The secretary urged him once more to attend tomorrow before ending the call.
Johannes’s eyes clouded with suspicion. Who could have contacted his father?
It was likely someone from Enrakakyo who followed ‘That One’.
Since ‘That One’ was not human, it could not use modern devices.
He wondered what that person could have said to make his father insist on taking his distant son into the Temple, especially now that it had changed into something so strange.
There was certainly a hidden agenda. His father was a cowardly man who rarely did anything that might threaten his own safety.
On the other hand, he was also the type of person who would lose his mind and do anything if there was a profit to be made.
A cowardly, despicable, and greedy father.
After realizing his father’s true nature, the fact that they shared the same blood felt horrific.
Johannes even felt pity for his past self, who had been so thirsty for such a father’s affection.
‘It’s fine now. We’ve become a pair who simply use each other.’
The important thing was that since his father intended to enter the Temple with him, an opportunity to save Iris had arisen.
No matter what the man was thinking, Johannes had no intention of playing along.
His father would likely misunderstand and think he had manipulated Johannes into following his whims, but that didn’t matter.
Let him misunderstand. Johannes pressed his lips thin and stared at the heavy iron gates of the Temple.
Then, he squeezed his eyes shut and turned around.
His footsteps were heavy as he walked away, unable to save Iris, who was trapped inside.
‘It’s okay. Iris is alive. She must be alive. She’s a strong girl.’
***
Meanwhile, inside the Temple that had transformed into the Black Castle, the interior had turned completely black, just like the exterior.
Furthermore, as the buildings were reshaped for their specific purposes and merged into a single castle, their elevations shifted.
The basement where ‘That One’ had resided was now located at the very top of the castle.
A throne had appeared in a once-empty high place, and a red carpet stretched from the entrance to its base.
As Johannes had suspected, ‘That One’ was the one who had transformed the Temple into the Black Castle.
After collecting all of the unconscious Iris’s Relics, it had temporarily injected power into Abellus’s body, allowing him to manifest the abilities in its stead.
Sitting on the throne, Abellus looked down at his wide-open palms with an expression full of ecstasy.
Power was overflowing from his body.
He felt an overwhelming strength, something he had never experienced in his life, surging through his veins.
“Ha… is this really… still incomplete? Even though I’m overflowing with this much power?”
“Yes. It is not yet complete. You cannot wear the Relics yet. That is because the Relics have not yet accepted you as their master. The same goes for the Goddess’s Necklace. Your power will only be perfected once we perform the Ritual to change the master of the Relics using the Vessel during the Total Solar Eclipse. What you feel now is likely not even 1/100 — no, not even 1/1,000 — of the power all the Relics possess.”
Abellus stared at the Relics contained in the glass cases with a flushed face.
He had worried that the power of the Relics might be underwhelming compared to his expectations, but it had been a waste of energy.
Even now, he possessed enough power to transform a massive complex of buildings into a single Black Castle.
To think this power would become 1,000 times stronger after the Ritual?
What would happen when he became even stronger? Could he completely reshape Gyodam City to his liking?
Wearing a wicked smile, he moved his hands and muttered to himself. In response, a massive hand emerged in the air, mimicking his movements exactly.
He had become able to use the Pincer Attack that Iris once possessed, now adapted in the style of Abellus.
“Incredible…”
Before tasting the power of the Relics, he had felt a faint flicker of guilt about using Iris, but such feelings were now completely forgotten.
Since she could now spend the rest of her life with a man who possessed such immense power, wouldn’t Iris be happy too?
It was a bit of a shame that she would lose her sense of self after the Ritual and wouldn’t be able to feel an emotion like happiness.
His head was currently filled with nothing but fantasies of becoming the strongest in the world and making everyone kneel at his feet.
Standing up abruptly from the throne, he looked around and curled one side of his mouth into a sneer.
Seeing the Chimera standing in the corner gave him a good idea.
It was a creature that had been difficult to handle anyway because it wouldn’t be tamed easily.
Besides, he was now strong enough that he didn’t even need to employ a Chimera…
It was a bit of a waste considering the effort he had put in, but that was all.
Having made his decision, he looked at the Chimera and mimicked a downward strike in the air.
“Argh!”
The giant hand struck the Chimera, and a death scream echoed from beneath it.
When he lifted the hand again, the Chimera was gone, replaced only by a crushed, blood-stained shape.
To be able to kill a powerful Chimera with a single gesture as if killing a mosquito — there would be no Superpowered Individual like this anywhere.
Now, he no longer needed to go through the trouble of creating Chimeras to compensate for his lacking abilities.
He wished he had obtained this power much sooner.
“Hahahaha!”
His satisfaction with the newly acquired power was so great that a boisterous laugh burst out of him.
His laughter echoed through the vast space.
However, while he was laughing, Abellus suddenly turned pale and clutched his chest.
He felt a sharp pain in his heart.
“Ugh, what is this?”
The pain vanished quickly, but Abellus’s complexion remained poor.
This was because it was bad news if the newly acquired power was having a negative impact on his body.
‘That One’, who had been watching the scene, clicked its tongue and warned him.
“I believe I told you? The power of the Relics is still incomplete. You shouldn’t use it recklessly just because you’re excited. It isn’t yours yet. If you use it excessively before the Ritual, your body won’t be able to handle it and will collapse.”
“Then shouldn’t you have given me a proper warning instead of just vaguely saying it was incomplete? Phew, I almost died an untimely death before even performing the Ritual.”
Abellus almost snapped at the entity out of habit but managed to restrain himself. Then, he spoke calmly.
If he offended ‘That One’, he might ruin everything.
Since it could give power and then take it away, he would likely have to keep walking on eggshells around the creature even after the Ritual was over.
Thinking that way dampened his excitement significantly.
‘If it turns out like that, then isn’t that thing the actual strongest in the world? Phew, fine. That thing isn’t human. I’ll be the strongest among humans. It doesn’t feel great, but it can’t be helped.’
As his excitement cooled, Abellus sat back down on the throne with a grim expression. ‘That One’ tilted its head and stared at him.
“Keep this in mind. To make the power of the Relics completely yours, you need the fear and awe of the people. The stronger those people are, the more perfectly the Ritual will be performed. You must gather as many people as possible. Are you gathering them?”
“Yeah. Lucael has been contacting the Enrakakyo associates, and I proudly delivered the news of my betrayal to J Corporation. Director Kaisar’s anger was evident just from the sound of his voice, but he acted as if nothing were wrong, as if he had to protect his pride even if he died for it. I had a hard time holding back my laughter.”
The corner of Abellus’s mouth curled up as he recalled the recent call. Through the handphone, Director Kaisar’s voice had been trembling with rage. Kaisar had supported Abellus so he could uncover the secrets of the Relics and study Monsters. On top of that, he had stored one of the Relics he was so obsessed with in the Laboratory where Abellus could access it at any time. It was truly like leaving a fish with a cat.
Why had he acted so carelessly? It was likely due to his characteristic arrogance. Kaisar was not a self-made success; he had been born as a wealthy family’s Heir and spent his entire life looking down on everyone. Because of that, he didn’t seem to realize that a subordinate could climb over him. One could tell just by looking into his eyes. He was the complete opposite of Abellus, who had been born in a Village and desperately wanted to climb to the top.
Moreover, Kaisar probably thought there was no reason for a mere researcher to betray a major corporation. He had provided more than enough money, after all. He wouldn’t have dreamed that Abellus was greedy for power, not money. Abellus had thoroughly deceived others by appearing to be someone who was only interested in research and had no desire for status. And since he had risen to the position of Research Director, he had achieved success quite quickly at a young age.
‘But what I want isn’t just a reasonably high position. I want the highest seat of all.’
Kaisar must be in a state of uncontrollable rage now that Abellus, whom he thought was satisfied with being a Research Director, had run off with the company’s Relic overnight and obtained the power Kaisar himself had desired so much.
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