Final battle (1)

While Han Sooyoung was distracted by Yoo Jonghyuk, Zhou Mingrui seized the opportunity to walk in front of the door.

Then, he inserted the silver key into the keyhole and turned it to unlock the door.

"…"

However, no matter how many times he turned it, the key seemed to have no effect.

Zhou Mingrui frowned.

Why wouldn't it open?

Wasn't it the key they needed to open it?

He turned his head to Xin Jian who was staring at him, leaning against the wall.

"Are you sure this is the right door?"

"Yes."

Xin Jian add anything more.

Then why wasn't it opening?

Zhou Mingrui looked down at the key in his hand, a strange feeling in his heart.

When she fought him in the past, Xin Jian had displayed powers of the three pathways.

An angel.

An apparent connection to Sefirah Castle.

Amon seemed more interested in getting on her side than obtaining Sefirah Castle.

She can be substituted with the Lord of Mysteries.

Unexplainable thoughts crossed through his mind.

Why would he think of this at that moment?

What did it have to do with a silver key?

What did Xin Jian-

He paused.

He had a feeling.

These elements that had nothing to do with each other were somehow connected.

His heart was beating faster, as if to tell him it was the answer.

It was as if something inside him was controlling his thoughts.

What if-

An unknown memory appeared in his mind.

He saw the images of a silver key with a clover-shaped end.

["So, the Error uniqueness created a bug and grabbed a soul from somewhere which is now above Sefirah Castle?"]

An Error Uniqueness with living characteristics.

Zhou Mingrui slowly turned toward Xin Jian.

What if…

["Xin Jian. Your name will be Xin Jian. It means heart and key, together it means the key to the heart."]

"You."

His eyes crossed Xin Jian's.

"The silver key was you, wasn't it?"

Xin Jian's eyes widened.

"What…?"

She was extremely shocked and questioned her ears.

This wasn't something that the current 'Zhou Mingrui' was supposed to know.

He shouldn't remember this since they weren't part of his memories, but someone else's.

Xin Jian repeated, her expression becoming serious.

"What do you mean?"

Zhou Mingrui felt that the faint urgency in her voice was strange but explained himself.

"I have a feeling that the 'silver key' should be… you…?"

He lowered his voice at the end of his sentence when he saw Xin Jian's expression.

Her reaction was abnormal in this situation.

"…Is there anything wrong?" He inquired.

Xin Jian continued to stare at him blankly.

Something that should be impossible had happened.

Different feelings surged in her heart at the implication in Zhou Mingrui's words.

The Mr. Fool she knew, that had fused with Klein, had not completely disappeared.

He wasn't dead.

His existence wasn't erased.

He…

Mr. Fool still existed in a corner of Klein's mind.

Xin Jian held back the tears threatening to come out, her bangs covering her eyes.

(Author's warning: For those who don't understand this part, either read my previous fic or just ignore the above paragraphs. In short, in my previous fic, 'Mr. Fool' was Zhou Mingrui regressor version (who hid above the gray fog) and 'Klein' was past Zhou Mingrui with no memories of the previous regressions (who had a fight with Xin Jian); Xin Jian spent time with the two of them and considers them as two different people, but 'Klein' wasn't aware of 'Mr. Fool''s existence. It's not really important, I just wanted to try to make the readers who read 'Please don't leave me alone!' cry.)

"Yeah…"

Xin Jian stopped leaning against the wall and smiled.

"You were right. I am indeed the 'silver key'."

She approached the door and touched the key, disappearing into the Error Uniqueness inserted in the keyhole.

Then, Xin Jian's curse of immortality, which she had received from an outer god, immediately resonated with the door.

It seemed like 'Cthulhu' was actually the one responsible for this curse.

Zhou Mingrui saw the lock glow before the door opened by itself in front of him.

***

The boss of another hunter family looked down at the corpses of his subordinates with a frown on his face.

"What is the meaning of this?"

It looked like their karma had been emptied, and the style corresponded to the blue blood family, which they were close to.

"It is the third time."

The hunter seemed angry as he turned to his subordinate.

"Tell everyone to prepare."

A vicious smile grew on his face.

"If they want war so much, then we'll fight them."

He couldn't accept this behavior.

At the same time, in the blue blood and other hunter families, similar situations happened.

Due to one person, the members of hunter families and other hunter families coming to help them gathered in the worldline where Cale was to enter a war.

'As expected, others came to investigate the other hunters' disappearances.'

Cale had seized the opportunity to cause trouble and create conflicts between the different hunter families, being careful that they all gathered in the world line where he was so that they weren't out of reach.

[A bounty scenario has arrived!]

+

[Bounty Scenario – Extermination]

Category: Bounty

Difficulty: SS

Clear Conditions: The hunters have been causing trouble everywhere! Exterminate every hunter so that the hunter families cease to exist.

Time Limit: None.

Compensation: 100 000 coins

Failure: None.

+

A bounty scenario had even been created.

That's how the other hunters began fighting among themselves and self-destructing while Cale watched them by the side, sometimes sending sneak attacks as if it came from another hunter to fuel their rage.

'Everything is going according to plan.'

Cale waited for a while while the hunters fought among each other, until there were finally only a few of them left.

However, the last ones didn't seem to have the intention of fighting.

'All the bosses of hunter families are present.'

Except for the one he killed and those that died during the battle, only the bosses of hunter families were alive now.

Which meant-

'If I kill them now, I can complete my revenge.'

It was a bit regrettable that they hadn't all died by themselves, but at least they seemed exhausted because of the fight.

Red-gold lightning appeared in the sky as Cale showed himself.

'Let's begin by 50%.'

As lightning poured down from the sky, the hunters discovered the crimson-haired teenager with a crazy glint in his eyes.

Unscathed, one of the four remaining people exclaimed:

"So you're the one that created this situation, huh?"

Another hunter shook his head.

"Someone indeed turned us all against each other, I think it was pretty entertaining."

They seemed confident, but Cale's gaze didn't waver.

"Hehehe…"

He laughed.

"Have you turned insane because you will die soon?"

"You're the ones who are going to die, your motherfucking bastards."

He then sent another attack, slowly increasing the output of his Ancient Powers to make them run out of karma and slow down their regeneration, as he had done in his previous battles against hunters.

Cale sent up a spear of water from underground toward one hunter, but the latter seemed to sense it and dodged.

Meanwhile, Cale used the ground made of earth to create spears to attack another hunter but the latter evaded it.

Finally, he also activated his Dominating Aura to the max to pressure them.

"Ugh!"

In the middle of the night, the hunters felt chills all over their bodies as they looked at the teenager emanating a terrifying presence. However, that didn't deter them.

The one in the middle, who looked like the strongest, charged at Cale, followed by the two other bosses of hunter families.

Contrary to how they were fighting earlier, they now united to fight him.

Even fought he was outnumbered, Cale's smile only widened.

"Come."

The clash against his Indestructible Shield resounded all throughout the place.

The battle lasted until dawn.

As the last hunter died, Cale collapsed to the floor, exhausted.

Rays of light shone on his face as a new day began.

Cale looked up at the sun rising and raised his hand to the sky.

In a soft voice, like a child proudly showing something to their parents, Cale said:

"Everyone, I kept my promise."

There were no hunters left anymore.

Cale smiled.

He had finally taken revenge.

[The bounty scenario has ended.]

[Distributing the rewards…]

Cale's eyes closed as he fell unconscious due overexerting himself, all tension leaving him.