CH 215: CURIOSITY
[Blue Sharks Main Compound]
In one of the places of the immense mansion that belonged to the leader of the main branch of the Blue Sharks, a middle-aged man wearing a pair of glasses while sitting on the luxurious chair of his office was currently talking to someone on the phone.
"The preparations are now ready. All I lack in some small nudging to make everything perfect."
「 ... 」
"Don't care much about the failure of that attack. We already startled the snack, we will have to wait for another time to strike. Either way, she is not our top priority."
「 ...! 」
A muffled and rushed voice filled with anger resounded from the other side of the call but the man stayed unperturbed as though it did not matter to him no matter what reaction the person on the other side would have to his words.
He turned his office chair and looked at the wonderful view the large window of his office had provided him with.
The moonlight was shining down gently from the softly glowing lunar body and covered the flowers and all other plants in the garden with its beautiful glow.
Looking at this scene brought him a certain sensation of inner face, something that not many things in the world were able to make him feel.
"You finished throwing a tantrum already?"
He silently stayed in his leaning posture and it was only after he heard no more useless screams coming from the other end that he focused back on the call.
"Well, now listen…"
His voice was still even, as if he was talking to a stupid immature child not Worth his time.
"Everything on my side is done already and I have all the necessary elements at hand. We had to delay because of the unfortunate events that happened in the Park but now is the best time to enact our plan."
「 … 」
"Am I ready?"
The man smiled and looked at one side of the wall of his office; there, he could see the picture of him, his wife, and his son smiling happily and having a good time.
It was a warm picture giving the clear appearance of a joyful family with a devoted wife and an intelligent child.
How utterly beautiful… And equally fake…
"I have been ready for years."
It was time to reap the fruit of what he had sowed many, many years ago and he was sure that this would yield him the greatest fruit that he had ever tasted in his life.
After hanging up the call, he stood up and arranged his suit before pressing on the intercom.
"My dear, where is my wife currently?"
A womanly voice answered as soon as his voice floated over to the other side, "Madam has left not long ago for the Wild Hunt bar."
"Hmmm… Good."
The voice hesitated before speaking out in a low tone, "Boss… I know it isn't my place to say this but isn't it a little too dangerous to send her there? We are enemies with the Wild Hunt. Furthermore, that is also a host bar. It's all kind of dubious…"
The fact that her bar was filled with hosts of all kinds and nature was not something that could ever be hidden for long and so Yui never even tried to hide it in the first place.
"Don't worry about her. If it was anyone else's territory I may have been worried for her safety but that stupid young Yui seems to believe that gangsters should follow some sort of chivalrous code of conduct or something even in this day and age. She will not harm Hae-Won, you can be sure about that."
For all the power she wielded, the reason why Yui had not grown bigger than her little domain in the K-town was that she had imposed too many restraints on herself and her gang. This made her an easy target for people like him. She was so predictable that it was almost sad.
"As for those hosts?"
He chuckled derisively and spoke in a haughty tone, "No man could ever hope to steal her body or heart from me."
It wasn't that he had unconditional faith in Hae-Won. He didn't believe in anybody. Trust was not something you could give in the line of work he was involved in.
No, he simply believed that she wouldn't be stupid enough to fall for some lowly man when she had a top-tier Alpha male like himself as her partner and spouse. There was no way any male from that puny establishment could ever hope to compare to him.
"Speaking of that, join me now, will you? I need some of your 'massages' to relieve my stress."
The meaning behind his choice of words left no illusions as to what he really wanted from her.
A few moments later, he leaned back on his chair once more while the young blonde woman with a bombshell of a body and exquisite facial features started working on his shaft with masterful strokes and ingenious licks.
This was a service that his wife had always refused to give to him because of how traditional she was.
Though… it seemed like she was slowly coming around… He had seen her browser history and it seemed like she was learning interesting things to please him in order to win him back from his secretary.
Truly, she was the stupidest woman he knew. But she was still his.
—
[K-Town — Wild Hunt]
"Oh my… Is it how you do this?"
What the leader of the Blue Sharks could have never guessed even in thousands of years was that his so-called traditional wife of his was now kneeling in front of a man in much the same way his secretary was in his office, giving care to the cock of one of those 'lowly man' he had been speaking of.
Her eyes cutely opened wide as she observed the thick and hard penis of Adam while kneeling before him inside the Super VIP room.
She did not even remember what train of discussion had brought forward the current ambiguous and raunchy situation but she was honestly too bemused to care about it.
If she had to be honest she had always been disgusted at the thought of kissing the sexual organ of someone else. Even if that person was her husband.
It was simply not natural nor necessary for her to do something like that, or so she had thought in her mind.
But now, she realized that all of this came from her lack of understanding about sexual matters.
Since Adam had opened her eyes to what true pleasure was, she had made some research on the internet about how women could please their man in better ways, and what she found out had truly opened her eyes even further.
There were simply so many, many different ways to enhance the pleasure she could bring for the opposite sex but the most used and known one was without a doubt a blowjob.
Now, here she was, a respectable woman, wearing expensive clothes and extravagant accessories, kneeling in front of a young man that was more than ten years younger than her.
She should be feeling humiliated. Truly, these actions clashed with every bit of values that had been ingrained into her bones from her birth…
But…
Strangely…
She only felt thrilled at this moment for doing something inexplicably naughty.
"Are you sure you want to continue?"
Adam was just as surprised as Hae-Won if not more. He had already summarized that she was a very demure woman with an inferiority complex and an outdated understanding of sexual matters that seemed to have stopped at the middle school level.
So the current situation that he had found himself in with her was truly something else.
This night, she was wearing a rather bold one-piece black satin robe with small glittering designs and he could see that her makeup was more carefully done than the last time they had seen each other.
One didn't need to be a genius to understand that she made all those efforts in order to amp up her seduction powers and damn was it working right now…
"I am… quite inexperienced. So will you guide me please?"
The upturned glance and the small pleading note in her shaky voice were the last straw for Adam and made his sanity nearly snap. A mature and adult woman shouldn't be allowed to be this cute.
It was all the more exciting when taking into account her situation as a married woman. The sinful nature of this act coupled with her cuteness and lack of knowledge about sex was without a doubt an euphoric mixture.
"Well… Let's take our time shall we?"
This was the best occasion to further cement his control over her. It was also an occasion to receive a blowjob from a beautiful MILF.
Few deals better than this could ever hope to exist in this rotten world in his opinion.
CH 216: HAE-WON (3)*
Looking at the massive pillar that was casting a shadow over her face, Hae-Won couldn't help but gulp slightly in fear and anticipation.
She had made some research on the internet and had seen a few videos about this subject, as shameful as that may have been. But in her opinion, those videos had been grossly exaggerated all things considered. Even more so when it came to a certain size of the male appendage.
But now that she was in this position in real life, she was startled to realize that Adam did not lose out in any way when compared to what she had seen in those erotic videos.
"What should I do now?"
She blushed when she heard Adam or rather Cinder, as she knew him, chuckling at her words and realized that she had said what she was thinking about, out loud. This was certainly not the best way to portray herself as the experienced woman that she had tried her best to show herself as.
"Why not start with your hand first?"
Adam thought that asking a newbie to directly start with her mouth would be a little too much. Though calling a mother a newbie in terms of sexual experience still felt a whole lot weird, there was no better way to explain her current situation in words.
"I see… It's called A… A handjob, right?"
She truly could not wrap her around the naming convention of those sexual acts but this was not the problem… at hand…
'Stop distracting yourself with those thoughts.'
Berating herself for this bad pun she had made in her mind with the intention to calm her growing nerves, Hae-Won finally started… her… hand… job…
'Ahem.'
Blushing slightly, she brought her hand to Adam's massive and girthy rod and encased it very slowly, in fear of harming his little brother and souring the mood between them. She knew that this was quite a sensitive place for men and had no wish to cause any trouble for him and ruin the mood and this occasion.
'It's so swollen and big.'
The penis, which was previously a little flaccid, seemed to come alive under her touch and rose to match the occasion promptly.
Now, she had the feeling that she could even feel his heartbeat through the pulsating member as blood gathered and engorged it further and further.
'How incredible!'
The wonder of nature was always interesting to observe and this was particularly so in this case as she watched it from the first seat.
The soft sensation on his shaft made him groan out a sigh of pleasure. Her hands were small and smooth, making him feel like being rubbed by a velvety fabric or silk.
"What should I do next?"
Deciding that, at this rate, she would never really know what she needed to do, she decided to entrust everything to Adam. Furthermore, she could see that he was really appreciative of the feeling of control he may have over her. Simply put, he loved being in control…
… In the same way, she loved giving up control to him…
"You just need to hold it and rub it like this… see…"
Her soft fingers wrapped around the throbbing hot rod and slowly, firmly moved back and forth along its girthy length, giving Adam the most primal form of massage known to humanity…
'Ah… This is pretty good.'
Her technique wasn't the best as she was just a newbie at this thing and since there was no lotion, it felt quite dry and irritable every now and then. But, he could sense her desire to bring him pleasure. The gentle way she moved her hands was honestly a delight to his eyes and he wanted to see more and more of her reactions as she went through the motions for the very first time.
She kept her hand moving according to his instructions.
Every time her fingers touched one of the bulging veins, it would throb visibly. When she would occasionally touch the bottom of the head, the entire penis would twitch and spasm, making her wonder in awe at the reactions of this engorged organ.
But, her fascination or the way the throbbing shaft moved in her hand didn't stop her from continuing to rub it ever so gently, like a child discovering a new beautiful toy to play with and cherish.
"Don't just move along the shaft. You can also try touching the head."
'The head..'
"L-Like this?"
Hae-Won poked her finger against the head. Tingling pleasure immediately coursed through his body at her cute action.
"Ah…"
"Oh, s-sorry. Did that hurt?" asked Hae-Won after jerking her hand back in shock.
"No, the opposite. It felt really good, continue doing it like this."
Adam quickly assured her. This session was becoming way more fun than he previously assumed and it would be a shame to stop now because she was feeling scared of hurting him.
Hae-Won nodded, feeling encouraged by his reaction.
Her right hand was firmly holding the shaft and rubbing along its length. Her small hand could not manage a tight enough grip to provide intense stimulation, but its softness and warmth were on another level.
Her left hand on the head was much the same. Her smooth palm rubbed at the tip in a way that made him feel immense amounts of pleasure.
'Oh… Precum is starting to flow.'
She felt a certain heat in her heart when she saw the progressively good reaction her clumsy handjob was bringing to him. It brought her a certain feeling of happiness to see the man she was in a 'relationship' with having so much pleasure.
It was only her second time with Cinder but she realized once again how fun sex could actually be when it was not one-sided but mutual.
"Are you about to ejaculate?"
"I am pretty close."
If he was honest he could hold on for much more than this but this wouldn't be fun now, would it? Not for him and certainly not for her.
This was her first time trying to do something like this, after all, and he wanted her to have a good memory without having sore and tired hands.
Hae-Won, for all her inexperience, was not stupid. She remembered clearly that on their last time, Adam had lasted quite a while even when he was plowing her insides like no tomorrow.
She doubted that her clumsy actions would be enough to truly give him pleasure that even her womanly pothole was not able to bring.
'Okay. It's time to try what I learned from all those videos.'
She had still been a bit hesitant all this time but now she truly wanted to bring him more pleasure. As such, she gently grabbed his penis between her hands to hold it in place, planted her lips on the shaft, and gave it a sloppy kiss with plenty of her tongue involved.
She kissed the swollen tip and then opened her mouth to slip it between her lips. She stimulated the head as if chewing it with just her lips.
"Ohh…"
'He likes it.'
Relieved, Hae-Won continued with the technique.
She focused on enjoying the unusually smooth texture of the head, the hint of saltiness on her tongue, and…
'It tastes a little weird and bitter…'
She normally didn't like bitter flavors, but this one she didn't mind one bit. In fact, she used her tongue to lap up as much of it as she could get from the hole at the tip of his engorged penile head.
The tongue stimulation on the tip made Adam tremble uncontrollably. Things were truly becoming serious too fast.
She may have hesitated at first, but now that she was doing it, she was really doing it. She began sucking him hard and he couldn't help but push his hips forward without thinking about anything else but the intense pleasure that he was feeling from her mouth.
That pushed the rest of the head past her lips, which was enough to fill up the small mouth of the mature and beautiful Korean woman.
He tried to pull back once he realized what he had done, but…
"…"
She refused to let go of his penis like he was trying to steal a treat from her.
"Are you sure you can handle this?"
She looked up at him and nodded with the very end of his penis still in her mouth.
| 'If she is sure, I am sure as hell not going to talk her out of it.'
He let her continue the blowjob and she was progressively becoming far better at it. She moved her head back and forth to move his penis in and out of her small and tight mouth hole.
At first, she had swallowed a little too much of his length and nearly gagged but soon, she found the right tempo and perfect depth for her to work with.
She was sure that her face must look the silliest thing possible right now but this did not slow her down one bit.
"Use your tongue, please."
'My tongue?'
It took her a few moments to understand but soon, she had the movements in hand. She stopped just swinging her head back and forth and actually started to lick the head as well as the shaft along the road.
This felt so hot. The beating of her heart was accompanied by a throbbing in her crotch.
She naturally reached a hand down below her dress's skirt and rubbed herself through her underwear. She knew she had to stop, yet her fingers only picked up speed.
She started rocking her hips back and forth for even greater pleasure. She also swallowed his penis as far as her small mouth allowed her to do so.
It didn't take long for the penis to start swelling even more and twitching like it was about to burst at any moment. She knew then and there that the release she was seeking from him was impeding… any moment now…
"I am going to cum…!"
As courtesy demanded, Adam warned Hae-Won ahead of time of his release. But she did not stop working on his member and sped up instead. She made the excuse in her mind that it was because she did not want to stain her clothes.
His penis throbbed over and over, shooting out more semen each time and while surprised at first, Hae-Won continued to greedily gulp down the viscous white liquid, giving her the first taste of semen in her entire 30+ years of life.
'Ah…'
Truly, she felt like she had reached the summit of debauchery… And she never wanted to come back down in her life.
CH 217: HAE-WON (3) **
When Adam finished his massive ejaculation inside of her throat canal, he looked at the heavily breathing Hae-Won. There were a few traces of his cloudy white liquid hanging on the corner of her lips but aside from that, everything last bit of his cum had been gobbled down by her like no tomorrow.
Her eyes were brimming with tears and there was even one or two drops that were threatening to leak out at any moment, but she was showing a somewhat bright smile on her face that completely contrasted with the expression she was showing with her eyes. It was a pretty weird sight…
"This is…"
"You didn't have to drink that, you know?"
As much as it pleased him that she did, since it was without a doubt absolutely hot, he still thought that sex should be something to be shared and if one of the participants wasn't feeling happy then it was bad.
Thankfully, the answer Hae-Won gave him made him understand that he was worried for nothing.
"I know. But I heard that it's sexier to drink it down like that."
She read that men felt a sense of conquest when they saw a woman swallow down their cum after getting a blowjob and the subsequent ejaculation in their mouth.
The taste was certainly something that left much to be desired and she couldn't say that she particularly liked it, but even though she could not see Adam's expression right now due to the mask he was wearing above his face, knowing that he was definitely happy by her actions made her feel incredibly happy inside.
But this was not enough for her. No way enough for her at all. Her heart was still beating wildly inside of her chest and her quivering quim was threatening to make her panties a soggy mess with all the leakage.
"Cinder…"
Adam smiled, knowing full well what Hae-Won actually wished for at the moment. And he was keen to deliver it to her.
'Let's try a new position today, shall we?'
He took her by the arms and brought her in front of the side wall of the Super VIP room.
"Put your hands against the wall for me, Hae-Won."
"Ah…"
A position that she had seen many times in those raunchy videos she had looked up on the internet. A humiliating position that made the sexual relationship much more animalistic in nature than she would have once liked. Now though, she was not really sure.
She had once thought this was quite the humiliating position for a woman but after what she had just done, there were not many things that she was not willing to try with this new lover of hers.
Once she did as she was asked, she felt him gently, ever so gently caress her rump before lifting the hem of her silky flowing dress and lowering down her panties to reveal the soppy mess that was her vagina right now.
She blushed heavily when she realized that in this position, he could see absolutely everything she had to offer. Even her dirtiest place which she was unwilling to show to her husband.
She had thousands of worries and negative thoughts immediately flashing inside of her mind but all of them immediately scattered away when Adam's experienced fingers touched the entrance of her garden. He stirred up her pussy, making lots of sticky noises for her to hear and be ashamed of. When he occasionally stimulated her clitoris, her body would tremble against her will and she would feel feelings that she could hardly even think of feeling not long ago.
The sexual pleasure she felt was steadily growing further and further along with the passage of time.
"I thought I would need some preparations to fuck you today… but it seems like someone is already more than ready to take me in, huh…"
She moaned when he slightly slapped her plump and round ass, making it visibly jiggle and causing her to produce even more of her juices.
She realized now that she had quite a bit of masochistic tendencies and liked to feel pain and be humiliated by her partner. Who would have ever thought that she would get off from pain and humiliation like this? At least, she didn't…
In Adam's mind, many ideas flashed as he thought of the different kinds of plays they could have later on. But for now, he just wanted to make her cum. He grabbed her hips and lifted them up so that her vagina could be more visible to his eyes.
That put her in a provocative pose with just her hips sticking up from the floor.
"I'm going to put it all in."
Despite having ejaculated only a moment ago, his penis was already standing up and raring to go, denoting his rather high libido.
"Okay… Ahhhh….!"
He breathed heavily from the blissful arousal he felt when invading the female body with his penis. On the other hand, the Hae-Won cried out weakly. She moaned and arched her back and head from the feeling of pleasure that jolted throughout her body.
The rod was smoothly swallowed by her sticky feminine lips and his hips bumped into her butt.
Without rushing or pulling out, he rubbed their sensitive flesh together to let the entrance of her tightly-closed path familiarize itself with the heat of his penis once more.
The skillful movements of his hips allowed him to penetrate her even as the head rubbed against every nook and cranny of her vaginal flesh. In their current position, he felt even bigger than what she last remembered him to be.
He pushed his penis all the way inside causing her to suck in a deep breath. The thick meat stick filled up her naughty hole and pushed deep inside, reshaping her insides to match its form.
The bulbous tip also pushed against the inner wall to stimulate her vagina on the other side. Her own flesh pushed on her g-spot, hitting her with a form of pleasure she had never felt before, not even the time they had sex for the first time.
"Okay, I'm going to move now."
"Wai~!"
She almost cried out. Everything felt so much more vivid in this position and this time she did not have something covering her eyes and stopping her from seeing everything that was happening.
It didn't take long for her to become a little more accustomed to the current position. But, at the same time, he gradually increased the speed of his thrusting which made her stagger again and again.
She screamed after an especially powerful thrust to her very core.
When his hips slapped against her ass, her lower body shook, and that shaking sent a throbbing through her clit. She was being attacked on the inside and outside. It was sudden but he stopped moving after that, causing Hae-Won to look behind her in confusion.
"Cinder?"
"Does it feel good?"
Before continuing to move, he whispered those words. Hae-Won only hesitated slightly in admitting the pleasure.
"Yes, it does…"
"What do you want me to do now?"
He knew perfectly well what she would want, but he wanted to tease her a bit right now.
The mature woman hesitated again, but she was no match for the desires of her body. She compromised again and again, like peeling back the layers of an onion.
"Move your hips. And reach deep inside me…"
"You want me to fuck your naughty pussy?"
He asked for confirmation in a rather vulgar tone and Hae-Won began moving her own hips as if she could not hold back any longer.
"Yes. Hurry. Fuck me. Fuck me. Ahhhh!"
Adam's felt his heart burn hot as this sinful woman, who would have been unattainable for his previous self a few months ago, was now begging for his cock while throwing away all forms of shame.
She had utterly become a slave to pleasure, so Adam grabbed her slender waist and provided the rhythmic thrusts she so deeply desired.
He massaged the soft flesh and forced love juices out of her raunchy hole with wet and sloppy sounds. Even his balls grew wet with her juices as they slapped against her clit and pelvis.
When doing her from behind, he felt empty-handed and wanted to fondle her breasts, but he asked instead of just doing it outright.
"Do you want me to fondle your tits?'
"I do. Please do it. Please mess them up~"
She pleaded with him with a crazed intensity. She was only a sexual beast that greedily sought more and more carnal pleasure. He groped them over her clothes, but she seemed displeased.
"That isn't enough~! Please… Do it directly."
This was the kind of order he was more than willing to listen to. Lowering her satin robes and, since she had no brassiere, his hands landed directly on her hot and heavy breasts.
He teased them and stroked the erect nipples with his fingertips.
"Ah… That feels so goood~"
Her intoxicated voice suggested she was drowning in the masochism of being teased by a boy so much younger than her. Driven by a feeling of deep pleasure, Adam lost himself in massaging her breasts and thrusting his hips.
When he thrust in, love juices flowed out… When he pulled back, he stirred those juices up and soaked even his balls…
"I'm about to cum."
"Ahh! Cum… cum inside of me. Cum inside me and fill my womb with your hot cum. I'm also…about to…"
Hae-Won was delirious and she felt as if she could not care about anything.
Once he had permission, Adam intensified his thrusting. His penis felt like it was made of steel as it danced freely around inside her depths, stirring up her honeypot.
He used his youthful energy to thrust again and again until she completely surrendered her body and mind to him.
"Ah….!"
She let out a wild wanton scream as her entire body convulsed and shuddered, taken over by an intense orgasm the likes of which she had never felt before.
The crazed wave-like motions of her body repeated again and again and her vagina tightened seductively around him.
This was the final straw for Adam as he also let go of all control and sprayed his cum into her vagina while continuing his piston-like movements to deliver it straight to her womb… just as she asked…
"Ah, ahh, ahhhhhhhh…"
Hae-Won felt like she was about to pass out as her vagina continued contracting again and again until she had sucked out every last drop of his cum inside of her.
This was truly the greatest day of her life…
CH 218: DREAM WALKING
As she felt Adam slowly withdraw from within herself, Hae-Won released a small sigh that was something between a cry of regret and a moan of pleasure.
'I am being so irresponsible with all this.'
She thought as she felt the hot liquid dribble out slowly from her secret garden to her plump thighs. Asking him to come in her might have been a little too much.
Even though she was sure that she wasn't in the dangerous phase of her menstrual cycle, she thought about taking some medicine to avoid any problems.
Hae-Won couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed of herself at everything that had transpired in this Super VIP lounge.
Here she was, on all fours with her hands on the wall and her ass raised high up like a bitch in heat… all of this just to have raw sex with a young man she did not even see the true face of, much less his real name other than his hostname.
The way she had begged him to fuck her would have made even a harlot seem more elegant in comparison.
The worst about all of this was that… she did not particularly care much about all of this as she would like to.
Even though she knew what she was doing was utterly wrong. Even though she knew that she had lost all moral high grounds to judge her husband due to all this and was simply a filthy cheater like him, the euphoria she felt from this act made it impossible for her to give up on this feeling any longer.
She felt exuberant.
She felt joyous.
She felt desired and wanted by someone in a long, long time.
What more could she even hope to ask for from the other party?
Hae-Won let out a loud yelp when she felt herself being moved by Cinder…
"Cinder?"
"Why don't we take a bath together? Perhaps even rest for a little bit? What do you think?"
Hae-Won blushed heavily and even hid her face in the confines of his chest, letting a simple nod as a sign of her approval of his propositions.
—
A little later, after a good and much-desired bath, Hae-Won was now resting her head on Cinder's naked chest. She could not believe that all of this was happening to her. She felt like she was experiencing a blissful dream…
She just couldn't believe that all of this… was real…
"Are you sure?"
"Don't worry. You can sleep for as long as you want. I will wake you up in a few hours."
"Ah… But I want to talk more with you."
She spoke like a small child that was finally having some fun in her plan and was busy making plans… however, contrary to her words, she could feel her eyelids gradually becoming heavier as soon as she heard his voice, lulling her to the realms of sleep.
She did not know why she was feeling so sleepy. Even though she was feeling quite tired from all the activities, it shouldn't have been enough to bring her to this state.
"Shhh. Just have a good sleep and some sweet dreams."
His hand laid her head, gently caressing her hair and his beautiful voice was like a lullaby, slowly handing her over to the guardians of dreams. Slowly, her eyelids became so heavy that she could barely keep them open any longer…
—and in the end, she fell into a deep slumber.
—
A few minutes after Hae-Won fell asleep and her breathing became even and steady, a knock was heard on the door.
"Enter."
The door opened and Yui walked into the room. Only, she was currently wearing a gas mask.
"It seems like everything worked out well."
"Yeah."
Adam patted Hae-Won's hair for some time before standing up. He waved his hand and the illusion of a mask covering his face instantly vanished. Revealing that he was also wearing a gas mask.
"You went at it for pretty long. I honestly started to wonder if you had forgotten about the plan at how much fun you were having with her."
"Heheh…"
"I guess that's kind of expected. She sure is damn beautiful so not like I can't understand why you were so lost with her or rather inside her."
Yui nodded to herself after giving a whistle at Hae-Won's luscious curves that could be seen through the towel as it had a hard time covering her bountiful form. It was hard to believe that this was the body of a woman in her thirties and that too with a kid of herself.
Chuckling, she looked at her watch before finally taking off the mask.
"Well, we used a special gas. It's called Sandman and can help induce more vivid dreams. I guess you will now explain to me why you deciding to put her to sleep was the best idea for us?"
Since it was a special gas, even supernatural creatures like her could get a bit dizzy if inhaled long enough so the power behind it was quite potent.
Earlier this night, Adam had come up with a simple plan and for that, they needed to put Hae-Won to sleep.
He had not been very forthcoming about the details of this plan of his, but since Yui believed in Adam, she had been willing to give the benefit of the doubt and proceeded with it anyways.
Adam waved his hand and the door closed behind Yui.
"I will explain the situation to you, don't worry. Either way, I will need to have you keep guard over my body. So I don't really have a choice."
Adam stretched slightly and popping noises could be heard all over with that action of his. It was a little embarrassing talking to Yui after what had just happened but now wasn't time for him to brood over that.
"I have been thinking and from what I have gathered from Hae-Won, she will never sell out her husband. At least not voluntarily."
Hae-Won had many weaknesses eating away at her confidence which was why she had been so easy to seduce. But her loyalty to her husband, not as a man but as a companion, was very deep and was rooted in her very soul.
It didn't matter how infatuated she was with him, she would not willingly give away the secrets that would cause her husband's downfall.
Adam didn't know if he should be angry or express his respect for that. If he had to be honest, if she had been willing to hurt the man who had fed her and given her everything she owned just because she had a new lover, he would have been very disappointed in her. At least, Hae-Won was a woman of integrity and respect in that department.
"We could torture her for an answer but not only do I not wish to do so, but also this would surely alert the enemy. Taking Hae-Won as a hostage is also complicated as we do not know exactly how much value she has in the mind of the boss of the Blue Sharks."
For an underworld crime lord, women were without a doubt the least of their worries. It was hard to say if the leader cared about Hae-Won at all or not. But seeing how he was so openly cheating her on, it was safe to assume that he did not particularly care about her mindset.
"So I decided to try something on her."
He could only give a bitter smile as he spoke that line. The poor woman was becoming more and more something akin to an experiment subject for his causes. He was already observing her condition to see if his semen had brought any change to her body.
But for now, that did not seem to be the case. More experiments would be necessary to achieve a result.
"I have been learning something for some time already. I guess now it's time for me to test it out."
Yui's eyebrow rose at those words before she took a sit a little away to watch whatever the hell he was about to do. She wondered in her mind just what Adam was about to show her.
He had so many interesting skills.
Ignoring Yui, Adam raised Hae-Won up so that she was in his arms and brought his forehead against hers before closing his eyes.
It was time for him to try his first Dreamwalk.
CH 219: BEAUTIFUL DREAM
Dream Walkers were divided into many different levels with the top of the food chain being the ones with the ability to directly travel from dream to dream with absolutely no problem whatsoever no matter where they were in the world and no matter where the dream wielders were, It was almost like teleportation for them.
In fact, for high-level dream walkers, the Sea of Subconscious was no different from a very large plaza where they would sometimes meet to make deals and exchange information with each other. It was more akin to a communication hub for the ones with the ability to Dreamwalk.
Such was the nature of this place.
Obviously, Adam still had a very long way to go before he would be able to reach the top level… He was talented but not enough to straight out access the highest level of Dreamwalking from the get-go.
What he could do though, was enter the dreams of people who were asleep by making contact with their body.
Furthermore, it was necessary for the person entering the dream to have a certain affinity with the one they were visiting the dream of.
They also had to make sure that the person was in a joyous or relaxing mood before falling asleep to establish a connection to their dream realm.
Failing to fulfill those conditions would not make entering a dream impossible but the difficulty would increase exponentially.
Thankfully… Adam was more than just sure that in the current situation, Hae-Won's mental defenses toward him were at their lowest state.
This was also why he did not even bother with asking her about any of her deepest secrets.
He did not wish to make her raise her vigilance toward him and have the utmost trust in him no matter what.
"Let's go."
—
When Adam opened his eyes or what he thought were his eyes in the next moment, he found himself floating above a small land of ice and frost.
This place was a representation of Hae-Won's psyche. A mental world that represented her mental condition in its most realistic state.
The island was extremely far but at the same time extremely sparse. There were no decorations in the surroundings, nor was it particularly taken care of. It was easy to tell that fact about it with only a glance. It was very desolate and felt abandoned more than anything else. A deep sense of loneliness pervaded the whole island.
"This feels weird."
Adam spoke… thought?
He didn't know exactly what was the correct term at the moment. Even though he had left the normal world and was now in the world of dreams, he felt like absolutely nothing had changed with him and felt like he had just come to an unknown land with his whole body. It was still the same world. It was still the same him. Just a different place at a different time, or so his mind was telling him.
"Cinder, are you alright?"
Something seemed to flash and he went from gazing at the island from above to sitting on a reclining chair while relaxing under the light of the sun.
Next to him, Hae-Won(?) or what looked like to be a far younger Hae-Won was speaking to him in a slightly concerned tone.
If he had to pinpoint it, he had the impression that she was now barely in her twenties rather than her ravishing form of thirties.
"Cinder?"
"I am sorry. I was just a little dazed by your appearance. You are looking really beautiful in that dress."
And for once in all of this charade with her, this was the whole truth. Outside of the fact that Hae-Won was wearing a very beautiful and thought-provoking black swimsuit that contrasted nicely with her pale skin, this whole situation was proving to be very perplexing to him. Unlike what happened during his fight against Asmodeus, he had a hard time taking control of the dream and he felt like he was simply being pushed over by Hae-Won's will or the will of her dream world.
It was like trying to take control of a wild horse in a rodeo that was constantly trying to make you fall on the ground and you had no choice but to hold on to it for dear life.
'I guess the first step should be to be able to create my own dream before trying to control the dream of others, huh…'
Adam sighed and understood that this lack of control was simply because of his own inadequacy in handling dreams. He was just not experienced enough to instantly take control. But slowly, and surely, he was getting the hang of the situation.
'I should make her relax some more.'
He didn't particularly need to, in all honesty. His compliment was enough to make Hae-Won blush slightly and cause her to giggle like some young teen. Soon, she made a small twirl to show off her beautiful and youthful body to him.
"I am happy that you like it. I thought it was a little too bold of me to wear something like this but the saleswoman told me this would definitely make you happy;"
"She was right."
Adam grinned nonchalantly while looking around the island in the most natural way possible.
"Speaking of which, could you remind me why we decided to come to this island?"
He spoke in a joking tone but those words seemed to be totally ignored as Hae-Won approached and hugged him with her arms.
"I am so happy, you know, honey? You have been doing a lot of work recently. I am happy you chose to take a vacation with me."
'I guess in this dream I am her husband.'
Dreams were sometimes a reflection of our inner desire and it wasn't hard to see through the fantasy Hae-Won was harboring right now. It was both charming and a cause for concern for him. But seeing that she loved him so much that she even dreamed of dedicating her love and devotion to him and marrying him was something that made him feel immense interest in her thought process.
'Speaking of that…'
He touched his face, realizing that he was not wearing his mask.
"Give me a moment."
Standing up, he walked back to the cabin and thankfully found a mirror large enough to see his face. The reflection that greeted him was a face worthy of giving him a jump scare.
It was an entirely featureless face. From nose to ears and even eyes, everything was lacking.
Adam understood that this was how her subconscious saw him as she had never seen what he looked like behind the mask.
'Okay. Now that my curiosity is sated. I guess it should be time for me to start the main course.'
Adam lifted his hand before grabbing the air violently.
His power had finally managed to connect with this current dream and like a virus on the internet, he could infiltrate all her dreams and take control of all of them slowly but surely.
While swimsuits on the beach were good and all, he still had more important things to take care of than enjoying this dream with a younger Hae-Won.
A crack appeared in this dream world before causing it to break helplessly.
When Adam opened his eyes once again, he found himself wearing a black tuxedo while holding Hae-Won's hands in his, the two of them dancing to the tune of the small orchestra.
This was not exactly what he had in mind when he decided to change her dream. But this was pretty close to what he was after.
"You are a very good dancer."
"I learned it in my spare time to make you happy."
When did she even have the time for this?
"Then you did a very good job. But you know…"
He brought his face closer to her ears and muttered in the most sensual way possible.
"There are other ways you could use your time to make me happy, remember?"
Hae-Won looked up, her eyes moist with lust.
Adam wondered briefly if having sex while inside the dream world would count as masturbation or true sex.
Would she wake up with a new stain that was too hard to cover(?) or would it count as sex?
What would sex in a dream world even feel like?
This was something worth pondering but now, it was time to get all his investment's worth by milking out all the information from her mind.
"Tell me everything you know about the Blue Sharks."
The world trembled, the dreams becoming unstable. But Adam ignored all of that and pressed on.
All that was necessary was for her to spill the bins and he would make sure everyone had a part to play in this dream that he was about to control for himself.
CH 220: CREEPY DREAM
As mentioned already, a dream was the manifestation of the subconscious mind to enact their deepest desires. It was also the last barrier of defense against the things we wished to hide and protect deep in our souls.
The more we were willing to hide the truth the higher the defenses would be.
For Hae-Won, the criminal career of her husband was both a source of shame and a sin that brought to her unimaginable levels of anguish…
It created a contradiction between her own personal values and the loyalty she instinctively felt for her dear husband.
Mixed with all that was the knowledge that if anything happened to her husband, neither she nor her child would be able to have the wonderful and normal life that she was hoping to live beside her husband.
All those emotions made it so that the question Adam asked was no different from pouring water in an anthill and watching the terrible result unfold before one's own eyes.
Adam could feel the very world that was surrounding them shaking and cracking as Hae-Won started to slowly reject him and his invasion into her Dream World. But the shaking stopped as swiftly as it came and left Hae-Won with an expression not a single bit different from earlier as she could still be seen blushing while holding she held his hand with her own.
Only this time, they were not in the ballroom anymore but in what looked like a huge church in a foreign country.
Hae-Won was now wearing a white dress and was looking at him with a beautiful and infinitely loving smile on her face and a natural warmth and affection brimming in her eyes.
'I am getting married in a dream for the third time it seems. I should get used to this feeling already.'
"Do you swear to have and to hold each other from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, until parted by death?"
"I do."
Hae-Won was brimming with excitement as she immediately said yes to the vows that the priestess enunciated to her and asked her to give a reply to.
Adam remembered one of his discussions with Hae-Won. It seemed like she had not truly been able to have the marriage of her dream. Though the marriage had been lavish and worthy of a Disney Princess in terms of scale, he had adamantly refused to take a step into the church and deliver the standard vows to her no matter how she had begged him.
"What about you?"
"I do as well."
Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes for a little while and they were given the rings by a little boy Adam did not even recognize. But from the similarity the cute boy had with her mother and the oriental features, it was not hard to guess that the boy was, in fact, none other than Hae-Won's son.
'So even after erasing her husband from her dream, she still kept her son? She must love him quite a bit to do that…'
He nodded at the boy and took the rings from his hands before bringing them to her,
"I refuse to marry someone who is not honest with me. Tell me, what do you know?"
Hae-Won visibly struggled and her eyes twitched slightly at first before becoming rather creepy.
The world once again cracked and the scene broke away into thousands of pieces, leaving Adam a bit muddle-headed, forcing him to close his eyes. When he opened his eyes again, he found himself once again in what looked like a church but the atmosphere was much, much darker than before.
The image was blurred, everything was blurred to the point that it was hard to make out which is which.
'Oh? Did I stumble onto something juicy at long last?'
This time Hae-Won was not near him but rather with another man. At first, Adam was simply curious about it all; wondering in his mind if those were the memory of her marriage with the man that he knew to be the boss of the Blue Sharks. Though when he saw her walking in a rather obscene red dress, he couldn't help but tilt his head in wonder.
The scene of an almost normal marriage seemed to proceed but everything seemed much more eerie than anything that could be labeled as 'normal.'
'Is it a dream again? Her imagination, or is it a true memory? A repressed one perhaps?'
He approached closer but the images became more and more blurry until finally cracks began to appear once again and things seemed to break down from within.
After that phenomenon, a series of pictures each more disturbing than the other followed. Sometimes there would even be pictures of their intimate scenes but every time, the atmosphere would be darker and seemingly filled with more and more blood.
'What is going on here?'
If those were just dreams, one could say that Hae-Won was hiding deep fear and resentment against her husband. The distortion of the dream could be coming from a deep feeling of regret she was harboring in her subconsciousness.
But, from what he had gathered, Hae-Won did not hate nor fear her husband. At least not in such a deep and visceral way that was being shown to him in those images. In fact, if it wasn't because he had been somewhat ignoring her lately, she would have most likely not fallen into his clutches.
'Something is fishy. Did he mess with her memories?'
That didn't seem like it was impossible per se. Hae-Won was just a normal woman and her husband was clearly part of the supernatural world. It wouldn't be hard for the situation to end in some kind of abuse.
After all, he was doing much the same to Hae-Won right now and he had no moral ground to stand on to judge and question her husband for his methods.
'You poor woman…'
Sighing a little, Adam decided to focus more on finding the information he wanted rather than gathering more and more sympathy for the beautiful MILF in his heart.
He moved his hand and broke away the last series of images before rushing deeper into her subconscious.
He had finally managed to take full control of her Dream World and could now somewhat change it as he wished.
The images changed and a new series of memories flashed one after another. Those were the memories he wished to see.
The information Hae-Won chanced upon but never went deeper in to save herself from breaking down. Things like his bank accounts.
She might have only given one look, but that information was forever locked in her brain and he now had full access to them.
'I am going to be rich!'
He chuckled but now was not the time to focus on just money. He needed much more than just his bank accounts. He needed to find evidence to collapse his empire.
'The ideal would be to attack him directly and knock him down but we don't know what kind of backing he has.'
If before he had just dismissed the man as some small fry, after seeing the repressed and hidden memories in Hae-Won's mind, he decided to be a little more careful about the insufferable man.
"Let's see what else I can find.'
He was going the look at everything the woman had to offer about her husband.
This was necessary in order to prepare as thoroughly as possible and he was surprised to find that she knew much more than he had anticipated.
It seemed like her husband was considering Hae-Won as nothing more than a stupid woman as he would let sensitive documents all around without a care in the world.
Hae-Won meanwhile played her role with grace. Sometimes asking simple question to him, which allowed him to fed his ego and feel better.
Like this, Hae-Won had enough information at hand to completely topple his empire if she do wished.
Clearly she was not as naive as he thought. She had already made preparation to prepare and protect herself in case he suddenly decided he wanted to become a widow.
| Adam respect for Hae-Won increased deeply and he was going to use those information carefully.
CH 221: WAKING UP
While Adam was searching through Hae-Won's memories for what he sought, Yui was sitting on the sofa while putting one of her legs above the other as her body leaned forward slightly with her chin resting on her hand. She was keenly observing everything with her eyes.
Even though Adam had not given her many details about the plan, she could see that he was most likely observing Hae-Won's mind right now with one of his skills. Be it through telepathy or dream walking…
'Is his father a Baku [1]? Or perhaps an Incubus?'
The Bakus were more of a dream eater than a dream walker of a creature so she doubted Adam was one…
But when it came to the infamous Incubi, it became much more plausible for Adam to be one than any other of her guesses to date. The Incubi had abilities that were overall weaker than the Succubi but they had the same type of skillset going on for them.
Dreams, illusions, and finally… seduction.
Those skills were precisely the ones Adam had been showing signs of using lately and his skills with controlling illusions were far too high for it to be considered to be anything but innate. There was no way he had acquired those skills from somewhere.
In the same way, this would more or less explain why Bridget Bishop had been so interested in Adam on the day that he had awakened.
This theory was extremely plausible and checked out most of the boxes to reveal Adam's identity. But the only problem here was…
'He doesn't have a lick of infernal energy.'
The lack of infernal energy did not distract Yui much. It wasn't like it was impossible to hide such energy from the others. After all, she was also wearing an artifact that would hide her divine energy from the other beings and seal her identity as the offspring of a literal god.
A young god like her with no authority was like one of the most delicious snacks for some sick bastards. With Adam being from the Kaminari family, it wasn't impossible for them to bring out something that could completely shield his aura.
Thanks to the work that Bridget Bishop had done throughout the centuries, the relationship between the church and the witches had reached a stable point where they could coexist with each other in a stable way. This also extended to Cambions as they were determined to be unwilling and unable to have a decision in the bloodline they originated from.
The church, accepting to not hunt every Cambion in sight had been one of the greatest concessions they had ever made in their entire history and caused widespread waves throughout the Supernatural world at one point.
'Then again if he is really a cambion, I understand why Cecilia didn't let him go back home.'
Even though she should not be happy about this, in a way, knowing that Adam had a situation similar to her own made her feel even closer to him and lifted up her mode by a great deal.
In the past, she had somewhat been attracted to him in ways that she was not willing to admit. After all, he was basically the only one around her age who had helped her build up her gang from the ground up. In a way, he had been more like a white knight with a dazzling greatsword coming to the rescue when she needed help the most. When she was in the weakest state of her life.
Sadly not only was he too young back then, but he was also the ex-boyfriend of her sister.
Now though…Things were very different. She couldn't be said to be a man snatcher anymore and she wouldn't have the moral anguish of hurting her baby sister. Though she would have to sleep with one eye open as that girl could really become batshit crazy.
Thinking about how Tsubasa had been sent not long ago to the nun to purify her mind, she couldn't help but chuckle. She was sure that nothing short of mind manipulation could make that girl sane.
Yui stood up and approached Adam with measured steps. The fact that his body did not react even as she got closer and closer to him was proof that he believed in her deeply and saw no need to protect himself from her. This gave her immense joy and made her heart flutter with emotions she was not willing to name.
'I wonder… Just what should I do now?'
She could see his face clearly from this distance and she was startled to really realize just how much he had changed physically and mentally over the course of the past month. He had greatly matured but at the same time, he had also become much darker than he was in the past.
But no matter what… He was still Adam.
The somewhat clumsy boy, the charming young man, and one of the few people she could believe in no matter what. He was still her white knight and was still acting that way even now, giving her a chance to completely establish her authority and realize her dreams.
'Hahaha… Why did I hesitate so much all this time?'
Adam's situation had greatly changed and he was not a normal man anymore. Surely, in this situation, even her Tiger mom would have no opinion about him, right?
She couldn't help but wonder what kind of face Adam would make if he came face to face with a literal god.
"Ugh…"
A groan leaked out from both Adam and Hae-Won's mouths. She could feel the Prana in Adam's body becoming slightly wilder and perspiration forming on Hae-Won's face.
'Is he finally facing rejection?'
While she was no Dream Walker herself, her biological mother sometimes talked to her through Dreams and as such she knew that the higher the resistance was the greater the chance of a Dream Walker being ejected out of the dream.
The subconscious mind of a rational being was truly marvelous as even a powerful being could be overpowered by the psyche of a normal man once inside.
Furthermore, while dying in the dream realm wouldn't necessarily mean death, it could leave very heavy damage to the psyche of the Dream Walker.
'He is waking up.'
She took a few steps back as she watched his eyes flutter slightly before finally opening completely.
"How are you?"
Adam shook his head and pushed a hand as if asking her to wait a bit for him to recover. She could see that his face had now become entirely covered in sweat and his chest was moving heavily up and down as though he had run a marathon for days on end.
"I am good. Yeah. I am."
She saw that Adam was looking all around with a somewhat lost expression. She understood what was going through his mind and took his hand in hers.
"Look at me, Adam. You are in reality now. This is not a dream."
This was something quite common with all the Dream Walkers. Sometimes, Dreams were so vivid that it became hard to make the distinction between them and reality.
—And this was just the early phase. The true problem began when they realized just how much better a dream was than reality.
Her words seemed to have an effect as Adam gripped back and released a long sigh.
"Sorry, and thanks. I was a little confused there."
"Don't mention it. Now tell me. What did you find?"
Adam's expression became solemn as those words left Yui's lips, "I obtained a great deal of information. I think we can start striking at the man."
A grin formed on Yui's face after hearing that statement, "Truly wonderful."
Adam was not just her white knight. He was also her lucky charm.
"We will start chipping away at his power but will attack soon. What do you say? Will you take the lead?"
Remembering the Ordeals he had put aside to decide on later, Adam nodded his head readily. He would soon have to make a choice. There was also the fact that he wanted to directly face the man who put hit on Shuri's head.
"I will do it."
"Very well, I will leave the headquarters for you."
She smiled. She could still feel her hands in Adam's. A weird silence seemed to fall between them as neither of them tried to take the hand away from the other.
"Adam… I… Tututu~"
She closed her mouth as the sound of her phone broke the atmosphere that had been slowly built up between them.
"Give me a moment."
'I swear to my mom. If this isn't an important call I am going to kill someone.'
"What is it?"
「 Excuse me, boss. A woman called Shuri seems to want to have a meeting with you. 」
"Oh?"
Yui gave a look toward Adam, who seemed to be just as bewildered as her. In the end, though, she was too intrigued to refuse.
"Escort her to my office and be careful. She is a valued VIP."
「 Understood. 」
Once the call ended, Yui looked at Adam.
"Any idea why she is here?"
"I am as lost as you."
Yui sighed as they released the clasped hands.
"Now what will you do? Your client seems to still be asleep."
"Well… Thankfully, your entire bar is still in my territory."
A second Adam appeared next to him and smiled at her.
"Shall we go, big boss?"
Shuri alternated between the two Adam and shook her head, "I won't lie. This technique is extremely creepy and extremely useful at the same time. You are basically the perfect criminal."
"Hehe. Well, let's go."
Adam laughed. This small trick was indeed one of the skills he was most proud of. Once his 'Parallel Thinking' skill evolved further, he would be able to divide into even more avatars and control all of them at the same time as long as it was inside of his domain.
He was already filled with anticipation at the thought of his next evolution.
CH 222: ALLIANCE TALK (1)
After his true body was left with Yuri, Adam's illusory clone, which was still present in the room, looked at the sleeping Hae-Won.
The splitting of his focus always felt rather weird to him. After all, the illusion he had left could not see, smell or actually do anything on its own. That's why it was only an illusion.
This vision was just a way to give the impression that he was here. But in reality, his vision and senses were spread through the entirety of his dimension was able to perceive everything that happened within it.
It was in a quiet moment like this that Adam realized how alien he had become in recent times. His physical body felt more like a prison constraining the limitless possibilities of his mind more than anything. And that was a thought that weirded him out a fair bit.
"Well, I wonder just what I should do with you."
He sighed absentmindedly. He would be lying if he said that he had no affection for the woman at all. He would be nothing short of an unfeeling machine if he was able to say that about a woman he shared physical intimacy with. But this affection was nothing more than the innate feeling of possession men almost always felt toward the women they had sex with. Nothing more, nothing else.
Aside from that small feeling of possession, all Adam felt for her was a certain feeling of pity and sexual desire for her immaculate body and luscious curves.
'I am so… sorry… for everything…'
Adam could only give a bitter smile at that thought. It had been some time since he had last apologized to one of his victims. He had been used to being filled with so much guilt during the first few kills that he had done.
It was rather frightening how he went from that to using people as experimental subjects and simple stepping stones toward obtaining what he wished for. Truly frightening…
'Life sure is full of surprises, huh?'
He smiled before lifting Hae-Won up and placing her in a more comfortable position. He had already taken a look at her psyche to be sure to not hurt her mental capabilities and well-being due to his prying. Right now, she should be having a rather beautiful dream with no one to interrupt her.
It was necessary for him to think about the three ordeals he had received from the system now. He had no choice but to think about them.
『 Major Ordeal: Black Knight
Description: Eradicate all the members of Blue Shark with no exceptions.
Reward: 1000 Karma points.
Note: For every member killed, you get an additional 10 Karma. 』
『 Major Ordeal: White Knight
Description: Forgiveness is the path. Everyone is worthy of second chances. Make the leader of the blue shark repent and give himself to the authorities of justice.
Reward: 1500 Karma points.
Note: The deeper the change the more the reward will increase. 』
『 Major Ordeal: Grey Knight
Description: Do not let anger cloud your mind. Follow the most optimum path to obtain your goals. There is no such thing as friend or enemy. Only eternal benefits. Vengeance brings nothing. Work with the leader of the blue Shark to obtain more benefits.
Reward: 3000 Karma points. 』
Adam was still torn over what choice he should take between them. Of course, it wasn't as if he was forced to take any of those choices. But some more Karma wouldn't hurt him a single bit. In fact, he was willing to take any bit of Karma he could get to use them to open his major chakra pathways.
After all, he still needed a great reserve of points in order to open the next Chakra. Once he opened up the Heart Chakra, he would be able to reinforce his physical body with his almost limitless reserves of Prana.
Surely, even if it wasn't enough to match those at the very top of the supernatural world, he wouldn't be completely useless before them, right?
"Ugh…"
A groan leaked out of Hae-Won's mouth then her eyes started to flutter slightly.
'Is she supposed to wake up so soon?'
Soon, Hae-Won's eyes were opened wide and she looked at her surroundings with confusion before moving her head away when she noticed Adam sitting in front of her.
Her ears and face became flushed red after seeing him. She only recalled vaguely about what she had seen. But the dream this time had made her see many incredible things.
She could scarcely believe that she had ended up having a wet dream.
"How are you? Awake?"
Hae-Won nodded before tucking a hair behind her hair. Now that she was awake, there were many things she wanted to say.
"I… I am alright. How long did I fall asleep for?"
"Only a few minutes and don't worry. You look cute even while asleep. It was very entertaining to see your sleep."
"Cinder…"
"Haha. Sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Hae-Won nodded before looking around. "Hum. What is your opinion on gifts?"
Hae-Won initially prepared a bunch of clothes and branded watches. Not necessarily a flashy thing but rather intricate and high-grade.
In the end, though, she hesitated. She read some host clubs and the hosts had the answer.
While money schemes were plenty, most of them actually were all in accord to say that sudden surprise and gifts, while cool, were the last thing that they wanted.
Money was good. But suddenly getting a gift seemed to be a nono.
"Well, I don't mind them;"
Adam was not really happy about gifts in general. This stemmed from his childhood and the way his birthday happened. But he didn't hate them either.
Another reason he was not super excited was that those gifts would be for "Cinder' and not "Adam"
Making them useless outside of when used for work. If did use them they would even know that he was related to them.
Hae-Won clapped in happiness. She had many gifts to show. She would give the chance to choose what he liked
—-
Meanwhile, Shuri, Yui, and Adam were in the office room of Yui.
This time, Adam was standing behind Yui, while the two women were doing a sort of stare contest.
They did not budge. Knowing that starting first would give the other a certain psychological advantage, they keep their mouth shut.
In the end, Adam was the one to make an end to the awkward silence.
"Hi, Shury. I am happy to see you. What brings you here?"
As if she had been waiting for this moment for some time now, Shuri immediately relented.
In the first place, she was not here in a position of force. She was simply so used to working with a crowd that was in need of her help in such a moment that she became used.
"Hello, Cinder. I am happy to see you too."
Shuri smiled at the masked man before focusing on her image. She could discuss it with him later on.
For now, she had something very important to talk about and this was…
"I am here to make a deal."
"A deal?"
Shuri took a deep breath quietly before going at it.
"Let's form an alliance."
CH 223: ALLIANCE TALK (2)
An alliance. That was a very bold statement and simultaneously a proposal that came as quite a surprise to Yui.
Shuri knew very well that she couldn't just stop here and proceeded to explain her reasons behind seeking an alliance with a mafia boss.
"I have many reasons. But let me explain what I understood from my time here."
She elegantly placed one of her legs above the other and looked right into Yui's eyes before slowly uttering her next set of words…
"When I first heard about your establishment, I thought it was just a glorified strip bar or some whore house."
She was blunt in her assessment, "I came for personal reasons but I honestly didn't expect much by coming here. This was why I was all the more astonished by what I had seen and am seeing even now and how I was received."
She gave a look at the masked man beside Yui and smiled slightly, showing her favorability for Cinder, "Even though it's still a host bar, the investment put in both the hosts and the different ressources is too high and I could actually recognize few of the guests. This was when I understood… The boss of this organization is doing this to increase their influence in the Light side, right?"
This was a rather common train of thought and something necessary for all high-grade crime lords.
One couldn't just live in the shadows, the Dark side of the world, forever. They had to have an impeccable life that left absolutely no handle for the police to get them.
This was the reason why there were so many known crime lords but actually no arrests that came to their name. Because they were technically clean in any and all ways. There was never proof left for their misdeeds and the deals behind the scenes and there were always scapegoats ready to be used at their beck and call.
"I can help you."
"Help me?"
"Indeed. In the past, I had… Let's say clients of interesting origins and some misdeeds they were accused of and I helped them walk on a brighter road."
It was quite the roundabout way to say that she had dealt with many criminals and helped them get clean sheets in her own ways but she wasn't stupid enough to say such a thing out loud.
"In fact, Feng Huang Yui, I also had many deals with your grandfather, Feng Yuxiang."
The nonchalance in Yui's expression vanished and became stony at the mention of her paternal family…
"If you are so well connected, why not contact my grandfather? Is it because you look down on my organization?"
Shuri was not surprised by the sudden shift in tone and atmosphere. She had made extensive research in the last 24 hours and she knew what she came here for.
"I am not underestimating you but rather correctly estimating your and my worth. As I am now, while I am quite big, I am still a slightly bigger fish in the sea. Nothing more and nothing less. An alliance with a big whale like old man Feng would only end up in me becoming his subordinate. As you can already tell, I don't want to be under anyone."
Shuri knew her position in life. She was rich, she had great influence and some armed forces at her disposal.
But this was nothing compared to what the big gangs could bring to the table.
"Let's not play the pride game. I am sure you understand very well that in terms of Pure organization size, your group is still a fledgling group. Of course, if you find this offensive, we can stop this conversation right here and now and forget that any of it happened."
Shuri had met many different kinds of criminals throughout her life and she did not want to deal with the spoiled type that seemed to believe that the world turned around their existence.
Adam, meanwhile, was silently observing the wrestling match that was happening between the two women and damn, he had to admit that Shuri had bigger balls than many men he had encountered in his life.
Even without taking into account the supernatural nature of Yui, as Shuri had no way of knowing about this, the fact that she entered a crime lord's lair with no hesitation whatsoever and didn't even hesitate in giving the harsh truth right to their faces was nothing short of incredible. She was like a fearless warrior, charging into enemy lines all by themselves.
The most impressive?
He could see some slight fear in her emotions. But this fear never showed in her expression.
She was calm, stoic, and seemingly extremely confident in herself with no feelings of fear or hesitation.
Yui, of course, was feeling as much impressed if not more. Deciding that this situation was suddenly much more interesting than what she had given it credit for.
Yui decided to take a small step back. After all, what Shuri said was a truth she always knew.
"Go on."
Inwardly, Shuri leaked out a sigh of relief. Her words may have been harsh but those were necessary to gauge the maturity and personality of the woman in front of her.
She had obviously made sure to prepare some protection just in case but, in all obviousness, she would have rather not have to use those measures.
"Good. Now that we have made the situation clear. I will be blunt."
"So you weren't already blunt?"
Shuri smiled at the small quip, this was proof that they were becoming more at ease with each other, "I was attacked not long ago after leaving your establishment."
"Oh?"
"The attack resulted in no obvious wounds. But I have sources that lead me to believe that some of my relatives made a deal with some enemy of yours and now are after my life."
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend, is that it?'
"No. The enemy of my enemy can also be an enemy. But it can also become a valuable ally."
Believing in friendship in this world of crime and business was just blatantly asking to get stabbed in the back.
Shuri only believed in contracts and even contracts were not totally trustworthy. After all, her husband had broken one of the most sacred contracts that existed since primordial times. He had broken her heart on top.
This was why the only true friend she had was Cecilia. But she was not sad.
Better have only one true friend than a bunch of Hyenas who acted friendly while waiting for you to fall.
"The deal is simple. Assure my security. Protect me and I will help you step into the Light of this world."
"How?"
"Because I am the best lawyer you will ever have and I can bring my entire firm behind you."
Yui whistled at that declaration.
Those were indeed arguments of great weight.
CH 224: ICARUS AND THE SUN
While sitting in the room that Hae-Won had rented for today, Adam's avatar silently looked at the wave of goods that were brought into the VIP room with a complicated expression on his face.
When she said that she had wanted to give him some gifts, he had honestly expected many things in his mind. But none of them were really thoughts about anything being particularly impressive. After all, they had only met for a very limited amount of time, only twice at most, and he didn't believe just one night of passion would've been enough to create a great bond between them.
In fact, the interaction between them was nowhere near enough to build a solid relationship. Or so he thought…
He underestimated the affection she had for him a bit too much…
"This is…"
"I hesitated greatly about what I should give you. But since this is the first gift that I am about to give to you, I wanted it to be something memorable and stylish. So here we are with all this…"
She was clearly a little fidgety about her gift but Adam could only barely keep his mouth from hanging open because he was using an illusion right now.
What Hae-Won was showing him currently was a pocket watch.
It was a golden pocket watch with a rather intrinsic design that mixed both style and elegance in a small package. The watch also gave him a sense of nobility as though just wearing it would make him scream "rich."
While Adam was not super knowledgeable about wine, he did make some research on watches as they were one of the accessories used the most by men and this was why… he knew exactly what he was wearing was…
"George Daniels Yellow Gold Space Traveller's…"
"Oh. You recognized it?"
Then her face paled all of a sudden, "Sorry! I didn't mean to say that you couldn't recognize a branded watch. It was just… I…"
Hae-Won shuddered and winced when she understood the implications of her previous words. After the years she had spent with her husband, she understood how much importance men gave to pride and what she had done just now was no different from insulting Adam by insinuating that he was not rich or wealthy enough to even think about or to know about an expensive watch as this. Which was why him knowing about it was surprising to hear.
"Pfft. Why are you acting so fidgety? Honestly, all I know about this watch is the name of it and that it is crazy expensive. So don't worry too much about it, ok?"
Hae-Won felt a weight leave her heart at his nonchalant words and she was finally able to smile again, only slightly though, "This watch is indeed a Gold Space Traveller's… More precisely a Gold Space Traveller's I."
This was a watch that sold for around 4.561 million dollars. There was also the model II that sold for only a few hundred thousand dollars less than the I so she made her choice to buy the best one.
Initially, she had opted to give him something a little less expensive, but when she went to buy those watches and her eyes fell on this pocket watch, she couldn't help but think about how cool it would look with the style and mannerism that Cinder was so used to showing so naturally. It was a natural fit for him, she thought in his mind.
It would be like watching a true noble gentleman of old and as such she went ahead and bought the watch with no hesitation whatsoever. This would hurt a little bit of the reserve of money she had saved up from her small business, but she was sure that it was worth the price.
She also went ahead and bought two suits and even a new mask as well as a cane with a bald eagle head and a top hat.
In a way, this was like trying to buy clothes for your favorite cosplayer or a small doll but this was why this made things all the more interesting for her and she was so enthusiastic about it.
In the end, the whole package was two complete suits with a certain flair, each worth around 50 thousand dollars, two top hats worth 2 thousand each, and two canes, one with a lion head and another with a bald eagle head, worth around 10 thousand each and last but not least, a Pocket watch, worth 4.5 million.
All in all, she had spent 5 million USD on a man she had only met a few times. So few that it was not even enough to know about him clearly, and in fact, she did not know anything about the man other than the fact that he was a charming lover. But if one asked whether she regretted it or not, the answer would be an astounding no.
It had been a long time since she had sincerely felt happy like she did now. All she had was only a feeling of duty and obligation as a wife and a mother.
But Cinder gave her the happiness as a woman she had desperately wished to have all her life. With him, she didn't have to worry about a thing, she could just entrust her body and leave everything else to him.
This was a very blissful moment in her opinion and this was worth every bit of money she was willing to spend.
Adam's eyes twitched when he used the Eyes of Truth to get a certain estimation of just how much she had spent on him. He once thought that having 20 million made him absolutely rich but suddenly he was receiving gifts that amounted to one-fourth of his whole fortune and he suddenly didn't know anything anymore.
'Truly the wonder of capitalism knows no bounds.'
He didn't know why he was being surrounded by so many rich women but this was certainly quite a shocking discovery to him.
"This is a little too much. I don't think I can accept all this, to be honest."
Even for Adam, this was a little too much. So much that even being a scumbag would not be enough to describe what he was feeling. He was already using this woman in every way possible and she was also giving him money and all these expensive objects?
This was the very definition of a giving tree. No, he refused to exploit her any more than what he was doing already.
"Keep them. I insist. Either way, there is no refund possible."
It was rare to see the meek and obedient woman be so headstrong so in the end, Adam could only relent.
"I really don't know what to say. I feel like simply saying thank you isn't enough for all this…"
She shook her head and gave him a thin but refreshing smile, "I don't need you to say anything."
She placed a hand on his and grasped it tightly, "I know very well that this isn't a love story. I am just a client for you and perhaps right now you are even laughing at how stupid I am to gift so much money to someone I barely know."
"I am not…"
She applied more force in her hand, "Even if you don't, I know how it looks. I seriously do. This whole relationship is nothing more than a lie and I am well aware of it. I am risking everything I have for someone who does not really care about me. This isn't the first time this has happened. So, I don't care."
After all, she had given up her life for a husband who did not really love her.
"At least… In this case, I am happy."
Hae-Won knew that she was being stupid, a little naive, and acting extremely shamefully. But for the first time in years, she simply felt free and happy.
Was it too much to ask to enjoy this feeling for longer?
Even if everything was a lie, even if this was nothing more than a beautiful dream, an illusion woven by a skillful manipulator. She was willing to drown in this illusion until the harsh reality decided to wake her up.
Until then, she would enjoy every instant and live freely without looking back.
"Cinder, do you know the story of Icarus [1]?"
Adam nodded. It was a story that was known by basically anyone with little interest in mythology.
The story of a man who escaped from prison thanks to the wings made out of wax and feather. After flying too close to the sun, the wings melted and Icarus fell into the sea and died.
"Icarus' story is told a as cautionary tale. But I believe that it could be interpreted as a desire for freedom even at the cost of your own life."
She smiled at him. A truly carefree and invigorating smile, one he had never seen in her before. If she was Icarus, then Cinder was her Sun.
This story would most likely end badly for her. There would most likely be no happy end in store for her. Perhaps, a life worse than anything she could imagine was waiting for her in the future.
But… even if the end was sad… The journey would be a happy one.
That… she was absolutely sure of.
It was enough… for the woman called…
Hae-Won…
—
[1]: So yeah this is pretty wild. Firstly we have Daedalus. So our man created a fake cow in metal for the wife of a king. The wife used this to hide in it and get fucked by a Sexy Bull (Aphrodite made her fall in love with a bull). Anyways Queen gets pregnant and gives birth to Minotaurus.
King is obviously angry about getting cucked by a bull and makes Daedalus create the Labirynth of Minotaurus. Then he throws Daedalus and his son Icarus into the labyrinth. There Dae creates the Wings of Icarus and tell his son to not fly close to the sun or close to the sea.
CH 225: BAPTISM (1)
At the end of a rather fierce but outwardly calm discussion, the two women of steel stood and shared a handshake, putting behind them the unpleasantness of the earlier deal.
Yui was of course very happy to have Shuri on her side. Her own teams of lawyers were no slouches. But most of them mainly worked for her families rather than herself.
This was a great step in becoming completely independent and taking her own route without caring about other thoughts of her.
"To a happy cooperation."
"To a happy cooperation."
They shared a smile and Yui turned toward Adam who had stayed silently in the corner and simply observed them.
She was quite happy as he once again proved his maturity in knowing his place and simply observing to absorb the knowledge necessary for his growth. People who were willing to learn without falling into the illusion of arrogance were always very attractive.
"Well, miss Shuri, since we are sharing such a moment. I believe this needs to become even more memorable."
"Oh?"
"My dear Cinder made me understand that you were a wine connoisseur."
"Well, I would not say a connoisseur but I do have some amateurish knowledge about the topic."
"This is marvelous." Yui clapped and gave a smile at Adam, "Cinder, please. Could you please bring that bottle?"
"Ohhh!?"
If before, Shuri was only mildly interested, now she immediately sat straighter in her seat, her eyes shining as if she was a school girl about to receive a treat for working hard.
She had to fight all instincts in her body to stop herself from gulping down loudly.
"The Romanée-Conti?"
"Indeed."
"Ah…"
Shuri let out a deep sigh, her instinct and reason fighting but Yui forestalled any refusal.
"This is me sharing a great moment with what I hope is a new friend. I hope you will drink with me."
Shuri struggled for a moment before finally nodding.
Just a small sip couldn't hurt, right?
Adam smiled as he saw Shuri act in such an uncharismatic childish way. It was fun seeing the other side of her.
—-
The rest of the night in a relatively calm way if it could be called thus. Hae-Won had a fun time with Cinder and while she could still not see his face, she was happy to have given the gift she prepared with such care.
In a way, it was like giving a gift to her idol and she found this emotion to be quite interesting.
Stepping out of her car after she reached her lavish but nearly empty home, Hae-Won walked in the large living room and could only sigh at how devoid of warmth everything seemed to be.
Her husband had always been against bringing people in this house and only the strict minimum of employees necessary were brought in. All of them were part of his gang.
"Welcome Madam."
"Thanks, Fabrice."
Fabrice was a relatively old man who worked as something of a butler in the mansion. She knew that he did not have much respect for her. But at the very least he had always been very professional.
"Is my son asleep?"
"The young master is spending time with the master?"
Hae-Won frowned. It was nearly two in the morning and while her son did not go to school, he was home-schooled and should have class in the morning.
In the past, her husband had always been rather disinterested in her son. As if he could not be bothered to care for him.
But now, it seemed like it was all the opposite and he couldn't wait to have him on his side.
'What is going on?"
She should have been happy that the father-son pair were now becoming closer but she couldn't help but feel a little worried.
In the end, all she could do was sigh and nod.
This was a good thing. Who knows? Perhaps the two would become even closer.
'Perhaps I should start thinking of divorce?'
Waving her hand at Fabrice, Hae-Won started to walk toward her room. It had been a long time since she had slept in the same bed as her husband and she did not really want to do so anymore.
Not just because of her relationship with Cinder but because of what he finally made her husband.
She was someone awesome.
She was someone who did not need to bow down and accept any form of abuse, even if not physical.
If it wasn't because she knew a friendly divorce was impossible, she would have already served her husband.
Sadly, there was no such option for her. His pride would never accept that his wife could leave him.
If she insisted, there were high chances that he would discover her story with Cinder and then the young man might get harmed because of her.
Knowing this, she could not in good conscience do such a thing.
'Perhaps I should start a new business alone?'
One without the support or funds from her husband. A business she could build all alone and look at it with pride knowing that it was the fruit of her own hard work rather than the money of a man she did not love anymore.
'How long will this last?'
Sooner or later he would discover the truth. All she wanted was to savor this time a little more before finally being found out.
"Mother. You seem to be in a good mood."
Hae-Won stopped at the sudden appearance of her son. He was a small boy with beautiful short black hair and equally black eyes. He was wearing a small sleeveless suit above a white shirt and a pair of shorts.
"Oh my cute boy, why are you awake at this time?"
She approached her son and took him in her arms, "Ouf, you are becoming heavier by the day. It seems like soon, I won't be able to lift you anymore. Also call me mom."
"Hehehe. Father, I mean Dad called me. He has been teaching some verse of the Bible."
Hae-Won frowned, this was another reason she was contemplating leaving her husband. At first, the 'church' of her husband had seemed grounded in actual Christianism. So while it was a small cult, she had not been worried. After all, everyone was free to have their own interpretation of religion.
But as time passed, this small cult became more twisted.
She had begged her husband to at least not indoctrinate her son but he had been adamant about him needing religious knowledge.
After a while though, he had stopped and she thought that he heeded her pleas but it seems like it was nothing more than wishful thinking on her part.
"And what did he teach you?"
"He said that on Thanksgiving, I would have a new name and start a new life close to our lord."
Hae-Won frowned, 'Does he want to baptize[1] him?'
She grimaced lightly, remembering that rather than water, he used a sort of red wine for this ceremony on a few believers.
Hae-Won had always found this to be pretty creepy so avoided it.
"Do you…Do you want to go through it?"
"Yes! Dad seems so happy when he speaks about it. I want to make him happy."
"Ah…"
She nearly teared up and hugged him tighter, "My little boy is becoming a big man."
She was still uneasy but she knew that the ceremony in itself was as harmless as any other baptism. Even though she would have wished for him to go through a Christian ceremony.
'Hum…Perhaps I can try?'
| She had been a rather fervent visitor of the church and had donated quite the amount of money over the years.
Thanksgiving would be in a few days [2]. So perhaps she could work some deal with the church and perhaps do some swift baptism on her side.
"Say…Do you wanna go out with mom tomorrow?"
CH 226: BAPTISM (2)
As the light sun rose in the sky, Adam, who was floating in the sky, slowly opened his eyes.
'I managed to fall asleep like that.'
After a good drinking session, Shuri had left quite happily and was accompanied by Nikola who would serve as her bodyguard with her team for a while.
Though his relationship with Nikola had started on the wrong foot, from what he had seen of her she was very good at her job.
At the very least, he didn't have to worry about Shuri's safety.
This was why he had been able to come home with a light heart. Cecilia was nowhere to be seen and his two guests were busy furiously beating the anvil as a way to create a new prototype.
Since he was not particularly busy, Adam decided to do something he hadn't done in some time.
Sleeping…Well. More precisely sleeping with a small twist.
One mind took care of floating and another took care of illusions to keep him hidden. Finally one went to sleep.
By consciously shutting down one of his minds and making the other two move on standby it was basically as if he was sleeping.
[You are interesting to observe.]
Adam guessed that this was an euphemistic way of saying that he was weird.
'I will take this as a compliment.'
[As you should. Your growth is admirable and soon you will be able to call yourself a King without having to fear for your life.]
Adam snorted. He hated the situation he was in. Having to live with a sword of Damocles hanging above his head and ready to fall at any time. [1]
"I have more or less managed to deal with all the problems I had in the short term."
Shuri and Yuri had discussed how they could take away most of the business from [2] the Blue Shark.
As befitting of big organizations, they had many above-ground organizations and companies where the leader was the major shareholders.
Shuri planned to use the information they had obtained and make the price of the share crash before proceeding to a powerful and swift takeover.
Of course, this wouldn't stop at just this but she made clear that while she would take care of anything above ground, she did not wish to know anything about what they were going to do underground.
If she was ever interrogated, she wished to be able to deny all knowledge without committing perjury.
After Shuri left, Yui made it clear to ask him if they could use his money. After all, while Yui was rich, her wealth and assets were mainly in the form of shares and lands.
Adam readily accepted as Shuri promised that he would also have shares in all the companies they managed to take over.
He could already see his wealth increase at the speed of light.
'Should I talk to mom? Perhaps we could move?'
He wondered for a while before shaking his head.
Even though he had obtained so much money and might obtain more, Adam was not the kind to overspend.
In the end, money was nothing but a means. The reason he pursued it was to put his mother in a stable situation where she would never have to work again.
Then it was because he wanted to heal her and prepare a heart for her.
All of this was before he learned the true identity of his mother. So this made his desire for wealth even less prominent.
If he wished to, he could become rich at any time. He just needed to rob people and criminals to rob was the last thing that was lacking in this world.
'Enough of this. Say, did you think of different ways to test my immortality?'
[I did. I believe our next test should be dismemberment after death. Which part would regenerate first? What about the other part?]
'Hum…This could indeed be useful.'
The problem was that he needed to find someone to dismember him.
[Another test, much easier would be to try to maintain your consciousness open even after dying.]
'Oh…True.'
When he died, he became unconscious because his brain shut down. But he was already used to using senses that had nothing to do with his brain or his body.
Then, in theory, it should be possible to control his body and still fight even when he 'died'.
If he could do so, then he could still fight even if his body was reduced to dust or scattered in the four winds.
This would also give him more insurance when fighting as one of his fear was dying and being found out while he was out.
This nearly happened once with Natasha and he couldn't be sure that this wouldn't happen a second time.
'Perhaps if I do this I will finally be able to understand [Death] and assimilate it.'
This was another goal he had. His mastery of [Dream] and [Reality] were going nicely.
Thanks to his last fight with Cecilia he even had the feeling that he would soon be able to manipulate the elements of nature like fire and so on by using The [World].
After all, if telekinesis was possible then Pyrokinesis and so on should also be possible for him.
He just needed the right inspiration.
In the case of [Dream] he could now enter dreams and slightly manipulate them.
It was still far from becoming a true Dream walker or creating an entire world or universe through Dream but it was a step forward.
Only [Death] was still eluding him. Which was rather ironic all things considered.
'Hum?'
His train of thought was broken when he saw two people, a man and a woman walking in the direction of his house.
If it was just a normal person he would have not minded it but he could feel the Prana in their bodies.
The moment they entered his domain he immediately used his Eyes of Truth and was able to recognize who they were.
『 Name: Oscar Rodriguez
Affiliation: Hunter Association/Vatican
Alias: none
Race: Human
Age: 38 』
『 Name: Susanne Brown
Affiliation: Hunter Association/Vatican
Alias: none
Race: Human
Age: 27 』
They were the two hunters who had been present during the event in the Park.
Though back then, there was no mention of the Vatican in their affiliation. It seemed like many things had changed in those few days.
'What does the church want with me?'
He had a feeling that things would become bothersome.
[1]: I am sure everyone once heard this saying. The story involves two people, Damocles, and his King Dionysius. Damocles was like "Your life is beautiful and easy." So, Dio said why not give it a try?
Damocles obviously agreed only there was a sword attached above the throne and every time he had to look above and worry.
Dio became king through violence so he always had to worry about being attacked. He wanted Damocles to understand this feeling. The feeling of never knowing when Fate can come and pierce you.
In short, Dio said, "You thought it was easy but it was me! *Ahem* I mean…It was hard and stressful."
CH 227: BAPTISM (3)
"So, what do you want?"
『 Name: Oscar Rodriguez
Affiliation: Hunter Association/Vatican
Alias: none
Race: Human
Age: 38 』
『 Name: Susanne Brown
Affiliation: Hunter Association/Vatican
Alias: none
Race: Human
Age: 27 』
Sitting outside in a park with a beautiful clearing, Adam spoke coldly as he looked at the normal people walking around, jogging or simply having fun.
"Haha, sorry to disturb you."
Oscar gave a small laugh but Adam had no care for it. He could easily see how they were wary of him and it was the same for him.
This was one of the reasons why he had not invited them to his house.
In the supernatural world, the house was no different from a sanctuary and even if one did not create a ward, a natural ward would appear over time. This kind of ward was rather strong against supernatural creatures. But the moment you gave someone the permission to enter your house, the ward would never block that person again.
This was more apparent against Vampires who were unable to enter uninvited in a house.
Cecilia obviously did not just rely on the natural wards to protect the house and had many powerful ones but letting a hunter enter in the heart was no different from giving them an access key.
In the end, the one to speak was Susanne.
"Firstly, I would like to apologize. The first time we met each other, we had to hide our name and identity for security reasons. But now…We can say it. The both of us are part of the Hunter Association as well as the Vatican."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Silence pervaded for a while and in the end, Adam couldn't help but ask, "I am supposed to be impressed?"
It was a genuine question devoid of any desire to mock or insult them. She had revealed her identity with such grandiose flair that he wondered if he should have clapped or something.
"*Ahem* Sorry. Forget it."
She seemed so embarrassed that Adam couldn't help but chuckle. He could see why Viktor had been smitten by this woman. She was rather cute all things considered.
"Anyway, I am Susanne Brown and this is my partner Oscar Rodriguez, we have recently integrated the Vatican and you could say that we receive our first mission."
"I suppose that this mission is related to me?"
"Bingo."
Oscar snapped his finger in acquiescence and took out a letter from the inner pocket of his suit.
"This is an invention of the Saintess. She wishes to prepare a reward for those who helped during the events that day."
'The Saintess, huh.'
Adam remembered what happened on that day when the saintess summoned a field to protect them from all danger.
Her power aside, she was definitely a very interesting woman to speak to. It was rare to see people that were genuinely good in this whole dirty world.
"There will be a celebration during Christmas to pray for the soul of the departed but the Saintess expressed her wish to see you in advance. She also apologizes for not coming personally. But as the saintess, her position could rarely be free of surveillance."
'Hum…' Adam mused. The church was a mysterious place. The divine power it possessed could create a great deal of damage to the world.
Adam was thankfully not weak to divine power, unlike creatures like vampires or undead, and obviously…Demon.
Having a relationship with the church could be useful for the future. But the problem was about how close he could become and what the reaction would be once his secret was revealed.
"Okay, very well. What kind of reward though?"
"We are not privy but it will at least be a wish to the church or make them act in your place when needed."
'Hum…'
"Very well. Let's do it. What about Viktor and Natasha?"
"Vik already refused the reward as he considers that he did nothing. As for the woman named Natasha…I do not know how much you know about her. But her father refused the gift as well."
'Vik, heh? Seems like all they needed was a good sex section.'
He decided to keep those rather crass thoughts to himself and focused on the other information given.
Natasha's father was the Alpha of her wolf pack and also the leader of the company under their family name.
Why did he refuse?
'This seems rather interesting.'
"Very well, let's go."
"Huh. Right now?"
"There is a better moment than the present."
The two agents exchanged glances with each other before finally nodding.
"Thanks for accepting to follow us."
They came with the expectations of being once again chased away. So this feeling was pretty nice.
—-
[Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels — Los Angeles]
When Hae-Won pulled into the parking lot of the Cathedral, she walked out with her son following behind her.
She had given the excuse of going to buy more clothes for him and this had been more than enough.
"What is this place?"
"A place where we can talk with God."
"Ohhh?"
"The one Dad, I mean Father, talk about?"
Hae-Won gave a complicated smile, "A slightly different one."
She didn't know if it was too soon to talk about religion to her son. But she hoped to at least baptize him before her husband did so.
This was just a meager consolation on her part. But there was little she could do short of trying to flee with her son.
Sadly, she knew that such action would only end in her death.
When she finally reached the door and could see one of the nuns walking around, she stopped her.
"Hello, sister."
"Oh. Madam Kang. It has been a while since your last visit."
Hae-Won smiled. One of the advantages of being a big donator was being instantly recognized like this.
She nodded," I wonder if Bishop Eric is present? I would like to ask him something."
The nun gave a complicated smile but before she could answer, a young and melodious voice interrupted them.
"Ex-Bishop Eric had been sent back to the headquarter for the rekindling of his faith."
The moment Hae-Won heard this voice. She felt a sensation similar to what happened when Cinder spoke. Only even stronger.
It was like all her worries suddenly evaporated as if they had never existed in the first place. As if the world was alright and nothing bad could happen.
Turning in the direction of the voice, Hae-Won's eyes widened as her eyes landed on the young girl. It should have been someone ten or twenty years younger than her but the feeling of grace, maturity, and the benevolent smile on her face, made it seem like she was facing something almost otherworldly.
It was a beautiful young woman with long pinkish hair and pink crystalline eyes. Hae-Won wondered if such color was even possible but it seemed so natural on her it was hard to believe it was anything but.
"Hi! My name is Elysia."
Elysia crouched down and gently patted the head of Hae-Won's son. The poor boy seemed transfixed as he looked at Elysia with his mouth open wide.
"You are very beautiful."
"Fufufu. Thanks for the compliment and you are a very handsome fellow as well."
She smiled even more brightly at the proud expression on the boy's face and stood up to face Hae-Won.
"In place of the Bishop, I will take care of all ceremonies. How may we help you?"
Hae-Won fidgeted a little. "I wish to baptize my son. Is it possible?"
Elysia's smile never left her face, "The love of God is endless and we will always accept new brothers and sisters."
It was only after turning around and motioning them to follow her that the smile vanished from her face.
'Did you feel it?'
[There is no way I would not feel it. The boy has a Sacred body. He could become a Saint and house a celestial entity in his body.]
Elysia nodded. She had been so surprised when she felt the power from the body of that boy.
The only problem was that this was not a Natural sacred body but rather an artificial one.
The creation of a child with a sacred body needed a great power of faith and many important rituals as well as material filled with faith.
It wasn't the kind of thing a small religious group could afford to do.
What the hell was going on?
CH 228: BAPTISM (4)
Elysia bite her lips even as she proceeded in the church with the mother-son pair behind her.
Today she was supposed to receive the benefactor who had played a great role in resolving the previous tricky situation with that demon's descent. He should have been rewarded long ago but this was slightly delayed as she dealt with the idiotic Bishop who had acted without understanding the rule of the system.
Now though she was faced with another rather tricky problem.
She had already inspected the woman and she had no sign of Prana in her body. She didn't seem to have been affected by the supernatural either as she could not see the aura she had been projecting.
This made things all the more hard to understand.
[Should we just kidnap him?]
'Don't. This isn't the time where the Church reigns supreme.'
In the past, the church had all the power to act with absolute impunity and no care for anyone feeling. They were the ones imposing the rules and they had caused the destruction of many religions they deemed as heretical.
Nowadays though, things were largely different and the power the church had over the world was, while still powerful, not as almighty.
They did not have the right to judge any worship as heretical as long as the one doing so was not praying to an Outer Gods or a Devilish entity.
Elysia knew that some rule were meant to be broken. But attacking the saint of a minor religion would not be seen well.
[But…Are you sure it's a minor religion? What if it's a devil cult?]
'Let's proceed with the Baptism first. Everything else can be judged later.'
She signaled discreetly to one of the nun. They needed to know everything about this woman and from where she came from.
If the boy was the saint of a minor religion. Then that would be all. But if it was a cult…
Her eyes narrowed dangerously.
Elysia was a saint. But she was not one against violence. More than anyone else, she recognized that sometimes, Violence was the best answer one could give.
.
.
.
After deciding to do as much as she could, Elysia started working fast. Usually, it would have been impossible to make a baptism on such short notice.
But as one of the Saintess, this was more than easy for her.
Hae-Won watched with awe as her little darling was taken away and changed into a white and blue tunic. It gave a somewhat holy air and Hae-Won was so moved that she would have taken photos if she wasn't worried her husband would see them.
"Madame, do you have anyone who can play the role of the godparent?"
While Godparents were not an absolute necessity for this ceremony, they were also one of the cornerstones of a good baptism.
"A godparent?"
Hae-Won's eyes widened a little before she chewed her lips. She had no particular close friend and all those she knew were in reality related to her husband and would without a doubt sell her out.
If she thought about it, there was no one she could really call a close friend of hers. This thought was rather sobering in a way.
'Then…' She thought for a moment about one man. But simply shook her head. She did not even know his true face. This was not the kind of thing you simply imposed on people and expected them to have no problem with.
Looking at the expression of the woman, Elysia understood that there should be some complicated situation. Then again, this was quite evident with how hurried this whole ceremony was.
"Very well. We can make do without a godparent for now."
They went into one of the chapels and while holding the hand of the boy, Elysia started to walk calmly while muttering the prayers on her way.
Following in the back, Hae-Won watched in silence. She could feel her heart swelling with a feeling of joy and elation. She did not know from where but she was sure that she could even hear a certain song, as if thousands of people were singing together.
Her heart felt almost overwhelmed and tears gathered at the corner of her eyes but she continued to walk without stopping.
Fixated only on the back of her small son and the kind nun who was presiding over the ceremony.
This was just a whim. A selfish desire that had perhaps not much importance. But at this very moment and instant, she felt like this was perhaps the best decision she had ever taken in her entire life.
Tears gathered at the corner of her eyes but she simply smiled and continued to walk.
When they finally reached the Podium, where the holy water was,.
Standing on the Podium alone, Elysia's prayers became more audible and brought a soothing feeling to Hae-Won.
"Father in the sky. We find ourselves today to welcome a new child."
Light bloomed as if it was responding to her call. It was something only possible when done by someone with as much holy power as a Saint.
"Tell me," Elysia looked at the mother. "What will be his name?"
Hae-Won spoke as if transfixed, uttering a name different from the one she originally intended, "His new name will be Azrael."
Surprise flashed in Elysia's eyes but she showed none of it, " [Helped by God], truly a beautiful name."
The jewel-like eyes of Elysia shone with beautiful crystalline light. Dipping her finger in the holy water she kneeled in to meet the boy's eyes and asked,
"What do you think? Do you like this name?"
The boy gave a simple innocent laugh, "I like."
"Then this is all for the better."
She placed her finger on his forehead, chest, and his two shoulders. "May the Grace of God be with you as your name intended."
CH 229: DOUBTS?
While the car was slowly approaching the site of the church, Adam was not able to fight his curiosity anymore and finally asked something that he had been burning to know.
"So… Vik?"
The young woman, Susanne Brown, bit her lips with a rather cute expression before coughing lightly at his words, trying to shrug off the clear teasing attempt that Adam was throwing at her. It was just very embarrassing and she was brooding over that slip-up for a while now.
"I'm sorry. Just a lack of professionalism."
"No no. Don't try to shrug it off. I am just curious."
"Vik… Viktor is a good guy and he is adorable. We spent some time together last night and it had been a while since I had so much fun with someone. So yeah, I don't know. Perhaps we are an item now? Or perhaps I was just a one-night stand to him and he has forgotten about me already."
She shrugged her shoulders. She was quite the romantic and would have never gone to bed with Viktor if she didn't believe there was a spark between them. A spark that she was willing to pursue.
Of course, the fact that he was a young hunter like her and was also quite handsome and had a body that was just her type helped a lot. But what she liked the most was his gentle and caring personality.
"Though he wouldn't shut up about you, Mr. Adam…"
It had been quite weird seeing him praise another man so much but, after looking him in the eyes, she was able to understand that what he felt was pure admiration for the man called Adam.
"So, what did he say about me?"
She asked, hopeful, betting it all in that spark she had seen. As a hunter, getting into a serious relationship was perhaps one of the things that were the most advised against doing insider of the community.
The mortality rate of low to mid-level hunters was rather high and as such, there was an equally high number of hunters who lost their loved ones.
For an active hunter like her, Love with a normal human was one small gamble. But love with another hunter was a gamble with 70% of failure in almost all cases.
"Snort~ You know my opinion about this story. You barely know the boy and you are already speaking like you are trying to marry him tomorrow."
Oscar Rodriguez snickered on the side. There was some bitterness in his words. "You should be careful. If I were you, I would be more than happy with just a one-night stand or a purely physical relationship."
Susanne did not argue and Oscar did not continue. She knew very well that he was only speaking like this for her own good. After all, Oscar was one of the unlucky hunters who had seen all those he loved, die one after another before his own eyes without him being able to do anything about it.
"Being a hunter is a job that will take all your life. Death is a permanent feature of the supernatural world, never too far away, looking for an opportunity to reap everything from you."
Since the pain was inevitable and Death was always near, it was better to close your heart to the outside world.
Losing your loved ones was a deep pain that could not be compared to anything else. It was a mixture between absolute rage, powerlessness, and a sense of emptiness once you realized that your loved one would never be there for you again.
The feeling that seized one's heart when they woke up alone in their bed with no one by their side or when one did a joke but realized that there would never be anyone again to share that joke with.
All those little moments, all those things that one took for granted, it was those moments that hurt the most once you lost the one with whom you shared them.
'Welp… Seems like Mom was right. I am really a massive mood killer.'
Who would have thought that such a simple innocent question would bring so much heaviness to the table? He didn't. Which led to this current scenario.
—
The rest of the road was traveled in a suffocating silence as Adam understood that he had unknowingly stepped on a landmine.
Thankfully, there was not much of the road left and they were able to reach the church fast just in time for him to see the light show above the Cathedral.
"What the…?"
"Hmmm? Is something of the matter?"
Happy for the new topic of discussion, Susanne asked directly, causing Adam to be even more bewildered.
"Am I the only one here who can see that light show?"
"Light?"
Susanne and Oscar shared a glance. They were not stupid enough to dismiss this as some sort of illusion.
This was the best way to die in the stupidest way possible in the supernatural world. Even so, they truly could not see the 'light' he was speaking about.
"Shall we go in the direction of the light that you are seeing?"
Oscar and Adam looked at Susanne like they were looking at the greatest idiot possible.
"Are you crazy?"
This wasn't some horror show. Why the hell would they go in the direction where some suspicious light was coming from?
In this situation, it was better to visit someone with the appropriate credentials and ask for their opinion.
"Hi. Elysia? This is Susanne. We are close. Tell me, do you have some sort of light manifestation going on above the cathedral?... Huh?... I see… Okay, We are coming soon."
She gave the two of them a daring smile and flipped off at Oscar, "Seems like I am not so stupid after all."
"Or we chanced upon the exception that made the rule."
The atmosphere became more friendly and this time Adam wisely chose to simply shut up and observe. He didn't want to be the cause of another cold silence.
—
When Adam finally reached the place where they were supposed to meet Elysia, they did not have to wait long before the host that was supposed to receive them came out while wearing what looked like ceremonial attire.
But what immediately caught his attention was the middle-aged woman walking and laughing with Elysia and having a boy on her other side.
'What in the flipping hell?'
Thinking about this, Adam used his 'Eyes of Truth' just to be sure about their origin and he was sadly forced to accept the reality.
The first two were as normal as he remembered them to be. At least this was as normal as a human woman with no power and some Vatican super warrior could be.
『 Name: Kang Hae-Won
Affiliation: Blue Sharks
Alias: None
Race: Human
Age: 33 』
『 Name: Elysia Castitas
Affiliation: Vatican
Alias: Saintess || Holy Daughter || One of the Seven
Race: Human
Age: 18 』
While the stats of the saintess were certainly interesting, what truly caught his attention was the young innocent-looking boy they had between them.
『 Name: Kang Han-Wool || Azrael [1]
Affiliation: Blue Sharks
Alias: Destined Child, Divine Child
Race: Human (?)
Age: 7 』
Adam closed his eyes.
'Fuck.'
Something bothersome suddenly happened again.
Not only did he meet a woman he never expected to meet in this situation but it seemed like her child was raising some serious bad flags that he would have to get involved in.
What the hell was a destined child even?
"Welcome, dear benefactor. I am sorry but I was busy with an important ceremony."
Adam smiled, "That's not a problem."
As soon as he spoke, Hae-Won's eyes, which had been rather indifferent even if smiling affably, looked at him with suspicion.
She tilted her head in confusion before shaking her head as if she was refuting an absurd idea.
"Since you seem rather busy I believe we should go now. Once again, I am truly grateful for giving us your time and baptizing my child."
"You are welcome."
After those words, she gave a small bow to them before leaving with her son.
Leaving the four of them alone.
"Well… Why don't we go to my office? There are many things I wish to talk about with you, dear benefactor."
Adam just nodded his head. He could see that even as she left, the preeminent emotion in Hae-Won's heart had been only doubt and confusion.
He hoped that this doubt would soon vanish.
—
[1]: Han-Wool means heavenly.
CH 230: THE SAINT ISN'T THAT SAINTLY
The office they went to was, as Adam expected from a nun with only devotion to God in her mind, soberly decorated.
There were only the strict minimum necessary items that usually comprised an office with a computer and a few other work-necessary objects— an office chair, a table, and a coffee machine.
It was weird to imagine a young girl who was barely an adult woman, and still pretty much a teen, working in such an austere place but it was how things were.
"Please take a seat while I prepare some coffee for you."
Elysia walked with a certain grace and ease that Adam didn't think should be possible in such ceremonial attire. Wherever she walked, it was like she was stealing the limelight of the entire place and flashing it onto herself. Eyes would always stop on her no matter where she went. Adam even had the impression that she had an innate charisma that was hard to match and seeing her stats, he could understand why.
『 Stats
Strength: F+
Speed: F+
Dexterity: F+
Endurance: F+
Prana: B (SS)
Charm: A+ (SS+)
Willpower: A
Luck: SSS+
Overall Combat Capacity: B ( SS+)
Remark: This is a saintess, in her normal form she is nothing but cannon fodder but she can be very dangerous. Against Devils, all her stats will increase by one tier. 』
This was the first time Adam saw stats that were so clearly skewed towards a pure mage build. Obviously, since she was a hunter, she could boost her physical attributes, and one needed to remember that F+ was still in the realm of the strength of a normal, fit, and healthy adult man.
Even so, it was clear that her own power was extremely lacking compared to some of the other people he had seen the stats of. But whatever gimmick she was hiding could boost her overall level greatly by a certain margin.
'Is this the power of the so-called contract?'
[Indeed. As an Apostle, she must have made a contract with a powerful angel. The hidden stats she can bring only represent what she can actually wield. Through the ages, all the Saints/Saintesses eventually reached the limit of the power that this world can bear before eventually dying young because of that power or simply giving up on the position.]
Adam nodded inwardly. He had done some research on this subject. While Apostles and Witches or Warlocks essentially worked in the same way, there was a great difference between them as Witches only obtained the ability to use magic while Apostles could bring forth the power of the Gods they submitted to on earth by using their bodies.
In the long run, a mage would most likely surpass or at least outlive an Apostle but the reality was that the Apostles won the fight pretty easily from the get-go. This was one of the advantages of the church and other religions during the wars that opposed them with other forces of the supernatural world.
While Elysia was working on the coffee, Susanne stood up from her seat…
"Let me help you."
"Please take a seat, Susanne. This will be faster with just one person."
Elysia was quite adamant on this subject. This was one of the few hobbies she had and she wouldn't let anyone disturb her.
Once everyone was seated she asked in a light tone,
"Sugar? Anyone?"
Adam received two cubes and the same went for the others and then Elysia started to put the cubes in her cup one after another.
"Firstly, since the three of you are gathered here, I would like to once again express my sincere gratitude for the help you gave me during that incident. In a situation where you could have given up everything to save your life, you still choose to stay. That's an admirable thing."
"It was our duty."
"Honestly, I think we were pretty crazy back then."
Susanne and Oscar joked a little but Adam was not particularly in the mood to joke around. At the same time, being rude to someone as selfless as this woman was something he could not really do.
"I acted out of desire for a reward. Not for something like a desire to sacrifice myself."
He wanted to draw a clear line. If people thought that one was willing to help them in any situation, they would be more likely to ask for their help. Adam already had enough problems of his own and didn't need anyone to add more to the already massive plate.
Surprisingly, Elysia showed no surprise or negative feelings at his words. In fact, she even smiled slightly.
"There is nothing wrong with seeking an appropriate reward for the danger encountered. In the first place, humans always move with this kind of calculation in mind."
Elysia believed firmly that true selflessness could not exist for a human. In the same way that perfection was an illusion.
Everything was based on the law of equivalent exchange and it was not just monetary compensation that humans sought. People who helped others for 'nothing' did so because helping others made them feel good. It brought them happiness or a sense of fulfillment that few things could hope to bring.
She, of course, knew that this was a very nihilistic approach towards life. But this was the only way she had always seen things.
Even during the era of the Crusades and Holy Wars, what pushed believers to commit all sorts of atrocities was the belief that the gate of heaven would be open to them should they fight in the name of their gods.
This was something that was common in nearly all religions and this made her have even less faith in humanity. Ironic as that may be for a Saintess such as herself.
"I like working with people who have a clear sense of duty and who understand risk management rather than people who are filled with nothing but passion."
Passion was nothing but ephemeral. Only true discipline and continuous growth could make people act in accordance to their fates.
"You… You are a very interesting nun…"
"I know that I am pretty unorthodox."
Adam nodded and drank the coffee offered only to tilt his head in wonder.
'Hmmm?'
He took another sip and was immediately startled by how good it felt. Not only that, he felt like all the fatigue in his body was swept away and he was full of energy.
'What the fuck?'
He looked at the coffee and inspected it with the 'Eyes of Truth,' only to look back at Elysia as if she was insane.
"Really?"
"Oh my, it seems like our dear benefactor has a special pair of eyes. That's pretty intriguing."
She chuckled a little before nodding, "I don't know how much you have seen, but this coffee was made using holy water."
She smiled affably.
For humans, holy water was perhaps the best tonic short of immortality, elixir, and the like. It could improve lifespan, clear out fatigue, heal wounds and even calm the mind. It was also a precious material when it came to creating weapons and armor.
The quantity of holy water that could be produced was limited but as a saintess of the church, she could produce her own holy water whenever she wished.
Usually, she would share it in a place she visited in order to help as many people as possible. It wasn't much and was nothing more than a splash in this ocean of suffering.
But even so, it was still something.
Of course, while it was a great tonic for humans. It was not so much for earthly supernatural creatures.
If Adam had been one, he would have been unable to drink this without letting some smoke out at the very least.
If he had been demon-possessed?
They would have watched a beautiful fire show right about now.
'Thankfully, he isn't a demon.'
Elysia kept her benevolent smile to herself as she tested one of her doubts.
She was not a good person and she would never be. Blind faith and benevolence were never her motto, after all.
CH 231: WOULD YOU LIKE TO JOIN US?
Seeing her smile and the emotions that was being displayed on her status, Adam's eyes narrowed into a visible frown,
"You were testing me?"
"I was testing everyone in the room."
Her smile never wavered as she spoke out those treacherous words, "I always test everyone, even the pope or even my fellow saints and saintesses. That's just how I am…"
Her voice was calm and unwavering as she enunciated, clearly her words.
While she was quite apologetic about how this came to be, she sadly had no choice in the matter as long as she wished to keep herself safe.
"Bringing you into the church, observing you, serving coffee mixed with holy water. Layer after layer of tests to assure me that I am not facing a nefarious being and even then I will continue to doubt you. What if it's an illusion? What if my senses were altered?
Even if everything is good now, what if they corrupt you later? What if they kidnap someone dear to you and ask you to do something for them? So I will still test you every single time we meet. And it's not just you. It's never only you, I assure you that."
In the end, she shook her head and continued to drink her coffee,
"You may think that I am an alarmist or that I am jumping at shadows but everything I said is events that actually happened and ended with the death of many. I have been facing more assassination attempts in months than I can possibly count with my hands and they only slowed down recently after I managed to bring forth more power from my contract."
For the devils, Saints and Saintess were nothing less than absolute targets of hatred and… desire.
"We are the perfect vessels for the descent of supernatural creatures."
Because of this fact, the early life of a saint candidate was filled with endless danger. Starting with kidnapping and the like and switching to assassination or corruption. The worst was that the force outside were not necessarily the only enemies. Even those from inside could become potential enemies in the long run.
"Once one of my sisters was caught by the devil cultists. She had to suffer months of the worst humiliations imaginable as her body and soul were defiled in every possible way in and out. In the end, Mother Anastasia had to put down one of the girls she raised with her very own hands and end her."
She spoke softly, more to herself than anyone else. Her eyes wandered a little then as if she thought of something, they widened as she looked at Adam,
"I usually never share my inner thoughts like this. It seems like Benefactor has more than just one secret."
Elysia's mental defenses were such that she could always keep a smile even when if she was facing the end of the world.
She would usually never share her grievance like this. She knew herself better than anyone else. After all, she always had a series of tests specially prepared to test her sanity or any signs of corruption at any moment of her life.
She trusted no one. Not even herself.
For her to speak so much, meant that her mental faculties were being affected by some outside force.
'How fascinating. I am sure that he did not have such power in the past.'
"Well, I am sorry for the display of negative emotions. In short, Devils can corrupt even Saints with the staunchest faith in their God. I will never presume that I am smarter than one of them and in my opinion, everyone is guilty until proven innocent."
"This is a pretty sad way to live."
"True. But at least I can Live."
Adam grinned, his feeling over that weird test alleviating a little the more he heard her. He could not understand the feeling of someone who had to fear for her life at every waking moment and who could never truly trust anyone.
But he could understand the logic behind her words. Even though he trusted his loved ones like Cecilia, Shuri, and Yui, there was no telling what could happen in the future.
Things could change and having a way to check if everything was good and normal would certainly not hurt in the slightest.
"You taught me a lesson and I am grateful for that."
"Thanks."
"But this does not take away the unpleasantness of being tested for no reason."
Adam understood her. He truly did and she was well in her right to make any tests she wished to do.
But this was a question of respect. She could test him and he had the right to be angry at being suspected for no reason. It didn't matter how right she was in her actions.
"Of course, I perfectly understand and this is why I made sure to increase the rewards that would be given."
"Heh, it seems like you planned for everything from the start."
"I can never prepare for everything. I can only make as much preparation as possible."
Both Susanne and Oscard made sure to stay completely silent and transparent throughout the whole exchange. Even though there was no clash of Prana and there was no threat nor insults mixed into their words…
This polite conversation between Adam and Elysia made them feel all the more stressed out.
It felt like they could clash at any moment.
Silence filled the room and Adam increased the assessment he had of Elysia.
"I like you. I feel like we can become good friends."
"I am honored. Having friends is always a good thing."
The two gave a smile full of hidden meaning and Susanne finally let out a sigh of relief causing Elysia to finally remember that she was not alone with Adam.
"I am truly sorry. It seems like I was too engrossed in our discussion."
"No no no… Don't mind us. Either way, we finished our job. I think it's time for us to take our leave."
Oscar stood up and took Susanne by the hand before walking toward the door at full speed. His instincts were telling him that the longer they stayed, the higher the chance of them being roped into some shady business that was way above their pay grade.
Fighting a horde of demons once in his life was more than enough for him.
"Fufuu~ Mister Oscar is a very careful man. A delight to be around honestly."
"I know. At the very least, he is smart enough to leave at the slightest smell of trouble. I wish I did the same."
"Oh? But I do not stop you. I will never force anyone to do something against their will. Free will is perhaps one of the most beautiful gifts given to humanity."
"Yeah. Whatever. Now give me the rewards that were promised."
"Of course. But before that, I have one thing I wish to ask."
"What is it?"
Adam raised an eyebrow at her sudden shift in words and asked with curiosity.
"Would you like to become an Apostle or a Holy Knight of the Church?"
It seemed like he was suddenly being recruited for no reason whatsoever.
CH 232: I DON'T WANT TO
The sudden question of Elysia lingered in the air but Adam showed no particular surprise,
"You do not seem particularly surprised."
"Well, I thought this was a possibility. So no, I am not surprised."
"Heh. Well, indeed so. I already know your answer but the elders wanted me to ask anyway so let's me do the speech."
She put another cube of sugar in her coffee and Adam was starting to wonder if all this shit was healthy. Clearly, she noticed the wonder in his eyes and offered an explanation.
"Oh. Do not worry. Thanks to the Holy power, my body will always be in the most perfect shape. For a long time. Taking weight is impossible for me. Much less falling sick."
"And like this you suddenly became the number one enemy of all the women in the world."
"Fufufu~I ate like this many times in front of the other nuns. So understand what you mean."
She laughed lightly. She knew that her mood was light because of whatever power was in Adam's voice but she was not angry. This kind of power was clearly a passive skill and usually she was the one charming people without trying to.
"So, where was I?" She added a cube again and nodded,
"Yes, the Sale pitch. *Ahem* So, Joining the church as a holy knight is good."
"..."
"..."
"Is that it?"
"Pretty much."
She shrugged, "Those elders like bringing things like joining will open the gate of Heaven for you, giving all your money is the right way. This is for the good of the world. Etc and etc. But at the end of the 80% of this is bullshit."
She drank her coffee and calmed her mind, "A large part of the church is filled with what I could call good people. People who actually believe in good and wish for the good of the world. But like in any group, there is always a small minority that makes the whole group seems bad. Sadly, this minority is generality in the position of power or influence."
The church did good for the world. But many humans used religion as a simple way to use and manipulate poor people who only wished for salvation. This was why there were so many shady cults.
"By joining as a Holy Knight, this means accepting to be mixed in all the shady politics and the dark side of the church. Sadly, few knights who saw the dirt hidden beneath the luxurious exterior managed to keep their faith."
"And yet you did."
She nodded, "My faith will never waver because of this darkness. After all, I never had any illusions that the church was clean. No human is perfect and even in the most gentle humans, there is a part of Darkness that can never be erased. This becomes more evident when you go from individual to organizations."
The greater the light, the larger the shadow. Pure Evil and Pure Good could never exist as even devils could feel compassion and even the gods could be capable of the cruelest actions.
If not even beings who could create or destroys worlds were perfect then how could humans be so?
This was something Mother Anastasia had never wished to accept and when the church failed to upload the ideal in her mind, she simply left.
Elysia could not do the same. Nor did she wish to, for she knew that she would never find a world of pure light in the mortal world.
This was because of this mindset that she held so much power in the church and was able to do things her sisters would never be able to. The higher up understood that she knew the game and was willing to play it.
"So, Dear benefactor…"
"Call me Adam. I will call you Elysia to make things simpler."
"Oh my…You are indeed quite bold."
"I proposed this as I believe it will be more comfortable for us. What do you think?"
"I thought you would say this because you are uncomfortable talking politely to a girl younger than you."
Adam looked at her incredulously, "Does age even matter in our world pass a certain point?"
He had seen beings who were as old as the earth itself. If the myth of creation as described was exact then Eve was basically 4.5 billion years old and since she lived in the library where months were only equal to a few hours on earth then she should be more than a thousand times older than that.
After meeting such an entity, Adam would never base his respect on someone simply based on age.
"Very well, Adam. After my beautiful sale pitch. Will you join the holy knights?"
"Well, it seems like I will have to refuse."
"Oh…What a shame… I would have never seen this coming."
"You should work on your expression. Your acting is awful."
"Who says that my awful acting isn't acting in itself?"
Adam chuckled feeling himself relaxed as the conversation between the two of them continued. He had to admit that after all those talks with supernatural beings who were unfathomably old beings, this one was pretty good.
He also consciously ignored the fact that she had an angel in her body.
"Well, now that we know that you will not join the church, let's talk about the reward."
She stood up and walked to the closet before taking what looked like a small dagger.
"This is a holy sword. Honestly, the quality itself is pretty good. Even though this is more of a ceremonial weapon. It is not inferior to a weapon made for slaughter."
The dagger was very beautiful. The sheath was golden and incrusted with red and blue jewels that clearly looked quite expensive. The hilt was in the form of a cross with a red jewel incrusted at the top and each of the two arms
Taking out the dagger from its sheath, he could his face reflect clearly on the blade. It was as if he was looking at himself through a mirror.
This was truly a beautiful weapon.
CH 233: SUGAR MOMMAS FOR THE WIN
Adam admired the dagger for a while with a slightly entranced expression. But then he snapped out of it.
"What the…?"
"This weapon received many enchantments. One is confusion. It can only induce a very short-term daze on those caught off guard but you should know how useful this can be in a fight. The second enchantment is obviously blood recognition. Only the one recognized can use its power. There is self-repair attached to it as well and a few more. You could say that this is a state-of-the-art weapon."
Adam nodded. Even him, who did not know much about weapons could only sigh in awe.
"Who made this?"
"Heh, I don't know if you can recognize his name. It's a recluse blacksmith and this dagger is one of the last weapons he made before retiring."
Elysia had a proud expression. No matter how mature she was, she was still a young woman of only 18 at the end of the day. She had a mischievous side as well and she was happy to see that Adam, who had been calm through the entire discussion was finally flustered, even if it was only for a while.
"This dagger is a sort of a medal and only a few exist. If you ever meet inquisitors or any combat personnel of the church, they will know that you rendered great service to the church and will give you assistance as long as you do not commit a crime."
She gave him the dagger lightly, "Of course, I think I do not need to say that you should not abuse the power this dagger gives."
Adam took the dagger and twirled it lightly. "Even though this weapon will be pretty useless in a fight against humans, I can assure you that it will automatically become a top-rated weapon if you fight devils or creatures of the night like vampires."
Devils were technically immortal when manifested in the world through someone's body. Even if they were 'killed', they would go back to hell.
Things were different when holy power was involved as it could erase their existence.
After giving the dagger, she took a pouch and threw it at him, "This is gold. Pure Gold. I don't know why those old men want to show off. But either way, this should sell for quite a good sum. I think there should be a few million. But I could be wrong."
She shrugged, "Normally you should have also gotten a whole ceremony and so but I stopped it. I believe most hunters are not interested in such; they just wanted to use this occasion to ask you to join. So instead I managed to get a much better reward."
She took out a small vial in which a golden liquid was swirling.
"This is the holy water of the highest degree possible. This small vial would be the equivalent of a super bomb against a high-ranked vampire.
At the same time, each drop from this water can change normal water into holy water of lower purity. One drop is enough for an entire barrel."
Adam chuckled.
It seemed like this was going to be a pattern.
Whenever he met a new woman alone, she would give him expensive or rare gifts.
'Well…I don't hate this pattern.'
Who would say no to gifts given in good faith?
He was sure that if he showed this to Viktor and Makarov they would be able to create something beneficial. He knew that they sometimes complained about the lack of holy water to quench the weapons with.
Until then, he would have to make do with the dagger in hand. Though it was not particularly special against humans, he felt a little much more at ease. He didn't know why, but he had the nagging suspicion that he would have to use it soon.
"Well then. I think this is pretty much all."
Adam smiled, "I am happy the church gave so much."
"Well, if you can stop another Calamity class event from happening then the church will give you as much as you want."
"Hahaha. I rather not."
Having one king of hell as an enemy was already too much in his opinion.
"Now you can decide to stay and visit the church or leave, I will not disturb you either way. But before that."
She stretched her hand, "Let's share numbers. We have an event at Christmas and I would be happy to invite you."
Adam gave her his phone number while shaking his head, "I am not really the most religious there is."
Though he had no choice but to believe in the existence of godly entities, it would be quite ironic for him to believe in God and pray to him.
"Furthermore there is already a god I serve."
Well, he was serving a fake god that was in reality himself but heh. He didn't need to enter too much in-depth.
"Do not worry. This is just an open invitation. Whether you choose to come or not is up to you."
She chuckled, "I think this will be a Christmas you will remember all your life."
"Is that so? I wonder whether I should be scared or excited."
"Both."
Elysia only gave an inexplicable smile after uttering those words.
Leaving a confused Adam as even in her emotions, all he could see was that she was excited and filled with anticipation.
After they finally shared their phone numbers, Adam simply went ahead and left.
As charming as the discussion was with Elysia, he simply had other more important things to do.
Such as making sure to eradicate a powerful gang and make a choice about his ordeal.
CH 234: HARD DECISIONS?
After Adam left Elysia's office, she slumped a little in her chair and released a sigh. Having to constantly keep the facade of a saintess was not easy and sometimes she wished she could simply act as slovenly as she wished without a care.
Sadly, rest was for the dead and she had too many things she needed to take into account.
"What do you think?"
[There are many topics we need to talk about. Which one first?]
The voice of her friend and companion sounded in her mind as always and a beautiful light flashed before a small woman with angel wings appeared floating in the air.
"Let's start with him."
[He is certainly a very special human, a little too special even. But I seriously doubt that he is related to Cain.]
She shook her head, [All the creatures created by Cain are abominations and pitiful attempts to reach what was once there. But it's impossible. Humans can never get back their original divinity, even if they manage to transcend.]
"Do you think he can become an enemy?"
[Observation is necessary. But I can smell the presence of Lilith on him. I am sure he meet her during the last event.]
Lailah was adamant. She was perhaps the one who knew Lilith more than anyone else in this universe as they fought against each other so many times and shared similar authority as well as diametrically opposite authorities. [1]
"Lilith, huh…"
Elysia had a dissatisfied expression. But there was not much she could do. Lilith was actually part of the Devil King class of beings who actually never tried to invade Earth and the one who committed fewer atrocities.
Furthermore, since it was known that Bridget Bishop had signed a pact with Lilith, it was said that many witches went ahead and signed a pact as well.
One could say that while Lilith was in no way an ally, she was pretty neutral and Elysia had no intention to antagonize her.
"There has been a great increase in devil summoning in the last year."
She muttered. Not all devils summoning were calamity class obviously. But since they were very hard to kill without holy energy, once they finished the summoning they could create a great deal of massacre.
It didn't help that cultists were the only ones to summon devils [2]. There was always that one group of stupid children who fumbled on one of those 'fake' but actually very true rituals on the internet and decided that trying to summon a devil could be cool and entertaining.
Those rituals were in reality sent by cultists on the internet and disguised as fake. It was impossible for the hunter association and the church to observe all that information.
[Well, the boy will not be our problem for a while. The problem is the other much younger boy you baptized.]
"The name of the angel of Death. I was surprised when the woman received a revelation and used his name. But why would Azarael choose this kid?"
[Azrael and all gods related to Death are overly mysterious. They like to keep to themselves so I do not know. But we can be sure that something big is about to happen]
Elysia groaned once again. She was starting to wonder why she thought coming to L.A for vacation would be an interesting choice.
—
While Elysia was lamenting about her destiny, Hae-Won was driving carefully, while being a little distracted.
Lately, many weird things had been happening to her but she was feeling quite stressed now.
Her husband could become quite crazy when it came to his religion and if he learned that she had baptized their son without his permission he might get really angry.
At the same time, she did not regret her choice. She did not know why she had chosen the name Azrael at the last minute but it did not matter. It was a beautiful name and she was happy about it.
'The young man I met earlier.'
Something else was tugging at her mind. It might have been only an instant, but when she saw the young man earlier and heard his voice, her mind immediately brought her back to someone she was very intimate with.
Furthermore, while going past him, she was sure that she had smelled the same perfume as Cinder. The color of the hair, the beautiful blue eyes, and even the height all matched.
'Stop being crazy.'
It wasn't like Cinder was the only white male with black hair and blue eyes in all of America.
But his voice.
Even though the tone of the voice itself was different. The effect it had on her was unmistakable. This was something she would recognize no matter what.
She was also sure that he had shown surprise when seeing her.
'Is it really him?'
She blushed a little.
Hae-Won had imagined many times how Cinder may look at first. In fact, she had even anticipated that he might be extremely ugly or suffered from great wounds on his face.
But she did this and it did not affect her. Physical appearance was not why she fell for him after all.
But…She had to admit…He was really handsome.
'Should I tease him about this later on?'
She couldn't help but chuckle which caused her son to speak,
"Mother. You are in a very good mood."
"Hahaha. Is it that evident?"
"Mom always looks gloomy usually. Though lately, you look less gloomy."
It was cute how he would switch between childish and mature speech without paying attention. But at the same time, she was surprised at his power of observation and also ashamed that she had shown her negative emotion in front of her child.
She was a mother. Even if the sky was about to fall, she had to keep a strong facade in front of her son and make sure he had no fear.
This was all she could do as a powerless mother.
Gripping the steering wheel, Hae-Won finally made her decision,
"Say…If Mom had to leave one day and go somewhere far away. Would you like to come with me?"
"What about Dad?"
"It might be without dad."
"Hum…I don't know. I want to go with you and dad, together everywhere."
Hae-Won closed her eyes and the determination she had started to build up wavered.
During a divorce, the ones that were the most affected were without a doubt the children.
As such, "Okay. Let's try."
She would never love her husband the same way and she knew her marriage would never survive. But at the very least, she wanted to give the illusion of a happy home to her young son.
It was a stupid choice she knew. But this was all she knew.
Enduring and Enduring.
(AN: I wonder what you guys think of Hae-Won now. As a woman, a mother, and a character in my story.)
[1]: Lailah Lailah ( Meaning: "Night" in Hebrew) is an angel in some interpretations in the Talmud and in some later Jewish mythology, associated with the night, as well as conception and pregnancy.
Lilith also means night but if Lailah is the protector of pregnancy, then Lilith is the killer of babies. In some other versions, Lailah and Lilith fought in the Garden of Eden.
[2]: Okay so sometimes Devils and Demons are the same and sometimes they are separate. I think the difference mainly comes from DnD. Basically, Demons should be muscle-brain Chaotic evil monsters from the abyss while Devils are Smart and cunning Lawful Evil citizens of the 7-9 hells. I have been using the two terms to represent the same things until now, but I might use the DnD definition as Demons exist in different myths like Oni in Japanese myth and they obviously aren't related to Devils.
CH 235: START OF HOSTILITY
[Los Angeles; Blue Shark Headquarters]
The building that was serving as the facade for the headquarter of the gang was in the full center of Los Angeles
From the outside, it was just a brokerage company. But in reality, it was the cover used by one of the biggest Gangs in K-Town.
Usually, the atmosphere in this place was relatively calm as only the members related to maintaining the finance of the group found themselves there.
But today, there was no such calm. Everyone was busy taking phone call or looking at their computer with disbelief.
Everything started on a morning like usual.
They should have just drank some coffee, complaining a little about some stupid clients while waiting for wall street to open at 9:30 as usual.
But it didn't take long for them to notice that something wasn't right at all as they watched the share prices of more than a dozen of companies that were under Blue Shark start to crash like super comets.
It was like a lightning bolt struck them and no matter what they did, nothing seemed to change this trend.
It did not take long for shareholders to start selling their shares like mad.
"Who can tell me what in the nine hell is happening!?"
The one in charge of the overall operation started to scream like a pig that was about to get gutted.
He knew very well how ruthless their boss was and if this trend continued then he would be done for.
"Someone is targeting us."
He looked at the one who answered like he was an idiot.
"Fucking moron! Do you think I don't know someone targeting us!? Do you think I thought all our shares started to crash simultaneously for no reason? Fuck! Get out now before I slap the teeth out of your mouth."
The poor man could only sigh and sit back. He knew well that telling him to leave was just a show of anger. If he really left then the consequences would be dire.
This short interlude passed and soon another man finally came running with a notepad in hand.
"Team leader! I found the problem!"
No sooner had he finished speaking that he used the notepad and projected different channels on the large screen that was usually used to keep track of all the shares.
Everyone looked up in a daze and watched the different channels sharing the same news.
Hearsay about how so and so company was in fact under the control of Mafia leaders.
Information about how the company managed to grow by using foul means such as spying, thefts, or even assassination.
As if it wasn't enough, it seemed some company had been attacked by environmental activists claiming that they broke all regulations and participated in the poaching of animals near extinction.
"Slander! This is all slander!"
The team leader screamed his lung out but there was nothing he could do to stop this.
The worst was that he knew that the news was all true.
This made things all the more complicated as this meant that someone managed to dig all their secrets and was now trying to bring them down.
"Leader. It seems like someone is starting to buy the shares that are on the market. Some of the shareholders received Tender offer [1]"
The leader's pale face whitened further. He was not happy in the slightest about this news.
'Fuck! This is a hostile takeover.'
He initially thought that whoever did this was an enemy that just wished to see them lose money.
But it seemed like it was a much more insidious bastard.
Obviously, if it was a normal attempt at a takeover, he would have been confident of fighting them off.
But with all the negative news that were being shared…
'Fuck.'
—-
While the companies in the light were being attacked in at least semi-legal way, the situation for the small gangs under the control of Blue Sharks was much bloodier.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Gunshots filled the air as they tried to protect their position but to no avail.
The current place was a warehouse that at first glance had nothing particularly special.
But if it was all there was to it, the two groups would not fight like this.
This was one of the armories used by Blue Sharks.
Even though most weapons were Sold legally in America, different states had different regulations and in California, the weapon of war military-style semi-automatic rifles could not be sold to civilians.
This warehouse had a large number of weapons for smuggling as well as other important assets.
The gang members who had been chosen to guard the place were not particularly numerous in the first place and soon they were all either shoot to death or simply surrendered.
For many of them, crime was just a means to put food on the table. They had no intention of dying for some man who, most likely, did not even know their names.
When the place was completely swept clean, one of the assailants tapped on his ear.
"N1 is under control."
It didn't take long for him to receive more answers.
[Copy that. N3 and N4 are also under control. Move to the next target. Over.]
"Roger."
The order was received. He moved his fingers and gave clear signs to them and they started moving.
Someone else would come to recuperate the weapon and leave.
They only needed to sweep everything.
"Captain. S1 and so are close by. Why we do avoid them?"
The captain smiled grimly, "N for normal and S for supernatural. I think this answer your question."
"Indeed it does."
They proceeded in silence, wondering inwardly how things were going on the supernatural side but knowing that this was absolutely not their place.
CH 236: KANG HO
[Blue Shark]
Kang Ho [1], the leader of the Blue Shark, was looking impassively at the screen floating in the air and showing him the pictures of his stocks crashing down.
In his office room, Lina, his mistress, and secretary, was busy trying to reach some of his closest collaborators but they were all playing dead.
"Stop. There is no use. Those bastards will stop at nothing to get what they want and now that they are seeing me in this situation, they will just watch me drown until I die and come to take the rest.
Kang Ho's voice was calm. But this calm was belied by the throbbing veins on his arms and forehead.
In the end, he simply released a sigh.
The big day when his greatest wish would finally be realized was approaching and he simply needed to calm down.
Only 24 hours left until Thanksgiving. Even if he lost all his money, it did not matter. He could still make more.
Still, this didn't mean that he appreciated getting attacked out of nowhere. Furthermore, the strike where too precise, which showed that this was the work of and insider.
'Who could it be?'
Kang Ho did not believe in many people and as such, much of the information were shared in a scattered way. Making it so that no one really knew where all his secrets were hidden.
'Did my subordinates prepare a mass rebellion?'
This was impossible. He had many loyal men and a few brainwashed ones from his cults hiding and observing. It was impossible for a mass rebellion to happen without so much warning.
"Did we find who is the aggressive buyer?"
"No. It even took us a while to realize the aggressive attack. They are using representatives and subordinates. Furthermore, there are many buyers who seem to just be normal people caught in the mixte and hoping to get some quick buck."
"Useless thing."
He fought himself to stop himself from screaming in frustration and destroying everything in the room. This was becoming a little too much and he hated how powerless he was currently.
"Do you have any idea who this might be at least?"
The secretary looked at him, not knowing what to say. It was honestly quite hard. She was not dumb but Blue Shark, because of their aggressive ways, had many 'allies'. But as shown a few moments ago, those allies would definitely laugh and clap by seeing the current situation.
Expecting them to bring any sort of help was ridiculous and extremely utopic.
"I believe the one with the highest grudge against you is the leader of the Wild Hunt."
During the event at the park, The action of Blue Shark caused many small problems for Wild Hunt, which resulted in them losing a few members and some others receiving relatively small wounds.
Kang Ho thought about it for a while before dismissing it. "You can get a few guys to look at it. But I doubt very much. The girl is too holier than thou. She will not destroy her carefully built reputation over the years by using such a way."
Kang Ho knew how those old-school criminals worked. They put shame, face, and honor above everything else. Acting as if they were chivalrous bandits or something of the like.
Yui was much the same in his opinion. She lacked the ruthlessness necessary to make it far in this line of work and relied on the few guys she had managed to get under her control.
She was nothing more than a fox using the skin of a tiger to appear bigger than she looked.
Unlike him who started from scratch, she had already handed it to her from the beginning.
They were not the same and had very different starting points.
"Is it perhaps one of the big gangs?"
"Neither. if before I was just speculating, I am 100% sure about this one."
He might despise them, but he was the first to recognize how powerful those families were and what they could do and they did not need to move like this for them. Like Yui, those arrogant families were strong and as such would not change the way they usually operated just for a small fry like him.
It was then,
"Boss!"
He looked at his secretary who was suddenly screaming and asking with confusion.
"Some of our special smuggling dens had been found."
Kang Ho paled immediately.
He did not mind losing his company as money was nothing. But the resources in his special warehouses were too rare and precious.
"Shit."
He swore that once whoever was pulling this attack was found, he would make sure to make them regret being born.
[1]: There are 47 Hanja reading Ho. The most popular means tiger, abundant, or heroic.
CH 237: SHURI AND YUI
[Los Angeles, City Center]
In one of the tall buildings that made the beauty of big cities in America, an young woman wearing a rather open Qipao could be seen laughing out loud as she watched the TV.
"How beautiful, how vicious. I must say. I wondered what you would do after talking so big about the alliance but damn you are good."
The one sitting on the sofa with a bag of chips in her hands as she watched the TV was none other than Yui.
Her expression was filled with mirth and glee as she continued to watch the new lambasting the different company under the control of Blue Shark.
She had to say, when Adam gave her a list of all they owned, she had been quite impressed.
Blue Shark was supposed to only be a mid-level gang but they had a level of resources Yui could not even match without going to beg her biological family.
"I guess being a religious leader sure pays."
It was ironic that a human was doing better in this than a literal demigod. But Yui did not have the ability to absorb faith. Furthermore, her mother was worshiped or at least respected throughout all of Asia. She also had many mediums that constantly mentioned her.
'Still, money is money and the church won't try attacking me.'
This was something seriously worth considering and since Adam seemed to have some relation with a god as well, they could perhaps try building a shrine.
She was sure it would attract many tourists at least.
"Anyway, this is really incredible. How were you able to set this all up in such a short time."
Yui had to admit that she was in awe. It wasn't like she couldn't do the same if necessary. But it was something that would generally take her a few days to weeks to set up.
"Well…Let's just say that I called a few debts. You would be surprised about how much problems people in the media world had to deal with and hide."
Shuri, who was sitting on her office chair, simply shrugged.
She was wearing a pair of round glasses alongside a black skirt and a white shirt. The clothes accentuated her voluptuous forms and she had drawn in quite the looks when she came to work today.
Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, showing her beautiful nape and she was beating on a pencil while typing on her computer.
She had nearly no sleep at all despite having drunk that romanée-county with relish, but this was more than worth it.
At the end of the day, it wasn't like she could sleep well while knowing people were after her life. At least with this, she was sure that she could put them down.
"The reasons spies are both hated and respected is because information and knowledge are power and leaked secrets can ruin everything. Once I had the information at hand, everything else was easy. This is why I am more surprised at how you managed to obtain information so precisely."
"I take no credits. This is the work of Cinder."
"Cinder, huh? He seems like a man of many talents."
Shuri shook her head and massaged the corner of her eyes. Her vision was getting blurry but things were just starting. There was still so much more they could do and she couldn't afford to fall asleep now.
"Heh, seems like my little brother managed to make you interested."
Shuri smiled politely, "Sadly, while I do find him attractive as a man, I have no particular interest in him."
Shuri could think objectively when looking at a man. The man nicknamed Cinder was without a doubt very interesting and if she had met him a little sooner, things may have changed very greatly.
But there was no If. Her problems with her husband aside, she already had enough headaches just thinking of her relationship with Adam.
She had been too ashamed to call him since the previous night which was a shame for another reason.
She couldn't help but wonder what could have happened if her husband had not called at that moment and broken the mood in such a way.
Would they have gone all the way? or perhaps stopped?
What about Adam? What did he think? Did he think she was just a tease? Or perhaps that she was just playing around with him?
She sighed. Perhaps a love relationship wasn't for her after all. Her marriage was in shambles and she was in love or in lust (?) with the son of her friends.
Though she had managed to get some courage in the bathroom last time, now that her hormones weren't attacking her brain at full power again, she was starting to hesitate again.
'Perhaps I should take to Cinder later. Having a stranger to talk about this really helped last time.'
She had only met him once as a client. But Cinder had played the role of a good listener and this was what she needed. Someone to listen to her.
"Say. Now that we are allies. Do I get a discount by visiting him?"
Yui exploded in laughter, "Ask him, he might even be willing to go for free."
She chuckled. Wondering if Adam would ever tell the truth or continue to hide it. Either way, this was not something she could meld in.
This was his personal life and she knew that despite how close they were, there were boundaries one shouldn't cross without permission.
"Well, now that the situation is settled on my side, I hope you are going to keep your part of the deal. It wouldn't be hard for them to soon make a link to me and I believe they will answer very violently."
"Obviously. Protecting you is a given. This is why I am here."
Shuri raised an eyebrow with a dubious look. Wondering how exactly one unharmed woman would deal with a possible armed group. But she summarized that her team was spread in the surrounding area.
"Furthermore, I honestly doubt they have the strength to deal with you currently."
Yuri munched on her potato chip. By now, the true core of the Blue shark should be getting attacked.
'We just need to avoid attracting the attention of the LAPPD.'
CH 238: USELESS POLICE
[Los Angeles Police Department]
"Mr. Kirishima! What the hell is happening!? Why aren't we moving out?"
The activity in the police station stopped briefly as everyone stopped to look at the source of the outburst.
When they saw who it was though, some shook their heads and a few others sneered but in the end, they all went to continue their work. The station was filled with activities as everyone was busy rushing left and right.
Kirishima, who was busy giving orders, massaged his forehead and released a sigh,
"Look. I am not in the mood currently. The situation is already as shitty as it can be."
"But…!"
"No fucking but!"
It was rare for Kirishima to lose his temper but it was easy to see now that he was barely controlling himself.
He shouted before covering his face and taking a deep breath. Only after exhaling did his expression go back to normal.
"We just had a briefing. You got the directives. Stop whining."
"This is exactly what I don't understand. What are those directives? How can we be ordered to stay put and let the special department or whatever deal with this?"
Themis Smith felt like she was going crazy. Earlier today, they had received a report about repeated gunshots in different parts of the city. It didn't take long for them to have the confirmation that it was a gang war.
The gangs fighting were unknown but this did not matter in her opinion. A bunch of criminals were fighting using guns in the morning, completely in the open as if they had no care.
This was the best occasion to make an outing and arrest them…Or simply put them down
But during the briefing, the order they had received was to simply work in containing the perimeters, making sure that no civilians were in the zone and letting them fight it out.
Supposedly, if things went out of hand. Some super secret department would take care of it.
What the hell was that? What the fucking hell were those directives?
Kirishima sighed for the third time. He was tired. So tired of having to answer Smith whenever she had an outburst.
Even so he did not want to lash out. At least not any more than he did previously. He knew very well what kind of person she was.
If he made her shut down now, this would not stop her. In fact this would only make her more determined in moving alone and most likely getting herself killed or something of the like.
Kirishima knew that what was happening wasn't just a simple "Gang war.". At the very least, the participant had nothing simple about them.
Intervening in this would only cause problems for everyone and weak normal humans like them shouldn't butt in this kind of case.
Perhaps it was time?
"Very well. Follow me. I think it's time for you to learn about the truth."
Kirishima turned to his officer who had been waiting for the directives, "I will leave the rest to you. The other detective should already be ready. Open the inventory, no one is going out without full protection, and remind them all. We aren't out to fight. Only to calm the unrest."
"Understood."
After looking at him leaving, he turned to Smith, "Now you follow me."
He didn't know if she would believe him. Most likely, the veil would make sure she would not. But there was one way to deal with that. A rather stupid way when all things considered but that really worked.
—-
[Los Angeles Paranormal Police Department]
While the office of the LAPD above was moving around like they had fire chasing behind them. The LAPPD was rather calm.
Sitting in her comfy office chair while watching the news, Theresa was sipping on her cold drink in boredom. Her expression was calm, even as she listened to the report she was getting.
"Did any supernatural attack a human?"
"No."
"Then it doesn't matter. Not our job. Just install the wards necessary, keep the civilians outside of the perimeter and this is done."
Theresa was not in any way worried. Yui had already warned her before attacking. As long as Yui respected the rules and made sure that Supernatural fought supernatural then she was more than happy to just watch.
"We don't act?"
Theresa looked at the puzzled Makoto and chuckled, "Remember well. We do not take a side. Whether the girl Yui wins or loses isn't our problem. If she wins, we will continue dealing with her and if she loses then we will deal with Kang Ho. Simple."
"What if they kill each other?"
"Then we simply find new ones to take their places."
The LAPPD used organizations in the shadows like Wild Hunt or Blue Shark to deal with the problem of the supernatural world.
In a way, they were hunting dogs. They were even better than normal hunters. They didn't have to pay anything. Didn't have to give any coverage or any annuity.
All they gave them was the right to exist.
"Then again, in this case, I would be happy if the girl is the one who wins. She is the only bridge with those nobles who have a stick in their asses."
The officer who was still close coughed a little. He did not want to listen to this kind of thing. People got killed for way less and he liked his life.
"Anyways, send a few guys to the Hanekawa, the Peng, the Albini, and the Wolves."
Werewolves, Vampires, Hunters and Shaman.
Los Angel really had the full starter pack of the supernatural. If she was honest, she was still wondering how everything hadn't just gone into flame until now.
"I am pretty sure the Hanekawa and the Peng won't act. But the others two are wild cards. We can't really restrain them since they aren't humans. But just remind them that they shouldn't act rashly."
Of course, if they only sent humans with no power then she did not care.
Once she gave the directive, Theresa went back to leaning in her chair and releasing a sigh full of relief.
"Ah~This is really the stuff. This is why I fought so hard to become a Director."
A cushy job, a high position, a good pay, and a life without much stress. The most she had to do was to make sure the differents organizations did not fuck up or cause problems that shouldn't happen.
Things started a little iffy with some devil prince summoning. But this kind of event only happened once every 10 years. They should be alright for some time now. There was also the case of her predecessor getting assassinated but it wasn't like she could deal with that now.
She pushed down her black glasses and closed her eyes. Perhaps she should sleep a little.
Standing on the side, Makoto could only look at her master speechlessly. The woman was usually someone really worthy of respect who worked with no pause.
But in a moment like this, she could become even worse than the worst sloth in existence.
She knew very well that now that she was like this, nothing short of a Calamity event would wake her up.
That or hunger.
In the end, all Makoto could do was sit and meditate.
CH 239: THE HOUNDS (1)
Despite the Chaos that was spreading in different parts of the city, Los Angeles itself was relatively calm.
All the places that had been attacked were places that were relatively isolated. Thanks to this, they had been able to strike multiple places with no problem and took them by surprise.
In order to keep his warehouses secret, Kang Ho made sure to only use a low number of guards who were generally disguised as sailors or simply manual workers.
But this was only for the warehouse of the normal kind.
For those that held supernatural objects and which were thus exponentially more expensive, the defense location was no different from a pure fortress and were mostly placed in the canyon far from the city.
—-
"So, what's the plan?"
A muscular man, with a large Canon resting on his shoulder, breathed deeply on a cigar before breathing out.
It was Mammoth. Not only did he have a Canon, but he also had a bunch of guns attached to his hips as well as some rifles.
Obviously, all those weapons were special weapons that had firepower enhanced greatly. Thanks to this, the imposing frame of Mammoth was made even more impressive.
Standing next to him, Nikola looked up with a crumpled expression. She loved Mammoth dearly. He was a great friend and a veteran of supernatural warfare. But she hated standing next to him as this made her even more conscious of her height.
Sighing in defeat about how Mammoth was literally blocking the light of the sun from reaching her, she choose to arrange her pair of gloves with a disgruntled expression,
"We don't have a plan. Hacker already worked on the security system and shared the full plans of the places. If we can't even beat them with this then we should just retire and tend to a garden."
"Heh…Things would be easier if you only let me do the work. I promise it will end fast."
Nikola chuckled at the words of the small-looking boy next to her. At first glance, he didn't look like much more than a 14-year-old kid but anyone believing that he was harmless would only receive a painful lesson.
His entire body was covered in clothes and even his face was covered by a gas mask. Giving him quite the creepy-looking presence.
"Alchemist. You know very well the boss officially forbids you from acting. You cause too much damage to the environment. I am pretty sure we still are."
Alchemist was one of the most recent members of their teams. Like many of them, he had a very difficult past and was saved by Yui. Thanks to this, he was also one of the most loyal members of the group.
His expertise had been very useful in bringing up the gang to the next level.
"So, in the end, is it only the two of us that will attack?"
"No. Chameleon is already on the terrain. He is just waiting for the signal. Now listen, the plan is simple—"
"I thought we didn't have a plan?"
Nikola glared at Alchemist who raised his hand in surrender with a mock laugh, "Sorry, sorry."
"Anyway. As I was saying before I got rudely interrupted—"
"Heheh.."
" — The plan is simple. We enter, and we kill everyone who fights back. We take those who surrender and Alchemist put them to sleep. Our goal is to secure everything."
She closed her eyes when she saw Alchemist lift his hand as if he was a student wishing to ask a question to a teacher.
"What?"
"Two questions. Scratch that, I have three. One where is Blade? Two, why are we all moving as a team for just one hideout? Finally…Where is the Prince?"
Since he was asking serious questions this time, Nikola was much more willing to answer,
"Hacker. You heard him?"
[Loud and clear.]
A voice sounded in their ears and on their glasses, a cute avatar of a teddy bear appeared.
"Long story short, Blade is keeping our hideout safe. Just in case they find out who we are. The reason we are moving together is that the Boss is suspecting the intervention of a foreign organization. She might be wrong but better be safe than sorry. If we were to meet a supernatural creature, things would get tricky."
Even though they were all strong, they did not have something special like a powerful bloodline or some divine weapons. They were mostly silver or gold-level hunters. So it was better for them to move in full teams when attacking.
"As for the Prince? Hehe…I sent him the coordinates not long ago. He decided to move alone and strike another place. Anyways he is our heavy hitter. So I accepted."
Alchemist huffed a little but nodded. He remembered clearly the massacre he had witnessed not long ago.
Thanks to his poison and other substances, he was quite powerful and good at large-scale massacres. But what he had witnessed on that day had been on another level.
Nikola grunted, "We seriously need a new nickname for him. It Feels weird to call him Prince."
"Hehe, isn't it his Gigolo name or something?"
"Indeed. Midnight Prince."
[How cheesy. I wonder if I should visit the Bar as a client next time. Some of my subordinates can't stop gushing about him.]
"Then, what about calling Death? Sounds cool, right? I mean, he is bringing death and destruction wherever he goes. Or what about Harbinger of Calamity!? No wait, even better. The Destroyer!"
Alchemist became excited the more he thought about different names they could give. Aside from Mammoth, he was the one who gave code names to everyone, even Shuri. So he was quite dissatisfied to know that the new member would not have a nickname he created as well.
"Well…Your naming sense is as interesting as ever."
Nikola Sighed.
"Hey, I am sure you like the nickname I gave you, right? Spider?"
Nikola coughed. She did find the nickname pretty cool indeed. But she would be found dead before she ever admitted this.
"Very well. Enough small talk."
"Everyone is ready?"
"Yep."
"Ready."
[Was ready hours ago.]
"Very well. Let's move out."
Nikola gave the signal, bloodlust shining in her eyes.
Once this day was over, no one would ever dare to underestimate the [Wild Hunt]
(AN: This is basically Yui team.
Alchemist: Man
Mammoth: Man
Nikola/ Spider: Woman
Blade: Man
Hacker: Woman
Chameleon: Woman)
CH 240: THE HOUNDS (2)
For the guards in the house, the day started normally like any other one.
In order to make sure that there was no leak about the locations of the base they had to keep communication with the outside to a strict minimum. Furthermore, it was impossible to join them more than twice a week to check up on their condition and bring the food and water they would need.
Even after all this, there are additional security measures. After all, from the outside, this house simply looked like a normal mansion made by some rich man in search of fame or a fan of the hedonist life.
The 'owner' of the house was someone who would throw parties regularly and acted like he wanted as many people to know about him as possible.
They said that it was easy to hide a tree in a forest. The principle was the same. By acting as conspicuously as possible, he was able to make sure that no one would notice them.
"*Yawn* This is so boring. I wish something would happen."
One of the guards, a man wearing a complete suit with a pair of black glasses complained after hiding a yawn.
They only made fake parties a few times every month as such, they didn't really have much else to do outside of standing here and observing the surroundings.
Sadly, even the surroundings were boring. There was nothing more than dust, sand and rock under a terrible sun all year around. Not really the most diverse wildlife.
"Hey. Still acting bored?"
A second man approached the first guard causing him to raise an eyebrow. "What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be at your post?"
The second man shrugged, "I mean. You know very well that nothing happens in this godforsaken place."
"Heh, true. But the salary is good and the job is easy. So we can't complain too much, I guess?"
"Of course, of course. Just, I heard what you said under your breath. Heh, you wished that something interesting would happen, right?"
"Well…Yeah. I wouldn't mind excitement."
"Heh….Then look behind you."
The first man was confused but when he turned as was told, his eyes opened wide in surprise and terror.
A large projectile was rushing fast toward them.
'Fuck!'
"We need to evacuate."
"I am sorry."
The first man was unable to react as if he felt something enter the base of his nape.
"Ah…"
His last thought was the body of the one he thought was his companion morphed into a more petite body with a devilish smile.
"Be careful about what you wish for."
This was followed by a large explosion that engulfed everything in its path.
—-
[Warning! Warning! Warning!]
A red alert sound filled the surroundings with its glaring light and the shrill sound of the alarm.
The base had more than thirty guards all considered and they all reacted instantly.
"Fuck! How are the shields?"
"The ward was blasted! Also, There are five of us who are not responding anymore."
The leader gritted his teeth and began giving orders. "The location was breached, enemy force unknown. We follow red protocols. Start moving the merchandise while we stall for time."
They immediately took their guns, swords, and other such weapons while wearing their armor.
They had received a very strict training about what to do in case of attack and they wouldn't get flustered just yet.
"Let's go!"
—-
In the upper part of the house, Mammoth was walking with leisurely steps while holding his two rifles and smoking his cigars. His glasses keep flashing as Hacker traced and determined the most correct path for him to shoot at. It was like having an auto-aim in an FPS game.
Furthermore, while he advanced under fire, no bullets ever reached him.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"
One of the men screamed while shooting like there was no tomorrow but it was to no avail.
"How futile."
What they couldn't see was that whenever the bullets came close to Mammoth, thin threads would move and slice them until all that was left was nothing more than a small bit or even dust for that matter.
"Heh, only a bunch of small fry. Thanks for the protection, Spider."
Nikola nodded. Mammoth was worthy of his name and had a great mastery of Prana that gave him a steel-like body. But it would be idiotic for him to tank those bullets with his body even if he could.
This kind of arrogance was generally used by hunters against supernatural creatures.
Moving the threads of her other hands they acted in an erratic way and sliced everything on their paths alongside the body of the guards.
A gruesome vision was shown as their bodies were sliced into more than ten different pieces. Blood gushed and a nasty odor started to spread in all the surroundings but Nikola ignored it.
Her expression was cold, this scene was reminiscing her of her assassin days working for the organization that raised and trained her.
Her threads were special weapons drenched in poison made by Alchemist and different liquids that increased the power of corrosion and sharpness. Even without using Prana, it was easy for her to slice even steel with those threads and now that she was adding Prana to it, she was slashing the guards like they were made out of butter.
"Chameleon, Hacker. How is the situation."
[Wait for an instant….Done!]
Beep!
The door closed and opened under the will of Hacker. She had been working on taking control of the defense system underground without getting caught. But thanks to the current chaos, she had been able to act with complete impunity.
"Chameleon?"
[Sorry. Was a little busy. I managed to finish the job on my side and I recovered the Merchandise.]
"Very well. Let's clean up everything and move to the next target."
Nikola nodded to herself and went deeper down, ready to exterminate everyone.
Meanwhile, walking behind them, Alchemist couldn't help but pout,
"I thought this wasn't supposed to be a complete extermination. Should have just let me poison everyone from the start."
As always, he was ignored. Thus was the pain of being the youngest.
—-
While the Hounds were moving up, Adam, who had been taken short by the decision to attack suddenly leaned down against a broken beam.
"Where do I go next?"
He was wearing a black coat with a white mask and the surroundings were dyed entirely in blood and covered in smashed dead bodies and debris of a destroyed roof.
Not everyone was like Cecilia and not everyone could simply shrug off the effect of increased gravity.
In the end, they all faced a swift death after Adam made sure that it wasn't his gravity that was weak but his mom that was a freak.
Sitting in a badly lit house while wearing nothing but a pair of white panties and a white shirt, Hacker gulped a little at the once again overwhelming destruction before giving the direction of his next target.
She had the impression that he would clean everything pretty fast.
CH 241: THOSE BITCHES
[Wednesday; 27th November 2030]
The day went by and every hour that passed felt like a century to Kang Ho.
Sitting in the darkness of his office with the curtain drawn, he sipped slowly on a whiskey but even that was not enough to make the bitterness in his heart vanish and the lightness he wished to obtain from his inebriated mind refused to come.
One day. Nay...Less than 24h.
This was the amount of time it took for the wealth he had built slowly over the years to completely vanish like snow under the summer sun.
The attack on his official companies had stopped and funds were being slowly injected. Even though there was so much buzz, the companies themselves would be alright in the future. But Kang Ho had no illusions.
The one who bought the shares were obviously the one attacking him. Now that this person had the absolute majority. He would lose all power in those companies and would only be able to watch.
In the end, though, this was not that bad. He would still have money from the dividend. The problem came from the underworld part. This was actually the place that held majority of his wealth.
'I am ruined.'
Potions, armor, weapons both magical and not, special alloys, rare artifacts, specials animal, and even mecha parts. All things that he had slowly taken, solen, bought or found.
His losses did not stop here. Once again, even if he fell to the ground because of all those, he still had hope to stand right back up.
But more than 60% of forces had been entirely annihilated, a little over 20% had been annexed and another part had fled after leaving their weapons.
He couldn't really blame them. If he was in their position, he would also leave the sinking ship with no hesitation. Sadly, he wasn't so he had to execute those who were leaving.
This was the only way to calm down the one who were still staying an stop the unrest. But he knew that he was over. After this, his subordinates would never trust him and would find a smarter way to leave.
Starting from the beginning was not possible. After such a complete and utter defeat there would be no one who would ever dare to follow him again and his enemies would never let him live it down.
This was a perfect checkmate. He was done for.
At least this would have been the case if he did not have one last trump card.
"Did you find the one who caused all of this?"
His secretary stood next to him, document in hand. She was as beautiful as always and her body was truly enticing him. But now was not the time.
Once she was called, the woman adjusted her glasses and answered promptly, "We have no complete confirmation. But from the clue found in one of the sites attacked by normal soldiers who were able to recognize a certain mercenary.
She moved her hand on the notepad and showed the picture of the man in question which appeared floating in front of them.
"From the information in our database, he is Thomas Anderson. He is one of the lieutenants working for the wild hunt."
"Wild Hunt."
Kang Ho gritted his teeth, "Ahh! That bitch!"
He stood up and threw the glasses against the wall at full force while roaring like an angered beast. His expression was twisted beyond belief and he was breathing roughly.
"That fucking bitch played the saint all this while but she was in reality a cunning fox."
He was angry. So much anger in his heart that he could barely think straight.
In the underworld of K-Town and Los Angeles in general, Yui was something of a joke for many reasons.
The main one was of course that, despite all her relations and the firepower at her disposal with her Hounds, she did not spread her influence far enough because she was busy acting like some kind of robinhood.
They all have been underestimating her and how ruthless she could be. In their mind, she was nothing more than a toothless tiger or a barking dog who never bites.
He had been wrong. They all have been wrong and he was the one that will serve as a warning for everyone else in the future.
'Never.'
He turned to his secretary, his eyes blazing with furry and shining with Prana.
She looked back at him with an impassive look. The atmosphere around her had changed greatly, and he now felt like he was facing a completely different person.
"It seems like you are going to fail in the end."
"Will the Cult give me a second chance?"
She smiled wordlessly and he understood the answer clearly,
"Tell them to not worry. Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving. I will succeed even if it's the last thing I will do."
"Very well. Do not forget. This ritual is very important. Finding a child like yours will be very hard again. So we will be very unhappy if this whole situation ends in a loss."
Kang Ho nodded. He knew very well that the cult would not let him go in case of failure.
"Also…Since we now know who is the one who caused the attack on your force, I think it should be easy to guess who caused the leak of all your plans to happen.
Kang Ho's expression became even more twisted as he thought about it. He may be very conceited, but he was in no way stupid.
All along, he had been wondering where could the leak have come from. It was nearly impossible to strike all those points as only Kang Ho himself knew all the positions.
Or at least this was what he once believed. But…There was someone else. Someone who could have seen everything and would know as much as him.
Now that the situation was clear. He finally had his answer.
Hae-Won.
Everything was the fault of that bitch.
CH 242: DEAL? TREACHERY?
[Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 8:30 pm]
Floating up in the dark-tinged sky, Adam looked at the beautiful moon hanging above in the distant space, shining gently with its artificial light.
The day was slowly coming to an end and Adam could feel his weary soul starting to settle down with the eventual end of the day.
All day along, he had been fighting non-stop against many enemies that he had been assigned to take down by his team member. While they were not enough to tire him out thanks to the eternal cycle of energy that could freely circulate in his body, he had still gotten quite a bit drained on the mental aspect.
This time around, Adam had not used his more outward and flashy measures. He had been in a hurry to bring down as many hideouts as possible in the span of a day, which prompted him to use the most efficient skills in his arsenal to swiftly bring down the enemies in each location.
「Good job, Prince. We are finished with everything on our side as well.」
Adam nodded his head and looked into the distance, "I guess, the last place is his true hideout, right?"
Even though Hae-Won had managed to see through many of the hideouts of the Blue Sharks, there was still a last one other than the minor ones they had already raided. It was a location she knew the existence of but did not know the location. Adam and the others summarized that this should be the last bastion of Kang Ho— leader of the Blue Sharks. Perhaps, this was also his place for escape once things went south. For example, the situation he was facing now.
「Yes. The entire underworld is watching so we need to end things with style. Soon, Yui will call him and demand for his surrender and we will see how things span out from there.」
They had already surrounded his house since the morning of this day. But there were no signs of his presence in the house. Clearly, he had managed to flee by using some hidden means that were unknown to them.
"Hmmm…" Adam grunted under his breath and then looked up, "Were you guys able to find the woman and her kid?"
「No. The woman named Hae-Won was last sighed when she returned home after her visit to the church. She has not gone outside after that.」
"What are the chances that he has already come to realize that she was the leak, even if involuntary."
「Honestly… He would need to be stupid to not understand where the leak came from. Do you care for the safety of that woman?」
Adam asked himself that very same question and he was surprised to find out that the answer had become far more blurry than it had been a few days ago.
"I don't know, to be honest…"
There was no other way to word what his current thoughts were. He really didn't know what to do. What was he even supposed to feel for that woman?
Hae-Won was a very strange person. She was both the most transparent and, at the same time, the most illogical being he had met in his life. In the not so distant past, he only came to know her for the purpose of using her. Now that her job was done, she had no more use for them and should be simply discarded.
Why then was he hesitating like this?
Was it perhaps because she represented the last bastion of his rapidly crumbling morals?
Until now he had been able to hide himself under the guise and the hypocritical mask that he would not hurt people who had not hurt him.
But then… How should he interpret what he had done to Hae-Won?
'My hypocrisy truly knows no bound.'
「Well, we can ask Yui to put the safety of the woman as one of the conditions of the Blue Sharks' surrender.」
"...Thanks."
Adam sighed under his breath. He knew that by doing this, Yui would lose some advantage in the incoming negotiation. He didn't know if it was worth it in this situation.
But deep down, perhaps, he was hoping for a happy end for the poor woman he had used and abused to get what he want.
—
[Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11 pm]
Back in the Wild Hunt, in one of the super VIP rooms, Yui was sitting down with her arms spread on the sofa and her legs crossed.
On the large screen, a slick middle-aged man could be seen looking at her with a scowl evident on his face.
「I thought you would not dare to show yourself until the very end.」
"You know me… I am someone who respects the small unspoken rules of the underworld. There's no way that I won't show myself…"
「Rules? Heh… You really make me laugh. At least drop the hypocrisy and own up to what you did, you backstabbing bitch.」
"Backstabbing? Who was the one who actually backstabbed me not long ago? Is this what they call the pot calling the kettle black?"
「No. I am a backstabber, indeed. Of that, there is not a single iota of doubt. I am also a criminal and unlike you, I do not act like I am some kind of noble being.」
"Not my fault if I am a noble being though."
The back and forth between the two flew at each other like hidden daggers. There was no more need for any pleasantries between the two sides. They were complete mortal enemies by now.
"So. Where are you now?"
「You wish you could find out, heh?」
"Obviously. I like finishing the job. So now let's discuss the terms of your surrender, shall we?"
「...」
"Or do you still wanna fight? Not like you have any chances of winning this bout anyways. Even if you hide, I am sure I will be able to find you sooner or later."
「...Very well. But I will not surrender over a screen. Send someone to serve as your representative.」
It was Yui's turn to raise an eyebrow in surprise at the arrogance of the man, "Are you making demands now?"
「Think whatever you like. But just because I am a Tiger without claws doesn't mean that I still do not have any last resort up my sleeves. Do not force my hand too much woman.」
Yui tsked. A cornered rat would not hesitate to attack a cat if necessary. Kang Ho was not someone she feared very much but she still didn't want to force his hand if she didn't need to. Who knew what kind of thing he might do and what kind of calamity he could unleash?
「Leave it to me.」
A voice sounded in her earpiece. The discussion had been shared with all the high-ranked members of her groups to keep them up to date about the situation and this time it was none other than Adam who had spoken directly to her before she could even voice out her thoughts about this matter.
Yui sighed, not surprised by his insistence,
"Very well. But I need to make something clear. We will only negotiate if your wife is safe."
「So you have admitted it already, huh.」
"I am waiting."
「Heh… Of course, she is safe. How could I hurt someone I did not know the worth of? I was wondering if she was just a chess piece or someone truly important. I know now.」
"Proof."
Kang Ho moved his hand and two women shared came in front of the screen.
One woman was wearing a pair of glasses with a serious look on her face and an OL-type skirt below with a crimson red top on her upper torso. As for the second woman… She was sitting down with her eyes unfocused and her gaze hazy as though she had lost her mind.
「You will have to forgive me but I made sure to lock her mind. Just in case, you know…」
"Tsk."
There was not much Yui could say about that.
「Now that this is done. Let's set the meeting for tomorrow morning. What do you say?」
"We will sign a surrender agreement on Thanksgiving? How interesting? And equally ironic…"
「Interesting indeed.」
After he had delivered those words, the communication was cut off between them.
Sitting alone in the now silent room, Yui spoke up,
"He is preparing something fishy. We absolutely cannot wait until tomorrow. Hacker. Did you find him?"
Yui had never intended to ask for any sort of surrender from her enemies. If Kang Ho were to be left alive, he would be a thorn in her side and she would not be able to sleep at night easily as long as he did not breathe his last.
He needed to die. And he needed to die fast.
「Working on it. Give me thirty minutes.」
"Good. Adam, do you really plan to go?"
「I will.」
That settles it then…
—
[?]
After closing the communication line, Kang Ho stood up and looked at Hae-Won silently before violently slapping her on the face.
The resounding noise of the vehement slap filled the room and her body was lifted off the ground before she tumbled right back.
Since she was hypnotized she showed no reaction to his onslaught, but her face had the handprint of Kang Ho engraved on it in red and her lips had gotten cracked by the force of the slap.
Ignoring the display of violence, the secretary spoke up, "You know they are going to track you, right?"
"I do. But no matter what, they will never be able to find me and reach this place before it's too late."
She frowned after hearing that unnecessarily confident tone of his…
"You are taking an unnecessary risk."
"I just wanna rub it in their faces one last time. After all, soon, my position will be completely different from what it used to be. Then… I will make them all pay."
Even as if he said this he placed his foot on Hae-Won's back and repeatedly stomped on it, even kicking her in the stomach with no hesitation whatsoever for the woman that was his legal wife and had a child with.
There was nothing worse than being betrayed by someone you always underestimated.
"Take away the hypnosis. I want her to see everything. She will see all of it, powerless to do anything to stop it. This will be her greatest punishment. I want her to realize that… whatever is about to happen… is all her fault and hers alone."
CH 243: END OF ICARUS
[Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11:55 pm]
At the summit of a small hill, overseeing the sea surrounding the tall rocky terrain, a chilling scene was taking place for the world to witness.
An altar that was almost two meters high was erected majestically and shining in the color of dazzling gold.
All around, people entirely covered in white cloaks, enveloping their bodies from head to toe, were standing in rows on either side of the terrain, creating a road of honor that stretched and ended at the peak of the huge altar.
Further down the lane, even more people could be seen kneeling and praying in solemn voices, all draped in white, making their figures indistinguishable to no matter who saw them in this state.
Finally, at the peak of the altar; there was a man… standing there in a dignified posture.
Like the other people in this place, he was also covered in white. Unlike them, however, he had not covered his face with the cloak and only his body could be seen enveloped in the pristine white cloth.
However, even though the clothes covering was also white, there were also slight differences from the rest of the people as they were embroidered with a Golden inverted cross in the back and the front.
Looking at all the believers of his lord, Kang Ho felt his chest become hot with a fervor that he could only feel in these types of situations.
How long did he prepare for this exact moment?
Even though he had been forced to leave Korea which was the perfect ground for the cult's development, he had managed to find an even better environment right here in the great country of America.
For nearly eight years, he had prepared himself for just this moment.
This was a ritual that would change his entire life and put him in true contact with his one and only lord.
This was a golden opportunity that would completely change his life forever.
"We stand here today… together, to start the beginning of a new life my brethren."
Prayers filled the air, following his fervent words. The words of prayer that were leaking from the believers' mouths were harsh and indistinguishable.
It was like the sounds of steel grating against steel filling one's ear and rupturing their eardrums with their harsh cacophony almost causing them to go insane…
Kang Ho breathed deeply. The atmosphere was perfect.
This ritual was perhaps one of the simplest rituals to ever exist but at the same time, it had one of the harshest requirements possible in the supernatural world. Be it in terms of time and resources, both humans and even materials, this was a really hard ritual to enact for anyone.
It was only thanks to his talent as a preacher that the current situation was made possible and he was enjoying every second of it.
Soon, he walked up to a small bed made out of rocks; there the small figure of a sleeping kid with his limbs tied down to the bed and his mouth covered with a white cloth could be seen.
Kang Ho's face softened slightly as he caressed the face of the kid, his kid, before walking up to a pillar attached next to the Bed Rock.
The one tied down on the pillar with her mouth covered with the same white cloth was none other than his wife, Hae-Won.
Hae-Won's body was entirely naked, exposing her beautiful body to the world. But even as he looked at her beautiful and enchanting form, Kang Ho felt no lust.
Only pure disgust and hatred.
After all, she was the reason his criminal kingdom was destroyed overnight. If he did not have this ritual, then it would have been game over for him…
"I think it's time to reveal the truth buried in all the lies."
Hae-Won's expression was confused and vacant. But the moment he touched her forehead, things started to change… for the worse…
Not only did she get regain her consciousness but even memories that were buried so deep in her mind that she could hardly even remember them were pushed up for her to relive all over again.
She did not know how long this phenomenon lasted… It might have been only a few minutes but for her, it sure felt like it had been hours and even days.
When she finally stopped trembling and spasming from the onslaught of memories, and slumped slightly while still being bound, her eyes were filled with tears and agony as she looked at her… husband…
"You… Monster."
Hae-Won wept, as she finally started to understand the crux of everything.
She had always wondered deep down. Why did she follow her husband to America after it was discovered that he was a criminal and a cultist?
Even though she was not a saint, it should have been impossible for her to accept such a reality like it was nothing at all.
Why did she accept to let her husband indoctrinate her child?
Why did she have such an overwhelming desire to baptize her child the moment she learned that he wanted to baptize him?
What about her wedding?
"Just how long…?"
"Well, I have been manipulating since as long as we knew each other."
He smiled and caressed her face, "Though I am surprised you managed to betray me. I was sure that I had planted suggestions that would make even thinking of spilling my secrets completely impossible for you."
This was the only reason why Kang Ho released the illusion.
He wanted to know, needed to know, how she had managed to break free of those suggestions. This knowledge would be useful in the future.
"What did that bitch Yui promise you?"
Hae-Won rose her head, now that her suggestions were broken and her memory had been restored, she could now see the true face of the world hidden behind the veil.
Despair filled her chest but she was still able to understand the question that had been asked of her.
'It should be on that day.'
The day she fell asleep and had that weird dream.
Most likely, Cinder observed her memories and stole all the information that was locked deep in her mind.
This made her slightly bitter but at the same time, she realized that she felt no hatred for him.
Her gaze moved and she gazed at the sleeping body of her child,
"What will you do to him?"
"Now that your memories are back you should know the answer, right?"
He grinned maniacally and she cried helplessly, tears falling nonstop as she realized the destiny that awaited her dear child.
"Now bitch, time is pressing so answer me."
Hae-Won looked deeply at Kang Ho's face. Her time was soon coming to an end; something was telling her, assuring her of that outcome.
Death was approaching, she could tell, and she would die at the hands of the man she once loved and gave a child to.
When her thoughts reached this part, she smiled,
"I met a man."
Kang Ho's expression contorted,
"You…"
"He was everything that you could never even hope to be. Elegant, attractive, and well-spoken."
Kang Ho paled, he remembered his discussion with his mistress about the possibility of Hae-Won going out with another man.
"But do you know what distinguished him the most from your wretched self?"
An even larger smile, almost to the point of being as maniacal as Kang Ho's, formed on her face, "He was a true man who showed me the wonder of sex."
"Bitch!"
Squelch~
The sound of something being pierced resonated in the surroundings.
"Ah…"
Hae-Won looked down at the ceremonial dagger stabbed deeply in her chest.
Her mouth was wide open and blood started to flow out in gurgles as Kang Ho ruthlessly moved and twisted the dagger embedded in her chest.
Pain flowed out and she leaked out a gurgled cry causing him to grin, "You like this?"
Even as death began to claim her, a chuckle escaped her lips as she muttered something with pain.
It was so small that it was nearly inaudible so Kang Ho brought his ears closer to him.
"Even when using a dagger, you are still unable to reach deeper inside me than he did."
Kang Ho saw red at those words. His rage was followed by him taking out the dagger and repeatedly stabbing her to his heart's content.
But even as she stopped moving, even as her breathing became faint.
The mocking smirk never left her lips even as the life was being carved away from her body. It was as if she knew deep down that victory was hers and that he would fail eventually.
It was only after stabbing her more than six more times that he stopped.
Hae-Won looked down as her blood seemed to flow endlessly out of the arteries of her mangled heart. Her eyes were vacant, this was the last vestige of her life and the last breath she had in her.
She remembered her life.
It was a simple life. It was a happy life.
She remembered her marriage.
She may have made a mistake but she still was happy to have made a beautiful son that she was so proud of.
She finally remembered him.
Cinder.
The man who allowed her to finally find true happiness in her womanhood.
It was an awfully short relationship. One that burned like a comet flashing in the everlasting night sky.
This was the end of the road for her. But her heart was not filled with sadness. At this last moment, all she felt was certain level of lightness, as even the pain completely vanished.
She knew that Kang Ho would fail, even if only partially. What she did earlier this morning was perhaps the smartest decision in her entire life.
She wondered what face he would make then…
It was a shame that she would not be able to see it.
Speaking of faces, if she had one small regret at this moment, it was that, in the end, she had never been able to truly see the face beyond the mask of the man she had truly fallen in love with all her heart and soul. Unfortunately, it was a love that never had the chance of blooming from the get-go.
'Truly what a shame.'
If only she could have at least seen him wearing the clothes she bought for him. She was sure that he would he dashing.
Those were the last thoughts of Hae-Won as her eyes lost their light and her mind fell into the darkness.
CH 244: WHAT IN THE ACTUAL FUCK?
[Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11:30 pm]
A little earlier, just after Kang Ho had ended the discussion with Yui, Hacker had been hard at work, unblocking the different protective firewalls that stood in her way as much as she could from decrypting all information of the IP and the subsequent location and traces of the Blue Sharks' boss.
In the past, the possibility of hackers being as shown in the movies was pretty much as impossible as it could get. One couldn't just write dozens of codes at the speed of lightning with no problem whatsoever and easily find solutions for all the problems and even crack into the safest safety nets and firewalls like it were child's play for them.
Being a Hacker was a long time-consuming job and generally came with little to no rewards.
…Well, that was how it was for normal humans, that is…
For people like her, people from the supernatural side of the world, things were vastly different.
Be it through special implementation, contracts to supernatural beings, or any other means, only those who could enter the sea of information inside cyberspace, a virtual realm formed from the connectivity of the Internet and all the devices inside the world that had been forged into reality, and actively manipulate it through their mind had the right to call themselves hackers or best known as Netrunners.
Hacker was one of the best Netrunners that ever existed in the supernatural world and there were very few individuals, such as the legendary and world-renowned armor designer [~S.K~] and [Prometheus] along with a handful of others who could truly best her in this craft.
Even then, even after all the experience and expertise she had accumulated in this field, it took her nearly thirty minutes to break through the firewalls and safety nets that had been put up to encrypt the information she sought to obtain and truly reached her target.
「Boss. Something's definitely not right here. His defense was way more sturdy than it should have been. It's almost to the point of being too much.」
Breaking the lollipop that was held inside her mouth, Hacker spoke with a grave tone in her voice as she warned Yui of a deep conspiracy being involved with this scenario before actually sending the information over to her.
Back in the room that Yui was seated inside, a large holographic map of the entirety of the city of Los Angeles appeared on top of them. The map showed the place they were currently located inside LA but it rapidly zoomed out until they were finally able to find the place where Kang Ho currently was.
The result was more than surprising to her.
"How did he manage to go that far in such a short amount of time? It should be impossible by his means alone."
After zooming many times out of the inherent map, it was finally possible to find the actual position of their target and Yui could only furrow her brows when she understood just where that bastard was located. After all, they could only see a red point in the middle of the sea right now.
「This is either a hidden island that was recorded on no map or some yacht that is traveling in the sea. My gut says the former. Either way… He is really really far away from here.」
"310 miles to be exact…" [1]
Yui sighed before turning to Adam. He was the one who requested to have this mission assigned to him after all.
"So, what do you think?"
Even though it was pretty far away from their current location, they could just use a helicopter to reach it. But even without taking into account the time to prepare a helicopter that could wield the sufficient capability to infiltrate deep into the enemy lines, they would need around 1 or 2 hours of flight at the minimum to reach the destination of their target.
Adam closed his eyes, trying to think about the distance between here and the place that he needed to go. If the situation was normal, he would have simply decided to wait. But the more time passed and the more worried he became. As if something was nagging at him.
He tapped his communication lens and spoke to Hacker.
"Send me the coordinates and keep me updated about his location in real-time."
"What are you going to do?"
"Me? I guess I will just fly…"
He smiled softly and left a stunned Yui behind as he exited the room to head toward his destination.
—
[Pacific Ocean — Wednesday — 27th November 2030 — 11:59 pm]
Something akin to a shooting star was flying at blazing speeds while remaining at a low altitude close to the sea floor…
Thanks to his domain, Adam was able to move at the full speed, which his ability to control gravity and telekinesis had allowed him to, while being absolutely unhindered by the wind resistance and any other flying animal that might stop him in his tracks or injure his body.
He was not slowed down by the friction and the pulls of laws of physics inside of his domain and could thus accelerate nearly indefinitely as long as his mental capacity could allow him to maintain that speed while incorporating all of his other abilities that helped him to sustain his flight.
Right now, he was flying at a speed that was near the speed of sound [1] at its base form while one of his minds constantly paid attention to the map to make sure that he was not taking the wrong direction. He was not a sailor after all, so, it was given that he would not be able to navigate his direction in the sea while relying on his sense of direction alone.
All he had in his mind right now was that… he needed to fly fast; he needed to fly fast to reach that place in the least time possible. Something was constantly nagging at him, making him feel restless and it was not just the worry he had for Hae-Won's well-being.
'Her kid…'
Adam remembered the young boy he had seen earlier this morning and couldn't help but feel like he was slowly connecting the dots to a bigger picture that would make everything even more problematic than just the scenario of a small-time criminal making his final stand against their onslaught.
'Fuck… I really hope I am wrong.'
He was praying with all his heart for that possibility. Hoping that his hunch was wrong in this case. That he was just worrying about absolutely nothing and that capturing Kang Ho would just be a walk in the park for him with no particular difficulty or unexpected plot twists in this gang war scenario.
Sadly, the very moment his zone reached the fringe of what he thought was an island in the distance… Adam realized with dismay that he had been right all along.
"Ah…"
His whole body started to violently shudder as a primordial fear seized his mind, body, and soul. Stopping his flight, he looked dumbfounded at the sky as if a hammer had struck his mind.
"Ugh…"
His eyes started to bleed, his ears started to ring, his heart pounded so fast that he felt like it would burst at any second and even floating became impossible for him as he lost all of his senses and control of his mind and body, causing him to plummet straight into the sea like a stone with no strings.
It was at that moment that a golden light started to spread from the belt he had attached to his hips.
As warmth filled his body once again, the sounds filled with madness and violence that had affected his mind seemed to be blocked by an invisible wall and his consciousness returned to him, allowing him to stop himself from falling deeper into the sea and eventually come to the surface.
"Fuck. What the hell was that?"
[You need to run! Now!]
It was the first time Adam had felt Genesis sound genuinely emotional about something. Its voice was filled with so much anxiety, fear, and a sense of despair that it was hard to believe.
But Adam had no time to answer Genesis as the book appeared in front of him and a list of new ordeals appeared in front of his eyes.
Then… He finally understood why Genesis had reacted like that and showed those emotions…
How could it not be?
『 Mythical Ordeal: Fleeing Knight.
Description: A superior entity is coming to the world. The ritual is already complete. Stopping it is impossible. Your chances of victory are negative. Flee at an even faster speed than you used to come here or you will discover why death is a sweet release.
Reward: Your Freedom. 』
『 Mythical Ordeal: Surrendering Knight.
Description: A superior entity is coming to the world. If fleeing is impossible, consider surrendering yourself to it. As an entity deeply tied to Cain, your chances of not ending up as a slave forever tied down in the depths of hell will massively increase once you decide to surrender and offer yourself. There is no shame in surrendering in front of overwhelming power.
Reward: Your Freedom? 』
Adam could barely keep his mind straight at the messages that kept bombarding him one after another inside of the swiftly turning pages of the book of Genesis.
He could not understand how the simple elimination of a random gangster escalated to an end-of-the-world scenario like the summoning of The Devil in person.
But his surprise did not just stop there.
Just as he was about to follow the advice of Genesis and the ordeal and fly the hell out of this place… something changed in the atmosphere. As though everything had been a lie.
『 Be not afraid 』
A voice that seemed to have come up from the deepest depths of the abyss of no return but at the same time… filled with untold warmth filled the air and the surrounding area.
A flash of golden light that nearly blinded his eyes descended from the skies above and the heavy aura that had been affecting him till now completely vanished into thin air. In the sky, the reverse pentagram with a goat head was cleanly erased, and in its place was another symbol. A simpler circle with no particular signs.
The two Mythical class ordeals that had previously appeared instantly vanished and a new ordeal appeared in their place.
Adam's expression became thoughtful as he read the ordeal and started to wonder…
Was fleeing still necessary?
CH 245: LIGHT AND LIGHT
Looking at the ghastly pale body of his now dead wife of his, who had departed from this plane for the afterlife by his own hands, Kang Ho fell silent.
His previously pristine white robe, decorated in gold trimmings and the insignia of the golden cross, as well as the dagger on his hand, were still drenched in the warm blood of his wife.
This was how the ritual should have proceeded from the get-go. Killing Hae-Won had always been a necessary sacrifice for his ambitions to come to fruition but he had an unsavory feeling that he had gotten defeated somehow in this bout with his late wife.
He had expected many things, many reactions from his dear wife during this encounter. Crying and begging for her life in tears, screaming in agony and desperation to spare her life… Like so many humans did before her whenever it was time for them to start their journey to the underworld or afterlife as some call it.
The more regret, pain, desperation, and despair she felt during this act, the more powerful the effects of her sacrifice would have become as it would have fed on all her negative emotions and would have acted as fuel to further the progress of the ritual.
However, none of the expectations he had for this sacrifice was fulfilled, sad as that may be. Hae-Won did not beg. Nor did she leak out a single drop of tear or a voice of despair. She didn't curse nor did she wail in agony and desperation for her helplessness to prevent her demise.
She simply laughed at his face, mocked and humiliated him until her very last breath.
A part of him was unequivocally impressed by her dying performance.
Hae-Won had always been a rather timid woman and this was one of the reasons why the hypnosis had been so effective on her.
And the rest… was incredibly pissed off at what he had to go through…
Since he had now come to realize, after calming his wrath down, that… the man with whom she had fraternized and cheated on himself was the cause behind her sudden surge of confidence; totally unexpected for a timid woman like her.
A mixture of emptiness, unbridled rage, and wrath filled his heart for a split instant, threatening to leak out at any moment. But that feeling of instability and distress did not last for long.
He was someone destined for greatness and he would kill the man who dared to touch her wife later down the road.
For now though… He had a glorious purpose to achieve. One that would cement his ascension and his place as an apostle of his senior and lord. Once he obtained his acknowledgment, he would stop being a man and would become close to a godly entity.
"It's time."
He could feel it instinctively in the very depths of his mind and body, the time of reckoning was soon approaching…
The prayers of the devout believers in all-white went in a crescendo behind him and he approached his sleeping son.
This time, he did not make the mistake of waking him up.
He merely started chanting before him and then finally spoke…
"Bring in the sacrifice…"
One of the priests of the cult soon approached the body of the dead Hae-Won and tore her chest open with his bare hands, causing a sickening crunch and stench to fill the air as all her entrails were exposed to the air. Then, using his claws, he brought out her still-warm heart.
Taking said still-warm heart in his hands, Kang Ho closed his eyes and clenched his fingers around it, causing the blood that was left inside to spray on the body of his peacefully sleeping son, covering him from head to toe on the sprinkles of the blood of his very own mother.
Words were not enough to describe what that child would have felt if he had known what was happening to him right now or what was sprinkled on top of him by his own father.
But this is a necessary sacrifice. Only by using the body of the child carefully grown to become the perfect receptacle could this whole ritual even take place. Even then, this would only be enough to bring out one specific avatar of his god and master.
'Thank America for preparing the perfect ground and day for this ritual.'
He laughed inwardly before slowly quieting down his thoughts. The true ritual was starting and he would allow no intrusive thoughts to come and ruin it.
Everything needed to be absolutely perfect.
"I bring this sacrifice to the Father residing in the deepest darkness of the cosmos…"
He sang and twelve believers approached one after another and stood behind him… Not long after, they soon unsheathed the dagger in their belts and held it in their hands…
"My brothers and sisters. Are you ready for the finale of our long and arduous journey?"
"We are."
"Are you willing to give your everything to our lord and savior!?"
"We are!"
Kang Ho looked at them with heavy emotions in his eyes and face; like a father looking proudly at his child after they finally started to walk on the correct way toward their glorious goals.
"We pray today to bring our True Father from the depths of the prison he had been unjustly sent to by the false god and you! All of you! My dear brothers and sisters… will be the first cornerstone for the start of a new world order.
"You will be the first and most beloved by the side of our true Lord and Savior."
They started to weep into tears of joy and happiness, overwhelmed as they were by the magnitude of these deep emotions that were filling their hearts to the brim.
"'HE' is our lord and savior."
「HE is our lord and savior.」
"'HE' is the Light Bringer, the one that will bring us salvation."
「HE is the Light Bringer, the one that will bring salvation.」
"The defier and the poison of the unworthy gods."
「The defier and the poison of the unworthy gods.」
"...And we… are nothing more than the Torchbearer that will spread 'HIS' Gospel."
「May HIS will fall upon us. May HIS will be realized. May HIS will illuminate the world full of Athens.」
A large white-on-black pentagram appeared below them, depicting the head of a horned goat and the word Samael written in the middle of the five sides of the upside-down star. [1]
The body of Kang Ho's son started to float quietly in the air and at the same time, the atmosphere in the entire island started to undergo a drastic change.
The air became heavy and the moonlight changed from a beautiful silvery white to a deep bloody crimson.
The madness started to spread all around. The prayers of the believers became more fervent and some even started to spasm on the ground as if they were having a seizure. Some of the believers started bleeding from every part of their bodies as they looked at the moon but even then they never stopped their earnest prayers and chants to their Lord.
Finally… As the clock ticked and the date was about to change, Kang Ho smiled jovially.
"Thanksgiving is nearly upon us."
He spread his arms wide as if he wished to embrace the entire world.
"The most acclaimed day in this nation and a day filled with Lies and Betrayal."
The 12 chosen believers placed the dagger close to their necks in unison.
And finally…
When the clock exactly ticked…
00:00
They all slashed their own necks at the same time.
[Thursday — 28th November 2030]
"Let us welcome The Father of all Lies on this most auspicious day."
He was exhilarated as if he was finally about to reach the summit of success.
His goal had finally been accomplished.
At least… This was what he believed—
Until a golden light filled the skies and filled this space with the power of purification…
[Be Not Afraid]
CH 246: ALERT
[Los Angeles — LAPPD]
Back in the secret base of the LAPPD branch of the Los Angeles Police Department, in the underground area of the Central Bureau, Theresa was presently enjoying a special blend of tea as she wished to keep herself awake to work on a certain important document that she had on her hands. She was trying to find out what kind of investigation the previous Director was undergoing and how it could have led to the assassination of such a high level hunter.
There were very few organizations out there in the supernatural world that specialized in assassination and were simultaneously skilled enough to pull off something like that and all of them were not the kind she would like to mess around with for no reason whatsoever. Simply put, they were all above her pay grade and she had no love for overwork.
"You awake?"
She glanced toward Makoto, her apprentice, who had just fluttered open her eyelids after a rather deep session of meditation and image training.
"Don't worry about me, silly child. Finding your Truth is just the start of your journey, you know, and… If I had to be honest with you, even if you do find your Truth any time soon, it will take you years before you even manage to evolve that Truth into your very own Phantasm Realm."
"Mei-sama and Cecilia-sama were already at the Phantasm Realm at my age."
Theresa could only give a bitter smile at that statement. However, she did not try to insist by saying that Makoto shouldn't compare herself to monsters like those two.
She may be Cecilia's sister but the difference in talent between the pair of sisters couldn't be any more different. Even after twenty years of arduous training and climbing the ranks to become a Director, she was still weaker now than the Cecilia of 21 years ago. For someone who had already touched the realms of a Zodiac at that age, a Director like her was cannon fodder at best in Cecilia's prime.
"Perhaps—"
!
She was not allowed to finish her sentence before a piercing sound filled the air and a red alert light flashed throughout the entirety of the underground branch.
"Oh… No…"
Theresa stood up with clear disbelief plastered on her face. She recognized this alert single. How could she not recognize it? It had only been such a short time since she had last heard it, after all…
"What the fuck?"
"Ma'am! We have a very big problem on our hands here!"
Someone barged into her office at breakneck speed with sweat covering every contour of his face. He didn't have the time to think about decorum as he barged into the office of his superior in such an unsightly manner. The news he had to deliver to her took precedence over everything else. "We are receiving reports of a calamity-level event occurring as we speak. But… The readings show that the magnitude of the threat… is even higher in scale than the summoning of Surtr all those years ago."
Theresa's expression became grave and she released a sigh of utter dismay. This situation was beyond her control at this point. The only way to face such a calamity was to have a Zodiac in their midst but she knew for a fact that there was not even a single Zodiac close to Los Angeles right now. Meanwhile, Cecilia was far from her prime and she would be damned if she put this burden on her sister who literally had a foot on the grave in these times.
'It seems like it's time to sacrifice my life.'
She could only chuckle to herself with a self deprecating laugh at that bitter thought before she materialized two guns into the air and wielded them in both of her hands. They were also Divine Weapons that had been crafted thanks to the gift she received from Cecilia. Her own personal Divine Weapons were made with cores that came from Hel.
She had chosen this place to transfer to because she thought it would be a cushy job for her but it seemed like that decision would be the reason for her to meet with an early death.
"Prepare the evacuation of the civilians, announce the red alert throughout the city, and tell all private organizations that we have now entered martial law. I am officially taking full control of everything and every force of the city and will try to gain as much time as possible for everyone to leave this place to safety."
All those criminals and private organizations were given so much freedom for a moment like this. Everything had a price and it was time for them to pay them with their life.
She didn't expect them to sacrifice themselves for this scenario but they would need as much help as possible from them and she was sure as hell going to milk them for everything they were worth.
"Boss."
"Don't look at me like this. Perhaps I might survive, who knows?" She chuckled and stopped Makoto who was about to speak, "Now tell me, where is the ritual exactly?"
"We are trying to locate the—"
He was just about to finish his sentence but… the red alert suddenly stopped… As if the previous scene had been a lie, causing Theresa to look at the ceiling with a frown and a sense of confusion coloring her eyes…
"What the…?"
Meanwhile, the assistant who had brought the news tilted his head as new information was being shared through his headset in real time.
"Huh…"
"What is happening?"
"It seems like our detector malfunctioned. It is not detecting any more of such intense activity. We only detected a weak demon activity in Malibu."
Theresa narrowed her eyes at those words, "You are telling that this very expensive device that cost the equivalent of billions of dollars to actually make and maintain had a malfunction? Are you joking with me right now?"
She sneered, "Something ain't right. Go and talk with whoever is responsible for the maintenance of the machine and make sure to find the place where the first signal was shown."
Someone was trying to induce them in error and she would not let this happen.
Once her assistant left, she sighed. Feeling a little dumb for her earlier reaction.
"Perhaps I should ask to be transferred to another place?"
Two calamity-level events in the span of a single month was a never before seen happenstance and she had a certain nagging premotion that this was just the beginning of all the fiasco. She couldn't help but feel incredibly bitter when she thought about that.
"Is it really a malfunction?"
Theresa shook her head at Makoto's words. "This isn't some kind of machine created with imported or fraudulent pieces. This thing cannot malfunction. This only means that someone's power was able to interfere with the reading ability of the detector."
Cold sweat gathered on her forehead.
This wasn't a simple question of power but of specific law and ability.
She didn't know what kind of devil could stop the machine's reading but whoever it was… could shift the precarious peace they had been trying to build up over this era.
Taking her phone out, she dialed a number before holding it against her ears. It seemed like she would have to once again ask for help from the church. At the same time, she spent a message to the national agency so that they could help in moving people away from the beach and the sea areas.
"What a way to start Thanksgiving."
This was going to be a very shitty day, she could already feel it in her bones.
CH 247: WHAT WILL YOU CHOOSE?
While Theresa was seriously contemplating her future job prospects, Adam was facing a more complicated situation as he contemplated his chances of failure and the ensuing repeated deaths on that front as he looked over the page of the Book of Genesis that showed him a new set of ordeals for him to accomplish.
『 Epic Ordeal: White Knight
Description: For reasons unknown, Azazel— the Archangel of Death has managed to stop the descent of Lucifer on this world. But in his place, another High ranked Devil of Hell, Xezbeth, the Devil of Lies was sent to accomplish his tasks and allow him to descend on this plane. He is severely wounded right now and cannot bring out the full extent of his devilish powers. Fight him, defeat him, and save the cultists from the devil's grasp as all humans are deserving of a second chance. Every Cultist saved gives an additional 30 karma points to you. An additional 60 karma points will be rewarded for every person you convert into your follower.
Reward: 20000 Karma Points
People Saved: 0/35
People Converted: 0/35 』
『 Epic Ordeal: Grey Knight
Description: Devils are the enemies of humanity. But are they your enemies? As you may or may not be a human… Make a deal with Xezbeth. Sign a contract with him and become a warlock under his rule and ensure the descent of the legions of hell on this plane.
Reward: 10000 Karma Points 』
『 Epic Ordeal: Black Knight
Description: No one deserves a second chance. A sin done once is a sin done forever. Everyone must pay for their insolence. Leave no one alive. An additional reward will be given if you manage to kill Xezbeth along the way.
Base Reward: 15000 Karma Points
Additional Reward: 10000 Karma Points 』
Adam slowly came down from the skies as he read through the conditions, rewards, and details of his latest set of ordeals. He could take the easy way out from this one— fly away and announce what he witnessed and come back with reinforcement.
But…Could he ever come across the same situation ever again? What if they already leave before he came back?
Adam dismissed the book, making it dematerialize and return to its own dimension attached to his soul. Once again, the three quests were all very enticing to him and all were acceptable in a certain way to his own morales.
Putting his hand in his belt, specifically the weapon sheath housing his newest weapon, Adam took out the holy dagger as well as the golden holy water from his other pocket that he had received from his visit to the church. In the next moment, he threw them as far as possible while making sure to slow down their fall with his domain.
"Time to face my destiny, I guess."
Devils could be beaten without holy power but only holy power could truly erase them from existence.
Those things might become an invaluable trump card for him even if he decided to take the path of the Grey Knight so he had to make sure that the devil was not able to detect their presence.
—
When Adam walked through the island, a small uneasiness kept creeping up in his heart. But he did not stop his advance no matter the uneasiness he felt within.
In order to prepare for the eventuality of being blitzed, he even considerably reduced the coverage of his domain, bringing it to only a few tens of meters where he had absolute control of the space surrounding him. His fight against Cecilia had taught him that when fighting potentially superior enemies, having a domain that covered a large area would only drag down his computation power and bring no particular advantage to the battle. And by compressing it to such a small state, he would be able to receive near godlike perception in the vicinity of his domain.
—
While Adam was approaching the devil with caution in his every step, on the altar, an eerie scene was taking place.
Above, in the high skies, a golden light seemed to be mixing up with a crimson light and fighting for dominance. However, at a glance, it was easy to see that the golden light was barely able to take its ground and fight against the malevolent crimson light of horror and violence.
Meanwhile, down below…
Crunch~!
Standing on the altar, a small kid he was able to recognize opened his mouth wider than should be humanly possible and chomped down the head of a woman, entirely draped in a white holy cloth, with immense force that could even grind down the toughest materials in existence.
On the face of said woman, there was no fear even up to the last moment as her head was crushed under the grotesque multilayered teeth of the young kid. Her body was limbless, the stumps where her arms and legs should have been, still bleeding, and her head now inside the monstrous boy's stomach. She was deader than dead.
There were many rows of humans, all kneeling and looking at the kid with faces filled with an expression of worship and reverence. They even looked at the woman being devoured by the kid as if she was someone extremely lucky to have been given the chance of being devoured by their one true Lord and wished for nothing more than to take her place. A sickening scene of horrors was ensuing in this place filled with unimaginable darkness and malevolence…
Crunch~! Chomp~!
Blood, brain matter, and protruding pieces of skull splashed and covered the face of the innocent-looking kid, giving him a look that would make even the greatest of veterans in the horror scene feel like their blood going cold at the sight. However, he seemed to show no care as he continued to munch on at the head of the dead woman while showing a frowning and disgusted expression as though he was devouring the worst food in the world.
Spat~!
"Disgusting…! Not even a trace of Prana in the meat's body. This is very low-grade meat. Every single one of them. Utterly pathetic…"
Next to the kid, Kang Ho kneeled down on the ground, his mind blank and filled with trepidation.
"I am terribly sorry. Most hunters are…"
"Failure. I do not need your pitiful excuses, worm…"
The kid turned a gaze filled with disdain and wrath at the crouching and trembling figure of Kang Ho— his summoner…
"You dared to try to summon the spirit of our Great King in a body that was baptized by the church. Were you trying to prepare a trap for us, you insignificant worm!?"
His voice was low and filled with irrefutable menace. But this caused Kang Ho to feel even more fear and made his whole body, mind, and soul tremble in utter fright. "No! My faith in the Lord knows no bounds. I would never do such a thing. I could not even hope to betray my Lord! Believe me!"
"Obviously. The only reason you are still alive is because of that, after all. After having read the memories of this body, I realized that he was baptized this morning at the demand of his mother."
Kang Ho's eyes opened wide and his face contorted in a mixture of anger, wrath, indignance, and frustration when he realized just how much Hae-Won had screwed him over even after her death.
The kid sneered and ignored the pitiful human that was worse than a lowly worm in his eyes. The man would be useful to him in the future, so he could not deal with him yet. If the ritual had taken place a few days later or at a time different from Thanksgiving, then they would have surely failed to even summon him.
Thankfully for him, this failure was a golden opportunity that he could not miss out on. He was given the chance to descend to Earth— the mortal plane of existence. This was something that would have never happened in a normal scenario.
Even though he was constantly taking damage and this body was already doomed to disintegrate, if he was careful with it he would be able to inhabit the body for a few weeks and spread his power and faith throughout the world. Azazel may be an immensely powerful being and an Archangel of the highest order but it was impossible for him to beat their King. No matter what he did.
'Hahaha~'
He wiped his mouth with his sleeves, cleaning up the stinky blood and worthless meat and flesh of the low-quality meat he was provided with, and stood up before looking in Adam's direction. His head, tilted until it was more than 90 degrees to the side was staring intently at the slowly advancing figure of the newcomer…
Then, a bloody large smile that reached up to his very ears appeared on the face of the devil inhabiting the body of the boy…
"Though… It seems like some high-grade food is coming to me of its own volition."
Biting down once more on the headless torso of the woman and tearing away her breasts with a huge bite, he chuckled and stood up before slowly starting to float up in the air and appearing before Adam's sight.
"Tell me, intruder… Will you come and kneel before me? Or will you suffer endless pain before being devoured by thyself?"
The only answer he received from Adam was a middle finger and a sneer.
CH 248: FIGHT (1)
[?]
In a place beyond even the jurisdiction of the primordial concepts of time and space, as it was told, seen, and understood by humans, laid a superior dimension where all the laws and concepts holding reality were twisted beyond recognition of the mortal mind. And in that very place now stood two beings who faced each other blow for blow, causing the already twisted and convoluted laws and concepts to become even more unrecognizable and irrelevant to this higher order dimension.
The mere presence of those two mythical beings was enough to change the very reality they now stood in. Such were the powers of the concept and laws that they wielded with their existence.
The first among the two mythical beings was a pleasant-looking young man with beautiful short golden hair, equally golden eyes, and six magnificent pair of wings made out of a dazzling, ethereal, and holy light that seemed to chase away all vestiges of darkness and malice from one's mind.
The man was a beautiful being in shape, form, and existence, to say the least. His golden eyes seemed to hold millions of stars within its unimaginable depths and the benevolent smile that was ever present on his face could melt the heart of the most hardened men and make them worship him for his presence.
However, the other mythical being that could be seen facing him was the total opposite of the wonderful and holy existence that the man wielded— a grotesque monstrosity beyond any description that one would be able to convey with mere human words alone.
It was a giant of cosmic size. It had four faces and four thousand wings covering all of its immense body, that seemed to be large enough to even cover the entire solar system with no problem whatsoever. His whole body was covered in eyes and tongues whose number could not be discerned. Such was the design of the monstrous being that transcended the concept of description itself.
Sometimes one eye and tongue would randomly disappear and then a new pair would randomly appear the next moment as if they were all following a certain cycle that only they themselves and the being wielding them were aware of. Nobody else could ever hope to discern the difference and the logic behind this abomination's existence. [1]
The two entities faced each other with utter silence. One whose proportion seemingly surpassed everything that the human eyes could perceive and another one who was so small and insignificant before the other that he seemed to be nothing but a speck of dust when compared to the giant of cosmic lengths. Both of them silently nailed down the other party with their divine gazes…
Despite what his size and existence may convey to the onlooker… The young, handsome, and oh-so-tiny man looked at the cosmic giant with a sense of leisure that was hard to describe in words.
"Azrael, my dear brother. How long had it been since the last time we saw each other?"
"Not since you lost and was chased away from the throne, Samael."
The name came from the innumerable mouths of the cosmic entity like a deep rumbling noise with the power to sweep away the entire solar system. Millions upon Millions of voices mixed together and formed a single unity that could affect and distort the reality in its wake.
Indeed. It was hard to imagine but the entity that looked like a monstrosity was in fact the angel, while the small-looking human was in fact the Devil in the flesh…
Samael smiled charmingly after hearing his brother of countless eons speak out his name. The mention of his defeat during the rebellion of Heaven sparked no hard feelings in him apparently, "It has been a long time since anyone called me thus… So much nostalgia in that word…"
He sighed theatrically before finally, "So… Will you stop me? I thought you were neutral when it came to all of this. Even during my rebellion, you did not act for either side. So… Why do so now?"
Death was fair. Death was the only equalizer in a world where no one was truly equal. For the same reason, Azrael was a being of immense fairness and neutrality. As long as no one bothered him or tampered with the laws of Death, he would not act outside of his duty of reaping the life of beings who had reached their end.
"The child of man was blessed in my name."
"Is that so? As direct and succinct as always, huh? I guess the Balance found once again a way to stop me."
He laughed, "But your action is useless. The one I sent below will do the job in my stead."
Samael spoke quietly but squinted when he realized something strange.
When he said those words, he hoped to elicit some form of a reaction from his dear brother of old. But he realized that rather than answering, all the mouths and eyes curled in a certain way and shape that was both eerie and wonderful. It was an unimaginable sight to behold.
Was it laughter? Mockery?
He frowned… It seemed like things would take a turn that he had not quite anticipated. But his frown turned soon into a smile full of anticipation,
"How fun…!"
—
Back on Earth, in the mortal plane, as Adam finally reached the place where all the madness and violence was taking place, he couldn't help but feel disgusted at the sight of a seemingly normal kid devouring a human in such a grotesque fashion. This made Adam once again remember all the repressed memories of what had happened inside of the Park, and he obviously did not really like being reminded of that dark page of his past.
"Tell me, intruder… Will you come and kneel before me? Or will you suffer endless pain before being devoured by thyself?"
Adam only showed him a middle finger to the absurd words more by reflex than anything else and while he regretted his rash action for a slight instant, it changed nothing in the end since he decided to put that devil down anyways.
『 Name: Xezbeth [2]
Affiliation: Lucifer
Alias: The Liar || The Storyteller.
Race: Devil
Age: 300 Million Years (Estimated)
Emotions: Hunger (For your existence) 』
『 Stats
Strength: A (SS)
Speed: B (SS)
Dexterity: B (SS)
Endurance: F (SS)
Prana: A (SS+)
Charm: B
Willpower: A
Luck: E
Overall Combat Capacity: Fluctuating
Remark: Fight fast or leave as soon as you possibly can. The longer you stay here, the lower your chances of winning… 』
Looking at Adam giving him the middle finger, Xezbeth tilted his head in utter confusion, "I do not understand what you mean by that puny human. But I guess you choose to resist me. Furthermore… You dare to inspect me with that sacrilegious technique of yours!? Blasphemous!"
The atmosphere changed abruptly as Xezbeth bellowed out in wrath and anger. His Prana spread all over the atmosphere causing the vegetation to change— crumbling, darkening, rotting, and dying in that particular order and that was not exclusive to the vegetation alone.
This was the power of a true high ranking devil— the very capacity to encroach and change an entire zone by entirely polluting it with its aura of existence.
'Fuck!'
Whooh~!
Adam managed to move away from where he was, fast enough to avoid the rapidly speeding ray of crimson light that had just been fired by the demon toward him.
BOOM~!
A huge explosion broke out as a large patch of the forest behind him was erased by the attack he had just avoided.
"Hahah! Behold! My magnificent power! Even in such a frail and weak body, I am still unmatched in this plane. Ah, how utterly boring…"
He grinned and looked at Adam with hunger in his eyes, floating quietly under the crimson moon, "Now tell me, puny human? Are you going to fight me? Or will you beg for your life in the unsightly ways of you worthless humans? Choose now, I don't have much time to bother with weaklings!"
All the answer he got was a tree being thrown at him at the speed of the sound.
—
[1]: So this is the true form of Azrael as described by the religious texts. For those who do not know. In the past, angels were not described as winged handsome dudes or girls. In fact, most angels don't even have wings. They were being worthy of being described in some love craft book. This is why when Angel came they say [Be not Afraid]. There are other reasons for that sentence but yeah.
It was around the 4th Century that angels started to be represented with wings and handsome appearances. I guess it's easier to preach about a handsome man or woman protecting you like a guardian angel rather than saying some Lovecraftian being is constantly observing you and protecting you.
CH 249: FIGHT (2)
The tall trees, ten meters in length at the very least, were thrown all over with such immense force that it created a shockwave on its trail. On the path of its descent, seemingly unable to bear the force of its own acceleration, it exploded into millions of pieces and rained down on the ground in a deadly shower of razor-sharp splinters.
"Agh!"
Some of the believers were unable to avoid the raining down pieces of the trees and were immediately stabbed into becoming literal porcupines, however, Adam did not care much for them and their security and just watched on as the tree fragments rained on the devil.
"You dare interrupt me in my speech!?"
What remained of the trees was unable to even pass through the barrier he had hastily created, "Bastard!"
Adam cheered in his mind even as he was insulted ruthlessly by the devil. He knew very well that fighting Cecilia gave him a tremendous level of experience and he was fully intent on using it in this fight.
'Move…'
The ground rumbled, the earth fissured, and cracks started to appear all over the island floor as he used his mind to destabilize the ground and make gigantic pieces of rocks float up from below, intent on using them as his weapon of mass destruction.
'Even though the overall power is fluctuating currently, he should be around S rank or even S+ rank at the moment.'
Adam frowned heavily at that thought. That was the same level of power as his mother after she had taken the potion Medusa had prepared for her and in terms of physique alone, he was basically superior in all attributes compared to even Yui— someone who had the greatest physical attributes among everyone he was able to glean information on at his current level of power.
'Shit.'
Adam instinctively realized one truth.
Winning in a no hold barred fight head-on would be very complicated and almost impossible for him against this monstrously powerful devil. The opponent was superior to him in more or less every stat possible and had the experience of existing for over three hundred million years. There was no way he could think of that would be able to fight with this being head-on and win the bout.
'Who would have thought that my last fight with Mom would be so useful for me right now and that too so soon…'
He needed to fight smart and unconventionally for even the slightest chance of victory. Moreover, he needed to keep the different plethora of trump cards he had up his sleeves hidden until the best opportunity presented itself or was created by him to use on the devil for a decisive shot at triumph.
"Well, shall we dance?"
Taking out one of the cigarettes that were offered to him by Medusa, Adam calmly smoked in the soothing contents of the cigarette, feeling his mind clear up slightly due to the calming effects.
He hadn't used it during his fight against his mother since it was just training. But he had no hesitation in doping himself in a fight to the death against a superior opponent.
Bzzz~! Bzzz~!
Sparks and waves of supercharged electricity began filling the air surrounding him and covered up his entire body.
Whoosh~
Moving his head aside very slightly, he narrowly managed to avoid a straight punch to the face by the descended devil of lies and deceit.
Adam did not wonder how the devil had managed to cover the long distance separating them so easily. It was rather easy to guess how he was able to do it.
So all he could do was anticipate and sense his attacks before he was even able to make them. Thankfully, the domain would help him in that regard.
Boom~!
The cultists screamed and ran amok when what looked like the end of the world was beginning to transpire all around them.
They had been hypnotized over the years to not fear death. But that was only for a meaningful death.
Outside of that keyword, they had perfectly normal reactions as they watched what basically amounted to a fight between literal gods for mortals like them.
There was no other way to accurately describe just what was happening before their eyes.
On one side, Adam was acting like he was completely in possession of the direction of the fight, using his power in quite the novel but seemingly reckless way.
The result was pure mayhem and destruction as rocks, trees, and everything that existed in this plain were basically being used as projectiles to attack his opponent.
It didn't just stop at that, the gravity inside of his domain had been set to the lightest possible, forcing the devil to constantly stay floating to avoid the adverse effects that his momentum would bring forth due to the nigh non-existent gravity.
'Is it a phantasm realm?'
Xezbeth couldn't help but marvel at the power displayed by what he had considered to be a puny human till now. The seemingly human boy had a very large arsenal of skills that he could barely even begin to understand and comprehend. Some of them seemed even have the power to affect reality and even dreams.
But this was where his surprise stopped. He didn't live for over three hundred million years for nothing, after all. He had basically seen everything that could be seen and was not afraid of the boy's skillset.
"I commend your courage and your talent in keeping up thus far. So, let me ask you this for the last time… Will you submit to me?"
Humans were beings with nigh unlimited potential and extremely minuscule time in comparison to enjoy said potential and reach the fullest extent of their aptitude and possibilities. Extremely rarely was there a human with immeasurable potential who was able to live up to it and reach the fullest extent of their aptitudes. All who were able to was already known to the entire world.
But even then, even after everything he had seen and every knowledge he knew about humans, he had hardly seen an interesting man of Adam's caliber.
He received no answer nor insults this time but the silence and the desire to fight in the eyes of his opponent was all he needed to understand what he wished.
"A shame, really…"
CH 250: DONUT
The fight went up a notch as Xezbeth started to move seriously this time around.
The two of them fought in the air, on the ground, and even sometimes underground, destroying everything in their way and basically annihilating the whole foundation of the land they were standing and fighting upon.
"Do not falter! Pray for the messenger of our god. Give him your utmost Faith."
Even as the fight was going on, Kang Ho managed to get back his bearings and gather back the believers to support the devil.
These were not empty words that he spoke of. Even though they were only pitiful ants in front of the Celestial Supernatural creatures, some godly entities who used Faith to ascend would become stronger through the direct application of faith and the wishes of their believers.
Kang Ho did not know who the bastard was that just came to this place and dared to fight the messenger of the Devil himself…
But he did know that if he was caught by the hunters and brought to the tribunal, his destiny would be something even worse than death.
He had given up too much and made way too many sacrifices for him to only stop here and now.
He needed to succeed, nay, he would succeed. No matter what happened, this would only end in his win. He would make sure of that possibility.
—
While Kang Ho was doing his best to help the devil of lies win this battle, Adam was also slowly but surely being cornered by Xezbeth's onslaught.
At the end of the day, the difference in stats between them was even more brutal than what he expected initially.
For every one hit Adam could send to the devil, Xezbeth could send three with even more force than what he could hope to deliver with his abilities…
Adam was more human than anything else and was thus limited by his human body. He needed to avoid nearly any and all attacks coming from Xezbeth to avoid being put down instantly.
Meanwhile, even when Adam landed a solid hit, Xezbeth barely twitched, acting as if he could not even feel a tickle when getting hit by Adam's strikes.
He would sometimes avoid the projectiles that were thrown at him or would tank them with his body and come out completely unscathed from that bout.
This only led to the scenario of, even as time passed, Adam becoming more and more bloody as small wounds accumulated throughout his body.
Meanwhile, the slightest of wounds that he could barely be able to make on Xezbeth's body would instantly regenerate due to the monstrous being's inhuman healing factor.
"Give up already, mortal. You cannot hope to win against me."
'I need holy power.'
Adam clenched his teeth but soon relaxed after taking a deep breath of the calming cigarette smoke.
Now was not the time for him to use that trump card. He was being pushed back with little effort by that messenger of hell and while he was able to slightly keep up with him after exhausting nearly all of his abilities bar his trump cards, Adam knew that this would not be enough for him to land a decisive hit on the insufferable creature.
'One deadly blade.'
Boom~!
A shockwave filled the air as Xezbeth's punch landed on Adam's psychic shield.
Boom~! Boom~! Boom~! Boom~!
What followed suit was a flurry of hits with such speed that it gave the impression of hundreds of hits being delivered simultaneously in the span of less than a second.
Crack~!
In the end, after one last mighty Swing of his fist, Adam's barrier was unable to support the power of the devil and instantly shattered into pieces.
The power behind the hit was enough to send him straight down in the direction of the altar.
Wooosh~
Using the momentum to his advantage at the last moment, Adam barely managed to avoid the destiny of being squashed into meat paste when he landed.
"This is getting complicated."
He hated this feeling of having so little he could do despite his overwhelming amount of skills and possibilities.
He was about to fly again and fight against Xezbeth when he finally realized something.
"Ah…"
There was the corpse of a woman next to him. A corpse that he was barely able to notice in all the turmoil.
If this was just a corpse of an average woman, he would not have even paid it any attention. Well, not in the dire state that he was in. His aversion would've been amplified since the body of the woman was in quite a bad state.
But when his gaze landed on the face of the woman, Adam's mind paused and all of his cognitive abilities shut down at the same time.
"Ah…"
Where was Hae-Won?
Adam did not think too much about this initially. Most likely Kang Ho had not brought her for the ritual, was what he believed.
That was normal, right?
But now… He understood…
Kang Ho had indeed brought Hae-Won with him.
—and she was now dead. In one of the most gruesome ways possible, she had been killed in this place.
And it was all because of him…
"You are distracted."
It was too late for Adam to react to the voice. In more ways than one, he was physically unable to react. By the time he registered the devil's words, Xezbeth's hand, shining with a powerful light, was already right in front of his face.
"It seems like that woman was someone important to you. Then you just have to accompany her."
Light flashed and a huge part of Adam's torso was cleanly erased, creating a donut-shaped hole. Blood did not even spurt as the wounds were closed by the scalding heat of the energy wave.
In the end, the body kneeled before falling helplessly and lifelessly, eerily close to the lifeless body of Hae-Won. Ironically, their posture in such a way that made it seem like they were looking at each other even in death.
And with that… Adam died for the first time in this fight… Laying alongside the woman he partially drove to her demise.
CH 251: EVOLUTION
Adam felt his life force slipping his grasp and a shade of utter darkness covered his mind and soul as he drifted to the embrace of death.
How many times had he died by now? He couldn't even bring himself to count at this point. But if he were to make a rough estimation, it would probably be more than a hundred times already. If something happened to you that many times, you would also lose interest in keeping count…
'Ah… I guess I really deserved it this time, huh…'
For the first time ever in this short life of his, Adam truly embraced the sleep that Death brought to him with open arms.
At the same time…
[The Curse of Cain is reacting to your emotions and state of mind.]
—
Just when Adam fell to his wounds and welcomed the embrace of death for the very first time in his life, somewhere far away, farther than any mortal could ever hope to reach or could even imagine existing, there was a man who was sitting on a throne of thorns and had finally opened his eyes in what seemed like a millennium.
But it didn't really matter to him as time was not a thought of concern for a being of the man's caliber. He was already beyond the mere concepts of the space-time continuum.
His body was thin like a stick and his face was covered by a white hood, leaving only his golden eyes to glow out from beyond the darkness of his veiled face.
His golden eyes were eerie and fascinating, as there were two stars shaped black pupils shining out from between their golden depths. Large chains coiled around his entire body as if restricting him from leaving from this throne made of thorns but he did not spare a glance at them as he looked into the distance, in the direction of Earth.
"Already?"
Speaking those words in an eerie voice, he then looked up at the dark ceiling and muttered something under his breath before closing his eyes once again and returning to his slumber.
Now was not the time yet. But he could feel that time was finally moving for him. Soon, very soon, he would achieve the dream that had spanned across countless eons…
—
"Where am I?"
When Adam opened his eyes … He was startled to realize that he was not on the island where he had died at the hands of the devil. There was no one present in the place that he found himself in right now.
He was now completely alone in an utterly dark void. It was the kind of place where there was not a single source of light and where he was unable to even see his own body in the overarching darkness.
In the first place, was he even present with his body in this place? It was hard to say that for sure.
"Where is this place?"
He asked once again but still no answer came, only silence remained. He was simply alone in this world, wherever it may be.
Something akin to a sigh leaked out of him as he realized the gravity of his current situation.
Even though he could think, he could not use any of his powers, sense anything, or even move. It almost felt like he had suddenly become isolated from everything and everyone and was suddenly transported inside a place that was disconnected from reality itself.
He tried contacting Genesis but nothing happened no matter what he tried; not even a word of response came back no matter how long he called for the book spirit.
"Did I actually die for good this time or what?"
He was starting to wonder if this place was actually hell and if he had finally died for real this time, unlike all the times before.
It wouldn't really be bad if he did, was what he thought in the deepest recess of his mind.
He always wondered how he would react when he came face to face with a true final death to end it all. What would he think and what would he do in that kind of scenario?
He realized now that, once again, the thought of Death left him mostly indifferent. He had already died so many times that he had now become completely numb to the prospect of dying already.
If he was in his normal state, he would not have cared about dying once more or many more times, in fact.
But now, there was an issue that was bothering him very much. A deeper issue than whatever the prospect of dying once again could bring to his mind.
This time… he was not the only one to die; someone else had died alongside him.
"Hae-Won."
Adam muttered her name with a forlorn tone in his voice. One he had never thought he would make for someone like her.
The fact that she was now dead was fully settling in his mind. Moreover, he was sad to come to the conclusion that, even though he didn't directly cause her death, his influence in her death was absolutely irrefutable.
Perhaps her husband would not have sacrificed her like he had done in the current scenario if he had judged her useful or at least loyal to him.
Perhaps she would have lived a better life if she had never met with him.
In the end, all her life really amounted to was meeting men who merely saw her as a means to an end and practically used and abused her in nearly every way possible.
The only difference between him and her husband, Kang Ho, was basically in the way they treated her and the fact that Adam was not the one to deliver the literal killing blow to her and nothing else.
He sighed, or at least he thought he did, once more after he thought those things through. It was hard to tell in this isolated environment what he was actually doing but he didn't have the heart to pursue that oddity.
His thoughts were getting more and more complicated the longer he remained in this dark void.
On one hand, his meeting with Hae-Won had been few and far between and it was painfully obvious to him that he didn't have a single iota of love for her.
The most he felt for her was pity and a small sense of affection that every guy who had a sexual relationship with a girl would automatically have. He was not immune to this either.
Her death shocked him a great deal but beyond a slight forlorn feeling that was spreading in his heart, it didn't amount to anything much.
He was actually much more shocked about the fact that his actions might have led to her death than her actual death itself. It was sad but that was just how he felt about all this.
It was a supremely selfish and hypocritical mask he was covering his face with, he knew that more than anything else.
The desire to always appear as someone good even when doing bad things clashed with the reality of his current situation and heavily disoriented his psyche.
Did he feel bad about her death?
He did. Truly so. At least, he thought that he did. But this was where everything stopped. The sadness he felt only amounted to the feelings of guilt he felt for her outcome, nothing more.
"I am a selfish and hypocritical bastard."
He thought he had come to terms with this reality already. It seemed like he hadn't, he was only being naive in thinking so. He thought he had grown up mentally and was more mature.
But he had never faced true defeat before till now.
He had never faced the reality of his actions even once, where one mistake of his cost the life of someone he might have wished to protect.
What if it had been Shuri? Or, even as unlikely as it was, Cecilia?
It was then that something substantial finally hit him… The death of Hae-Won made him realize a truth that he had always wanted to avoid till now. A truth Genesis and many others had already told him about but he always refused to listen to them.
For all entities in this world besides him— Death was an inevitability.
It might happen now or in many years.
It might be an accident or a murder.
It might simply be because they reached the end of the times allotted to them.
No matter what the reason… Death would always come and like a merciless grim reaper, it would reap the lives of those he loved and cherished, leaving him all alone in this lonely and cruel world.
"Ah…"
He would live and they would all die.
He would stay eternal and infinite and they would all leave him in time.
One after another… everyone would disappear before his eyes…
Given enough time — He would be all alone.
"I don't want that…"
For the first time in a long long while, so long that he did not even remember when he started to forget about this fact, Adam remembered a deep-buried feeling inside of him that he believed that he had already forgotten by now…
The fear of Death.
But this was different from the others. After all, what he feared was not his own death, but that of the ones that he loved and cherished… those he deemed to be the purpose of his existence…
What could he do? This thought began to swirl in his head, again and again, echoing like the wailing voices of innumerable people bombarding him with their screams of agony and misery.
What could he possibly do?
He crouched down, closing his eyes, blocking his ears, but the voices, the screams would never leave him no matter what he did.
Finally…Amidst the delirium and madness that was trying to seize him whole and drown him in this dark void of nothingness…
A simple solution finally came to his mind. Something that was so simple that he could not understand why he did not think of this sooner.
What could he do to stop the people he loved from dying?
—He simply had to take control of Death itself.
He had to face Death. He had to defeat it. He had to Conquer it at all costs. Only then, would he not be alone any longer.
[All conditions have been fulfilled…]
[The power of 'Origin' reacts to the innate power of 'Death' that you wield…]
He wouldn't just let destiny rule him and his loved ones any longer. He would be the one to take control of anything and everything and make them follow his rules.
[The power of 'Death' is being assimilated within you…]
Even if he had to make the impossible possible, even if he had to face unrealistic odds that would leave him with nothing but despair…
[Karma is being consumed to accelerate the assimilation process…]
He might still be immature… He might still have many things to learn, many sights to witness, and many things to experience before finally reaching the level he wishes to achieve in his life…
But… No matter what the price he had to pay…
[Assimilation complete!]
[The power of 'Death' is evolving from an Innate skill to a Unique Skill…]
He would make Death his and his alone.
[The curse of Cain reacts to the power of 'Death' within you…]
[Evolution of curse finally completed…]
[New trait unlocked: Eternal Damnation]
『 Trait: Eternal Damnation
Rank: EX
Description: Even in 'Death,' you will no longer find peace nor will you find rest. Death will no longer be an escape for you, even if temporary…
Effect 1: Your mind is damned to wander the world of the living. The eternal rest of 'Death" will not come even partially any longer.
Effect 2: You will not find peace even in lies. Illusions can not affect your mind any longer.
Effect 3: Insanity will not be an escape for you any longer. You will be damned to feel the weight of the years on you for all eternity. Your mind may bend under the weight, but it will never break, only endure and suffer. 』
⦗You have gained a new skill— "Adaptation" through resonance with Cain's Curse and the power of 'Death'⦘
『 Skill: Adaptation
Rank: EX
Description: Death will progressively come harder and harder for you. The more you die the harder it will be for you to die of the same cause, until one day… Death will not even come to you, not even as a release… You will be damned for all time…
Effect: Continuously evolves your body and slowly creates resistance to the aura of death until it reaches full resistance to death and Immunity to Death itself. 』
CH 252: FEAR
On the uninhabited island, as Xezbeth watched the body of his foe touch the ground, lifeless and defeated by his own hands, a small smile of pure satisfaction covered his lips.
"Oh, mighty sovereign! You have finally put down the miscreant who dared to oppose our glorious purpose."
The smile of satisfaction covering his lips immediately vanished when he heard Kang Ho's words and growled at him, "Do not speak of him with your vile mouth, worthless worm. He was a proud warrior and a worthless human like you can not come even close to a millionth of his worth. So, keep that mouth of yours shut before I seal it forever with my own hands."
Xezbeth snorted out loud and ignored Kang Ho who kneeled with an expression of fear etched on his face at his words. Seeing that worthless being soured his mind so he turned and started to walk away from the altar.
In Hell, there were two things demons had to pay attention to when judging another being's worth in their eyes.
How strong that being was.
How good at lying that being was.
Unlike stupid demons who were all brawls and no brains, Devils, higher up in the hierarchy of the order of Hell, put emphasis on both might and intelligence and usually liked people who were strong in both departments.
Those who were lacking in both were simply worthless. Those who were worthy of their notice were to be given their utmost respect, no matter friend or foe. This was a reality that cared not for race, age, or gender. All that mattered to them was what one was capable of and if they met certain conditions then they would be highly respected by all the devils.
"You were a strong warrior. Had we met a few years later I would have surely been forced to use my Domain against you. Such a shame that someone like you has to meet their end at my hands."
He shook his head in regret, "Your corpse will be used to bring forth a new age. So be proud of that."
While eating Adam's body right now would bring him enough energy to sustain his existence and bring forth more of his abilities out in the open, he could make do with the little amount he had until he had a good meal later on. The best option for him now was to use his foe's body as a sacrifice and try to bring another demon inside of the strong body of Adam…
'I will have to do something about the obliterated head part but we can work on it later.'
A powerful hunter's dead body, even after retaining a staggering amount of damage, was still a treasure trove that was priceless…
"Take his body and make sure to keep it from rotting. We will use it to further our goals."
Xezbeth moved away after uttering those words. Now all he needed to do was to wait for the fight between his Lord and the Angel of Death to end.
Once the fight was finished, the invisible boundaries that had separated this island from the rest of the world would surely vanish and he would be free to roam the world as he wished and devour as many prey as he wanted to to keep up with the energy demand.
He did not doubt the victory of his Lord. After all, he was sure that the Angel of Death— Azrael, would not fight to the bitter end with his Lord right now, not over the body of this boy. The end of times was still far away and the final war between Heaven and Hell would not happen till then and the angels would surely not sacrifice themselves and bet it all on one last fight until that time comes.
"Let's —!"
Oooom~!
An abrupt overarching pressure covered the entirety of the island completely out of the blue.
The earth started to rumble and wave far in the distance moving erratically.
"What is happening!?"
A pressure of the likes of which he had never thought he would be able to feel in this backwater world made him nearly kneel in one knee and a pillar of golden light shot directly to the sky, causing the very space itself to tremble and distort at the might of that power. It felt like the light would have pierced the cloud and become visible to the whole world had it not been stopped by the barrier placed by Azrael to stop the devil from escaping the island.
Turning around, Xezbeth's eyes widened as he watched the blinding light coming from the body of the warrior he had previously slain. He could see the obliterated head of Adam slowly mend itself progressively till he was able to see that his whole head was slowly being finished reconstructing with all of its features intact. It was as if the obliteration of his head didn't happen to begin with.
Alarm bells filled his mind at the scene.
Something was coming.
His instincts were screaming at him that something dangerous was descending.
Run or fight for his life. Those were the only two options available to him at the moment.
The answer was evident from the get-go.
Rushing at Adam using his full speed, he reached the corpse with his fist shining in a crimson light of malevolent energies as he struck down at the body mercilessly, fully intent on obliterating all of it in one go and removing the warrior's existence altogether.
BOOM~!
The ground caved in due to the immense pressure of the devil's power. The pressure was so intense that a two-meter large hole immediately appeared on the ground as dust and dirt were scattered all over.
Despite this powerful display of his might, Xezbeth showed no happiness on his face and only a deep frown settled in.
Bzzzz~!
Lightning sparkles shone and electricity trailed all over in the air. Black clouds formed in the skies above and the low roar of rumbling thunder echoed out in the distance, covering this whole plain inside of the barrier created by the Angel of Death…
Xezbeth looked up at his side, a few meters away from him, with wariness and trepidation in his mind.
There, Adam was standing with his back to him, and in his arms was the corpse of the woman who had been sacrificed earlier to summon his Lord to this world. Something akin to steam leaked out of his body as he stood upright in that place.
"How are you still alive?
Xezbeth had no care about the woman.
"How did you manage to move so fast?"
Xezbeth was baffled. It had only been an instant. In just an instant, Adam had managed to repel his fist and come close to the body of the woman before taking her and landing several meters away from him.
This level of speed was something he had yet to show previously. But there was no change in the quantity of Adam's Prana nor the strength inside of his body from his analysis.
Even as he spoke, he realized that Adam was ignoring him and covering the body of the woman with a psychic shield to preserve it from being swept away by their fight.
A vein throbbed on his forehead. Adam was disregarding him and devoting a part of his energy to protecting the corpse of a woman when he should be using all of it to fight him.
"Just how much disregard do you have for me!?"
As his scream rang out, Xezbeth began to let out more of his true might. He realized at that moment that he could not go on like this and Adam was just too dangerous for him to not fight with his all anymore…
"I am going to kill you!"
"Shut up."
No sooner did he hear those words that Xezbeth immediately moved away but not fast enough for him to avoid his arm from being cut off by a near-light speed attack from his foe.
When he realized what was happening, a groan leaked out of his mouth as he felt a burning sensation covering the place where one of his hands was supposed to be.
'Holy power?'
He looked up at Adam and could now see him holding a dagger that was emanating a surprisingly powerful holy aura.
'He had hidden this all along?'
His opponent was much more cunning than he previously thought him to be and had means that he could not identify.
"How utterly magnificent!"
He had underestimated the boy a bit too much and had taken him for nothing more than a rash young man. However, this experience told him that he had clearly been wrong. Even so… he did not fear him…
"A holy weapon can only slow down my regeneration, nothing more."
He took the fallen arm, expecting it to start fusing back even if slowly. But…
'What? How?'
No matter how much he waited, the regeneration process did not start.
'This is impossible!'
Not even the strongest holy weapons could permanently stop the power of regeneration of a true devil like himself. Not to mention he was high up the ladder…
This made utterly no sense.
"You know…You really talk too much."
"Ah…"
Finally, Adam turned toward him. The corpse had already flown far away from them by now. But Xezbeth could only leak out a small voice as Adam faced him.
His whole body could not help but shiver when his gaze crossed with that of Adam's. In both of those eyes… shone two black stars filled with ominous energy…
"Those eyes..."
Those were the same eyes of the man who had faced entire legions of the Dukes from Hell all alone in a wrath-fueled desire for the destruction of all that constituted the infernal realms.
"He" was the first Evil on earth.
"He" was the first Murderer.
The immortal cursed to wander the earth for all eternity.
The one who brought Death to all.
For the second time in all his nearly eternal life— Xezbeth felt true fear from the deepest part of his soul. The fear of Death…
For he now understood… That he was facing the Grim Reaper himself…
CH 253: WHO REALLY WON?
Adam ignored the shivering devil, frightened by the change of his eyes, and focused on the new sights and the world he was observing with renewed eyes.
Everything felt different than before. Far more different. All the colors of the world had faded, leaving an achromatic world filled with only the colors of black and white. The only source of color in this achromatic world were merely crimson lines that seemed to be covering everything in existence, be it his body or all the bodies that were present in this place.
Technically speaking, he had not become stronger in any meaningful way after his revival. His Prana rank had not increased a single bit nor did his overall stats. In fact, none of his stats or characteristics had taken a leap in the short time that he died.
But even then, Adam understood that he had taken one more step toward a world that was beyond the scope of humanity…
He looked at the scenery surrounding him and for the first time, he realized that he could observe a greater part of the world. One that he was never able to observe before.
A new power dwelled inside of him and he was able to see the world in a new light through them…
"Those eyes…"
'My eyes?'
Adam looked at Xezbeth but couldn't find in himself the desire to speak to the devil. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to just kill him and be done with this tiresome night. He needed to rest his weary mind.
"Let's end this."
Adam moved at those words.
All he did was just take one step. A step toward his foe…
Xezbeth tried to move as well, but from Adam's perspective, he simply looked slower than a crawling snail. It felt like he was not actually moving but rather crawling his way toward him. Adam had already pushed his accelerated perception to its maximum potential and the world had thus come down to a crawl in his eyes and mind.
"How can you move so fast!?"
Xezbeth screamed out his shock but Adam only looked at him in disinterest.
"Why should I tell you?"
One needed to be an utterly stupid brute to explain the way their skills worked to their enemies. Thankfully, he was not such a person.
Whoosh~
Steam rose from Adam's body as he released a sigh from deep within; the internal heat of his body increased at a rapid pace while the air around him, the air that was in direct contact with his body, was slowly becoming colder and colder. The difference in the temperature between his body and the air was causing steam to rise from the place they made contact with each other…
His stats had not changed a single bit. That was the truth. He was simply finally able to use a technique he had been thinking of since he had fought Cecilia on that flat plain.
A mixture of more than 4 different operations of his skills…
❰Wide Gravity Increase❱ + ❰Self Gravity Decrease❱ + ❰Accelerated Perception❱
Finally, combining all of this together synthesized into a whole new technique. A technique that allowed him to move at crazy speeds.
❰Burning Blood❱
The fight between the devil and Adam started anew at full throttle. One of them was able to move fast due to their superior stats paired with the millions of years of experience they had gathered throughout their lifetimes and the other was able to enact the act by using their self-made skill that was basically a combination of many skills to accelerate their body beyond the cognition range of the devil.
Only this time, Xezbeth was the one being cornered. Not only was Adam faster than him but now he had the power that Xezbeth recognized as being the power of Death itself.
"Why is a primogenitor interfering in the affairs between humans and devils!?"
Xezbeth could not accept this outcome. What was the probability that such a being would appear in this place and be on the human side so much that he would help them thus?
In the first place, how could the abominations created by Cain even become able to use the power of Death like him? This should have been an innate power that only belonged to Cain and Cain alone as the testament of him being the First Murderer, bringer of death to the world.
'Fuck! We need to change our plans.'
Xezbeth was fighting while trying to think of the best way possible for him to succeed in this tricky situation. Now that he knew Adam could actually hurt him, this fight now had a whole new meaning and stakes attached to it. Dying in the mortal realm would be the greatest insult of his life and he couldn't allow himself to take something like that lying down. He needed to get out of this scenario at all costs.
"You leave me with no choice."
Xezbeth growled under his breath. He had been hesitant about using it since it would be a great waste of energy – energy that he did not have to spare in his current situation – but now, he was not really left with a choice in that matter.
"Very well. You are worthy of witnessing my full might."
The body of the child Xezbeth possesses starts to change in a grotesque fashion. Becoming bigger and more menacing than ever before. All possible human traits vanished from the child's body as it finally reached more than 3 meters in height.
"Roar!"
Roaring towards the heavens Xezbeth moved his humongous body. One could have thought that in such a hulking shape his speed would drop sharply but that was not the case. Instead, he had become even faster than before and was now capable of pushing back the effects of gravity on his body that had been created by Adam's powers.
His fist was finally able to reach Adam and capitalizing on this chance, he punched him in the face, pummeling him with all the might that he was able to generate with one of his hands.
The ground of the island vibrated and threatened to sink down due to the force of his power. When he finally looked down, he realized that Adam was reduced to nothing but splatter and he was finally able to leak out a sigh of relief…
'I should seal his body somewhere.'
Now that Xezbeth knew that this man shared the same curse and power as the unholy behemoth— Cain himself… He realized that Adam was certainly not dead and the only way to deal with immortals like him, when you did not have their natural counter to suppress them, was to put them down in some sealed places indefinitely and let the people of the future deal with the incoming disaster.
"Lord Lucifer, I finally accomplished your—"
"Where are you looking at?"
Xezbeth stopped his words and looked beside him. On his right, he could see Adam crouching down and smiling maliciously. At the same time, the body of the one he had beaten slowly morphed as if the light had been taken away from him, and what was left was the disfigured body of one of the believers.
Looking at this, rather than exploding in anger, Xezbeth became noticeably calmer. He knew that in extreme situations, only a calm head could change the flow of a battle.
"Since when."
"Since the moment you crossed eyes with me."
Creating illusions was not hard for him. But plunging people into dreamlike illusions without making eye contact was pretty hard in itself.
From Adam's perspective, Xezbeth had simply been moving around and punching in space all alone before finally coming down, and grabbing one of his subordinates to punch him until death.
Adam would have wished to simply sneak in and slice his throat, and do the job. But that would be a complicated task due to how attuned with Prana people at his level were. If Adam came too close to the devil with the intent to kill, the guy would notice it and counterattack.
Beyond that, he wished to capture the devil and get some information from him. Despite his inexperience, even Adam realized that two devil summonings in less than a month were in no way possible unless there was a greater syndicate behind it.
Something was going on. Something that could stir the very foundation of the Supernatural World.
Xezbeth sighed, "Tricking the Devil of Lies and Deceit, huh? Surely this is something that had never happened before. Nor will it ever happen again…"
It was really frustrating for him. Because of his condition, he was unable to really use the power of his concepts. He was no different from a tiger without his fangs and claws.
He could still fight…
But at their level, pure physical strength was nothing more than a small bonus.
"I have lost."
Xezbeth's defeat was clear. He could feel the burning holy dagger in Adam's hand and knew that it was about to plunge into his chest any moment if he just lost focus for even a moment.
"If I was able to… No. There is no need for excuses."
If the woman had not baptized her son.
If the woman had not died here.
If, for some reason, she had not been the one to bring the awakening of this boy.
So many little ifs. But only one of them missing would have been enough to change the outcome of this fight in its entirety.
"For a Devil of Lies, you are rather straightforward."
Xezbeth chuckled at those words and stood up, showing the staggering difference in height between the two of them.
"Warrior, before dying in this worthless place let me make one thing clear."
A bloody grin formed on his face, "I did not lose to you."
He pointed in the direction where Hae-Won's corpse was.
"I lost to her."
A sense of alarm rose in Adam's mind but by the time he reacted, it was already too late. An intense light rose from Xezbeth's body and his body swelled even more before finally exploding in a blinding light.
BOOM~!
What was the result of the explosion of someone at such a level?
In a way, one could say that it was no different than a small atomic bomb going off and severing everything from the face of the earth.
And Adam…Was at the heart of this very explosion. Running was useless, after all, he could not outrun light itself. Not with his current capabilities at the very least.
Even as death once again colored his world, Adam could only show a bitter smile as a flurry of messages rushed into his mind.
When Adam came back to himself a few hours later as his body was recreated from scratch, he found himself alone above nothing but the sea and the barrier that was slowly vanishing in thin air.
It was as if nothing had ever existed in this place. But all Adam could do, was to look at the messages he had received just before dying with bitterness swelling in the depths of his heart.
CH 254: FIRST AND LAST DANCE
⦗Xezbeth's physical body was destroyed but his soul has traveled back to hell.⦘
⦗Epic Ordeal: Black Knight is deemed to have failed…⦘
⦗You were not able to manage to save the cultists.⦘
⦗Epic Ordeal: White Knight is deemed to have failed…⦘
⦗You did not make a deal with Xezbeth and become his follower.⦘
⦗Epic Ordeal: Grey Knight is deemed to have failed…⦘
But the messages did not just stop there. They were merciless…
⦗You did not eradicate all the members of the Blue Sharks.⦘
⦗Major Ordeal: Black Knight is deemed to have failed…⦘
⦗You did not manage to make the leader of the Blue Sharks, Kang Ho, repent.⦘
⦗Major Ordeal: White Knight is deemed to have failed…⦘
⦗You did not make a truce with Kang Ho, the leader of the Blue Sharks.⦘
⦗Major Ordeal: Grey Knight is deemed to have failed⦘
As if mocking him for his own indecision and hesitation, one message after another mercilessly manifested before his eyes at the fluttering book before him. Showing him the results of his work and the consequences of his actions.
Nothing.
They all had one thing in common.
Failure.
One word that encompassed all the feelings that were currently running through his mind.
"How much Karma do I have currently?"
He had nearly nine thousand Karma points the last time he had taken a look but now…
⦗Remaining Karma Points — 3333⦘
"..."
Once again silence settled in the air as Adam came to grips with his current circumstances. In the end, he lost so many Karma Points but got none back in return. It was a total loss, his loss…
The saving grace here was that all those points had been invested in accelerating the absorption of the power of Death.
But even then…
'The holy dagger was destroyed as well…'
⦃Adam…⦄
"Not now."
His body was soon covered in illusory clothes with a gesture of his hands and he floated until reaching the edge of the barrier where the body of Hae-Won should have been located. He had safely transported her body over during the fight so that it didn't get wrecked by the collisions of his and Xezbeth's aura.
Sadly, of her body, there was nothing left aside from her head. It seemed that what had saved this was the small vial of pure holy water he had left with her. That was the only thing that was not completely annihilated by the previous atomic explosion.
'I can still work with this.'
Though her body was destroyed, Adam's intuition was telling him that it was still not late for him to be left helpless. Even a fraction of her body was enough for what he had in mind.
But he had no hesitation. Unlike the previous power of ❰Death❱ that he had used which was only focused on absolute eradication, Adam felt like his control over the power of ❰Death❱ had so much more in store for him and that he would be able to step on a completely new Domain of understanding of this power if he so wished…
After all, his wish had been to defy Death itself.
Cradling her head in his arms, Adam focused silently, searching for the feeling he now understood deeply with his body and mind but was still not attuned to it enough to instinctively invoke it.
What he was about to do was without a doubt a taboo of the highest order. He was trying to enter a boundary that no human or supernatural creature should step into.
When he opened his eyes once again, he was greeted by a world in the achromatic state of Black and White.
He could see a link between Hae-Won's head and somewhere far beyond, a place that was still out of his reach, as if it was about to break through a certain limit and enter the place of no return— the place that he couldn't influence even with his power of Death.
He brought his arm forward and muttered,
"Come back."
Her soul had not left the physical world yet. It still had not entered the beyond, the world out of his reach.
He tugged at the link and yanked back the soul for a lack of better analogy.
A dark light flashed in his eyes that were dotted with a pair of black stars and his prana was being devoured like a flood breaking through a dam. Even his arm shriveled up slightly, as if time had been stolen away from his body.
Adam had no doubt.
The laws of the universe were fair. True resurrection would be impossible without a greater price to be paid.
Even with a price paid, it might not be enough for him to truly resurrect the woman in his arms.
But it was alright. He had somehow succeeded right now in bringing back her soul. He could work on truly bringing her back to life later.
When the light finally vanished, a beautiful woman with a pristine white naked body was floating in a fetal position in front of him.
"Hae-Won."
He muttered slightly. Her eyelashes moved before she opened her eyes wide at his voice.
At first, confusion was present in her eyes but soon, a certain understanding dawned upon her as she muttered in a weak voice.
"Am I in Hell?"
She asked first thing after waking up as she looked at her surroundings bathed in the darkness above the sea.
But soon, as she looked at Adam, her eyes widened into saucers before a radiant smile of happiness formed on her face.
"Cinder. Is that you? Am I in heaven then? Or is this the start of endless torture?"
Her voice was ethereal, as if coming from the whisper of the wind and Adam quietly looked at her, feeling complicated in his head.
"This is still Earth. Though I guess in some way it's also Hell."
"I see."
She spoke quietly while looking at his face.
"You were really the one I met at the Church."
"Yes."
"I guess you are also part of the supernatural world then?"
"That… I am, yes."
She looked down slightly at the vast expense of the sea below her and could see her head in Adam's arms,
"How did it end?"
"Everyone is dead."
"Even my son?"
"...Yes… Even your son."
"I see."
She could only give a sad smile in return at those words, "I guess this is the end of a small but stupid family that was created on a mountain of lies. Is it weird that I cannot feel sad right now?"
Hae-Won asked quietly to Adam. Even though she should feel sad at how her son died and at her own death, she was able to accept everything with a calm mind.
Was it because she had been freed from her mortal shell? Or was it because she had made peace with herself at the last moments of her life?
She didn't know. Perhaps she would never be able to know about that. But it was fine…
"Cinder… No, not that… Can you tell me your real name…? Please?"
"It's Adam."
"Then Adam… Could you give me one last gift?"
Adam opened his mouth to reply… There were so many things he wished to say to her, so much he wanted to ask from her. So much he wished to convey…
But… In the end… He simply nodded his head.
"I will do everything you ask of me."
(AN: /bRrP3ESM6sQ → Antonin Dvorak Serenade for strings E major )
A few moments later, Adam could be seen covered in an attire that was not alike his usual self. He was now wearing a beautiful suit, with a pocket watch, a cane, and a top hat.
Hae-Won, meanwhile, was covered in beautiful evening gown and the two of them were standing inside of a large ballroom.
Obviously, all of this was nothing more than illusions created by Adam's powers over Dream. Illusions that were so intricate that they were nearly impossible to distinguish from reality as Adam had poured all of his soul and concentration into creating them and making it so that they lasted long enough to fulfill all of Hae-Won's wishes.
Music began to flow out into the air… soothing, beautiful music full of grace and elegance that would touch anyone's heart. Under the illusory light of the ballroom, the two of them danced in a silent waltz of love and passion.
"I am surprised you know how to dance so well."
"I took a few lessons back when I was young."
The conversation was sparse, but the smile never left Hae-Won's face. Not even for a single moment throughout the whole performance. Up until the very last note of the symphony played, she simply looked at him, with infinite love and unimaginable joy shining deep in the depths of her eyes.
For Adam… There was no greater poison than what he was being put through right now and what he was made to witness deep in her eyes.
Why don't you hate me? He wanted to ask out loud.
Why don't you resent me? He wanted to scream till his lungs could scream no more.
"Is dancing with me really that difficult for you? You are making an expression that is worse than crying, you know?"
She joked lightly under her breath after seeing the devastated on Adam's face,
"Just why…"
"I already told you, right?"
Her smile was beautiful, ethereal, beautiful, benevolent, and so much more
"You never lied to me. I knew from the start that I was just being used by you and I have accepted that. Just like Icarus flying toward the radiant sun, I was happy by the lies that you fed me with. Even if you had not existed, my end would have been the same as what you are seeing now. Though it might just have happened at a later date. My fate was set in stone from the moment I met my husband."
Her inner beauty made his inner ugliness all the more evident to himself and he was feeling miserable the more he was made to come face to face with that fact. She placed her hand on his face, even though she could not directly touch him, Adam felt infinite warmth coming from her ethereal touch.
"My last few days were the most beautiful days of my life. And you… are the one who brought them to me…"
A mischievous smile finally replaced the serene one covering her enchanting face, "But I am still quite a petty woman you know? After all, you only brought me back so that I would relieve your guilt by cursing you and venting out at you. Just so you can feel at peace, knowing that I at least resented you for all you've done…"
That was the irrefutable truth. Deep down, he wanted her to berate him. To insult him. It was a deep desire born from all the guilt that was gushing from the depth of his heart at having used such a wonderful woman for his goals and the fact that… even now… he felt nothing for her other than the guilt gnawing at his heart for using her as he did…
"So let me fulfill that wish yours. Let me give you the greatest curse a weak and feeble woman like me is able to give to a powerful man like you."
She gently placed her forehead against his head, closed her eyes, and muttered quietly; just enough so that only he could hear her in the entirety of the world…
"It's called the curse of forgiveness and I… forgive you… my dear Adam…"
On those last words and a dazzling smile full of enchanting allure on her face, Hae-Won's soul slowly started to dissipate like sand under the wind before it completely vanished along with the illusion that Adam had enacted for her, returning everything back to normal.
The price Adam had paid was used up and the small miracle of bringing a soul back had now come to an end with her departure…
Until the very last moment… Hae-Won never added a single word of rebuttal.
She knew that by doing so, she would let a mark inside him that would never be able to vanish from his heart.
It was a small little vengeance from a woman who only gave her love to two men who never loved her back and would never love her back.
Adam had now found himself again in the dark depths of the sea, all alone, with no one around him…
Xezbeth had been right.
On this night, as ironic as it was, perhaps the only true winner was none other than Hae-Won herself… The weak woman who didn't even have the power to protect herself…
As for Adam… This was without a doubt a night he would never forget.
CH 255: REACTIONS (1)
⟦?⟧
Standing in the deep void of space, Lucifer and Azrael gazed at the scenery below as the whole situation finally came to an end.
"I see. Asmodeus had been turtling himself in the 2nd Hell after his failed attack on Earth and even that bookworm allied with that crazy woman to harass him. I wondered what was happening. Hehe, so this was the reason behind all that, huh?"
A smile spread on Lucifer's face and he started to laugh out loud like a madman who had seen the funniest shit in his entire life, "Pfft! Hahaha~! Stopping the descent of two Hell Princes. Is this the coming of a second King Arthur or what?"
His laugh was so loud and boisterous that even the space surrounding him started to tremble and distort. Thus was the power of Lucifer— the Devil King. An existence whose mere presence could change the very laws holding nature in itself.
"How fun. How truly amusing. I wonder what kind of face would those bastards in the world above make when they learn that Cain finally had a true son once again."
He continued to laugh out loud, but Azrael simply looked at him in silence, his billions of eyes, all gazing at him at the same time with a sense of apathy and indifference no matter what he did.
"Sigh… You are really creepy, you know that brother dear? I wonder what He was thinking when He created you guys all those years ago."
Lucifer stopped smiling and gave an abrupt sneer, "I will admit defeat this time. But you should know, right? Your actions now just postponed the inevitable. A new reset is fast approaching. Be it a small apocalypse like the one four thousand years [1] prior or a big one like 65 million years ago, it will always happen."
"And yet humanity still managed to thrive and survive till the end."
"Nothing more than a cockroach, I tell you. Sooner or later the day will come when not even one seed of them will be left on this plane. Perhaps tomorrow. Perhaps in ten thousand years and inevitably in six or seven billion years, their existence will all come to an end. I am very patient, you know? Two planets were already destroyed. This is the last one."
Lucifer chuckled and his attire started to change. Transforming into an elegant suit with a small golden-colored pocket watch on which a reverse cross was drawn. A black suit, white shirt, a top hat, and even a small monocle.
"Then again, isn't it funny when most human apocalypses happen because of you guys? I mean, flood, fire, and thunder, or the seven trumpets, Damn, are you guys busy destroying your so-called perfect being…" [2]
He spoke nonchalantly while admiring himself as a body-sized mirror appeared and reflected his appearance.
"Ohoh. I must say, while humans are full of problems, their sense of fashion is truly legendary, or perhaps it's simply because I am so handsome. Even rags would look like godly clothes on my perfect body. Truly a work of art I am…"
Holding a cane with one hand, he took his top hat and made a theatrical bow in the direction of Azrael, before leaving with spring on his steps.
"Also, do not worry. Since I had fun this time, I will not divulge the secrets of that boy. That and I don't want to have that psycho come to my door once again. Wasn't easy to chain him down the last time. Pfft! Hahah!"
For a man like him, life and death were nothing more than fun games that he would gladly spectate. He cared not for the outcome. Only the amusement he could get from it.
Like a joker laughing at the chaos and misfortune of the world, Lucifer left, leaving the behemoth spanning larger than the whole solar system— Azrael, all alone.
The cosmic giant gazed down on Earth once again, all his eyes focusing on the small speck of dust that was Adam.
For now, the boy was nothing more than a nuisance at best that could be exterminated by using some amount of power on their part…
But Azrael knew. That like his father… Infinite potential dwelled inside the small boy. Only time will tell what he would do with it. Be like his father and destroy everything… or carve out his own path for himself…
⟦LAPPD⟧
After Theresa received the required reports of this case, they were able to go and execute the small cultists and demons who were causing problems all around LA.
On the scale of danger, this was nothing more than a small moment. Thousands of imps and demons of the same caliber were summoned every year.
But her instinct was telling her that something big had actually happened in the background. Sadly, they were unable to find the trace from where the first warning signal had come from.
The good thing was… Theresa was sure that if a Calamity class event really happened there would have been a second sign of it by now. So whatever the hell happened… It wouldn't be a problem for them… yet.
The bad thing in all this was… She knew nothing about what the hell was happening and this was killing her from inside out. Information was power and being in the dark like this was too dangerous and too scary for the class of event that they had sensed.
'Should I ask for a zodiac to be dispatched to this city?'
While she may lose some authority due to that, this was nothing in the face of an incoming calamity that could wipe all of them from the face of Earth.
It seemed like she would need to have another discussion with the church real soon.
'Fuck my life…'
—
[1]: Around 1750 to 1050 BC existed the Mycenaean civilization or Mycenaean Greece. It represents the first advanced and distinctively Greek civilization in mainland Greece with its palatial states, urban organization, works of art, and writing system. Mycenaean Greece perished with the collapse of Bronze Age culture in the eastern Mediterranean, to be followed by the Greek Dark Ages, a recordless transitional period leading to Archaic Greece.
There are many interesting theories about how they vanished. But to this day no clear fact is known.
For 65 million years ago, well we all know what happened to dinosaurs.
[2]: The flood is pretty clear. With moose and all.
Thunder was against the tower of Babel. It also destroyed the unique language we had and made humans separate as different languages were created.
Fire was against Sodom and Gomora.
The Seven Trumpets are in a way the equivalent of a mass extinction weapon.
In the 8th chapter of the Book of Revelation, seven trumpets will be sounded one at a time by seven angels. I greatly summarized it but the gist basically is.
1st trumpet: Rain fire
2nd Trumpet: Sea life are destroyed and a part of the sea becomes blood.
3rd Trumpet: Water become bitter and poisonous
Now This is where things become really wild.
4th Trumpet: One-third of the stars stop shining.
5th Trumpet: Locusts with scorpion poison, human faces, and lion's fangs are sent to earth from the bottom of hell with the mission to only attack humans not marked by God and inflict them pain. They will seek death but will not find it.
6th Trumpet: Army of 200 million led by 4 angels come down and exterminate a third of earth's population. (Pretty sure Trumpet 4th would have been enough for everyone to die but heh.)
7th Trumpet announces the descent of the Kingdom of God and the end of time.
CH 256: REACTIONS (2)
⟦Wild Hunt⟧
"What in the nine hells is happening? Where is Adam?"
Back in Los Angeles, inside the small K-Town, Yui was nearly on the verge of a mental breakdown by now. The only thing that actually stopped her from screaming and shouting like a shrew was the knowledge that such a thing would bring nothing much outside of stressing everyone else and chipping away at her prestige.
Everything started a few moments ago just after Adam was about to reach the target area. Since he was connected through his contact lens, Hacker was able to keep track of his position while he used the GPS system and they were able to observe how he covered hundreds of kilometers in only half an hour using his powers.
But it was from there that things started to get a bit troublesome.
After all, the lens started malfunctioning. Then the connection was completely lost between them.
Up to then, Yui could still be relatively calm about it all. Even though she was worried about him, she was able to summarize that it was the result of entering a barrier of some sort and being separated from the normal continuum of space-time which caused a disturbance in the lens signals.
But not long ago, Hacker just sent them information about how the island had basically completely vanished from the face of the Earth. Furthermore, Adam's communication device had been completely destroyed in the process and there was no way to contact him or even make sure of his safety.
Now, she was certainly starting to worry as the worst scenario kept repeatedly appearing in her mind.
Could Adam truly survive through something that could erase an entire expanse of land like it was nothing?
「I am doing my best boss. Trying to find out if I can feel his life energy signature.」
"No need. I am here already."
Everyone that was watching the island and its surrounding through their screen just stopped and looked up in the direction of the opening door.
There they could see Adam, clad in clothes much different from what he usually wore, with a top hat and a mask covering his face.
"Adam?"
Yui stood up, disbelief evident in her voice but it was soon replaced by a voice full of relief and happiness.
"What happened, are you alright?"
"I am more than alright. I feel great honestly."
She could not see his expression, but she could see that Adam was actually trying to smile through the face mask…
Sadly, while his lips were doing the movements correctly, his eyes were not smiling alongside them and she knew at that moment that something had gone wrong at that place.
"I will explain what happened tomorrow. For now, I just want to rest and wash all this tiredness away. I just didn't want you guys to be worried without knowing what was going on so I came here to inform you."
He clapped his hand and started vanishing slowly from everyone's gaze, "Also, Kang Ho is dead. You can finish everything he has."
After delivering those words, Adam completely left the premise of the room.
「Something happened…」
"I guess it's pretty evident what happened there."
It seemed like Kang Ho's wife had died despite all the effort he had put into saving her from the clutches of her husband.
Efforts never lie.
The one who said this was a liar himself. After all, efforts are never synonymous with success.
Yui was both worried and slightly happy.
She had been worried that Adam was becoming more and more emotionless when dealing with people he did not care about. This was not a bad thing in a certain sense, but she did not wish for his compassion to completely vanish into thin air when dealing with other people that were not close to him already.
Now though, she knew that he was still far from being completely emotionless.
This was what was worrying her. After the event of this night, Adam's mindset would take a drastic turn, of that, there was no doubt.
The problem was which turn it would take and how that would change Adam.
She just hoped that it would not take a dangerous turn.
In the end, she sighed. No matter how much she was worried about Adam, now that she knew that he was alive, she could focus on other miscellaneous things.
Such as sending a message to all the underworld organizations,
"Hacker, let's seize all the wealth we can. Then, afterward, I want you to disseminate the news about all the dark dealings of the Blue Sharks."
As sad as it was, a promotion was something that was essential for organizations like theirs. They needed to spin the narrative in a way to give themselves the role of the hero.
Only by doing so would the other organizations that were under the eyes of the Wild Hunt would not become overly suspicious of them and start ramping up the defenses of their location to defend against their next strike.
"Also prepare the oversea account for everyone. I guess it's time for some very well-earned pocket money."
⟦LAPD⟧
Meanwhile, inside the LAPD main bureau, a woman was leaving the police with her hands in her coat pocket and holding a letter of vacation inside her clasp.
It seemed like she had been given a short vacation and it was even fully paid by the police.
"What the hell?"
But this was not so.
Themis, looking at the silver moon hanging in the sky couldn't help but feel like something had changed for her.
The world looked very much different than before.
At the same time, she was made to understand just why some criminals were simply untouchable.
Did this give her the desire to back out?
No. Not at all.
No one was above the law in her opinion. Since they were living inside the great country of America, then, supernatural or not, they all had the obligation to listen and follow the law.
"Perhaps… It's time for me to start trying what I intended to do."
She looked at the letter that was given to her. She knew very well that her superior and partner, Kirishima, had given her a short vacation to keep her out of the latest gang war.
Obviously, he had underestimated her drive and desire far too much. She wished for true justice to grace these lands with no problem or hesitation. Being a magical group or something of the like should not matter to them.
"I will do it myself."
She would take destiny in the clasps of her own hands.
This was why…
"It's time to hit the municipal library."
This was going to be a long night.
CH 257: REACTION (3)
Somewhere high above in the distant skies, a woman was presently sitting on a private jet while sipping on a glass of wine as she observed images on a screen relayed to her through a satellite.
Pictures moved and stopped until they showed a young man swimming on the sea with no care whatsoever, or more like he was letting the waves take him to wherever they flowed toward as he stared into the distant sky with blank eyes.
"Who is this man? Anyone here knows about him?"
"We have no information on him currently."
A voice flowed out from the communicator that was attached to her and it made her wrinkle her forehead into a frown, "Take his pictures and do some research. We need to learn more about this kid."
She growled slightly under her breath as she kept watching the pictures before closing her eyes as a sigh leaked out of her lips.
"The mission had been a failure."
She spoke to herself but a second voice flowed out from the communicator that was different from the first one that had spoken out,
"Didn't we already know that it was set in stone to be a failure? The Scales of Equilibrium are still set in place, protecting this world, after all. Whenever we try to summon something past a certain rank, there will be a series of coincidences that will cause the plan to fail no matter what."
"I know. We are just testing the limits of the Will of the World. But we can't continue on like this at this rate. We already lost so many forces during our deal with that Shady organization, even lost a page of the Devil's Bible because of that, and as a result, we got nothing on our hands now."
"..."
"We need to see some results. A major demon is impossible for us and a Prince is just a distant dream at this rate. But some middle-class demon should be possible for us, right? How does the Academy even manage to make a contract with high-ranked demons on a regular basis?"
"They have a direct channel to the Astral Realm thanks to Merlin and the bridge he set up back in the day for the Academy with Arthur's help."
She bit her lips and chewed on it at the answer she had received from the other side. Unlike the Academy which thrived in the light despite dealing with devils, cults like them were forced to hide in the dark, making so that the resources they had access to were very scarce and kept deflating over the years due to a lack of a channel.
The plan to bring Lucifer to the world would have obviously been a failure but they were supposed to be able to bring out another devil as a replacement along the way and this should have been very powerful… powerful enough to kickstart their plan of world dominance into action.
But because of some exterior influence, they ended up with nothing. Not a single thing. Worse, they even lost a useful pawn like Kang-Ho and a group of fervent believers that could have been used as sacrifices to summon a powerful force in the future and even shield them from the world if need be.
Let's not even speak of the resources invested in creating an artificial sacred body that they had lost with the death of the boy along with the loss of the devil they had managed to summon.
'What a pain.'
"Find the boy, find his identity, and once you find him… Kill him and erase all of his traces…"
"Very well. But, what about the gang that attacked the pawn we had under protection."
"Leave them. Dealing with that situation is more than just a bit problematic and we don't need to have clear-cut enemies for only this much. Our situation is not the best at this moment, as you can see…"
Yui was a pain in the ass but the organization behind her made it so that attacking her would be too flashy and revealing for them and they would be immediately rooted out due to that. There was a limit to what they could actually do freely due to their veiled existence.
Her eyes became cold.
"Since we failed here I think it's time for us to go into hiding and recuperate slightly before we can make a comeback."
Two failures were not enough to truly weaken their forces but it was better to fall back, gather their forces, and analyze the current trend of the world and the reason behind their continued failures so that the same thing doesn't happen again in the future.
"What about our collaborator?"
"Are you talking about the Scientists or the Assassins?"
"Scientists. The Assassins won't move more than what they did already, at least that's what I believe from their personality over the years. Killing a Director like that was already a gutsy move on their part and they won't dare make a move similar to that unless we bring something valuable enough to the table."
"It's where you are wrong. If I am not wrong, they will attack once again and their target this time will be Las Vegas."
"Really…? So… What do we do then?"
"Nothing. Whatever drugs they are selling out there doesn't really interest me and drug-induced faith is bad quality faith in general. We need something that really comes from the bottom of the heart to fuel our objectives."
She made a sign of the cross but started with the sign of the solar plexus before going left then right and finally touching her forehead to end it all.
"This is just the start. We can do so much more… Soon, the world shall know about true salvation and enter the embrace of our Savior and Lord."
She smiled a wide smile, but her mood soon dampened at the words that followed, coming from her secretary…
"What about the Cult of the Great Old Ones? What do we do about them?"
She frowned heavily at the question that was asked of her.
How many cults were there in this world? It was hard to say as basically, everything had a cult about it nowadays. Even pure machines or even holograms had their own faith for some ungodly reasons. Humans were stupid creatures after all. They were weak and would put their faith and belief in almost anything if that would be enough to bring them a sense of peace and distraction…
But even devils worshiping cults like them were wary of those who worshiped the Outer Gods, the true horrors of existence…
There was one rule set in stone in this world. At least one when it came to religion-based organizations.
You could fight however you wanted to. But fights against each other in case of foreign intrusion were prohibited. This was the only way for them to face the overwhelming might of those monsters living on Earth and prevented the Earth from simply being devoured and thus erased from existence by those monstrous unholy beings of abomination.
"Why are you asking me this so suddenly?"
"The cult of the ❰Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young❱ is moving. I believe they are acting in the European Continent. Their reasons for suddenly springing up are still unknown."
"Ugh…"
She frowned… Things were about to get complicated if those crazy harlots were moving out in the open.
CH 258: THANKSGIVING
⟦Thurday, 28th 2030, 8 am — Day of Thanksgiving — Los Angeles⟧
What was Thanksgiving in general?
It was a national holiday on the fourth Thursday of November, when families get together for a big meal and express their appreciation for life and health to each other and have a generally good time in each other's presence.
It was a wonderful day when people simply said thanks for everything they had in their lives by the grace of the Almighty and shared time with those they cared deeply about.
It was also a day of worship to the God they believed in and a day of grace for everyone.
Of course, it was a day when false legends full of betrayal and other tasteful events were given as some sort of history lesson. But that was not something the vast majority of people really cared about.
Thanksgiving was supposed to be a day when people rested and spent time with family and close friends.
But… For Shuri, Thanksgiving was nothing more than a day like any other in her life. Dull and filled with endless work.
Except… obviously, when she was spending time with her one true friend in this world.
Right now though, she was looking at her computer with red eyes and dark circles coloring her face as she continued to observe and compare the numbers she had on the different screens of her computer setup.
"So, you are not going home?"
The door of her office was abruptly opened and Shuri was about to curse vehemently until she realized just who had barged into her room.
"Feng Huan Yui?"
"Please, call me Yui. It's less of a mouthful and I like that name more in all honesty."
Yui time was not in her usual Chinese lady boss attire right now. She was wearing a casual short flowing skirt as well as a simple white shirt and a pair of black glasses on her head.
There was nothing striking nor eye-catching about her clothes but just because they were worn by her, the aura around her changed completely from her initial state. Shuri was too tired to care much about Yui's attire at the moment and was about to ask why she had come here when her nose picked up a delicious scent.
As if on cue, her stomach let out a small growl, causing Shuri to adjust her glasses while feeling terribly embarrassed by the sudden noise coming from her empty and treacherous stomach.
"Heh, as I thought, you ate nothing since yesterday, right? This is why I came with some breakfast for you."
Beacon, bread, eggs, pancake, and some delicious orange juice. The typical American breakfast.
A full breakfast was soon brought to the table close to the sofa where Shuri entertained visitors or made important deals while showing off a relaxed and unperturbed experience to her clients and competitors.
It was not the healthiest food and putting food on the table was definitely not good manners in any way. But as she was now, Shuri was too famished to even care about anything like that and Yui was already aware of that. The fact that she did not devour everything like a blood crazed barbarian was already proof enough of her ability to control herself and her emotions.
Once she finally gorged herself on the food that Yui had brought for her and her mental functions started working somewhat better, Shuri was finally able to feel her senses coming back to life. Catching off a nasty whiff of smell, she tried to smell herself and immediately… she couldn't help but groan out loud…
"Thanks for the breakfast. Though I have now come to the realization that I really need a bath right about now. I am reeking. Sorry for everything."
"Heh, don't worry. Even like this, you look quite good, you know?"
Yui shrugged her shoulders before walking up to the computer. "So, now that you are full, we can talk some business. I have two pieces of news for you. One good and one bad. Which one do you want first?"
"Let's go with the good one first. I am too tired to start the day of Thanksgiving with bad news…"
"Well. The good news is, the gangs that tried to kill you are officially no more. As of today, the Blue Sharks have been completely disbanded and won't cause any trouble for you."
Shuri knew that by the word 'Disbanded,' Yui most likely meant that a more definitive measure had been taken against them. But she merely nodded her head with nonchalance, not wishing to dig more into it and get an answer out of her about just how far they had gone in taking care of the gang.
This was what a lawyer in her place should do if they didn't want to let others get a handle on them.
"As for the bad news, we managed to capture certain executives and… Well, let's say they were gentle enough to give us some information after we asked nicely. From what they said, they were just receiving orders from their boss. They do not exactly know who ordered a hit on you."
"Heh… Those vultures are getting better and better, aren't they?"
"Well. I guess…"
Yui gave a sympathetic glance toward Shuri. She knew what it must feel like to have a family that wanted nothing from you aside from using you as much as possible to further their gains.
She did not ask Shuri why she didn't just storm in and put down the entire family with her connections. Those things were never easy for anyone, after all.
"One of my subordinates is working on your case. So don't worry about it anymore. I believe it will soon be resolved."
"Very well. I believe in your skills. It seems like making a deal with you was one of the best decisions of my life."
"Oh… You have no idea."
Yui chuckled under her breath as she delivered those lines, "Speaking of that, Happy Thanksgiving Shuri. You aren't going home?"
"I have no one to return to."
Her house would simply be empty at this point in time as she was sure that her husband was probably spending his time with his other 'true' family right about now.
"What about you?"
"Well, criminals don't exactly celebrate days like this one."
There was also the fact that her biological family was distant from her while her true family was in another world altogether.
She couldn't exactly enter the Heavenly Court to celebrate Thanksgiving with her mother now, could she? She didn't have the authority or power to do something like that.
Sometimes, she would celebrate with the members of her team. But today, everyone was busy and they needed to prepare a true celebration to invite all the branch members and organizations under them.
"Though tonight I plan to make a Thanksgiving special at the bar. You are invited. Only half the price today."
Shuri laughed and shook her head, "If I visit your bar every day, your collection of wines will make me go bankrupt." She then mused, "Will Cinder be there?"
"Cinder…"
Yui gave a bitter smile at that question. She had been trying to contact Adam all night but he was not answering her calls no matter what she tried. She was starting to get worried about him but there was nothing she could do but wait for him to come round…
"I don't know if he will come. Things happened. So yeah… There's that…"
"You seem very close to him."
Not every boss would give so much freedom to a mere employee.
"We are sworn brother and sister after all."
"Only?"
Yui smiled, "At least for now. Yeah, only that…"
Shuri's eyes twinkled. Imagining a sordid love story between a boss and his employee. This was even more so when taking into account how they were part of the underworld and their sworn relationship of being sworn siblings.
Just as Shuri was entering deep into her delusions.
Her phone rang,
"Hello...? Ah, Cecilia… Yes, I am at home. No, I am not overworking myself again. What do you mean? I also have friends you know… What? I should go touch some grass. What the hell does that even mean? Wait… Ugh. You want to see my friends...? No, I was not lying. Okay, okay. I am coming, okay? No, no need to harass me like this. Ugh… I am hanging up…"
The call lasted a short instant before Shuri hung up. But she seemed noticeably more tired after the call.
Letting out a sigh, she hesitated before finally throwing eyes full of despair toward Yui,
"If you are not celebrating Thanksgiving with your family… Would you… Would you mind coming to my friend's house? She invited me."
"Heh, I am glad you see me as a friend."
She laughed sarcastically and Shuri coughed under her breath to hide her growing sense of shame and embarrassment.
"So, are you coming then?"
Yui smiled…
If she was not wrong, the one who called was Cecilia.
Then—
"What is the dress code?"
She couldn't miss this occasion now, could she?
She remembered the way Adam looked even as he left.
He might have hidden his face behind a mask but he was definitely feeling awful.
She wouldn't be much of a sister now if she didn't try to take care of his mental health, right?
CH 259: NEW POWER
After calling and teasing Shuri till making her so flustered that she had to literally hang up the call, Cecilia let out a smile and boisterous laugh before looking at her contact list.
While she had made fun of how Shuri was so friendless, it wasn't as if she could really say that she was better than her in that department either. Even before her self-exile, she was not the most popular hunter out there when it came to social interactions, and the few people that she was acquainted with and the fewer which she could call her friends were generally people that she had helped somehow in the past.
"Heh, whatever."
Cecilia knew that in this world, having one or two good friends was much better than having a group of friends that you could never count on when you really needed them.
After all, an enemy would never betray you. That literally went against the description of a betrayal.
"Now then, should I call my sister over?"
She shrugged and simply decided to call her and see how it went.
The night before, she had a bad feeling about something happening in the distance but in the end, nothing came to be no matter how much time passed.
Cecilia believed in her instincts more than anything else in the world and she was sure that something must have happened out there for her to feel such a feeling of dread all of a sudden. As such, perhaps, she thought her sister, Theresa, could shed some light on the matter and decided to talk to her about it.
And she also wished to spend some quality time with her bratty sister after such a long time.
'I wonder what she will say when she sees me look younger than her right now.'
"Hehe… Though it will be a little complicated to explain this transformation to Shuri."
'Perhaps it was time to make her friend aware of the other side of the world?'
It was one thing to hide the truth when she wished to live a normal life and wanted Adam to just be a normal human.
But now that this was obviously impossible for them, she had to take a decision about this soon.
Either she cut ties with Shuri or she clued her in on the truth of this world.
She knew very well how things usually went and understood more than anyone that half-measures would only result in losses on both sides.
'I should ask Adam about his opinion on this matter.'
This was not her life alone now, after all, and Adam was not a kid anymore and she needed to ask for his opinion before making decisions that were able to affect their lives.
"Speaking of Adam… Where is that brat?"
.
.
.
.
Currently, Adam was floating head-first toward the ground…
He had been in this position all night long, after killing himself once to get rid of the negative effects he received after calling Hae-Won's soul to this world.
He was trying to understand his new powers and distract himself from everything that happened to him on the fateful night of sorrows.
One thing he had learned was that his power over Death had to be consciously activated for it to be invoked by him.
Once it was, it would allow him many things such as 'Killing' things and seeing and perceiving the world that lay beyond their own. It was kind of like he could perceive Death itself in everything surrounding him.
'I didn't think there were so many ghosts in the surrounding area.'
Unlike Hae-Won, those ghosts seemed to have lost the vast majority of their wisdom and some could not even keep a proper shape and just wandered aimlessly in the void.
There was still much he did not know about spirits and souls and similar beings but at least one fact was clear to him.
He had effectively become a Necromancer with the acquirement of his recent skills.
His knowledge about the skills still left much to be desired as they were close to zero and he was mostly acting by following his instincts.
But he would soon get hung up on things.
Like ❰The World❱ or ❰Dreams❱; ❰Death❱ was an EX rank unique skill that encompassed many smaller skills and integrated them into his overall powers.
Learning all of it would never be easy for him with his current capabilities.
Aside from ❰Death❱ he had also finally managed to control Heat and get a hint at how to manipulate Thermal energies.
The skill ❰Burning Blood❱ that he had used during the fight with Xezbeth needed him to absorb the surrounding heat inside of his body and then convert the resulting energy into pure explosive power to enhance his speed, reflexes, and power among other things.
The skill could not be used for long traces of time as it would negatively affect his body during a fight but this did not matter for someone like him.
After all, he just had to kill himself to reset things back to their optimal position.
The only problem would be dying during a fight… and this was where things got truly interesting.
Two passive skills that he had gained during the fight.
Or should he call them traits?
『 Trait: Eternal Damnation
Rank: EX
Description: Even in 'Death,' you will no longer find peace nor will you find rest. Death will no longer be an escape for you, even if temporary…
Effect 1: Your mind is damned to wander the world of the living. The eternal rest of 'Death" will not come even partially any longer.
Effect 2: You will not find peace even in lies. Illusions can not affect your mind any longer.
Effect 3: Insanity will not be an escape for you any longer. You will be damned to feel the weight of the years on you for all eternity. Your mind may bend under the weight, but it will never break, only endure and suffer. 』
『 Skill: Adaptation
Rank: EX
Description: Death will progressively come harder and harder for you. The more you die the harder it will be for you to die of the same cause, until one day… Death will not even come to you, not even as a release… You will be damned for all time…
Effect: Continuously evolves your body and slowly creates resistance to the aura of death until it reaches full resistance to death and Immunity to Death itself. 』
❰Eternal Damnation❱ and ❰Adaptation❱…
The first one was already showing its effects on him quite clearly.
He had realized that now, even after dying, rather than blanking out he would simply wake up in the same dark void as he did the last time.
It also considerably increased his regeneration rate after dying and it seemed that soon, even after dying, he would still be conscious in reality as well.
But this didn't just stop there.
He had been barely able to sleep at all and he knew that this wasn't just because of the feeling deep in his heart.
Sleep had simply refused to come to him any longer and he could not rest his mind either.
Would he one day be completely unable to sleep any longer?
"This curse is becoming nastier and nastier with time."
But at the very least, it was supremely useful to him now.
As for ❰Adaptation❱, he had a hard time grasping what it really did for him.
Did he need to die to "Adapt" or something like that? Just what was this Adaptation that the skill was talking about and named itself after? The description had been clear enough but he was not able to completely grasp it yet.
How much Adaptation did each death give him? What was the maximum adaptation possible for him to reach?
"Is it asking me to die in different ways till I create resistance to all deaths?"
He might have to go and ask Cecilia to burn him to death a few more times in order to test this theory.
"You are awfully silent today?"
⦃Your current state of mind is not optimal for an in-depth discussion.⦄
"How so? I think I have never been more focused than today."
Genesis refused to answer further, which caused Adam to shrug his shoulders.
"If you aren't going to say anything then forget it. I am going home. The salt from the sea is starting to become uncomfortable."
He would have rather not have to deal with Cecilia today, but it seemed like it wasn't possible for him…
It was Thanksgiving after all…
CH 260: HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
When Adam finally reached his home after a long session of reviewing his newly acquired skills and power over a voyage on the ocean, for the first time in a long while, he simply deactivated his base power ❰The World❱ or rather reduced it to such a narrow margin that it merely covered 3 meters at most surrounding him.
At the same time, he shut down two of his other minds, ceased their function altogether, and used his main one to perceive the world.
⦗Lock On⦘
Finally, he closed all of his chakra pathways, and all his stats plummeted down to what they were before Halloween; effectively turning him into a normal human who had reached his physical peak, but a normal human nonetheless.
"Ugh."
The difference in sensation was simply… overwhelming, to say the least.
It felt as if all his senses had been abruptly crippled to a great extent, leaving him as good as being disabled. It was not a good feeling in the least.
The world lost its shine, his mind felt slow and it felt like he was shouldering the weight of the world on his shoulders after his strength vanished into thin air with the establishment of the lock.
"Ah…"
Even walking became weird for him as Adam could not clearly judge the amount of strength he needed to put in each step to walk forward.
It was only after a few minutes that he was finally able to slightly get used to the feeling of discomfort and the disorienting of his senses.
'So this is how I felt in the past, huh?'
He wished to return to normal even if only temporarily but now realized that his new life had somehow become his new normal along the way.
The standards of his lifestyle had changed far too much for him to ever truly feel and act like a normal human again.
Even then, his decision was firm. For the rest of the day, as long as he or anyone surrounding him did not meet any life-threatening event, he would simply move with his human shell.
This will perhaps be the last time he would ever do something like this in his life.
It was without a doubt a meaningless action. Something that brought him absolutely nothing no matter how he thought about it.
But he wanted to do it. So he did it. It was that simple. Nothing more, nothing less.
After getting more used to his dulled down physical and psychological attributes, Adam began to slowly walk on until he reached the door of his house.
He had already found some clothes for him previously and even without the use of Prana, he was not butt naked anymore and could walk in the open.
Reaching the door, he put his hands in his pockets but sighed once he realized that his key had also been destroyed alongside the rest of his body during his fight with the Devil of Lies and Deceit.
Ding~!
The bell sounded in its usual nostalgic glimmer as Adam hit the buzzer with his hands.
"Give me a minute!"
Cecilia's voice, as beautiful and powerful as always, sounded from the other side of the door soon after he pressed on the buzzers. Footsteps soon followed, trailing after her powerful voice, and the door was opened; only to make him witness the sight of a slightly sweating Cecilia.
She was wearing a white apron over a tee shirt and a pair of slightly stained jeans; the stains belonged to some sort of powder and other food-related items. It was clear that she was cooking something right now…
"Who are you and what have you done with my Mom?"
Adam took a step back and made a cross sign hurriedly, causing Cecilia to roll her eyes in disbelief.
"Stop overreacting, you brat! Even though it's rare that I cook, it isn't like it never happened before, right?"
Adam took a few more steps back as his face lost more and more of its color, "Yeah, and every time something like that happened it turned into a disaster as you created food worthy of being named as a biochemical weapon."
Cecilia's answer was to give him the middle finger to which Adam could only chuckle as he came closer to her.
"You fucking brat!"
Taking him into a headlock, Cecilia ruffled his hair roughly while bringing him in from the outside.
"Oh, lad you're back?"
Cecilia released Adam and he was able to witness a powerful vision. That of Makarov wearing oven gloves and a white apron with a flower pattern on top of it.
One had to remember that despite his age, Makarov had the appearance of a bodybuilder jacked with as much testosterone that was allowed for a human to have. The contrast between his usual appearance and the one he was witnessing now was enough to make him question the reality of the world and wonder if he had entered some kind of parallel universe or not…
He now looked like a bodybuilder grandma about to give him a protein shake for a lack of better descriptive knowledge.
"Also you are right about your mom. That lass can't cook even if her life depended on it. So I decided to take things into my own hands and made her my assistant."
"Heh."
As if remembering something, Adam rummaged through his clothes before taking out a vial.
"I got this."
"Ah…"
It took a supernatural level of will for Makarov not to simply drop everything he was holding in his hands on the spot due to the shock he felt after seeing the vial.
Carefully placing the things in his hands on the nearby table, Makarov sat down with a hand over his chest.
"Lad, be careful with your surprises in the future, okay? My old heart can't take much more of something like this."
Makarov was not exaggerating. His heart was beating so powerfully now that he felt like it was about to explode at any second.
This was how shocked he was by Adam's gift.
"Where did you get this? Should we start packing and flee for our lives?"
Adam was speechless at his sudden reaction which was eerily similar to what Cecilia had shown him a few days ago when he gave her Gorgon's blood he had received from Medusa.
"Why the hell is, once again, the first reaction to wonder if I have stolen it or not?"
"This is how shocking what you have in your hand is. Just who gave you this?"
Makarov approached him like someone possessed and began to observe him from all directions while also observing the vial full of holy energy.
His eyes were bloodshot, his breaths were ragged, and his eyes kept spinning in every direction possible as he watched the vial in his hands.
At the point where things were at, he wouldn't be surprised if Makarov started muttering something like "My precious~!" like that one eerie abomination from a certain old film he had watched with his mother.
"Well, take it."
He really wanted to throw it and see how Makarov would react but he felt like it would be a little too disrespectful of him to do something like that so he controlled himself from acting on his impulses.
Cradling the vial in his hand as if it was the child he never had, Makarov nearly let out a tear because of how overwhelmed he was.
"With this, any weapon I create might even give birth to a consciousness or special skills."
Thanks to the powerful holy power concentrated in the holy water, the effect it would have on a weapon would go beyond simply making a sword that can hurt Devils and Demons.
It would be a truly special weapon with special skills that would go beyond the norm and the realms of logic.
"With this… I think we are nearly done."
All they needed was to gather more data and soon—
—The ultimate weapon of his dreams would be created.
But before that, "You should take care of Viktor and buy him some good liquor. Your mother's invited her friends over."
"Friends?"
Adam tilted his head in confusion, "Mom, you have friends besides Shuri?"
"Ugh…"
Cecilia groaned, putting a hand over her heart from the 'Emotional Damage' she received from her own son.
That one hurt. It hurt a lot. She now understood what Shuri must have felt when she said the same to her.
No… This was even more painful for her to hear. After all, she could genuinely feel no malice in the words that Adam had conveyed to her and that he was actually anticipating who her 'friends' may be and was even slightly happy at the prospect of her having more friends. This was enough to devastate her whole world in one go.
"Pfft!"
Makarov holding back his laughter with extreme difficulty on the side did not help the situation and made her even more depressed.
"Ah… Sorry… I forgot."
A second shot of 'Emotional Damage,' even more powerful than the one before came straight to her heart once he saw Adam's reaction once he thought things through. This time Cecilia just vomited blood and crashed to the ground.
It was a fatal shot. There would be no recovery from this for a few minutes.
"Hehe... You know, your mother used to be very popular, right? Many people wanted to meet me."
"You mean like the hundreds of cultists that wanted you dead?"
Cecilia ignored Makarov's words and coughed loudly to cover up her embarrassment, "Furthermore, you know, better have one good friend rather than a hundred fake ones."
"It's the same way broke people say money doesn't bring happiness and ugly people say that what matters is inner beauty." The old man once again said on the side
Adam chuckled slightly. A laugh that was much more natural than the one he had leaked earlier.
Looking at the antics between Makarov and Cecilia, warmth filled his heart.
The past night had not been easy for him.
But now he could feel it.
Indeed. He was back home.
