Libero (1)
I wonder if he's doing well.
A month had already passed since Alan had left him. Compared to the eons Libero had lived, a month was nothing but a drop in the bucket. But time was relative. To him, this month had not felt short at all. If anything, it felt longer than all the meaningless centuries he had idled away before.
He's probably doing fine on his own.
The boy was weak and utterly devoid of talent. Yet, he wasn't entirely empty-handed. He possessed strange, inexplicable knowledge from sources unknown, a bizarre technique of self-suggestion, and above all, a willpower that defied all reason. That sheer, unyielding will was something even Libero himself had never possessed. With an iron will like that, the boy would pull through wherever he was. At least, Libero wanted to believe so.
In any case, Sak has been acting strange lately.
Now was not the time to worry about Alan, who was off god-knows-where. The state of Sak, unfolding right before his eyes, was deeply unsettling. Sak had always been a lawless haven where back-alley crimes were practically ignored, but recently, the sheer frequency of incidents had spiked. A casual observer might assume the local authorities had simply grown lazier, but to Libero, who knew the inner workings of the city, it looked entirely different. The rate of petty crimes hadn't actually changed much. If anything, it felt like they had decreased.
The petty thugs must have instinctively realized it's time to keep their heads down.
Instead, the major syndicates of the Sashinpa—specifically the Ju-jak and Hyeonmu factions—had become hyperactive. Even the remnants of the Cheongryong Faction, which Libero had personally crushed in the past, were starting to stir again. If it were just one group, it could be dismissed as a fluke. But with multiple syndicates moving in unison, there was only one logical conclusion.
What on earth are you planning, Guineus?
The Company pulled the strings behind them. And the Demon King ruling over that Company had to be orchestrating this for some dark purpose. There was no other explanation.
A massive tide is coming.
Whether it was directly linked to Guineus's schemes remained to be seen. But judging by the current state of the city, something major was about to go down.
But still...
Libero looked down at his fist, which had clenched without him realizing it. He slowly unfurled his fingers and shook his head. At the end of the day, this is just a hobby. He was no Hero. He was a Demon King, a being who stood on the exact opposite side of that spectrum. His occasional acts of helping others were merely a way to pass the time. Guineus seemed to find even that petty hobby offensive, though.
A Demon King cannot touch another Demon King.
No matter how self-absorbed and isolated the Demon Kings were, a minimum set of rules existed among them. One of those absolute laws was non-interference in another Demon King's affairs. This was why Libero's "hobby" had been strictly limited to targeting the Sashinpa, who had no overt, official ties to the Company. By the same token, Guineus couldn't touch him either, bound by that very same pact.
Let's just let this slide quietly.
There was nothing he could do this time. He had crushed the Cheongryong Faction in a fit of temper before, and Guineus had immediately dragged him before the Demon King Council. If he went around slaughtering the active factions now, the Council would undoubtedly make his life miserable again. Yet, he couldn't shake the bitter taste in his mouth. Maybe I should go grab a drink. Perhaps a visit to his favorite tavern would soothe his troubled mind.
"Boss, word is the government's crackdown has completely loosened up lately."
"So what?" Jinmu, the leader of the Baekho Faction, replied with utter indifference.
"What do you mean 'so what'? We gotta get in on this! The Ju-jak and Hyeonmu bastards are out there making a killing right now. Even those Cheongryong punks we thought were dead and buried are crawling back out of the woodwork!"
Jinmu remained silent.
"Boss! Since when did you become such a coward? The feast is laid out right in front of us, and you won't even pick up your chopsticks!"
"Shut up!"
An ashtray flew across the room, shattering into a thousand pieces against the wall.
"You think I'm doing this because I want to?" Jinmu growled.
He, too, wanted to seize this golden opportunity to rake in piles of cash. But there was one thing far more precious than money: his own life.
That Demon King... something about her feels off.
Of course, the Baekho Faction owed its massive growth to the Company run by the Demon King Guineus. But this current situation felt ominous. The scale is way too big. Demon King Guineus was a cunning, calculating creature. She had always operated from the shadows, keeping everything strictly confidential behind the veil of the Company. But this move was completely out of character for her.
People don't just change overnight. There had to be a hidden agenda. And Jinmu's survival instincts—honed over years of surviving in the absolute gutter—were screaming that this agenda was dangerous.
"Listen closely. We do absolutely nothing."
"Huh?"
"I said listen to me, you little shit!"
"But Boss..."
The subordinate choked back his words. Jinmu's left eyebrow was twitching. The subordinate knew all too well that when the boss frowned like that, whatever came out of his mouth next was a matter of life and death.
"...Then what should we do?"
"I told you. Do nothing. Keep the boys on a tight leash."
"Understood."
As the subordinate turned to leave the room, Jinmu muttered to himself, his voice barely a whisper.
"A tsunami is coming. All we have to do is avoid getting swept away. Once the tide recedes, everything left behind will be ours."
"No! I've kept this shop running for decades!"
"You don't even have any customers anyway, old man."
A thug brutally kicked the elderly man in the ribs. The old man rolled across the dirty floor, completely defenseless. Libero watched the scene with cold, detached eyes.
Sensing his gaze, the thug barked, "Hey! What are you looking at?!"
Libero didn't answer. He simply stared back, his gaze heavy and unblinking. That was all. Yet, sensing an unspoken, terrifying pressure radiating from the silent man, the thug clicked his tongue and quickly backed away.
"Thank you! Thank you so much..."
Libero ignored the old man's desperate attempts to grab his hem and quickly walked away. He couldn't afford to get entangled in the chaos consuming the city. But as he made his way toward his favorite tavern, a voice echoed directly in his mind.
"Libero!"
It was the Demon King Violet.
What is it? Libero replied in his thoughts.
"I just... I couldn't stop thinking about what Guineus said."
Guineus? What did she say?
Hearing her name right as the city was descending into chaos piqued his curiosity. He couldn't ignore it.
"Well... you remember what we discussed at the last Demon King Council, right?"
You mean the death of the 71st Demon King?
"Yes. We tried our best to find out which Hero killed him, but we came up completely empty-handed."
What did that have to do with Guineus? As Libero tilted his head, trying to connect the dots between two seemingly unrelated matters, Violet continued.
"Guineus seemed really unhappy about that. She said if that Hero ever makes his way into Sak..."
Hold on.
Libero froze in his tracks. He stared blankly at the scene unfolding ahead of him. It was a sight that even he, who had resolved to stay out of this mess at all costs, could not simply walk past.
Go on, Violet.
"She said she wouldn't leave you in peace."
Libero slowly clenched his fist.
So, this is a declaration of war.
"What?"
He cut off the connection with Violet. Then, he stared at his favorite tavern, now reduced to a pile of smoldering, splintered ruins. Standing in front of the wreckage was a Regular Hero he had seen around the tavern quite often lately.
"Hmm?"
As Libero approached, the Hero finally noticed his presence.
"Ah, aren't you a regular here? I haven't been in Sak long, but I swear I saw you here almost every single day."
The Hero was right. A regular. There was no other way to define his relationship with this place. He was just a customer. Yet, the rage boiling up inside his chest was far too hot to let it go at that.
"This place. Who did this?"
"I heard from some of the other patrons earlier. They said it was either the Hyeonmu Faction or the Ju-jak Faction."
"I see."
Libero turned around. If he didn't know which one of them did it, he would just have to destroy both. And...
"Lady Guineus, the Ju-jak and Hyeonmu factions were wiped out by him in an instant."
Hearing the report, Guineus clenched her fists tightly beneath her desk. She had already been growing slightly anxious. She hadn't expected Libero to cross the line so easily.
"It seems the Hyeonmu Faction's decision to track down and destroy his favorite tavern was highly effective."
"Tell them they did well. Though, I suppose none of them are left alive to hear it?"
Not that it mattered. Despite their grand names, the Sashinpa were nothing but street-level thugs. Thugs like them were a dime a dozen in Sak.
A cheap price to pay if it means getting rid of Libero.
She turned to her subordinate. "With a commotion of that scale, the Heroes must have noticed by now, right?"
Two massive syndicates had been obliterated in a single night. There was no way the Heroes stationed in Sak could remain blind to his existence.
Goodbye, you masked freak.
At that exact moment, a deafening explosion echoed from a distance.
It was still far from the Company headquarters, but...
Thud... Rumble...
No way.
As she felt the vibrations of the explosions drawing closer, her face stiffened.
Is he coming straight here? Right now?
She bolted upright and barked orders at her subordinate.
"Contact the Sak government immediately! Tell them to dispatch every single available Hero to the Company! Hurry!"
She had assumed that if a Hero could defeat the 71st Demon King, they could easily handle Libero as well. After all, they were inside a barrier, and while Libero's swordsmanship was legendary, his physical Demon King form wasn't particularly strong. Yet, for some reason, her instincts were screaming at her.
She could not afford to let her guard down.