Rise, Strongest Warrior – Chapter 19: Black Shadow
‘Did she really have no emotions?’
She, who was in control of the space until the last moment.
With a genderless voice the mysterious entity created by the rays had no human touch.
Nevertheless, her last words deeply embedded into his heart and thoughts about her naturally floated up into his mind.
However he soon shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts.
‘Let’s concentrate on the things I need to do now’
It was the moment he was about to meet the black ring.
Wasting time worrying was something he could do later.
It wasn’t like he would get an answer even if he keeps worrying.
So it was better to concentrate on the things he had to do now.
When he was about to reach out to the black ring as usual, he was dumbfounded when it moved by itself.
As the black ring was floating in the air, the sight was not only mysterious but also eerie.
‘I’m sure it has a nasty hobby’
He had a hunch that this ring’s owner would be much worse than the other rings.
The ring began spreading, as if it was ink staining white paper, spreading out towards every direction.
Soon, darkness covered the whole area and a small voice could be heard.
‘How ugly is the human existence?’
As he heard the voice ringing in his head, Igeon felt that it was very different from the rest of the rings.
Filled with playfulness and malice, it was an existence that didn’t think about hiding it’s emotions.
‘Why is it asking me?’
Igeon answered as it asked.
Then a battlefield appeared in front of his eyes.
Interestingly the battlefield was like a detailed drawing painted with ink on white paper, as the only colors around him were black and white.
“Die!”
“Crazy bastards!”
It wasn’t a battle where modern weapons were being used.
Maybe, a period somewhere in the medieval times.
Chwaaak!
He could see a man slicing another man’s neck with a sharp short sword.
He had a lasting impression with his sharp eyes.
He was surprised to see the man looking towards him, so he put up his guard.
Even if it’s a battlefield, he won’t let himself get done in.
Aiming at the wrist of the man coming towards himself, Igeon stretched out his hand.
Boong!
However he could only grab at the air. No, it wasn’t that he grabbed at the air but rather the man passed through his body.
“Huh?”
It wasn’t that the man was looking at Igeon.
He was looking at another person behind him.
With sharp movements lacking unnecessary moves, he stabbed his sword in between the armor of the heavily armed enemy.
Like that, the man killed countless men.
The blood on his hand didn’t dry.
But then again, it was laughable to hope for the blood to dry on a battlefield.
Even more so for such a remarkable man like him.
Yoo Igeon was completely in the position of a third party.
A spectator if you were to describe it.
Now that he looked at his hands he could see it was transparent like a ghost.
“Your hobby is quite nasty”
He commented looking at the air.
What is it that it is trying to show me?
As it was a black and white world, the blood merely splattered the air like thick ink.
It wasn’t grotesque but more like a scene from an R-rated game for teenagers.
“Retreat! Retreat!”
While a few of the soldiers were unceasingly running and shouting, the two groups who were trying to kill each other separated.
“Now, where do I have to go?”
Looking at the ring’s behaviour until now, this definitely was only a part of the ring’s power.
He couldn’t grasp its purpose and if it had malice towards him, it was something he couldn’t evade.
That is why he asked and soon, the shadow below Igeon turned into an arrow.
‘What a unique ability’
The arrow was pointing towards the soldier with sharp eyes he first saw.
*
After killing people at the battlefield, he returned to his wife and child as a kind father.
The soldier’s life brushed past like a panorama and it also showed other various people’s lives as well.
“So what?”
But Igeon was indifferent.
It wasn’t even his life, so what?
He shouldn’t be doing this to show him a movie.
As the area around him starts to sway, the space starts to melt.
The black landscape was being restructured like how an ice-cream melts and disappears.
Suddenly, a person stood in front of Igeon.
And the restructured landscape was changed into…
“…Seoul?”
The city of nightlife, the center where the neon lights brightens the darkness.
He could see large signs and tall buildings and the entry of the underground station indicated as Gangnam Station.
Igeon looked at the person standing in front of him.
Her eyes were big and her black pupils seemed as if it were shining.
Her glimmering long black hair looks as if could be in those hair commercials.
Black hair with black eyes, she was a beautiful young girl wearing an unusually shaped armor.
She looked around 17 years old?
Appearance wise she looked human, but she didn’t feel like a human.
Her appearance was very unique.
As if a person was drawn on a white paper, her entire being was in black and white only.
It felt as if she came out of a comic book.
However, the previous rings he had met were all too abnormal for him to nitpick about her appearance.
‘The one before was a person created by rays’
Instead, Igeon observed his surroundings.
“A Gangnam Station with no people is spooky”
The place crowded with people 24 hours had no human traces making him feel a chill.
“I guess you get lonely?”
Talking as she opens her hands, soon the place was filled with many voices and car horns.
“That’s amazing?”
It was his true feelings. She made a world with just a flick of her hand?
It was something the other ring owners he met until now couldn’t do.
Though whether it was her characteristic, every object was black with a white background.
Suddenly, Igeon gazed at his own hands.
Subconsciously, a wry smile appeared on his face. At some time his hands were already changed as if it were drawn with a black pen.
Proofreader Note: If you guys find errors, or have suggestions for proofreading, feel free to message me on the Kobatoland Discord channel @Pyrenose.
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syk (TL)
BlsdGrace (PR)