Black Rose 2: Shattering the Prophecy's Illusion

—Thump, thump, thump! My heartbeat thundered through my eardrums like it was ripping them apart. The Dragon Heart. The mighty mana organ that had devoured my own heart. The colossal mana it pumped surged through my veins, spreading to every corner of my body. My mana circuits crushed my blood vessels. It felt like a dam bursting, sweeping away everything below in an overwhelming sense of omnipotence that dominated my entire being.

The shadow chains pinning me down shattered in an instant as I gritted my teeth. Space itself warped, and the chains plummeted to the floor.

—Clang!

The elder's chains fragmented like glass, scattering into the air.

"What?"

Choi Ik-hyeon's composed expression—as he was about to leisurely sip his tea—crumbled for the first time. It was like watching the black stones on a go board rise up and flip the entire game on their own.

"Your scenario? That's no different from a shitty script."

I rose from my crushed position and kicked off the floor. The barrier's artificial gravity was no longer an obstacle.

—Bam!

Closing the distance in a flash, I reached for Choi Ik-hyeon's throat. He hastily deployed a shadow shield. But the moment my dragon-empowered fist touched it, his final defense crumpled like tofu.

"Guh!"

My hand gripped his collar, slowly lifting him off the ground.

"Kh, kheh."

The old man known as the Black Moon's mastermind and the Prophecy Elder flailing helplessly was pathetically undignified. For a fox who had manipulated politics and business, this was far too pitiful an end.

"H-how... How could a mere human...?"

"Playing on your go board isn't my hobby. I prefer flipping the damn thing over."

I hurled him into the wall.

—Boom!!

The wall's decorative shelves shattered, and Choi Ik-hyeon spewed blood as he clutched the floor, head bowed. The impact shook the entire building.

"Cough, cough..."

Choi Ik-hyeon crawled across the floor with trembling hands.

An overwhelming victory. Subjugation so effortless.

"Hah, hah..."

I panted roughly, clenching and unclenching my fist. The tingling sensation lingered at my fingertips. This was the dragon's power. Far stronger than I'd imagined. Strong enough to toy with even an emperor.

Every cell in my body, still buzzing with thrill, screamed in ecstasy.

"Lee Han!"

Black Rose staggered toward me as she pulled herself up. Her clothes were torn and disheveled, but the look in her eyes burned hotter than ever. A madness blending awe, love, and conquest filled her gaze.

"You did it. As expected, you have what ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it takes to be my king."

She threw herself into my arms. Her flushed face pressed against my chest, hot breath escaping as she leaned in for a kiss.

The intoxication of victory. The enemy crumpled before me. The beauty throwing herself at me in worship. It was the perfect hero's tale.

Yeah, accepting her like this, taking over Black Moon, and placing the world at my feet... not a bad deal.

'...Hold on.'

A sense of wrongness crept in. Subtle, but impossible to ignore.

Black Rose's hand cupped my cheek. Her soft skin touched mine, a sweet fragrance piercing my nose.

'Why doesn't it disgust me?'

Just minutes ago in the elevator, her mere touch had made my skin crawl and nearly induced vomiting. It wasn't something I could will away—it was a system-enforced physiological disgust.

But now? Nothing. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠It even felt sweet. Blood rushed south, an urge to hold her surging within.

The system's penalty gone? Impossible. The system, a core law of this world, wouldn't glitch.

If the penalty hadn't vanished... then what if this sensation I felt was fake?

With that realization, Black Rose's face in my arms began to waver.

"Lee Han."

Her voice changed. No longer sensual and sticky. Cold and clear, etched deep in my memories.

I froze. The woman's eyes gazing up at me shifted from pitch black to blood-red ruby.

Her black hair turned to blindingly white strands.

"...Isha?"

The Black Rose in her pepperoni T-shirt had become Isha von Estelle in holy robes.

—Thud.

But it wasn't the saintess I knew. She shoved me onto the sofa. I toppled without resistance. She straddled me atop.

The saintess's nobility was gone. Her gaze mixed contempt, obsession, and lust in a bizarre cocktail.

"Why did you run?"

Isha's cold fingers traced my lips. Her touch was chillingly icy.

"You fled without protecting your family, and now you dare play hero? You?"

This was a memory. A nightmare reconstructed from the countless faces of Isha I'd endured before regression. The contemptuous glare treating me like vermin, her breakdown weeping in the ruined world, the final moment she pointed her sword at me.

"Trash like you suits crawling at my feet best. Know your place, F-rank Hunter Lee Han."

She mocked me, dredging up my endless failures, endlessly prodding my traumas.

Her gaze, squeezing pain from my heart, suddenly shifted.

"So... stay by my side."

She leaned down, embracing my neck. Her voice quivered pathetically.

"Don't abandon me. Save me. Lee Han, you're all I have."

Her eyes trembled weakly. This was the desperate Isha reaching for me from the Hell Gate.

"Even if the world curses you, I want you. So stop here."

Isha whispered in my ear, lips brushing close. Her breath was poisonously sweet.

"Don't fight anymore. It's hard. It hurts. Just stay with me in this dream forever. Be happy. I'll forgive you."

Sweet temptation. Forget the pain of reality, the coming disasters, even the Demon King's revival—just sink into her arms and it'd all be easy. She offered forgiveness; what reason did I have to fight?

My hand moved on its own to wrap around her waist.

'Forgive?'

That word yanked at my rationality. Isha von Estelle forgiving me? Me, who killed her family-like Dessoir? Me, who allied with criminals to save the world?

"No."

I halted my hand and gripped her shoulders hard.

"You're not this kind of woman."

Isha von Estelle might despise me, but she wouldn't try to dominate me. She might seem fragile, but she'd never whisper to flee reality. She could weep in sorrow, but she wasn't the type to beg love from her enemy and dream of complacent happiness.

The saintess I knew. The real Isha.

She'd press a blade to my throat and scream, "Fight to the end! Atone even in death!"

That unyielding nobility made her a saintess—and the reason I respected her.

"Don't... defile the her in my memories to suit your taste."

My eyes glowed golden.

"Get lost."

I seized the fake Isha's throat and twisted.

—Shatter!!

With the sound of breaking glass, the world fragmented. The lavish tatami room, the blood-spewing Choi Ik-hyeon, the seducing Isha—all shattered like mirror shards, sucked into the darkness.

"...Huh."

When I opened my eyes, I was still standing. No lavish tatami room. The splintered ebony door was intact and closed. I hadn't even grasped the handle, standing dazed in the middle of the hallway. Even the elevator doors hadn't fully closed.

We'd arrived here just seconds ago.

A voice—Choi Ik-hyeon's, it seemed—echoed in my mind from beyond the door. The old man's thoughts, laced with admiration and arrogance.

It was a trap. From the moment I opened the Door of Sighs—hell, from stepping out of the elevator—I'd been trapped in his barrier.

'Prophecy Elder, huh? Not seeing the future, but showing hallucinations.'

The thrill of victory, Black Rose's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seduction, Isha's pleas—all a creepy play conjured from my memories by reading them.

A grotesque laugh echoed from behind me.

"...Yes. Lee Han... deeper, deeper, do it more..."

It was Black Rose. Still trapped in the hallucination. Hugging empty air in her pepperoni T-shirt, writhing, drool dripping from her mouth.

"Hah, hah... My king, just give the order..."

She was kissing the cold hallway floor. Kissing the tacky shirt she despised so much. Utterly wretched.

"This is the dragon's power."

I stared at my palm. Approached the idiot licking the floor.

—Smack!

"Snap out of it!"

My dragon-powered palm ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠struck her ass.

"Kyaa!"

Black Rose yelped and tumbled. Life slowly returned to her unfocused eyes.

"Wha? Wh-what? I was in the bedroom until just now?"

She blinked around dazedly. The hallway, the firmly shut door, me looking down at her pitifully. The pepperoni T-shirt she wore, the cold floor she'd just been grinding against.

Realization dawned, and her face flushed crimson.

"N-no way. Did I... by myself?"

"Great show. Your tastes are pretty dynamic."

"Aaaah! Forget it! Please! It was a dream!"

Black Rose clutched her head, screaming. She'd crawl into a mouse hole if she could.

I left her burying her face in the pepperoni shirt and approached the ebony door. This time, it was real.

The energy seeping from the cracks was utterly repulsive. Inside, an old serpent coiled, mocking me.

The price for toying with me and dragging out memories he had no right to taint.

Time to make him pay.

"Even the good memories got dirtied because of you."

My memories with Isha. Tinged with love-hate, but they'd sustained me until the final moments before regression. He'd twisted them into cheap melodrama, insulting her nobility.

Impermissible.

I clenched my fist.

"Watch closely, Choi Ik-hyeon. Watch what I do."