Ch.208Episode 39. The End of a Fateful Connection (9)

WHAM!

My fist connects with Starlight’s jaw. His head snaps back violently as he bounces across the ground several times before crashing into a building.

He’s not dead. I didn’t touch his body to nullify his ability.

“Oh, d-don’t come any closer…!”

Cloud shouts in terror after seeing what happened to Starlight.

“…Cloud, I’ve already handed Moonlight over to the heroes.”

“What?”

I knew Cloud had subtle feelings for Moonlight. In the novel, he never expresses those feelings and ends up dying at Eugene’s hands.

It seemed that tragedy wouldn’t change in this world I’ve possessed.

“He’ll probably never leave prison. Naturally, he’ll never see you again.”

Cloud bites his lower lip and clenches his fist.

“So what? Why should I care if Moonlight rots in prison? He’s just trash who betrayed Akcheon anyway.”

“That’s true. He was manipulated by my meddling.”

“Meddling…?”

“You don’t need to know the details. If you surrender quietly, I won’t harm you further. But if you continue to resist, you’ll end up like the other executives.”

I glance at Soleta sprawled on the ground. Cloud’s eyes follow my gaze.

“I’m headed for prison anyway, right? Might as well put up a fight, don’t you think?”

“If that’s how you feel.”

WHOOSH!

In an instant, I’m behind her. Cloud is still staring at the spot where I was standing moments ago.

“Then sleep for a while.”

I grab the back of Cloud’s neck to prevent her escape and use “Nullification.”

“Ugh! My strength…!”

Just as I’m about to strike her neck to knock her unconscious—

“Light Extinction Fist.”

CRACK!

The asphalt rises as a gust of wind rushes toward me. I quickly wrap my arm around Cloud’s waist and leap away.

BOOM!

The wind strikes the building, causing it to collapse. Dust rises several meters high, creating chaos all around.

I land safely where no debris can reach us and peer through the dust.

“…What’s going on?”

What I saw moments ago was Flo. I could tell for certain by his shiny bald head.

“How can he use his technique?”

Nullification’s effect lasts for 5 minutes.

It hasn’t even been 5 minutes yet, so how is he using his ability again?

Even if he could use his ability, Flo had already sustained fatal injuries. I’d blown off his arm and smashed his ribcage with my fist.

No human could possibly move in that condition. He should have been helplessly waiting for death.

Yet he boldly used his technique.

“Grrrr…”

“No way…”

Flo charges at me through the dust cloud.

His eyes are rolled back showing the whites, as if he’s lost his mind. His severed arm has regrown, and his muscles are grotesquely swollen.

“This is—!”

“Eugene! Here he comes again!”

Cloud shouts while clinging to me.

BOOM!

I jump backward, narrowly avoiding his fist as it strikes the ground, creating a massive crater and shattering the entire surface. Debris flies everywhere, causing more chaos.

“Why do you keep clinging to me?”

“What am I supposed to do without my powers? You’re the one who took them away.”

“Damn it. How is that my fault?”

As soon as I land, I throw Cloud into a corner.

“Eek!”

“Stay put.”

Cloud can’t use any abilities for 5 minutes anyway, so she can’t escape from me.

“Haha… that bastard really used it…”

I turn my head at the sound of Soleta’s voice. He’s lying down, laughing before coughing up blood.

“Ah, shit. Hurts like hell.”

“…What did he use?”

“What else? The eX Potion, of course. That bastard Starlight must have used it on Flo.”

“…”

Just as I suspected.

Did he really use the eX Potion even on an executive?

Starlight, you piece of garbage.

How far are you willing to deceive people?

“GRAAAH!!”

It seems executives lose their minds just the same.

As he kicks off the ground, asphalt fragments fly up. He closes the distance with fierce speed and clenches his fist.

I don’t have a way to counter the eX Potion right now. I don’t have the potion that Bin Yoon-i made.

From my experience fighting those injected with the eX Potion, knocking them unconscious was impossible.

I don’t have the capacity to deal with them while Starlight is still active.

It can’t be helped…

“I’ll have to kill you for real.”

I gather electricity in my fist with full power. I charge up to maximum output, just like when I blocked all of Gu Yeon-hwa’s techniques.

“Farewell, Flo.”

“Lightning Discharge.”

The moment my fist sinks into his chest, electricity erupts and blasts through his entire body. All his organs explode, separating his upper and lower body.

“Gack…!”

No matter how strong one’s regenerative ability, no one can survive having their body blown apart.

His organs scatter across the ground as vast amounts of blood spill onto the asphalt. The earth seems to absorb his blood as it flows between the cracks in the pavement.

“…I saved him only for him to die in one blow. How pathetically weak.”

An emotionless voice echoes through the devastated battlefield. He appears before me, casually dusting himself off.

“Starlight, you bastard! How could you use the eX Potion on Flo…!”

Cloud shouts.

“If he was going to die anyway, it was better to make him drain your strength first.”

“Don’t be ridiculous!!”

“Did you grow attached to Flo? How amusing.”

She yells with an agitated voice, but Starlight responds calmly.

“By the way, Soleta, why didn’t you use it?”

“How could I use something like that…? I’d rather just die.”

“…Useless until the end.”

“Akcheon is finished anyway. We can’t win as long as that guy is on the heroes’ side.”

“That’s just your opinion.”

Starlight approaches Soleta before I realize it.

STAB!

Starlight plunges a syringe filled with eX Potion into his chest.

“Guh?!”

“That’s not for you to decide.”

“You, you son of a— URGH!”

Soleta convulses and rapidly heals the wounds I inflicted. Then his skin begins to swell.

“…Starlight, how far will you fall?”

“Fall? Don’t make me laugh. If I just kill you, we can rise again.”

“We? Don’t be ridiculous.”

I move behind Soleta as he tries to get up and grab his neck.

“ARGH!!”

I wrap sparks around Soleta’s entire body to immobilize him, then smash his head with my fist. He collapses with jerky movements as blood and brain matter splatter.

“With no one left by your side, how can there be a ‘we’?”

“…I can always find others to join me.”

“No, you can’t. Because you’re going to die right here.”

This is a first. I’ve never been this angry at a villain before.

I approach Starlight and kick him.

CLANG!

Starlight blocks my kick with his Sign Slaughter Sword that he recreated. He slides back through the dust and grins.

“You may have blocked that by luck, but you can’t defeat me.”

Just as I move my foot, Starlight pulls out a syringe from his chest.

“!”

“It’s alright. I’ll be stronger now.”

He stabs the syringe into his thigh and injects the contents. His body immediately reacts, trembling and staggering.

“Guh! Urgh…!”

“You really… are beyond saving.”

I charge at him, electricity crackling around me.

“Don’t expect to die peacefully.”

WHOOSH!

My lightning-charged fist cuts through the air.

I didn’t expect him to dodge in time despite my straightforward attack. Has the eX Potion made him as fast as me?

“Heh… losing their minds to something like this. How pathetic those others were.”

Starlight tilts his head back and loosens his joints.

“Whew… this feels good. So good… I feel like I can do anything now…!”

I wondered how he could maintain his sanity after injecting the eX Potion, but that didn’t matter in the current situation.

“I don’t care how strong you’ve become. As long as your abilities don’t exceed the scope of what I can nullify, you can’t defeat me.”

“Hahaha! Don’t bluff!”

He charges at me with laughter tinged with madness. Gripping the Sign Slaughter Sword with both hands, he arches his back and swings.

“Meteor Slash!”

His pure white sword energy rains down on me.

But it disappears with a single gesture from my hand.

“What…”

“Done with your turn? Then it’s mine.”

I dive toward his body in an instant. Starlight immediately swings his sword down at me.

“UAAH! Meteor Sword!”

“Sorry, but your techniques no longer work on me.”

“Nullification.”

I nullify the technique along with the Sign Slaughter Sword itself. Fortunately, it seems my nullification still works despite the eX Potion injection.

He stares blankly at the sword disappearing from his grasp.

“Grit your teeth. You’re about to get beaten to a pulp.”

I grab him tightly, seal his techniques with my “Nullification” skill, and swing my fists.

THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD!

“Gah! Urgh!”

His face gets smashed and bleeds from my one-sided assault, but the eX Potion’s effect keeps healing him. It seems the eX Potion’s effect can’t be blocked even by nullification.

WHAM!

Finally, I hit him hard enough to shatter his jawbone, twisting his neck as his jaw dislocates. He collapses, blood pouring from his mouth.

“Starlight, you’re not a leader. You’re just a sociopath who uses your subordinates.”

“Don’t be absurd… I am, I am Akcheon’s leader.”

“If Moonlight had continued leading Akcheon, I would have had a much harder time.”

I retrieve the sword I threw earlier. I place it against the neck of Starlight, who is slowly recovering.

“How can what you’re doing be any different from what a hero would do?”

With his broken jaw making his speech slurred, he looks up at me with difficulty.

“Grr… a hero? Don’t make me laugh… You who slaughters indiscriminately are no different from a vil—”

SLASH!

I cut off his head before he could finish speaking.

“Just disappear. From this world.”

I step on his head, which fell to the ground without even closing its eyes, and crush it.