Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 064
Chapter Title: Possession Spirit
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"...He's dead."
Gordon muttered as he checked the man's condition.
The body illuminated by the flashlight was even more gruesome than expected.
Especially his back— it looked like he'd been subjected to brutal torture, with deep gashes numbering far more than one or two.
"This wasn't even torture for interrogation purposes to begin with."
Gordon pinched his nose with a handkerchief and furrowed his brow in disbelief.
"They were just trying to slowly dry him out and kill him."
Another support team member muttered.
"Looks like he's been like this for days already."
It wouldn't be strange if his last breath had given out at any moment.
"And they filmed it on camera just to watch..."
It was the epitome of a sick hobby.
The agents in gloves carefully lowered the man's body to the floor.
"First, confirm his identity. That's the only way we'll know why he was locked up."
"Yes, sir!"
Cassie then turned to Kyle.
"Did he say anything to you, by any chance?"
Kyle hesitated for a moment at the question, unsure how to respond.
"Let's move somewhere else first."
Sensing something off in his reply, Cassie exchanged a glance with Gordon.
"Yeah, let's do that."
They relocated to the SUV parked in front of the apartment. Gordon spoke up.
"This should be fine. It's soundproofed solid, and we always check for bugs."
Kyle nodded and took a moment to choose his words.
'I'll leave out the parts about him knowing me or anything about my sister for now.'
He still didn't know who the man was.
One wrong word, and things could get unnecessarily complicated depending on the guy's identity.
"He definitely said this."
Marshall, Levebre, Luther...
There was someone else pulling the strings behind everything happening in this city right now.
"Someone else pulling the strings?"
"What the hell does that mean?"
"I don't know. That's all he said."
Cassie and Gordon's expressions turned grave.
"No way... you don't think this is just a simple coup plot?"
"And he said this too."
Kyle continued.
"That the city's ugly secrets are tangled up in it, and anyone who uncovers them gets silenced."
"Silenced?"
"What the..."
Gordon, visibly rattled, pressed further.
"Anything else? Any clues at all... doesn't matter what."
"Well..."
Kyle paused before answering.
"He told me to go to the Mage Tower."
"The Mage Tower?"
He nodded at the question.
It was a bit of a leap, but not entirely wrong.
If the man's words were true and his own roots were tied to that ugly secret, uncovering those roots would be the only lead to the truth.
"Why the Mage Tower of all places?"
"Just my guess, but... maybe there's something with Levebre?"
Cassie asked.
"Think about it. He said someone's directing everything happening in this city. And the families most deeply involved right now are Marshall, Luther, and Levebre."
So her thought was that digging deep into one of them—Levebre—might turn something up.
Gordon let out a small groan.
"It's just words from some guy whose identity isn't even confirmed. We can't take everything at face value."
"True, but..."
"...But we can't ignore it either."
He muttered while gazing up at the rundown apartment through the window.
"Once we analyze the server left by the liaison, we'll report this to Representative Rockton along with it."
"And proceed with interrogating the liaison we captured this time."
"Oh, right."
"About that, actually."
"Hm?"
Kyle spoke up.
"If you uncover anything more related to the Mage Tower, or if something comes up... could you let me know too?"
He emphasized again.
"Please."
"Uh..."
Gordon and Cassie blinked before nodding.
"Of course."
"You've earned the right to know, Clark."
"Thanks. I appreciate it."
This involved his sister's death and his lost past, after all.
Kyle smiled with his eyes as he added.
"Personally, I have some business with Levebre anyway."
"......"
The two shivered involuntarily at the inexplicable chill.
Two days later.
The approaching weekend.
Kyle, out in the 8th Special District for the first time in a while, looked up at the familiar alley.
"......"
A path he used to frequent.
Setting aside the strange feeling that it had been far too long, he stopped in front of the usual cyber mausoleum.
He entered the rusted phone booth-like space and donned the VR gear.
Soon, her portrait photo came into view.
Kyle wore an expression like he didn't know what to say.
Ever since that incident a few days ago, everything he thought he knew about her had been upended, leaving him inwardly confused.
"...I met someone recently who knew about you and me."
Intel had run his identity, but it still hadn't turned up anything.
One thing was certain: he was a non-citizen.
And he wasn't on any wanted lists or the intel agency's watchlist.
"No idea who he was... but it'll probably come out soon enough."
The liaison who had imprisoned him, Boris Havensky, was still awaiting interrogation.
"Remember that thing I asked you about a long time ago?"
He recalled something from years past.
"With all the orphans scattered around the 8th Special District, why me of all people?"
Back then, she'd just brushed it off with a cryptic smile.
Kyle addressed Lena's silent portrait.
"Why was it really me?"
And what was that about the city's secrets being tied to me?
"Are the ones behind it the real culprits who killed you?"
Of course, no answer would come.
Kyle quietly closed his eyes.
"...You always said you wanted me to live a normal life."
When he'd first heard it, it had just seemed random.
But looking back now, it felt profoundly meaningful.
As if Kyle Clark was fated never to live ordinarily.
"I know that was sincere."
After all, Lena Clark had cared for him—who shared not a drop of her blood—like her own son.
Kyle himself was living proof.
"But sorry. I'll put that wish on hold for a bit."
He gripped the VR gear with both hands and said.
"I need to find out."
Who the real killers of Lena Clark were.
"And what it is I've lost."
Everything, including why she had to die for it.
A smile tugged at his lips.
"So wait just a little longer. It won't take much time."
"......"
This popping up now meant nothing else.
The (CENSORED) had to be the truth hidden around Lena Clark— the very thing he'd lost.
Kyle started walking, thinking.
'Before meeting Mary Fleetwood...'
There was one last place he needed to visit.
Their old home in the nostalgic hillside slum.
The house where he and Lena Clark had lived.
"So that's the guy? The Mafia Butcher."
Not far from the hillside slum.
Beings who had been tracking Kyle's movements were watching.
One was a robed man, the other a short-haired beauty in a leather jacket.
The woman curled her lips.
"I pictured some hulking, veiny muscle macho from the stories. He's cuter than I thought?"
"Are you seriously here in the mood for games?"
The robed man said anxiously.
"That guy's a mage who slew an ancient dragon wyrm single-handedly. He's no pushover!"
"Oh? Who said I thought he was? He just happens to be my type a little."
"You're unbelievable. You lower folk just don't get it—the Mafia Butcher is...!"
"Yeah, yeah. He's amazing, sure. No one around here doesn't know the name."
That was when it happened.
A chill crept into the eyes of the woman who had been smirking moments ago.
"So what?"
"!!"
"What do you want me to do about it?"
The man's skin crawled at her inhuman gaze boring into him.
"Surely... the noble mage of the Mage Tower isn't doubting our princess's power?"
"N-No, that's not—"
Her hand shot out like lightning, clamping his nape.
"Gahk?!"
"Sweetie. Watch your mouth, okay?"
As she flashed a seductive smile, he saw it.
A death spirit manifesting over her shoulder—something that instinctively repulsed any living being.
Dozens of faces on a single body all turned to stare at him, draining the color from his face.
"Cute, right? The child living inside me. A possession spirit hand-carved by our princess from souls like her own blood."
The woman smirked.
"With this, unless a dragon soul possessed him, even that famed sage of the Mage Tower couldn't shake it off easily?"
"......!"
"Of course, a slight exaggeration?"
She giggled and continued.
"So don't worry too much."
Her eyes curved into crescents.
"No matter how much of a Mafia Butcher he is, today he'll offer his soul to our princess."
She let out a low, unpleasant laugh over his trembling face.
Kyle arrived in front of the half-collapsed house and scratched his head.
"Oh, right."
That mana drain thing had blown the front door off back then.
Left abandoned since, it now looked like a total ruin—fit for demolition.
The whole place was wide open, of course.
"...Not like there's anything worth stealing anyway."
Still, it was his house of memories, and seeing it like this stung a bit.
Kyle hopped over the crumbled entrance, stepped on the sagging roof, and entered the living room.
"Ugh, dust."
He unwittingly waved his hand.
Despite 24/7 ventilation, the interior was caked in pollutants and dust.
"Gotta give 'em credit for the air quality, though."
Kyle had returned here before meeting Mary Fleetwood because of [Nebras's Hyper-Senses].
Like how he'd found the hidden room in the liaison's apartment using [Hyper-Senses], he wondered if something else was concealed here.
Scanning the surroundings, he immediately activated [Nebras's Hyper-Senses].
His senses sharpened to the extreme.
As he turned his head at the sensation of seeing the unseen—
"......"
For some reason, his gaze was drawn to one corner of the living room.
"That’s..."
Approaching, he saw a fallen photo on the shelf: him and Lena from when he was younger.
He reached out, picked up the dusty frame, and smiled unwittingly.
- Ugh, photos are such a hassle.
- Every family takes a couple portraits in advance~.
Bitter memories resurfaced as he twisted the screws on the frame's back by hand.
A photo slipped out as if waiting.
But it wasn't a family photo of him and Lena.
"...This is."
Kyle bent down and picked up the half-torn photo.
It must have been hidden behind the family portrait all this time.
Peering at it, he muttered.
"A photo of Sis...?"
The Lena Clark in it was slightly different from the one he knew.
Younger, more stoic, with an awkward smile.
Beside her was some woman.
"...Who’s this?"
The photo was torn, hiding her face.
Checking the back, small writing in the corner read:
'To Lena, from Yena.'
"Yena?"
As he narrowed his eyes at the unfamiliar name—
"!!"
He whipped around at the sudden presence.
"Oh my, so sensitive? Not your average guy, huh?"
A short-haired beauty stood there, watching him amusedly—he had no idea when she'd entered.
"...Who the hell are you?"
His guard shot up just from her being a knockout. She giggled.
"So cute. Makes it even more of a shame."
As she extended a finger toward him, she said.
"Hello, Mafia Butcher."
Then added with a beautiful smile.
"And goodbye."
"?"
In that instant, her view distorted as the death princess's possession spirit entered Kyle's body.
The possession spirit's heads shrieked gleefully.
As they lunged to devour Kyle's soul—
The possession spirit's faces froze at the sudden overwhelming aura.
At the same time— thud! —a massive ice dragon emerged from the darkness.
Its ferocious roar and twisted, hostile eyes glared at the possession spirits before it.
A new message appeared before Kyle.
"???"
'What? Possession?'
Blinking at the baffling message, he looked at the woman before him.
'Looks like she tried pulling some stunt on me.'
Kyle clicked his tongue.
'Then just reset it.'
Immortality's power reverted not just his body, but his soul to its original state.
The moment it activated—
The powerful possession spirits that had invaded Kyle's body vanished as if they'd never been.
"......"
"......"
Silence followed.
The woman, looking flustered, stammered.
"W-What? Why... why did my connection to the possession spirits suddenly cut off...!"
"Whatever."
"?!"
She gawked as Kyle closed in before her.
"Let's talk after you eat one."
His fist plunged into her solar plexus at blinding speed.
"Ack?!"
A massive shockwave engulfed her body.
Ku... KWAaaaaAAAANG-!!
"KiyaaaaAAAAGH!!"
She smashed through the back wall, obliterated entirely.
Kyle realized too late.
"Ah."
This was inside the house.
As if on cue, the remaining intact half of the house came crashing down with a rumble.