Day 15: Quality Materials
"You son of a bitch!"
Crash!
The young man who had come bolting home — no, who had very much fled — exploded with a roar of pure fury. In no time at all, shattered wreckage lay strewn in every direction around him.
"Fuck. I'll kill him. I swear I'm going to kill him!"
He hurled anything within reach without discrimination, still nowhere near cooled down. For a while the young man simply raged like that.
"Is something the matter, young master?"
A middle-aged man sidled up and asked.
"Ah — Uncle Wei."
"Perhaps you might calm yourself first. The master will be home shortly."
The moment the words the master is coming home left Wei's mouth, the young man's expression went stiff as stone. Wei's master was, after all, the young man's father — a hero of China… or rather, a martial artist ranked inside the top one hundred.
"But what on earth happened?"
"Ah, well…"
Wei asked again. The young man opened his mouth to answer without thinking — and shut it just as fast. How was he supposed to say that he had tried to pick up a girl, gotten thoroughly beaten for it, and run all the way home? Least of all to Uncle Wei, who was practically his father's right hand.
But then—
"I won't say a word to the master, so tell me. Who knows? I might be of some help to you, young master."
…
He wouldn't tell Father. Was that even possible? The young man knew his father's personality all too well. And, unluckily enough, his father had awakened an ability that suited that personality perfectly. China's ability users might dress their powers up as "martial arts," but they knew the truth themselves. What they possessed was not martial arts at all, but what the world commonly called superpowers — power that had simply fallen into their hands by chance after chance.
As the young man regarded the middle-aged man with a faintly doubtful eye—
"I'm curious myself. Just what kind of dogshit you were rolling in out there that you came scurrying back here with your tail between your legs like some mangy mutt."
The young man flinched. A freezing voice had come from behind him. He jerked around, body trembling.
Standing there was a man who looked barely into his early thirties, arms crossed, gazing at the youth as if he were a waste of space.
"Ah… Father."
That man was none other than the father of the young man who had been beaten by Maraseung and fled — Xiao Feng, ranked eighty-seventh in China, a Grade 2 martial artist.
Had it already reached Father's ears? How?
A faint twist crossed the young man's face. Those eyes looking down on him with open disdain were as good as proof that Father already knew exactly what he had done and exactly why he was angry. Swallowing his fury with difficulty, the young man opened his mouth.
"What happened was…"
"I am deeply sorry, Lady Cheon Seo-ah."
"Not at all. You have nothing to apologize to me for."
"But it was I who invited you to China. And to think that, having done so, I would allow you to suffer such an unpleasant incident…"
With a choked sound, Maraseung bowed his head in genuine remorse. Before Cheon Seo-ah he simply could not lift his face. What a disgraceful failure this was! He should have brought his subordinates from the start. Had he done so, Lady Cheon Seo-ah would never have had to endure something so distasteful. No — even now, if he simply—
"Please don't."
The instant a cold killing intent flickered in Maraseung's eyes, Cheon Seo-ah spoke. Of course she found that insect just as distasteful. But that did not mean Maraseung needed to move personally to dispose of them. She had learned something as well — just how the children to whom she had given a "little help" were regarded by the world at large. Earlier they had been lucky; no one had recognized Maraseung's face. Had even a single person known him, a major catastrophe would have followed. Thousands would have died without effort.
So—
"I'll deal with that insect myself."
There was no need to put Maraseung's safety at risk. That irritating little bug of a man was something she could simply handle herself.
At those words—
"Ahh…! Lady Cheon Seo-ah! No — Heavenly Demon!"
Maraseung pressed his palms together and bowed. Tears streamed steadily from both his eyes.
The next morning.
Cheon Seo-ah appeared in the streets of Beijing, humming under her breath as she wandered. Her eyes swept in every direction, busy taking in the scenery of the city — and quiet gazes were watching her in turn.
— Unit Three. Target sighted.
— Unit Seven. The old monk is nowhere to be seen.
"Understood. Everyone prepare."
Receiving the reports from the subordinates he had scattered across Beijing, the man — Xiao Feng — rose from his seat.
"Idiot."
He clicked his tongue once toward the son standing stiffly behind him, then moved. What a humiliation this was, all because of that half-wit. How many times had he told the boy: if you're going to do something, do it properly. And because of that useless son of his, how much disgrace had he himself been forced to swallow yesterday?
That was why Xiao Feng had no intention of leaving the target in one piece. Even a worthless child was still his child. He could not very well break his own son's arms and legs — so he meant to vent his boiling rage on the target instead. One word from him, and even if the other party were a fellow martial artist, they would become a villain. In China's terms, a "demon." That would be more than enough.
There was just one regret.
"A pity the monk isn't here."
The "target" his subordinates were currently reporting on was nothing more than the little girl his half-wit of a son had been after. The real objective — the one who had put his son down with a single blow and then suppressed him with sheer presence alone — was nowhere to be seen. No doubt the monk had realized whose son the boy was and gone into hiding.
But—
"I wonder if you can really abandon that little girl."
Xiao Feng, now out on the streets of Beijing himself, spoke with a twisted smile. Judging by what his son had said — and according to the reports he had received — the monk had treated that child like a master. The girl's face was nothing one would take for Chinese; she was probably some foreigner's daughter. But it didn't matter. This was China. And in China, his word was law. If he declared someone a villain, a demon, then they were a demon. He was a hero, a martial artist — so killing such a villain would be no problem at all. Why should a martial artist of a great nation have to care what the people of some minor country thought?
And yet…
"Somehow… I've seen that face before."
The girl, busy sightseeing with an expression of pure innocence. Xiao Feng could not shake the feeling that her face was somehow familiar. Why did she look more and more like someone he knew the longer he looked?
No. Never mind. He had no need to fuss over such a trivial thing right now. Right now—
"Seize that vermin."
—he needed to make up for the "mistake" his son had committed. With that thought, Xiao Feng gave the order, and subordinates hidden in every direction burst out and closed around the girl in a ring.
Even as the men surrounding her radiated a vicious presence, the girl did not lose her look of pure innocence.
Surely not.
Is that monk bastard hiding somewhere nearby?
But nothing registered on his senses except his own subordinates.
…?
Wait.
"Wh-what—!"
The fact that only his own subordinates registered on his senses. Sensing something wrong in that, Xiao Feng looked around — and realized that on this broad street, the only people present were the girl in front of him, himself, and his men.
What in the world was this?!
This was a shopping district in Beijing famous for its heavy foot traffic. Even at an early hour, there was no way not so much as a single ant should be here! And yet his subordinates, without even realizing anything was wrong, simply waited for his next order.
Could all of this have been a trap to draw me out?
Xiao Feng's face twisted violently at the thought. Certainly, there were quite a few martial artists who held grudges against him. But every last one of them was vermin who couldn't even crack China's top one thousand. For trash like that to arrange something like this? Impossible. No — among ability users the world over, including China's martial artists, the only ones who could pull off something this unreal would be…
The nine villains of the Illuminati. Or the Thirteen Strong of the Hero Association.
And of those, the ones who could realistically do something like this numbered five at most.
As Xiao Feng's thoughts grew endlessly tangled—
"Hmm. Unfortunately, one of the 'materials' seems to be missing."
A chill ran down his spine.
Indifferent eyes. No — to put it kindly they were indifferent; more honestly, they were dead eyes. The moment the word materials left the girl's mouth, Xiao Feng felt a terror he could not resist. He was about to shout something when—
"Though a few useless ones have gotten mixed in. These…"
You won't mind if I eat them, will you?
Eat. Eat what? What was she talking about?
Surely not. No. It couldn't be. It mustn't be. But… what if it was? Come to think of it, there had been a prison break at Tartaros a few days ago. Could it be? Was this girl really—
"E-everyone, get back—!"
Xiao Feng forced the chain of thoughts to break and bellowed. But—
"It's already too late."
Looking at him with those dead eyes, Cheon Seo-ah smiled faintly. At the same moment, with wet, bursting sounds, several people crumpled where they stood. Empty holes gaped in their chests, and from those holes red blood poured in thick, pulsing streams.
And beyond that—
"Th-the Heart Devourer! So it was you after all!"
At the sight of Cheon Seo-ah chewing on his subordinates' hearts, Xiao Feng roared. Why had he only just remembered? She was the one who had committed the great sin, the forbidden act known as "Heart Devouring," in that little peninsula nation! And the one who had broken this girl out of Tartaros was none other than the Proxy — one of the Illuminati's nine most infamous villains. In other words, this girl almost certainly — no, definitely — belonged to the Illuminati, and her standing there would not be low.
Once that thought struck him—
"Damn it—! What the hell did this worthless brat stick his hand into?!"
—Xiao Feng cursed his son's ignorance instead, and began to run from Cheon Seo-ah. His ability might not be tied to physical prowess, but Xiao Feng himself was already a Grade 2 ability user. At that level, even someone whose power had nothing to do with the body still far surpassed an ordinary human. In other words, Xiao Feng's physical abilities were more than enough to call superhuman.
And yet—
"Th-this is— what is this?!"
Xiao Feng looked around, his voice thick with panic. No matter how far he ran, the moment his mind cleared he was back where he had started. At the same time, every last one of his subordinates now lay dead, their hearts torn out. Cheon Seo-ah, the one who had committed that gruesome act, walked slowly toward him with the hearts she meant to use as "materials" strung behind her back.
"Still, the quality of the materials is good, so that's a relief. This should be enough."
A chill.
Those dead eyes fixed on him as she approached. The incomprehensible word materials that left her lips. Xiao Feng could not grasp what she meant by it — but he understood well enough that it did not mean anything normal.
And so—
"Aaaaaagh! Get away from me!"
Boom—!
Screaming in something close to desperation, Xiao Feng flung both hands toward Cheon Seo-ah and unleashed his ability. From his fully opened palms, an invisible wave of force erupted and swallowed her whole.
But—
"Wh-what—!"
It didn't work. His ability did nothing. Despair flooded Xiao Feng's eyes. The power he possessed was Mind Control. As a Grade 2 ability user, Xiao Feng could, if he wished, control the minds of tens of thousands of people — though that figure assumed ordinary humans with no powers at all. Even so, he had been confident that if he focused his ability on a single person, he could shake even a Grade 1 ability user's mind. So what grade was the girl in front of him, that his power left her completely untouched?
Surely not…
"Zero… Rank…?"
Zero Rank. A designation given only to ability users whose strength surpassed even Grade 1 — beings who stood above the sky itself. Only twenty-two people in the world held that rank: nine of them villains, thirteen of them heroes.
Meanwhile, Cheon Seo-ah, who had been walking slowly, was suddenly right in front of Xiao Feng, her hand reaching out. Slowly. Leisurely. To ordinary eyes her movement would have looked almost sluggish — yet Xiao Feng could not dodge it. He could not even perceive the motion of her outstretched hand.
Only when—
Thud—!
"Guhk!"
—his heart was torn from his chest by her hand did he finally register it, and he collapsed.
Having finished collecting every last "material," Cheon Seo-ah flicked her fingers. In an instant the street was thronged with people again.
And at the same time—
Aaaaaaah!
C-corpses!
Their hearts are gone?
It can't be—!
Run! The Heart Devourer! The Heart Devourer is here!
Dozens of people lay dead with their hearts ripped out. The crowd shrieked the name "Heart Devourer" and fled in panic. Watching quietly, Cheon Seo-ah scratched her cheek.
"I didn't mean for this to happen… Still, if I make him a really good elixir, maybe he'll forgive me?"
She had unintentionally raised the poor child's notoriety even higher.