Vol 3 Chapter 27

'No... it's not as if it's deliberate, it is deliberate.'

Yoon Seok-ho had said that it was up to the individual to decide whether their face would be shown or not. Even so, Kapros wondered if it needed to be that dark...

[[ Hahahahaha! ]]

At that moment, another tremendous burst of laughter erupted, perhaps satisfied with the man's consent. Simultaneously, several other laughs echoed noisily, and the initial voice began to speak cheerfully again.

[[ The tenth descendant of the executioner has been reborn. Congratulations! Along with the power you've desired all your life, you will pay an equal price. This is a ritual after 500 years. Now, the prepared blood! ]]

With a whooshing sound, liquids gathered as if seeping from thin air, rising in time with an urgent song. A strange red light emanated from the liquid hovering above the man's head.

[[ This is the most terrifying of all the blood used in the ritual so far. You will be branded with dragon's blood and gain the power of the demons you must defeat and kill. Draw the formation! Draw it! ]]

Along with the song-like words, the blood writhing in the air undulated, combining and separating, finally creating something that looked like a strange, living magic circle or pattern. The atmosphere grew increasingly ominous.

[[ There's no turning back now. The only kindness I give you is this: if you don't want to follow the same fate as the nine before you, don't be dominated by your power. ]]

[[ Nonsense, nonsense! ]]

As the words accelerated, the light from the red liquid formation grew slightly stronger. It felt like iron glowing red-hot in fire. The space that had initially only one voice was now filled with various voices laughing and giggling. As those sounds grew louder and finally became unbearable, a thunderous voice burst out like an executioner's signal.

[[ Engrave it! ]]

The liquid, now completely transformed into a red mass of light, fell onto the man's back from mid-air at tremendous speed, trailing light.

Bang!

Soon, with a tremendous sound, the clothes on his back were torn away, and the formation slowly seeping into the well-built bare skin revealed as he bent forward was dramatically illuminated. At that moment, the muscles on the man's back could be seen tensing tightly as he clenched his fists.

When the light that had been seeping in for a long time finally engraved completely and glowed red, Kapros tensed up at the sight of sweat beading and flowing on the man's back.

[ .... ]

At last, when everything was over, the light faded, and the man's body slowly descended to the floor. A strange red light swirled around the man's body standing on the floor before slowly fading away. The pattern visible through the torn clothes had now turned black.

[[ You are now truly an executioner of demons and the inheritor of the name Dark Knight. However, you are simultaneously neither demon nor human, and if you let your guard down even a little, you will immediately lose everything. ]]

[ .... ]

[[ Lastly, I'll give you one piece of advice for your future. Advance with a single purpose. What is your purpose? The purpose of the one who left you the dragon's blood was to be with just one person. And he died the fastest. ]]

"...Ah!"

At that moment, Kapros suddenly exclaimed. He saw something strangely familiar in the screen that he hadn't recognized until now.

'That's...!'

It was a piece of clothing almost identical to the uniquely glossy garment that wrapped around the neck inside the black armor Yu-wan always wore. Usually, only the neck and arm parts were visible, covered by the armor, but the torn clothes shown on the screen now were almost identical to that.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

In an instant, an enormous amount of thoughts began to swirl in Kapros's mind. Just as he started to feel a tightness in his solar plexus, for the first time, a low and slightly husky voice was heard, like a bell signaling the end of this video.

[ Though different from the purpose, there is only one destination. ]

Now it was over. Kran had told Kapros not to think about it, but this was like a signal stamping approval on what he had been trying hard not to think about.

Kapros knew that voice... the owner of that voice.

As soon as the voice sounded, the receding back view began to brighten gradually, and the previously dark cave and the entire figure of the man were captured just enough to be recognizable.

The video ended. Even after confirming that the screen had gone dark and returned to the familiar THE MIST web page, Kapros couldn't open his tightly closed mouth.

He couldn't tell whether the emotion he was feeling now was relief that he was alive, anger that he hadn't come to find him as promised despite being alive, or contempt for himself for stupidly waiting. No matter how long he thought about it, no single emotion remained.

How long had he been sitting in that state? He barely managed to think that he should do something else.

'First... I need to log into the game...'

As he stood up, supporting himself on the sofa, Kapros suddenly rolled forward, falling due to a stabbing pain in his right knee.

"...Ugh... damn it..."

For a moment, he lay curled up, clutching his knee and gritting his teeth due to the painfully familiar yet unfamiliar pain. After a few minutes, he felt the pain gradually subsiding. Still, he remained lying down, continuing to hold his knee. Suddenly, he remembered the words of a counselor he had heard long ago.

"Your pain is combined with trauma. If something happens to touch that deep part, pain can recur at any time, even without any physical reason."

He seemed to have dismissed it as nonsense back then, but thinking about it again recently, it seemed that those words might be right. The pain in his leg he had felt when he met Caesar... Jeong Seung-jo again not long ago. Kran had said that his body flickered then, like when logging out. And now this.

The desire to log into the game had completely disappeared.

Kapros closed his eyes, then staggered up and walked to the room with the bed. On the bed lay a wooden sword he had placed there to get used to swords. He roughly pushed it aside and lay down, deciding to try to sleep as a forced means to cool his head. But sleep never came, even as the night turned to dawn.