Translator: HunterW

Editor: RED

“Keep up the pressure! We’re going to put an end to this today!” Jose Alejandro shouted to his men.

“Yes sir!” his soldiers responded as one. They all seemed ready to follow Jose into the pits of Popocatépetl if he so chose. They may as well have, given how many and quickly they died.

“Gah!”

“No!”

The NCR soldiers threw themselves at Pedro as if they did not know or care about death penalties, and Jose watched with satisfaction. He was getting his money’s worth. A big reason why his guild was losing the previous battles against Pedro was that there were many deserters and a huge loss of morale. These rat bastards all fought as one and with the same cruelty against weaker opponents, but when someone stronger than them appeared, they were quick to find a way out. Thanks to that cowardice, the NCR Guild had experienced more heavy losses that it should have. That was also why Jose had also prepared the perfect shackle for this final battle.

==Voice of Powerful Control (Rank 7)

Your voice now carries a powerful ability to control your targets.

Usage restrictions: a guild of at least two members or the leader of one organization.

Can only be used on those weaker than you.

Time limit: 5 hours.==

“We were only able to buy two of them. Isn’t it too early to use one already?” Hugo asked.

“It won’t matter. This battle decides our fate,” Jose replied in a disgusted voice. This was all because of Lee Jiwon!

——

Pedro was beginning to grow tired. The NCR bastards were throwing themselves at him nonstop. They weren’t like this before. These were supposed to be the same guys looking to escape every time Pedro showed himself. Now, they were fighting like they didn’t care about death penalties.

“Fuck off!” He was not about to let himself get surrounded by these rat bastards and threw them back each time they got close, but they were starting to swarm him. He was quickly running out of room to even swing his sword. He didn’t know what to do.

Pedro laughed bitterly. It was all he could do.

-Is this the end?-

He only had a few hours left now. Pedro’s eyes flared and gritted his teeth. If he wasn’t going to be able to break through their defenses and die here, he was going to take with him as many as he could.

“Gah!”

“Ahh!”

Then, as Pedro was swinging his sword like mad, he started to hear a clamoring from the other side of the battlefield. It was getting louder, too. Why were they clamoring over something in the middle of battle? Pedro asked himself, but he soon saw the source. It was Lee Jiwon,was walking casually through the army, as if he was out on a stroll. No one tried to stop him.

—

“Guild master!” Hugo cried out, but Jose didn’t reply and just clenched his jaw in anger.

“Father, it’s…”

“Lee…Lee Jiwon’s coming this way!”

Cantana and another officer cried out, but Jose didn’t need them to say anything. He could see for himself that Lee Jiwon was calmly walking towards the battle. How many days had it been since Lee Jiwon said that he would help the NCR Guild, and never showed? How much did Jose and the NCR Guild lose to Pedro in the meantime? And now Lee Jiwon decided to show himself, during the battle that would decide the fate of the NCR Guild? Jose was furious. It was obvious now that Lee Jiwon was on Pedro’s side.

Jose had maintained an inkling of hope that there was still a chance Lee Jiwon was on his side. That was why he used Lee Jiwon’s name to ensure that Pedro stood alone. He had even reached out to the Windsor Guard for help and for a moment, it looked like Pedro was going to lose. But the Windsor Guard didn’t stay long, and it was all because of Lee Jiwon.

-Lee Jiwon, you son of a bitch!- Jose swore in his head, but didn’t let it out of his mouth and put on his best poker face.

“Mr. Lee, welcome! It’s great that you’re finally here,” Jose said with a beaming smile, as if he as greeting a precious guest. Why? To take out the biggest fire first. He almost had Pedro now. He couldn’t afford to spark Lee Jiwon’s ire when he was so close to winning.

“Sorry I’m late. Some things came up I had to tend to.”

“Don’t worry about it. Life happens and sometimes, there’s nothing we can do about it.” A vein pulsed on Jose’s forehead when he heard Lee Jiwon’s lame excuse, but he acted as if it wasn’t a big deal. He wanted to make use of his Voice of Control and throw his men at Lee Jiwon, but he knew that was the last thing he should do and maintained his smile.

—

I inwardly laughed at Jose Alejandro. This was my first time meeting the man in charge of one of the world’s cruelest and most villainous guilds, but I knew that behind that smile was anger and vile hatred directed at me. He was probably throwing all the insults he knew at me and I actually found that amusing. But I didn’t bring it up and continued to feign innocence. I shook hands and went back and forth with praise with Jose for about a minute until he finally addressed the issue.

“I’m afraid you’ve come a little too late. We’ve just about captured Pedro now, and I’m afraid we’re no longer in need of your services. Oh, but not to worry. We will pay you as we have promised. Your name is worth that much to us, after all.”

I knew exactly what he was trying to do. He wanted to use the promised reward to try to get me away from the battle. Too bad for him. “Please, I can’t just take it when I haven’t done anything yet. I know it’s late, but let me at least help you finish this up. Then, I’ll accept your reward.”

Jose’s beaming smile quickly disappeared and was replaced with a real sour look. “No, you don’t need…”

“Please, let me help. My mother would throw a fit if she learned I didn’t earn my keep. Besides, I’m sure you’ve lost a lot of men today. Let me lessen your losses.” I cut Jose off and pointed to the ongoing battle. I made it obvious that I was not going to budge.

“…” Jose didn’t say anything, looking right at me, and I held his gaze. I knew he was going to yield. What else could he do? Fight me? He might as well kill himself now.

“My, my. Are you sure about this? You really don’t have to. Pedro really doesn’t stand a chance against you, I’m sure.”

“I’ll do my best,” I said with a forced laugh. I then turned around to look for Cantana Alejandro, the asshole responsible for this mess. I had memorized his face from the report I received so it didn’t take long to find him. I walked over to him and outstretched my hand.

“Hi there. My name is Lee Jiwon.”

“Uh…and I’m Cantana Alejandro.” Cantana couldn’t hide the surprise, but quickly shook my hand.

“I heard a lot about you,” I said, but inside, I wanted to throttle this kid. It was pretty much all his fault, this sadistic piece of ** that didn’t deserve to ever see the light of day ever again.

“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing compared to your stories, Mr. Lee…”

—

After putting my foot down that I was going to participate no matter what, Jose ordered his men to cease fighting. The NCR soldiers moved back thirty meters, leaving a sixty-meter wide circle in the middle of the battlefield. In the center of the circle stood Pedro, and I slowly walked towards him. I came to a stop about a meter away from him.

“…”

“…”

He was young. He obviously just turned of age. He had just become a deva and had grown stronger by the day.

“Nice to meet you, Cicada.”

“Cicada?”

It was another nickname the world used to call him, one a little nicer than the Failed Avenger. We called him the Cicada because he had lived the entirety of his youth unknown to the rest of the world, and when he finally became an adult, he made enough noise for the entire world to hear, but died a week later. Just like cicadas.

“That’s right, Cicada. But I don’t know if you’ve made enough noise to the point that you no longer have any regrets.”

“…” Pedro just blinked, as if he didn’t understand what I was saying. So I decided to be blunt about it.

“You have, what, four hours left?”

He suddenly slammed his sword at my head, and I quickly drew my spear to block the attack. That attack was no doubt the strongest I had ever felt. The force of the attack created a small crater in the ground and pushed me back another meter away. He was strong, very strong.

I acted as if I wasn’t fazed and lowered my spear. “You don’t need to get so angry. Was it a secret?” Of course it was a secret. For the longest time, Pedro’s abilities were a mystery. He didn’t have any other special abilities or skills and only ever carried a cheap, low-ranked greatsword.

“Lee Jiwon… who the hell are you?”

“Me? What, you still don’t know? I’m obviously on your side. I’m the reason you got this far. I’m the reason you were left alone,” I said as I slowly walked closer to Pedro.

“Oh, right. You remember those new guys that appeared a few days ago, right? The guys who carried golden chains? I took care of them for you, so you don’t need to worry them.” I once again stood a meter away from Pedro and this time, Pedro didn’t attack. His eyes were wide with surprise.

“Since I’ve done that much for you, you should at least give me some of your time to talk, especially since we have less than four hours.”

—

Meanwhile…

“Something’s not right. It doesn’t look good at all.” Jose didn’t like that Lee Jiwon was talking to Pedro like that at all. No, it was more like he was afraid.

Pedro did suddenly attack Lee Jiwon out of the blue, but Lee Jiwon had only defended against the attack, and they were back to talking about something.

“Hmm…” Jose sighed and looked down at the hand that shook Lee Jiwon’s hand. It was just a handshake, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to it.