Chapter 289

Chapter 289
## Chapter 289

White Knight (4)

‘A goldmine.’

This was entirely without precedent.

The young fellow capturing Heinrich on his camera in the medical center’s main hall swallowed hard, his head spinning from the sheer shock.

‘This is massive! I can’t believe my luck right now!’

Though he held a recording device and was pressing for answers, he wasn’t a professional journalist.

He belonged to the ranks of streamers, a career path that had become rather commonplace lately.

The sole distinguishing factor about him was his status as a returnee, and he had managed to cultivate a modest audience by leveraging his unique background.

However, his combat rank wasn’t particularly impressive, and his innate capability wasn’t anything extraordinary, leaving his internet channel hovering far below true stardom.

‘And yet here I am, scoring a completely exclusive dialogue with the White Knight? And the stakes are this monumental?’

A strange premonition had visited him that morning. He had even experienced a prophetic vision in his sleep the previous evening.

He squeezed his hand into a fist, thinking back to his unique trait, which granted him fragmented glimpses of shifting timelines through his dreams.

Because his proficiency level was severely lacking, he could only gather ambiguous hints regarding the events of the upcoming day…

—???

—A being from another realm? Not an actual returnee?

—Whoa lmao. What on earth is this? lmao

—?????

—Is this legitimate? Or is he just pulling our legs?

…Yet the dizzying speed of the text scrolling through his broadcast window confirmed that this was the real deal. A true goldmine.

He stole a glance at the viewer metrics, which were skyrocketing at a terrifying pace, and forced his racing pulse to steady before refocusing on the holy warrior standing in front of him.

An incredibly attractive, ethereal male possessing strands of silver hair and glowing golden eyes, his countenance radiating gentleness and warmth.

He had unhesitatingly consented to the broadcast request and was currently channeling a steady stream of sacred energy, mending the ailments of the suffering individuals gathered around him.

He looked precisely like a living savior.

‘…To be completely honest, it doesn’t even matter to me whether he’s telling the truth.’

He harbored deep reservations about the claims Heinrich was making.

An extra-dimensional traveler hailing from an entirely separate plane of existence?

Even when considering the breathtaking demonstration of sacred magic, that alone wasn’t absolute verification of an origin outside their world.

The most logical deduction was to view it as an elaborate fabrication until undeniable confirmation materialized.

“You spoke of… a grand corruption lurking within alternative dimensions?”

“They worm their way into countless realms, leaving nothing but devastation and ash in their wake. To give you an account… consider the Immortal King reigning over Auterica.”

Despite his internal skepticism, he pushed forward with the interrogation, projecting an air of professional focus.

Whether this was an elaborate practical joke orchestrated by a high-ranking returnee or the unhinged declarations of a fanatical zealot…

His responsibility lay in broadcasting the scene, not passing judgment.

—This makes absolutely no sense;; Has he lost his mind…?

—I stand with him! White Knight-nim, keep pushing! Heinrich-nim, keep fighting! Auterica-nim, stay strong!

—Just a heads up, it has been more than two decades since planar travel became a reality. We’ve seen countless individuals claiming to be from other worlds, but not a single one has ever received official validation.

—lmao This is an incredible performance. Top-tier entertainment lol.

—Simply because it hasn’t occurred in the past doesn’t render it impossible. Two decades is far too brief a window to definitively validate or debunk a concept.

—Hey, where is the validation? Show us some actual verification!

Whether the audience chose to put their faith in him or reject it entirely was a matter of personal choice.

The streamer’s sole duty was to transmit the narrative.

The explosive growth in active viewers and monetary contributions was merely an excellent perk.

And precisely as anticipated,

The vast majority of the audience remained deeply doubtful, laughing off the declarations as pure lunacy.

‘Yes, I foresaw this reaction.’

Heinrich, scanning the rapidly updating chat feed with his extraordinary, hyper-perceptive sight, offered a quiet internal nod.

More than two decades had slipped away since the phenomenon of dimensional traversing had first manifested on Earth.

The concept that only native Earthlings possessed the unique property to bypass planar thresholds had hardened into an absolute law of reality.

And now, a genuine denizen of another world had materialized on Earth?

It naturally challenged everything they knew.

“…They are the architects behind the unraveling of multiple realities. Their motives are pure… malevolence. And Earth… figures directly into their grand designs.”

Yet Heinrich, keeping his composure flawlessly steady and solemn, pressed onward.

An aura of absolute certainty and unshakeable belief served as magnificent instruments for swaying minds, particularly when interwoven with… a kernel of genuine reality.

“For as long as their presence endures, no realm can ever truly know peace.”

His pronouncements, referencing the hidden machinations of the Heaven’s Turn Society, were fundamentally accurate. And his deep conviction, magnified by his majestic charisma and the ambient resonance of 「Grand Blessing: Knight of Light」, began to cast a subtle spell over the viewing audience.

“That is the precise purpose behind my arrival.”

Much like an alluring spiritual shepherd, his phrases drifted into their consciousness, embedding a tiny splinter of uncertainty.

‘…Hold on, is it possible he isn’t fabricating this?’

The broadcaster, being positioned closest to his aura, was the very first to succumb to the influence.

His eyes blinked rapidly as his face contorted from dismissive doubt into sheer bewilderment. His core intuition, sharpened by his dream-based premonitions, was screaming at him that Heinrich’s assertions… were anchored in truth.

And while the digital translation was muted compared to his immediate physical magnetism, a parallel transformation began rippling through the virtual space, far beyond the confines of the recording lens.

—??? I don’t even know what to think anymore;; I’m staying out of it for now.

—If there’s truth to it, the reality will surface before long.

—I’m still not buying it lol. Show us the verification.

—Wow, his features are breathtaking. I could honestly watch a stream of just his face indefinitely.

—Saint-nim, my faith is with you! Please make a trip to Incheon! My grandmother is fighting a terrible illness…

Naturally, a handful of declarations could not completely overturn entrenched public sentiment in an instant.

Nevertheless, he had successfully sown the initial seeds of ‘perchance.’

‘This suffices for the opening act. The confirmation will follow shortly.’

He had already mapped out his subsequent maneuvers.

Ultimately, the populace was merely grappling with the shock of a completely unprecedented event.

They were anchoring themselves to their familiar paradigms, shutting their minds to anything that violated their structured understanding of reality.

‘In that case, I will simply present them with a spectacle that completely demolishes their standard logic. A display that leaves them with no choice but to reevaluate their assumptions.’

When that moment arrived, they would be forced to evaluate Heinrich’s declarations with absolute seriousness. Concurrently, the Heaven’s Turn Society would find it utterly impossible to remain obscured in the shadows.

Whether to neutralize the shifting tides of public belief or to engage in direct retaliation, they would be compelled to step into the light.

‘…And that marks the beginning of the true conflict.’

A campaign dedicated to wiping the Heaven’s Turn Society completely off the face of this planet.

Heinrich permitted a soft, imperceptible smirk to grace his features, a sharp glint reflecting in his gaze.

He caught the distinct signatures of several entities drawing near, their velocity mounting by the second.

His grand design was unfolding flawlessly.

—

New Delhi, India.

“…What exactly am I looking at…?”

A woman’s query, dripping with deep perplexity, drifted through the chamber adorned with elaborate, geometric mandala tapestries.

The dancing illumination of beeswax candles cast elongated silhouettes across the brickwork, catching the metallic sheen of ceremonial artifacts and standing in stark opposition to the chilly, sapphire radiance bleeding from a modern digital tablet.

The deep-toned woman, resting atop a low-slung divan, pulled her brows together as she focused intently on the digital display.

—My period of stay on Earth is strictly limited. I traveled across the void to deliver this prophecy, aligning with the divine decrees, yet… I still have unresolved campaigns demanding my attention within my native domain.

—Ah, I comprehend. You spoke of an ongoing struggle against the Immortal King, a localized Demon King.

—Precisely. A spore of corruption, introduced into our realm through unnatural contrivances. I cannot stay away for long until that blight is cleansed. I am already overextending my tether merely by lingering here.

—Astonishing! To think you can navigate the gaps between realities at will…

The droplet-shaped crimson crystal embedded in her brow glowed with a predatory light as she glared down at the video feed.

Oracle, the seer bearing the scarlet stone, kept her eyes locked on the presentation, the thick vapor from her water pipe drifting lazily around her form.

The moment the clip reached its conclusion, she slid her eyelids shut, applying pressure to her temples with a heavy groan.

‘…What is the meaning of this? My gifts of foresight completely missed this? And an event of this magnitude? A monumental pivot point that could alter the trajectory of an entire dimension?’

And once again, the epicenter of this geopolitical anomaly was Korea.

The exact same territory where Hahoe Mask, that utterly chaotic wildcard, had initially emerged to derail their carefully laid blueprints.

The very place where Heinz, the noble vampire, had risen to defiance, contesting their supremacy and seizing absolute dominion over the criminal underbelly.

‘And now a development like this… ’

Yet another massive, unpredictable factor—a planar traveler wielding the pinnacle of sacred sorcery.

No, labeling it a mere factor was an understatement. It was a ticking explosive, threatening to vaporize their entire strategic framework.

‘This cannot be attributed to mere happenstance.’

A grim certainty settled deep within her.

Something buried within Korea had definitively stirred.

And it was highly probable that this exact entity was the force currently obfuscating her prophetic sight.

“Hmm…”

Oracle began to reconsider the validity of her primary strategy.

She had previously determined to channel the bulk of their operational assets into China and Japan, utilizing those territories to project indirect authority over Korea, where the volatile nature of the local wildcards rendered direct investment highly inefficient.

‘If… I had prioritized Korea over Japan from the beginning… Could I have choked this variable out in its infancy?’

But engaging in historical hypotheticals was an exercise in futility.

Attempting to manage a highly volatile element was fundamentally counterproductive to their metrics.

Furthermore, one of their primary assets, who was supposed to emerge from Ganghwange as a redefined transcendent entity, had vanished off the face of the earth without leaving a single clue behind.

Cultivating a singular potential transcendent demanded a colossal expenditure of organizational capital, meaning that stepping away from Korea had represented the most mathematically sound decision available at that juncture.

“Haa— Lingering on choices already made serves no purpose.”

She drew deeply from the stem of her water pipe, releasing a dense cloud of white vapor into the room.

She had analyzed the current parameters. The hour had arrived to engineer a counter-strategy.

‘I only just succeeded in re-establishing our hegemony over China after resolving that exhausting debacle caused by Hahoe Mask… ’

They had thrown immense windows of time and operational capital into scrubbing that specific disaster clean… and now they faced this?

A brand-new catastrophe, this time centered around a sacred champion, the White Knight, moving as if their actions were deliberately synchronized.

It was utterly maddening.

“What is the current location of Doctor?”

Removing the pipe from her lips, she directed her voice forward, her words sharp with irritation.

A shape, enveloped entirely in dark textiles, coalesced out of the corner shadows and dropped into a low, reverent posture before her.

“He is presently occupied with his assignments across the European theater. He communicated that he is tracking a high-grade vampire through the territories of Romania… Heinz, if my memory serves.”

“Ha! That absolute lunatic! Can his mind not grasp the existential threat we are facing? This is hardly the moment to be indulging in his macabre biological inquiries…!”

She was acutely aware of the specific obsessions driving Doctor.

She also recognized that his endeavors, should they bear fruit, would yield an incredibly potent tool for their cause.

Nonetheless, there existed an absolute hierarchy of urgency!

‘He possesses ample windows of opportunity. Heinz is slated to be traversing the European continent for a considerable duration… ’

Doctor was a constant source of aggravation. There wasn’t a solitary aspect of his character she found tolerable.

If it were not for the looming shadow of the Master…

Oracle released a weary breath, taking another long pull from her pipe.

Yet her hands were tied. She could initiate no structural corrections while the Master remained absent.

“We still retain a brief window before this narrative dominates global headlines. If we construct our defense parameters immediately…”

Thus, Oracle found herself once more burdened with the exhausting task of sweeping up the wreckage left by another’s negligence.

And an intuitive dread told her that this would far from be the final instance.

—

Heinz the Second, having successfully journeyed into the borders of France as an unregistered passenger,

Required a slightly extended window to properly ‘discipline’ Victor Balzac, the dreaded Tyrant of Thermidor, who stood as the premier vampire sovereign within the French criminal syndicate.

‘This ought to suffice. Time to alter my location.’

Having finalized his intensive… behavioral realignment seminar, he slipped back into the cargo hold of an outbound aircraft, matching the clandestine manner of his arrival.

He had successfully acquired a pristine, fraudulent set of credentials courtesy of the Thermidor network, but the supernatural scanning protocols at European transit hubs were significantly more stringent than those back in Korea, making this covert approach the most practical path forward.

‘It represents a brief transit window regardless.’

The aircraft ascended into the heavens without encountering a single complication.

His upcoming operational theater.

Italy.