Evan never expected to witness a sight like this in his life.
Reid faced the boss with an ordinary handgun. Anyone else would have laughed at the sight. The pistol held no Anti-Monster Rounds, which cost too much to issue to regular RCB officers, and by every account it should have been useless against an A-rank monster. Evan, however, had no doubt his brother could bring the mutated tree down.
Ever since Reid had healed him, Evan had been almost certain his brother was Reuel. The novel described the sensation of Sacred Light in detail, and Evan's experience matched it perfectly. Warmth had washed over him from every direction, as though the sun itself had wrapped him in its embrace. It was so soothing he could have drifted off right there.
But there was no time to relax now. He was about to watch Reuel, the Legendary Demon Hunter, take on a Rift Boss.
The tree bellowed and swung both arms at Reid. He leaped over the blow, landed on one of its limbs, and sprinted along the thick branch at astonishing speed. The creature's hand came down to crush him, but Reid fired first. The round flared gold as it cleared the barrel and struck the monster's palm. Rather than glancing off the bark, it detonated, leaving a gaping crater.
Evan's breath caught as Sacred Light flowed into the next round. A standard bullet couldn't contain so much power, and one slip would set it off inside the barrel. Yet Reid infused it without the slightest hesitation, as if he'd done it thousands of times. Only Reuel could pull off something so unbelievable.
"Grrraaaaaaaaaah!" The tree howled as vines lashed from its body and shot toward Reid.
He fired in rapid succession. Vines split apart under the shots, and the rest snapped at empty air as he darted between them. When he had broken past its defenses, he ran up the creature's arm and launched himself skyward, gun aimed at its face.
The round struck home, and the tree reeled. When the smoke cleared, its face was gone, ripped open to the hollow of the trunk, where a crimson core throbbed deep inside.
Reid landed on the creature's shoulder and held his footing as the trunk heaved beneath him. He emptied the rest of his magazine into the exposed core. When the final shot rang out, he holstered the pistol and pulled out a short dagger. He drew the blade over his palm in a single motion. Blood welled up and ran down the steel, coating it red.
"Aeth Luxara Ven," he chanted.
The blood on the dagger began to glow. While the creature fought to stay upright, Reid pushed off its shoulder and sprang clear, and at the top of his jump he threw the dagger at the center of its torso.
"Thaevareth."
The blood stirred. Glyphs rose along the blade, shifting and reforming into new symbols with every passing moment.
"Volkaris!"
The blood ignited. Sacred flames burst from the dagger and spread over the creature like wildfire. The half-conscious beast thrashed at the blaze with its enormous limbs, but every frantic swing only fed it. Fire raced up its bark-covered frame and devoured each branch in its path, and within seconds it had become a pyre.
Flames danced in Evan's dark eyes as he rose to his feet and ran toward the arena. He wasn't afraid the creature would get up and attack them. All his attention was on the man standing in front of the fallen giant, ringed by swirling embers and smoke. The blaze threw his shadow long over the ground and made him seem larger than life.
"Re—" Evan began.
[Hidden Achievement Unlocked!]
A System window appeared before Reid.
[Hidden Achievement: Impossible Variable!]
[You have defeated an A-rank Boss without undergoing Awakening.]
[Special Reward Issued.]
[Reward: Awakening]
Reid studied the message and slowly raised his hand.
What kind of abilities would Reid gain after becoming an Awakener? With his Demon Hunter skills and experience, he was already stupidly strong, and the System would make him stronger still.
However, instead of pressing the confirm button, Reid gathered power in his fist before striking the System screen. It shattered into tiny fragments.
"I have no reason to bargain with some unknown entity," Reid said. "Get lost."
Evan's jaw dropped. This crazy overpowered bastard. Who the hell just says no to the System?
Unwilling to accept the refusal, the System flooded Reid's vision with even more floating windows. He brushed them aside with idle flicks of his hand, batting away the persistent pop-ups like flies.
Evan had to fight back a laugh. In the first place, the System hadn't even offered a "Reject" option when it presented the reward. Anyone else would have accepted without a second thought and counted themselves lucky. But Reid was a Demon Hunter, and no Demon Hunter would agree to a contract with an unknown entity. Evan wouldn't have expected anything less from the Legendary Demon Hunter.
His mouth curled into a gleeful grin. Good. He had always been the one ground beneath the System's whims. Now, with his mortal enemy turned away outright, delight bubbled up inside him.
That's what you get for trying to mess with an overpowered protagonist!
[(凸ಠ益ಠ)凸]
Another System window appeared before him.
[The Curse of ■■■■■■ stirs.]
Swoosh!
Evan looked up and caught only a glimpse of a branch that had snapped off the fallen tree and hurtled straight toward him like divine punishment.
Thwack!
It cracked against his head and sent him stumbling back, and he went down in a spectacularly dramatic face-plant.
"Evan!" Reid shouted and rushed over to pull him upright. "Are you okay?"
Damn you, System, Evan cursed. One day he would break free of this curse and hunt down whatever demented being had cast it. That was a promise.
With the Awakened Thornwood Tree down, Reid went to Harlan, Yuyan, and Marcus. He used Sacred Light on only their worst injuries and gave each of them the usual red potion to mend the rest.
When Harlan came to, he jerked upright. "The kids!"
"Please calm down, sir. The Awakened Thornwood Tree has been defeated," Reid said.
"R-really?" Harlan looked around, his gaze catching on the charred tree before it moved to Evan, who was tipping a potion into Marcus's mouth.
"Cough, cough! I'm... alive?" Marcus muttered, still groggy.
"Yeah," Evan said, propping him up and passing him the vial so he could finish the drink on his own. He glanced at Yuyan, who was draining her own vial, and looked away.
"B-but how?" Harlan asked.
"My brother awakened and beat the boss," Evan said, covering for Reid.
"Really?" Marcus exclaimed. "Then he has to be at least an A-rank Awakener to take that thing down!"
"Thank you, mister!" Yuyan said, smiling.
Reid smiled slightly. "It's nothing. I would appreciate it, though, if you kept what happened here to yourselves for now."
"What do you mean?" Harlan frowned.
Evan could guess where Harlan's mind had gone. An Irregular Rift couldn't simply be covered up, and it wasn't as if Harlan knew Reid well enough to fabricate a story on his behalf. Once they got out, someone would have to file a report, as was standard after every Rift operation, and an incident like this would draw far heavier scrutiny.
"Nothing major," Reid said, drawing out his badge. "I just... entered the Rift without authorization, so my supervisor isn't exactly pleased with me right now."
The Rift Support Technician ID eased some of the wariness in Harlan's face.
Reid added, "I'm not asking you to lie for me, but it would mean a lot if you didn't say anything about this to the press. It could cause serious problems for me."
"I see. I understand," Harlan said, nodding. "And I'm grateful you came to save us."
The five of them made for the exit portal the System had created. They stepped out of the Rift into the wail of emergency sirens and a crowd of Awakeners, police officers, and medical personnel. Orders and updates overlapped in a din of shouting that died the instant the crowd saw them emerge. Behind them, the unstable Rift sealed itself and vanished.
Many blinked in disbelief, and some pinched themselves. The first to move was a woman in her early fifties, who marched straight toward them.
Fine lines marked the corners of her mouth, and faint crow's feet creased the skin around her deep brown eyes. Gray streaked her dark brown hair, which she wore in a low bun. Her dark gray tailored blazer lay neatly over a plain white blouse, its sleeves buttoned at the wrists.
Evan glanced at the ID clipped to her chest. Shin Soo-jin, RCB Director. Why was such a big shot here? She stopped in front of him, and panic seized him as he wondered whether the original Evan had known her well.
Director Shin rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a quick once-over. "You're alive. That's good." She turned to the paramedics. "Take care of the wounded."
At the order, the paramedics rushed to the four survivors.
She then turned to Reid and gave him a quick once-over. "You seem uninjured. Come with me. We have to talk."
Evan watched his brother follow her toward her car and wondered whether Reid was about to be scolded.
***
Soo-jin and Reid sat inside her car. The closed doors muffled the noise outside, leaving only the low purr of the engine. She lit a cigarette and offered the pack to Reid, who took one and lit it himself.
"I don't think I need to tell you how stupid you've acted," Soo-jin said.
"I just think it was necessary," Reid said.
Soo-jin took a long drag and closed her eyes. Not for the first time, she cursed the fact that Reid was his mother's son in every respect. He had the same stubbornness and the same fierce independence, and losing his parents hadn't changed him, nor had the years spent raising Evan alone. However much life piled onto his shoulders, Reid stayed frustratingly, unshakably himself.
"So, care to explain how you not only escaped the Irregular Rift but also brought the four survivors out alive and well?" Soo-jin asked.
Even at a glance, the survivors' condition was strange. Their clothes were torn and bloodied, yet all four stood straight without so much as a grimace. It couldn't have been the potions. Given the low-grade potions issued to government Awakeners, there was no way they could have healed wounds severe enough to leave the four drenched in blood. Only a Healer could have treated injuries like those. She doubted she was the only one who had noticed. The paramedics had likely reached the same conclusion: someone had treated the survivors before they arrived.
"I awakened," Reid said.
"Of course you did."
Her thoughts went back to that incident nearly a decade ago. Reid crouched amid the wreckage of their home, an unconscious Evan clutched in his arms and monster corpses strewn around him, and his bright golden eyes warned her to keep her distance.
"What did you awaken as? A Healer, I presume," Soo-jin said. "But how will you explain the boss's defeat? Don't tell me that C-rank Awakener took it out. That Rift was B-rank."
"He weakened it with a fire crystal before I got there, and I finished it off," Reid said.
"That's your answer?" Soo-jin raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." Reid took a drag from his cigarette.
"Nobody will believe a lie that thin."
"They won't push it."
Perhaps not. With Reid claiming to have awakened as a Healer, the government wouldn't want to risk alienating a high-ranking Healer by subjecting him to excessive scrutiny. At most, they would insist that he undergo an assessment as soon as possible. That wouldn't put the matter to rest, however, and the resulting paperwork would be enough to bury Soo-jin. She could already feel a headache coming on.
"I'm sorry, Director."
"If you're sorry, stay out of trouble for a while."
"I'll make sure I don't cause you any more problems."
Soo-jin scoffed. "Don't make promises you can't keep, brat."