CHAPTER 208: SERPENT’S HEAD (1)

He took a long, steady breath and focused on the left side of his chest. The steady beat of his heart echoed in his ears.

Thump, thump.

He pictured a moonless and starless dark sky swallowed by black storm clouds. The faint rhythm of his heartbeat grew louder, echoing like drums. As if falling into a trance, his consciousness drifted up between the clouds.

So it’s still there after all.

A pure white light hid like a turtle between the dark clouds. This mana came from the Stigma he had absorbed from Damian not long ago.

Woong!

As he reached toward the light shining in the dark sky like a single star, his fingertips began to burn as it strongly rejected him. The Stigma’s mana resisted violently as if it had a will of its own and could choose its master.

Tsk.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned and pulled his hand back from the light. Just like the Dragon Vein’s mana, he couldn’t handle it at his current level.

I feel like I can reach nine stars in no time if I can just absorb that mana.

Maybe the Black Heaven’s stage was still too low, or the mana itself was simply unique with a mind of its own like Damian’s stubborn personality. It pushed back like a porcupine with its quills raised.

It’s only a matter of time.

Kwon Oh-Jin summoned the vast amount of mana dormant within the Black Heaven and circulated it throughout his body once. Compared to before, his mana circuits had grown wide enough for the mana to move like a mighty current. Like how a river wore away a stone, an extremely small portion of the light melted into the mana stream.

The mana began at his heart and fully circulated through his body before returning. With each cycle, he absorbed a sliver of Damian’s mana. If he had enough time, he would eventually be able to merge all of it into the Black Heaven.

The problem is time.

He couldn’t afford to spend all his energy on absorbing such minuscule amounts.

“Haaa.” He exhaled slowly and opened his eyes.

The massive private training room that could fit three basketball courts came into view. After completing his daily routine of mana circulation, Kwon Oh-Jin loosened up his muscles.

Stigma of Libra.

A soft light took form and turned into an illusion of Cheon Do-Yoon, the King of Owls, who had once driven Kwon Oh-Jin to the brink of death.

“I’ll set the timer for... ten, no, fifteen minutes.”

He pulled out his phone and set a timer.

Alright then.

He steadied his breath and cleared his head.

Staring at the illusion of Cheon Do-Yoon, he whispered a lie, “What I’m seeing isn’t an illusion.”

Not a phantom nor a projection, but a real living enemy.

“This is the real Cheon Do-Yoon.” He repeated the lie again and again as if hypnotizing himself.

The illusion made from light laughed and stroked his beard like the real Cheon Do-Yoon. “Hahaha

, it’s been a while, hasn’t it? Even now, it still feels like such a shame.”

A sly smirk tugged at the corner of Cheon Do-Yoon’s lips.

“If it weren’t for you...”

Black feathers began to rise and swirled around him.

“That girl’s eye would’ve been mine by now,” Cheon Do-Yoon said.

“Shut your damn mouth, you bastard.”

Kwon Oh-Jin’s head burned as rage washed over him. He recalled tears streaming down Song Ha-Eun’s cheeks as Cheon Do-Yoon held her captive. He could only watch helplessly back then, but now it was different.

Blue lightning wrapped around his legs.

Crackle!

With explosive force, Kwon Oh-Jin launched forward like an arrow.

“Hahaha.”

Tudududu!

The black feathers around Cheon Do-Yoon shot at him, but Kwon Oh-Jin leaped into the air and stepped on lightning. Then, he brought his jet-black spear down like a thunderbolt toward Cheon Do-Yoon’s head.

“You’ll need more than that to deal with me,” Cheon Do-Yoon said.

Clang!

Black wings sprouted from Cheon Do-Yoon’s shoulders and fended off the spear. A jarring shock shot through Kwon Oh-Jin’s arms as the spear was knocked from his grip and he was sent flying backward.

With a powerful flap of Cheon Do-Yoon’s wings, a flurry of black feathers rained down on him. Where the feathers grazed him, his skin reddened and the flesh underneath began to necrotize.

“We’ll see about that.” Kwon Oh-Jin made a twisted smirk and reached for his spear that had clattered across the floor.

A streak of blue lightning shot out, lifting the spear into the air.

Crackle!

“Looks to me like I’m strong enough to face you now.”

“Kugh!”

The spear shot out and pierced through Cheon Do-Yoon’s back. Blood spewed onto the ground. Cheon Do-Yoon’s wrinkly lips fell open as he dropped to one knee.

As Cheon Do-Yoon collapsed, a sharp-featured young man and a demonic beast in black armor emerged.

“Tsk, tsk. That old man sure does talk a lot.”

“Shhhhk!”

It was Sosuke, the Black Star Society’s seventh-ranked executor, and the Living Armor. They closed in from both sides like a pair of seasoned partners who had trained together for years.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s breathing turned heavy. “Haa, haa.”

With no time to rest, blue-black flames and water droplets flew at him from both directions.

Crackle!

The battle became too fast to follow with the naked eye as new cuts appeared across Kwon Oh-Jin.

“Shhhk, sshk

.”

“K-Kugh!”

In the end, the Living Armor and Sosuke collapsed to the ground.

Kwon Oh-Jin gasped for air and turned around.

Damian stood before him and glared. “To those consumed by darkness...”

The sword he raised gleamed radiantly with light.

“Bring them the light.”

Boom!

A massive surge of light struck like a tidal wave. Just before Damian’s blade cut him in half from his head, the alarm on his phone went off.

Ring, ring.

A clear bell chime echoed through the room, and the lie Kwon Oh-Jin had cast on himself instantly shattered.

The illusion of Damian’s sword passed right through him.

“Huff!” Kwon Oh-Jin let out a ragged breath and looked down at where the blade had passed through him.

Damian might still be too much for me.

He swallowed hard and examined his injuries. Even though the battle was only against illusions, he was covered in necrotized wounds.

“Feels like the damage gets worse every time.”

It hadn’t been this bad when he first started doing this kind of mental training, telling himself lies to make the training feel real. Ever since he gained the ability to create illusions, the injuries he got became closer to the real thing.

Makes sense. I was actually pissed off at Cheon Do-Yoon earlier too.

Of course, somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that this was all just imaginary and part of the training. However, if he kept this up long enough, he felt like a day would come when he could completely fool himself.

“Or not.” Kwon Oh-Jin chuckled and pressed his hand against his wound.

The Stigma of Seahorse.

He used the Water Affinity to heal his wounds and retraced the fight against his illusions.

Beep, beep, beep.

The keypad being pressed rang out, and the door to the training room opened.

Isabella and Song Ha-Eun stepped inside.

“Are you still in the middle of training, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“Jesus, Oh-Jin. How the hell do you make such a mess training alone?”

Kwon Oh-Jin looked at Song Ha-Eun, who was drenched in sweat just like him. “Did you just come from training too?”

“Don’t even get me started. I sparred with this bitch for a bit and thought I was gonna die.” Song Ha-Eun shook her head with an exhausted expression.

Isabella wrapped her arm around Song Ha-Eun’s and smiled sweetly. “Oh come on, unnie. How could you call your lovely little sister a bitch?”

“Ugh, drop the act! You were out for blood just five minutes ago when you attacked me!”

“Haha

. I was only doing it for you, you know?” Isabella giggled, covering her mouth with her hand.

She claimed it was all for Song Ha-Eun’s benefit, but she was clearly also working out some lingering jealousy.

“Anyway, what brings you here?” he asked.

“We came to have lunch with you. Are you free, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“Oh, perfect timing. I just finished a set and was about to take a break.”

“That’s good.” Isabella smiled as she lifted the lunchbox she had brought. “I made it this morning.”

“Ugh, I’m starving to death. Let’s eat, Oh-Jin.”

“Okay.”

The three of them sat together in the spacious training room and enjoyed their lunch. Lately, sharing a meal like this in the training room had become one of the many familiar parts of their routine.

Just then, Kwon Oh-Jin’s phone started vibrating.

Buzz.

He figured it was just another spam message to ignore and continued eating.

Bzzz. Bzzz.

“Looks like you’ve got a call?” Song Ha-Eun said.

“Hold on a sec.”

Kwon Oh-Jin picked up his phone. The name on the screen read Cheon Sang-Gil. He hadn’t heard from the Avaricious Wolf in quite some time.

“Who’s calling, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

“It’s Mr. Cheon Sang-Gil.”

Song Ha-Eun, who’d been completely focused on shoveling down her food, looked up with wide eyes.

“Huh? Gramps is calling?”

Kwon Oh-Jin nodded and put the call on speaker.

—Haha, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?

Cheon Sang-Gil’s voice echoed through the spacious room.

“Ah, yes. Have you been well?”

—I’ve been busy chasing the serpent’s tail. It wasn’t easy for sure.

He clearly sounded tired like he had been through a lot.

“Did you manage to find anything?”

—That’s actually why I’m calling you. You went to Sokcho a while back, didn’t you? When that demonic beast outbreak happened.

“Yes, that’s right.”

Kwon Oh-Jin searched through his memories from more than six months ago.

When demonic beasts had attacked Sokcho, they had all fled in the same direction as if drawn by something. A dark energy had settled in the center of the city.

“Did something happen there? I’m pretty sure Ha-Eun burned away all of that dark energy back then.” Kwon Oh-Jin glanced at Song Ha-Eun.

—What she burned away was just a tiny piece of it. Deeper down... another darkness was hiding.

“Another darkness?”

—The Demonic District.

The ominous words stiffened Kwon Oh-Jin’s expression.

—There was a rift that led to the Demonic District.

“What?” Kwon Oh-Jin’s face hardened.

Why would a rift to the Demonic District, a place said to exist only at the North Pole, suddenly show up in Korea?

—And from that place, I found it.

Cheon Sang-Gil said in a low voice.

—The serpent’s tail.