Chapter 26: The Poison Throne
The rain poured over the decaying city, washing the blood from the broken streets—but not the stench of death. Ji-ho stood silently under the ruined neon sign of an abandoned hotel, his mind locked in calculation. Across from him, Ye-jun spread out a worn map on the metal table, still trembling slightly from the lingering energy of Ji-ho's last evolution.
They were close. The Fourth Chair—Venom Monarch Geon-Rak—was nearby.
"I've confirmed the intel," Ye-jun said. "He's taken over the old Baekjin Industrial Zone. The whole facility is warped. Poison fog covers everything. Only high-ranking awakened under his control can even breathe in there."
Ji-ho's crimson eyes narrowed. "Then I'll kill them all. One by one, until the fog becomes a storm of their screams."
Ye-jun looked up, his voice tense. "We can't rush this. He has over 2000 elite B-rank followers, with nearly thirty A-rank awakened. His territory is covered in layered traps, sensors, and drones. You'll need a strategy."
Ji-ho didn't respond immediately. He closed his eyes and began to meditate. Inside his mind, the devil's voice echoed faintly—mocking, amused, always watching.
"You want to tear down a king? Then rule the battlefield like one."
Suddenly, Ji-ho opened his eyes, power shimmering in the air around him.
"I'll start with the outer circle," he said coldly. "Pull them into the slums, where poison can't reach. Break their formation. Hunt the A-ranks first. If the body falls, the limbs will rot."
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Three Days Later — Operation Begins
Night fell like a blade across the sky.
In silence, Ji-ho moved through the outskirts of the Baekjin Zone. He was a shadow, cloaked in a barrier of destructive poison aura, his steps weightless but deadly.
The first squad of awakened—eight B-ranks—didn't even scream. The moment Ji-ho appeared, his Destructive Ray shifted into a whip of violet and green light. With a flick of his hand, it cleaved through air and flesh. Heads rolled. Bodies burned with acid and light.
"Alert the core! We're under attack!" one screamed, but it was too late.
Ji-ho's aura wrapped around him like a storm. He was a ghost wrapped in death—his newly acquired telekinesis lifting metal rods and slamming them through armor with unnatural precision.
By dawn, hundreds had fallen. Ji-ho stood atop a pile of corpses, breathing slowly, every muscle tense but controlled.
He looked at his bloody hands again, and for a second, a flicker of humanity crossed his face.
But only for a second.
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Inside the Core Zone
Geon-Rak watched the live drone feed. His poison-covered fingers tapped the armrest of his obsidian throne. The logo behind him—the Angelic Halo that twisted into a Devil's Sigil when viewed from the side—glowed ominously.
"So you've come… child of rage," he muttered.
He stood, his body hissing with vaporized toxins. His presence alone melted steel.
"Let's see if evolution can survive corruption."
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