The One No Longer Great - 3
It looks like an ordinary villa, but it is by no means an ordinary place. Inside the living room of the 'Sanctum'—an anomaly disguised as a villa—Yoo Iseul was in conversation with Park Donghyun.
With Lee Jia and that disgusting, monstrous entity having vanished simultaneously, Yoo Iseul was currently on the verge of losing her mind. However, she was a veteran among veteran Awakened. Keeping one's composure in an emergency was a basic requirement for any Awakened.
Through her conversation with Park Donghyun, she learned two major facts. First, Park Donghyun was merely caught up in a massive incident; he was not actively colluding with that disgusting, one-eyed monster. As Lee Jia had said, this man was just a victim. Second, the mental attack of that one-eyed monster was so powerful that it couldn't even be compared to any anomaly she had encountered thus far. No, "powerful" was a massive understatement.
The security level of the Awakened Association headquarters was something even Yoo Iseul found daunting. She often advised the Association's chairman, Yeo Junghwan, that too much manpower and resources were being wasted on the headquarters, which spoke volumes about the sheer scale of their security. Yet, that one-eyed monster had breached the Association's security without a second thought. It had entered the Association as if it were the most natural thing in the world, made contact with Kim Junghwan, and then, by persuading the Association, calmly walked out with Park Donghyun, the most important person of the moment.
This was an unrealistic situation that went beyond simply being described as a "strong mental attack." It felt as if the center of this world revolved around that one-eyed monster, like a packaged game. The player was the monster, and all other humans were like NPCs reciting pre-written scripts. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say it was using a cheat program that turned the game's difficulty to "easy mode" with a single click.
If there was one fortunate thing, it was this: this world had an anti-cheat program. Yoo Iseul, who was immune to mental attacks, and Lee Jia, a Fervent Follower. Weren't these pretty high-performance anti-cheat programs?
Through their conversation, she realized Park Donghyun was a relatively normal human, but he had already been infected by the monster's cheat program.
"So, you. Are you sure you don't want to be a sacrifice?"
"Yes, I'm a young man with a bright future ahead of me! I must survive to watch Jia-nim's broadcasts, get a girlfriend, and…"
"Then why did you follow us here?"
"Well, the college student said the offering schedule had been changed. I was willing to offer my body for the sake of the college student…"
"You just said you didn't want to be a sacrifice."
"Yes, I don't want to be a sacrifice!"
…The flow of the conversation was roughly like that. As if a fatal bug had occurred in a specific section, he was unable to perceive reality only when the conversation involved the 'college student.'
Having grasped the situation, it was time to solve it. Yoo Iseul handed him the black heart she had been holding in her left hand.
"Take it."
"Waaaaah! Wh-why are you handing that creepy thing to me!"
"I told you earlier, it's your heart. I hate repeating myself, so just shove it into that hole already."
"I-is that so?"
She would need to insert 'Park Donghyun's soul,' which Lee Jia was currently keeping, to fully liberate him, but with Lee Jia missing, she had to make do with just the heart. Still, inserting the heart alone should have some effect. At the very least, it might temporarily prevent him from being offered as a human sacrifice. Now, all she had to do was wait for Lee Jia to beat that Fervent Follower to death and appear with Park Donghyun's soul.
Of course, she wasn't without worry. Yoo Iseul's heart was beating faster than ever before. She was only barely maintaining her composure thanks to her ten years of experience as an Awakened. Still, if it were her, she would probably be fine. It would have been a difficult opponent to face alone, but the Great One known as the Shining Stars was watching her back.
Yoo Iseul had sworn never to pray to that entity called the Shining Stars, but at this moment, she found herself praying inwardly.
'If you're really such a big shot, save Lee Jia. If you don't, I'll kill you.'
…It was quite a rough prayer, but fortunately, Yoo Iseul did not suffer the consequences of blasphemy.
Park Donghyun, having received the heart from Yoo Iseul, hesitated. Feeling frustrated, Yoo Iseul spoke up.
"What are you doing? Shove it in already."
"No, this is… well, no matter what, taking off my shirt in front of a woman is a bit… Uh, Iseul-nim. Could you turn around for a moment?"
"No."
"…"
At Yoo Iseul's firm command, he sighed and began to undo the buttons of his black dress shirt one by one. Soon, a black hole was revealed on Park Donghyun's left chest. Yoo Iseul felt a surge of curiosity at the sight, something she had never seen in her life, but she quickly pulled herself together and continued coldly.
"Put it in."
"Ah, I was going to. Ugh…"
Handing the heart to Park Donghyun. That was Yoo Iseul's fatal mistake.
"…"
"What are you doing?"
"…"
"Hey."
"Iseul-nim."
"What."
The heart Park Donghyun was holding began to beat rapidly. It was beating so fast that she couldn't help but wonder if it would burst at any moment. A sticky, black liquid began to flow from the heart in abnormal quantities. Park Donghyun's pupils dilated until the whites of his eyes were no longer visible. The black liquid flowing from the heart began to cover Park Donghyun.
At that moment, Yoo Iseul drew her sword, but she couldn't bring herself to cut Park Donghyun down. If she killed him here, the one-eyed monster would lose its sacrifice, effectively stopping the human offering. However, she couldn't bring herself to strike. No matter how rude and sharp-tongued Yoo Iseul was as an Awakened, her heart wasn't twisted enough to cut down a human being.
Soon, the black liquid from Park Donghyun's heart completely engulfed him, and his body began to twist into bizarre shapes. His two eyes merged into one, his legs transformed into dozens of tentacles, and his arms turned into sharp scythes. Park Donghyun had transformed into a form similar to that one-eyed monster.
Before long, the one-eyed monster that used to be Park Donghyun began to wag its disgusting mouth at Yoo Iseul.
"Ugh, I'm sorry, Iseul-nim! Ugh… the college student asked me to kill you, Iseul-nim…"
Although he had transformed into a repulsive form, his tone remained the same as always.
"I-I'm really sorry, Iseul-nim! I'm so sorry, but… you have to die!"
"…Huh, wow."
Yoo Iseul clicked her tongue, completely dumbfounded. It seemed that she needed to insert both the soul and the heart simultaneously to fully liberate him from the 'college student.' It couldn't be helped. Since things had turned out this way, she had no choice but to stall for time until Lee Jia beat that Fervent Follower and reappeared. It was a good thing, too; she needed someone to vent her stress on. Yoo Iseul had found herself a useful punching bag.
* * *
"Ah."
Staring at the spot where my left arm used to be with a blank expression, I let out a small exclamation. My left arm had exploded. Was I attacked? I don't know. I didn't see anything. If I was attacked, how? My body's durability, excluding the 'Price of Blasphemy' and 'Iron Sword No. 3,' was so tough that I hadn't even shed a drop of blood, so how?
Questions swirled in my head, but they only lasted for a moment.
"Ah… Aaaah, Aaaaaaaah!"
As dark red blood gushed from the spot where my left arm had been, I began to scream in despair. The despair of having a familiar part of my body explode in an instant was beyond words. Furthermore, the terrible pain that was tearing through my brain. Pain. Pain.
"..."
Pain?
What is this? It doesn't hurt at all.
I felt a sense of emptiness because my left arm was gone, but I didn't feel any particular pain. It was a strange thing. My left arm had been completely blown away, and the white bone was visible at the wound, yet I felt no pain. Where did this sudden courage come from? I tapped the exposed white bone with my other fingers. It really didn't hurt. I'm not joking; it hurt several times more when Yoo Iseul pricked my fingertip with her sword.
I get it. It's an illusion.
Come to think of it, this girl. She had completely fallen from grace and was now in a state of clinging to the pant legs of her subordinate, a Fervent Follower. No matter how much she was a former 'Great One,' my body, which was as solid as a fortress, couldn't be destroyed so easily by a fallen god.
I spoke to her in a confident voice.
"It's an illusion. I've already figured out all your attack patterns."
I don't know why she used the word 'CENSORED' instead of the perfectly fine word 'left arm.' I scoffed and spoke to her again.
"It doesn't hurt at all, you bitch! If this were reality, it would have hurt like hell. But I don't feel a thing. So, it's definitely an illusion."
[…]
The twisted universe within her rippled once more. Watching her for a while, I think I get the gist of it. She seems to be flustered right now.
[Pain, you say.]
[That, too, is a mortal emotion.]
[Unfitting for a Fervent Follower.]
[Disgustingly foolish.]
[A heterogeneous aspect that fails to recognize even one's own 'status'.]
[What, exactly.]
[Did the Shining Stars create?]"
"Create? They created a Vtuber who's damn good at broadcasting. Anyway, you're finished."
It's a bit embarrassing to say it myself, but—
"Shining Stars-nim loves me very, very, extremely, immensely much. Now, prepare to receive divine retribution from Shining Stars-nim."
No matter how much of an illusion it is, how dare she blow up my left arm, the arm of Shining Stars-nim's Fervent Follower? Shining Stars-nim wouldn't just let this slide. Now. Receive the divine retribution of Shining Stars-nim.
"…"
However. No matter how long I waited, the divine retribution of the Shining Stars did not descend upon her.
[Even if.]
[I am.]
[One who has been stripped of my throne, one who is no longer great.]
[The law of the great causality still applies to me.]
[A Great One.]
[Cannot harm another Great One.]
[This is the unreasonable providence of the universe.]
Oh, shit.
That means I can't expect any help from Shining Stars-nim in this battle. This is… I think I'm in big trouble.