Rome’s Saintess II

A city up in flames…

Monsters with sharp fangs were indiscriminately sucking out the blood of humans in the streets that had become ruins.

…Greedily and ravenously.

The vampires enjoyed the festival of blood and cackled as they shook their shoulders.

—A scene like one would find in the midst of hell.

Lee Shinhyuk, who was standing on the top of a building, looked down at the rampant killing and roughly clenched his fists.

-In the end… it turned out like this.

A low voice mixed with deep regret rang out.

Click—

At that moment, the rooftop door opened, and a youth approached Lee Shinhyuk.

—A youth with sharp eyes and flawless looks.

It was the Black Lion, Lee Woohyuk.

-Brother, how's the situation?

-...it's too late.

Lee Shinhyuk shook his head with a deeply sullen expression.

-The entire city was completely taken over by the Pseudo Star Cult.

He closed his eyes tight and strengthened his grip on the spear in his hands.

Blue mana fiercely blazed up on his spear that was engraved with a roaring lion.

-Brother, there isn't much time left—

-I know.

Lee Shinhyuk dropped his head with an expression of deep regret.

Zzzzzzzt—

Then, Lee Shinhyuk's phone vibrated. He took his phone out of his pocket and answered the call.

-Yeah, I got it. Woohyuk and I will head there.

Lee Shinhyuk, who finished a call with an unknown woman, blatantly looked down at the phone in his hand.

The date displayed on the screen was 2023, June 29th.

-...Woohyuk, the date 'that incident' happened was two years ago, on June 30th, right?

-That's right.

After gently looking down at the screen, Lee Shinhyuk looked up.

A city engulfed in flames.

Looking down at the street crowded with vampires, he chewed his lips.

-If…

Grind—

He fiercely ground his teeth and said as if he was squeezing it out…

-If back then… if I met Isabella on that day… would the present have changed?

-...Brother.

Lee Shinhyuk looked at Lee Woohyuk with his eyes in an expression of shame.

Bang!!—

Crushing the rooftop handrails in his hands, he dropped his head.

A teardrop ran down Lee Shinhyuk's cheek.

-If only I had met her back then…!!

As he cried out—

-Zzzzzzzzzzt!!!

—the scene began to flicker out with static noise.

-Ring!

["Spearmanship of Pyxis Lv6"has increases to "Spearmanship of Pyxis Lv7"]

"Fua!!!"

A heavy breath exploded out as if he barely managed to escape from being submerged in deep waters.

"Ugh… fuck, my head feels like it's going to burst."

Ohjin grasped his heated forehead and furrowed his brow.

'Just what happened?'

He recalled the streets of Rome that were engulfed in flames. That horrendous future where vampires dug their fangs into peoples' necks and sucked their blood.

It was a horrifying scene straight out of a zombie movie.

"...First of all, let's organize the information I got."

He traced back Lee Shinhyuk's memories that had dug into his head and arranged them one by one.

Italy will be destroyed in two years by vampires.

The main culprit of the destruction is a group known as the 'Pseudo Star Cult'.

Lee Shinhyuk regretted not meeting up with a woman called 'Isabella' two years in the past, which could have prevented Italy's destruction.

"Pseudo Star Cult…"

Ohjin furrowed his brow and spelled out the unfamiliar name.

'What's that?'

Was it that there was another group that wasn't the Black Star Organization?

"Damn it."

When the Black Star Organization alone possessed forces that couldn't be handled, another unknown group had intervened.

'Are they the forces the Heavenly Demon led?'

He didn't know.

There was no way he could know when he didn't even know if the Heavenly Demon existed two years into the future.

'Let's think about this later.'

For now, he had to focus on the rest of the information.

"...Isabella?"

It definitely felt like he had heard of the name once before, but nothing certain came to mind.

'I'm not sure what happened on June 30th, but… will that calamity be preventable if I meet Isabella on that day?'

Ohjin looked at the calendar hung on the wall and checked the date.

June 24th.

There wasn't even a week left until the incident occurred.

"Ugh."

Ohjin didn't even know who Isabella was when he didn't even have a week remaining.

'I don't have time.'

He could only prevent the calamity that would happen in two years if he met her on June 30th.

"Hmm."

To be honest, he didn't really care about the calamity itself.

Whether Italy was destroyed or hundreds of thousands of humans were massacred, it was none of his business.

He couldn't live for the lives of unknown others when the world he lived in already made it hard to protect the handful of warmth within his grasp.

However…

"A Regressor… should probably prevent it."

As long as he was pretending to be a Regressor, he couldn't ignore a future calamity. He had no choice but to exist as the 'Heaven-defying Star' in front of Vega.

'And…'

Not only for his act, but also…

"They said that the Black Star Organization was recently rapidly increasing their forces in Italy."

If that was related to the Pseudo Star Cult…

If the Black Star Organization was hidden within the secret forces that destroyed an entire city…

'I'll need to prevent it.'

If he didn't, it wouldn't be long until the flames that swept Rome would spread to where he resided.

"Fuu."

Ohjin exhaled a deep breath and then exited his house.

'I should start off by finding out who Isabella is.'

Before then, there was a place he had to visit first.

* * *

"...So this is the information regarding the Black Star Organization."

Lee Woohyuk's eyes shone keenly as he received the USB.

His previous appearance of when he was laid out in the hospital bed on the verge of death was nowhere to be seen.

A bestial pressure like that of a lion constricted the surroundings.

"Guild Leader."

"Ah, sorry."

The killing intent that constricted the room disappeared with Kim Sunyoung's words.

"First of all, we're very thankful that you took on a dangerous mission in our stead."

Kim Sunyoung bowed deeply to Ohjin.

"It's alright. We're in a cooperative relationship, after all."

"We will continue to track down the Black Star Organization using the information within this USB."

"I'll leave it in your hands."

Although they were hopelessly swept away by Cheon Doyoon's hands, the Valhalla guild was a powerful group that became acknowledged as one of the top 10 guilds.

Ohjin needed their support in order to fight the Black Star Organization.

"Then, as you have mentioned, you want to be rewarded with starstones?"

"Yes. Preferably ones that come out from monsters above 7-Star."

"You won't have to worry about that," said Lee Woohyuk with a confident voice.

'It's nice he's extravagant.'

Ohjin felt it once before when he was given the large sum of $3,000,000. Unlike his appearance, Lee Woohyuk had an unreserved personality.

'He's different from his brother.'

Ohjin smiled and moved his eyes to Lee Woohyuk.

"Oh right. There are a couple of things I would like to ask that are irrelevant to the Black Star Organization."

"Do ask. I'll answer anything that I'm able to answer."

"Pseudo Star Cult… have you heard of that group before?"

"Pseudo Star Cult…?"

Lee Woohyuk furrowed his brow and tilted his head. He looked at Kim Sunyoung and sent her a signal.

"No. It's my first time hearing that of the group as well."

Kim Sunyoung slightly raised her glasses and shook her head.

"Hmm… if not even Sunyoung knows, it seems that they've been thoroughly hiding their information. Are they related to the Black Star Organization?"

"About that… I'm not sure."

He didn't have enough information to connect the Pseudo Star Cult with the Black Star Organization yet.

"We'll try to investigate it as well. Sunyoung, look into the Pseudo Star Cult for me."

"Understood."

Lee Woohyuk handed down an order to Kim Sunyoung and turned his head to face Ohjin.

"Sunyoung has a lot of connections in the information department. You should be able to receive good news soon."

"Haha, thank you."

He had wondered how the Valhalla guild was good at gathering information despite being an elite guild consisting of a small number of people, and it turned out to be because of Kim Sunyoung.

"Do you have any other questions?"

"There's one more… Have you heard of the name Isabella by any chance? She's probably Italian."

The location where the incident took place was Rome. Hence, it was highly likely that she was Italian.

"If it's Isabella amongst Italians… are you perhaps talking about Rome's Saintess?"

"Rome's Saintess?"

"Isabella Colagrande. She isn't well known in Korea, but she's an extremely famous Awakener that doesn't fall behind you when it comes to popularity in foreign countries."

"Ah."

Now that he thought of it, he had briefly heard the name on the news before.

"A picture… ah, here it is."

Kim Sunyoung meddled with the tablet in her hands.

Light shone out of the beam projector, which caused a hologram to be created in mid-air.

"Woah…"

Ohjin involuntarily exclaimed.

She had looks like that of a princess who appeared within fairytales.

…With blond hair that went down to her shoulders, skin as white as snow, and even clear blue eyes.

The woman had beautiful looks, even to the point where Ohjin—whose standards had become raised by quite a margin from Ha-eun and Vega—exclaimed involuntarily.

"She is one of the super rookies that is famous across the entire world along with you. They say that she's become a 6-Star within one year after she awakened."

6-Star within one year after awakening…

It definitely was a speed that could make one be considered as a super rookie.

"Well… it might be nothing much when compared with you."

Kim Sunyoung smiled bitterly and shrugged.

"In any case, you want to find more about her, correct?"

"Yes. As detailed as possible."

"Give me a moment."

Kim Sunyoung moved up her glasses and started typing on her tablet.

"First off, her stigma is the stigma of Aries; it's one of the constellations that belong to the 12 Zodiacs."

Ohjin had already predicted that much.

There would be no way one would be called a 'super rookie' if they didn't possess a stigma belonging to the 12 Zodiacs or above in the first place.

"It's a supporting type similar to that of Aquarius… however, it's not that it doesn't have combative abilities. No, it's actually rather on the powerful side."

An Awakener of Aries.

Ohjin had heard of them before but never met them in person.

"But is there a separate reason why she's called Rome's Saintess?"

"Of course. First things first, she's an incredible philanthropist. Isabella operates dozens of helping centers that take care of children and elders that have lost their guardians due to the circumstances brought about by the opening of gates."

"Dozens?"

Even if she was praised as a super rookie, would an individual be able to operate dozens of those kinds of centers? If someone told Ohjin to try doing the same, he most likely wouldn't be able to with ease.

"The Colagrande House has an incredible amount of this."

Kim Sunyoung stuck her index and thumb fingers together and made the shape of an O.

"Other than what was mentioned, they also say that they treat homeless people in areas where medical support was destroyed for free… Ah, and her looks did play a part in her fame."

"Indeed."

What would influence fame more than beautiful looks? And what if the amazing talent of becoming a 6-Star Awakener within one year with a stigma of one of the 12 Zodiacs was added on top of that?

'...It's only natural that she received the extravagant title of Saintess.'

Rather, he even started to think about whether Isabella would be more popular in other countries than he, a North Star's apostle, was.

"And…"

Kim Sunyoung, who continued explaining about Isabella, slurred the end of her sentence.

"Decisive physical evidence for this hasn't been discovered yet, however…"

Sigh—

She continued after exhaling a short breath.

"There have been several assassination attempts targeting Isabella."

"Ah, I think I've heard it on the news before."

The reason he had heard the name Isabella Colagrande on the news was for that very same thing, though he didn't remember until just then.

"Yes, and in addition…"

Kim Sunyoung's eyes that were seen past the lens of her glasses shone keenly.

"We're suspecting the culprits to be the Black Star Organization."

"...Pardon?"

'It's those fucks again?'