CHAPTER 201: WELL-FED HYPOCRISY AND HUNGRY GOODNESS (5)

Damian squinted up at the downpour of fire. “What the?”

Even from a distance, the intense heat made his skin sting. The power packed into those blazing flames wasn’t something even he could ignore.

“So you didn’t come alone,” Damian said.

“You think I’d be crazy enough to come here by myself?”

Kwon Oh-Jin knew he had grown at an absurd pace compared to other Awakeners. He possessed power that far exceeded the number of strokes carved beside his chest thanks to the Black Heaven, the Stigma of Lyra, and other Stigmas he had absorbed.

But I’m still nowhere near ready to face a member of the Seven Stars.

He only had an elementary education, but he knew how to tell courage from recklessness. The absurdly powerful Seven Stars couldn’t be faced without a plan.

Fwoosh!

On Kwon Oh-Jin’s signal, Song Ha-Eun’s bombardment relentlessly rained down from the broken ceiling.

Damian’s eyes gleamed coldly as he looked at the massive fireballs charged with intense mana. Each one was powerful enough to make even him break into a cold sweat.

“Do you really think I won’t be able to dodge it if you blindly fire like this?”

Damian kicked off and evaded the falling fireballs with ease. He was far too skilled to be caught by a barrage fired from so far.

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and dodged a falling fireball as well.

“Yeah, dodging this kind of attack must be easy for someone like you.”

Not only was it easy for Damian to dodge, but even Kwon Oh-Jin could avoid the attacks just fine.

“But what about them?” Kwon Oh-Jin smirked and pointed to the second floor.

“Huh?”

The branch family members who couldn’t escape due to the collapsed exit shrieked in panic, their faces pale with fear.

“Kyaaa! I-It’s hot!”

“Save meee!”

“Aaaagh!”

The indiscriminate barrage of fire didn’t only fall on the first floor where Kwon Oh-Jin and Damian fought. It also rained down on the very people who had been cheering for Damian’s victory from the second floor.

“Well? Better go save them, right?” Kwon Oh-Jin cocked his head with a sly grin.

Even if those worthless people meant nothing to Damian, he still had to save them.

“It’s the right thing to do. Isn’t it?”

He wasn’t a filthy hypocrite like Isabella. He was someone who truly sacrificed and devoted himself to others like a good man.

Thud!

Fwoosh!

“Ugh!!”

Damian’s movements to dodge the fireballs turned frantic. With a swift leap, he reached the second floor.

“Kyaaa! P-Please save me, Mr. Damian!”

A middle-aged woman, caked in makeup to the point where it was hard to tell if she was wearing a mask or not, ran to him in a panic.

Fwoosh!

A massive fireball fell right toward her.

“Tch!”

Damian threw himself over the woman, who couldn’t even run properly because of her heels. He shielded her and took the impact on his back.

Boom!

“Kugh!”

The impact was still quite significant even with his mana enveloping him.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked up and sneered at Damian, who had thrown himself into the flames to save the woman.

“Yeah. I figured you’d do that.”

Damian turned to Kwon Oh-Jin in shock. “W-What are you doing?!”

He never imagined that Kwon Oh-Jin, the so-called Thunder Wolf hailed as a hero in Korea, would do something like this.

“Stop the attack! At this rate, everyone here will die!” Damian shouted.

“So what?”

“What?”

“What do I care if they die?”

Kwon Oh-Jin casually dodged the incoming fireballs and smirked. He recalled how they had wished for Isabella’s death, cursing out such venomous hate and calling her a witch.

It wouldn’t be a problem if they all died. Rather, it would be a problem if they survived.

“You!”

“More importantly, don’t you have more urgent matters to attend to?” Kwon Oh-Jin gestured to the people scattering in all directions to escape the falling fireballs.

Several of them were already engulfed in flames and writhing in agony.

“At this rate, they’re all going to die, you know.”

“Goddammit!” Damian cursed harshly and swung his sword desperately amid the shower of fireballs to protect the people.

Slash! Slash!

The sword, wrapped in pure white light, slashed through the fireballs. After getting slashed, the fireballs transformed into clumps of red crystals and fell to the ground. Damian possessed the Stigma of Libra, which had the power to neutralize attacks composed of mana like no other Stigma.

There are too many fireballs.

It wasn’t just the sheer number. Each fireball carried such overwhelming power that defending against them wasn’t easy.

Damian bit his lip anxiously and swung his sword toward the incoming barrage. It wouldn’t be difficult to block these attacks if he abandoned the trembling people behind him.

But I can’t do that.

An unwavering conviction shone fiercely in his eyes. His sword cleaved through the flames and radiated an even more dazzling light.

“As expected, there really is no other Awakener that’s as helpful as Ha-Eun.” Kwon Oh-Jin dryly chuckled as he watched Damian barely manage the firestorm.

When he sparred with Song Ha-Eun the other day, he had outclassed her in everything except firepower.

In other words, she surpasses me in terms of raw firepower.

He couldn't keep up with her, especially when it came to raining down attacks indiscriminately over a wide area.

She won’t be able to keep this up forever, though.

Even with the Dragon’s Heart, Song Ha-Eun couldn’t endlessly unleash this kind of overwhelming firepower. She was likely already overexerting herself.

Still, this should buy us a decent amount of—

Woong!

The radiant light flowing from Damian intensified, and wings of light formed behind him.

With a short breath, Damian jumped high up from the second-floor railing.

“Hmph!”

His wings spread wide, and he shot through the air at a terrifying speed.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked up in disbelief. “What the hell?”

Damian cut down every single fireball raining down.

Is that motherfucker even human?

It was like trying to slash raindrops on a rainy day to keep his clothes dry, and not just his clothes but everyone’s.

Slash, slash!

His movements far surpassed the speed of sound, blasting away the falling debris like marbles. Just the shockwave from his movement could scatter piles of concrete debris.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked up in annoyance. “Ah...”

Even the people who had been fleeing in a panic stared at Damian in awe.

“M-Mr. Damian...”

Around thirty seconds passed, and the firestorm noticeably weakened as Song Ha-Eun’s mana ran dry.

Despite the situation, Damian’s breathing had only become slightly labored. Besides that, he calmly slashed through the weakened fireballs.

“Haa, haa.” Kwon Oh-Jin briefly sighed in admiration and channeled mana into his spear.

No wonder he’s one of the Seven Stars.

Song Ha-Eun’s attacks had been blocked even better than he anticipated, so time became more of an issue than expected.

“Still, I’m not too late.”

Crackle! Crackle!

He smirked as the spear in his hand vibrated intensely.

His spear couldn’t speak or send telepathic messages, but the ego weapon had a will of its own that seemed to resonate with him.

“Well then...”

He slammed the spear shaft into the ground, and the blue lightning swirling around the black spear gathered at the tip of the blade.

Crackle!

The lightning formed a warhorse like the one made by the Living Armor, but it was covered in radiant blue lightning instead of eerie dark flames.

“Let’s have some fun.”

Kwon Oh-Jin mounted the ghostly warhorse and aimed his spear at Damian, who was still in the air with his wings of light.

Crackle!

With its front legs raised high, the warhorse charged viciously toward Damian as Kwon Oh-Jin pointed his spear forward.

Rumble!

Blue bolts of lightning appeared around him and gathered at his spear tip like a lightning rod.

Damian’s expression twisted. “Ugh!”

Perhaps those earlier movements had taken a toll even on him. Unable to dodge Kwon Oh-Jin’s surprise attack, he hastily raised his sword to defend.

The blue lightning and brilliant white light clashed.

Boooooom!

A deafening explosion, like dozens of bombs going off, shook the air.

The Colgrande Family’s mansion, which was as massive as a soccer stadium, collapsed with a thunderous roar. The ground around it for hundreds of meters sank as if a sinkhole had opened up. It was unbelievable that a clash between two humans had caused this.

As the thick cloud of dust slowly settled, Damian coughed up blood with the black spear impaled through his left shoulder.

“Kugh.”

Compared to Damian, Kwon Oh-Jin stood tall and relatively unharmed.

“M-Mr. Damian!”

“Did the Thunder Wolf... really just defeat one of the Seven Stars?”

The family heads watching the scene gasped in shock. Normally, they would have been caught in the shockwave from the clash and died instantly. Thanks to Damian stepping in front of them just before the impact, the area where they stood was spared.

Damian stared at Kwon Oh-Jin, who silently smiled back.

“Looks like... I won.”

At that moment, Kwon Oh-Jin toppled over like a doll and slammed face-first into the ground.

Thud.

Damian’s wounds looked far worse.

“Ugh, ah...”

However, Kwon Oh-Jin’s mana refused to move. The Stigma of Libra had crystallized his mana completely and cut apart his internal mana circuits. It felt excruciating like slivers of glass were running through his veins instead of blood.

Kwon Oh-Jin writhed on the ground like an insect.

“M-Mr. Oh-Jin!” Isabella crawled over to Kwon Oh-Jin.

With every move, she felt a pain like she was withering away due to the curse. Regardless, she refused to stop. Finally, she reached him and wrapped her arm around him.

Kwon Oh-Jin slowly raised his head in Isabella’s arms.

“Haa, haa. Damn, he really is insanely strong.”

It was hard to believe how Damian still overwhelmed him despite also protecting others. He had expected Damian to be strong, but the Seven Stars were monsters beyond his imagination.

“I’m sorry... Mr. Oh-Jin. Because of me...”

He ignored the tears welling up in Isabella’s eyes and turned to the slowly approaching Damian.

Damian yanked out the spear from his shoulder, tossed it aside, and raised his sword.

“This is the end,” Damian said.

“Yeah.” Kwon Oh-Jin nodded. He didn’t even have the strength left to move a finger. “My role ends here.”

“What?”

Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled. From the moment he arrived, he never thought he could defeat Damian.

But even if I can’t...

He picked up a chunk of concrete nearby and dragged it across his forearm.

Slash!

Blood ran down Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm, and he extended his bleeding arm toward Isabella.

“Drink it.”

Isabella the Leech Queen would surely be able to bring down the Sword of Justice.