I'm not a Regressor

Chapter 200: Fake Kindness And Lawful Good (4)

"You are…"  Damien frowned and stared at Ohjin, who’d blocked his path to Isabella.

He was the man who had been standing next to the pickpocketed woman the day before.

'I've seen him before…'

Damien didn't care about who he was at the time, but it was definitely a familiar face.

It didn’t take him long to remember where he had seen Ohjin’s face—the man blocking his path was an Awakener as famous as the 'Seven Stars'.

"Are you the Lightning Wolf?"

He had heard that he was the one and only apostle of Vega, a North Star.

"That's what they call me." Ohjin nodded and gripped the pitch-black spear that was firmly implanted in the ground.

Bzzzt!—

Blue lightning wrapped around the spear and burned ferociously.

Damien looked at Ohjin with cold eyes.

"I happened to come across a news article about the Lightning Wolf being a hero who saved people from the Black Star Organization. Why are you protecting her?"

"You called me a hero yourself. Shouldn't I choose the method that saves the most people?"

"…She is a witch who deceived people for their blood."

"But she is also a saint who saved tens of thousands of people."

Twirl—

He leisurely spun his spear.

"That was nothing more than a means to obtain blood."

"Isn't that better than nothing?"

Damien's expression distorted heavily. "Then are you claiming that nothing matters as long as the outcome is good?"

"Do I have any reason to listen to a bastard who can't even make good outcomes?"

"…" Damien clenched his teeth and glared at Ohjin.

Feeling a chilling murderous intent, Ohjin casually raised his head.

Sunlight poured down like rain through the holes in the ruined roof.

"Have you ever been poor?"

"…Hm?"

"I'm asking you if you've ever lived in a house full of mold and washed your body with cold water in the freezing winter while worrying about what to eat every day."

"…" Damien shut his mouth tight and lowered his head.

He wasn't born with a silver spoon like Isabella, but he had lived a relatively wealthy life thanks to his father being a prestigious pastor.

"What do you think brings about the most pain for people who have nothing?"

Was it bloodthirsty monsters or Awakeners who inherit the power of celestials and use supernatural abilities?

No.

—Those were just objects of fear, not pain.

"Not having a house to sleep in, not having clothes to wear, and not having food to eat."

That brought about more pain and despair than anything.

"So are you saying her actions of deceiving people to take their blood are justified?"

"It's not a matter of right or wrong."

He wasn't a philosopher, and he had only gone up to primary school in education.

He never thought about complicated things like justice or good, nor did he want to.

There was just one thing he knew…

"For them, the thing you call ‘filthy, fake kindness’ was their only salvation."

"Saving a lot of people does not mean your sins are forgiven."

He was right. Just like how donating $10,000,000 didn't mean you could commit murder, saving many people didn't mean you were exempt from crimes.

However…

"Her sins, huh… are you talking about taking some blood packs?" Ohjin snickered. "It's not like she kidnapped people and forcibly extracted their blood. Is it considered burglary if you take a bit of donated blood? Maybe embezzlement? Well, I don't know much about Italian law, but is that why you're so determined to kill her?"

"The stigma she possesses… is dangerous."

"So is mine. If I wanted, I could even kill thousands with a wave of my arm."

Crackle!—

Blue lightning crackled around Ohjin's hand.

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Reaper Scans

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Damien quietly raised his sword once again.

"She is a member of an international terrorist organization and an Awakener with a stigma that causes an extremely dangerous side effect of craving blood. If we do not eliminate her now, it is unknown what kind of disaster will fall upon us later."

"So…"—Ohjin burst into laughter—"you're saying that she hasn't committed any major crimes yet but that we should kill her in advance since she might become dangerous later? Even though she hasn't done anything yet?"

"That's not what I—"

"If it's not what you meant, then what the fuck is it?"

"…"

"You called Isabella a filthy fraud back then."

In that case…

"You must be clean and a self-righteous clown."

"…It appears there’s no point in talking further." Bright, white light burst from Damien’s sword.

"…Ohjin."

Isabella, still crouched down on the ground, looked up at Ohjin with trembling eyes.

She felt joy from Ohjin coming to protect her…  Fear that he found out about her true identity… Helplessness because her curse left her unable to do anything…

Countless emotions and thoughts intermingled, and she was at a loss for words.

"I'm… sorry." After a long struggle, what slipped from her lips was an apology.

She bowed her head as her thin shoulders trembled. "I've been… deceiving you all this time."

She was nothing like a saintess—she was the 3rd-ranking Executor of the Black Star Association, the Queen of Leeches.

"It's alright. I already knew." Ohjin casually shrugged his shoulders.

"Eh? Y-You knew? What do you mean by that…?"

"I already knew that you were the Queen of Leeches."

"Wh-What?" Isabella's eyes widened, and her mouth opened in shock.

"S-Since when? Since when did you know?"

"Hmm. I dunno. When was it again?" Ohjin gave her a playful grin and continued. "Was my blood really that delicious?"

"Ahhhh!" Isabella screamed and fell backward.

Her pure white skin turned bright red and it looked as if there was steam rising from her. "Th-That's nearly the very beginning!"

She had never imagined that Ohjin could be awake at the time. All of the signs had pointed to him being unconscious.

"B-But you said you didn't remember anything from that time…!"

"Oh, that?" Ohjin chuckled and turned toward Damien.

"I lied."

Bang!—

He dashed towards Damien, and his pitch-black spear went toward his neck.

Clang!—

Damien deflected the spear with a natural, fluid motion, and bone-numbing reverberations shook the spear’s shaft.

"You knew her identity, yet you did nothing."

Damien raised his sword up high, giving Ohjin a fierce stare.

A blindingly intense light shot up into the sky and started to rain down in the form of hundreds of sword blades.

"So you were no different from her after all." Damien looked at him with contempt.

Ohjin raised his middle finger at him as he dodged the raining blades of light.

Tu-tu-tu-tu!!—

The terrifying blades of light rained down with great force, and as the floor of the building exploded, a powerful shockwave hit Ohjin.

"Ugh." There was no room to dodge, and the shockwave of light suppressed Ohjin’s mana.

'Is this the power of the Seven Stars?'

Indeed, compared to his spar with Ha-eun, the difference was night and day.

'However…'

That didn't mean Ohjin was so weak that he would simply be defeated.

Bang!—

Six wires spread out like a net, and Ohjin shot high into the sky.

"Fuu." He took a deep breath and concentrated.

'I can't use Lightning God Physique.'

Not only did it take too much time to prepare, but the side effects from using it once were too substantial.

'In that case…' Ohjin's eyes gleamed sharply.

The stigma of Lyra burned fiercely and waves of mana spread throughout his entire body as he aimed the tip of his spear at Damien and created Lightning Flames.

Bzzzzzt!—

The blue flames burned brightly.

'Condense it into a single point…'

Bzzt! BZZZZZT!!—

The blue flames burning at the tip of his spear writhed as they were met with strong resistance.

Normally, it would be impossible to condense Lightning Flames any further since it was already a completed technique, but—

"Calm down, will you?"

—That level of impossibility was no longer a problem for Ohjin.

Crackleeee!—

He forcibly suppressed the resisting blue flames, and the sensation was similar to when he condensed his lightning.

"Hmbf!"

He threw his pitch-black spear that writhed with the condensed blue flames with all of his might.

Roaaaaaar!—

The flames assaulted Damien, and the building shook.

"Ugh…" Damien frowned and let out a low groan.

It appeared that not even he could completely block the condensed Lightning Flames.

Bzz, bzzzt—

The blue lightning sparked over him, charring his skin.

"…You're even stronger than what the rumors had me believe," he exclaimed.

It was his first time fighting an Awakener who had a stigma of a North Star, but he could understand why the other constellations praised them and called them 'North Stars'.

"Still…"

It was simply more than what he had expected. That much of a variable couldn't really be called a problem, for he had already surpassed a 9-Star and become a 10-Star Awakener.

"I'm not called a Seven Star for no reason."

Ring—

The balancing scale on his sword shook and made a clear sound.

A brilliant light wrapped around Damien, and he shot toward Ohjin as he landed.

Clang! Kang! C-Clang!!—

They exchanged blows faster than the speed of sound, and their superhuman clash split the ground and caused the walls to crumble.

"Kyaaaa!"

"Ahh! S-Save me!"

The family heads of the collateral lines who were eagerly waiting for Isabella's execution from a distance screamed and ran to avoid the collapsing debris.

Rumble!—

Before they could run away like little rats, the walls of the building collapsed and blocked the exit.

"S-Sir Damien!"

"P-Please hurry and kill that bastard!"

"Eek! I heard all the news about the apostle of the Weaver Girl’s arrogance and whatnot, but look at him siding with that witch!"

The family heads fell into a state of panic and desperately cheered Damien on.

Although it probably wasn't because of their cheers, Damien was gradually gaining ground on Ohjin.

Slash!—

"Argh!"

A sharp blade cut deeply into Ohjin's side and passed by; blood flowed from his cut skin.

'Stigma of Hippocampus.'

Even when he quickly created water and healed the wound with Water Affinity, his injury didn't get much better.

'The light’s mana is damaging my mana circuit.'

To be more precise, it was crystallizing the mana flowing in his circuit as if it were a blood coagulant.

'Is this the stigma of Libra’s ability?'

—The power to crystallize mana.

Ohjin had heard rumors about it several times but had never seen it firsthand.

"It's not too late. I won't hold your sin against you if you back down now."

"Nah, isn't it lame to get cold feet after all that trouble?"

"…Is that really the problem right now?"

"Style is important, you know?"

"Sigh." Letting out a deep sigh, Damien aimed his sword at Ohjin.

"Then I shall finish this now."

"Who decided that?"

"Do you believe that you can defeat me in your condition?"

"Well, it'll probably be tough."

Unless Ohjin used the power of Heaven Unfolding, his strength alone was not enough to deal with Damien.

'However…'

That was only the case when Ohjin faced him 'alone'.

"I wonder if the preparations are almost complete."

"Hm?"

It went without saying, but Ohjin hadn't gone to face Damien without any sort of plan—he raised his right arm and fired lightning up into the air that burst like a firework.

"Let's see… was this how it went?"

Rummaging through his memory—

"Oh, flames…"

—he chanted the spell.

"Blaze."

Fwooooosh!!—

Searing flames poured down through the collapsed ceiling.

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