Mirror World: Destined Return

Hundreds of thousands of people were gathered on 34th Street in Manhattan of the human Capital, each waiting for the Union’s announcement.

“What is it this time?”

“There have been many announcements lately.”

“I wonder if it’s about the members of Redeo taking the captives last time? Could Underground and Redeo have joined forces?”

“Come on, what would a massive powerhouse like Redeo have to gain from joining forces with us?”

Just then, every speaker on the tall Empire State Building crackled.

—Ah, ahh. This is an announcement from the Union to all humans.

“This voice!”

“It’s the Immortal Marine!’

“Sir Lee Bong-Seong!”

The hundreds of thousands of people stayed silent and waited for Bong-Seong’s announcement.

—Cheon Seong-Hwi, first in the human ranking, has defeated Demens Rabies, ninety-eighth in the world ranking, and has become a World Ranker.

Thunderous cheers echoed after a momentary silence.

“W-WHOOOOOAAAAA!”

“Is this for real? Holy crap!”

“A World Ranker! The second one after Lee Kang-San!”

“As expected of the Second Son! The Second Sun!”

“Demens Rabies? He’s a vampire World Ranker!”

“Cheon Seong-Hwi! Cheon Seong-Hwi! Cheon Seong-Hwi!”

People cheered and jumped with joy as they chanted Seong-Hwi’s name. Some people fired their skills into the air to make fireworks. Just then, the announcement continued.

—Cheon Seong-Hwi is currently in Blood Castle.

People quelled their delight and waited for Bong-Seong’s subsequent words.

—Blood Castle is a dungeon located in Lunatic, the vampire capital. Cheon Seong-Hwi is in danger.

The expressions of delight on the humans’ faces instantly stiffened.

—Cheon Seong-Hwi has infiltrated Blood Castle to rescue the tens of thousands of humans who are being treated like livestock.

“That’s too reckless!”

“No!”

“We can’t lose another World Ranker!”

—Those who wish to assist him, head to Lunatic in the fifth zone. Cheon Seong-Hwi has always fought for us. Now, it is our turn to fight for him.

The eyes of the humans changed, filling with resolve that they couldn’t lose yet another pillar of humanity, to repay the favor they owed him, and to fight alongside him.

—There will be subsequent announcements from Underground. We will be forming an elite force soon, so keep that in mind. We are now in wartime.

Bong-Seong’s deep voice went silent, ending the announcement. The eyes of the humans gleamed. It had not been long since their battle against the dragons, so the bloodlust oozing from them was still raw.

“Let’s go.”

“Those damn vampires... How dare they try to extinguish our new sun?!”

“We can’t take this lying down any longer! At this rate, we’ll experience the same thing Nivalis put us through!”

“Hire warp gate users now!”

The drums of war beat throughout the Capital.

***

[Time remaining until closure.]

[22:02:55]

[22:02:54]

[22:02:53]

...

A group of Cani raced through a narrow corridor.

“Hurry the hell up!”

“We have to get out of this dungeon!”

“We won’t be able to return to the Mirror World again once the dungeon closes!”

A few vampire guards tried to stop them, but they were nowhere strong enough to stop those who were swept by the fear of death.

“Stop! You have not been ordered to retreat yet!”

“Return to your stations! Protect the blood tank!”

“Shut the fuck up!”

“Get the hell out of our way!”

The wave of fleeing Cani trampled a male vampire, who grabbed the floor and tried to stand up.

“Kurgh! H-how dare they—”

“Since you’re already on the ground, just go to sleep,” a man interrupted as he thrust his hand into the vampire’s heart.

“Gurgh!”

His long nails were as sharp as blades, and his veins were bulging disgustingly. He was Wang Chen. Wang Chen removed his hand from the vampire corpse, his eyes gleaming red.

“This is amazing! The boiling blood! The overflowing power! Ahhh! My twelve brothers!” he shouted as his fangs flashed and licked the blood on his hand with his blood-red tongue.

“Growl! Filthy bastard,” Tigrinus grumbled as he stared pitifully at Wang Chen.

“Most of their forces have left, so let’s infiltrate now,” Tae-Jin said as he turned to Ma Sang-Sik.

“This way,” Sang-Sik said as he ran forward to guide the group since he had already been to the basement of the ancient castle ruins.

Tae-Jin, Tigrinus, Hector, and Wang Chen ran behind him.

“How long do we have?”

“We still have plenty of time.”

“Growl! We’re dead if we’re late. We’ll be stuck in this dungeon forever.”

“Don’t worry. Seong-Hwi said he would come to assist us.”

As planned, they had infiltrated the ancient castle ruins' basement as soon as they received the message about the dungeon's closure. As they had expected, the confused guards stormed out of the basement.

“There shouldn’t be too many forces remaining inside.”

“Regardless, don’t let your guard down. That may be the case, but it also means those who have remained are elites who are confident in their power.”

“There is the steel door!” Sang-Sik shouted once they arrived at the giant steel door at the end of the corridor. He mumbled, “We used Ilia’s Almighty Multipurpose Tool to enter through the small door, but—”

“Step aside,” Hector interjected as he stepped forward, raising both arms and assuming a full guard.

He took a deep breath, stomped the ground with his back leg, and shifted his center of gravity forward. He lifted the heel of his right leg, twisted his torso, and swung his right arm forward using the torque. The muscles of the entire chain contracted intensely, allowing him to put all his weight and power into his right fist.

[Activating Skill: Straight Punch.]

He sent his right fist flying forward with a flash of orange light. The steel door that took the full brunt of Hector’s punch was blown to smithereens as if it had taken the explosions of hundreds of claymores simultaneously.

“Whistle! It’s like I’m watching Tyson’s nuclear punch,” Tae-Jin remarked, impressed by the wide-open path before them.

Hector smiled and replied, “That’s exactly it. This is the iron fist, which we saw during the three years of his prime.”

Hector had practiced the punch by replaying videos of it tens of thousands of times. No matter how many times he had practiced on Earth, it never shone due to his innate limits. However, he managed to bring out his punch’s true potential by borrowing the power of stats in the Mirror World. He felt that his alias, Nuclear Punch, was childish, but he was also proud of it.

“Where do we go now?”

“Straight ahead,” Sang-Sik replied.

The group sprinted down the corridor again. Moments later, an overweight man with a single sharp, curved horn on his forehead, three eyes, and thick skin like that of a rhinoceros, appeared behind the group.

“Impressive... When did humans develop this much? Anyway... They seem to know the way, so I should follow them.” The sapphire eyes under the fat gleamed with rage. “Wait just a little longer... Pantagruel!”

***

Taizet answered all of Seong-Hwi’s questions as he sweated buckets.

“Necrophilia, huh?”

“Yes, sir—I mean, yeah.”

“You mobilized Abyete of Humilitas to plot a collaboration with Consanguineus? And you two are practically the advance party who are observing the situation?”

“Yes, sir—I mean, that’s right.”

“What the hell do you think you’re blabbering to an outsider, you crazy fucking demon?!” Glasya-Labolas shouted at Taizet, who had become a vending machine of classified information.

“An outsider? How dare you?! That human is the Demon God’s subordinate!” Taizet shouted.

“The Immortal Prince’s subordinate?” Glasya-Labolas asked.

Taizet gasped in shock and turned to Seong-Hwi, whose expression was only stiffened because he was deep in thought, but Taizet interpreted the stiffened expression differently. He sprang up to grab Glasya-Labolas’s collar and shook him intensely.

“Are you asking for a fight? Are you begging me to shed your blood?!” Taizet shouted.

“What did you say, you crazy—”

“When I say Demon God, I’m obviously referring to the Supreme Demon God, Lord Curiositas! Why the hell would you bring up the likes of the Immortal Prince?!”

Glasya-Labolas’s eyes widened from the mention of a completely unexpected name.

“Curio...sitas?” he mumbled.

“Yes, you dumbass! He told me himself!”

Taizet still remembered the voice that had frozen his very soul.

“I can sense that the one I have taken a liking to will be in danger. Give him a helping hand.”

He said he has taken a liking to the human! Taizet shouted inwardly.

“H-he must be watching us through that human!” he said to Glasya-Labolas, who remained silent and shifted his gaze to Seong-Hwi.

That human is... the Second Fiend’s subordinate? That’s impossible! He has no subordinates or forces!

If Curiositas were to accept all of his worshipers into his faction, a new powerhouse would be instantly born in the Mirror World. However, Necrophilia saw the chances of that happening as zero because Curiositas had absolutely no interest in bothering with expanding his forces, influence, or territory. He was like a natural disaster, destroying everything in his path for no particular reason.

Such a man... took in a subordinate? Does that mean he has begun to gather his own force? If that’s true... Oh no!

Glasya-Labolas’s expression grew more somber as his misunderstanding grew. The scale of the matter went far beyond the likes of their collaboration with Consanguineus or a war against Barbaria.

I must confirm it!

Seong-Hwi’s expression as he stared at Glasya-Labolas was also stiff.

This could have ended terribly, Seong-Hwi thought as cold sweats trickled down his back.

He had been planning to join forces with Barbaria to attack Consanguineus, calculating that a joint army between Underground and Barbaria would be more than enough to take down Consanguineus.

But I never could have imagined Consanguineus had connections to Necrophilia!

In other words, Necrophilia could join the battle at any time if given justification to. The anomaly was far more colossal than Seong-Hwi had expected. They would face immense backlash if he were to commence the plan without addressing the anomaly.

I must prevent their involvement, no matter what! Seong-Hwi thought, also steeling his resolve as he stared at Glasya-Labolas.

Glasya-Labolas spoke first. “Do you know Lord Curiositas, human?”

“I do,” Seong-Hwi answered.

“What is your relationship with him?”

“I wonder... We are quite close, I would say.”

Seong-Hwi was not lying, since he had Curiositas’s genes inside him.

He’s... telling the truth? Glasya-Labolas thought, swallowing his saliva as he touched his Specter Monocle.

“I don’t believe you! Lord Curiositas is a high being who stands alone! What use would he have for the likes of you?!” he shouted in a fit.

Logically speaking, the Second Fiend would have no use for a mere human subordinate. Seong-Hwi instinctively realized this was the crucial time.

I need to borrow Curiositas’s power! If not, everything will fall apart! Seong-Hwi thought. He closed his eyes and shouted deep inside himself, Curiositas! Curiositas!

His voice echoed inside himself, but there was no answer. He decided to take a gamble.

Answer me! If you don’t... I will remove your blood and genes from inside myself! I know how to use Blood Force now! I know everything about the Blood Domination that you had mentioned! If you think you can threaten me with that stupid letter, you’re sorely mistaken!

Just then, a green eye opened from deep inside Seong-Hwi’s subconscious.

“I had told you to come find me, but this was not what I had in mind. Not only that, but you caught me in a very busy time.”

The mannerism filled with curiosity echoed inside Seong-Hwi’s head.

Curiositas! Please help me! If you don’t—

“Hahaha! Are you threatening me?! I’m new to this kind of experience,” Curiositas said as he laughed delightfully.

Seong-Hwi quickly continued, Think of it as an admission fee. Since you’re viewing the program, you should pay the license fee.

“Would a stage actor drag a spectator on stage?”

Let’s call it a spectator participation play, then.

“Gahahahaha!” Curiositas laughed with genuine joy. “You are truly entertaining to observe. Very well, I am more than willing to provide guarantees to an actor like you.”

In that case—

“I will let you borrow my name just once. Open your eyes.”

Seong-Hwi opened his eyes to see Glasya-Labolas staring at him and laughing mockingly.

“Kekek! I knew you were lying. I suspect you have a truth-warping skill or something, but this was far too much of a stretch. Curiositas, of all people?!”

“Who calls me?” Curiositas’s voice came out of Seong-Hwi’s mouth.

Thick Demon Force surged from Seong-Hwi’s entire body. The shock was like being instantly engulfed by a boundless ocean, and the aura was equivalent to dark clouds devouring the sun. Seong-Hwi’s right bloodshot eye, with vessels resembling lightning, turned green.

Seong-Hwi’s expression shifted to a bizarre mix of curiosity and boredom, and the corners of his mouth rose.

“Doom, the damned brat. He doesn’t even recognize his master now that he’s referred to as the Immortal Prince.”

“C-c-could you... be...” Glasya-Labolas stuttered.

The green eye stared intently at the deathly pale Glasya-Labolas.

“I am Curiositas. I ask you, one who dares call my name so lightly. Who are you?”

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