Become Overpowered CEO of Hero Clan

Memorial Service (2)

Hundreds of millions of people were slaughtered.

It’s an environment ripe for the natural birth of evil spirits, thought entities seething with malice formed from the pain and despair of the victims. Or it could be the work of earth-bound spirits hungry for spiritual energy.

If they’ve gorged themselves on the negative energy produced by mass slaughter, even insignificant evil spirits could rapidly grow to Lord or Emperor class.

‘It must be quite clever.’

Already, over 1,000 people have gone missing.

It’s a being that has managed to slip through the investigation network of the Martial Arts Alliance’s intelligence agents and A-class heroes, even swallowing them up.

The investigation was expected to face difficulties.

Ding dong.

“Is anyone home?”

Creeak. The front gate opened. The team was greeted by a middle-aged woman with a gloomy face inside the luxurious detached house.

She was Zhao Yan, the mother of Wang Min, one of the missing persons.

‘A civilian.’

She was the last person the missing A-class hero had contact with. Her face was filled with fear.

No information window appeared, and her behavior didn’t seem like an act.

The only noteworthy point was that both mother and daughter had worked as actresses for two generations. The husband was the CEO of a mid-sized company.

Outstanding looks and economic power were meaningless in the face of this strange phenomenon. It was the sorrow of civilians exposed to disaster.

Seo Eun-ha asked.

“You said your daughter’s seizures started a week before she went missing?”

“Yes… But, um. I wonder if the people who came before didn’t have any success. It seems like you’re asking the same things…”

“Unfortunately, those people have all gone missing as well. That’s why we’re here now.”

“Y-yes?! Oh, oh… Um, you’re all famous, aren’t you? That… You won’t… be sacrificed or anything… during this, right?”

She seemed to be hearing about the disappearance of the heroes for the first time. But she was surprisingly calm about it. The pain of a nation that had lost hundreds of millions of its population must have numbed individual sensibilities. It was a tragic, truly tragic situation.

Isaac asked.

“The missing actress, Wang Min, had intermittent seizures. During these seizures, she would crouch in a corner, covering her ears. Your daughter was terrified, as if she had seen a ghost. I’ve heard this is all you’ve stated so far, but is there anything else you know?”

“Anything else? No… What would a housewife like me know about curses?”

“I see. But there seem to be a lot of talismans in the room. Are you Buddhist?”

“No, not that. It’s just that the world is in such turmoil, you know. I even had a famous child medium perform a Chungna ritual, and received talismans. I thought doing at least this much might ease my mind…”

She was talking about believing in folk religion based on Taoism.

Na is a type of ritual performed by Chinese shamans, similar to the Korean concept of ‘gut’.

Among these, ‘Chungna’ was a religious ceremony that involved performing exorcism activities to suppress and repel evil spirits.

“I’ll take a look for a moment.”

Isaac examined each of the talismans attached to the walls of the room. Most of them were just patterned talismans without any information windows, meaning they weren’t imbued with any magical formulas.

Among them, two were imbued with exorcism formulas effective in driving out evil spirits.

‘There are no curse formulas applied.’

But he did get a hint.

Over a thousand people had gone missing without catching the eye of the Martial Arts Alliance. If a villain or evil spirit disguised as a shaman had been going around placing curses under the pretext of exorcism activities, it would all fit together.

“When did you perform the Chungna ritual?”

“We did it a few months ago, and also last week.”

“Was your daughter with you?”

Zhao Yan shook her head.

“No. My daughter didn’t believe in religion. If I had known this would happen, I should have forced her to come along… *sniff*”

The daughter hadn’t met the shaman.

The problem that seemed to be solving itself returned to square one.

After leaving the apartment, Isaac contacted the Martial Arts Alliance.

—Please investigate whether the missing persons performed rituals or possessed folk religious items like talismans.

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***

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A vast, empty field overgrown with weeds.

Two superhumans faced each other.

The Sword Emperor and The One.

This is what the world called them.

The Awakened.

Swoosh!

The Sword Emperor Baek Mu-seong’s mind sword sliced through space. It was a silent strike without any precursor. The trace of the transparent crescent aimed to cut down the opponent without hesitation.

“As expected!”

Crackle!

It was an invisible physical force.

An unseen power grasped the crescent and pressed it down. The air in the atmosphere was swept up, and the grass in the field was torn and condensed into a single point.

“Strength in Conviction! You’ve forged a real blade with your belief. Martial arts is such an interesting technique!”

“Don’t get too excited. Didn’t we agree to keep it light?”

“Hahaha! How can I help it when it’s so thrilling?”

Ziiing—

Ping!

The condensed point touched the tip of The One’s index finger.

It was a bead of mass compressed to the extreme.

The One’s talent was Gravitokinesis. This was a basic technique applying that ability.

Brilliant golden waves rippled in the Sword Emperor’s eyes.

“20 tons, huh. Fortunately, it seems you’re not too excited.”

“Don’t let your guard down. As my mana circuits have developed, various applications have become possible. I can even distort the laws of gravity like this.”

Woong—

Fwooosh!

The black point shines white. Hot energy explodes and rushes towards him.

The Sword Emperor drew his sword.

Harmonious Mind Sword

First Form

Pressing Sword to Expel Evil

Chiiiiiii!

A pure white shockwave split apart.

It was as fast as a ray of light. Except for the Sword Emperor’s sword path, everything within dozens of meters in all directions was annihilated. This phenomenon occurred as soon as the bead turned white.

The One, smiling contentedly, said,

“Stars that cannot support their own mass collapse inward. As they cool down due to electron degeneracy pressure, we call the resulting stable stars white dwarfs.”

“Are you saying that sphere just now was a white dwarf?”

“Haha! Of course not. By the laws of physics, the smallest white dwarf is about half the size of the moon. I merely borrowed the idea and applied it.”

He distorts the physical laws of gravity.

The general meaning of this became clear.

While the Sword Emperor pushed martial arts techniques to their limits based on his talent, The One was an original hero who developed his innate abilities themselves.

The righteous path is for heroes like The One.

They realize their ultimate potential by developing their innate mana circuits.

“Then what was that explosion? Did you cause nuclear fusion with gravity?”

“No, that’s not it. Nuclear fusion refers to the reaction where atomic nuclei fuse to form heavier nuclei in a high-energy plasma state. That’s only possible for particle accelerators or heroes with ultra-high temperature flame abilities.”

The areas that can be applied vary greatly depending on one’s talent.

Even for manipulation-type heroes like The One, the power of their talents differed from person to person.

“The Chandrasekhar limit. It’s the maximum mass a white dwarf can have without collapsing under gravity. I twisted this to induce a supernova explosion. Although the power was insignificant. You can think of it as manipulating the wave function of the degeneracy pressure equation.”

He finds applications for his talent in science.

And each time, he creates outrageous techniques.

‘Beyond controlling gravity, it’s the control of physical laws related to gravity.’

He became curious. How The One’s ultimate ability had evolved and grown stronger again.

Ziiing.

The Sword Emperor’s eyes once again took on a golden hue.

It was the manifestation of his talent, the All-Seeing Eye.

An eye that penetrates the principles of all things in the world. Not powerful on its own, it’s a kind of passive skill that only reveals its true value when combined with separate combat techniques.

Sruruuk.

The battle path appeared.

Countless blue and red lines intersect.

Blue emanates from the Sword Emperor, red from The One. Hundreds of blue and red lines are lost in the moment they intersect.

Only a few strands remain. Just three or four strands each of blue and red lines.

From this, he could tell. That the military might of the Sword Emperor himself and The One was evenly matched.

A hero who reached the ultimate by honing his excellent talent. A hero who achieved the ultimate by adding technique to his lacking talent.

Though their methods of climbing differed, they conquered the summit together.

Whether rock climbing or trekking, the goal is the lofty peak of the mountain.

Sharararak!

Wooooong― Kwaddeuddeuk!

Following the three strands of blue battle path, the Harmonious Mind Sword’s blade qi scattered. As space was torn and compressed, dozens of white beads bounced out.

It was truly a battle between dragons and tigers. The fierce attacks of dragons and tigers swept through with unstoppable momentum.

“You said not to get excited. But you truly are my one and only rival, The One!”

“Come! My battlefield companion!”

Puhwaaaaa!

The black bead grew to the size of a house.

Though its power might be tens or hundreds of millions of times less than the original, its appearance reminded one of a black hole.

Whiriririk.

Thirty-two light swords surrounded the Sword Emperor.

The blue lines were all burned away. What his eyes saw now was a red domain. Not lines. Space.

The entire spacetime of the area was completely red.

Ziing.

The thirty-two swords suddenly merged.

A holy sword imbued with golden light was grasped in the Sword Emperor’s hand.

Seureuk.

A single blue line extends. One blue line cuts through the red space. The end of the line pierces through The One’s forehead.

It was the only battle path. The sole remaining path to victory. That was enough. Public and private matters must be distinguished.

The heated fighting spirit cooled down.

The Sword Emperor released his sword stance.

Chuck.

“Let’s stop here.”

“…Hmm.”

The black space that had been absorbing everything was withdrawn.

The One fell silent.

The technique the Sword Emperor showed at the end. It was different from before. An irregular outside the norm, he felt the same uncomfortable emotion from the Sword Emperor that he had only felt from Hero Isaac.

It was, bitterly, a hint of fear.

The magnitude of the emotion was different, but the type was the same.

“I lost today. You’ve grown stronger again in the meantime.”

“As always, let’s call it a draw.”

“Officially, that is. Kekeke.”

One month later.

The decisive battle for humanity’s future begins.

The fate of Earth rests on the 100 selected heroes.

Before that, they confirm how sharply their weapons have been honed. This sparring was for that purpose.

“What happened with the holy relics?”

“The Vatican has agreed to provide the Spear of Longinus. With that, we’ll take down the enemy’s demon army.”

“The EU has also decided to use the Holy Grail and the Shroud of Turin. Everyone’s cooperating, given that the survival of humanity is at stake.”

Holy relics were being gathered from all over the world.

Apart from the unique-grade holy relics, legendary-grade armaments and battle items were converging on the Korean Peninsula.

All of humanity was united with an unyielding spirit.

Seureureuk― Kuung!

A medium-large jet was summoned in mid-air.

It was The One’s exclusive lever, the Aerial Monarch.

Before boarding, The One suddenly asked,

“By the way, how are things in China and Russia these days? Are they able to manage on their own?”

“We’ve been helping them diligently. That darned power struggle. Seems they don’t want to reach out to the US for help.”

“We have no such intentions, but it’s different from the politicians’ perspective.”

China has been emphasizing alliances in East Asia and consistently keeping the US, the originator of heroes, in check. It was a history that stretched far into the past.

“I shouldn’t have brought up such heavy topics. Let’s save this for the meeting later.”

“You were the one who asked first, though.”

“Ahem, well, that aside. How’s your youngest daughter doing these days? I heard she woke up not too long ago.”

“She’s full of energy. So much so that she suddenly became a hero and even got dispatched to China.”

“What? You didn’t stop her?”

“I sent her with our kids. As you know, the situation in China is dire. They can’t even pay proper request fees, so our Cheoncheon Baekga family should set an example, don’t you think?”

The Baek family, known for their integrity and righteousness. It was an attitude befitting the leader of such a clan.