Main Force Consolidation (2)
In front of the royal palace square in Delhi.
This place, where pro-Empire factions and sovereignty supporters once clashed with bloodshed,
was now filled only with a heavy tension.
At the center of the square stood Mahavar and the sovereignty faction, while on the opposite side stood Ashan and his aides, bound in chains.
“This is your last chance, Ashan.”
Mahavar spoke.
“If you truly fought for India, then even now, cut your ties with the Empire.”
Ashan kept his head lowered for a while, then slightly raised the corner of his lips.
“And then? You expect me to believe that and stand on your side?”
On his forehead, neck, and chest, the pure white brand shone clearly.
“I’ve already made my choice, Mahavar.
India could not grow strong on its own.
So I simply chose to lean on someone stronger.”
“Even if that means becoming a slave?”
“Even if I’m a slave. It’s better than being trampled without being able to do anything.”
Mahavar’s fist trembled at those words.
At that moment, Seon Yul stepped forward.
“Alright. Then let’s see if your choice is really yours.”
“…Who are you?”
“Someone who more or less created this situation?”
Seon Yul extended his hand toward Ashan.
[Absolute Space – Isolation Field.]
In an instant, a transparent hemisphere formed in the center of the square.
Only Ashan and Seon Yul were contained within it.
“Now, let’s take a look at the brand inside your body.”
“What do you think you can–”
Tap.
Seon Yul’s fingertip lightly touched Ashan’s forehead.
In that moment, countless patterns and lines appeared before Ashan’s eyes.
“Th-this is…?”
“You can see it, right? This is the ‘pure white brand’ you’ve been worshipping.”
Ashan’s eyes widened.
The pure white brand was beautiful and intricate, but at its core, there was clearly the deeply embedded will of another.
‘Emperor.’
‘Empire.’
‘Obedience.’
‘Devotion.’
Those words were being endlessly repeated.
“That’s a lie… I chose this of my own will…!”
“At first, you did.”
Seon Yul said coldly.
“But after that, no matter what you thought, everything was structured to flow this way.”
Cursed mana began to thinly wrap around the abyss engraving.
“Now, choose.
Will you give up that power and become a being who thinks for himself again?”
“Then… I’ll lose my strength?”
“That’s right.”
Seon Yul nodded.
“Strength, status, power, the Empire’s praise… You could lose it all.”
Ashan’s face twisted.
“You’re telling me… to go back to being that weak again?”
“No.”
Seon Yul spoke quietly.
“You’re going to pay the price for realizing it too late.”
The abyss engraving was quietly cut away.
At the same time, Ashan’s face turned pale.
The Emperor’s voice was cut off.
The illusion of the Empire vanished.
“Ugh… Aaaaah…!”
Ashan clutched his head and trembled as if rolling on the ground.
After screaming for a long time, he finally muttered in a trembling voice:
“What… have I… done…?”
The isolation field dissolved, and the sounds of the square returned.
Mahavar bit his lip firmly.
“From now on, you are a criminal, Ashan. But… how you are dealt with will be decided by India.”
Seon Yul stepped back.
“India’s civil war is over now. Among the pro-Empire faction, those who were driven mad by the brand can be restored.
The rest… handle them yourselves.”
Mahavar bowed deeply.
“This grace… India will never forget it.”
***
News that India had been stabilized spread across the world.
“Within BRICS, only China and Russia effectively remain.”
In a conference room in Seoul, Cha Seong Hyeon gave a briefing.
“China has calmed down somewhat after the Beijing bombardment, but Russia… continues to be suspicious.”
“Two pure white brand users.”
Seon Yul muttered, still standing with his face and body tightly covered.
“The Lord of Frost, Alexei. The Controller of Illusions, Tatiana.”
Cheon Li Yu continued.
“They’re both currently engaged with NATO forces along the northern line. Especially Alexei… he’s controlling an entire front by himself, while Tatiana is picking off command-level personnel from the rear and manipulating them.”
“Then it’s simple.”
Seon Yul pushed his chair back and stood up.
“If we want to stop the fighting first, we just eliminate those two.”
Cha Seong Hyeon asked carefully:
“This time as well… the Hammer of God?”
“Russia’s terrain is awkward, so we’ll save that for ‘cleanup’ later.”
Seon Yul’s gaze sank coldly.
“This time… we go full course with Absolute Space + sniping + wires.”
Western Russian front, near the Northern European border.
A blizzard swept horizontally.
It wasn’t just snow falling… it felt like it was being hurled.
Within it, countless mana users clashed, filling the battlefield.
“The forward magical defense line has collapsed! We’re being pushed back to the retreat line!”
“The frost range has expanded again! The temperature has dropped to -60°C!”
The NATO allied command of mana users was receiving reports bordering on fear.
“Alexei Borodin…”
The moment someone uttered the name, the air inside the command post grew colder.
Russia’s pride… a pure white mana user.
The one who controls frost.
After receiving the brand, he had become a marching calamity capable of freezing entire battlefields.
“Requests for reinforcements keep coming in! If we hold any longer, our losses will be too great!”
On the communication crystal screen, the scene was vividly displayed… endless waves of ice advancing,
and magical defense barriers lined up in rows shattering one by one.
A sea of ice.
And upon it, a single man walked alone.
A figure as if cold itself had taken human form.
With a single wave of his hand, three distant magical defense towers froze simultaneously and shattered into pieces.
“…Is that even human?”
Someone muttered.
Seoul, Gate Management Bureau, classified meeting room.
“Two confirmed Russian pure white mana users so far: Alexei Borodin, Tatiana Gregorova.”
Their information appeared side by side on the screen.
The “Lord of Frost” who scattered cold.
The “Controller of Illusions” who dominated minds.
Cha Seong Hyeon continued:
“Alexei handles direct combat at the front,
while Tatiana collapses the command structure from the rear.
Frankly, if just those two are removed from the NATO front, the entire course of the war would change.”
Seon Yul, arms crossed, silently watched the screen before speaking.
“How many artificial mana users does Russia have?”
“Estimated at least several thousand. However, after Beijing, it seems the Empire’s supply has slowed, so the numbers aren’t increasing rapidly. If we just deal with those currently active, Russia’s magical forces will be significantly weakened.”
“Good.”
Seon Yul replied calmly.
“Then this time, let’s do it properly.”
Cheon Li Yu glanced at him and smirked.
“By ‘properly,’ you don’t mean ‘take out the boss first’ again, do you?”
“I do.”
Seon Yul nodded casually.
“Alexei and Tatiana. As long as those two exist, Russia is basically holding two ‘pure white blades.’
We break the blades first. The wrist comes later.”
“Then the order is: clear Russia’s main force, then move to Earth–001, correct?”
At Cha Seong Hyeon’s question, Seon Yul nodded.
“Yes. India has been stabilized, and China is catching its breath after being struck hard… this timing is best for clearing Russia.”
He looked at the holographic map floating in the center of the meeting room and muttered:
“Shall we warm up the north a bit?”
***
Western Russian front, snowfield.
Across the white land, streaks of ice flowed diagonally.
It was as if the entire world had been placed on a sheet of ice… everything slipping the moment you stepped.
At the center stood Alexei.
White breath. White eyes. White mana.
He stood alone, looking toward the distant defensive lines.
“At this rate… it will break through soon.”
Even his words seemed to scatter like ice particles.
At that moment…
Fwoooong.
The space behind him split slightly.
Alexei immediately turned and raised his hand.
“Whoever you are, catching up to me in this space is…”
“For the first time?”
At that moment, a man stepped into his field of vision.
Plain black clothes, looking like an ordinary young man… but his eyes were impossibly deep.
“…You must be Absolute Safety First, right?”
A cold smile spread across Alexei’s lips.
“Heh, nice to meet you.”
“Not really.”
Seon Yul looked around and said:
“This place is pretty cold.
Feels like the temperature should be lowered a bit.”
“What?”
Alexei narrowed his eyes.
“The temperature here is–”
Seon Yul cut him off.
“I’m joking.
No need for me to adjust it anyway.”
The air between them split silently.
The blizzard stopped.
For a moment, it felt like the world had been divided into two.
Alexei moved first, raising his hand.
“Try not to freeze to death, and last as long as you can.”
KWA-AAAAAANG!!
Knife-sharp cold exploded outward.
The temperature dropped instantly.
A chill that could freeze even the smell of blood.
A NATO observer in the rear screamed:
“Domain expansion! Another wave is coming! Prepare–”
Before he could finish, at the center of that wave, Seon Yul simply stood there.
Boom, boom, boom!
Ice pillars surged up one after another, trying to trap him completely…
But…
Hyoer regeneration.
The moment he froze, he shattered. The moment he shattered, he regenerated.
“…What?”
Alexei’s jaw dropped slightly.
“A regeneration ability that restores his cells to their original state regardless of external temperature.”
He quickly regained composure.
“Good. Then I’ll scale it to the point where that regeneration becomes meaningless–”
Alexei raised his hand toward the sky.
At that moment, the sky split.
A massive dome of ice.
Not just a blizzard, the entire atmosphere was freezing.
“This isn’t defense. It’s a domain.”
Cheon Li Yu’s voice reached Seon Yul through Absolute Space.
“Inside this domain, all mana flow is being converted into ‘cooling.’ A normal mana user wouldn’t last even 10 seconds.”
“I’m not normal, so it’s fine.”
Seon Yul took a breath.
“Alright, then I should show you something too.”
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