Hunter Academy’s Battle God

The match between the UK and Korea made the relationship between the two masters improve.

"You have quite a cool disciple," Aris said, a smile on her face.

Yu WonHak replied, "Your disciple was also quite strong. It felt like I was looking at your younger self."

That was the end of the conversation about their disciples. For a while, Aris and WonHank just looked at each other.

Looking into her eyes, WonHak said, "That guy was the perpetrator of the kidnappings that happened recently, right?" as if he already knew the answer.

Aris looked at a book on her shelf and shook her head. "I don't know. Not even I can track the dimension that child opened."

"You not being able to track it reassures me even more."

Aris was lost for words at what WonHak said.

"I know that you want to deal with that guy, but are you also thinking of hiding it from me, Aris?" WonHak said in a serious tone while crossing his arms.

Aris fell into thought.

She was going through a deep mental anguish.

"I have no choice…" Aris slowly began to speak. "Since we have time, I will tell you about that child…"

* * * *

When the leader of villain group Rebellion heard the name the Hunter's Association had given him, he laughed.

‘The Nameless.’

They didn’t believe he had a name, but Rebellion's leader remembered the name he had been given.

'My name is 3017.'

To be more precise, it was ‘EP-TEST-No.3017’.

There was no way he'd be able to forget about that. The only thing given to him in that hellish place was a white robe with a number that said ‘3017’.

3017…

Nameless closed his eyes while thinking of that number, and a deeply buried memory floated to the surface of his mind.

[Do you know that they say that this world is, in reality, very big?!]

He remembered her eyes, vibrant with life.

At first, he found her weird. Most of the people in the laboratory didn't have life in their eyes as a result of being submitted to numerous experiments.

…But she was different.

[They say that it's very big. That there's no end to it no matter how long you walk~]

Although she was born in a laboratory in Bendom City, just like him, she talked about the outside world with great interest.

[How do you know that…? 2996, you've never been outside.]

[I read it in a book!]

[Korean?]

[No. Lucy allowed me to read other books. According to her, we might receive training on society soon! Once we do that, we'll be able to get out of here, right? Hehe, that's exciting.]

[Don't even dream of that. The only ones that leave this place are the dead.]

When he thought of back then, he thought he'd behaved too coldly to 2996. At first, he thought of her as bothersome, but that wasn't the case—he felt envy toward her.

He envied how brave she was. She was capable of having hope, even inside a hellish place like that.

[3017, they say flowers flourish in the outside world when the weather is good.]

[What are flowers?]

[Something beautiful that smells good! I'm sure being surrounded by those things feels really~ Good.]

He didn’t want to admit it at the time, but he liked spending time with her.

[Should I tell you about the moon now?]

[They say that the moon changes its shape constantly!]

[One day, it's thin as if it's starving, and on another day, it's round as if it's been eating a lot of food! Isn't that amazing?]

2996 told tales of the outside world.

[Haa, I really want to go to the sea.]

2996 was the only thing that shone within the laboratory.

[Eating something delicious while looking at the endless horizon…]

That was probably why it was even sadder.

[3017, is that you…?]

[Yes, how did you know?]

[The sound of your steps… are kind. It's as if you were whispering.]

[2996, do you still… want to go to the outside world?]

[Yes… I want to. A lot.]

She was starting to lose her light.

2996 was losing her nature.

The way she slowly started to fade away…

It was quite sad.

[Where…?]

[Hmm~ I don't know… How about a small island where it's hard to even build a house? Somewhere with a flower field…]

[But even if we go to a place like that, you’ll still be blind…]

[Hehe… 3017, you just have to describe it for me.]

[Just like you've done for me?]

[Yes.]

[That's too bothersome.]

[Will you do it…?]

[Yes.]

[Hehe, thank you, but for some reason, I'm feeling really sleepy today…]

That was his last memory of 2996.

[EP-TEST-No. 2996.]

[Remove and dispose of.]

2996 slowly started to lose her light within the lab, and after test 37, she collapsed.

* * *

* * *

[That's too bad. To think that she wouldn't be able to endure the last test. On the other hand, congratulations, 3017! You're the best I, no… the best masterpiece that Bendom has given birth to!]

She was Paula Greco, the genius scientist and hunter that was in charge of Bendom. The Nameless Trait exploded at her words.

Dimensional Contract.

FWOOSH!

Nameless could make contact with a dimension that suited him.

And the name of the dimension that went the best with his exploding emotions…

The eternal dimension… It was a horrible dimension where even the weakest being was comparable to one that could be found above the 40th floor of the Tower.

Didn't they say that if you stared at the abyss for a long time, the abyss would stare back at you? The moment Nameless's desperation fell into the abyss, a being born from an emotion that went well with those emotions stared back at Nameless.

That was the beginning of a terrible twist.

Nameless slowly opened his eyes.

"Don't they say that it's never too late to get revenge, even if it's after 10 years? It's been 20 years, and I was finally able to meet you."

"Ugh!"

Unlike back then, Paula's hair had turned white. She desperately struggled.

"I never forgot about you."

Nameless tore the tape covering Paula's mouth off. To think that Claw and Cheat preferred using analog ways like that was really funny.

"Y-you are…!" Fear appeared in Paula's eyes.

Nameless smiled and waited for Paula to call his name.

"3017! You're 3017!"

As expected. Although it had been 20 years, she still remembered his name. 3017 was the result of having sacrificed 3016 people.

"Yes. It's a name that you and the Hunter's Association mustn't forget."

It wasn't a secret anymore among the Hunter's Association's higher-ups that Rebellion's leader was Bendom's test subject, 3017.

Of course, there was something she couldn’t possibly know. "How… Just how did you find me? I hid all the information about myself!"

Nameless smiled at Paula's question.

He was able to find Paula thanks to having convinced Cheat, a good hacker, to become his ally.

"Is that important…?" At Nameless's cold voice, Paula felt a chill throughout her body.

Rather than how he'd found her, what mattered was why he'd searched for her.

"I just worked for humanity back then! For the benefit of the world! It was something that the Association… no, the entire world, agreed on!"

Instead of replying, Nameless took off his glasses; then he began cleaning them with his handkerchief. It was some sort of ritual Nameless did before going through an act of rebellion.

"I see…"

After slowly putting on his glasses, Nameless looked around.

The weather was good, and the two moons in the sky were full above an endless horizon, shining onto a small island full of flowers.

It was a place he'd made via his contract. It was the perfect place to receive 2996.

"You should save your excuses for 2996."

Tap.

As Nameless clicked his fingers, the space behind his back began distorting and splitting.

An unknown shadow and fog leaked from the fissure.

"Long time no see, 2996," Nameless said while smiling.

As the fog dissipated, the unknown shadow slowly began to show itself. A grotesque being from the eternal dimension that devoured people's souls and locked them away forever appeared.

GUOO-

The monster called 2996 slowly began extending its hands.

Swoosh-

The red hand that was about to grab Nameless stopped, and instead, it moved a bit more and grabbed Paula.

"Ack!! Let me go!" Paula tried to free herself as she frothed at the mouth, but the bandages moved like tentacles and suffocated her.

Grab!

The monster grabbed Paula and dragged itself to her. As the fingers moved away from her head, its true face became visible only to Paula.

"Co-cough…"

With a scream, Paula was turned into fragments of mana and was absorbed by the monster. Nameless smiled as he watched the terrible scene play out.

They were in an imaginary world that Nameless had contracted. The clear sky turned cloudy, and it began to rain.

"Eat slowly… 2996. I will tell you how beautiful the world I've been making is."

Nameless's revenge toward the Association had just begun.