Chapter 96

Asura Song Hyuk-seo.

A Returner who manipulates shadows, he and his twin sister were caught in a Dimensional Movement.

At the age of an elementary school student, he and his sister were transported to a dimension where monsters lived together.

Classification: Dimensional Port 9.

A place where monsters mixed and lived together.

Song Hyuk-seo, who fell there, faced goblins watching him from the trees and felt danger.

Just a third-grade elementary school student.

At the age of about 10, he looked back at his twin sister Song Se-hee, who was trembling, unable to accept the sudden situation.

“Brother, where are we? I’m scared.”

The words his father often said, “If something happens, you must protect Se-hee,” came to his mind.

Song Hyuk-seo realized that “if something happens” was now.

But Hyuk-seo had nothing to protect his sister.

At that moment, Hyuk-seo, caught by the goblins, was dragged to a large square.

There was a giant black goblin who showed great interest in Hyuk-seo and Se-hee.

“Interesting children. It’s okay to bring them into my shadow.”

It was the king of the goblins, named Dueokshini.

Seeing him, Hyuk-seo instinctively knew.

He must not let that guy touch Se-hee.

So, Hyuk-seo squeezed his head and persuaded him.

To take only himself into the shadow, and not his sister.

“Okay, fine. Kid, playing with children isn’t fun.”

Fortunately, Dueokshini listened to Hyuk-seo.

He gave Hyuk-seo a part of his shadow, and Hyuk-seo became Dueokshini’s contractor.

With that, Hyuk-seo managed to survive in the Dimensional Port.

Dueokshini’s power became the strength for a 10-year-old boy to survive in the world.

While living day by day, a wandering Spiritual Mage came to the forest where he lived.

The forest where Hyuk-seo lived, stealing crops and items from the villagers, began to have rumors of a young goblin living there.

Hearing the news, the wandering Spiritual Mage came.

To drive away the Spiritual Mage, Hyuk-seo used Dueokshini’s shadow to attack.

But the Spiritual Mage easily subdued Hyuk-seo.

“Ha, kid, see this? You’re wearing a goblin hat.”

With red hair reminiscent of flames and yellow eyes, she saw through Hyuk-seo at once.

Feeling a chill, Hyuk-seo tried to escape, but she grabbed his neck.

“Let go! Can’t you let go! You old lady!”

“Old lady? I’m your sister! Can’t you see this smooth skin? I’m only twenty!”

And that was the first meeting with the Spiritual Mage, Ran.

Spiritual Mage Ran was a very nosy woman.

She persistently followed Hyuk-seo, and as a result, she also met Se-hee, who was hiding in the forest.

“Look at this. Kid, you were hiding such a pretty treasure? Is she your bride?”

“What are you talking about? She’s my twin sister.”

“What nonsense, you don’t look alike at all.”

“Brother, who is this person?”

With her cheerful personality, she taught the twins about the world of the Dimensional Port.

She took them around the world, helping them grow, and acted as a new parent to them.

But as time passed, Hyuk-seo’s mind was gradually being eaten away by the aftermath of his contract with Dueokshini.

He knew well that in the near future, he would become Dueokshini’s complete subordinate.

But not his sister.

Traveling with Ran, she discovered her talent as a Spiritual Mage and was an ordinary human.

This year, she turned eighteen.

She should no longer wander with him but live in a better world.

He, having contracted with a monster, became a being who could no longer live with humans.

So he had to make a choice.

“Ran, sister.”

So that day, after putting Se-hee to sleep, Hyuk-seo went to Ran.

She met his serious eyes and opened the door to let him in.

Hyuk-seo asked Ran, his older Spiritual Mage friend and benefactor, to take care of his sister.

“Hyuk-seo, let’s break the contract with Dueokshini. I’ll help. There must be a way.”

“Sorry, Dueokshini has already seeped too much into me. Sister Ran, please take care of Se-hee. I just want her to live well.”

“…What about your life? Song Hyuk-seo, you bastard. What about your life?”

Ran tried to stop him, but Hyuk-seo only smiled bitterly.

He couldn’t stay by his twin sister Se-hee’s side.

“We’re twins. If she lives well, it’s like I’m living well too.”

“…If Se-hee makes a fuss later, I won’t know.”

“Calming Se-hee down is your specialty, sister. She even changed her dialect to follow you. I’ll leave that to you too.”

So he asked Ran again and left.

But Hyuk-seo still visited Se-hee occasionally.

After calming down from her tantrum of looking for him, she started studying to become a Spiritual Mage, determined to find him herself.

Se-hee had always had the talent of a Spiritual Mage.

Taking Se-hee, Ran returned to the Ho Yeomseong family, from which she had left.

Though she had left the prestigious family due to its constraints, she returned for Se-hee and Hyuk-seo.

And in the end, she pushed aside other direct descendants and became the family head.

Ho Yeomseong.

One of the three great Spiritual Mage families, Ran, now the family head, adopted Se-hee and gave her full support.

As a result, Se-hee grew even faster.

With her exotic appearance and skills as a Spiritual Mage.

Now even called a saint, Hyuk-seo was satisfied seeing his sister.

His life wasn’t in vain.

Seeing Se-hee, now twenty, walking under the cherry blossoms with Ran from afar, Hyuk-seo smiled.

Though he had to live among monsters, he was satisfied that Se-hee, with her outstanding talent as a Spiritual Mage, could live a happy life.

As Ran’s adopted daughter, Se-hee would surely rise to a better position.

And later, she would marry someone she loves and maybe even have a niece.

Hyuk-seo thought he could live by watching that.

But one day, a problem arose.

Maro, the second son of Ho Yeomseong, who had lost the family head position to Ran, found out about Hyuk-seo’s identity.

He conspired with other direct descendants, accusing Ran of colluding with Dueokshini through Hyuk-seo, the contractor.

Of course, Ran protested, but she had become the family head solely through skill and was not adept at politics.

With bribes and various persuasions, no one in Ho Yeomseong sided with her, and naturally, other Spiritual Mages also stopped supporting her.

It was the price she paid for wandering alone for so long without human relationships.

But that wasn’t the only problem.

“Damn it, Se-hee, my daughter, has nothing to do with this! You bastards! Let go of this now!”

“Such vulgar language from a former family head. No wonder, sister, you ended up like this, associating with such filth.”

Se-hee, who was establishing herself with her outstanding skills as a Spiritual Mage, was also revealed to be the twin sister of Dueokshini’s contractor.

“Sister Ran! Sister Ran!”

“Se-hee! Let go! Let go! Se-hee!”

After hellish torture, the two were eventually imprisoned.

It was said that Ran’s dantian was destroyed, making it impossible for her to recover as a Spiritual Mage.

“You bastards!”

Hearing the news too late, Hyuk-seo went mad.

He couldn’t stand by and watch Ho Yeomseong, which had done this to his friend and sister.

He had to save Se-hee and Ran.

But Ho Yeomseong was one of the three great families.

No matter how much he struggled, there was a limit.

So he suppressed his anger and went to Dueokshini.

To borrow his power as a contractor.

“If you win one match against me, I’ll lend you the power of Imaemangryang.”

Dueokshini, with an interesting expression, proposed a match.

A match against his own contractor, Hyuk-seo.

The watching goblins laughed.

To anyone, it was a match Hyuk-seo had no chance of winning.

“I’ll make you regret it. Bring it on.”

Though it was an absurd proposal, Hyuk-seo accepted it.

To save his friend and sister, he was a man who could stick his head into a monster’s mouth.

And Dueokshini underestimated his determination.

Shadow Declaration.

A technique that turned Dueokshini’s shadow into his own.

Before the ultimate power that swallowed all, Dueokshini was instead swallowed.

Dueokshini’s last words, ironically, were laughter.

“The day you swallowed the shadow will be the day you regret.”

Though he left with cryptic words and completely disappeared into the shadow, Hyuk-seo became the king of goblins.

All goblins bowed their heads before him, and having swallowed Dueokshini, he became the king of monsters.

“I’m going to save my sister and benefactor. Follow me.”

Imaemangryang.

The procession of monsters began with Hyuk-seo at the lead.

Leading Imaemangryang, he attacked the city of Spiritual Mages and destroyed the prison where his sister and Ran were held.

And he had to see.

“Ha ha ha, you vulgar woman, do it properly. You should know how to do this!”

His friend Ran, with her neck wrapped, about to be raped by Maro, and Se-hee crying.

“Brother…”

Ran, who had fought to protect Se-hee until the end, was beheaded by Maro.

And in front of Maro, who was about to rape his sister, Hyuk-seo.

Snap.

The thread of reason snapped.

His eyes were dyed with shadow.

“What.”

With a roar filled with resentment, Maro was swallowed by the shadow without even resisting.

Only his head floated in the shadow, his eyes wide open, not even allowed to die.

His limbs were thoroughly torn apart in the shadow, and he continued to scream with only his head remaining.

Holding his head, Hyuk-seo covered Ho Yeomseong’s territory with Imaemangryang.

Screams erupted everywhere, people died, and Ho Yeomseong, once called one of the three great families, became purgatory.

There, holding Maro’s head, Hyuk-seo hung it at the very top of Ho Yeomseong’s castle.

Hoping his screams would echo there forever.

While making all the humans of Ho Yeomseong be torn apart by monsters, his anger still didn’t subside.

It seemed this resentment would only be resolved by killing all Spiritual Mages.

Because no Spiritual Mage listened to Ran’s plea or Se-hee’s cries.

From then on, Hyuk-seo might have already been consumed by the endless malice within the shadow.

“No. No, brother! Don’t go! Don’t go, you bad bastard!”

Even Se-hee couldn’t stop him, who had gone mad.

Because his emotions, long eroded by Dueokshini, had already been broken.

He became a monster, both human and goblin, a mix of both.

So he led Imaemangryang and waged a great war against the Spiritual Mages to vent his resentment.

Countless people died, countless monsters died.

Walking endlessly on a path stained with blood, Hyuk-seo was now called Asura, the incarnation of wrath.

Yet he continued to live in an unstoppable impulse of destruction.

Several times, Se-hee stood in his way.

She grew stronger as a Spiritual Mage and clashed with Hyuk-seo with all her might each time.

“Let’s stop. Let’s stop, brother. What would Sister Ran think seeing this now?”

Overpowered by Hyuk-seo, she pleaded.

But even hearing that, Hyuk-seo only remembered her holding Ran’s head, about to be raped.

Every time he remembered that, only the hateful Spiritual Mages came to mind, along with the thought that he was too late.

“Se-hee.”

He could no longer overcome his anger.

So he squeezed out a smile for his twin sister, who he believed would one day surpass him.

“Can you kill me?”

Even knowing how much it would hurt his twin sister.

Hyuk-seo said so.

Now that he had become the master of Imaemangryang, if she killed him, Se-hee would be praised by the Spiritual Mages for her lifelong achievements and live safely.

Then no one would dare to touch her.

So he had to become evil.

“Bastard…”

And several more years passed.