Ch.206Episode 39. The End of a Fateful Connection (7)

Drip.

Blood seeps from my neck. I narrowly dodge Moonlight’s attack and counter with a forceful punch. Moonlight responds by clenching his fist as well.

“Lightning Discharge.”

“Light Fist.”

My fist crackling with electricity collides with his fist radiating pure white light.

BOOM!

CRACK!

The shockwave pushes me back, and I land on the rough dirt ground.

Just as I was about to charge at Moonlight again, I hesitate upon seeing the sword in his grasp.

…So he’s getting serious now.

“Sorry, but I’m short on time. Any chance you’d just let me capture you?”

“Evil Sky will rise again. If I can just capture you.”

His manifested sword gleams in the moonlight. I sigh and clench my fist.

“If you really wanted to capture me, you should have brought all your executives.”

“What?”

“From now on, I’m going all out.”

“Ha. Are you saying you weren’t using your full power until now?”

“That’s right.”

I only used my full power when I first possessed Yujin’s body. But Yujin’s strength was far greater than I had anticipated, and I realized I could accidentally kill my opponents.

So I’ve always been limiting myself. But today, I intended to remove those limits.

“Lightning Release.”

Crackle!

The sparks dancing around me surge violently. The air distorts and the ground trembles.

“What pressure…!”

“Here I come.”

I close the distance of several meters in an instant. Moonlight is still looking at where I had been standing. He turns his eyes toward me too late.

“Brace yourself.”

WHAM!

Moonlight takes my punch and flies backward. He bounces off the ground several times before collapsing limply. I rush toward him again.

The impact from my punch felt weak. Though he was hit due to his slow reaction, he had turned his face to deflect the blow.

“Stay unconscious.”

I throw another punch at him as he’s just getting up, kneeling on the ground. But my fist never reaches Moonlight’s face. Instead—

Splurt!

Blood sprays from my forearm.

“…?”

“Ah… you’re tough. Really.”

Moonlight creates distance between us, mumbles something, then spits out blood mixed with saliva.

“Lightning God. How did you increase your speed even more from that position?”

“I told you. I wasn’t using my full power. And you—how did you dodge that?”

For a moment, he matched my speed. No, he did more than match it—he counterattacked.

In that brief glimpse of his attack, it wasn’t so much that his speed increased, but rather that he momentarily vanished. Like mist.

This wasn’t among Moonlight’s techniques that I remembered. This is…

“I practiced it specifically to kill you.”

“I see. You’ve made Cloud’s technique your own.”

Cloud’s evasion technique felt like this. Yujin was also momentarily captivated by this technique.

“How did you…! No, how do you even know about Cloud?”

“Hmm. I wonder how?”

“Well… it doesn’t matter anyway since you’re going to die here.”

As soon as Moonlight finishes speaking, he disappears. He appears behind me, then vanishes again.

I don’t know how Moonlight mastered Cloud’s technique. Since everyone has their unique characteristics, learning someone else’s technique should be impossible unless their natures align.

It was a fascinating topic, but I would never have the chance to ask Moonlight about it.

CLANG!

Our sword and fist clash once. I swing at his side, but he skillfully evades and disappears.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

A pattern of hit-and-run.

I block his attacks by pinpointing his location through the momentary presence I sense.

“No matter how fast you are, you still have to approach to attack. That doesn’t change.”

“Grr…! Die! ‘Light Slash’!”

When I casually deflected his attacks, an excited Moonlight swung his sword with full force.

There was a momentary flash, and then a white sword energy poured toward me.

Seeing this, I couldn’t help but smirk.

“…If you wanted to defeat me, you shouldn’t have relied on your ability.”

I reached my hand toward the incoming sword energy and spoke softly.

“Nullify.”

The sword energy that was approaching with enough force to crush everything around simply vanished like smoke.

“What… how…?”

I had no obligation to explain it to him.

After all, Moonlight was just another Evil Sky villain, a piece of trash who tried to use the Special Class students.

While Moonlight was bewildered, I charged forward with enough force to shatter the ground. He raised his sword to attempt an attack, but I was already in his blind spot.

“Get away…!”

Moonlight swung his sword, searching for me by instinct. But when the blade touched my hand, it disappeared powerlessly. “Nullify” had neutralized his ability.

“What…!”

“Just stay down.”

Zap!

Sparks wrap around my fist.

“Don’t tell me you also know Paris’s Contradiction—”

He couldn’t finish his sentence. When my fist struck his jaw, his eyes rolled back, and he face-planted into the ground.

“When you wake up, you’ll be in prison, so sleep well for now.”

I need to hand Moonlight over to the Association and quickly head up. I’ve wasted too much time.

But what about the elder and Jin Subin?

Carrying three people would be too burdensome.

But if I took a car from here, by the time I reached Seoul, everything would be over.

While pondering, I took out my phone to check the situation in Seoul.

And the moment I read the message, I knew I had to move immediately.

I dragged the unconscious Moonlight back to Yeon Muhui’s house where Jin Subin was.

At Yeon Muhui’s house, heroes were handling the situation. They were putting power-suppressing handcuffs on villains and protecting the victims.

“…Are you a hero?”

“Ah! Lightning God Hero! Thank you for your hard work! I’m Lycan from the Chungcheong Province branch.”

Lycan…

What a cringeworthy name. Does he transform into an animal or something?

“The Association Chairman told us to come here for support.”

With heroes here, I could rest easy. Honestly, I still had some doubts, but I didn’t think Evil Sky would send more villains here.

Now Yeon Muhui’s house should be safe, and I just needed to hand over Moonlight.

“…I see. Then may I ask you for a few favors?”

“Yes. Anything. What is it?”

“Nothing difficult.”

I spoke while looking at the message from Jung Iyeon.

[Since Hero Ha Yuri said she couldn’t help, Senior Yeon Muhui and Senior Yu Ari went to Bin Yoon’s house.]

It seemed there was a problem in Seoul.

* @ *

“Indeed. Worthy of Korea’s #1 hero.”

Starlight quietly marveled. Despite bringing elite members selected from Evil Sky, they had suffered almost devastating damage.

“Haa. Haa.”

Ha Yuri was breathing heavily.

She was uninjured, but exhausted from the villains’ continuous attacks. Her stamina had also dropped significantly from using her ability without rest.

“Why don’t you stop holding back and join the fight?”

“If the others couldn’t beat her, why should I fight you?”

Starlight inwardly clicked his tongue, seeing Ha Yuri was much stronger than expected. Even the executives showed signs of fatigue while facing her.

‘She’s much stronger than we anticipated. But if I use my energy here, I won’t be able to respond to sudden variables. Especially Yujin—I don’t know where he is or what he’s doing…’

Starlight intended to kill Yujin today, so he needed to conserve his strength. He planned to capture both Yujin and Ha Yuri, the top heroes, in one night.

He predicted that eliminating these two would make expanding the organization easier.

“Just die already.”

“Fuck off, asshole.”

BOOM!

Cracks appear in the “Ice Wall” Ha Yuri formed to block Flo’s giant fist. Even attacks she had easily blocked earlier were now difficult to withstand.

‘Damn it. My stamina really is…’

Ha Yuri tried to hide her panic and attempted to use “Glacier Fangs” to bite Flo’s vital point. But just before using the technique, her vision blurred and wavered.

‘Damn it! That woman…!’

She gritted her teeth, looking at Cloud.

‘Her mental distortion is preventing me from using my ability properly.’

While ice fangs formed in the wrong place and bit at empty air, Flo counterattacked. The air was drawn to his fist.

Just as she was about to set up another “Ice Wall” to block Flo’s fist—

Soleta rushed toward Ha Yuri, spewing powerful flames.

CRACK!

“Ugh!”

Ha Yuri felt her skin sting as she hastily tried to block the intense flames.

‘Even with an ice barrier, these flames are this powerful. Plus, he’s mixing them with wind to create a storm.’

Crack—!

The ice wall fractures.

‘At this rate, I’ll die. But I don’t have enough stamina left to set up a glacier field…!’

Ha Yuri made a quick decision. If she was going to die, she’d die fighting back.

But her wish wasn’t granted.

Stab!

Just as she was about to use her technique, Cloud grabbed her from behind and stabbed a knife into her back.

“Ugh…! You—”

The sudden ambush made it impossible for Ha Yuri to maintain even the ice wall, leaving her completely exposed and unable to dodge Flo’s fist.

“Destruction Fist.”

BOOM!

Taking Flo’s fist directly to her abdomen, Ha Yuri crashed into a building. Amidst dust and cement fragments, she coughed up blood and dropped her head with a pained expression.

Blood trickled from her parted lips.

‘I can’t move…’

Ha Yuri tried desperately to get up to survive but could only lament. Soleta’s techniques were flying toward her to take her life.

‘I don’t want to die…’

Just as Ha Yuri closed her eyes tightly, sensing her imminent death—

Tap!

Ha Yuri felt something land in front of her.

Slowly opening her eyes, she saw a broad back and a straight posture.

Seeing the embers that had been pouring toward her now gone, Ha Yuri exhaled a faint breath of relief.

‘Did a hero come to help…?’

Ha Yuri desperately tried to control her darkening vision to see who was standing in front of her.

The person turned around and whispered:

“I’m sorry. I’m late, aren’t I?”

Ha Yuri’s eyes widened slightly at the familiar voice, even as her strength was fading.

“…Yujin?”

“You did well. Really. Leave the rest to me now.”

Ha Yuri thought it was truly a reassuring voice.

Perhaps that’s why she could close her eyes with peace of mind.