Chapter 94

Nothing had greatly changed from before.

It was merely the ability she used that was different.

Erica believed this about herself, but from the perspective of those facing her, the transformation of their opponent was especially noticeable. After all, one can’t see themselves directly.

Erica’s vertically slit, cat-like pupils had taken on a red hue.

Her eyes were striking—beautiful yet foreboding, with an aura that suggested the untamed nature of a beast itching to tear anyone who dared approach too closely. This was why the Busan girl could do nothing but bite her lip.

“How could she have changed so much?”

The Busan girl, who was so rattled that even her usual dialect slipped away, couldn’t help but feel baffled by the strange phenomena Erica was displaying alongside the transformation of her eyes. This match in Haeundae, involving attackers and those attacked, was supposed to end with their victory from the very beginning due to their overwhelming advantage.

The strands of the opponent’s hair floated in the air, seemingly tinged with the reddish hue from the pooled bl**d below. The sight resembled that of a witch.

Indeed, there had been studies suggesting the phenomena observed in fairy tales involving witches were merely manifestations of supernatural abilities. However, to the Busan girl, Erica conjured the image of a witch straight out of folklore: a figure feared and reviled, who used magic or sorcery with the lives of others as sacrifices, an enemy to humanity.

Though the Busan girl no longer entertained talk of helping humanity, she couldn’t ignore that this enemy of humanity had targeted her.

“Could they have planned for this all along?”

A memory resurfaced in the Busan girl’s mind, recalling the negotiations when their organization formed an alliance:

“Our plan requires your help. Of course, if you assist us, we will help you in return. Capture the person under your protection in return, and we will make the revolution you’ve only dreamed of a reality. Isn’t it time to seek revenge for your father’s d*ath?”

To allow their side to fail here would only facilitate the terrorists’ rampage. Thus, they could not lose—this was a situation where they had to win.

“I’ll finish this as quickly as possible!”

Realizing that they no longer had time for leniency, the Busan girl clapped her hands.

An incomplete revolution.

Her revolution wasn’t the kind to permanently alter the entire world. If it were, Busan’s revolutionary wouldn’t have fallen either. The temporary change in the rules of the world that took effect because of her actions was an imperfect form of revolution, but it was enough to incapacitate several people.

Concrete and rebar from the building, along with the floor itself, transformed into water jets that were fired toward Erica, the Student Council President, and the Student Council Vice-President.

Given the recent development of her powers, the Busan girl assumed the Student Council President and Vice-President were the only ones capable of wielding her abilities fully, and if they couldn’t fully leverage their powers, catching her would be simple enough.

But her expectations were unmet. The water streams directed at them all turned into bl**d streams at Erica’s single blink.

Though supernatural beings might wield extraordinary abilities, none could do so infinitely. The type of power consumed varies from person to person, but most supernaturally gifted individuals deplete their mental strength when using their abilities. For a revolutionary, this mental exertion is amplified as it stems from altering the world through one’s actions. The more they strained their revolutionary “parts,” the more pain they experienced. Most notably, headaches became a regular occurrence.

As Erica, with her crimson-tinted gaze, turned her head towards the bloody blonde woman receiving care from the Student Council President, the Busan girl’s eyes widened.

“She expended so much power on this… If only they’d fought properly…”

Could she have won?

The Busan girl couldn’t answer this question honestly, as the girl in front of her, radiating an alien aura, was no longer weak enough for her to confidently claim victory.

“To be honest, I haven’t been harmed, so I hold no grudge… Well, maybe a little. I’ll restrain you and hand you over to the association—so feel free to make your excuses.”

As Erica’s hand extended toward her, sealing her defeat, a loud sound reverberated through the air—like that of a ship or perhaps a whale.

The Busan girl, as the heir to the Busan branch manager, naturally commanded numerous subordinates, whether they knew or didn’t know she was the child of a revolutionary. Regardless, they all followed her. Some believed the current conflict was related to a revolution, while others thought it was about revenge. In any case, her subordinates trusted her judgment and acted accordingly. Though the revolutionaries had enough members to block all exits, keep external interlopers away, and even spare some to guard internally, they refrained from intervening in her fight.

Because they might get in her way.

Thus, they waited until the decisive moment when the enemy believed they’d won, then they’d act.

“Where is it?”

Erica first checked the ocean—seeing no sign of a vessel large enough to have made such a noise, even with the frozen beach and sea. Turning her gaze toward the Busan girl didn’t help either. As buildings blocked her view, preventing Erica from pinpointing the source, she noticed a shadow creeping across her head, prompting her upward gaze.

Above her loomed an immense ship—a sky ship that had produced the sound earlier.

“Hahaha! It’s not over yet!”

“Byte.”

“Huh?”

With an intended joke to paralyze the Busan girl, Erica attempted to bind her with bl**d pooling on the ground. However, the Busan girl disappeared in a flash of light, leaving only the empty trails of bl**d chains.

“Surely that’s a space-transferring ship… Though it seems like it’d be useful for many things, breaking it would be a shame. Still, given that this is another person’s supernatural ability, there’s no way we can use it ourselves.”

Could she have escaped to that ship?

Erica’s doubts were confirmed by the Student Council President, who stopped wrapping the Vice-President in cloth and pointed upward with one hand.

“Let’s sh**t it down, Erica. Surely you can do it.”

Despite hearing this with determination, Erica couldn’t help but think:

“If it crashes, won’t I crash with it?”

Still, without words, she readied herself to project bl**d, considering that obeying the Student Council President might prove slightly better than following her own head…

*

“Dear me, what a hassle to have someone like me, such a delicate girl, carry a brute like this. The boss truly goes overboard sometimes!”

Clutching her breath and exhaling with exasperation, a woman in a kimono carried a man made of steel with an ease that defied logic.

She was not only a supernaturally gifted individual of abnormal strength but also bait for Eric’s trap.

Typically, in such groups, rescuing hostages took priority over achieving objectives, and transporting a steel man would be an obvious waste of time, especially given the intervention by the Busan girl before Erica could act.

“Was it a case of counter-synergy?”

To the boar-man clad in steel armor, Erica’s abilities—capable of transforming everything into bl**d and sometimes shooting bl**d bullets—would have been enough to easily defeat her.

Had Erica relied merely on divine protection, she would have fallen due to the synergy disadvantage, but with her bl**d erosion technique, it could have conversely become a synergy advantage.

Watching the fight unfold nearby, the woman thought that in the future, if Erica were to be captured again, they should definitely include the steel boar-man in the operation plan. Setting the man down in their hideout, she mused where she should go next.

Currently, their leader and the boy the boss had warned about were locked in a stalemate. With the boy continuously evading using bursts of light, the leader’s brute strength was left ineffective.

Neither side could seem to land a finishing blow. The leader had a few secret moves left, and the same might be true for the boy, so the battle would likely last.

“Boys like him follow the straight and narrow. The more people help him, the stronger he becomes, so isolating him is key.”

And this was also the leader’s approach—to isolate and contain him.

On the branch leader’s side, an entertainer and an ordinary girl were present. Given the branch leader’s strength, they should have been easily dealt with and joined the fight with the leader, but…

“Wow, this is impressive. I quite like the songs created by this entertainer. I thought about offering some help when the branch leader attempted to k*ll him, but I didn’t expect this.”

The kimono-clad woman displayed mild admiration as the entertainer’s singing manipulated the clouds and lightning, reigniting a dimmed electric pole.

Even if the light couldn’t weaken the branch leader, creating a continuous environment of illumination was beyond his capability to dominate.

“So then, let’s see…”

In the distance, the heir of the Rao family was overwhelming the forces the Busan girl had brought, or two women whose presence distorted space were taking on other members.

Since their paths all diverged from the areas where the Busan girl or their leader was, there seemed no need to intervene. Hence, this implied—

“If I bring him along, I am free to go wherever I want.”

Blushing slightly, the kimono-clad woman started running without fumbling in her kimono, carrying the steel boar-man in her arms.

It’s only logical that a knight should fight the monsters, and with bl**d manipulation powers, Erica was clearly the monster they were meant to face.

Lifting the steel boar-man with ease, this kimono-wearing woman was monstrous enough herself.

This story precedes the arrival of the sky ship by thirty minutes.