“Faster. At that speed, you couldn't even catch a mosquito.”
Only the sharp hiss of air being split and the heavy thud of blows cut through the chilly air of the empty, abandoned factory.
Five or six exorcists already lay sprawled on the floor, groaning.
At their center stood Kang Do-jun, swinging a mop handle like a skewer as he effortlessly deflected the attacks pouring in.
“Damn it, what the hell is that footwork?!”
Cheshire Cat gritted his teeth and thrust his dagger forward.
The instant he was sure he had followed the afterimage and aimed squarely at a vital point, his world turned upside down.
Do-jun's figure shimmered and vanished like a heat haze, and a heavy impact struck his side.
Do-jun stroked his chin, the corner of his mouth twitching.
‘This footwork I just learned isn't half bad.’
BOOM! BOOM!
It was footwork Do-jun had recreated in his own style by combining the Earth-Shrinking Art with Navajo wind magic.
The precise movement range of the Earth-Shrinking Art, combined with the explosive force unique to wind magic, produced movements far more unpredictable than his previous footwork.
What should he call it….
‘Divine Wind Shadow Step it is.’
Using this new spell, Do-jun beat the exorcists of Alice to a pulp…. No, he trained them.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
“Gaaagh!”
Whenever they seemed to close the distance, a firestorm suddenly erupted.
Vines rose from the floor and caught their feet, while shock waves sent them sprawling.
Even though it was ten against one, they could not so much as touch a speck of dust on him, bout after bout.
They were all veterans who had defeated countless evil spirits in the underworld…. Yet their pride was not even wounded.
That Asian exorcist was more than merely strong. Fighting him felt like facing an enormous wall.
‘This makes no sense. I saw an opening and went in, so why am I rolling on the floor?’
The Queen of Hearts, too, bit her lip as she struggled to catch her breath. The holy-type spell she had just cast had dispersed like mist the moment it touched Do-jun's fingertips.
He was not simply overpowering it. It felt as though he twisted the very flow of spiritual energy to nullify it.
“What country's magic is that? I've never heard of or seen anything like it.”
“Knowing won't change the outcome, so let's just keep at it.”
Instead of answering, Do-jun tilted his neck and took up his stance again.
“He's coming again! Four of us at once this time!”
“Okay!”
The hellish training continued.
It looked like one-sided violence, but even amid the relentless beating, the exorcists' movements gradually grew more precise.
Their bodies screamed in pain, yet Do-jun's feedback never stopped.
“Good, that last exchange was decent. Cheshire, don't turn left. Drive straight in!”
“Damn it! Easy for you to say!”
Just then, a voice sounded in Do-jun's head.
《I do not know why you waste your time on these wretches. Would it not be better to fight alone? With my power, you would be more than capable.》
‘Well, if I borrow your power… I think it'll take longer to wake the old friend in my belly.’
《Hmm. So that is what you are plotting. How audacious.》
‘And they're not weak at this level. They're quite capable.’
How long had he been talking with Wakan Tanka?
As if to prove his words, the members of Alice pressed in on Do-jun all at once, moving as though they were one body.
With every blow, their spells and weapons struck in a chain that closed off his blind spots and bore down on him with murderous intent.
BOOM! BOOM!
As he endured, deflecting each blow with a short movement—
WHOOSH!
In a split second, a chain shot from somewhere outside his field of vision and grazed his collar in a threatening attack.
“Damn it! I thought I had you that time!”
Mad Hatter cried out in disappointment.
Do-jun grinned.
‘See? Not bad, right?’
《…Indeed. They have improved since the beginning.》
He had only put them through their paces for a few days, but their movements had visibly improved.
He thought the people here could now at least hold their own against most of Blue Tile's lower-ranking exorcists.
Of course, it was absurd to think they could defeat the vampires who would be coming with only this much…. But at least they would no longer hold his side back.
“Let's go again!”
“Hyaaaah!”
They all charged Do-jun again at once, seemingly tireless. Then—
“Stop!”
CLAP!
When he clapped his hands, a shock wave erupted and sent them all flying.
“Ughhh…. Seriously, what kind of ridiculous power is that?”
“Daaamn it.”
Frustration filled every face.
“That's enough training for today.”
“We're done…? We didn't land a single proper hit.”
When their leader, Clock Rabbit, asked, Do-jun shrugged.
“Those vampire bastards will be here tomorrow. You should make sure you're in good shape before then, don't you think?”
“How… do you know that?”
Do-jun plucked out a strand of hair and blew on it.
The hair glowed blue and dissolved into the air.
“Well, you could call it a kind of precognition.”
“…….”
Just what was this man?
They all looked as though they had seen a ghost.
Do-jun took a brush from his clothes, then bit his fingertip until blood welled up.
“Come on, stop getting worked up. Bring me your weapons and the combat gear you'll wear tomorrow.”
“What are you going to do?”
“An Asian buff.”
They approached cautiously with their combat gear, and Do-jun wrote Chinese characters on yellow paper to make talismans for them.
‘Cheshire Cat lacks destructive power, so… Wall-Breaking Flight. For the Queen of Hearts, let's go with Clear Mirror, Still Water.’
He gave Cheshire Cat, who was fast but lacked destructive power, a talisman that added weight to his attacks.
For the Queen of Hearts, whose mental fortitude was weak, he made one that could improve her concentration.
In this way, he attached talismans imbued with spells to their weapons and protective vests, compensating for the weaknesses he had found in each member of Alice over the past two days of fighting.
Each time….
‘There's some strange energy flowing through it.’
‘I feel somehow more at ease….’
Everyone felt an immediate effect, whether great or small.
“I'm doing these as a freebie this time, so try them out. If you like them, you can pay me to make more from now on.”
“Ha! You really are a ruthless man.”
Mad Hatter gave a dry laugh as he checked his equipment.
Meanwhile, Do-jun walked to a corner and took out the Annabelle doll he had tucked inside his clothes.
He had kept the object Bloodhound had brought.
The vengeful spirit in the doll he had sealed was much weaker than before, but powerful energy still emanated from within it.
Wakan Tanka asked,
《Is this not that petty spirit you tore apart before?》
‘That's right. You remember.’
《Why do you still have it? It reeks. Why have you not burned it at once?》
‘I think I can use this… as the “kick” in this fight.’
《What are you saying? What use is a toy you cannot even eat?》
‘You don't need to know, Spirit. I have a plan.’
《There you go, talking impudently again…》
As they bickered, Michael came over to take stock of the situation.
“We've finished checking all the equipment you put talismans on. Now… do we just wait for them to come?”
“Yeah, though there's one more little thing to prepare.”
“What?”
“Open the club tomorrow. I'd like to fight while it's packed with customers.”
“What are you talking about?!”
Michael, known as Clock Rabbit, shouted in horror.
The other members' eyes widened too.
“Having customers here would make this a much bigger incident and restrict us in a fight. What if the vampires take hostages?!”
“Don't get worked up. I have a plan, so hear me out before you decide.”
With a sly smile, Do-jun explained step by step to the members of Alice what he intended to do.
Their mouths gradually fell open.
“…If we do it this way, I think we can hit them as spectacularly as possible. What do you think?”
They stared at him in a daze and asked,
“That's insane…. Is something like that really possible?”
“If it works, it certainly seems like it would have an enormous effect….”
Do-jun brushed himself off and rose.
“Then let's do it. Let's hunt some vampires.”
His voice brimmed with confidence.
***
The streets of Brooklyn at night.
An elite unit called ‘Shadow Fang,’ led by Smithers in a fur coat, cut through the night like shadows.
“What are you looking at, you bastard?”
“S-sorry!”
The murderous aura radiating from dozens of high-ranking vampires seemed to freeze the very air of Brooklyn.
Even the drug dealers and gangsters who normally caused trouble in the city lowered their heads and made way for them without being told.
‘I-isn't that guy… Smithers?’
“I think so.”
Some even recognized the master of Brooklyn's night….
That was how overwhelming Smithers and his gang were in this city.
“Is this the place?”
They finally reached the front entrance of the club ‘Alice.’
Oddly, the doors stood wide open.
A pounding beat and the cheers of a crowd spilled out from inside.
Smithers frowned.
“Boss… it looks like they're open for business.”
“Such insolence. The stupid bastards.”
After they killed Bloodhound, he had thought they would almost certainly flee or build a fortress and wait for him. Instead, they had lit the place up like broad daylight and were welcoming customers.
It could mean one of two things.
Either they had no grasp of the situation, or they were confident.
“Please wait a moment. To go in, you'll need to pay the entrance fee…. Gack!”
With a snap of his fingers, Smithers hurled the guards into a trash can and stepped inside.
THUMP! THUMP!
Glittering mirror balls spun overhead, and hundreds of humans mingled, sweating as they danced.
It was a den of revelry.
Smithers's nose twitched.
‘There's… no smell.’
He could not sense the sharp odor of human bodies or the heat of blood that should have filled a place packed with hundreds of people.
Instead, his nostrils were assaulted by the smell of very old dust and a strangely sweet yet revolting stench of rot.
Then a familiar silhouette appeared by the railing of the VIP room above the stage.
The hat pulled low concealed his face, but he was an Asian man looking down at them as he exhaled a cloud of vapor from an electronic cigarette.
“You're later than I expected.”
Do-jun's voice cut through the beat and reached Smithers's ears clearly.
Smithers bared his teeth and roared.
“So it's you…. Asian.”
The Asian who had wrecked the abandoned factory at the harbor and even killed Bloodhound.
Now that he knew the man operated out of this club, there was no need to hold back.
Besides, the presence of so many civilians here made the situation far more favorable for the vampires.
Smithers's eyes turned red.
“Take care of them.”
“Yes, sir.”
The members of Shadow Fang leaped onto the stage like starving beasts.
Each of them was a powerful vampire of at least Tier 4.
They spread out in perfect unison.
“Aah!”
“Aaaah!”
A vampire's fangs sank mercilessly into the neck of a woman dancing near the entrance.
CRUNCH—!
Blood should have sprayed everywhere. But what burst out was not red blood.
“……!”
Coarse sawdust, clumps of rotten cotton, and black smoke steeped in terrible resentment poured into the vampire's mouth.
The woman whose throat had been torn open did not even scream in pain.
Instead, she looked at the vampire with a grotesque smile, her neck twisted 180 degrees backward.
《Ahahaha! Want to… play with me?》
What came from the woman's mouth was no human voice.
It was a chilling laugh that sounded as though thousands of rats were scratching all at once.
“Wh-what is this?!”
The horrified subordinate tried to shake off her hand, but it had already stiffened like a doll's and was clamped around his arm.
That was not all.
The hundreds of ‘customers’ who had been dancing stopped in unison.
They turned their heads with the creak of wind-up dolls and stared at the vampires.
Do-jun smiled.
“The customers are enjoying their dancing… You shouldn't interrupt them. I heard you run a club too, but you've got no manners. Don't you agree?”
Do-jun snapped his fingers lightly.
The customers' skin melted like flour dough, revealing their true, grotesque forms.
They were not human.
They were spirit-medium dolls made by filling them with the vengeful resentment of Annabelle and her friends.