The World after the Fall

"Of course, I am."

Chunghuh finally exploded.

"WHAT"?! Don't lie! You've only known him for a few days, at best! You were never close with…"

"I am. Jaehwan and I are connected spiritually, you see."

They quarreled for a while and Karlton spoke a bit after.

"But why are you in such a hurry, Surha? As you know, the Master is not someone who will be struck down."

Yoo Surha couldn't answer the question as someone else intercepted it.

"Ooooh, Justice boy. Do you really need to ask that question?"

"…Do you know why, Sirwen?"

"Of course."

Sirwen shrugged and continued, "Jaehwan is naked."

Karlton ignored her and turned back to Surha. She spoke calmly.

"Something doesn't feel right."

"So, we have to go fast because something doesn't feel right?"

"Yes. It's enough of a reason."

It would not make sense at all, but for the fact that Yoo Surha had a special ability that would deem that was perfectly reasonable. Chunghuh asked, "Are you sure? You don't feel good about it?"

"No."

"On a scale of 1 to 10, how bad is it?"

"10."

"…Really?"

"Really."

If Yoo Surha didn't feel good, it was highly likely that something 'bad' was really going to happen, because she had the Law type Setting of [Premonition]. As they drew closer to Hatchnold, she felt her premonition coming true. There were strong world powers in multiple places around Hatchnold. She knew the masters of each world power. After all, they were members from her own organization.

'Rupture is on the move. But why?'

No, it wasn't only Rupture.

'Who would have such world power…'

An unbelievably huge amount of world power, that Yoo Surha herself wasn't sure she could fight off, was moving towards Hatchnold Gate.

It was X who fired first. As Jaehwan and Myad fell back from the fight, X immediately started firing at Myad. His elbow cracked open and missiles fired from the opening. It seemed that X was some kind of construct, and his entire body concealed terrifying weapons. Soon, his chest also opened and a powerful energy wave was unleashed.

Jaehwan wasn't sure what [Setting] it was, but the series of attacks by those weapons with tremendous world power was hard for Myad to fend off. Also, the Vicegerents and auctioneers had started making their moves. Most of them were targeted at Jaehwan.

It was beginning of the 2nd fight. Jaehwan silently unleashed [Fall].

He didn't have enough world power yet, but if he somehow managed to kill a Vicegerent, he would fully recover his world power. He could then kill them one by one, and get out of the auction house. However, the Vicegerents of high-ranking Gods weren't that easy.

"Keep your distance from him!"

Surprisingly, they didn't charge in towards Jaehwan right away. He grimaced.

'I see, so you all are high-ranking Gods.'

World power-wise, high-ranking Gods did not fall behind Jaehwan at all. Their power was double, or even up to five times greater than Jaehwan's. They could have just charged in at Jaehwan, but it seemed that they were more cautious.

"His [Setting] won't work from a distance! FIRE!"

Along with the shout from a Vicegerent, world powers were fired at Jaehwan. Andersen spoke.

[They know about your Setting now.]

'…'

Jaehwan's [Fall] was meant for close combat. It required for him to get close to a [Setting] to be able to destroy it. There was no way his Setting could work against projectiles.

[You should be more careful. See? They're not even taking out their Gigantes. What are you trying to…]

Andersen was right. It seemed they were aware of the [Naked] Setting, so none of them were bringing out their Gigantes. Jaehwan was left alone, and his [Fall] and [Naked] Settings rendered useless. It was the Vicegerents' plan to reduce Jaehwan's world power while not letting him use any of his [Settings].

[What are you going to do now? Are you really going to do what he told you?]

'I guess so. There's no other way.'

Jaehwan had backed away while he avoided the continuous attacks from the high-ranking Gods. After a while, he had nowhere left to go and now Myad was right behind him. Both men had their backs against each other.

As the two world powers met each other, strong sparks flared from them. Two men against <Big Brother>. Both world powers with a goal that no other world powers had besides each other, had met for the first time. Myad spoke.

"Let's switch."

"Yeah."

With that, both traded places. The Vicegerents were shocked by the sudden change.

"W-what?!"

They just traded places, but the tide of the battle turned. The Vicegerents that Jaehwan was facing now had to face Myad. And X now faced Jaehwan.

"Good luck."

Myad charged at the Vicegerents of the high-ranking Gods, and Jaehwan turned to his new opponent.

'X.'

X was still focusing on the Daeus' Machina. Jaehwan recalled what he discussed with Myad earlier.

-Please fight off X. That is my condition for this deal.

Jaehwan thought he had misheard when Myad said it the first time. It was a being that Myad himself couldn't fight off. How could he fight it off?

-You certainly can do it. To be honest, you're the only one who can right now.

Myad then glanced down at Jaehwan's naked body and grinned as he added,

-That 'X' is a Gigantes.