Chapter 156
Seo Da-hee stared at the place where Chun Ga-eun had disappeared.
As if she were overwhelmed by anxiety, she paced in circles while biting her nails.
Lia's voice echoed inside her mind as they shared the same body.
[The Groom is suffering.]
“……”
While her connection with Yoo Seongwoo was nowhere near as deep as Lia's, she could occasionally sense his emotions as well.
Especially when his emotions fluctuated violently.
Just like now.
A portion of the emotions he was experiencing flowed into Seo Da-hee.
Boiling rage, guilt, helplessness—
Countless emotions mixed together and pulled at her heart.
Seo Da-hee knew this feeling.
The pain of loss.
She looked worriedly toward the place where Chun Ga-eun had gone.
‘What in the world happened?’
His communication had suddenly been cut off for several days.
Just before he appeared at the Academy, she had even felt that Yoo Seongwoo's life was in danger.
Besides, the Yoo Seongwoo she knew wasn't someone reckless enough to charge straight into the Academy like this.
Something had definitely happened while he was in Pandemonium.
‘Could it be... they discovered Seongwoo's betrayal in Pandemonium?’
“Ow.”
Blood trickled from the nail she had chewed until it broke.
Seeing it, Seo Da-hee couldn't shake the ominous feeling.
‘I just hope Instructor handles this well.’
Chun Ga-eun stepped into the building engulfed in dense Demonic Energy.
Compared to the overwhelming concentration outside, the interior was surprisingly normal.
Rather, it was as if the Demonic Energy had been waiting for her, parting to create a path.
‘What kind of lunatic Demon is this?’
She placed a hand on the hilt of her katana.
The Demonic Energy guided her forward as though beckoning her to follow.
Could it be that the reason for creating this curtain of Demonic Energy was simply to lure her inside?
After venturing deep into the building, she finally found the Demon who had invaded the Academy.
A man clad in armor resembling that of a demon leaned against the wall.
She recognized him instantly.
“...Yoo Seongwoo?”
Why was he here?
And why had he brazenly invaded the Academy like this?
It wasn't like him.
Yoo Seongwoo, who had been sitting against the wall, slowly raised his head.
The corners of his eyes were red, and his complexion was dark.
‘Did he... cry?’
Seeing Yoo Seongwoo exuding an unsettling aura, Chun Ga-eun slowly drew her katana.
To her eyes, he looked dangerously unstable.
Like an unexploded bomb that could detonate at any moment.
Moreover, even she couldn't deal with him easily.
The public believed Chun Ga-eun had defeated Lord Biden, but she knew who had truly killed him.
Even weakened, Lord Biden had still been a High-ranking Executive—a monster.
And the one who killed him stood before her.
Furthermore, the power she sensed from him was incomparably greater than the last time she had seen him.
On top of that, there was an indescribable sense of revulsion.
She silently measured the difference in strength between them.
‘One thing's certain. If we fight, one of us will die.’
Yoo Seongwoo, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke.
His voice was unbearably bleak.
“You came.”
“You...”
Countless words swirled inside her mouth, yet none of the harsh ones came out.
“You look like you have a lot you want to say.”
“Are you okay?”
“……”
Yoo Seongwoo fell silent for a moment.
He hadn't expected those words to come from Chun Ga-eun.
“If you're asking whether I'm okay... then I'd say this is the worst I've ever been.”
“What were you thinking, barging into the Academy so openly? Do you even know the chaos outside?”
Hearing that, Yoo Seongwoo nodded.
No one knew the situation outside better than he did.
“I never intended to enter this dramatically.”
Was it because it was his first time using Malphas's Authority?
His control was poor, and Malphas's Authority proved to be far more advanced than he had expected.
The Authority didn't simply transport him wherever he imagined.
At close range, it was one thing.
But the distance from the Sanctuary hidden within the Void Space to the Academy was unimaginably vast.
To open a Portal connecting the two required incredibly complex spatial coordinate calculations.
But given the circumstances, he hadn't had that luxury.
And this was the result.
Originally, Yoo Seongwoo had intended to arrive somewhere quiet near the outskirts of the Academy.
From there, he planned to use the Mask of the Deceiver and quietly infiltrate the Academy.
Instead, an error in the spatial coordinates had dropped him right into the center of the Academy.
A headache surged through Chun Ga-eun, and she pressed a hand against her forehead.
She was already worrying about how she was supposed to clean up this mess.
The incident had grown far too large to quietly suppress.
Emergency disaster alerts had already been sent to every cadet in the Academy, and countless outsiders had gathered beyond the perimeter.
The situation had become far too complicated for her to simply use her authority to smuggle Yoo Seongwoo out.
If she tried to escort him away now, things would only become even more complicated.
Moreover, Yoo Seongwoo was the one responsible for the Academy's Hell Manifestation.
He was an S-rank Villain.
The moment he was handed over to the Association, he would be executed immediately.
Chun Ga-eun fell into deep thought.
She knew everything Yoo Seongwoo had done until now.
He had abandoned Pandemonium to save the Academy and had repeatedly foiled its schemes.
He had even saved Kang Jae-seok's life.
Although she had promised to grant him three requests in return.
Yet every request he had made had been to defeat Lord Biden and to look after his younger sister.
In other words, despite standing before one of the world's greatest Heroes, he hadn't used a single favor for himself.
Every one of them had been for someone else.
Chun Ga-eun tightly shut her eyes before speaking.
“...Run.”
Yoo Seongwoo looked at her in shock.
She was willing to let him go?
He had never imagined Chun Ga-eun would make such a choice.
After all, the relationship between them had only ever been a shallow connection formed through a makeshift contract.
Unlike the others in the Student Council, they had never shared their hearts with one another.
She had no reason to let him escape.
Besides, he had never even used the favor he could have demanded from her.
“Do you really mean that? If you let me go, you'll end up in serious trouble.”
“At worst, I'll just get fired.”
She laughed lightly as she tossed out the casual remark.
But Yoo Seongwoo's expression twisted.
In Chun Ga-eun's smile, he saw the Heavenly Demon who had sacrificed herself for him.
He had only managed to escape because of her sacrifice.
He had been too weak to do anything.
He still regarded escaping the Sanctuary alone as shameful.
And now she was telling him to run again.
This time while dragging someone else into his problems.
He didn't want that.
Compared to what had happened in the Sanctuary, this situation was nothing.
Besides, he had nowhere else to go except the Academy.
Pandemonium had already cast him aside.
There was no way the Demons who learned that fact would leave him alone.
Ordinary fodder could attack him all they wanted.
But he had no confidence in fighting powerful Demons in the middle of a city while protecting civilians.
In that sense, the Academy was the perfect hiding place.
There were countless Heroes here.
And above all...
He needed to approach the Gate and meet Baek Hyun-joong.
Yoo Seongwoo slowly rose to his feet.
Seeing that, Chun Ga-eun instinctively flinched.
Her instincts rejected him.
It wasn't that he was releasing Demonic Energy or revealing killing intent.
Rather, Yoo Seongwoo's power itself felt deeply unsettling to her heightened senses.
‘Is it because his Corrosion Rate has increased?’
Realizing why she reacted that way, Yoo Seongwoo came to that conclusion.
Although attracting the vigilance of powerful people wasn't exactly welcome, it would actually help with what he was about to do.
At that moment, Chun Ga-eun asked,
“So when are you planning to run away? They're arguing outside about whether to storm in.”
“I have no intention of running.”
“What?”
Chun Ga-eun's eyes widened.
What kind of ridiculous thing was he saying?
If he was captured, he would be executed.
Which meant she would be stuck raising Test Subject No. 66 forever.
Absolutely not.
She'd die from frustration before old age ever got her.
“What about your younger sister if you die? Are you planning to abandon your only family?”
“Huh?”
Yoo Seongwoo frowned in confusion.
Younger sister?
What was she talking about?
He had always been alone.
Both in his previous life and this one.
“What do you mean, younger sister?”
“The one you entrusted to me!”
“...Ah.”
Only then did Yoo Seongwoo realize that the younger sister Chun Ga-eun was referring to was Test Subject No. 66.
Thinking about it, calling her his younger sister wasn't entirely wrong.
Genetically, they were practically siblings.
He briefly considered correcting her.
In the end, he simply kept quiet.
Taking a slow breath, Yoo Seongwoo dismissed the curtain of Demonic Energy surrounding the building.
The moment Chun Ga-eun noticed, her face turned pale.
That curtain had been the only reason they had been able to talk peacefully.
Yet he had dismissed it without warning.
She couldn't understand what he was thinking.
Heroes were already entering the building.
At this point, there was no longer any way for her to clean things up.
KWAAANG!!
With a deafening explosion, the ceiling burst open as numerous Heroes descended through the opening.
The moment they recognized him, their eyes widened.
“Devil Knight?”
“The one responsible for turning the Academy into Hell?”
“Execute him immediately—!”
At that moment, Yoo Seongwoo stepped forward and raised his hand, making it clear he had no hostile intentions.
The Demonic Authority surrounding his body faded away as if washed clean.
“I surrender. I will submit.”
The Heroes stared in stunned silence.
It wasn't unheard of for Demons to surrender.
Some cherished their own lives above all else.
But those were usually insignificant Demons.
The kind who sold their souls to demons for power yet lacked even the courage to offer sacrifices, eventually ending up captured by Heroes.
In such cases, Heroes typically used them as spies in exchange for their lives—or discarded them once they had outlived their usefulness.
But the being before them was different.
A high-ranking Demon of Pandemonium.
The one responsible for the Academy's Hell Manifestation.
The Heroes exchanged glances.
Using telepathy transmitted through Mana, they silently argued among themselves.
The question was simple.
Should Devil Knight be killed immediately?
Or spared?
Chun Ga-eun opposed immediate execution.
Most of the others supported it.
Their reasoning was simple.
Demons could not be trusted.
And the crimes he had committed were more than enough justification.
Watching them converse in silence, their vocal cords trembling only slightly as they communicated through telepathy, Yoo Seongwoo let out a faint chuckle.
He had no ability to eavesdrop on telepathy.
But he didn't need one.
Their thoughts were painfully obvious.
However...
There were three things they had overlooked.
First.
No one present here was capable of killing Yoo Seongwoo.
Second.
Just because he had surrendered did not mean he intended to let them kill him.
And finally...
This wasn't a request.
It was a threat.
The sky split open.
From the opening, an enormous sword slowly emerged, revealing its colossal form.
The Heroes' faces turned deathly pale.
“I said I was surrendering, didn't I?”