Wipe Them Out with Full Force
The Captain who had brought Lumen down wore a look of pure satisfaction. After spending more than a dozen straight hours pouring out his superpower, he was completely spent.
So crushing Lumen like this felt incredibly refreshing.
“Hey, old man, you sure this is fine? What if they dig in even harder and just hole up?”
“As long as we couldn’t break through the panic room door, leaking the list was already a done deal. So we lock them in and buy time.”
The Captain shot his fretting Vice-Captain a look that said, Didn’t you hear what I said earlier?
The area around Lumen—no, all of Manhattan—was already under their control.
While collapsing Lumen, they had severed every bridge leading into Manhattan.
The Nova members they had summoned had gathered in numbers far beyond expectations: more than eight thousand, fully twenty thousand in total.
Judging that force sufficient, they had changed the plan.
Nova held Manhattan. That meant every ordinary person still inside the borough was now a Nova hostage.
If the military tried to move in, all they had to do was emphasize the hostages.
While they bought time that way, Nova cells across the United States would rise up, expanding their territory until they controlled the entire country.
That was the plan now in motion.
“Doesn’t this feel way too improvised?”
“Successful revolutions have always started suddenly.”
The Vice-Captain, who had opposed the plan from the beginning, shook his head and voiced his unease.
And that unease became reality almost at once.
“Captain! We’ve got a problem!”
“The Nova list just hit the internet!”
“What?! This fast?!”
Two S-class Awakened came running with the report, and the Captain’s face crumpled.
He had braced for the list to leak—hell, that had been part of the plan itself.
Once the outside world learned that Manhattan was under Nova control, the list’s release would force every Nova who had planned to stay hidden to rise up whether they wanted to or not.
That was the whole idea.
“Did that Family Head bastard just keep mashing the upload button the whole time?!”
They had seized Manhattan and toppled Lumen; he had assumed it would take time for the list to spread.
More precisely, he had counted on having until the Family Head climbed out of the panic room.
That Jeong-Hoon would respond this quickly had never entered the Captain’s calculations, and his irritation exploded.
If the list went public this fast, Novas across the country were far more likely to turn themselves in than to revolt.
The panic room used its own independent communications network to stay in contact with the outside world.
Nova’s superpowers had blocked that network, but once they moved to seize Manhattan, the lines opened again.
“Throughout history, the single biggest reason rebellions failed was that their plans leaked early.”
Ever since receiving the list from Senator Richard, Jeong-Hoon had kept trying to upload it. Now that he had finally landed the blow, the corners of his mouth twitched upward in a smile.
“With this, victory belongs to the Gaju.”
“……Less a victory and more like shoving them in the back, really.”
At the Chief Butler’s words, Jeong-Hoon wiped away the smile and shrugged.
He had no idea what the situation outside looked like right now, but once the list was out, the enemy would have no choice but to be swept along by the current.
“But will you be all right?”
“About what?”
“What you just did could also be described as pressing the button that starts a civil war in the United States. Can you handle that?”
Hardliners, moderates, Awakened with no connection to either side, and ordinary American citizens—all of them could be dragged into a civil war.
That was why the Chief Butler could not help but worry.
Jeong-Hoon hated seeing people die. The butler fretted over whether the young man could bear the guilt of having lit the fuse of a civil war.
It was a war in which hundreds, thousands—no, tens of thousands—might die.
With the family’s support, Nova would lose.
People would call it a necessary war.
But the guilt of having pulled the trigger on that “necessary” war would belong to Jeong-Hoon alone.
That was what the Chief Butler feared.
“……The Gaju will be fine. Because the family will end this in an instant for his sake.”
While Jeong-Hoon still could not answer, Jeong I-Yeong stepped into the panic room from deeper inside and spoke for him.
“Head Maid, how did you get in here?”
“I opened it for her!”
At the Chief Butler’s startled question about Jeong I-Yeong’s sudden appearance, Min-Ha, standing behind her, raised a hand.
“That is not what I meant. Why is the Head Maid, who should be in Korea, here?”
“When the Gaju issued the evacuation order, the general manager of the New York branch contacted headquarters.”
Jeong-Hoon had expected family reinforcements from Korea, but he never imagined they would arrive this soon. He shook his head in astonishment.
They must have left the moment the call came through.
“Having the Head Maid here is reassuring, but alone she is a little……”
“I did not come alone.”
At Jeong-Hoon’s doubtful words, I-Yeong shook her head.
One after another, the Twelve Vassals appeared behind her.
Yeo Tae-Hyeon, Woo Do-Il, Ko Yu-Yeon, Jeon Mun-Jae, Baek Si-Hwan, Park Jin-Yang, Han Su-Ho, Dong Sa-Seong.
Add the Chief Butler and Fernandez, whom Jeong-Hoon had brought with him, plus Jeong Si-Min and the Head Maid standing before him, and every one of the Twelve Vassals was present.
“……All twelve vassals? Then what about Korea?”
“The elders of the Elder Council gladly stepped in to cover that side.”
They had not come alone. They had assembled every force that could move immediately and brought fifteen hundred people with them.
In other words, all Twelve Vassals plus half the family’s total combat strength had deployed.
“……With this much, I think we can manage.”
According to the Nova list Jeong-Hoon had reviewed, at least ten thousand Novas were rampaging outside.
Yet he felt it was more than possible.
No—beyond possible. He felt the entire incident was already as good as resolved.
Once Jeong-Hoon released the list, the situation unfolding around Manhattan took a subtle turn.
Rather than the Nova hardliners, it was the moderates—and Awakened who did not even belong to Nova—who rose up to stop them.
Because of that, the Captain deliberated long and hard, then issued an order to the subordinates under his command.
“We are withdrawing.”
“Huh? Old man, what are you talking about? Withdraw where?”
“More precisely, we are abandoning the United States. With things as they are, Nova’s defeat is already decided.”
In an organization whose goal was to break the seals on SSS-class beings and reveal the truth of the world, being a mere Captain already spoke to how powerful the group was.
Yet the force under him—two SSS-class including himself, three SS-class, two S-class, plus two hundred A-class—was by no means small.
He could not afford to waste that strength on a civil war whose outcome was already sealed, so the Captain chose withdrawal.
“Then what about everything we already started?”
“We abandon it all. The moment the family intervened, we should have pulled out. I am bitterly regretting it right now.”
Regretting the greed that had exposed their tail, the Captain turned on his heel.
The organization’s forces under him began withdrawing with him.
Everywhere was chaos right now.
Two hundred people vanishing would not even be noticed.
“Everyone change clothes and disguise yourselves as tourists so we can slip—damn, they’ve already stepped on our tail?”
The Captain had led them to a place as deserted as possible, intending to order a clothing change and split them onto escape routes.
But when a powerful surge of mana hit him, he clicked his tongue.
“You ran wild however you liked and now you think you can just run away?”
At the sound of Jeong-Hoon’s voice, the Captain’s gaze snapped around.
Three SSS-class vassals stood in front of Jeong-Hoon like an honor guard. To either side of him stood four SS-class, beginning with I-Yeong, who held the Family Head’s Axe respectfully in both hands.
Behind them were arrayed five S-class.
All Twelve Vassals, and even Min-Ha trailing after them, wore full suits and helmets, fully armed.
Faced with that overwhelming presence, the Captain swallowed hard.
“I don’t suppose you’ll grant the request to let us go since we have no desire to fight?”
“……?”
Jeong-Hoon tilted his head with a look that asked what kind of nonsense that was, and the Captain shook his head.
Two hundred A-class Awakened made their numbers look large, but in pure combat power they were completely outmatched.
A-class who could not properly handle mana did not even register as variables in a fight between S-class and above.
Even one-on-one, they lost to every S-class or higher on the field.
“Then I have no choice. We will have to go down fighting, prepared for total annihilation.”
“Ha!”
When the Captain laced the words with a final threat, Jeong-Hoon snorted.
“You think we can’t?”
“No. If you can, go ahead and try.”
Jeong-Hoon pointed a finger at the sky as he spoke, and every eye in the organization turned upward.
Vwoooom!!!
Only then did they hear the sound they had failed to notice until now.
Manhattan’s situation had been changing so fast that even aircraft overhead had been written off as recon flights.
What filled their vision, however, was neither a recon plane nor a fighter.
A massive black aircraft with four engines, slightly too plump to be a passenger jet.
One after another, those giant transport planes slowly revealed themselves from nose to tail.
“……Stealth transports?”
The procession of colossal strategic transports blotting out the sky left the Captain stunned.
He had heard until he was sick of it that the family’s technology was generations ahead of the age.
But fully transparent stealth transports? He had never even imagined such a thing.
They far surpassed modern technology.
“A-are you planning to reveal the family’s true nature?”
His voice shook with shock. From the standpoint of an organization hostile to the family, it looked as though the family was abandoning its secrecy.
“No. Senator Richard already agreed to handle the cleanup.”
They had already coordinated with Richard, whom the vassals had evacuated.
All the family needed to do was resolve the present crisis as quickly as possible.
“Head Maid.”
“Here, Gaju.”
Without a shred of worry, Jeong-Hoon flicked his fingers. I-Yeong, standing right beside him, respectfully offered the Family Head’s Axe with both hands, and Jeong-Hoon seized it in one.
“By the name of the 248th Family Head, I command you.”
Jeong-Hoon’s voice rang out over the radios.
It reached not only the Twelve Vassals but every family warrior waiting inside the transports, clear and sharp.
“Wipe out those false knights and every enemy of the family with full force.”
As Jeong-Hoon raised the Family Head’s Axe high, family warriors who had been lying in wait rose into view, surrounding the organization’s forces.
Even among the elites who had flown in first with Jeong I-Yeong, the cream of the crop leveled assault rifles at them.
“Open fire!”
Ratatatatatata!!!!
The moment Jeong-Hoon finished speaking and swung the axe as if bringing it down, the vassals opened fire.
“Fight for your lives, all of you! Run with everything you’ve got!!!”
Under the rain of gunfire the Captain answered with a beam.
He intercepted the bullets with that beam and scowled.
These were no ordinary bullets. No—the rifles themselves were anything but ordinary.
“Railguns?!”
The family’s warriors were armed with railguns miniaturized all the way down to assault-rifle size.
Even an S-class could not track the velocity of those rounds.
“What are you standing around for?! Run!!!”
When the Captain bellowed again at the organization members frozen by the railguns’ firepower, they scattered at once and fled.
It was not a free-for-all scramble. Awakened specialized in defense threw their lives into holding the line, carving out escape routes however they could.
Then the organization attempted a concentrated breakthrough at the point where the gunfire was lightest.
“Don’t force the encirclement! Leave the holes open! Chase them to the end and annihilate them!”
Seeing it, Jeong-Hoon immediately ordered the escape routes left open.
He had ordered them wiped out with full force, but he did not want the family to take casualties.
So he deliberately left openings they could run through.
Not to let them go free.
“Butler Ju. Sir Fernandez.”
“Command us.”
“Go wild to your hearts’ content. Professor Jeong and the Head Maid will handle my escort. Baek Chef, Ambassador Park, Director Han, Doctor Dong—pursue and annihilate the A-class. Representative Yeo, Attorney Ko, Doctor, President Jeon—take the SS-class. The remaining vassals will eliminate the hardline Novas.”
At Jeong-Hoon’s orders everyone bowed and moved at once.
Min-Ha rushed up to him and pointed out the one thing he had left out.
“Gaju! What about the two S-class?!”
“Those are for you.”
“What?!”
Jeong-Hoon pointed a finger at Min-Ha with a sly grin and spun the axe in his right hand up onto his shoulder.
“You need payback, don’t you? Isn’t that why you learned martial arts from Butler Ju?”
“……Yes!”
She had never expected him to understand her desire for a rematch. Min-Ha nodded, smiling.
“See you later, then.”
Watching Jeong-Hoon’s back as he turned and walked away with the axe on his shoulder, Min-Ha looked up in the direction he was heading.
The giant transports filling the sky were already dropping dozens of assault containers.