Chapter 22

Chapter 22
## Chapter 22

Persona

“What went wrong here?” a bewildered Ovor scanned his surroundings.

Nothing.

No matter how meticulously he searched, there was absolutely no evidence left behind.

“How can something like this even take place?”

To guarantee that the offender would be taken into custody, he had invested valuable time in erecting a barrier, successfully locking him inside.

The Nobleblood himself served as the anchor point, while dozens of vampires formed the core structure supporting it.

Even with those extensive safety measures in place, he had personally taken steps to restrict the target’s movements.

“Yet he still managed to break free from the boundary using spatial teleportation?”

Could the culprit’s capabilities truly be that advanced?

Advanced enough to overpower every single one of them?

“The barrier shows no signs of tampering. We haven’t detected any indicators of a breakout,” reported the Blood Mage, a Pureblood who possessed deep expertise in blood magic.

They had cross-checked the data multiple times.

It was entirely possible that the target had merely faked his disappearance, waiting around for the barrier to be dropped.

Because of that suspicion, he had personally inspected the enclosed space several times while keeping the barrier fully active.

Even if the intruder had somehow managed to shatter the containment, they combed the area looking for residual energy, but the reality remained: “He vanished without leaving a single trace.”

They had been completely outmaneuvered.

The enemy had struck their safehouse, plundered the fragment, and wiped out every vampire stationed at this particular outpost.

To make matters worse, he had casually lingered in the city until their arrival, mocked them openly, and then departed entirely at his own leisure.

Boom!

The earth right next to Ovor violently ruptured.

As the ground beneath him fractured into pieces, deep fissures began to spread outward.

“How dare you… make a mockery of me? Hans… Hans!”

After expending his fury for several moments, Ovor finally managed to steady his breathing and turned his gaze toward the subordinates who stood waiting in the vicinity.

Five Purebloods and more than twenty half bloods.

“Comb through the city and the surrounding territory. Do not overlook the slightest clue; conduct a thorough investigation!”

The vampires fanned out instantly at his directive.

Ovor stared down at the precise spot where Hans had last been standing.

Squish—

It was the exact moment he ground his teeth together, swearing an oath to balance the scales.

“Oh… Ovor! A major crisis has occurred!”

A group of subordinates who had just departed came rushing back in a state of panic.

“What is it now? Did that bastard leave behind another trap?”

The immediate thought that crossed his mind was some sort of parting scheme Hans might have set in motion before vanishing.

Regrettably, the reality of the situation was far more perilous.

“The battalions of the Holy Order, including the Holy Knights and combat priests, have completely blocked off the area!”

“Why so suddenly? More importantly, how did they manage to draw this close without being detected?”

This was a specialized strike force deployed by the Holy Order with the sole purpose of halting the resurrection of the Immortal King.

To ensure the vampires wouldn’t sense their approach and scatter, the Archbishop himself had taken part, masking their entire advance with a massive holy spell.

Creeping in silently, they had suddenly lost the tracking signal of the Immortal King’s aura, prompting them to instantly cordoned off the entire sector, trapping everyone inside.

“We walked right into his trap. Lounging in the city, drawing us out—the entire sequence was a setup from the very start!”

Precisely how he had manipulated the Holy Order into executing his plan remained a mystery.

But there was no denying the fact that they had been led by the nose until the very end of his game.

“Regroup immediately and force a breakthrough at a single point! We must get clear of this place before dawn arrives. Move!”

Dense, suffocating holy energy could be felt closing in rapidly from that direction.

The unmistakable signatures of the Order’s vanguard, the Holy Knights. And riding among them was one exceptionally dominant presence.

“Curse it all! They actually brought a Paladin along!”

The absolute peak of the Holy Knights, holding a Master-level rank. A terrifying adversary that he couldn’t possibly underestimate.

“You, Hans! And those Executors of the Divine Oath! I will make certain you all suffer for this!”

With that, the Holy Order’s vanguard tasked with suppressing the Immortal King smashed directly into the defensive lines of the Brokolak vampire clan.

The explosive collision was just seconds away from happening.

Right around that same time, Hans was busy kicking his blankets away.

—

“Sigh… I need something to eat.”

I tossed the worn-out blanket aside and reached for my smartphone to place an order for some fried chicken.

Perhaps a sense of calm had finally returned to my mind after venting my Inner Demon through that brief blanket-kicking tantrum.

It likely had something to do with the passive benefits of my “Enlightenment Index,” which helped me settle my emotions much faster than normal.

‘Thanks to this particular skill, it feels like I’ve built up a solid tolerance. At this rate, I’ll be able to deliver those dramatic lines with a straight face!’

Not that I actually intended to go around doing that in real life.

“Regardless, Hans ended up getting reverse-summoned again. What a pain.”

I wasn’t able to wander around that world without restrictions anyway, but my plan had been to push the limits as far as I could take them.

‘I really didn’t anticipate a Nobleblood showing up out of nowhere. Perhaps I should have cleared out of the city immediately?’

By consuming yet another fragment, Hans had successfully transitioned into an “Arch-Lich,” causing his self-assurance to skyrocket.

Because of that power boost, I figured he would be able to handle whatever came his way reasonably well.

‘He turned out to be much more formidable than I calculated. I could probably come out on top if I went all out, but still… ‘

There was absolutely no practical benefit to engaging in a direct conflict right now, so slipping away was the smarter play.

Hans had only unlocked that “Forbidden Knowledge” a handful of days ago, meaning that if I just gave it some time, his strength would grow exponentially.

That would be the proper time to face the real challenge.

‘Harvesting the core of ‘Immortality’ presents a bit of a puzzle for immediate application, though.’

By taking in that second fragment, his form had bypassed the standard intermediate phase of a regular Lich entirely, shifting directly from an unstable Demilich into a fully realized Arch-lich.

Even though the ability was officially mine now, figuring out a way to utilize it efficiently seemed like a real hurdle.

If we were talking about Hans’s core essence, it almost certainly referred to the artificial heart formed by the merging of the fragments.

It would be incredibly convenient if I could reap the benefits while keeping it safely stashed away back on Earth, but it was highly debatable whether dark magic generated by a heart sitting in an entirely different reality would properly reach Hans.

‘Mainly because even the [Avatar] ability lacks the capability to transmit raw energy across dimensions.’

If things worked that way, then without a constant supply of dark magic feeding from that heart, Hans would be reduced to nothing more than a hollow pile of bones.

It made much more sense to keep Hans intact—someone who wouldn’t easily fall to overwhelming power and could be pulled back through a reverse-summon whenever necessary.

Even so, the acquisition wasn’t completely pointless.

Assuming we could find a method to keep that heart secure, then even if his entire body were reduced to ash, he could instantly reconstruct himself using an practically limitless reservoir of dark magic.

‘That’s an area of research I’ll need to focus on down the road. For now, Outerica offers much better training conditions. If Heinz ends up traveling too far from Ajantu, I’ll just have to use teleportation to pull him back.’

At the present moment, Heinz II had successfully made it to Tilark City alongside his companions, dedicating his time to restocking supplies and gathering local intelligence.

Given that hanging around a vampire-dominated region while maintaining a vampire form wasn’t the wisest choice, the long-term strategy was to put even more distance between them.

On the bright side, achieving the rank of a Pureblood provided him with excellent stealth capabilities, and having eliminated the direct bloodline descendant, Vyrrak, made any attempts to track him down significantly harder.

‘Honestly, they probably assume I’m already a corpse. Hans made a massive scene out there.’

Even with that advantage, keeping a low profile remained the best course of action.

‘When I look at the big picture, the returns were massive. Heinz II walked away with a highly effective weapon, and Hans successfully integrated another fragment.’

To top it all off, I had managed to secure a wide variety of valuable relics and enchanted gear. It was a thoroughly rewarding endeavor.

“I managed to pull off some major moves, so my Karma pool should have seen a massive spike, right? Let’s check how much ground I still need to cover before the next unique skill upgrade… wait, what?”

I pulled up the Karma marketplace interface to look over my current balance and froze mid-thought.

[Unique Skill Upgrade (700,000)]

[Current Karma – 731,002]

‘…Is the system usually this incredibly generous?’

It hadn’t been that long since I drained my remaining balance to provide a balanced upgrade to my core physical attributes.

Yet, somehow, I was looking at a completely maxed-out Karma meter.

Granted, while the Brokolak Clan was recognized as one of the dominant triumvirate forces in the vampire hierarchy, they still represented a minority population within Outerica, and Ajantu itself was just a minor settlement out on the frontier.

‘Could the inherent worth of the Immortal King’s fragments truly be that monumental? Or perhaps creating friction between the vampire factions and the Oath of Reversal generated a massive butterfly effect.’

After turning the thoughts over in my mind for a brief moment, I settled on that explanation as the most likely cause.

Having an abundance of Karma was never a bad thing, and the critical point right now was that the path to upgrading my unique skill was wide open once again.

‘I can’t think of any immediate emergencies that require a specific fix, so what direction should this evolution take? Am I going to unlock a completely new Avatar slot?’

As I confirmed the upgrade with a racing pulse, a sharp, throbbing pressure immediately clamped down on my skull.

Once the brief wave of pain receded, the intuitive understanding washed over me that I now possessed the capacity to manifest a brand-new Avatar.

However, the upgrade didn’t stop there.

“Oh wow.”

[Your unique skill has undergone an evolution, revealing uncharted paths. You have unlocked the specialized capability “Persona.”]

The exact auxiliary skill I had been quietly hoping for had finally materialized.

Considering how incredibly useful “Mind Hub” had proven to be, I eagerly brought up the skill details to read through them.

Except…

“Ha…”

Without my consent, my facial muscles tightened, and a hollow, disillusioned chuckle slipped past my lips.

The advancement of a unique skill fundamentally aligns itself with the subconscious requirements of the practitioner.

Which meant the system’s logic determined that “Persona” was something I desperately required.

The practical application of the skill was incredibly straightforward: it allowed me to utilize an Avatar as a physical vessel to channel my own emotional states.

“…”

The room fell completely silent as the seconds stretched out indefinitely.

Lost in that blank state, I suddenly noticed that my leg was rhythmically twitching.

It was the very same leg that carried the physical remnants of “that day,” which had only recently finished mending.

At this moment, it was perfectly smooth skin, entirely devoid of any physical scarring.

I let my eyelids close and allowed my mind to drift deeply into the quiet surroundings.

The realization of why this specific skill had manifested began to make perfect sense.

Slowly, I began to reexamine the timeline of my past choices.

Within that alternate reality, I had forged genuine bonds with individuals I had never met before, blending into their social circles with complete ease.

Operating as an undead entity, I had combated corrupt sorcerers and actively brought down criminal organizations back on Earth.

I had put my own safety on the line to rescue a pair of endangered siblings, utterly dismantling the vampire presence dominating a city.

‘And yet, here is the real me, someone who spent two solid years entirely locked away inside a single room.’

Paralyzed by the terrors of the external world, possessing only a single true friend to my name.

The bitter truth was that every single action I took after unlocking the “Avatar” ability amounted to nothing more than participating in a highly immersive simulation.

Even though the sensory input felt completely genuine and alive as I experienced it firsthand, it wasn’t my actual reality.

Conversing with digital entities without a shred of social anxiety, neutralizing targets, and stepping in to protect vulnerable people—it was all just checking off quest objectives.

While my Avatar was out there dynamically exploring the corners of another universe, the physical version of myself remained paralyzed in this identical room.

The visible injuries had completely faded away, but my psychological state was still trapped firmly in that dark period.

“Phew.”

I pushed a heavy breath out into the room, snapping my eyes open once again.

The apartment was deathly quiet.

The low, rhythmic hum humming from the refrigerator felt exceptionally grading to my ears today.

This space had once been filled with warmth and human activity, but now, not a single shred of vitality remained.

The environment I had spent years viewing as a safe haven suddenly felt indistinguishable from a prison cell, with the floating dust motes settling through the quiet like a set of phantom constraints.

Staring directly into the face of the reality I had spent so long running away from, an intense wave of revulsion washed over me.

“Hans.”

I whispered the name into the quiet space, and a thick blanket of darkness instantly rolled across the floorboards as Hans materialized, rising up from the shadows.

Even though I had implemented multiple methods to suppress his presence, the ambient energy of mortality that struck terror into ordinary observers still radiated from his form.

The aura he carried now was exponentially more oppressive than his previous state as a Demilich.

“Siphon the stagnant and toxic emotions out of me and into the vessel…”

Focusing my entire will on Hans, I activated “Persona.”

The deep-seated isolation, the grief, the resentment, and the entire collection of buried negative psychological weight began to seamlessly migrate into his frame.

Owing to his fundamental nature as an undead creature, Hans soaked up the dark energy as if he were a dry sponge.

“Phew… Is the transfer complete?”

After directly confronting and shifting that mountain of repressed negativity away, a profound sense of mental clarity washed over me.

It wasn’t a matter of completely erasing those feelings from existence, but rather neatly organizing them into a secure compartment to be accessed whenever necessary down the road.

Regardless of how it was sliced, the Avatar remained an extension of my own identity.

“This solves my immediate issue, but will Hans be able to handle the burden?”

He was already fundamentally driven by the dark impulses intrinsic to the undead, so if this influx amplified those traits…

Shifting my focus entirely into Hans, I navigated deep into his internal awareness.

There didn’t appear to be any structural instability.

If anything, channeling necromantic forces felt significantly smoother and more intuitive due to the reinforcing nature of those newly introduced negative emotions.

[…Agony and hopelessness are merely standard constants of existence. They no longer hold any power to disturb my focus.]

Without entirely realizing what I was doing, those words slipped out of my mouth initially. The phrase just felt entirely appropriate for the moment.

“Wait, what?!”

A sudden jolt of alarm ran through me, causing me to snap out of my posture.

No, there was no mistake—I was absolutely the one who had spoken those words…

[Hehehe… Intriguing. It appears that Avatars acting as repositories for specific emotions will organically generate corresponding psychological personas? When analyzed logically, it’s actually a perfectly reasonable progression.]

Hans let out a dry, mocking laugh.

The transition felt so incredibly seamless that a cold shiver ran straight down my spine.

‘Am I looking at a manifested fragment of my own repressed dark side? I absolutely cannot allow him to engage in open dialogue with ordinary citizens.’

While I maintained ultimate authority over his physical form, the moment I let my conscious control slip, his speech patterns naturally warped into that distinct cadence.

Whether this behavior counted as an unintended consequence or an inherent feature…

‘Honestly, it changes nothing. It’s completely irrelevant anyway since Hans has zero reason to interact with the general public. As long as the skill serves a practical purpose, that’s all that matters.’

Just as I finalized that thought and gave a approving nod, a distant, heavy detonation rumbled through the air.

Shortly after, the distinct wail of emergency sirens began to echo.

Even though the noise was muffled by the massive physical distance separating us, I could easily deduce the underlying cause of the commotion.

‘Is this another coordinated strike by villain factions?’

As of late, malicious groups had grown significantly bolder, leading to a sharp rise in public disruptions.

The broadcast networks and digital news feeds were constantly inundated with reports on the matter.

‘Not that I have any desire to involve myself in these affairs… ‘

Unless a crisis materialized directly in my immediate vicinity like the previous incident, I had zero intentions of going out of my way to play the detective.

There were no rewards to be gained, and the situation had no direct bearing on my life.

I simply sat back and waited for the food delivery to arrive.

Buzz~

A short while later, accompanied by a sharp vibration, a notification popped up on my screen.

* Delivery Support: “Regrettably, due to an unexpected structural incident, operations at the ‘Cerberus Three-piece Chicken’ establishment have been temporarily halted. Your recent transaction has been fully reversed. We deeply apologize for this disruption to your service.”

I stared blankly at the text notification before turning my gaze out toward the horizon.

I mentally mapped the trajectory of the distant sirens and correlated it directly with the physical address of the restaurant I had selected.

“Are you kidding me…”

It happened to be the absolute finest culinary discovery I had made after trying out dozens of different options in the area.

Their kitchen consistently utilized exceptionally fresh ingredients, producing a flawlessly crisp skin paired with incredibly juicy meat.

The diverse selection of sauces and the highly accommodating portion sizes never failed to satisfy my appetite.

For nearly a full calendar year, that specific establishment had been my absolute go-to whenever I had a craving for chicken.

Over that period, the proprietor, who frequently threw in complimentary items, had become a highly familiar and friendly presence.

“…Right. I chose to look the other way, and now it’s directly interfering with my own life.”

When stripped down to reality, I was likely just hunting for a convenient justification.

A framework to make my own choices seem logical.

A foundation to validate actions that defied standard reasoning.

[Is an explicit justification truly mandatory to purge corruption from this earth? It is not. As the foundational structures of society crumble, lawlessness takes root, and predators operate without restraint… Moving forward, I shall embody their decree.]”

Hans, who had been standing motionless at my side, melted silently back into the dark corners of the room.

Yes, irrespective of whatever elaborate excuses I constructed, the ultimate resolution remained entirely unchanged.

I absolutely despise villains.