Chapter 429
Chapter 429
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 429
Chapter Title: Dark Side (1)
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A brilliant halo blanketed the skies above the city.
The sheer intensity of the light made it impossible to believe it was the dead of night, rousing sleepers across the entire urban sprawl into a frenzy of activity.
Of course, it wasn't just the light pollution.
The noise was the bigger culprit.
How many people could steadfastly sleep through massive explosions in the sky that evoked images of nuclear blasts?
Those who stumbled awake and peered out their windows at the heavens could only suspect they were still dreaming.
Few realized that a curtain of aurora-like light was shielding the city from the explosions' aftermath, but the angel radiating such a profound presence—even visible from afar—struck a chord deep in their hearts beyond mere comprehension.
"...Ha, what the hell have we even been fighting all this time?"
An muttered softly to the sky, staring up in a daze just like the city's citizens.
She cradled the unconscious Supreme Leader, Frey, tightly in her arms and let out a deep sigh.
From a demon toying freely with time itself, to an immortal holding their own against it, to a sniper unleashing unseen barrages of that magnitude, and an angel blocking those strikes with minimal damage.
Was this what they called a battle beyond the heavens?
The spectacle unfolding before her eyes was so awe-inspiring that it made their own desperate struggles seem laughable. Even having witnessed the entire event, she could scarcely believe it was real.
An slowly scanned her surroundings.
In one corner, the Reverse Heaven Association's powerhouses—who had required every trick in the book just to handle one of them—lay scattered like crumpled trash.
Her gaze lifted back to the sky.
An angel descending slowly with wings fully spread.
Its presence drew every eye in the vicinity; it was enough to leave one in sheer admiration.
'I've heard of it before. A saint from another world, right...'
Seeing that figure made the term "saint" feel fitting.
No, if anything, it fell far short of reality.
That was no human anymore—no matter how you sliced it, it had long surpassed humanity.
'Word is a dragon even showed up for real. So a genuine angel wouldn't be out of place either.'
Of course, it wasn't the only impressive performer.
Not content with trading blows evenly with the Executioner one-on-one, there was the muscular man in the beast mask who fearlessly cut down the transcendents charging to aid his escape...
And the helmeted man who helped with the captures, snagging the Southeast Asia branch chief trying to slip away slyly, along with Demon Ken.
It was regrettable they'd let the most dangerous foe, the Executioner, slip away, but there was no way anyone could catch him when he was dead set on fleeing.
Time stop, of all things!
Facing an enemy with such an ability left her at a loss for how to counter it going forward.
'We'll have to think seriously about him from now on.'
His survival would undoubtedly become a massive obstacle.
If the grudge-bearing Executioner launched relentless ambushes after this failure, even the hard-won revival of the Blazing Torch wouldn't hold out long before crumbling.
'Still, the overall situation isn't so bad.'
The Blazing Torch faction had taken heavy losses, but they'd forged ties with forces far more powerful.
A secret organization called Masquerade, capable of facing the fully committed Reverse Heaven Association head-on—unlike them.
Learning of such allies was harvest enough in itself.
With gratitude in mind, she approached them to offer thanks, but her steps halted abruptly.
A sudden sense of wrongness washed over her.
She scanned the Masquerade members again.
The angel cloaked in light, the battered muscular warrior.
The helmeted man slumped beside them, watching the captured foes, and Demon Ken awkwardly peering at them...
Only after this second check did she pinpoint the anomaly.
'...Wait, wasn't there one more?'
The realization sent chills racing across her skin.
'Since when? How did I not notice until now?'
It wasn't something she could brush off as his lack of presence since his debut.
From the start, it was as if he'd never existed—her mind had unconsciously excluded him entirely.
'I even recalled info on Phantom! It's not a mental attack, so what the hell...'
Glancing around at her comrades' faces, she realized she was the only one who'd noticed anything off.
Despite them all being formidable in their own right.
Had she not possessed her unique ability to manipulate fate, she'd likely be the same as them.
'So where the hell is he now?'
Well, that went without saying.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Grit—
The Executioner ground his teeth low, scowling.
Back in human form, he adjusted his hood deeply over his head while tending to the chest wound from his escape that hadn't fully regenerated yet.
"Damn it, what a mess this is..."
He was in some mountainous region of Malaysia now.
Hundreds of kilometers from the small Thai city where the battle had raged.
Thanks to time stop, he'd crossed the distance in the blink of an eye. He steadied his breath and closed his eyes gently.
'...I owe that halfwit a debt now.'
In that moment of acute crisis, sensing disaster imminent,
A ultra-long-range shot from the sky had allowed his narrow escape.
He'd relied on the aid of that woman he'd mocked for cowering at a distance, unable to fight up close.
"Tch!"
Of course, it wasn't purely her help.
His subordinates had no choice but to draw attention at his 'command,' and without time stop, escape would've been impossible.
But considering the angel—his natural counter—had been forced to withdraw from the front due to that bombardment, he couldn't deny the debt.
'Masquerade... I won't forget this. Those rebel rabble neither. Next time, I'll tear every last one apart.'
He'd make them regret their needless mercy in letting him go.
Whether the city vanished in the blasts or the Blazing Torch remnants were slaughtered after exhausting their power—they should've prioritized capturing him, ignoring all else.
He'd ensure that was their dying thought.
'I pushed a bit hard this time. Need to lay low, recover my condition for a while. But thanks to that monster, my thirst for battle's sated, so tamping down the corruption shouldn't be too tough.'
Mental corruption was an inevitable curse from embracing a demon's karma.
No matter how much his essence elevated, the causality of surpassing limits via demonization was inescapable.
'Once I've adjusted, I'll pay it all back immediately. To this eternal archdemon... I'll make you comprehend with your life what it means to make an enemy of one who rules time...'
His reverie halted.
Pause—
His lips twitched as he stopped dead.
Then his head slowly turned behind him.
"Ha!"
His face twisted again as he exhaled sharply.
He'd suspected at first, but now it was certain.
"...Never thought I'd be tailed."
As if responding to his murmur,
"Good instincts. Sharper than expected."
A cold voice drifted quietly from the shadows of the underbrush.
"Hm, should I have kept more distance? Even after all that expenditure, this level of awareness. Guess I underestimated you a bit."
With those words, a figure emerged from the forest's darkness.
Unlike the Executioner, ragged from his persistent clash with Harley, the man wore a pristine suit, just as when he'd first appeared.
"Phantom..."
It was Heinz 2nd—the pinnacle vampire in his white opera mask—who'd used Existence Denial to erase his presence from the world and shadow his foe.
Yet even facing him directly, the Executioner couldn't help one question.
"How the hell did you track me?"
He'd stopped time, of course, and meticulously erased all traces in his retreat.
Movement in frozen time left no mana ripples, far stealthier than simple spatial jumps.
No precursors whatsoever—just a blink, and positions swapped. Naturally.
Though it required physical motion, making it less convenient than teleportation, that was irrelevant to him with an archdemon's body.
Hadn't he just leaped hundreds of kilometers across borders to Malaysia in a mere frozen instant?
He couldn't fathom how this guy had caught up so quickly.
"Who knows?"
Of course, Heinz had no intention of answering politely.
No need to give the enemy free intel.
'No matter how much you hide your presence, the game was over the moment I got your blood via Harley.'
For a Sacred Blood vampire whose divinity stemmed from blood itself, locating a target with fresh blood was child's play.
Sure, distance grew harder against a peer, but a mere few hundred kilometers was no issue.
"Pity. I was hoping to let you run and see what I could glean."
"You bastard..."
"Wanted to observe longer, extract more info, but things never go exactly to plan."
Heinz eyed the Executioner with regret.
He'd maintained a set distance, fearing he'd slip away completely like Doctor if too far.
Even for him, stealthily tailing a quasi-divine being half outside the world's frame was no easy feat.
"Well, busted now. Can't be helped."
Heinz shrugged lightly.
And with a snap of his fingers,
Blood Mystery—prepared covertly with Existence Denial—unfolded.
Heinz 2nd's unique domain, crafted to counter time stop.
Blood particles, extensions of his body, swirled to fill the space, severing it from the outside world.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Domain: Blood Mystery activated. [...The audacity. You think this paltry barrier can hold me? Alone?]
The Executioner, reverted to demon form, growled lowly.
He'd taken damage from the chain of fights, true, but he didn't fear this lone Phantom.
Worst case, he'd slip away again.
No peer could block a determined escape.
Bide time, shatter the barrier, time stop once more...
"Insufficient after all? Greedy bastard."
Unfortunately for him,
This wasn't their only preparation.
"Well, it'd be a waste not to use what's already set up... Got plenty of intel already, so efficiency won't hurt."
From the moment the bombardment started in the city, realizing Reverse Heaven's support,
They'd hastily prepared one extra contingency.
What if Executioner-tier backup arrived? Or the Reverse Heaven Lord himself? The frantic countermeasures had been grueling!
Too valuable to ignore now.
Shaaa—
Suddenly, the space's temperature plummeted,
And the world's brightness dimmed several shades, like a filter applied.
[...What's this?]
The Executioner stiffened.
Then slowly turned toward the abrupt new presence.
[No need for top-tier test subjects anymore! Just when I was hitting a wall lately. Studying you should yield something.]
How had it appeared so soundlessly?
There stood that being.
The very figure who could be called the origin of this 'Masquerade.'
[...Hahoe Mask!]
[Krahahaha! A demon lord-grade fiend ripe for dissection and study? Perfect, simply perfect. I can probe dimensional differences and commonalities—a pumpkin rolling right to me vine and all!]
Hans, gracing Earth after ages, burst into laughter at the fresh specimen.
But the newcomers didn't end there.
"Heh~ So that's a demon lord from another dimension? Hmm, pretty novel up close."
A voice so seductive it eroded the mind just to hear.
Even veiled beneath her eyes, her allure captivated all, regardless of gender, as the bewitching woman smirked at the Executioner.
At that, abyssal darkness from Hans's skull staff enveloped the isolated space, overlaid by Hela's World of Demon Heaven.
At this point, it was practically another dimension, not Earth.
Connections to the outside were thoroughly severed, naturally.
'What the hell is this?! What in the world—!'
The Executioner's spine ran cold despite his earlier bravado.
Three peers, each his equal.
Plus the angel and undying monster from before...
'Impossible. I never even detected these bastards' existence, let alone that they were united? What kind of bullshit...! Oracle—! There's dereliction of duty, and then there's whatever the hell you're doing!'
This was the moment Masquerade's Dark Side fully descended upon Earth.
As avatars with rather unwholesome auras, they weren't suited for open deployment in crowds, but alone like this? No issue.
"Perfect timing. Wanted to test how my Demon Eye handles time stop. And more..."
Hela continued languidly, her gem-like eyes shifting through domination, erasure, stasis, precog—now fixed greedily on the Executioner.
"Actually, great opportunity. No point killing sloppily and risking a Doctor-like revival from who-knows-where. Extract everything worth taking, then leave the cleanup to the expert."
Heinz 2nd nodded lightly and stepped forward slowly.
Blood orbs around him began spinning fiercely.
[Exactly! I am the ruler of death—]
Hans followed Heinz, bellowing with his full authority.
The king's decree, as if from the underworld, echoed through the sealed space.
[You shall not escape even in death!]
His divinity's foundation was 'death.'
For this specialist, bypassing revival to force a death-like state was easier than pie.
...Though he couldn't actually eat pie.