episode_0242

‘Well, it doesn’t matter.’

The preparations are already complete. This incident will only prove his innocence.

Ethan moved to the interrogation room. Perhaps because he was a Duke’s son, the interrogation room wasn’t too bad, except for the fact that all four walls were covered in black.

“Please, have a seat.”

At the instruction of Metis, the inquisitor who was waiting, he obediently sat down. The questioning began immediately.

“Young Master Ethan Gloucester. There are currently rumors circulating that you are the Golden Ghost. Are you aware of this?”

“Of course. I don’t know who spread such false rumors. Surely the church doesn’t believe them, do they? There’s no evidence, is there?”

“Evidence… Would you please look at this?”

Metis presented a few photographs. They showed the Golden Ghost, after descending into a back alley, removing its mask and transforming into Ethan. Ethan frowned.

“Isn’t this manipulation? It would be easy if it’s just a photo, not a video. Even a video could be faked if a high-ranking mage intervened.”

“Yes, that’s right. However, since there are no traces of manipulation, there’s nothing we can do. Please consider this just a simple procedure. May I begin the questions?”

“By all means. I am innocent.”

Once permission was granted, Metis began to pour out questions in earnest. From basic personal information to where he was, what he was doing, and who he was with on the dates the Golden Ghost appeared, everything was meticulously gathered and recorded. Ethan, who had simulated this situation countless times, rattled off all the answers without hesitation.

About 30 minutes had passed.

‘It’s about time now.’

As Ethan checked his watch, waiting for something, a commotion erupted outside.

Slam!

The door slammed open, and an inquisitor entered. He glanced at Ethan, then quickly approached Metis and signaled with his eyes. He was sending a telepathic message. Though priests were different from ordinary mana users, they could do similar things. Metis’s expression turned to one of shock, as if hearing something incredible, and he stood up abruptly.

“Young Master Ethan. I apologize, but could you wait a moment? Something urgent has come up.”

“Pardon? Until when?”

“It won’t take long. You stay here. I’ll be back.”

“Yes!”

Metis excused himself, leaving the inquisitor who brought the news, and disappeared. Ethan watched his retreating figure with satisfaction.

‘Let them suffer.’

Now, all he had to do was wait a little, then return to the academy as if nothing had happened. Of course, absolute retaliation would follow for Hyunwoo, who caused all this.

‘How does it feel? To be hit by the same trick.’

Since he was tricked at the clock tower, he wouldn’t feel wronged by being tricked in return.

*

The church was in an uproar. Watching the situation from a nearby rooftop with Cain, I received a call from Alisa.

-It’s as expected! The Golden Ghost has appeared!

“Oh? What’s it doing now?”

-It’s just looking down at the academy from high in the sky. No particular movement yet!

“Hmm… So it has no intention of causing trouble?”

Indeed, Ethan’s objective was to prove his innocence, so there was no need to move a decoy and create variables. It will probably just attract some attention and then disappear.

“Alright. If anything happens while you’re watching, let me know. Got it?”

-Yeah! B-be careful!

“Don’t worry. I’ll be back soon.”

Reassuring Alisa, I hung up the call and pulled out a mask from my pocket.

“Cain. It seems to be as expected.”

“Oh? He’s thorough, alright. It went just as you said.”

“He probably prepared a decoy a long time ago. Anyway, let’s go now while we have the chance.”

Our target is Ethan. Spreading his identity was merely a means to isolate him. In fact, now that the church’s security has become lax due to the appearance of the Golden Ghost, it’s the perfect opportunity to strike him down.

I turned around. There stood Deborah, her face flushed red, as if her excitement hadn’t quite cooled yet.

“Deborah. We’re going. Please provide support.”

“Yes. Don’t get hurt.”

“You be careful too. Are you feeling alright?”

“Of course. Don’t worry about me.”

After a final check on Deborah, Cain and I put on our masks and charged straight towards the church.

CRASH!

“Aaah!”

With Cain’s single strike, the outer wall of the building was completely torn away, exposing its interior. The remaining priests screamed at the sudden attack. Hearing the commotion, the Holy Knights ascended from underground.

“Who are you bastards?!”

“Intruders!”

“Call for backup!”

Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The Holy Knights reacted swiftly as soon as they saw us, forming an encirclement. Cain stepped forward boldly.

“I’ll clear the path, so you go first. Understand?”

“Yes. I’ll leave the rear to you.”

“Alright. I’ll follow right behind you.”

A thunderous crash!

As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of invisible fist-winds shot out, sending the Holy Knights flying. A path leading underground was temporarily cleared. I didn’t look back and ran towards it.

“Seize them!”

“How dare you!”

“Wait! Ugh, Aaah!”

The Holy Knights tried to catch me, but they were stopped by Cain, who was raging like a storm. Despite this, those who ignored him and tried to chase me were instantly struck by Cain’s blow, spitting blood as they collapsed. Fortunately, they avoided vital spots and didn’t die.

‘Please stay safe.’

Praying for Cain’s safety, I descended the underground stairs. There was no particular presence inside. Only one person was present at the very end, in a luxurious yet most secretive space. I slowly approached and opened the door.

Creak—

The door, intentionally unoiled, let out a loud sound. Ethan, who was sitting, focused his gaze on me.

“Was this your intention all along?”

“Weren’t you aware of it yourself?”

“No. I did think it was a bit strange. But I never imagined you’d attack the church.”

“How does it feel? To be caught off guard.”

“Hmm. It’s not that surprising. More importantly, did you think you could beat me if it were just the two of us?”

A deep rumble!

A thick surge of mana erupted from Ethan’s body, and an immense pressure crushed the surrounding area. The power was strong enough to make someone like me, given the difference in our cultivation levels, instantly prostrate myself on the floor like a frog. However, I didn’t even waver. Beyond simply enduring, I instead took a step forward and charged at him.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

This pressure was, in fact, advantageous for me. With each step I took, the mana within my body clashed more powerfully with the earth’s energy, accelerating and pushing my physical body, enhanced by the Divine Demon Extreme Shadow, to its limits.

“What?!”

Ethan gasped in shock as he saw me reach him in an instant. His intention was clear.

‘He probably didn’t expect me to activate the ‘Declaration of Rape’.’

In fact, I had already had intercourse with Deborah while he was being interrogated. My current strength exceeds 1800.

CRASH!

My fist struck his face. He barely managed to erect a spatial wall to deflect the impact, but my absurd level of strength tore through his mana and hit its mark.

“Cough!”

Ethan spat out blood and was sent flying wretchedly, slamming into the wall. Without delay, I immediately unleashed a follow-up attack, but unfortunately, he used spatial superposition to nullify all my attacks. In that brief interval, he recovered from the pain and retreated.

“Hahahaha! Did you already have intercourse? Who was it this time? Did you just grab a passing priest and have intercourse with them?”

“You don’t need to know. You just need to get hit.”

“Do you think I’ll just meekly take it?”

“What, are you going to run? Go ahead and try if you can.”

When I confidently challenged him, Ethan’s expression hardened. He tried to gather his mana for a moment, then flinched.

“What did you do?”

“Do you get it now? I’ve set up a spatial distortion field in this area. If you recklessly attempt to teleport, you could get stuck between spaces and be annihilated.”

Deborah didn’t just come here to activate the ‘Declaration of Rape.’ Even now, she’s outside trying to maintain the spatial distortion field. Ethan, whose trump card was blocked, distorted his face into a fiendish grin and laughed.

“Puhahahaha! Yes. This is what you should do. This is just like you. Ahahahahah!”

Was he anxious in the face of mortal danger? Or was he truly laughing? Whichever it was, one thing was certain: he wasn’t normal. I frowned at the sticky, unpleasant sensation clinging to my entire body and questioned him.

“Just one question. Why are you doing this?”

“Uhaha… What?”

“What’s your intention in doing this? Don’t you want to return to Earth?”

“Is that what you’re curious about? To answer you, I don’t particularly have any lingering attachment to Earth. If it were the beginning, maybe, but now my thoughts have changed.”

“Changed?”

“Yes.”

Ethan looked directly at me. It looked as if I were the reason his thoughts had changed, which was unsettling. And unfortunately, my prediction was correct.

“Because you’re here.”

“What?”

“Since you’re here, there’s no need to return to Earth. Only you are necessary. Anyway, I don’t need such a dull world.”

An obsession bordering on madness was conveyed directly to me through his eyes. Goosebumps instantly erupted on my skin.

‘This crazy gay bastard!’

I’d thought he was strange before, but I never imagined he was actually gay. An alarm began to ring in my head, telling me to kill him immediately. I abandoned any thought of extracting information. Anyway, the top priority was to kill this bastard as soon as possible.

Whoosh!

I immediately approached and began unleashing simultaneous attacks from all directions using Photonicization.

Bang! Boom! A thunderous crash!

Drawing on more concentration than ever before, I moved at a speed even I found hard to keep up with, striving to kill him. However, it wasn’t easy to even land an effective blow on him, let alone kill him. The first blow was absolutely blocked by spatial superposition, and subsequent attacks were deflected by all sorts of artifacts and the Apostle’s authority. Even if I managed to hit him, he endured by chugging top-grade potions like water, making the fight sluggish.

CRACK!

Instead, while I was distracted for a moment, my ankle was crushed, caught in a spatial compression. Of course, it recovered quickly due to my regeneration, but one wrong move and my neck could have been twisted.

‘Damn it. Was it still too early?’

If only I had reached level 200, I could have killed him easily, and that slight difference was regrettable. The duration of Incarnation and the ‘Declaration of Rape’ wasn’t very long, and the spatial distortion field couldn’t be maintained for long either, so as time passed, it was I who grew more anxious. In the end, I decided to reveal another card.

Puff!

A censer that popped out of my subspace pouch spread smoke throughout the entire interrogation room. All stats were equally distributed.

‘My mana decreased, but in return, all my other stats increased.’

But this wasn’t important. What was important was that I wasn’t the only one whose stats were equally distributed.

“Ugh! Damn it!”

Ethan, whose mana was instantly halved, seemed rarely flustered. Feeling the crushing pressure on my body significantly weaken, I lunged at him.

‘You’re dead!’

Die! You gay bastard!

CRACKLE!

My ultra-fast strike finally pierced through his defense and landed on his abdomen.