The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 511

For his infiltration of the Inoue estate under the false identity of Akasha, Se-Hoon was using a perception-interference spell based on a mix of a few things to conceal his true identity thoroughly.

By distorting his appearance with mana noise and layering multiple sound frequencies over his voice, he ensured neither left memorable impressions. Then, on top of that, he mimicked the mannerisms of the Seeker to make his behavior distinctly different.

Yet, together, those still weren’t enough to eliminate suspicions that “Akasha” was actually “Lee Se-Hoon.”

“Two people with the strength of Perfect Ones have suddenly shown up seventeen years after the Pilgrim? That makes no sense.”

“He’s hiding his appearance. That alone proves he’s got something to hide.”

“Also, this Lee Se-Hoon guy might seem fine in the reports, but people who’ve met him in person say he’s way more of a lunatic than even that… D-D-Director? Aaaagh!”

If Akasha and Se-Hoon were just at the level of S ranks, the comparisons would have ended there. With both possessing strength rivaling the Perfect Ones, though, it was impossible not to draw connections. Then there was the fact that every senior in the Inoue family knew Se-Hoon had secured multiple parts of the Seeker’s body.

And if that wasn’t enough, ever since Akasha had appeared, Se-Hoon hadn’t shown himself even once, citing injury. It would’ve made no sense not to be suspicious.

I’ve been acting brazenly to throw them off, but I’ve hit the limit.

As long as the Inoue family suspected he was Se-Hoon, they would cooperate with his Ascension Project preparations but never agree to execute it. That had been the sentiment Se-Hoon picked up on while observing the entire facility—which was why he resolved to take drastic action.

—One…

And there was only one way to unite a group divided by suspicion.

—Ten. Smash everything to bits.

Just force them into a crisis where survival depended on cooperation.

BOOM!

An arrow came flying in from beyond the shimmering barrier surrounding the Inoue main estate, making it let out what seemed like a screech of agony. In the air, “Se-Hoon” stood there with a pure white longbow in his hands, observing the fierce aftermath that nearly collapsed the mountain itself.

“This can’t possibly be happening…”

Inside the shaking recovery room, Ren was stunned. He had been so sure that the person in front of him was Se-Hoon or someone closely related to him at the very least. Just what was going on?

Confused, Ren squinted into the shimmering bubble to examine “Se-Hoon” as he continued firing arrows.

No matter how you look at it… that’s the real deal.

From his aura to his presence, and especially that pristine white longbow—the White Night Bow—none could be replicated by anyone other than the successor of the Visionary: Lee Se-Hoon himself.

That arrow… plus the Director’s muttering earlier…. Could they really not be the same person?

Nothing made sense, but Ren couldn’t afford to reject the possibility outright even now.

“Director… what is going on?” Ren asked, recovering his composure.

“What do you mean, what’s going on?”

Se-Hoon curled his lips slightly, the only part of his face visible beneath the noise-distortion spell.

“Are you asking why I’m not Lee Se-Hoon?”

“…”

“I didn’t mind letting people assume as much until now, but it looks like it’s time to clear things up.”

At long last, Se-Hoon lifted the concealment curtain of noise covering his face to reveal the features beneath—and Ren’s eyes widened in shock. The face leaned more feminine than masculine, delicate and androgynous.

And it was a face that Ren had definitely seen once before.

“The Seeker…”

“You’re about half right.”

A face that strongly resembled Natalia Kanayeva, the Seeker.

“You’ve researched her power, haven’t you? Then you must at least know what kind of nature it has.”

“You’re… talking about the erosion phenomenon?”

“‘Erosion’ sounds a little harsh. Let’s call it assimilation instead.” Correcting Ren’s wording, Se-Hoon lowered the curtain of noise once more. “During the process of studying her legacy, my body, mind, and even mana were assimilated. Normally, it would’ve ended there, but unlike those idiots in Dawn, I happen to be quite intelligent.”

“…”

“Before I fully assimilated, I entered a Tower of Heroes to perfect my synesthetic mindscape and reached this… unique state.”

He completed his own synthetic mindscape to maintain a balance with the erosion, thereby gaining overwhelming power—a completely insane approach. The bypass method was so wild that Ren couldn’t believe his ears.

“Is that… actually possible?”

“Well, standing here in front of you is proof, is it not?”

Though he said that with zero hesitation, internally, Se-Hoon was thinking the complete opposite.

As if such a thing would be possible.

Recently, the Seeker had been reduced to running errands and acting like an AI assistant, but that was only possible because he had a unique synesthetic mindscape. If anyone else tried to tap into the Seeker’s knowledge and power the same way, their brain would have melted within a day. And if not, it’d likely be the worse option of losing control of their body entirely to her influence.

Nobody else could even handle the power of Omniscience and would probably collapse outright.

Still, from the Inoue family’s point of view, it was hard to question the backstory he had laid out for Akasha. Everything he’d done so far fit the narrative perfectly—and more importantly, “Se-Hoon” was up in the sky right now, firing arrows using the power of Perception.

There’s no way they’d ever figure out it’s Terra using the Warhound to impersonate me.

With his permission, Terra was using Warhound’s abilities at full capacity, enough to pass off convincingly as himself. Before that, the Inoue family had no choice; no matter how suspicious or uneasy they felt, they had no choice but to get in the same boat with Akasha if they wanted to survive.

“Then… what did you mean by what you said earlier?”

“Earlier?”

“About preserving a heart and still recovering…”

“Ah, that.”

It was time for the final piece of the backstory to convince the Inoue family.

“I actually fought Lee Se-Hoon not long ago to try to recover the Seeker’s remains. Knowing that he’d just fought Heaven’s Eye and his powers were weakened, I took a shot. But it wasn’t easy,” he said plainly.

“Then… when you said you preserved his heart…”

“I meant Lee Se-Hoon’s heart. Even after destroying it, it regenerated, so I tried preserving it in void space to suppress him… but judging by what we’re seeing now, it looks like he recovered still.”

“…”

Ren felt dizzy.

He ambushed Lee Se-Hoon and managed to injure him seriously…?

If what he was hearing was true—and given the current attack, it had to be—then it showed just what kind of lunatic he and the clan had boarded a ship with. It was a truth that made Ren shut his eyes tightly in disbelief.

Flap-

At that moment, a paper-made disposable shikigami floated into the recovery room, carrying a voice transmission from its master.

“So, any ideas for how to deal with the current situation?”

Ren opened his eyes at Ryuuma’s voice, which echoed through the paper shikigami.

“There are plenty of ways to break out of this. If you’d like, I could stage another hostage situation like before and slip out…” Se-Hoon suggested, glancing over.

“No, I’ll pass on that.” A firm answer.

Ryuuma cast a glance at the now-quiet research facility.

“That man isn’t generous enough to play along with that kind of act. He’ll use this opportunity to dismantle our family and seize the entire Ascension Project for himself.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’ll activate the Ascension Project now.”

“…?! L-Lord Ryuuma! That’s far too dangerous—”

“Ren. In situations like this, do you really think it makes sense to insist on full preparations?”

Ryuuma’s voice, colder than ever and laced with suspicion, made Ren regain his cool and bow his head.

“…I apologize.”

“If we hesitate even a little here, we’re going to lose all possibilities. So, no matter the outcome, we must challenge ascension. Only then can we stand on equal footing with Lee Se-Hoon.”

Just like the global assembly of S-rank heroes, the Inoue family couldn’t negotiate equally with Se-Hoon. To face someone on his level, they had to wield power equal to him first.

Having known that for a long time, Ryuuma remained calm despite the critical crisis.

“This was something we were bound to face inevitably. Akasha’s intervention just brought it forward a little.”

“No need for thanks.”

“…”

Ren cast a dumbfounded look at Se-Hoon due to the brazen response, but Ryuuma just continued without batting an eye. “Director Akasha. Bring Erika down to the innermost chamber.”

“Hmm… and if I refuse?”

“Then the Ascension Project will fall into Lee Se-Hoon’s hands. I don’t know your exact circumstances, but… it’s not an outcome you’d welcome, is it?”

As Ryuuma said, Akasha—the supposed successor of the Seeker—could never allow the Ascension Project to be taken.

In other words, Ryuuma had completely bought into the fabricated story.

“Well, I suppose you’re right… not that I have much of a choice,” Se-Hoon nonchalantly agreed, smirking inwardly.

Instead of moving toward the innermost chamber, though, Se-Hoon lightly waved his hand, and a pale-skinned girl—eyes closed, her body doll-like and expressionless—emerged from the shadows at his feet.

Ren’s eyes widened.

“You… what did you do to Erika…?”

“I was correcting what Lee Se-Hoon had tampered with before. If I left it untouched, it might’ve been exploited.”

That was, of course, a lie—but what solely mattered was how convincing it sounded to his listeners. Even if it didn’t work on Ren, Se-Hoon was confident it would work on Ryuuma.

“…Indeed. In her current state, she won’t even be able to open the door.”

Ryuuma let out a quiet sigh and stared at Se-Hoon—his expression unreadable—through the shikigami.

“Is there a way to buy time until the adjustments are complete?”

Though Ryuuma didn’t trust Se-Hoon, he was the only one who could stand toe-to-toe with “Se-Hoon.” Ryuuma knew he was playing into Se-Hoon’s hand, yet he just had to accept it.

Smiling faintly because of that, Se-Hoon responded, “Of course I’ve prepared for that…?!”

Rumble-

The recovery room, which had briefly fallen silent, began shaking violently—“Se-Hoon” had just revealed the devastating strike he had been preparing.

“That’s…”

At the center of the great ward, surrounded by a white circle, Terra gathered white and black light to form a spiraling arrow. Despite being in the underground lab, they could feel the sheer force being compressed into that shot.

Ren swallowed dryly.

If the goal is to destroy the barrier… is he combining the powers of the Eternal Nocturne and the Visionary?

They could see that Terra was crafting a strike capable of shattering the grand ward using the power of Boundaries and then realizing that future with the power of Perception, but they couldn’t block it. Without powers at the level of the Perfect Ones to oppose it, it was flat-out impossible.

Is there even a way to stop that…?

If they somehow blocked this first strike, how would they defend against the chain of following attacks? Ren, who had recently come to his own understanding of just how terrifying the power of Perception could be in a prolonged battle, knew best.

“Let me give you a bit of advice.”

Just then, Se-Hoon spoke as he formed a hand seal.

“The future that has already been realized… should not be denied blindly.”

Watching Terra draw the spiral arrow of black and white energy into the White Night Bow, prepared to fire at full force with Se-Hoon’s near fully mirrored power, the real Se-Hoon let out a quiet chuckle.

“You must distort it—by adding your own strength.”

Akashic, Distorted Law: Thousandfold Projection

CRACKLE-!

Blue mana erupted from Se-Hoon’s body like a tidal wave, instantly sweeping over the research facility and the entire mountain. It was such a vast, unbelievable amount of mana to come from just one person that Ren couldn’t help but frown.

So he wasn’t even using his full strength during our previous fight…

As Ren once again felt the sheer absurdity of the person standing before him, something completely unexpected happened outside.

“You crazy bastard—!”

“Se-Hoon” suddenly cursed and withdrew his power in a panic, despite being ready to fire. And in that brief respite, the great barrier combined with the blue mana to reinforce itself and grow even more solid.

Stunned, Ren stared in confusion.

Why is he acting like that?

Everything had changed in the blink of an eye, yet all they had done was release mana to reinforce the barrier? Why the sudden panic? As Ren wondered if it was all staged, Se-Hoon snapped his fingers.

Bloop, bloop-

Immediately after, tiny soap bubbles began gathering in the air before merging into a massive one that revealed the layered-magical-noise-covered Akasha. The bubbles, which previously displayed global landscapes via synchronization, were now being reverse-engineered to broadcast the inside of the research facility—and Akasha himself—to the entire world.

“Ah-ah. Can you all hear me? Of course you can. Otherwise, there’s no way Lee Se-Hoon would’ve stopped attacking.”

“…”

Ren watched the image inside the bubble as Akasha spoke nonchalantly, his expression unreadable. Ren couldn’t quite grasp what was happening, but some part of him had sensed that something massive was about to unfold.

“…You.”

Ryuuma, too, seemed to have realized something, as his startled voice came out of the voice transmission.

Akasha ignored both the father and the son’s reactions.

“I’ll get straight to the point, since everyone must be quite flustered. Right now, the great barrier protecting the Inoue family has fused with the planet.”

“…!”

Ren’s eyes widened in horror as all around the world, simultaneous cries of shock and horror rang out.

Looking down at them all from the bubble in the sky, Akasha grinned.

“If none of you want to die in a planetary explosion, I suggest you don’t touch the Inoues.”

Just like that, the Inoue family had just become the enemy of the entire world.