He didnât fire the third round immediately.
It felt too easy. Compared to what he had done, wasnât death far too convenient? One shot to the head and done.
So he watched for a moment as the Elder bled out and sank into pain.
As the manâs life signs weakened, a strange emotion seized him.
Why did it feel like something had been missed?
After finishing revenge, he had never once failed to feel relief.
When he hunted down and slaughtered those who burned the temple, when he absorbed every last one in that cult villageâeach time he had felt as refreshed as if he were breathing crisp air. He had never felt this kind of unease.
What was the cause?
Standing inside the theater, he thought.
Ah.
It must be because this man had voluntarily kissed his foot.
Why?
He blinked down at the one who had behaved eerily docile until the very end.
He had intended to shove the back of his head and force the kiss.
He had assumed the man would never bow first on his own...
He picked up the lighter resting on the table and hesitated.
The third bullet was fired only at the very last moment.
He waited until the lighterâs fuel ran dry.
Colton Wiseman was undeniably dead. Not a double. And Jaeyeon had unquestionably fallen into Erich Erhartâs jewel box. Erich had even kept Jaeyeon unconscious so as not to interfere with the finale.
It was practically over.
There was still the matter of checking on Yekaterinaâs movements, but regardlessâthe fight with his long-standing nemesis had ended.
Hadnât it?
Then what was this feeling?
Revenge wasnât bitter. The moment Colton disappeared, it felt like a tight band around his throat had loosened.
And yet, separately, it felt as though something remained unfinished.
Why...?
[Captain.]
Yoowâs voice echoed.
The smell of burning flesh and blood must have slipped through the cracks of the closed theater doors.
[Well done. But you must not relax yet.]
He reached out and picked up Colton Wisemanâs phone.
He had secured it before finishing the job.
All locks were disabled.
He had intended to bring it to Yun. No need now.
This feels wrong...
âSukhoi?â
He entered the applications as he answered.
[Yes. Under no circumstances can she obtain the warhead first.]
âRight. The nuke.â
He scrolled rapidly through Coltonâs phone, brow furrowed.
âYou mentioned that earlier. But where did the nuclear story even come from? I didnât get the explanation.â
[Colton...]
He couldnât hear the rest of Yoowâs explanation.
A window popped up on the phone screen.
Vrrr.
The device vibrated with a low, rounded hum.
He froze.
Without moving, he watched as the screen washed white, black letters forming slowly at the center.
Words appeared one by one, assembling into a sentence.
[This is my final gift to Jaeyeon.]
His eyes widened.
[We share a long history. At the very least, shouldnât that one be granted a final wishâto run, or to die?]
Coltonâs corpse lay right in front of him.
Calling it a corpse felt almost generous. It lay there pitifully.
And yet a chill crawled down his spine.
âThat one?â
[This message was set to send a few minutes after my complete defeat.]
Didnât that sound like he had no intention of letting the others escape?
[This is my answer.]
His stomach twisted.
[When the First War broke out, I was not the one holding the key. So perhaps this cannot be the perfect answer to the question the Titans both fear and yearn to know.]
If it must be handed overâ
[In the end, it has come to this.]
âthen burn it all.
[FAREWELL.]
WEEEEEEOOOOOâWEEEEEEOOOOOâ
A shrill alarm engulfed the mansion.
He snapped his head up toward the massive screen ahead.
It should have been showing him approaching the estate.
Instead, it was flooded with red warning signs.
ă15:00ă
Fuck.
He knew exactly what kind of countdown that was.
âYoow. Whereâs the nuke.â
[Below you!]
The reply came on the verge of panic.
[Itâs beneath the mansion!]
...What?
So heâd been sitting on it the entire time?
When the hell had he crossed into this level of insanity?
From the moment the dispute with the Elder began, they had monitored Coltonâs various estates.
No large-scale construction had been observed. This property was the same. They might have missed something like burying a simple bomb or installing an absorption amplifier. But if a military-grade nuclear warhead had been transported, there was no way he wouldnât have known.
Of course he had known Colton possessed nuclear weapons.
But who in their right mind stored one beneath their own residence?
There had been a reason they blanketed this property with a Core.
The biggest reason was to prevent the power transition from leaking to the publicâbut that wasnât all.
They had intended to block attacks from the sky.
To prevent a repeat of the World War. If the sky was sealed, nuclear drops could be partially prevented.
He, Yekaterina, and Erich Erhart had all known Colton might choose to obliterate everything with a nuke at the very last moment.
That was why they had fought desperately to secure the Core device.
And the two Eldersâ forces had monitored aircraft activity throughout the entire operation.
With Erich and Yekaterinaâs help, surveillance nets had been activated across every Core. No such movement had been detected. They had felt relieved.
[Hilde.]
Seunghyunâs report came through.
[The men have confirmed the bomb.]
God damn it.
[Itâs fitted with timers and mechanisms typically used in nuclear testing.]
He didnât ask further.
He pulled out his phone and called Yun.
He shouted to Yoow to contact the Black Badger leadership. To Igor to alert the forces outside the estate. To Rose to contact Deltei.
ă14:30ă
Yun picked up quickly.
[You win?]
âYun. Weâre fucked.â
No greeting.
There was no time.
Fortunately, Yun stayed silent and listened as Hilde poured everything out.
He relayed information coming from Yoow and Seunghyun without pause.
âIs there any solution?â
He sprinted toward the theater doors while speaking.
âWe can escape using Erhartâs portal. But that doesnât solve anything. Itâll explode in the middle of Center Core.â
[Instead of worrying about Center Core, shouldnât you worry about turning into molecules in fourteen minutes?]
Yunâs voice was gentle.
That made it worse.
The gravity of the situation truly sank in.
Of course he understood.
He knew in excruciating detail what this meant.
And yet here he was.
The absurdity almost made him laugh.
He pushed the theater doors open with a hollow chuckle.
âThis areaâs covered by a Core. Would that mitigate the impact?â
[Depends on the yield. Not optimistic.]
âCan we stop the countdown? If MĂŒhlen were hereââ
[Thirteen minutes? Impossible.]
Sasuâs voice was firm.
[We donât know the timer structure or system. Thereâs no time. And itâs likely not externally connectedâso hackingâs out.]
They couldnât just flee.
They didnât know the yield.
At worst, most of Center Core could vanish.
A Core? It was a translucent barrier against physical assault. It couldnât block invisible contaminants.
Center Core was full of people he cared about.
Think.
Even if the odds are slimâyou canât give up.
[Absorption wonât work either.]
âI know. DNA shreds apart. Absorption wouldnât normalize that.â
[Then why arenât you leaving?]
âI know a thing or two about nukes.â
Yun snorted.
Ignored.
âIf the yieldâs high, I wonât be the only one dying.â
[True. But Yehyeonâs in Core5, and Ami and I are at HQ. We wonât die immediately.]
âThatâs reassuring!â
He sprinted through the mansion.
âThereâs still one option!â
No time to rage at the dead Colton.
Fix it.
Aura. Swordmaster. Useless now.
Will †NĐŸvĐ”â ight †(Read more on our source) that work?
If it worked, he wouldnât have split from Kyle in the first place.
A suffocating object of helplessness.
Running toward the bombâs location as Seunghyun guided himâsomeone screamed behind him, but he couldnât process itâhe said:
âWeâll send the bomb through the portal instead of ourselves.â
[Thatâs bullshit.]
Yunâs voice was ice.
[Itâs buried underground. How are you extracting it?]
âSeunghyun. Is it buried?â
[Fortunately, no.]
[Itâs inside a device in the basement, as described.]
âMove it outside the Core.â
[Weâll place the portal in front of the warhead.]
âGood. Can you push it?â
[Itâs the size of a small building. Weâll need multiple people.]
âIâm coming. Finish setup!â
[You get out.]
Yun cut in.
[Leave it to whoeverâs near the warhead.]
âCoordinates!â
He shouted urgently.
âYun! Give me the portal coordinates!â
Yun gave them immediately.
As if heâd already prepared.
Hilde relayed them to Lee Seunghyun.
Seunghyun repeated them twice, then fell silent briefly.
Checking the location.
[Ocean.]
He muttered.
[Bikini Atoll.]
Good.
Uninhabited.
After throwing it outside the Core, he couldnât bear the thought of it exploding and sweeping away his kin.
That was the scenario he refused to imagine.
But Bikini Atollâ
Contamination probability for his kind would be near zero.
Thank God.
ă10:00ă
[Why are you going there?]
He saw it.
The warhead.
[Near a nuke, youâre no different from a civilian.]
âI know. Why do you think I sided with humans?â
[Wasnât it because you loved us?]
Yunâs low reply.
Despite everything, he almost laughed.
âAh. Right.â
His seniorsâ faces flickered through his mind.
He didnât dwell.
Just seeing them made it imperative to fix this.
Iâ
ă09:30ă
âIf this fails, will you deliver my words to them?â
[No.]
Flat.
Whyâ
[Move. Focus. If it looks impossible, jump through the portal alone. Iâll fish you out of the ocean.]
It wasnât the moment, but somehow Yunâs words were funny.
Heâd analyze why later.
His body loosened.
He sprinted toward the building-sized warhead.
ă09:00ă
âSeunghyun!â
âPortal activated.â
Lee Seunghyun signaled his men, then turned.
âWe have to push it and close the portal.â
âLetâs do it.â
Move it intact.
Detonate it in the sea.
âThereâs no other path.â
***
Core5.
A wasteland engulfed in flames.
âJu!â
Yehyeon shouted.
âGet out of there!â