79 Unseen Trump Card
“Did he finally lose it?” Yeong-Un asked.
“…I don’t know, but I don’t like this,” he replied.
Spectating from the cafe, the snickering laughter of the angel was felt unnervingly, even from their distance.
–
“…”Level Thirty-Six”…Your time is up, little man,” Radueriel tilted his head with an ear-to-ear smile.
It was a bluff that the leader intended to keep hidden, but it seemed it couldn’t be kept away from the golden eyes of the angel.
“Your evolutions are only temporary, aren’t they? I’m conceited, are I? Petty?…Ha-ha-ha…Satre into the void long enough, and what happens…?” Radueriel continued to snicker.
“Boss!” Korain yelled out.
As Korain rushed over to the side of the leader, the angel simply swiped a finger without even looking at the burly man, causing a golden impact to crash into Korain, knocking him back.
With that same, flashy speed, the rapier wielded by Ma-Ri aimed towards the back of the dewinged angel, though it was caught in his grip as he reached behind his own back in an unorthodox fashion, still snickering as he looked directly at Dae-Seong.
“…All crumbling down…You had a chance before, but now? He-he-he…I’ll enjoy tearing you apart–no…I’ll tear your comrades apart in front of you, then finish the deed!” Radueriel laughed out wickedly.
Before the angel could spin around to counter the rapier-wielding woman’s attempted attack, Ma-Ri pulled away.
“…One-Thousand Winters!” Ma-Ri called out.
Filling the width of the street as she rapidly jutted her needle-like blade forward, her pierces manifesting in spears of ice that twisted and curved, aimed towards the angel as they came from each angle.
“Begone, fly,” Radueriel grinned.
With a snap of the divine being’s fingers, he produced a shock wave that crumbled the magnificent conjuring of ice, using his superior speed to take even the swift vice-leader by surprise before sending her away with a sharp kick.
“–“
Dae-Seong remained unmoving, keeping his cool as he witnessed the angel land back down a dozen meters in front of him.
“…How cool you are, “leader”. Even still, you’re trying to maintain that “cool-as-ice” attitude in front of your subordinates? Ha-ha-ha…I wonder how long that’ll last,” Radueriel continued to taunt him.
At his level, and unrestrained by hubris as the angel now sought just to destroy, Radueriel used his unmatched agility to take the leader by surprise, placing his hand against his face and slamming him into the asphalt with enough force to shatter it beneath the man’s back.
“I was wrong. I thought holding myself back to make a more even fight would be more fun–completely dominating your enemies is so much more fun!” Radueriel laughed out.
Over and over again, the angel held his grip on the silver-haired man’s head, slamming him into the asphalt repeatedly.
“I can’t watch this…!” Eunji shielded her eyes.
“Get up, old man!” Yeong-Un said.
After such a showing, there was no longer anything holding them back–the four that hid away in the cafe rushed out of the building, planning to aid their leader.
However, somehow noticing their attempt to help, Dae-Seong yelled out, “Stop!”
“Old man…?” Yeong-Un muttered quietly.
They all halted a few dozen meters away, witnessing the leader still in the grip of the smiling, bloodied angel.
“Angel, let me inform you of one thing,” Dae-Seong spoke.
“Huh?” Radueriel twisted one of his eyebrows as he looked down at the man.
The middle-aged leader was now bleeding from his head, with his glasses shattered and piercing his skin, yet he looked up calmly at the divine foe.
“It’s common sense not to reveal your hand unless victory is certain.”
These words made the angel pause for a moment in shock before laughing out, gripping the man’s silver hair as he looked down at him while sneering.
“Did I slam you a bit too hard?! You’ve got no chance, you fucking maggot–!” Radueriel yelled directly against his face.
Without warning, everything fell silent.
A resounding squelch filled the surrounding area, meeting the ears of each who joined the battle as everybody came to a pause.
Pierced through the chest of the angel, a crimson odachi stuck out through the divine being, prompting him to look down with wide, unknowing eyes.
“What…?”
Before Radueriel could properly figure out what had happened, he coughed up a heaping serving of blood, spilling directly down onto the silver-haired man’s face.
“When your opponent is unflinching, yet…victory seems assured, question everything. Perceive your surroundings, think how your enemy would, seal your hubris…that’s how war is won,” Dae-Seong told him.
The blade wasn’t thrust by Dae-Seong, as it came from behind the angel, though the one who committed the act wasn’t one who was present in the battle beforehand.
“…From the very beginning, your loss was ensured. You believed myself to be the key to victory, and you let that get to your head,” the silver-haired man let his final words flow to the angel’s ringing ears, “…That’s why you lost, Destroying Angel: you were too strong.”
Dropping the leader, the angel brought himself to his feet, almost stumbling as his eyes trembled, still unable to process what was happening. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
As he looked back, he saw the one who drove the large, curved blade through his body: a youthful man of a frail, malnourished build, with long, unkempt, snow-white hair who looked at him with struggling eyes.
Despite doing nothing beforehand but this singular action, the frail man, dressed in a gray-and-blue uniform that was baggy on his thin build, the young man was huffing, breathing heavily as if he just exerted himself completely with that one action.
“You…” Radueriel let out weakly.
He returned his attention to the crimson blade in his body, witnessing a coating of enigmatic energy flow from the blade.
The angel felt his strength being sapped, but it wasn’t quite just that. Everything was being taken from him–his strength, memories, experience–it all flowed from within him and out.
Everybody was silent at the sudden turn of events once more as the frail man slid the blade out from the angel’s back, causing Radueriel to stumble forward, falling to his knees.
“Who is that…Wait, I’ve met him before!” He asked out, witnessing the peculiar event.
It took him a moment to recall, but it was unmistakably the sickly young man he had seen in the closed-off room of the hotel, who was attached to a plethora of medical equipment.
“Damn, didn’t expect him to join the fight…” Yeong-Un mumbled.
“Who is he? I’ve never seen him fight before,” he looked directly at Yeong-Un.
Though he looked at his scar-faced friend for an answer, he got one from the scruffy-bearded summoner.
“Baek-Hyeon. He’s got “Common Variable Immunodeficiency”…It makes his antibodies practically nonexistent, so he’s mostly kept to his bed,” Moon explained.
“…But, with something like that, how…?” He began to ask.
“How is he able to survive this world? Well, you’re witnessing it right now,” Moon told him, “Baek-Hyeon is another person that possesses a unique system: the “Assimilation System”–above all, it might be the scariest system in this world.”
“So that was yer’ game, ol’ leader…” Yeong-Un mumbled to himself.
“Assimilation System”…? He questioned.
It was witnessed firsthand what that title indicated as they looked on, watching the final moments of Radueriel who continued spitting up blood as more arterial fluid poured from the gaping wound in his chest.
“…I see, this is how it is–”
Before the angel could exude his last words, the frail man used both of his hands to drive the sword through the divine being’s heart, silencing him as he exerted all of the little strength he had to do so.
“–“
Baek-Hyeon breathed out heavily as his long, uncut hair obscured his gray, solemn eyes.
“Well done,” Dae-Seong stood himself up, adjusting his glasses as if he wasn’t bleeding from the head.
–Suddenly, the malnourished adolescent’s eyes went wide as his body convulsed, being enveloped in a golden flow that went from the fallen angel’s body into his own.
“…I see. Dae-Seong really is always a step ahead of us,” Moon muttered.
“Huh?” He looked at the scruffy man.
“The ability to grow and evolve by absorbing the strength and abilities from those you slay. That’s the “Assimilation System”–and it just got ahold of that wickedly powerful angel,” Moon told him.
It was the perfect execution: throughout the drawn out battle, even the mighty angel had his stamina worn out, and the mutilations from Dae-Seong, and the poison that was the unholy element, left Radueriel to be the perfect target for the frail man.
As the essence flowed into the small, frail man’s body, he suddenly bulked up, filling out his baggy uniform as his height increased, and his physique matched that of the Greek god-esque build of the angel he slew.
“What the?!” He let out in surprise, watching the transformation.
Within moments, the man who was nothing but skin and bones had transformed into an unrecognizable form, now possessing a healthy, peak condition body with illustrious, snow-white locks and golden eyes.
[Player Recognized…]
[Baek-Hyeon. Level: 55 | Class: Angelic Swordsman]
“Fifty-five…?!”
It was a surprise to seemingly every member of Gangcheori. Something like that was thought only possible through cartoons–the frail, small adolescent had morphed into a tall, muscular build within moments, just as his level spiked up as well.
For a moment, Baek-Hyeon was silent, clenching his fists as the newfound strength flowed through him.
An odd expression was present on his face; one of a quiet, eerie emotion before he quickly replaced it with a smile, lifting his crimson odachi up and sheathing it at his hip.
“This is wonderful!” Baek-Hyeon smiled, “…This is the constitution of an angel. All of the impurities within my body are gone; it’s amazing.”
As they all gathered, though not unscathed, a light sat over the street block in the aftermath of victory.
“Holy shit…we actually won,” he let out in disbelief, holding his arm.
“Hell yeah, we did!” Yeong-Un laughed boisterously before coughing up.
On that day, Gangcheori obtained a new weapon–a man who surpassed all reason for the six-month mark of Armageddon Game: “Baek-Hyeon.”