Possessing Nothing

“You’re such a dick.”

It was a straightforward remark as Frescan mumbled to himself.

“You’re not just a jerk. You’re a complete shithead. How did you learn magic with such a retarded brain on your shoulders and become an Arch Lich? I just don’t understand!”, Frescan cried out to himself in vain as he was incredibly resentful.

Frescan suppressed his desire to continue his ranting and numerous curses that came to mind when thinking about his superior in Predator.

“Yes, that’s right….”, he grumbled to himself almost delusionally.

Frescan had to constantly bow his head down to Arbeth the Arch Lich in Predator who ordered him around like a complete servant. It was a disgraceful feeling, but it eventually kept accumulating from a disgraceful feeling, to one of sheer deep-rooted resentment.

No matter how well Frescan had hidden his life vessel which was the very existence for a lich, he was constantly tip-toeing around, feeling like he was walking on egg-shells because Arbeth could completely destroy his existence on a whim.

Yes, Arbeth the Arch Lich. One of the 5 Great Monsters and Elders of Predator who was in charge of the undeads within the organization. Back when Arbeth was still alive, he had made a name for himself as a Dark Wizard for his cruel experiments and several questionable ‘tests’. But since becoming an Arch Lich, he became much more notorious and was unrestrained in his actions, thus becoming more open about his cruelty and mass killings.

He was known by a nickname within the undead faction of Predator he ruled over, ‘Two Face’. As he could treat you nicely one moment, then go absolutely crazy and make you his pet dog for a year the next.

In the Dark Wizard Tower hundreds of years ago, when Arbeth, who was a wizard at his peak and the current Tower Master at the time, suddenly emerged as a Lich, everybody was astonished.

Since Arbeth was the Tower Master of the Dark Wizard Tower, he had been doing all sorts of experiments and had a vast knowledge of Dark Magic at the time. Then after openly becoming a Lich, he had pursued even crueler experiments and sinister magic that he could not attempt under the pretense of the Tower Master.

Frescan was a Lich who had lived for many years and had all sorts of knowledge regarding Dark Magic, but it still paled in comparison to Arbeth. Their starting lines were different, and the span of their knowledge was foundationally different.

Frescan still had pure reverence and respect for Arbeth’s magic knowledge as he too, was one who was searching for the pinnacle of all magic, even if Arbeth was a two-faced bastard.

‘This artificial life form, and theory of the black heart is amazing, Frescan.’

Arbeth had even once complimented Frescan’s research before when Frescan sought out Arbeth in hopes to continue his improvements on the chimera known as Aine, as Arbeth had finally seen the results of Aine face-to-face.

With that kind of praise as a Wizard, Frescan had complicated feelings towards Arbeth at times as anyone would feel a sense of gratification receiving praise from someone at the top of their respected field.

However, as the two of them were speaking to each other in the City Square, Frescan was angry.

“It’s funny how stupid you are, Frescan. To make such a thing but not even be able to control it properly. What a fool.”, Arbeth snarled and laughed at him looking at Aine that was standing emotionlessly in front of them.

‘He’s not a pervert is he?’, Frescan thought to himself as he stared at Arbeth angrily.

Arbeth looked like a young man in comparison to Frescan, whose body looked like a crumbling mummy.

“Isn’t that right? Playing family and all is good, but if you’ve made the vessel, you should definitely use it. There’s nothing good about letting it go out of control and gain it’s own sentience. This was the advice I gave you, so keep it in mind.”, Arbes looked back, saying so.

The child in front of them looked at the two emotionlessly like a doll. There was no sign of emotion on her face, and her eyes were calm and subdued.

Arbeth looked at the child with a pleased face.

“Tools should be tools.”, said Arbeth, admonishingly.

Frescan could only bow his head and stay silent, seething in anger.

After making Aine, Frescan didn’t try to control Aine much, trying to let her express her own free will. There were plenty of ways to control her if he wanted to, but he didn’t have to.

No matter what the method or process in making her had been, Frescan wanted to let her have free will because he truly thought of Aine as his daughter.

Frankly speaking, Aine was not a good daughter. Likewise, Frescan was not a good father. Nevertheless, Frescan was happy with their relationship, no matter how pish-posh it may be.

Although dissatisfied, Aine always followed Frescan’s suggestions, and Frescan believed that it would lead to a daughterly affection from Aine.

But such expectations were over now. Frescan, who had been captured by Geniella, the Vampire Queen in the north, was forced to join Predator, and naturally connected to Arbeth, the Arch Lich.

Geniella did not show much interest in Aine at first sight, but the same could not be said for Arbeth. Arbeth saw the potential of Aine from only a glance and was intrigued to no end. He immediately robbed her from Frescan, regardless of consent.

Aine, engraved with the imprint of obedience, became a faithful servant to Arbeth. Frescan could also not show any open hostility or dissatisfaction, as Arbeth could kill him in a second.

“……Hmm?”

Arbeth, who was looking over the team he had with him at the City Square, suddenly froze. He raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes.

“Two rats have invaded through the barrier. Kim Jonghyun, you punk. You can’t even handle things properly.”, Arbeth clicked his tongue, muttering.

The original plan was for Arbeth and Frescan to engrave a magic circle and cast a spell of influence on the city square, and for Kim Jonghyun to create a barrier to isolate them, impeding any distractions and cause panic among the citizens outside the barrier.

But… two rats had stepped inside the barrier.

“Don’t tell me… …is it Kumiho?”, Frescan trembled as he spoke.

“Kumiho has left the city. She will need 15 days to get back even if she hears about this now. Even if they find out what happened to the City, she won’t be able to return because she’s at the pavilion. If Kumiho wants to keep her powers, she has to go to Maeryong on a consistent basis to keep her power as a nine-tailed fox.”, Arbeth spoke with conviction.

Kumiho, who ripped the heart out of the former leader of Predator, Henemy, was a monster even Arbeth could not handle.

However, it was impossible to attack her in the pavilion while she was recovering her lost powers because Maeryong Pavilion was a sacred and holy place that had an area of influence deadly for any kind of Lich or undead monster.

“It’s a pain in the neck.”, Arbeth spoke as he was trying to complete the magic circle that was taking longer than expected to make.

As he said, it would not be a big problem if the intrusion was ‘really’ a rat, but the intruders were able to break through the barrier Kim Jonghyun had made and Arbeth had enforced, thus making their identities a little suspicious and alarming for Arbeth.

“……how would you like me to handle it?”, Frescan asked Arbeth carefully, as he knew Arbeth would not want to waste his precious time doing something menial.

“You stall them for time.”, Arbeth answered back without much thought.

He didn’t tell Frescan to go kill himself, as it would be annoying if he did. Frescan shuddered with anxiety and enveloped himself in a dark mist as he prepared himself.

“The Magic Circle is still incomplete. I can’t go because it’s an advanced magic you can’t handle.”, Arbeth spoke to Frescan as if he were a fly and told him to buzz off.

“But on my own…….”, Frescan spoke with a quivering voice.

“Did I tell you to go and die? I told you to stall for time. You’ve hidden your life vassal as a Lich, so you’re not going to die anyways.”, Arbeth snorted at the trembling Frescan irritatedly.

“But…”, Frescan stuttered.

“If the rats get any closer than they already are, I’ll be even more annoyed.”, Arbeth spoke angrily to Frescan cutting him off for debate as he exuded his pressure down onto Frescan.

Frescan hesitated and looked towards Aine. But, Aine didn’t spare Frescan a single look. Arbeth’s imprint of obedience was too powerful. In the end, Frescan left the square without any further resistance.

“You’re such an incompetent bastard.”, Arbeth clicked his tongue as he started to work on the magic circle once more.

The magic circle underneath the city square would be a circle of influence that took over the citizens’ loyalty, regardless if they respected Kumiho’s rule or not.

The reason for inciting Chusung through Kim Jonghyun and making him go wild in this city was to spread fear throughout the commotion, speeding up the amount of work needed to be done on the circle. The work was going smoothly.

“You’ll be eating something delicious soon.”, Arbeth mumbled to himself quietly with a big smile.

The subject of the comment was directed towards Aine, the chimera who had the black heart, standing behind Arbeth. The soulless child, engraved with the imprint of obedience, just stood still emotionlessly without answering.

The influence and fear of the whole city. It was a huge amount of power that even Arbeth could not dare to handle himself.

In the first place, such force could not be handled by one monster alone.

But if it was Aine who had the black heart, it was a different story, as the black heart could consume all of the power of influence and fear without any restrictions or backlash.

The magic circle and the entire plan of robbing Kumiho’s source of influence was not for Arbeth, but rather for Aine.

“Ahhhh… I hope this is enough for a massacre.”, Arbeth spoke with a sickening smile and continued to speak, “I hope so… I really hope so. If you get stronger, then I also get stronger.”

Arbeth had already finished preparing the circle. If the circle successfully gathered all the fear from the citizens running from Chusung and gathered all the influence of the city down into Aine’s body, Arbeth would naturally be the one to benefit, as Aine was his servant now.

After such a process, Arbeth intended to snatch her body through the exchange magic of the soul, stealing the power contained within it and the black heart as well.

If that happened smoothly like Arbeth had hoped, he could be reborn and reign truly atop Predator, no longer having to obey Kumiho or any other existences, becoming an absolute ruler that would incite a genocide unheard of.

—

The number of Ghouls that stormed out of the broken buildings were uncountable.

When they were alive, their bodies would have been half monster-half humans, but now there was no trace of them left as they attacked mindlessly as undead mutants.

Arhudggggg

The drooling and braindead ghouls made disgusting and undecipherable sounds and groans as they swarmed towards Lee Sungmin and Envirus mindlessly.

Lee Sungmin started to raise his internal energy without panic using the breathing technique he had been learning. He used both his power, the already dormant yokai power inside of him, and Heoju’s additional borrowed strength as Heoju chipped in his power without being asked to do so.

The scarlet aura enveloped Lee Sungmin’s spear, shining with a sinister glint. Lee Sungmin kept his breathing steady and shot the spear forward.

Gwa-a-a-ang!

The spear, filled with the intertwining forces, swept away dozens of ghouls that rushed in towards them.

There was nothing left other than the sticky dark red that spewed from the corpses bodies as Lee Sungmin moved his spear. Lee Sungmin was surprised, as his power was higher than he had expected it to be.

In fact, this power was enough to make transcendent warriors wary, but considering the efficiency of the internal energy and amount of power wielded, it was incredible.

“Don’t overuse your powers!”, Envirus shouted in a loud voice trying to warn Lee Sungmin not to rely on the powers of the yokai.

Lee Sungmin listened to him and did not understand why Envirus could not see that he was using both his own power and the yokai power, not just the yokai power itself.

He was not used to combining the powers yet, so his inner circuitry and aura that were pushed onto the spear were a bit rough around the edges, but when he focused his mind to the task completely, his energy and aura obeyed his will as he regulated his breath.

Qaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

The two forces pushed onto the spear resonated with the Orcicalchum magic ore, which was crafted into the spear.

Envirus, who was making a bowl of ashes of the ghoul’s corpses through the light magic with the wand, was surprised and looked back at Lee Sungmin.

The power that Lee Sungmin exuded from his body and spear, was so powerful that it had shocked even Envirus, a Great Wizard who was quite old and had seen many powerful beings in his lifetime.

Lee Sungmin was feeling a bit overpowered by the terrible and violent energy that wanted to run rampant that he felt in his hands as he gripped the spear tightly.

Even though it was just the nature of the power itself that was making his hands tremble with a bit of hesitation, the hesitation was brief as he solidified his mind and swung the spear using the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques along with the Blood Ring Techniques he learned from Byuk Won-Pae.

Nine Heavenly Spears Techniques 2nd move : Nine Dragons Annihilation (九龍殺生)

Crazy Heavenly Demon’s Techniques : Blood Ring Smithereens (血環破碎)

The spear moved faster than Lee Sungmin had expected it to since the addition of the violent energies was so great that he missed his intended mark.

The nine blood-red dragons manifested from the spear’s trajectory and destroyed the ghouls and everything in their path.

The reason for Lee Sungmin missing his intended mark with the spear moves was because even at the end of the 2,100 years he spent in Denir’s Trial of the subconscious, he had never released this much power in one move, so he had yet to adjust.

The streets got destroyed by the incredible technique and the corpses of the ghouls spattered blood everywhere like rain.

Lee Sungmin swallowed down a brief feeling of pain. He felt as if his arms had twisted to unnatural degree unable to keep up with his techniques.

Lee Sungmin looked dazedly at the obliterated scenery as the street and buildings no longer had their old appearance from the intense result of the Nine Dragons Annihilation.

“……my goodness… …”, Envirus muttered to himself as he stared dazedly at Lee Sungmin’s back where, in front of Lee Sungmin was the devastated landscape.

Lee Sungmin looked down at his orchicalcum spear as it emitted a white steam.

He was well aware that the orchicalcum ore would resonate with the mana and internal energy to a great degree, but this… was an absurd amount of power.

“You… …what exactly was that? Was that the power of the yokai?”, Envirus stuttered as he tried to get an explanation from Lee Sungmin.

Lee Sungmin did not answer. He could hear his heart beating excitedly. Was it the black heart or ‘his’ heart that was beating? Lee Sungmin gulped down his saliva nervously as a shallow thought came to his mind.

‘If… if I can master this power completely, I can be on par with Wijihoyeon…’

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