CHAPTER 104: THE SUPREMACY ARC, PART 7

I clenched my fist.

Demonic blood surged through my veins, tearing through flesh like a firestorm. My fingers twisted under the pressure of power, pulsating veins crawling across my palm like etched runes.

With a deep thud, I struck.

Metal groaned. Cracked. Buckled. Second hit—the lock shattered like a crushed egg. With a crunch, the door flung open—and I stepped inside.

He was there.

Sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall. Exhausted, but unbroken. He looked up—and stood.

Muscles tense. Eyes—steady.

"Took you long enough," he said, smirking faintly.

I stayed silent.

Too much pain to speak.

Then—shouting. Footsteps. Orders. Figures darted down the corridor.

Soldiers. Five.

I stepped forward. Didn’t use my power.

One—strike to the torso. Two—elbow to the temple. Minimal force, but every move was fast.

Third—thrown down. Fourth—smashed with a spinning kick.

The fifth—

He screamed. His hands began to mutate. Fingers stretched, joints burst. Black, corrosive blood spilled out. An A-rank hunter.

He lunged—not at me—

At Dmitriy.

With such force, he could’ve shattered the corridor.

One second.

And I split him in half.

No thoughts. Only instinct.

...The body dropped. And I stood still.

Blade dripping with blood.

Human blood.

For the first time... I’d killed a man.

My hands trembled. Something inside me snapped.

I heard my blood begin to hum—differently.

Could it be...?

Am I no longer human?

Dmitriy straightened his jacket, eyeing me with quiet disappointment.

"Let’s go, superhero."

We ran.

Through halls. Through exits.

Past bodies and bullet casings.

The walls shook. Radios screamed orders.

The prison was burning.

Outside—they were waiting.

Altair stood at the front. Beside him—Seojun, bloodied and scarred. They looked at us.

I nodded.

"Move!" Altair shouted, turning back.

And we ran.

Through broken walls. Past corpses and debris. Umbra was retreating—few remained alive.

Then we heard the sound.

At first—one.

Then—dozens.

Helicopters. Military trucks.

From the south—the Association’s forces. From the east—government battalions.

The chase had begun.

A metallic wail split the sky. From the belly of helicopters, squads of hunters and soldiers descended on ropes — like drops of rain, charged with weapons and fear.

The battlefield below had gone silent. Umbra had vanished. Only the wind roamed between the bushes and trees of the foothills.

"There’s no cover here. They won’t get far!" shouted one of the officers, scanning the surroundings.

Sunlight pierced through the leaves, glinting off the S-ranked hunters’ new exosuits: Reina, Shingen, Adam, and Chanwook.

Their new gear — exoskeletons. Dark-gray, tightly fitted to their bodies, with plated joints across every limb.

They moved into the forest without a word.

Soldiers followed behind. Laser sights swept the bushes, each rustle raising alarms. Critters darted underfoot, freezing at the sound of shouted commands or flashlight bursts.

...Your move, Darkmaine!

Near one tree, the grass trembled.

From the forest shadows, a black horse burst forth with a thunderous snort. Its mane whipped like smoke, and its eyes burned crimson. It tore through the soldiers’ ranks, trampling boots and rifles beneath its hooves.

"Is that a wild horse?!"

"Don’t shoot! Hold your fire!"

But the horse didn’t listen. Its screams were like a beast’s roar. It flung aside anyone who dared approach.

At that moment, a swarm of crows swept across the treetops — hundreds, thousands. Wings slashed at faces, talons clawed at skin. Communication lines dropped.

These crows were the mounts of Mujin. The one with glowing green eyes who stood on the top of a hill, watching us from above.

In that blur of panic and shadow, Umbra vanished. Dissolved into the wilderness.

Reina, catching a trace of their movement, rushed between the trees. Something flickered ahead. She stopped, staring into the branches.

A figure. A man. A white mask.

Brown hair.

It was me.

She blinked.

And I was gone.

"Red Fox, are you okay?!" an officer rushed over, weapon ready.

Reina held her breath.

"...Yes," she finally said, still unable to take her eyes off the empty space.

"Search the entire foothill! If you find a base or even a trace of Umbra — report immediately!"

"Yes, sir!"

Soldiers and hunters swept through the terrain.

Overhead, a hawk soared. Its vision fed directly to Jisun, stationed near the prison grounds. He turned a bone dice between his fingers.

Meanwhile, cleanup squads arrived, collecting bodies and identifying remains.

Reina returned.

"Lone Wolf. We lost them. Not a single trace."

Jisun was silent, then nodded.

"Expected. Umbra doesn’t leave crumbs behind."

"Sir... Dmitriy Volkov is gone. Confirmed escape."

"Now that..." Jisun frowned. "That’s a problem."

He flicked the dice away.

"I’ll report it to Sashi. You return. We need to strengthen patrols in the Green Zone."

"Yes, sir."

"By the way. How’s the exosuit?"

"Incredible. It fits well, and it’s responsive."

"It replaces Kuroen. You don’t have the ability to summon armor, just like Shingen. So be glad. These suits compensate for the lack of Kuroen — no blood cost, no fatigue."

Reina said nothing. Inside — a pang of envy. All these years she had tried to master the technique of summoning Kuroen. And now... they had made a substitute.

...

At that very moment, in the Association’s headquarters, a scream echoed. An assistant burst into the nerve center.

"Director Sashi! Mordred is back on the air! A live broadcast — it’s on every platform!"

"What?! Another hack?!"

"No... He didn’t hack anything this time. But... there are already three million viewers."

Sashi clenched her fists.

"Get it on the main screen — now!"

The central wall screen unfolded. And there he was.

The same silhouette. The same dark cloak. The same black mask.

The same room.

"Greetings once again, people of Earth," Mordred’s voice echoed. "I won’t speak long. Disaster is coming."

The room fell silent.

"Demons are moving. The worst of them are preparing to march. And if we don’t stand together — we won’t stop them."

He leaned closer to the screen.

"I, like you, don’t want the end of humanity. We must unite. Let us put aside hatred. Let us stop this evil for the sake of peace in our world. I am ready to sacrifice myself for this cause! So, people... do everything you can to protect your home."