The desperate struggle against Ravana had consumed every last drop of my being, and the final words of the Ten-Headed King, promising a future encounter, remained vivid in my mind.
[I shall await the battlefield where we meet again!]
Next time... I had no idea when that promise would be fulfilled.
At that moment, a clear, cheerful voice rang out through the darkness.
“The seventh!”
The darkness before my eyes receded, revealing a boundless, pure white space extending into infinity.
There stood Pandora, the girl who grants a sliver of hope amidst calamity, her vibrant pink hair tied in twin-tails.
“Wow, incredible! To slay Jiha Daegukjeok after he achieved Mythic Syncretism with Lord Ravana... that’s some truly rapid growth, number seven!”
Pandora clapped her hands together, seemingly delighted from the bottom of her heart.
“A great victory naturally comes with a fitting gift. Since what you usurped is a very special Authority, I’ll be looking forward to what comes next!”
With those words, she shot me a playful wink. In that instant, the pure white space shattered like glass and collapsed.
When I finally opened my eyes, I saw an unfamiliar ceiling finished in elegant, antique wood.
A terrible fatigue weighed on me, but my body was mobile. Whether it was thanks to the magecraft of the Bronze-Black Cross or the absurd restorative powers unique to a Campione, the wounds that had left me tattered after the fight with Ravana were mostly healed.
It was almost eerie how I felt perfectly fine, without a single throb of pain.
“...Where is this?”
My voice came out hoarse and cracked. Immediately, a silhouette standing like a shadow in the corner of the room approached with soundless movements. It was Alessandro Gaspare, the knight of the Bronze-Black Cross. Reaching the bedside, he dropped to one knee and bowed his head with profound respect.
“You have awakened, my Liege. Alessandro Gaspare, awaiting your commands.”
“Alessandro... explain the situation.”
I pushed myself up. As I listened to his report, the scattered puzzle pieces in my mind began to click into place one by one. The timing of the calamity known as Jiha Daegukjeok, and how they appeared like ghosts the moment the battle ended. They had known everything from the start. No, it was highly likely they had set the entire stage.
“The Four Divine Guardians...”
I muttered the name under my breath. A cold rage began to boil like lava within me. I had been used. They dared to treat a Campione as a mere consumable, a hunting dog for their own ends. Humiliation and fury scorched my heart. I felt the temperature in the room plummet. The density of the air shifted under the weight of my wrath, and the seeping, vengeful magical power caused thin cracks to spiderweb across the windowpanes.
At the same time, the office of the Chief of the Four Divine Guardians was filled with a chill more biting than the Siberian tundra. The Chief’s face was flushed a violent crimson, looking as if it might explode at any moment. He slammed his palm against his desk and roared.
“You... you useless, blithering idiot! Is that head of yours just for decoration?! Did you fill your skull with udon noodles instead of a brain?!”
The Chief screamed, sending reports flying through the air. Before him, Team Leader Kang stood as still as a corpse, unable to even lift his head. Cold sweat poured down his back like a waterfall. The Chief’s rage wasn't a simple reprimand; it was closer to a terror-stricken shriek triggered by a situation that threatened the survival of the entire organization—no, the entire magical society of the nation.
The records of other Campiones flashed through his mind. Marquis Voban, who had erased an entire country from the map simply because his mood was fouled. The Black Prince, who had annihilated an ancient magical association in a single night just because they ignored him. Compared to their track records, this current incident was a mortal sin that wouldn't be paid for even if they offered up their lives a thousand times.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! You tried to put a leash on a King’s neck? He isn't some dog you can domesticate; he is a Devil King who devours gods! Do you think this ends with just your head on a platter?!”
The Chief’s voice cracked at the end. It was pure dread. Team Leader Kang bit his lip. He couldn't even offer an excuse. His arrogant judgment had invited an irreversible disaster.
“I am sorry.”
“Sorry? Do you think those words reach my ears right now?! Now! Mobilize every single man immediately and find the Seventh King’s location! We should be kneeling and begging before him, yet here you are, standing still!”
In the face of the Chief’s fury, Team Leader Kang delivered a report that was essentially a death sentence, his voice trembling.
“Chief... the thing is... it’s impossible. The ones who took the King were the Bronze-Black Cross. We cannot locate their secret safehouses with our current intelligence network. All traces have already been scrubbed.”
At those words, the color drained from the Chief’s face. The countenance that had been burning with rage turned deathly pale in an instant. He stared into space, speechless for a moment, before groaning in a voice filled with an abyss of despair deeper than his anger.
“The Bronze-Black Cross...? Don’t tell me... Diabolosso stepped in personally?! Ahhh...!”
The Chief cried out as if screaming and clutched his hair. He slumped into his chair, muttering as if he had aged ten years in seconds.
“It’s over... it’s all over... You lunatic! Of all the ways to handle this, you picked the absolute worst! Do you even know who we touched?! That man is the King’s shadow and his sharpest blade! And you made that blade point toward us!”
The Chief spent a long time gasping for breath. His eyes no longer held rational judgment, only the primal instinct of a beast trying to survive. He finally squeezed out his instructions in a strained voice.
“...Suspend the search for now. We won't find him anyway. If those people are attending to the King, there's no way we could locate him. Instead, prepare something else.”
“...Sir?”
Team Leader Kang’s questioning response only drove the Chief further into madness. He spoke in a low voice, his tone heavy with fury rising from his gut.
“When the King reveals himself, we will need ‘sacrifices’ to appease even a fraction of that wrath! Prepare the ‘sinners’ who will shoulder all responsibility for this disaster, and ‘offerings’ that might please the King! Whether it’s a Divine Beast sleeping in our land or a hidden secret manual, find anything! We must become the scabbard for that blade before he decides to draw it!”
Team Leader Kang replied while drenched in cold sweat. His voice was heavy, like waterlogged cotton.
“...I shall obey your command.”
The Chief leaned over his desk and groaned. His shoulders were shaking piteously, hardly befitting the head of a nation’s supreme intelligence agency. In their attempt to use a Devil King to catch a god, they had placed themselves at the top of the Devil King’s hunting list.
Back in the safehouse bedroom.
The magical pressure that had filled the room had vanished at some point. I cleared my mind of all emotion and drifted into calm thought. Raging blindly was the way of a shallow thinker.
“Are the Four Divine Guardians the only magical organization in this country?”
“Officially, yes, my Liege. Unofficial groups and individuals exist, but the Four Divine Guardians is the only place capable of setting such a stage and controlling information to this degree. They hold the magical world of this land within their grasp, monopolizing it.”
Alessandro calmly stated the facts. He was merely offering information, waiting for his Liege to make a decision.
I slowly stepped out of bed and walked to the window. Outside, the dazzling night view of Seoul was spread out like scattered jewels. Beneath those peaceful lights, those who dared to deceive and use me were still breathing.
Alessandro asked quietly from behind my back. His voice was laced with steely resolve and an expectant aura, like one waiting for Judgment Day.
“What would you have us do, my Liege? If you give the command, I shall erase the Four Divine Guardians from this land before the night is through.”
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