C161
“If she come in contact with the person who has had the magic taken away, the Extortion will be lifted?”
The fact that there was no answer from Marsha was enough to convince Shirone that this was the correct answer.
Nevertheless, the feeling of discomfort remained. If the constraint of Extortion was contact, widening the distance was somewhat understandable.
But the problem was that Marsha was in an overly advantageous position. She has stolen numerous magic that utilize God Particles, while he had to rely solely on Wind Cutter.
Wasn't it a situation worth fighting? Yet, she fled as if terrified, dozens of meters away.
‘What is Rule Eater….'
Shirone opened his eyes. Now everything is clear in his mind.
'I've found it! The mental loophole. Marsha isn't perfect either.'
Thinking about it, it was a simple issue. Upon contact, Extortion is canceled. If she could take away her opponent's magic simply by that constrain, who in the world would be able to beat her? In the end, there must be an additional cost involved.
He doesn’t know what the price would be, but it would have been closely related to the trauma that led to her Rule Eater.
‘Rruke Eater is a being with mental bias. In order to possess such an enormous ability, you have no choice but to endure the trauma that created the ability in the first place.’
Therefore, she cannot be approached. The chance that she would have to pay the terrible price became incredibly high once Shirone found a way to cancel Extortion.
What she truly feared wasn't the return of the stolen magic. It was the horrendous cost that would occur simultaneously with the cancellation of Extortion.
'But countless amounts of magic must have been stolen so far. How did she overcome it then?'
The answer to that came quickly. As soon as Shirone found the answer, he immediately charged at Marsha.
There was no time to think. Marsha had been stalling for time until her reinforcements arrived..
Deprivation of one's ability by risking one's most terrible pain.
As long as there was a chance Shirone might trigger that cost, Marsha would never engage in combat.
On the other hand, if it weren't for that level of fear, the magic of Extortion would never have been possible in the first place.
Shirone was no longer afraid. There was still time. Somehow, he had to capture Marsha before the reinforcements arrived.
"Ugh!”
Marsha let out a groan and moved away. Her face paled even at the slight narrowing of distance between her and Shirone. The playful tone and the charming expression were no longer visible.
'I can do this! I can get my magic back!'
Shirone, who found a ray of hope, continued to chase Marsha. Of course, it was close to impossible to chase after a mage who was casting Teleportation, but he couldn't stop with the thief who had stolen his entire life right before him.
"Shirone! It's dangerous!"
Shirone looked up at the sky at the sound of Tess' voice. With a thunderous noise, about ten streaks of light raced through the sky and descended.
Color returned to Marsha's face at last. In contrast, Shirone felt drained of the strength even to run.
He had thought there was enough time. But it was a misjudgment. The surviving subordinates had used a magic circle to arrive in an instant.
“Hohoho! Finally, they've arrived. It's all over now!"
About 20 Schema users users swarmed around Marsha. It was impossible to break through that crowd and capture Marsha.
“Shi- Shirone….”
Amy bit her lip, holding back tears.
Is it really going to end like this? Shirone may have to give up his dream of becoming a mage.
'It doesn't make sense. He really liked magic. He worked so hard for it.'
Shirone looked at Marsha as if he had given up everything. It was the most vacant expression a human could have.
“Oh my, Shirone? Why are you looking at me like that? Ah, because of the magic? It's okay. You're young, you can just start over from the beginning. Of course, the magic I've stolen from you, you'll never be able to use, even if you try for a lifetime."
"Even Sound Magic was stolen from someone else, wasn't it?"
“Huhu, right, well. You know, I have a bit of kleptomania. You said you understood me before, but now you're suddenly being so petty? You willingly gave 50 silver for the pottery, but you can't give up your magic? Why? After pretending to be so kind, is it too, too precious to give magic to others?"
Amy screamed in anger.
"Shut up! How can you say that? What has Shirone done to you to deserve this!"
How can a person be like that? It seemed like Marsha not only stole Shirone's magic but also intended to trample on his life.
“Hohoho! That's what pretense is. There are no kind people in the world. It’s so disgusting to me that you pretend to care in front of me when you’re thinking all sorts of dirty things on the inside!”
Marsha was cursing the world, but to Shirone, it sounded like she was cursing one person in particular.
It was her step father.
The man who took Marsha in as an orphan and raised her until she was seventeen. But when she realized those long years were woven from his vile desires, how deep was the despair she tasted?
That's why magic of Rule Eater is terrifying. The very emergence of the ability is rooted in human trauma.
For the average mage, omnipotence is a power that reinforces omniscience. But for mage of Rule Eater, omnipotence distorts omniscience itself.
‘It’s so painful that even your thoughts are distorte. That's what Rule Eater is like.'
That twisted human nature is manifested in the world through the power of magic. Now Shirone seemed to understand why the Magic Association did not recognize magic of Rule Eater as true magic.
“My noona is a pitiful person.”
Marsha's eyes tensed up. Who was calling whom pitiable?
It was Shirone, who had pretended to embrace the whole world and then had all his magic stolen away, who was the truly pitiable one.
"Hmph! Now you resort to appeasement? After you came at me trying to kill me. Do you think I'll spare you because of that?"
“Actually, I don’t even know anymore. How much you must have suffered, noona."
"Hoho! Finally admitting it! Do you understand now? No one truly understands the pain of others! That's human nature! The world is filled with nothing but bad people."
"So... I'll be coming to my noona now."
Marsha's heart rattled down. It wasn't possible for him to reach her. She was surrounded by twenty of her subordinates.
“Maybe what noona said is right. Maybe it was all pretense. But I still believe there's a way to share the pain. If noona sincerely shows your wound. So I want noona to show me. Not the lies, but your real pain."
"Stop talking nonsense. Who would want sympathy from the likes of you?"
“I will break the shell that imprisons noona. And I will check it myself. I wonder how much noona’s wounds have festered.”
"Don't come! Don't come!"
Marsha shouted with a horrified expression. The wound was so painful that she would scream if even feathers touched her. But he's going to open that wound? As if that's not enough, he's going to pry it open with his hand?
“In return, I promise that I will never give up on noona. I will embrace whatever pain noona suffered.”
As Shirone finished speaking, Marsha's subordinates drew their swords and blocked his way.
"Don't let him come close! Cut off his head.”
Shirone, who was staring at the enemies standing like a net, turned his head and called out to Rian.
“Rian, stay by my side.”
Rian, who was the most injured among the four, could barely move. But he stood up without complaint and slung his straight sword over his shoulder.
Tess ran after Rian.
"Wait! I'll do it. I'm less injured than Lian."
"It's okay, Tess. This is a task my lord has given me."
“But with a body like that….”
Shirone looked back at Tess and shook his head.
“Tess, it has to be Rian who stays by my side. I can't ask anyone else to shed their blood for me."
“Shed, shed blood?”
Shirone moved forward slowly and said to Rian.
"Rian, anyone who comes at me, cut them down."
Rian did not understand Shirone’s words. He has been robbed of his magic and has difficulty even walking. If they were to enter the enemy ranks, death was all that awaited them
"I see. Leave it to me.”
However, Rian followed Shirone without hesitatio. The sword does not judge. If the lord command, one must act with their life on the line.
Marsha could not control her anger.
Check her wounds? Share her pain? Nonsense, utter nonsense.
Shirone was just wagging his tongue, not sparing any means to retrieve his magic.
That's what humans are. No matter how much they pretend to be kind, in the end, they only seek to satisfy their own greed.
"Kill him! Kill that kid now!"
As Marsha's shout rang out, twenty of her subordinates simultaneously sprang into action. Empowered by their Schema's physical enhancement, they rapidly closed the distance, their menacing swords raised high.
Rian gripped the handle of his straight sword tightly. He didn't know how long he could hold out, but even if his neck was to be severed, he intended to keep moving forward.
A swordsman leading the charge leapt up, aiming his long sword down at Shirone's head. At the same time, Rian also clenched his teeth and prepared to swing his sword.
However, at that moment, the swordsman's body suddenly transformed into light and shot up into the sky.
The sharp noise of Spatial Shift split the sky.
Marsha looked at the scene blankly. Amy and Tess on the other side, who were anxiously watching, were equally stunned.
"What are you doing! Attack! We must win this!"
Following the leader's orders, three swordsmen launched a simultaneous attack. But before they could even swing their swords at Shirone, they too transformed into light and flew into the air.
Marsha’s lips trembled.
Shirone was approaching. With each step he took, her subordinates were being sent flying with a roar, turning into light.
'What? What the hell is going on?'
The only one who truly understood the current situation was Amy, a mage, but even her voice was trembling.
“It’s amazing. I knew that his magical sense was extremely good, but I never thought it would be to this extent.”
Since when had Shirone been predicting this moment?
Since Marsha's subordinates arrived? Since he realized the coinstraint of Extortion? No, it was probably from the time he heard about Wind Cutter from Rian.
“What is it, Amy? What's Shirone doing right now?"
“That’s magic. Slow Magic that reduces the speed of time."
It is impossible to directly combine theories that have remained only in the omniscience with omnipotence except for Shirone. Frankly, even Amy had not anticipated that he could achieve this extent.
That’s why Marsha would not have expected it either. Swept up in all sorts of lies and conspiracies, Shirone's insight, which seemed to have been lost, was now engulfing Marsha's calculations as it surfaced.
"Slow? That's Slow Magic?"
Tess looked forward again. From the outside, there was no perceptible chang. The only thing happening was that enemies approaching Shirone, without exception, they flew away with a roar.
However, the scene seen by Rian, who was within Shirone's Spirit Zone, was different.
Whenever someone entered Shirone's Spirit Zone, their body would flash with light and then start to move in excruciatingly slow motion.
Those who have reached the realm of near-light speed can distort the time within the zone. Of course, it wasn't to the extreme extent of slowing down time like Alpheas, but Shirone's level was sufficient to more than double the relativity of time.
‘What? Do I just need to cut them?’
Rian prepared to swing his sword at the slowly approaching enemy. The enemy's eyes were filled with fear. In this state, they couldn't escape death. Eventually, they used a space movement magic on their bracelet to escape the spot.
As the enemy ran away before they even engaged, Rian snorted as if it was all too easy and followed behind Shirone again.
Kkiiiing! Kkiiiing! Kkiiiing!
The distinctive sound of space movement continued without pause. Now only three subordinates remained in front of Marsha, but even they evacuated their position as Shirone approached.
Once again alone, Marsha trembled with a pale face. Terrifying thoughts repeated over and over in her mind.
"Don't come! If you do, I'll die! If I die, you'll never get your magic back!"
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Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)