Evil Spirit (1)
BOOM!!
Stella Striker slammed into Seong Hyun-jin and detonated on impact. The blast was so ferocious it shattered parts of the lab's protective barrier, kicking up a thick cloud of dust.
"Junior...!"
"...Seong Hyun-jin?"
Eleonora gasped in horror at the sight, while Serena stared blankly at where he'd been, her eyes wide with disbelief. No one could survive a point-blank hit like that unscathed. Logically, Seong Hyun-jin had to be a mangled wreck—bones shattered, body torn apart.
Imagining him like that, Serena's hands trembled violently.
"Ah...."
She cried out his name in a raw, anguished scream.
"Seong Hyun-jin—!!"
But no answer came. The spot where he'd stood was still shrouded in explosion haze. Serena's legs buckled as she pictured the extent of his injuries, his silence deafening.
"Ah... no...."
Overwhelmed by crushing loss, she collapsed to the floor. Abraham spoke with a hint of regret.
"You should have accepted my offer."
He sighed, as if he hadn't wanted this outcome.
"Then none of this would have happened...."
But mid-sentence, Abraham flinched at a sudden sensation. Eleonora, her face rigid until now, and Serena, slumped in despair, both looked up.
Abraham let out a hollow chuckle. He prided himself on knowing everything about spirits within the bounds of existing knowledge. Yet what he felt now was...
"...What in the world is that?"
It was something beyond even the greatest spirit scholars in history—utterly defying common sense.
An intensely powerful force emanated from the dust cloud. It was so overwhelming it erased Serena's grief, yet profoundly ominous. This incomprehensible power revealed itself as the dust slowly cleared, leaving even Abraham baffled.
There stood Seong Hyun-jin, on his own two feet amid the Stella Striker explosion. Serena felt a surge of joy and relief. She wanted to rush to him.
But for some reason...
I... I can't move...
Her legs refused to obey.
"Heh, finally we meet."
A woman's low laugh echoed as Seong Hyun-jin's silhouette emerged. It carried genuine delight, but to the listeners, it sounded utterly ruthless.
The dust fully parted, revealing the voice's owner to the three: snow-white hair, pale skin, and mesmerizing yet sinister red eyes. Serena had red eyes too, but this woman's were entirely different—dangerous, drawing you in like a forbidden temptation just by looking.
Serena wasn't the only one affected. Eleonora momentarily forgot Abraham was the enemy, eyeing the mysterious woman with greater wariness. Abraham even forgot to finish Seong Hyun-jin off right then.
The sudden appearance of a being beyond his knowledge was no small shock.
The woman glanced sidelong at Abraham, Serena, and Eleonora. Acknowledging them, she whispered only to Seong Hyun-jin, as if they were alone.
"Master, you're finally ready to accept me."
"......"
"Heh, no need for that form anymore. I'm thrilled. But you kept me waiting too long, you know?"
Despite her words, Seong Hyun-jin remained silent. Serena peered closer and realized his eyes were lifeless, unfocused—like he was unconscious.
"Seong Hyun-jin...?"
No response to her plaintive call. He was definitely out cold. The explosion? Possible, but Serena's instincts screamed otherwise.
This state was because of...
"...Who the hell are you?"
...that mysterious woman. Her voice thick with hostility drew the woman's gaze.
She smirked coldly.
"No obligation to tell you, Serena Eldark."
"......"
Serena faltered—she knew her name?
She knows me...?
Recalling the woman's words: calling Seong Hyun-jin "master." He wasn't from some great noble house; Serena knew everyone close to him. Who could call him that? A hunch struck her.
"...A spirit?"
If this woman was his contracted spirit, it explained everything—calling him master, knowing Serena, staying by his side.
"That thing... is a spirit?"
Eleonora reacted skeptically, questioning if it even was one. Serena couldn't confirm either. The woman exuded a power too bizarre for a spirit—intensely alien, unlike any other.
What was she? Amid the doubt, neither could gauge if she was friend or foe. Abraham still couldn't identify her.
"...Whatever you are."
But he hadn't forgotten his goal. To meet Estella, he had to eliminate everyone here.
"My task remains unchanged."
Abraham conjured a spear with creation magic. Dozens of intricate runes floated onto it, etching in to form a completed spell.
Stella Breaker.
As he gripped and reared back to hurl it—
"Master."
The ominous woman whispered to Seong Hyun-jin.
"Raise your sword."
Obeying, the unconscious Seong Hyun-jin lifted his blade. She lightly touched the edge with a slender finger.
RUMBLE!!
A force beyond reason surged into the blade like a whirlwind.
"What the...?"
It felt like spirit power, but utterly unlike any other—not even Yeonhui's divine spirit energy had this much dissonance.
What power was this? What was this woman wielding such foreboding might?
Before answers came, Abraham hurled his spear. The woman smiled wickedly and whispered:
"Master, show him."
Seong Hyun-jin's body moved. Stepping forward as if fully aware, he assumed a perfect sword stance.
"Who’s stronger."
As the spear closed in, Seong Hyun-jin swept his blade upward from below.
WHOOSH—!
Something astonishing happened.
"...!"
No clash rang out despite blocking with sword against spear. The moment the unidentified power on his blade touched it, Abraham's spear crumbled to dust.
Not just the spear—the spirit power infused in it scattered, vanishing without trace.
It resembled chaos power's spirit-nullification, but with a key difference. Chaos merely invalidated; this erased the spirit power from existence.
"...I see."
Only then did Abraham realize what accompanied Seong Hyun-jin.
Even with his vast knowledge, he'd never witnessed it firsthand—too far beyond norms to recognize instantly.
"First time seeing it up close; didn't click right away."
Now he knew. In spirit history's long span, it had never appeared—not once. But considering the ominous power, he deduced its type: an extremely rare spirit, rivaling or surpassing divine spirits in might, yet dangerously demanding from contractors.
"That ominous power... an evil spirit."
"...!"
"Evil spirit?"
It was an evil spirit.
# Evil Spirit (惡靈)
Unlike evil breeds—spirits corrupted or berserk—evil breeds could arise from any spirit. Evil spirits were born that way.
Like spirits ranked low to high, archspirits, divine spirits... evil spirits were a category unto themselves. But unlike power-based rankings, they demanded equivalent payment from contractors.
Evil breeds harmed via backlash, an unavoidable side effect. Evil spirits? They took what they wanted as payment.
A deliberate demand from the spirit itself. So Seong Hyun-jin's exhaustion from overusing spirit power wasn't backlash draining his vitality—it was the evil spirit claiming its due.
By its own will.
"Not a chaos-attuned evil breed, but a true evil spirit...?"
Seong Hyun-jin's evil spirit chuckled dismissively.
"Evil spirit? Harsh word."
She shrugged lightly.
"I'm a good spirit, stepping up to help because my master needs me."
"Demanding payment yet calling yourself good? Remarkable."
Abraham's retort drew a faint smile.
"It's fair trade. This much power deserves compensation, right?"
"You...!"
Serena raged, recalling Seong Hyun-jin's collapses, but it was fittingly evil spirit logic. The woman added calmly, as if soothing her fury:
"Not that I want him dead. I want him alive more than anyone."
"You harm his body every time as 'payment' and say that?"
Serena shot back. The evil spirit laughed lightly.
"Hard to believe, but true. If not, would I push myself to help? Without me, he'd be shredded right now."
"...!"
"So just watch quietly."
She continued:
"This old man? Master and I will handle him."
With light steps, she passed Serena, gesturing. Seong Hyun-jin followed, eyes still vacant. Abraham analyzed scholarly:
"...An evil spirit with abnormal autonomy. Never heard of ones puppeteering contractors at will."
"Don't lump me with normals. I'm a special spirit for a special master."
She smirked arrogantly, almost smugly.
"You're fated to be hunted by us anyway. Last heads-up."
She glared at Abraham.
"My name is Astaroth."
The evil spirit revealed herself with a wicked grin.
"Queen of Ruin."