Chapter 261: Snowfield (1)

Isabella stumbled back, her expression pale as if she had seen a ghost. “Why are you...?”

Cassia Colgrande was Isabella’s older sister, who had lost the succession battle (though it could hardly be called a battle) and had been exiled to the far reaches of Iceland. Ten years ago, when a rift to the Demonic District opened in the Arctic, Isabella thought that Cassia had died in the chaos.

“Y-You were alive?” Isabella’s shoulders trembled, and tears welled up in her eyes.

She looked at Cassia with a radiant smile as if she had found a long-lost treasure.

The sister Isabella said had disappeared was Cassia?

Isabella wasn’t the only one in shock. Kwon Oh-Jin also stood there with his jaw dropped. It felt like a hammer had smashed him in the back of the head.

What the hell is going on?

Was the Serpens Queen Isabella’s sister? A chill swept through him as his mind went completely blank.

Right now, Cassia was under the delusion that he was the Heavenly Demon. If she suddenly started calling him that in front of Isabella, things would spiral out of control fast.

“Isabel—”

Before he could call out to her, Isabella suddenly ran forward.

“Unnie! Cassia unnie!” She threw her arms wide open, ready to embrace the frail Cassia’s frail form.

𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

Before she could, a snake shot out from Cassia’s shadow.

Ssshk!

The pitch-black snake, as if formed from shadow itself, bared its razor-sharp fangs and lunged.

“Get back!!” Kwon Oh-Jin moved before his brain could catch up.

He grabbed Isabella’s shoulder and yanked her back hard.

“

Shhhh!

” The snake barely missed, grazing her stomach.

“U-Unnie?”

The knitted fabric of Isabella’s sweater tore open around her belly, revealing her pale skin. A thin trickle of blood ran along the crimson scratch. If Kwon Oh-Jin hadn’t pulled her back in time, it would’ve been a gut-spilling wound.

Cassia stared at Isabella with a hazy, drugged look in her eyes. “What did you call me...?”

She gazed at Isabella as if rummaging through an old attic, distant and unsure.

Then, she softly said, “Bel...la?”

Her dazed pupils momentarily regained clarity.

Cassia stumbled back, shivering. “Bella... Bella, is that really you?”

“Yeah! It’s me, unnie!”

“

Ah, ugh

. N-No, no. I...” Cassia let out a strained breath and curled in on herself.

She clutched her head and groaned in pain. The whites of her eyes turned red as blood vessels burst.

“

Aaaaaaaaahh!

” A maddening scream echoed through the dark amusement park.

Cassia raised her hands and violently clawed at her own face with her sharp nails.

“I-I must kill them. I-I have to k-kill them all, so I, I, I...”

Clack, clack, clack!

She ground her teeth furiously, her eyes bloodshot with rage. The flesh from her face tore under her nails.

“If I kill them, then I can have it,” Cassia whispered something incomprehensible.

Then, she slowly uncurled her hunched self. From the lengthening shadow behind her, hundreds of snakes burst forth.

Isabella looked at her sister, unable to comprehend what was happening. “W-Why are you doing this, unnie?”

The woman standing before her was nothing like the kind and gentle Cassia she remembered, almost as if that woman only wore her sister’s face.

Kwon Oh-Jin frowned as he watched Cassia radiating bloodlust and muttering like a lunatic.

Something’s wrong.

He had sensed that the Serpens Queen wasn’t right in the head from the very start, but it had never been to this extent.

She wasn’t completely incoherent back in the Demonic District.

Cassia did seem strange back then, but at least she could carry a conversation. More than anything, she didn’t obey him.

“Stop, Cassia,” he ordered.

“I have to kill them... e-everyone. If I don’t... I-I’ll be abandoned again.”

Back in the Demonic District, whenever he spoke, she had thrown herself to the ground like a fanatic in some cult.

That jewel.

Kwon Oh-Jin looked at the black jewel embedded in Cassia’s forehead. The mana coming from it felt unpleasant like sticky tar. He had felt something like this before.

It’s the same as Barbatos.

The mana from the two black horns that had sprouted from the dragon’s forehead felt identical to the mana now emanating from the jewel in Cassia’s forehead. This could only mean one thing.

“Heavenly Demon.”

Not a poorly disguised fraud, but the real Heavenly Demon had reached out to her.

Isabella looked at him, her face drained of all color. “M-Mr. Oh-Jin, did you just say the Heavenly Demon?”

“Cassia is being controlled by the Heavenly Demon right now.”

“W-What are you talking about, Mr. Oh-Jin?”

She had just reunited with the sister she thought had died ten years ago. Then, he told her that the Heavenly Demon was controlling her sister. How could he possibly know that?

Even a genius like Isabella, who could manage dozens of the Colgrande family’s affiliated enterprises at once, couldn’t make sense of the situation.

“I’ll explain everything later,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

Right now, they needed to prioritize handling the crisis in front of them. He swallowed hard and reached for his waist.

Shhh, clink!

Dantalian, strapped to his belt, transformed into a spear.

Fighting head-on from the front won't work.

Even if he was strong enough to be chosen as one of the Seven Stars, he was still no match for the Serpens Queen. The same was true for Isabella. Even if they attacked together, the odds of them winning were slim.

And Isabella isn’t in any condition to fight properly either.

Right now, escaping would be the wisest choice.

“I won’t let you leave,” Cassia chillingly said.

Even in the darkness, her emerald eyes glinted with a terrifying light as they locked onto Kwon Oh-Jin. Her tongue, long enough to brush her chest, flicked out as she snapped her fingers.

Sasasasasasa!

Cassia’s shadow expanded at an explosive speed, enveloping the surroundings in a massive dome.

“

Kgh!

”

It all happened faster than the blink of an eye.

Trapped inside the enormous shadow dome, Kwon Oh-Jin bit his lip anxiously.

Damn it.

They couldn’t avoid fighting her now.

Hundreds of snakes slithered across the floor ominously.

Shhh, shhh.

The hundred pairs of glowing eyes peered at Kwon Oh-Jin and Isabella from the darkness.

“Unnie! Please snap out of it!” Isabella shouted desperately.

Cassia’s eyes, glittering with madness, turned to her. “Bella.”

“Y-Yeah, it’s me, unnie!”

“Did you know that the night makes you remember all sorts of things?” Cassia spun slowly in place with outstretched arms as if dancing.

Her black dress fluttered as she hummed a haunting tune.

When her short dance ended, her lips twisted into a wicked grin. “I despise you.”

“Unnie...?”

“I would’ve been better off without you.”

The words deeply stabbed Isabella’s heart as the snakes shot toward them like bullets.

“Isabella!” Kwon Oh-Jin jumped in front of her and swung his spear.

Guided by the Stigma of Pyxis, his spear slashed through the air at blinding speed. Blue lightning crackled as it split the lunging snakes in half.

“S-She would’ve been better off without me? What does she mean?”

“I told you! Your sister is being controlled by the Heavenly Demon right now!”

“But—”

“Get a grip!” Kwon Oh-Jin shouted at the confused Isabella. “At this rate, your sister will be nothing more than the Heavenly Demon’s puppet forever!”

Had his desperate plea finally reached her?

Smack!

Isabella slapped both of her cheeks and calmly composed herself.

“I’ll break through that shadow barrier, Mr. Oh-Jin. Just buy me a little time.”

He nodded and tightly gripped his spear.

The snakes lunged again, hissing eerily.

Exceed.

Blue lightning wrapped around his spear as he swung it at the incoming horde of snakes. However, dozens of snakes tangled together and crushed Dantalian’s spearhead with ease.

Crack! Snap!

Shit.

The blade crumpled like a piece of paper. Kwon Oh-Jin quickly reverted the spear into its folding knife form and thrust both arms forward.

Explosive Lightning.

Crackle!

Blue lightning exploded violently, but it only repelled a few snakes and failed to stop the tidal wave of serpents surging toward him.

Goddamn it!

Kwon Oh-Jin kicked off the ground and flung his arm up. He fired his wire shooter toward a nearby gyro drop ride and launched himself higher into the air.

Bang!

That didn’t last as the snakes coiled around his waist and brutally yanked him down. He hit the ground hard from dozens of meters up.

Boom!

“

Kugh!

”

Snakes swarmed over him as he lay sprawled on the floor.

“Let go of me, you bastards!”

Crackle!

Coating himself in blue lightning, Kwon Oh-Jin momentarily stunned the snakes and slipped free of their grasp.

There’s no end to these snakes.

He had to go for the source. Using Lightning Charge, he condensed his lightning and turned toward Cassia.

“What?”

She had been right there just a moment ago, but now she was gone.

An ominous chill crawled down his spine.

“Isabel—” He tried to call out to Isabella in a panic, but a slippery sensation brushed against his skin.

“I’m right here, my lord.” Cassia had somehow crept up behind him and now gently embraced him from behind.

Kwon Oh-Jin’s expression froze.

Amused by his reaction, Cassia giggled like a girl and ran her long tongue across the back of his neck.

“Cassia...” Kwon Oh-Jin swallowed hard and turned his head.

Those chilling emerald eyes stared straight into his.

“I am the master you should follow. The one you should serve,” he said in the calmest manner possible.

For a split second, he could see her flinch.

Did that get through to her?

“Liar.” Cassia coldly hissed in his ear.

Crack!

She cleanly ripped off Kwon Oh-Jin’s right arm from his shoulder.