Chapter 45: One Down (2)
"So it's you."
Asan welcomed me.
With this much scent of blood wafting around, the subordinates guarding her house must have all died.
It didn't matter anyway.
The important thing was that guy who came walking to his own death.
"Yes, it is me."
Kwaaaaaang!
As soon as my words fell, countless forces pressed down from above.
I dug into the shadows and headed outside.
Part of the house collapsed with a rumble.
"How long do you think I've waited for you?"
"You waited?"
As soon as my words ended, Asan appeared before my eyes.
Her speed was incredible.
"Yes. From the moment I first saw you."
An intangible force approached along with Asan's answer.
This was different from an explosion.
Gravity.
A shimmering occurred at my feet.
Before the darkness could rise, even that force was swallowed by the surging gravity.
Kuung!
Unable to withstand the force pressing down from above, I fell flat on the ground.
Puhat.
Asan approached, bursting into laughter.
"You were lucky last time. I thought you were dying from the Poison King's poison."
Asan moved her foot, intending to press down on my head.
Tak.
The sensation touching the sole of her foot was different.
Asan turned her head back.
The approaching dagger's blade was blocked by the intangible force, bending before it could reach.
"You defeated the Poison King. I let my guard down, you see."
The corners of Asan's mouth lengthened.
"It wouldn't have made much difference even if you hadn't let your guard down."
I stepped back.
Grabbing the back of the bent dagger and swiping it forward, it not only straightened but became imbued with black power.
"What is your identity?"
"I am a Black Eagle."
"You're not wearing the uniform now, though? If I take off that ridiculous helmet, I'll know......"
Asan stopped mid-sentence and turned her head sideways.
She felt a breeze.
Asan smiled at the blade approaching without hesitation.
Goosebumps rose.
It was a power whose form was unknown.
Magic.
‘No.’
Psychic power.
‘...No.’
Could it be a power arisen from enhancement?
Asan stopped thinking and used magic.
My dagger, which had been aiming for her neck, stopped.
The moment she thought she reached out her other hand and grasped my neck, I vanished.
It was as if I hadn't been there from the beginning.
It was quiet.
To think this was a power derived from enhancement.
‘...How foolish.’
Her hair moved rapidly.
All the gravity surrounding the area moved, and simultaneously, her hair pointed upwards.
‘That guy is a real experimental subject! He really is!’
One could be born with unbelievable power.
But that power that vanished completely.
That power, like black smoke surrounding his body when he appeared before her, wasn't it so beautiful?
It was qualitatively different from anyone else.
It was close to the perfection born after countless experiments.
It was unbelievable.
The corners of Asan's eyes lifted.
‘......Ah, it feels like I've fallen in love.’
As soon as she extended her clenched fist, the gravity lingering around her coalesced into one.
It was a force like a strong magnetic pull that no other power could resist.
The guy was also caught within her power.
Asan licked her lips.
Was this how a spider felt looking at prey caught in its web?
Just imagining how to devour it sent thrills through her entire body.
‘...It’s heavy.’
I felt my abdomen being compressed by the force pressing down on me.
The taste of blood lingered in my mouth.
‘Getting hit more would be troublesome.’
I had only received a hematopoietic injection to help produce more blood; the wounds hadn't healed.
I didn't resist the force but entrusted my body to the darkness.
I had deliberately aimed for this time.
Wasn't this the time when I became strongest?
"You, you're an experimental subject, right?"
Asan asked, and the answer came from behind.
"Yes."
I answered briefly, kicked off the wall of darkness that had risen, and leaped.
Enveloped in darkness just like that, the dagger that had become a longsword swung down from above.
Simultaneously as the force of gravity was severed, a rough wind blew.
Riding through it like the wind, I aimed for Asan's neck.
The moment the blade was about to touch Asan's neck, a harsh 'ting' sound rang out.
"How did you succeed?"
Asan's eyes curved.
"How exactly were you made?"
She looked at me like someone falling in love for the first time.
"Tell me. Please, tell me about yourself!"
Hearing the continuous words, I became certain of one fact.
Asan was not the person who created me.
If she had created me, wouldn't she be laughing joyfully?
Black power squirmed from my hand holding the dagger, then spread beyond my elbow like black wings.
It seemed like a small black line was drawn, and then I extended my hand just like that.
Kwajik.
The thickened black line connected and shattered the force of gravity.
Asan's eyes widened.
Something black entered her vision.
Blink.
In that short moment of blinking, she felt the cold blade graze her neck.
"...Regrettable."
Asan's fingers pointed downwards.
Gravity, surging like a whirlwind, pierced down from my back.
Kuuuung!
Keol-leok.
I spewed blood from my mouth.
It was due to the severe pressure on my abdomen.
My pupils were visible through the cracked helmet.
They had turned black.
"You can't kill me with this."
Contrary to her words, thick blood dripped from Asan's neck.
However, as she pointed her fingers at her neck, the bleeding stopped as if it had never happened.
"If I died from just this, how could I be in this position?"
Asan laughed.
The sound gradually grew louder, then stopped abruptly.
She approached me.
"Ever since I met you, I kept thinking. There wasn't a single moment I didn't think about you. What drugs were used, what experiments were done, how many times did the body explode, to what extent did the mind collapse. How on earth did you endure for decades?"
Asan poured out her questions, chuckling.
"I thought I'd go crazy from curiosity."
The answer was right before her eyes.
If only that guy fell into her grasp, everything would inevitably become perfect.
The hateful Empire.
The Empire that took everything from her.
She would smash it to pieces.
Shatter it so no one could have it!
Asan reached her hand towards me.
The moment her hand touched the helmet, it melted into darkness.
Asan's gaze turned cold.
"If you are so curious, why don't you voluntarily become an experimental subject?"
Asan turned her head towards the direction the sound came from.
It seemed I was still intending to try further.
"If you experience it yourself, you will easily learn everything you were curious about."
My insides throbbed.
I took off the helmet and spat out blood.
Twet.
"But I know you won't. You people were always like that. Hating to experience it yourselves, even if it means death."
With my head tilted slightly, my gray eyes turned chillingly cold.
"......So this is what you look like."
Asan looked at me and made a choked sound, as if moved.
"You look like a person."
"Is it surprising? That a monster looks like a person?"
I readjusted my grip on the dagger and looked at the nape of Asan's neck.
It was a wound that would have been fatal if it were a little deeper.
A wound once inflicted, no matter how much one tried to patch it up, could only become a weak point until it healed.
‘Bite it, and bite it again.’
As long as I didn't die, I would win.
It had always been that way.
"I've never seen a more perfect experimental subject than you."
Asan's body trembled with frantic joy.
An experimental subject was a monster.
It was no longer human.
How could it become human when its very form wasn't human?
It was a dirty, filthy, disgusting creature.
Such a creature had become human.
Face, body, arms, and legs—there wasn't a single part that wasn't perfect.
Why wouldn't she be surprised?
Why wouldn't she be happy?
"Come to me."
Asan extended her hand.
Deep greed clouded her eyes.
"I'll treat you well."
She was confident she could adorn me with jewels from head to toe and treat me more preciously than anyone else.
She also had the wealth to feed me only the best things in the world and put me to sleep.
"That is unnecessary."
But what returned was a cold refusal.
"Why?"
Asan couldn't understand.
What was so great about that pathetic Black Eagle?
"Do you want to be the Empire's dog? That place abandoned you."
Asan replied incredulously and extended her hand further.
"When you were suffering, the Empire turned its back on you. They don't care about things like you. They'd probably try to kill you instead, right? Because you're a stain on the Empire."
Asan spoke to me, whispering sweetly.
She was anxious.
She needed to get her hands on that, but it seemed so far away.
"It does not matter."
Along with my answer, a black line was drawn in front of the hand Asan had extended.
‘......Huh?’
Asan felt a chill.
The guy was over there, yet she didn't know why the power felt so close.
She saw a hand floating in the air.
It was the same trick used to stab her back then.
‘Again, I’m falling for it?’
Asan used magic to hastily divert the blade's path.
Just as it seemed to curve outwards, it suddenly darted forward like a snake.
She quickly retreated backwards.
Asan's breathing grew rough as she lowered her gaze.
Along with the pouring blood, she saw her hand, half-severed and dangling.
She felt like laughing.
"......This measly hand, I can give it to you. I won't scold you. If you're calm now, come here."
"I do not know what you have been talking about since earlier."
Unlike the Poison King, there were no instructions on what to do with Asan, the Crimson Witch, or not to kill her.
So, I would just kill her.
"I came to kill you."
"Did the Black Eagle tell you to? It would be better not to."
"No. You interfered with my vacation, didn't you?"
"......?"
Asan didn't understand my words.
Vacation?
Why was that word coming up?
"I am the one who killed Shin Dae-ho."
I raised the corners of my mouth.
"...You killed Shin Dae-ho?"
"Yes."
Puhat.
Asan burst out laughing.
"You caught the Poison King too. Right?"
"Yes."
"I didn't like Shin Dae-ho either, but I disliked the Poison King even more. It was quite refreshing. You don't know how convenient it is to have a constitution immune to poison, do you?"
"If you desire it so much, you can become an experimental subject. Anyone would welcome you like a dog if you volunteered."
"I don't want to become something dirty like that."
"It is the same for me. I decided to kill you."
"It would be better not to."
"I am not curious about the reason."
"You should be curious?"
"I am not interested."
I made an indifferent expression and took a step forward.
Leaving behind an afterimage like smoke, I appeared in front of Asan and nonchalantly aimed for her neck.
Ting!
The sound of the dagger being deflected was heard.
If one didn't work, try again.
It popped out from my other hand.
Black smoke shimmered at the tip of the dagger.
Kaang!
The sound of clashing was heard.
Feeling a chill press down from above, I moved sideways.
'Kung', a force descended.
‘...Heighten your senses.’
It was an invisible force.
The black shimmering from my body intensified.
The place to aim was always one.
The nape of the neck.
As I moved forward as if bouncing, Asan pulled her body back.
She reached out and clasped both hands together.
Clap.
Along with that sound, strong forces from both sides pulled towards me as the center.
The moment I thought I would be crushed, I seeped into the shadows.
"Don't resist!"
As Asan shouted, the ground shook violently as if flipping over.
Clumps of dirt, blades of grass, and trees rose into the air.
But I wasn't there.
"You'll have no choice but to choose us. Your place is here, right beside me...!"
Asan, wary of numerous things, created spherical objects centered around her body.
Everything seemed to be sucked into them, as if they would even swallow the moonlight.
Just then, a black line appeared.
Seuk.
As the spherical object split in half, the line appeared behind Asan's back.
Feeling the wind and turning her head, she saw the dagger that had come right up to her nose.
My neck is being pierced.
My neck.
Asan hastily twisted her body.
Kwaak!
Her back was pierced.
Asan bit her lip and extended her hand, sending me flying back, unable to even bounce off.
"To what extent do you think you can control me as you please?"
But the voice came from behind.
Goosebumps rose.
Asan moved her eyes and looked down.
Darkness.
It was a night where immense darkness unfolded.
"......Ha."
Only then did Asan realize she was caught in a huge trap.
Where could one escape from the darkness in the middle of the night?
"...Fine."
Just as the corners of Asan's eyes lifted, I felt the air becoming thin.
I knew something was coming, but I couldn't see it.
Peong!
The air right next to me exploded.
I staggered and collapsed.
Hot blood flowed down my body.
‘...Not easy.’
Pain never became familiar.
I took out a syringe and stabbed it into the affected area right in front of Asan.
"Have you come to your senses now? You can't beat m—"
The force behind her shattered.
Again.
It shattered again.
Asan bit her lip.
‘Right, it’s because of those legs.’
If she crushed them, he would crawl before her.
He would cry and beg that he was wrong.
The moment light gathered in Asan's eyes, an intangible force grabbed my legs and pulled.
Before my head hit the ground, I turned into smoke and vanished.
Appearing in the air, I created a wall above with darkness and charged silently towards Asan.
The darkness enveloping the dagger grew larger and larger.
As a different wind brushed past my face, I melted away.
"......!"
Asan looked up.
What kind of power was this, exactly?
Melted away.
Did he move?
Did he die?
Asan's mind filled with confusion.
Something black shot up from below.
Regardless of whether she could block it or not, Asan had a premonition.
That death was approaching.
Neck.
Thinking only of that, Asan covered her neck.
Puuk!
But her abdomen was pierced through.
‘......What?’
Asan's eyes widened, and her body folded forward.
What was happening?
Her mind couldn't keep up.
"Are you satisfied now?"
I slashed the dagger sideways and watched the collapsing Asan.
Keol-leok.
Asan vomited blood.
Her entire body trembled violently.
She didn't know the extent of the wound, but she sensed it was large.
"...You only aimed for the neck, but."
"Shouldn't I change it up sometimes? Since I am also in some pain."
My blood dripped thickly onto Asan's blood.
Since the victor didn't look like one, Asan quite liked it.
Because it meant she hadn't completely lost yet.
Asan lowered her gaze and looked at her abdomen.
With cold eyes, she briefly closed her mouth.
Death.
She saw it.
Soon, she raised her head and looked at me.
"Why did you... kill Shin Dae-ho?"
"Because he did not honor the employment contract."