Chapter 307: They Were Never Fighting Her

Erika stared back at Mae-hwa, irritation mixing with the uneasiness already building inside her.

"Shit..." she muttered beneath her breath. "Out of every demon I could’ve encountered tonight... why did it have to be this monster?"

Mae-hwa made no attempt to approach them.

She simply stood in the middle of the bloodstained street, holding an elegant folding fan in one hand. The fan covered the lower half of her face, leaving only those beautiful pink eyes visible above it. Surrounded by corpses and drifting pink mist, she looked strangely untouched by the horror around her.

Erika tightened her grip around her weapon.

Even from this distance, she could feel the demonic energy radiating from Mae-hwa. It wasn’t violent like the pressure she expected from a powerful demon. There was no overwhelming killing intent crashing against her senses, nor anything that immediately warned her body to run.

Instead, it felt strangely pleasant.

Warm.

Inviting.

That made it worse.

Erika had encountered demonic energy before, but this was different. Every breath of the sweet blossom fragrance made her body relax when her instincts were screaming that she should be preparing for battle. The longer she remained around Mae-hwa, the more difficult it became to separate ordinary attraction from whatever unnatural influence was spreading through the plaza.

Lust.

That was the only word Erika could think of.

Whatever Mae-hwa’s power was, it was already surrounding them.

Mae-hwa’s pink eyes glowed faintly as they traveled across the soldiers standing behind Erika. Her gaze moved from one masked face to another with leisurely curiosity before she gave a soft laugh behind her fan.

"Oh, my, my..." Her voice was so gentle that it sounded completely out of place among the bodies scattered throughout the street. "I didn’t think there would be this many people visiting me."

Nobody answered.

Erika’s fist tightened.

Something was wrong.

Several soldiers behind her had stopped moving entirely.

Mae-hwa tilted her head slightly. "Although, to be honest, there is one thing I don’t like."

Her fan lowered just enough to reveal the faint smile beneath it.

"I don’t like people hiding their faces while I’m speaking seriously to them."

Erika’s eyes narrowed.

Mae-hwa’s gaze swept across the White Wolf Division.

"So don’t make me curious." Her glowing eyes brightened slightly. "Remove your masks. Let me see all of you."

For one second, nothing happened.

Then Erika heard a click behind her.

Her eyes widened.

A male soldier reached toward his tactical helmet.

Another did the same.

Then another.

"What are you doing?" Erika snapped.

None of them answered.

Helmets were removed one after another. Wolf masks came away from their faces and dropped onto the bloodstained pavement. Even soldiers who had been maintaining perfect combat formation moments earlier were now lowering their equipment without hesitation.

Erika spun around.

"No! Don’t listen to her!"

Too late.

"Everyone, close your eyes! NOW!"

Her command echoed across the plaza, but almost nobody obeyed.

The soldiers were staring directly at Mae-hwa.

Their weapons remained in their hands, but their disciplined posture was gone. Their faces had become strangely peaceful, and several of the men were smiling as though there weren’t hundreds of corpses surrounding them.

Like puppets waiting for their master to pull the next string.

Erika felt coldness crawl along her back.

"July!"

Even her vice-captain was struggling. July’s breathing had changed, and although she hadn’t completely lowered her guard, her eyes repeatedly tried to drift toward Mae-hwa.

"Don’t look at her!" Erika shouted. "Look at the ground! That’s an order!"

Mae-hwa barely seemed interested in Erika’s panic.

Now that the masks were gone, she finally had what she wanted.

Faces.

Her pink eyes slowly moved across the men.

For a moment, she simply studied them.

Then her smile disappeared.

"Ugly."

The word was spoken with genuine disappointment.

Mae-hwa pointed her fan toward one of the soldiers.

"No. Your face is completely wrong."

Her attention shifted to another man. He had symmetrical features and a strong jaw, yet Mae-hwa stared at him for several seconds before sighing.

"Your eyes ruin everything."

The fan moved again.

Another soldier.

Mae-hwa studied the scar running across his cheek, and visible disgust entered her expression.

"What a waste. Your eyes are lovely, but that scar..." She shook her head slowly. "No, no. I couldn’t possibly accept that."

Erika stared at her in disbelief.

This woman wasn’t merely insulting them.

She was evaluating them.

One after another, Mae-hwa examined the soldiers as though they were objects presented for her approval, searching for some impossible standard of beauty and becoming increasingly disappointed whenever she found the smallest imperfection.

One man had the right eyes but the wrong nose.

Another had an attractive face but a scar beneath his chin.

Another seemed almost satisfactory until Mae-hwa noticed the shape of his mouth.

Each rejection brought more disgust into her beautiful features.

"So many people came to see me..." Mae-hwa murmured, sounding almost saddened by it. "And not one of you is beautiful enough."

Erika immediately raised her weapon.

"White Wolf Division! Snap out of it!"

No response.

The soldiers continued smiling at Mae-hwa.

Erika’s heart sank.

Mae-hwa lifted her fan again, hiding the lower half of her face as her pink eyes curved with amusement. She seemed completely unconcerned by the weapons surrounding her, as though the entire White Wolf Division existed only to entertain her.

"Well..." Mae-hwa murmured. "Since I’ve already had to look at these pathetic men, I suppose I should see the women too."

Erika’s expression changed immediately.

Mae-hwa’s eyes began to glow.

"Female units, look down!" Erika shouted. "Don’t look into her eyes!"

July reacted instantly, lowering her gaze toward the bloodstained pavement. The other female members followed without hesitation, some even closing their eyes completely. Whatever strange influence had caught the male soldiers seemed to require something connected to Mae-hwa’s gaze, and Erika wasn’t about to give her another opportunity.

For several seconds, nothing happened.

Erika kept her head lowered, watching only Mae-hwa’s feet through the corner of her vision.

A soft laugh drifted across the plaza.

"My, my..."

Mae-hwa sounded genuinely entertained.

"So there are people here who actually know how to fight." Her fan moved gently through the pink mist. "But you’re still so weak."

Erika’s jaw tightened.

She knew Mae-hwa was provoking them. More importantly, she knew they couldn’t continue like this. They had already lost control of a large portion of their unit without Mae-hwa needing to physically attack anyone. If Erika couldn’t find some way around that ability, this battle would end before it even properly began.

"You monster," Erika said, keeping her eyes lowered. "If you’ve got the guts, fight us without using your eyes. Then we’ll show you who’s weak."

Mae-hwa fell silent.

Then she laughed.

It was soft and elegant, almost pleasant to listen to, which only made Erika hate it more.

"Oh, Captain..." Mae-hwa replied. "Are you trying to provoke me?"

Erika didn’t answer. Her mind was racing through possibilities, searching for anything they could use. They couldn’t fight properly without looking at their opponent, but looking directly at Mae-hwa was exactly what she wanted.

There had to be another way.

Before Erika could think of one, Mae-hwa’s attention shifted.

She looked toward the male soldiers.

They were still standing there with vacant smiles, their eyes fixed upon her with unnatural admiration. Some had lowered their weapons completely, while others seemed to have forgotten that their own captain was standing only a few meters away.

Mae-hwa studied them for a moment.

Then her smile returned.

"Boys."

Every entranced soldier immediately became attentive.

Erika’s blood ran cold.

Mae-hwa tapped the edge of her fan against her cheek.

"Your female colleagues are being terribly rude. They’re hiding their faces from me."

Erika slowly raised her head just enough to see the male soldiers turning.

"No..."

Mae-hwa’s eyes curved.

"Grab them."

Erika’s eyes widened.

"Don’t let them look away from me."

The male soldiers moved instantly.

"What the....?!"

One of the women beside Erika was suddenly grabbed from behind. Before she could react, her male teammate wrapped an arm around her shoulders and seized the edge of her wolf mask.

"Let go of me!"

The mask was ripped away.

Another female soldier tried to retreat, but two entranced men caught her arms. One forced her head upward while the other tore away her tactical mask.

"Stop! What are you doing?!"

"Wake up! It’s us!"

They didn’t respond.

Their smiles never disappeared.

Within seconds, the organized White Wolf formation descended into chaos. Female soldiers struggled against the very teammates who had fought beside them only minutes earlier. Helmets struck the pavement, wolf masks scattered across the bloodstained street, and one by one their faces were forcibly turned toward Mae-hwa.

"STOP!" Erika shouted.

She rushed toward the nearest pair, grabbed one of the hypnotized men by his uniform and threw him away from the woman he was restraining.

"Everyone, resist them! Don’t look at Mae-hwa!"

But it was already too late for several of them.

Mae-hwa was staring.

For the first time since appearing, her pleasant expression visibly changed.

Her fan stopped moving.

One of the women had clear blue eyes and smooth, youthful skin. Another had delicate features that looked almost untouched despite the exhaustion of the battle. A third wasn’t exceptionally beautiful, but she was young and naturally pretty enough to hold Mae-hwa’s attention.

Mae-hwa’s fingers tightened around her fan.

The pleasant smile vanished from her eyes.

She looked toward another woman.

Then another.

Several were ordinary-looking, some had scars, and others showed the exhaustion of years spent fighting for the Agency. Yet among them were enough youthful and attractive faces that something ugly began appearing beneath Mae-hwa’s elegant composure.

"How dare you..."

Erika heard it.

She slowly looked toward the demon.

Mae-hwa’s fan trembled slightly in her hand.

"How dare you have skin like that?"

Erika stared at her in disbelief.

Mae-hwa’s eyes moved toward the blue-eyed soldier again, lingering on her face with open resentment.

"So young..." she whispered. "Such clear eyes. Such smooth skin..."

The jealousy in her voice was unmistakable.

A moment ago, she had been disgusted because the men weren’t beautiful enough for her.

Now she was furious because some of the women were.

Erika finally understood why Mae-hwa had been called the Beauty Slaughter.

Mae-hwa lowered her fan completely.

The gentle expression was gone.

"Boys."

Every hypnotized male soldier turned toward her.

Mae-hwa pointed her fan toward the women.

"Kill them."

Her voice was cold.

Erika’s eyes widened.

"What the hell....?!"

The men attacked.

A sword flashed toward the female soldier nearest to it. She barely managed to twist away before the blade passed across her tactical armor. Another man raised his weapon against the woman he had just been restraining, forcing her to block with her forearm guard before stumbling backward.

Within seconds, the plaza erupted into violence.

"DON’T KILL THEM!" Erika screamed as she rushed forward. "They’re being controlled!"

That order made everything worse.

The female soldiers were forced to defend themselves while deliberately holding back against opponents who showed no such restraint. These weren’t strangers attacking them. They were their partners, friends and teammates, people they had trained and fought beside for years.

"Wake up!"

A woman blocked her teammate’s sword with her own.

The man simply attacked again.

"It’s me, you idiot! Wake up!"

There was no recognition in his eyes.

Only that same peaceful smile.

Another male soldier charged toward July. July stepped aside and struck his wrist hard enough to knock his weapon away, but before she could restrain him, a second soldier attacked from behind. She ducked beneath the blade and kicked him away, refusing to use the sword in her hand against either of them.

Erika watched the chaos spread.

Her anger rose with every second.

Mae-hwa hadn’t even moved.

She stood peacefully in the middle of the plaza, surrounded by pink mist, watching members of the White Wolf Division tear their own formation apart.

Erika caught an incoming sword with her weapon and stared into the face of the soldier attacking her.

He was smiling.

"Captain..." July shouted while struggling against another attacker. "What do we do?!"

Erika shoved the controlled soldier away without cutting him and immediately blocked another strike.

She looked past the fighting soldiers.

Mae-hwa was still there.

Still watching.

Still smiling.

Erika’s grip tightened until her knuckles turned white.

They weren’t fighting Mae-hwa.

Mae-hwa was making them fight each other.