After Ten Millennia in Hell

"I-I don't know," the assassin replied.

"Hmm."

Kang-Woo nodded.

It would be weird if a Demon Cultist knew where the leader of Guardians was.

'I'll need to check it out.'

He had to get in contact with the Guardians and find out more about Gaia's identity.

"Is there anything else you know about Gaia?" Kang-Woo asked.

"I-I only know that it's a woman and that she has the ability to find other Protectors."

"I see."

Kang-Woo nodded.

'Then she must've been the one who found out about Si-Hun.'

That made this situation easier to deal with. Considering that there were so few Protectors, Gaia would most likely try to get in contact with Kim Si-Hun again, even if Alec Osborne were to disappear.

'She'll come to me as long as I keep waiting.'

There was no need for Kang-Woo to try to find her. As long as Si-Hun was around, an encounter with Gaia was inevitable.

"That was good info," Kang-Woo said, smiling in satisfaction.

He would've preferred it if the assassin had been given more specific information, but he was happy with what he had gotten at the moment.

"Then let me g—"

"All right, last question. I'll let you go if you answer it," Kang-Woo continued in a calm voice. "Tell me everything you know about the Demon Cult—their forces, locations, taboos, objectives, and anything else.”

"…"

The assassin's expression hardened. There was a heavy silence, and his breathing became rougher.

Kang-Woo smiled. It was as he'd expected.

"I'm guessing you'll die if you talk."

In that case, there was no point in listening to the assassin anymore.

"Kurgh. I-I'll give you any other information you want! So…"

The assassin became anxious. He was desperately trying to hold onto his life. Kang-Woo placed his hand on the man's back as if he were trying to calm him down.

"A deal is only established when both sides have what the other wants. I can give you your life. What can you give me?"

The assassin talked desperately about the situation in Europe, how big the Guardians was getting, and all the information that he could think of. However, there wasn't any information about the Demon Cult that Kang-Woo wanted to hear.

"Thanks for the information," Kang-Woo said.

"W-Wait!"

Kang-Woo concentrated the Authority of Waves in his hand that was on the assassin's back. He turned the assassin’s insides into porridge.

The assassin coughed out some blood and collapsed onto the ground.

"Now then..."

Kang-Woo extended his hand, took off the red mask that was covering the assassin's face, and placed it on his own. The mask stuck onto his face even though it had no securing mechanism.

"Let's begin."

The eyes peering through the red demon mask were smiling.

Kang-Woo walked out of the abandoned factory while wearing the mask. It was time to enact his plan.

* * *

"Urgh, I'm exhausted."

Alec, who had returned to his hotel room, flopped onto the bed.

He'd met Si-Hun right after a 10-hour flight and later even fought a Demon Cultist, so he had accumulated a lot of fatigue.

"I'll go see Si-Hun again tomorrow."

Protectors were very precious beings. He had no intention of giving up just because Si-Hun had refused once.

Alec recalled Si-Hun's eyes. They had looked at him intensely, full of envy and passion.

'I can convince him.'

Alec clenched his hands with an extremely confident expression. He was sure that Si-Hun would sympathize with his conviction.

"That aside..."

He thought of Oh Kang-Woo, the man who'd revealed himself as Si-Hun's sworn brother.

"What was that feeling?"

Alec's expression had hardened unconsciously when he'd first grabbed Kang-Woo’s hand. An odd heaviness had weighed down on him.

"Hmm."

He kept thinking about it for a moment but ultimately shook his head.

"I'm sure it was nothing."

That odd feeling had only been a slight discomfort. It was wrong to judge someone based on something so trivial.

"Why didn't you kill the assassin?"

The question that Kang-Woo had asked him after his battle with the assassin popped up in his head.

"Haha. I guess it would be hard for him to understand," Alec remarked.

His ideal of saving all lives… Someone who wasn't a Protector wouldn't be able to understand such ideals that had awoken within him ever since he became one.

'But I'm sure Kang-Woo will also understand in the end.'

He was certain Kang-Woo would eventually understand how noble his conviction was and how many lives it could save.

"A-Aaah!! H-How, wh-why...?!" Alec’s voice resounded in his mind as if from a memory.

"Urgh."

Alec had a headache. In his mind, he saw himself crying in despair over the corpse of a woman in an alleyway.

"Not this again."

Alec sighed and lay on the bed.

It had started a year ago. He sometimes suffered from an intense headache and saw images that seemed to come from nightmares.

"Erina..." Alec called out a certain woman's name in a voice filled with sorrow.

It was the name of the woman he'd promised to spend eternity with. She fully supported his beliefs that other people had a hard time understanding.

"I miss you."

Alec closed his eyes.

He thought of the lovely Erina. It had been a year since she'd suddenly disappeared. He had tried desperately to find her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

'I'll find you, no matter what.'

Alec believed she was alive somewhere. Finding her was one of his biggest goals.

"To do that, I'll have to drag Si-Hun into Guardians as soon as possible."

Alec had just begun to investigate the Demon Cult a year ago. He believed that her disappearance had a very high chance of being related to them. However, to investigate them thoroughly, the Guardians needed to expand their forces.

'But I'll rest for today.'

The headache wasn't going away, and Kang-Woo's disgusted gaze had been embedded into Alec’s memories. Alec ultimately decided it would be better to sleep first and think later.

"Kyaaaa!"

However, he suddenly heard a woman scream. It wasn't just a scream of surprise but the scream of a woman who feared for her life.

Alec quickly got up. He grabbed his sword and ran toward where the scream had come from.

'Up.'

It was the hotel’s rooftop. The rooftop was quite far away, but Alec had been able to tell exactly where the scream had come from with his superhuman hearing.

'Hopefully, nothing has happened!'

Alec ran up to the rooftop frantically. He wasn't sure what had happened, but he couldn't hesitate if he wanted to save a life. His conviction was shining as brightly as ever.

* * *

"You..."

Alec's expression hardened after reaching the rooftop.

A man in a red demon mask was sitting on a guardrail of the rooftop.

"You're finally here," the masked man said and waved his hand.

Alec sighed, "Haaa. You don't get sick of this, do you?"

He recognized the clothes that the man in the red mask was wearing. It was the assassin who had attacked him this morning.

"Where is the girl?" Alec asked with his eyes narrowed.

The masked man smirked as he replied, "Here."

He flicked his finger, and the scream of a woman sounded out of thin air.

Alec frowned.

"You tricked me."

"They say that the one who gets fooled is the true fool."

"…"

Alec looked at him cautiously. Unlike before, the masked man seemed very relaxed. There was no way he'd be so relaxed after suffering such a defeat if he didn't have a plan.

'I don't think there are any other Demon Cultists in the area,' Alec thought.

He expanded his senses to search his surroundings but couldn't feel anything.

"Didn't you learn your lesson after suffering such a defeat this morning? You are no match for me," Alec said.

"I don't know about that. We'll have to see."

The man in the red mask hopped down from the guardrail. His eyes peered through the mask and looked at Alec.

'Huh?' Alec thought confusedly.

His eyes widened, and he got goosebumps. Looking into the masked man’s eyes made Alec feel like he was in a daze as if he was looking into an abyss.

"Kurgh," Alec grunted and shook his head.

His breaths became rough.

'What is this?'

This masked man was wearing the same clothes as the man who had chased him earlier that day. Alec could even see the section of clothes that he’d sliced away with his sword. The demonic energy that the man was emitting was also about the same amount.

Despite that… something was off.

'It's different.'

Alec gripped his sword, took a deep breath, and got into a fighting stance.

The masked man said, "There's something I want to ask you."

"...What is it?"

"I killed a woman while I was running away. The scream you just heard was from that woman."

"Wh-What?!"

Alec's mind went blank. He felt as if his head had been smacked with a sledgehammer from behind.

"You still won't kill me despite that?"

"…"

Alec’s mind was now a mess. He bit his lips and raised his sword. A pure-white light similar to his pure convictions enveloped his sword.

Alec’s eyes showed no doubts as he replied, "Yes. In exchange, I will make you atone for the life that you’ve taken for the rest of your days."

The masked man laughed, "Hahaha. Is not killing anyone really that important?"

"Saving everyone is my conviction.”

"Conviction, my ass."

The masked man raised his hand, and a dark-red spear Alec hadn't seen before appeared in the man's hand.

The man said, "Stop talking crap and bring it on."