Not A Regressor - Chapter 200

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Am Not a Regressor Chapter 200
Satiated Hypocrisy and Starving Virtue (4)
“You are….”
Demian furrowed his brow and glared at Kwon O-jin, who had stepped in front of Isabella.
The man who had been standing beside the woman pickpocketed yesterday.
‘I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before.’
At the time, he hadn’t bothered to pay attention to who he was.
But it was definitely a face he recognized from somewhere.
His deliberation didn’t last long.
The man blocking his path was an awakener just as renowned as the Seven Stars organization he belonged to.
“Noe-rang, isn’t it?”
He’d heard that Noe-rang was the one and only apostle of Vega, the constellation of Polaris.
“That’s what they call me.”
Kwon O-jin nodded and gripped the jet-black spear planted in the ground.
Crackle!
Blue lightning coiled around the spear shaft and blazed fiercely.
Demian regarded Kwon O-jin with eyes turned cold as ice.
“I vaguely recall reading an article about Noe-rang being a hero who saved people from the hands of the Black Star Society. Why are you protecting her?”
“If you call yourself a hero, then you should choose the method that saves the most people.”
“…She is a witch who deceived people and extorted their blood.”
“But she’s also a saint who saved tens of thousands of people.”
Spin.
He twirled the spear and continued the conversation at an unhurried pace.
“That’s merely hypocrisy to obtain blood through deception.”
“Isn’t satiated hypocrisy better than starving virtue?”
Demian’s expression twisted harshly.
“So as long as the results are good, nothing else matters?”
“Why should I listen to such words from someone who hasn’t even achieved good results?”
“….”
Demian clamped his mouth shut and glared at Kwon O-jin with fierce eyes.
Kwon O-jin slowly lifted his head, bearing the killing intent that made his skin prickle.
Sunlight poured down like rain through the gaps in the collapsed mansion’s ceiling.
“Have you ever been poor?”
“…What?”
“Have you ever lived in a moldy house, shivering through winter, washing yourself with cold water, and worrying day after day about what you’d eat tomorrow?”
“….”
Demian shook his head firmly, his lips pressed together.
Unlike Isabella, who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth, he had lived a relatively comfortable life thanks to having a renowned pastor as his father.
“What’s the most painful thing for those who have nothing?”
A monster that tears people apart alive?
An awakener who inherited the power of a stigma and wields superhuman strength?
No.
That was merely something to fear, not something that caused pain.
“Having no home to return to, no clothes to wear, no food to eat.”
Those things caused far greater suffering.
Far greater despair.
“Then are you saying her actions—deceiving people to extort their blood—were justified?”
“It’s not a matter of justified or unjustified.”
I’m no philosopher.
My education ended at elementary school.
I’ve never pondered complex notions like justice or virtue, and I have no desire to start now.
But there is one thing I know.
“For them, at least, that hypocrisy you called filthy was their only salvation.”
“Saving many people does not absolve one of their crimes.”
That’s true.
Just as donating ten billion won doesn’t justify committing murder.
Saving many people cannot serve as an indulgence for sin.
But.
“The crimes Isabella committed… are you referring to the blood packs she diverted?”
I let out a dry laugh.
“It’s not like she kidnapped people and forcibly extracted their blood. If she only skimmed a portion from donated blood, is that theft? Embezzlement? I’m not familiar with Italian law, but is that really grounds to flip out and swing a sword like this?”
“The stigma she possesses is… dangerous.”
“What I possess is dangerous too. If I wanted, I could kill thousands in a single moment.”
Crackle!
Blue lightning erupted from my hand.
Demian quietly raised his sword again.
“She is a member of an international terrorist organization and an awakener of a stigma with an extremely dangerous side effect—a vampiric compulsion. If we don’t eliminate her now, we won’t know what calamity might befall us later.”
“So.”
I burst into laughter.
“Right now her crimes aren’t that severe, but she might become dangerous later, so we should kill her preemptively? Even though she hasn’t actually done anything yet?”
“That’s not what I meant…”
“Then what the hell did you mean, you bastard?”
“…”
“You called Isabella a filthy hypocrite just now.”
If that’s the case.
“Then you’re a clean poison-monger.”
“…There’s no point in continuing this conversation.”
Demian’s clenched sword blazed with pure white light.
“…Kwon O-jin.”
Isabella, crouched on the ground, looked up at me with trembling eyes.
The joy that Kwon O-jin had come to protect me, the fear born from him discovering my true identity, the helplessness of being unable to do anything under the curse’s influence.
Countless emotions and thoughts tangled together, leaving me unable to find the right words to say.
“I’m… sorry.”
After a long struggle, what escaped my lips was an apology.
My shoulders trembled faintly as I kept my head bowed low.
“I’ve been deceiving you this whole time, Kwon O-jin.”
I was no saint of Rome.
I was the Leech Queen, the third-ranked executor of the Black Star Society bearing the stigma of Lyra Constellation.
“It’s fine. I already knew.”
Kwon O-jin shrugged casually.
“What? You… you already knew?”
“That Isabella was the Leech Queen. I knew that.”
“What, what are you talking about?”
Isabella’s eyes widened like a rabbit’s as her mouth fell open.
“When? When did you find out?”
“Hmm. Well, let me think about when exactly.”
Kwon O-jin continued with a playful smile.
“You said my blood tasted that good, didn’t you?”
“Kyaaaah!”
Isabella shrieked and tumbled backward.
Her skin, pale as white jade, flushed a deep crimson as if steam were about to burst forth.
“That was practically from the beginning!”
I never imagined Kwon O-jin would be awake then.
I hadn’t sensed even the slightest sign of consciousness!
“But you said you didn’t remember anything back then!”
“Oh, that?”
Kwon O-jin chuckled and turned his body toward Demian.
“That was a lie.”
Boom!
He kicked off the ground violently and rushed toward Demian.
A jet-black spear extended fully, aiming for Demian’s throat.
Clang!
Demian deflected the spear with movements as fluid and natural as flowing water.
A dizzying counter-force transmitted through the spear shaft.
“So you knew his identity yet remained silent.”
Demian’s expression twisted savagely as he raised his sword high.
A blindingly intense aura of light shot skyward, then transformed into hundreds of blade-like rays that began to pour down.
“Then you are no different from her—a hypocrite.”
Demian regarded Kwon O-jin with contemptuous eyes.
Kwon O-jin raised his middle finger toward him, evading the cascading blades of light.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!
Blades of light cascaded down with terrifying ferocity.
The mansion floor shattered beneath the violent impact that engulfed Kwon O-jin.
“Ugh.”
With no space to evade, the surging waves of light ravaged my internal mana.
‘Is this the power of the Seven Stars?’
Indeed.
It was worlds apart from my sparring match with Ha-eun.
‘But.’
That didn’t mean I was weak enough to simply accept defeat.
Clang!
Six wires unfurled like a net.
My body rocketed high into the air.
“Hah.”
I drew in a deep breath, focusing my consciousness.
‘The Thunder God Body won’t work.’
The preparation took far too long, and the backlash after using it once was devastating.
‘Then.’
My eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
The stigma of Lyra Constellation blazed fiercely as mana rippled across my entire body like waves.
With the spear tip aimed at Demian, I forged Thunder Flame.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
Azure flames burned brilliantly at the spear’s tip.
‘This flame.’
I condensed it into a single point.
Crackle! Crackle-crackle-crackle!!
The azure flames blazing at the spear tip thrashed with violent repulsion.
Normally, condensing Thunder Flame further—a technique already perfected in its original form—would be impossible.
But.
“Settle down, you beast.”
For me, such impossibilities were no longer even an obstacle.
Crackle-crackle-crackle!
I forcibly suppressed the repelling azure flames.
The sensation resembled compressing thunder through Charge.
“Hnngh!”
I hurled the jet-black spear crowned with condensed azure flames at full power.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
The mansion trembled as the condensed azure inferno swept toward Demian.
“Tch….”
Even for Demian, completely blocking the Thunder Flame condensed into a single point proved difficult; he grimaced with a low groan.
Crack, crackle.
Blue sparks erupted from his skin, charring it black as they scattered.
“…You’re even more formidable than the rumors suggested.”
A genuine exclamation of admiration escaped Demian’s lips.
This was his first time facing an awakener bearing the stigma of Polaris, yet he could already understand why the constellations revered them as ‘Polaris’.
“However.”
It was merely beyond what he’d anticipated.
For one who had already surpassed the ninth star and reached the tenth, such variables posed no real threat.
“I didn’t earn the title of Seven Stars for nothing.”
Ting.
The scale caught by his blade rang out clearly as it swayed.
Demian’s form became engulfed in radiant light, then shot toward Kwon O-jin, who had only just landed.
Clang! Crash! Clanging crash!!
An exchange of blows conducted at supersonic speeds.
As the two superhuman beings collided, the earth fractured and the mansion walls crumbled.
“Kyaaaah!”
“Ugh! P-please, save us!”
The heads of the cadet branches who had been standing at a distance, eagerly awaiting Isabella’s execution, screamed and scrambled away from the collapsing debris.
Rumble!
But before they could flee like rats, the mansion walls came crashing down, sealing off their escape route.
“D-Demian, sir!”
“P-please, kill that monster!”
“Tch! An apostle of Lyra Constellation, spouting all manner of arrogance, yet siding with the witch!”
The panicked family heads cheered for Demian with desperate eyes.
Though perhaps not because of their encouragement.
Demian was steadily pushing Kwon O-jin back as intended.
Whoosh!
“Ugh!”
A sharp blade cut deep across Kwon O-jin’s ribs.
Blood trickled from the gaping wound.
‘The stigma of Seahorse.’
Even creating water rapidly and applying hydro-affinity to heal the wound did little to improve the condition.
‘The light is destroying the mana circuits themselves.’
More precisely, it was crystallizing the mana flowing through the circuits, as if using a blood coagulant.
‘Is this the ability of the Libra stigma?’
The power to crystallize mana.
I’d heard rumors of it several times, but this was my first time witnessing it directly.
“If you withdraw now, I won’t pursue this matter further.”
“Ah, come on—I’ve already made such a grand entrance. It’d look pretty pathetic to back out now, wouldn’t it?”
“…Is that really the concern at hand right now?”
“Appearance is a serious matter, after all.”
“Sigh.”
Demian exhaled deeply and leveled his sword at me.
“Then let’s end this now.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“Do you truly believe you can defeat me in your current state?”
“Hard to say. It would certainly be difficult.”
Unless I used the Heavenly Sword.
My strength alone was insufficient to match Demian.
‘But.’
That was only true if I faced him alone.
“I wonder if the preparations are complete by now.”
“Pardon?”
Naturally, of course.
I hadn’t come to face Demian without any contingencies.
I stretched my right arm upward and summoned lightning.
Blue lightning shot skyward before exploding like fireworks.
“Now then… will this work?”
Searching my memory.
“Fire.”
I whispered the incantation softly.
“Burn with all your might.”
Whoooosh!!
Above the collapsed ceiling, torrents of scorching flames rained down.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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