Trap (3)
Eugene stared silently at the scene of the massacre. His fists clenched involuntarily. A fierce conflict raged within him.
If he stepped forward now, his identity would be exposed. The moment he revealed his power, all eyes would turn to him. And it would repeat. Just like with the Baeksa Guild. Just like when they targeted Sua. In the end, he'd become the target. His little sister, lying helpless in her hospital bed.
Hadn't it even made the news? The Baeksa Guild incident. And the mysterious colossal demon beast that had appeared at the scene. Even if he wasn't suspected right away, it didn't matter. The moment he showed his power here, people would naturally think of him. Eugene, the E-rank Summoner. It was enough to plant the seed, even without certainty. Rumors spread like that. Little by little, persistently. And eventually, they would reach the ears of those called "That One."
But...
"Eugene! Run! What are you standing there for? Hurry!"
Han Ji-hyeok's shout shattered the silence. The instant he heard it, the image of his father flashed in Eugene's mind. The man who always stepped forward first, no matter the danger. The one who fought to save others until the end. His father, the firefighter, had been the same. Even after the Great Cataclysm. Into the flames, into the streets where gates appeared. His father had always been the first to rush in to save lives.
Eugene gritted his teeth. He wasn't a saint. Nor did he have the confidence to become like his father.
"Damn it..."
If they had been trash like the Baeksa Guild, he wouldn't have even needed to hesitate.
"Whatever. Human or not, you're destined to be offered up as a sacrifice anyway. Hahaha!!"
Ragiel's gaze fixed on the blood-red wolf. His madness-soaked eyes narrowed slowly.
"A fairly high-grade demon beast. And top quality at that. I don't know how you got your hands on it, but..."
Ragiel raised his hand. The vertical pupil emblem on the back of his hand glowed dark crimson. At the same time, the emblem beneath the altar pulsed like a heartbeat, and red chains snaked out toward the blood-red wolf's paws.
Shaaaack!
"With That One's power, it will be mine."
The chains wrapped around the wolf's limbs and neck.
"Grrrr...!"
The blood-red wolf twisted its body with a low growl.
"Kneel."
At those words, the entire altar fell silent. The blood-red wolf's movements stopped. It truly seemed dominated.
Ragiel's lips slowly curled into a grin.
"As expected. A beast is a beast. No matter how alien, in the end, before That One!!"
Crack.
In that instant, a strange sound echoed. Ragiel's expression froze. Cracks began to spiderweb across the surface of the red chains binding the blood-red wolf.
They started thin, like hairlines, but spread across the entire length in an instant.
Craaaack!
The chains burst from the inside out.
Boom!
Red shards scattered in all directions. The blood-red wolf threw its head back and roared, the sound reverberating through the entire space.
For the first time, Ragiel's eyes shook violently.
"What...?"
The blood-red wolf did not kneel. Instead, it bared its fangs even more ferociously, glaring at Ragiel.
Ragiel slowly lowered his hand. A new emotion flickered across his madness-twisted face. Bewilderment.
"It... rejected That One's domination? No... no!!"
Ragiel's voice cracked. No ordinary demon beast would resist That One's control.
"Th-that's impossible!! Something must be wrong! Right... it's not the beast, it's you, the human!!"
Ragiel's face contorted. Urgency flashed in his once-mad eyes. He no longer looked at the blood-red wolf. His gaze locked solely on Eugene.
"Yes!!! If I just take your body!!"
Ragiel twisted into a smirk and slowly raised his hand again. The pupil emblem on his hand wriggled like a living thing. The vertical slit gleamed dark crimson as it opened.
At the same time, black mist seeped from his fingertips. An ominous aura, like blood and darkness forcibly fused together.
"Your flesh, your soul, everything hidden within you!!!!"
Whoosh!
The dark crimson energy shot straight toward Eugene. In that moment.
Eugene's shadow surged upward. Black darkness rose like a wall, enveloping his body protectively.
Ragiel's lips twisted.
"Yes... show me what's inside!!"
As long as the shell was human, no one could resist. The body he now inhabited—an A-rank Awakener's—had ultimately become his.
But.
Ragiel's expression hardened.
"...What?"
Nothing was there. Or rather, the things that should have been in a human were absent. The knots of memory, the waves of emotion, the cracks in the ego, the traces of fear and regret. None of it.
Instead, only endless darkness stretched out. Darkness without up or down. An abyss so deep you couldn't tell if your feet touched ground. A black world so vast, wide, and silent that even breathing seemed meaningless.
Ragiel's eyes shook wildly. He'd never felt such sinister, vicious mana before. No—there had been one time. The awe he'd felt upon first encountering That One.
But...
"This is..."
It was incomparable. An overwhelming pressure that far surpassed it. For there to be a being beyond That One? Impossible. It couldn't be.
Yet with every breath, his skin prickled. Overwhelming terror.
In that instant, far in the center of the darkness, a red light flickered to life. At first, it looked like a tiny dot. But it slowly, very slowly, drew closer.
It wasn't light. It was a massive eye. Two blood-red pupils quietly floated in the pitch black.
And below them, long silver hair cascaded down. Snow-white skin, a black dress, and a woman sitting languidly in midair with her legs crossed.
The Archwitch of the Abyss. Aria.
Aria looked down at Ragiel, chin resting on her hand, as if she'd just noticed a bug crawling up to her feet.
"Ahh..."
A voice both drowsy and icy echoed through the entire abyss.
"So that's what crawled in."
At the sound, Ragiel's spine stiffened. Instinct screamed. Flee. That was no being he could face.
But it was too late. Aria's eyes narrowed.
"How dare you."
With that single word, the entire abyss quaked.
Boom!
Invisible pressure crushed Ragiel head-on. His body bent in midair and slammed into the bottomless darkness below. The sensation of ribs shattering and spine twisting hit all at once.
"Gaaaaah!"
Ragiel's scream tore through the air. Aria flicked her finger irritably.
Splat!
Ragiel's body bounced back up, then crashed into the opposite darkness. Even in this spirit world without flesh to vomit blood, his face contorted as if he were.
"Do you know what you tried to peek into?"
Aria slowly rose from her seat. Her face twisted into a demonic rage.
"Unforgivable... how dare a worm like you... HOW DARE YOU!!!!"
Aria's voice deepened. With each word, the heavens and earth shook. As she took a step forward, the pitch-black abyss writhed like a living beast. The darkness bowed to her; the shadows trembled in submission at her feet.
Terror flooded Ragiel's eyes.
"Wh-who... are you...?"
"Shut your mouth."
Crunch!
With a single glance from Aria, the emblem on Ragiel's hand exploded. The vertical pupil cracked, shattering into dark crimson fragments that scattered.
"Aaaah!"
"I'll burn your soul to ash. Let you burn eternally in flames, dying over and over."
Aria sneered. Her smile was beautiful, yet chillingly cruel.
Aria raised her hand. In that moment, blue flames erupted from the depths of the black abyss. They started as tiny embers but spread to engulf the entire space in seconds. Blood-red yet blue flames danced over the black darkness, each blaze mingled with screams like those of tormented souls.
Ragiel's face drained of color.
"W-wait... just a moment...!"
Roar!
The blue flames engulfed his legs first.
"Gaaaaah!!"
He thrashed madly. But the fire didn't just burn flesh. It seared bone, soul, and mind itself.
Ragiel's legs crumbled to ash from the knees down, charred fragments falling into the abyss like dark crimson shards.
"N-no! No! Mercy, my lord!!!"
Ragiel prayed to That One. Like a priest clinging to his god, he begged—but no answer came.
Aria's lips curled coldly at the sight.
"Praying to whom?"
Aria snapped her fingers lightly.
Whoosh!
The blue flames surged up to his waist. They licked his ribs, incinerated his guts, climbed his heart and throat.
Ragiel's body arched back like a bow. Even in the spirit world, he felt the agony of burning flesh.
"Gaaaaah!! Mercy, please! Just once! One mercy!!!"
"Mercy?"
Aria's eyes curved thinly.
"The moment you reached for Master, that vanished."
Crack.
Within the blue flames, Ragiel's right arm tore off at the shoulder. It crumbled slowly from fingertips to elbow to shoulder, scattering as ash. His left arm followed the same fate.
The fire didn't stop. It devoured everything left in his body, piece by piece.
Ragiel flailed. But it was too late. Shadow hands rose from the abyss, pinning him from all sides. The blue flames seeped through the gaps, burning soul and mind together.
"N-no! That One... That One wouldn't abandon me..."
"Doesn't matter who. Anyone who touches Master, I will kill."
Aria smiled slowly. At that sight, Ragiel's eyes shook violently. Fanaticism, faith, conviction, arrogance—all shattered like glass.
Aria stepped slowly before him. She reached out and lightly touched his forehead.
"Die."
BOOM!
The blue flames exploded from within. Ragiel's head split first. His eyes melted away; from his gaping mouth poured not screams, but black ash.
His face crumbled, neck snapped. His upper body collapsed into the flames in an instant.
Only black ash scattered in the air.
Aria looked down indifferently at the remains, then brushed off her hand.
Thud.
Ragiel's body collapsed like a puppet with cut strings. His eyes were rolled back white, the vertical pupil emblem on his hand burned away and cracked. Black blood trickled from his mouth, nose, and ears.
"Wh-what...?"
All the survivors around swallowed hard. The madman who had been rampaging in frenzy just moments ago had collapsed in an instant. The self-proclaimed apostle was gone. Only an empty husk remained, as if his soul had been ripped out whole.
Eugene looked down at it wordlessly. It was absurd. The guy who had been screaming bloody murder until seconds ago had just... dropped.
They said extreme bewilderment blanks the mind. That was exactly it right now. The survivors stared at him with eyes full of fear. The monster who had been slaughtering them had fallen in a blink.