Above Your Head

Chapter 70: Advent of the God of War (1)

A blonde-haired old man holding a white fan dressed in silk clothes appeared and interrupted the hubbub. It was the being who literally threw us into the den of the demi-humans. And in that process, he stepped on their pride and instilled fear in them.

"Because I, will make it happen."

It was the Saint from Elohim, Cheong Won.

"You..."

Celestia's Aura turned violent, I mean, obviously. Cheong Won was a powerful adviser to the Leonhardt Imperial family. However, what he did on Albatross almost ruined her life.

But whether she was releasing her Aura or not, Cheong Won didn't care much about it.

"Kwan Dae-ha."

"...Me?"

I was stepping back, but I froze when Cheong Won called my name. To be honest, I was a little uncomfortable with this old man. No, actually, beyond that…

'I'm a little scared of him.' 

From the moment we first met, I could feel his strength so clearly. I was stupefied even when I was just staring at him. Also, he had transcendental powers that could destroy a planet in a single whim and destroy the stars if he was determined to do so.

If Major General Chun Hyun-il felt like a very powerful person, then Cheong Won was literally a living disaster. If it wasn't for all the restrictions attached to him, he could do as he wished and there would only be a few people who could stop him.

"Let's talk for a bit." Cheong Won didn't care about the others at all. As expected, the others were quiet too. Even Celestia, who was growling just a moment ago, went silent and didn't say a single word.

"...Holy shit."

I realized instantly that they weren't just silent. Several crew members, who were running towards here from far away, were frozen in their running posture. Celestia, who was growling, was motionless as well with her cold expression from before. I stealthily lifted my eyes; I saw a title that was different than usual.

Leonhardt Empire 

Suspended in time, Celestia

It wasn't just her, but at this moment, everyone had the same exact title. It was the same even for those with a permanent title. So, there was no further need to even emphasize how strong the 'suspended in time' condition was.

"Focus."

As I scanned the titles of those in the surroundings, Cheong Won came up to the bewildered me. With the exception of me and him, even the Sixth Imperial Prince and the angel, the supposed Princess Consort candidate, were trapped in time such that no one could interrupt him.

"...I can't help but concentrate in this situation anyways."

"Hoho, you're angry huh. Well, of course you'd be. It's probably not the feeling of betrayal that Cel is feeling, but... you're most probably thinking that I'm doing things as I please. It must feel unfair to you that I'm the only one who can do things as I want."

There wasn't any need to deny what he said. However…

'That's not right.'

Yes, that wasn't right. I didn't feel unfair about his existence. His power was so vividly conveyed. Rather, in contrast to that, I've only heard that he was bound by his mission. So, it didn't feel real at all. To me, he was like a brown bear I met in the mountains.

Back in the days, I happened to meet a brown bear as big as a house while taking a stroll. It was a fearsome bear and its arms were twice the size of my body. However, the bear slowly approached me and smelled my body. Then, he flicked my cheeks with his front paws.

In that situation, I would be a madman if I vented out my anger towards the bear shouting 'You bear bastard dare slap me in the face?' 

'It's already a fortunate thing that he didn't bite me and kill me.' 

Yes. That was my sentiment. If there was such a terrible monster in front of me, it would be an instinctive behavior to hold my breath. Of course, he felt like an enemy who held malice against us, so I had to figure out how to deal with him. But at the very least, I didn't have the kind of emotions he was speaking of. However, the fact that he couldn't read my feelings brought a question to my mind.

'A guy with transcendental power to stop time can't read a human's mind?'

Come to think of it, even the ones who tortured me in Great Sky said they couldn't read my mind. I was told that mind control did not work on me and the same went for the confession drug. I felt so victimized that I still retained control over my own thoughts despite having the control of my body taken away from me, leaving me no way to resist. However, I didn't know that the defense mechanism in me would render even Cheong Won, one with an intermediate status of God, helpless to do anything.

"Is there anything you would like to say?" For starters, I asked him a question. I felt like there must've been a reason for him to freeze the time just to talk to me.

"Hoho. I'd love to tell you a clever lie, but I can't because I've already broken too many commandments. I guess it was too much of a last-minute rampage." Cheong Won lightly sighed and then looked straight at me.

"Honestly, I wish you would just die." He uttered in a clam voice that didn't have a single hint of bloodlust in it. But as soon as those words left his lips, I was drowning in severe pain.

"Ugh...!"

It felt like someone was squeezing my heart. I was gasping for breath and there was nothing I could do. However, the moment the vision in front of me was turning dark…

Kuhkk.

There was a strange sensation. It was as if a gentle wind blew and flushed away all the pain. Before I knew it, I was back in a perfectly fine condition. I looked up to see Cheong Won looking at me regrettably.

"This is annoying. I can't even do anything more than this huh. You were even healed right away..."

It sounded like he attacked me and then healed me again, however it didn't feel like he did it out of his own will.

I was dumbfounded, so I stared at him and asked, "Didn't you say you couldn't hurt others without permission because of your mission?"

"That's right. So I didn't attack you directly. I just... I really wished for you to be dead."

I got goosebumps from his calm voice. I was not slow-witted and so, I realized the actual meaning of his words.

"If you really wished for it, it would come true...?"

"But in this case, even that is blocked by the commandments and missions. I can't believe the aftermath is so strong even after I made so much preparation. As expected, the weight of the fate carried by the Imperial Princess is formidable huh."

Even though I was not easily shaken by such matters, I started to boil up at the sight of him sighing. I knew that I had to endure it because I knew just how strong he was. However, if he was aiming for my life, then it wasn't something that could be settled with me keeping a low-profile.

'But even so, that's too much. He's trying to kill me in front of my nose, so what's with that attitude?'

I was speechless. No, what kind of Saint is this? At the end of the day, he was still a Saint, but his actions seemed more like a Demonic Saint. Perhaps he shouldn't be associated with the image of an ordinary Saint?

But, aside from the fact that I was boiling with rage, my head was calm. I didn't know why, but... I felt that he was trying to provoke me so I would get angry.

'But why would he do that?' 

His actions were incomprehensible. Why on earth did he keep provoking me? Why was he trying to kill me even if he had to overextend his ways? His attitude felt like it was…

"Fear…?"

"...What nonsense are you talking about?"

I was convinced after seeing his changed expression.

"You're afraid. To be exact... You're anxious."

I looked at him confidently and acted as if I could read his feelings. Of course, Cheong Won quickly regained his calm in no time since he was not an easy opponent.

"Let me remind you… It's foolish to try and feel me out by blabbering some nonsense."

"Then just listen. It's only a guess... But it seems like you have an important goal. Moreover, it's not a goal that represents Elohim, rather, a personal goal. And in the midst of all that, you are trying to get rid of me... Ah! You must have the Foresight Ability. Is that ability completely distorted? And you assumed that it was because of me?"

I couldn't read his mind. But I swayed his heart by matching his title to the present condition and continued to speak based on the information from the title. Of course, Cheong Won was a high-ranking Saint and he had a perfectly imperturbable mind, so his expression did not change at all. However, putting that aside, his title kept changing and conveyed new information.

He should have ran away.

Going face to face with me meant that he would be exposing his title. And, if he exposed his title for a long time, it would be the same as exposing his personal information to me. In order to grasp all information about someone by activating Classification, I would have to look at their title for at least five minutes to a maximum of thirty minutes. However, Cheong Won's mind was swayed by my words and his awareness had turned for the worse, so it became relatively faster to get access to the key words in his title.

Bong Rae-do

Worried about the leak of the Transmigration Spell, Jwa-ja 

'Transmigration Spell?' 

I didn't know much about magic, but I could tell what it was just by looking at its name. With the keyword 'Transmigration Spell', I could somehow surmise a rough idea of his aims.

"Suddenly trying to make a sudden bloodline out of force… Your goal was probably related to that bloodline huh."

"Stop it."

At long last, Cheong Won began to falter. Of course, if I expose my abilities just like that, he might be more determined to kill me. However, I didn't stop since he was already trying to kill me anyways.

"If it was your original mission, there was no reason for you to do it in such secrecy. There was no way siding with the Sixth Imperial Prince would complete the perfect bloodline. Plus the newly born descendent wouldn't necessarily support you. Also, they wouldn't be of much help to you either."

"I told you to stop." Cheong Won's voice grew dreary. However, I couldn't care less because he couldn't do anything to me immediately. He showed it to me himself just a while ago.

"Then, in the end, it means that you have a personal reason to manifest and develop the Imperial family's bloodline. And the most probable reason is..."

"ENOUGH!!" In an instant, a sharp and piercing roar rang in my head. But I was okay; it was bearable. Cheong Won seemed to have done something to me, but it didn't work on me, the same way he couldn't read my mind either.

"What the hell, what happened?"

"Dae-ha? Are you all right?"

"What are you doing, Cheong Won-nim?"

I could hear voices from all around me; the frozen time had begun to flow again. I said with a sneaky smile, "Cheong Won, you're thinking of robbing the body of the newly born Imperial descendent, aren't you?"

Everyone's face froze at my decisive remark.