"Des! Des! Des!" The mage yelled as she conjured a colossal sphere of flames that blazed with a resplendent brilliance. Its searing heat nearly mirrored that of a miniature sun—raising the temperature beyond anyone's expectations as the debris close to her slowly melted away.

Unfortunately, her spell was left incomplete as by the time she began chanting in an otherworldly language—Jeongeun was already standing right in front of her face. His speed was far more commendable than her comrade, who was notorious for his blinding dashes.

Her flight-or-fight instincts took over as she leaped backward and manipulated the ground, hurriedly erecting a wall between them. Her desperate action however was futile as he simply jumped over it with ease. In an instant, Jeongeun sprinted towards the woman as his feet made contact with the ground once more.

Reacting quickly, she casted a rectangular barrier composed of water with the intended purpose of stopping his attack which proved to be successful as punch was halted—yet the sheer force emanated from his fist left a gaping hole on her shield.

Mortified by his accomplishment, out of fright—she hurriedly summoned a fierce gust of wind in a last ditch effort to propel him high into the sky, with debris and dust in his path. But it was at that moment that she realised her foolish mistake.

Park Jeongeun was not someone of her calibre. He was out of her league. Through sheer physical prowess, he remained standing on his feet as he grasped her head through the intense wind. It felt like her head was being crushed in between boulders as his grip gradually tightened.

Despairingly, she repeated her incoherent incantations again and again—clinging to a sliver of hope that he would concede. Yet the results remained unchanged. By the time she used her fifth wind spell—the overwhelming pressure put onto her head had become unbearable as her consciousness slipped into a deep slumber.

As the ravaging tempest settled—Jeongeun emerged unscathed by their interaction. Only his clothes were stained while his face remained freed of any and all form of blemishes.

A mixture of bewilderment as well as hopelessness dwelled on Sungah's face. For the man that took a raging gale head on yet to be uninjured by the end thoroughly befuddled her. Such a thing is not humanly possible…is it? Before she had the opportunity to create theories that would satisfy herself—her thoughts abruptly ended as the chilling sound of Jeongeun's heartless voice reverberated inside of her head.

"Tie them up." He ordered his subordinates. "They may have useful information we can extract but if they don't…I don't think I need to explain any further."

…

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"...up…"

"W…up…"

"Wake up."

The young man jolted awake instantaneously. A look of irritation splattered across his face for the tone of that exasperating belonging to his greatest adversary yet—Park Jeongeun.

He—along with his comrades were respectively tied against pillars that aided to support a once thriving building bustling with workers.

"Kgh… Kiki la tumna." The man murmured. "Kiki la tumna a ghet. La tumnani avmon." He added.

"Kiki this, la tumna that, I never heard of that fucking language before but…I can feel the hostility from your words. It's just an assumption, but you're saying you'll kill me, right?" Jeongeun said as they both maintained eye contact for a little while.

Albeit their language barrier—both of them effortlessly sensed the dissatisfaction the one had for the other. A mutual hate and abhorring relationship that required little to no words spoken.

"Hm…then I guess I can kill you." Jeongeun's tone was cold-blooded as he swiftly pulled out a gun from his pockets.

The man merely watched in bemusement as Jeongeun pointed the gun towards him. From his perspective—such a weapon was but a mere toy due to it lacking an edge and especially its irregular shape.

"...Well, this is a bit surprising. For you to not be scared of this…it makes me curious just what place you came from."

"Tumna tout fiet animos?" The man uttered in his native tongue once more.

"Really…it's such a shame I can't understand you. Maybe you could've served me a better purpose." As Jeongeun's fingers gradually tightened around the trigger—a shout from afar caught everyone's interest.

"Bitte warten! (Please wait!)" A little girl with a pale complexion screamed. She donned an oversized winter coat regardless of the current season.

"Bitte verschone sie! (Please spare them!)" The little girl begged while gasping, as if she had run a marathon to come here.

"Tumna art veoch…? (Why are you here…?)" The assassin muttered, stupefied by her intervention.

"Und warum sollte ich? (And why should I?)" Jeongeun inquired as he stretched his arm outward to the little girl—only to be halted by an invisible force that repelled his limb backwards as a holographic screen appeared from thin air.

[Warning! Contestants are forbidden from physically interacting with each other!]

"W-what were they talking about a-and what just happened?" Takashi questioned.

"...I'm also not sure about what just happened…But I have a feeling he just broke some sort of rule." Sungah voiced.

"Interessant...sehr interessant. (Interesting…very interesting.)"

Once more, Jeongeun attempted to snatch her head—only for his entire body to be repelled this time around and for the holographic screen to change from blue to red.

[Warning! Contestants will receive backlash if they try to interact with another contestant again!]

"Ha…haha…AHAHAHA!!!" A maniacal laughter erupted from his throat.

Everyone in the room froze in silence as his laughter exuded bloodlust that was akin to a psychopath. They were certain they could feel his breath behind their neck, ready to decapitate them at any moment.

"Ha…Du, wie hast du diesen Ort gefunden und warum schützt du sie? (You, how did you find this place and why are you protecting them?)" Jeongeun inquired as he slowly stepped towards the hostages.

"Das...das geht dich nichts an! (That…that's none of your business!)"

"Oh, aber es ist meine Sache. (Oh, but it is my business.)" As those words left his mouth—a bullet shot through the unconscious blonde-hair man tied up to one of the pillars.

"Du…du Drecks-! (You…you scumb-!)"

"Na und? Sehe ich wie ein guter Kerl aus? Die Ehre oder die Methoden sind mir egal. Solange das Ergebnis stimmt, bin ich bereit, auch das grausamste Verbrechen zu begehen, das die Menschheit kennt. (So what? Do I look like a good guy to you? Honor or methods don't matter to me. As long as the result is right, I'm willing to commit even the most heinous crime known to humanity.)" He said as he fired another bullet—although barely missing the victims by a strand of hair.

"Grr…In Ordnung, ich werde alles tun, was du sagst. Nur... tu ihnen nichts. (Grr…Fine, I'll do anything you say. Just…don't hurt them.)" The little girl said begrudgingly.

"Gut, gut. Mal sehen, wie viel du jetzt für das Wohl deiner Kameraden aufgeben willst, sollen wir? (Good, good. Let see how much you are willing to give up for the sake of your comrades now, shall we?)"

…