The First Regressor (4)
The remains of what had once been a fairy plummeted to the ground.
Thud.
That was the entirety of the sound produced by such a diminutive body. There was no thunderous, physics-defying boom.
Yet to the ears of the onlookers, that faint, whispered impact rang out with horrifying clarity.
He killed the fairy?
The guy who spent his entire life stuck at dead last?
How? Did a trait suddenly awaken late when he entered the Tower?
They say vision accounts for the vast majority of the information entering the human brain, but every person present looked as though they could not fathom what their own eyes were showing them.
And how could they? Even for Arin, who had lived through regression, the shock was no less profound.
How is that even possible?
The others might have missed it, but she had seen it with absolute clarity.
A soft, golden radiance blossoming from near his heart. And a silhouette that overlapped seamlessly atop his form.
It had been the image of her very own self.
Did my power materialize?
Like a blanket drawn over him, or a lover wrapping her arms tightly around his back, the energy enveloped his body before unraveling thread by thread to sink into his flesh. In an instant, his presence had transformed beyond recognition.
I understand up to that part. The problem is what came after.
She knew well enough that the power Eunho had wielded originated from her.
Though she could not comprehend how another person was capable of freely drawing upon her energy, she managed to push the bewilderment aside and accept it. The true anomaly lay in the subsequent execution.
Just because power is handed to someone doesn't mean anyone can pull off the exact same feat.
Between the power she had forged while scaling the Tower and the fresh greenhorns who had only just crossed its threshold, there existed an insurmountable wall. No, describing it as the difference between the heavens and the earth was far more accurate. The sheer scale of her strength and theirs simply could not be compared.
Yet he controlled and refined it on the fly.
Muscles surging with excessive, unfamiliar force. Mana control that should have felt utterly alien to someone born without mana. And above all, the acute sensory overload of heightened perception—Eunho had processed every bit of it, fine-tuning the output to match his own body with every single step he took. Her eyes, sharper than anyone else's, had seen it all.
—Eunho... Are you a genius?
Regressor Arin parted her lips before she could stop herself. But something felt terribly off.
—Eunho-ya?
She tilted her head, and the moment her spectral hand touched Eunho's back, her expression froze.
His muscles are convulsing.
Like tempestuous waves roiling across a storm-swept sea, his muscle fibers squirmed ceaselessly, twisting in violent spasms. The tremors bleeding through her palm were anything but shallow. It felt as though his entire physique might rupture at any second.
—Eunho! Snap out of it!
A sea caught in a violent tempest was merciless. To survive atop those raging waters, the crew aboard the vessel had to keep their wits about them. Just as a helmsman gripped the wheel through the gale, Eunho had to stabilize his own flesh.
—Eunho!
...I'm fine. I can still take it.
Eunho ground his teeth and reeled in his ragged breath. The capillaries in his wide, staring eyes had already burst, painting his sclera a savage, bloodshot crimson.
Is this the price?
Whenever one coveted what belonged to another, a toll inevitably followed. This power was not something Eunho had built from the ground up; it was forged by a regressor. Naturally, he held no rightful ownership over it. Yet he had tapped into it regardless, simply because it was the only path to survival available to him.
Keep it together. I can't pass out yet.
Eunho ground his molars so hard they creaked, staring down at the severed lower half of the fairy lying ruined on the floor.
He was not fooled for a second.
Humanity had spent nearly half a century climbing the floors in their bid to conquer the Tower, and encounters with fairies had been an inevitable part of that history. He had watched footage of rankers slaying fairies countless times over. There was no way that creature—that fairy—would die from something so trivial.
As if validating his grim caution, an eerie disturbance rippled through the empty air. The movement, felt with piercing vividness across his heightened senses, whipped together like a rising gale and converged upon the fairy's severed lower body. In a horrifying blur, bone, blood, flesh, and eyeballs rewove themselves into existence.
They said this race is composed purely of mana, didn't they?
That was the established intelligence regarding fairies. An absurd species that could not be easily put down, possessing grotesque strength entirely unfitting of their tiny statures. In every sense of the word, they were a cheat of nature.
Plink.
With a wet sound like a droplet striking a puddle, an eyeball blinked. The fairy's newly formed pupils darted erratically back and forth before snapping into sharp focus.
"Hieeek! That was terrifying, it was!"
Those were the very first words that tumbled from the creature's lips. The terror written across its face, the quivering pupils, the wildly fluctuating pulse—its fright seemed utterly genuine at a glance.
Don't fall for it.
Their words and antics were never to be trusted. There was even a well-known proverb among Tower climbers: To deal truly with a fairy, one must master the art of falsehood.
Eunho did not let his guard down for an instant.
"Did I pass the test?"
Opening his vocal cords felt as though beads of blood were pooling in his throat. In truth, it was closer to his entire muscular system ganging up to brutally batter him the moment he moved his vocal cords to speak. Even so, Eunho clenched his teeth through the agony and donned his mask of deceit.
—...Are you alright?
Yeah. I'm fine.
Wearing a mask was something he had practiced countless times during his days at the academy. Eunho forcefully suppressed the violent tremors churning within his gut and pressed on.
"I believe I roughly met the conditions you laid out. Well, if necessary, I can show you more."
A pure bluff.
He felt ready to collapse onto the stone floor at any second. If the backlash from channeling the regressor's strength a single time was this severe, he could hardly fathom the agony of tapping into it once more.
Just once. If I push myself past the limit, I have one shot left.
Anything beyond that was impossible. In other words, Eunho had precisely one bullet left in his chamber.
Please, just get lost. We passed the damn test.
Eunho prayed desperately in the silence of his thoughts. Completely indifferent to his inner plea, the fairy merely crossed its arms and tilted its head this way and that. If he had the strength to spare, he would have reignited his power that very second to blow its smug head clean off.
"Mmm... that is true, it is! A promise is important...! Therefore..."
Thump, thump.
Every single heart in the chamber, including Eunho's, pounded in frantic sync. If things went well, they could clear the examination without a single casualty. Eyes burning with that desperate wish converged upon the creature, and the collective hope seemed to reach the fairy's ears.
"Everyone passes, you see! It might not be entirely fair, but a promise is a promise, yes it is!"
The fairy balled its tiny fists and beamed with the innocent radiance of a child. Collective sighs of relief washed over the entire room.
Ding—♪
Dong—♪
A simple, elegant chime resonated in Eunho's ears. At the same moment, just as when he had first awakened his spiritual power, an impersonal voice echoed directly inside his mind.
Congratulations. You have passed the examiner's test.
You have been granted qualification to enter the 1st Floor.
It worked!
Eunho celebrated silently. His desperate act had paid off.
It was right at that precise moment.
"...!"
A freezing chill shot down the back of Eunho's neck.
Without thinking, he kicked off the floor and threw his body backward, frantically reaching up to touch his throat. A damp, sickly warm sensation coated his fingertips. Pulling his hand away, he found his palm slick with fresh, bright crimson.
If I had reacted a split second later... my head would have rolled.
Hyper-acute senses. Instantaneous wit. And a split-second decision made without hesitation. Those were the only things that had kept his head attached to his shoulders.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?"
Eunho's voice dropped to a frigid growl. Tearing his eyes away from his bloodied hand, he glared at the fairy. Its arm remained extended mid-slash, frozen in empty space.
The fairy's pupils quivered violently as incoherent syllables spilled from its mouth.
"...Huh? Why is this... No, wait...!"
The words dissolved into fractured static. What followed was an agonizing screech, like a ruined speaker spitting abrasive noise into the air.
—...Eunho.
Yeah. This doesn't look like an ordinary situation.
Eunho sharpened his gaze, glaring straight at the examiner. The creature's frantic shivering suddenly ceased entirely, and all trace of vitality drained from its vacant eyes.
Rrrrip—
A hideous sound grated across the hall. The wet, sickening noise of tearing parchment—or shredding muscle.
Before their eyes, the fairy's flesh tore itself apart. Limbs snapped and ripped free, only for bizarre, pulsing vessels of blood to weld the severed joints back together. Its neck spun a full three hundred and sixty degrees, twisting the cervical muscles into a grotesque, braided knot.
The fairy had transcended its kind, undergoing a hideous metamorphosis into an abomination.
Son of a...
—Eunho. That thing fell to corruption.
Corruption? I thought only humans could fall to that?
—Technically, any sapient being can. But more importantly... this is really bad...
He knew exactly what she was worried about. The aura pouring off what had once been a fairy was suffocatingly intense.
Is this... demonic qi?
During their drills at the academy, cadets had been taken to cull imported demonic beasts with their own hands. That was when most trainees experienced demonic qi for the very first time in their lives. But for Eunho, this was his maiden encounter. Born entirely incapable of wielding mana, he had never possessed the ability to perceive the ambient flow of energy around him.
Wait. Why am I able to sense it now?
There was no luxury of time to unravel that mystery.
Having undergone a dark evolution into a demonic beast, the creature kicked off the air and hurtled directly toward him. Its arm wrenched backward with a chorus of sickening pops and tears—utterly discarding the concept of anatomical joint limits—before whipping its fist forward like an arrow loosed from a drawn bow.
KABOOM!
Eunho crossed his forearms just in time to block the incoming strike.
The sheer impact launched his body flying backward through the air.
Ugh!
A numbing shock paralyzed his arms. Even though he had channeled Arin's borrowed strength in the thinnest possible layer to deflect the blow, the attack had shattered through his guard.
—That's the true nature of demonic qi. It doesn't just bypass defenses—it actively corrupts them. Conventional defense is completely useless before it.
Then how the hell am I supposed to fight it?
Fleeing was out of the question. Since he had acquired qualification for the 1st Floor, he might have stood a chance of escaping on his own, but the vast majority of the people here would be slaughtered without mercy. And there was zero guarantee that the present-day Arin would survive the massacre. Not to mention, the crushing backlash from borrowing power might strike him mid-escape and finish him off anyway.
—Holy power. Specifically, you need power specialized in 'Purification.'
Purification?
—Yes. And my holy power happens to be exclusively specialized in purification. That was how I trained my entire life.
At those words, Eunho turned his awareness inward toward the golden ember sprouting within his core. He understood now. That light was the soul of the regressed Arin. And his spiritual power was the vessel capable of scooping up that divine energy and channeling it into his own flesh.
Can I do it?
—You can. You only have one shot, but I know you'll pull it off, Eunho. Still, to raise the odds even slightly... Ah, she's here.
Eunho turned his head at her remark. He had already sensed the approaching presence.
"H-Hey... Are you okay?"
The present-day Arin hurried to his side, her trembling voice full of frantic concern as she scanned his battered frame. It was only natural. From her perspective, everything was unfolding at an incomprehensible speed. Yet there was no time to walk her through the details.
"Arin. Could you lend me a hand?"
"...Huh?"
"I'm going to take that thing down right now. I really need your help."
Arin glanced back and forth between Eunho and the twisted creature preparing to pounce at any second. Her pupils shook with profound disbelief. Is this really the Eunho I know? The unasked question flitted across her expression. But within seconds, her gaze settled into its familiar, quiet resolve.
"Okay. What do you need me to do?"
She trusted him. That single, unyielding conviction radiated from her eyes like pure light.
"...Are you really sure just running interference is enough?"
"Yeah. You don't even have to land a hit. Just one single opening. That's all I need."
"Alright. I'll give it everything I have."
Arin nodded with a taut expression and began her incantation. Unintelligible, sacred syllables flowed from her lips, carving their presence indelibly into the fabric of the air. With her hands clasped together and her eyes tightly shut, the act resembled a fervent prayer far more than a typical spell chant.
Soon, her spoken words materialized into form, casting a brilliant radiance across the gloom.
What is that?
Eunho tilted his head as he observed the construct she had woven. He could see the flow. To be precise, he saw a glowing conduit connecting her body to the luminous lance taking shape before her. At that very moment, the spiritual power within his core began to stir.
"Haah!"
The brilliant lance of light tore through the atmosphere with a fierce battle cry, hurtling directly toward the corrupted examiner.
CRACK!
Yet the lance that had surged forward with such terrifying momentum shattered against a casual flick of the creature's wrist, scattering into harmless motes of golden dust.
"Ugh!"
Arin's brow furrowed in dismay. She hadn't expected her attack to inflict serious harm, but to see it dismantled so effortlessly made her heart sink into shadow.
...Is this even possible?
A wave of despair threatened to swallow her. But Arin bit her lip hard, snapping her focus back to reality.
I can do this. He already showed me it's possible.
The image of Eunho obliterating the examiner with a single punch replayed automatically in her mind. She didn't know how he had managed it. But he had accomplished the impossible once, and now he was stepping forward to challenge it a second time. How could she dare harbor such pathetic doubts when he had asked for her aid?
Arin ground her teeth. The verses of prayer spilling past her lips accelerated, their density multiplying exponentially.
This is my absolute limit.
A lance forged purely from holy power. Gripping the radiant construct, Arin reeled in a steady breath.
I can do this!
She threw the spear with every ounce of strength in her body. BOOM! Splitting the air with a deafening crack, the second lance flew with far greater ferocity than the first.
"Kyak, kyak, kyak!"
Yet in the eyes of the corrupted fairy, the difference between the two attacks was utterly negligible. A human would never bother contemplating the difference between two pebbles tossed at their feet; to the monster, Arin's strike was no different.
It was at that exact instant.
"SCREEECH?!"
Without warning, the power of the lance multiplied violently. The monster's left arm, raised to swat the projectile aside just as before, ruptured in a shower of gore, and a hideous shriek tore from its throat.
Watching the spectacle from a distance, Eunho came to a sudden realization about his own capabilities.
Spiritual power... There's still so much I don't understand about it.
The conduit he had seen connecting Arin to her spear—he had simply rested a strand of his spiritual power atop that current. In doing so, the flow had drastically reinforced itself, naturally amplifying the spear's destructive output several times over.
—Eunho!
Regressor Arin's urgent shout rang in his ears. But even before the warning arrived, Eunho's feet were already driving him toward the monster's blind flank. It was a singular opportunity, and he had no intention of letting it slip away.
I don't know how to weave purification... but blasting it with pure holy power should do the trick!
To that divine reservoir, he fused his spiritual power. The stream of holy energy coursing through his channels met his spiritual power and surged violently, roaring like a river bursting its banks during the monsoon season.
"Just die already."
Eunho's hand shot out like lightning, clamping firmly around the corrupted fairy's throat. The creature instinctively tried to block him with its left arm, but only spurts of black blood sprayed from the empty stump.
CRUNCH!
Starting from the nape of its neck where Eunho's fingers dug in, fissures of brilliant light spread across the creature's skin like shattered porcelain. In that same breath, the frantic malice in its eyes extinguished.
"Kyak... kyak, kyak..."
Those fractured gasps were the fairy's final words. As Eunho watched, the creature crumbled into absolute nothingness, leaving behind not even a speck of dust.
—That's how the fallen meet their end. Not a scrap of their corpse remains; their souls are harvested directly by whatever entity held their contract.
So no power comes without a price.
—Exactly. Ah! More importantly, release your power right now! The backlash is about to hit! Relax as much as you can...!
Watching her fret and fluster over his wellbeing like a mother hen, Eunho managed a faint, wry smirk and turned around. At that exact moment, an announcement pierced directly into his mind.