Chapter 175: Counterattack (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 175: Counterattack (2)
Yu Hana was not the only one who had realized that Jung Hae-in was repeating this world through infinite deaths.
Cheon Yeo-wool knew as well.
No, she had been watching it all for a very, very long time.
With a heart that felt like it was being torn to shreds, a soul set ablaze, as if she were coughing up blood.
“Why in the world didn't you try to stop him?”
Having realized the whole truth, Yu Hana confronted Cheon Yeo-wool, her voice thick with anger.
Hot tears welled in her eyes, mingling with her fury.
How much pain must he be in? To endure all those deaths alone.
“I couldn't.”
But Cheon Yeo-wool’s reply was far more shocking than she’d expected.
Her voice was devoid of any emotion.
Only her expression was sorrowful.
They could never, ever tell Jung Hae-in that they knew about his regressions.
Don’t make me laugh.
Yu Hana couldn't understand Cheon Yeo-wool’s words.
Leaving her with that, she immediately ran to Jung Hae-in.
She would end this wretched purgatory with her own hands.
“Hae-in…!”
She cried out to his back as he was on the phone.
He turned around, his eyes wide with surprise.
But the very moment she opened her mouth to speak the truth…
Thump.
An immense, invisible hand crushed Yu Hana’s heart.
“Ugh…”
“What’s wrong?!”
Jung Hae-in rushed to her side in a panic.
She had tried to say it.
‘You’ve been repeating death all this time, haven’t you?’
She tried to say it, but…
She couldn’t breathe.
Her vision turned white, and a pain like all the blood in her body was flowing in reverse wracked her.
If she had uttered a single word more, she would have died.
No, her heart would have burst before she could even get it out.
If that happened… Jung Hae-in would die again.
To save her, Yu Hana.
She finally understood the terrifying cycle of causality.
And so, she could only weep silently in his arms as he supported her.
And so, the war with no end in sight continued.
It was a battle against an Apostle.
In the heart of a collapsed cathedral, covered in blood and dust… the ruins of the Vatican. An Apostle stood there.
The Apostle before them was named Aria.
A priestess of breathtaking beauty, clad in a jet-black nun’s habit, she looked utterly holy.
But at her feet, a black, viscous demonic energy shimmered like a heat haze instead of divine power.
She looked at the fallen heroes scattered across the ruins with an expression of profound sadness.
“I’ll give you a clean death.”
Even at Cheon Yeo-wool’s murderous declaration, no emotion other than a benevolent smile graced Apostle Aria’s face.
“Ah… Blessings upon the lost lambs…”
But then, Aria gestured gently toward the empty air.
Srrrrk…
A black magic circle bloomed on the floor before her, and a corpse began to rise slowly… so very slowly.
Yu Hana’s eyes gradually widened.
It was the corpse of a man in a black martial arts uniform, a man she knew better than anyone else in the world.
His body was already dead, but his eyes were open and vacant, his hand still gripping a sword firmly.
Yu Hana’s heart plummeted.
“Fa… ther…?”
A cracked voice escaped her lips.
There stood her father, who had lost his life on the battlefield not long ago.
The Azure Cloud Sword Emperor, Yu Mujin, had become a jiangshi, bound to Aria’s command.
Aria smiled at Yu Hana, the most benevolent smile in the world.
“Find eternal rest… in the arms of the father you loved most…”
“You… fucking bitch…!”
Yu Hana’s reason snapped.
A ferocious rage consumed her entire being.
Forgetting to even ready her sword, she charged straight toward the Apostle who had insulted her father.
That is.
That is what would have happened, originally.
And it was right around then that Yu Hana opened her eyes.
“How… cruel.”
A low murmur escaped Yu Hana’s lips.
To think she would see this scene again.
Yu Hana took in the horrific sight before her one last time, then closed her eyes.
Aria was taken aback.
Her plan was supposed to be a cruel tragedy in which the daughter would cut down her own father with her own hands.
“……Hurry now, to your father’s embrace……”
“It’s all right.”
Yu Hana’s voice was surprisingly calm.
This isn’t real.
This future will never happen now.
In the past, Yu Hana had charged forward like an enraged foal.
That was what Aria had been aiming for.
But she wouldn’t do that anymore.
“Hana. Calm down.”
Just then, Jung Hae-in grabbed her shoulder from the side, steadying her.
Even then, he had supported her as if he knew everything.
“Okay.”
Yu Hana accepted his touch.
The moment his firm, warm hand grasped her shoulder, the seething rage subsided as if it had all been a lie.
Under Order.
Under the Order that Jung Hae-in pursued and desired.
What he pursued, she too would enact.
She made that vow.
In that very moment, a question arose from somewhere.
—Will you, this time, fail to overcome your fleeting emotions?
This was the trial the Fragment of Order had bestowed upon her.
The Fragment of Order.
‘What is Order?’
The Order Yu Hana had pursued was likely ‘reaching the pinnacle of the void,’ and with her own hands, cutting down all the injustice in the world. But that was merely an empty illusion she could never reach, even if she spent her entire life trying.
And yet, the Fragment of Order had responded even to such a one-dimensional Order.
So, what about the Yu Hana of now?
She closed her eyes and thought of her new Order.
It was no longer a path she walked alone.
There was Jung Hae-in, an absolute focal point. And her comrades, supporting one another from their respective positions, all centered around him.
If the Order he enacted grew, and Yu Hana’s Order began to be newly established within it…
The Fragment would surely react.
Yu Hana opened her eyes again.
The jiangshi of her father was no longer before her.
The world was collapsing.
The horrific ruins of the cathedral Aria had created were shattering, breaking apart like glass.
CRASH!
At last, everything vanished, leaving only a pure white, empty space.
And before her eyes, a crimson stone floated silently.
It shone as dazzlingly as the sun on a clear day.
A fragment of the origin, containing all the Order in the world.
Yu Hana stood before it.
Without hesitation, she reached out and grasped it firmly.
……!
In her hand, the stone melted and became light.
As she closed her eyes, hundreds of millions, trillions of crimson petals rode the wind and began to seep into her body.
Her entire form was enveloped in flowers.
Finally, a brilliant crimson aura wrapped around her, clothing her in a noble and beautiful martial uniform.
It was the ceremonial robes of the Sword Empress, with red camellias embroidered on silk as white as snow.
====
[Authority: Fragment of Order]
① Evil Killing Butterfly (惡殺蝶)
— A single butterfly that slays demons.
② ???
③ ???
====
Squeak.
A single squirrel with black fur climbed onto Yu Hana’s shoulder.
“Bangeul.”
Yu Hana closed her eyes and called its name.
She felt the warmth on her shoulder.
“I’m so glad… to see you again.”
In that moment, the world before her began to slowly fade away.
It was time to open her eyes.
Yu Hana rose to her feet.
And drew her sword.
Let’s go.
To save him.
*
Yu Serin.
Kang A-rin.
Cheon Yeo-wool.
Yoon Chae-ha.
And two elite agents from Phantom.
A squad like this… you probably couldn’t assemble another one like it anywhere in the world.
But their opponent was just too much for them.
“I will kill you all.”
Belial finally dispelled the illusion barrier that had trapped us.
The ominous purple energy that had dominated the forest lifted, revealing the original dark night sky.
As if he no longer needed to trap us for his own amusement, he gathered all his power into his body and charged at us like a madman.
KWAAAAANG!
The very air tore apart just from the movement of his armored body.
“Holy Fire!”
The first to react was Cheon Yeo-wool.
Without a moment’s hesitation, she pushed me aside and took her place at the very front.
A pillar of pure white flame that incinerated all things profane erupted from her fingertips, blocking Belial’s path.
“Eclipse.”
Then, Yoon Chae-ha layered her own flame on top of it.
The pure white Holy Fire mixed with Yoon Chae-ha’s red flame, transforming into a destructive crimson inferno that annihilated everything.
Srrk.
In the brief instant that the massive pillar of fire obscured Belial’s vision, Yu Serin silently melted into the shadow cast by the flames.
She was aiming for Belial’s blind spot—his back.
“Stay behind me.”
I watched the entire scene unfold from behind Kang A-rin, who stood before me, protecting me.
FWOOOOSH!
The crimson pillar of fire created by Cheon Yeo-wool and Yoon Chae-ha engulfed Belial’s body.
And from within the shadow cast by that flame, Yu Serin’s dagger shot out like a snake, precisely targeting the gap in the armor on his back.
It was a perfect, coordinated attack.
However.
“…How dare you.”
Belial’s voice echoed from within the pillar of fire.
“How dare mere insects attempt to scar the heavens?!”
His six wings unfurled a single time.
That was all it took.
The storm generated by his wings tore the pillar of fire apart with ease, and Yu Serin, who had been aiming for his back, was struck by a massive, unseen force, sent flying into the distance with a scream.
Cheon Yeo-wool and Yoon Chae-ha also collapsed, coughing up blood from the shock of their own powers backfiring.
A single flap of his wings.
With just that, all resistance had ended.
Belial slowly approached the fallen Cheon Yeo-wool.
He reached a hand toward her neck.
It was at that very moment.
From somewhere, a single flower petal rode the wind and brushed past my cheek.
“This is…”
I lifted my head.
And I saw it.
On the rock wall of the cave the golem we had tried so desperately to protect was guarding…
A tiny hole had been bored through it, just large enough for a single person to pass through.
And, in the empty air behind Belial, thousands, tens of thousands of red petals were swirling like a storm.
Supreme Chaos Blossoms.
Thrust.
Yu Hana appeared without a sound.
Belial looked down at his own chest.
There, a slender, beautiful sword had pierced straight through his heart.
“You are not the heavens.”
And the owner of that sword, Yu Hana, whispered softly in his ear.