Chapter 24: Clutter

–Buzzzzzzzzz.

The emergency alarm within the guild began to blare loudly.

“Currently, a powerful 괴담 energy has been detected in Yongsan-gu!”

“It’s been quiet for a while, but what is this all of a sudden…!”

“Connecting to the nearest monitoring station!”

An unknown phenomenon was unfolding on the screen.

A dark crimson aura was spreading through the city like a wave.

“This is strange. It’s broad daylight, but it’s gradually getting darker!”

“Manipulating… weather phenomena…? Is that even possible?”

“Given that there are 괴담 that cause earthquakes or blizzards, it’s not that strange.”

Leon, who had been watching the screen, quickly began issuing orders.

“What’s the current situation inside the Underworld?”

“In a word… it’s a living hell itself.”

“Of all times, the incident had to occur when our main forces were dispatched overseas.”

Black mist, emerging from cracks in various parts of the darkening interior, was engulfing the citizens.

The black mist spread from their fingertips, then to their arms and legs, and finally to their faces.

“……It’s as if they’re being devoured.”

“Due to the 괴담 phenomenon, black blotches are spreading across people’s bodies!”

“Black blotches?”

“Yes, citizens touched by the black ripples are one by one turning completely black… and disappearing!”

The agents found it difficult to grasp the situation due to the extremely alien phenomenon.

“The 괴담’s energy is spreading… throughout the entire city.”

At that moment, the faces of the Japanese guild agents were unusually pale.

“This… no way…”

Something that should never happen again was being replayed right here.

The moment they hesitated to speak, Leon quietly opened his mouth, staring at the screen.

“More importantly, this phenomenon… I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before, haven’t I?”

“Leon, are you perhaps talking about ‘Eclipse’?”

“I thought you Japanese agents would recognize it instantly, am I wrong?”

“No… this is definitely the same phenomenon as Eclipse. That means—”

“Ren, that guy finally went and did it.”

Immediately, Leon stood up and broadcast a radio message on all channels.

“All combat personnel, deploy to the scene.”

“Leon, are you suggesting we just rush into the middle of that hell?”

“We must not fear hell. Protecting people from the 괴담, that is why we exist.”

“Leon…”

“And that damn guy is definitely in there. We need to go get him.”

“…We will prepare immediately and deploy.”

All combat agents within the guild, as well as awakened administrative agents, entered a state of alert, preparing for any unforeseen circumstances.

“We must stop what that lunatic has done.”

****

When the deployed guild and task force agents arrived at the border of the Underworld,

A man stood there alone.

He presented a chilling sight, with glowing red eyes and blood dripping from his hands.

The representative of Japan’s ‘Kagutsuchi’ guild, and the culprit behind this crisis.

“Ren!”

“Ah… yes. I knew you would come.”

“Are you insane? Do you know what you’ve done?!”

To think that the dependable Ren, who had faced life and death with them and solved missions, would fall so swiftly.

The Japanese guild members couldn’t help but tremble with a sense of betrayal.

“Have you finally gone mad? Did it have to come to this?!”

“Finally…? No, no… that’s not it.”

In his red eyes, only an empty madness softly resided.

“From the moment I stabbed her with my own hands, I was already going mad.”

“That wasn’t your fault. You were completely manipulated by Eclipse—”

Ren drew the sword clutched in his hand and pointed it at his comrades.

Faint black smoke rose from the blade.

“Shouldn’t you rather be grateful to me…? Because you’ll finally be able to meet Phantom.”

His maddened voice sent shivers down the spines of even those who heard it.

“…He’s completely lost it.”

“As of this moment, Takahashi Ren is designated as an enemy. Subdue him immediately.”

All agents simultaneously entered combat readiness.

“Everyone, surround the enemy.”

However, Ren showed no agitation at all, even seeing his comrades who had begun to oppose him.

“It’s already too late… The Annular Eclipse will begin soon.”

At that moment, a strange voice echoed through the darkened space.

[Eclipse’s Second Phase: Annular Eclipse begins.]

“The second phase of the eclipse, then…”

“Leon, we must be especially careful. We haven’t fully experienced the second phase either.”

“Wait, there’s something in the sky!”

In the center of the dark crimson sky, the figure of a woman with a pale face and long black hair was revealed.

“That’s… Tsuki…?”

“She was clearly stabbed through the chest by Ren back then, how is she alive?”

The agents who had experienced Eclipse recognized her at a glance.

The being that one foolish man wished to see, even if it meant plunging everything into despair.

“How truly foolish… the existence known as humans.”

“…?!”

A dark, ominous voice was heard.

Her silver eyes, devoid of emotion, coldly looked down upon them.

“It’s human nature to ruin things with a single trivial emotion. Isn’t it truly pathetic?”

Her tone was utterly emotionless. Her gaze was utterly cold.

“Tsuki… you…?”

“Ren! We told you. Tsuki is just a 괴담! You were tricked!”

“The price for starting the ritual will be the death of all humans in this city.”

As Tsuki raised her hand, a red moon shimmered and appeared behind her.

Its form writhed like a snake attempting to swallow the sun.

“Everyone, prepare for battle.”

“We have to kill her now. There’s still a third phase.”

“If it proceeds to a Total Eclipse, something irreversible will happen!”

“Ren, it’s not too late. Join us!”

The guild members raised their weapons, preparing to attack Tsuki.

“……”

However, even in this hair-trigger situation, Ren remained silent, merely staring at Tsuki.

Was he perhaps shocked by her transformed appearance?

“You foolish idiot… even to the end…!”

“For now, let’s focus on the 괴담 rather than him.”

“It’s no use. You don’t think she’ll just stand there and wait, do you?”

–Swish.

The moment Tsuki snapped her fingers, the space began to blur and distort.

“Huh…? Where am I?”

“Where are you guys?!”

The space itself was distorted by Eclipse’s power, and the agents were trapped in a hallucination.

“What can you do in a world where light has vanished?”

The surroundings were filled with dark shadows, and within them, Tsuki’s silhouette flickered, appearing and disappearing repeatedly.

“Damn it, we have to stick together! If we scatter, it’s over!”

But when they came to their senses, Tsuki was already targeting one person’s neck.

“If you don’t stop me, everyone will die, you know?”

The moment Tsuki quietly reached out to grasp his neck.

–BOOM!

A ferocious roar erupted, shaking the surrounding air for an instant.

“Ugh… wh-what is this…?!”

“Everyone, pull yourselves together. If you concentrate your consciousness, you can resist to some extent.”

Leon, enveloped in a golden aura, stabilized the guild members.

“With sound… my domain?”

“It would be troublesome to think of me as an ordinary Awakened.”

Leon Hardison.

As someone who came as the representative of a prominent American guild, his strength was different from others.

“Tsuki… no, should I call you Eclipse?”

“You’re impressive, you…”

“Don’t think humans will crumble so easily.”

–Rumble.

Leon maximized his abilities, then immediately charged towards Tsuki.

“I’ll handle the 괴담, so you all ascertain if there are any injured personnel and proceed with crowd control.”

“Understood.”

****

‘This is strange…’

Even as Leon continued his exchange of blows with Tsuki, there was one sensation he kept feeling.

A sense of incongruity.

‘The strength I assumed based on Eclipse’s reports is quite different.’

Eclipse is a 괴담 that forcibly causes an eclipse, completely taking over the surrounding area.

He had thought that a 괴담 with that level of power, even he would be in danger if he dragged out the fight.

‘It’s similar… no, I feel like I’m gradually gaining the upper hand.’

“Hmph…!”

“Your side is open, 괴담.”

–CRASH!

Tsuki was steadily being pushed back.

‘It seems I should check.’

Leon did not immediately rush at the fallen Tsuki, but instead widened the distance.

“Wh-why…? Aren’t you going to keep coming?”

“괴담… no, Tsuki. Why are you hiding your power?”

“……!!”

“Did you think I wouldn’t know?”

The guild agents doubted their ears.

A 괴담 not properly using its power?

“Leon, what on earth does that mean?”

“Exactly as it sounds. Tsuki isn’t properly using her 괴담 power right now.”

“Nonsense… it’s just that you’re strong—”

“Ren, it seems like you’ve known from the beginning. Are you going to continue to stay silent?”

Ren, who had been silently observing Tsuki until now, opened his mouth in response to Leon’s question.

“Tsuki… stop now. I know everything.”

“……I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Tsuki…”

“I am a 괴담. The moment you leave me be, I am a being that will plunge this entire city into death. What are you humans doing, standing before such a being?”

Tsuki emitted a dark crimson aura and took a stance as if to attack immediately.

Towards such a Tsuki, Ren drew his sword and aimed it.

“So you finally realized, Ren. That I am the 괴담 who will lead all of you to your deaths.”

“I, Takahashi Ren, ask you. Is what the being before me says the truth or a lie?”

“St-stop it… Ren…!”

The sword, reacting to Ren’s words, trembled for a moment and then revealed the answer to his question in the air.

[Lie]

“Wait, a lie?”

“You mean Tsuki is lying right now?”

The guild members were confused by the sudden change in the situation.

The image of Tsuki, who had been emitting 괴담 energy and threatening them just moments ago, was a lie?

“Ren’s ability has already undergone countless verifications in Japan. There hasn’t been a single error among them.”

“We’ve heard about it ourselves. So, truly…?”

“It means Tsuki was provoking us from the beginning to make us attack her.”

Leon calmed his golden aura slightly and offered the answer.

“I did think it was strange. Like how not a single one of us was injured.”

“Th-that’s…!”

“This is no longer my place to interfere. Ren, you handle this.”

*Pat.*

Leon placed a hand on Ren’s shoulder once, then turned his back on Tsuki and Ren.

“Tsuki… stop with the clumsy acting.”

“D-don’t come closer!”

“Tsuki…”

“Don’t you still get it, Ren? It was me who tricked you with a lie about loving you to make you summon Eclipse again!”

[Lie]

“There’s no way I could love a man like you, is there? Ah, just thinking about that time still makes me want to vomit. Your gaze, your tone, your entire existence!”

[Lie]

Tsuki desperately tried to hurt him, but Ren’s sword continued to reveal the truth behind her words.

“Tsuki, you believe that everything can end only if you die, don’t you?”

“……!”

“That’s why you decided to act from the beginning, so that I and everyone else… could kill you without guilt.”

“N-no…! I, I…!”

“But there’s something you overlooked.”

Ren placed the sword he held in his hand on the ground and approached her, completely unarmed.

“You’ve always been terrible at lying, Tsuki.”

Tsuki tried to utter another sharp remark, but.

–Drip.

“Oh…?”

A single transparent tear streamed down her cheek.

“N-no… this can’t be… You’re the 괴담 who will kill you all…”

Tsuki continued to try and deny it, but her eyes could no longer lie.

“Why… why aren’t you falling for it… Ren…”

Her voice was soaked in sorrow.

“If I… stay alive, I’ll hurt everyone… I might cause everyone pain…”

The true feelings of a woman who wanted to save everyone, even if it meant sacrificing herself, poured out.

“So please, just kill me… while I still have a human heart…”

To Tsuki’s utterly heart-wrenching plea, Ren’s sword gave its final answer.

[Truth]