Blinded by Greed
Greed blinds the eyes of men.
Madness robs them of rational judgment.
That was the state of the people inside the arena right now.
The staggering sum of 100,000 sol had clouded their vision, and the collective madness had stripped away their reason.
The spectators in the colosseum forgot that Zeon was a powerhouse and charged straight at him.
Zeon thought they looked just like undead.
"100,000 sol is mine."
"I'll kill Zeon."
"Die!"
The spectators' frenzy filled the arena.
At that moment, Zeon moved.
Thud!
"Gahk!"
His fist slammed into the face of the frontrunner.
A scream echoed as the spectator crumpled.
Even seeing their comrade fall right in front of them, the others pressed on toward Zeon without a care.
Zeon unleashed punches at the charging crowd.
Thwack-thwack-thwack!
With the sounds of impacts, the front line collapsed.
There was no need to use his sand powers or fire magic.
Zeon's martial arts surpassed most martial-type Awakeners.
No one could withstand a single blow from him.
In an instant, half the spectators lay sprawled on the ground.
Only then did the crowd regain their senses.
Fear had brought their minds back.
"Wha... what?"
"Ugh!"
"Damn it!"
Half the people who'd been laughing and shouting together just moments ago were now covered in blood, collapsed around them.
No matter how out of their minds they'd been, they couldn't help but feel terror.
Even an F-rank Awakener could handle dozens of ordinary people at once.
Zeon's rank was B-rank or higher.
He could crush truckloads of civilians without breaking a sweat.
Goran knew this full well.
Yet he'd sent the spectators at Zeon anyway. There was a reason for it.
A cruel smile curled at Goran's lips.
"Boom!"
Kaboom!
Suddenly, one of the fallen spectators beneath Zeon's feet exploded.
Zeon was caught in the blast and sent flying.
He soared nearly ten meters before crashing down—right where another fallen spectator lay.
Even in his disoriented state, Zeon furrowed his brow.
No way?
His suspicion became reality.
Kaboom!
Another seemingly unharmed spectator detonated.
It was like they were human bombs.
Zeon was flung back by the explosion.
Crash!
He slammed into the colosseum wall.
Chunks of shattered wall buried him.
A dark smile spread across Eiba's face.
"The boss's power is impressive as always. That should have done some real damage."
Then, shoving aside the debris, Zeon rose.
Pat-pat!
Not a single trace of injury could be seen on him as he brushed the dust from his robe.
The smile vanished from Eiba's face.
Goran, on the other hand, looked intrigued.
"As expected, that wasn't enough."
The blast just now had enough force to obliterate a D-rank Awakener in one go. For Zeon to emerge unscathed meant he was that strong.
"Estimated power at B-rank or higher... A real pain."
The higher the rank of an Awakener, the greater their pride.
They rarely bowed to anyone. But crushing such people and bringing them to heel? That was pure ecstasy.
Zeon looked at Goran and said, "You've planted bombs in their bodies."
"Heh!"
Goran neither confirmed nor denied it.
Zeon said no more.
Words wouldn't solve this anymore.
Only direct confrontation remained.
Whoosh!
Zeon launched himself forward.
Hundreds of stairs separated him from Goran, but he could leap them in one bound.
He was nearly at the top tier when—
BOOM!
A massive shockwave engulfed him.
Dolkhan, the bald man behind Goran, had unleashed it.
The full-power shockwave shattered every window in the colosseum and ruptured eardrums, sending spectators tumbling.
Dolkhan was Goran's enforcer.
He'd felled and wounded countless foes with his shockwaves.
No opponent had ever survived them unscathed. He assumed this time would be no different.
But Zeon landed safely on the upper tier, mocking Goran's confidence.
Not a sign of damage from the shockwave anywhere on him.
Dozens of fireballs materialized around Zeon.
Eiba barked at the prostitutes, "Protect the boss."
Without hesitation, they surrounded Goran.
Zeon swung his hand, and the fireballs rained down on Dolkhan and Goran like a meteor shower.
"Raaargh!"
Dolkhan charged like a bull, shielding his upper body with his right arm.
Most of the fireballs bounced off it.
His right arm was a mechanical prosthetic.
Infused with Neo Seoul's pinnacle technology, it repelled most magic and physical attacks.
A few fireballs headed for Goran, but the prostitutes blocked them with their bodies.
Their faces twisted in agony from the burns.
Yet none screamed or dodged.
Their eyes shone with the honor of sacrificing for Goran.
"You scum!"
Dolkhan swung his mechanical arm at Zeon.
Zeon ducked slightly, evading the fist. Dolkhan's exposed side was wide open.
Zeon drove his Superheat Gauntlet, wreathed in flames, into Dolkhan's ribs.
Thud!
"Kuh!"
Dolkhan's face contorted with the explosive impact.
Only his right arm was mechanical; the rest was human flesh.
Pain was inevitable.
The unexpected agony made him flinch instinctively.
Zeon seized the opening.
His hands gripped Dolkhan's mechanical arm and wrenched it free.
Rip!
"Gaaah!"
Dolkhan screamed as the prosthetic tore away, trailing nerve bundles and muscle shreds.
"Dolkhan going down that easily..."
Goran's expression, shielded by the prostitutes, darkened completely.
Dolkhan was one of the pillars supporting him, alongside Taeo, Iton, and Eiba.
He was deployed to every armed conflict, boasting immense power.
For such a man to fall so pathetically to Zeon...
It wasn't that Dolkhan was weak.
Zeon's strength exceeded Goran's wildest imagination.
"Damn it! This is a headache."
Goran cursed his own impatience.
Had he known Zeon was this strong, he'd have tried a different approach to win him over. But regret always came too late.
Now wasn't the time for regrets—he needed a way out.
Goran knew an easy one.
He shouted, "Dolkhan! Die for me."
Dolkhan's eyes changed in an instant.
Like a fanatic, they rolled back as he lunged at Zeon.
With his remaining arm, he wrapped Zeon in a bear hug.
Zeon tried to break free, but Dolkhan's strength was beyond imagining.
Spit flying, Dolkhan snarled, "We die together, Zeon!"
Zeon saw Dolkhan's mad eyes turn red.
He knew what that meant.
Self-destruct?
His judgment was swift; his action swifter.
Zeon unleashed Exion full-force.
Whoosh!
The pressure cracked Dolkhan's grip.
Zeon slipped through, curling into a tight ball.
Dolkhan's body exploded.
Kaboom!
The blast dwarfed the spectators'. A pillar shattered, walls crumbled, and the entire colosseum collapsed.
"Damn it! What the hell?"
Zeon shoved debris aside and stood.
Today alone, he'd been buried twice and caught in three explosions.
Without his Leviathan-hide robe, he'd have been seriously hurt.
He scanned around.
No sign of Goran anywhere.
He'd clearly escaped before the blast.
"Haven't been this pissed in a while."
Zeon ran a hand through his tousled hair.
He never dreamed Goran would self-destruct one of his own on a whim.
Whether human or monster, life was paramount.
Sacrificing it on someone else's word defied Zeon's common sense.
"Fanatic? Or some kind of mind control?"
This was a world that had already ended once.
New humanity—Awakeners—had emerged, developing countless powers.
Mainstream types like martial, magic, curse, and machine-fused existed, but there were outliers like Zeon too.
Goran clearly wielded an outlier power.
"Mental control, and explosion-related abilities?"
In that brief grapple, Zeon had confirmed no explosives in Dolkhan's body.
Yet he'd detonated.
Meaning Dolkhan's body itself was the bomb.
Zeon didn't know how one turned a human body into a bomb, but if it was Goran's power, it was a massive threat.
"If I let him go, he'll keep coming. Gotta end him today."
Zeon immediately began the hunt.
Goran was the king of the slums.
He knew Shinchon's layout like the back of his hand.
So did Zeon.
He hadn't just lounged around since returning to the slums; he'd mapped every inch.
No matter where Goran hid, Zeon would find him.
Heuksa-ja burst into Yuse-hui's room, shouting, "Big trouble!"
"What is it?"
Yuse-hui glared at him for interrupting her peace.
If it was nothing, she wouldn't let him off easy. But his next words erased that thought.
"The colosseum exploded."
"The colosseum? Goran's turf?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Seems connected to Zeon."
"Zeon?"
"Yes! Someone saw him heading in."
Yuse-hui's face hardened.
She was one of the few who knew Goran's true power.
Knowing him so well, she could guess why the explosion happened.
"Did that terrorist use his ability against Zeon?"
Among the underworld, Goran was called the Terrorist.
He awakened Awakeners' talents using his blood and mana.
At first glance, a blessing.
But blessings had curses on the flip side.
Goran could make those he awakened detonate by forcing their mana to rampage.
That was his true power.
Decades ago, he'd seized Shinchon with it.
It wasn't limited to Awakeners.
He could inject his blood and mana into ordinary people too, turning them into unwitting bombs.
His victims exploded without knowing death was coming. Terrifying.
No one knew who was next.
Goran turned targets' friends and family into bombs, detonating them at close range.
A world where trust was impossible.
He'd turned rivals' loved ones into explosives and eliminated them.
Thousands died that way.
Through all that slaughter, Goran became Shinchon's ruler.
Yuse-hui said urgently, "Track Goran and Zeon now. If we screw up, all of Shinchon could collapse."