Returnee's S-Rank Management Guide

Chapter 222 : Embers (2)

Embers (2)

Eugene Garland.

He was currently the only S-rank Hunter remaining in Pandemonium.

The other S-rank Hunters had either been dispatched to support various locations around the world or were sent to guard the White House.

"It's truly a pity things turned out this way, Eugene."

They had met when Titan appeared, but he hadn't imagined they'd cross paths again like this.

Victor sincerely thought it was a pity.

He didn't know what Eugene thought, but as for Victor, he believed there was quite a deep connection.

"I wanted to kill you myself. But Dune didn't allow that."

"I have no intention of conversing with you, Victor."

"This might be the last time you and I meet, so how about being a little more flexible, Eugene?"

Ignoring Victor, who sounded regretful, Eugene quickly scanned his surroundings.

Currently, there were three members of UnderStellar, including Victor, whom he was holding off.

'The other two...'

They were among the five who had attacked Pandemonium.

The other five must have gone elsewhere.

'If I take on any more injuries, even keeping them here will be impossible.'

Eugene gritted his teeth and raised his sword.

The only reason he was able to hold off all three S-rank UnderStellar members was because his specialty was speed.

But even though Eugene had fought as defensively as possible to block their attacks, his body already bore all sorts of wounds.

And the opponents?

Victor hadn't received any damage at all, and the other two had only suffered minor injuries.

Moreover, there were two more UnderStellar members currently fighting other guild members of Pandemonium.

'I need to chase after those bastards!'

It was only because Pandemonium's Hunters were of such high caliber that they could even hold out against two S-rank Awakeners.

If it were a regular Hunter guild or management agency, even a single S-rank Hunter could have annihilated them, let alone two.

"Is that man named Dune the leader of UnderStellar? Where is he now?"

"Who knows."

Victor only shrugged at Eugene's question.

Even if he wanted to answer, Victor truly didn't know where Dune was.

"He said he planned to fan the embers a little more."

"Embers?"

"Yeah, the embers for us Awakeners."

Victor lifted a sword shaped like a cane from where it had been resting on the ground.

"I'm sorry about this. We're thinking of using you all as firewood."

Eugene could roughly guess what he meant.

If Pandemonium was destroyed, it would send shockwaves throughout the world.

And depending on the government's response, there would be huge repercussions.

One thing was certain: it would never end well.

"You must be exhausted by now anyway. There's no point resisting further. There will be no reinforcements. Who would come to help you?"

All the S-rank Hunters in this city had already left.

There wasn't a single Hunter available to support Pandemonium as it was being attacked by UnderStellar.

It would only be a pointless death.

At the very least, they had to buy time until the dispatched Hunters could return...

'But that's impossible.'

Eugene knew it, too.

Still, the only reason he hung on so persistently was because he had faith.

"Hey, Victor."

"Oh, yes, Eugene. Have you finally considered giving up?"

"Honestly, I can't understand why you seem so relaxed."

"...?"

He meant it.

Victor—he had witnessed it together with Eugene, hadn't he?

"Even if someone is on the other side of the Earth, if they can appear in mere seconds, why should I give up?"

Crack.

With Eugene's words, all the lights in the Pandemonium building suddenly went out at once.

'A blackout?'

No, it wasn't just Pandemonium's building.

The lights of the city observed outside the window began to go out one by one.

Flick, flick.

Lights blinked, then lost power.

Something was draining electricity elsewhere.

Flash! Flash! Flash!!!

Lightning struck.

Blue lightning crawled along the ground, illuminating the darkened buildings as it stood before Eugene.

"You're..."

Alencia Walker.

Among demons, they called her the "Saint" of this era.

A god born as a human.

'It's the same as back then.'

He felt the same awe-inspiring strength as when he'd fought Titan.

Thrilled by it, Victor let out a low chuckle.

"Hahaha."

Alencia's appearance was sooner than expected, but not something he hadn't considered.

Just as Eugene said, Victor had also witnessed Alencia destroy Titan before his very eyes.

After all, he was the one who had transported Prometheus' heart.

"Hey, Eugene. Do you think we hadn't considered this lady here?"

Victor laughed, feeling the black energy pounding within his heart.

Back then, he had only been a mere S-rank Awakener. But he was no longer the same.

"Even if she shows up, we judged we'd be able to handle her just fine."

All UnderStellar members had partially transplanted demon power.

Among them, Victor—along with Dun—had become on par with high-ranking demons.

"They call her Saintess. Demons say she is proof of the value of our era. But, they say, her power isn't absolute."

Put simply—

Alencia's power was electricity. She wielded authority over all things humans imagine as 'electricity'.

"But it's not absolute. To wield that power, she always has to go through a process of charging. Since it doesn't recover continuously, she'll inevitably hit a limit."

Something alien began to mix into Victor's voice.

It wasn't just his voice that changed—half his face darkened and began to distort grotesquely.

"If we strike at that limitation, the Saintess can be brought down easily."

All the Saints before Estella had been killed that way.

The demon knowledge in Victor spoke so.

'She can't use the same strike she used to defeat Titan here in the city.'

It would wreak massive damage across the city.

Moreover, after using that much power, Alencia would be forced to deplete all her remaining electricity.

'As long as she doesn't use such a powerful attack, we can withstand it.'

They were fully capable of winning.

That was what Victor thought.

The people gathered here could have brought down Titan, even then.

"Hmm?"

But despite Victor's words, Alencia only blinked her large eyes.

"I don't have to charge up in advance, you know?"

"What?"

"Until now, it's just that I had to fight in places where prepping in advance was necessary."

Oh, of course, to enlarge the vessel, a tremendous surge of electricity was temporarily needed.

If Alencia used the device made by Sarah Walker to temporarily expand her vessel, thereafter, with that enormous blessing, she could manipulate the surroundings as much as she wanted.

"Can't you tell, since the blackout is still going?"

In other words, by focusing the flow of the entire city's current on herself.

"... What?"

"Sorry, but right now, I won't be running out of electricity."

As long as the generator supplying power to this city kept running.

***

"Dune Graham."

As I called out to the man walking toward the broadcast station, he halted in his tracks.

"Where are you going all by yourself?"

Amid the confusion from the sudden blackout, Dune turned to look at me from within a jostling crowd.

He briefly studied my face, then let out a small "ah" of realization.

"This is the first time I'm seeing you in person. You must be Park Jung-woo?"

"I asked where you're going."

Dune smiled faintly and glanced at the broadcast station behind him.

It was the building for VCN, one of America's public broadcasters.

"If you knew already, why bother asking?"

"Why?"

"I was thinking of asking a small favor. Ah, don't make that face. I didn't plan to kill anyone here."

It was literally just a small favor.

That was what Dune claimed.

"Trying to use the media?"

"'Use', you say? I was just going to help them air something a little more sensational, that's all."

For example, the incident unfolding at Pandemonium.

Or Awakener ones killing humans.

"I've got some good footage. I was just thinking of airing a bit of it."

"If you do something like that—"

I trailed off with a sigh.

Well, it's not like this guy would listen anyway.

Dune Graham. He chased after demons for reasons completely unlike Jin Su-hyuk's.

No lofty ideals, nor was he a simple hedonist.

His beliefs were those of an ordinary person.

He hated being discriminated against or put at a disadvantage—just an ordinary man.

"The reason I created UnderStellar was simply because I had a question."

He hated a world that tried to control those with great power.

It wasn't out of some superiority complex.

"Why do we have to live according to the weak?"

Why should they accept restrictions for the safety of powerless humans, suppressing their strength? Simply because they were outnumbered? Or because that was morally right?

No, just because they were afraid.

Just like the police who gave up chasing the criminal who killed his parents.

"I'm grateful to the police who taught me that as a child."

The fear ordinary people harbored toward the Awakener.

They had revealed his greatest weapon.

"The ember is already everywhere in this world. I'm just fanning it bigger."

"Just like Jin Su-hyuk did?"

"Yeah."

Honestly, it was a clumsy move.

But in this day and age, things were overheated enough to be swayed by even such a clumsy attempt.

Dune gave a faint smile at my calm reaction.

"Looks like you don't sympathize with me at all."

"Wouldn't it be a bigger problem if I did agree with something a bunch of murderers said?"

"Haha."

Dune laughed delightedly at my words.

A powerful demonic energy writhing in his heart was palpable.

It was a familiar sensation.

Butcher Henate.

The power I'd felt from Sol Mayer's body—I now felt from Dune as well.

"Park Jung-woo, I'll say this up front. It'll be different from that half-wit back then."

That was spoken both by Dune and by Henate.

After Odyssey, it seemed Dune had been quite diligent in 'feeding'.

"But I'm curious if you can even fight properly in these streets."

Slowly, a serene demonic energy began to boil up. Black shadowy fluid dripped from Dune's right arm.

Internally, I was grateful it was darkened from the blackout.

If it hadn't been, the streets would already be in chaos.

"Simple—I just have to fight somewhere else, right?"

"...!"

Squelch.

I advanced right before his nose, stepping into the spreading pool of shadow.

My speed was so fast that even Dune couldn't perceive it easily, at least twice as fast as I'd been before.

'Right side.'

Instinctively, I threw my fist toward Dune, who raised his both arms stained with crimson shadows.

Aiming for an empty area without people or tall buildings.

Kwaaaang!!

With a thunderous roar, Dune's body was hurled back.

He tried to balance by extending his shadow toward surrounding buildings, but I was far faster.

'This is perfect.'

Dune—no, Henate—looked at me in shock.

Apparently, my movements, which had improved even further from before, startled him.

'I need to grow more accustomed to this power.'

I hadn't been idling while Jin Su-hyuk and the demons stirred up chaos.

The power I'd used to close the rift at the Grand Canyon.

The faintly opened door's crack.

I had managed to pry it open a little further.

And through that hand-width gap, I could see inside.

Seated on a broken throne was 'that thing'.

That monster—I had thought I'd never see again.

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

Will we see Jung-woo and the Demon King fight again?

Demon King vs. Demon God?

【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】