FLIA 154

“I’ll purify you!”

As he declared this, Yohan jumped onto the rooftop railing and raised his spear. A dazzling radiance flared from the black-and-white Eternal Stone. The people, transformed into human cordyceps and dancing grotesquely, each slowly turned their vacant eyes toward Yohan.

To them, who had been experiencing a confusing and somehow painful joy, Yohan appeared like a sudden lighthouse. And so, they stared at him, mesmerized. Then, a dazzling cascade of light poured down from the rooftop.

Swish. Those standing directly below, drenched by the light, let out a collective gasp. The grotesque fungi clinging to their bodies and the malevolent parasites dwelling within them dissolved instantly, leaving no trace. As the hallucinations and enchantment faded, they finally saw reality clearly and were horrified.

“What the hell? What is that thing?”

“Wh-what am I even doing here…?”

“Aaargh! It’s a monster!”

Those who regained their senses and properly confronted the mushroom spores and the monsters screamed. Instinctively knowing they must reach the light, they frantically pulled themselves away from the filthy, toxic surroundings. Then, they lifted their heads to find the source of the light. Both fleeing pedestrians and those hiding in buildings turned toward the intense light.

Yohan paid no heed to the stares. His focus was solely on halting the spore’s spread. At his command, the light clusters encircled the building, which was gurgling and spewing the spore mist.

He considered deploying a purification field, but held off, he couldn’t predict what might come out of that building. Purification was as potent as it was ruthless, obliterating everything deemed harmful, which could prevent him from accurately assessing the situation. Besides, this alone was sufficient for now.

“Yakrin. Destroy the building.”

“Aye, Team Leader!”

Seo Yakrin answered as if she’d been waiting for this, her eyes immediately blazing golden. Her hair rippled with golden telekinetic energy. She then coalesced into the form of a giant hand, grasping the building that had been spewing spores.

“Whoa, this is insane. It’s like watching a movie.”

A man filming from a nearby rooftop trembled with awe. Seeing the Taeyang Team up close for the first time, he suppressed his fear, they’d save him anyway.

He eagerly filmed Yohan and the Taeyang Team as they unleashed streams of light. Simultaneously, a feeling of déjà vu made him tilt his head. He was certain he’d seen the face of the person wielding this unfamiliar ability somewhere before. Moreover…

“That ability looks exactly like a Purifier?”

As the man muttered, Seo Yakrin’s enormous golden hand crushed the building with a crackling sound. Wall fragments rained down, only to halt mid-air above the citizens’ heads. Emerging from the split and shattered walls was a colossal cocoon on the verge of hatching.

Almost simultaneously, the corrupted individual touched by Yohan’s light cluster lost their hallucination ability, allowing Park Seungmin to regain his senses.

“Aaaah! Aaaah!”

Park Seungmin, witnessing the ominous, unsettling giant cocoon right before his eyes, screamed in terror. What the hell was going on? Just moments ago, he’d been cheered by fans! Confused and scrambling to flee, he stumbled and fell. The crowd was so dense, packed with people. He yelled, struggling.

“Move! Get out of the way, you bastards! You all wanna die?”

“Don’t push! There are too many people! Eh…?”

A citizen recognized Park Seungmin, trapped and unable to move in the crowd, and grabbed him in panic.

“Pa-Park Seungmin! You’re a high-level awakener! Do something!”

Hearing this, the crowd turned toward Park Seungmin again. They believed a high-level awakener could protect them. Park Seungmin cursed inwardly. You bastards! I can’t do anything right now! Nothing! My power’s malfunctioning! Seeing him flailing helplessly, unable to summon even a speck of light, people began to doubt.

“But that light… isn’t that purification power? I saw it online.”

“It doesn’t seem like Park Seungmin is using his power right now. It feels like another purifier is doing it.”

“They said coming here would awaken our powers!”

“We trusted you and came here, you fraud! What are you going to do about this?!”

“Is he really a high-level purifier? Why can’t he do anything?”

“Come to think of it, he never actually showed us him using his power properly?”

People who had regained their senses and recognized reality murmured and whispered among themselves. Park Seungmin’s face turned deathly pale. Suspicious stares surrounded him from all sides. With nowhere to run, Park Seungmin stammered embarrassingly.

“I, I… I…”

Just as the other purifiers, and even the high-level awakener like Jeong Siyoung, instinctively harbored doubts upon seeing Park Seungmin, he too instinctively felt the swirling clusters of light around him. This was… purification power. Not his own, but someone else’s light. It was an overwhelmingly superior purification power, beyond any comparison he could dare make… It was beyond comparison to his own power on the day he first awakened.

“No, no… it can’t be…”

Even as Park Seungmin desperately denied reality, a massive, ominous cocoon writhed above them. Mushroom spores sprouting from its surface repeatedly puffed their caps, spewing thick spores. Though blocked by the electrodynamic barrier, preventing direct contact with the people below, it was more than enough to plunge them into panic.

Spores fell from above, and unfamiliar light rippled all around, leaving the people helpless and floundering in confusion.

“Go, Go Jaewon! Go Jaewon!”

Park Seungmin pushed through the crowd, desperately searching for Go Jaewon. Yet Go Jaewon, who had been nearby just moments ago, had vanished without a trace. He had fled in terror the instant the Taeyang Team appeared. Just then, someone who had been watching the cascade of light shouted.

“I know that guy! Taeyang Guild’s parachute…! It’s Yang Yohan! It looks like Yang Yohan is using his purification ability right now!”

The moment someone shouted that, strangely, everyone could suddenly make out the face of the person on the distant rooftop with crystal clarity. It was as if someone had artificially placed glasses over their eyes.

“What?”

Why is Yang Yohan’s name coming up here…? Park Seungmin muttered blankly, slowly turning his head. Even a low-level awakener had slightly better vision than others, which was enough to distinguish the figure standing on the rooftop.

“Yang Yohan…?”

Still stunned, he muttered again as Taeyang Team’s assault continued.

To block the constantly scattering spores, Ju Hoyoung, aided by Seo Yeonrin, jumped toward the giant mushroom cocoon. Zing! Crack! The moment Ju Hoyoung’s foot touched down, the mushroom cap froze solid with a crisp sound. No more spores scattered. The writhing cocoon became lumpy and began thrashing wildly. It seemed something was about to explode out at any moment.

“Where do you think you’re going! No way!”

Yoon Seungryong leapt from rooftop to rooftop, moving to the highest point. A terrifying poisonous aura surged from his body. It rose like a tidal wave, then crashed down, enveloping the mushroom. The way it moved like a living serpent was controlled, no matter how many times one witnessed it. The cocoon convulsed under Yoon Seungryong’s paralyzing venom, its movements slowing.

“Everyone stay where you are!”

Lee Chanha, who had approached nearby, cast a blue protective barrier over the citizens’ heads. Next, Lee Hyunmook stood beside Yohan. People held their breath, fixated on the two men. Yohan, wielding a dazzlingly bright spear and manipulating clusters of light, was unmistakably a purifier. The color drained from Park Seungmin’s face, leaving him pale.

“This can’t be… This can’t be…”

No matter how much he denied it, the scene before his eyes remained unchanged. Park Seungmin looked down at his own hands. The insignificant, meager thing he had barely managed to squeeze out was buried in the light emitted by Yang Yohan, barely visible.

“Yohan, it’ll be noisy, so cover your ears.”

Responding to the affectionate instruction, Yohan quickly covered his ears. Immediately after, Lee Hyunmook pulled back the arm holding the spear. This wasn’t a performance meant for the Little Lamb team anymore; tendons bulged and turned blue on his forearm. The spear flew straight toward the cocoon bearing the traces of the flood.

Whoosh! The spear, hurled with tremendous force, sliced through the air with a deafening whistle. It flew fiercely, plunging deep into the cocoon. Before the creature within could react, a colossal thunderbolt struck down.

Craaack! Boom! Craaack…!

Black lightning, different in nature from Yohan’s light, struck relentlessly with deafening roars. As if sucking the light from the world, the thunderbolts painted the surroundings dark, striking the lightning rod embedded in the cocoon. Unlike the dazzling brightness below, the sky above was pitch black.

A tremendous current scorched the cocoon. It twitched in a final convulsion before shriveling flat. The mushroom-shaped creature hung limp, charred black. Only after several more strikes did the assault cease.

Only then did the people finally let out the breath they had been holding. Though they knew the monster was finished, the sheer intensity of the attack left them all still trembling with fear. Some collapsed to the ground, others turned pale and struggled to breathe properly.

At that moment, the cluster of light lying on the floor began to move.

Yohan, still unskilled at controlling such immense purifying power, had to use his spear as a conduit. Wherever the spear moved, waves of light rippled gently across the floor. A beautiful, mesmerizing sight drew everyone’s gaze downward. The wave of light swept over every person and every stain of corruption on the building without omission. Wherever the light passed, even the building’s long-accumulated grime vanished. It looked like a brand-new structure.

“I… I’m healed…! My hands! I don’t need gloves anymore!”

Someone cried out in awe, tears streaming down their face. This was someone who had suffered from corruption symptoms even before joining the rally. Others followed suit, checking their restored bodies and weeping with emotion. The gentle wave of light swept over every single person, leaving none untouched.

Except for one person, Park Seungmin.