Seoul Cyberpunk Story-Chapter 95: Dominic (7)

The central control room of Seoul Dino Park was thrown into disarray by Aria’s sudden declaration to join the battle.

The holographic screen still displayed the coordinates pointing to A and the surrounding terrain data, but the atmosphere in the control room had changed noticeably.

Amber stepped forward, blocking Aria with a resolute expression.

“Aria, in your current condition, it’s too dangerous.”

But Aria’s golden eyes didn’t budge.

She was composed as usual, but the determination behind that calm was more unshakable than ever before.

“I can go. I have to go.”

Just then, the control room doors opened and Victor entered.

His frame had become so massive that he now exuded a heavy, imposing presence, but his face was clearly etched with worry.

“Aria, Amber’s right. Right now, your priority should be resting and recovering.”

Despite Victor’s attempt to dissuade her, Aria simply shook her head.

Scarlett, watching the tense standoff unfold, cautiously offered a compromise.

“Aria, then how about taking over my support role here instead? You’re fully capable of handling on-site data analysis and hacking support.” 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Scarlett’s suggestion was reasonable—but even that, Aria refused.

Her gaze remained fixed on the coordinates pointing to A.

There was a wordless resolve emanating from her—she would go to A, no matter what it took.

Amber let out a long sigh.

“...Fine. But don’t push yourself.”

And with that, Aria’s inclusion was decided.

The three of them, without any further hesitation, leapt into the shadows.

The shadow passage that A had prepared within Seoul Dino Park instantly transported them to another space.

As the cozy darkness lifted, what spread before their eyes was a bizarre and overwhelming scene.

A colossal black pillar that looked like it could pierce the heavens filled their vision first.

It seemed to be a warped form of the black sphere created by the earlier Corrosion Bomb—now whirling skyward like an ominous tornado.

Even with vision enhanced by implants, its peak was nowhere in sight.

It felt as though it were connected to some point in the cosmos—or another dimension entirely.

Perhaps due to the pillar’s influence, even the sky around it had become strangely twisted.

The sky, thick like it had been smeared with black cream, appeared sticky in texture, and through it, red lightning flickered at eerie intervals.

Amber shifted her gaze downward.

There, an intense battle was underway.

Dominic Krilov was locked in deadly combat, cloaked in black shadows.

Far from what one might expect of the Director of Titan Tech’s development division, his movements were bold and aggressive.

But his opponent was ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) even more grotesque.

Its form was so layered with overlapping afterimages that it was nearly impossible to discern its true shape.

It was as if it were blurred like a shadow, and yet layered with countless other appearances at once.

Dominic’s powerful attacks dissipated or passed straight through the grotesque form the moment they connected.

It was as if physical interference simply didn’t work.

Victor stared at the surreal battle, dazed, and muttered.

His voice was heavy with despair.

“With an opponent like that... we’re screwed...”

Amber nodded slowly in agreement.

Even Dominic’s shadow ability—Titan Tech’s most advanced tech condensed into one man—couldn’t deal proper damage to that unidentified entity.

It was clear that ordinary firepower would have absolutely no effect.

‘This is bad...’

Given that A had been at the Titan Tech branch just before this, it was obvious she had come here to help Dominic.

But under the current circumstances, there didn’t seem to be anything Amber’s group could do for him.

If physical attacks had no effect, then any kind of fire support would be meaningless.

Especially when they couldn’t even analyze the source or principle of the creature’s technology.

“Scarlett, that afterimage distortion... can you tell which megacorp it came from?”

[Still looking into it, but based on the data so far, there’s nothing even close to this.]

Scarlett’s reply was just as Amber had expected.

There wasn’t a single megacorp in her memory that used such technology.

At that moment, a confident voice spoke up beside Amber.

“I can do it.”

It was Aria.

Amber turned with a puzzled look—and saw a completely different Aria standing there.

Pale skin. Blue eyes. Sure, skin tone and eye color were easily modifiable in Babel.

But what implants couldn’t explain was this:

A tiny child that had once sat on Aria’s shoulder was now half-fused into her forehead!

It looked strikingly similar to the dinosaur fusions or anglerfish fusions the kids sometimes played with.

If A had seen it, she’d definitely have screamed, “Ack! Fused Aria!”

A strange but undeniably powerful aura radiated from her new form.

****

In the heart of a shattered, taxidermied version of Incheon’s streets.

I felt it—this storm of overwhelming power pulsing in my grasp, a force potent enough to erase anyone in an instant.

The sheer purity and strength of it were so intense that they momentarily made me forget the anger and grief that had consumed me just moments before.

‘Is something this incredible... really supposed to be in my hands?’

It felt like a child holding a weapon far too heavy for them—there was a faint, disquieting fear mixed in.

All I had done was recklessly stir together the powers I had in a burst of rage... and something unknown had been born from that.

To be honest, I was a little stunned.

Slowly, I opened my hand.

Inside it, white energy twisted in a violent vortex—like a reversed version of shadow, like the color had been inverted.

It was the color of my own skin, as if I’d flayed it and mixed it into light.

Three powers swirled in chaotic fusion within that pale glow.

The power of shadows: to manifest the immaterial into substance.

The raw might of Circle Energy.

And the fusion capabilities of Jinlong Technology.

Circle Energy enhanced the shadow power, and shadow power reversed the fusion ability.

As a result, within the torrent of white energy, a new, pulsing force had emerged—the force of rejection, born from reversed fusion.

‘With this power...!’

I clenched that newly born strength tightly in my fist once more.

And without hesitation, I charged straight toward my nemesis—the arrogant Blue Eyes who had slain Triceratops.

Blue Eyes watched me close in at full speed, yet remained completely relaxed.

He simply flicked a finger toward me.

A gesture dripping with contempt—like he was swatting away an annoying insect.

With that motion, a deluge of red beams rained down from the sky like a storm.

I dodged what I could, and for those I couldn’t avoid, I trusted my sturdy body to carry me through.

Several red beams pierced my torso, leaving small holes—but I pressed on, undeterred, until I was right in front of Blue Eyes.

And then, I drove my fist—filled with that pale power—straight into his torso.

Thwack!

Startled, Blue Eyes hastily summoned a thick red energy shield—but it was useless.

My fist sliced through the shield like a hot knife through butter.

At last, my punch connected with the back of his hand.

[!]

In that moment, a strange phenomenon occurred.

Starting from the point where my fist had landed, Blue Eyes’ body began to lose color—turning white.

Like a drop of ink dissolving in water, the pale hue slowly, but surely, spread through his body.

[How dare you!]

It was clear Blue Eyes considered the fact that I’d landed a blow on him to be an unbearable insult.

He grimaced sharply, then exploded with red energy from every pore, blasting me far into the air.

‘That’s... strange.’

I was a close-range fighter—and now I’d been thrown back, too far to reach him with my fists.

And yet... I didn’t charge in again.

Because Blue Eyes’ reaction was far too strange.

‘Why is he not reacting to his body slowly turning white?’

The parts that had lost their color weren’t moving properly, almost like they were paralyzed—and still, he acted like nothing was wrong.

As if it wasn’t even happening.

No—worse. As if he’d always believed his body had been that color to begin with.

Unfazed, Blue Eyes launched another barrage of red beams.

But I didn’t move in.

I just watched quietly—to see what would happen when that strange whiteness consumed him entirely.

How much time passed—I couldn’t say.

But eventually, the pale hue overtook his whole body.

And then—like a living plaster statue—he froze in place.

The next moment, he collapsed.

And just like a finely crafted sculpture shattering, he crumbled.

‘?!’

The fragments that broke off quickly became white dust—then scattered into the air, dissolving softly into the void.

As if he had never existed at all.