Volume 6
Chapter 27
The blood that gushed from Ken's kneeling form spread out like a red carpet at his feet.
"Hk!"
"Ah,
ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
As someone let out a
whimper, Ken's screams struck Nozomu's ears. Nozomu grimaced in pain at the
sight, which was hard to look at.
It was a wound that
was clearly critical at a single glance. Ken's right arm was hanging on by what
seemed to be a single layer of skin. He was desperately pressing on the wound,
but blood was spurting rhythmically from the severed surface.
Then, the military
police, led by Barozza, moved to apprehend Ken, who was still kneeling and
hunched over.
Two of them pinned Ken
down to prevent him from resisting, securing both his arms. Afterward, they
tightly bound the wound, along with the nearly severed right arm, to stop the
bleeding.
"Ah, ah. M-My
arm..."
Ken continued to groan
as he was held down on the ground. Nozomu silently watched his former best
friend being restrained.
At that moment, Jihad,
clad in silver armor, appeared, pushing his way through the surrounding
military police. Behind him were Inda, Shina, and the others.
Whether they were
contacted by a messenger or moved after hearing Camilla's communication, it
seemed Jihad and his group had also managed to identify the crime scene.
Jihad, who had walked
in with a somewhat relieved expression, perhaps having already heard that the
culprit had been captured, put on a stern face when he saw Ken bleeding and
being held down.
"You've captured
him..."
Jihad silently
approached Nozomu and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Ah..."
As if finally noticing
Jihad and the others, Nozomu turned around.
His mouth was set in a
hard line, and his eyes were filled with sorrow. Jihad could clearly see how he
was desperately trying to suppress the swirling emotions within him.
It couldn't be helped.
No matter how much he had been set up, Nozomu was not so vile as to feel
nothing after injuring a man who was once his best friend.
But after
acknowledging Jihad and the others, Nozomu's eyes immediately returned to the
crouching Ken. He bit his lip but did not look away.
It was as if he were
engraving into himself, "This is my choice."
"Good work. And
I'm sorry for leaving everything to you."
"No..."
Perhaps understanding
Nozomu's inner turmoil, Jihad didn't say much. Instead, he put more strength
into the hand on Nozomu's shoulder, as if to support him for the trouble he had
caused.
Jihad gave a
comforting nod as he offered words of praise, then walked over to Ken. As if on
cue, Irisdina and Shina rushed over to Nozomu.
"Nozomu, are you
okay?"
"Let me see your
wounds, I'll treat them."
Nozomu let Irisdina
and the others do as they pleased and received treatment. When he glanced to
the side, he saw Somia standing beside Irisdina.
"Nozomu-san...
are you okay?"
"Ah, yeah. I'm
okay. I'm fine."
Despite having been in
danger herself, Somia's eyes were filled only with concern for Nozomu.
Nozomu spoke to
reassure Somia, but he couldn't manage a proper smile with his strained face.
His appearance was
very similar to the time when a berserk Nozomu had almost hurt his friends.
The image of Nozomu,
frightened after realizing he had almost killed his friends while being
deceived by Tiamat's illusions. That scene flashed through Irisdina's mind, and
she gently reached out to the cheek of Nozomu, who kept repeating that he was
fine.
"Nozomu..."
Irisdina called
Nozomu's name reassuringly.
Shina, perhaps also
noticing Nozomu's state, slowly intertwined her fingers with his.
"Are you
okay...?"
The faces of Irisdina
and Shina, looking at him with concern, filled Nozomu's vision.
Behind Irisdina and
the others, Mars and the rest could be seen. They were holding back from
speaking out of consideration for the girls, but their eyes uniformly showed
concern for Nozomu.
The warmth of their
hands spread through him. The heat spreading from where they touched slowly
eased the tension from Nozomu's stiff face.
Yeah, I'm okay
now.
As if to say that,
Nozomu nodded and slowly turned his gaze towards Lisa. The tragic feeling from
before was no longer in his eyes.
She was staring
blankly at Ken, who was being held down by the military police and looking up
at the sky with a vacant expression.
"Lisa..."
"!"
Lisa, pale and
bloodless, jolted her shoulders.
A clear look of fear
could be seen in the depths of her trembling eyes.
All the anger and
hatred she had directed at Nozomu until now had changed its target and was now
deeply gouging her own heart.
"Ah, uh..."
Lisa backed away as if
to escape from the approaching Nozomu. But her legs, stiff as boards, only
managed to take one step back before they refused to move any further.
With every slow step Nozomu
took, Lisa's heart pounded violently, thump, thump! and a pain as if the depths
of her chest were being churned ran through her.
As if to endure the
pain, Lisa tightly clutched her own chest with both hands.
Lisa's body was
extremely tense. Her breathing grew ragged, her shoulders stiffened, and her
vision blurred as if a sandstorm were swirling before her.
Her stiff body
trembled, and it looked as if she would collapse to the ground at any moment.
And finally, Nozomu
stood before her.
"Lisa..."
"..."
The inescapable
reality and truth. Faced with it, all Lisa could do was look down.
Nozomu's low voice
struck Lisa's ears. His words were somewhat weak, yet they lingered clearly in
her ears.
Anticipating the word
"traitor" that would be directed at her next, Lisa bit her lip.
Facing the
continuously downcast Lisa, Nozomu slowly opened his mouth.
Lisa couldn't say
anything. She was the foolish one, she was the one who had kept betraying
Nozomu. Therefore, all she could do was endure. That was the only thing she was
allowed to do.
Thinking so, she
closed her eyes tightly and braced herself for the insults from Nozomu that
were sure to come.
"I..."
Nozomu opened his
mouth again. But at that moment, a strange sensation ran through his entire
body.
"...What is
this?"
A tingling sensation,
as if a candle were being held to his back. When Nozomu turned around, what he
saw was the young military police officer he had been talking to just a moment
ago.
"Jibin...san?"
In Nozomu's line of
sight, Barozza, who had noticed Jibin, was saying something to him.
"That's...!"
Shina, who was behind
Nozomu, widened her eyes in surprise.
Among those present,
she, who possessed an extremely high sensitivity to spirits, had keenly sensed
her friends suddenly falling into a state of confusion as if in a panic.
The unforgettable
image of an enemy came to mind. A life force that wrapped itself in a
sludge-like, jet-black skin and was capable of transformations far beyond that
of a normal demonic beast.
"Everyone, be careful!
That's...!"
Before Shina could
finish her words, Jibin charged towards the pinned-down Ken.
***
While being held down
by the military police, Ken was gazing at Nozomu and the others in the distance
with eyes as if looking at something far away.
"Lisa..."
"Be quiet!"
The voices of the
military police shouting in his ear didn't reach him at all. He didn't feel the
pain in his arm now either. Even if he tried to reach out, Ken, completely
pinned down, couldn't even move a single arm.
"Lisa, Lisa..."
Only the voice calling
for her continued to leak from Ken's mouth, devoid of any inflection.
Watching Ken's state
from a distance, Barozza let out a deep sigh as if he couldn't stand it.
"It's pitiful, to
be sure, but unfortunately, we can't let him do as he pleases any longer. He's
going to a cell..."
Barozza frowned at the
sight of Ken, who was just repeating the name of the woman he sought like a
doll.
There was nothing
pleasant about incidents like this. All one ever saw was the darkness lurking
within people and its tragic results. But it was a job someone had to do.
First aid for the arm
cut by Nozomu was complete. The wound on his chest was not that deep. Of
course, with his arm cut this deeply, even if it were miraculously reattached,
there would likely be some lasting effects.
Next was to take him
to headquarters for interrogation. His punishment would be decided by the
higher-ups.
"Come on, get
up!"
After finishing tying
up the completely dejected Ken's arms, the military police officer pulled on
his arm to make the suspect stand.
At that moment, from
behind Barozza, who was watching from a distance, the sound of footsteps,
clack, clack, could be heard.
When he turned his
head to look behind him, he saw a shadow approaching from the end of the
street.
A young man clad in
the same armor as a military police officer. His face was hidden as he looked
down, but the figure was that of a junior officer Barozza knew well.
"Jibin, you're
late. Thanks for the report."
"..."
Jibin walked towards Barozza.
Leaving Ken to the
other officers, Barozza approached to praise him for going to report to the
investigation headquarters, but he tilted his head at him, who remained looking
down.
"Hey, are you
okay? Don't tell me you're tired out from running all the way to
headquarters?"
Barozza said a
slightly joking line, but he frowned at Jibin, who showed no signs of answering
at all.
In the meantime, Jibin
approached to within a few steps of Barozza and, without a word, passed by his
side.
At that moment, the
nape of Jibin's neck, peeking through the gap in his armor, looked to Barozza
as if it had been drained of blood.
"Hey, are you
really okay?!"
A bad feeling was
rapidly swelling within Barozza.
A premonition he
couldn't put into words. A feeling like cold air crawling up his spine made Barozza
hurriedly grab Jibin's shoulder.
"..."
"Jibin...?"
But Jibin didn't even
look at him. He just continued to walk, as if shaking off Barozza's hand.
Ahead of him was Ken,
who had been made to stand by the military police and was facing Jihad.
"We will now
escort you to the investigation headquarters. You will tell us everything there
about your ability, 'Water Mirror's Heart Mask,' and everything you have done
using it. During that time, all your rights at the academy will be frozen. You
will be detained until the facts of the matter are determined and your
punishment is decided."
"Lisa,
Lisa..."
Ken showed no sign of
responding to Jihad's call, and just continued to murmur her name like a broken
clock.
The mad light from
before was gone from his eyes, which were now filled only with resignation and
exhaustion.
"...Take him
away."
"Yes, sir!...
Hmm? Jibin, what's wrong?"
The military police
officer restraining Ken noticed Jibin approaching.
"You
are...!"
The moment the turned
Jihad recognized Jibin approaching with his head down, his stern features were
dyed with astonishment.
Jibin, who had been
looking down, raised his face, and his eyes snapped wide open. His pupils were
dyed an eerie, dark color.
At the same time, an
unusual aura of death spread through the area.
"Everyone, be
careful! That's...!"
Shina, who had
accurately seen through Jibin's abnormality, raised her voice, but faster than
the military police could ready themselves, Jibin leaped at the officers
restraining Ken.
"Wha!?"
"Gagyaaaaaa!"
A scream that didn't
sound human came from his mouth. The military police holding Ken had both their
arms occupied, and since they were securing a person, they couldn't move
properly.
But a shadow cut in
between them. It was Jihad, clad in full-body mithril armor.
Jihad leaped in front
of the lunging Jibin and swung his log-like arm.
"Hmph!"
"Gagyaauh!"
Jihad's fist sunk deep
into him, sending his body flying.
Jibin fell, tumbling
over. But even as he was slammed to the ground, he kicked off the ground with
all four limbs while crouching and leaped at Jihad with beast-like agility.
Faced with the crazed
Jibin approaching him, Jihad reached for the "Jaw-Breaker" on his
back.
Jibin's corpse-like,
pale face. The experience of the old veteran was sounding alarms as loud as a
bell.
Following his
instincts, Jihad unhesitatingly swung the massive sword he had drawn in a
diagonal slash.
The blow, which could kill
even a giant, struck Jibin's body without missing.
A super-heavy weapon
completely unsuitable for close combat. The skill that had mastered its
handling made it possible.
A single slash swung
at an impossible speed. The blow that accurately struck Jibin's body bisected
him from the shoulder, and at the same time, with a thunderous BOOM!, fragments
of the shattered stone floor flew up.
It was clearly a fatal
blow. But Jibin's upper body, which had been sent flying into the air with the
rubble, suddenly jumped as if it had bounced in mid-air.
"What!?"
Jibin, who had jumped
over the head of the surprised Jihad, then leaped onto the military police who
were holding Ken and tore them away with incredible strength.
"Uwaaah!"
"Gyaah!"
The military police
were blown away like dust in the wind. Such power from a being that had lost
its lower half and had only one arm. It was clearly not something a human could
do.
In front of the
military police, who were stunned by the continuous unbelievable sights, Jibin
pushed the captured Ken to the ground with all his might.
"Wh-What!"
"Gagigigigi..."
Jibin, now on top of
him, pressed down on Ken's neck with his remaining left arm. Ken struggled, not
understanding what was happening, but Jibin's arm on his neck didn't budge an
inch.
"Let go! Let go!!
Gugah!"
As Ken tried to resist
further, Jibin's fingers tightened on his throat, and Ken's eyes widened from
the suffocating feeling that was accompanied by intense pain.
The next moment, Ken's
eyes witnessed an unbelievable sight.
With a splash!, blood
spurted from Jibin's chest, and it appeared.
A blind snake covered
in blackish scales. Its appearance was reminiscent of a deep-sea creature.
It emanated an aura of
calamity from its small body, as if to spread death to all, and from the scales
covering its body, countless eyes as red as blood opened.
And the countless eyes
looked down at Ken, who was pinned beneath. Those eyes were like a carnivore
before a long-awaited dinner.
"Hk!
Ahhhhhhh!"
The snake's eyes
narrowed into a grin. As if sensing the intent shining in the depths of those
eyes, Ken let out a strangled scream.
"Wh-What is that
thing!!"
"I-I don't know,
but it looks seriously bad!"
"Tch! So it was
still alive! Everyone, stop it no matter what!"
Mars and the others,
who had heard the stories but had never seen Abyss Grief directly, let out
voices of confusion.
Jihad, faced with the
survival of Abyss Grief, was spurred on by the sense of crisis welling up in
his chest and charged with his greatsword raised. The surrounding military
police also charged a beat later, but before their blades could reach, Abyss
Grief had sunk its jaw into Ken's chest.
"Gk!
Gyaaaaaaaaaah!"
A scream like tearing
cloth echoed.
A scream that made you
want to cover your ears. But the blind snake, as if enjoying even that,
burrowed into Ken's body with a crunching sound.
At the same time,
black vein-like things began to spread from the spot where Abyss Grief had
burrowed.
Ken's body convulsed
as if it were pulsing, thump, thump. Whatever was happening, it was easy to
imagine that if it was left alone any longer, it would be irreversible.
"Tch! Forgive
me!"
Perhaps judging that
there was not a moment to lose, Jihad swung down his Jaw-Breaker to slay Abyss
Grief along with Ken.
A blow that held no
mercy. The blade of the greatsword was covered in dense ki, and a direct hit
would reduce everything to ashes.
But before Jihad's
blow could reach Abyss Grief, Jibin's upper body moved.
"Gagyaauuuu!"
Dropping blood and
guts onto the ground, he grabbed Ken by the collar and threw him with his
extraordinary strength.
Ken's body flew in an
arc, passing over the military police's encirclement and falling to the ground.
It was, by a strange twist of fate, right near Nozomu and Lisa.
"Kuh!"
Jihad's Jaw-Breaker
missed Ken's body and instead shattered Jibin's upper body to pieces.
Meanwhile, Ken's body,
which had fallen to the ground, convulsed for a few seconds before finally
stopping completely.
"...K-Ken?"
As if responding to
Lisa's questioning voice, Ken shot up.
But his expression was
hidden by his bangs. However, an indescribable sense of impatience and urgency
enveloped the area.
Spurred on by that
urgency, his comrades reached for their respective weapons. Nozomu also found
himself gripping the hilt of his sheathed katana.
As if shot, Ken raised
his face. His eyes, dyed a dark color, pierced Nozomu and the others.
The next moment,
Irisdina and the others moved.
A jet-black magic
bullet formed in an instant, an arrow tinged with a faint light, and a bursting
blue lightning bolt rushed towards Ken. It was Irisdina's instant deployment, Feo's
talisman-based attack magic, and an arrow shot by Shina.
But at that moment,
with a roar, cracks ran through the stone floor, and Ken disappeared from the
spot.
What jumped into
Nozomu and the others' eyes was Ken's figure, flying through the air. The skin
peeking from under his clothes, which had been torn by the rushing magic bullets
and arrows, was split in various places, and from the wounds, countless crimson
eyes appeared as if blood were gushing out.
"Damn it! What
the hell are you!"
Along with the roar,
an explosive BOOM! echoed, and Mars leaped at the airborne Ken. A jump
utilizing body strengthening with ki and the recoil of his ki technique, "Rending
Dust Hammer."
Mars swung his
greatsword in a sweep as he charged straight at Ken, and his opponent raised
his left arm.
Normally, there would
be no way to block a blow from a greatsword with momentum with a frail human
arm. A slash enhanced by ki techniques could easily bisect the torso along with
the arm.
But the sensation that
returned to Mars's hand was not the satisfying one of splitting firewood, but
rather the feeling of driving a rusty axe into the ground.
"Wha!?"
Mars let out a cry of
astonishment at the resistance returning to his arm.
The blade, swung with
great force, had dug into Ken's arm but had not managed to cut it, completely
stopping its movement.
Moreover, from the
wound where the greatsword had dug in, a blackish, blood-like liquid was
leaking out and had solidified like tree sap. In this state, it was impossible
to move properly in the air where he couldn't brace his feet.
In that opening, Ken
pulled himself close to Mars and used his body as a springboard to jump again.
Ahead of him was Lisa,
standing stunned, unable to keep up with the sudden events happening before
her.
The moment he
confirmed her figure, Ken's contorted face changed into something even more
gruesome.
A strange light
dwelled in the depths of his blacked-out pupils, and the crimson eyes that had
grown all over his body simultaneously fixed on Lisa.
"Hk!"
Whether the expression
on Ken's upturned lips was due to fear or joy was completely unclear. All
Nozomu and the others knew was that something fatally important in him had
completely broken.
"Lisa, get
back!"
"Ah..."
Pushing the frozen
Lisa aside, Nozomu drew his katana. A sharpened blade of ki was already shining
on its edge.
"I won't let
you~"
"Behave
yourself!"
In the midst of this,
the teachers, Anri and Inda, had taken action to obstruct Ken's path.
A whip and chains
shining with light entangled Ken's re-leaping body. It was Anri's ki technique
and Inda's binding magic.
The techniques and
spells of the academy's most skilled individuals had succeeded in pinning Ken's
body in mid-air.
"Gagyaaa!"
What came from Ken's
mouth was, again, of the same quality as that Abyss Grief. A scream that
provoked a level of discomfort, pressure, and fear that was unthinkable for a
creature of this world.
Hearing that scream,
Nozomu grimaced in pain.
But Nozomu swung his
blade without hesitation. The ultra-compressed ki blade, flying at high speed,
hit the torso of the Abyss Grief-turned-Ken without missing its mark and
bisected his body diagonally.
But the next moment, a
blackish, sludge-like liquid erupted from Ken's body.
"Wha!"
The liquid that
erupted like a burst water-filled bag, carrying a miasma that gave off a foul
stench, slipped through Anri's whip and Inda's binding magic and fell at once
towards Nozomu.
It was a sensation as
if the sky were falling.
"Th-This is
bad..."
Even if he tried to
leave the spot, Nozomu, who was wide open after releasing his slash, was now
unable to avoid the spreading sludge.
A jet-black curtain
slowly approached before his eyes. What would happen if he were swallowed by
it? Nozomu couldn't imagine, but his excellent survival instinct was sounding
an alarm like never before.
The chill running down
his spine was enough to freeze him to the bone in an instant. His heart was
beating so hard it felt like it would burst, and he was screaming at all the
muscles in his body, "Move, move!"
But it was too late.
Exposed to a critical situation, he instinctively reached for the invisible
shackles that bound him, the chains of his ability suppression.
"Don't!!"
But faster than he
could break those chains, a desperate scream shot through like a flash of
purple lightning.
Immediately after,
Nozomu felt his arm being pulled with tremendous force.
Next came a feeling of
floating, as if in mid-air, and the sensation of wind on his cheek.
And what jumped into
Nozomu's eyes was the receding black curtain and the figure of a red-haired
girl with her eyes full of tears.
"L-Lisa..."
A silence as if all
sound had disappeared. In it, the gazes of Nozomu and Lisa, who was grabbing
his arm, met.
Contrary to her pale
complexion from mental exhaustion and her thin, weak hands, the magic power
filling her body had easily thrown a person's body away. Out of the path of the
descending black curtain.
Lisa's eyes, staring
at the frozen-in-astonishment Nozomu, were wavering with tears, but her gaze,
unlike before, was looking straight at him.
"I'm
sorr..."
A split second moment.
Her words, about to be spun.
But before Nozomu
could hear her voice to the end, the silence was broken.
Lisa's figure receded
in an instant. As the impact of being slammed to the ground hit Nozomu, the
corrosive liquid that poured down like a landslide swallowed her figure.
The sludge that
swallowed Lisa pulsed once, thump, then swelled into a dome, began to emit a
miasma, and started to shine a dark gray. It was just like a cocoon.
"Lisaaaa!!"
Forcing his creaking
body up, Nozomu, who let out a scream, was about to charge at the jet-black
cocoon without a second thought.
He raised his ki with
the intention of squeezing out every last drop from his entire body and reached
out to tear apart the chains that bound him.
"Hold on a
minute, brat."
But Nozomu's hand,
which had reached for the invisible chains, was interrupted by a voice from
above just as he was about to put strength into it.
Next, a single shadow
landed in front of Nozomu. Nozomu's eyes widened at the person.
"Eh, why is the
old man here..."
"Good grief, this
has turned into quite a troublesome situation..."
A face wrinkled with
age, and pure white hair. And an old man carrying a common-looking staff.
Appearing before
Nozomu with a nonchalance as if he had just "forgotten his house
keys," was Zonne, who was supposed to have been taken away by the military
police.
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