Chapter 977: Crumbling Down

The scene quickly became that of horror.

Heavy rains of golden swords fell from the sky, instantly incapacitating the proud and invincible Zenith Hunters.

"Guark!"

"Urk!"

"Keuk!"

The attacks were brutal, albeit blunt. Each sword had no edge, and as such, could only deal dull attacks.

One could think this would be better, but that was far from the case.

At least, when sharp weapons pierced the target in multiple areas, they were bound to experience the sweet release of death.

However, such was not the case with these dull blades.

"S-save meee..."

"S-stop! Stop iiiit!"

"Gahhhhhhh!!!"

Like big chunks of metal crushing their bones over and over again, while rendering them unable to deliver a counterattack, the golden raindrops continued.

... Until nearly the Zenith Hunters were vanquished.

The ones that remained were four disheveled Hunters—glaring above with both intense rage, and deep-seated fear.

They were the Pillars, yet even they seemed to tremble at the sight of Kuzon's overwhelming power.

"Oh? You've done well to resist until now." The perpetrator of this gloriously devastating sight smiled.

His golden hair fluttered with the wind, and his hands were in his pockets while he made a casual pose.

"You know, there's plenty more where that came from."

As soon as he said this, more golden blades appeared, littering in the sky with their content.

"Shall we go for another round?"

The clearly frightened Pillars gritted their teeth as they prepared their Skills in retaliation.

From their eye movements and sign language, it seemed they would use their strongest offensive abilities at once in an attempt to destroy the two who remained floating.

"Don't bother." The voice came from none other than me—the observer thus far.

"I'll take it from here." I told Kuzon, finally descending from my elevated position. "Remain on standby, Kuzon."

With that, I slowly fell to the ground, finally touching it with my feet.

"Your attacks will be useless. They won't work."

After I said this, what did they do next? One could only assume they would be sensible and retreat.

However...

"SHUT UUUUUUP!!!"

>WHUUUUUUUUUMMMMMM!!!<

The sum of multiple elements and attacks mixed into a giant orb of multi-elemental energy.

It certainly looked powerful, and from the intense expressions on the faces.of the Pillars, it seemed they had given it their all.

'Too bad for them.'

An attack of this level wasn't even going to touch me. After all...

>FSHUUUUUUUUU<

... I could easily disrupt it with Anti-Magic.

The cluster of energy instantly broke apart, causing the particles to scatter.

"You were saying?" I smiled at the clueless bunch.

"Now, then. I suppose it's time to mete out punishment to you all." My grin became much wider.

"Y-you bastard! Do you think the Zenith will let you get away with this?"

"Y-yeah! Once Master Chad gets a hold of you, then—"

"I... I..."

And finally, the last response I was hoping for...

"P-p-please spare meeeeee!" A rather squaky voice emerged from the stuttering group.

Instantly, the owner of said voice crumbled to his knees, bowing before me while surrendering shamelessly.

"I don't want to die! I'll do anything! Please spare me!"

Tears were in his eyes, and his body trembled.

If this was merely an ordinary member of the team, then perhaps things would have been different.

However, the man who was currently submitting to me was the Pillar of Humility—leader of the head of this attack squad's set of pillars.

'... And also someone who I brainwashed.' I stifled my slightly twisted grin.

"W-what are you doing?"

"You can't kneel to him! What will Master Chad say?!"

"G-get up. Hurry!"

Despite the admonition of his colleagues, the shameless man clung to the ground, trembling before me.

'You all shouldn't bother with him. At this point, he has no choice but to act like this.'

He was just following the order I gave him all those weeks ago.

"You're all members of the Shadows of Light. Your leader is Chad, isn't that right? Why should I show you mercy?"

The moment I said this, all the Pillars expressed shock. At this point, they were most likely stuck between wondering how I knew their identity, and trying to formulate what to say next.

However, before they could flat out deny my words, the kneeling man intervened.

"Y-yes we are! We are of the Shadows of Light! We're all executive officers. B-but... it wasn't of our choosing! It's all Master Chad's fault! He is the one you should really blame!"

Just like clockwork, he began running his mouth, his tone trembling so he appeared scared.

"... S-so please spare me!"

As soon as he said this, his comrades expressed shock once more.

"H-hey, what are you doing?"

"We're being recorded, you know?"

"Zip it already!"

It was a shame that none of them were smart enough to simply deny his words on the spot. Humilty's words would have still been implicating, but at the very least, they would be able to salvage some of their image.

Unfortunately, it was too late for them at this point.

Everything was quite literally crumbling down.

"S-shut up! I don't want to die. Didn't you see those rain of blades! We're no match! It's best we confess our crimes and get pardoned." Humilty's words peaked, echoing loudly as he cried.

And then, the internal rambling began.

"Are you out of your mind?"

"You want to betray Master Chad?"

"Thank goodness Master Chad has access to stopping the recording whenever he likes. If everyone at the Symposium saw this, who knows what they would say..."

"In the end, everything will go according to Master Chad's plan. Even this, I'm sure, is all part of it."

"T-that's right. He has never let us down before. Whether as the Shadow of Light head... or as the leader of the Zenith."

"H-hey! Why are you still saying that?!"

"I mean, isn't it too late? He already knows. Besides, the recording would have stopped, so there's no point keeping it hidden any longer."

"I know, but..."

This was what happened when a leader made all the decisions for his followers, and didn't let them think.

Idiots were produced.

'They're making one terrible assumption at this point, to the point of fallacy.'

Their faith in Chad was so great that they thought he was invincible and prepared for everything.

It made them unable to consider the possibility that their great and mighty leader might not have everything under control.

'... Or that the recording was never stopped.'

********

[The Grand Symposium]

'W-why..?!'

Chad could feel many piercing gazes on him—the likes of which he had never felt in his whole life.

The betrayed expressions of people, and their appalled reactions toward the confessions made by his subordinates.

The wide screen he thought he could use to completely demolish Seoul's Hunter Association had now backfired and become his ruin.

And the worst part made him grit his teeth in greater frustration and anxiety.

'Why can't I turn it off?!'