Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 184 : Like a Shining Star (5)

Like a Shining Star (5)

Yuria Bello.

The daughter of Ardan, once called the Grand Duchess of Winter.

She hadn't heard much about her.

Even when she asked, she never received a proper answer.

She, having turned to look at Yeon-hwa, said nothing.

She simply gazed quietly at Yeon-hwa.

Strangely, she thought her gaze resembled her own.

A fierce sense of powerlessness and emptiness was reflected in her eyes.

Her loneliness felt piercingly real.

"It must be hard."

Yuria spoke.

"I always ran away. Now, even if I go back, it might be too late."

Those words were meant for Yeon-hwa.

"There are always people greater than you. What you want, what you wish for—there will always be others waiting ahead of you."

At the same time, it was a message for herself.

Words from the girl who always blamed herself back at Winter Castle.

"Unable to meet their expectations."

Constantly compared to everyone else.

"For the things you abandoned, you might only ever be able to look on from afar."

It might be a life of following after dazzling stars.

Feeling your limits, and just envying others as before, you could become such a terrible person.

"Even so—you still want it?"

To become S-rank, and a great mage.

It had always been her long-cherished dream.

"You didn't want to become those things because you had some great reason."

"Yuria, you too."

Yeon-hwa cut in and calmly began to speak.

"Yuria, you're no different."

Because it was about herself, she could understand.

There was nothing especially significant behind her words now.

It was simply... jealousy.

Because it was Ji Yeon-hwa, she could tell.

"You didn't really have any special objective either, did you?"

Yuria just wanted to leave Winter Castle.

She wanted to become strong, to become a daughter Ardan could be proud of.

That was all.

"... You're right."

She spoke, gripping her white skirt.

"That was all."

And even that, she couldn't achieve.

"So... is that why I failed? Because I didn't have anything I wanted? Because I didn't have a grand dream?"

Yuria muttered as if to herself.

Those were thoughts Yeon-hwa had once held too.

Just as she had once said to him, Yeon-hwa too hadn't had any big goal.

It all began with simple praise.

Just a bit of light flattery.

With others saying you were amazing... Shrugging your shoulders a little at their reactions.

All she wanted was to show off her magic.

The next time, she just wanted to show even cooler magic and be praised again.

"It's okay."

Yeon-hwa slowly approached Yuria and embraced her.

"It's okay just like that."

Yeon-hwa realized she was saying exactly what Jung-woo once told her.

She began to understand a little about what that meant—'It's okay as it is.'

You don't always need some grand reason to do something.

Perhaps most people are like that.

Many live for trivial reasons, and for many, those reasons become their dreams.

She was surely one of those people.

Of course, there are also some who have brilliant dreams like shining stars.

There are those who are born with talents to realize such dreams and live looking only toward the light.

There are also those who know nothing of darkness, living simply by dreaming.

It was just that she wasn't one of them.

But that didn't mean she was necessarily lesser than them.

***

Her breath cooled to icy air.

When she opened her eyes, she witnessed a deluge of countless spells pouring down upon her.

Magic that would've taken the life of any ordinary mage without resistance.

Even Yeon-ji, even Ji Yeon-hwa, probably couldn't have survived that onslaught with their bare body.

That held true now as well.

His magic carried immense demonic energy, amplifying its destructive power even further.

But of course, that was only if she'd been struck by the magic.

"Hoo."

She breathed out, the cold sigh freezing to bits of ice that scattered in the air.

The magic power of her forehead, heart, and mana hall moved in unison, manifesting her will.

Chwarureuruk!!

From the frozen ground, chains shot forth and began to weave in a circle.

Gradually, they grew thin and broad, forming the shape of a transparent disk.

That disk blocked the downpour of magic, shielding Yeon-ji in front.

Its form was not so different from ordinary defensive magic.

But the effect was completely different.

Simply watching the endless magical rain, she knew instinctively.

Not a single attack could reach her.

The falling flames, the icy spears, the lightning—

Once they touched the mirror, it was as if they never existed, instantly absorbed and erased.

The spells that crashed down around her smashed the arena and tore up the land of ice, but not a scratch was left on Yeon-ji herself.

The mirror in front of her had perfectly absorbed the magic.

"... What is that?"

Sol Mayer looked at Yeon-ji with incomprehension.

"What on earth... is that?"

The magic he'd just unleashed was far more powerful than anything Yeon-ji should be able to block.

Its power could have blown away the entire arena.

Yet the magic shattered everything around Yeon-ji—leaving her unscathed, as if by magic.

"Could it be..."

That left only one possibility.

If there was magic, or power, that special—

Conceptualization Technique.

"You... became S-rank?"

In just this short time?

No, on closer view, her appearance had subtly changed.

Yeon-ji, who'd looked to be in her early teens, now seemed to have grown into her late teens or perhaps early twenties.

【She has fully awakened her demonic lineage.】

The rough voice of Henate was heard.

【Bello's bloodline. To think, she possessed that.】

Sol Mayer did not know exactly what it was, but he sensed it was a special bloodline.

It was rare for Henate to speak directly like this.

【It's well-timed. If I consume that, I can become more complete.】

"Consume her?"

To kill and to consume are entirely different things.

Doing that in front of this many people...

【It doesn't matter how, as long as I absorb that one. With my abilities, it's possible.】

Henate whispered to a hesitant Sol Mayer.

【If you eat her, you could become even stronger. Otherwise, will you lose? To a girl who, until just now, was far beneath you?】

At those words, his grip tightened.

That could not be.

He had no idea how she'd reached S-rank in such a short time.

But he had no intention of losing to a girl who had just now become S-rank.

Never.

If that happened—if that really happened—the reputation of 'Sol Mayer' would suffer a terrible blow.

'No. Anything but that.'

It was a name obtained at the cost of everything.

He could not throw it away meaninglessly—not when it had become his entire being.

"Never, never will I allow it."

Sol Mayer stared at Yeon-ji with bloodshot eyes, muttering to himself.

The power in his heart roiled, threatening to burst his body at any moment.

"I am Sol Mayer."

He recited it like a mantra.

"I am Sol Mayer, I say."

With his muttering, black demonic energy surged outward in all directions.

Dark mana swallowed the light and began dyeing the entire surroundings in shadow.

"What is that?"

"Is that Sol Mayer's new magic?"

"Something's wrong..."

The spectators began to stir at this change.

The black aura spreading everywhere began to surround the whole arena.

"... That's—"

Yeon-ji narrowed her eyes and observed.

The more Sol Mayer used his power, the stranger marks surfaced on his face.

"Divine art."

She had seen this in the footage from the incident at Gwehyeoldo.

The same marks that once appeared on Benadic's body now surfaced on Sol Mayer's.

And the black energy engulfing the area now—this was something that must never touch a human body.

'That's the power of Butcher Henate.'

Instinctively, she realized what it was.

Probably, it was information drawn from Yuria's memories.

Butcher Henate.

One of the three Great Dukes of the Demon Realm.

The immortal monster.

Such titles flashed through her mind.

The black mist now filling the surroundings—this occurred whenever Henate appeared.

If touched by that mist, both life and magic power would be absorbed by Henate.

In some ways, it was similar to Soo-ah's Life Lantern Ignition.

It was a power that could unilaterally drain an opponent's power.

Of course, if that mist touched others, Sol Mayer would recover endlessly, and the audience would lose their lives.

'I need to stop that first...'

Just as she thought that—

She felt a familiar magic power move.

A cold wind blew, and the black energy that had been spreading hesitated and began to recede.

It was similar to her own power, but it wasn't something Yeon-ji had done.

"Could it be..."

She looked toward the audience.

Following the familiar aura with her eyes, she saw a man standing with his arms crossed, looking down at the scene.

Ardan Bello.

He was watching her.

When had he arrived there?

"Ardan Bello, you—!"

Sol Mayer and Henate seemed to have noticed, shouting furiously.

The power stopping Henate's mist was none other than Ardan Bello's— Winter's Domain.

The snowstorm that froze everything was preventing Henate's power from spreading too far.

Yeon-ji and Ardan's eyes met for a moment, but Ardan said nothing.

No, perhaps he could not speak.

"We'll handle the match ourselves. You should go watch."

Yun Seung-hyuk, the leader of Team Point, had told Ardan before the match.

Ardan had tried to stay due to the importance of the match, but Yun Seung-hyuk smiled.

"Didn't you say your daughter has a match today? Miss Hwang Yeon-ji, wasn't it?"

He had said so and nudged him forward.

Ardan wanted to refuse, but couldn't bring himself to speak.

Memories of the past kept coming back.

Yuria, whom he had left alone at Winter Castle.

The daughter who died as he tried to fulfill his duties.

"Just being by her side will surely give her great strength."

At Yun Seung-hyuk's words, it was as if Ardan was bewitched; he found himself at the site of Yeon-ji's match.

He couldn't bring himself to step into the area for staff, so he quietly watched from afar.

He'd wanted to stop Yeon-ji so many times as he watched her collapse over and over, her body beaten and battered.

He wanted to tell her she could stop now.

He even grew resentful of Jung-woo for sending her into such a reckless fight.

"So that's it."

But his decision was right.

The proof was the daughter in the arena, looking at him now.

He could see her, having splendidly awakened her lineage and taken a great step forward.

Perhaps her future once belonged to Yuria.

And now, this new-born daughter—

'A demon's heart is a vessel that holds a soul itself.'

Yeon-ji, now one with it, could be said to be the same being as Yuria from the start.

Whether it was reincarnation or merely resemblance, he didn't know.

What mattered was that now the two were one.

It could only be called a miracle.

"Ardan Bello!!"

Sol Mayer's scream was swallowed by the snowstorm, never reaching the audience.

Yeon-ji realized that this was his consideration for her.

At this moment, neither the audience's gaze nor the cameras could reach the arena.

"You seem rather relaxed."

Yeon-ji spoke.

Ji Yeon-hwa looked up at him.

"You should look at me."

Now that no one's eyes could reach her, there was no need to suppress her abilities as a demon any longer.

She could keenly feel the two horns growing from her temples.

The power she'd kept sealed as a demon had now been completely unleashed.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

A father's support gives infinite strength!

【٩(๑•̀o•́๑)و】