The Ego Stream Strategy Control Room.

While Stardus battled that ancient weapon underground, aka the Knight of God.

I, looking at the screen, continued to give instructions.

Stardus, roll to the right and stab him when his left arm glows!

As I said this, I busily moved my arm.

At the same time, a red marker appeared on the side of the screen where Stardus would see it that indicated the side she should attack and a blue arrow indicated the direction she should dodge.

Im not sure if she realized it or not, but this was all manual

In other words, I was constantly watching his movements, predicting his next move and communicating it to Stardus, while simultaneously manually creating all the markings for his Hero-Assistants.

As such, she was able to take him out with relative ease.

It was as if she had anticipated the knights every move, dodging his attacks as effortlessly as water, and landing only the most effective hits.

It was an amazing sight to behold, looking like something out of a Munchkin cartoon.

Whod have thought that was followed by my rampage

And then Up! The attack is coming from above. Dodge down!

Kulk

She probably doesnt know how much Im clutching my head and coughing up blood as I say these words.

How nerve-wracking it is to make snap judgments on the fly, based solely on what Ive seen in the comics, about a near-constant stream of attacks. How focused I have to be to see the patterns right away, to make sure Stardus doesnt hurt a hair on her body.

But I had to do it.

I can take it easy now, but I wont be able to do it again later, when it regains its strength.

There were a few volumes in the manga, but I dont know how long it would be in real life so I kept overloading my brain, giving her impromptu instructions.

Dain, this is too dangerous.

Its okay, I wont die.

If you use it often, you might die early!

Of course, the process of convincing my family doctor was a bit long, but in the end, I was able to do this with the doping I got from the black market. Otherwise, I dont know how Id be able to make split-second judgments.

Yeah, but I have to stay positive. If the original manga author hadnt wasted a couple of books on battle scenes to show how much he loved this Knight of God character, and if that wasnt enough, an appendix to set it up, I wouldnt have even tried this method.

Yeah, now. Bitter

Of course, there were some unexpected hiccups along the way, including a nosebleed, but thankfully I handled it so well that Stardus didnt even notice.

And with that, Phase 1 of the ordeal was over.

Phase 2 had begun.

Stardus. Listen up.

I said as I looked at Stardus on the screen, breathing heavily.

From now on, its going to be even tighter, and Im going to keep my words short. Weve just got to get through this quarter, so be strong.

I gritted my teeth as I watched her nod in response to my words.

Okay. Lets do it. Lets see who wins.

After my resolve, a warlike time passed.

I felt like I was playing chess with my life No, its a hardcore action game with timing and a time limit, so suddenly it doesnt seem so bad.

And finally.

-Aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

-Purrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[Arg.]

Finally,

Stardus had succeeded in taking him down.

..Done.

I looked at the screen, at Stardus gaze, and muttered to myself.

She did it, she did it

There were only two things I believed.

That Stardus would listen to an offer from a villain like me, even if it meant stopping another, more dangerous villain, and that my instructions and her current strength would be enough to defeat him.

After defeating him, an indescribable feeling of exhilaration washes over me.

If Im so pleased with myself for giving the order, how proud must Stardus be?

Of course, I know the danger of the creature, but its different for Stardus, because she didnt know anything about it, she just listened to me and defeated it.

Just as I was thinking that.

-Rumbleeeee.

[Huh?]

The ruins were about to collapse.

Well, thats how its supposed to be. The area itself is a sort of otherworldly dimension, so its going back to its own dimension, but whatever.

Im glad I researched this beforehand.

And, of course, I was ready to take Stardus out.

Rather than panic as the ruins threatened to collapse, I calmly spoke reassuringly to Stardus, who was glaring around, looking for a way to escape.

Dont worry, Stardus. Do you think I havent prepared for that?

I snapped my fingers as I said that and on one side of the ruins, a purple circle of magic began to glow red.

Yeah. Just before we started this, Eun-Yue and I had gone down there and laid down an escape circle. Of course, it hadnt worked then, since the Knight of God was still alive to power the ruins, but now that the place had collapsed, it was working again.

Youll just have to climb up there.

With that, Stardus quickly climbed up the magic circle.

My monitor, sharing her vision, flickered to life.

So much for the ruins.

With that brief thought behind me, I turn to Stardus, who is panting on her knees, looking at the floor.

Stardus, are you okay?

[..Uh, huh, huh. Just a little tired]

She was moved from the sandy ruins, back to the ground, just above the ruins.

She breathed fresh air again for the first time in hours, and now that she was safe, she leaned back and gasped for air as her body relaxed.

Theres no way her body could be normal, especially after using such a huge amount of energy, no matter how much of an advantage she has in terms of physical strength so I opened my mouth to speak to her, who was about to die.

If you look next to that collapsed wall, theres a chest, and Ive already prepared some water and things like that, so please have some.

[Really? Yeah, thanks.]

Still dizzy from the exhaustion of trying to catch her breath, she was thanking the villain in a slightly disoriented voice, not knowing what she was saying.

Anyway, thanks to her intuition, she quickly found the box I had hidden, took out a bottle of water, and gulped it down.

She gulped down the water as if it were life-giving.

I turned to her, still panting after drinking the water, and said, trying to hide my slight concern.

Youve really pushed yourself today, so I think you should rest for a while and get yourself together so you can Well. Youll be able to deal with my terror.

[ha.]

At my words, she snaps her water bottle shut and laughs as if she heard a joke.

I wasnt kidding.

Anyway, you did a great job today. Thank you for putting up with my unreasonable requests, and that communicator should turn itself off when you remove the earpiece.

With that, I ended the conversation and prepared to disconnect.

[wait. Ha, ha, ha. Where are you going to just go?]

she said, still looking tired, but with a sharp edge.

And then she asked me.

[Youll have to explain that to me. Why the hell is there such a ruin underground in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea? What the hell is that Knight of God, and why is it there? Who made them?]

Um

I was silent for a moment at her words.

I was surprised that she remembered that part of the story, even though I, a Stardus expert whos not feeling very well right now, would collapse at any moment so I thought Id be able to get past the distraction.

But even so, I cant tell her yet.

The secrets of this world are best learned as late as possible. Finding out will only destroy her dreams and hopes.

Therefore, I can only say this.

Later, Ill tell you everything.

It was a lame thing to say, even for me.

It was a one-dimensional cop-out that said later but didnt say when.

To be honest, I expected her to push harder.

But

[Okay, youll tell me later?]

She said nothing, just smiled bitterly and said to me.

Its.I see.

And then.

..

The tinge of trust in those words felt so bitter that I couldnt say anything more.

I called the Associations medical team, and that was the end of my communication with Stardus, and the end of our conversation.

I had been holding it together.

Kuluk, kuluk. Kuek

I covered my mouth and vomited out the blood I had been holding in.

Ha. Fuck. If anyone saw me, theyd think I fought.

This is why I didnt want to use stimulants except for Ha-yul healing ability. Its too incompatible with me.

Cool Kulk.

I coughed up blood for a long time.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of something upstairs rumbling and coming toward me.

After the full-scale operation started, everyone was sent out from the control center, but apparently they heard the sound of me vomiting blood alone.

Ha, Im going to get in trouble with Seo-eun and Soobin again.

With that thought, I collapsed to the floor, feeling my mind go blank.

***

..

An island floating in the sky.

Celestial Island, where Celeste, the head of the worlds largest villainous organization, Aetheria, lives.

In the cathedral in the center of the island, Celeste, dressed as a saint, prayed with her eyes closed.

She felt something, and silently opened her eyes.

At that moment a single candle went out in front of her and looking at it, she murmured quietly.

His knight.

It vanished today, at this very moment.

With that thought, she prayed again quietly, as she continued her thoughts.