Chapter 73
Azak.
Born in a certain kingdom, he came into the world with a curse attached to him from birth.
Vampiric craving.
The trigger was simple.
During his childhood, when he had only just learned to walk, speak, and think.
Azak's vampiric craving began when he saw the corpse of a dog lying by the roadside.
[I want to eat it.]
I want to eat that sticky red liquid so badly.
He did not understand why, but he instinctively knew that the red liquid called blood could satisfy the thirst he had possessed since birth.
The vampiric craving that awakened at such a young age was discovered by his parents when he was about eight years old.
Naturally, his parents were horrified by their son's abnormality and tried to stop him.
It was what any parent should do.
But from Azak's perspective, resentment began to pour forth toward his parents, who were doing something perfectly natural by preventing him from satisfying his innate thirst.
The burning thirst, and his resentment toward his parents for preventing him from drinking blood to quench it.
When all of it gathered in one place, Azak's awakening began.
His awakened ability, [Blood Manipulation].
An ability that allowed him to control his own blood and the blood of others once the conditions were met.
The condition was mixing his own blood with another person's blood and taking control of it.
And the first victims of the ability he awakened were, of all people...
His parents.
[Hahahaha... Hahahahahahaha!!!!!!]
His parents' corpses, cold and lifeless.
But Azak felt no guilt or other negative emotion whatsoever as he looked at their corpses.
Ah, right...
I—I!!
[I wasn't human!!!]
Right. So that's why I could crave blood and kill my parents without feeling any guilt.
Because I wasn't human.
The people I thought were my parents weren't my real parents, either!
[I...]
This was not despair or escapism.
To him, it was an utterly obvious truth.
[I had been a vampire...]
As he controlled the blood pouring from the corpses of the man and woman before him, Azak muttered ecstatically.
The reason ability users appeared was that humans had been transformed by the world's immense mana concentration.
But the mental vessel that contained such immense talent was, naturally, not always spacious enough.
They possessed enough talent to awaken a supernatural ability, but the mental vessel containing that talent was far too narrow.
It was no different from pouring a ton of water into a tiny glass cup.
What happened to the cup once all that water was poured into it?
It cracked, shattered, and was eventually swept away by the water.
This was the result of immense power overflowing because the mental vessel containing it was too small.
Normally, the mental vessel would naturally grow wider as a person matured.
But ability users suddenly awakened one day and gained immense power, causing this side effect.
That was erosion.
[Ahahaha!! Hahahahaha!!!!]
The intense vampiric craving he had possessed since birth was also the result of his inability to contain the ability fully, causing it to leak out.
Then, one day, after falling into madness, killing people, playing with them, and drinking their blood, he experienced a second awakening.
Normally, a second awakening was an awakening that expanded or transformed an ability user's power.
But Azak was different.
His psyche had already been twisted long ago.
His blood-drinking acts, carried out under the fanatical belief that he was a vampire.
All of it combined, and a twisted, broken second awakening began.
Azak called the power he had awakened this.
[Vampire].
And thus, an ability user who truly believed himself to be a vampire was born.
***
The massive amount of blood gathered in one place began to churn with an unpleasant sound.
Azak's first attack to kill Abel, who had insulted him, was to gather the blood in one place and simply unleash its immense power.
Gloop.
It was an energy cannon.
KRAKAKOOM!!!
Total annihilation.
A massive torrent of power that erased everything before his eyes.
The enormous energy cannon pierced straight through the sea, displaying such tremendous force that it split the ocean apart for a brief moment.
[...]
But Azak never thought that Abel would be finished by something this insignificant.
No—given that he could clearly feel Abel's mana, how could he possibly think Abel had died from that alone?
If things had ended with something this insignificant, Azak would actually have fallen into despair.
If the toy that had insulted him by calling him human had vanished because of his rage, then he would have had no one to blame but himself.
Crack!
At that thought, the blood covering Azak's entire body began to roil unpleasantly.
The image was restraint.
The Iron Maiden, a torture device passed down only through legends from the medieval era.
A technique created with that device as its inspiration.
Hummm.
At the same time, small spheres began firing in every direction from the blood unpleasantly boiling around Azak.
A technique created with only two purposes: restraint and pain.
[Blood Maiden.]
The technique was very simple.
It automatically tracked living creatures that possessed blood in the surrounding area.
The spheres it tracked would bind the creature and pierce its entire body with the spikes inside, inflicting pain.
---!!!
At the same time, cries of pain from animals began echoing through the forest on the outskirts of the city.
The animals' cries echoed unpleasantly from every direction for several minutes.
[Found you...]
After confirming the point where his technique had been cut off, Azak gave a grotesque laugh and looked up at the sky.
In that place illuminated only by moonlight, an object was floating in the air where nothing should have been.
"Oh, you finally found me?"
A means of transportation made by tightly weaving smoke, modeled after the legend of Sun Wukong from Journey to the West.
Abel, seated on a carpet of smoke, waved calmly as he looked down at Azak, who was staring up at him from the ground.
[Hahaha...]
At the sight of Abel, Azak felt an unbearable sense of humiliation and began ripping at his face in a grotesque frenzy.
How dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you, how dare you!!!
Look down on me?
Riiip.
Even as his fingernails tore the skin of his face, Azak did not stop.
I can't forgive you.
Crack!
I can't forgive you.
The vast amount of blood covering Azak began to writhe violently in an instant.
Crack!
What do I need to catch that bastard?
Ah, right. Range. I need range.
A mere long-range attack made of blood would obviously be easy for him to evade.
Then what should I do?
[...]
Ah, right. Let's use my arm. An attack made with my arm will obviously be stronger, won't it?
Then I don't need this arm.
So let's tear it off.
With this very simple thought, Azak used the blood scattered around him to rip off his own arm and toss it away like trash.
Crick.
Something made of new blood began bursting from the torn area near his shoulder.
Should I call it an arm?
No, it wasn't an arm.
Should I call it a massive club made by clumping blood together?
Azak gave a satisfied smile at his ominously writhing new arm, then immediately swung it to test his power.
The arm stretched out long like a whip and eventually split apart the spot where Abel had been sitting comfortably in the air.
But Abel calmly evaded the attack.
Azak stared expressionlessly at the sight and thought.
[...]
The range was sufficient.
The long blood-made arm was unquestionably an attack tool close to being all-purpose.
After all, it could transform into all kinds of weapons, not just a whip.
But it wasn't enough.
It wasn't enough to kill an enemy in the sky.
As soon as that thought occurred to him, the blood around Azak responded to his will and began being absorbed into him in an instant.
So I can't do it while I'm on the ground?
Then I need wings.
Craack.
At that thought, massive wings made of blood began rising from Azak's back.
He felt the agonizing pain of his back splitting open, but he did not care.
Next, the legs.
These legs, which barely imitated the shape of a human's—yes, they were useless.
So let's discard them.
Riiip.
With an unpleasant noise, Azak used his own hands to tear off his legs and throw them far away like trash.
Before long, grotesque legs made of blood rose in their place.
"Wow..."
Abel, seated in the air on the carpet made of his own smoke, looked down at Azak in quiet astonishment.
He had thought Azak was crazy, but he never imagined the man would tear off his own arms and legs, create new limbs, and grow wings made of blood from his back.
"That's a vampire?"
Isn't it a monster?
Though only a few remained and he had never seen one in person, Abel could confidently say this much.
If something like that were called a vampire, then it would be perfectly legal for a real vampire to sue him.
Was it because he had fallen into madness under the influence of erosion, or had someone who was already mad been driven even crazier by erosion?
Abel had no way of knowing, but one thing was certain.
Flap.
The real fight was only beginning.
KABOOM!
Thus, Azak became a grotesque monster made of blood and flew into the air, beginning his clash with Abel.
***
About thirty minutes after the clash began.
My fight with Azak grew fiercer as time passed.
After hundreds of clashes had come and gone.
"Hup!"
Bang!
I barely blocked the blood-made axe that came for my neck and took a momentary step back.
"Wow, you're really incredible."
Azak's attacks came rushing in from every direction.
All kinds of weapons made of blood began ferociously breaking through my barriers.
Every one of them was an attack that far surpassed a knight's full-force strike.
"Amazing. Truly amazing."
I nimbly dodged all those attacks on my carpet of smoke and began clapping.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
He really was incredible.
That bastard Azak was so strong that, in terms of destructive power, he could be called the strongest person I had ever fought.
His mind was bizarre, but that was probably because of erosion, so there was no need to dwell on it.
"I'll give you that."
Normally, I would not provoke someone like this.
But I deliberately spoke in a more flippant tone, as though I were acknowledging Azak, in order to get on his nerves and grind down his pride.
He probably knew, too. He knew that all of this was a theatrical performance meant to ridicule him.
Grind.
As if proving my thoughts correct, Azak, who had flown into the air and was silently staring at me, ground his teeth and responded to my praise with displeasure.
[Don't make me laugh!!!]
Boom!
[Just how much are you going to—!!]
Crack!
[How much are you going to mock me!!!]
Harpoons made of blood rained down from every direction.
I began dodging after anticipating the signs of every one of those attacks.
"Good grief. Is that any way to respond to my heartfelt praise?"
I modified what Azak had just said to me.
"Isn't this prank going too far? Sob, sob."
Though I was not sad at all, I covered my eyes and spoke as though tears were falling.
"That's too much. I'm telling you, it was just a joke."
Boom!!!
Azak's blood-made greatsword came for my left shoulder.
Blocking it with smoke, I slowly lowered the hand covering my face and looked at Azak.
"Why are you overreacting so much?"
Smile.
Try smiling.
"It's just a joke, isn't it?"
You tortured and killed my subordinate as a joke, didn't you?
But you don't like being on the receiving end?
I'm telling you, try smiling like this.
As I said that, I raised the corner of my mouth slightly with my index finger to create a smile.
A line from a classic villain in a famous superhero movie from my previous life.
I quoted the signature line of that villain, who had been modeled after a clown.
"Why so serious?"
[!@$!@%!^!^%@$@]
Watching Azak emit a monstrous shriek that could no longer even be called human speech, I felt that it was almost time to bring this to an end.
I'll be honest.
Azak's full power was beyond my expectations.
Didn't I say so?
When it came to sheer destructive power, he was stronger than anyone I had ever faced.
If I had not smoked eight cigars and stored the smoke inside my body before going to Azak's hideout, I am certain he was powerful enough that I would never have reached the point of breaking him down with words.
In other words, Azak was an enemy too difficult to handle with only one of my abilities, [Smoke Manipulation].
But my abilities did not consist of [Smoke Manipulation] alone.
[Restriction.]
My other ability, which benefited me by providing me with advantageous information when I revealed it to my opponent.
So I'll reveal it. I'll tell him about my ability.
"The name of my ability is [Smoke Manipulation.] Its only condition is that I can control smoke I hold in my mouth and exhale."
I stated its name and condition.
"The amount of mana infused into the smoke determines its destructive power and manifestation."
Then I explained how I used it.
"In other words, my true ability is controlling all smoke that I recognize as smoke."
Lastly, I'll tell him my limitation.
And there's one more thing.
"And the name of my other ability is [Restriction]."
Half-mad from my mockery, I decided to tell Azak everything about me.
He had even transformed his arms and legs, yet still could not catch me, and he seemed to have fallen into despair after losing the psychological upper hand. But there was no way my subordinate's revenge could end with this alone.
"[Restriction] is simple."
Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble.
The surroundings began to tremble.
Solely from the mana I released.
An overwhelming power so great that even the clouds in the sky were pushed away by my mana.
"It's a power similar to equivalent exchange: revealing my ability or advantageous information to an enemy grants me power in return."
...
[Ah...]
Azak began to shudder as he stared blankly at Abel's mana, which continued to surge upward without end.
The release of power was so overwhelming that Azak's madness momentarily cleared under his survival instinct.
How could a human possess such power?
Was it really possible for the sky to tremble from nothing more than releasing mana?
...
"Consider it an honor."
Even when I received power after telling Mist about this Restriction, I had never told her all my abilities.
I had only given her hollow information, like an empty shell with all the important substance neatly removed.
I had talked about my ability while fighting the bastards, but I had not revealed [Restriction].
I did not use Restriction in my fight with Charon, either.
During the train attack... Who was it again? Anyway, when I fought the person who used a possession technique, I only used [Smoke Manipulation].
In other words.
"You're the first person to receive a strike from my true full power."
You had excellent regenerative abilities, almost enough to be called immortal.
"That's fortunate."
Shall I kill you about a hundred times?
Saying that, I showed off the only technique I had ever named, one I had used in the past.
A technique modeled after the largest gas giant I knew.
A technique that spread smoke compressed to its limit in an instant, creating a gigantic star.
[Jupiter]
---!!!