Chapter 75
A fairly plain black sedan slowly passed through the mansion's main gate and entered the Nebula Duchy's estate.
"..."
"..."
As though welcoming the car, every servant, knight, and member of [White Shadow] in the estate bowed their heads and paid their respects to the person seated in the sedan.
When they finally arrived at the mansion's entrance, one servant carefully opened the rear door.
Fwoosh.
The distinctive scent of a cigar soon wafted out.
"Good grief..."
Abel emerged from the opened rear door and gave a hollow laugh as he looked at the people of the Nebula Duchy, who filled the entire path from the mansion's entrance to the main gate.
I told them not to make a big production out of it and to keep things simple, but they never listen.
Thinking that, Abel spread his smoke and amplified his voice.
[I avenged Richard's blood.]
[So rise.]
No sooner had Abel finished speaking than everyone who had been bowing their heads raised them in unison.
Seeing them all move identically without anyone shouting an order or even saying anything, Abel gave another hollow laugh, draped the black suit jacket he had continued wearing in memory of Richard over his shoulders, and spoke.
[I'm back.]
[Welcome back, Lord Abel.]
When those words ended, the doors of the Nebula Duchy's mansion slowly began to open.
"Good work, Lord Abel."
"Well, I'm back. Ah, and..."
Abel rummaged through his coat pocket for a moment, then handed Mist a smoke orb.
"This is..."
"The bastard who killed Richard."
"..."
"Actually, at first I really intended to kill him."
Abel had genuinely intended to kill Azak on the spot.
He had been unable to spare any thought for trivial matters like extracting information from the man who had killed his subordinate.
"But after killing him about a hundred times, his head started working, you know?"
For reference, those hundred deaths were all instances of crushing him or killing him while moving, using [Jupiter].
Abel had counted them himself from the moment he first killed Azak, so there was no chance of confusion.
"So I took him with me."
I mean Azak.
The [Jupiter] Abel had detonated inside his body.
The fragments of Azak scattered in every direction by that [Jupiter] had been separately enclosed in smoke and sealed into the shape of orbs.
"Then this is..."
"Yes. That criminal—ah, apparently his name is Azak. Anyway, they're fragments of that Azak."
As he spoke, Abel took four more smoke orbs from his pocket and showed them to Mist.
"His regenerative power was incredible, so if we release the seal, he'll probably regenerate immediately."
"...Understood. Then I'll prepare people skilled in interrogation."
"Wow, as expected of you, Mist. You really understand me."
As he handed over the smoke orbs, Abel loosened the tie around his neck, smiled languidly, and spoke as though he had just remembered something.
"Oh, and I said his regenerative ability was remarkable, but he seemed almost immortal. However, that immortality... I think it has a condition."
"..."
"You know why I told you this, right?"
"Yes."
Immortality. And Abel's statement that even immortality had a condition.
"I'll make sure to convey it to the interrogators."
It meant that they could torture him with an intensity greater than that used on ordinary people, while still keeping it reasonable.
"Right. Good work."
***
A space filled with nothing but silence.
In that space, where countless people had gathered, a video was being broadcast.
[-----!!!]
The video showed the battle between Abel and Azak.
Azak was strong.
He was powerful enough to qualify as an executive of the organization.
Naturally, from the perspective of the organization assisting Azak, he was also someone who had to be treated as quite important.
And yet Abel had toyed with that powerful man as though he were a plaything.
"Convergence and expansion?"
One of the organization's members muttered cautiously as he watched the video in silence.
Convergence and expansion.
Anyone who manipulated mana had tried using those concepts at least once.
They were easy to imagine, and it was easy to construct an image from them, so even beginners awakening their mana...
Anyone awakened on the magic side had handled those concepts.
But.
No technique resembling a planet like the one Abel was using in the video had ever appeared before.
"How on earth...?"
Even if someone suddenly told people to imagine a hot flame appearing in their hand and to imagine it feeling genuinely hot, it was only natural that they would be unable to do it.
But Abel had imagined such a simple concept and used it as his ultimate technique.
That was possible?
Just how great was his control over mana, and how skilled was he at manifesting techniques?
"..."
"..."
Without answering the member's muttering, everyone gathered there began focusing solely on everything in the video being broadcast before their eyes.
Although it was a battle between ability users whom they hated, analyzing an enemy's power was an extremely important task.
Thus, the battle between Abel and Azak moved toward its climax.
The battle finally came to an end when a massive, planet-like sphere of smoke exploded inside Azak's body.
When it appeared that the battle was over, a huge man sitting in the most honored seat among those gathered slowly opened his mouth.
"Is Azak dead?"
"No."
At the man's words, one of the organization's members began replaying the video.
The video showed Abel collecting the scattered fragments of Azak's body in smoke.
"Tsk... He's thorough."
And since he took Azak with him, he'll learn more about us. This is going to be troublesome.
The man muttered that and let out an irritated sigh.
Although it was called a video, there was no sound, and the distance limited the information they could obtain.
That was why they had wanted to recover Azak and learn about Abel's true abilities, but now that was impossible...
"Hmm..."
In the end, to deal with Abel, they would have to watch the video and devise countermeasures.
Avoiding hostility toward Abel?
That had never been an option in the first place.
The boss had not given the organization he created a name and simply called it [Organization], but countless interests were intertwined behind it.
Naturally. Even members of the same species could split apart over differing ideologies; that was what it meant to be an intelligent life-form.
Countless organizations had formed under their own thoughts and ideologies.
Those organizations went around calling themselves by names that proclaimed their respective beliefs.
And among them was an organization composed solely of people who hated ability users.
[Lainas]
An ancient word meaning purity.
Ability users were mutations of this world.
Thus, [Lainas] was an organization gathered under the belief that pure people like them had to kill those ability users.
From their perspective, ability users were beings whose very existence touched the dimensional defense barrier—in other words, beings whose existence itself was a sin.
That was why the people gathered there did not lose their will to fight in the face of Abel's overwhelming strength. Instead, they put their heads together and began discussing the matter.
They were discussing how they could kill that man called Abel.
"Long-range won't work."
"Right. Judging by the video, his power seems best suited to mid-to-long-range combat."
"Especially that expanding smoke. There seems to be a reason he didn't use that technique near himself. Perhaps it has a side effect, such as ensnaring him as well."
"Then close range..."
Murmur. Murmur.
The surroundings grew noisy.
As he watched the members of the organization with a pleased smile, the boss of [Lainas] closed his eyes and slowly thought about Abel.
The way Abel had thoroughly defended his surroundings in the video.
The numerous attack techniques made from various kinds of smoke.
After thinking quietly about Abel, the boss opened his eyes and slowly opened his mouth to share his thoughts.
"Good."
[...]
"First, let's refrain from attacking Abel right now."
Swish.
Just as every member of [Lainas] was about to protest at the boss's bombshell, the man raised his hand as though he already knew everything and began laying out his thoughts.
"First of all, Abel isn't [Organization]'s top priority right now."
Yes. It was lamentable, but that was the truth.
After all, they were the only ones who blindly hated ability users.
"[Crocus Academy]."
That was [Organization]'s highest-priority target at present.
[Organization] was preparing to break through the barrier created by the holy sword Solaris, so it was holding back for the moment, but orders had already been issued to prepare to attack the academy at any time.
"We intend to follow those orders for now."
This was not a matter of loyalty or anything of the sort.
In the first place, the boss of [Organization] himself did not desire the loyalty of the subordinate organizations.
All he wanted was to start a world war that would restore the broken cycle to its original state.
From his perspective, the loyalty of the subordinate organizations was optional.
Of course, the subordinate organizations had different tendencies, so some would be loyal and others would not.
"We will follow orders and receive support, while making killing Abel our top priority instead of [Crocus Academy]."
The deadline is...
"Until we obtain the ability-jamming device invented by the magitech organization."
And.
"We will face Abel in close combat."
Judging by the video, Abel appeared to have a strong tendency to avoid close combat.
Then they would have to dig into that weakness.
"And you, Sailer, will be the vanguard."
One of the organization's members had been listening quietly in a corner.
Sailer, who had tasted humiliation at Abel's hands during the train attack, slowly opened his mouth with eyes burning with a desire for revenge.
"Understood."
"Fan those flames of vengeance. Until they burn even you to ash."
"...Yes."
At Sailer's firm answer, the boss of [Lainas] smiled with satisfaction and slowly opened his mouth.
"Sailer, that blade filled with your vengeance probably won't reach Abel."
That was the truth.
No matter how much they forced the battle into close range, Abel would certainly bring out his final resort.
Then why was he saying this?
"You're bait."
"..."
"You know that, don't you?"
"Yes."
"If you wish, I can face Abel first."
No. In fact, this might be the better move.
If they obtained information about Abel, the chances of discovering a way to defeat him would increase.
"No."
But Sailer flatly refused the boss's offer.
"I will go."
Even if his life was to be used as bait, he did not care.
If it meant he could land a single blow on Abel, the man who had insulted him and mocked their beliefs, he could throw this life away at any time.
"My life was thrown away long ago, when an ability user murdered my wife and children."
Therefore.
"I will offer my life."
"Yes..."
I see.
With the boss's calm declaration, chants from [Lainas] began erupting from every direction.
[Death to the ability users.]