Chapter 143: 143

Act 6

Adel knelt . He crossed his arms and blocked Su-hyeun’s sword .

Clash, clash—

“Gasp!”

Su-hyeun gave one big shot . The power of Su-hyeun’s sword was stronger than any other attack Adel had ever received . As Su-hyeun pressed down, Adel couldn’t even stand up straight . He felt a burning feeling from the back of his hands that were blocking the sword .

Drip—

Blood leaked through the gauntlets and ran down the back of Adel’s hands .

Adel was wearing gauntlets made from adamantium . Although the adamantium content was low, it was confirmed that it couldn’t be broken or cut by anything . The researchers said that even if he took a hit from a missile, the gauntlets would be fine . But now his adamantium gauntlets were cut . Although they were small cuts, it was still hard to believe .

Adel grinned .

Gordon Rohan couldn’t have stopped this attack and had gotten injured, instead .

Thump—

At that moment, Su-hyeun trampled on Adel’s knee . Adel, who was about to rise up and to swing his fist, widened his eyes . Because of the power of Su-hyeun stepping on his knee, he couldn’t stand up .

“Don’t move . Stay still . ” Su-hyeun lifted his sword again . “Don’t avoid it unless you want to get your head cut . ”

Swish—!

Clang, clank—!

Su-hyeun continued to strike above Adel’s head . Adel couldn’t escape . He just kept raising his hands to block the sword . His arms were getting tired, they felt as if they would tear apart . But, as Su-hyeun said, Adel couldn’t avoid the sword .

Adel thought he really might die if things went wrong . He felt like his neck would be cut if his defense fell for even just a moment . But, even so, he couldn’t keep blocking like this .

Adel clenched his teeth . He began to rise up with strength in his legs . Su-hyeun moved the foot that had been steeping on Adel’s knee . They increased the distance . And, in that brief moment, Adel pulled his fist back and reloaded his power .

“You die!”

Whoosh—

The fist, with the adamantium gauntlet, flew to Su-hyeun’s head . Su-hyeun didn’t move his sword . Adel had a smile of satisfaction .

Whoosh—

Wham—!

A Dull and heavy sound rang . Adel couldn’t believe his eyes . He hadn’t hit Su-hyeun’s sword . Adel hit his fist . Su-hyeun blocked Adel’s attack with his bare hand, without any weapons like gauntlets .

Crack, crack—!

But the cracking sound came from a different side . Adel looked at his fist . He couldn’t believe what he was seeing . The golden gauntlet on his fist began to crack .

Crack, crack—!

Clang—!

The shattered pieces of gauntlet fell to the floor . Adel backed off, staring at the gauntlet pieces scattered everywhere .

“W-what is this nonsense…,” Adel said in surprise .

“That was quite hard,” Su-hyeun said, shaking his fist .

“What the hell did you do? How… that’s adamantium—”

“Even though it was a great weapon, the person who used it wasn’t so great . And, in this world, there’s no such thing as a perfect metal . ”

At Su-hyeun’s words, Adel asked with a doubtful look, “Wait . No way . Did you plan all this from the beginning…?”

“Of course . If it weren’t for this, I could have finished you already . ”

Stomp, stomp—

Su-hyeun slowly walked to Adel .

“So? How do you feel about losing your precious weapon? It was like a body part, wasn’t it? What value do you have without it?”

“Aaaagh!”

Rap—!

Adel swung his fist instinctively . His fist hit Su-hyeun . Adel was puzzled . His reckless attack was successful?

Thump—

“Argh!”

Su-hyeun hit Adel’s stomach . Adel’s back bent and his knees shook with shock .

“Look at this,” said Su-hyeun .

Whack—!

This time, Su-hyeun hit Adel’s face . “You’re awful . ”

“Argh…”

Blood began to pour from Adel’s face . It looked like his nose was broken .

Grab—

Su-hyeun grabbed Adel’s head as he tried to step back . And Su-hyeun’s fist, raised high, smashed his face again .

Whack, whack—!

Adel’s teeth broke, one by one, and fell to the floor . Adel, who was being beaten, hardly opened his mouth to say something .

“G-gi…”

Whack—!

Su-hyeun punched Adel’s mouth again . Adel didn’t even get a chance to give up . Su-hyeun made Adel unable to surrender . Su-hyeun held Adel’s head tight .

“Argh…Ar…” Adel moaned .

“You say it right now, on your own . ” Su-hyeun’s eyes turned cold and harsh . “About what you did yesterday and why you did it…”

Adel’s eyes shook .

As soon as he confessed, he would be doomed . Not only he would be criticized for his morality by everyone, but he’d be a pariah for the rest of his life .

The coalition would never even be formed . It would be impossible . Adel couldn’t say it out loud .

“So… You don’t want to say it, do you?” Su-hyeun asked, looking at Adel, who was held by his hand . Adel could only shake his head a little bit . “Well . You’ll change your mind soon . ”

[The Curse of the Dark Psychic – Pain . ]

In front of Adel’s eyes, a soul wearing a black robe appeared . At that moment, the sensory organs of Adel’s entire body became dozens of times more sensitive .

“Shake your hand whenever you change your mind . ”

Wham—!

Su-hyeun punched Adel’s stomach . Adel’s eyes turned white and his body bent almost in half .

“Argh…”

“I’ll keep hitting you until then . ”

Su-hyeun raised his hand again . One-sided violence began .

“Hey . Will you just watch it?”

At Johnny Brad’s question, Gordon Rohan nodded . “Don’t bother them . Adel didn’t say that he’ll give up yet . ”

“I saw his mouth . The guy tried to surrender . ”

“Yes . He tried to surrender . But he didn’t actually surrender, did he?” Gordon Rohan looked down the stadium from the top of the stand and rested his chin on his desk .

Johnny Brad looked at Gordon Rohan as if he couldn’t understand him . “People will criticize the Ranking Wars for allowing such one-sided violence . ”

“Let them . I don’t care . If they have an issue with me, they can always come and find me . I’ll smash them all . ”

“…I guess you really don’t like him . ”

“Who? Adel?”

“Yes . ”

“I don’t like him that much . He has quite a lot of talent and skills, but he didn’t try to become stronger through effort . He only thought of petty tricks,” Gordon Rohan said, looking at Adel, who was still being beaten up . “Let Su-hyeun beat him up until Adel says ‘surrender . ’ That’s the rule . ”

“St…o…p…” Adel hardly opened his mouth to say .

While Adel was being beaten, he tried to surrender over and over again . But whenever he tried to open his mouth, Su-hyeun smashed it . Like that, Adel was beaten for a few minutes .

The Curse of the Dark Psychic was a skill to maximize the pain of the subdued object . It specialized in torture . Because of this skill, Adel was now experiencing a pain that he had never felt before . He was just being hit by a fist, but he felt pain like his body was breaking down .

“Are you ready to say it now?” Su-hyeun stopped the beating . He pulled Adel up and met his eyes .

Adel shook his body . He barely opened his eyes and hardly looked at Su-hyeun . And that moment, the third eye on Su-hyeun’s forehead opened .

[Third Eye – Predator . ]

Syaaaa—

Adel’s body was frozen . He couldn’t move his arms or legs, as if they were tied up . His mouth trembled . Under the influence of the Predator skill, Adel felt an instinctive fear of Su-hyeun .

“D-don’t kill me…Please…Don’t kill me…”

“Then say it . ” Su-hyeun dropped Adel and nodded his head . “Say it, and I won’t kill you . ”

Adel couldn’t think straight . His head was full of instinctive fear . He wanted to live . So, Adel turned his body away from Su-hyeun and knelt down on the floor .

“Don’t kill me…”

At the very last moment, Adel had a brief conflict . He still had a little bit of reason in the back of his mind . But it didn’t last . He felt the presence of Su-hyeun, standing in his back .

“I…”

The CBC broadcasting station that had been broadcasting the Ranking Wars was in an uproar because of Adel . He suddenly opened his mouth and started to confess during the fight .

“What’s happening?”

“Do you think that’s true?”

CBC’s producer, Bae Young-cheol and the writer, Kim Hyeun-su were staring at the broadcast screen . The screen was showing Adel’s face . The game was paused . Adel’s voice came out of the TV .

I am so sorry . I will never do such things again…

Adel was shivering and stuttering . He certainly didn’t seem normal . Ordinarily, Adel was a man of laughter and always looked relaxed . But now, he was scared of Su-hyeun .

“So, the conclusion is,” Bae Young-cheol said, “the European Union decided to create another union of European awakeners… and to make it look good, they tried to make Adel winner of the Ranking Wars… am I right?”

If it was all true, it would be a huge scoop . Too many S-Rank awakeners were involved to consider it a simple fight among awakeners .

“Yea . I think you’re right,” Kim Hyeun-su answered .

“Why the hell is he confessing, then?”

“I guess…he was afraid of dying because he was beaten up too much . ”

“Don’t you think maybe he was threatened while he was beaten up?” Bae Young-cheol asked .

“His story is too detailed for that . And I think there is circumstantial evidence,” Kim Hyeun-su said .

“Circumstantial evidence? Like what?” Bae Young-cheol asked in surprise .

“Some awakeners from the European Union disappeared . It’s news from reporter Mr . Jeong from San Francisco . ”

“Wow . He got the news fast . ”

The story sounded convincing . In particular, just looking at the way the floor of the stadium was crushed, people could guess there was a big fight the day before .

“What do you think will happen now, sir?” Kim Hyeun-su asked .

“What do you mean?”

“I mean Kim Su-hyeun . He looks like he’s about to pick a fight with the whole European Union openly . ”

“Fight? Do you think this is about to be a fight?”

“Yes?”

“This is a warning . ”

Kim Hyeun-su tilted his head and asked, “What do you mean?”

“Kim Su-hyeun resorted to violence against Adel and made him confess the reason himself . ”

“Yea . And why is that…?”

“What do European Union awakeners think of that? Do you think they’ll keep trying to fight with Kim Su-hyeun? Creating a Union and joining the forces? Why? For what reason?”

“Because…”

Kim Hyeun-su couldn’t answer . And he finally realized . The European Awakener Federation was still an unclear organization . It didn’t officially exist, yet . And…

“No one’s name was revealed, except Adel . ”

“Yes . That’s right . ” Bae Young-cheol ignited an electronic cigarette and sucked a sip for a long time . “In this situation, if the European Awakener Federation was created and people joined? That would be like admitting you were one of the attackers . ”

“Wow . That’s…”

“Now do you get it why I called it a warning?”

What Su-hyeun wanted to say about this was very clear .

“With this, he’s making sure the European Awakener Federation isn’t going to happen . ”