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1.

Albireo Gemini was out on a business trip to deal with some affairs in the Modern World.

Establishing a stable line of communication between the Modern World and Gehenna required immense resources and investment, but Countess Gemini never hesitated to cover said costs.

Even while she was in the Modern World, she could manage her family’s affairs without needing to travel back and forth, and conversely, when she was with her family, she could stay in touch with her business partners in the Modern World. However, the most important thing of them all was that she could connect with her adorable twins either way—she could do it directly in Gehenna, and with a video call from the Modern World.

Earlier today, Galina, her head maid, reported something through a costly communication device. Albireo could hardly believe her ears.

“How much?”

“That Siwoo?”

“For what...? Huh, you don’t know either, Galina?

“Got it. I know it’s a hassle, but could you visit the vault and double-check? Thanks for all your hard work.”

After that, she ended the call.

She blinked, still in disbelief.

Just an hour ago...

She had been informed that a large sum of gold had been withdrawn using the credit certificate she gave to Siwoo.

Even for a countess who didn’t mind spending billions on fine wine, the amount was hard to ignore.

“My goodness, what’s going on?”

Albireo had entrusted Siwoo with a credit certificate without any limit.

But never in her wildest dreams did she expect him to spend more than double the agreed compensation. That in a single day too.

Did he buy a castle in Lenomond Town or something?

No, that couldn’t be it...

Lenomond Town might be Gehenna’s most valuable territory, and purchasing a prime estate there would cost a sum, but it still wouldn’t cost that much...

Anyone else would immediately suspect something fishy.

But Siwoo was a little different.

Albireo knew at least a little about what kind of person he was.

At the very least, he wasn’t a fool who would recklessly squander large sums of money as soon as they came in.

Given his usual demeanor and the surrounding circumstances, the thought of ‘Did he just take the money and run?’ seemed utterly implausible.

“That’s strange...”

Hence why, instead of feeling suspicious, she felt unsettled.

Like how a bank might suspect fraud if someone withdrew a huge amount all of a sudden without any heads-up...

For Siwoo to spend so much without a word... The uneasiness crept up quickly in her heart, so she quickly reactivated the communication orb.

“Hey, Deneb. I need you to check up on something.”

2.

Amelia stood frozen, glancing around in confusion.

Until now, she had only been hunting in desolate, remote areas.

So, this was her first time seeing a bustling, modern city.

The overwhelming crowd, the blaring car horns...

Buildings that loomed larger than the greatest tree in Gehenna, with their glass windows glinting in such a frightening way as they towered over the city...

Normally, when Amelia went out on a hunt, she wouldn’t let herself get distracted.

Especially considering that this time, the task at hand was so challenging that it felt like her heart would crumble under the pressure.

But this was Korea.

The place Siwoo had longed to return to.

Even though she knew it was pointless, she couldn’t stop her gaze from wandering around.

Too bad, the situation wasn’t conducive enough for her to indulge in nostalgia.

The place marked as Bianca Belleli’s current location was Busan, a port city in Korea.

After leaving Clara—who was asleep—and ventured out all by herself, Amelia soon realized that she had landed herself in quite the predicament.

“What? Is she cosplaying or something?”

“Wow... How could someone even look as pretty as that?”

“Should I ask her for a picture?”

Stares and whispers flooded in, surrounding her.

Amelia, known for her stunning looks even among witches, drew everyone’s attention just by standing there.

Normally, she would have masked her presence immediately, but the flood of noise and the overwhelming new sights made her dizzy. It wasn’t until a moment later that she finally snapped her fingers.

In that instant, people’s attention shifted away as if she had never existed.

But that wasn’t the issue here.

The main problem was the overwhelming number of people around her.

Her Kill List didn’t specify the exact location of her target.

Usually, Amelia would just scatter her mana particles to lure her target to her position, but... If she were to do that in such a crowded place, a pandemonium would occur.

Also, it was impossible to mask the particles’ presence.

Furthermore, utilizing that same strategy as usual this time would pose a significant risk.

The List said that Bianca Belleli was a witch highly skilled in long-range sniping.

She wasn’t just a low-tier opponent, she was a 22nd-rank Criminal Exile.

Even for Amelia, letting a sniper to shoot the first move would throw her into a massive disadvantage.

-Thwack!

She felt lost, not knowing where to start.

But then her senses picked up on a powerful surge of mana.

Even though it came from a great distance, her magic circuits reacted, giving her a tingling sensation to the intense wave of mana.

Her sky-blue eyes turned in the direction of said surge.

-Boom!

Then, an impact followed, confirming that it wasn’t just her imagination.

She couldn’t see any disturbance.

Which meant that such a strong wave had leaked out from within an Interdimensional Barrier.

Considering that this wasn’t something that happened often...

She immediately enveloped herself in mana particles and began searching for its source.

3.

“...Ugh!”

Bianca let out a frustrated groan.

Shin Siwoo had suddenly burst through space itself.

His slash had cut right through one of the Icarus’ wings.

If it had been an ordinary wing, she would’ve lost her balance and fallen, but Icarus’ Wings were a special mystic code.

This would result in a drop of her speed, but it wouldn’t affect her evasive maneuvers that defied the laws of inertia.

So, their aerial battle continued.

To shake off the relentless Siwoo, Bianca unleashed an array of artifacts.

“Release!”

A flower-like explosive artifact scattered, a butterfly-shaped one slowly pursued him to restrict his movements, a flare-shaped one moved to shake off his pursuit, there were various laser-like beams coming out from other artifacts, and so on.

There were dozens of different types of artifacts.

And the number of projectiles they shot out was already impossible to count.

-Swaaack!

But Siwoo, relentless in his pursuit, never lost track of Bianca.

Even when she managed to create some distance using her Poet’s Fan and various evasive tactics, he would disappear in a flash of blue light and reappear, tearing through space to get close to her again.

Instead of moving in a straight line, he leaped between points in space.

Without the aid of the ‘Gate,’ he was running through the folded space, astonishingly wielding such advanced self-essence magic while holding the Red Branch, which was covered in distortion fields.

But, if that was all there was to it, Bianca wouldn’t be cornered like this.

-Crackle!

While relentlessly pursuing her through flight and spatial jumps, he was also utilizing his hundreds of ribbons to engage her in aerial combat, expanding massive amounts of mana in the process. Normally, his mana reserves would have depleted quickly, but...

“Bloom.”

Every time it seemed like he would run out of mana, golden mana would burst forth.

Then, his nearly-drained mana reserves would be restored to full.

Meanwhile, Bianca’s mana was steadily depleting.

Even Bianca, who was confident in her combat abilities began to feel a sense of unease.

“Ugh...!”

Archeart’s Bow had one flaw, the brief interval between each shot. For the first time in her life, she felt that flaw clearly.

Usually, she never had to worry about it.

If the enemy tried to engage her in close-range and became too bothersome, she could always blow them away with her Poet’s Fan.

Or, if the enemy tried to interfere with her shot from a distance instead, she could widen the gap with Icarus’ Wings, putting dozens or even thousands of kilometers between them, and snipe them with her Observer’s Eye of Thought.

The gap during the draw of her bowstring would be covered by the Bitege’s Shield.

Five Mystic Codes. Though each had its own flaws, together, they were flawless.

They were the reason why Bianca had never lost a battle in over a hundred years.

However...

Now, she could feel their flaws clearly.

The Ball of Death and the Arena’s Banner prevented either of them from leaving the battlefield until the battle was finished.

Bianca had arranged it so he couldn’t escape midway, and also to make sure their fight remained unnoticed by outsiders.

The range of the Arena’s Banner was just over 3 kilometers, as that was the ideal range for maximum concealment.

Bianca’s greatest advantage, the unilateral bombardment from a distance, was too restricted in such a small space.

She did set this up because she was too complacent, as she never expected that she’d be in such an intense confrontation. Now, the very safeguards she had set up backfired and turned into a choker that was binding her.

But of course, this wouldn’t stop her. After all, her power came from her abilities to adjust and attune her artifacts.

Give her some time, she could easily break free from these constraints.

The problem was, Shin Siwoo kept on pressuring her without a moment’s pause.

Siwoo closed the gap on Bianca again.

A red spiral traced through the air, crashing heavily against her shield.

-Bang! Baang! Baaang!

Bitege’s shield was a Mystic Code that could nullify any physical energy.

Yet the shield was letting out a piercing cry as it was relentlessly struck by the Red Branch. A proof that its defensive properties were being compromised by the concentrated distortion field the spear emitted.

Watching the shield’s fragments slowly break apart, Bianca knew that this was the time for her to make a decisive move.

If the battle dragged on, she risked depleting her mana bit by bit, leading to defeat.

But at the same time, if she could hold on long enough, his heavily strained body could just completely stop working before that happened. So, there was an option for her to just keep the status quo.

Lose...

Me...? Lose...?

Bianca rolled the unfamiliar term around in her mouth for the first time, smirking at its odd taste.

“Haaaaaah!”

Bianca gathered every bit of mana she had left.

It did not suit her temperament to waste time squabbling over small sums, competing to see whose stake was higher. If she was going to gamble, she’d go all in.

She vigorously shook the Poet’s Fan.

Just like that, Siwoo was flung to the far edge of the barrier.

At the same time, millions of tiny cubes filled the 3 km airspace around them.

Even for Bianca, controlling so many artifacts simultaneously was impossible.

However, the artifact that she used—the ones akin to the fragments of a star floating in zero gravity, sparkling with beautiful lights—were none other than ‘the Dice of Mimic’.

What she unleashed were decoys that only copied the external appearance of the real artifacts to deceive the enemy, and its mana consumption was minimal.

Normally, they were just a way to bait opponents into overreacting and wasting their resources, granting Bianca the upper hand in a prolonged battle, but this time, she had something else in mind.

She noticed that his spatial jumps always occurred in empty spaces.

So, now that the surroundings were littered with so many floating obstacles, his blink-like jumps would be heavily restricted.

No matter how quickly he tried to approach her, she could still draw Archeart’s Bow faster.

-Screeech!

Once again, she pulled back her bow.

But this time, it took on a different form.

Seventy-two fragmented pieces of Bitege’s shield lined up, forming a cylindrical structure.

It was inspired by Siwoo’s Ring Tunnel, which he had used earlier to deflect her arrows.

By orienting the shields so their powerful defense faced inward, she minimized the dispersion of energy.

Normally, her Night Sky Arrows would spread out in all directions, but with the shields compressing the impact, the energy would converge into a single point.

In other words, this shot would be far stronger than anything she had unleashed before.

“So, that’s how you want to play?”

Siwoo said as he landed far out over the sea.

Did he figure out what I was going to do?

He didn’t position his ribbons defensively.

-Kuuuuung!

Instead, he spread them wide again, like a flower in full bloom.

The difference was that the ribbons, which had only numbered twelve before, had now multiplied to dozens.

Using the seafloor and the surrounding wreckage of cranes and ships as anchor, the ribbons pulled together with a terrifying roar.

It was a reenactment of their earlier clash.

The two, having prepared their ultimate attacks...

Let those attacks collide in midair.