Chapter 229
Seoyeon was walking alone through the ruined city center.
Black smoke was billowing from various parts of the city center, and intermittent explosions were occurring. It was common to see corpses with limbs blown off.
-Boom!
A blind shell hit her directly, but it soon bounced off due to the field's repulsion and destroyed an innocent building.
"..."
Without a single wound, without a single tremor.
Seoyeon silently continued her steps.
And in Paechun's Domain, where she arrived, chaos was unfolding.
"District 10 has been breached!!"
"Numerous enemy soldiers in District 55...!"
"We've lost contact with the 4th Troop...!"
Crows darted haphazardly across the sky. Broken, particle-suit-wearing stragglers arrived one by one, delivering grim news, and the light of hope was gradually fading.
She briefly stopped and looked around.
Centered around a towering skyscraper, elegant structures spread out in all directions.
Once a symbol of Paechun's glory, this place had long since turned half into ruins. Flames spread from the places hit by bombardment, but no one had the presence of mind to control them.
Even in the face of such a dire scene, Seoyeon felt no particular emotion.
If anything, she was filled with a sense of relief.
The memories of always being despised, born with a life destined to end prematurely.
The memories of returning, only to be tormented by the surveillance and assassination threats from her half-siblings.
There was no room for affection to exist.
Even the command post she stepped into was equally chaotic.
"What about the messengers sent to Baekgwang and Sungshan?"
"Baekgwang has yet to respond! They said the family head's health is not good..."
"The same goes for Sungshan! They only said it's difficult to reply because the successor is in seclusion...!"
"How dare they betray us! Even if they're making excuses, how could they...!"
The previously dreamy, delusional expressions that once loomed here were nowhere to be found.
Amidst the busily moving high-ranking retainers, she soon found the familiar figure of her biological father.
"When on earth is the Northern Army planning to arrive...!"
The easygoing and affable smile he always wore was now nowhere to be seen. Fully exposing his inner greed and impatience, he ground his teeth in anger.
The fact that Baek Ilyong had revealed the depths of his being signaled that the end was near.
The end of Paechun. The end of Baek Ilyong.
And the end of herself as well.
"If only they arrive, the tide of battle could..."
"The Northern Army won't be coming."
Taking a deep breath, Seoyeon interrupted as she stepped in.
With every step she took, a long frost aura spread across the ground in all directions.
As if to freeze everything in its path.
***
Before long, the surroundings, now quiet, were littered with mountains of corpses.
Amid the pile of bodies, half-buried, the sole survivor gasped for breath.
"Hah... cough...!"
Clank.
At the cold touch of something against his neck, the man slowly lifted his head to look up.
A single, long, sharp ice spike was precisely aimed at his carotid artery. At its tip were a pair of golden eyes shining brightly like twin suns.
However, the air surrounding them was not filled with warm light but an icy chill that seeped into the bones.
"Cough... cough...! Truly... remarkable..."
Though spitting up bloody foam, he spoke to Seoyeon.
"No matter how out of standard your talent is... to slaughter dozens of Category-2-level mages alone... cough...!"
"..."
"I admired that talent... and even reinstated you as a member of Paechun... yet why have you betrayed us...! Eternal glory was within reach...!!"
"I never betrayed you."
Seoyeon replied coldly, as if disinterested.
"Not even for a single moment did I truly follow you. You can't call it betrayal."
"What...?"
"From the beginning, I've been waiting for this very moment. The moment just before you reached your highest point."
Through her disheveled, messy hair, Seoyeon let out a sneer, speaking mockingly.
"That way, the fall would hurt the most."
"..."
For a while, Baek Ilyong silently looked up at her. Then, he opened his mouth to ask a question.
"What's... your reason?"
"What?"
"Even if it's not betrayal... cough...! There must be some proper motivation. Tell me what it is."
"Because you... are the root cause of all tragedies."
"The root cause...? Ugh..."
The man frowned in confusion, as if unable to understand. The reaction only provoked more anger, and Seoyeon pressed the spike deeper into his neck.
Watching the blood trickling down, she muttered coldly.
"You violated national laws to produce dozens of illegitimate children, and if they failed to satisfy you, you discarded them like trash. Those who caught your eye fought endless fratricidal battles for power."
"..."
"You poisoned their meals, sent assassins night after night, and even resorted to using demons to stage a large-scale raid."
Seoyeon's arm, which was holding the spike aimed at his neck, trembled slightly. That small movement was enough to convey the depth of her anger.
"And you did not stop at leaving it unchecked; you even encouraged such behavior. Distributing tiny scraps of power like sweet candy."
"Cough..."
"So many people suffered pain they didn't have to endure. All because of your greed. You are not fit to covet the seat of the supreme. Instead, you'd only bring endless strife and chaos to this world. You... are someone who should not exist in this world."
Baek Seoyeon gripped the handle of the ice spike tightly. And as she aimed it firmly again, she muttered coldly.
"I'll bear my sins myself. So, you... disappear here."
The final emptiness filled her chest achingly. Baek Ilyong's end would be followed by Baek Seoyeon herself. In doing so, all of Paechun's filthy glory would scatter like ashes in the wind.
That was the most Seoyeon could do to atone to Lee Hyun.
Even amidst it all, Baek Ilyong stared at Seoyeon with an unreadable expression. The labored breaths he exhaled were finally accompanied by words.
"...There was no other choice."
"What do you mean...!"
At the shamelessness of his continued sophistry until the very end, Seoyeon unleashed a voice filled with indignation.
"...15 years ago, I lost my first successor."
However, the man, unbothered, calmly continued to speak.
"It happened during the witch-hunting operation. At first, I thought they were killed by the witch, that they had fallen in battle. After all, weren't those mighty enemies who drove the Republic to the brink of collapse?"
"..."
"They were a child so precious that it wouldn't hurt to put them in one's eye. A successor who brought no shame no matter where they went. Even when designing the Anti-Witch Front, they volunteered to stand at the frontline, understanding honor."
Lost in recollection, he briefly directed his gaze toward the sky.
"To lose such a child, how could the grief not have been unbearable? I spent days engulfed in sorrow. At the same time, I was slowly preparing myself to let that child go. But then... the frontline administrator came to me with a different story."
The atmosphere shifted. As if rummaging through the past like fragments of a revolving lantern, his tone became rough and heavy like iron scraping.
"The one who killed that child wasn't the witch. It was Sa Jaehyuk, that rascal of Heukryeon, from the same Subjugation Army."
"What...?"
She unintentionally muttered a question in response.
"...Why?"
"It must have been some trivial reason. Perhaps they offended him, or something like that. Surely, you've heard of that scoundrel's infamous name."
Baek Ilyong sneered as he spoke.
"It was truly a pain so agonizing it felt as if my intestines were being torn apart. Even amidst it, I constantly worried. Why did that child have to die? Why did I have to endure such sorrow...!"
"..."
"And the answer I found was only one. That child was... too weak."
"What...?"
"Even though they were born with exceptional magical talent, their chronically weak disposition always held them back. To the point where, without hesitation, they extended a friendly hand to even the lowest servant of the family, and even to their competitor, the successor of Heukryeon. But look at how that goodwill ended! Ultimately, they were cruelly betrayed!"
He turned his head again, staring at Seoyeon with a chilling gaze.
"That is why I have endlessly trained you all! So you would never taste such a tragedy again! So you could always remain wary instead of holding vain goodwill! So that a talented one who is prepared might someday take the place they deserve!"
"What kind of nonsense is that!!"
Seoyeon shouted in astonishment. However, he ignored her completely and muttered while looking at her.
"But it's regrettable. You've kicked away your destined happiness yourself."
And in that moment.
-Thunk!
Without any detectable presence, without any omen.
Along with the sensation of severe pain, Seoyeon coughed up dark red blood from her mouth.
"Cough..."
Seoyeon looked down. She could see thick spike-shaped crystal fragments, stained with blood and pieces of her organs, piercing through her abdomen from her back.
-Heh heh...
Soon, a voice, as if mocking her, whispered in her ear. She turned and swung the hand holding the ice spike, but no one was there anymore.
"Hah, hah...!"
Staggering, Seoyeon managed to backstep a few steps and barely supported herself by leaning one knee against the ground.
"Oh my... your state is truly unsightly, isn't it?"
And as if the faint mist was taking form, a mysterious woman suddenly appeared behind Baek Ilyong.