“Release my sister… What exactly do you want?”

[May I enter and have a conversation?]

Upon Seong Jihan’s nod,

Swoosh.

The Arena’s Master soon revealed himself before him.

The figure before him was dressed in a neat suit and wearing a black fedora. Like the last time, his face still bore the semblance of the cosmos.

For Seong Jihan, now more powerful than before, he was an opponent whose limits he dared not gauge.

‘Longinus pales in comparison.’

Even when compared to Longinus, the Constellation he had just defeated, the Arena’s Master boasted a strength of a different class.

Could this level of power be considered that of a Great Constellation?

As Seong Jihan assessed his opponent, the Arena’s Master spoke up.

“I observed your recent battle with the Constellation. You skillfully utilized the Void Processing Facility of the World Tree Alliance.”

“You saw the fight?”

“Yes. Because you used the Processing Facility, I was able to observe.”

Swoosh…

With that, the white half-mask emerged.

The Arena’s Master tapped on the mask covering half of his cosmic face.

“The Void Processing Facility is an invention by the World Tree Alliance, by extension, Yggdrasil, designed to evade death. It has proven quite effective, giving us quite the trouble in monitoring the World Tree Alliance from the void.”

“The Processing Facility is that significant?”

“Yes. While we have our countermeasures, the World Tree Alliance keeps advancing the Processing Facility. Especially, the recently developed Processing Facilities, which haven’t leaked outside, posed quite a challenge for us… until you acquired one this time.”

Upon hearing that, Seong Jihan retrieved the half-mask from his inventory.

“So, this is what the trade is about.”

“Exactly. There’s more.”

Swoosh!

The Arena’s Master’s gaze shifted towards the spear shaft.

“If you hand over the ‘Code Medium’ as well, I will release the Witch of the Void. In her original human form, untainted by the void.”

“Code Medium?”

“Yes.”

“The system labels it as the Spear of the Blood Clan. But you call it differently.”

“The Spear of the Blood Clan, hmm? Gilgamesh named it so…”

Flash!

The eyes, resembling stars within the cosmos, briefly turned a shade of violet.

And then, a terrifying void swelled from within.

Merely a change of eye color, yet the Arena’s Master emanated an overwhelming power.

[The Arena’s Master… When I heard rumors of him possessing strength comparable to a Great Constellation, I thought them far-fetched. Turns out, the rumors were true.]

The Shadow Queen assessed the Arena’s Master’s power as that of a Great Constellation level.

‘BattleNet sure is full of formidable foes.’

Seong Jihan thought and opened his mouth.

“Enough with the power display. What exactly happened in the past that made you hand over this medium to Gilgamesh?”

“I can’t delve into details… but since you are the current owner of the medium, you aren’t exactly an outsider. I will share what I can.”

Swoosh!

The face of the Arena’s Master transformed, displaying a screen.

There appeared planet Earth.

“Planet Earth is brimming with the potential for life to sprout. Such places often witness the World Tree Alliance planting World Trees. Earth was one such case.”

“I’ve heard something similar from the Ancient Elf. The experiment chief sent to Earth by the World Tree Elves tried to fuse himself with Earth’s World Tree, causing an accident.”

The Ancient Elf, who couldn’t enter as it was an experiment-in-progress, and the branch manager Seong Jihan met after his death shared details about that time.

Infuriated by the incident with the World Tree, the Alliance’s investigative team dispatched to Earth vanished after only leaving a message about a special error occurrence.

“Ah… So on that side, do they consider it an accident?”

Hearing Seong Jihan’s tale, the Arena’s Master,

“We deemed it a fully intentional act by the Alliance.”

“The World Tree Alliance did it on purpose?”

“Yes. However, when the experiment resulted in an uncontrollable entity, they sought our assistance.”

The screen shifted.

Displayed within was a giant, with tree and body bizarrely merged.

“This entity. We referred to them as the Sylvan Gods.”

“Sylvan Gods…”

“Yes. They were beings deserving restriction by the void. Yet, they cunningly evaded our regulations, knowing our internal policies all too well. Direct intervention from our end was impossible. So, we decided to indirectly intervene through a proxy.”

“A proxy… Don’t tell me, it was Gilgamesh?”

“Yes.”

Swoosh.

The image of the Sylvan Gods vanished, replaced by Gilgamesh’s visage.

“He was bestowed with blessings from both the void and the World Tree Alliance and waged a long war against the Sylvan Gods. The Code Medium you possess, is a gift I gave him… it was the only means to completely annihilate the regenerative Sylvan Gods. And once the task was completed, it was supposed to be returned to me.”

“But he didn’t return it.”

“Yes. Gilgamesh broke not only the promise with me but with the World Tree Alliance as well. And then, the Martial God appeared…”

Whoosh. Whoosh.

Seong Jihan twirled the Spear of the Blood Clan in his hand.

The Code Medium that allowed for the casting of codes from a distance.

‘It’s too good to give back.’

Writing codes stitch by stitch up close versus launching them from afar were worlds apart in terms of utility.

If his sister wasn’t involved in the trade, he would never part with it.

But

‘If it’s about my sister, I have no choice.’

Family comes before anything, even valuable items.

“Alright. Let’s make the trade.”

“A wise decision.”

“But first, you return my sister.”

“Me first… is that your stance?”

“That’s right. If you take the items and disappear, I can’t do anything, can I?”

“I am ‘the Arena’s Master’. I swear on the Arena that I won’t do such a thing.”

“Forget the oath. Just return my sister first.”

“……”

The Arena’s Master fell silent at Seong Jihan’s words.

The Shadow Queen whispered to Seong Jihan.

[With the Arena’s Master even swearing, aren’t you being too dismissive? Considering the Arena’s Master is within the top 20 in the void, it’s quite significant.]

‘What if a top 20 powerhouse decides to ascend?’

[Well…]

‘Exactly, being powerful makes it even easier to ascend.’

Although Seong Jihan hadn’t been in BattleNet for long, his time there had taught him,

‘In this world, there’s no one you can trust.’

“…Very well. I’ll return her immediately.”

Seeing Seong Jihan’s firm stand, the Arena’s Master agreed without further protest.

“To the Master of the Abyss.”

Swoosh!

From the training ground floor, a mist of void began to rise.

The contained energy was immense, comparable to when he wore the half-mask.

Slowly opening within the mist was a red portal.

The Arena’s Master extended his hand towards it.

“As a superior, I command. Hand over the Witch of the Void to me.”

Was the Arena considered higher in rank than the Abyss?

Seong Jihan thought this as he awaited the appearance of his sister, Seong Jiah, from the portal.

However,

[No.]

From inside, an unexpected response came.

* * *

“…What did you say?”

[I said no.]

“Are you defying a superior’s command?”

For the first time, an informal tone emerged from the Arena’s Master, who had always spoken formally.

And more terrifying than his sudden change of tone was the force he was emitting.

The space within the training ground twisted under the influence of the void unleashed by the Arena’s Master.

[Looks like your disregard for his oath angered him, and this guy just added fuel to the fire. The Arena’s Master… truly formidable. No wonder he manages the Arena without issue.]

‘See? Prepayment is a must in BattleNet.’

[In this case, I can’t argue…]

As Seong Jihan conversed with the Shadow Queen.

[Yes. I defy.]

Rumble…

The training ground of the void crumbled.

The Arena’s Master, who had been oozing a threatening presence, then turned towards Seong Jihan.

His face, resembling a crescent moon, twisted and contorted strangely.

“Wait. Would you mind? I’ll break into the Abyss myself and fetch her.”

Although he was the Arena Master he still suppressed his anger and maintained politeness towards Seong Jihan.

[If you breach, I’ll devour the Witch of the Void.]

“That bastard!”

Upon hearing the Abyss Master’s retort through the portal, the Arena’s Master expressed his fury.

“I’ll suppress this insolent one and return. Please wait a moment…”

Swoosh!

Saying so, the Arena’s Master entered the portal.

The red portal expanded and contracted, and from within,

Whish! Whish!

A surge of void energy wafted out.

[I thought it’d be a quick defeat… Seems there’s some skill involved.]

“Perhaps it might end in failure.”

Seong Jihan watched the portal, twirling the Code Medium, then decided to test the spear rather than wait idly.

‘Is this how you write the code on it?’

Scriiiiiic!

As Seong Jihan inscribed the Destruction Code on the spear shaft, just as seen from Longinus’s data.

“Ah.”

Despite the code meant to annihilate everything, the Spear of the Blood Clan remained intact.

But

‘The tip of the spear starts gathering the energy of Destruction… It will explode in 10 seconds.’

The Spear of the Blood Clan, lacking a spearhead.

It seemed the power of destruction itself was meant to serve as the spear’s point.

For 10 seconds, the energy of destruction flickered before, upon impalement, it obliterated the target.

“Enkidu.”

Seong Jihan summoned Enkidu as the target and cast the Spear of the Blood Clan from afar.

Thud!

As the spear hit, Enkidu vanished like dust.

Following the destruction of the target, the spear shaft flashed once before returning to Seong Jihan’s hand.

‘This is quite useful.’

The utility of the Destruction Code could be vastly expanded this way.

Seong Jihan glanced back at the unstable portal.

While the best outcome would be his sister’s return, having tested the spear stirred a desire to keep it.

‘But my sister is more important.’

Seong Jihan stored the Spear of the Blood Clan in his inventory.

The more he used it, the more it seemed his greed for it would grow.

As he silently awaited beside the portal,

Swoosh!

The Arena’s Master reappeared from the portal.

“…Sigh. When did the void become such a mess?”

Muttering upon his return was the Arena’s Master.

“Why, couldn’t you catch him?”

“I tore him apart 999 times, but he kept reviving. At one point, he even threatened to kill the witch.”

“…Why is that guy so obsessed with my sister?”

“I don’t know. Even when I offered a promotion, he was unyielding… However, he made a suggestion.”

“What is it?”

“If you defeat him, he will hand over the Witch of the Void.”

“……I?”

Seong Jihan blinked at the unexpected words.

“…Me?”

Seong Jihan blinked in surprise at the unexpected proposal.

“That guy… Why insist on me?”

“I’d like to know that myself.”

The Arena’s Master seemed almost ready to grind his teeth, then proposed:

“Could I sponsor you?”

“…You want to sponsor me?”

“Yes. To completely eradicate the insubordinate Abyss Master…”

The Arena’s Master offered to sponsor Seong Jihan.