The air in the room didn't just vibrate; it screamed.
As Kang-woo gripped Seol-ah's hand, the golden, purifying mana of a High-Rank Investigator flowed into his blackened, necrotic veins. Usually, this would result in an internal explosion—holy and unholy energies were like matter and anti-matter.
But the 'Ring of the Usurper' on his finger pulsed with a frantic, violet light, acting as a bridge, a neutralizer that forced the two opposing forces to grind against each other.
[Warning: Extreme Mana Turbulence!][System stabilizing 'Gray Mana' fusion...]
"Argh!" Kang-woo's eyes turned a terrifying shade of silver.
The Puppet-Doctor sneered, its translucent face rippling. "Mixing light with rot? You'll burn from the inside out, boy."
The skeletal hands rising from the floorboards tightened around Kang-woo's throat and waist. He could feel his ribs beginning to creak.
"Not... burning," Kang-woo gasped, a jagged, gray electricity beginning to crackle around his skin. "Evolving."
He reached out his free hand toward the broken glass bow on the floor. The weapon flew into his palm, but it didn't stay a bow. Under the influence of the fused mana, the glass shards melted and reformed into a jagged, translucent blade that flickered between light and shadow.
[Limited Skill Unlocked: 'Blade of the Twilight Grave'.]
With a roar, Kang-woo swung the blade in a wide arc.
The skeletal hands holding him were not just cut; they were erased. The gray energy ignored the monsters' defense, rotting the bone while simultaneously cauterizing the essence.
"What... is that power?" The Puppet-Doctor backed away, its worms-filled face twitching in genuine fear.
"The end of your contract," Kang-woo said.
He blurred. Enhanced by the 'Viper's Sense' and the explosive surge of fusion mana, he appeared behind the Puppet. He drove the gray blade through the monster's back.
The holy element of the blade scorched the dark worms, while the necrotic element drained the Puppet's stolen life force. The monster didn't even have time to scream. It collapsed into fine, white ash—the kind of ash found only in the oldest of tombs.
[Level Up!][Current Level: 9][The 'Mark' on the Investigator has been forcibly suppressed and converted.]
The silence that followed was heavy. The emergency lights flickered back on, bathing the room in a dim red glow.
Director Kim groaned, pushing himself up from the wreckage of the medical equipment. He looked at the pile of ash, then at Kang-woo, who was standing over Seol-ah, still holding the flickering gray blade.
"Kang-woo," Kim said, his voice low and dangerous. "Explain. Now."
Kang-woo felt the gray blade dissolve back into shards of broken glass. His arm was charred, the skin peeling from the stress of the fusion. He looked at Seol-ah. She was pale, but her breathing was deep and rhythmic.
The mark on her neck hadn't disappeared. It had turned from violet to a faint, metallic silver.
[Condition Met: 'Life-Debt Bond' established.][The Investigator's mana is now partially synchronized with yours.]
"She's alive," Kang-woo said, ignoring Kim's question. He turned to face the Director. "And the thing that was hunting her is gone. If you want a report, you'll have to wait until my lungs stop bleeding."
Kim walked over, his eyes scanning every inch of the room. He stopped at the glass shards. "That wasn't Shadow Warrior magic. And it wasn't the Investigator's light. It was something... impossible."
"The world is breaking, Director," Kang-woo retorted, his voice raspy. "Impossible things are going to happen more often. You can either report me to the Bureau and lose the only person who can stop these rifts, or you can cover this up."
Kim's eyes narrowed. "Are you threatening me? An A-rank Director?"
"I'm offering you a deal. You wanted a 'Special Asset'. You found one. But I work on my own terms."
The 'Viper's Sense' told Kang-woo that Kim was calculating the risks. The Association was losing power to the private Guilds. An asset like Kang-woo—someone who could kill a High-Rank Puppet while at Level 9—was a game-changer.
"Fine," Kim said, his face hardening. "I'll mark this as a 'Spontaneous Mana Overload' caused by the rift residue. But you belong to the Association now. If I call, you answer."
"I'll think about it," Kang-woo said, sliding his hands into his pockets to hide their trembling.
Kim left to handle the cleanup crews. Kang-woo slumped into a chair next to Seol-ah's bed. He was exhausted, but a new notification appeared in his vision, glowing with an ominous golden-black hue.
[The King of the Dead is intrigued by the 'Gray Paradox'.][A Messenger of the Throne has been dispatched to negotiate.][Location: Your Home.]
Kang-woo's eyes widened. He hadn't even had a chance to rest, and now the threat was moving to the only place he felt safe.
He looked at Seol-ah one last time. She was the reason he was alive, and now, she was the reason he was a target.
"Wait for me to get back," he whispered, though he wasn't sure if he was talking to her or himself.
He slipped out of the hospital through the service exit before the reporters could arrive. He had to get home. He had to see what kind of 'negotiation' a god of death had in mind.