Bahal drives him into open war and is gravely injured by the resulting confrontation before both are killed.
• Summer Queen: Bahal's ruler in Red Dragon and the source of his Draconic Contract. He seeks the stone to repair her Dragon Heart, tying his personal advancement to restoration of her power.
• Henova: Bahal's former master. Their break does not erase Bahal's attachment or Henova's grief, but Bahal's choices place him on the side of the institutions Henova distrusts.
• Shanon: The Death Knight who consumes Bahal's soul, rank, and Volcano skill after Yeon-woo completes the interrogation.

Items

• Intrenian: Bahal carries a disguised copper-ring key to one of Red Dragon's subspace treasuries. Yeon-woo takes it after Bahal's death, removes its tracking magic, and uses the materials stored within.
• Philosopher's Stone: The object Bahal tries to seize from Leonte and use to repair the Summer Queen's Dragon Heart. He never obtains it; the pursuit instead drives the war that ends in his death.