Chapter 37 – A Mind Made of Blades
The wind screamed as Ji-ho and Ye-jun ascended the snowy cliffs of Mount Seori, the closest infiltration point to the airborne stronghold—Skyhaven. Floating high above the clouds, supported by massive anti-gravity cores and psychic amplifiers, it was more than a base. It was a fortress of the mind, ruled by one of the most dangerous awakened alive—Han Seo-jin.
Ji-ho looked up. "To reach him… we'll need to make our minds sharper than blades."
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Inside Skyhaven
Han Seo-jin sat calmly in a spherical chamber of glass and steel, surrounded by a dozen elite mind-users—all S-rank. His thoughts extended like spiderwebs across the fortress, touching every corridor, every breath, every flicker of fear from his subordinates.
"Ji-ho is coming," he said, eyes closed.
A subordinate shivered. "The fifth target? Shall we alert the Grand Association?"
"No. Let him come." Seo-jin smiled thinly. "I want to see if he's worthy of being hunted by thought alone."
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Back in the shadows of the mountain
Ye-jun activated a cloaking orb, shrouding them in dark matter.
Ji-ho closed his eyes, focusing his thoughts. Since devouring Sang-rok's poisonous evolution, his mind had begun to sharpen unnaturally. Every heartbeat was clearer. Every breath was a weapon.
> 'If his power is mental manipulation… I need to resist, break illusions, and strike through thought itself.'
But suddenly, a surge of pressure hit him—psychic surveillance.
> "He's already found us," Ji-ho growled. "The bastard is playing with our thoughts."
The snow around them began to melt. For a moment, Ji-ho saw his mother, standing in the blizzard, smiling.
> "Ji-ho… come home…"
Ji-ho's fists trembled.
> "You're not real!"
He fired Destructive Ray—not with his hands, but with his will.
The illusion shattered. The real Ye-jun appeared beside him again, panting. "He hit us both at once…"
"We're inside his mind now," Ji-ho said. "But he made a mistake."
Ye-jun glanced up. "What?"
Ji-ho's aura ignited—a swirling mass of destruction and poison, infused with his newest skill: Mental Split. Gained through the pendant's evolution, it allowed him to split his consciousness into layers, shielding parts from psychic attacks.
> "He let us see his power," Ji-ho said. "Now we can break it."
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In the lower decks of Skyhaven
They infiltrated, slaughtering through waves of mind-enslaved guards—puppets, their eyes glazed, fighting with no will of their own.
Ji-ho weaved between them, Destructive Ray morphing into a serrated mind-blade, slicing illusions and flesh alike. Every psychic trap shattered against his evolving resistance.
A wave of pure thought slammed into him—Seo-jin's primary mental blast.
> "Kneel," the voice echoed in his skull.
Ji-ho screamed in defiance, eyes glowing violently.
> "I am the mind that breaks blades!"
He roared, pushing forward—bleeding, shaking—but still standing.
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In Seo-jin's chamber
The commander stood as Ji-ho arrived, Ye-jun behind him, wounded.
"You made it," Seo-jin said, eyes glowing violet. "Impressive. But you can't kill a thought."
Ji-ho spat blood.
"I don't need to kill a thought," he said. "I just need to destroy the source."
And then, the real battle began.
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