In an abandoned building swallowed by darkness, through the acrid smoke rising like a heat haze, a pair of eyes burning with ghostly blue flames fixed squarely onto Cassia.

Gripping her throat, Kwon Oh-Jin said, “No matter how much you try, you can never be Isabella, and you have no reason to be.”

Cassia faintly smiled and seemed so fragile as if she could shatter at any moment. “I know...”

“Then...”

“It’s already too late.”

Too late? What could possibly be too late?

“I’m sorry, Lord Oh-Jin. I... I can’t give up.”

“Cassia—!”

A black serpent sank its fangs into Kwon Oh-Jin’s hand that was clutching Cassia’s neck.

Crack!

His strength faltered, and he released her.

“Kugh!”

He scorched the serpent with a burst of lightning and tore himself away, creating distance from her. He planned to avoid her follow-up attack, but Cassia only clutched her chest and gasped in pain.

“Haa, haa, haa!”

In truth, this was the natural outcome. Even before the fight began, she had suffered devastating internal injuries. It wouldn’t have been strange for her to outright collapse.

The fact that she’s lasted this long is a miracle.

Honestly, he had thought it would be much easier to bring her down.

It was basically like fighting a patient who should be hooked up to an oxygen tank in the intensive care unit.

Her condition was nothing short of miserable.

It was probably Isabella’s doing, right?

Not many individuals could inflict such grievous wounds on someone as powerful as Cassia.

Kwon Oh-Jin deeply sighed and lowered his spear aimed at her.

“Haa, haa. Why are you lowering your weapon?” she asked.

“You know better than I do that you can’t keep fighting in that state.”

“Haha. Whether I fight or not is for me to decide.” With a cold sneer, Cassia shifted her gaze toward Isabella, bound by the shadow serpents. “If you don’t raise that spear again, Bella will be the one who suffers.”

“Cassia...”

“Fight me, now!” she shouted hysterically.

Kwon Oh-Jin bit down hard on his lip, glanced toward the unconscious and tied up Isabella, and tightened his grip on his spear.

“That’s right. If you want to save Bella, the only way is to kill me.” Even as her breathing grew ragged, Cassia smiled in satisfaction.

Kwon Oh-Jin ground his teeth, his eyes darting back to Isabella. For now, she only seemed to be unconscious and uninjured. If he didn’t listen to Cassia, he didn’t know what would happen to her.

I guess I can’t help it...

Just then, the strangeness that had been pricking at him since he first saw Cassia crawled down his spine once more.

Huh?

Like gears that refused to mesh or puzzle pieces forced into the wrong place, a sense of unease seared his mind.

What is this feeling?

Just where and when had it gone wrong? What was he missing?

He turned again toward Isabella. Her face looked clean without a single wound. She was still breathtakingly beautiful even while unconscious.

Just then, a breath of realization slipped from Kwon Oh-Jin’s lips. He couldn’t help but scoff in disbelief. He wanted to break out laughing, but covered his face and tried to stifle it.

Why didn’t I notice something this obvious?

The answer to that sense of unease he felt from the very beginning was laughably simple. The fact that it had taken him this long to realize it filled him with bitter self-reproach.

I see, so that’s how it is.

With a bitter look, he looked back at Cassia. Even while gasping as if she’d collapse at any second, she glared at him with unyielding eyes. How much of a burden had she carried on those slender shoulders of hers?

It’s time to end this.

Kwon Oh-Jin would close the curtain to this pathetic play with his own hands. He slowly raised his spear and aimed it at her.

Crackle!

The Stigma carved over his chest blazed brilliantly and lit up the darkness.

“All right. If that’s what you want... then so be it.”

“Haha. So you’ve finally decided to listen to me?” Cassia shrugged casually and smiled.

However, he could see right through it. Beneath that mask of composure, her face twisted in pain.

He let out a faint breath and focused on his Stigma. “Haaa...”

Beneath his Stigma, he awakened the slumbering Black Heaven.

Rumble.

Dark clouds twisted and turned, mixing with the blue lightning that enveloped him. Black Lightning that could rip apart even a Celestial’s Sacred Ground gathered at his spear tip.

“You won’t be in pain.

“Hmph, you speak as if you’ve already won.” Cassia frowned.

From the shadows, black serpents slithered out and coiled like a shield in front of her.

“I’m not such an easy woman, you know?”

Yeah, I figured.

Kwon Oh-Jin had been entangled with many women before, but none with a mind as twisted as hers.

He lowered his stance and drew his spear back.

“Here I come.”

Like releasing a taut bow, he exploded forward. The serpents shot up to block his path.

Swoosh!

Kwon Oh-Jin crashed into them shoulder-first and charged straight through. The serpents shattered into pieces against the Black Lightning covering him and scattered across the floor.

Cassia watched the collapsing wall of serpents with a faint, hollow smile. After a short sigh, she spread her arms toward the incoming lightning storm as if to say, “Kill me.”

“Hehe...”

Why did she feel like crying? She had expected and prepared for this, so why did she regret it now?

Cassia smiled self-mockingly and turned to look at Isabella one last time before closing her eyes.

I’m sorry.

The raging lightning drew closer.

Crackle!

Considering the immense energy within that Black Lightning, Kwon Oh-Jin was probably telling the truth when he said it would be painless. It would finally be over, all the suffering that had tormented her for so long.

Crackle!

Kwon Oh-Jin thrust his spear forward with full force. The moment the spear, covered in Black Lightning, was about to pierce Cassia—

“Hup!”

Boom!

At the last second, he stomped hard and twisted halfway. With that motion, he hurled the spear toward Isabella, still bound in midair.

Crackle!

The Black Lightning burst from the spear and pierced through the serpents that held her. The serpents struck by it turned white and lifelessly fell to the ground.

Now!

Kwon Oh-Jin fired his wire shooter and caught the falling Isabella.

Bang!

Holding Isabella safely in his arms, he sighed in relief. “Phew.”

Cassia, who had been waiting for death with her eyes closed, opened them wide in shock. “W-What are you doing?!”

“What do you think?” He handed Isabella to Cassia and glanced at the fallen white serpents. “I’m ending this damn play.”

Cassia’s expression froze.

The ruined building fell silent, broken only by a slow applause echoing out.

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.

The scattered white serpents wriggled back together and formed the figure of a man.

“Wow, amazing.” A man with hair and skin as white as fresh snow smiled kindly at him. “I was rather confident in concealing my presence... How did you know I was here?”

“The wound,” Kwon Oh-Jin replied.

The white-haired man cocked his head as if he couldn’t understand. “The wound? What wound are you talking about?”

Kwon Oh-Jin looked at Isabella, unconscious in Cassia’s arms. “She doesn’t have a single wound.”

Not even the smallest scratch could be seen on Isabella.

“Don’t you think that’s strange?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

Cassia had sustained severe internal injuries and could barely walk, yet the kidnapped Isabella remained completely unharmed. If those two hadn’t fought, then Cassia’s injuries made no sense. If they had, then Isabella’s perfect condition was even stranger.

Of course, Cassia could have suffered excessive injuries to subdue Isabella without harming her.

But there’s no reason for her to do that.

If Cassia wanted to kill Kwon Oh-Jin and throw Isabella into despair, she had no reason to keep Isabella completely unscathed.

“Hm. No wounds, you say... Now that I think about it, you’re right.” The white-haired man nodded as though realizing his own mistake.

Kwon Oh-Jin turned toward the white-haired man. “Cassia’s wounds weren’t from subduing Isabella.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Rather, it was the opposite. She had sustained those wounds while trying to stop the white-haired man from kidnapping Isabella.

And she must have failed.

What came after was obvious. After seizing Isabella, the white-haired man probably made Cassia an offer. If she wanted to save her sister, she would have to lure Kwon Oh-Jin here and kill him.

“Isn’t that right, Mobius?”

Kwon Oh-Jin wasn’t the one being threatened with Isabella as a hostage. It was Cassia.

The snow-white man, Mobius, softly laughed and bowed politely. “Haha. What an honor for the Black Heaven’s master to recognize such a lowly Celestial as myself. Since my lord once said that you are different from him, I suppose I should say this is our first meeting?”

Behind his gentle smile, his emerald eyes gleamed venomously like a viper’s.

“I am Mobius, the Celestial of Ophiuchus.”