Book 2 Chapter 606
He wasn’t sure if coming outside had been the right choice. The weather remained dreary, with rain pouring down relentlessly, and the temperature had dropped even further. A sudden thought crossed his mind, was the world getting colder by the day?
After all, the sky had lost its sun.
Perhaps the inexplicable sense of despair and gloom that humanity was feeling stemmed from that very loss.
“Phew.”
Residue loosened his robe slightly and stepped into a puddle of rainwater. Squelch. Droplets splashed as the murky water seeped into his boots.
But more than the unpleasant sensation, what truly unsettled him was the turmoil within himself, something that refused to settle.
The sound of rain only intensified that feeling, pouring down fiercely as if to aggravate him further,
Ah.
A sudden thought struck him. He wanted to erase the clouds.
“……”
Residue reached out toward the sky.
How should he erase them? There were many ways.
Should he burn them all away with fire?
Should he rip them apart without a trace using a raging storm?
Or perhaps he could simply cut them down altogether?
But Residue withdrew his outstretched hand.
He could, but he chose not to.
Did that mean he was exercising patience? Or had he given up?
Even that, he couldn’t easily determine. Because he wasn’t certain of himself.
With angry strides, he walked through the gray streets. Seeking a place where the sound of rain was slightly less intrusive, he found himself gradually entering the deep, shadowy parts of the city.
Beneath the gloomy sky, the abandoned concrete buildings, left neglected for ages, stood cracked and crumbling, barely holding onto their former height.
As he absentmindedly gazed up at the scene, the towering structures strangely reminded him of ancient, overgrown trees. In that sense, the phrase concrete jungle felt paradoxical yet oddly fitting.
Residue walked through that jungle.
As mentioned before, the buildings bore no signs of maintenance, but that didn’t mean the streets were empty.
He could feel the gazes of those who lurked in the shadows, watching him.
He had sensed it during his brief outing last time as well, outsiders were not welcomed here.
"Hey there, friend."
"Lost your way?"
But they weren’t outright rejected, either.
A group of thugs blocked his path. They flashed their knives and firearms in plain sight, grinning deliberately.
Even through the rain, their yellowed teeth were clearly visible, disgusting.
Annoying, but not as much as the ceaseless sound of rain ringing in his head.
So, for once, Residue decided to be merciful.
He intended to simply walk past them.
"Ah, hold on. Hold on."
"Why the rush? There’s nothing up ahead anyway."
"Let’s have a little chat."
But the world was full of fools.
The kind who barely escape an arrow by sheer luck, yet remain oblivious and willingly throw themselves back into the battlefield.
Fools who deserved no second mercy.
"That’s an interesting-looking raincoat."
"Why don’t you take it off? Let us have a closer look."
"Heh heh."
Of course, it wasn’t entirely their fault.
Or was it?
"Why do you even continue living?"
The words escaped his lips half on impulse.
Once spoken, he found himself genuinely curious.
They must know that the world was ending. They must know it would only get worse.
And yet, these idiots still clung to life.
"...What?"
"What the hell is this lunatic talking about?"
Residue instinctively reached out and flicked his finger against the forehead of the man who had questioned him.
A simple forehead flick, as it was commonly called.
Paang!
But the result was far from ordinary.
The man's head exploded like a watermelon.
Just as Residue had expected, a light, empty head.
“…Huh?”
"What the…?"
"The more chaotic the world becomes, the greater a sin ignorance becomes. You understand that, don’t you?"
"Of course not. You ignorant trash."
"You crazy bastard…!"
"What the fuck are you even talking about?!"
Only then did the men assume battle stances and rush toward him, but it was far too late. And in truth, there wasn’t much difference from when they had been swaggering around just moments ago. řάΝǑＢĚS
“There’s no need for you bastards to feel wronged about dying today.”
Pa-pa-pang!
The men’s heads exploded all at once. Upon closer inspection, it seemed there had been two women among them. But that was of little interest to Residue.
He resumed his walk down the street.
Annoyingly enough, more trouble kept finding him.
They approached with smiles, only to disappear without them.
In the blink of an eye, the street was painted with blood.
Residue had lost count of how many he had killed.
Wandering aimlessly, he suddenly caught his reflection in a puddle.
Staring back at him, bloodied and drenched, was Lukas’ face.
“……”
And in that moment, an undeniable truth struck him,
No matter where he ran, no matter how long he closed his eyes, he could never escape himself.
Those eyes would follow him wherever he went, always watching.
But they would never answer his questions.
Was death, in the end, the only true liberation?
“…Hahaha.”
Residue let out a silent laugh and continued killing the vermin.
Or perhaps, they were even less than vermin.
Even on a stormy day, insects knew to still their wings and wait for the right time. Yet these pieces of trash lacked even the basic caution found in the smallest of creatures.
How long had he painted the streets with blood?
Just as the last traces of human presence were truly beginning to vanish,
“……”
For the first time, Residue saw someone who wasn’t trash.
Two figures stood in what had once been a city plaza.
They sat atop a wide stone slab at the center of a fountain, now filled with murky rainwater.
Even as the rain poured down on them, they didn’t budge an inch, so still that for a moment, he mistook them for statues.
In fact, it seemed like there had once been statues on that stone slab.
Splash-
Residue’s footsteps didn’t change in the slightest.
Neither hurried nor slow, he walked for several more seconds until he reached the fountain.
And then, the man and woman finally spoke.
“Hoh.”
“Interesting…”
They smiled faintly in amusement.
Residue sighed at the sight.
…What a pain.
These two were incomparably stronger than the worms he had just slaughtered.
Even stronger than Tucker, the ruler of this city.
And Residue recognized the aura they exuded.
“So this is the kind of filth that was enough to summon us to a place like this.”
“You’re slightly better trash than expected. Might be good for killing time.”
No, this wasn’t just recognition of their aura.
He knew their faces as well.
A rare experience.
To see two insignificant insects, who had always looked up at him, now looking down on him instead.
“Don’t hold a grudge, mortal.”
“There will be pain, but… if you’re lucky, you’ll die quickly.”
“Ah, your body is fine, but we need to keep your face intact. We have to take it to that mortal and show him.”
Residue looked at them and spoke.
“Tian. And Volcast.”
“……!?”
The two beings flinched violently, their expressions twisting in shock.
“Who are you?”
“How do you know our names…?”
“Yeah, you fucking idiot duo. Even after all this time, I can’t say I’m happy to see your faces.”
A strange twist of fate.
To see the ones he had once taken in, like this.
Flash!
A brilliant light erupted from both of Residue’s hands, causing the two to instinctively recoil.
Residue knew everything about them.
Naturally, he also understood the nature of their external power and their very essence.
They were beings born of pure darkness, meaning they had an aversion to intense light.
Of course, this alone wasn’t enough to kill them.
But it did create an opening.
And for Residue, such a flaw was far too fatal to overlook.
Slash-
Both of their heads were severed.
But even a rotting Absolute is still an Absolute. Those who possess a Transcendent Body wouldn’t die from something like this.
Residue applied a variation of the Blade Tempest technique he had used before, imbuing the whirlwind with the power to cut through anything.
Kwoooo-!
A violent gust roared, and the two Absolutes glared at Residue with wide, furious eyes. That was the only form of resistance they could muster.
Moments later, their bodies collapsed, reduced to mere pools of blood, merging with the murky rainwater in the fountain.
Just like that, the two Absolutes met their end in an instant.
“……”
Residue gazed down at their corpses indifferently.
Even though he had just slain two former subordinates, he felt nothing.
It had been the same when he was the Lightning God.
- You’re not one to be taken lightly, it seems.
When a new voice rang out, Residue wasn’t surprised.
Of course.
Even if you clean up one batch of vermin, another will always take their place. He already knew that.
But this time, the ones who appeared… were not vermin.
They were not beings he could dismiss so easily.
“Who told you about us?”
A cold voice.
Turning around, he saw two women standing there.
“Not faces you see every day.”
Residue muttered quietly, and their gazes sharpened even further.
“…Tian, Volcast. Just like the Absolutes you killed just now, do you know about us as well?”
“Are you asking if I know your names? Of course, I do.”
Residue smirked.
“Symetra. Tell me, who’s managing that Hunting Planet you cherished so much while you’re here?”
At that, Symetra’s expression hardened.
Then, the woman standing a step behind her spoke up.
“That appearance… I’ve heard of it before. Our Master often mentioned you. Said there was one Absolute he wished to recruit, but he simply wouldn’t listen.”
“……”
“I’ll ask you directly, are you the Madman?”
The Madman.
Right.
Now that he thought about it, it was the Lightning God who had first given Lukas Trowman that name.
“Kuh… Kuhaha…”
Residue let out a hollow laugh.
He truly hadn’t expected this.
The alias he had once bestowed had circled back and found its way to him.
“Yes.”
“Yes… And the fact that you two sisters are here reminds me of a rather troubling possibility.”
Residue’s gaze sharpened.
“That must mean Retip is nearby as well.”
At his words, their faces hardened even further.
But they quickly masked their expressions, responding coldly.
“That has nothing to do with you.”
“You’re going to die here by our hands.”
“No, that’s not going to happen.”
Residue chuckled darkly.
“You two aren’t worthy of being my death.”
However, unlike the battles before, he knew he wouldn’t be walking away from this one unscathed.
Among the Absolutes once gathered under the Lightning God, there were those who stood at the very peak, the Ruler-class.
And even among them, a select few had distinguished themselves.
There were thirteen in total.
The Lightning God had granted each of them dominion over thirteen universes.
To distinguish them from ordinary Rulers, he had named them the Thirteen Thunderclouds.
Retip, the man who had been the Lightning God’s right-hand, sat at the head of the Thirteen.
Symetra and Sera…
They were also among the Thirteen Thunderclouds.
“…Very well.”
Residue’s lips curled into a sharp grin.
“Let’s fight.”
So fiercely that his head turn white, that the sensation of rain disappear, that the thunder can't be heard.
And he was curious.
How far could the current Residue go… against two of his former elite subordinates?
Among the Thirteen Thunderclouds, against two of its strongest?
***
“……”
Iris suddenly opened her eyes.
And she was startled to realize she had dozed off.
How long had it been since she last closed her eyes, even for a moment?
'...Have I become lazy?'
Perhaps her tension had eased a little.
Not because she had reunited with him, but because she had found traces of him.
No. More than that,
There was no time to waste.
She quickly checked her wristwatch.
Fifteen minutes had passed since she last checked.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem like she had been out for long… But even so, Iris let out a deep sigh.
Just as she was about to grab a cup of coffee to shake off her grogginess,
“You slept well.”
A sudden voice made her flinch, and she quickly turned around.
A middle-aged man with long, unkempt hair, a rough beard, and a pair of sunglasses sat casually on the bed. His sharp features gave her a menacing look.
“You seemed to be in a deep sleep, so I didn’t wake you.”
“…Since when?”
“Let’s see… About an hour ago, maybe?”
Iris managed to keep her expression neutral, but a chill ran down his spine.
An hour ago?
That would mean… this man had been here while she was still working on paperwork.
Not when she was dozing off, but when her mind had been completely alert.
And yet, she hadn’t noticed this man’s presence?
Iris PeaceFinder hadn’t noticed?
“…There’s no need to feel so defeated.”
The man smirked.
“One of my brothers possesses an item that’s quite exceptional at concealing one’s presence. I simply borrowed its power.”
He adjusted his sunglasses.
“You know what it is, don’t you? It was originally a helmet, but I found it too cumbersome, so I had it reforged into sunglasses.”
“…Kynee.”
“As expected of the administrator of the Void Records. There’s nothing you don’t know.”
The man chuckled.
Iris’s expression turned cold.
That was true. There was almost nothing she didn’t know.
Which meant she also knew exactly who this man was.
“…What brings you here, Retip?”
“I had some personal business to take care of.”
Retip stretched his neck, rolling his shoulders lazily.
“But then… my Master suddenly issued a new order.”
He sighed, as if displeased.
“So I decided to leave my personal matters to my children for now… and carry out my new orders first.”
Then, in an almost reluctant tone, he added,
“For starters, I’ll have to kill you.”
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