Chapter 441

Chapter 441## Chapter 441

The Black Dragon Organization (3)

Heinz stared at the elderly man with an icy, hollow look.

That simple action unleashed a suffocating aura, making it feel as though the entire universe had aligned against him, focusing its full weight onto that solitary spot.

Yet even under the weight of that crushing pressure, which would have paralyzed almost anyone else, the old man merely stroked his chin whiskers, his expression remaining bright with an entertained grin.

‘He used to lead the East Asia branch of the Reverse Heaven Society?’

Heinz felt his brow twitch.

It was undeniably shocking.

Even though he had weighed various outcomes, he had not foreseen this specific twist whatsoever.

However, the primary puzzle at this moment was not the disclosure itself.

‘Why reveal this to me?’

It was a piece of information he had failed to extract even after stripping Black Shadow of every single detail.

Just as the old man noted, it was likely a well-kept secret known only to himself, concealed from the rest of the world.

For him to casually offer it to Heinz—a complete stranger… rather, an aggressor who had broken into the very syndicate he had cultivated—made absolutely no sense.

“What exactly is your angle?”

Heinz made no attempt to conceal his distrust.

The tide of the situation was currently heavily stacked in his favor anyway.

There was no point in acting coy just to test the old man’s motives.

If things took a turn for the worse, he could always extract the truth through raw violence.

“No hidden agenda. I merely believed it would be pleasant for allies sharing an identical objective to be transparent with one another.”

“An identical objective…”

“Eradicating the Reverse Heaven Society. Is that not your true desire?”

The master of the Black Dragon Organization stared at Heinz with incredibly deep, meaningful eyes.

A pitch-black current stirred within his dark irises.

“—And doing so under the banner of the Masquerade, no less.”

“Hmph.”

Heinz inclined his head slightly.

He wasn’t shocked that the old man recognized the moniker.

The Masquerade had only recently stepped out into the open, but with so many eyewitnesses, information was bound to spread eventually.

He had never planned on keeping it a secret to begin with.

“A bit hard to swallow.”

The genuine dilemma lay in another direction.

“You strike first, and now you declare that we share the same path…? No matter how I view this, it merely sounds like a desperate attempt to wriggle out of a tight spot.”

It came down to a question of credibility.

Regardless of how calmly they were conversing at this moment, this was by no means a friendly reunion.

This was a setting meant to penalize an intruder who had forced his way into his domain and caused chaos without restraint.

“Ah, my apologies for that. However, we possessed our own justifications as well.”

“Justifications?”

“How deeply are you acquainted with the Reverse Heaven Society’s Oracle?”

“The Oracle? You are referring to their seer?”

“…Hmph, I had my suspicions, but it truly is factual. To think you can speak her title aloud and remain completely hidden from her sight.”

Heinz knit his brows together.

He had anticipated some flimsy defense, but what was this absurd chatter?

“Her visions are far more than mere glimpses of isolated future events. They are much closer to interpreting the grand current weaving through yesterday, today, and tomorrow, alongside the fleeting thoughts humans inadvertently project, to chart the course of fate.”

Detecting the rising tension in the room, the master of the Black Dragon Organization quickly went into further detail.

“Her reach encompasses the whole of the planet. The very instant someone articulates her name clearly, they are instantly snared by her perception and designated as a quarry. Granted, given the vast array of talents out there, methods exist to bypass this…”

He let his words fade, implying that avoiding any trace whatsoever was the safest route, before casting an odd glance at Heinz—and whatever force shielded him.

“Yet I have never witnessed a non-reaction quite like this. It goes beyond merely disrupting her tracking; it is as if she fails to perceive your existence entirely from the very beginning.”

He gave his head a gentle shake and returned to the point he had been making.

Elucidating why he, alongside the Black Dragon Organization, had been forced to rely on such complicated strategies.

“Regrettably, our Black Dragon Organization does not possess capabilities akin to yours. Her watchfulness had already reached its peak following your actions across Southeast Asia. Had we attempted to make contact with even a hint of forming an alliance with the Blood Alliance under those conditions…”

That action alone would have drastically elevated the probability of being compromised.

Consequently, they had chosen not to breathe a word about him to Black Shadow from the very start.

When it came down to it, that entire confrontation was merely a ruse to get in touch with him while dodging her oversight.

‘Is this Oracle truly that dangerous?’

Heinz raised an eyebrow at the elder’s extreme level of wariness.

In all honesty, he didn’t possess an abundance of knowledge regarding the Oracle himself.

He only knew that she commanded foresight and served as a core strategist charting the operations of the Reverse Heaven Society.

“She does not engage in direct combat, yet she attained the Mythic Realm—quite naturally. She surrendered the bulk of her strength as a price for unveiling divine secrets, but that action unshackled her from most earthly bounds, making her far from insignificant… Though it appears you are her perfect antithesis.”

The master of the Black Dragon Organization, conversely, behaved as though this information was common knowledge.

He continued to study Heinz’s perimeter, visibly captivated by how flawlessly the man neutralized the Oracle’s domain.

“Very well, I follow that line of thought. We can deliberate on the specifics at a later time… Now let us address the primary concern.”

Heinz narrowed his vision at him.

Simultaneously, the stagnant atmosphere around them began to churn once more as they spoke.

He stood prepared to obliterate the old man at the first sign of a treacherous movement.

“Speak to me, former East Asia branch chief of the Reverse Heaven Society. Reverse Heavenly One.”

A dense crimson vapor began to diffuse through the space surrounding them.

“Your actual motive. Why you turned your back on them and choose to fight them now.”

An unyielding stare that demanded absolute truth bored straight into the elder’s core.

“And why I ought to place my faith in you.”

With every uttered phrase, the stifling weight grew heavier, and even the master of the Black Dragon Organization could no longer retain his calm demeanor.

He appeared to deliberately stop his frame from shifting into a defensive posture, twitching slightly a few times before releasing a heavy breath.

“Ha, naturally.”

His expression turned grim as he went on.

“Should their grand design bear fruit, no less than half of the human population on Earth will perish.”

It was a far more altruistic justification than he had anticipated.

And it carried a global significance far exceeding anything he had imagined.

◇◇◇◆◇◇◇

‘The Masquerade… an assembly of rivals.’

The commander of the Reverse Heaven Society slowly lifted his gaze.

Reflected within his eyes were the monumental decrees enveloping the entire globe.

‘Is this your desire, Akasha?’

The multi-dimensional shard of the system that he alone could perceive in its entirety.

The fountainhead of power that granted awakening to mankind—the only sentient life form on Earth—and permitted them to gaze upon the wonder of mystery.

‘And the instrument for the ultimate ruin of the world.’

Bzzz—

-I will never surrender… I will transform into… regardless of the cost…

Whirrr—

-Through any path… no matter what must be forfeited…!

A familiar throbbing pain flared up, paired with a sharp ringing in his ears.

A utterance that mimicked his own voice yet felt strangely foreign vibrated and rattled his consciousness.

Nevertheless, he stared without flinching at the grand decrees of the world.

This was hardly a novel experience at this stage.

A vision of a tomorrow now swallowed by yesterday flickered past his sight.

The image of a world that, much like a country collapsing under a foreign onslaught despite its isolationist policies, ultimately proved unable to hold out and went extinct.

‘I anticipated disruptions.’

It always transpired in this manner.

No preventative strategies forged from accumulated wisdom ever proved foolproof.

Like an unalterable doom, it struck through unpredicted means at unforeseen intervals, constantly throwing his strategies off course.

‘Yet I am making steady progress.’

He could declare it with certainty.

His countermeasures, forged from an eternity of trial, were proving potent.

Expanding market control to this degree despite all the hurdles was his finest achievement yet.

The solitary dilemma?

The countermeasures deployed by the system had intensified to an undeniable degree, keeping pace with his own advancements.

His grander triumphs merely translated to rivals of an unprecedented scale of danger.

‘Hwayeotal and Phantom, outer-world holy figures and heralds, and… ’

Not just a solitary foe capable of shifting between realms at will like himself, but a multitude.

Furthermore, he had yet to fully uncover their true natures—a critical dilemma.

He required a clear understanding of his adversaries before crafting countermeasures…

“Ah! Commander! There you are!”

Shaken from his profound reflections, he was cut short by a boisterous shout.

“Impeccable timing—I have a piece of news to deliver!”

Doctor, a mature man possessing unkempt brown hair, moved toward him with hurried strides.

His eyes shone with a glowing yellow brilliance, gleaming like headlights—a consequence of whatever reckless procedures he had performed upon his own flesh.

“Ah! So even you picked up on it, Commander? Tremendous, isn’t it? These eyes? I engineered them utilizing components harvested from that ‘Watcher of Rodeka Dimension’ fellow and applied a myriad of modifications…”

True to form, he wandered off into a side topic, gloating about his physical shell.

A blending of components sourced from diverse lineages, synthetically calibrated spiritual pathways, and mechanical augmentations gathered from countless cultures.

Displaying them one after another like collector’s items.

“Homunculus tissue is vastly more adaptable for these kinds of projects, you know? I ought to have migrated to a new vessel much sooner. Unadulterated human architecture is simply far too unyielding!”

The unhinged researcher muttered, entirely untroubled that his trials reduced his accumulated strength or transformed his physical frame into fodder for research.

Granted, he had managed to survive by dividing and cultivating backup vessels in days gone by.

“The comprehensive evolutionary lifeform initiative would have yielded even greater outcomes… Oh, that brings to mind— that ‘Apostle Mask’ individual within the Masquerade? I suspect he is a former acquaintance. A spark of recognition flared while reviewing the profile…”

“Doctor. State your business.”

The commander, who had tolerated the display up to this point, uttered in a quiet tone.

That gesture by itself represented significant politeness given his standing.

He possessed some breathing room after consuming an entire realm—obviating the need for self-containment provided he didn’t push his limits—but he had no desire to tolerate endless rambling.

“Ah! I became overly enthusiastic and it slipped my mind!”

Doctor struck his own brow and beamed at the leader.

Then he went on with zeal.

“I analyzed the system records from the period I was inactive, and unearthed something fascinating! An entity attempted to breach my encrypted architecture?”

“A breach?”

“Hardly some novice! Penetrating to that depth requires quantum processing units from premier technological societies at the very least.”

The intruder’s expertise was certainly formidable as well.

Had it not been for his Deus ex Machina, it might have actually compromised the perimeter.

“I attempted to follow the path back, but their encryption was incredibly robust—I couldn’t pin down the coordinates! Heh heh~ Quite humbling!”

Yet he hadn’t returned entirely empty-handed.

He couldn’t isolate the source, but he had captured the intruder’s lingering digital footprint.

“…A colossal infiltration cutting across the entirety of Southeast Asia.”

The catalyst that forced their crisis assembly.

Validation that the mysterious digital intruder was deeply entangled in the collapse of that specific branch.

“The Masquerade.”

“Correct! Command over a technician of that caliber indicates they are far more than mere brute strength! Whew~ I am dying to trade blows with them directly, but they have maintained a low profile of late. A true pity.”

Disregarding Doctor’s sincere disappointment, the commander pulled his eyelids shut.

The Masquerade—the collective of rivals disrupting his grand designs.

The reality that they commanded an information-warfare expert whom Doctor held in high regard was troubling news.

‘Yet I shall prevail against it. Regardless of the disruptions. Even if it demands a greater toll in lives.’

Everything was for the sake of this planet.

To shield Earth from total obliteration.

His duty as a regressor, a burden he could never reveal to another living soul.