Chapter 169

Chapter 169
## Chapter 169

Kyushu Crisis (1)

An urban landscape of the current era lay desolate, a barren sprawl of concrete and stone.

Swoosh— Boom!

A torrential downpour cascaded from the ink-black sky, punctuated by the roar of thunder and flashes of lightning.

The peripheral avenues, already lacking in pedestrian traffic, had become completely deserted under the assault of the tempest.

Situated within this neglected quarter, far removed from the city’s glittering wealth, stood a dilapidated structure.

Deep within its unilluminated interior, a lone silhouette dissolved into the shadows, silently tracking the heavy drops as they violently lashed against the windowpane.

Crack! Rumble—!

A sudden flare of lightning briefly illuminated a warped visage.

It bore a bizarre grin—an expression that seemed to fluctuate between fury, a grimace, and a mocking smirk.

It was the Hahoe Mask.

‘The rain is truly relentless.’

Hans kept his eyes fixed on the outside world.

In contrast to the pitch-black room he occupied, the streetlamps cast a dull glow over the pavement through the wind and water, as the refreshing deluge continued unabated.

It felt as though it were washing the earth clean.

‘Yet, such a mild process can never truly purge this corruption.’

A mocking laugh echoed in his mind as a passing thought took hold.

A gentle force like water was entirely incapable of stripping away the filth defiling existence.

It demanded immense exertion, failed to cleanse thoroughly, and even if successful, it merely left behind blemishes while tainting the very fluid meant to purify.

‘It is not water, but fire, that must sanitize this reality.’

This was the ultimate truth he had embraced.

A merciless judgment akin to flames that incinerated every impurity… which meant, an absolute and crushing violence!

Fire, consuming all without permitting a single speck of corruption to remain, served as a far more potent instrument of cleansing than any downpour.

Naturally, he recognized the collateral damage inherent to such a path, but he harbored no desire to compromise his convictions.

Even if the very embers he stoked consumed him in the end.

That was the destiny he had embraced.

[Hehehe— What pointless sentimentality.]

Hans gave his head a firm shake, dispelling the brief wave of emotion, and retrieved a burner smartphone from his spatial storage artifact.

Buzz— Buzz—

The handset, suddenly flooded with intercepted transmissions all at once, pulsed continuously as messaging alerts filled the display.

-Hans Slave No. 1: Presenting the initial findings.

-Hans Slave No. 1: Concerning the Heaven’s Turn Society, the Management Bureau has likewise been monitoring their movements. Their domestic operations have ground to a complete halt, making the investigation rather difficult for the authorities.

-Hans Slave No. 1: Consequently, they are pivoting toward analyzing their historical associations. They are an exacting group, so progress is slow, but they haven’t come up entirely empty-handed.

-Hans Slave No. 1:

-Hans Slave No. 1: I believe this comprises the bulk of the actionable intelligence for the moment. I shall re-establish contact once additional details emerge.

‘Hans Slave No. 1’… or more accurately, the practitioner of dark arts, Ahn Sung-jin, whom he had embedded as a mole within the Supernatural Ability Management Bureau, was executing his espionage tasks with great diligence.

The man possessed a surprising level of competence.

‘Securing this volume of data so swiftly. He is far more capable than I originally anticipated.’

The impression had been obscured because the man had behaved in such a terrified and compliant manner in his presence, but within the nation’s borders, he ranked among the premier experts in the field of dark magic.

Granted, there were others who outmatched him in raw magical output, but individuals capable of preserving their sanity while ascending to such heights of dark sorcery like Ahn Sung-jin were exceedingly rare.

He possessed a lengthy portfolio of assisting state inquiries as an expert consultant on esoteric crimes, a role he maintained regarding the recent disruptions involving the Hahoe Mask.

Viewed in that light, it was only expected that his attention would be drawn to the Heaven’s Turn Society, given their public feud with the Hahoe Mask…

‘I initially viewed him as a mere placeholder, but he has proven to be an flawless asset.’

It appeared appropriate to grant him some form of compensation upon returning from the Japanese archipelago.

Such a gesture would undoubtedly incentivize him to perform with even greater fervor down the line.

What other superior would show such meticulous concern for the well-being of his subordinates?

[Hmph— Though I am currently deployed here, domestic intelligence from Korea isn’t strictly necessary. Still, an excess of information is never a disadvantage.]

Hans casually reviewed the text files stored on the device before slipping it back into his spatial rift.

Flash— Crack!

Another bolt of lightning tore through the sky.

The brilliant radiance momentarily banished the gloom of the ruined space.

The room bore the scars of a cataclysmic struggle; shattered remnants of decor were strewn across the floorboards.

The structural supports and plaster, fractured and buckling, gave the impression of a site nearing total collapse.

Furthermore, fresh crimson and remnants of tissue were splattered across every surface, yet to solidify.

And right in the center—.

[Agh…]

[Moan— Urgh!]

Snap, crack—!

Resembling a sequence from a macabre film, dozens of breathless bodies were twitching unnaturally, arranged in a chilling alignment.

These were the inhabitants who had occupied the tenement, functionaries of a syndicate that had claimed this perimeter as their headquarters to dominate the immediate territory.

…At least, they had until tonight.

[This region is a veritable gold mine compared to Korea. To think that merely eliminating a few local syndicates would yield a lead so rapidly. I ought to have migrated my operations much earlier.]

To be precise, these individuals were not formally initiated operatives of the Heaven’s Turn Society.

They functioned as a peripheral faction aligned with their interests, analogous to the radical wings of the Blood Alliance back in Korea.

However, by extracting and reviewing the consciousness of the highest-ranking commander present, he discovered that numerous identical proxies operated throughout Japan.

‘Truthfully, I did not anticipate uncovering their trail with such ease. This implies that the roots of the Heaven’s Turn Society run far deeper here than they ever did in Korea.’

This meant that if he systematically annihilated these proxy factions, the leadership of the Heaven’s Turn Society would inevitably be forced to break cover.

They were hardly passive enough to remain idle while their primary networks of cooperation were systematically erased.

[Hehehe— The logic is elementary. Indeed, slaughter and ruin constitute my true nature! I am eager to discover who will endure at the culmination of this path. Hahaha!]

Hans threw his head back in laughter as a fresh flash of lightning arced overhead, casting a dark pattern across his wooden visage.

It was a laugh drenched in insanity, rendered deeply unsettling by the carved lines and traditional contours of the Hahoe mask.

Yet, that blood-chilling amusement ceased instantly as the chamber was once again plunged into pitch blackness—.

When illumination returned to the room, which had fallen completely silent, it stood entirely vacant.

Only the chaotic wreckage, punctuated by shattered lumber and pools of gore, remained to signify that a catastrophic event had occurred…

—

A gentleman cocked his head in perplexity within a grand office adorned with countless rare artifacts, having just received an unanticipated dispatch.

“…What is the meaning of this?”

Yulryeongja, the commander overseeing the East Asia sector for the Heaven’s Turn Society, scowled as he re-read the incoming transmission from his seated position in a wheelchair.

Whir— Click—

His left ocular implant, a piece of machinery resembling advanced cybernetics, ran through the data tracks with mechanical precision, translating the text and feeding it directly into his consciousness. Yet, his expression remained tense as he stared blankly at the screen, parsing the implications.

“The Hahoe Mask… has crossed over to Japan?”

A quiet whisper slipped past his lips after a protracted silence.

The update detailed the recent movements of the Hahoe Mask, the singular individual responsible for his immense stress of late.

He rubbed his lower jaw, weighing the validity of the dispatch.

‘I was on the verge of executing an operation within Korean borders at the Doctor’s insistence.’

Granted, launching a major initiative immediately was a fraught proposition.

His strategy had been to lay the necessary foundations by mobilizing the hidden remnants of the Heaven’s Turn Society and leveraging the compromised high officials whose secrets he controlled…

‘Yet he chooses this exact moment to cross into Japan?’

The operational landscape in that territory was vastly superior to Korea, where their core infrastructure had been virtually wiped out.

Not only had they maintained a presence there for a far greater duration—it being their secondary objective in the continent following their push into China—but the local environment allowed them to easily expand their numbers by embedding themselves within the powerful criminal underground, most notably the Yakuza.

Consequently, the military capabilities of the Heaven’s Turn Society in Japan completely eclipsed what they had possessed in Korea.

‘In that case, there is no longer any reason to hunt him on Korean soil.’

Tap, tap, tap—

Yulryeongja drummed his fingers against the armrest, immersed in strategic calculation.

A faint worry crossed his mind that the apparatus they had constructed in Japan might suffer a similar dismantling as their domestic branches, though he considered that outcome highly improbable.

“I assumed he would confine his vigilantism to Korea. He possesses quite the restless spirit, this Hahoe Mask…”

Though he had suspended active operations in Korea, he maintained an intelligence pipeline regarding the Hahoe Mask through his remaining field agents.

His innate gift, known as “Thought Projection,” was a psychological asset he considered unmatched among esoteric mental talents.

It bypassed simple mental coercion; it permitted him to plant psychic anchors within his agents and, when required, allow him to perceive and experience reality directly through their physical senses.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a flawless tool of espionage!

‘…Though it is precisely the reason for my current physical degradation.’

Throb—

Yulryeongja clenched his jaw and gently touched his artificial eye as a sudden, sharp pang shot through his skull.

While the cybernetic replacement had restored his sight, the trauma of having his astral form violently severed remained unhealed.

The agonizing sensation, originating from his socket, migrated down his spine before settling in his desensitized lower limbs, finally fading into nothingness.

“Huff… Huff…”

He wiped away a bead of perspiration, drawing ragged breaths.

Due to that specific injury, he was currently unable to channel his unique ability at its maximum capacity, and he had even developed a paranoid reflex to instantly sever psychic links to preserve an escape path.

Such a defensive mindset was detrimental for an awakened warrior whose power defined their existence, but should he cross paths with an adversary like the Hahoe Mask in his compromised state, his consciousness would be permanently destroyed.

‘I must seize this development. However, I will arrange far stricter counter-measures, just to be certain.’

Reaching a definitive conclusion, he offered a slow, deliberate nod.

He had yet to witness the full parameters of the Hahoe Mask’s capabilities firsthand, but the entity likely possessed a threat profile equivalent to a Cataclysmic Demon King.

Nevertheless, the baseline meta-humans of this world… particularly the upper echelons of the Heaven’s Turn Society, were not so fragile as to fall before a solitary Demon King.

‘Lest anyone forget, returnees are living engines of destruction—warriors who endured the crucible of alternate dimensions for vast periods, accumulating unparalleled evolutionary traits and unique concepts.’

Naturally, the lower tiers comprised many unremarkable individuals due to sheer statistics, but the apex ranks consisted of figures who had achieved legendary status before returning home.

There were champions who had subdued and chained manifested Demon Kings, heroes who had salvaged civilizations by slaying primordial dragons, and even catastrophic renegades who had brought empires to their knees.

‘You will find that arrogance carries a heavy price.’

Furthermore, Yulryeongja himself was a mastermind who had successfully destabilized an entire realm through his calculated stratagems and mental manipulation.

—

Bang—! Bang!

Boom—!

“Open fire! Maintain the barrage!”

“Unbelievable! What kind of anomaly is that?!”

The discharge of firearms resounded like continuous claps of thunder, accompanied by frantic, terrified shouting from the defensive line.

They did not rely solely on conventional ballistic weaponry; a chaotic array of supernatural manifestations—ranging from kinetic bursts and electrical arcs to localized gravity wells—was unleashed without pause to halt the advancing threat.

All directed at a singular point.

Whirrrr—

A dense, suffocating gloom, resembling a fragment of the void itself, swept toward their position at incredible speed.

Predictably, such conventional countermeasures were entirely inadequate to impede an entity of that nature.

The obsidian mist shattered every defensive line and closed the distance instantly.

“Curse it all! Discard the firearms! Shift entirely to close-quarters containment!”

“Officer Nakagawa! But making direct contact means suffering the same fate as the forward vanguard…!”

“Then provide covering fire from the rear ranks! You complete fool!”

Clang! Clang!

Left with no alternative, they unsheathed their blades and circulated their internal energy, swallowing hard as they steeled themselves for the collision.

“Damn it, I dismissed it as a mere urban legend…!”

A terrifying rumor had been circulating through the nighttime alleys of Fukuoka.

A phantom executioner that navigated through the cover of darkness, completely liquidating syndicates and leaving no remains behind.

A multitude of factions had already fallen victim to ‘it’, yet the investigation sites yielded nothing but signs of a violent struggle and highly erratic accounts from survivors.

Even those sparse accounts only existed because a handful of captives had been purposefully spared and set free by the assailant.

Swish—

In that instant, the rolling black vapor parted, revealing a distinct human silhouette stepping into the open.

An absolute black mantle that seamlessly integrated with the midnight backdrop, a deep hood obscuring the facial features, and…

A bizarre wooden visage made all the more striking by two azure fires flickering like spectral flames within the darkness of the hood.

“Could it be… an Oni?”

[The designation is Hahoe Mask, ignorant mortal.]

The entity, standing as the very definition of terror, responded politely to the trembling inquiry.

[Though providing you with that knowledge is entirely redundant at this juncture.]

After all, what purpose did it serve to converse with the deceased?

And with that, the Hahoe Mask, Hans, completely destabilized the city of Fukuoka within the Kyushu region in a matter of moments.

Naturally, the grand purification had only just commenced.

This was merely the first territory.