Entry Ticket

Human emotions are powerful sources of energy.

This isn’t just a metaphor.

Strong emotions, when properly processed, can become energy capable of directly affecting both the physical and spiritual worlds.

For instance, positive emotions like joy, peace, and faith can be converted into divinity, while negative emotions like pain, hatred, and despair can be converted into magic power.

“That’s a facility specialized for that process. A power plant that artificially induces specific emotions to produce holy power and magic power. It seems they built it to restore Lucifer and supply energy to the barrier.”

“…I knew Changwei was insane, but I never thought he’d go this far.”

While Yuseong, who had seen a similar situation in the [One Day Suddenly] quest, could maintain his composure, the other users were different.

The users present weren’t purely good and righteous beings.

If anything, they leaned more toward the evil side.

They had used their powers and abilities to satisfy their selfish desires, dominate others, and exploit them.

However, no matter what, they never crossed certain lines that humans shouldn’t cross.

Take Kasim, for instance – he possesses the Crown of the Demon Lord which could definitively make him transcendent, and abilities that could kill a billion humans, but he doesn’t use them.

But Changwei had crossed that line.

Grind!

Someone’s teeth grinding could be heard.

Though they’d never voiced it, they had been slightly swayed by Changwei’s unexpectedly powerful Human Alliance and his speeches about prioritizing humanity’s survival.

However, the moment they saw the footage, such thoughts vanished without a trace.

A facility that forcibly makes tens of thousands of people pray and tortures them to create energy.

Would there really be only one such facility?

To restore Lucifer, a transcendent being, and maintain a barrier covering all of China, there might be at least a dozen, perhaps even hundreds of such facilities.

At this moment, every user erased any thoughts of coexisting or cooperating with Changwei from their minds.

“How’s the mass-produced goggle coming along? Wasn’t it almost complete?”

“The design is finished, but stability testing remains. We need a bit more time.”

“How long?”

“Ten days… no, about a week.”

“We’ll have to change the plan.”

The original plan was to announce the existence of mass-produced goggles to sway world opinion, and use the karma gathered by second-generation users to perform the Sun Moon Ritual and increase abilities.

But with Lucifer regaining his power and the barrier appearing, things had changed.

With the existence of a spear that pierces everything and a shield that blocks everything, Changwei wouldn’t hesitate to forcibly take the goggles.

No, even without that, if Changwei brought Lucifer and the users to attack right now, there would be no way to stop them.

Changwei had said Lucifer couldn’t use his powers outside of China, but Yuseong didn’t believe that.

“We’ll strike first before they move.”

“I don’t think striking first will help us win.”

“I’m not planning to fight head-on. We’ll get inside the barrier, quickly destroy the towers and facilities, and get out. Just remove the barrier.”

“A hit and run, huh.”

After closing his eyes to think for a moment, Kasim shook his head.

“Too dangerous. It didn’t even take 10 minutes from the attack until Lucifer appeared. No matter how fast we move, we won’t have enough time to break through the barrier and reach where the towers or facilities are.”

If they pushed themselves, they might be able to destroy several dozen.

However, risking users for just that was too much risk compared to the return.

“We just need to lure him somewhere far away so he can’t come immediately.”

“Lure him? How?”

“Like that.”

The screen Yuseong pointed to showed combat aircraft falling from Lucifer’s attack.

The users tilted their heads, unable to guess Yuseong’s intention in pointing out the army being miserably defeated.

Yuseong began explaining slowly to the users.

“The barrier is solid. As Olga said, unless a Three Intermediates level user goes all out or uses nukes, it can’t be broken. So why did Lucifer come out to shoot down aircraft when missiles couldn’t even scratch the barrier?”

“…They must be short on energy!”

Kasim let out a quiet exclamation.

They had been so amazed by the barrier’s strength and the range covering all of China that they hadn’t thought of it.

The amount of energy needed to create a barrier of that level is beyond imagination.

Even he, with his nearly infinite magic power, wasn’t confident he could maintain that barrier even for a moment.

“It could be an energy issue, or it could be something else. What’s important is that barrier isn’t perfect. If it were perfect, they would have made it constantly active instead of one that only reacts to specific conditions like now. If we keep attacking non-stop, we might be able to break the barrier with conventional attacks, or at least lure Lucifer to attack points.”

“Good, that’s good, but… will other countries want to wage war against the Human Alliance?”

Despite the humiliation of having their ability users and resources unilaterally taken, all countries except Russia, even America, only indirectly criticized through media without directly attacking the Human Alliance.

This was because the so-called higher-ups were being cautious, afraid they might not be allowed to join the Human Alliance if they annoyed Changwei.

Unless their minds were changed, it would be impossible to make other countries attack the Human Alliance.

“We have a way for that. Kang Changseok.”

“Impossible. My influence evaporated with the economy’s collapse. In the current situation, I can’t even move Korea, let alone America.”

“What are you talking about? Who said to persuade them with money? No, did you think persuasion with money was possible in the current situation?”

“…Then what are we persuading them with if not money?”

“If they’re handing out survival tickets, we should throw out similar bait.”

Yuseong smiled viciously as he raised one corner of his mouth.

“Contact them saying we’ll make positions for the higher-ups in Dragonia.”

A day later, the U.S. 7th Fleet stationed at Yokosuka Port began departing.

* * *

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Woong!

Dozens of missiles exploded brilliantly as they hit the barrier that appeared in mid-air.

Despite concentrating enough firepower to annihilate an entire village, not even a tiny scratch appeared on the golden barrier.

But the attacks didn’t stop at once.

Right after, hundreds of missiles left white trails in the sky as they pounded the barrier, while tank shells and machine guns spewed fire from the ground.

The bombardment that seemed endless finally stopped when light flickered in the distance.

-Such annoying flies. Do they lack the ability to learn?

Flash!

As Lucifer, who had muttered quietly, snapped his fingers, countless beams of light fell from the sky, piercing through missiles and tanks to turn them into scrap metal.

Truly overwhelming force.

Lucifer, who had been looking down at tanks and soldiers fleeing in all directions with a cruel smile, soon made a sour expression and flew elsewhere.

‘Lucifer took the bait properly.’

Yuseong nodded and switched to the next video.

This time the screen showed Bruce and the carrier strike group.

Numerous fighters launched missiles, close-in weapon systems poured anti-aircraft missiles and cannon fire, and Bruce was moving between ships with sword flight, using Flying Sword Formation to destroy missile batteries and fighter wings to neutralize their combat effectiveness.

After confirming that Isaac and Ryuhei were also fighting hard, Yuseong put his smartphone away and looked ahead.

Alice, Kasim, Olga, and even Kang Changseok.

All elite forces except non-combat personnel Sophia were gathered in one place.

“The fishing was successful for now.”

The bait Yuseong threw had excellently caught the so-called higher-ups.

Though they refused to use nuclear weapons out of concern for nuclear war and only moved conventional forces, that was enough.

Starting with the U.S. 7th Fleet’s departure, Russia and India which share borders with China also moved their armies, and other countries sent what forces they could, even if small.

When Changwei, surprised by the sudden fierce attacks, threatened to stop accepting people unless the attacks stopped immediately, the higher-ups who had already received Dragonia residency rights and lost their minds didn’t budge.

As a result, attacks on the barrier continued non-stop for the past several days, and they were able to lure all powerful figures except Changwei to the border areas.

Even Bruce, who was closest, would take at least 30 minutes to get here.

There was enough time.

“Has everyone finished preparing?”

After confirming everyone nodding, Yuseong carefully approached the barrier.

Ordinary attacks won’t work to break through the barrier.

A powerful single strike is needed.

“Haah.”

Yuseong took a deep breath as he utilized Infinite Origin Force.

Internal energy, magic power, spirit power.

Following Infinite Origin Force’s principle, he combined the three energies into one, doubled it using Amplification skill, then pushed it into Thousand Hands.

Woong!

Injected with over 10,000 points of internal energy, Thousand Hands began trembling as it glowed white-hot.

The leaking energy was enough to make the users behind turn pale, but Yuseong didn’t stop.

After scraping up and converting even the power that was recovering in real-time and injecting internal energy into Thousand Hands, Yuseong swung his arm when he reached his limit.

Dimensional Slash.

Not in the form of remote discharge like last time, but a Dimensional Slash concentrated in a single line.

Though no karma was loaded, it had more than enough power to cut through the barrier.

Yuseong and everyone else had no doubt the barrier would be cut.

But then something no one expected happened.

Swoosh!

With the sound of air being cut, Yuseong nearly fell forward.

Looking back and forth between the blade of flame that appeared on the back of his hand and the space he had just passed through, Yuseong muttered with slightly reddened cheeks.

“Hmm, did I get the position wrong?”

Yuseong deliberately ignored the stares pouring from behind as he stepped forward.

But after walking a short distance, he stopped when he realized something was strange.

Even if he misjudged the position, it shouldn’t be off by this much.

“Huh? Did the barrier disappear?”

Thud!

“Ugh!”

Kang Changseok, who was approaching, grabbed his nose after suddenly hitting the barrier that appeared.

The barrier was visible where Yuseong had swung his arm earlier.

Silence fell over the venue for a moment.

Tap! Tap!

“The barrier seems perfectly fine.”

Kasim, who had moved to a spot slightly away from where Kang Changseok had collided, placed his hand on it and the barrier appeared without fail.

‘…But how did I get in here?’

Nothing happened even after crossing back and forth several times where the barrier appeared.

The barrier wasn’t reacting at all.

Just like how Lucifer and the users passed through the barrier without any issues.

“Wait, could this be…”

Yuseong made a strange expression as he opened his subspace and took something out.