Free Web NovelChapter 427: Interlude - Escape (4)
Kwon Oh-Jin, Song Ha-Eun, and Isabella all turned toward Cassia.
“You have a way?”
With the Sanctum’s entrance destroyed and their escape route completely cut off, what possible way could she mean?
“Do you remember when you entered the Demonic District through my shadow before?” Cassia asked.
“Ah.”
Of course, Kwon Oh-Jin remembered.
While tracking the Serpent to find the missing Avaricious Wolf, he had been swept up in a black shadow and dragged into the Demonic District. That was the first time he had visited the Demonic District.
“You’re saying you can open a rift to the Demonic District?”
It wouldn’t be as safe as the Sanctum, but it would still be safer than this city since the Demonic District was technically another realm. ƒrēewebnovel.com
“Yes. I can connect my shadow to that realm and create a rift we can cross through, but... I’ll need some time.”
“How much time?”
“About thirty minutes.”
It wasn’t a particularly long time for creating a passage between two worlds, but that felt like an eternity in this desperate situation.
“Alright... I’ll try to hold out until then.”
With the Sanctum’s entrance destroyed, Cassia’s shadow was their only hope of escape.
Kwon Oh-Jin took a deep breath and tightly gripped his spear. He forced his Stigma’s mana through his dried-up mana circuits and turned around unsteadily as pain coursed through him.
“Guuhh... Damn... Haaa.”
Just spreading his mana felt like driving razor-sharp metal through his veins. Suppressing the pain, he summoned blue lightning around him.
Crackle, crackle!
Perhaps because his mana was nearly drained, the lightning that usually roared like a feral beast now flickered weakly as if its teeth had been pulled.
Your gums will have to do then.
He swung his spear and struck away the black clouds.
“I’ll help too,” Isabella said.
“Okay. We just have to hold out for thirty minutes, right?” Song Ha-Eun asked.
Isabella was about to step in front of Song Ha-Eun when a black serpent slithered out of the shadows beneath their feet and climbed up their legs.
“Cassia?”
“Hm?”
Mobius had already died, so the serpent emerging from the shadows had to be Cassia’s.
Song Ha-Eun and Isabella both cocked their heads at Cassia.
Briefly catching their gaze, Cassia silently turned away and continued chanting the spell to open the rift.
“What the...” Isabella trailed off with a frown.
The serpent climbed up and whispered something into her ear.
Whatever it said, Isabella just snorted dismissively and turned away. “Hmph, I know.”
Instead of replying, Song Ha-Eun sighed deeply and nodded. She reached into her pocket, pulled out a pack of cigarettes, and drew one out.
“I’m so sick of this.”
Lifting her cigarette, she stared at the incoming black clouds.
Fwoosh!
The tip flared red, and a fierce flame danced in the air like a ghost.
She wasn’t in the best condition to summon a fire powerful enough to burn the entire world. Still, she was stronger than Kwon Oh-Jin, who was a complete mess beside her.
“Burn.”
With a soft incantation, the floating flame shot toward the black clouds.
Fwoosh!
The clouds, scorched by the fire, shuddered and drew back. Normally, the black clouds would surge right back after being repelled. Before Song Ha-Eun, they stopped like docile lambs.
Song Ha-Eun bit her lip. “Even now, you still want to protect me, huh?”
Complex emotions washed over her as she thought of the owner of those black clouds.
The Heavenly Demon was different from the Kwon Oh-Jin she loved. He had lived a completely different life because of their different fates.
A bitter taste of blood filled her mouth.
“I don’t know if you can hear me right now, but...” She lowered herself and whispered, “Thank you...”
Because without you, fate would never have changed.
“And I’m sorry.”
I know you gave up everything for me. I know you’ve endured pain, despair, loneliness, and emptiness beyond what anyone could imagine. Even so...
“To me, the Oh-Jin who’s here now... is more precious.”
Song Ha-Eun straightened her back and kicked off the ground like a spring.
Boom!
She leaped straight toward the incoming black clouds that threatened to consume Kwon Oh-Jin.
Rumble.
Like a flock of sheep running into a wolf, the Black Heaven’s clouds recoiled and rolled back.
“Haa, haa! Take care of Cassia first, not me!”
“I know!”
Keeping Kwon Oh-Jin safe mattered, but protecting Cassia as she worked to open the rift was their top priority.
Song Ha-Eun circled once around the ruined Sanctum entrance and forced the black clouds back as far as she could. No matter how much the Black Heaven’s clouds avoided her, she could only stop a certain amount by herself.
Rumble!
The clouds lunged toward the gaps where Song Ha-Eun couldn’t cover. Since she was right next to Cassia, the Black Heaven’s malice naturally turned its focus toward Kwon Oh-Jin instead.
He barely managed to deflect the incoming black clouds while grimacing. “Kugh!”
Kwon Oh-Jin barely held on.
At this rate...
He wouldn’t last five minutes, let alone thirty.
“Mr. Oh-Jin, pardon me for this.” Isabella pressed close from behind and wrapped her arms around him.
“Pardon? What are you—”
Her fangs sank into his neck.
Gush.
The sensation of his blood being drained shot down his spine along with a lightning ecstasy.
“Ugh...!”
Breathing heavily, Isabella drank his blood. “Haa, haa. Please hold on a little longer. Haaa...”
She now felt alive again after being exhausted from her earlier battle against the Black Star Celestials. The deep shadows under her eyes vanished, and her dry skin regained its smooth, luminous sheen.
Already in shambles from the backlash of deploying his Sacred Ground earlier, Kwon Oh-Jin looked even worse after she drank his blood.
“Haa, haa, haa! What about me...? Am I just supposed to die?”
Isabella looked even more alive than she had been before the War of the Stars. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
Isabella brought her sharp nails to her wrist and sliced down. Her skin tore open, and thick drops of blood dripped down her pale, snow-like skin to the ground. The blood on the ground began to pool and spread like paint.
“Bloom.”
From that blood pool, crimson flowers sprouted and bloomed like wild blossoms in spring. The wind carried the blood-red petals forward, slashing into the black clouds.
Rumble!
The black clouds scattered, shredded by the storm of crimson petals.
Empowered by Kwon Oh-Jin’s blood, Isabella drove the Black Heaven’s clouds back.
***
How much time had passed?
“Haa, haa.”
The vitality that had filled Isabella from Kwon Oh-Jin’s blood began to fade.
Then, a tremendous roar echoed out, and a pillar of black flames burst up.
Boom!
“There...”
It came from where the Heavenly Demon had first appeared. The beastkin and dragonkin warriors had staked their lives to hold him down there.
“Looks like it’s over.”
Isabella could instinctively tell that the beastkin and dragonkin warriors restraining the Heavenly Demon had finally collapsed. With those nuisances out of the way, the Heavenly Demon would be headed their way.
“Cassia! How much longer?!” Isabella asked.
Cassia wiped the sweat from her brow. “Just a little more!”
Isabella anxiously stared at the rising pillar of black flames.
From afar came the sound of leisurely footsteps.
The black clouds blanketing the streets split apart like the Red Sea, revealing the Heavenly Demon.
“Wow, you guys are still hanging on, huh?” The Heavenly Demon chuckled at Kwon Oh-Jin’s group before the ruined Sanctum entrance. “Honestly, I thought I’d wipe them all out in no time... but that damn wolf turned out to be pretty persistent.”
He tossed Riarc, whom he had been dragging along, onto the ground.
Kwon Oh-Jin's eyes widened. “Riarc!”
“Ah, relax. I didn’t kill him.” The Heavenly Demon shrugged and looked down at Riarc, who lay motionless. “I’ve got a use for him later.”
“What... the hell are you planning to do?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.
“I told you already. I’m changing my plan.”
The Heavenly Demon’s gaze shifted to Song Ha-Eun. For a moment, his eyes wavered faintly as he looked at her. After staring quietly for a while, he turned his head away with a lonely expression.
“If what you said is true, that you and I are different...” The ghostly blue flames in his eyes glowed ominously. “Then, I’ll just have to make you and me the same.”
A chill ran down Kwon Oh-Jin’s spine. “Make us... the same? What do you mean by that?”
“You’ll find out soon enough.”
The Heavenly Demon’s lips twisted into a cruel smirk as he walked toward Kwon Oh-Jin. The distance between them was closing fast.
Cassia shouted, “It’s done!”
Crackle!
A narrow rift, barely wide enough for one person to pass through, split open in midair.
The Heavenly Demon’s expression darkened as he spotted the rift. “Hmm?”
Kwon Oh-Jin hurled his spear toward the Heavenly Demon. “Everyone, go first! I’ll follow after you!”
Boom!
“Mr. Oh-Jin, I’m sorry.”
“What are you—Mmpf?!”
Isabella suddenly pressed her lips against his.
His eyes widened in shock, but before he could react—
“Hup!” Song Ha-Eun grabbed Kwon Oh-Jin from behind and threw herself toward the rift, taking him with her.
“W-Wait...!”
Kwon Oh-Jin tried to reach for the rift’s edge, but Song Ha-Eun’s grip was too tight for him to resist. The two quickly disappeared into the rift.
As Kwon Oh-Jin’s vision dimmed, he caught one last glimpse of Isabella smiling brightly at him.
She winked playfully and stuck out her tongue. “This is payback for last time.”
With Isabella’s teasing ringing in his ears, Kwon Oh-Jin completely vanished into the rift.
***
After the rift closed, Cassia wiped the sweat from her brow and walked toward Isabella. “Ha, no wonder we’re sisters. It’s just the two of us left now, huh?”
Isabella narrowed her eyes and glared at her. “You could’ve gone with them too, you know.”
“I told you already. With the thirty-minute limit, I could only send two people.”
“Exactly. You could’ve gone instead of Ha-Eun unnie.”
In truth, it would’ve been safer for the one who created the rift to go through it herself. If Cassia had wanted to, she could have left Song Ha-Eun behind instead.
“Oh my, but then I’d be separated from my dear Bella, wouldn’t I?”
“Hmph. Now you want to act like a big sister?”
Cassia chuckled and covered her mouth with a hand as she stood beside Isabella. “I’ve always been your big sister.”
“This doesn’t mean I’m going to approve your relationship with Mr. Oh-Jin.”
“Hm, isn’t that a bit harsh? I did risk my life for him, you know.”
“That’s...” Isabella trailed off and sighed deeply. Then, she muttered in embarrassment, “I’ll think about it if Ha-Eun unnie is okay with it.”
Cassia burst out laughing and clapped. “Oh my, how adorable, Bella! Well then, before that...”
Her gaze shifted to the Heavenly Demon.
He stood with his arms crossed, looking at the two sisters with an amused smile.
Cassia smiled brightly and took a step forward. “Why don’t we teach that fake Lord Oh-Jin a lesson first?”
