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Chapter 28
Daria, unable to withstand my interrogation, eventually confessed everything.
“You killed Darius’s mother too, didn’t you?”
“No, that wasn’t my original intention… ha. Fine. It was me. So what?”
Guess this is what they call a thief confessing on their own.
“Wow, you’re something else. You even fooled these guys for two years, so how on earth did you figure it out?”
Of course, the reason she was so quick to spill everything wasn’t because she was stupid.
Knowing a person’s guardian spirit’s rank—and especially what type it is—
was essentially the same as knowing everything about them.
If it happened to be a unique guardian spirit like one of history or legend, the information would be guarded even more strictly.
That’s why Daria must have assumed I had access to the kind of classified intelligence only top brass could see.
“Think about it carefully. That’s why you and your people keep getting screwed by me.”
“Ha… seriously, you’re annoying.”
She let out a heavy sigh.
But the smirk at her lips didn’t disappear.
“…But you do know, don’t you?”
“What?”
“If you fight me here, your friends won’t get out unscathed. Even if I die, I won’t go down quietly.”
She said it like she was talking about someone else’s problem.
Despite claiming she had been in a relationship for two years,
she was threatening that if I attacked her here, she’d kill the sleeping Darius and Bogdan as well.
Pretending to be Darius’s girlfriend all this time, yet not sparing him the slightest sympathy.
“So what?”
“Huh?”
But did I have any special attachment to Darius?
The reason I was cooperating with them under the banner of “revenge” was purely for my own benefit.
If they became a liability, I could discard them anytime.
Losing a source of intel was risky, but if there was a greater, more direct threat, that came first.
There was no room for messy emotions in that process.
“I don’t care. Whether they live or die.”
“What? You’re really cold-blooded, aren’t you?”
“Not exactly something you should be saying.”
“…”
Daria clamped her lips shut.
But I could see the wheels in her head turning through her eyes.
Swish!
On the table—the magic wand Darius had been using earlier.
She reached out for it in a flash.
Thwack!
“Kyaaah!”
Of course I wasn’t about to just let that happen.
I sliced her wrist off with Dragon Claw in an instant.
Slash!
Then I raised my other hand to follow up.
“You—!”
Just as Daria tried to use her remaining hand to cast a spell—
Click.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
Because of her scream, the sleeping Darius and Bogdan woke up.
“Uh…? Dasha!”
And then they saw her, clutching her severed wrist and writhing on the floor.
Her attempt to counterattack me was gone without a trace.
Instead, she was putting on a pathetic act.
“Ahhh… it hurts…”
“You bastard! What did you do!”
Of course, they could only misunderstand.
Darius glared at me with hostility and reached for his wand.
But his hand came up empty.
“D-damn it! I swear I put it in my coat pocket…”
“Looks like your girlfriend snuck it out.”
“What…?”
He spotted the wand rolling next to Daria.
“Forget that—Dasha! Are you alright?”
He rushed to her side, panic all over his face.
“Ahh… it hurts…”
“What the hell is this? We welcomed you into the Family, and this is how you repay us!”
His rage was understandable.
He had just lost his mother today, and now he was seeing his beloved girlfriend bleeding—of course he’d snap.
I told him the cold truth.
“Look closely. That woman is the traitor who killed your mother.”
Darius’s eyes shook.
But he quickly retorted.
“On what grounds? Do you have any proof?”
“She’s an awakened with a legendary guardian spirit. She hid it from you for two years.”
“No way. Dasha would never…! Even if she did, what does that have to do with her being a spy for Kalininskaya?”
“You’ll find out soon enough when you see it with your own eyes.”
Now that she’d been exposed, there was no point in lengthy explanations.
He could see the truth for himself later.
Right now, eliminating Daria came first.
“Kyahhh!”
“No!”
The sharp tip of Dragon Claw stabbed toward her stomach.
And then she activated the spell she had been preparing earlier.
Clang!
Mana burst from her bare hand like a jet, knocking my claws aside.
“Tch! Pathetic.”
She grabbed Darius’s wand with her other hand.
“D-Dasha! What’s happening…?”
He had never seen his lover like this in two years.
The shock left him speechless.
Fwoosh!
But there was no time for him to process it.
Daria swung the wand, and a green energy burst forth, forming the shape of a dog.
“Die!”
And it lunged—not at me, but at the defenseless Darius.
‘So that’s her plan.’
In that instant, I saw through her intention.
By attacking an ally, she wanted to distract me.
If I rushed to protect Darius, she would use the opening to escape.
If she returned to Kalininskaya with this information, that would be a major problem.
She must have planned this from the start.
Fighting inside this house was basically the same as holding him hostage.
‘Sorry, but your judgment is wrong.’
As I said earlier, I had no intention of being dragged down by these people.
In fact, this was the perfect chance to strike her instead.
Slash!
Without a moment’s hesitation, I drove my claws toward her.
Dragon Claw sliced off the arm holding the wand.
“Arghhh!”
Thud.
That was the end of it.
A mage without hands was powerless.
Not even capable of casting a teleportation spell to escape.
Daria collapsed to the floor.
Crash!
“Urgh! Bro, are you okay?”
The wolf-shaped spell charging at Darius was blocked by Bogdan, who swung his knife.
It was tough, being a legendary-class spell, but they both managed to survive without grave injuries.
In the end, Daria’s attack completely failed, only exposing her weakness.
“Y-you… you really don’t care at all…? Your ally almost died…”
“Did you not hear what I said earlier?”
“Ugh… huuu…”
She sobbed where she sat, unable to resist or escape.
Step, step.
I walked toward her.
Glancing aside, I saw Darius sitting in shock, utterly broken.
It was clear that his mind was replaying every moment from the past two years.
‘Must be confusing.’
The girlfriend who had clung to him so desperately for two years,
and the woman who just moments ago had tried to kill him with magic.
The two images overlapped, leaving him unable to tell which was real.
“Goodbye.”
But that wouldn’t last long.
Soon, he would see the truth for himself.
“N-no…!”
Slice.
I calmly severed Daria’s throat with my claws.
{You have absorbed the soul of Finn Mak Cool.}
{You have stolen the authority <Summon Bran>.}
{You have stolen the authority <Summon Scallon>.}
{Willpower has increased by 5.}
{Synchronization with Azidahaka has increased. 6.59%}
This time, I obtained two powers.
The authority she had used to summon those dogs.
{Insufficient demons to disrupt the system.}
But once again, the message appeared.
The powers I had just acquired were sealed.
‘This is inconvenient…’
I’d need to either capture several demons at once or find another method.
“Unlocked it, bro.”
Meanwhile, I had Darius and Bogdan open Daria’s laptop.
It was bound by both iris and fingerprint recognition.
Which meant I had to use her severed hand and eye to unlock it—a disgusting task, but necessary.
To uncover the truth, there was no other choice.
[January 5th, 2030]
[Successfully infiltrated Darius, an obshchak within the Nikolai Family.]
Inside was a report.
The dates began exactly two years ago.
[Darius: 35 years old. Handles the most stolen intelligence from Kalininskaya. If controlled, could allow full information dominance over the Nikolai Family.]
…
[Established romantic relationship with target. Infiltration proceeding smoothly.]
…
[Transferred identity data of high executive A-11.]
[Transferred identity data of high executive A-7.]
[Transferred identity data of high executive O-3.]
[Transferred communication structure map.]
[Transferred identity data of high executive B-1.]
Daria had exploited Darius’s high information access to leak countless secrets.
The very reason I had contracted with him was for his information-gathering skills—
and yet, Kalininskaya had been using him for the same thing all along.
“Th-this can’t be… damn it…”
Bang.
Darius slammed the desk, devastated.
Seeing with his own eyes how she had used him to betray the Family must have been crushing.
Not just betrayal—self-loathing.
[Initiating purge operations. Transmitting locations of fugitive executives.]
In fact, the most decisive blow to the Family’s collapse
came from the internal data she had stolen.
In other words, the primary architect of the Nikolai Family’s downfall… was none other than himself.
[“Poisoned Tea Operation” failed. Target not—]
The final document was an unfinished report about the poisoned tea.
The one she had been writing earlier.
“Fuck… I… I destroyed my Family… I killed my mom…”
Bang!
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
Darius vented his uncontrollable fury.
But there was no one else to blame.
He had been the fool.
“Why… why didn’t I see it? …Damn it! Damn it!”
“Calm down, bro.”
“How the hell could an obshchak not notice the leak happening right under his nose!”
Kalininskaya had toyed with his entire life.
They planted a parasite right beside him, manipulated everything, and mocked him thoroughly.
And he embraced that parasite lovingly, never realizing it was draining him dry—
even sacrificing his comrades’ lives and blood.
Darius must have felt utterly disgusted with himself.
“So what now? You think raging will fix anything, bro?”
“…”
Even in the middle of this, Bogdan stayed level-headed.
He could have easily blamed Darius, but he didn’t.
“Let’s avenge Mom and the Family. We’ve cut out the tumor—now it’s time to crush those bastards, bro.”
“Revenge…”
“We’ll annihilate them, even more thoroughly. Even if you don’t want to, I will.”
“…Yeah. Let’s do it.”
Darius clasped Bogdan’s outstretched hand.
Then, just like earlier that day, they bumped shoulders.
“The Nikolai Family doesn’t die, bro!”
With that, they made a grim vow.
‘That’s right. That’s how it should be.’
Watching quietly, the corners of my lips curled upward.
