Ch.17258. Arel’s Gate (1)

Without a doubt, Siwoo’s face was there.

Light brown hair. And as the protagonist of the original work, his appearance matched Chae Min-ah perfectly.

That’s why they were called Ains’s official couple. The two of them were a couple admired by everyone.

But now, the two of them had become completely different from back then.

Chae Min-ah, once called the Saint of Ains, was now a member of the Twelve Apostles. And the promising student Siwoo was already dead, with only his face remaining.

“Sister Min-ah, no, Chae Min-ah! What have you done to Brother Siwoo…”

Ari shouted with a voice full of rage.

Ari was a war orphan who grew up in the orphanage with Siwoo and Chae Min-ah.

That’s why she followed those two like an older sister and brother, even more than her actual older sister, Sung Chae-rin.

I couldn’t possibly imagine how she felt seeing her sister who had fallen to villainy and her brother reduced to just a face.

I only knew that an overwhelming rage toward Chae Min-ah was boiling inside me.

‘What on earth was she thinking…’

But Chae Min-ah, despite Ari’s anger, smiled as if pleased and stroked Siwoo’s hair.

“You shouldn’t be angry at your sister! And as you can see, Siwoo has been reborn magnificently like this. Aren’t you happy that your dead brother has come back to life?”

But the Siwoo she was holding in her arms didn’t feel human at all. He wasn’t even a villain.

He just stared with hollow eyes, emanating a terribly disturbing gaze. Though his face resembled Siwoo, he was nothing more than an undead head.

‘I can sense extremely vicious magical energy.’

I could somewhat guess the identity of that severed head.

Chae Min-ah was a contractor with demons. And that severed head of Siwoo seemed to be a great demon summoned using Siwoo’s remains as a sacrifice.

‘Right. There’s no way that thing could be Siwoo.’

I swallowed my burning rage and prepared my spell.

Clang-clang-clang!

Meanwhile, Soso continued clashing swords with Soriano. But Soriano’s eyes were full of composure.

“Hmm. It must be a reunion after a long time. Not as happy as you thought, I suppose?”

While facing off against Soso, he glanced toward me and Chae Min-ah. Then Soriano spoke.

“Still, everyone here has a connection to me, so I’m glad to see you all, heheh. Actually, when I sent the Doubt Specter to that academy, I didn’t think mere students would be able to stop it.”

At that moment, I doubted my ears.

‘Juan Soriano sent the Doubt Specter to Ains?’

And realizing the meaning of those words, my body trembled.

A terrible rage, fiercer than the burning pain that always tormented me, flared up.

“Was it all… your plan?”

Chae Min-ah, who was facing me, answered instead.

“Yes. If you had just died obediently to the Doubt Specter… and if Siwoo had succeeded in dealing with the Doubt Specter as planned with that anger! Siwoo would have become the hero of a new era.”

“What are you saying…”

“It’s all because of you, Min-soo! You ruined the plan! Because you took all the expectations and attention that Siwoo should have received!”

For a moment, I couldn’t follow what Chae Min-ah was saying.

‘Expectations and attention? And… it’s all my fault?’

I just learned that Juan Soriano was the mastermind behind the tragedy at Ains.

With that realization, the ghosts of Ains that always appeared when I closed my eyes seemed to scream. Kill him, they demanded.

But now was the time to learn more of the truth.

Yuri shouted at Chae Min-ah.

“Hero of a new era? Don’t talk nonsense! Of course, if Siwoo hadn’t died, he would have become a hero who saved the world. But now Min-soo is doing that by sacrificing everything he has!”

“Well, that’s true. I never imagined you would capture Seo Moon-yeom, who had merged with the great demon Amon.”

“Shut up! Min-soo is protecting this world that you Red Lake people are trying to destroy! You have no right to speak, having fallen to villainy! Neither about Min-soo, nor about our people of Flame!”

“You’re the noisy one, Yuri Tarkovskaya. Your guild, yes, Flame was it? Siwoo was different from all of you! He wasn’t a fool wrapped up in inadequate sense of justice, not knowing what needed to be done like you people! Such trivial things…”

“Trivial… things?”

Yuri’s expression turned cold. She seemed to be boiling with rage just like me.

Chae Min-ah looked at us and smiled mockingly. Her once gentle expression was gradually becoming vicious.

“Yes, Yuri Tarkovskaya. A woman like you who grew up like a princess wouldn’t understand. How unfair this damn world is. What kind of life we lived as war orphans.”

Ari’s expression hardened at Chae Min-ah’s words.

“Well, there’s no need to go on and on about it now. Anyway, it’s all because you ruined everything, Min-soo! If Siwoo had lived, he would have become a hero greater than all of you, and that Siwoo…”

She turned to Juan Soriano and said.

“Would have become a saint directly serving the will of the great Setanus alongside the Grand Apostle.”

I realized Juan Soriano’s plan from those words.

***

I thought to myself.

‘Could it be… that was the plan?’

Perhaps if an irregular like me hadn’t existed.

The Doubt Specter would have stopped the invasion of Ains without killing Siwoo. And Siwoo would have become the hero who stopped the Doubt Specter.

‘Just like the Siwoo in the original work who stopped the invasion of Ains.’

In reality, Siwoo was excellent enough to not fall behind me, who had absorbed all the qi energy.

Perhaps I too, without the strong motivation to always be with Yuri, would never have achieved such outstanding results to surpass Siwoo.

If Siwoo hadn’t died, the real Siwoo would have become famous as a prodigious hunter, just like in the original work.

‘And that excellent hunter Siwoo…’

Juan Soriano’s thoughts formed in my mind.

Siwoo becoming a hero of the hunter world, just as in the original work.

But that Siwoo, at the moment when he carried all of humanity’s expectations, would betray humanity and turn to the villains.

‘Together with Juan Soriano. As an apostle of the Red Dragon Setanus.’

A plan to make Siwoo a hero, then turn him into humanity’s betrayer.

Just like the Vatican now. When sanctity becomes corrupted or tainted, it emits even stronger magical energy.

That must have been Juan Soriano’s plan. With Siwoo’s potential, he would have certainly become a villain surpassing the Five Celestial Saints or the Four Demons.

As someone who had always competed with Siwoo, I knew his potential best.

At that moment, I glared at Soriano with intense rage boiling inside me.

“When did you draw Chae Min-ah into your plan? And Siwoo… did Siwoo know about this?”

But Chae Min-ah answered instead.

“No. Siwoo didn’t know. If Siwoo had known, he might not have become humanity’s hero. So I didn’t tell him.”

And she gave a seductive smile.

“There was enough time. Enough time for Siwoo to become disillusioned with the dirty side of the hunter world. If things had gone according to plan.”

Chae Min-ah was right. In the original work, Siwoo struggled immensely, but because of his background as a war orphan, he was constantly disrespected and had his achievements stolen.

Of course, at the point just before the end, his achievements as Justice would be recognized.

But if Chae Min-ah, who had betrayed him, had been by his side, there was certainly enough possibility for Siwoo to fall to villainy.

‘Even Flame wouldn’t have progressed so smoothly without the backing of Yuri and Soso.’

But Yuri shouted as if she couldn’t accept it.

“Still, not all hunters fall to villainy like you! Siwoo… the Siwoo that Min-soo acknowledged would never…”

“You really don’t know anything. You know Siwoo’s heart, don’t you, Ari?”

Chae Min-ah and Ari’s gazes met.

“How ugly this world called Earth is. And that Ayel’s blessing doesn’t reach war orphans like us. So come to us, Ari. Everyone at Red Lake will welcome you!”

The magical energy around thickened.

Chae Min-ah, once strong enough in holy power to be called a Saint candidate. Her magical energy felt so comforting, and her voice seemed seductive.

But Ari grabbed my sleeve tightly and shouted at Chae Min-ah.

“No! I will never become like you, sister!”

Everyone simultaneously took battle positions.

Still facing off against Soso but watching us, Soriano smiled sinisterly.

“I waited for gentle negotiations since they’re your friends, Min-ah. But it seems that won’t work. Then perhaps it’s time to show skill rather than words?”

At that moment, the Pope, hanging on the wall and bleeding, shouted at the group.

“These people… do not listen to these people, Sages! Time… there’s no time…! These evil ones are trying to stall… to deceive you all… ugh…”

The Pope coughed up blood. And he cried out again to the group as if in agony.

“Before… before that gate is completely corrupted! Everyone must head there… beyond that gate, Epitheus is…”

At that moment, Soriano sneered.

“For a Five Celestial Saint, you’re holding out quite long. Heheh. Well, I’ve restrained you enough. It’s already too late!”

He shouted.

Simultaneously, a vortex of terrible magical energy swept through the underground space.

***

The group hastily retreated.

Soso, who had been facing off against Soriano until just now, stood beside me.

She, emitting rage like a blood demon, shouted.

“That… Soriano… he was going easy on me.”

Unfortunately, Soso was right.

The Soriano who had been facing Soso until now was different from the current Soriano.

Like Seo Moon-yeom we encountered at the Sumida Ward transmission tower. No, he was emitting magical energy even greater than the Amon-fused Seo Moon-yeom.

‘I feel like… I’m suffocating.’

Ari’s holy shield protected the group.

Crack—

But even that shield was starting to fracture under the pressure of the magical energy. At that moment, the Pope shouted.

“The great demon… being summoned in front of me… if that great demon is summoned to this world… that gate… even Arel’s gate will be corrupted! Sages… to that holy gate… ARGHHHH!”

And in sync with Soriano’s magical energy, the Pope’s body began to transform grotesquely.

Jet-black blood flowed from his body nailed to the cross.

“Your Holiness…”

Yuri’s expression contorted. The Pope was also a member of the Five Celestial Saints. But even he, once a hero who saved humanity and the supreme priest at the top of the Cross Society,

was on the verge of being corrupted by Soriano, an apostle of Setanus. Like Siwoo’s head, the Pope’s body was also becoming demonized.

“We need to hurry.”

I cooled my head. There was the root of all problems.

Juan Soriano. The mastermind behind all events, hiding in that special containment facility and manipulating the underworld.

So he was also the one controlling the Doubt Specter from behind. A terrible killing intent boiled up, but there was something else to do first.

“Everyone to that gate!”

Like an SS-grade gate that transcended S-grade.

A massive blue gate was being consumed by magical energy. As the group hurried toward it, Chae Min-ah shouted.

“You won’t!”

Black wings rose from Chae Min-ah’s back. Feathers from those wings showered down on the group.

Swoosh—

A wide-range attack full of magical energy that would certainly cause instant death if hit directly.

Ratatata—

But Yuri’s eternal ice wall blocked all the attacks. And I shouted to Yuri.

“Everyone get out of my way for a moment!”

I pointed my Wind Cutter toward the Pope. Blue-white fire blazed from the blade of the Wind Cutter.

“If we leave the Pope alive like this, the world will be destroyed anyway!”

At that moment, Soriano and Chae Min-ah urgently shouted.

“No! Stop that at all costs!”

“What are you doing!”

Soriano’s expression changed from his consistently relaxed demeanor.

Indeed, not only the gate but also the great demon being summoned in the Pope’s body seemed to be central to his plan.

“You intend to kill the Pope of humanity!”

But ignoring his words, I shot the Phoenix’s fire at the Pope.

“That crazy bastard…”

Both of them simultaneously blocked in front of the Pope.

“Now’s our chance!”

But the massive explosion that the Phoenix’s fire should have caused didn’t happen.

And Ari, who had read my mind first, had already given instructions to Soso and Yuri. I also shouted.

“Everyone jump in!”

Soriano, belatedly realizing my move, roared with fury.

“You little rat! Where did you learn such a cheap trick…”

But it was already too late.

The group had all crossed through the massive gate together.