17 Years Ago
17 years ago.
A massive fire broke out in Rain City.
But it wasn't in the bustling downtown lined with Sky Tower and skyscrapers. The blaze started in the shantytown right next to it, separated by a single wall. The flames devoured everything in their path with terrifying speed.
Whoosh! Boom!
Towering infernos consumed the buildings.
People screamed. The shantytown, filled with cries and wails, was a vision of hell.
Yet, strangely, Jeokhyeol wasn't afraid. For someone abandoned and nameless, drifting through life, there was no regret whenever it might end.
"Any word on support at the entrance?"
"We're keeping the fire from spreading."
"The association's sending someone with a water trait... No idea when, though. At least casualties are minimal."
"That's a relief."
Voices approached from afar. Three people in association uniforms. One woman hurried over to Jeokhyeol with a shocked expression.
"Kid, why aren't you running?!"
As she reached out her hand,
the encroaching fire demon was instantly subdued.
"Why should I?"
Jeokhyeol's question made the woman grin mischievously, letting out a playful pfft.
"Hmm~ Guess? 'Cause you'll die?"
"That doesn't scare me."
Jeokhyeol meant it.
For scraps like him, discarded and forsaken, this life held no value worth mourning its end.
"I see."
The woman didn't blame him.
She gently stroked his head and asked in a rhythmic murmur,
"What's your name, sweetie?"
"...Don't have one."
The truth.
The day he was abandoned in this hell, Jeokhyeol had lost his name. Unaware of his story, the woman smiled as if she knew it all.
"Then from now on, your name is... Let's go with that. Got it?"
"What?"
Jeokhyeol's eyes widened in alarm, but she kept smiling amid the burning shantytown and pouring rain, saying something utterly out of place.
"Nice weather today, huh?"
That very day marked the first meeting between the nameless hunter Jeokhyeol and his master.
The auction house rooftop.
Shwaaa—
Rain poured as if the heavens had split open.
But even that downpour couldn't touch Jeokhyeol. His mana barrier repelled it like a shield, letting it stream harmlessly away.
"You're the culprit, aren't you?"
Jeokhyeol asked Zien.
It was bizarre. He and the other Rebellion members were 5th-rank hunters. Zien sneaking in undetected, Bruno and Iruka's communications cut off—it was beyond what any ordinary security detail could achieve.
"No need to answer. You and that girl die here."
Yume's fur stood on end at Jeokhyeol's killing intent. She released Zien's arm and stumbled back. Zien calmly raised his sword.
'Can I win like this?'
Zien and Jeokhyeol were a terrible matchup. The man's skill bordered on 6th-rank hunter level, and his trait...
Crunch!
Jeokhyeol bit his thumb.
A single drop of blood fell with a plip. But as he activated his trait, it swelled like a wave.
Grrrrr—
And that was just the start.
The blood took form: skeletons, golems, wolves, bats. Every bloodborn monster Jeokhyeol conjured was grotesquely hideous.
"You don't know. The despair of having everything taken from me."
At Jeokhyeol's signal, the monster wave crashed toward Zien.
"Grraaah!"
They dissolved on contact with Black Fragrance, but the horde was endless. Plus, Zien had the handicap of protecting Yume.
"Z-Zien!"
Dodging or retreating would collapse their formation. If Yume died, the mana seal penalty would end everything.
"Why risk your life for that girl? For Sky Group?"
Zien had no answer for Jeokhyeol's question. He could only slash and slash again with his sword. Dodging skeleton soldiers' blades, bisecting wolves, he felled every monster from his position. Jeokhyeol ground his teeth at the near-divine swordsmanship.
"I won't let the gifted be exploited anymore."
Jeokhyeol's gaze turned to Yume.
"We gifted protect the ungifted. Tell me—are they stronger than you?"
His blood morphed into a sword.
Gripping the blood blade, Jeokhyeol murmured coldly,
"What power did they use to exploit us? To exploit my master?"
His eyes were icy.
"You parasites leeched off the gifted and my master's goodwill. I'm here to exact their vengeance."
The world he sought to create was one that should have existed. Rebellion's terror would carve its place in Zone 1's history. Jeokhyeol quietly declared the future.
"From this moment, the weak will be oppressed, and the gifted will rule the ungifted."
Jeokhyeol charged Zien.
Each clash of their swords sent floor blood surging to attack Zien.
'Tricky bastard.'
For Zone 1 standards, at best.
Jeokhyeol's swordsmanship, honed by a Zone 3 sword god, was no match for Zien's.
Clang! Slash!
Zien exploited every opening, slicing Jeokhyeol's body. The problem was his trait. Wounds just bled without real damage. And then,
"Grrr! Yelp!"
the monsters charging alongside him. At this rate, it'd be an endless war of attrition.
Splat! Shwaa!
Zien's sword arced in a semicircle, cleaving every approaching foe in half. It barely bought time. Zien gripped his hilt tighter.
'If I can just reclaim my skills...'
The third skill etched in his stigma.
With that power, beating Jeokhyeol was possible.
"Holding out with swordplay alone."
In hunter fights, traits decided victory. He had one that could reach 7th rank. Yet Zien blocked it purely with swordsmanship.
'...Rebellion.'
The nameless hunter. Jeokhyeol.
Zien knew nearly all his history, but didn't see him as evil. Jeokhyeol might even be right. Zone 1 was irrational. Sky Group could be the true villains—they'd killed his master via mana overload.
'Unjust death. Unjust victim.'
Rebellion had tired of exploitation. Better to take than be taken. But their ideals didn't matter to Zien. As a saber,
'We still have to save our world.'
His world.
No matter how unjust, he had to clear gates per the quest, reach the story's conclusion. As that thought settled, Yume murmured behind him.
"...He's right."
Resolved, she trembled but stepped to Zien's side. Jeokhyeol halted his assault at her move.
"Yume?"
"I know. My dad's not a good person."
Zien agreed.
Sky Group's chairman was far from virtuous, even in flattery. He'd sent countless hunters to die for profit, ultimately killing Jeokhyeol's master with mana rampage. A clear villain.
"He must've earned a lot of hate. But you don't have to die for me...?"
As Zien was cornered,
Yume had made her own resolve. Jeokhyeol gnashed his teeth.
For his vengeance to succeed, Yume had to stay ugly to the end—sacrificing Zien for herself, begging for life. Only then could he achieve true revenge.
"A ploy?"
If Yume changed, becoming unlike her father, his revenge would lose its path.
"Now you pull that?!"
Jeokhyeol's rage boomed.
Zien looked at Yume impassively.
"Yume. I'm not fighting for you. So."
Clear the gate.
Grow stronger. Despite Desire's threats, reach higher. Past life and present shared that goal—this was one step.
"You don't have to lie."
"Truth is... I don't want to die either.
This is... my choice."
Yume stammered at Zien's words. Zien tore off his security badge and tossed it to the ground.
"Yeah. That's enough."
Snap.
Like a signal for reversal, Zien charged. One lunge cleaved the front line. Countless bloodcreatures died.
"Meaningless. ...My body is blood—liquid. As long as I have mana, you can't kill me."
Jeokhyeol declared, but Zien kept slashing the blood monsters. In that flow, Zien's thoughts accelerated. With heightened senses active, his every second stretched eternally.
'Protect the World Tree...'
Fishy blood stench and silent rain.
In the sluggish gray world, Zien recalled. In his past life, he'd aided elves against northern conquerors, safeguarding the World Tree. But the northern forces weren't villains.
The world was never black-and-white, as always. Gate characters clashed for their reasons.
'Rebellion's the same.'
No need to divide self and foe into good and evil. Jeokhyeol fought for revenge; Zien, for gate clearance. Both staked their lives.
For a saber like Zien, only power enforced his goal.
'The stigma...'
As his thoughts reached that point, the pattern on his hand began to glow.
Skill acquired: Spirit's Blessing
Zien smiled at Jeokhyeol.
"No. I can."
Spirit's Blessing.
Blessed by the World Tree Yggdrasil, Zien could infuse his sword with spirit power. A rare high-rank skill even high sabers struggled for, reclaimed by a mere student through past-life memories. The result:
Shing!
White frost flowed from Zien's sword. Raindrops grazing the blade crystallized into ice, plummeting to the ground.
[Spirit's Blessing]
Now, an ice spirit—Glacia—dwelled in Zien's blade.
Tap!
Zien didn't swing wildly.
He breezed past the monsters like wind, arriving before Jeokhyeol. Black Fragrance now bore a chill that froze anything it touched.
"Die!"
Jeokhyeol, sensing the anomaly, thrust at Zien.
Zien swept his sword across the blood- and rain-soaked floor.
"The one who dies is."
Zien murmured low.
Jeokhyeol struck first, but Zien's blade was lightning.
"You."
A death sentence in one word.
Zien raised his ice sword toward Jeokhyeol.