Chapter 32: Changes in the Seventh Iteration
The Regressor’s instincts sharply rose up and he could feel the odour of blood and rotten flesh seeping in.
Wei Yan was headed to a certain alleyway, which Yu Jitae followed into. Although he walked over a path clumped up in dust, his feet did not leave any footsteps behind. His heart rate gradually decreased, and the little sounds of his joints were blocked by mana.
Wind avoided him.
It was his first time walking into Lair’s restricted area, even out of all the regressions he had.
There, he could feel several gazes.
Turning his eyes around at the partially destructed buildings, he found crimson eyes glancing from behind the curtains of the broken windows.
Evileyes.
They were lage eyeballs floating around, and appeared to be keeping a close eye on the restricted area following the commands of the demons.
Wei Yan followed down the stairs of a certain building to its basement. That place was the epicentre of the odour he had been feeling.
“What happened.”
Standing on the stairs leading down to the basement, Wei Yan asked with a cold voice. From deeper inside the darkness, a sigh escaped.
“He has completely gone mad. Some of us went up and tried to stop him, but we couldn’t calm him down.”
“How many sacrifices.”
“It’s two. One male and a female. One of them is a cadet.”
Hearing that, Wei Yan similarly let out a sigh.
“… That thing is far from being human.”
A sacrifice. It was a jargon of the demons, and referred to the victims used in keeping their desires under control.
“You may go. I’ll take care of the rest.”
“…”
There was no response.
“What are you doing. I’m telling you to go.”
“Are you planning to keep him at Lair, sir?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“The lord feels uncomfortable about it.”
The lord referred to the head of Undetectables, the organisation of demons.
“I’ll take care of it.”
“There has been an order. To get rid of as many unstable elements as possible.”
“Oi.”
Wei Yan’s voice changed.
“So what.”
His previously gentle tone was long gone.
“…Sorry?”
“So what, huh. Oi you impertinent guy. Are you my lord or something?”
“That’s not the case, but.”
“But, what.”
“But the lord is feeling displeased about it so I was just trying to warn you…”
As his words continued, Wei Yan’s body in response started trembling heavily, as if he was in a seizure.
“You damn… guys…”
His eyes facing the ceiling of the basement fluctuated unstably.
“Who do you think…”
Soon, his gaze fell down and reached the demons.
“Youarefuckinglookingat,huh? Areyouaskingmetodigthemout? ShouldIsliceyourgutsoutaswellandhangthemonatower? Huuuh—-!!!?”
A large bellow shook the entire basement while the surrounding mana shook as if it had gone insane.
Slash–!
A whipping sound soon followed suit, which was then followed by the sound of blood being splashed on the floor. Only then, did Wei Yan’s trembling body come to a stoip.
“Sorry… But still, we should respect superiors, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Go on. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Seeing two demons walking towards him, Yu Jitae hid within the darkness. The woman had her cheek torn apart and the inside of her skin was in display but things resembling tentacles came out from the surrounding skin and were healing the wound.
Yu Jitae etched their faces into his head.
He then once again climbed down the stairs. He could hear the sounds slightly clearer. There was the growling noise of a beast, a scream continuing onto silence, and the sound of rustling clothes.
“Minsung-hyung.”
Furs, claws, tentacles and others all added into one – the teaching staff, Oh Minsung had turned into something resembling a beast. He was digging his head into the ground, indulging himself in something.
“Minsung-hyung. Let’s have a chat.”
Wei Yan tapped Oh Minsung’s head several times with his foot but Oh Minsung did not move. Behind him, there was a body of a man which had long turned into a corpse.
The faint gasps of breath that could stop at any second was coming from beneath Oh minisung and when Yu Jitae looked closer, he found a bare skin covered in blood.
“Look at me, hyung. Let’s have a chat, yes? A chat. Stop… stop fucking eating that shit and look at me.”
Bam!
Wei Yan kicked Oh Minsung’s head with his foot.
Due to that, Oh Minsung was pushed away. Hiding within the darkness, Yu Jitae could finally see the thing that had been under the demon.
A blonde hair,
Just like a baby chicken.
…It was a girl.
She had become a mess of blood, with several parts of her body having been devoured by the demon.
“Aigo. My brother, were you that angry?”
“…”
The beast huffed while staring at Wei Yan.
“That’s Ha Junsoo, and this is Yu Kaeul huh? You must’ve tried hard looking for them. But, I told you right. I told you to not touch cadets since it makes things annoying.”
Wei Yan then tapped the blonde-haired girl with his foot. The child was wearing cadet clothes.
She wasn’t Yu Kaeul; she was merely someone that resembled her. It seemed that she had been wandering around this area before being abducted.
“…”
“Well, whatever. Anyways, what should we do with you? To have this little patience… our lord is telling me to expel you.”
“…”
“I’m trying to do a good job taking care of you because you are an acquaintance from my human days, but it’s not easy. It was just a little judge position. How can you get upset so easily?”
“…”
“I told you to just wait three months right. After three months, I would be stepping onto a Seat myself… huu, seriously.”
Stepping onto a Seat?
Yu Jitae formed a frown.
Seats in the organisation of demons, referred to the four selected demons of the organisation. Unlike normal demons who would act by themselves, the ones that have rose up to these Seats form their own troops.
Plus, they are given the highest rank of strength amongst demons, the power of a ‘catastrophe’, just like the demon that had forced Yu Jitae to despair in the second round of regression.
However, Wei Yan had never taken a Seat within the repeating regressions. Never.
It happened while he was in doubt.
[The authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)] reads the hostility sent from the other side of the Horizon of Providence.]
[The authority, [Vintage Clock(EX)] observes an existence that has escaped the boundaries of time.]
[Opponent: [Demon, Wei Yan]]
[Explanation: There has been an interference from the existence outside the world’s timeline, who holds dissatisfaction about the regressions. From the repetitive flow of regressions, the demon Wei Yan is partially dislocated.]
[Wei Yan of the Seventh Iteration: Wei Yan of this iteration, exists while having an accumulation of the strongest weapon, greatest connections and the best luck of the six previous regressions.]
A message floated up on Vintage Clock’s status window.
Yu Jitae’s chin turned tense.
At a far, distant place, outside the Horizon of Providence, there was an existence that belongs somewhere in the midst, who holds a dissatisfaction about his regressions. Its interference was proven by the evidence called Wei Yan.
He felt irritation soaring up inside.
What kind of bastard is this.
What sort of bastard was this, that it was trying to make him eat shit.
What was it so dissatisfied about.
Yu Jitae thought back on the best of everything Wei Yan had in each of the past regressions. Indeed, if those elements were to all get added, it was possible for Wei Yan to rise to a Seat.
“Anyways, I don’t think you can stay inside Lair, hyung. As soon as I finish organising stuff, I’ll move you outside. Until then, wait here quietly. Two days should be fine.”
“…”
“Hyung.”
“…”
“You know how much I like you, right?”
The demon did not respond. Leaving the sound of laughter behind, Wei Yan turned around and walked outside.
Yu Jitae had been planning on leaving Wei Yan alive until the end-of-the-year event where he would utilise all the demons under him. However, the situation was different now. If he grew up till he rose to a Seat, killing him would become a tedious task.
Within those that were currently positioned on a Seat, there was one who distributed its life to ten different demons. Even if nine were to die, he could stay alive as long as there was one remaining alive.
That was how annoying the Seated demons were.
Therefore, he had to cut off Wei Yan’s limbs – every limb until the day of the event.
As soon as Wei Yan left, Yu Jitae revealed himself from the darkness. This place appeared to be a location where demons let go of their instincts and satisfied their desires. He could see corpses locked up inside cells after walking deeper in.
They were humans who had been killed after the demons finished satisfying their desires.
Growl.
Oh Minsung let out a low growl after finding Yu Jitae. Instinctively, it realised that Yu Jitae was an enemy and thus attacked him without a single hesitation. Like a beast, it dashed at Yu Jitae on four legs.
However, its charge was blocked by one movement. Yu Jitae had held Oh Minsung, who had turned into a beast, by its chin.
He put strength into his grip.
Crack.
The jaw bone started crumbling.
Oh Minsung attempted to scream but its lungs had already been excessively emptied out by Yu Jitae. Within the ever-so quiet basement, a beast continued its struggle in mid-air.
[Shapeless Sword (SS)]
He bisected the two legs and arms of the beast.
After a struggle, Oh Minsung ended up on the ground.
Walking up, Yu Jitae held the beast by its hair and started bashing its head onto the ground.
Kung. Kung.
As the shock continued after another, Oh Minsung’s face was caved in and his skull had been deformed.
This was a sort of habit – a habit that did not allow demons to have an easy road to their afterlife. Just like that, Oh Minsung slowly began dying.
Yu Jitae closed his eyes for a short period of time.
His heart thumped heavily whenever he was killing a demon. As if it was the purpose of his life, his heart raced against the rib cages to signify its presence.
At the same time, every strand of his hazy sensations rose up. Quickly, he let out a deep breath to drive out the accompanying pleasure.
He looked at the crumbled face belonging to Oh Minsung and deciding that it was time to let him go, Yu Jitae slowly pierced the Shapeless Sword into his head.
Ripping through the skin, the killing intent demolished the forehead and entered Oh Minsung’s body. The beast pissed itself and writhed in agony and Yu Jitae watched it die with an indifferent gaze.
In the first place, he had been planning to kill him.
Since he was a low-ranked demon, killing him did not make the organisation of demons cautious. He did not need to worry about them hiding like cockroaches.
However, Yu Jitae now had a different trail of thought.
After killing him, he decided to look for and kill some of the high-ranked demons as well. It didn’t matter even if that ended up having others be more careful with their actions. Before Wei Yan could grow any further and rise to the position of a Seat, he deemed it important to crush anything that could be beneficial for Wei Yan.
All of that, was to make sure he could kill Wei Yan in an easier way at Melissa Ballroom during the end-of-the-year event.
“…Go and wait. I’ll send a few down after you.”
As soon as his words ended, the beast’s corpse laid down powerlessly.
Just like that, Oh Minsung died.
When the stimulus disappeared, his sharpened senses were immediately lifted. His eyes turned hazy, his ears lost its edge, and his sense of touch became dull. This was how he always felt.
For the first time in a long period of time, the Regressor felt a suffocating feeling but even then, it was something that must be withstood.
[Eradication (S)]
He placed his thumb next to the index finger and ran them against each other.
Click.
With the click of his finger, a black flame appeared on the body which would consume everything without leaving behind any traces.
“…”
That was when a soft voice was heard.
Turning his head around, he could see the dying blonde-haired girl staring at the ceiling. Her small body seemed to be trying its hardest to hold onto the dwindling breath.
Ignoring that, he walked up the stairs. His task had ended already.
…But after walking up, he came back down.
No matter how much he thought, he couldn’t find the reason. Why did he himself come back down? Perhaps he had felt pity for this girl who he did not even know the name of.
However, he couldn’t help her in any way. The man only knew how to kill, and did not know how to save a failing life.
Yu Jitae crouched down in front of the child. Her eyes had already lost focus.
On the girl’s neck, there was an identification tag of a cadet. Carefully, he pulled it out and took it with him.
Leaving the restricted area on the way back to the audition venue, he placed the identification tag into a lost property collection box.
After that, he forgot everything about the girl.
From what he remembered, death was a common occurrence.