C95 - 96
Chapter 95: Conditions of Power (5)
Honestly, I was a bit surprised.
The stance she took with the sword, the force emanating from the blade, and her spatial manipulation abilities—all surpassed my expectations of a mere manager.
And above all, her gaze.
It was like a fiery determination to kill me, spreading like wildfire.
Was she warning me to leave the city as soon as possible if I wanted to live?
Just a few hours ago, her indecisiveness was evident, but now, it was a whole different story.
From behind, Lindsay watched with amusement.
– Swish
Continuing the brief standoff, she drew another sword from her waist.
– Swish Swish Swish
Four swift sword strikes, seamlessly connected with smooth curves, reminiscent of a butterfly’s fluttering wings.
Of course, none of the attacks were meant to hit me.
In such a confined space, extravagant movements would be futile.
She must have known that too.
I quietly extended one foot back, creating about two steps’ distance.
Then, I naturally adjusted my grip on the sword handle and brought my withdrawn foot forward again.
I resumed my sword strikes, diagonally from the lower right, then swiftly adjusting the grip and striking vertically.
She must have predicted the direction of movement and blocked it without difficulty.
However, she was mistaken if she thought it was over.
I naturally linked the previous two sword strikes and resumed the sword attack.
-Shuuk
Once diagonally from the bottom right,
-visor
Quickly turn the hilt of the sword in the opposite direction and hold it vertically again.
Although she was a bit embarrassed because she didn’t expect it to happen four times, she was still able to block it without wavering.
Unfortunately, it’s not over yet.
As my foot descended to close the gap by just 1cm from the ground, I smoothly lifted my arm, aiming for the center of her chest.
– Slash
She couldn’t block my final strike, and one of her swords flew into the air.
Her face betrayed a hint of surprise.
“….”
It took about 5 seconds for the sword to embed itself into the ground.
During that time, I remained still, knowing that sometimes, inaction can inflict greater wounds.
I don’t think she knows the meaning of my actions.
-Woo!
She hesitated for a moment, pondering her next move.
She realized she had been underestimated.
Her gaze now held not just murderous intent but venomous intent.
I paid her no mind, silently waiting for her to make her next move.
– Swish
With fluidity akin to a dance, she retrieved her sword and swiftly resumed her stance.
– Clang
This time, without any elaborate swordplay, she pushed forward with both swords, emanating undeniable pressure from the crossed blades.
Though she was a mature woman, she seemed to opt for strength, given her advantage in stature over me.
“…!”
It wasn’t just the physical force that I felt.
It was the unwavering determination to kill me, accompanied by an urgency that transcended mere strength.
Lost in the intriguing mix of emotions, my body found itself gradually pushed back against the wall by her.
“… There’s none.”
Amidst my attempts to push her away, she suddenly whispered something.
“What did you say?”
“I have no personal feelings…”
I couldn’t help but inwardly scoff.
Emotions, matters of the heart, were things I hadn’t bothered with in ages, so it didn’t matter.
But it seemed she was laboring under some misapprehension.
“Listen, Manager Lisa.”
I broke the silence with a dull voice.
“…!?”
“Such words should only be spoken when you are absolutely sure you have the upper hand over your opponent.”
Though she didn’t answer directly, her eyes conveyed that she knew well enough.
“Do you think you have the right to say such things to me?”
I slightly eased the restrained force and pushed back.
“…!”
Caught off guard by the unexpected strength, she lost her balance.
– Thud
Seizing the opportunity, I swiftly grabbed her throat and pushed back.
“Grrgh!”
It wasn’t a complete subjugation.
Though I had her by the throat, her hands were still free.
She immediately retrieved her fallen sword and swiftly retaliated.
– Clang!
Of course, it was an attack I couldn’t possibly handle.
However, as her strikes came at me like water flowing, I deflected them left and right, causing her sword to fly out in a wide arc.
Finally defenseless, I awaited her next move.
As her retaliatory strike was rendered futile, her fiery will extinguished like a candle snuffed out.
“Ha…”
With a sigh of defeat, she closed her eyes entirely.
I don’t know if she’s quick to admit it or if she’s quick to give up.
Without the slightest hesitation, I swung my corrected Kaeram down upon her.
– Thud
As her body hit the ground, a cloud of dust rose.
——————
——————
Once again, silence flowed for 5 seconds.
I lifted my head, feeling indifferent.
“Haah, haah…”
From below, the breath of a woman who had narrowly escaped the brink of life and death grew rough.
“What were you doing?”
Lindsay, who had been observing the situation all along, asked me with a stiff voice, unlike the mocking tone before.
It could be said differently.
Why didn’t you kill her?
“Actually, I’d like to ask you the same thing. What were you doing?”
“What?”
“Even though it was just an illusion, it was a situation worth intervening in. Why did you stand by and watch instead of stepping forward?”
She said it unmistakably.
When comparing myself to her child, she admitted that she wanted to see how much power I had.
I acknowledge it.
This manager showed quite remarkable movements.
She was far superior to the riff-raff in the junkyard.
Her mindset as an assassin, with no hesitation in killing her target, was extremely commendable.
It was simply insufficient to reach me.
The problem lies in the fact that I, she in front of me, and even this manager lurking below, all know this fact.
When her last counterattack was blocked, she closed her eyes.
Her face seemed resigned, as if surrendering all will to live.
Her expression was observed not only by me but also by Lindsay, who was openly watching.
However, she didn’t lift a finger.
She just watched endlessly, with an inexplicable smirk.
I asked for the reason.
She sarcastically licked her lips and said,
“What? Do you think I was going to step in and save that child?”
“……”
“The child known as an assassin is truly naive. Showing mercy to the target who had tried to kill none other than themselves.”
Why?
Didn’t she call her, her own child?
Why let her die so easily?
At least this manager was sincere with me.
She had poured out everything to kill me, and when that failed, she cleanly acknowledged it and gave up everything.
Just for that woman who had been merely watching.
Shouldn’t I be disgusted by such a sight?
“How arrogant. Why did Silica send a child like you?”
For a moment, her eyes sank coldly, and her body, which had been swaying like waves, was engulfed in mist for a moment.
It was a power bestowed upon her by a superior being, undeniable Aeru’s energy.
“Are you finally revealing your true self?”
She opened her mouth with the same arrogant smile as before.
“Yes. You probably already guessed it, but I, too, was once an assassin submerged in the mist. I joined around the same time as your master Silica and shared blades.”
I wasn’t particularly surprised since it was expected.
“You might not know this. If I hadn’t left the mist and had still been around, the person you would call your leader might have been me, not her…”
It was a bold, almost shameless gaze.
It wasn’t just empty boasting but words that came purely from the heart.
“Do you find it hard to believe? Silica and I, even when we were low-ranking members, both achieved remarkable growth. From swordsmanship to magic and the application of secrets… rising to become senior members was a breeze.”
The spreading fog gradually invaded the narrow room, as if trying to imprison me within it.
“The god of mist, Aeru… Although an entity banished from the divine realm, his power is undoubtedly immense. It is a realm that mere mortals can never reach, and truly, it is a power that can accomplish many things. It can also pursue infinite development.”
She asked me while looking at me.
“The Mist’s assassin. What do you think the purpose of the Mist’s existence is?”
All I could offer was a conventional answer.
“It negates the existing world order centered around light and reveals the hidden, sinister aspects of humanity.”
She nodded as if she had expected my response.
“You know it well. Then let me ask another question. What did the Mist do for that goal?”
As I was about to answer “assassination,” I hesitated.
The Mist had not been consistently active.
It had hidden its traces for 50 years due to the whims of the idiot God.
During that long period, all they could do was wait indefinitely.
“It did nothing! Despite possessing the power to achieve and change many things, the Mist did not act! It waited for an heir who might never be born!”
Ironically, that was me.
“Isn’t it truly pathetic? Why fear when you possess the power of gods? Why hide from the world? I couldn’t understand why this power had to be wasted, why it had to be rendered meaningless!”
Someone listening might think it was their own achieved power.
“So I left that organization! I couldn’t bear to see my power go to waste! But I didn’t just leave! I wasn’t the only one rotting away there…”
I entertained the idea of listening a little longer, but I couldn’t bear it any longer.
Just as I was about to reveal my true intentions, the fog, which had been gathering, finally spread in all directions, distorting the space.
Wait, is she unleashing this here?
The old wooden floor vanished like dust, replaced by dense fog.
If my senses weren’t mistaken, this was undoubtedly…
“A pocket dimension?!”
An unreal space created by the power of gods, an area that allowed no external access.
This was definitely not a mere illusion.
——————
——————
Chapter 96: Conditions of Power (6)
A sudden transition to a strange space.
Lisa, barely recovering her composure, didn’t stop wandering around the changed surroundings.
The old room she was in just moments ago had vanished without a trace.
It wasn’t just the space that had changed.
“Li,Lindsay?”
No human figure was visible; instead, there was a peculiar shape shrouded in black mist emitting an unsettling aura.
The sight was extremely eerie, sending shivers of revulsion and discomfort.
Lisa quickly turned her head, naturally looking at the boy.
“…!”
He didn’t have the same calm face as before.
With slightly parted lips revealing teeth and a narrowed forehead, he seemed quite flustered himself.
It was a perfectly natural reaction.
It would be odd for someone not to be surprised by such a strange sight.
Perhaps thinking that even humans couldn’t help but be taken aback by this unfamiliar scene,
“Ha!?”
He laughed.
They say when people are too shocked, they laugh uncontrollably as if losing their minds, but it didn’t seem like that.
Though it’s hard to pinpoint the exact meaning behind his laughter, if we go by what’s visible,
it seemed like he laughed out of incredulity.
* * *
There are broadly two cases where humans can wield the power of gods.
One is when a god directly bestows power upon a human.
I’m precisely that case, having inherited the power of Aeru through the Mist Stone,
and the other is when the power of a god is passed down through relics or artifacts for their use.
Come to think of it, that’s me too.
Having received almost the entirety of a god’s power, it’s like having a child who’s practically inherited that power nestled in my arms right now.
“Surprised, aren’t you! Well, you can’t help it! This is the omnipotent power that you absolutely must obey!”
Whether it was laughter or tears, her ambiguous whimpering was ignored as I carefully examined the aura she emitted.
It’s familiar, even intimate to the point of being uncanny.
It was so familiar that one could believe it was just another pocket dimension created by that bastard god, devoid of any sense of distance.
I couldn’t create such a space myself.
“But, if a qualified human were to encounter it, they could handle it perfectly well! Just like I am right now!”
In the momentarily blurred mist, she directed a triumphant grin towards me.
Along with it, she extended her left fourth finger, indicating the gold ring she wore.
If my memory serves me right, that’s an artifact.
The so-called ‘Ring of Absorption’.
It’s a kind of storage device that can condense a certain amount of mana into a pocket-like form, and at times, it can contain not only mana but also other energies.
Given the circumstances, it seems she’s contained Aeru’s power in that ring…
“Ha!?”
I couldn’t help but laugh in disbelief.
Could it be that that idiot god allowed his power to be stolen?
This isn’t like stealing treasures from a warehouse; it’s a blatant act of taking them right in front of the owner’s eyes.
It’s laughable enough that a common artifact contains a god’s power, but the fact that she attempted it and succeeded… there are no words.
I’m sure the leader doesn’t know about this fact with absolute certainty.
If she did, she wouldn’t just stand by quietly.
It’s likely that she would have come running herself to try and destroy that artifact.
“What do you think is the reason I left the organization and settled in Lambert? To earn money? That’s just a secondary reason. I’ve been nurturing my own power in this city all along, not relying on the power of gods.”
I started to sense personal frustration in her voice.
“How foolish, isn’t it? In the end, just like how we humans were created by the hands of gods, there’s no problem in using their power! Yet we’re expected to wait idly for the sake of one supposed successor!”
Certainly, she wasn’t just rambling with an open mouth.
In fact, for the past fifty years until my appearance in the Mist, countless members of the Mist wasted their time in meaningless waiting.
It would be a lie to say there was no dissatisfaction among them.
Ultimately, she was one of those in that category.
“You might also be a pitiful existence. Clinging to passive obedience without understanding the changing world. I don’t know why you’ve resumed your activities now, but it doesn’t matter! Your organization will soon be destroyed by my hands…”
“Seems like your dreams are a bit too grandiose?”
She said it with a hint of disdain.
“You might see it that way with your naive eyes. But I’ll make sure to make you and your organization, even your leader, fully aware! Then, I’ll stand before Aeru once again and clearly state that I’m the only one who can fully inherit your power!”
“…”
It’s a peculiar feeling.
Was there some level of sympathy in me for what that woman said?
Disliking the decay of her own power, she left the organization and worked to increase her influence by cultivating her own strength.
Regardless of her motives, the fact that she firmly decided to pioneer her own life makes it hard for me to criticize her.
For some reason, though, I felt compelled to ask her one question.
“What do you plan to do with that power?”
To kill me, destroy the organization, and gain recognition from Aeru.
But what does she want to do next?
Lindsay responded with a joyous smile as if she had been waiting for this question.
“I will do everything I can!”
I retorted immediately.
“Everything you can?”
“Yes! Just as there’s a qualification needed to possess any power, the same applies even after acquiring it! To have power and abilities but not use them? That’s nothing but deception and waste! We must use the given power to its fullest extent! That’s the condition for wielding power!”
Though she spoke somewhat verbose, in reality, it was a simple and obvious statement when dissected.
——————
——————
One must fully exert the power they possess.
It’s a phrase often found in common sayings, but the importance lies in how one accepts it.
Hmm.
Sometimes, people laugh unknowingly, like when they have an epiphany.
And that’s exactly how I feel right now.
I think I might understand a bit why my leader sent me to this strange place.
“That’s a good saying.”
Coming from me, it was an uncommon acknowledgment.
“But even so, it doesn’t change anything. In the end, here and now, you’ll die by my hand.”
– Swoosh
As usual, I slowly raised my dagger, aiming it at her.
The intent of an assassin who will kill the opponent before them.
Recognizing this, Lindsay chuckled as if amused.
“Ha! You might have gained a bit of insight, but you’re still foolish. Well, it’s probably better to beg for mercy than to die. I’ll make sure to give you a death that suits you!”
She gently extended her finger and immediately shouted the incantation.
“Shadow Arts 6th Form: Mist Space!”
* * *
– Whoosh
The mist that extended from her fingers like beams of light soon divided into several strands, enveloping Cyan from all sides.
Without any resistance, Cyan was quickly engulfed, and soon a sealed space was completed.
“Although your physical abilities may be comparable to those of a senior officer, when it comes to handling tactics, you’re inevitably immature.”
The sixth form of Mist, the Mist Space.
It covers a certain area with black mist, completely isolating the targets inside from the outside world.
It’s not just about creating a barrier; it’s a technique that can control all the power and mana possessed by the target, leaving them feeling utterly powerless.
Despite having power, they’re rendered completely helpless.
And the misery that arises from it.
Lindsay’s purpose was to inflict such cruel emotions upon Cyan.
“Slowly, savor it for a very long time within that space! And finally, realize it! That you were nothing from the beginning! That in the face of absolute existence, you were nothing more than creatures groveling on the ground, even more powerless than insects!”
As Lindsay’s hands spread wide open, the energies contained within scattered in all directions.
As these energies gradually covered Cyan’s body, her laughter grew louder.
[A ring containing the power of Aeru… Humans can be quite amusing, seeing things like this, don’t you think?]
However, her joy didn’t last long.
At the sudden sound of a voice from behind, Lindsay quickly turned her head.
“…!?”
With an intense and seductive gaze, as if tinged with blood, the mysterious woman smiled provocatively at her.
A woman of mystery who suddenly appeared before her without a trace, without even the slightest hint of her presence.
For a moment, Lindsay doubted her eyes, but soon realized that she couldn’t move as if she were petrified.
[Hm, impressive, isn’t it? Most humans wouldn’t even be able to think about moving.]
The disdainful voice sent shivers down Lindsay’s spine.
It felt like a devil with an innocent face whispering in her ear.
However, the woman with black hair paid her no mind and carefully observed her ring.
[Frankly, I was surprised. Creating a pocket dimension similar to Aeru’s by human hands. I wonder what expression that bastard god would make if he knew?]
She sensed it.
Feeling extremely familiar with the energy of the pocket dimension she had unfolded, yet being dominated by a strange feeling different enough to suppress all that familiarity, she was overwhelmed by her emotions.
[This pocket dimension is quite an interesting place. It’s like a paradise for oneself, isn’t it? It makes you feel like you’re a god who can do anything when you’re inside. But…]
The woman with black hair reached out into the air and gently caressed it.
Instantly, the surrounding black mist, which had been blooming, responded and rushed towards her, converging in one place.
[It’s equally difficult to guard. You never know when or where a transcendent being higher than oneself might come and seize this place.]
– Whoosh
The gathered mist swirled like a whirlpool above the woman’s palm.
As if searching for its rightful owner.
Lindsay shook her head in confusion.
“W-why! Why are you here in this place?”
[Oh? You know me?]
The woman seemed nonchalant as she smiled.
The demonic sword, Kaeram.
An artifact that inherited the power of Aeru, the god of Black Mist, and serves as its successor.
She embodied the essence of mist and wielded the power of the mist god, making her an undeniable presence.
Is this feeling one of disbelief, yet also inevitability?
However, she soon realized what it meant for Kaeram, the demonic sword, to be present in this place.
It meant that someone capable of wielding the god’s artifact was also present.
“T-then you…!”
Lindsay’s gaze immediately turned towards Cyan, trapped within the Mist Space.
A single beam of light extended from the pitch-black mist, like a glimmer of hope.
Though it appeared as light, strictly speaking, it wasn’t light at all; it was merely the reflection of the sinister aura emanating from the sharp blade.
The tip of the sword was precisely aimed at Lindsay’s throat.
“Successor!”
——————