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“Long time no see.”
The same face. The same voice. The same sneer. Kali was exactly as she had been when Yoon Tae-ha encountered her at eighteen. Even the spear that Moon Seon-woo had offered.
Even the trailing black dress adorned with lace at the neck and sleeves brought back memories of that time.
Memories of being poisoned, bitten by snakes, and ultimately suffering from people’s contempt and criticism, coiled around Yoon Tae-ha like ropes.
She had once thought that if she ever met Kali again, she might lose control, consumed by hatred. But now she realized that was arrogance. She had underestimated her fear. Seeing Kali alive, Yoon Tae-ha froze like a mouse before a snake.
That woman is terrifying.
Forgotten memories flashed through her mind. At eighteen, she had been utterly defeated by Kali. The reason she had fought in a frenzy was that her body had been pushed to its limit. The memory of her bones breaking beyond repair and her organs being crushed resurfaced, gluing her feet to the ground.
“You look healthier than when you were at school?”
Kali slowly approached, leaving red footprints.
“I saw you through Gaia. At that time, Yoon Tae-ha was in a state where it wouldn’t be strange for her to go berserk at any moment... but now you look healthy.”
Yoon Tae-ha finally moved her feet and spoke with a trembling voice. “How did you observe me at school? Was it your doing, controlling people’s bodies? Was it you who controlled Lee Kyeong-tae to try and kill the principal?”
The chilling voice that had called her ‘Miss’ came to mind. The listless bodies of students too. Kali narrowed her eyes, tracing her memories. It seemed difficult to pick out one incident from the many she had caused.
“Control?”
Meanwhile, Nox approached Raphael’s corpse and closed his brother’s wide-open eyes. Kali had no interest in what Nox was doing with the corpse. Her attention was solely focused on Yoon Tae-ha, whose face was pale with fear.
“Ah... I remember. That was done by my subordinate. I merely told them what to say from the side. That child is still clumsy.”
“You even write scripts for your subordinates? How diligent. You must be busy enough just dealing with people who get in your way.”
Kali responded with a pleased expression to the scathing sarcasm.
“We are actors. We have to act. That was a secret room full of people who believed ORCA and Ark were different groups. People who believed the two groups couldn’t coexist and would dedicate themselves to eradicating ORCA. It’s natural to embellish things.”
“So you diligently calculated even that.”
“You saw it too, didn’t you? Everyone fell for it. Appearing as irredeemable anti-government forces who are dissatisfied with Ark is easier than you think.”
“Are you finally willing to confess that you’re acting on the Director’s orders? And that Ark and ORCA are one body?”
Her tongue was stiff with fear, but Yoon Tae-ha tried her best to extract as many sentences as possible from Kali. Just before the enemy appeared, she hurriedly put a voice recorder, turned on, into her belt pouch. She didn’t know how much storage space was left, but she hoped it could record a few words.
She needed proof that the Director was involved with ORCA. That way, Changcheon and Lee Hae-kyung could point their guns at Geumgang-seop. Without concrete evidence, rashly touching Ark’s Director would undoubtedly incur the resentment of the Esper society. Even Lee Hae-kyung would find it difficult to overcome such a situation.
“Do you still need confirmation? You’ve seen enough. We’ve been partners much longer than you imagine.”
“...Longer than before?”
“It means there was a predetermined ending.”
At those words, a thought flashed like lightning.
Blackwood and his comrades’ legendary heroic tale of clearing the Red Snake’s Lair. A miraculous event that gave Espers a chance to live like humans. Yoon Tae-ha had been taught that their achievements were a miracle.
But upon closer inspection, it was strange. At the time, the prevailing prediction was that Blackwood and his team would all die. However, he cleared the dungeon with minimal sacrifice from his team members.
Because the dungeon was cleared so quickly, some even raised suspicions that he was suspicious. But these suspicions were dismissed by people overwhelmed with the joy of survival. The word ‘miracle’ could make even rational doubts seem impure.
What if it wasn’t a miracle?
Yoon Tae-ha’s mind went blank, filled with only one thought.
“Blackwood.”
Kali gave a strange smile.
“Blackwood didn’t clear the lair properly.”
As the opponent’s smile deepened, Yoon Tae-ha became certain. Her stomach churned violently at the thought that the records she had learned might be different from the truth.
“The boss of the lair he publicly revealed was a giant snake large enough to swallow even large ships. He said the dungeon boss was dead, and peace would come, but that wasn’t actually true. Were you the true owner of the lair?”
A feeling that almost seemed like relief surfaced on Kali’s face. Conversely, Yoon Tae-ha felt as if the ground beneath her was crumbling.
“Are you saying Blackwood didn’t enter the island to kill you from the start?”
Yoon Tae-ha cried out in a desperate voice. Kali, tossing her long, wavy hair behind her shoulders, shook her head.
“At first, he tried to kill me. But he was wise. It didn’t take him long to realize I wouldn’t die easily. After losing two comrades, he proposed a deal. At that time, my body wasn’t well either, so I had no choice but to agree to a temporary truce.”
“A deal... what kind of deal?”
“As a result, peace came, didn’t it? You escaped from being collared, and Blackwood, with my help, expanded Ark.”
She shrugged lightly. Expanded Ark with Kali’s help. Yoon Tae-ha was confused.
Was everything wrong from the beginning?
Just then, Nox, who had been kneeling before his brother’s corpse and chanting a spell, rose to his feet. He glared at Kali with frosty eyes.
“You deprived a warrior of an honorable death.”
Kali partially turned her back on Yoon Tae-ha and stared at Nox. It was a bland reaction, showing no trace of bond or camaraderie between them.
“Are you a separated family member? You’re strangely sentimental. Oh. Really? My condolences. But a traitor’s family is also someone who needs to be dealt with. I’m grateful that you were able to follow that man here... So I sent him off without pain, didn’t I?”
“You will die here.”
Despite the heavy warning, Kali was not afraid. Instead, she extended her spear and pointed it at Yoon Tae-ha.
“Me? Or that girl?”
A provoked Yoon Tae-ha instantly summoned five hundred illusions. The dark space filled with a bluish light. Even Nox seemed subtly surprised, counting the number of blades. Suppressing her instinctive fear as much as possible, Yoon Tae-ha declared, “I have no chivalry. Two against one is a fair fight.”
“Gaia warned that you would grow into a formidable enemy. My sister, too, of course.”
“So Echidna was indeed your copy.”
“To even call her name, how kind of you. I don’t remember the names of all my siblings one by one. But I can feel them die. It’s not sad, but it’s annoying because I have to copy one more.”
“You don’t look very happy living as the original Chimera.”
Suddenly, Kali laughed out loud. Pure amusement could be seen in her curving eyes. Stopping her laughter, she looked directly at Yoon Tae-ha and said meaningfully,
“It’s just pitiful.”
No sooner had she finished speaking than blue blades rapidly spun and shot towards Kali. Kali then summoned her snakes from mid-air.
A snake with a golden checkered pattern on a black background dropped in front of Nox. When the snake opened its mouth, thumb-sized poisonous insects poured out in a rush. The insects charged towards Yoon Tae-ha and Nox.
“Abyss’s 2nd Floor.”
Yoon Tae-ha quickly spun her illusions, grinding the insects. And she even dealt with the insects charging towards Nox. Instead of expressing gratitude, Nox nullified the golden magic Kali had shot towards Yoon Tae-ha. Kali’s eyes widened.
“Are you cooperating already? Has the crow’s betrayal been going on longer than I thought...?”
Then Kali touched the snake closest to her with the tip of her spear. The snake’s head floated into the air, then transformed into a chimera with three horns. It had the upper body of a gorilla and the legs of a bull, and there were seven of them in total.
All of them charged at Yoon Tae-ha. Kali’s main body seemed to have to focus entirely on Nox because he was furiously pouring out magic. Yoon Tae-ha gritted her teeth at being treated as an afterthought and began to deal with the approaching chimeras.
Each time she used the ring, there was a sound like the air tearing. The shadow of the abyss was boiling like molten iron from generating so many illusions in a short period of time. On the opposite wall, Kali and Nox tried to kill each other using magic that she couldn’t even fathom.
The area was filled with the sound of things breaking and metal clashing. The chimeras targeting Yoon Tae-ha couldn’t even approach within spear range. The only one that did approach was instantly killed by a precise thrust to its vital point.
Time passed, and the multi-on-one battle ended first. Finally, having defeated all seven chimeras, Yoon Tae-ha turned her head towards Nox. His red eyes, burning with rage, gleamed intensely.
“Oh. It seems that battle over there has already ended. It’s a shame, but training ends here, Crow. It’s time to take the green feather.”
“You’re being arrogant.”
“Well. I don’t think that girl over there would agree, would she?”
Kali, who had summoned a golden shield to block Nox’s spell, smiled chillingly. She evaded an attack by teleporting, then suddenly appeared on the chair. And she slashed the air with her spear. Then, a human figure appeared from nowhere. Kali grabbed the newly appeared person’s neck and showed her to Yoon Tae-ha.
“You know this person, don’t you?”
The moment Yoon Tae-ha saw that face, the illusions she had steadily created scattered into dust. It was due to emotional turmoil. Yoon Tae-ha, unable to move, called out the name of the woman caught in Kali’s hand.
“Ms. Iroa.”
Kali’s chest heaved as if she was dying to know her opponent’s reaction to what she was about to say. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation.
“You call this girl that. Iroa. It’s a pretty sounding name. When this one was first born into the world, she was given a much worse name than that.”
Another meaningful smile appeared on Kali’s lips.
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