Chapter 508: Fire and Ash

Light green eyes found Erich Erhart.

She too stood among the ruins. She had just finished the final battle. It had been a struggle for the throne that erupted in Yekaterina’s stronghold. But since there had already been one clash between Yekaterina’s side and Colton’s at Colton’s mansion, the outcome of the contest had essentially already been decided.

It was because of that complacent assumption that the damage had been considerable.

They had lost Levi.

Even though Yekaterina had fled with only a single subordinate—not even Lee Seunghyun.

Yet until the very last moment, the fight with her had been fierce. That was the part Erich had not anticipated. He had never imagined the battle would become this brutal.

This kind of battle... was a first.

Even before taking a seat among the Elders—and all the way up until now—he had fought through countless political struggles.

There had been many moments when he seriously thought he might die.

There had even been a time when the muzzle of a gun was shoved down his throat.

But none of those battles had been as difficult as this one.

Erich Erhart once again realized the strength of a man who had secured his position through countless stalemates with Colton.

“Did you bring the wallet?”

“Yes.”

He asked without turning toward Shashinsky.

A low, restrained voice answered.

“I also brought the remains to be buried.”

It had been a subordinate he cherished dearly.

Someone who had worshiped him so obsessively he might as well have swallowed him whole—but even that twisted devotion had been dazzling.

Erich Erhart remembered the first time he met Levi.

Bare feet approaching silently, trying to steal his wallet.

Levi had endured a childhood so nightmarish that almost no one could have survived it.

Watching someone with so many wounds carved into their soul slowly improve after being given a place to belong had been something he enjoyed.

In the end, he had still left with a smile.

Now, surely, he was happy without pain.

“The ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) claws you had left were sharper than necessary.”

The platinum-blond man looked at Yekaterina and gave a bitter smile.

“Even without Lee Seunghyun beside you.”

And yet Colton Wiseman had managed to maintain his position at the very top while dealing with a woman like this every time.

And even Colton had reportedly never surpassed the Ice Empress even once.

“Now I understand.”

When he murmured it like a monologue, Yekaterina cast him a questioning glance.

Half of her face had been twisted by burns. Even with an enhanced body, the damage was severe enough that it hadn’t fully healed yet.

Artificial skin could repair the ruined face.

But now there was no need.

She knew that as well.

“The Ice Empress whom Colton never once surpassed... wasn’t she killed by Prometheus?”

“You realized it late.”

Yekaterina snorted.

“That man colder than an ice sheet would never have tried to obtain Prometheus without a reason.”

That was true, but...

Erich Erhart judged people in a completely different way from Yekaterina. He had assumed that Colton Wiseman must have had some other standard—something different from himself or Yekaterina.

That might have been true.

In fact, Erich didn’t know Colton very well.

Colton and Yekaterina had never appeared particularly fascinating to him.

Until a few hours ago.

“Are you not launching more nukes?”

“There’s no point anymore.”

Even though he already knew the answer and was simply confirming, the platinum-blond woman replied in a casual tone unlike her usual formal speech.

“It’s all over. In the end it came to this. The reality I least wanted to face.”

“You’re more fearful than expected.”

Erich chuckled.

Though paranoia was practically a basic qualification for those in power.

Was it because she had inherited the Ice Empress’s conviction?

To Erich, Yekaterina seemed excessively afraid of Hildebert.

“Prometheus has absolutely no interest in power.”

“He always creates something precious. Any creature that has something it wants to protect can become cruel.”

Yekaterina answered calmly.

“But you are excessively optimistic. I worry about what will become of human society. Though it seems they have already devoured you.”

“Have you never considered that this outcome came about because you people were excessively paranoid?”

“Perhaps.”

The woman answered lightly.

Then she smiled.

Erich Erhart stared blankly at Yekaterina’s smile, one he had never seen before.

The cold Elder born in Russia had almost never smiled.

No... had she never smiled at all?

He couldn’t remember exactly.

He had never paid her that kind of human attention.

But now, the platinum-blond Elder standing on the brink of final victory in the struggle for Elder supremacy found himself staring absentmindedly at Yekaterina’s smile.

Even with half her face ruined, it was dazzling.

Ignoring Erich, who had fallen silent, Yekaterina shifted her gaze toward the person standing behind him.

“In life, rights only matter when power is equal. The strong do what their strength allows, and the weak inevitably suffer. A sentence I carved deeply into my heart when I was young.”

“...Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. A classic.”

“That’s why I pursued power that would never fall behind anyone’s.”

Erich quietly added the reference.

Yekaterina’s smile deepened as she looked at Lee Seunghyun, who stood silently.

“I treasured you for the same reason. My longtime right hand. With you—the most outstanding human—I thought we might someday obtain that kind of power.”

Lee Seunghyun had not participated in the final battle.

But he had not left his place either.

Having received the will successfully implanted into him, he had watched every moment of the battle between Erich Erhart and Yekaterina without missing a single second.

The building where he had stayed for so long.

The few remaining subordinates.

And even as half the face of the superior he had served for nearly his entire life burned in the flames, he never once closed his eyes.

Even when the fire subsided and revealed the result of the battle.

Now that the result was clear, Lee Seunghyun stood behind Erich Erhart, looking at Yekaterina.

The man finally broke the silence as he watched the smile of the superior he had known for so long.

“If you intend to walk a different path—”

“I refuse.”

Yekaterina answered firmly.

Her voice carried no hesitation.

“I have no intention of crawling under that perverted cult leader and dragging out a miserable life.”

“Perverted cult leader? I’m a perfectly normal foundation director. And I’m not even religious.”

“Still, it’s fortunate my life won’t end in the hands of a Titan like that man’s.”

Wind carried black debris through the air.

On the day the First War had ended, ash had mixed with the wind just like this.

Lee Seunghyun looked at the superior standing proudly among the ashes and remembered that day.

The enemy whose bright yellow eyes still burned even as parts of his body crumbled into dust.

In the end, all that remained was black ash.

“I would like you to fire the final bullet, Seunghyun. We’ve known each other a long time. Surely you can grant me this small request?”

“If that is your wish.”

Lee Seunghyun answered quietly.

With the hand that now carried four wills, he loaded the pistol with a metallic click.

“I will send you without pain.”

“How merciful.”

Yekaterina lowered her head.

“Wiseman and I both seem to meet far too peaceful a death for the crimes we committed. Life truly remains unfair until the very end.”

“That is only because you refused to grovel for survival. I meant what I said, Yekaterina. If you begged pitifully, I would have accepted it. Life is precious.”

“Erich Erhart.”

Yekaterina’s light green eyes shot toward him.

“Do you remember the words I gave you when you first sat among the Elders?”

Erich looked at the woman who still retained her elegance despite half her body being ruined.

Their relationship had not been as long as Lee Seunghyun’s, but Erich Erhart had still watched her for quite some time.

He slowly answered while looking at his senior in politics.

“Humans revolve endlessly within a circle. Turning what is above below and what is below above—such reversals are the joy of mankind. One may crawl up to the upper layer of the circle if they wish, but there is a condition: when the rules of the game demand that you descend again, do not consider it injustice.”

“The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius. You remembered it perfectly.”

Just as she always did at Elder council meetings.

Using polite honorifics, Yekaterina expressed her satisfaction.

“It’s time for me to descend.”

But her formal tone quickly returned to casual speech.

“In truth, I was utterly defeated by Hildebert Taleb. Honestly. I thought victory had completely tilted to our side, yet somehow it turned out like this.”

“Though Prometheus himself wouldn’t think so even slightly.”

“Now you’re the only one left who remembers that long, dreadful history with them.”

The woman looked straight at Erich and smiled.

“Will you be alright alone?”

A faint trace of mischief flickered in her cold eyes.

Erich opened his mouth to answer.

Then he closed it again and gave a faint smile.

After bowing his head in silent farewell, he turned away without hesitation.

Carrying Levi’s remains.

Returning to Shashinsky, who stood clutching the wallet Levi had never let leave his side even for a moment.

Only Lee Seunghyun remained facing Yekaterina.

All her remaining subordinates had turned to ash.

For the one who once held the second-greatest power in the world, the only thing left now were a few bullets in the gun of her longtime subordinate.

Three bullets might have been symbolic.

But Yekaterina had always been simple in such matters.

“One bullet will suffice.”

A subordinate who had betrayed once could never return to an Elder again.

Both Lee Seunghyun and Yekaterina knew that.

And because Lee Seunghyun’s choice had not been impulsive, neither of them said anything further.

Once again, Lee Seunghyun chose Sasha.

Yekaterina had chosen humanity rather than maintaining the peaceful status quo—and she had lost.

Thus the end of their relationship, which had been inevitable someday, had finally arrived.

The ending that awaited those who had gained enhanced bodies and lost the ability to age.

“Yes.”

Lee Seunghyun placed his finger on the trigger.

“Thank you for the long years.”

Bang!

Erich Erhart rose to the summit.

***

Flames.

It wasn’t that they had been unprepared.

Since they had encountered him at Core 5, they had expected to face Meierbold again someday.

Knowing the reunion wouldn’t be far off, Yehyeon had even been persuading the Commander-in-Chief to prepare countermeasures against fire.

But this...

This was something he had not anticipated.

“What is this?”

Hesh Lyle’s confused voice echoed through the portal zone.

“What the hell is this?”

A barrier.

A barrier created by the mage.

Seeing the curtain that was clearly far sturdier than the one that had once surrounded the decrepit school, Ricardo frowned.

The Badgers were standing near the wall.

They had retreated hastily to the edge of the portal zone to avoid the concentric rings of flames spreading outward from the mage’s body.

But the moment they crowded against the wall like ants fleeing the fire—

The wave of flames vanished.

And a barrier appeared in its place.

An opaque protective dome now covered the portal zone.

Unlike before, even William Walker’s punches wouldn’t break this.

“Ah! Damn, it stings!”

“Hey, don’t touch it recklessly!”

“The scientists are still inside!”

Chen carefully touched the barrier and immediately jumped back.

Trevain scowled in irritation, and Asil leaned forward to look at Ska.

“I can’t see the scientists!”

“Huh? I definitely shoved them toward the edge earlier and told them to run!”

“They took only them.”

Bobby spoke in confusion while looking around.

Yehyeon answered darkly.

“There must be a reason.”

“The Commander-in-Chief?”

“Uh.”

At Ska’s question, several people muttered brief responses.

“...We forgot.”

Which meant the unconscious Commander-in-Chief was still inside.

Ricardo hadn’t forgotten.

He simply pretended he had.

But if nobody had picked up their unconscious superior, wouldn’t he already have been roasted by the fire that had spread like a shockwave?

He thought it—but said nothing.

No one else brought him up again either.

Instead, they turned their attention back to the scientists trapped inside the mage’s barrier.

Along with the portal device locked in there with them.

“What the hell is he planning?!”

“Another teleportation circle appeared.”

The moment Hesh shouted, Ska raised his voice.

“Inside the headquarters grounds.”

The Black Badgers lifted their heads.

“A boy just entered driving a swarm of Creatures.”