NOVPUB“What, what is that?!”
“What the hell did you do?!”
Black tendrils pierced through the ceiling and slithered downward.
And it wasn’t just one—dozens of them.
More were appearing in real time.
Carlone’s elite guards shuddered as a chill raced down their spines.
They didn’t know what those black things were.
They didn’t know why they had suddenly burst through the ceiling or when they had even appeared.
But there was one thing they were certain of:
They must never come into contact with them.
“You bastard!”
A guard—once a knight, quick to assess the situation—swung his sword at Ludger.
His instinct told him: if Ludger died, this nightmare would end.
True to his knightly training, the strike came in less than a ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) heartbeat.
A blade of light—sharp, fast, sure.
But.
Before his sword could reach Ludger’s neck—
Tap.
One of the black tendrils touched the knight’s shoulder first.
“Wha—?”
That was the last thing the man could say.
Screeechhh!
His body twisted like a vortex and was sucked into the tendril.
A horrifying sight that defied physical law.
The other guards, who had been preparing to offer backup just in case the attack failed, froze in place.
Even Carlone, who had acted so composed until now, opened his mouth without a word.
What the hell.
A man twisted like a pretzel and vanished.
What is that thing?
Carlone had killed many people in his life. Blood, gore, death—none of it fazed him.
It was his everyday routine.
Violence and death.
Carlone prided himself on being closer to them than anyone else.
The same went for his subordinates.
And yet, Carlone could not accept what he was seeing.
This scene went so far beyond the boundaries of violence over which he had once reigned like a king.
“What is this? What the hell did you—”
“What did I do? Didn’t I say? I didn’t do anything.”
“Don’t fuck with me!!!”
Carlone screamed, nearly convulsing, at Ludger’s calm response.
Just then, another tendril touched one of the guards—and promptly sucked him in like a whirlpool.
That man had once been a highly promising knight. He didn’t even manage to resist.
This wasn’t the kind of horror that made you squeamish.
It felt like his brain itself was shaking.
“Do you believe in God?”
“Wh-What? What the hell kind of question is that?!”
Carlone looked utterly baffled at Ludger’s abrupt mention of God.
“How much do you really know about the gods?”
“The gods? What, now you want me to repent or something? To God?”
“Of course not. I just thought I’d let you know. That black tendril you see—that’s what you people call a god.”
“What?”
Carlone went blank, as though he’d been hit in the back of the head with a hammer.
His trembling eyes betrayed everything he was feeling.
“That horrifying tendril... is a god?”
“Yeah. A goddess, actually. One who loves humans very much.”
“Bull, bullshit! There’s no way something like that could be a god!”
“That’s just your personal opinion.”
Ludger raised his hand slightly.
A tendril that had been writhing above in the ceiling slithered down toward him and gently rubbed against the back of his hand.
A vivid image formed in Carlone’s mind.
Ludger’s arm twisting into a spiral and getting sucked in just like the others.
But—
Nothing happened.
Ludger was perfectly fine even after coming into contact with the tendril.
That’s impossible.
Carlone trembled.
“H-How are you—”
“She’s a goddess who lost her name long ago due to someone’s betrayal. Humans stopped remembering her.”
Ludger spoke, ignoring Carlone’s reaction.
“Worse yet, they branded her an evil god and stripped her of her very symbol. But she loved humans deeply.”
How deeply?
“To the point that her entire body is made up of human flesh.”
Screams erupted.
Elsewhere in the room, a knight who had panicked and tried to flee was touched by a tendril and vanished.
Another knight tried desperately to fight back, swinging his sword, but the tendril didn’t even flinch.
It was like trying to slash running water.
In the end, that resisting knight was also swallowed and disappeared.
“Aaaah! Th-This is a dream. It has to be a dream!”
The mage who had mocked Ludger earlier collapsed to the ground, sobbing that none of this could be real.
He, too, vanished moments later, taken by a tendril.
More than twenty guards disappeared in an instant.
And now, only Carlone and Ludger remained.
This is hell. I’m in hell.
Carlone stared at Ludger with trembling eyes.
The tendrils writhed everywhere, and yet Ludger acted as if it were nothing.
Anyone else would have gone mad by now.
No.
Maybe that man is already insane.
“Her abilities are quite useful. Since she knows the human body better than anyone, as long as you’re alive, she can heal any wound.”
Even if your arm is cut off.
Even if you’ve lost an ocean of blood.
Even if your whole body is rotting.
As long as you’re still breathing, she can save you.
Because that is the miracle of a god.
“Her only flaw, I suppose, would be her appearance.”
Ludger lightly flicked the tendril resting on his palm.
It slowly began approaching Carlone.
“U-Urrgh!”
The moment the tip of the tendril touched Carlone’s forehead—
Carlone saw it.
A massive form standing quietly in the dark.
A grotesque goddess made of human flesh—so many parts, so many people—twisted and merged into one abomination.
“She loves humans... but the emotions of gods are not something humans can truly understand.”
Ludger’s voice cut through the horrific vision.
“She made her body entirely of human parts because she loves humans, but she couldn’t care less about your so-called aesthetic sensibilities.”
In the next moment, the vision vanished and Carlone was back in the room.
Cold sweat poured down his face as his teeth chattered uncontrollably.
He’d only seen a fraction of her.
But nausea churned in his stomach, and he wanted to vomit.
Carlone looked at the one man still standing—Ludger—and begged.
“P-Please. Let me live. Please, I beg you. I was wrong. It’s all my fault.”
“Unfortunately, I can’t do that. I already made a deal. I promised her all the people in this place.”
That was Ludger’s offering in exchange for saving Deon.
Carlone went pale.
“You don’t need to worry. I told you already. She cherishes humans. You won’t die.”
“A-Aaaah.”
Those words plunged Carlone into even deeper despair.
It meant he would be dragged away alive by that monster.
No—not just dragged away.
He would live the rest of eternity as part of that monster, unable to die.
“Kill me! Please! Kill me now!”
“Didn’t you just beg me to let you live?”
“Aaaagh! Please! Please, just kill me!!!”
Carlone yanked out a knife, trying to stab himself.
But it was too late.
A tendril touched the wrist holding the knife, and his arm began to twist.
“Aaaagh! Please! Just kill meeee!!”
There was no pain. Even though his arm was twisting grotesquely, he felt nothing.
That only deepened his terror.
And then, even his voice was lost as his vocal cords twisted.
Carlone, now entirely contorted, was drawn into the embrace of the goddess.
Warm. Comforting.
A god who loved humans.
Forever.
* * *
After Carlone vanished, the bundles of black tendrils swept through the mansion and collected the remaining corpses.
Blood splattered on the walls and floors was absorbed into them. The bodies of the Silver Sun members strewn across the floor followed.
Finally, the tendrils withdrew into the black hole in the sky.
The mansion was left in perfect, utter silence.
The next day—
The Rederbelk Police Department confirmed that an unexplainable disappearance had occurred at the Silver Sun’s mansion.
At first, they assumed it was the result of a gang war.
But no bodies were found. Not even a trace.
And yet, the idea that so many people could simply vanish like a mirage felt deeply unnatural.
Especially since it was Silver Sun—notorious criminals.
Ultimately, the case went unresolved, with no progress whatsoever.
People began to talk.
Some said the entire Silver Sun group had secretly fled the city.
Others said they’d been assassinated out of vengeance.
But most ordinary citizens just felt relieved—or even thrilled—that the bastards were gone.
One man, who happened to pass near the mansion that night, claimed a massive black hole had opened above it and something had descended from the sky.
But it had been a pitch-dark night, and the man had been drunk off his ass.
So no one believed him.
Just like that, one of the city's most infamous organizations vanished in a single night.
Countless questions remained unanswered.
* * *
The night Ludger infiltrated Carlone’s mansion—
A battle unfolded in a dark alleyway: 200 against 5.
A ratio of forty to one.
And yet, the astonishing victors... were the five.
“Those guys weren’t even worth a warm-up.”
“They weren’t trained at all.”
Alex was relieved that the job had been so easy, while Phantos looked rather annoyed that the fight ended so blandly after such a long break.
“This is chaos—utter chaos.”
Alex clicked his tongue, surveying the aftermath.
The damage was so intense, it was hard to believe this had been a simple street brawl.
The ones who had contributed the most to the destruction were undoubtedly Seridan and Violetta.
Violetta’s wind magic and Seridan’s bombs had caused massive collateral impact.
Thankfully, this area was scheduled for redevelopment, and no one lived nearby.
That meant it would be easy to clean up before the cops arrived—if it came to that.
“Well, these buildings were going to be demolished anyway. Should we just blow them up now?”
Seridan muttered something terrifying beside him.
Alex recalled how she had been gleefully hurling bombs at the Silver Sun members just moments ago.
Grinning like a lunatic as she rode in on a storm of red flames—she really was insane.
Alex gave a small shiver. Just then, a figure appeared in the distance.
“Oh. It’s the Leader.”
Ludger, who had gone alone to Carlone’s mansion, had returned.
He spotted the group waiting for him in the alley.
“Is it done over there?”
“Of course, Leader. They were all nothing but a pack of untrained clowns. No issues.”
“Good work. Still, they had numbers. I imagine cleanup must’ve been tricky. How did you handle it?”
Alex shrugged.
But it was Violetta who answered.
“Owner. There’s a saying in Rederbelk. ‘Don’t ask about the bodies that float down the Ramgier River.’”
It was something of an unspoken rule.
Even the police looked the other way when corpses drifted down that river.
Because those corpses were usually tied to the underworld.
They had sent all the bodies into the river—there would be no questions asked.
“That’s good to hear.”
“Owner, what happened to Carlone? The fact that you returned like this means...”
“He’s been dealt with.”
“W-Weren’t his guards there too? They were supposed to be strong.”
“Like I said. All of them are dealt with.”
Violetta was briefly shocked to hear Ludger had handled them alone—but then quickly nodded. If it was the Owner, she could believe it.
“Huh? So Leader got all the fun to himself?”
“Were there any real tough guys?”
Alex and Phantos asked with interest, but Ludger shook his head.
“Even if they were knights, most were either poorly trained mercs or retirees bought with money. None of them were worth mentioning.”
“Lame.”
“Oh, and Violetta.”
“Yes, Owner!”
Violetta immediately responded to Ludger calling her name.
“With this, Silver Sun is finished. Whatever remnants are left... they’ll be subcontractors at best.”
“Yes. That’s likely.”
“What about the business fronts they owned? Can we take those?”
Violetta nodded as if it were obvious.
“Nothing’s easier than taking over a house with no owner. Of course, the scale of their operations is large, so we’ll need capital to process it all.”
“Doesn’t matter how much it costs. Silver Sun’s assets are ours now.”
“Then all we need is time.”
Their current operations were already progressing steadily.
If they added the businesses once run by Silver Sun, it would be like giving wings to a tiger.
Of course, most of Silver Sun’s operations were in the shadows, so taking them over directly would pose problems.
But they could simply seize the facilities and repurpose them under their own banner.
“How is Deon?”
“He’s fine. Thanks to you, Owner.”
“Nothing strange? Any signs of psychological distress?”
“He looks healthier than ever, actually.”
“Does he.”
Ludger replied nonchalantly, but Violetta could tell.
If he truly hadn’t been concerned, he wouldn’t have asked.
No matter how he tried to hide it, the Owner was a man with a soft heart.
Just then—
A new crowd began to pour in from afar.
At first, they assumed it might be Silver Sun’s remaining thugs, but it wasn’t.
The people approaching were all ages—men and women alike.
“They’re ours.”
Ludger recognized them at once.
The slum residents.
They had come, knowing Silver Sun was attacking, ready to fight.
“...I told them it was dangerous and to stay back.”
Violetta began to speak, but Ludger raised his hand to stop her.
“It’s fine. They stepped forward because they care.”
Violetta looked at him in surprise.
Ludger was watching the slumfolk with a gentle smile.
“Yes. You’re right.”
Violetta found herself smiling without realizing it.
Surprised, she touched her lips.
So... smiling sincerely was possible.
She had always worn a mask, pretending to be strong.
She had lived by killing her true self and acting like someone else just to survive.
Maybe she would always have to live like that.
She’d always thought genuine smiles were the kind of luxury one could only dream of.
But she wasn’t alone.
The other members all wore proud smiles as they watched the people step forward.
“Owner.”
“What is it?”
Violetta answered with a smile.
“On behalf of all those who were abandoned—I want to say thank you. For everything.”
And Ludger, knowing exactly what she meant, replied with a light chuckle.
“It’s nothing.”
* * *
The entrance to Carlone’s mansion, now effectively sealed off.
A black car came to a stop there, and from it descended knights clad in black uniforms—Nightcrawler Knights.
“Rederbelk. So we’re back here again.”
The most eye-catching among them was a woman with silver hair down to her waist—a woman of steel.
Terrina Lionhowl.
“I turned my back for one moment, and now there’s another damn mess.”
What in the world was happening in Rederbelk?
Beside her stood Enya Joinas, who had remained stationed in Rederbelk.
“Enya. What exactly happened here?”
Terrina asked, then shook her head.
“No, let me rephrase that. Do we know who’s responsible for this?”
“Yes.”
Enya gave a grim nod.
“The most likely culprits... are from the Rederbelk slums.”
