Chapter 265: Man Plans
It was like staring into a void of nothingness. Seo-jin couldn't sense a single trace of aura or life energy coming from the Chairman. He hadn't even felt the man approach, only the brief fluctuation from the portal.
"Be careful, human. We have a deal. You cannot touch me."
Pushing himself to his feet, Blight was in terrible shape. His aura flickered weakly, and the thick smoke that had constantly surrounded his body was nowhere to be seen.
"Now that you're here, I'll make another deal with you. Make this one speak—"
The Chairman sighed. That was all he did, yet Blight recoiled so sharply that he nearly stumbled back onto his ass.
"Poor, hopeless Blight. Our contract does not involve my protection, and I have no interest in saving you. You have one option. Leave my city."
Alarms immediately went off in Seo-jin's head. Allowing Blight to leave was absolutely unacceptable. Letting a little of his aura leak out, he took a step forward.
"You have no say in whether he leaves. This city no longer belongs to the Woons. I make the rules now."
The words felt hollow even as they left his mouth. Staring at the Chairman's bare back, Seo-jin could see that the man was completely defenseless. Every inch of him was exposed, with nothing stopping Seo-jin from striking, yet the thought of attacking hadn't crossed his mind once. Something told him that even if he tried, the Chairman would see it coming.
So when the man finally turned to face him, he was completely caught off guard. The weight of his stare was greater than any aura he'd ever felt. Eyes as black as night fixed on him, and Seo-jin had the uncomfortable feeling they could see through every secret he possessed.
"Wohan Seo-jin. Boss of the Dead Hands. We've met once before, haven't we?"
Doing his best to appear unaffected, Seo-jin held the man's gaze.
"We haven't. Though I've been dying to meet you."
A smile spread across the man's face.
"My daughter is quite fond of you. I can see why. Have you told her yet that you're not human?"
Movement behind the Chairman caught Seo-jin's attention. Blight had mostly healed, and thin wisps of smoke were beginning to rise from his body again. His teeth were clenched tightly together as he glared at the Chairman's exposed back.
In one swift movement, his tail shot forward, its sharpened tip aimed directly at the man's heart—
But it struck nothing but air.
It happened in a blink, faster than Seo-jin could follow. Somehow, the Chairman had moved behind Blight without Seo-jin seeing him take a single step.
His hand shot out and seized the Warlord by the horn, while his other fist drove into the demon's stomach with enough force that Seo-jin was nearly pushed back from the impact.
Two more strikes slammed into Blight's body before the Chairman, still gripping his horn, pulled the demon's face close to his own.
"You are nothing but a parasite. You feed off of others, and then act as if that stolen power is your own."
Raising his eyes toward Seo-jin, the Chairman shook his head.
"Your kind is a curse. Born to lie and murder. Did you know Blight here was originally as weak as an imp? Possibly weaker."
"You dare—!"
Another fist smashed into Blight's face, this time with such force that the crunch of shattering bones nearly drowned out the sharp crack of his horn snapping.
The scream that tore from the demon's throat was so deep and agonized that even Seo-jin winced.
Blight's body began to shrivel as thick black blood poured from his broken horn. Before his weakening legs could give out, Chairman Woon caught him by the remaining horn.
"You should have kept to the confines of our contract."
Raising his hands up between them, Blight struggled to speak, his voice broken and growing weaker with every word.
"Forgive me—I was wrong! I have...treasure! Souls! Anything you—!"
A loud crack was his only answer as the Chairman twisted his wrist, snapping Blight's remaining horn from his head. The demon collapsed to the ground, steam hissing from his body as his aura rapidly collapsed.
[This is why we keep our horns.]
'Noted.'
It was then that Seo-jin sensed a familiar presence, one he'd already prepared himself to deal with. For some reason, though, the thought of facing her brought an unexpected knot of anxiety to his stomach.
The two remaining Woon sisters had entered the battlefield. Supporting each other as they crested a pile of rubble, both looked ragged and exhausted, their eyes carrying the unmistakable signs of grief.
"So this is your true form. Fitting."
Reaching down, the Chairman grabbed Blight by the scruff of his neck and lifted him off the ground.
"This is the true nature of your species. Inside, you are rotten. All that you touch becomes the same."
Blight was no longer even remotely humanoid. About the size of a small dog, his body had reverted to something resembling a large worm with limbs, its grey skin coated in a thick, yellowish mucus that dripped steadily onto the ground.
A black flame appeared in the Chairman's free hand, and he slowly brought it beneath the squirming Blight—
"Put him down."
Mr. Woon's hand stopped, the black flame hovering beneath Blight as he turned to look at Seo-jin.
"You want to save him?"
"Save him?"
A small chuckle escaped Seo-jin, and he couldn't help but smile at the suggestion.
"You misunderstand. It's just that he's mine."
"Yours?"
Mr. Woon's aura still hadn't materialized, yet Seo-jin suddenly felt as though a mountain stood before him, its weight pressing down on his shoulders.
"What gives you the right to claim him?"
"He killed my son."
A strange expression crossed the human's face, one Seo-jin couldn't quite recognize. The Chairman looked him over from his horns to his feet, his dark eyes lingering as though searching for something beneath his skin.
"I must have heard that wrong. Say that again."
The tension between them had become almost physical. He could feel it in his chest, as though one wrong move or misplaced word would cause everything to come crashing down. But at this point, he was done caring.
"The way you speak to me... it's pissing me off."
Bloodlight began rising from Seo-jin's body, reflecting off the black plates of his armor and bathing him in a crimson glow. Around him, the city itself began to moan, its living flesh shifting beneath the ruined streets.
"Blight is mine because I say he is."
To Seo-jin's surprise, the Chairman didn't respond with the anger he'd expected. Instead, the human began laughing, the sound growing louder until he finally tossed Blight onto the ground at Seo-jin's feet.
"As you wish. Consider it a gesture from one father to another."
Somehow, getting exactly what he wanted left a bitter taste in his mouth. Still, he couldn't let a good meal go to waste.
Keeping his eyes locked on the Chairman, he heard the familiar hissing and growling of Tiamat and Bahamut as they emerged from his back. His plate armor opened around them, the black metal shifting and reshaping itself to accommodate their bodies.
"Let me live... my true name... I'll tell you—AGHH!"
Tiamat sank his fangs deep into Blight's back.
"No! This isn't right! I was supposed—!"
Bahamut's fangs pierced his throat, cutting off the rest of his words.
The two serpents pumped their toxins into the demon, gradually stilling his frantic squirming. Once his body stopped struggling, they slowly lifted him from the ground until he hung directly in front of Seo-jin.
"You killed my son. You harmed my people. There is nothing you can offer to atone for that. Consider your death a mercy."
"Wai—!"
In one swift motion, Tiamat and Bahamut pulled in opposite directions, tearing Blight apart in a wet burst of guts and filth.
Without so much as blinking, Seo-jin kept his gaze fixed on the Chairman while his serpents finished their meal, the sound of tearing meat filling the silence between them.
[+1500 Exp]
'That's it?'
[That fucker ripped his horns off. Who knows what you would have got otherwise.]
The loss stung, but what came next helped ease the disappointment.
[System // Notification]
[New Curse Acquired // Dark Womb / A]
"I just can't get used to the idea. You're getting notifications, aren't you?"
"I am."
Just then, the sound of shifting rubble drew the Chairman's attention. Seo-jin refused to look away, though the familiar scent drifting toward him was enough to tell him who was approaching.
"I should put on something more appropriate."
In an instant, a pair of enormous black wings burst from the Chairman's back, stretching at least thirty feet from tip to tip. They folded around his naked body, then merged back into his flesh, leaving him dressed in a well-tailored black suit.
"Tell me, Seo-jin, you don't mind if I call you that?"
He offered no response, but the Chairman nodded as though he'd received one anyway.
"What is your intention here? Is it a simple grab for power? If so, there are plenty of cities throughout the Freelands. Why pit yourself against me for people that would sooner see your head on a spike?"
When the Chairman spoke his name, Seo-jin felt the stare coming from behind him. It was cold and intense, almost burning against his back, and he knew exactly who it belonged to.
Before answering the Chairman, Seo-jin turned his head toward Yu-na.
"Since the Rift, Seo-jin has been dead, and I took his place. If you hate me, I understand. Just stay out of my way. I won't hesitate to kill you if you don't."
As he turned back toward the Chairman, Seo-jin caught the hurt in Yu-na's eyes. He half expected an attack from behind, but none came. There was more he wanted to say, though now wasn't the time.
"You seem to be mistaken about something, Mr. Woon. I'm not doing this for anyone other than myself. I could go somewhere else. I just don't want to. I like it here. Besides, you're not fit to rule Shatterbay. I should be asking you. Why have you shortened your lifespan?"
"What's he talking about?"
Hye-jin stepped forward, her eyes bloodshot and her aura noticeably thin. Her voice was tight with anger as she stared at her father.
"You said you'd live longer if you succeeded. You couldn't have failed—"
"I did not fail."
Brushing a layer of dust from a slab of concrete, the Chairman pulled up his pant legs and sat down.
"But I did lie to you. Seo-jin is right. The years I have left have been significantly reduced."
It took a bit, but Seo-jin had eventually sensed it. At first, he hadn't detected even a sliver of life force coming from the man. It took him a while to realize the problem wasn't that he couldn't sense it, but that there was barely anything left to sense. The Chairman had a year or two left at best.
Noticing the confusion on Seo-jin's face, the Chairman smiled, almost as though mocking himself.
"From the outside, it looks like pointless suicide. But considering the circumstances, I see no harm in sharing the truth."
Raising a hand to one of his black eyes, he covered it for a moment. When he lowered his hand, the pupil had changed, now displaying a striking mixture of yellow and red.
The moment Seo-jin saw it, an unfamiliar sensation stirred inside him. Or rather, something strangely familiar.
"You can sense him, can't you? When I was young, I used to be a bit of a wanderer. My companions and I were on a quest to clear out some leftovers from a dungeon break. Our intel was bad. We were told it was C-rank, but it turned out to be an A-rank dungeon. One from Hell."
Listening to the story, Seo-jin found himself in an awkward position. On one hand, he appreciated the opportunity to organize the Brood through a few silent messages. On the other, he had absolutely no interest in hearing the human's backstory. It was almost as bad as listening to Min talk about her dreams.
"My entire party was wiped out. Only through their sacrifice did I barely survive. Though survival came at a cost. In order to live, I formed a contract with the demon who killed my friends. We both sat on the brink of death, so I made the choice to live."
Apparently, that explanation did little to satisfy Hye-jin, whose voice only grew louder.
"But you ascended! You're S-rank now. Your lifespan is supposed to extend, not shorten!"
[It's like you're not even here.]
'Min needs time to heal, so let 'em argue. It is annoying, though.'
"You are smart enough to know better. Forcing an ascension comes with a cost. One that can't be paid by others alone. I'm sorry, Hye-jin, but I am out of time. If I didn't do this, everything would have been for nothing. Your mother—"
"Our mother believed in you, and so will we."
Stepping past Seo-jin, Yu-na approached her father and stopped beside him. She turned back around, her eyes burning with hatred.
Hye-jin looked between her father and Yu-na, her voice breaking as her breathing starting to get heavy.
"Yu-na, but—what's the point now? What does a couple of years do for us?! Without you..."
Hye-jin fell to her knees, her eyes growing distant as she stared at the broken ground. To Seo-jin, she looked like someone whose entire purpose in life had suddenly been taken away. He felt the reaction was strange considering he thought the sisters hated their father.
"All will be clear soon, Hye-jin."
Rising from his seat, the Chairman placed a hand on Yu-na's shoulder.
"Once I kill this demon, everything will be fine."
"Let's kill him together."
Yu-na's black aura burst to life, dark tendrils snapping violently around her. A gentle pull from her father was enough to calm them, however, and her aura gradually settled.
"No. Not today. I will handle this alone. See to your sister."
Hesitating, Yu-na's fists tightened at her sides. She shot Seo-jin a look filled with such hatred that he couldn't remember ever being despised so thoroughly by another creature.
"Yes, Father. Just promise you'll make him pay. They killed Ji-yoon."
As she moved to help her sister, Seo-jin made an effort to keep his voice as gentle as possible.
"Yu-na. No matter what happens, don't get involved. Hate me all you want, but don't make me kill you."
He considered saying more, but a sudden pulse in the air snapped his attention back to where it belonged.
"That is the second time you have threatened her in front of me—"
'Now! Do it now!'
"As a father yourself, you understand that that comes with a price."
Tightening his grip on Butcher's Wrath, Seo-jin felt the response come through the Broodlink, and a smile spread across his face.
"Of course. A father protects his children. But I envy you, Chairman. Ypu should try having sons."
With that final word, a third aura shot into the sky, accompanied by Tomb's enormous form. The Broodspawn let out a roar as Seo-jin swung his cleavers, channeling Tyrant's Aura through both blades. Two massive arcs of energy tore toward the Chairman, striking him just as Tomb activated his skill.
"Pointless."
The terrain erupted around them, towering monoliths of earth bursting through the ground as the city was torn apart. Jagged crags and massive stone spires rose across the battlefield, reshaping the land for miles in every direction.
Seo-jin could have sworn he'd seen his attack connect. Yet when he tried to leap away and take advantage of his son's assault, his body refused to move.
Instead, his view suddenly dropped, the ground rushing closer without any warning.
The notifications flashing before him barely registered. He was too busy staring at his legs.
They were lying a few feet away from him.