The Blue House plaza was a study in violent contrasts. Above, the sky was a bruised violet, choked by the skeletal architecture of the Pale King's Citadel. Below, the 'Paladins' stood in a circle of blinding white light, their 'Goddess Protocol' humming with the stolen silver mana of Han Seol-ah.
"You're too late, Butcher!" the Lead Paladin screamed, his voice amplified by his helmet's speakers. "The protocol is at 90%! Once it completes, the city will be encased in a barrier that not even your 'King' can breach. You'll be locked out in the cold with the monsters!"
Kang-woo didn't look at the Paladin. He looked at Seol-ah. Through the glass of the cylinder, her eyes met his. She wasn't crying. She was mouthing a single word: Kill.
"You talk about barriers," Kang-woo said, his voice a low, vibrating growl that seemed to come from the pavement itself. "But you're standing in my shadow."
[Skill: 'Sovereign's Presence' — Absolute Authority.]
The white light of the Paladins began to flicker. The shadows beneath their feet didn't just rise; they became solid, obsidian spikes that impaled the 'Goddess Protocol' machinery.
"Blasphemy!" a Paladin roared, swinging a mace made of holy fire.
Kang-woo didn't dodge. He caught the mace with his bare hand. The holy fire hissed against his 'Auditor's Ink,' turning into gray steam. With a sharp twist, he shattered the S-rank artifact into a thousand shards.
"The only blasphemy here," Kang-woo hissed, "is that you think you can own a debt that I haven't signed off on."
[Skill: 'Ink-Burst: Paradox' (Point Blank) activated.]
The explosion didn't push the Paladins back; it sucked them in. The localized gravity collapse tore through their enchanted armor, exposing the terrified men beneath. Kang-woo moved like a blur of mercury, his hand reaching for the lead Paladin's throat.
"STAY YOUR HAND, USURPER."
A bolt of violet lightning struck the plaza between Kang-woo and the cylinder. The Diplomat of Bones reappeared, but this time, he wasn't alone. Behind him stood a figure ten feet tall, draped in robes of human skin, carrying a staff topped with a living, weeping eye.
[Entity Identified: The Pale King's Executioner (Rank: S+)]
"THE PALE KING DOES NOT TOLERATE INTERRUPTIONS," the Executioner boomed. "THE GIRL BELONGS TO THE ABYSS. THE ASSOCIATION IS MERELY THE COURIER."
"Courier?" Director Kim's voice crackled through the plaza's speakers. He was watching from a secure bunker miles away. "We are the protectors of humanity! If we have to sacrifice one priestess to save ten million, we will do it!"
"You're both wrong," Kang-woo said, standing between the S+ Executioner and the S-rank Paladins.
He reached into his chest, grabbing the 'Crown' tattoo. The black ink began to spread across his entire body, forming a suit of jagged, liquid armor that pulsed with the light of a dying star.
[Evolution Triggered: 'Sovereign's War-Form' (Temporary Overclock)][Mana: +300% / Lifespan: -1 Month per minute]
"She doesn't belong to the Abyss," Kang-woo's voice was now a chorus of a thousand whispers. "And she certainly doesn't belong to the government. She is the one I owe. And I don't let anyone else touch my debt."
Kang-woo vanished.
In the next microsecond, the Executioner's staff was snapped in half. The Paladins were thrown across the plaza like ragdolls. Kang-woo appeared in front of the glass cylinder, his hand glowing with a terrifying, gray radiance.
"Seol-ah," he whispered. "Close your eyes."
He punched the glass.
Not with physical strength, but with a 'Debt-Cancellation' strike. The machinery that was leaching her mana didn't just break; it reversed. The years of trauma, the stolen mana, and the pain the Association had inflicted on her were forcibly fed back into the Paladins' network.
[Feedback Loop: 'The Creditor's Revenge' initiated.]
Across Seoul, every Association device connected to the 'Goddess Protocol' exploded. Director Kim's monitors went black. The Paladins screamed as their own armor began to cook them alive with the silver mana they had stolen.
The glass shattered. Seol-ah fell forward, and Kang-woo caught her.
Her silver eyes snapped open, now burning with a cold, divine fury that eclipsed the violet glow of the Citadel above.
"Kang-woo," she breathed, her voice echoing with the power of a restored Goddess. "Give me the bow."
Kang-woo smiled—a sharp, lethal grin. He reached into his own shadow and pulled out the 'Key to the Sunken Throne', reshaping it with his ink into a massive, blackened longbow.
"Audit the sky, Seol-ah," Kang-woo commanded.
She gripped the bow. The sky over Seoul didn't just turn silver; it turned into a firing range.