Chapter 391

Boom!

A thunderous explosion shattered the silence. Zeon, who had been asleep on the couch, opened his eyes, and Levin, who had been in his room, rushed out in surprise.

The two flung open the window and looked outside.

In the distance, a pillar of fire was rising.

“Where is that?”

“Dongdaemun. Looks like another fight broke out.”

Levin grimaced instinctively.

“The aftermath of the cult’s collapse is worse than expected.”

“It can’t be helped. Everyone’s vying for control of Dongdaemun now.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t have killed Johan.”

“It wasn’t your fault, hyung. So don’t dwell on it. It was something we would’ve had to face eventually.”

“Yeah.”

Zeon gave a bitter smile.

Dongdaemun was at war.

With Johan gone, the central figure holding things together had disappeared, and the ambitious ones who had been lying low now surged to the surface.

From priests still loyal to the fallen cult to external villains and scavengers, all began to clash, plunging Dongdaemun into chaos.

Fights erupted nearly every day.

And it all began the moment Zeon killed Johan.

Now, Dongdaemun was a lawless land.

It was the one and only chance for someone to become its ruler.

No one knew if another opportunity like this would ever come again, so countless people threw themselves into the battle, risking their lives.

Boom!

Another explosion erupted in Dongdaemun.

This one was far stronger than before.

Even from the distance of Zeon’s home, the ground trembled slightly.

Levin’s expression darkened.

“Looks like they’re going to keep going all night.”

“Whew…”

With a sigh, Zeon suddenly threw on his robe.

“Hyung, why?”

“I don’t think I’ll be getting any sleep. Might as well go take a look.”

“Do you have to?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’m coming with you.”

Levin quickly began dressing.

The two of them stepped outside together.

Boom! Boom boom!

Even then, explosions continued to rock Dongdaemun.

Levin gave a bitter chuckle.

“It’s worse than usual tonight.”

“They’re fighting especially fiercely for some reason.”

“Tch. All for power, what a thing to throw your life away over.”

“Right?”

As they entered Dongdaemun, the air changed.

The atmosphere was thick with hostility and murderous intent.

It was proof of the brutal combat taking place.

Zeon and Levin walked toward the area where the killing intent was strongest.

There, a fierce battle was underway.

“Die, you cultist dog!”

“You son of a—!”

“Graaaaah!”

Awakened ones screamed and clashed savagely.

On one side were those wearing priest robes, symbolizing the cult. On the other, Awakened dressed in the ragtag garb common in the slums.

They fought so intensely that their entire bodies were soaked in blood.

The ground around them was littered with corpses—fellow Awakened left behind like trash.

The fighting was so fierce, they didn’t even have time to recover the dead.

Among them, one man stood out.

He swung a massive battle axe wildly, cutting down the cult’s priests.

Wham!

“Aaaargh!”

A priest struck by the axe screamed and collapsed.

At that moment, another priest nearby stabbed a cross-shaped sword into the man’s back.

Shkk!

The sharp blade pierced through the man's chest and jutted out the front.

For a normal person, it would have been a fatal blow.

The priest who landed the strike started to smile—

Creak…

The man’s head turned unnaturally, like a mannequin, until his eyes locked onto the priest’s.

In that instant, the priest was seized by a terrifying fear.

The man’s eyes were not normal.

Even the whites had turned black, and inside swirled an immense madness.

The priest had faced many Awakened before, but never one with such overwhelming lunacy in his gaze.

“G-Garion…?”

The priest unknowingly spoke the man’s name. The one called Garion rasped in reply.

“Why do you call that cursed name, you cultist dog?”

Craaaack!

Garion grabbed the sword still embedded in his chest and yanked it sideways, dragging it toward his ribs. The blade ripped through bone and muscle as it exited his body.

It was as if he couldn’t die fast enough.

A torrent of blood gushed from the gash that split his torso open.

Any ordinary person would’ve died instantly. But Garion lived.

His wounds were healing.

New flesh regenerated along the torn area, and bones knit together—his body was restored in an instant.

Even witnessing it, it was hard to believe.

Garion was a Regenerator.

One with a healing ability on par with Zeon’s own hyper-regeneration.

“G-Garion, please…”

The priest begged with a trembling voice.

Smash!

Garion’s axe crashed down on the priest’s skull.

His head exploded like a watermelon, splattering blood and brain matter everywhere.

“Heh… Not a single cultist dog will be left alive.”

Garion’s madness showed no signs of fading.

He moved on, searching for his next prey.

Dash!

He kicked off the ground, charging at another priest locked in battle with an Awakened.

“Aaaargh!”

The priest, who had barely held on, met a brutal end beneath Garion’s axe.

The blood that sprayed from the priest’s body fell like rain.

Levin stared in stunned silence.

Garion was like a lion thrown into a pack of wolves.

The priests were strong—but Garion was stronger.

The decisive difference was his terrifying regeneration.

Garion didn’t fear injury. No matter how grievous the wound, he healed almost instantly.

He gave flesh to take bone.

Even as he suffered major wounds, he never failed to take his enemy’s life.

His frenzied, reckless combat style struck fear into the hearts of the priests.

“You mad dog! Garion! How could you do this to us?”

“Shut up! Shut your damn mouth! Who do you think turned me into this? Who brainwashed me and made me kill my own family? Johan did this to me! The cult made me into a mad dog! And now, they’ll pay the price!”

“Th-that was Lord Johan! He’s already dead!”

“So I should forgive you, is that it? No way. Not until I grind the bones of every last cultist into dust will my revenge be complete.”

“Please, Garion…”

“I said shut up!”

Wham!

Garion’s axe landed again—right on the pleading priest’s head.

It obliterated him completely.

“Huff… huff…!”

Garion’s breathing was ragged and beast-like.

Drenched in blood, he looked like a berserker.

In fact, his fighting style mirrored that of a berserker.

Reckless, unafraid of pain, charging forward without hesitation—his combat was pure brutality.

Garion’s ferocity empowered the other Awakened, who overwhelmed the remaining priests.

“Aaaargh!”

“Guhh!”

The priests fell, screaming and gushing blood.

Five minutes later, no cultist remained standing.

“Woooo! We won!”

“We did it!”

“Long live Garion!”

The victorious Awakened shouted in triumph.

Tonight’s battle was theirs.

They gathered around Garion.

“We won, Captain!”

“We did it, Garion!”

They celebrated, but Garion’s gaze was fixed elsewhere.

He was looking at Zeon and Levin.

Levin still hadn’t closed his mouth.

That’s how shocking Garion’s battle had been.

Levin, who could turn incorporeal, almost never got injured. Most physical attacks didn’t affect him at all.

To someone like him, Garion’s throw-your-whole-body-into-it fighting was unimaginable.

Even if one’s body regenerated, the pain didn’t disappear.

The agony of torn muscles and broken bones—Garion bore it all.

It was an insane, life-on-the-line combat style.

No one who fought like that could be normal.

Suddenly, Garion spoke.

“Ze… on-nim?”

He began walking toward Zeon.

The Awakened, who had been too focused on the fight to notice, now recognized Zeon and murmured in alarm.

“Who’s that?”

“The… Sand Mage.”

The triumph vanished, and the air turned suffocating.

Everyone here knew who Zeon was.

They had encountered him before.

And they feared him.

If Zeon chose to side with the cult, their lives would end in an instant.

But Zeon had no intention of attacking them.

He had no reason to.

Zeon watched Garion approach.

He remembered him.

“It’s been a while.”

“Zeon-nim!”

Garion bowed his head deeply.

Covered in blood, Garion looked up at Zeon, who wore a pained expression.

“So you were here.”

“There’s nowhere else for me to go…”

“Garion…”

“A man who murdered his wife and child with his own hands—where else can he go? I must atone, at least a little.”

“…Haa.”

Zeon sighed softly.

Garion had once been a cult fanatic in Dongdaemun.

Brainwashed by Johan, he had attacked Zeon.

Back then, Zeon had delivered a powerful strike to Garion’s brain—breaking the brainwashing.

And only then did Garion realize what he had done.

He had killed his own wife and child.

He regained all his memories—and couldn’t forgive himself.

Even though he had been brainwashed, he had taken the lives of his own blood with his own hands.

After the brainwashing broke, he hadn’t slept peacefully for even a single night.

Every time he closed his eyes, that day haunted him.

He wanted to die—but couldn’t.

Johan and the cult had forcibly awakened his power: regeneration.

It was a curse. No matter how grievous the injury, he would heal—so even suicide wasn’t easy.

In the end, Garion chose revenge over death.

Johan, the one he hated most, had already died by Zeon’s hand—but the cult remained.

Though fragmented by power-hungry rivals, it still lingered.

Garion would not stop until he killed them all.

The Awakened who followed him were the same.

All of them had been brainwashed by Johan—and all had the original sin of killing their own families.

Garion united them and began hunting the cult’s priests.

Zeon asked him,

“You won’t stop, even if I ask?”

“…I’m sorry, Zeon-nim.”

“…Sigh.”

“Once I’ve killed every last priest—once there’s no one left to kill—please, Zeon-nim, end me. I beg you.”

“Garion…”

“This cursed ability… won’t let me die. When the time comes, turn me into blood and sand. Then… I’ll be able to smile and join my family.”

Garion smiled, baring teeth stained with blood.

But Zeon… could not smile.

“…Haa.”

His sigh was swept away in the wind.