'How could they catch up so quickly?' Johan bit his lips. His new disguise was already exposed.
He looked out from the window to the side, trying to find Kirin or Sebastian.
There were very few people who could actually cause them trouble.
But he couldn't see much through the heavy darkness. One thing was certain—they were at least a few kilometers away, too far to sense the disturbance here.
He frowned, then replied in a cold voice, "Bold words for someone who had to ambush a healer. What if I already handed the information to the Midgard Empire?"
The blinding darkness seemed to frown. "...Who did you tell? No, no—you don't have to reply. I'll just check your memories after killing you!"
"Heh, you can try. Don't disappoint Daddy after those big words…" Johan said with a mocking smile.
'Echos 77, replay the events of the last 15 minutes!' he yelled loudly in his mind, trying to make a connection with his new ability.
He couldn't risk fighting a knight who had tracked them this efficiently. So his plan was simple—
Find one of his nuclear bomb's locations using Echos.
Buy time while sending a perfect clone to call for them.
A very realistic video started playing in his mind, as if he were watching a movie.
[Kirin and Sebastian chatted for a while. Then Sebastian started changing his torn clothes behind the closet door. Kirin began doing crunches harshly, covering herself in sweat, keeping an eye on the door.]
[Suddenly, they both turned sharply eastward, their expressions filled with shock... and fear? Kirin instantly leapt through the window, flying at extreme speed through the sky, leaving only a simple, "Stay here, and join me with Johan!" to which Sebastian nodded.]
[Sebastian began walking toward the bathroom door with a serious expression, about to tell Johan to hurry up, but suddenly—he sank. Right through the floor, like the ground itself had swallowed him.]
[A heavy, dark fog began spreading from the spot Sebastian had vanished.]
[The 'camera' shifted, showing how the dense black fog first spread through the hotel, then the streets, then the whole city. The kid they'd stolen salted fish from... the old man Marino trying to outrun the mist—but he still got caught.]
[One by one, they all fell unconscious, dropping to the dusty ground. Everything was covered in an extremely heavy, suffocating darkness.]
[Then the 'camera' stopped at a small warehouse-like building near the God Tree, now buried in darkness. The vision ended there.]
Johan's frown deepened. He panted heavily from the use of Echos 77.
He still couldn't see the enemy. But he understood now.
'Whoever is behind this is hiding in that warehouse. Kirin also went in that direction…' he thought, breathing heavily through his mouth.
"What did you do?" an angry, questioning voice came from the darkness, watching as Johan dazed for a second, then panted like he'd just used a powerful spell.
"You'll find out soon enough... cough." Johan replied with a cold smirk.
Suddenly—
"Haa!" Johan looked down, staring at his chest, feeling a strange pain… like it had been set on fire.
Then he saw it—
A gaping hole at the center of his chest. No blood came out. His heart, ribs, kidneys, liver— every organ in his upper body was gone, replaced by empty space.
He stared at the darkness in disbelief.
Then it stepped out—
A cluster of black, gooey flesh wearing golden armor. A golden helmet with red fur at its top. A wide, toothy grin stretched across a mouth full of perfectly white teeth.
Johan's pupils dilated. This was definitely Corruption—most likely from the God Tree. The knights who had traced them were already dead...
The black, slimy humanoid opened its blood-red eyes and grinned from ear to ear. "I completed my mission, hue hue hue," it giggled with hiccuping laughter.
Johan stared dazedly, then—
Thud!
He collapsed to the ground. Blood finally began seeping from his wound, soaking the wooden floor.
"Hue… Will Leor reward me? Hue… treasures!!" These were the last words Johan heard before his consciousness vanished—just as he saw the black goo sink into the floor, through his blood.
"Interesting... Not many could keep up with me. Just who sent you?" Kirin's voice came through gritted teeth. As much as she enjoyed fighting strong opponents—this wasn't the time.
A green-haired man, with a handsome face and red eyes, smiled. He looked back at the beautiful girl who still stood unharmed—even after thousands of his attacks.
They were fighting in complete darkness, yet the surroundings were as bright as the Sun.
Red, brilliant flames glowed around Kirin's body—as if she wore fire as armor.
"Supermassive fireball!" she yelled, sighing roughly.
'I hope the impact won't destroy Vexely... We'll have to run again. Sebastian is sick—it'll be hard…' She never once thought about the possibility that over 20,000 people could die because of it.
The man clenched his fingers, watching as a thousand-meter-wide ball of flame manifested from thin air. His skin melted under the searing heat, revealing white bone.
Boom!
Despite its size, the fireball moved with lightning speed.
The water and blood in the green-haired man's body began evaporating. His thirst burned—but he just smiled.
His golden armor and clothes were already gone. Still, he stood there smugly—hands on his hips, completely naked beneath the falling sun.
"It takes a genius to modify a simple fireball to that extent…
Too bad instinct wins over genius every time."
The man spoke softly, a mocking grin on his face.
As the fireball closed in, he raised a single finger. "Black Hole." Two words.
Nothing flashy.
But just as the fireball touched him—
It vanished.
The heat—gone.
The light—gone.
This was Death.
Darkness took over again.
Kirin's pupils dilated. She stared at the man, panting hard— but a ferocious, ecstatic grin hijacked her face.
"Haha! Let's see who runs out of Aether first!" she shouted in a mocking tone, pride swelling in her voice.
She could easily drop thousands of those fireballs. How long could he stay on the defensive?
"No need. Your brother just died." The green-haired man said with a smirk, manifesting black slime from his fingertip that instantly covered his naked body— giving him an overwhelming, terrifying presence.
"Whaat!?" She instantly stretched her senses westward, searching for Johan. And she found him—but—
A fading presence. The warm, golden Aether that had healed her thousands of times—
was disappearing. Slowly. Forever.
A tear escaped her eyes.
She leapt into the sky, trying to fly toward her brother. But—
Tham!
A brutal kick slammed into her exposed waist, sending her crashing down.
Her mouth and nose filled with dirt and snot.
"I also exist, you know," the man licked his lips tauntingly.
She pushed herself up, staggering like a drunk from the pain in her abdomen.
Her eyes—burning with hatred—locked onto the man floating in the sky. The moonlight shimmered behind him, giving him an ethereal presence.
"I'll kill you!!" she roared, leaping into the foggy sky, her flames tearing through the darkness— fury blazing in her eyes.
"People who can kill… don't have to say it first." The man replied, arms spread wide in the cold air.