“...”

There was only silence; the faces of the two men listening to Se-Hoon had stiffened.

“...You’re saying that it could mass-produce shadows that have the strength of the Perfect Ones...?”

“Then the reason it felt like there were several presences in the shadows at once was...”

Thanks to the truth Se-Hoon revealed—that the shadows were unified entities formed not from a single soul but multiple souls fused together—the reason for the strange things that had occurred to them during the battle started clicking into place.

“So that’s why the Black Flame Wheel went out so easily. It was because it shed itself after dying once and reviving.”

“I was wondering why my Frost Alchemy barely worked either.... I never imagined those shadows were beings composed of multiple souls.” 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Retracing the oddly stifled flow of battle in his mind, Amir looked toward Se-Hoon.

“I feel like there’s a huge difference between simply having multiple souls and having them fully unified. What exactly is the distinction?”

“If the former refers to many souls that merely appear as one, then the latter refers to a complex existence that is both many and one.”

Pausing his explanation, Se-Hoon had Terra project the image of the shadow they had fought.

“For example, a creature that houses multiple souls is like walking five dogs at once. As long as you’re gripping the leashes tightly, it’s chaotic but manageable. The moment you slip and let go of even one, though, everything falls apart.”

“Hm...”

“In contrast, a unified entity is like grafting five heads onto a single dog’s lower body and letting it walk on its own. There’s no running away, no loss of control. Each head is a part of itself.”

A being in which multiple souls were perfectly integrated into a single synesthetic mindscape and will—that was the defining trait of a unified entity.

“Everyone is still themselves at their very essence. That’s why the more souls they merge, the stronger they grow. Their power increases with each, and their single synesthetic mindscape only becomes more solid.”

“Is it... possible to fuse even high-ranking heroes’ souls like that?”

“It’s possible, but I’m guessing it thought that was inefficient. Usually, it just reinforced the high-ranking hero souls by attaching other souls to them.”

Before his regression, the Destroyer of Moralities had obsessively targeted civilians more than any of the other Harbingers of Destruction for that purpose. It would take the memories of the high-ranking heroes it absorbed, then find and destroy shelters to gain even more information and repeat the process.

That was how branches of the Heroes Association were destroyed one by one. Even though the Human Alliance should have been united as one, they were scattered and forced to fight in isolated cells. It was a completely disadvantageous fight.

No matter how much I think about it, it’s still quite a disgusting strategy... Se-Hoon frowned, recalling those memories.

“What about the ones with halos behind their backs?”

Thanks to Sung-Ha’s question, Se-Hoon stopped thinking back to answer. “Ah, those are called Eclipse Entities. They’re elite variants born only when the souls of high-ranking heroes align perfectly with those added to transcend their former limits and reach the laws.”

The elite shadows of the Destroyer of Moralities, born of the fusion between souls with similar synesthetic mindscapes—or ones that perfectly compensated each other’s flaws—were irregular existences. Each had a comprehensive understanding of ascension, allowing them to hold their own against Perfect Ones.

“So they had a comprehensive understanding of ascension.... I guess it’s a relief that they at least don’t have their own powers.”

“Even so, that’s still a bit—”

“No. They could actually create their own powers.”

The mouths of both men dropped open as they stared at Se-Hoon in disbelief.

“They could create powers?!”

“I already told you. The Destroyer of Moralities used the Wheel of Severed Bonds—a Mythical artifact.”

Se-Hoon glanced over, looking at the golden wheels behind the Eclipse Entities that bore the weight of their knowledge.

“In the first place, the Wheel of Severed Bonds was to allow Offering to combine multiple souls and find the direct path to the ultimate state: ascension. Once completed, it immediately lost its purpose and became a passive artifact that merely unified souls.”

Unbeknownst to Offering at the time, the Wheel of Severed Bonds and the Destroyer of Moralities’ Eclipse Entities—souls with ascension-level strength—would create an outcome that was unimaginable to all.

“When the ascension-level souls with knowledge but no power were suddenly given a tool capable of producing powers with no purpose, the Destroyer of Moralities instantly became an entity that possessed the greatest number of powers in existence.”

“...”

“That was the Destroyer of Moralities’ pseudo-power: the Cycle of Immaculate Unity.”

“......”

Sung-Ha and Amir couldn’t say anything. If everything Se-Hoon said was true, then the legion the Destroyer of Moralities had used to overwhelm them... had been nothing more than a preview.

“...We still have a long way to go.”

“I’m not sure there was ever a path meant to be used...”

No matter how one looked at it, that kind of monster wasn’t something that could be defeated head-on.

It was just them grumbling, but Se-Hoon nodded.

“Well, that’s true. The purpose of this training is simply to prepare you to respond immediately if a Harbinger of Destruction with similar abilities appears. The chances of it actually showing up in the same form are almost nonexistent.”

Even if the Destroyer of Moralities appeared against all odds, without the Wheel of Severed Bonds, it wouldn’t be able to create Eclipse Entities nor activate the Cycle of Immaculate Unity. In other words, its actual combat power would not even reach forty percent of its prime.

“Hm... If it’s that much...”

“Then maybe we could manage somehow...”

As the two sank into thought, a faint light flickered around Sung-Ha’s spear and Amir’s solar plexus. Each of their incomplete weapons, adjusted to be completed alongside the awakening and evolution of their unique skills, was now stirring in response to their growth.

Those two should be able to finish theirs soon. The problem... is this one over here.

Se-Hoon glanced toward the one person who hadn’t participated in the conversation so far: Luize.

“...”

Luize sat slumped on the ground, head lowered.

The atmosphere surrounding her was clearly abnormal, so Se-Hoon looked toward Sung-Ha and Amir, who noticed his gaze, exchanged glances, and promptly turned away.

“Let’s spar.”

“Sounds good. Where should we do it?”

As if it had nothing to do with them, the two hurried into the Tower of Heroes.

Those heartless bastards...

Even though they saw Luize was clearly troubled, they ran instead of helping. Watching their backs, Se-Hoon cursed them in his mind—

“...Hey.”

Luize, who hadn’t moved an inch, abruptly jumped to her feet.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

“...Right now?”

“Quit talking and come here.”

Grabbing Se-Hoon by the arm, Luize headed toward the park near the central plaza. The two walked along a quiet path.

“It seems like there aren’t many people on the streets these days.”

“Puppeteer did stir up a lot of fear. It’ll probably stay like this until the war ends.”

Having witnessed their supposed protection from the Blessings fail, ordinary citizens had no choice but to shrink back compared to before.

“...How was it back then?”

“Hm? Ah, back then...” Thinking back, Se-Hoon calmly replied, “Most people hid inside the Towers of Heroes.”

“The Towers?”

“The infrastructure was so damaged that shelters couldn’t function properly. There was no choice but to go there.”

If they were lucky enough to encounter a long-term trial, they could use it like a shelter. Even ordinary trials offered a chance for them to grow stronger if cleared. Of course, failure meant death—but many believed that was better than being captured and brutalized by demons.

“So it was sort-of like... either way you die.”

“With something like the Destroyer of Moralities running rampant, I guess it makes sense.”

Recalling the Destroyer of Moralities she had faced in the trial, Luize hesitated briefly before asking, “How... did you even defeat that thing back then?”

A Harbinger of Destruction that could mass-produce Perfect Ones and wield countless powers was an undisputed apex predator. How could the Human Alliance, Se-Hoon, and the Three Dogs possibly have brought it down?

No matter how she thought about it, she couldn’t see the path. That was why she was also earnestly looking for an answer, which made Se-Hoon’s expression turn awkward.

“Uh... about that...”

Se-Hoon hadn’t explained the Destroyer of Moralities’s elimination method earlier because it couldn’t be replicated—and because he knew there would be backlash due to the method’s extreme nature.

Even when I told the Three Dogs about the plan back then, they thought I’d fallen to my inner demons and almost locked me up...

In truth, Se-Hoon himself knew it was excessive. Still... seeing Luize’s state, he couldn’t just brush it off.

I can’t let her shrink further.

Luize’s Incantation Magic grew stronger the firmer her belief and conviction in herself became. If the idea of the Destroyer of Moralities being unbeatable took root deep inside her, her Incantation Magic could lose effectiveness later on during combat.

I guess there’s no choice.

With that decision made, Se-Hoon carefully chose his next words to avoid misunderstanding.

“There were two strategies we devised back then. The first was to destroy the Wheel of Severed Bonds.”

Considering that the Destroyer of Moralities’ overwhelming power came from the Wheel of Severed Bonds, it was the obvious approach.

“Unfortunately, the Destroyer of Moralities was aware of that weakness. So it absorbed the Wheel of Severed Bonds into its own body, making it impossible to be destroyed from the outside. In the process, it even became harder to kill as it had become a unified entity.”

“...That’s seriously disgusting.”

A monster with a powerful legion at its command, capable of wielding multiple powers, and even with the ability to revive by consuming souls. At its peak strength, the Destroyer of Moralities had absorbed tens of millions of souls. Killing such a monster through conventional means? Effectively impossible.

“So we had no choice but to go with the second method. Instead of destroying the Wheel of Severed Bonds, we aimed to neutralize its soul-unification ability and then eliminate it.”

Logically, if the unified soul could be separated, then its legion, the multiple powers it wielded, and its revival ability would all be weakened in one go. It was a perfect solution—on paper.

It still sounds like an impossible mission.

Luize had personally experienced just how tightly bound the souls of the unified entities were during the trial. Those shadows didn’t simply resist her incantations; they repelled them outright. Even her former self, the Blast Dog, wouldn’t have been able to handle that.

“The problem was that those souls were so solid that separating them from the outside was nearly impossible.”

“Mhm.”

“That’s why... we let ourselves also be absorbed so that we could shake things up from the inside....”

“...?”

“But mixing with tens of millions of souls is something a normal person couldn’t endure. So—”

“W-Wait!”

Luize stopped him, staring with wide eyes.

“You-you didn’t, right?”

Surely he hadn’t done the insane thing forming in her mind.

“I probably did what you’re thinking...”

Se-Hoon admitted it with an awkward smile: he had deliberately let himself be absorbed by the Destroyer of Moralities.

“You...”

Luize was left speechless. No matter how desperate the situation, offering himself to be absorbed? Unforgivable. Especially for Luize, who had nearly lost herself to the Seeker’s mana in the past.

“And the Blast Dog... she just let you do that?”

“Oh, her? Ah...”

Se-Hoon naturally recalled that moment.

Smack!

“...You piece of shit.”

She had slapped Se-Hoon and stormed off when he declared he’d proceed even if it meant death. Unlike the current Luize, the Blast Dog had actually been abducted by Dawn and subjected to countless human experiments—making her even more opposed to the plan.

“She opposed it to the end, but there really wasn’t another choice. She knew I’d do it even if it killed me, so she reluctantly accepted it.”

“...”

“Anyway, things worked out pretty smoothly after that.”

He was pierced through the heart during battle and absorbed, allowing him to activate Soul Honing and his Blood Arts from within to destabilize the unified souls and weaken the Destroyer of Moralities.

Only then, after a battle so fierce it nearly wiped out the Human Alliance, were the Three Dogs able to dismantle the Destroyer of Moralities piece by piece and finally eliminate it.

“I almost failed to escape its soul in time at the end and nearly died with it, but she helped me. Barely survived back then.”

“...”

Luize made a strange expression, having heard the full story of Destroyer of Moralities’ elimination. She had asked out of mere curiosity, yet it made a certain topic weigh heavily on her mind.

“...If.”

“Hm?”

“If—hypothetically—a Harbinger of Destruction comparable to the Destroyer of Moralities at its peak appeared... would you do the same thing again?”

“Of course.”

There was no hesitation in Se-Hoon’s answer.

“Dying and winning is always better than hesitating and getting annihilated.”

The answer made Luize flinch before forcing a bitter smile.

“...Yeah. If you’re going to die anyway, winning is better.”

“Well, that’s only a last resort. Don’t dwell on it. I’ll make sure it never comes to that this time~” Se-Hoon reassured, trying to lighten the heavy mood.

“Administrator. The Abyss team reported that they’ll be finishing their third training session shortly and have requested an inspection.”

Hearing Terra’s report, Se-Hoon turned his head. A second later, Luize released his wrist that she had been holding all this time.

“That’s enough walking for today. Go.”

“...Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I wasn’t in that bad of a state. Stop making a big fuss about it and go already.”

Pushed away, Se-Hoon began preparing for teleporting—he looked back one last time.

“If there’s anything bothering you, don’t hide it. I can give you an ear anytime—”

“Teleportation.”

Woong!

Caught off guard by the sudden incantation, Se-Hoon was forcibly teleported away, leaving Luize alone on the path.

“...”

If a Harbinger of Destruction on par with the Destroyer of Moralities in its prime appeared, would he sacrifice himself again like before? To her question, Se-Hoon had answered without hesitation—but that wasn’t what Luize truly wanted to ask.

What if...

If there were a way to win by sacrificing others, heroes he wasn’t close to in particular, would he choose that instead? The question she couldn’t bring herself to ask kept echoing in her mind.

The me from before his regression... would’ve done it without hesitation.

She would have believed that surviving—with Se-Hoon—was unquestionably right. But that was then. What about now?

“...Tsk.”

Luize clicked her tongue, shaking off the swirling thoughts.

Like Se-Hoon said, discussing sacrifices was a last resort. What mattered now was growing strong enough to win before it ever came to that.

And for that...

She needed power greater than her current self, power greater even than her pre-regression self.

Resolved, Luize turned and headed back toward the central plaza, where the others awaited.