The air above Busan Port began to scream. It wasn't the sound of wind, but the high-pitched whine of 'Mana-Nullification' (MN) warheads cutting through the atmosphere. These weren't designed to destroy buildings; they were designed to collapse mana circuits—turning a high-rank Hunter into a paralyzed husk and a monster into a pile of inert meat.
"They're insane," Madame Blood hissed, standing beside Kang-woo. She watched the three silver streaks descending from the clouds. "If those hit the Abyss, the magical feedback will kill half the civilians in the city!"
"That's the point," Kang-woo said, his silver eyes fixed on the sky. "A tragedy they can blame on the 'Shadow Sovereign'. A reason to bring in international peacekeepers."
[Warning: MN-Warhead Impact in 45 seconds.][Detection: High-density Anti-Mana field expanding.]
Kang-woo didn't move. He felt the silver link to Seol-ah thrumming with her anxiety from Seoul. He felt the siphon from Nam Goong-jin pulsing with golden energy. He reached out his hand, but he didn't point it at the bombs. He pointed it at the Abyssal Knight-Commander standing in the harbor.
"Forge... Resonance," Kang-woo commanded.
[Skill: 'Abyssal Forge' (Variant: External Synthesis) activated.]
The Knight-Commander didn't attack. It slammed its spear into the sea. The black ink of its body began to bleed into the water, turning the entire Busan harbor into a swirling pool of pitch. Then, the shadows of the skyscrapers, the cranes, and the ships began to rise, stretching upward like a forest of black needles.
"Audit the Auditor," Kang-woo whispered.
[Skill: 'The Sovereign's Ledger' (Domain Overwrite) initiated.]
The MN-bombs hit the 500-foot mark. Normally, the anti-mana field would have activated here, neutralizing any defensive spells. But the shadows weren't 'spells.' They were an extension of the Sovereign's record.
The bombs didn't detonate. They stuck.
The black ink needles caught the warheads mid-air, wrapping around them like tentacles. The high-tech alloy of the bombs began to hiss as the 'Auditor's Ink' corroded the circuitry.
"What... what are you doing?" Madame Blood whispered, her black eyes wide.
"I'm reclaiming the material," Kang-woo said.
He clenched his fist. The ink tentacles crushed the warheads. Instead of an explosion of nullification, there was a silent implosion of black and silver light. The mana-nullifying cores, worth billions, were compressed and absorbed into the Knight-Commander.
[Resource Acquired: Compressed Anti-Mana Core (x3)][Knight-Commander Evolution Progress: 88%...]
The three 'Vulture' bombers above panicked. They banked hard, trying to retreat, but the shadows of the city reached further than they anticipated. A massive hand of solidified ink erupted from the harbor, swatting the lead bomber out of the sky.
The aircraft didn't crash; it was pulled into the shadow-sea of the harbor, vanishing without a sound.
"This is the message," Kang-woo said, his voice being broadcasted through the mana-resonance he had established across the city. "The Association's law ends at the Nakdong Line. This is no longer a Black Zone. This is the Abyssal Protectorate."
Down in the Jagarchi Abyss, the thousands of criminals and mercenaries watched the sky. They saw the Association's 'invincible' weapons turned into fuel for the man on the balcony.
The fear shifted. It became a fanatic, desperate hunger.
[Status: Social Position 'Terrorist' upgraded to 'Warlord'.][Influence: Busan Underworld (60%)]
"Madame Blood," Kang-woo turned to her. She was now visibly shaking—not from the pressure, but from the sheer scale of the shift. "Inform the other Hells. I'm not asking for their cooperation anymore. I'm giving them orders. By tomorrow, I want the Association's tracking buoys removed from the coast. This is our territory now."
"And the survivors of the bombers?" she asked.
"Feed them to the Knight-Commander," Kang-woo said, walking back into the darkness of the Crow's Nest. "I need him at Rank-A before the Association sends their 'negotiators'."
As Kang-woo retreated into his private chamber, the 'Crown' on his chest burned. A new message appeared on his system interface, one that didn't come from the Earth's system.
[The First King of the Abyss has noticed the 'Protectorate'.][The 'Diplomat of Bones' has been dispatched to Busan.]
The political war was over. The inter-dimensional war was knocking on the door.