Chapter 190
Chapter 190
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: The Rewind Eye
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The world was home to all sorts of skills.
Skills that conjured fire, skills that froze water, and so on.
There were attack skills, of course,
but also skills that healed others or revealed the unseen.
Support skills existed too.
"Rewind Eye. Or should I call you Alpha Team Leader?"
The heart of GHO.
The leader of every elite guard protecting GHO's U.S. headquarters.
Alpha Team Leader Natalia.
Her skill was the unofficial number one support skill.
"Even if the others couldn't see it, you did. Even if I missed it, you caught it."
Ignito ignited a flame in midair, then extinguished it with a smile.
"Your Rewind Eye can break time into frames, like watching a video."
That was Natalia's skill.
Everything happening in the space where she existed could be rewound at her will, or stretched out and viewed in slow motion.
A cheat skill that could be called the ultimate attack tool.
But there was a reason Natalia's skill was classified as support rather than offensive.
"They can't blame you for letting him slip away. Even you can't move freely in that stopped or slowed time."
A fatal flaw for offensive use.
She herself was equally bound by that time.
In other words, in the halted or decelerated time, Natalia was halted or decelerated too.
Roar...
The flame floating in the air took the shape of a black-masked intruder before vanishing.
Ignito's eyes then locked onto Natalia.
"You couldn't catch him, but you saw him. What'd you think? Get a look at his face?"
Natalia nodded at Ignito's question.
"I saw him, but not his face. He was wearing a black mask."
"Right. So you saw everything else."
"Yes. I can recall every detail except the covered parts."
"Perfect."
Ignito, still smiling, approached Natalia.
Then, wiping the grin from his face entirely, he asked,
"I spotted something strange right before he vanished..."
"The... sword?"
"Spot on."
Ignito's flames erupted into the air.
They twisted and danced, coalescing under his guidance.
The finished form was a glowing red ring that looked scorching hot just to behold.
"Recreate that sword with this."
Natalia nodded.
She reached out toward the crimson circle, which seemed ready to incinerate anything nearby.
As her hand grasped the red ring...
Roar...
Contrary to expectations, it didn't burn her at all.
Like kneading clay, it simply stretched, molded, and reshaped at her touch.
Time passed, and her creation was complete.
"This is it."
Ignito smiled at the red flame shaped like the Demon-Slaying Sword.
"Excellent."
Clap.
Ignito clapped his hands.
Fwoosh.
The red flames illuminating the Demon-Slaying Sword vanished in an instant.
Having relayed all the info, Natalia asked,
"Did you let him get away?"
"Heh."
Ignito, mid-mana draw for teleportation, let out a scoff.
He patted Natalia's shoulder a couple times and said,
"I lost him. Let him go right in front of me, like a show."
Roar...
Not released—he'd been outplayed.
Ignito vanished amid the red flames.
Left alone, Natalia clenched her fist and spread her mana everywhere.
The encounter with the intruder on basement level three replayed.
The face flashing past her in an instant.
"If he slipped Ignito..."
In time she couldn't control freely.
Swish.
A peculiar intruder passing by, staring straight at her—completely free.
Natalia met his gaze and balled her fist tighter.
"Can't help but suspect another Royal Class has appeared."
Pop.
The moment she released the held time, the intruder staring at her vanished.
He'd erased his presence in a blink with impossible speed and power.
"A malicious Royal Class making a comeback?"
Back in normal space, Natalia hung her head.
Beeeep. Beeeep.
Couldn't close his eyes.
Forcing them shut to sleep only made the alarm blare louder.
'This is why they say don't commit crimes.'
Tossing in bed, the War God scowled.
Truth be told, he bore no direct fault.
At worst, he'd turned a blind eye.
Yet the blaring alarm—knowing it was because of him—kept him awake, when normally he'd sleep through any noise.
"Damn it."
Thud.
He kicked off the bed, sat up, face twisted, swinging his legs out.
"Fine. Can't sleep 'cause I'm curious."
He chalked his insomnia up to ignorance of the unfolding chaos.
Kicking fully off the bed, he rose to investigate.
Roar...
That was when it happened.
Crimson flames suddenly surged before the War God as he headed out.
"Gah!"
He shielded his face and staggered back.
From the scarlet blaze emerged an unexpected figure.
"Ig...nito?"
The biggest wildcard in Yong-un's plan.
Light of Fire.
The Royal Class Ignito stood before the War God.
"Long time no see?"
"Why are you..."
"Good you're up. We need to talk."
Grab.
Ignito seized the War God's arm.
Whoosh.
Instinctively, the War God shook him off.
Flames rising from the floor halted short of swallowing Ignito and the War God.
"You gonna drag me off again?!"
"Come on, you know fighting it won't work."
Ignito smirked and reached out once more.
The War God swung to block, shoving at the hand.
But before contact...
Roar...
Ignito's arm turned to flame.
"...?!"
The War God's arm passed harmlessly through the fire.
"You bastard..."
Grab.
In a split second, the flames reformed into Ignito's arm, clamping the War God's wrist.
The moment laid bare the gap between the world's top S-Rank Hunter and a Royal Class.
Before the War God could react further...
"You know it doesn't work, heh."
With Ignito's grin, crimson flames erupted from their feet, engulfing them and vanishing from the spot.
Roar...
As the all-engulfing flames faded, the restored view revealed not the War God's room, but a new scene.
The man he'd least wanted to see.
"You've arrived."
Deputy Director Charlie's office lay before the War God.
And behind Charlie stood another figure.
"It's been a while."
The other Royal Class that had made America the world's superpower.
Light of Ice.
Sperro was there.
'Damn it.'
The War God's face crumpled.
Two Royal Classes.
How the hell had things gone so wrong?
Yong-un's plan hadn't seemed like it would spiral this far.
Yong-un's power was formidable, even by the War God's admission.
Breaching basement level four undetected proved his exceptional skill.
The plan should've succeeded with minimal effort.
So why?
Swish.
The War God looked up at Ignito sidling next to Sperro.
And realized the culprit behind the plan's ruin.
'That guy's the one.'
None other than one of America's two Royal Classes.
Light of Fire, the world's strongest fire manipulator.
Ignito.
"Same old War God."
He'd thrown everything into disarray.
Snort.
Ignito's words twisted the War God's scowl into a smirk.
Ignito's face soured in turn.
"What're you grinning at?"
"Heh, think about it. With a hotshot Royal Class like Ignito here, the alarms are still blaring. Not funny?"
"You little..."
Hit where it hurt, Ignito leaned forward aggressively.
Sperro beside him extended a hand to block.
"Shh."
"Tch."
Crude with everyone else, Ignito deferred to Sperro.
Light of Ice.
One word from Sperro halted Ignito's lunge, pulling him back.
"Deputy Director."
Sperro's follow-up made even Charlie speak.
"Do you know why we summoned you, War God?"
"No clue. I got up to check the racket, then bam—kidnapped. What should I know?"
Shrugging, the War God prompted a nod from Charlie.
"Fair enough. But this might change your mind."
The War God focused.
"Ignito."
"Got it."
Charlie's command, Ignito's response.
Red flames bloomed in the air, forging a single sword.
Roar...
"...?!"
The War God's face slowly hardened at the sight.
"You'd recognize it. Know what this is?"
"......"
The War God fell silent.
Because Ignito's flames had formed...
"Demon-Slaying Sword."
Yong-un's cursed demonic blade.
The Demon-Slaying Sword.
"Is it?"
To Charlie's question, the tight-lipped War God glanced at Sperro, Charlie, Ignito in turn, then slowly spoke.
"That sword..."
Shlick.
Back home, Yong-un chucked the charred masks into the trash and pulled out the precious documents from his bosom.
Right on cue, Mu-hee emerged from his shadow alongside Myung-un.
"Welcome back."
Myung-un's order upon sensing Yong-un's aura.
Aware of their approach, Yong-un set down his papers and eyed them.
"Something needs identifying."
"Just give the order."
Mu-hee bowed her head.
The Shadow Ghost Dancer Mu-hee was head of the Night Slaughter Society first.
With intel surpassing even the Korean government, Yong-un pointed unhesitatingly at the trashed masks.
"Mixed in with my aura, there's another's."
"I sense it."
Mu-hee's gaze shifted to the trash.
Truth was, Mu-hee and Myung-un had eyed that spot the moment they arrived at Yong-un's family home.
The potent aura hitting them upon entry.
A power unlike any they'd felt before, save Yong-un himself.
"Find out who."
"Understood."
Mu-hee bowed, grabbed a mask from the trash, and melted into the shadows.
"Sit."
Alone with Myung-un now, Yong-un ordered him to the seat opposite.
Bowing before sitting, Myung-un couldn't hold back the question.
"What sort of guy was he?"
He'd assumed the power radiated solely from the mask.
But it lingered thickly even after Mu-hee left with it, stoking his curiosity.
"The strongest I've ever faced. Stronger than any hunter."
Yong-un's words ignited deeper intrigue in Myung-un.
The Supreme himself saying this.
But Yong-un continued.
"Controlled fire at will. Without the Demon-Slaying Sword, I wouldn't have escaped."
"Stronger than the War God?"
"Yes."
Yong-un's firm reply twitched Myung-un's brow.
Combining the sensed power and Yong-un's account, Myung-un reached a conclusion.
"Not certain, but one comes to mind."
"Who?"
"Stronger than the top S-Rank Hunter, the so-called strongest, War God. Wields fire freely."
Face grave, Myung-un met Yong-un's eyes squarely.
"Royal Class. Ignito."
Royal Class.
The term made Yong-un clench his fist.
"Royal Class, huh..."
The being he'd longed to face.
That powerhouse was a Royal Class...
Snort.
Yong-un smirked deeply at Myung-un's words, stroking the Demon-Slaying Sword beside him.
"No way. He was weaker than I expected."
Couldn't be Royal Class.
In Yong-un's mind, shaped by the War God's words, a Royal Class was...
Another heaven entirely.
Feeling the lingering heat on the Demon-Slaying Sword, Yong-un sank into that delusion.
'No way. Of course not.'