The Reaper (Death) 6

The moment their eyes met, the world faded to black.

The auctioneer’s calls, the bidders’ raised paddles – everything gradually blurred until only Doyun and Luna remained in the dark world.

Doyun used [Primordial Guild Master] to view her status window.

[Status Window]

Name: Luna Thanatos

Race: Half-Dark Elf/Human

Affiliation: –

Talent: Genius

Stats:

Strength – Lv 1

Agility – Lv 3

Vitality – Lv 1

Endurance – Lv 1

Mana – Lv 3

‘Luna Thanatos.’

The Thanatos surname. Her appearance, uncannily identical save for being smaller and younger.

The instant he saw Luna, Doyun could confirm it.

She was the Reaper’s daughter.

Just as Doyun regarded her with certainty, so too did Luna seem to realize something about him.

‘She recognizes me.’

Luna was not seeing Han Doyun, but Enoch Ruozvolnick himself.

She had instantly pierced his true identity that none else could discern.

‘How?’

We have never met before.

She should have no way of knowing who I am.

But that was not all.

‘Just what…’

In the young girl’s cold, emotionless gaze upon Enoch…

‘Why does she look at me with such eyes?’

A glimmer of elation seemed present.

‘…’

A fragile body susceptible to death at any moment.

Pathetic might, captured so easily by mere humans.

Yet Enoch could sense it.

‘A monster.’

She was a monster.

A talent so tremendously profound, unutterable even for one born a dunce like himself. That was what emanated from this girl.

A talent that would undoubtedly have been hailed as the continent’s mightiest, were it not for exceptional existences like the Dark Lord and Enoch himself.

No, something even more colossal, unknowable.

That was this girl.

‘I must slay her.’

Must he slay her?

Contrary to his outward conscious thought, Doyun sensed a deeper unconscious undercurrent of doubt and hesitation.

He flinched.

‘Of course I must slay her.’

Must he truly kill her?

‘…Why am I deliberating?’

The reason he came here – to subjugate the Reaper.

Though she may not be the real Reaper, she was undoubtedly the Reaper’s child, a monster tantamount or perhaps exceeding her.

Unlike the fear of total annihilation, his objective had become deceptively straightforward.

The individual who had slain him, the greatest obstacle standing before the Dark Lord.

There was no reason not to kill her. He had to slay her.

And yet.

‘Why…’

Enoch looked down at his left hand.

Instead of gripping his sword hilt, it rested on the chair’s armrest.

‘…’

A baffling unconscious whisper he could not comprehend himself.

Enoch’s resolve to slay her was wavering.

As he deliberated at length,

Enoch noticed it.

‘…!’

A golden mana glimmered in her eyes.

A different hue from the Reaper’s.

‘You…!’

Enoch felt himself being drawn into her irises.

He sensed her will reaching out to him.

An unprecedented sensation.

Gazing upon her, Enoch felt an unknowable, immensely complex emotion stirring within.

In the pitch-black world, only the golden radiance from their irises remained.

Something connected, and her whispers reached him.

Just as he parted his lips to give form to this indescribable emotion,

[Intruders approach.]

Shing-

The dark world shattered.

“The bidding is rapidly escalating! Already shattering records as we speak! The price has…”

Saccharine drug odors and fetid body odors.

The thick stench of greed assaulted his nostrils.

[Senior?]

“…”

Disrupted, Doyun did not respond.

Soon, those who had interrupted Doyun burst into the auction hall.

Bang-

The door flung open violently.

“Huh?”

“What?”

The auction’s fervor instantly cooled as all attention shifted towards the entrance amid the abrupt silence.

“Our apologies for disrupting your shopping experience, esteemed participants.”

Diverse yet uniformly rugged-looking individuals swarmed inside.

“We’ve come to catch a rat that snuck into the auction hall. Please bear with us.”

Each one a formidable combatant capable of easily subduing even Sophia single-handedly – the crime heart’s paramount forces.

Malignant cells originating from the continent’s shadows before converging here due to the auction.

“Ah shit… Just when it was getting interesting…”

“What the hell is this situation?”

However, those assembled were all high-ranking criminal figures wielding substantial continental influence, dismissing such a situation as trivial.

“What? A security breach at the auction hall? How rare.”

“Hey, Auctioneer! Don’t take that item down, leave it! I’m taking it home no matter what today.”

“Oh my, but of course! This disturbance shall be resolved promptly, please be patient for just a bit! Hehehe!”

“Who’s the intruder? Let’s have a look.”

The security personnel descended the tiered seating area between rows. Consequently, the participants’ attention gradually converged onto one individual.

It was apparent who – unlike the others, Doyun did not wear a mask to conceal his face.

“That guy? What kind of nerve does he have, blatantly exposing himself like that when infiltrating?”

“Oh my… he’s quite the tasty-looking fellow…”

Though dimly lit, obscuring facial details, his distinctively masculine jawline and Doyun’s characteristic aura were palpable to all.

“But I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before…”

“Hey, Auctioneer. Why don’t we capture him and immediately put him up for auction? He’s rather tempting.”

“Certainly! I shall notify the higher-ups at once!”

The auctioneer rubbed his palms gleefully before signaling the security chief to apprehend Doyun unharmed.

‘Fucking pricks overstepping their bounds…’

Inwardly cursing, the security chief descended the steps.

His men surrounded Doyun’s #53 seat, yet he remained fixated solely on Luna’s eyes. Luna likewise.

However, unlike before, Doyun’s eyes now smoldered with intense bloodlust.

Murderous intent towards the malignancies who had disrupted such a pivotal moment.

Eventually, the seemingly highest-ranking, largest individual stood before Doyun’s #53 seat.

“Hey.”

“…”

Doyun did not respond.

“You’re that madman who slaughtered our men in the city yesterday.”

Obscured by the man’s bulky frame, Luna was out of sight.

“Got anything to say for yourself?”

An overwhelming sense of revulsion shook Doyun violently.

And now that the Reaper’s presence was confirmed, he had no reason to restrain himself further.

In a low voice, Doyun uttered,

“Kill them all.”

“What?”

That was as far as it went.

Fwang-

The security chief’s head exploded.

The exquisite shockwave generated by Doyun’s kicking technique prevented any bloodsplatter.

“Huh?”

The auction hall instantly fell silent.

“…Eh?”

“That was…”

A bloodbath commenced.

Bang-

Fabang-

Bang-

Struck by some unseen force, the security personnel’s heads burst open at a rate of three or four per second.

“Kyaaaaaahh–!!”

Pandemonium erupted in the auction hall.

“Uaaahh!!”

“Guards! Protect me! Over here, hurry!!”

“Sh, Shit! Lutein Barrier! Lutein Barrier!”

Amid the grotesque, horrifying spectacle, the 99 participants shrieked in terror and scattered.

Like piss-soaked children, they frantically sought their bodyguards instead of their mothers.

The security forces hurriedly drew weapons, scanning their surroundings, but locating the concealed tiger in the darkness proved impossible.

Bang-

Fabang-

“Sh, Shit! Where is it! Find it quickly!!”

“A spear! Based on the attack pattern, it’s a spear!”

Even as they panicked in terror, heads continued bursting open.

“I can’t see it! Where is it?!”

“Find it quickly, we’re all going to die!!”

Amid the chaos, an exceptionally skilled individual slated as the next security chief calmly analyzed the situation.

“Search for the spearmaster! Stealth detection item…”

Fwang-

But his head exploded as well.

Fireworks of blood and gore erupting everywhere.

Within this hellish maelstrom, Doyun strode calmly towards the stage, not a single drop of blood staining him, appearing almost surreal.

His gaze remained fixed on Luna.

Naturally, she too maintained her composure amid the infernal carnage, utterly unperturbed.

Thud. Thud.

As the auction hall fell silent except for the sound of blood streaming down the steps and Doyun’s footfalls,

the auctioneer trembled violently beside Luna’s cage.

“Uu… Uu, uaahh…”

Seemingly quite perceptive beyond mere blind luck at attaining his position, he had already prostrated himself towards Doyun’s #53 seat long ago.

Moreover, through his intuition, he had deduced the assailant’s identity.

‘Ma, Massacring this city’s paramount forces… bypassing security to stealthily infiltrate… advanced concealment… spearmaster… Lo, Lord Heineken himself…!’

Sweet heavens. The Alliance had finally bared its fangs against this city!

‘Wh, Why!? Why?!’

Criminal syndicates could only persist through intricate collusion with political and financial powers, like intertwined roots.

For all those connections to be severed so unceremoniously?

Had some grand vested interest unknown to him been involved?!

‘Just what is the reason?!’

Striding from the darkness, Doyun ascended onto the illuminated stage.

Only then could the auctioneer glimpse his face by raising his head slightly.

‘Ap, Apostle Han Doyun!!’

Was this individual truly the mastermind behind this crisis?!

“Open it.”

“Y, Yes!!”

The auctioneer scrambled upright, frantically rummaging through his key ring. However, his trembling hands prolonged locating the right key.

Shortly after, the iron bars and shackles confining Luna were unlocked.

“…”

Calmly regarding the removed shackles, Luna stepped out.

Fwang-

The auctioneer’s head exploded behind them, but neither flinched.

Doyun and Luna gazed upon each other once more.

“…”

“…”

The two slipped back into their shared world.

They sensed one another.

After a prolonged moment under the scorching spotlights on stage,

Thud.

Doyun turned and walked away.

Thud. Thud.

“…”

After three steps, Luna followed suit.

Doyun’s strides seemed slightly slower than usual, adjusting to Luna’s smaller steps.

[…]

Observing them with mixed feelings, Heineken did not speak, merely providing an escort.

Enoch Ruozvolnick and Luna Thanatos.

The two exited the auction hall.