A Belated Night in Vivaldi
The night in Vivaldi had arrived far too late. Even in that darkness, the long golden hair cascading down to her waist refused to forget its absolute brilliance. It was a face all too familiar.
Among the seven factions that divided the Church, she was the leader of the 'Kindness' faction and held the rank of Cardinal. An 8-star superhuman who represented the Church. At her appearance, Jealousy curled one corner of his mouth into a smirk.
"……."
Even at Jealousy's provocation, Kindness's expression remained unchanged. She simply stared at his face with clear, unwavering eyes without saying a word. Perhaps she deemed it beneath her to respond to an opponent she had already decided to kill.
So that's why that perfectionist Pride was willing to take the risk.
Something about this felt slightly off. The Pride he knew was a perfectionist who left no room for even the slightest chance of failure. A plan this tightly wound didn't quite match his personality. In fact, the appearance of the variable known as Tugwi had already thrown part of his scheme into disarray.
The Pride he knew would send an overwhelming amount of manpower if he felt anything was lacking, just to ensure the plan was executed flawlessly. Like how he had dispatched two 8-star superhumans during the initial attempt on Prince Mikhail's life, even though it hadn't been strictly necessary.
So why had he drawn up a plan this precisely calibrated?
I might be able to gather some evidence here.
The reason was simple. He had deliberately left the opponent with a reasonable chance of success. That way, the other side wouldn't abandon their own plans and would carry them out as intended.
Yes. This was the perfect opportunity. One of the Church's 7 Cardinal Virtues had participated in a terrorist attack. There could be no clearer evidence linking the Immortal organization to the Church.
It also means they want me dead just as badly.
Right now, the Fan Empire and Yggdrasil were under indiscriminate assault from the underworld forces disguised as the Immortal. Cleaning up the internal chaos made it extremely difficult to divert personnel outward like this. No, Pride would never have allowed it so easily.
That was why one of the 7 Cardinal Virtues had no choice but to step forward to kill him. With one superhuman, the odds would have been even. But with two, it became a guaranteed victory.
The parade is already out of the question.
Baron Vivaldi wasn't a complete fool. With this many casualties, there was no way he would proceed with the parade. In that case, he would at least complete this operation.
There's no clearer evidence than the corpse of one of the 7 Cardinal Virtues.
Besides, he had wanted that face so badly for the longest time. He'd been irritated as hell since earlier. Time to vent it all out.
Killing intent flickered in Jealousy's eyes. At the same time, his presence exploded outward in an instant.
Kindness flinched. The human brain tends to deliberately ignore and fail to register stimuli that are too intense. Unlike ordinary assassins who suppress their presence to the limit, Jealousy did the opposite—he amplified his presence to the extreme, slipping free from the perception of those around him.
The savage killing intent was so overwhelming that even Kindness unconsciously trembled. The moment she lowered her head, Jealousy's kick whipped through the air like a lash.
SQUAAAANG!
The strike, faster than the speed of sound, tore through the atmosphere. A powerful sonic boom erupted. Winds howled like a typhoon, and within that storm, Jealousy grinned viciously.
She had never liked his consistently arrogant attitude that looked down on her.
Kindness's fist surged upward wrapped in pure white currents, while Jealousy's leg spun sharply in the opposite direction and plummeted toward the ground. Their attacks collided in midair, and a massive amount of mana exploded in all directions.
So Jealousy is over there.
The hair-raising explosion of mana could be felt from afar. The shiver racing up his forearm made Eun Ma-hyun's eyes sink even lower. He began walking toward the source without hesitation.
Thud.
But at the sound coming from beside him, he stopped. His gaze shifted sideways.
The spirit's form was horribly shattered and still hadn't recovered. Yet even in that state, it seemed to have succeeded in protecting its master's life. Covered in blood, Julia staggered, unable to keep her balance, and struggled to her feet.
Her breathing was ragged, as if she could die at any moment. It was only natural. She had taken a direct hit from the 'concept' Eun Ma-hyun had wielded. It was a miracle she was still alive, and the fact that she had survived spoke volumes about her exceptional skill.
"……."
Was her stomach injured? Blood kept rising in her throat. Julia forced it down and pressed hard on her slashed abdomen. Mana flowed from her fingertips and wrapped around the wound's surface. Using an application of her spirit form, she performed emergency first aid to stop the bleeding.
Even as cold sweat poured down her body, she refused to show any weakness to the enemy. With that single determination, she put on a calm facade and stared straight at Eun Ma-hyun.
She spoke as if she had been waiting for his arrival all along.
Judging by the violent mana exploding in the distance, there's another 8-star superhuman over there as well.
Two superhumans had appeared. Monsters who could wipe the Vivaldi territory off the map all by themselves. If she had been caught unaware, she alone could never have stopped such a catastrophe.
Yet even in this worst-case scenario, her eyes remained calm. She had already known the situation would unfold this way.
At least two superhumans will appear.
It was the warning her team leader had repeatedly emphasized. At the same time, it was the definite assurance the underworld had given them. The reason they had even used Jealousy and herself as bait to lure them out was singular.
To annihilate them all right here.
I knew I shouldn't have trusted the underworld.
There was only one thing she regretted now. She had taken the underworld's words at face value when they said they would minimize civilian casualties and evacuate people after the enemy appeared.
Minimize casualties my ass.
They hadn't avoided it at all. The bloody corpse lying beside her proved that fact. Having had no idea about the appearance of the Absolute Being Tugwi, she could only conclude that the underworld had used them for their own purposes and turned a blind eye to civilian deaths.
Since the underworld's bold claims had ended in failure, they had nothing to say for themselves.
At this point, they at least had to catch the ones responsible for this atrocity. That was why she had muttered that they could settle the score later. A voice came from behind her.
It was a seductive, bewitching tone. It was truly strange. Though the words had been spoken in a calm manner, the hearts of everyone who heard that voice began to pound violently. Even the dying corpses who had been unlucky enough not to perish yet could not resist the pull and unconsciously turned their heads.
A thrilling atmosphere, as if they were facing their first love, bloomed in the middle of the brutal battlefield.
In an instant, the mood of the entire area flipped one hundred and eighty degrees. A woman stepped forward, drawing every eye.
Wavy purple hair that fell to her collarbone. Pale, decadent-looking eyes. A single beauty mark beneath her left eye only heightened her allure.
She was the being who had wielded the greatest influence in the underworld before the Death King had conquered it. People of the world called her the Queen of the Night.
Along with Pride, she was one of the Seven Deadly Sins who had resided in the underworld the longest. She was also the person who had been expected to become the greatest obstacle when Kain conquered the underworld.
But contrary to those expectations, she had recognized his potential at their very first meeting and chosen submission over opposition. Though she had entered the service of the Death King, her prestige had not diminished in the slightest. On the contrary, as one of his direct executives, her influence had expanded across the entire continent.
Lust. One of the seven pillars supporting Sawang Heokcheon.
She had appeared so naturally from beyond the space, as if she had been there from the very beginning. Eun Ma-hyun's brow furrowed slightly at the sight.
But Lust ignored his reaction and spoke to Julia as if making an excuse.
The reason so many civilians had died was entirely because that guy had been late. She herself had done nothing wrong. Even though she had been standing there watching the whole time while people died, she pushed all the blame onto Jealousy.
Eun Ma-hyun, an 8-star superhuman belonging to the Tugwi Guard. The underworld had known he had entered the Ellemental Kingdom and was participating in this terror attack, yet they had failed to pinpoint his location accurately. That was why Lust had remained hidden until now. All for this very moment when he revealed himself.
I won't miss him now.
Simply confirming his presence with her own eyes had been enough. If he had stayed completely hidden, it might have been different, but the moment she recognized Eun Ma-hyun's existence, he could no longer escape from the palm of her hand.
Thump.
Her bewitching smile made his heart pound. His heart continued to race with excitement, as if he had fallen for his superior. The powerful influence that even affected an 8-star superhuman made Eun Ma-hyun's frown deepen.
It was quite a cute reaction after so long. That Pride guy only ever got horny for the Master, even when she was standing in front of him in her underwear.
Yes, that's the normal reaction.
It was the fatal charm that had even swept up Kain back when he had first awakened his Ebon ability—his killing power had already surpassed hers at the time. Kain had only been able to control himself in front of her after his dark magic had reached a certain level and he had gained complete control over his Ebon.
In that sense, Eun Ma-hyun's reaction was perfectly normal. But surrounded by nothing but abnormalities—from the narcissistic Jealousy to Pride, who only ever got aroused for the Master—such a normal reaction felt incredibly refreshing.
He's quite handsome, too.
If this had been the old days, she might have dragged him straight into bed. Thinking that, she let out a soft chuckle. The ground around her began to rise.
A sudden, radical change. An unnatural phenomenon triggered by nothing more than a single thought. The earth rose like thick castle walls, soaring high into the sky and isolating the space containing Lust and Eun Ma-hyun from the outside world.
Is this spirit magic?
Eun Ma-hyun moved his eyes, probing his opponent's abilities. At the same time, his body tilted ever so slightly. It was so natural that even Lust noticed the movement a beat too late.
"……."
An attack unleashed without warning. The sword he had drawn at some point swung toward Lust. It was a light probing strike. Yet the 'concept' contained within that attack carried far too much danger to be considered a mere probe.
KWAAAAANG!
Winds condensed around Lust and blocked the attack she hadn't even been able to perceive. The collision of concept against concept. While the physical shockwave that spread outward was minimal, the mental aftershock spread in an intangible form, instantly withering and crumbling all the plants and animals in the vicinity.
She hadn't learned a hybrid style of spirit magic and martial arts like Jealousy. From the brief check he had just made, she was a pure spirit mage. At that arrogant display, Lust chuckled softly and replied with a relaxed smile.
This arrogant...!
The pounding of his heart from excitement transformed into fierce rage. At the same time, his sword strikes rained down indiscriminately. Like raging waves, Eun Ma-hyun's blade swallowed the spot where Lust stood.