With that shout, a yellow light burst forth from Perio's body.
It was the color of forsythia.
And at that hue, everyone was aghast.
"This is absurd...!"
Because that color was unmistakably the light of Libra, master of Equivalent Exchange.
It was the color of the Scales.
"How can a Virgo divine seat possess that color?!"
.
The Twelve Divine Seats each had different colors of magical power.
[Scarlet, fiery red of Sagittarius]
[Indigo, deep blue of Gemini]
[Violet, purple of Aquarius]
[Gold, golden of Leo]
[Red, dark red of Aries]
That was roughly how it was.
Moreover, even when the holy seats used loaned skills, their magic drew on the power of their own divine seat.
Of course, there were exceptions, but now was not such a situation.
‘And if he’s a Virgo seat, his light should definitely be silver...!’
In other words, bearing a different color of magic was itself clear proof of being a traitor.
Sure enough, Perio drew the constellation symbol of Libra and unleashed his power.
[Equivalent Exchange – Spatial Swap]
Yellow lines of light appeared on the walls and floor. They formed a regular hexagon.
“……!”
In that instant, the scenery around them changed.
Kugugung!
Got and Hugo doubted their own eyes.
The spot where they stood had been swapped, cube for cube, into a garden.
[The vicinity of Virgo’s treasure vault has been exchanged with a private estate of the Belgian royal family.]
It was truly a bizarre sight.
But the problem wasn’t the altered scenery.
Kung-kung-kung!
“!”
In the exchanged space stood thousands of heavily armored knights.
All of them perfectly equipped with helmets and plate armor. All emanated the magical power of Libra.
And that wasn’t all.
‘Those are...!’
Behind them were even the toads they had caught outside the dome.
Those creatures had the problematic markings inscribed on their backs.
Got could only frown at that.
‘This wasn’t prepared in a day or two.’
From the start, there was no way a holy sanctuary of Virgo’s caliber could be breached so easily.
‘And to use an Equivalent Exchange skill...’
First among the Twelve Divine Seats. Libra was famed for its equal trade.
Put simply, you obtained something equal in value to what you offered.
Rumor had it, you could even revive someone else by sacrificing a life of equal worth.
‘Or kill someone else, for that matter.’
But it required an equivalent price. A price measured precisely like a scale.
And this space was no different.
‘He must have paid a price great enough to be able to invade this space.’
The problem was that this place, even if only a part, was the sanctuary of a divine seat.
One couldn’t even begin to imagine how great a price he had paid.
‘At minimum, a price of souls. And tens of thousands of them at that.’
Yet the soldiers who had been summoned flinched when they saw the group.
“Elder-nim! Contrary to the plan, Sagittarius is here...!”
At that cry, Perio glared fiercely.
“No matter! That’s a divine seat that might as well not exist! Deal with them all together!”
“……?!”
Hugo and Got were incensed by this treatment as mere stragglers.
On the other hand, Kevin, who had witnessed the betrayal with his own eyes, was utterly dumbfounded.
“Just what in the world did that woman of Libra feed you...!”
Perio was a prince of Belgium, protected by Virgo, and held the third-highest executive position: the Elder Chair. Betrayal was impossible to understand easily.
In contrast, Hugo and Got, who’d been branded as useless, smiled with simmering resentment.
“Looks like being a high-ranking divine seat is nothing special. How could their own holy ground not even recognize a spy?”
“That’s why they’re forever second place.”
Kevin bristled.
“Do you think I would be unaware of a mere spy?”
“But you were unaware.”
“Our Geoni knew from the beginning.”
“……!”
“Anyway, our Geoni is the best. The Twelve Saints should all bow down to Geoni.”
Kevin looked at Hugo, exasperated.
“Sagittarius, you’ve been drinking again, haven’t you?”
“I haven’t!!”
At that, a flustered Got quickly thrust a sobering pill at Hugo.
Soon Kevin glared at the soldiers.
“In any case, if there were a problem with the faith of my holy seats, I would have known long before!”
Hugo found that plausible.
‘True. Virgo is a high-ranking combat divine seat and a contract divine seat.’
Virgo was a seat that could only wield abilities through strict contracts and restrictions. Among the Twelve Divine Seats, it had the most restrictions, but its powers were correspondingly potent.
As a contract divine seat, the moment one joined, a thorough contract was enforced, so any change in faith would bring swift punishment.
There was no way a spy could pass Virgo’s initiation test.
So he said:
“How could someone deceive faith like that?”
At Kevin’s words, Hugo gave a hollow laugh.
“Either you’re a fool, or that’s a tactic to fool us.”
“What?”
“You killed Geoni and deceived the world, so a trick like this is probably nothing.”
Realizing what he meant, Kevin angrily drew his sword.
“That’s why I said I’m not the one!”
“Not the one? Memory analysis said so, and your vault was apparently full of the daggers that stabbed Geoni!”
“I don’t know when you saw that, but I’m telling you, I’m not the killer! I was actually the one investigating Igeon’s death!”
“What?”
“I told you, I found those daggers while investigating the culprit!”
Hugo’s expression was something to behold.
This time the alcohol had truly worn off.
But Kevin himself gnashed his teeth.
Twenty years ago. He must have been deeply resentful that Igeon hadn’t emerged from the Tower.
“To die before I could kill him myself. Do you know how furious I was? I even considered grabbing Aquarius by the hair and barging into the Tower!”
Whatever Aquarius’s sin might be, it didn’t matter.
“You really...”
“If the Holy God hadn’t stopped me, I would have gone in. There’s no way the man I acknowledged could have died so easily. Even if that wasn’t the case, at the very least, I should have been the one to find Igeon’s body first!”
Hugo’s expression grew even more dumbfounded.
‘Doesn’t seem like he’s lying.’
But something still felt off.
Hadn’t the emotion-reader who read the memory of the dagger said exactly that?
That it was Kevin who stabbed Igeon in the back.
So Hugo didn’t trust Kevin.
To begin with, shoving a knife into Igeon’s back was impossible unless one was at least a swordmaster of Kevin’s level.
“If not you, then who exactly trapped Geoni?”
“That is...!”
It was then.
Chaeng!
The soldiers raised their spears. They were about to activate a skill.
And at that familiar magic circle, Igeon narrowed his eyes.
It had been truly amusing watching Virgo get humiliated like an idiot, but...
‘That’s a forbidden art.’
It was a hex to destroy the sanctuary.
Since the sanctuary was a space made of the Holy God’s power, if it was destroyed or harmed, the damage went directly to the Holy God. If the Holy God was harmed, the saints suffered a fatal blow.
In other words, it was the sole method for the holy seats to neutralize the saints, who were otherwise virtually invincible!
“The sanctuary’s barrier has eight cores! We only need to destroy them!”
Perio had been a Virgo holy seat, so there was no way he didn’t know the location of the inner barrier.
As Virgo drew the Frostblade, Hugo glared at him.
“You...!”
“Shut up. This is no time to have a cozy chat with the likes of you!”
The moment the words ended, Kevin vanished in an instant.
“!”
And he reappeared right in front of the soldiers!
“To dare target a saint inside the sanctuary. I’ve truly been seen as a pushover.”
The sanctuary was a place where one received 100% of the Holy God’s power. The higher the holy seat, the greater the buff they received.
As expected, Kevin smiled ferociously.
It was a murderousness completely different from when he had charged at Igeon to fight.
The twisted corners of his mouth and his piercing eyes seemed possessed by a ghost.
[White Bone Unforgettable]
It was Virgo’s unique skill: a mental enhancement technique.
Simply put, when one harbored a grudge, frost forms even in midsummer, and it was a bodily awakening skill that wouldn’t stop until every object of vengeance was annihilated.
At the same time, his blade began to dance.
Puhak! Puhak!
“Keurgh!”
That bloodlust made Perio desperate.
People overlooked it because Igeon always overshadowed him, but for all the fuss, Virgo was a supreme might who could sweep through a red zone alone.
“Ha! Still, if the sanctuary collapses, that bastard and Igeon are finished as well!”
At the same time, explosions rang out from inside the sanctuary.
The invading monsters had begun smashing the sanctuary’s seals.
Kwang! Kwang! Kwang!
[The power of Virgo’s contractors is shaken.]
But Kevin’s response was very swift.
[November of Dry Leaves]
Along with his swinging sword, the nearby soldiers and monsters dried up like mummies.
Paseuseuseu!
At that sight, Perio grew frantic.
“Are the sanctuary barriers not broken yet?!”
“That’s the thing! There’s one location we can’t find!”
“What...!”
“Of the eight cores, one appears to be a fake!”
“……!”
“We can’t destroy the sanctuary...!”
At that, Perio panicked, and Kevin smiled chillingly.
“Did you think I’d simply let it be shattered? No one except me and the Holy God knows that one loca—”
“That one.”
“Huh?”
“That visible stone statue’s head over there. Destroy that. That’s the core you’re looking for.”
“……?!!”
The one who had spoken so casually was Igeon.
Igeon was pointing at a giant stone statue visible through the window.
It was the Virgo goddess statue located in the heart of Virgo’s sanctuary.
[The eighth support pillar forming Virgo’s sanctuary.]
Kevin looked at Igeon in horror, but Igeon just laughed, his snake-like eyes gleaming.
[Divine Eye of Observation]
With that skill, Igeon had grasped the internal structure. Joy and despair flipped sides along with his laughter.
As expected.
“Yig...!”
Kwaang!!!
In an instant, the statue’s head flew off.
All the core locations that served as the pillars of Virgo’s sanctuary had been demolished.
[Virgo’s sanctuary is collapsing.]
[Virgo’s power temporarily disappears.]
With that, Kevin collapsed as if drained of strength.
The traitorous Virgo holy seats gleefully bound Kevin.
It wasn’t ordinary rope.
It was a monster that resembled mud. Once it bound Virgo’s hands and feet, it hardened solidly.
Eventually, at that point, Kevin shot Igeon a fierce glare.
“Igeon!”
He looked extremely aggrieved.
“Even if you don’t help, at the very least don’t interfere!”
“Why would I?”
“Why?! You said you don’t want to fall for obvious schemes! Don’t you realize this is exactly what Libra intended!”
At that, Igeon smiled as if it were nonsense.
“And what’s it to me?”
“What?”
“I can see it’s clearly that woman’s scheme. But I don’t care. I just finish off everyone including you, and that’s that, right?”
“……?!”
For all appearances, Virgo was humanity’s strongest swordsman.
In terms of pure speed, he was equal to himself, or maybe even his superior.
Having such a guy neutralized for him was a good thing.
As expected, Igeon grinned murderously and raised his axe.
“Too bad. You’ll die without even getting to comfort yourself like a man.”
“What? Ah...!”
Virgo tried to say something, but he flinched upon seeing the look in Igeon’s eyes.
Right now, the man was dead serious.
Finally, Igeon’s roaring axe slashed down onto Virgo’s body.
Kwajik!
A terrifying spray of blood erupted.
A head fell.
Both Hugo and Got were shocked.
“Igeon-nim!”
Startled by that voice, Virgo’s eyes widened round.
Rolling past his face was the monster’s head.
It was the head of the monster that had held him.
Kung!
And falling along with that head was his own right arm.
Tuk!
Simultaneously, the monster holding Virgo staggered.
‘!’
Igeon smiled.
Of course, it was a rare moment when Virgo was weakened.
He could kill Virgo like this, but playing into someone else’s design was something he absolutely detested.
So first, an arm. For a right-handed swordsman, it was a loss worse than death.
‘Still, you’ve got to pay the price for twenty years first.’
And Virgo was not one to miss the chance Igeon had given him.
[Limited Contract: Haste]
Virgo instantly broke free from the monster.
Shwik!
But at the moment of escape, Virgo saw Igeon’s coldly murderous snake eyes.
And the moment he met that terrifying gaze, the monster that had been holding him exploded completely.
Puhak!
Igeon’s axe had mercilessly crushed the monster’s body.
Watching the sight, Hugo swallowed dryly.
He didn’t know the reason, but Igeon was considerably pissed off.
Normally he didn’t radiate that level of bloodlust.
But for Igeon, there was no other way.
Why?
‘This monster that was holding Virgo.’
It wasn’t an ordinary monster.
It was an aura he’d become sick and tired of sensing while trapped inside the Tower.
‘The Tower’s warden.’
The bastard who had tried to use him as a test subject and feed him to the Tower’s monsters.
Well, he’d dealt with them thoroughly without leaving a trace, but perhaps because he’d smelled that filthy stench after so long...
It had touched Igeon’s temper.
‘Still, a clue’s been caught.’
If he dealt with Perio, he could likely confirm the culprit who had trapped him.
At the same time, power surged into Igeon’s hand holding the axe.
Watching this, the flustered Perio burst out in an empty laugh.
Letting Virgo escape had been unexpected, but the strongest swordsman’s arm was severed.
That would be a fatal blow to their fighting strength!
Knowing this well, Perio drew Libra’s magic circle.
“…Do not underestimate Their power! A Virgo with a severed arm, you, and that Sagittarius are nothing!”
It was then.
Pang!
With a sound like a cannon, something flew at Perio.
“!”
Kwang!
Perio’s body trembled as he looked at the object embedded at his feet.
It was the monster head Igeon had severed.
Then Igeon smiled ferociously at Perio.
“If you’re confident, come in. I’ll make your head look just like that.”
The coin in Igeon’s pocket began to tremble and glow.
(Continued in the next episode)