Chapter 887: The Eye That Sees Fate (23)

Krrrrrrumble…!!

A faint roar echoed.

Simultaneously, one of the CCTV screens was engulfed in violet flames before silently flickering out.

“…”

Even though he was just monitoring from a great distance, a chill ran down Sebastian’s spine.

He couldn’t hide the faint tremor in his voice as he spoke.

“The mercenaries stationed at the main gate of the business park… have been annihilated.”

[Gasp, gasp…!!]

“Exit through the passage next to the ventilation shaft and run. Your target is the emergency staircase on the roof.”

Only the ragged breathing of the frantically running president could be heard over the phone.

“The door at camera 41 is completely sealed. I’m rerouting you to the left at the fork where camera 23 is located.”

[H-how much longer do I have to keep running like this!!]

Kra-whoooom!!

An eerie roar echoed from far down the corridor as flames raged, incinerating everything in their path.

The terrible screams of humans burning and melting faintly carried through the walls.

If even Sebastian felt a shiver, the president, hearing it up close, must have been on the verge of madness.

[No, it’s too far to the rooftop emergency stairs…!! I’ll escape through the window!!]

“Don’t!”

Sebastian shouted immediately, cutting the president off.

“The entire business park is within Evan Martinez’s sensory range. Any attempt to escape by land will be instantly detected.”

[Then what am I supposed to do…!!]

Despite the president’s cry, which was bordering on panic, Sebastian answered calmly.

“I’ve summoned an unmanned medical airship. It’s the latest model, incorporating Professor Vylun’s anti-gravity engine, capable of vertical maneuvering even in extreme heat.”

[That, that’s!!]

“It will descend and make contact the moment you reach the rooftop. As of now, escaping through the sky is the only way.”

Powerful flame wizards specialized in occupying a space and filling it with their will-thought.

Resonance, transference, area combustion, and saturation. A power specialized in encompassing and dominating the vastest range of all elemental magic.

If the opponent was a wizard who had reached that level, there was no escaping their grasp with half-measures.

Escaping through the limitless sky was the one and only solution.

“President. You can survive. I have prepared all the necessary measures.”

Sebastian calmly tried to soothe the president.

“You have to trust me right now.”

[R-right. Okay…]

The moment Sebastian’s assertion that Evan Martinez’s might was beyond expectations proved true, the president stopped thinking for himself.

But in the terror of potentially being burned alive, it wouldn’t be strange if he broke away from Sebastian’s guidance at any moment.

That was why Sebastian was doing his best to maintain the calmest voice possible, trying to keep the president from panicking.

Staring intently at the monitor, Sebastian thought.

‘President Domingo is one of my most well-connected clients. If I can just save him here…!’

By discerning Evan’s true worth before other brokers and persuading him, he had already put him in his debt.

If he could save President Domingo here, attracting new VIP clients in the future would become much easier.

Just as Sebastian was thinking this and about to guide him to the next destination.

Fwoosh!!

A distorted flame flickered on the other side of the monitor.

A flash of fire that started on one camera screen traversed to the opposite camera in the blink of an eye.

Something cloaked in flames was traversing the complex, intertwined passages above the vast business park at an incredible speed.

Fwooooosh!!

Flames flooded across the dozens of CCTV screens Sebastian was watching almost simultaneously.

The gleam, which flashed from different directions depending on the camera angle, instantly shot across all the screens.

Fwhaaaaa!!

“H-how can this be…”

Sebastian muttered blankly, realizing it was the presence of the monster that had just been slaughtering the mercenaries deployed at the business park.

What did it mean to reveal one’s presence on every surveillance camera installed throughout the entire complex at the same time?

It meant the opponent possessed such tremendous mobility that the size and distance of this park were effectively irrelevant.

Perhaps running away had been meaningless from the very beginning.

While Sebastian remained silent, the president’s voice rang out desperately from the phone.

-Sebastian! Where do I go!!

“…To the left.”

Sebastian hastily came to his senses and picked up the phone.

Though every screen except the one tracking the president was engulfed in flames, the wizard had not yet shown himself.

If the client hadn’t given up, Sebastian had no choice but to help him until the very end, just as he had promised.

“It’s not far. There should be a small staircase leading to the roof next to the collapsed emergency exit.”

-Gasp, hah…!! I-I found it!!

Clank!!

With the sound of a door opening, President Domingo appeared on the camera monitoring the rooftop.

Seeing the president successfully reach the roof, Sebastian’s voice quickened.

“Yes, that’s it. The airship is on standby. Hurry before it’s too…!!”

Thud-thud-thud-thud!!!

As if waiting for his words, an airship adorned with lapis lazuli descended above the business park rooftop.

A rope ladder dropped from the entrance, where no one sat in the cockpit.

“Oh, ohhh…!!”

The president let out an indescribable groan and grabbed the rope ladder. The moment the airship began to ascend, trying to get away from the park.

A giant palm of fire grasped the helicopter with both hands from mid-air and crushed it, as if clapping.

Kwwwwwaaaaaaaang!!!

[…Huh?]

“Ah…”

Sebastian and President Domingo let out gasps of different meanings.

A calm voice spoke from behind the president.

“You shouldn’t run away.”

Dumbfounded, the president, who had been staring blankly at the helicopter that had evaporated without a trace, slowly turned his head.

Kwa-rrrrrrr!!!

A colossal flame giant, larger than the building itself, stood on two feet, glaring down fiercely at the rooftop.

The giant’s form, as it tossed aside the remains of the helicopter that had been completely crushed and melted in its burning grip, turned around.

Its entire body flickered with violet flames, a hideous and grotesque shape like a distorted monster.

Standing with the twisting flame giant at his back, a young man at the edge of the rooftop was looking at the president with an expressionless face.

“All your men have already met their end. Does it make sense for you to survive alone?”

“Impossible…”

Only then did Sebastian realize where the flames on the camera screens had been headed, and he lamented.

The flames that had spread across the entire business park were not a means to chase the president.

They were merely preliminary work to use this massive complex as kindling to forge a house-sized flame giant.

In truth, no one was ever going to get out of this place alive.

The president trembled as he muttered the young man’s name.

“Evan, Martinez…”

“So you know the name.”

Lennok tapped his ear with one hand and smiled.

“No matter how quickly I build my achievements, it still takes time to build a reputation.”

“…”

“Sometimes, time is the only thing that can solve a problem. That’s why patience is necessary.”

The moment the phone the president was holding fell to the ground, Lennok took a step toward him.

Finally jolted back to his senses, Sebastian shouted.

“Lord Evan Martinez!! My name is Sebastian. If you could just give me a moment-”

There was no answer.

The moment Lennok gestured, a flame flared up like a fan and blew his head clean off.

Sizzle!

As the president’s headless corpse collapsed, Lennok turned his gaze to the fallen phone.

“Ah, my apologies. What did you say?”

“…”

Sebastian, who had watched everything through the camera screen, couldn’t say a word.

Lennok picked up the phone and smiled.

“Did you try to save your client by making an estimate based on fragmented information from the underworld? You’re smart. Or should I say, you’re quick-witted?”

“…That’s.”

Crack!

The phone in Lennok’s hand was crushed by an unseen force.

“But I have no intention of considering the circumstances of every piece of trash. If you risk your life, you have to accept the consequences.”

“…”

Evan’s reply was utterly cold.

But in those ruthless words, Sebastian could feel a firm conviction in himself.

It was on a different level from the twisted confidence common among infamous criminals.

An intense self-esteem that one couldn’t possess without having faith in one’s own capabilities, or perhaps, their own nature.

A strange attitude, almost overbearing, unbecoming of a Watcher devoted to the Eyes of Blue.

Just as Sebastian was thinking that he had felt this emotion, which forced him to accept it as an observer, somewhere before-

“So, on behalf of the others, you will deliver a warning to this city.”

“…What might that be?”

“That I have no intention of taking my anger out on the innocent. That I am lighting these fires for a single purpose.”

“…”

“The wise will pull out on their own, and the foolish vermin will ignore it to the end. Either way, it doesn’t matter.”

Dropping the phone without a second thought, Lennok crushed it under his foot and muttered.

“In the end, I’ll be the only one left standing anyway.”

Crunch!!

“…”

Even after the line went dead, Sebastian remained seated for a long time.

Staring blankly at the dead monitor, he strenuously reached out and picked up the half-empty bottle of wine.

Gripping the bottle with one hand, he took a swig and slowly rose from his seat. The finger dialing a number on his phone trembled faintly.

“…Jenny, it’s me. Are you listening?”

Slowly bringing the phone to his ear, Sebastian spoke.

“I made contact with Evan Martinez. He… sent a message.”

Swoooosh!!

Rain poured down.

Thick raindrops fell from the cloud-covered sky, cooling the heated air of the battlefield.

Sizzzzzle!!

The form of the flame giant stood there, its sheer presence evaporating every raindrop around it, cloaking it in a watery mist.

The violet flames flickered amidst the downpour, eating away at space and spreading as if twisting it.

The moment Lennok extended his hand toward the flame giant, its massive body distorted and was sucked into his palm.

Kwo-woooong…!!

With a strange rotating sound, the flames coalesced into a giant sphere of fire in Lennok’s hand.

Only after the flame giant disappeared did the rain begin to pour down on Lennok’s head.

Swoooosh!!

Turning around while being drenched by the pouring rain, Lennok looked down at the streetscape below the business park, lost in thought.

The fourth Heat Core. And a crystal of mana, preheated, manifested, and then stored.

Flames of malevolent fire that bloomed using negative emotions as fuel, their firepower not reliant on ordinary kindling.

But for that very reason, they were perfectly suited as new flames for the Crimson Star System.

Surely, embers like this one were still hidden throughout the city, as if on display.

‘Just a little longer.’

Simultaneous operation of his main body and incarnation body.

Even if stabilized with natural spellcraft, completely controlling the wavering magic was impossible for now.

That was why Lennok had been expelling and compressing his magic externally, carrying it around as an externalized mana core.

But at the same time, it was also a process of making everyone understand the actions Evan Martinez was taking in this city.

What power and talent the flame wizard who guarded Lapis Palsia possessed.

What means and methods he was using to build his power, to face the most infamous wizard in this city.

It was a process of filling the vast, empty void in his causal trail, which was nothing compared to the notoriety of Adamant Thunder, in a way that everyone watching this situation could accept.

‘If I can successfully manage the incarnation body in this operation, it will increase the potential for using various identities in the future.’

Lennok thought, putting a wet cigar in his mouth.

‘It was a reckless experiment, but a rather stable challenge. All I need is time.’

This was about operating his main body and incarnation body simultaneously while being watched by all of Vulcan.

There weren’t many stages like this moment that could so thoroughly test his ability to operate an incarnation body.

Just a little longer.

The situation would flow naturally without him having to force the stage or incite a clash.

All that remained was whether Evelyn could help Lapis in time.

Just as Lennok was thinking this and about to leave the business park without any lingering attachment.

Someone called out to him from behind.

“Evan Martinez?”

On the opposite side of the rainy rooftop, someone in a jet-black hood was looking at Lennok.

A murky shadow that made it difficult to guess the face beneath the hood.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

“Who are you?”

“The Central Council.”

The shadow pointed a finger to the sky.

“I am a messenger sent from the higher-ups.”

“…”

The upper house of the Council was trying to make direct contact with Evan.

After the warrant for the assassination of the vice-mayor was issued, this was effectively the first time the Council had stated its position.

Considering the extreme factionalism within the upper house, it was highly likely that this wasn’t the opinion of the entire council.

But it was worth hearing them out.

“Are you here because of the arrest warrant?”

“You could say that, and you could also say that’s not the case.”

“…”

As Lennok frowned and pulled out his ignition stone, the figure quickly added.

“The divine might you’ve displayed in this city was truly impressive. Quite a few nobles in the Central Council are marveling at your talent.”

“That’s not something I want to hear from the ones who put a price on my head.”

“The arrest warrant was not issued by the Central Council. It was the City Government that took action after confirming the vice-mayor’s condition.”

The shadow calmly explained.

“Shouldn’t we distinguish between the responsibilities and authorities that exist between the Council and the Government?”

“If the Central Council’s authority was so limited, this city wouldn’t be in this state,” Lennok scoffed.

“What do you want to say? Do you want to give me a lecture on how power is distributed in Vulcan?”

“We can have the arrest warrant on you withdrawn.”

“…”

“Furthermore, we will also take care of all the charges against Lapis Palsia.”

The hooded figure said.

“We have already coordinated with the City Government. With your consent, we can make everything that has happened in the past week cleanly disappear as if it never happened.”

So they had finished coordinating between the Government and the Council in the last few days and begun to resolve the situation.

If they had decided to wrap things up regardless of Vice-Mayor Weinstein’s survival, it was understandable why they would approach Lennok at this point.

However, the fact that they would come out here in person to inform Lennok of this beforehand meant-

“There’s a condition. What do you want?”

“Nothing.”

The shadow shook its head.

“You do not need to accept any conditions. In fact, we would like to ask a favor of you.”

“A favor.”

“Please, continue what you were doing.”

“…”

Lennok fell silent, and the figure smiled.

“Just like now, you can feel free to burn this city as kindling to save your master. To the very end. Never stop.”

“To the very end…”

Lennok couldn’t help but laugh along with the figure.

The moment he heard those words, he realized what they wanted.

“Until the moment I stand before Adamant Thunder?”

“Yes.”

The figure slowly nodded.

“If you need a stage, we will prepare one for you. If you need actors, we can provide you with as much flammable trash as you like.”

“…”

“Just burn it all down and show us. Far too many nobles in this city are curious to see if your flame is truly on par with that wizard’s.”

Rain was falling.

Through the downpour that made it difficult to even hear each other’s words, the hooded figure whispered quietly.

As if afraid someone might be eavesdropping even at this very moment.

“We have determined that your existence may be the only counter to Adamant Thunder at this point in time.”