Meanwhile on Earth, the commotion caused by the appearance of a mysterious existence called ‘demon’ was still on-going. It was mainly due to the fact that the power of the demon which targets ‘emotion’ was working well against body-strengthening type superhuman and any shield made of the latest technology was proven to be useless against it. And even though the ‘Emotion Protection Technique’ announced by Another League had spread widely around the world, it could only be used by a superhuman with strong mental power, not common people, making the general public more anxious than ever.
The appearance of the demon had become a greater emergency than an epidemic. It was severe to the point it would be difficult to find people on the streets. And those who could still be found on the street were always carrying a stun gun or pepper spray for self-defense to protect themselves and were wary of each other.
In addition, the situation forced many companies to close their offices and instructed their employees to work from home while many self-employed people closed their businesses because of the bad economy.
However, it was unavoidable. In a situation where people did not even know when and where the demon would attack, wandering around would mean exposing themselves to danger. They could be the one who got their emotion manipulated or they could become the victim of others who had lost themselves in their emotions.
Meanwhile, Yekaterina had learned several things about the demon. First, in order for the demon to use its power in a certain area, the ‘possessed body’ must also be present in the same area.
Second, the movement of the possessed body was very careful. There’s a high possibility that the possessed body was someone well known to the public.
Just who amongst 7 billion people in the world made a contract with a demon?
Although it’s hard to determine at first, Yekaterina went into the hot pursuit focusing on the fact that the ‘witch’ had something to do with the demon, since she remembered reading books about demons back in the Morian guild.
And as a result, she was able to narrow down the suspect to just one person.
‘Avon of the Morian Guild…….’
She was someone who had imprisoned Yekaterina while pretending to take care of her, the first magician to ever appear in the world as well as the guild master of Russia’s largest guild, Morian.
In Yekaterina’s eyes, Avon had done well in erasing her trail by using many backdoor means such as smuggling herself while entering and leaving the country. However, it seems like Avon had overlooked the intelligence power of Another League and New Murim Alliance which had reached a level that had exceeded her imagination, so in the end Yekaterina could still detect Avon’s trail. And her trail matched well with the areas where ‘Emotion Contagions’ happened.
Yekaterina was almost certain that Avon was the one who was possessed by the demon or at least she had a close relationship with it. If she could only use her soul magic on her, she could reveal her identity to the whole world.
‘But how?’
Asking the guild master of Russia’s top guild to be scanned with soul magic would be perceived as a huge insult, and it’s obvious Avon would reject it with the excuse of ‘defamation’. And when Avon comes to know that Yekaterina had a way to find out about the demon, she would try to refuse any meeting with Another League as much as possible.
Yekaterina couldn’t find any possible way.
‘Would it be possible if I used something other than the demon’s matter to lure her out?’
The bait would be none other than ‘magic’.
Yekaterina, who could be said to be an expert in terms of handling Earth’s magic, had virtually uncompromising power and authority regarding magic. In this field, her words were the law.
So, Yekaterina decided to hold what she called the ‘Magician Assembly’. Speaking of groups of magicians, right now there were only the Morian Guild and Another League in the world… However, who would object when the best magician said she would do it?
Yekaterina also invited a large number of important figures from all over the world such as superstars, world-famous actors and actresses, politicians, CEO of large companies and of course guild masters of many big guilds, to suppress the backlash from her selfish desire. Another League had grown to a level where they could make those things possible.
Although the original purpose of this meeting was to attract Avon, Yekaterina could not hide her excitement because she could feel the authority Another League held.
“Fyuuhh….” Yekaterina exhaled as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. Contrary to how beautiful and confident she looked wrapped in a white suit that resembled her own hair, she was quite nervous deep down. How couldn’t she? Even though it was her who had called the people to attend this event, everyone present was someone who was important and held a certain amount of authority all over the world.
“Are you ready, President Yekaterina?” When a Korean female staff member came and asked her, Yekaterina simply nodded her head as the answer.
The Magician Assembly was held in Korea, the nation where Another League’s HQ was located. Therefore, Avon was forced to come to Korea thinking of how prestigious the assembly is. Currently, there were only two guilds which have magicians in their ranks, but it would change in the future as many more magicians would appear and join the assembly. And Avon and Morian Guild had no choice but to participate in the historic first meeting because they had lived their life with pride which was coming from the fact that they were magicians.
‘My job is very important.’ Yekaterina thought so and calmed her frantic heart. Yoo Seodam had asked her to capture the demon’s possessed body on Earth while he left for another world to directly confront the demon on the other side. Compared to his job, Yekaterina thought her job was practically nothing.
It was just meeting a lot of people.
“Let’s go.” Yekaterina straightened her shoulders, lifted her head and walked towards the conference hall. Even though she had no sight, she tried to look at everyone with her clearest eyes.
As soon as she entered the hall, dozens of cameras labelled with the logo of their respective broadcast station from around the world simultaneously illuminated Yekaterina’s face.
“Nice to meet you. My name is Yekaterina, magician of Another League.” Yekaterina said. As always on the outside, she kept her cold countenance on.
After glancing around the crowd, she sets her gaze on Avon, who was seated at the far end of her. She was smiling faintly as if she took a liking to her seat that was positioned faraway.
“The reason why I am here today is to spread ‘magic’ more actively to the world. To this day, humanity lacks the strength to fight against monsters, resulting in numerous casualties every single day. Could it have been because humanity are stupid and could never learned magic? The answer is no. It is simply because there was no opportunity for the public to come into contact with the ability known as magic.”
Currently, magic was only ‘partially’ disclosed through the internet and portal sites. But that also meant that magic was not accessible in countries where the internet couldn’t reach.
“That’s why, I intend to create a place where everyone could learn magic. First of all, we in Another League are planning to build a ‘magic tower’, a place where magic could be officially recognized and a place where they could showcase their talents. The second one we were preparing for was ‘magic academy’. It would be a place where students can pursue their dream of magic.”
In fact, the magic tower was currently already in the process of being established, however, there’s still no concrete plan for the magic academy as of yet. It was just an excuse for Yekaterina to gather all these people today. Afterall, to establish a magic academy, the number of students which could be admitted would be limited while the applicants would surely overflow, so choosing which applicant should be admitted would be a big hurdle.
“A magic academy?”
“Finally!!”
“To officially recognize ‘magician’ as a job…”
People began to murmur at her declaration. For them, no matter how transparently magic had been publicized, in the end there was a limit to self-learning, and in order to learn properly, they had no choice but to join Another League.
But, what if a ‘magic academy’ is established? The situation would surely become different. Even if they didn’t belong to the Another League, they could still learn magic. Of course, unbeknownst to them, there would be a condition attached to the graduating students which stated they would have to work at ‘Another League Magic Tower’, ‘Another League Research Institute’ or ‘Another League Agency’ for a few years…
‘But this is just a bait…’
When people reacted violently to the topic she threw without much thought, Yekaterina was slightly perplexed. She was only going to give a brief explanation about it, but it became rather difficult when more and more attention was focused on the topic than expected.
So, Yekaterina decided she had to bring up a topic which everyone couldn’t help but focus on right now.
“…and I’m sure you all know about the fact that magic can counteract the power of ‘demons’ to some extent.”
Demon. It was an unidentified monster which was currently considered to be the worst monster on Earth. It had no form, and had no clear attack method, making it difficult to hatch a countermeasure against it other than the ‘Emotion Protection Technique’ disclosed by Another League, so the people had no choice but to listen to Yekaterina intensively.
In fact, ‘Emotion Protection Technique’ was far from magic, but modern people had no way of knowing such a fact, so they couldn’t help but be deceived.
“Another reason for making magic universal is the existence of demons. We will need magic to fight against the ‘demon’.”
“I have one question. What makes you think that magic is the only power that can repel ‘Demons’?”
“That’s…because only magicians can summon a demon.”
The truth is, magicians and demons had absolutely nothing to do with each other. The two had no contact point and were technically opposite to each other. But Yekaterina still told such a lie, and the crowd began to roar. Much more chaotic than when Yekaterina brought up the magic academy.
“A magician could do that?”
“…that does make sense. If magicians are the only ones who can summon demons, it explains why we need magic to fight them.”
“But who, and why the hell did they do something like that?”
Slowly, the atmosphere began to flow towards the direction Yekaterina wanted. And Avon, who realized Yekaterina’s intentions, frowned.
“Maybe…it was to show the world the importance of magic.”
At those words, all murmur died down. The hall became completely silent.
Everyone’s present could draw a story from those words alone.
Magic was definitely a great science, and it was receiving a lot of attention from the world. For example, the Another League, where the best magician on the planet Yekaterina belonged, was always on the lips of people every day. But there was another magician guild which didn’t share the same fate as them.
The Morian Guild.
They were also a guild with many magicians on their ranks, but due to the difference in technique, they didn’t enjoy attention as big as Another League. Every day the spotlight only shined on the magic of Another League, and the Morian Guild had no choice but to be anxious. Due to that, the Morian Guild summoned a demon hoping they would get the spotlight they wished for as they made modern people depend on them because they were the only ones who know how to fight it.
But before that could happen, their plan went awry because Another League revealed the countermeasure…
Of course, it’s all nothing but a made-up story in everyone’s head. There’s no evidence which proves it’s authenticity. However, Yekaterina herself had revealed only a ‘magician’ can summon a demon. That alone was enough.
“There is no other group in the world aside from Another League and Morian Guild, are you trying to put the blame on us?”
“No. I have no intention of doing so.”
“If so, then isn’t Another League also suspicious? You could be the one who summoned the demon then manipulated the public opinion to bury us.”
“Yes. It’s possible.” Yekaterina meekly nodded. “Therefore, from now on, I plan to use a new magic called ‘Soul Projection’ to all magicians on the planet. Of course, including myself.”
“‘Soul Projection’?”
“Yes. It is a more accurate identification method than the soul magic which confirmed the ‘number of souls’ that was revealed before. Like the name implies, it would project the soul which exists in the subject’s body into reality.”
If ‘Soul Projection’ was used on person A, a soul that resembles person A would be shown. It was such a simple technique, but what if I used it on a demonic possessive body?
Avon’s expression grew more and more wrinkled. It’s not a good development for her. If Yekaterina used that technique here…there was a high possibility her identity would be discovered.
‘Hey, demon. Is there any way to block it?’
‘….’
Her wrinkle only grew deeper as the ‘demon’, who always answered when she called, suddenly became silent.
“…are you telling us to trust such untested spells?”
“Untested? Don’t you know our magic has been proven to be able to fight against demons?”
Avon tried her luck with that last argument. However, she didn’t get the result she wanted. The atmosphere has completely shifted to Yekaterina’s side. She had no doubt that everyone here was doubting her but couldn’t point it out since there’s no evidence.
Yekaterina stood up as if she would not delay it any longer, and Ye Sa-hye and another magician belonging to Another League who had been waiting behind her came out. They all stood on either side of Yekaterina and stretched out their hands, creating a strange magic circle which sank into Yekaterina’s feet.
Wooooooonnnggg-!!
Before long, a translucent soul wrapped in a pure white dress came out from Yekaterina’s body. With its eyes closed, the figure silently floats in the air. Naturally it was the figure of Yekaterina’s ‘soul’, so sighs erupted here and there at the presentation.
“Next… I’ll cast it on you, Avon of Morian Guild.”
“Ugh…”
Avon found herself in trouble, a really big trouble as she saw Ye Sa-hye and other magicians slowly heading towards her. She racked her brain to try to think of a way to somehow overcome the situation, but to no avail. In the first place, the media was on Yekaterina’s side, so any excuses she said would be useless.
‘At this rate …’ Avon looked around. It seems impossible to escape from this place. She could see S-rank hunters and warriors of Murim dispatched from the New Murim Alliance all over the hall. However, the moment she let the ‘Soul Projection’ touch her, her life would be over.
Cold sweat appeared on from her entire body. She couldn’t find a way to save herself from the predicament she was in.
‘I can’t get arrested here!’
With her head raised, Avon stretched out her hand toward the air. The S rank hunters were late to rush towards her as they were taken aback by her bizarre action.
CRACKLEE-!!
Avon’s body swelled up, caving the ground beneath and destroying the ceiling above, and in an instant, she had transformed into a ‘giant’.
“Ugh!”
“What, what!”
At the sudden turn of events, all hunters quickly retreated and protected the guest. However, they soon had to stop moving.
“That…that…”
“Demon!?!?”
The figure of Avon had changed into a giant skeleton with red bones. It had a large horn resembling a saw which looked so vicious attached to its head.
It was truly an overwhelming presence which literally provokes ‘fear’ to anyone who sees it.
Even the S rank hunters, who had learned soul magic to some extent had no choice but to kneel on the floor because of the sight before them. Yekaterina was no exception.
‘How!!’
Yekaterina had concluded the ‘demon’ would not manifest for a while after analysing the huge amount of ‘energy wave’ which erupted when the devil appeared in South Africa. By her estimation, it would take at least a few years for the demon to gather that much energy again…
Thud!
When Avon lightly twisted her foot, the entire building was swept away. No one could move. No one was brave enough to raise their head in the face of the terrifyingly dense ‘fear’.
As Avon opened her mouth, a voice came out. However, the voice which came out wasn’t one but two voices overlapping each other.
-“You’re still as arrogant as ever, Yekaterina. Yeah, you’ve always liked this kind of useless farce, don’t you?”
“Eugh…”
-“But…don’t you remember? Your plans have always been ruined because of me.”
Yekaterina felt like nausea would come out as she heard Avon’s words. Tears welled up on her eyes, her fingertips trembled, and her lips couldn’t even move, so she was unable to use magic.
Even though a barrier was erected in place to protect her soul and emotions through soul magic, the moment the demon appeared, such a trick became completely useless.
-“It reminds me of the past, Yekaterina. You have always been ungrateful despite all the kindness and protection I gave to you. Shouldn’t a bad girl be punished?’”
Those were the words which Yekaterina had been hearing for decades during her imprisonment. After that words fell, severe corporal punishment had always awaited her. At the words that stimulated her PTSD, Yekaterina eventually collapsed, losing even her will to resist.
-“Then, let’s go back…”
As Avon reached towards Yekaterina with her red-blood hand.
-“Huh?”
Whooshh!!
Her body suddenly caught fire. The flame, which started from her toes and fingertips, began to swallow her body in an instant. And at first, some hunters, who thought it was a demon’s skill, were shivering and fell to the ground… However, they soon felt strange and raised their heads.
The power of ’emotion’ which had interfered with them had weakened!
-“Uh, huh?! what, what! What the hell! Hey demon! What happened! Answer me! Answer me!”
With her body on fire, Avon shuddered in agony and shrieked. But the demon still didn’t answer. She felt the demon’s presence which had lent her his power, and had discussed with her of putting the world under their feet, had completely vanished.
-“Ye…katerina! What the hell did you do…!”
However, Yekaterina was also confused about what was happening. In the first place, she didn’t do anything.
Then, belatedly, she was able to recall something. She got up with all her might, and she cried out loudly. “The demon has been weakened! It can’t do anything now, so please subdue her!”
Then, the hunters responded to Yekaterina’s words fiercely.
“Oh, Magician Yekaterina has conquered the demon!”
“Let’s smash its head while it is weakened!”
“Die, you motherfucker!”
In the place where luxurious vocabulary was circulating due to the gathering of high-ranking people, harsh words of the hunters had now filled the hall. So far, no physical blows had worked against it, but seeing the demon now had become helpless, Yekaterina’s legs became weak and she plopped down to the floor.
Then, as she remembered someone who had saved everyone in this place by weakening the demon, Yekaterina smiled.