Ch.257Chapter 257: Devastator (2)

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Agent.

Transcendental beings who create the principles of the world and have the power to either protect them or overlay them with their authority.

In order to circumvent their inability to directly influence the material world due to their overwhelming power,

They select exceptional individuals among mortal beings and share their divinity with them, creating beings close to demigods.

Some call them Great Warriors, but

The one responsible for ruining my life across countless timelines enjoys calling me, whom they created by sharing their divinity, an Agent—so I’ll call them Agents for now.

…They do call them by other names too, but I went absolutely ballistic when I heard it and told them never to use it, so they didn’t say it in front of me.

The reason I’m suddenly going on about this is

Because it seems I should refer to the person standing before me by that title.

Hah, to think I’d only recognize who I’m facing after seeing that demon sword.

How oblivious have I been?

Realizing that my vision had narrowed unconsciously in the tense situation,

I swallowed a sigh that no one would hear and observed my opponent once more.

And only then did I understand.

Looking closely, it’s just that I hadn’t seen them for so long that I didn’t recognize them at first.

Every element that makes up the person before me is familiar.

The pitch-black helmet that cleverly conceals any identifying features of the face.

The armor in a shade darker than even that helmet, embodying deep darkness.

Though different in design, it was made of the same black refined iron as the armor I wore when I unwillingly became the demon god’s Agent.

And above all…

Wooong-!!

The demon sword, Devastator, struggling to break free from its scabbard while emanating murderous intent that seemed ready to burst forth, along with the crimson energy it spewed.

All of this was nearly identical to how I looked when I was an Agent, both before my regression and in countless timelines that now exist only as memories in my head—just a different person.

The only difference was…

“…Stay still.”

Unlike me in those days, when I was controlled by the ‘malice’ emanating from the demon sword and would draw it in a frenzy at the sight of any being untainted by demonic energy,

This Agent easily subdued Devastator with just a word as it tried to escape its scabbard.

It was just one difference, but a decisively critical one.

Realizing this suddenly makes it hard to breathe.

This isn’t a figure of speech.

I literally can’t breathe.

Wooong-!!

The demon sword Devastator emits an unpleasant resonance as it struggles to escape its scabbard to collect blood.

And while forcefully suppressing the rampaging Devastator,

“…”

The mysterious woman who appears to be Desire’s new Agent remains silent as she looks at me.

It occurs to me that she might have become Desire’s sacrificial lamb in my place, as I continue to make the right choices and move forward.

I’ve been constantly worrying about what Desire, who woke up early, might be plotting and how to stop it since I was on the airship leaving Geumwol.

But seeing how she’s already created an Agent from some innocent person she found from who knows where, ready to spread her twisted values across this land as soon as she awakened,

Crunch

I unconsciously grind my teeth, expressing my anger toward Desire.

[You’ll break your molars, Inseok.]

Paphnir speaks with a slightly startled voice, trying to calm me down after reading my emotions.

‘Don’t try to stop me.’

[…]

‘I finally managed to break free from her control, but then she goes and drags in another innocent person to use as her plaything. How can I not grind my teeth thinking about that damn woman?’

[You have a point.]

‘Besides, they’ll heal right back anyway, so don’t worry.’

[…That hyper-regeneration ability is ridiculously convenient. Even when I shared my blood with Lumen, his regenerative abilities didn’t develop to that extent.]

While chatting with Paphnir, who stopped trying to dissuade me and instead marveled at my hyper-regeneration ability,

“…”

The new Agent before me showed no reaction to my presence and

Wooong-!!

Focused only on suppressing the demon sword that seemed ready to break free at any moment.

Addressing the sword that was trying to rampage again after being told once to behave,

“I told you to stay still.”

Even through the voice modulation, I could sense a slightly angry, stern tone.

…

The demon sword stopped resonating and remained still.

…Why does that even work?

It’s bewildering to see the demon sword that controlled me before my regression and made me spill countless blood now behaving so obediently.

It’s a terrifying weapon that can drive even ordinary people into madness from the ‘malice’ dwelling within it, even if they just hold it without drawing it from its scabbard.

“Stay still.”

Thud-!!

Seeing her subdue it by forcefully planting the scabbard into the ground was an indirect testament to her transcendent martial prowess.

Having experienced through countless instances before my regression that this weapon doesn’t obey verbal commands,

…

I barely managed to hold back my admiration for the person who had tamed the demon sword into such docility.

I don’t know where Desire found such a being.

But my hatred for Desire, who moved so quickly to find such a replacement immediately after I refused to become an Agent, was welling up regardless of the admiration I felt for my opponent.

[Wow, she calmed it down with just a word?]

Paphnir’s reaction, unable to hide his astonishment, was also impressive.

By the way, where on earth did Desire find such an Agent?

Now that I knew the woman before me was a new Agent, many things seemed strange.

Desire’s Agents are inherently violent beings, either harboring their own anger and hatred toward the world or having hatred forcibly injected into them by Desire when they have no reason to hate.

Yet seeing her display a coldness colder than the northern climate while wielding the demon sword that amplifies such violence,

And showing no hostility toward me beyond the most passive form of resistance, gave me a headache from the questions it raised.

What is it? What could it be?

The way she’s been facing me indifferently since we first met,

And just now when she blocked my sword—it was defense in name only.

Normally, after blocking my sword, she should have drawn Devastator from its scabbard and engaged me in a fierce battle by now.

“…Cal.”

Why is this demon god’s Agent calling my name so familiarly, despite her heavily modulated voice?

“I’ll release these people… come with me…”

And why does she speak with such a confident tone, as if certain I’ll follow her?

“…Where do you want me to go?”

Though I knew the obvious answer, I feigned ignorance and asked.

“…Over there.”

She pointed with the demon sword in her hand toward the summit of the Dragon Claw mountain range, clearly visible in the bright night sky.

Just by pointing,

She indicated the exact location of the Black Obsidian Palace, the demon realm, and I had to suppress a laugh that threatened to escape.

“…It’s where I was born…”

In a very small and thin voice, though modulated, she volunteered information I hadn’t asked for.

Where she was born…

Whether she meant she was truly Desire’s blood offspring,

Or whether she was referring to her transformation from an ordinary human into a new being after receiving divinity, I couldn’t tell.

Despite the voice modulation making it very difficult to read the emotions in her voice,

“It’s my… home.”

The Agent referred to that demon realm as her home with evident joy.

While she clearly intended to take me to a place she considered pleasant,

“That’s somewhere I don’t want to go.”

I expressed my refusal in a cold voice.

Hearing this, the Agent turned her head back toward me from looking at her ‘home’ and said,

“It’s okay.”

The clearest tone of all the words she had spoken to me so far.

…What’s okay?

Does she mean it’s okay because she’s confident she can take me by force even if I refuse?

“I’ll make you like it.”

…Why does this sound so genuine?

I felt like laughing at my opponent who was giving such predictable answers, but

“But…”

The desperation that formed clearly even through the modulated and distorted voice,

“I don’t want to take you by force.”

Straightened my lips that were about to twist.

For whatever reason, my opponent seemed determined to take me to the demon realm.

It was better than any being I’d encountered from the demon realm in that she was pleading with me rather than using force to compel me.

But I couldn’t grant a request that was impossible from the start just because it was desperate.

“Let’s stop drawing these parallel lines that lead nowhere.”

I firmly rejected my opponent’s inexplicable plea, pointing my dragon sword at the new Agent, and said,

“If you want to take me there so badly, try to overpower me and kidnap me.”

I decisively refused her proposal.

The only time I’ll go there of my own volition is when I go to defeat its master with my own hands.

The Agent wearing a helmet that revealed nothing but her lips, upon hearing my vehement refusal,

“…I didn’t want to do this.”

Seeming to sense that she couldn’t persuade me with words, she spoke in a quiet voice.

Shing

She then drew the demon sword she had been suppressing with her own power and threw away its scabbard.

Thud

Dry dust rose thickly from the scabbard that landed on the cold wasteland floor.

Wooooooo-!!

A howling sound reminiscent of wailing ghosts echoed from the blade of the liberated Devastator, as if trying to bring ominousness to this quiet wasteland.

“I didn’t want to hurt you again.”

The Agent’s voice, which had carried a somewhat gentle sentiment despite being modulated, changed to something darker and more vivid than the thick dust filling my vision.

“…!!”

I could see her breaking into my space at a speed my eyes could barely follow.

“I’m sorry…”

Her voice, very quiet and apologetic for reasons I couldn’t understand, was all I could hear as she moved at a speed even faster than when she had landed that solid hit on my chin while carrying my sister earlier.

“I don’t know what you’re sorry for.”

“…?”

“But I have absolutely no intention of being taken quietly, so if you’re going to do this, do it properly.”

“…How?”

“Don’t try to use the same movement twice in front of me.”

Because a movement that’s just faster but otherwise the same won’t work on me.

Keeping this thought to myself instead of saying it aloud,

Whoosh-!!

I swung my dragon sword downward, blocking my opponent’s movement as she tried to break into my space.

As soon as she saw me swing, the Agent also raised her sword above her head to block my strike.

As the use of “tried to block” suggests,

Kwang-!!

“…!!”

The moment the demon sword and dragon sword met,

With the full force of my swing behind my blade,

Boom-!!

“…!!”

With a thunderous sound, the Agent’s balance visibly crumbled as the hard ground beneath her feet sank in from the weight, and her defense failed.

“Disappear.”

Not missing the opening, I thrust my dragon sword toward her abdomen.

Learning from my earlier failed attempt to knock off her helmet,

I delivered a strike with the intent to kill from the start.

…Not that an Agent would die from being stabbed in the stomach with a sword.

Clang-!!

Even in that situation, with remarkable skill, the Agent blocked the path of the dragon sword aiming for her stomach, and from her lips came,

“…Amazing.”

An admiration easily felt even through that modulated voice.