Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 46
Chapter Title: Reverse Heaven Society (4)
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Slide—
I opened the room's window and peered outside.
Morning had arrived, and people were bustling about.
They were ordinary folks going about their daily lives.
Perhaps thanks to frequently connecting with the outside world through my avatars, at some point, I stopped feeling afraid of the world beyond these walls.
I still had too much mental baggage to venture out myself, but opening the window like this and breathing in the outside air? That much was no longer a big deal.
Staring blankly out the window like that, I sorted through my thoughts.
⚔ ENTITY INFO ⚔ 📛 Entity Name: Heinz 2nd
🧬 Race: Vampire (True Blood)
🔗 Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Persona」, 「Clear Mirror Still Water」
⚡ Entity Traits: 「Blood Clan (True Blood)」, 「Hybrid Evolution」, 「Blood Mystery」, 「Refined Blood Essence」, 「Acceleration」, 「Super Regeneration」, 「Insight」, 「Concealment」, 「Invisibility」
📝 Special Notes: Collected vampire factors from various dimensions, evolving repeatedly. As a predator, it partially ignores hostile abilities from other vampires and exerts instinctive intimidation. Excess energy recently influxed has been stored in the Blood Essence formed within its body.
After the battle at the villa, Heinz had suffered from overeating for a while.
'Not only the executives, but even the guard vampires—I drained every last one of them. In a way, it was only natural.'
Even if their levels were low, collecting new vampire factors helped, and it felt wasteful to discard them, so he'd crammed them all down.
But no matter how few physical limitations there were, everything had its limits.
When he reached total saturation and couldn't hold any more, he used his strengthened blood control to clump and compress the overflowing vampire factors into a single essence.
'Most of it was from those low-grade vampires that just took up space uselessly.'
Once inside, they underwent evolution under the influence of 「Hybrid Evolution」, but their quality was too poor for direct use.
They weren't much help to Heinz, whose level was already leagues higher, yet they were too valuable to throw away. A real chicken-rib situation.
What made them usable was the new special skill he'd acquired: 「Refined Blood Essence」.
'The problem with them was always the lingering thoughts embedded in the blood, right? So the solution was simple. For me, at least.'
He'd done something similar before.
Back when he'd received baptism through Heinrich.
Linking his own skills with blood control, he extracted vampire factors stripped of lingering thoughts from 'Heinz 2nd's' Blood Essence.
The skill he gained—and the result of that attempt—was 「Refined Blood Essence」.
The pure essence of vampire evolution, free of any lingering thoughts.
If this 「Refined Blood Essence」 entered another vampire's body, it would act as a catalyst to evolve their vampire factors.
As a mere catalyst, even a small amount would produce definite effects.
Of course, the more you administered, the greater the change and the faster the mutation—but still.
'It's not entirely without side effects.'
Strictly speaking, though, it wasn't really a side effect.
After all, this was the process of 'bestowing' blood and having it 'inherited'—a tiny issue where the recipient became subservient to the bestower.
For vampires, that was no big deal at all!
'Vampires are all used to it anyway. Just changes who it's with.'
Trade loyalty for solid power.
It wasn't a bad deal for the confused hardliner remnants rattled by their executives' absence.
These were folks who'd even considered devouring their own kind out of desperation for strength.
Embrace those who accepted it, and turn the stubborn ones clinging to the old hierarchy into materials to replenish the consumed Blood Essence.
A perfectly ideal structure.
'...Huh? This sounds exactly like what those hardliners were trying to do... Hm, no. I'm eliminating the ones trying to sow chaos in society.'
Just happens to reap a little benefit along the way.
A perfectly upright plan, no different from a bounty hunter.
I let out a hollow, silly chuckle, then closed the window and returned to my desk in front of the computer.
The screen showed internet search results for a certain incident.
-20XX Seoul Station Terror Attack.
The place where he'd lost his family.
My slack, smirking lips stiffened, and the corners of my mouth slowly drooped.
My heart sank cold.
It was a chaotic era.
Superhumans who'd gained power in the otherworld and returned were swarming everywhere, yet Earth had no monsters or demon kings worthy of their strength.
All that existed were others in the same boat as them.
But shared circumstances didn't mean shared values, so conflicts erupted everywhere.
And in those clashes, the only way to prove yourself was raw power.
Greater strength was justice, order, everything in that world.
Innumerable innocents were sacrificed along the way, but the powerless could only endure it.
Just call it an accident, something unavoidable.
Because there was nothing they could do.
I'd been the same.
Bam—!
Until now.
The light punch cracked the desk.
Since awakening 「Avatar」, I'd blindly pursued power.
I never wanted to feel that helpless powerlessness again.
「Persona」 only helped me avoid being consumed by emotions—it didn't erase them entirely.
Those feelings had lingered in my heart all along.
So I'd poured all that pent-up strength, that aimless rage and resentment, into judging the 'Villains'.
That incident was a random terror act by an awakened whose motives were unknown, and the perp had exploded right in front of him immediately after.
Even after gaining power, there'd been nowhere to direct his anger and thirst for revenge.
I'd thought all I could do was take down the flashy Villains who crossed my path.
"...That's what I thought. But... there was someone, huh? The culprit?"
My stiff expression relaxed, and my lips curved back up softly.
A vacant smile spread across my face again.
I couldn't stop grinning unwittingly.
'Ah, I get it now.'
And it hit me anew.
'I've been broken for a long time already.'
How else could I be smiling in a situation like this?
"Heh... Hahaha... Kekekeuk... Huhu..."
Laughter kept leaking out.
I was laughing so hard drool, tears, and snot streamed down, but I couldn't stop.
"Haa... Haa..."
It felt great.
After the fit of laughter, my mind was clearer than ever.
With a goal in sight, unprecedented motivation welled up.
"Man, who knew it'd turn out like this? See, doing good deeds brings blessings. Beat down the bad guys enough times, and look—the masterminds pop right out."
I wiped my tears, pondering.
How to really screw them over.
I'd done it a few times already.
With some experience under my belt now, I could probably do it even better.
'If they were the type to back off easily, they wouldn't have caused chaos for so long. They went into hiding this time, but they'll definitely stick their heads out again.'
I needed to be ready to snap their necks for sure when they did.
Ready to uproot not just them, but any hidden backers behind the backers.
'Plus, they operate worldwide. Stopping them in Korea alone—who knows how big a hit that really is.'
Tap, tap, tap.
I crossed my legs, drumming my fingers on the desk to organize my thoughts.
At this scale, personal power alone had its limits.
To take on an organization that had already ballooned into a massive force, I'd need forces of my own.
'Forces to track them persistently, gather intel, and grab them by the ankle when the time comes.'
And the Blood Alliance could handle that role to some extent.
With ongoing support to build it up, subjugating other groups under it to expand the scale—it'd be even more helpful.
Conveniently, I had overflowing funds skimmed from the otherworld and crime syndicates.
'As a shadow organization, they'll handle laundering and such themselves. Come to think of it, indirectly controlling those gold bar dealers from back then through the Blood Alliance sounds good. Not quite worth direct subordination, but capable enough as a lower outfit.'
I glanced at the lottery tickets still stashed in the corner of the room.
No rush there, so I could use them later.
But as this fight showed, what ultimately mattered was the presence of overwhelming powerhouses.
'Hans and Heinz... and even Heinrich are growing steadily. But...'
Not enough.
This time, they'd clashed with zero countermeasures in place, inflicting heavy losses and forcing a retreat—but who knew about next time.
They already knew about Hans and Heinz, and from the info gathered so far, the Reverse Heaven Society wasn't just any organization.
To handle their global operations and eliminate them thoroughly, I needed more top-tier powerhouses.
Ones they couldn't predict, that fell outside their expectations.
Ten bodies wouldn't be enough.
But I was someone who could make ten bodies.
If I lacked bodies, I'd just make more.
'For that, I need Karma. No time to leisurely grow my unique skill. To rack up Karma, I need influence in the otherworld.'
So why not stir up a massive incident that would shrink the otherworld's influence?
For example...
"War... or something?"
I scowled after saying it aloud.
Was it really okay to cross that line?
Did I have the resolve to abandon my humanity for selfish desires, sacrificing innocents as stepping stones to power?
I wasn't sure yet.
I knew it was messed up, but my anger and vengefulness weren't that strong.
If anything, excitement and anticipation felt bigger.
'Heh... Guess I'm not right in the head either.'
An opponent so justified in anything I did to them, worthy of all my malice poured out.
Yet tough enough not to shatter easily—forcing me to go all out.
...In my current state of mind, war didn't appeal much.
'Table it for now. Ways to impact the world on a war-scale without innocent sacrifices.'
As if such a convenient method...
"...There is one?"
Perfectly timed, I had just the right material in hand.
"Demon King and Hero."
The wicked Demon King leading forces of evil to threaten the continent.
The righteous Hero, backed by humanity, standing against them.
The classic cliché of clichés.
I couldn't help but snicker.
'Rough outline like that. But the scenario needs work. Detailed info, and balancing it midway—that'll be key. Can I pull it off?'
The plan jumping to mind wasn't anything grand.
Hans leads an evil organization to take down corrupt nobles, then Heinrich swoops in to smite them and become the hero.
Rinse and repeat.
At the climax, gather all the evil orgs and wipe them out—good for the continent, right?
The catch: on this scale, sloppy execution meant massive civilian casualties.
Countless uncontrolled variables.
But compared to outright war, the aversion was much less—more refined choice.
Plus, with effort, outcomes could vary wildly.
'The moment I justify unavoidable sacrifices, I become no different from them. Have to try my best.'
Ways would come.
Not something to agonize over right now.
Long-term plan needing tons of prep—not executable immediately.
Hans was still too weak to stir things up against the continent.
Priority one: find the last remaining Fragment of the Immortal King.
'Plenty of time. The Reverse Heaven Society took a huge hit this time—they'll lie low for years at least. Otherworld time ratio is 10:1. No rush.'
Impossible to stop their overseas ops right away.
Better to build strength solidly in the meantime.
"Heh..."
Another unwitting chuckle escaped.
I felt oddly cheerful again.
"Yeah... whatever your goals, whatever you want. I'll throw everything at messing it up."
If you've got complaints, come find me.
Even focusing on Outerica for now, it'd take time.
Hans needed to dodge the Church's eyes to hunt the Immortal King's Fragment, while Heinrich climbed the ranks with their recognition.
'Heinz should build an intel network to grasp the continent's info.'
And perfectly suited candidates for that came to mind.
'Gotta raise 'Harley' in the meantime. Find ways to power-level fast. Maybe exploit 「Adaptation」 somehow?'
No urgency.
Just proceed steadily, one step at a time.
Like preparing a grand play.
"Stage: Outerica. Leads: me. Audience: the whole continent. Bit grand, huh."
Release date TBD, but...
Probably won't take that long.
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