Chapter 90
What a shame. It really is a shame.
Thinking that, I toyed with a black-pearl-like smoke orb in my hand as I watched Sailor before me.
"..."
He was wary of the smoke orb in my hand, refusing to enter the close combat they had wanted so badly.
How did he know? I thought the smoke was flawless.
Should I call it instinct—or a survival instinct?
Anyone could have predicted that my enemies would aim for close combat, even a child.
It was a conclusion I had half led them toward, and since they had watched my fight with Azak, they would naturally assume I specialized in close combat and fight accordingly.
I had been meaning to try out a new technique created with the mana control I had improved through training with Velias.
"Are you not coming?"
"..."
"Come on, look. This is your chance to fight the close-quarters battle you want so badly, isn't it?"
I spread both arms wide, deliberately exposing an opening.
A thin layer of smoke defended my vital points, while another smoke barrier constantly protected my entire body. But the sword in Sailor's hands could probably cut through it.
His intentions were obvious.
Sailor probably knew what I was aiming for, too.
"Phew..."
Seeing me like that, Sailor caught his breath and slowly began approaching me.
"Oh? I was disappointed when you chose to retreat, but now you're approaching me instead of running away?"
"..."
"You know very well what I want. It's the close combat you wanted so badly."
Click.
"So it's not even worth answering..."
He did nothing but readjust his grip on his sword in response to my words, and I realized one thing.
As long as one was human, possessing a survival instinct was only natural.
Sailor's decision to retreat after seeing the black smoke orb just now was proof of what I was saying.
But to suppress that survival instinct and walk so casually into a place anyone would consider a trap?
'Bait.'
Sailor was bait. Somehow, his fight with me was probably being sent far away to... [Lainas], was it?
He must be able to relay it to that organization.
If so...
'Seal the Restriction for now.'
I would use it if things truly became dangerous, but for now, I sealed it away.
The ability called [Restriction] was more effective when the opponent had no information about my abilities.
Then all I had to use was my basic mana manipulation and my ability to control smoke.
"Then shall we start with something simple?"
Vmmm.
As soon as I spoke, smoke clones began to appear from the thick smoke covering my surroundings, while countless smoke orbs started floating through the air.
Seeing that, Sailor did not stop his slow advance. He clenched his sword tightly, gritted his teeth, and continued forward.
Smoke clones.
A technique that molded the shape of a human around a core of smoke.
Each smoke clone possessed strength comparable to that of a knight.
But...
Slash!
Dozens of smoke clones with the strength of knights...
Slash.
...were crumbling one after another beneath the sword of a single Sailor.
The smoke clones attacked from every direction.
The only reason they took human form was because that made them easier for me to control.
There was another reason, too: to imprint the shape of a human being itself onto the opponent's eyes.
Continuously and repeatedly, I imprinted the smoke clones' forms and attacks upon my enemy.
If he was a knight, it was only natural for him to instinctively gauge the range of a smoke clone's attacks.
But what if I could freely extend that range?
"Ghk?!"
Boom!
Then even the most powerful knight could be made to take a hit.
As if to prove my thoughts correct, Sailor was struck by the attack of a newly transformed clone and sent flying into the distance, where he crashed into a wall.
"Guhk!"
Spitting blood, Sailor stared at the three-headed, six-armed monster of smoke standing guard beside Abel.
Yes. Something was strange. I had become too trapped in my preconceptions.
I should have thought about Abel's ability once more.
The ability to freely manipulate smoke.
Its range, destructive power, expandability, and scope for application—all of it had absurdly high potential.
"Yes. So its essence is smoke, is that it...?"
Like a fool, he had focused only on the form visible to his eyes.
Watching Sailor, Abel smiled lightly and nodded in affirmation.
"Correct."
The essence of the smoke clones was smoke, plain and simple.
Was smoke, as a substance, something that possessed a fixed form?
They only had a humanoid shape because I had created the technique through my own thoughts.
[Grrrr]
A monster with three faces and six arms.
The enormous clone carried countless weapons in its hands, weapons that looked like swords, spears, or perhaps arrows.
A new form for the smoke clone, created by projecting the memories of my previous life.
Asura.
***
"Phew..."
Get a hold of yourself.
Maybe because I had vomited blood once, but the mind that had been excited by [Vital Flame] until now felt calmer.
Ptui.
After spitting out the blood pooled in his mouth, Sailor stared at the three-headed, six-armed monster watching him from beside Abel, who was now quite far away.
'My role is bait.'
More specifically, he was a meat shield meant to draw out all of Abel's power and gather information.
He had given up his life a long time ago.
He had to kill the survival instinct that had made him flee from the black smoke orb earlier.
"Pheeeeeew."
He exhaled the air from his lungs, consciously shifting every part of his body into a state of combat.
His thoughts, his way of thinking, the movement of his muscles—he focused all of it on this battle.
Kill his instincts.
Kill the instinct that wanted to live.
Concentrate.
My essence is nothing but a sword.
Though he had temporarily gained powerful strength through the drug, his essence had not changed.
"..."
With that thought, the lower dantian that had been raging violently settled down as if by magic.
As though his thoughts themselves were proof that he was right.
Bang!
Sailor immediately kicked off the ground and charged at the three-headed, six-armed monster.
It was a highly rational judgment: if that thing was protecting Abel, he could never force his way into close quarters.
Slash.
He cut down the smoke clone's attack.
Bang!
He countered Abel's attacks raining down from every direction.
Crunch!
My body is nothing more than an accessory.
Advance. Advance. Advance. Advance only. Move forward and dismantle the enemy's techniques.
Thud.
A little farther.
Thud!
A little farther.
But...
'Not enough.'
Not enough what?
Strength. The power to stand against that Abel.
The boost from [Vital Flame] was not enough.
The three-headed, six-armed monster's body was hard, but because its essence was smoke, it would not stay cut no matter how he slashed it. Instead, it freely lengthened and shortened its arms and legs to attack him.
From the hundreds of small, orb-shaped smoke clusters on the ceiling, hundreds of spikes shot down, resembling a torrential rain of swords.
It was not enough. He was not strong enough to withstand all of this and fight Abel.
Even with the strength gained by burning his life through [Vital Flame], he lacked the power to resist all of this and engage Abel in a decisive battle.
Then think.
Think of a way to break through this situation.
'Ah, right.'
Time seemed to slow to an extreme.
'There was that option, wasn't there?'
That was the conclusion he had barely reached within his slowed perception of time.
Sailor began pouring the mana enhanced by [Vital Flame] into every meridian throughout his body.
Overload.
A forbidden technique that poured more mana into the meridians than they could withstand, allowing the user to wield temporarily and absurdly powerful strength.
A kind of suicide technique said to be usable by only some traditional knights.
Rumble!
Even an ordinary traditional knight was said to be able to temporarily approach the level of a Master by using Overload.
Then consider Sailor's realm, already one step away from becoming a Master.
Moreover, his mana had been strengthened by [Vital Flame].
When those two factors combined, the resulting increase in power was beyond imagination.
Sword Master.
The realm every knight naturally aspired to, called the endpoint of one's life.
Sailor seized power that temporarily surpassed the Sword Master realm by exactly one step.
He had given everything—his potential, his strength, even his life.
Only after using the doping technique called [Vital Flame], which used the user's life as fuel to grant greater strength, had he reached that realm.
Slash!
Thump.
He began to feel his heart pounding violently with startling clarity.
He could feel the movement of his muscles, the amount of mana consumed as they moved, and even the mana spread through the air.
Moreover...
'What is this?'
He could feel it.
He could faintly sense the essence of things.
An expansion of the senses.
Just one step.
He had only slightly stepped beyond the Sword Master realm, but reaching it had granted him eyes capable of cutting into the essence of things.
Slash.
That was why he could cut it.
The essence of that three-headed, six-armed monster.
Struck by Sailor's sword, Asura could no longer regenerate and simply vanished.
But Sailor's attack did not stop.
Crunch!
He canceled out the countless smoke spikes pouring down from behind him with a single sword stroke and charged straight at Abel, who was merely watching him.
"Good grief."
Watching Sailor, Abel tossed the black smoke orb above his palm and released the smoke he had woven together as tightly as possible within it.
Of course, at the same time, he did not forget to pay even closer attention to his own defenses.
This technique was extremely dangerous even for Abel, after all.
"..."
Within his slowed perception of time, so slow that he could have counted even the number of falling petals, Sailor clearly took in every stage of the black orb's transformation.
Look.
He had to see with his own eyes exactly what technique Abel had created to oppose them.
Even if it cost him his life.
Crack.
The smoke orb began to crack little by little.
Vmmm!
Eventually, the smoke orb that had begun to break apart started sucking in all the air around it.
Then...
Crunch!
As an absurd volume of air began concentrating in one place in an instant, its shape collapsed. The compressed air then began to burst, releasing a tremendous shock wave in every direction.
It was a technique that packed smoke so densely that no material could pass through, creating a sort of makeshift vacuum sphere and detonating it.
Vacuum Explosion. In other words, a thermobaric bomb.
[Air Buster]
----!!!!!!
With a deafening roar that shook heaven and earth, Sailor's consciousness was cut off then and there.
.
.
.
[Confidential Report Regarding the Marita Museum Explosion]
[Incident Overview]
Taking advantage of a protest in the city of Marita in the middle of the night, an unidentified large-scale explosion occurred.
The time of occurrence is estimated to have been around midnight.
A tremendous explosion tore through the museum, and an inspection of the site confirmed that the original manuscript of a masterpiece by the great author Cristo, which had been displayed in the center of the Marita Museum, was so severely damaged that its form could no longer be recognized.
[Extent of Damage and Anomalies]
The physical damage from the explosion was concentrated, in a manner almost unnaturally precise, only in the central area of the museum.
However, after checking the density of the residual mana remaining inside the museum, the mages and magitech investigators who examined the site submitted the assessment that the blast should not have been limited to this degree of destructive power.
[Post-Incident Procedures]
Emergency commissions are immediately being arranged with first-rate restorers to prevent the loss of Cristo's first edition.
Due to the risk of additional terrorist attacks and collapse, the museum has been closed indefinitely.
All artworks inside have been ordered transferred to the Marita Central Vault for temporary storage until restoration is complete.
[Notable Details and Pursuit of Those Behind It]
At the same time, Sarah Bellentis, the marquee actress of the [Ashen Troupe], has gone missing. A search of her home revealed signs of a violent struggle, and the circumstances indicate a planned intrusion that took advantage of the confusion surrounding the protests.
As the timing of the museum explosion and Sarah Bellentis's assault coincide with chilling precision, the homeland intelligence bureau currently believes there is a very high probability that both incidents were carried out by the same criminal group.
[Conclusion]
The Marita Museum half-destroyed, Cristo's first edition damaged, and a key figure of the [Ashen Troupe] attacked.
To identify and track down the suspects in this incident that shook the heart of the city, an official request for investigative assistance has currently been submitted to the intelligence agencies of other nations.