The Age of Chaos
Caron’s lightning shook the earth.
It wasn’t merely a bolt carrying the properties of electricity. The utter absurdity of it—its destructive force pushed to the limit by raw physical power as well—was probably the result of being amplified by Caron’s psychic force.
But that was fine.
If it doesn’t hit, it doesn’t matter.
He drew Alpha Strike up again, the blade that had become a lightning rod.
He judged in an instant and responded in the blink of an eye. By the time he was done, Caron was already surging straight at him.
“You’re weak.”
He spoke quietly and swung his arm.
The wind born from the blood-red wings flaring wide behind him accelerated the bastard’s fist even further.
A hit? No.
Yoo Sung-jun’s mouth curled at the corner.
Seeing the current running through the man’s body gave him a pretty good idea.
Loki. Divert 10% of the power—3% to strength, 4% to speed, 3% to senses.
The thought flashed through his brain faster than words. Thanks to Loki accepting the order without hesitation, the Omega Suit lit up in shifting colors.
At the same time, Yoo Sung-jun lifted his chin slightly.
Caron’s fist, glowing red-hot, brushed past the tip of his jaw by a hair’s breadth.
The crack of air split by the blow was fierce. Even without being hit, he could feel the overwhelming force packed into every movement.
But he hadn’t been hit. And more importantly, he countered immediately.
Kwa-hung!
His greatsword cleaved the front in half, but there was no satisfying impact in his hand.
Nanoparticles clinging to the blade scattered into a thick haze.
Beyond it, Caron was already baring sharpened fangs and growling.
“Fool who has soaked his brain in evil, as though by demons. Cease your resistance and accept the blessing.”
Another spark snapped from the horn rising from the bastard’s forehead.
Yoo Sung-jun watched it and shrugged.
“If your blessing means dying, then take it yourself, asshole.”
Right! I’m not a demon, you idiot!
At Loki’s shout, which couldn’t reach the man, he clicked his tongue and retreated a step.
Thud! The greatsword driven into the floor once again absorbed Caron’s lightning a split second faster than it could spread.
Yoo Sung-jun left the sword where it was and sprinted sideways.
He caught a glimpse of Caron standing there motionless in profile.
The bastard’s head turned. The grotesquely twisted head, the mouth that spoke from somewhere it shouldn’t.
“I am invincible, having made use of the sacred relic.”
He vanished. Judging by the rippling empty space where he’d stood, he’d accelerated himself with psychic force.
Where? Above.
Yoo Sung-jun pointed at the sharp foot spearing down vertically.
He used the precise firing of the Untouch Shooter and its recoil against him.
He didn’t resist the recoil created when the Untouch Shooter fired.
Instead, he surrendered his body to it and hurled himself backward with all his strength.
His body spun once. A beat late, the steel floor was pierced with a violent kwaduk.
He handles both the innate power and the Infector abilities well.
He was far superior to the one he’d fought before.
He knew how to apply his innate trait. He also properly understood the use of lightning—simple, but fast and brutally powerful.
But—
He’s still a little rough around the edges.
He slipped through that tiny gap.
Yoo Sung-jun flicked his finger.
“Won’t work twice!”
Was he watching my fingertips?
Caron stared at the Untouch Shooter and reached out with his arm.
He must have understood the principle behind the shot.
But this wasn’t an attempt to fire it.
He was reproducing a technique Yoo Sung-jun had once used while wiping out a killer syndicate.
The greatsword, connected to fine lines made of nanoparticle matter, curled back into his hand.
With a shallow breath, Yoo Sung-jun swung it without hesitation.
Alpha Strike interfered with the air itself.
It severed the psychic force compressing the atmosphere.
And beyond that—Caron—was cut in half.
Shrrk!
One of the bastard’s wings came away cleanly. Yoo Sung-jun swallowed a trace of disappointment.
He’d been aiming for the neck, but to twist his body at that exact moment…
Still, damage was damage. And this was significant enough. Yoo Sung-jun grinned at Caron.
“Didn’t work, huh?”
Taunting was another tactic.
With words, he scratched at the enemy’s insides and shook his composure.
Meanwhile, Yoo Sung-jun prepared the next move.
Now, with all resources depleted after the campaign to crush the Middle Finger, he couldn’t afford even the slightest mistake.
The moment he wasted even a scrap of power, he’d die.
“Haa. Hoo…”
A sense of duty filled his body—the duty to protect his younger brother, to protect his comrades.
The tension and fear of walking a tightrope above an abyss as deep as ten thousand yards began gnawing at his mind.
The bastard—wounded Caron—flickered with blood-red pupils.
The instant Yoo Sung-jun saw that look, his mind went cold as ice.
Complexity peeled away, and simplicity filled his lungs and brain.
Adrenaline.
For the sake of caution? Because killing him might not be the end of it?
Fuck that. Yoo Sung-jun killed his own ridiculously meticulous rationality.
What took its place was fighting spirit and savage rage.
Pour everything into it.
Overwhelm the bastard in front of him.
Kill him. Enlighten him through that, and bring down Lord Evolve’s blessing!
Caron, blinded by fury, didn’t notice.
He didn’t see the hair rapidly whitening as though it were burning away, nor the way the faintly visible skin tightened and wrinkled as it shrank.
---!
So he roared.
Psychic force was the manifestation of will.
His will, coupled with the reckless fury unique to an Infector, flooded the space around them.
“Submit before the glorious power of Lord Evolve!”
The deafening roar, like hundreds of bells crashing together, spread outward from Caron.
It swallowed him and consumed half the laboratory.
Telekinetic field.
It consumed an enormous amount of mental strength, but it was efficient.
The entire space had effectively fallen into Caron’s grasp.
He twisted the very place where will had been cast.
Of course, the bastard would never sit still for such a simple technique.
He was the strongest Infector or user Yoo Sung-jun had faced so far.
So he needed to wield power worthy of that strength.
Caron already held that power in his hands.
Oh, Evolve. Thanks to Your sacred relic, I’m now able to punish the strong yet foolish.
Kwa-rung! The Infector’s ability—lightning—grew more intense and refined, surging out from Caron’s forehead.
It struck at the telekinetic field built in the shape of a dome from one place to another.
Feeling every movement of that lightning, Caron flicked his fingers.
He was so fast that only afterimages remained.
What is this?
Yoo Sung-jun watched the change in him and felt a chill.
He understood that psychic force had taken control of the surroundings.
But this was unexpected.
He’s bouncing the lightning?
Boom! Boom!
In the space filled with thunder, the psychic force deflected the lightning.
It scattered in all directions, then gathered together again.
He was controlling a force that should have been difficult to manage by using the recoil of psychic force itself.
It was an astonishing way to handle it. Yes—astonishing, and nothing more.
Thud!
The flooring caved under Yoo Sung-jun’s push-off.
Covering over ten meters in a single leap, the first strike that landed wasn’t made of lightning bright as light, but of cold steel.
One arm spun through the air and fell away.
Even with the loss of a limb, Caron didn’t care.
I can see it all.
It was just a wound. He’d regenerate it anyway.
He only had to protect his head. So he would kill.
This space was no different from his will.
The weak psychic force filling the area drew the bastard’s position and even the place he intended to move to with painful clarity.
What Caron had aimed for was the brief hesitation between stillness and movement.
And that gap was completed by sacrificing one arm.
Pak!
A flash of dazzling light. A cry to die disguised as a blessing scattered into the air.
The light soon dispersed, and when the glare faded, only a black mark remained.
Why?
Did it miss?
Caron stared blankly at the place where his attack had gone astray.
Then, beside him, he heard a strange sound of breathing.
“Ksssss…!”
A breath that sounded as if it were being forcibly swallowed down.
In an instant, the world in front of him went black.
It was the nanomatter he’d reflexively compressed and held.
“It doesn’t work.”
And yet even after blocking the attack, the bastard’s presence remained.
So when he grabbed him with psychic force and tried to strike again, he couldn’t keep his balance properly.
Caron felt the world tilting slowly.
His eyes, dropping sharply, took in the floor, then his own legs.
When on earth…?
His left ankle was rolling across the floor.
At the sight of it, a cold voice slammed into Caron’s ear.
“Now then, here’s the blessing you love so much.”
It wasn’t just the voice descending upon him.
The familiar pitch-black greatsword came down like a guillotine.
“Ghk!”
Caron swallowed a grunt and compressed the telekinetic field.
The target was the bastard, the human. The crushing pressure seized him for an instant and twisted his body.
Instead of using that opening to escape, Caron decided to draw out every last bolt of lightning and finish the enemy off.
His attack shot toward Sung-jun’s chest—Sung-jun, who had already turned white-haired.
This time for sure…!
Kkaja-jak!
Caron was certain when the crackling discharge pierced his ears and the result was plain to see.
No matter how tough he is, he can’t survive taking tens of thousands of volts head-on.
At last. At last he had delivered the blessing. He had opened the eyes of a fool with death and guided him to Lord Evolve’s side.
For a moment, his joy was intense.
Skrk! Caron heard the sound of something being sliced, and when it vanished in an instant, he stared dumbly.
His right ear had been cut off. Why?
Caron’s wavering gaze came back up.
Before him, barely keeping himself upright with psychic force, stood that man.
The bastard in black full-body armor, holding a greatsword that should have been silver in its true form.
The only difference from before was that his entire body was now wrapped in faint sparks.
“So this works, huh.”
He tossed out the words and swung the greatsword.
Keuk! Caron crossed both arms.
A blast sent his body reeling backward.
He barely blocked it by layering psychic force twice over.
The shockwave tore through the air, blurring his vision.
Where did the bastard go? His ear still needed a little more time to regenerate.
Compressing the telekinetic field to stop the attack had been a mistake.
Even if he listened with his remaining left ear, it was impossible to predict the slaughter closing in from every direction.
Kkwo-jik! Kkuung! Kwoong!
From front, back, left, and right, the merciless swings continued.
A relentless chain of strikes that kept hammering and breaking psychic force without ever stopping.
He was already this exhausted, so why was the bastard…?
Isn’t there anything different from before?
If it won’t break, kick it.
He kept pressing the attack, staying on his heels as he pushed Caron backward.
He stabbed to force him back, then slammed down on him.
When Caron bounced off the floor and sprang up, Yoo Sung-jun knocked him aside with a horizontal slash.
Caron felt a humiliation he’d never experienced before.
Wasn’t this like being treated as nothing more than a ball?
The bastard was swinging his greatsword like a bat.
It might have looked playful, but it wasn’t.
There wasn’t a single opening in him.
His stance was so stable that he could respond to any variable thrown at him.
He was being utterly overwhelmed. Driven into a corner.
What awaits the one who can only endure is a merciless hammer blow.
And soon, that shattered the psychic force protecting Caron.
“Aaaagh!”
As Caron poured in his last ounce of strength, Yoo Sung-jun’s greatsword jammed into his mouth.
Szzzt—! Even as the current running through Caron’s body traveled along the blade and into Yoo Sung-jun’s own body, nothing changed.
“This stings a little.”
He merely assessed the bastard’s final struggle in a low voice.
By then, half of Caron’s vision was already swallowed by darkness, and he checked his condition inwardly.
One eye lost. One arm. Both legs. The remaining arm was twisted by the recoil from blocking the sword strike and blown apart in places.
He’d been wrecked like a doll handled too roughly.
Caron lay sprawled on the floor, a faint laugh leaking out of him.
“Why are you splitting?”
Still standing before him, the man crouched down.
Even now, sparks were snapping around him.
Come to think of it, the Omega Suit’s color was deeper than before.
The meaning was simple.
The bastard’s suit power remained intact. No—if anything, it had recovered further.
The reason wasn’t hard to guess.
“To think you’d use lightning… as power…”
“It was half a gamble. If I hadn’t dumped most of it into the floor with armored transformation, I’d have been the one losing a minute ago.”
Loki’s order had worked.
He’d exposed just a little of the Omega Suit’s battery and turned off the overvoltage prevention system.
If things had gone wrong, too much current might have electrocuted not only the Omega Suit but his body too. Yet in the end, it had succeeded.
Because the electricity Caron unleashed had recharged the Omega Suit once more.
“Crazy bastard… fool… you’re really… insane.”
“Don’t talk like you’re saying it about someone else. It’s a shame you got brainwashed, but even you know this, don’t you?”
Yoo Sung-jun lifted his visor.
Deep wrinkles and age spots were exposed.
His hair, grown over the last few months, had gone white and fallen forward.
And beyond that, Caron saw the corners of Yoo Sung-jun’s mouth lifting in the eye that remained to him.
“It’s been a long time since the world became one where you either go crazy or get eaten.”
The greatsword came roaring down.
Watching it, Caron thought weakly to himself.
Ah… Lord Evolve… I’m sorry…
Kkwadeuk!
The red devil’s head was split in two.
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