Russia Cleanup (2)
A familiar smell.
Familiar lighting.
Familiar clothes.
“…?”
A customer opens the door and walks in.
An empty counter.
The sound of an automatic scanner calculating the price.
Beep, beep.
A life that, until not long ago, had nothing unusual about it.
The days he would sometimes think,
“I wish it could stay like this.”
“…It’s all over now.”
A voice echoed from somewhere.
“You don’t have to fight and wander around anymore. You can just work part-time at a convenience store, watch some comics now and then, order late-night food sometimes.”
“……”
Seon Yul slowly lowered his head.
On the counter sat a triangle kimbap that the customer had placed there.
“…Can’t you just go back to this time?”
Someone whispered in his ear.
“This is you, too. The you who only cared about safety, who avoided all danger.”
It was comfortable. So comfortable that it felt almost alien.
“…Yeah.”
Seon Yul spoke.
“It really was… comfortable here.”
At that moment, a small black dot appeared in the center of the convenience store ceiling.
Tatiana’s eyes lost focus.
“…Huh?”
She had clearly believed she was talking to her target within her illusion…
But suddenly, in the sky of the scene she was watching, an entrance to the Absolute Space appeared.
In reality, Seon Yul had already inserted more than his ankle into that space.
“Nice illusion.”
Seon Yul smiled from behind the convenience store counter.
“But there’s one thing missing.”
As soon as he said that, the black dot spread across the entire ceiling.
Creak—creak—creak
The convenience store was torn apart.
Shelves split, lights fell, and drink displays melted downward.
It wasn’t physically breaking… it felt like the infrastructure of the illusion itself was being ripped apart.
“Your illusion doesn’t hold if communication gets cut, right?”
Tatiana clenched her teeth.
That space… my signal doesn’t reach there.
She knew.
That place where Seon Yul had stepped into wasn’t just a pocket dimension… it also acted like a barrier that repelled external mana interference and signals.
As he moved deeper inside, she could feel the connection between her illusion and the target being severed.
“So…”
Reality.
Seon Yul stood awkwardly, with his ankle, knee, and waist already inside Absolute Space, looking at Tatiana.
“I’m going to pull you in instead.”
Before the sentence even finished…
Shaaak!
Arachne’s threads shot out.
Tatiana instinctively tried to retreat.
Too late.
Invisible spiderweb-like threads wrapped around her wrist, waist, and the back of her neck simultaneously.
“!!!!”
In that instant, the signal split in two directions.
One toward reality.
One toward Absolute Space.
For the first time, Tatiana felt herself being torn in half.
“N-no… If I get pulled in like this!!”
“Then I can’t just go in alone, can I?”
Seon Yul smiled.
“Come with me.”
[Absolute Space Entrance – Forced Accompanied Entry]
Ziiing!!
The entrance shook violently once, and both bodies were pulled inside.
***
“…This place.”
Tatiana slowly looked around.
The light was soft, the air was clear, and even the temperature was comfortable.
“This… is part of the same ‘world’ as that chaos outside?”
“It’s not the same world.”
Seon Yul replied.
“This is my space.”
“What–”
Before she could finish…
Tatiana noticed something strange.
“…It’s quiet.”
Inside her head…
She had always lived with countless surrounding emotions, thoughts, gazes, anxieties, and fears as noise.
She could pick one and amplify it, or cut it off entirely.
But now…
“…I can’t hear anything.”
She inhaled, then exhaled.
“I can’t hear outside thoughts. Other people’s minds… nothing.”
“That’s the advantage and the disadvantage of this place.”
Seon Yul answered.
“No one can find me, and no one can help me either.”
Tatiana looked up.
“…This is the worst.”
She laughed lightly.
“For a psychic-type user, a sealed bottle like this is pure poison.”
“That’s why I brought you here.”
Seon Yul summoned his spear.
Chuuuuuk
The Spear of Death formed in his hand.
Tatiana smirked.
“That… Aleksai probably died to that spear too, right?”
“You can ask him in the grave.”
“…Hah.”
She brushed her long hair back.
“Aleksai was the type to push through with brute force. You were probably a good matchup for him.”
A different smile appeared on her lips.
“But me… I’m a little different.”
At that moment…
Seon Yul’s cheek stung.
“…?”
Nothing had touched him, yet a burning sensation rose from inside.
“The signal’s blocked.”
Tatiana said.
“But my ability doesn’t work only from the outside.”
She tapped her chest.
“My thoughts, my emotions, my memories, my senses… if I use those as a medium!!”
Her pupils flipped inward toward herself.
“I can generate illusions inside me… and project them outward!”
Seon Yul’s vision warped.
Floor, walls, ceiling…
All the same, except Tatiana’s position began overlapping in layers.
“…Oh.”
Seon Yul let out a small, impressed sound.
“So you create illusions internally, then leak them outward.”
Like a standalone machine still running minimal functions without a network.
“Still, don’t underestimate it. There’s no such thing as a mental attack that ‘doesn’t work at all.’”
Tatiana shrugged.
“Now that I’m here, I see it. Your mind is stiffer than I thought.”
Dozens of Tatianas laughed at once.
“But stiffness means… the more it overlaps, the easier it is to crack.”
She spread her hand.
“Let’s hammer it until it breaks.”
A violet wave flooded the entire combat zone.
Mental attacks were different.
Not striking the heart or head directly… but like thoughts slipping.
Unexplained anxiety.
Meaningless anger.
Unrelated scenes intruding…
Even regeneration didn’t trigger.
“…Ugh.”
Seon Yul closed his eyes.
The spear paused mid-swing.
“Because in the end, you’re human.”
Tatiana’s voice echoed everywhere.
“No matter how strong you are, your emotions are ordinary.”
Scenes slipped into his mind.
The park was where his parents died.
His father’s final voice before the bunker door closed.
“Stay here. You’ll be safe.”
The nights at the convenience store.
Watching Gate News.
The quiet anxiety of being abandoned again.
Then recent battles…
Aleksai.
China. Russia. India. BRICS. The Kanon Empire.
“Be honest.”
Tatiana whispered.
“You regret it. At least a little, don’t you?”
Another possibility slipped in.
If he had never left Absolute Space.
If he had just stayed there forever.
No one dies.
No one saved.
No hatred.
Just living safely alone until death.
“…Yes.”
Seon Yul answered.
Tatiana paused.
“I admit it.”
He continued.
“I do regret it. A little.”
Tatiana smiled.
“Right. That’s normal.”
“You chose a harder path over an easier one.”
Seon Yul went on.
“Even now, if I had chosen differently, it would’ve hurt less. Been less dangerous.”
“So…”
Tatiana’s voice deepened.
“Then stop now. You’ve done enough.”
“You’ve fought enough. Saved enough. Destroyed enough.”
She whispered…
“No one can really blame you if you stop here.”
The violet deepened.
“Let it go.”
Silence.
Seon Yul’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“…Yeah.”
He murmured.
“I really could do that.”
Tatiana smiled.
“Exactly.”
But…
His next words were not what she expected.
“Even so.”
He opened his eyes.
They were different from the eyes in the convenience store illusion.
“That kind of choice… isn’t my style.”
A small door opened beneath his feet.
[Absolute Space – Inner Room / Field Separation]
A function to split another independent field within the combat zone.
“People who prioritize safety–”
Seon Yul said.
“Don’t choose the hard path and then stop halfway.”
He rotated his wrist.
“Either you become completely safe… or you go all the way and break.”
“You…”
Tatiana spoke.
“…Are you just insane?”
“Yes. I’m selectively insane.”
Seon Yul smiled.
“That’s why I go around beating people like you.”
He raised his spear.
“Now it’s your turn.”
***
The fight afterward was one-sided.
Mental attacks were threatening… but inside Absolute Space, they couldn’t function properly.
Here, Seon Yul received overwhelming corrections… body and mind both near perfection.
“Why… do the illusions keep breaking…?”
Tatiana muttered.
She didn’t realize…
Something was acting as a reality anchor inside another zone.
[No mirrors. No windows. Constant temperature. Constant smell. Constant friction. No external sound. If all conditions aren’t met, it’s an illusion.]
Cheon Li Yu’s voice functioned as an auditory anchor.
“The scariest thing against mental attacks…”
Seon Yul spoke.
“…is being deceived.”
Each swing shattered illusion fragments.
“And second–”
He thrust.
“…is continuing forward without realizing you’ve been deceived.”
The spear grazed her shoulder.
Blood splattered.
Real blood.
“…Ah.”
Tatiana’s eyes shook.
“I got hit.”
She stepped back, laughing faintly.
“This space… is disgustingly precise.”
“Just like how you’ve been shaking people’s minds.”
Seon Yul said quietly.
“Time to settle the bill.”
Tatiana smiled to the end.
“So… saying ‘I was just a tool’ doesn’t matter now, right?”
“It’s not meaningless.”
Seon Yul replied honestly.
“I don’t know how people will judge you later.”
“But right now…”
He lowered his spear slightly.
“You were just a tool on the other side.”
“And I’m the one who has to break it.”
Tatiana closed her eyes.
“Still…”
Her final words…
“Someday, you’ll face countless minds too.”
It sounded like prophecy…
or just a passing remark.
“I won’t look into people’s minds.”
Seon Yul said.
“I’ll just… push things a little so people can live more safely outside.”
“…That’s monstrous enough.”
Tatiana laughed one last time.
“Then… see you somewhere.”
The Spear of Death pierced her heart.
Kwa!
The violet illusion scattered like fireworks.
[You have eliminated Russia’s Pure White Mana User, “Illusion Dominator – Tatiana Gregorova.”]
[Mental illusions across Mongolia/Central Asia have been dispelled.]
[You gained experience.]
Silence returned.
“…Mental types really feel awful to fight.”
Cheon Li Yu grumbled.
“Told you to be careful.”
“I was being careful.”
Seon Yul smiled.
“This is the method of a safety-first person.”
***
Russia, like China, was cleaned up.
With Aleksai and Tatiana dead, the artificial mana army collapsed.
Command systems, imperial bases, mana extraction facilities…
“God’s Hammer Ver. 2” erased them one by one.
Villages and cities were spared.
Only the war infrastructure was removed.
Like surgery.
Cruel…
but precise.
Seon Yul watched the final strike destroy a massive Arctic extractor.
“…Alright. BRICS is handled for now.”
“So now, really?”
Cheon Li Yu asked.
“Yeah.”
Seon Yul looked beyond.
“Now… It’s time to strike the head.”
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