Chapter 166

“So cold…”

Bringing my bloodstained hands together, I cast Singularity.

This time, at a position that would definitively sever her breath.

One second later, a miniature sphere generated right at the center of her head.

Right before her hair could get sucked into the Singularity—a spell even Baek-seon guarded against, capable of extinguishing all magic and physical phenomena—a heavy thud echoed, caving in her skull and brain.

A severed bite mark, highly reminiscent of a beast’s teeth.

Shortly after, the Singularity detonated in midair, and her head naturally regenerated.

“…hearted. How could you not contact me even once all this time?”

“…….”

“Hayan?”

Ten years had passed, but that grotesqueness was still impossible to get used to.

Just looking at the form of my childhood friend perfectly alive before my eyes and hearing her voice caused vertigo to wash over me, making my stomach churn.

“I figured you died somewhere a long time ago.”

Even so, suppressing the instincts that were endlessly sounding an alarm bells, I uttered the name of the fellow I could never forget.

“Because if you were still alive, Dan, Seoul wouldn’t be as intact as it is right now.”

“You remembered!?”

Dan’s eyes sparkled, her face brightening up.

Slipping off the leather jacket she was wearing, she wiped away the blood staining her head as she spoke.

“Well, of course you couldn’t possibly forget. After all, they’re the names we gave each other. I gave you yours, too.”

“……?”

“You don’t remember, do you? Ah, did I eat that memory in the past…? Anyway! Could you move aside a bit? I want to finish eating that.”

Nails stained with a dark fluid pointed directly at Cheon So-baek.

To her—someone who categorized everything in the universe into things that were edible and things that weren’t—the Commander seemed to be quite the delicacy.

However, that act wasn’t a simple meal.

Dan’s awakened ability was Eclipse.

It was a terrifying power that allowed her to absorb everything she consumed to grow stronger.

“The sole disciple of the Heavenly Immortal, the most precious ingredient among the mages remaining on Earth. No processing or cooking required. To think I could accomplish this much with just one hand.”

“Digestion, swallow her.”

As she traced her finger through the air, a gust of wind blew forward.

Not missing the opening, I summoned Digestion.

Slicing through the ground entirely as she surged upward, Digestion swallowed my childhood friend whole.

In exchange for rescuing me from a crisis, the size of the tentacle that received the Star Scar back was easily comparable to the Magic Tower that had fallen alongside the Archduke of Darkness.

At her current scale, digesting the entire Bureau building would be well within her capabilities.

“Kkiiieeek!!”

However, after soaring toward the heavens like a World Tree, she suddenly let out a screech, bent forward, and vomited up what she had swallowed.

Accompanied by a thick layer of gastric juices, my childhood friend dropped back onto the ground.

Clamped in her hand was a chunk of flesh she had torn away from Digestion’s stomach lining.

Acting completely unfazed this time as well, she swept her black hair upward and spoke.

“It’s a tentacle, isn’t it? These garbage-like things are scattered everywhere lately. I’ll have to clean up Sector 4 sooner or later.”

I launched a spell.

Perhaps because she had consumed Cheon So-baek’s hand, it was blocked effortlessly.

Absurdly strong.

She dismantled Singularity, magic didn’t work on her, and she survived even inside Digestion’s stomach.

It was a boundary that reached the Transcendent Realm at the very least.

As I deliberated my next move, she tilted her head and questioned me.

“But why do you keep attacking me since a moment ago? Aren’t you glad to see me, Hayan?”

“I’m not glad.”

“Why?”

“Because you haven’t changed a single bit, now or in the past.”

She possessed no humanity, no common sense, not even the survival instincts of a living creature.

That was why she couldn’t comprehend that you shouldn’t murder people, nor that a date wasn’t an activity where you staked your life.

They were things a fragile girl absolutely had to discard to survive in Ground Zero, but the power she awakened was far too strong to mask that deficiency as simple airheadedness.

Floating faintly inside that empty stomach—which could never be satiated no matter what she consumed—was a specific emotion.

A sense of possessiveness to make me hers alone, stretching back from a long time ago.

“You hate me, don’t you?”

“What?”

“You’ve been continuously hating me, Hayan. You rejected me countless times in the past, too. When I told you to join the organization, when I thrust a bat into your hands and told you to kill the orphanage director. Even when I cried and begged you not to abandon me, telling you to stay by my side—you ultimately left anyway. Stating that you had to go to work, too.”

Back then, well.

If I hadn’t accidentally triggered a Dimensional Core while mining mana stones that day and fallen into the Demon Realm.

If I hadn’t met Mala-nim there and wandered for ten years, I might have eventually returned to Dan.

Because at the time, only the two of us existed in our world.

But whether I liked it or not, a future where I remained by her side never came to pass.

And the result of that was this exact situation.

“Why? Is it because I kept eating the food inside the fridge every single time? Because I ignored your advice and consumed humans? Because I didn’t share the flesh of an Outer God? Or perhaps… because of that thing?”

A frantic gaze snapped toward Cheon So-baek.

Before her mouth could close, I hastily brought my hands together.

That Eclipse, which ignored physical distance, couldn’t be stopped by simply subduing her with tentacles.

The exact moment I was about to prepare an Extreme Magic once more, Cheon So-baek—who was cradled in my arms—raised her head.

“Why did that hussy suddenly show up to ruin a good mood, calling someone else’s husband hers?”

“Huh?”

“Oil, Gale, Fire of Thermizia.”

The blood painted on the floor instantly warped into the shape of a magic circle, and oil, wind, and fire surged forward at an incredible velocity.

A blinding light and heat that made it impossible to open one’s eyes.

Furthermore, it seemed to possess an effect that burned by utilizing mana as fuel, much like the hellfire of the Abyss that Robert had employed.

Incinerating the entire vicinity in an instant, Cheon So-baek tied her hair with a scrunchie to stanch the bleeding from her severed wrist and brushed herself off as she stood up.

Though agony was evident between her brows, she was expertly enduring it like a proper Special Unit Commander.

“Ouch. Is it because it’s been a while since I formed hand seals with a single hand? It took a bit of time.”

“Are you alright?”

“How could I possibly be alright? Who on earth is that woman? A girlfriend? A stalker? Or a hidden ex-wife? Don’t tell me you even have a child?”

Rather than her probing my chest with her severed wrist instead of her fingers, the fact that the light was gradually draining from her pupils—her expression dying out exactly like Yoo Se-byeol’s—was what terrified me above all else.

“She’s a stalker…”

“Right? There’s absolutely nothing between you two, correct?”

“Yes.”

“You better watch yourself.”

Though I managed to safely escape that life-threatening crisis, it was far too early to relax.

Due to the fire Cheon So-baek had set, the surrounding area was in utter pandemonium.

It was glaringly obviously the handiwork of an Awakened, and criminals were starting to gather here one after another.

“It’s already a mess. Let’s go, we can’t stay here any longer.”

A message from Kim Seong-gon had arrived on my smartwatch as well.

Leaving behind Cheon So-baek’s call to hastily order a withdrawal, I stared at the spot where my childhood friend had been standing moments ago.

Amidst the earth where fire flowed like lava, something was beginning to rise bit by bit.

It maintained a human shape, but looking closer, it was composed of wood and stone fragments that wouldn’t catch fire.

Stone was one thing, but wood… don’t tell me it’s Mount Cheonsan?

Tartaruga.

She had undoubtedly consumed a portion of its body.

“Hey?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s leave quickly.”

I wished to bring things to an end right then and there, but since there were too many watching eyes now, I couldn’t employ my tentacles freely.

Even so, we would likely meet again in the not-too-distant future.

Confirming the survival of my old friend, I turned my steps around.

It left a filthy taste in my mouth.

A few days later.

Ha Yeri received a single blade along with an operational report from Kim Seong-gon.

“Is this it?”

“The hilt has vanished, but it appears to still manipulate whomever touches it.”

“At least it’s a relief it isn’t merely for decoration.”

“Do you genuinely intend to utilize it?”

“Depending on the circumstances. Wouldn’t it be a waste to lock it away in a warehouse just to use it as a bargaining chip against the Apostle of the Outer God, considering the sacrifice we paid?”

“…….”

The left hand of Flawless Heaven had been severed.

It was a remarkably painful price to pay for uncovering the identity of the ruler of the Black Serpent’s Shedded.

Since Cheon So-baek was a mage who required hand seals, a severe drain on our future combat strength was bound to occur.

Of course, as long as the Saint of Salvation was present, Division 4’s firepower wouldn’t drop significantly, but someone had to fill her void.

Requesting the Magic Tower to reinforce their personnel during the upcoming rookie selection was a good idea, but that alone was insufficient.

Since our opponent was no longer limited to an Archduke, we needed to diversify our forces as well.

“I should contact the trade association. I wonder what kind of whim possessed them to go off the grid again after the last auction.”

“The trade association?”

“Personal business matters. I suppose I should pay her a visit in the hospital.”

Since the next Council session would be held soon, she would likely be able to glean information there.

To accomplish that, there was an agent she had to meet.

It was obvious who it was.

Upon returning from the restroom this morning, Ha Yeri scowled at the small gift sitting on her desk.

It was a figure of ‘Minor Justice’ from New Special Unit Wars, along with an even smaller-scale version titled ‘Too Minor Justice.’

Since it was blindingly obvious who the culprit was, she tossed the figures into the display cabinet next to her and stood up.

“Where is Agent Sae Hayan right now?”

“He should be at the Central Hospital. To visit Commander Cheon So-baek.”

“Wasn’t he there yesterday as well? He didn’t even log an application for field assignment.”

“It seems that’s because Commander Yoo Se-byeol, who handles the paperwork, is over there as well. Regarding that matter…”

“I am aware. Since I am the one controlling the information flow.”

Recently, a rumor had been openly circulating within the Special Unit that a certain Miss C, Miss Y, and Miss N were engaged in an unspeakable relationship with a single Agent S.

Setting aside other matters, the tension between Division 3 and Division 4—which already shared a terrible dynamic—had reached its peak because of it, causing headaches in many ways.

To think those two were in the exact same location of all places.

If there was a saving grace, it was that No Yeon-hwa wasn’t in Seoul at present.

The exact day Cheon So-baek’s wrist was severed, she had departed for Busan the moment she heard the news.

According to what she had heard from Seona, it was a sort of training to study the Dragon Immortal’s Pact and ascend to a higher boundary, with her return date remaining undecided.

At any rate, since she needed to discuss attending the next Council session with Hayan—

And because she needed to question the true intent behind placing that figure on her desk and hack him to pieces depending on his response, Ha Yeri drove toward the Central Hospital.

Arriving at the topmost guest suite—which Yoo Cheol-jin had occupied for a remarkably long time before returning to the mansion—the sounds of multiple voices conversing drifted from within.

—I told you to stop crying. I’m the one whose hand got cut off, so why are you making them change the sheets five times a day? When I went out for a breath of fresh air earlier, the nurses were smoking on the rooftop.

—They said it can’t be fixed?

—They can stanch the bleeding, but apparently, it can’t be reversed. They mentioned Moon Ah-rin might be able to do it, but the moment I brought it up, she started trembling so hard she almost fainted.

—That just means it was an attack of that caliber.

Miss Y and Miss C conversing amiably.

Just looking at the atmosphere, it was certain that the relationship between the two wasn’t as terrible as before.

However, that was strictly possible only because Hayan was being crumpled here and there like a cushion acting as a buffer between them.

If he botched the push-and-pull, there was no telling what kind of disaster might erupt.

Just like right now, for instance.

—In fact, it’s not bad since you’re waiting on me hand and foot. Since I ended up like this because of you, you’ll have to stick by my side and take care of me for the rest of your life, right?

—If you’re all healed, why don’t you get discharged already? Hayan hasn’t been able to focus on his duties properly for days because of you.

—Aren’t you the one who isn’t focusing on duties properly?

—You didn’t even uphold the Pact properly, so how can I trust what you two will pull if you’re stuck together? Hayan, come here. Don’t be fooled by that fox.

—Don’t go. Ouch, suddenly my wrist…!

—Hey! That’s playing dirty!!

At this rate, she was bound to airlift an axe from the training ground again.

Needing to rescue Hayan before he was genuinely split in two prior to entering the Council, Ha Yeri sighed and opened the hospital room door.