TL: Yul
—–
Gemini didn’t recognize the emotions crashing about in Geniella’s eyes.
It was an emotion that was unfamiliar to both of them. And it didn’t suit Geniella at all.
Under the familiar emotions like anger, annoyance, hatred, killing intent…
Gemini gulped. When she recognized that emotion, Gemini understood that the situation had come to an end.
Geniella…lost.
The night of the full moon… the perfectly circular moon hanging above had not granted Geniella her victory. She should have killed him when she could have.
If Geniella hadn’t enjoyed herself too much earlier, everything would have already been over. Not just Lee Sungmin, but everyone would be dead.
That emotion in Geniella’s eyes, that unfamiliar, out-of-place emotion, the emotion that was never felt over the 700 years…
It was fear.
Geniella was denying that emotion; she must have let go of her focus for a bit, she told herself.
Because she was enjoying herself, she thought, she lacked attentiveness. It was like an earthworm that was wriggling around under her foot, flicking its body up and latching itself onto her ankle (TL: what an analogy).
She knew the situation right now was dangerous, though.
Collecting her breath, Geniella looked at Gemini. Right in front of her, Lee Sungmin looked down at Geniella with cold eyes.
He was contemplating how to kill her in the most violent, painful, and gruesome death, to make her fall into the greatest despair.
Geniella thought, and yet she couldn’t find an answer. Why didn’t her left arm regenerate? Her mana was infinite, but she couldn’t overwhelm Lee Sungmin no matter what she did.
This situation was incredibly unfamiliar. From the start, Geniellla had never been the weaker one in a fight.
The Demon Eye of Future-Sight helped her avoid fights with strong opponents and placed her in a favorable position if a fight was inevitable.
Her Demon Eye had disappeared years ago, but she never thought this would happen at all.
For 700 years, Geniella had gotten unimaginably strong. After the Lord of the Sama Order left this world, even the Sword Saint, the pinnacle in the Righteous Faction in the Murim, was nothing compared to Geniella.
She didn’t even place the Martial God, a puppet of the Divine Spirit, in her mind. Cain and Abel, the twins who stood at the peak of Magic as humans, were dead, and Lloyd, Gries’s successor, lacked competence. (TN: Gries was translated as Weiss for some reason, and I did follow that tradition for a while, but I’d rather just translate as close to the raws as possible for pronouns).
In this world, no one could stop Geniella. That was why this was so foreign, her first time feeling horror due to her utter loss.
What could she do?
She couldn’t absorb the powers she distributed to the other vampires in Travia, as they were being hunted down while she was gone.
There was no outside help.
Surprisingly, it seemed that Juwon had died, and Chen and Kuhn’s powers had returned to Geniella. That bit of power didn’t help.
The Blood Demon’s power… was in Lee Sungmin.
What could she do?
Immortality no longer placed her above all others. Lee Sungmin’s Infinity, which flew at her at the flick of the wrist, cut off her regeneration.
…To bring the ultimate despair to Geneilla.
What could she do?
She thought about running away, but cut off that thought instantly.
Aside from the possibility, she didn’t want to run away. She was still arrogant. Still…
‘Ah, right.’
Geniella stared at Gemini, who was still struggling with her emotions for Geniella, a ridiculous conflict.
Even if Gemini joined in the fight, the situation would still be the same.
Gemini knew that as well, that it was unrealistic, but she wanted to do something at least.
She didn’t want to see her older sister, whom she loved and spent hundreds of years with, die without being able to do anything. Yet, she wanted Geniella to die so she could be free. It was also laughable.
Just because Geniella died didn’t guarantee Gemini’s freedom; Lee Sungmin could just kill her just as easily.
‘There’s one person left…’ Geniella’s thoughts were different from Gemini’s.
In the first place, what Geniella wanted was the end of the world, for everything to disappear at the time of the Apocalypse.
She saw the Predator of Massacre’s emergence, wishing, for hundreds of years, for the end of the world through the Predator of Massacre.
The moment she could no longer see the future of the Predator of Massacre, she resolved to make Aine into it and bring about the end.
Ultimately, what she desired was the death of everything. There would be no exception. Even she intended to die gladly when the time came.
Her blood-kin could not refuse her; they all awaited death with the same resolve. The sole exception was Gemini.
Was it because they were sisters? No, that was not the reason.
The reason why Geniella had not controlled Gemini’s emotions was that she treated her like a pet. Not equal to herself, but still disobedient at times, and when disciplined, she objected yet tended to obey.
When Geniella had bitten the neck of the sister who was turned into a vampire…
Geniella wanted someone like a pet that could live by her side for hundreds of years.
Rather than making someone she didn’t know into a pet, turning her younger sister, who she had known forever, into a pet seemed better.
Her actions in the past were right. Unlike the other bloodkin, who followed her commands blindly, Gemini would always bark around like a dog.
Because of that, she didn’t feel regret. There was no reason to.
All bloodkin, including Gemini, were Geniella’s possession. However, it wasn’t as though she didn’t feel pity. If the end was going to happen anyway, she wanted to watch it with Gemini and the Blood Demon…
‘I can’t do anything else.’
Thinking that, Geniella focused her powers on Gemini, to take back the power she granted to Gemini as a vampire.
Of course, the situation wouldn’t change all that much. Ignoring the fear she felt, Geniella was expecting her loss and pain.
Just…
She didn’t want to die alone…
“Uh…”
Gemini’s body twitched suddenly. Geniella’s magic, etched deep inside her body, ran wild.
Geniella’s magic had absolute control over a vampire of a lower tier, especially in close proximity like this.
“W-wait, wait, Queen, why? Why me?”
Gemini, confused and in panic, shouted. She didn’t even think that Geniella would resort to this.
We’re sisters…we love each other…right? Gemini looked in stunned disbelief at Geniella, and Geniella ignored that gaze.
“Good.”
Lee Sungmin nodded slightly.
Draconic Speech
Words whispered into the air in a small voice filled the space around them, transforming the mana lingering in the air into an unknown, foreign energy.
Gemini swallowed her breath and collapsed on the ground. Slowly, her senses returned to her.
The barrier that Lee Sungmin made prevented anything foreign from entering. No matter how strong Geniella was, she couldn’t break through; she couldn’t access any of the powers she gave to the bloodkin.
“What is….?!”
Geniella shouted, flustered. She whipped her head around, glaring at Lee Sungmin.
However, she couldn’t take a good look at his face. A fist, right in front of her nose, was the only thing that covered her field of vision.
BANG!
Her nosebridge collapsed, and blood spurted out. As her body fell backward, something pushed into her back, and bounced her body back up.
Without her knowing, hundreds of mana spheres floated behind her back. A scream erupted from her mouth as she clutched onto the ground.
Lee Sungmin dispersed the formless spear in his hand and cracked his knuckles.
“I was thinking,”
“Ugh…”
“How to bring you into despair.”
CRACK.
He approached Geniella, who was using all her strength to twist and turn on the ground.
A wildly thrown hand flew toward Lee Sungmin’s head.
BOOOMM!!
The mana spheres exploded, and the chain explosion targeted Geniella’s side.
Her crimson mana surrounding her body couldn’t protect her, and her body bounced upward, spinning in the air.
“First, I’ll stop you from doing whatever you want to do.”
Rather than saving Gemini’s life, he had prevented Geniella from using her.
“It was fun until now, right?”
Geniella’s body slammed into the ground, and she glared at Lee Sungmin with poision-filled eyes. Lee Sungmin pushed her with his foot, urging her to stand back up.
“Of course, it would have been. You watched from above as I struggled with everything you planned to send me spiraling into despair.
You could have just targeted me… Lee Sungmin muttered under his breath.
“Just think of it as our situations flipping upside down. Now, no matter what you do… you can’t make me fall into despair. I felt it before, and told myself to never fall again. Heoju wouldn’t want it either.
“AHHHHHHH!!!”
Geniella let out a loud scream, and her mana began to run rampant. Just before the mana coalesced into an attack, the mana spheres moved toward her, tearing through the blood-red mana easily.
“I told you. I’ll stop you from doing anything you want to.”
Geniella’s shoulders shook, and her lips trembled even though she couldn’t find anything to say.
Because she’d never been in this situation, she didn’t know what to say. The emotion she had been bottling up slowly started to rise.
“Laugh a bit.”
Lee Sungmin came closer. Geniella stepped back, trying to get away from him, but Lee Sungmin was faster.
His method of crushing Geniella was nothing other than the simplest of violence. A fist slammed into Geniella’s face.
Her shattered jaw fell off her face and her nose that barely regenerated crumpled again. Lee Sungmin grabbed her shoulders and planted his knee into her solar plexus.
“Urghh….!”
Geniella, her body bent over, vomited out blood. The hits were primitive, but it was perfect in inflicting pain to an immortal like Geniella.
Her regeneration recovered her body, but the hits were neverending, fists and kicks flying in from every angle. Geniella hit the ground again, her body covered in dirt from rolling around too much.
“Are you used to the pain?”
Lee Sungmin grabbed the back of Geniella’s head.
KWAANGGG!!!!!
And slammed her face down into the ground. Her immense amount of mana and the strength of her body, that of a vampire’s, didn’t matter at all. Lee Sungmin’s physical strength alone was stronger than everything she had.
“Mm, no. You said it yourself, that pain isn’t something you get used to. It’s just that your tolerance increases slowly.”
How’s this kind of pain? Lee Sungmin took Geniella’s wrists and forced his Yokai Energy into her body, which rampaged inside her, burning away her nerves and twisting and grinding her bones and muscles.
It was as though thousands of bugs were crawling inside her veins, scratching and eating away as they pleased. Cracking sounds rang throughout inside her body, and Geniella, her mouth wide open in a silent scream, shook on the ground.
“Even if you’re used to dying, it’s not like this, right?”
Lee Sungmin grabbed Geniella’s neck with his left hand. Due to the sudden pressure, Geniella twisted and turned, trying to breathe.
Her eyes popped out like that of a goldfish. Just before Geniella completely lost herself, Lee Sungmin slightly let go of her neck, giving her a chance to breathe, then gripped her neck tight again.
“S….Stop…”
Geniella muttered in a hoarse voice. She could no longer run away from the horror of it all.
Her arrogance and haughtiness had shattered under the constant violence and bombardment of attacks.
“Ju-Just kill… Kill me….”
“Of course I will.”
Did you think you’d get to live? Lee Sungmin, wide-eyed, glared down at her.
“But not now. You know it well too, right? The night is very, very long.”
At that, Geniella’s face crumbled in despair.