Chapter 32 – The Mirror of Madness
Flames scorched the sky as Hwan City's skyline collapsed, chaos erupting like a volcano that had waited too long to erupt.
In the center of the ruins stood Ji-ho—calm, silent, eyes burning with controlled fury.
Before him floated Han Jae-shik, surrounded by S-rank mercenaries trembling despite their power. They had never seen a force like the one now walking among the ashes.
"Ji-ho," Jae-shik smiled, his voice calm and aristocratic. "Do you know why this city worships me? Why they call me savior?"
Ji-ho's reply was cold and sharp.
"Because they are blind to the chains you wrapped around their throats."
Jae-shik's eyes narrowed. "Then let me show you what they see."
He clapped his hands.
And reality warped.
The world twisted—Hwan City was gone.
Ji-ho stood in a small clinic. His parents alive. Smiling. Laughing. Calling him and Ye-jun to dinner.
"Brother?"
Ji-ho turned to see Ye-jun, eyes innocent and alive. "What's wrong? Come on, let's eat."
Ji-ho's heart shook.
It was too real.
Too warm.
Too perfect.
He knew it was fake.
And yet—
"Do you really want to let this go?" Jae-shik's voice echoed through the illusion. "I can give it to you. This world. This peace. Just give me the pendant."
Ji-ho closed his eyes.
And let the rage burn through the lie.
BOOM.
A burst of black and crimson aura shattered the dream into shards.
"You think I'd fall for that?"
His Destructive Aura flared, laced now with the poisonous hatred he'd earned from a hundred fallen enemies.
Han Jae-shik frowned.
"So be it."
Dozens of illusions spawned around Ji-ho—copies of himself, of Ye-jun dying, Seo-oh screaming, his enemies laughing, his parents bleeding.
Each one twisted to shatter his mind.
But Ji-ho gritted his teeth, focused on the pain, let it anchor him.
His aura pulsed like a heartbeat.
His pendant glowed.
From within, the devil's voice whispered:
> "Use the Eye."
Ji-ho opened his crimson eyes.
The Eye of Evil activated.
And in that moment—all the illusions unraveled.
He saw through the fabric of lies.
Saw every weak point, every crack in the illusions, and the real Han Jae-shik hiding among the echoes.
With a flick of his wrist, Destructive Ray surged forth.
No hand motion. No chant.
Just thought.
And the beam ripped through three false mercenaries, exposing Jae-shik's real body.
"Not possible—!" Jae-shik barely muttered before Ji-ho appeared behind him.
With a thought, the Destructive Ray twisted into a black sword, cloaked in poison aura.
Ji-ho didn't hesitate.
He cut through the illusionist's spine.
Han Jae-shik screamed, his body unraveling, his powers scrambling to build new lies—but Ji-ho wouldn't stop.
He stabbed again. And again.
Each strike a memory.
Each cut a lesson.
Society failed them. So he would show society what it meant to suffer.
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By the end, Han Jae-shik lay broken—his illusions shattered, his city in ruins, his name wiped from the world.
Ji-ho stood over his corpse, not triumphant, just silent.
That was the fourth.
Six to go.
And the truth of the Devil's Society only grew darker.
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