Chapter 47

CHAPTER 47

Madness 100 (2)

Seo Ju-Heon casually looked at the two rings he had torn away—the Majester's Heart, along with the two divine relics stripped from Delreira's neck: Persephone's and Demeter's relics.

At the same time, he lightly swung Hades' Staff in his hand.

The black aura that had been crushing the land receded like the ebbing tide.

At Ju-Heon's words, Delreira collapsed.

"No...! The Twelve Executors...! I was supposed to sit among them...!"

[Hades' Domain (Underworld Manifestation) has been deactivated.]

Delreira muttered like someone who had lost her mind.

Ju-Heon narrowed his eyes as he repeated the words to himself.

As the darkness covering the city dispersed, its true appearance was revealed.

All of Delreira's plague facilities had been dismantled by Ju-Heon into heaps of scrap metal, while the land itself had withered, drained of every trace of life.

"Alright. Time for the repairs."

"What about my daughter?"

"Your daughter? I don't know... Only the Executors would know that..."

Ju-Heon slipped the Ring of Demeter he had stolen from Delreira onto his finger.

The system immediately responded.

[You have formed a contract with the ownerless Divine Relic 'Demeter.']
[Warning. Demeter's relic is currently locked in 'Winter Mode.']
['Persephone's Relic' is required to activate 'Summer Mode.']

At that moment, brilliant waves of gold and silver radiated from Ju-Heon's feet and spread throughout the entire city.

Life surged back into the dead land.

Green vines grew over the ruins of shattered buildings, rebuilding collapsed walls brick by brick.

The dried-up roadside trees expanded as though decades had passed overnight, sprouting enormous leaves.

The land where Delreira had cultivated poison and disease was being reconstructed into the greatest paradise on earth, overflowing with pure life.

Ju-Heon smirked before raising the Relic of Persephone in his other hand.

"Ah... Aaaah..."

"Yeah. Here it is."

[Relic Resonance: Demeter × Persephone]
['Eternal Summer' has been activated!]

Lying on the ground, Delreira let out a broken groan.

The realm she had never managed to reach—not after spending decades tiptoeing around Vitrain, infecting tens of thousands of people, and gathering countless essences—

[Summer Season: Blossoming of All Creation]

Ju-Heon achieved it perfectly in only a few seconds, completely denying everything she had worked for her entire life.

"Cleaning's finished here. The recyclable trash is a bit oversized, but just throw it all out."

"Impossible... Those aren't my flowers...! That's not the world I created!"

"Of course not. Yours was nothing more than rotten fertilizer. Well, with this, the rent's been settled. Now get out."

"Aaaaah!"

Cynthia stared blankly at the flower petals that had landed in her palm.

"This... Is this really my city?"

Ju-Heon pointed his chin toward Delreira.

Watching the world she had painstakingly built being reconstructed into Seo Ju-Heon's personal garden, Delreira screamed in despair.

Her authority, her honor, and even her future had all been stolen away.

She rolled helplessly across the ground.

Standing among the fully blossomed flowers with Hades' Staff planted beside him, Ju-Heon smiled viciously as he watched Majester Yu Jae-ha and Cynthia approach from afar.

"That's right. It's your city.

And that's the trash you need to take out."

However, Majester Yu Jae-ha was shocked for an entirely different reason.

His gaze fixed on Ju-Heon.

"Hey, rookie... What the hell did you pull out? Isn't that a heart?"

Sure, if a Majester couldn't use relics, they were practically dead anyway...

What shocked him wasn't Delreira.

It was what Ju-Heon was holding.

Ju-Heon, however, remained perfectly calm.

"Oh. It just kind of came out."

Then Ju-Heon casually added,

"It happened by accident."

He accidentally pulled someone's heart out?

Nobody knew what kind of nonsense he was talking about.

But something even more unbelievable remained.

"So a Majester's heart isn't some physical organ that kills you the moment it's removed?"

"Are you kidding? Of course you die if it's removed! If they didn't, why do you think I used that idiot as your substitute?"

"...She had her heart ripped out and she's still alive?"

In other words...

Only Ju-Heon was capable of doing something like this.

Delreira desperately crawled toward him.

Her trembling eyes remained fixed on the heart in his hand.

"Give it back...! Give it back! The Twelve Executors...! That position was promised to me! They said they'd make me one of the Executors!"

Ju-Heon raised an eyebrow at the Rope Relic.

"Tie this thing up."

"So those Executors..."

"They all possess Supreme Chief God-class relics. They're a group made up entirely of monsters who are beyond the standards even among the Majesters."

"Oh? There are twelve people with Supreme Chief God-class relics? Sounds worth beating up."

"You've been talking about these Twelve Executors this whole time. Are they strong?"

Madness flickered in Ju-Heon's eyes.

Yu Jae-ha looked at him in horror.

The moment he heard that familiar name, his expression instantly stiffened.

It was obvious he didn't want to talk about them.

But...

"Hey! It's not 'worth beating up'! You'll lose your life!"

"And Vitrain?"

"He's disgustingly strong. They're monsters who control all the other Majesters."

"Heh. So what?"

Ju-Heon's voice turned ice-cold.

Apparently, the fact that they had taken his daughter to turn her into a relic had truly enraged him.

Cynthia then spoke.

"That bastard didn't just build this city.

He designed and created cities across countless world lines."

Only then did all the scattered information in Ju-Heon's head connect into a single line.

Vitrain had designed this city.

Delreira had merely been the one "farming" according to his blueprint.

Ju-Heon examined the extracted Majester's Heart.

[A new Majester Authority can be added.]
[Authority: Propagation]

"Now I finally see the whole picture."

Veins bulged across Ju-Heon's forehead.

Delreira's Authority seemed to allow the power of relics to be propagated to multiple locations.

That was how she had used Demeter's relic to create seeds of disease and spread them everywhere.

"Vitrain...

That bastard designed this city from the very beginning as one gigantic disease farm.

The wine woman was nothing but a tenant farmer whose name was on the deed.

The real harvest manager was that thieving cat."

"He probably promised her a nice position in exchange for cooperating."

Delreira had already fallen beyond fear into complete despair.

Having lost her Authority, she was now nothing more than disposable waste that Vitrain would eventually throw away.

Yu Jae-ha glanced at her.

[Modified Ability: Spam Mail (S-Rank)]
Effect: Forces an Authority directly inside the target, ignoring all defensive barriers.

"So? What are you going to do with her now? Kill her?"

"No. I've already gotten everything important. Why would I bother?"

Ju-Heon's expression was worth seeing.

He casually gripped the Majester's Heart he had extracted from Delreira's chest.

Then—

Spam Mail?

Couldn't it have turned into something a little cooler?

[You have obtained a Majester Authority.]
 [<Propagation> (A-Rank) has been modified to match the traits of Majester Seo Ju-Heon and stored.]

"If it had to be a similar ability, why not something like Trojan Horse? At least that sounds cool."

[This is the Authority most compatible with Majester Seo Ju-Heon.]

"..."

[The 'Plague List' has been deleted from the Rulebook.]

Well, as long as it works properly, I don't really care.

Without hesitation, Ju-Heon picked up Demeter's Ring.

The divine relic, which had been blackening and dying after losing its master, screamed as it resonated in his hand.

At the same time, the City of Dionysus trembled.

The murky haze vanished from the eyes of the people who had been drowned in pleasure and addiction.

Fresh green sprouts emerged throughout the foul-smelling alleys.

For the first time in their lives, peace spread across the faces of citizens once twisted in agony.

"Good. Now that the shell and the Authority have finally been combined, you're complete."

"Demeter... produce the Seeds of Life."

"Ah..."

As he forcibly activated the relic, countless seeds scattered everywhere.

Then he poured his newly acquired Spam Mail Authority into them.

In an instant, dazzling radiance surged across the entire City of Dionysus like a tidal wave.

Cynthia stood frozen, watching the spectacle.

The shadow of the Disease Farm designed by Vitrain disappeared.

For the first time, the city truly began to breathe.

"That should do it."

Now...

It was time to break through the trial awaiting his own city.

Ju-Heon unfolded the Summoning Ticket Cynthia had given him.

He intended to use the power of Spam.

[Summoning Ticket]

Then Ju-Heon grabbed Delreira by the scruff of her neck and threw her down at Cynthia's feet.

The Rulebook had clearly stated it.

"Here. Make her answer for turning your front yard into a graveyard."

"...!"

[Summoning Ticket]
 Allows the user to summon beings from their own world—or send something back to it.

Cynthia's eyes widened.

That meant...

Then this should work too.

Ju-Heon consumed one Summoning Ticket and sent the Seeds of Life back to his own world.

Someone as clever as Julian would surely understand what they meant.

"Right."

"I'm returning the authority over this city to Majester Cynthia."

"You...!"

Cynthia bit her lip as she looked at him.

Ju-Heon simply smiled.

But at that very moment—

"The fake kingdom sustained by drugs and disease is over."

"It's no longer the farm Vitrain designed."

[Who gave you permission... to alter my blueprint?]

"...?!"

Ju-Heon took several steps forward.

"So now..."

"Build your own city."

"A true Kingdom of Dionysus..."

"One filled with wine, abundance, and joy."

A chilling voice echoed through the air.

Ju-Heon slowly looked up at the sky.

Behind him, Cynthia stared at his back with trembling hands.

She felt as though tears might spill from her eyes.

For the first time, her face was filled with hope...

...and gratitude.

Then—

BOOOOOOM!!

"Thanks."

"You're kinder than I expected."

A deafening roar split the heavens apart.

A gigantic crack opened in the center of the city.

From within the rift...

A gigantic black arm emerged.

[Warning. The descent of the Architect, Vitrain, has been detected!]
 [Warning. All laws of this world line have been temporarily suspended by Vitrain!]

The black arm swept across the ground.

Delreira's body, which had been lying there, crumbled into dust and vanished.

Even her final scream shattered into nothingness.

"AAAAAAAHHH!!"

"Delreira...!"

A low, icy voice echoed across the entire world.

[So... Delreira has been defeated.]

She was dead.

Delreira had died.

Cynthia cried out in horror.

But Vitrain's arm was already moving toward her.

Fear flashed across her face.

Delreira had trembled in terror the moment she heard that voice.

[Cities that fail to prove their worth should be destroyed.]

"No! I didn't lose! He's... he's the abnormal one!"

[Your heart is gone. Useless.]

With that cold judgment...

The black arm pierced straight through Cynthia's chest.

Thrust!

"Khh...!"

Cynthia coughed up blood and collapsed to her knees.

Ju-Heon clearly saw a brilliant green crystal being pulled out of her body.

It was...

Cynthia's Majester Heart.