Second Life Ranker

Brahm nodded as Yeon-woo yielded to him. His eyes were no longer those of an old man happy to be busy with work, but of an exile who had once been a god. No one had a greater grudge against Vieira Dune than Brahm. His precious family had suffered for a long time because of her, and so Yeon-woo stepped aside easily. 

Brahm said in a grim tone, “Vieira.”

「Do you want…just die…」

“Vieira. Answer me, Vieira. ”

「Let me go…!」

Brahm continued to speak to her, but she couldn’t pull herself together. He smiled coldly. “If you can’t regain your senses, I can help you. We have a lot to talk about.” Brahm waved his hand in the air and pulled a flask filled with a strange liquid out of subspace. “This is called the Yongsan Elixir. I made it because I was curious if a ghoul-type monster could feel pain. I don’t know if it’ll work on you.” Brahm twisted the cork off. White smoke rushed out with a fizzing sound, and he tilted the flask over Vieira Dune’s head. 

「Aaargh!」 Vieira Dune arched her back and screamed. The liquid stuck to her body and began to melt her from the inside. 

“Hm. It’s more effective than I thought. I wasn’t sure since I’ve never tried it before. I suppose I could decrease the acidity a bit. Here’s healing water to help you recover. Try it.”  

「Urghh, urgh!」 The healing water did indeed heal Vieira Dune, but it mixed with the elixir to turn slimy and only increased the pain. Vieira twisted and turned, but the liquid stayed on her.

“Hm. What are we going to do if you’re this weak? Didn’t you torture my daughter like this as well? If you’re already so weak after a few experiments, there’s no point. Come on, you can endure it. Let’s start again.” Brahm’s experiments continued, and every time he opened subspace, new tools poured out. Since they’d captured this soul after so much difficulty, he made sure to take down comprehensive notes, as though he were trying to complete all of the experiments he was behind on.

「Please! I’ll tell you everything, just please…!」 Vieira Dune was completely alert. She had to force herself, otherwise, the pain would truly be intolerable.

“No, no. It’s not over yet.” But Brahm shook his head and crushed Vieira Dune’s hopes. 

「Great Mother! Kidnapping Sesha and Ananta was all for the Great Mother!」 Vieira Dune began to spit out information they hadn’t even asked for. It was the only way she could think of lessening the pain. 「The experiments I did were for the vessel! I did all kinds of things to complete the vessel. I’m sorry. I’m sorry, so please. Ah, ah! That’s what you have to do to heal Ananta!」

She was saying everything that came to her head, so most of her babbling didn’t even make sense. However, as he observed behind Brahm, Yeon-woo got the gist and he combined it with the information he’d taken from the souls of the other witches. ‘It’s as I thought. Looks like she was trying to summon Mother Earth, who’s supposed to have birthed the witches?’

The being that the witches called the Great Mother was a conceptual god. She had been famously called the Whore of Babylon, and was known as Tiamat, Ymir, Ishtar, Inanna, Kybele, Prithvi, Yama, and Grandmother Mago. However, she had a name that was more famous than the others: Gaia. 

‘But her personality is not maternal at all.’ Mother Earth was one of the few great gods that had existed since the beginning of time. Every time she showed herself to the world, she always had a different appearance. It was hard to tell what she was thinking. 

Vieira Dune was the only person who interested Mother Earth. Whether it was because of her ability or something else, no one knew the reason why. The only thing certain was that Vieira Dune had grown stronger with Mother Earth’s blessing and ended up controlling Walpurgisnacht. 

‘But then, all contact with Mother Earth was suddenly cut off. Walpurgisnacht tried to rouse her.’ Although it couldn’t be said that Mother Earth was a popular god, she sometimes showed herself and had never cut off contact with Vieira Dune before. Her sudden disappearance was extremely frustrating for Vieira Dune, which was why she’d tried to call Mother Earth to the lower world. She also knew how interested Mother Earth was in the mortal world.

‘Still, she gave them a divine revelation, so it’s not like she completely disappeared. What happened?’ There were a lot of confounding things about the situation. ‘It’s not totally incomprehensible, though.’  Yeon-woo suddenly had a thought. His brother had Luciel’s Soulstone, but it disappeared. If even the Summer Queen didn’t know who had taken it, then the thief must have been someone close to Jeong-woo, like a lover. And if that lover only cared about serving her god…Yeon-woo’s eyes darkened. It didn’t matter what her reason was, Vieira Dune had tried to use Sesha and Ananta as vessels. 

Vieira Dune continued to spill Mother Earth’s secrets, such as what she ate and how the witches had been created. It was all useless information, but thankfully, she managed to include some advice on how to heal Ananta. Even still, Brahm never stopped his experiments, and Vieira Dune grew furious at the cycle of being tortured and healed.

「I’ve told you everything! So why aren’t you destroying me?!」 She whipped her head around to glare at Yeon-woo before laughing awkwardly. 「Jeong-woo! Jeong-woo! It’s me! Me! Vieira! The one you love! Did you miss me, honey? You longed for me until the end, right? I’m sorry. I really am. I was wrong. Please, forgive me. N-no. Let’s start over. I’ll do everything you ask me to. I’ll turn away from the witches or even the Great Mother if you tell me to. I’ll be faithful to you and Sesha!」 Vieira Dune couldn’t continue because Yeon-woo’s gaze didn’t waver or change. Her eyes trembled and the corners of her lips quivered. 「H-Honey! You liked this right? My chest! My lap? D-do you want to lie down? I’m a little hurt, but i-it’s OK. D-do you want to lie down? 」

Yeon-woo was silent.

「Say something! Anything! Curse me if you want to! Or destroy me! This is enough revenge! It’s over! You’re alive, what more do you want?! There’s nothing more I can do from…!」

“Do you really…” Yeon-woo cut Vieira Dune’s furious screams off as he spoke in a low voice. “Do you really think it’s over?”

「You, you’re not Jeong-woo…brother! Yes, he said he had a brother that he left behind in his homeland…! Then…you!」

“Jeong-woo closed his eyes and longed for you until the very end. He was stupid. He didn’t hate you even after what you did. But now I know for sure that he was really stupid.” Yeon-woo slowly stood and strode to Vieira Dune was. Brahm stepped aside. “He lost to a good-for-nothing bitch. Ha!”

「Yeah! Your brother lost to a good-for-nothing bitch. But haven’t you ever wondered why I or the other comrades turned our backs on him? Did you ever wonder why we stabbed him? Did that question ever cross your mind?」

Yeon-woo paused. Vieira Dune smiled savagely, confident that her words had managed to get to him. It didn’t matter what she did, she was going to die anyway, and she wanted to put up one last stand. 「Anyone with half a brain would wonder, right? Everyone left him, so isn’t it just common sense that the person that made everyone leave is the problem? Hohoho! How stupid. You must think your younger brother is kind and innocent, hm?」

Yeon-woo didn’t speak.

「Of course not! We were greedy, but Cha Jeong-woo was worse! He wasn’t satisfied until he had everything, and he always had to be the one ahead. He was like that from the start! He hoarded everything to himself. We were sick of it! You know?」 Her hysterical laughter became louder. Vieira Dune pulled out her specialty, Mind Control, to shake Yeon-woo. She was trying to break his trust in his brother and weaken his world so that she could interfere with it. 

<Mind Plunder>

Unlike Body Transfer, which moved into a body that had been emptied in advance, it was a power that blended the user into someone else’s Ego Data. In other words, it was a virus—one that turned her opponent into her servant.  Yeon-woo looked like he was being affected. 

Vieira Dune began to hope that she might survive. If she could control Yeon-woo’s mind, she could leave this prison and dream of being resurrected. 「A lot of people were sacrificed because of his selfishness. He was the worst human, who only thought of himself! We all made the same decision because we thought we would be in danger, and so…!」

“You done with the bullshit yet?”

However, her hopes were dashed.「What?」

Yeon-woo reached out and grabbed Vieira Dune’s face. Crunch! She didn’t even have a body, but the sound of something breaking rang out. It was the sound of a soul being shaken, and Vieira suffered through a horrifying pain again. Her eyes, which he could see between his fingers, were bloodshot. 

“Did you think I’d be shaken by something like that?” Yeon-woo twisted her head, crushing it and pushing her shoulders down. 

「It hurts! It hurts, I said! Let go! Let go of me! Aaaaack!」

“Human relationships can’t be smooth all the time. But that doesn’t mean people will automatically resort to betrayal like you guys. Friends talk it over.”

「Aaack!」 Vieira Dune struggled, but a pressure that emanated from Yeon-woo’s hand continued to spread throughout her body. Black energy poured out like blood, turning into an unknown substance. 

“So if you’re going to keep saying bullshit like that…” Crack! “Go tell it to your Great Mother, or whatever she’s called.” Yeon-woo clenched his fist. With the sound of air escaping, Vieira’s body burst like a balloon, sending black energy scattering out.  

The remnants of Vieira Dune’s vestige twirled crazily in the air. Yeon-woo looked at it with his Draconic Eyes and said in a cold voice, “Throw away this stupid skin and show yourself, Vieira.”

At that moment, the vestige and the black energy combined, staining the world black. A large entity suddenly appeared over him. It was so large that it made Yeon-woo look like a firefly, but there was something familiar about it.

In the sky, a pair of eyes shot open. They didn’t have pupils or irises, just like Vieira Dune’s own eyes. Yeon-woo could feel their heavy gaze. Mother Earth or, to be exact, the horrible monster that had used her natural powers and the Soulstone had arrived. 『You brothers have always been such a nuisance.』