Chapter 73

There was a drawing that resembled a bird with its wings spread wide.

It had three heads, three pairs of wings, and six legs—an unnatural creature.

Rather than a bird, it looked closer to a chimera.

That alone would have been fine.

The artist’s taste could simply have been unusual.

The problem was that the drawing wasn’t made with paint, but with human blood. And where the bird’s heads should have been, there were actual human faces.

At the ends of the three pairs of wings were human arms, and at the six leg positions were real human legs, arranged like decorations.

In other words, someone had killed people, used their blood to paint, and their body parts as ornaments.

“What sick taste.”

It was not strange in this world for people to kill others.

Even at this very moment, someone was likely dying somewhere.

But the slaughter unfolding before Zeon’s eyes was different.

It was clearly done not for survival, but to satisfy personal pleasure and desire.

“Tch!”

Zeon clicked his tongue.

The overwhelming stench of blood assaulted his senses.

The blood of magical beasts and humans was different.

Both smelled of blood, but human blood was far more pungent.

Perhaps that was why magical beasts craved it so much.

The victims appeared to be an entire family.

The head of a middle-aged woman, and those of a boy and a girl who seemed to be her children.

Their wide-open eyes and gaping mouths vividly conveyed the terror they must have felt before death.

“So it’s that lunatic’s doing.”

Zeon immediately realized it was the work of the person Clexi had mentioned.

While he had been away, the slaughter had taken place just three floors below his home.

The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.

It was as if his territory had been violated.

Just then—

“M-Mom? Guys!”

A voice came from behind.

When Zeon turned, he saw a boy standing there in shock.

He recognized the face instantly.

“Levin… don’t tell me—”

It was Levin, the boy he had met earlier.

Only then did Zeon recall that Levin had said he lived in the end unit on the fifteenth floor—this very place.

Levin staggered into the house.

His expression showed he couldn’t believe the horrific scene before him.

When despair reaches its peak, the mind goes blank.

Just like Levin now.

He couldn’t think of anything.

Just a short while ago, when he had left the house, his mother and siblings had been alive and well.

They had argued that morning, and he had said things he didn’t mean—but he had never wished for this.

“No!”

Levin finally regained his senses and screamed.

“Damn…”

“What the hell happened here?”

The onlookers shook their heads.

Normally, they wouldn’t care about other people’s affairs—but this was different.

It had happened right in front of their homes.

If things had gone slightly differently, they could have been the victims.

Shuddering, they felt grateful that it hadn’t been them.

“Waaah!”

Levin clutched the severed heads of his mother and siblings and wailed.

Even seeing that, not a single person stepped forward to comfort him.

“Well, only the dead are pitiful.”

“More importantly, the smell of blood is going to reach our homes.”

“I hope someone cleans this up properly. I doubt that kid’s in any state to do it.”

What they worried about was not the tragedy, but the possibility of insects swarming and the stench spreading into their own homes.

Zeon watched the scene indifferently.

After crying so much, Levin no longer had the strength to even hold himself up.

His entire body was stained red with his family’s blood.

Zeon even wondered if that sight was exactly what the lunatic who committed this crime had wanted.

“…It can’t be helped.”

Bang!

Zeon shut the door, cutting off the onlookers’ view.

“Whoever did this to my family… I’ll kill them. I’ll find them and kill them.”

Clutching the severed heads, Levin trembled as he spoke.

Blood dripped from his eyes.

The corners of his eyes had torn, and blood streamed down.

Tears mixed with blood and fell to the floor.

At the same time, a light began to leak from Levin’s wrist.

Zeon knew exactly what that meant.

‘He awakened.’

A crest—the mark of an awakened—had appeared on Levin’s wrist.

Martial types had red crests.

Magic types had blue.

Shaman types had gray.

Those fused with machines had black.

Most awakened fell into these categories.

But occasionally, there were exceptions.

Zeon himself was one of them.

His crest was an orange color, like a burning desert.

His awakened ability was also unique—a sand manipulator, not part of any existing system.

The light coming from Levin’s wrist was unusual as well.

A vivid purple.

A color Zeon had never seen before.

Zeon stared closely at Levin’s wrist.

The seventh and final line was glowing purple.

It meant he was an F-rank awakened.

Being F-rank at the moment of awakening was normal.

Most awakened started at F-rank.

Zeon himself had started there as well.

Starting ahead didn’t mean faster growth.

Some people struggled their entire lives with little progress, while others rose quickly from F-rank.

Growth mechanisms differed for each person and each awakened ability.

What mattered wasn’t the rank—

but the awakened ability itself.

The purple crest was something even Zeon had never seen before.

He didn’t know what Levin’s awakened ability was, but it was clearly something extremely rare.

Just then—

Levin, who had been swearing revenge, suddenly began to turn transparent, his body rippling like waves.

He looked like a ghost.

Pabababak!

In that instant, an enormous amount of energy burst out from Levin’s ghost-like form.

The energy destroyed everything inside the house.

＊＊＊

After releasing that surge of energy, Levin lost consciousness.

His transparent body returned to normal.

Zeon moved Levin to one side, then gathered the remains of the bodies together.

The mutilated corpses were truly horrifying.

Anyone with a weak stomach wouldn’t even dare to touch them.

But Zeon showed no change in expression as he handled the remains.

He had experienced things far worse.

This alone couldn’t shake him in the slightest.

After gathering the remains, Zeon muttered,

“May you go to a better place…”

Whoosh!

In an instant, the fragments of the corpses were engulfed in flames.

It was fire conjured by Zeon.

The intense heat incinerated the bodies in a flash.

Under normal circumstances, a fire of that magnitude would have burned the entire house down.

But everything else remained untouched.

It was as if only the space containing the corpses had been cut out and burned.

Any flame-type mage who saw this would have been astonished.

Among all types of magic, fire was one of the hardest to control.

Because of its nature to spread through a medium, precise control was extremely difficult.

Yet Zeon ignited flames indoors while perfectly controlling them so that nothing else burned.

Just like a mage born with an innate affinity for fire.

The flames burned only the corpses and then vanished.

Zeon opened the window to let the heat escape, then gathered the remaining ashes.

Though three people had been burned, the ashes amounted to only a couple of handfuls.

Zeon placed them into an empty bottle.

After briefly looking around the empty house, he hoisted Levin over his shoulder and stepped outside.

The people who had gathered to watch the scene were already gone.

Since it had nothing to do with them, their interest had quickly faded.

It was a clear display of how meaningless neighborly bonds were in this place.

Zeon carried Levin back to his own home.

He laid Levin on the bed and sat down on the sofa, recalling what he had seen earlier.

Levin had turned transparent like a ghost and released a massive amount of energy.

“Ghostification… something like a specter’s ability?”

Not all magical beasts possessed powerful physical bodies.

Some, like the ghost parasites Zeon had obtained not long ago, existed as parasitic forms that controlled other creatures.

Others had no fixed body at all, changing into liquid forms depending on the situation.

Slimes were a prime example.

Specters were another such anomaly.

They floated without a physical form, like ghosts, and attacked the mind.

Those with weak mental fortitude would lose their will or be controlled by them.

“On top of that, energy discharge…”

If he had to classify it, it was closer to electrical energy.

That meant Levin likely possessed two distinct traits at once.

Zeon had heard of awakened individuals with dual traits, but this was the first time he had seen one in person.

Levin was clearly an irregular—just like himself.

There was no telling what his limits would be, but if he developed properly, he would become an immense force.

Levin lay still, like a corpse, in a deep sleep.

He had exhausted himself right after awakening by releasing such a massive amount of energy.

Leaving Levin as he was, Zeon looked out the window.

Cheap neon lights flickered and distorted his view.

＊＊＊

Levin woke up three days after the incident.

His demeanor had changed drastically.

His cheeks were hollow, his eyes sunken, and his gaze deeply dimmed.

It was as if he had aged ten years in an instant.

After sitting blankly for a moment, Levin looked at Zeon.

“Is this your place, hyung?”

“Yeah.”

“It looks nice.”

“I spent some money on it.”

“I figured. You looked like you had money.”

“Enough to get by.”

“…Is that a mana generator?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow. I’ve only heard about them—I’ve never actually seen one before.”

“First time I’ve bought one myself.”

“Man, rich hyung! Let’s get along well.”

Levin smiled brightly.

After watching him for a moment, Zeon picked up the glass bottle he had placed by the window.

“That is…?”

“Take it.”

“….”

“It’s your family. I cremated them without asking for your permission.”

“Th… thank you.”

The mask Levin had been forcing onto his face cracked.

He lowered his head, clutching the bottle tightly to his chest.

Zeon watched him silently.

Sometimes, it was better to simply watch in silence than offer clumsy comfort—Zeon knew that well.

It was a long while before Levin lifted his head again.

Forcing a smile, he said,

“Thank you, hyung.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’ll go back home. If I leave it like that, someone else will take it.”

“And after that?”

“I’ll find them. The one who killed my mom and siblings.”

Levin’s voice was chillingly cold.

Revenge was his rightful choice.

Zeon had no intention of stopping him.

But there was something he wanted to advise.

“You know you’ve awakened, right?”

“Yes.”

There was no way he wouldn’t.

The moment one awakened, they instinctively understood their own ability.

Zeon had experienced it himself.

“And you know your ability isn’t normal, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“You’d better hide it well. If it draws attention, things could get ugly.”

“I will.”

Levin nodded.

Zeon said nothing more.

No matter how much Levin took his advice to heart, the decisions—and the consequences—were entirely his to bear.