Chapter 89: The Man in the Prophecy
[We withdraw here.]
“What are you doing, lissa?”
[We’ve already achieved our objective. Any more is a waste of ti.]
At her words, Garcia glared at lissa as if he wanted to kill her.
“Objective achieved? Can’t you see the sword that bastard’s holding? Move aside right now.”
[That was already agreed upon. If this keeps up and the Inquisitors arrive, it’ll beco quite troubleso.]
“Move aside right now…….”
[You haven’t forgotten how much cost piles up for every single second we hold out here, have you?]
“…….”
At lissa’s threatening tone, Garcia clamped his mouth shut.
In that opening, the Empress called out the na of the Old Butler standing beside her.
[Adonis.]
“Yes.”
With that, he pulled a pocket watch from his pocket.
‘Is that…… an artifact……?’
At a glance, it was clearly no ordinary object.
When the butler pressed the top of the watch with his thumb, space tore open with a yellow light.
It looked like a portal based on a principle similar to space-type magic.
“……Listen carefully.”
Garcia pointed at Diesel and narrowed the space between his eyes.
“The owner of that sword is .”
Leaving behind those chilling words—
The opened portal swallowed the three of them.
In an instant, the mbers of Despotia vanished without a trace.
For a mont, a heavy silence settled in.
Diesel steadied his ragged breathing.
‘Hoo…….’
After regaining so composure, he looked around.
Everywhere was a complete ss.
Where the Old Butler had fought, it looked as if a bombardnt had gone off.
Looking closely, it seed like the aftermath left by spells projected by the mage on the upper level.
On the spectator side, people were collapsed here and there due to the aura Garcia had released.
Those escorting their clients muttered as they each called for First Aid.
[Atropine 3 mg, epinephrine 1 mg administered as an ergency! Additional asures to follow…….]
Amid the sound of defibrillators charging in various places, all kinds of ergency treatnts were carried out.
In that chaos, soone approached Diesel and asked,
[Are you okay?]
It was the lee Mage who had fought Garcia directly.
The one eye exposed by her broken mask scanned Diesel’s body.
[You were hit directly by demonic power just now. That’s really dangerous.]
She looked him over and then said after noticing sothing,
[Look here. On your left collarbone—it’s already been eaten away, all blackened. Doesn’t it hurt? It must be incredibly painful.]
[…….]
[Still, you’re lucky. If it had been just a little off, it would’ve hit your heart.]
Facing her up close, Diesel realized she looked familiar.
‘She’s the woman I worked with in Furry Land.’
The lee Mage who used acceleration-type magic—Kali.
She was skilled enough to directly withstand the power of the demigod White Bear, so he rembered her clearly.
And to think she was a double lee Mage who even used Slow-type abilities.
‘What a coincidence.’
It was a familiar face, but this wasn’t the ti for greetings.
So Diesel casually changed the subject.
[I’m fine. You should be more concerned about your employer first.]
[Ah, is that so?]
At Diesel’s words, Kali glanced toward the seating area and scratched her head.
[Well, anyway, thanks. If it weren’t for you, we would’ve died like dogs.]
After expressing her brief thanks, she turned around and walked off at a steady pace.
‘Good thing there were so pretty useful mbers, even though I recruited them in a hurry.’
The reason Diesel had been able to hastily assemble people to help him was because there were clients in this auction house who absolutely could not have their identities exposed.
‘Kali’s client was an illegitimate child of the Jangcheon Choi clan, right. And the item they won was an extrely lethal poison.’
People who couldn’t let it be known that they had even co to the Black Market.
The reason he had been able to grasp their objectives at all was thanks to Sis’s hacking.
In the brief mont Diesel had given instructions, she had filtered information on those in the surrounding seats and even turned them to his side.
‘But is she okay?’
Diesel looked up toward the VIP section where he had originally been sitting.
There, he saw Sis with a slightly dazed expression.
So Diesel spoke through a closed channel.
[Sis. Let’s get out of here quickly.]
[……Yeah. We should.]
Judging by her response, sothing must have happened.
‘Did she make contact with lissa or sothing?’
He was curious, but this wasn’t the situation for a relaxed conversation.
Before long, the Inquisitors would arrive.
‘There’s nothing good that cos from getting involved with those guys.’
Besides, Diesel was currently in a state of being eroded by the demonic power Garcia had wielded.
If the Inquisitors saw this wound, they’d imdiately restrain him and try to extract information.
‘I really hate that kind of hassle.’
More than anything, they never gave proper compensation.
They were a group that believed everything they did was always right and just, and that everyone should naturally cooperate.
[What are you going to do about that?]
Sis approached Diesel and asked while looking at the Arc Blade.
[We’ll have to leave it behind for now.]
[Hmm…… that’s a bit of a sha.]
The legendary weapon once used by my older brother Lee Hamin.
Though not perfect, I had been able to briefly taste just how powerful the Arc Blade was.
After all, it had forced even Despotis’s excommunicated knight to fight in earnest.
[Don’t worry.]
It was a special sword that no one else could properly wield.
Leaving it here didn’t an abandoning it.
As long as this body was already connected to the Arc Blade, I could retrieve it again anyti.
‘Holding onto it right now would just be dangerous.’
Even just from the one line Garcia had left behind as he departed, taking it with now carried too much risk.
On top of that, the weapon was in a heavily damaged state, so it couldn’t be used properly anyway.
[Did you leave the ssage properly?]
[Yeah.]
Sis nodded while fiddling with the Arc Blade she had received from Diesel.
Now everything planned was finished.
All that remained was to get out of here.
[Let’s go.]
After returning the Arc Blade to its original place, I turned around.
Taking advantage of everyone being preoccupied, Diesel and Sis calmly slipped out of the auction house.
A few days later, at Hwayang Hotel in Hong Kong.
After finishing his ditation on the guest room bed, Diesel slowly opened his eyes.
“Ugh…….”
Treating the demonic scar Garcia had left behind was more troubleso than expected.
Even though he had been steadily receiving treatnt from the water spirit Nereid since the very day of the battle, the aftereffects still remained.
The eroded area had cald down considerably, but the pain was still vivid.
‘Hoo…… I just can’t get used to it…….’
It felt like having a heated branding iron pressed against his collarbone.
When the painkillers wore off on the first day, the wave of pain that hit him all at once had nearly killed him.
‘Still, I did gain one thing.’
The demonic miracle I had encountered for the first ti in my life.
I didn’t know where I’d use it, but while treating the wound, Diesel had co to understand the structure of that miracle in detail.
‘Just by detonating energy, it has this much power…….’
If Garcia hadn’t been trapped within Kali’s slowing barrier, Diesel might have lost his life to that attack.
As he was thinking that and about to get up from the bed, a knock sounded at the door.
“It’s .”
When Diesel opened the door at Sis’s voice, he saw her back in her usual clothes.
But her expression was nothing like usual.
She looked deep in thought.
Sis glanced at Diesel and asked,
“How’s your body?”
“It’s gotten a lot better.”
“……Really?”
“Yeah.”
“If you’re fine, then why are you sweating?”
She grabbed her own sleeve and wiped away the sweat running down near Diesel’s neck.
Then she turned her gaze toward his collarbone.
“Let take a look at the wound.”
“It’s fine. I told you I’m okay.”
“…….”
After the auction house incident, Sis’s attitude toward had changed in a strangely subtle way.
Where she used to be forthright and confident, now she seed oddly cautious.
‘What happened?’
Sothing must have happened with her eldest older sister.
I recalled lissa’s actions that night.
‘She suddenly stepped in front of Garcia.’
If she hadn’t intervened then, I would’ve been in an extrely dangerous situation.
I had been just about to invoke another miracle, even using up the power of the last remaining artifact, to block the demonic miracle Garcia was about to unleash.
A miracle I had truly intended to save until the very, very end.
Why, exactly, had lissa helped ?
I pondered that question carefully while treating my wounds, but I still hadn’t found an answer.
‘It’s not like I can ask her directly…….’
Sis still looked emotionally complicated, so I couldn’t bring myself to ask her sothing like that.
It involved her family, after all.
At tis like this, it seed best to wait quietly rather than pry.
‘Well, if it were important, she would’ve told already.’
There had to be sothing she couldn’t say.
Sis had more than enough judgnt to make that call.
“Let’s go.”
There were several reasons Diesel and Sis hadn’t left Hong Kong yet.
Partly because Diesel needed ti for his wounds to heal, but more than that, there was still sothing to be gained from the Black Market.
“Yeah……. Let’s go.”
I got into the elevator with Sis, who still looked dazed.
She pressed the rooftop button instead of the lobby floor.
“We’re not taking a car?”
“I’m going with my Aerodyne.”
“Hmm……. Do we really need to go that far?”
“You know how sensitive those guys are about appearances. We need to intimidate them from the start.”
Today, I had a eting with a high-ranking Black Market official.
They wanted to express a certain level of gratitude to for risking my life on the auction house front lines.
‘Well, it’s basically forcing thanks out of them.’
This had all been intentional on my part.
Either way, I had effectively protected the Black Market from an attack.
‘No way I’m doing that kind of service for free.’
Still, the fact that I had to reveal my identity was a bit botherso.
When I asked Sis whether it would be better to wear a mask, she shook her head.
“No. There’s no need.”
Seated in the Aerodyne, Sis brushed aside my concern.
“The ones we’re eting aren’t small fry. At least when it cos to information security, they’re solid.”
“I see.”
“Yeah. That’s their business. Lose credibility, and they’re finished.”
Soon, the Aerodyne departed.
The flying vehicle cut through the high skies, heading toward the center of Hong Kong.
Hong Kong in bright daylight had a charm entirely different from its dark nights.
There were things in particular that caught my eye.
“Is there so kind of festival today?”
“Don’t think so.”
“Then what’s with the parade in broad daylight…….”
Various sculptures placed along the roads emitted colorful holograms.
Dragon shapes, tiger shapes, turtle shapes, moving tiled houses, and more…….
“It’s Hong Kong. This is how it is every weekend.”
Despite the bright sunlight pouring down, the holograms were vivid, their resolution remarkably high.
One Aerodyne drifted leisurely into those lights.
—So you found that man, Andreina.
‘…….’
Extravagant scenery dazzling enough to make one’s eyes widen passed by outside the window.
A unique sight found only in Hong Kong.
And yet, Sis’s mind was sowhere entirely different.
—The man from the prophecy.
The prophecy her younger sister had left just before dying.
She glanced sideways at the man sitting in front of her.
‘The prophecy…….’
Along with that thought, mories from a horrific night resurfaced.
The mory she had replayed thousands of tis by now.
—Lydia……!
It had been a night of raging storms.
Sheets of rain battered the windows as if they might shatter them, and thunder roared loudly against her ears.
KWA-BOOM……!
In the blue flash of lightning, what Sis had seen was her eldest older sister stabbing her younger sister with a sharp dagger.
—No……!
Lydia collapsed weakly.
That scene from her recurring nightly nightmare.
Soon, bloodied, she murmured sothing while looking at lissa.
—……He will appear.
The younger sister, a gifted prophet, had one defining trait.
A trait that might better be called a curse.
—The man who will save us all.
The prophecies she made were always fulfilled.
And once a fate had been observed, no one could change it.
—And you will die by that man’s hand.
Sis rembered her younger sister’s final monts.
—Penelope.
The mont she breathed her last, calling her eldest older sister’s true na.
‘…….’
The man of the prophecy.
The man who would save the sisters, yet ultimately kill their eldest older sister.
Sis’s gaze returned to Diesel.
‘What…… should I do now…….’
She definitely wanted to kill him.
She hated him to death.
That’s what she had thought.
She really had…… but—
—Andreina.
Her eldest older sister’s voice, heard again at the Black Market after so long, sounded unlike anything she’d ever heard before.
—I’m sorry.
A tone she’d never heard despite all the years together.
—Please help that man…….
—…….
—And judge .
Her eldest older sister had clearly been crying when she said that.
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