Possessor #2 Just Wants to Fangirl Chapter 153

After a long silence, Astaroth finally opened his mouth.

“Everything has its time and place.”

Meaning he shouldn’t act rashly with many eyes watching and ears listening. The condescending tone toward an underling was irritating, but the prescient didn’t press further.

‘He must be out of sorts.’

The shock when an Authority shatters is indescribable. The prescient knew because he’d experienced it himself.

A tremendous and magnificent power that reduces humans to mere dust. The confusion when that overwhelming authority suddenly halts…

But Astaroth’s silence lasted unnaturally long.

“Then I’ll take my leave first.”

“……”

Even when sending his wife home, he only nodded.

“Lord Astaroth, Lord Python. I’ll guide you.”

Even when the priests who’d come to greet them appeared, he kept his mouth firmly shut.

With no criticisms whatsoever about attire or walking posture, the priests kept sneaking anxious glances this way.

“As you instructed, we’ve reserved the penthouse suite at the hotel nearest to Yeouido.”

“……”

“Security checks of course, plus all the cleanliness and sanitation management procedures you mentioned….”

Astaroth waved his hand dismissively, forcing silence on the priests too.

Upon reaching the penthouse, Astaroth sat solemnly on the 4-seat sofa in the middle of the living room like a throne. But he still didn’t open his mouth.

Such prolonged silence meant one thing.

‘Seems he didn’t get much.’

Crudely put, he was keeping quiet from embarrassment.

That made sense.

The cult’s highest authority had personally intervened, even using his Authority, but the results were disastrous. Bang Haeun still lived, and the chairwoman had begun watching Hwarang Guild warily.

‘No, at this point, did he return empty-handed entirely?’

If even a scrap of success existed, he’d have started lecturing that ‘information is important. It must be obtained no matter the cost.’

He’d clearly failed spectacularly.

‘What a tiresome fellow, really.’

The prescient clicked his tongue internally but immediately took action.

Waiting endlessly for a face-conscious elder to naturally overcome embarrassment was pointless. Shortcuts required assistance.

“The priest who handled this investigation, step forward.”

When the prescient beckoned with his finger, a man in a black suit shuffled forward hesitantly.

“Yeon Sora was wearing a separate communication device. She said she received it from Professor Ban. Did you know about this?”

“What? That can’t be right…. Yeon Sora has no faculty advisor.”

“Can’t you even do one investigation properly?”

The prescient’s tone was polite, but his voice temperature was frigid.

The man looked like he had much to say, but realizing protest was futile, he prostrated himself flat on the floor.

“F-forgive me! I’ve committed a mortal sin!”

“Your mistake forced the Great Lord’s magnificent progress to halt. The sacred Authority had to cease. Do you know how grave this sin is?”

The stage was set. Now he just needed to wait.

Moments later, Astaroth’s stern voice rang out.

“Your stupidity rendered 30 sacrifices meaningless. The blood they shed was used in vain. How will you make amends?”

Using an Authority requires special fuel. Astaroth had massacred 30 of his own guild members to hastily obtain fuel.

And he’d obtained no results, so his humiliation must be enormous.

The prescient redirected all responsibility onto the priest. He’d framed it as resulting from mistakes in document research.

‘Not entirely wrong.’

Astaroth had used formulas blocking all commercially available communication technology to prevent pinpointing the courtroom’s location.

However, the bracelet Yeon Sora wore was something the professor personally developed. An unusual formula not commercially available, so it slipped through the filter and transmitted location information.

That forced the interrogation to halt.

“If there’s anything I can do….”

“Do you think your worthless life can compensate!”

The man begged for his life, but Astaroth showed no mercy.

Ominous darkness rose from the floor and engulfed the man. Soon came crunching sounds as the man’s limbs and neck twisted in grotesque directions.

“Bring me all materials on Professor Ban Yohan immediately! Don’t filter anything with your stupid heads—bring everything without exception!”

The remaining priests bowed their heads and removed the corpse. Meanwhile, Astaroth leaned back on the sofa, shaking his head side to side.

Fortunately, one scapegoat seemed to resolve things.

The prescient finally addressed him.

“Unfortunate how it turned out. To think the Great Lord’s Authority was interrupted by foolish underlings.”

“Young people’s foolishness always surprises me in new ways. Haa, what can I do. This is my misfortune.”

“I won’t ask about the gauntlet. Since the interrogation was interrupted midway, naturally the information is incomplete right now. We’ll need to target the next opportunity.”

“I’m disappointed about that too.”

Saying he wouldn’t ask about the gauntlet loosened Astaroth’s rigid body slightly.

The prescient had never cared about other people’s family affairs from the start. His objective had always been singular.

Using another mastermind’s Authority on Yeon Sora.

That operation succeeded, and the results came out as expected.

‘This makes it twice.’

Yeon Sora had shattered the prescient’s Authority, and this time she’d evaded the interrogator’s Authority too.

Astaroth had witnessed the entire process. He needed to extract information about exactly how Yeon Sora evaded the Authority.

“But I am curious whether Lord Astaroth’s hypothesis was correct.”

“……”

“Yeon Sora might be a mental-type ability user. There’s even a possibility she manipulated public opinion with an area-of-effect mental skill… didn’t you say that?”

These were Astaroth’s own words.

The videos Yeon Sora produced attracted excessive attention and made viewers abnormally excited.

Perhaps Yeon Sora was a rare ability user who wielded both flame magic and mental-type skills simultaneously.

Even if he hadn’t learned the gauntlet’s whereabouts, he should have learned at least this much. So he asked, but—

“……”

Astaroth rubbed his chin with one hand, mouth firmly shut.

‘Don’t tell me he didn’t find this out either?’

That made no sense. Yeon Sora had been summoned to the courtroom for over 30 minutes.

After all this groveling, he was clearly looking down on the prescient and hiding information. Times like this required a firm stance.

“Aren’t you disrespecting me too much?”

“……”

“If there’s not even this level of trust, there’s no reason to continue together. I won’t lend you my power at all either, so let’s each go our own way.”

“…It’s not like that.”

Astaroth maintained silence a bit longer, then spoke with difficulty.

“I cannot know whether Yeon Sora is a mental-type ability user or not.”

“How does that make sense?”

“Yeon Sora didn’t use her ability even once.”

“Then she only used flame magic?”

“No. She never operated mana at all.”

“That’s… strange.”

Humans dragged to mysterious spaces invariably attempt escape. They utilize every ability they possess and try their utmost to escape danger.

Yet Yeon Sora possessed calamity-class flame magic but made no escape attempt whatsoever.

‘Why…?’

The two masterminds mulled over Yeon Sora’s behavior for some time but never reached the truth.

They couldn’t imagine a human who thought ‘I can’t escape anyway with my own power, so I’ll leave it to others and wait obediently.’

“Were there no other notable points?”

“……”

At the prescient’s additional question, Astaroth fell silent again, and the prescient had to go through the laborious process once more.

“Yeon Sora… remained a witness to the end.”

“What?”

The prescient doubted his ears. Astaroth’s Authority dominated human souls and minds, allowing him to see all facts without concealment.

However, one condition existed. The human standing in court had to be a criminal.

Yeon Sora maintaining witness status meant he’d essentially been unable to use the Authority’s power on her at all.

‘Seriously….’

As the prescient’s eyes narrowed sharply, Astaroth hurriedly spoke as if making excuses.

“Yeon Sora had absolutely no sense of guilt.”

“How many times has that happened before?”

Astaroth’s courtroom was a place that manufactured crimes from nothing. If procedures weren’t followed even slightly, contempt of court charges were applied.

“If she’s not a criminal, she must have taken the truth oath. Then didn’t she speak truth? Don’t tell me you interrogated her and are hiding results from me?”

“No. Yeon Sora took the truth oath late.”

“Then shouldn’t contempt of court apply?”

Pressing the contradiction persistently, Astaroth answered at half his usual volume.

“Yeon Sora… delayed the oath in ways that didn’t constitute contempt of court.”

“What does that even mean?”

“She delayed the oath by asking numerous questions, saying the truth oath was sacred and required careful consideration.”

“Not such vague words—explain in detail.”

“……”

Astaroth fell silent again, and the prescient laboriously extracted answers. Eventually he could hear everything.

“Yeon Sora asked about the return location, required time, and transportation fare provided if she returned after refusing the truth oath.”

Yeon Sora had delayed the oath with rhetoric like a stubborn 5-year-old. Many questions were borderline, but she never crossed the line.

“Finally, she only took the oath after I threatened to summon Yeom Juwan.”

At last, useful information emerged.

Yeon Sora had stepped forward in Yeom Juwan’s place. Yeom Juwan was her weakness.

The prescient felt relieved having barely extracted one piece of information and expected more, but…

‘Is this for real?’

There was no further information.

Truly none.

“Yeon Sora didn’t curse even once despite torture.”

Humans subjected to terrible torture typically violate the court’s sanctity by saying things like ‘Who are you to do this to me?’ Yet Yeon Sora didn’t.

She had a tendency to submissively yield to those with power. Thanks to that, she avoided contempt of court.

“Even after admitting to tormenting Bang Haeun, she received a not guilty verdict.”

Yeon Sora had even survived the final question.

She’d smoothly escaped a situation where ‘you’re guilty whether you admit the crime or deny it.’

She’d claimed that while she committed wrongs, this was a natural adolescent process and not a crime. This conflict became fertilizer for both herself and Bang Haeun to grow—she’d made fairly logical arguments.

Moreover, Yeon Sora had called Astaroth ‘a petty adult interfering in kids’ fights’ and attributed all responsibility for this entire situation to the parents’ improper parenting methods.

At this point, even the prescient had much to think about.

“This level… seems like she moved knowing the entire process in advance.”

“You think so too.”

“Two methods exist. Either she heard information about Lord Astaroth from someone else, or Yeon Sora strategically escaped the situation through cunning.”

“Information seems to have leaked.”

“I think so too.”

The prescient agreed.

Having met Yeon Sora directly, she didn’t particularly seem cunning. It didn’t seem like acting.

“I’ve told you everything I know.”

Astaroth’s face was dark.

The achievements obtained despite using transcendent Authority were too pathetic.

If anyone else had returned with such results, he’d have annihilated their entire clan.

“Ahem. Then may I hear your results?”

Astaroth hurriedly attempted to change subjects.

‘Still, not too bad.’

From the prescient’s perspective, the results weren’t bad.

He’d confirmed Yeon Sora possessed abilities that destroyed Authority and made Astaroth wary of Yeon Sora.

No matter how much the prescient had shouted about Yeon Sora’s suspiciousness, most masterminds hadn’t taken his words seriously. But from now on, things would be different.

The prescient wore a pleased smile as he pulled a large crystal orb from his pocket.

“What is that?”

“Words seem insufficient to explain my ability, so I made this.”

The prescient’s ability was ambiguous. Future variables, minor changes. He couldn’t make other colleagues understand. So he’d developed a tool to show visually.

Boom!

When the prescient dropped the orb, it transformed into a massive glass dome the size of a person.

Inside unfolded the scenery of a ruined city.

“This is the future we desire. And—”

Whoooooosh—

Suddenly black dust swirled chaotically inside the orb. Like white snow whirling in a snow globe, black dust whirled.

“Our coming to Yeouido delivered considerable shock to the future. With even the Great Lord intervening, the future has changed significantly. This dust represents variables changing because of us.”

“I see.”

“As the dust settles, you’ll see the changed world.”

The scenery inside the orb soon transformed.

One collapsed building was restored.

“This is the change that occurred when we met Bang Haeun.”

It aligned with the time Astaroth provided blood to save Bang Haeun.

That prevented a future that should have been destroyed.

This was an important clue.

“And this is the change after parting from the chairwoman.”

This time, a substantial portion of downtown had been restored.

As the chairwoman grew wary of the masterminds, she’d prevented destruction again.

“If you wait a bit longer, changes due to Yeon Sora will appear.”

The prescient wanted to use this opportunity to brand Yeon Sora as a suspect.

He wanted all the cult’s resources devoted to monitoring and investigating her.

For that, evidence was needed.

But Astaroth spoke with a questioning tone.

“We already met Yeon Sora, didn’t we? The change from Yeon Sora should appear by now….”

“Students have their own obligations. When night comes, Yeon Sora will move and make plans. Then this downtown will be substantially restored. That would mean Yeon Sora is our greatest obstacle.”

“I see.”

“Yes, exactly.”

The prescient wore a smile full of confidence.

However, as time passed, that smile gradually faded.

Night came, the moon rose, dawn broke—yet the world inside the glass orb wasn’t restored.

Yeon Sora planned to spill today’s events using the excuse ‘I saw it in a dream,’ but they couldn’t know that.

“This… doesn’t it mean Yeon Sora isn’t involved?”

“……”

This time, the prescient maintained a long silence.