Black Badger

How boring the Elders’ political infighting was.

Erich Erhart thought so as he received the situation report through Shashinsky.

This one’s not even fun to watch, either.

With a flick of his hand, Erich ordered them to hurry and bring the kids waiting outside into the mansion, while he thought about Yekaterina.

That woman, Colton Wiseman’s longtime nemesis, had liked the Ice Empress since way back.

As far as he knew, the two of them didn’t have any particular connection. It wasn’t some obvious story like master and disciple, or savior and saved. There must’ve been something, but he didn’t know it—he only knew that Yekaterina respected the Ice Empress.

He’d heard there were plenty of people who were obsessed with the Ice Empress, so it wasn’t surprising.

It just wasn’t interesting.

Erich had never really liked power-holders who moved according to some incomprehensible creed.

They were... predictable. What they craved was usually tied to domination and rule, and Erich didn’t have much interest in people who became miserable because they couldn’t get that.

Same way he wasn’t all that interested in miserable people who ruined themselves because of severely warped beliefs—like getting sucked into a cult.

Yekaterina’s beliefs weren’t as unrealistic as theirs, but still...

“Don’t you think the fear is excessive?”

While some ran out to collect the people outside and others hurriedly checked the portal device, he muttered to himself.

Levi, stationed beside him as his guard, lifted his head.

With his youthful face, the guard understood immediately.

“It’s not impossible that Kyle might kneel.”

Levi picked up the conversation in a clear, easy voice.

“Now that Prometheus has taken down the number-one Elder, Kyle’s most practical decision is to come to us and surrender while pretending it’s reconciliation.”

“Haha. She’s so practical that sometimes she makes mistakes like this.”

Erich laughed dryly.

“She’s definitely thinking it’s different from the First War. Unlike back then, the highest authority inside Earth’s Curtain right now is Hildebert. So if Kyle surrenders, everyone’s happy, and the Titans win in the end—she must’ve reached that conclusion.”

“I don’t think it’s a completely absurd worry. Even I keep thinking—at the very last moment, what if Kyle comes crying and offers surrender.”

“Really?”

Erich answered in an interested tone, raising one eyebrow.

Of course, he’d heard that Yekaterina’s nuclear bomber was prepared.

So he knew his own life was hanging by a thread as well, but he didn’t panic.

It’s not like he could operate the portal device himself...

His subordinates would handle it.

Erich began walking, unhurriedly, toward the place where a drama he didn’t particularly like was unfolding.

“That’s interesting. I think that will never happen.”

“Because that tenth-class Creature is dead? But revenge doesn’t bring the dead back to life. And there would be those born on Earth, too. Kyle isn’t that stupid, so I’ll wager one of my wallets that he might change his mind at the end.”

“Haha!”

Erich burst out laughing.

He knew that this treasured minion of his always wagered a wallet whenever he made a bet.

A wallet Levi had stolen from Erich Erhart’s pocket when he was an orphan wandering the streets a long time ago.

It was worn out and shabby, but Levi never once tried to replace it.

The fact that it was Levi’s most cherished possession was one of the reasons Levi was cute.

Loyal, after all.

Thinking idly like that, Erich walked through the mansion.

Ah!

Even stories with a nuclear bomb in them were boring.

It was too strong—that was the problem.

It isn’t visible right in front of you, and then within ten minutes, bang! everything disappears.

There was no room to feel the joys and sorrows that came from a fierce battle. Even now—look. You can’t see the “crisis” right in front of you, can you.

Everything was unbearably dull.

Yekaterina really had no talent for writing scripts.

Even so, Hildebert’s narrative still caught his interest.

And Erhart rather liked Lee Seunghyun as well.

A minion’s narrative was always entertaining.

The problem was most of the Elders.

“The surface reason is that.”

Listening to Shashinsky’s urgent on-site report through the earpiece jammed into his ear, Erich spoke slowly.

“The truth is, she got scared.”

Power-holders had a shared trait that made them boring.

“She watched Colton—someone she couldn’t defeat no matter how hard she tried—get removed this easily. There’s no way it didn’t provoke her paranoid thinking.”

“That’s true, too.”

“Honestly, I don’t even know what’s so important. Who cares who’s sitting on top? You should just enjoy life!”

“Belief is like that, I guess.”

Levi said breezily.

The blond minion, tilting his head slightly and smiling with curved brows, added after a few steps—

“As long as Hildebert’s head is still attached, she’s definitely going to drop the nuke, right?”

“That’s right. We can only hope the launch gets delayed.”

If the bomber was already in the sky, then in truth, they were finished.

That’s how life ends.

And yet, for some reason, Erich Erhart’s intuition was telling him it wasn’t over yet.

Did Lee Seunghyun make a choice?

Or did someone else deal with Hildebert in some outlandish way?

To confirm it, Erich Erhart stepped toward the place where the not-very-interesting drama was unfolding.

He pretended not to hear the shrill voice in his ear yelling, ‘Do you not know about the nuclear bomber? Huh? Our agent confirmed it personally!’

Shashinsky, seriously.

Even back in college, he worried too much.

What’s the worst that happens—dying before you even have time to feel pain?

If luck was on their side and the bomber’s departure was delayed so they could escape, great.

Erich was only disappointed that the story was dull.

Who wrote this script?

If only the last drama he ever saw had been a little more thrilling...

“Oh, my God.”

Erich breathed out in admiration at the sight that came into view.

“What is this?”

It smelled of blood.

***

Seunghyun moved quickly.

Just as he’d reported to Yekaterina, when he moved his hand, blood poured out.

“Captain!”

A shout rang out in the space as the stench of blood began to thicken.

The instant Igor turned his body to rush to Hildebert, Lee Seunghyun sprang up and away from Hildebert, who was sprawled on the floor like a sack of grain.

Then, with his left hand tucked into his pocket, he drew a gun with his right.

Bang!

The movement was clean, with no wasted motion.

Bang! Bang!

Igor and Yun were similar in skill.

Which meant Seunghyun’s skill was better than Igor’s.

“Igor!”

Yoow shouted sharply.

“You stupid knight!”

“Captain?”

The two shots Lee Seunghyun fired pierced Igor, who had taken his eyes off his Captain for a moment. The additional shot punched through Rose’s calf.

Even as he collapsed to his knees, Igor still tipped forward, pouring toward Hildebert.

Rose dropped to the ground with a wet thud, staring blankly at Hildebert.

Now, the white-haired knight was buried in a pool of blood.

His collapsed profile was hidden behind hair scattered like a fan.

But the hand that had been groping at the floor as if trying to absorb—groping at a floor with nothing to absorb—no longer moved.

“Captain?”

Rose murmured in a hoarse voice.

“Captain?”

“It’s over.”

Stepping on Rose’s leg as she tried to go to Hildebert, Lee Seunghyun delivered the notice.

His black eyes turned toward Yekaterina.

“If you wait one more minute, it’ll be finished for sure.”

“Hm.”

A short sound slipped from the woman’s light-green eyes.

Her gaze never left Hildebert, collapsed in the soaking blood.

Eyes holding a cold decision.

Yekaterina brought her right index finger up under her chin.

“It’s too easy compared to what I imagined.”

“Death is like that.”

“Couldn’t you cut his throat?”

“That carries a high risk of getting absorbed in reverse. Stabbing the carotid and pulling out is surer than that.”

“That makes sense. Still, I don’t want to do something foolish like leaving without confirming death.”

Her eyes still didn’t move, yet she added this while constantly checking Hildebert—

“Don’t think about interfering, Erhart. This isn’t your story.”

“Don’t worry.”

Erich answered politely.

“Just standing here is enough to satisfy me.”

“Strategist!”

A vast space.

Igor bared his veins.

Even with blood streaming from both legs, he thrashed violently.

Rose, stepped on by Lee Seunghyun, seemed to have lost her mind—she didn’t even twitch anymore.

Igor elbowed Yoow, who was trying to staunch his wounds, and shouted,

“Throw something he can absorb!”

“Hold still for a second! If you keep this up, you’ll cross the line from excessive bleeding!”

“Fuck, move! I’ll cut off one of my legs!”

“The nuke is dropping!”

Yoow shouted.

Seeing the knight with eyes full of fear and confusion, the strategist added desperately,

“The bomber’s about to take off any second!”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

It looked like Igor was starting to feel afraid of the strategist’s incomprehensible behavior.

Staring at Yoow clinging to his arm like he was looking at a lunatic, the knight snarled,

“Why does that matter? The Captain’s dying right now.”

“Mikhail.”

The Elder who’d been standing without sparing them a glance.

Yekaterina spoke.

“Go check his pulse.”

“Yes.”

The man who’d been standing behind the Elder like a shadow answered briefly.

A person with an atmosphere similar to Lee Seunghyun’s lifted the head he’d had lowered and walked out to the Elder’s side.

“As you command.”

“Be careful.”

The Elder added, watching her minion pass by.

“If he’s alive, you could be absorbed. If it feels like there’s a pulse, retreat immediately.”

“Yes.”

The one called Mikhail answered without emotion.

Now everyone’s gaze focused on Mikhail.

A man dressed in a bulletproof suit passed Yekaterina, passed Seunghyun—still stepping on Rose with his left hand in his pocket—passed Yoow, who was crying hard as he tried to stop Igor’s bleeding, and no one spoke.

Erich Erhart, Shashinsky, and Levi watched Mikhail as well.

Yekaterina’s other minions, who’d finished {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} setting up the portal and were ready to act at any moment, watched him.

But Yekaterina wasn’t looking at Mikhail.

She was looking at Hildebert.

The man collapsed in a horrifying amount of blood.

The existence she feared more than anything else.

If it were some insignificant Titan, she didn’t care whether it mixed into the human world or not.

But that man with the yellow eyes...

Yekaterina had witnessed the First War, so...

Bzzzt!

The moment Mikhail drew close enough to be within arm’s reach of Hildebert, Erich Erhart’s portal began to operate.

It was within the expected range, so Yekaterina wasn’t surprised.

But because of the noise, her gaze that had briefly slipped off Hildebert caught a strange scene.

Lee Seunghyun.

A subordinate who had never once shown even a hint of doubt toward the orders she gave.

A being with no interest in humans or Titans.

He was, in name and reality, the strongest human.

If the conditions were met.

Someone who never failed a mission...

“Why is your left hand in your pocket?”

Yekaterina uncrossed her arms.

“Seunghyun?”

Mikhail stepped into the pool of blood.

The instant his shoes were soaked red, the owner of the white hair lifted his head.

Sharp, bright, lemon-yellow eyes that found their target.

The moment he lunged from the ground, Yekaterina shouted,

“Launch it!”

Lee Seunghyun pulled his left hand out of his pocket.

Only his thumb was attached to that left hand.

“Shoot!”

“Thanks.”

Hildebert said, slowly recovering his wound with Lee Seunghyun’s four fingers.

As he charged at Mikhail like a wolf.

“Delicious.”

A hand that seized Yekaterina’s minion.

Hildebert began absorption.