Chapter 52 – Day 52

Day 52

“Hey, don’t just stand there frozen.”

The Emperor, who had been staring at Cheon Seoa with blank eyes, snapped back to reality at the sound of Blood Lord’s voice.

That young girl who seemed to have nothing.
That girl who he thought was just a toy for the monsters called the nine villains of Illuminate.

‘To think she was such a monster.’

Gulp, the Emperor unknowingly swallowed dry saliva.

What if that stupid guy hadn’t stepped up first?
What if he had made even a small slip of the tongue?

Countless ‘what ifs’ rose and fell in the Emperor’s mind.

As the Emperor was about to show another blank expression due to the flood of ‘what ifs’ rushing in, Blood Lord clicked his tongue and said.

“Get your act together already. So, how do you plan to create the Villain Association?”

Villain Association.
The reason why the nine villains of Illuminate and Cheon Seoa moved to this uninhabited island.

To be honest, the nine villains didn’t care whether Emperor created a villain association or not.

It’s not like their influence would decrease or they would become weaker without an association.

However, the reason they still came all the way here was simple.

Pure interest.

How would Emperor create a villain association?
And how would he manage to keep the villains, who act on their own accord drunk on their own self-importance, within the boundaries of an association?

Solely out of this interest, all nine villains came to the uninhabited island with Cheon Seoa.

“Of course, you have a proper plan, right?”

The Mara Monk asked again, looking at Emperor with half-opened eyes.

Emperor nodded at the Mara Monk’s question.

“Although it’s called a villain ‘association’, it won’t run as strictly as the hero association. After all, even I can’t properly control villains who act on their own, no matter who I am.”

After saying that, Emperor looked at the nine villains with meaningful eyes.
His gaze seemed to say, “You guys would be able to do it, right?”

“Also, I plan to further categorize the ranks of villains. Not the rough estimates given by heroes, but proper ranks.”

“How?”

“Well, what else could it be? We’ll determine everything by strength, as befits villains.”

“Hmm.”

Blood Wolf Emperor grinned as if finding Emperor’s answer interesting.

“Tonight, we’ll hold a martial arts tournament. I plan to promote villains who perform well there as executives of the association, and also properly rank the villains among themselves.”

“A martial arts tournament. Not bad. But can I participate in that too?”

Emperor shook his head at Hyeolrangje’s repeated question.

The martial arts tournament organized by Emperor is meant to establish a hierarchy among the average villains.
Would it make sense for an overpowered being like Hyeolrangje to intervene in such a tournament?

Wouldn’t that defeat the purpose of holding the tournament?

Besides that.

“To begin with, I plan to classify you all separately. So please refrain from interfering in the ranking battles of these young ones.”

“Aww.”

Hyeolrangje clicked his tongue in disappointment at Emperor’s request that wasn’t really a request.

However, thinking about it, the reason for Emperor’s request seemed somewhat reasonable, so Hyeolrangje didn’t insist unnecessarily.

Instead.

“Then would it be alright for me to participate?”

When did she approach?
Emperor’s eyes widened slightly at Cheon Seoa, who had approached and spoken without any presence.

By the way….

“Uh….”

“Please call me Cheon Seoa.”

“Miss Cheon Seoa, you don’t really need to participate either….”

Emperor’s mouth suddenly closed.

Just as he was about to say that Cheon Seoa couldn’t participate in the martial arts tournament either, the gazes of the nine villains around them once again focused on him all at once.

No, this time, an undisguised, violent, and chilling killing intent could be felt in that gaze.

It was as if the gaze was saying that if they opposed Cheon Seoa’s participation, they would be killed.

“…Yes, there is.”

In the end, the Emperor had no choice but to let Cheon Seoa participate in the martial arts tournament.

* * *

A massive colosseum located in the north of the uninhabited island.
Cheon Seoa smiled happily at the sudden appearance of the colosseum, which wasn’t visible when they first arrived on the uninhabited island.

“How on earth did they do it? There was certainly nothing like this until this morning.”

“Well, it’s probably the work of someone with construction-related abilities, isn’t it? Or maybe they moved a pre-built colosseum using spatial-type abilities.”

Hmm.

Cheon Seoa nodded in agreement with Sword Demon Mio’s words.

Unlike high-level Repairers, abilities have clear limitations.
However, unlike these clear limitations, the types of abilities were so diverse that they were countless.

It wasn’t particularly strange that among these abilities, there existed one that could create such a building in a short time.

Meanwhile, the colosseum was already teeming with numerous villains.

Not all of them are participating in this executive selection tournament.

No matter how reckless a villain might be, they were sufficiently aware of their own power limitations.

In other words, the villains participating in this executive selection tournament were only those equivalent to Rank 3 or higher, to borrow the Hero Association’s ranking system.

Of course, among them, the villains with a real chance of becoming executives would likely be Rank 2 or higher.

“They said that even if you lose, you could still be selected as an executive based on the uniqueness of your ability or growth potential, right?”

“That’s correct.”

This time, it was the Agent who answered Cheon Seoa’s mumbling.

The nine villains, including the Agent, were gathered in a rather special space located at the top of the Colosseum.

Apparently, due to the perception of the nine villains spread throughout villain society, Emperor had deliberately separated them from the other villains.

Thus, Cheon Seoa, who was observing various parts of the Colosseum through an invisible window from the outside.

“Ah, it’s already my turn. Well, I’ll be going then.”

After several fights, it was finally Cheon Seoa’s turn.

“Miss! Fighting!”

Just before Cheon Seoa disappeared, moving between spaces, Mio’s voice of encouragement could be heard.
With a gentle smile and a wave of her hand, Cheon Seoa instantly appeared on the stage of the Colosseum.

“Hey, kiddo. Do you even know where you are?”

Cheon Seoa’s opponent, an elderly man with a somewhat benevolent expression, clicked his tongue and said.

An old man in a pure white martial arts uniform, with a blue sword tied to his waist.
Judging by his appearance alone, one might mistake him for a hero rather than a villain, but that was a misconception only those unfamiliar with the old man could make.

The old man is known in the world as the Sword Ghost.

The Ghost of the Sword.
He was given this villain name because he uses the sword as skillfully as a ghost, and furthermore, because he is a swordsman with ghostly cruel techniques.

Moreover, the old man wanted to call himself the Sword Demon.
However, the title of Sword Demon was already taken.

By one who has reigned over Japan for hundreds of years.
One of the nine villains who established Illuminati, the worst organization.

“Hello.”

“Tsk, kid. I’m telling you nicely, just go back down.”

As Cheon Seoa greeted with a smile, the Sword Ghost clicked his tongue softly and suggested giving up the fight.

Certainly, if it were another villain, they might have followed the Sword Ghost’s words.

No matter how reckless a villain might be, if their opponent was the Sword Ghost, measured as a Grade 2 villain by the Hero Association, they couldn’t guarantee their own life.

Even if they were lucky enough to preserve their life, there was also a high possibility of losing at least two of their hands or feet.

However….

“Hm?”

The Sword Ghost, who had been clicking his tongue at Cheon Seoa, furrowed his brow.

Something was strange.
Emperor, who had declared he would create a Villain Association, seated in the upper seats of the Colosseum far away.

He discovered that Emperor was looking at him with pitying eyes.

Why was he giving such a look to him, not to that young child?

While the Sword Ghost was wearing a puzzled expression, not knowing the reason, the bell rang.

With this, the executive selection battle began.

Now, even if he wanted to give up, he couldn’t.

To end this fight, he had to either kill the opponent or render them incapable of fighting.

“Tsk, don’t blame me.”

Swoosh-.

The Sword Ghost said as he drew his sword.
A chilling aura spread out from the center of the Sword Ghost.

At the same time, the blue blade in the Sword Ghost’s hand began to turn black.

What was once an ordinary sword with only a blue tint had suddenly transformed into a haunted demon blade.

Imbuing one’s sword with a malevolent spirit of a vengeful ghost.
That was the Sword Ghost’s unique ability.

Of course, it’s unclear whether a real evil spirit actually resides in the Sword Ghost’s blade, or if it merely creates such an impression.

However, one thing is certain.
Wounds inflicted by the Sword Ghost’s sword are nearly impossible to heal.

“Well then, let’s begin.”

The Sword Ghost, having turned his sword into a demon blade, advanced towards Cheon Seoa.

As his alias suggests, the Sword Ghost is a villain operating in China.
In China, both heroes and villains refer to themselves as martial artists, mimicking the martial arts that once existed in the past but have been erased by modern times.

And the Sword Ghost was no exception to this.

“Ghost Shadow Step.”

Tsss-.

The moment the Sword Ghost whispered, his form instantly vanished.

Was it truly like its name suggests, concealing his form like the non-existent shadow of a ghost?

No.

The Sword Ghost simply moved at an overwhelming speed based on his physical abilities, deceiving the eyes of others.

Of course.

“Freeze.”

Whoosh-!

Simultaneously with Cheon Seoa’s whisper, the movement of the Sword Ghost, who had appeared behind her and was swinging its sword, was forcibly stopped.

The Sword Ghost’s eyes widened in surprise as an invisible force restrained its movements.

“You too, by participating in this competition, have essentially wagered your own life, haven’t you? So, please don’t resent me too much.”

Wooo-.

Cheon Seoa spoke with a slight smile towards the frozen Sword Ghost.
A chilling aura, even more eerie than that of the Sword Ghost, began to spread around Cheon Seoa.

At the same time, ghostly wails echoed, and vengeful spirits began to appear one by one around Cheon Seoa.

“You’ve accumulated quite a lot of karma in your lifetime.”

Cheon Seoa said as she looked around.

The vengeful spirits that appeared around Cheon Seoa were all humans who had died at the hands of the Sword Ghost.

Some appeared with their entire bodies dismembered.
Some appeared with their heads tucked under their arms.
Others appeared desperately holding in their intestines spilling from wounds carved into their stomachs.
And some appeared with their bodies completely mutilated.

The number of vengeful spirits that appeared in such horrific forms easily exceeded a thousand.

Perhaps the Sword Ghost was familiar with the appearance of these vengeful spirits?

With eyes even more surprised than when its body was frozen, it let out a muffled scream that couldn’t be voiced.

By now, the Sword Ghost’s eyes were filled with undisguisable terror.

“Well, everyone. Tear him apart without leaving a single piece of flesh, and release your grudge.”

Cheon Seoa said with a smile.
At the same time, the vengeful spirits that had been circling only around Cheon Seoa rushed towards the Sword Demon all at once.