The 31st Piece Turns the Tables
chapter-191

Chunks of meat from what used to be Manhã were scattered throughout the room.

As the disturbing sound of splattering human meat filled the room, the gang members from the garden came rushing in.

In front of Seol stood Marcelo’s group, while gang members blocked the path behind him.

“Who is he?!”

“Wh-what the fuck? Who the hell is that? Marcelo! What do you want us to do?”

The gang members acted daringly, unable to tell the difference between their strength.

“Shut up for a second,” said Marcelo. “Don’t do anything until I make a decision…”

It was obvious why Marcelo would be upset by the current situation. But there were two people more furious than him: Tarde and Noite, Manhã’s twin brothers.

“Manhã…”

“There’s nothing we can do. There’s no point in a coffin either.”

Even though their brother had died, Tarde and Noite were calm. It was because anger wouldn’t do anything for them right now. In fact, it would only make things worse.

They took a deep breath to calm themselves down before talking to Marcelo.

“Marcelo, this is different from our agreement. Wasn’t the deal to just deal with the Haunted Swordsman?”

“I-I don’t know who he is either.”

Marcelo, who had reached his position in the cartel through brutality and audacity, was now stuttering at the unexpected situation. The person losing their mind the most was him.

"Who are you? What did we do for you to come to my manor and do this?”

“He’s likely the Haunted Swordsman’s friend,” said another one of Marcelo’s executives. “Judging by their conversation earlier and how the situation is going… it’s probably that.”

“I hate when unexpected variables show up…”

With a better grasp of the situation, Marcelo shot Seol a question.

“Why don’t you tell us your name first, then, friend? Name?”

“I don’t recall ever becoming friends with you, though?”

“Hiding your name even after all of that… fine. Starting a conversation is the hardest part, anyway. Tell me what you want.”

“What I want?”

“Didn’t you come here with a goal? Ah, that might be good. I’ll give you what the Haunted Swordsman wanted.”

Yeo-myeong scoffed after hearing that.

“I was supposed to receive that item from the start. You're only giving it now?”

“I understand. To make up for the delay, I'll throw in something extra as a gesture of apology and sincerity. How does that sound?”

Yeo-myeong didn’t respond.

There was only one person here who had the right to make a decision.

“I don’t need money.”

“What do you need then?”

“I want all of you… to leave Azelphog. If you do, I’ll let you keep your lives.”

“Hah, you must be… completely out of your mind.”

Retreating from Azelphog essentially signified that the cartel had succumbed to pressure from others.

A criminal organization retreating in fear would undoubtedly become a laughingstock, to the point where they essentially wouldn't be able to maintain their credibility anymore.

Not to mention, Azelphog was the frontline for Las Cabras. It was a city all of its executives were wary of.

Therefore, retreating from Azelphog while sparing him from Seol would inevitably result in him being targeted and killed by Las Cabras.

Marcelo’s opponent was aware of this fact as well.

Judging that the conversation was pointless, Marcelo turned to Tarde and Noite.

“I’ll pay you extra. I’ll also compensate you for the loss of your brother.”

“...You want us to fight him?”

“There’s no other choice. If we turn tail here, Las Cabras will kill us instead. Is that what you want?”

"The return is too small. I think my back might break from the risk involved."

“You won’t be disappointed. I swear on my life.”

“Hm…”

Tarde then looked back and forth between Marcelo and Marcelo’s subordinate.

“Hey, you.”

“What? What is it?”

“Take my punishment.”

“What are you—”

As Tarde grabbed his arm, something strange happened.

[Tarde used Pin the Blame.]

[The target is punished instead.]

Snap… Twist…

His arm began to twist completely, as if it were demonstrating what a 180-degree rotation truly looked like.

“Huh? Wh-wha… Ahhhhhhhhh!”

“Marcelo’s making me take on another job, after all.”

“I-I’ll kil–”

“You? You’re going to kill me?”

“......”

Tarde and Noite stood side by side.

Seol had a thought while looking at the two of them.

‘Karuna probably has a lot more stats than them.’

There was clearly a gap between monsters and transferees of the same level.

After all, monsters existed to be taken down by multiple transferees, not just one.

And because Rests existed, even if a difference in levels between transferees did exist, it wouldn’t be to the point of being overwhelming.

Therefore, it meant that Seol and them were at similar levels.

Under these circumstances, for a transferee to have stats comparable to Karuna, a Legendary-rank summon, was nearly impossible.

The only exception would be transferees like Seol, who grew rapidly through unordinary means.

‘And since Karuna has Connected Soul too…’

With the Twin Knights’ Connected Soul, Karuna's stats were doubled. Additionally, Seol had a plethora of skills and effects that further boosted his summons’ stats.

Ultimately, it meant that even if the triplets attacked Karuna simultaneously, he would have slaughtered them.

While Seol did have 11 million points, it would be a mistake to believe he was only that strong.

Seol could easily perform at a much higher level than what those points suggested, to the extent that if another transferee with 11 million points did exist, Seol could easily overwhelm them.

Sensing that his opponents weren’t a match for Karuna, Seol reached the conclusion that it would be pointless to make him fight. After all, it would be much faster if he took care of it himself.

However, Ur stopped him.

- He’s about to break through the wall. Don’t do anything.

Karuna had just awakened Black Wave.

But did that still not constitute him breaking through the wall?

Seol was doubtful, but since the results were already decided, he agreed to Ur’s plans.

Tarde and Noite looked to Marcelo.

“We won’t be able to capture him alive.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

Pull…

Tarde then pulled out something from his inventory.

“Do you know what this is?”

Seol looked at it for a second before responding.

“A… pocket watch?”

“Yeah, the Pocket Watch of Equality. Are you curious how we got our hands on this?”

“Not… necessarily? I didn’t expect you to be the talkative type.”

"Then I’ll just skip to the main point. This pocket watch can only activate its effect if the other party knows its effects."

A conditional activation.

Often, ridiculously strong effects came with conditions like that for activation. An example would be Frannan’s Snorer and Teeth Grinder from before.

“We’ve even killed a transferee with over 8 million points by using its effects before.”

“...Is that so?”

“In three seconds.”

In truth, it didn’t matter to Seol whether they had 8 million points or 10 million points.

But Seol did become a bit curious after hearing their confident tone and the ridiculous claim that they beat someone stronger than them in three seconds.

“For 10 seconds…” said Tarde.

“We give up 5 years,” finished Noite.

“...What?”

“Let’s start.”

Click!

[Abomination: Pocket Watch of Equality activates.]

[Tarde's stats have increased by 100%.]

[Noite's stats have increased by 100%.]

[They lose 1 year of their lifespan for every 2 seconds.]

Hummmmm…

It sounded as if metal was being torn with every step.

Seol, readying himself to enter the Night Crow form at any time, observed the battle closely.

Tarde readied his sword while Noite prepared spiked gauntlets.

Clang!

Despite the first attack being the hardest to block due to its suddenness, Karuna easily deflected Tarde’s assault.

Fwoosh…

Noite’s follow-up attack was then negated by Karuna’s kick.

Crush…

His gauntlets cracked from Karuna’s kick.

The fight almost seemed like the twins were trying to convey, "This is what it means for us to go all out."

But, more importantly, Seol still couldn’t believe the pocket watch’s effects—an effect that used the lifespan of its user—it was terrifying.

Fwoosh…

Karuna, sensing their change, activated Black Wave.

A viscous, black energy surged forth, attempting to wrap around Tarde’s sword.

Fwirl!

Tarde leaped into the air and unleashed a powerful horizontal slash to counter it.

Slaaaaash!

Tarde was incomparably stronger than when he faced Yeo-myeong. Even so, Karuna easily blocked the attack.

Karuna’s eyes began to glow.

Baaaaam!

His entire body was a weapon.

Crush! Baaam!

Their clash erupted in a burst of energy as Noite and Karuna's fists collided.

Noite’s hand was completely destroyed.

Karuna, too, had to endure the same damage.

After all, that was only fair.

However… Seol’s items weren’t.

[Hope Devourer consumes the impact.]

[Hope Devourer currently has an empty stomach.]

[Hope Devourer digests all of the impact.]

The twins were shocked to see Karuna’s armor absorb the blow. However, being shocked was one thing; the battle was still ongoing.

[Noite used Aftermath.]

[Temporarily recover 90% of the damage you have taken.]

[After a while, take damage equal to the amount you recovered.]

Aftermath wasn’t a skill that should be used in most scenarios, but since they had already activated the pocket watch, there was no reason to not use it.

‘This fucking… monster!’ cursed Noite in his head.

Despite activating the pocket watch, they only succeeded in equaling Karuna. Even though they expertly managed to close the distance, risking and taking damage to deal damage back, nothing changed due to Karuna’s extremely high defense.

‘I can’t rush myself, though…’

The pocket watch was the only reason they could even hold their own in a fight against him. They wouldn’t stand a chance against this monster if their attention was focused on the pocket watch's penalty right now.

Baaam!

Claaang!

Clang!

Clang!

Tarde was worried as well.

Not to mention the fact that he took damage during his fight with Yeo-myeong, so he wasn't in peak condition.

‘We messed up! We shouldn't have lost Manhã!’

If the triplets still had Manhã with them, their combined attacks would have been capable of taking down this monster.

It was a huge shame.

Even so, the twins did all they could.

Fwirl!

The two then hurled daggers at Karuna, yet he didn’t bother to block them.

[Hope Devourer consumes the impact.]

[Hope Devourer currently has an empty stomach.]

[Hope Devourer digests all of the impact.]

Karuna ignored the weaker attacks, as his armor could just absorb them, and solely focused on deflecting the stronger attacks.

If Tarde and Noite manage to push beyond their limits and somehow emerge alive, they would undoubtedly experience tremendous growth from their battle with Karuna.

It was obvious to the observers as well.

Their jaws hung open, many of them unable to comprehend what unfolded before them.

Tarde and Noite, noticing their expressions, felt a strange sensation growing within them.

Claaang!

Baam!

“Bwrgh…”

The feeling of giving your all to challenge a formidable opponent.

The exhilaration that came with sprinting toward your goal.

Instead of being saddened by Manhã’s death, they found themselves more excited by these feelings.

However, they weren’t the only ones growing through this fight.

Karuna, too, had gained a lot through this.

Originally, he should have grown much more after absorbing the Black Knight, but he hadn’t.

It was likely because he hadn’t fully taken in the Black Knight’s rage.

He worried that accepting it would change a part of him. In the worst-case scenario, he would end up being completely consumed by rage like the Black Knight.

For those reasons, he held back his anger, repressing his emotions.

However, repressing it would never make it die down.

In fact, it would only make the inevitable explosion bigger. It could have even been dangerous if Karuna had repressed his emotions further.

And now... he planned to unleash the deep-seated rage within him, the very emotion he had attempted to suppress.

He wanted to… let it all out.

To just let it out and clear his head.

As the fight slowed down, he reached a decision.

Fwirl!

Click!

Karuna sheathed Breathe once more.

Thud…

Rumbleeeeee!

Karuna took a step, causing the ground beneath him to tremble, collapse, and be drawn toward him.

Rumble rumble…

The twins, now white-haired old men, leaped toward him, exerting every ounce of their remaining strength.

Yet, they couldn’t reach him.

The two old men felt exhilarated by the incredible strength they sensed from Karuna.

Their hearts pounded faster, like it was going to explode.

“How… incredible.”

Unsheathe…

What they saw next wasn’t Karuna’s sword, but simply a void of black.

Everyone's vision became engulfed in darkness as light was stripped away from them.

FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!

[Awakening! Karuna awakens a new skill.]

[Karuna awakens Exceptional Skill: Night Sea.]

[Exceptional Skill: Night Sea is born!]

A pitch-black, crescent wave of energy smashed into the manor, sweeping everything away.