Sloth drifted in the abyss.
He thought he had died, and so his soul was most likely going to descended to the depths of hell thanks to all the atrocities he had committed in his life.
However...
"[The Hanged Man]"
At the sound of that voice, and with the surge of energy that pulled him from the abyss, he found himself regaining his senses.
He wondered what was going on. Wasn't he meant to be dead? How could he hear, or smell, or finally... see?
That's right! He was no longer dead.
"W-why am I still...?"
"Why else?" The towering figure that stood before Sloth reminded him of the humiliating fight he just had, and the impossibly powerful enemy he had faced.
'E-eeeek!'
"Don't worry. This won't take long." the blonde spoke with a bright smile, almost bright enough to hide the darkness that Sloth could sense from him.
'Don't touch me! Don't... touch m-mee...'
As soon as the young man placed his hand on his head, he felt himself drained of energy, and his vision instantly gree blurry.
'I... can't do... anything...' Sloth found his consciousness fading away, and in no time he completely passed out on the cold ground.
'I...'
*******
"I knew it." I smiled to myself once I was done taking all of Sloth's memories.
'I was able to learn a couple of new things, but it's mostly in tandem with what I've found out for myself.'
Just as I suspected, the Zenith was the same as the Shadows of Light.
'Where there is light, shadows are bound to appear. To appreciate good, evil must also exist.'
The Shadows of Light was an organization that was created to oppose the Hunters of this world in order to boost the image of the Zenith.
They would cause the problem, and the Zenith would fix them.
'But that's not all they're good for.' I gave a wry smile. 'They're also used for the Zenith's dirty work.'
If anyone opposed the Zenith, or perhaps the Zenith wanted to make a nation desperate or suffer, they would use the Shadows of Light.
All those years ago, South Korea refused the policy of the Zenith, and hadn't joined them yet, so the triple S Class Dungeon Break diaster was initiated in order to make them bend.
'South Korea isn't the only country, though. The water gets murkier the deeper you go...'
In the end, the Zenith had only managed to build their image and prestige on bloodshed.
And that was only the half of it. The second part had to do with their creation of Blood Stones—the item that Sloth seemed to cherish so much.
'The crimson orb was made using the lives of others as a base. It seems they cause disasters to also generate casualties do they can fuel their powers even more.' It was a disgusting venture, but that explained so many things now.
Finally, the Zenith, or Shadows of Light, knew a lot more about the Gated and Dimensional Energy than what the world was currently privy to.
That was why they were able to cause Dungeon Breaks whenever they wanted, or even create a Gate if they wanted to.
'Seems like it requires a good supply of Blood Stones to pull off, especially depending on the Rank they intend to make.'
Still, to think they committed so many atrocities and also claim to be the heroes of this new world—it was a horrid joke.
Still, everything now fell into place accordingly.
"As for you..." I looked at the unconscious Sloth with a cold gaze. '... I know the perfect thing to do.'
I intended to use [The Fool] and manipulate his memories. He was an executive officer, after all.
'I make good uses of my pawns. You'll be useful for my plan, so until then... let's change the narrative a little, shall we?' A grin formed on my face.
"Let's get started."
*******
Once I was done altering Sloth's memories, I allowed him to leave the scene. He was going to return and give his report to his leader.
He was going to tell his leader how he underestimated me, and how he almost won, but I was just a bit stronger, and in the end, he was able to injure me before escaping due to the commotion caused by his explosion.
'Its scripted, but I'm sure he'll tell a convincing tale since that's what he believes happened.'
I also had to return his Blood Stone to make it all convincing, but that didn't concern me too much.
With that matter settled, I turned to face the true victim of tonight's event.
"... Chairman Sung's grandson." Muttering to myself, I drew closer to him.
I could hear his muffled sounds from my position, and while he was bound and gagged, I knew he was trying to say something.
With the flick of a finger, I released his gag, and also untied him from the right position he was strapped in.
"You're free now." I smiled at him.
"T-thank you! Thank you so much." He began to thank me profusely, even breaking down and crying.
The young boy looked just slightly older than me, though from what I gathered, he was in his early twenties.
'He indeed looks very young.' I thought internally.
'Hmmm?' Something about the man in front of me felt similar, no, different.
He felt different from all the other people I had encountered in this worlds thus far, yet he appeared similar to me, and those I had interacted with before arriving here.
'Don't tell me—!' My eyes widened once I enhanced my senses slightly.
This was the first time I was really paying him any mind, so I hadn't noticed until now, but to think I would make such a discovery here!
'He has a Mana Core!'
I instantly walked closer to him, placing one hand on his shoulder while kneeling partly.
"S-sir...?" His face depicted confusion as I stared at him with a warm expression.
"Young man, what do you say to becoming my disciple?"
"E-eh...?"
There was no way I would pass up the chance to have a test subject—no, I meant a disciple—who was an oddity.
"Become my disciple!"
