Not A Regressor - Chapter 401

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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 401
Interlude – Summons (1)
The air hung frozen and bitter cold.
Perhaps because mere moments before, warmth and contentment had filled every breath.
The sudden chill felt like ice water had been poured over everything, cutting through skin and bone.
“What… what is this?”
Ha-eun, who had been staring blankly at the television, opened her mouth in disbelief.
“Did we… did we just accidentally switch to a movie channel?”
The question tumbled out despite the shock of the moment, but even she knew perfectly well that what played across the screen was no film.
A city engulfed in Fire Demon.
Terrible screams and cries of anguish echoed from beyond the image.
There was a raw, visceral despair that no artificial production could ever fabricate.
“…Ah.”
Isabella staggered backward, her face drained of all color.
Cassia caught her swaying form and steadied her.
“Why… why is this happening?”
“Compose yourself.”
Italy was Isabella’s birthplace, her homeland—the shock could only cut deeper for that reason.
Kwon O-jin bit down hard on his lip, his eyes fixed on the burning landscape of Rome flowing across the screen.
There were several differences from what he had witnessed through Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories.
‘Not vampires.’
In Lee Shin-hyuk’s memories, Rome had fallen to a vampire legion commanded by the Blood Witch, but now Rome was being assaulted by hordes of demonic beasts—different species, not vampires.
‘Different species of demonic beasts.’
Demonic beasts were not uniform in kind.
Just as animals were divided into countless species—lions, rabbits, tigers—so too were demonic beasts subdivided into dozens, hundreds of distinct types within that single category.
Lions and rabbits did not coexist peacefully, and these creatures likewise rejected other species by instinct.
‘And yet.’
The demonic beasts visible on screen, despite being different species, moved with perfect military precision as though they had been drilled into formation.
An entity capable of controlling demonic beasts of different species like puppets.
As far as Kwon O-jin knew, only two beings possessed such power.
“…Cassia.”
Kwon O-jin turned his gaze toward one of those two.
Cassia, supporting Isabella while watching the television with a grave expression, gave a quiet nod.
“It must be Mobius’s doing.”
“…”
A low growl escaped Kwon O-jin’s throat as he curled his lip and pressed his palm against his forehead.
A bitter laugh leaked through his teeth.
‘What could possibly change?’
Arrogant. Conceited.
Complacent. At ease.
Over the past three months, my body had undergone explosive growth, but my spirit had grown rusty and dull, corroded by the peace of everyday life.
Eyes sunken deep gazed upon the blazing flames.
-Regarding the current situation, the Seven Star Council….
Crackle, crackle crackle.
In an instant, static erupted across the screen, distorting the image.
Like a broken radio, the announcer’s words cut out as the screen flickered with darkness.
“Has the signal been cut?”
While Ha-eun furrowed her brow and tilted her head in confusion.
Slither, sssslither.
Through the speaker came an eerie sound, as if The Snake were crawling across the floor.
The screen that had been flickering black regained its light, revealing the figure of a man.
A man as pale as a snowy field.
His face, bearing a faint smile, appeared so gentle that one’s heart would melt merely from gazing upon it, yet his two eyes, gleaming with a sickly green hue as though laced with poison, glimmered with an unsettling madness.
-Ah, can you hear me well?
The man, smiling awkwardly as if the broadcast felt unnatural, bowed with courteous grace.
-I am Mobius, the Constellation of the Serpens Constellation.
A smile carrying the innocent candor of a naive boy.
Beyond that voice—gentle as a spring breeze that makes one’s lips curl—came something else.
-Aaaahhh! Ugggh! Kyaaaaa!
Screams filled with agony and torment.
Standing against the backdrop of a city engulfed in flames, Mobius created an oddly grotesque sight.
-Huff, huff!
Then, a man staggered out from within the inferno, gasping for breath.
Gripping swords in both hands, he spotted Mobius and his eyes widened.
-You… you bastard…!
The stigma inscribed upon the man’s left chest blazed with light.
Blue sword energy erupted from the twin blades held in his hands.
“Vittorio Calvani…?”
The man’s name spilled from Isabella’s lips as she watched the screen.
“Do you know him?”
“He’s a fairly renowned awakener of the Cancer Constellation within Italy.”
Cancer was a powerful constellation that belonged within the Zodiac Twelve Houses.
The characteristic of the Cancer stigma was said to grant weapons such powerful cutting force that they could sever space itself.
The twin blades gripped in Vittorio’s hands gleamed with an eerie light.
-Oh my, I thought I’d killed them all, yet there’s still an awakener who survived.
Mobius turned to face Vittorio and smiled wickedly.
Vittorio’s expression twisted violently.
He crossed the twin blades held in both hands in an X formation and cried out.
-Constellation of Cancer, Tarpus! I beseech you, grant me the power to condemn this wicked demon!
Whoooosh!
Vittorio Calvani’s stigma blazed fiercely as the azure sword aura coalescing upon his twin blades surged upward in a towering crescendo.
-Hahahaha, it’s futile.
Mobius let out a low chuckle, shaking his head.
-No matter how much you plead, no matter how desperately you yearn, no matter how fervently you wish.
His eyes, sunken and hollow, continued his words.
-The Constellations will never save humanity. Never.
His voice rang out, parched as a desert wind.
-Shut your mouth!
Vittorio Calvani spat out a vicious curse and charged toward Mobius.
The surging azure sword aura crossed in an X-pattern, tearing through space itself.
A blade strike so swift it would blur on any camera lacerated Mobius’s body.
And then.
-Gahhk! Cough!
As if the footage had skipped forward, Mobius suddenly repositioned himself, his hand clamped around Vittorio Calvani’s throat.
With a serene smile, Mobius extended his hand toward Vittorio Calvani’s left chest.
Crunch.
His hand plunged into the stigma-marked chest and wrenched out the heart, still pulsing with frantic beats.
-Can you hear Tarp’s voice now?
-Gahhk, cough, wheeze!
-Haha. You see? I was right, wasn’t I?
Mobius shrugged his shoulders and clenched the heart convulsing in his palm with brutal force.
As the heart burst, crimson blood spilled forth, drenching his snow-white hair like a blizzard.
Stained with blood, Mobius walked leisurely toward the direction of the camera.
-Well, with this, all the Awakeners in this city are dead.
Mobius, holding the camera in his hand, wore a refreshingly pleasant smile.
-But don’t worry. There are still plenty of living people remaining, you know?
Snap.
As he flicked his fingers, pristine white serpents crawled forth from the expansive shadows spread wide.
Thousands upon thousands of people bound by serpents became visible.
From elderly individuals with wrinkled skin to children who appeared not yet ten years old.
Countless people lay unconscious, bound by the serpents.
-Hmm. This line feels like something a cheap villain would say, so I’d rather not.
Mobius let out a soft chuckle and continued.
-If you wish to save these people, come to Italy.
Like a dignified master of ceremonies announcing the curtain fall, he placed his hand respectfully over his chest and bowed.
His eerie luminescent green eyes stared straight ahead.
-I shall be waiting. Those blessed by the stars.
Crackle, crackle crackle!
Static interference filled the screen once more as the image shifted.
-Ah, ah! W-we apologize for the sudden communication disruption that caused this alternate footage to be broadcast!
The announcer, wearing a flustered expression, kept bowing his head repeatedly.
“….”
“….”
A heavy silence descended upon the Living Room.
“That footage… was broadcast nationwide, right?”
“It must have been.”
Kwon O-jin exhaled deeply and pressed his forehead with his hand.
The image of the city engulfed in flames was seared into my mind like a brand, impossible to erase.
‘To think they’d declare war at a time like this.’
There wasn’t a single nation that hadn’t received the breaking news of Italy’s massive invasion, so in essence, they had declared war against awakeners across the entire world.
The fact that they’d so brazenly seized hostages and demanded we come to Italy spoke volumes.
‘They’re already fully prepared.’
A grinding sound.
My clenched fists trembled slightly.
“No, this can’t… this isn’t….”
Isabella, her face drained of all color, staggered toward the television.
She collapsed in front of the screen, her shoulders shaking as she hung her head.
“Has fate… not changed at all?”
“….”
“If I don’t become the Blood Witch… then… wouldn’t that be fine?”
I thought it would be fine.
I was confident that I had changed fate.
But.
In the end, nothing had changed.
“…I’m sorry.”
Kwon O-jin placed his hand on Isabella’s trembling shoulder.
“That pale bastard is Mobius, isn’t he?”
Ha-eun bared her teeth fiercely and turned her body.
“Let’s go to Italy.”
“Go where?”
“There are still people alive there.”
“To be precise, there are people he hasn’t killed yet.”
Cassia exhaled deeply and shook her head.
“This is a trap. A way to lure awakeners to Italy.”
Heading to Italy now would be like throwing ourselves into a pit of fire.
“So you’re saying we should just leave those people?”
“I apologize for saying this, but the people who’ve been captured are essentially already dead.”
“What do you mean by that…!”
“Think about it rationally. Even if we rushed to Italy right now, do you really think those people could survive?”
“….”
“To Mobius, those hostages are merely a means to draw out Awakeners. Once they’ve served their purpose… they’ll be discarded.”
Cassia continued, her eyes clouded with bitterness.
“It’s already too late to save them.”
“…That’s…”
Ha-eun shook her head, her lips trembling.
She knew it too.
That Mobius was openly laying a trap and waiting for them.
But.
“Then… you’re saying we should do nothing?”
Were they supposed to stand idle while watching people bound and unconscious?
“…If necessary, yes.”
Cassia averted her gaze from Ha-eun and bit her lip firmly.
[…My child.]
All eyes turned toward Kwon O-jin.
With his hand resting on Isabella’s shoulder, Kwon O-jin finally spoke.
“What do you want to do?”
“…What?”
“Bella, what do you want to do?”
“….”
Isabella’s lips pressed shut.
She too understood that Mobius’s declaration was a trap.
Even if they went to Italy, the chances of those captured people surviving were slim.
“I think… it would be best to observe the situation.”
A suppressed voice escaped through her tightly closed lips.
“The captured people are unfortunate, but… moving according to Mobius’s will is too dangerous….”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Kwon O-jin shook his head.
He wasn’t asking about the current situation.
“What you want to do.”
“….”
Her words caught again.
Isabella’s hand, gripping Kwon O-jin’s collar, trembled faintly.
“I want to save them.”
Even knowing the chances were slim.
“If there’s any hope… I want to save them.”
“Alright.”
Kwon O-jin smiled gently and stroked Isabella’s hair.
“I’ll save them.”
If that was what Isabella wished.

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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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