Chapter 125: Reunion (1)

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The leader had died and the organization collapsed.

The Demon Humans desperately ran away to find a way to survive.

Those of lower rank hid inside hastily dug caves and waited for the chaos to pass, while those of higher rank used their connections to find safe places.

Because of the aftermath of the witch hunts in the past, Demon Human forces were usually structured as separate cells.

Demon Humans who made contracts with demons were literally enemies of humanity.

If they were caught, not only themselves but everyone connected to them would be burned to death.

So they thoroughly hid their identities, and if it was revealed they were Demon Humans, they silenced all witnesses by killing them.

Creak.

The Demon Human, Deshua, opened the door of a tavern and stepped inside.

The tavern, located in Flick, was bustling with people even though it was late at night, closer to dawn.

“……”

Suppressing his breath, he wiped the sweat trickling down his forehead with the back of his hand.

Deshua forced himself to appear calm as he walked to the counter and called for the master.

“That idler?”

“He’s in the back of the tavern. Shall I call him for you?”

“No need. I’ll go myself.”

Beyond the tavern was a gambling hall.

Gamblers gathered around tables scattered everywhere, throwing down cards and chips as they tested each other’s luck.

Deshua turned his gaze around the hall, scanning the gamblers’ faces.

Before long, he seemed to have found someone and quickened his steps.

“Damn, the cards just won’t stick today.”

“Is that bluffing again right from the start? Not falling for it this time.”

“It’s not bluffing…”

The man, cigar clenched in his mouth, chuckled as he brushed back his shaggy hair and responded to the other gambler’s words.

But then he noticed Deshua approaching and widened his eyes slightly.

“…Fold. I’ll step away for a bit. Looks like I’ve got a visitor.”

“A visitor? Huh? With a pair of aces here? So it was bluffing, you damned bastard. What, your lover came or something?”

Ignoring the voice behind him, the man pushed his chair back and stood.

He signaled Deshua with a glance to follow and walked toward the inner part of the gambling hall.

Creak.

At the deepest part of the hall was a private room.

It was usually reserved for VIPs or high-ranking figures of the organization.

After confirming no one else was outside, the man lit his cigar and fixed a cold stare on Deshua.

“What’s going on all of a sudden? It’s still far from the time for our regular contact.”

“…Things went wrong.”

With a grim expression, Deshua reported to the man.

His name was unknown.

Deshua simply called him “the man.”

Every time they met, his face and occupation were different.

Sometimes he appeared as a gambler, sometimes a waiter, a boss, or even just a tavern patron.

‘This is the only place I can rely on.’

He was the connection leading upward in the organization.

Deshua’s last lifeline.

“Things went wrong?”

“Besha is dead, and this side’s force is shattered. Everyone’s fate is uncertain, having been pushed back by those guys called NOX.”

“……”

The man narrowed his eyes.

It was such a sudden revelation.

But if it weren’t for something of this scale, Deshua wouldn’t have broken protocol to seek him out.

“Everything else aside… You’re saying Besha is dead? Are you certain?”

“I’m certain.”

Deshua nodded.

Everyone present must have felt it—

the severing of their connection with Besha.

“Hm.”

The man stroked his chin.

Besha might have been arrogant, but his strength was undeniable.

He wasn’t the sort to be buried in the backstreets.

“NOX is no ordinary organization. Ordinary members are at executive level, and executives surpass the leaders of other groups. And their boss is…”

Deshua shuddered.

The overwhelming presence of the one who had infiltrated their ranks still lingered in his memory.

“He’s beyond what I can describe. Just standing there, he made it so not one of us could even lift a finger.”

“If that’s true, then it means at least Master-level.

The Western Third Commercial District was all on a similar level, so where did someone like that come from?”

If it was true, it was a serious problem.

“I should report this directly up above…”

“No need to worry about reporting. What I see and hear is the report itself. What remains is this.”

The man raised his head and looked at Deshua.

“The matter of what to do with you for exposing the organization’s stronghold.”

“…It was an emergency situation.

I had no choice, did I?”

“It was unavoidable, sure.

If only you hadn’t dragged a tail along.”

“What?”

The man smirked and stepped aside.

“You said you couldn’t even move a finger in his presence.

Then why do you think he let you come all the way here alive?”

Crack.

At the same time as the man’s words, the firmly shut wall split apart and collapsed.

“Damn it!”

Deshua immediately drew his sword, spitting out a cry of shock.

He had checked thoroughly—where had the tail been caught?

“……”

The man narrowed his eyes as he watched.

There had been no sign of pursuit.

And yet the fact that someone had reached this place meant Deshua had already been dancing in their palm.

So he made his decision without hesitation.

“Deshua, clean up your own mess.”

Swoosh.

With those words, he turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished.

Left alone in an instant, Deshua staggered back.

Still, to be abandoned so easily…

“You bastard…!!”

Crack.

Before he could even curse, dozens of lines swept across the room.

Blinding flashes carved trajectories that slashed across Deshua’s body.

His movements froze as if time had stopped.

Thud, crack.

On the skin stained black with demonic energy, dozens—no, hundreds—of intersecting lines appeared, then his body crumbled into fragments no larger than grains of sand.

That alone would not have been enough to instantly kill a Demon Human of Deshua’s level.

But then bright blue flames surged up from the pile, blocking his resurrection and purifying him completely.

“…More effective than I thought.”

Six pulled his fingers and retrieved the fluttering Heavenly Silk from the air.

Unlike Gallon, who wielded Divine Power, Six could not easily inflict fatal damage to Demon Humans with ordinary attacks.

But he had been able to kill Deshua by sprinkling holy water that Gallon had given him onto the Heavenly Silk to fuel the sacred flames.

The effect had been even greater than expected, making him resolve to acquire several more bottles when he returned.

“One remains…”

Six turned his gaze to the spot where a man had stood just a moment ago.

He had thought the man was only a middleman, but the power he felt was anything but ordinary.

It must have meant he held a more significant position than the fallen Demon Human here.

That made things all the better.

“Good thing he escaped.

And the Thousand-Mile Tracking Fragrance seems to have spread well.”

Six had not attacked immediately upon arriving here.

He waited until the lingering trace of the Thousand-Mile Tracking Fragrance on Deshua’s body settled onto the other man.

It could not be washed away by normal means, nor was it magic, making it undetectable.

Even someone with a keen sense of smell would never detect it without training.

It was a special item handled only by NOX.

“Our Master certainly knows many curious things.”

Six bent down and picked something up from the floor.

A single green chip lay in front of the Demon Human’s scorched remains, as if it had rolled in from the gambling hall.

Didn’t it almost symbolize fare for the underworld?

“Won’t be needing this.”

Clutching the chip in his hand, Six stepped on the pile of ashes and walked out.

When Demon Humans died, their souls went to the demons they were bound to.

Since they couldn’t go to the afterlife, they had no need for fare.

Step.

As he left the gambling hall, one of the tables caught his eye.

The hand someone had been holding just before lay neatly arranged on it.

Four, five, seven, eight.

At the numbers lined up by chance, Six smirked and flicked the chip he had been rolling between his fingers onto the spread.

Dirsen had seized control of Lahan.

What he did first was not purging Turgar’s faction nor rewarding his subordinates.

“…From this moment, Coxi will be subordinated to Lahan.”

“You made the right choice.”

The blade Dirsen wielded pointed outward, not inward at the organization.

The balance of power in the Western Third Commercial District had originally been divided into four.

Merbo, Birterso, Coxi, and Lahan.

But months ago, NOX had entered the scene and wiped out Merbo and Birterso in a single night.

That left only NOX, Coxi, and Lahan, with Lahan thrown into internal chaos by a succession struggle.

‘Coxi placed their bet on Turgar.’

That was clear from the documents obtained in Besha’s office after his fall.

Coxi had assumed Turgar’s camp would win and had already made a secret pact with them.

But Turgar’s side had refused Coxi’s aid.

To prove their legitimacy, they claimed they must win by their own strength, only consulting Coxi about matters afterward.

And in the end, they had let themselves be used by Demon Humans—how laughable.

That was why Carl had set Dirsen to move and sweep up the remaining forces.

‘…A monstrous man.’

Coxi’s boss, his hand trembling as he signed the agreement, glanced up furtively at Carl.

He was no fool.

From the circumstances, he could grasp the structure between NOX and Dirsen.

‘It’s not that Dirsen brought in NOX.

It’s that NOX devoured Dirsen.’

Even now, just look.

All the subordinates following Dirsen were watching that man.

The gleaming black mask, and the small moonlight emblem engraved on it.

The ones who had overturned the struggle between Turgar and Dirsen and swallowed Lahan, ruler of the Western Third Commercial District, were too terrifying to bear.

‘There is no way the Western Third Commercial District is their true objective.’

Lahan was nothing more than a stepping stone.

If NOX committed their full strength, not only Coxi but also Lahan and the other groups would be swept away easily.

And yet they kept Lahan standing at the front, clearly to conceal the existence of NOX.

‘A bloody storm is coming.’

After finishing the pact with Coxi, Dirsen stepped outside and asked Carl.

“I plan to return as I am.

The organization is still unsettled inside, so I must reestablish discipline.”

“NOX will also assist you.”

At Carl’s signal, Gallon and Second approached.

Even if Turgar had been crushed, there could still be those harboring grudges and refusing to give up.

Gallon’s role was to root out any Demon Humans possibly hiding in the shadows, while Second’s role was to bring discipline to Lahan.

“And you, Sir NOX…”

“I will go and receive a guest for a short while.”

“So you had a prior appointment.

Very well.”

Dirsen nodded and returned to Lahan’s headquarters.

He had broken through the silence and seized the boss’s seat, so now the true beginning was ahead of him.

Once Carl confirmed the carriage carrying Dirsen had departed into the distance, he slightly turned his gaze behind him and spoke.

“…You may come out now.”

“Haha. Your eyes truly cannot be deceived.”

Between the rooftops, a man wearing a white mask poked his head out.

It was Lucas, a member of the mysterious group they had once clashed with.

“My, my, all I can say is it’s impressive.

Lahan had been gripped so tightly by those black bastards that retreat was the only option.

Yet you seized it so easily.

I almost wish my subordinates would learn from you.”

“You seem to be expecting too much from clergymen.”

“…Where did you hear that?”

Heretics.

When Carl pointed out that Besha had called them that, Lucas blinked his eyes.

Soon, as if realizing something, he let out a long sigh and lowered his head.

“Besha, that rat.

So he couldn’t hold his tongue after all.

What became of him?”

“He returned to the arms of his demon.”

“A delightful thing to hear.

Well, it was only natural.

That arrogant bastard would never have surrendered Lahan so easily.”

Lucas raised his head and looked at Carl with eyes glowing in a cold blue light.

“Then how about we have a sound talk that might benefit us both?”

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