Murder Battle (4)
The terror attack at the small council chamber spread quickly among everyone who had been there.
The most shocking news: Kashan had committed all its core forces.
"Director!"
An attendant from the National Intelligence Agency—skipping formalities—reported to Dante, who was in the middle of briefing.
"Code A near the small council chamber is under attack by Kashan. Allied forces are providing support."
Code A meant Kuan and Shiina; Code B meant Kuan; Code C meant Shiina.
"What?"
Rupist's brow tightened.
"That's way too fast. Wasn't Code C the most likely to move?"
Dante couldn't make sense of it either.
"Why? They shouldn't be able to pull that off," the attendant said.
"The Kashan force attacking Code A consists of 100 Pungjang, plus Kido, Zhong, Yuan, and the captain of the royal guard." The moment those words landed, everyone in the closed room felt as if a hammer had struck their heads.
"They sent everything…?"
Rupist said.
"They chose Code A and decided to shove it down with force. That's why it was so fast."
They feared Kuan that much.
Tess sprang to her feet.
"We don't have time. I'll mobilize troops. We have to move out—!"
"Wait."
Albino raised a hand.
"Hold on. So Kashan committed all its forces. Then what's the Empress's current defensive capability?"
It was near zero.
"Ah."
As everyone realized that, Albino slapped the table and turned his head.
"There's no time!"
The bloodshot urgency in his eyes made that plain.
"Gando—go kill that woman!"
Meanwhile, a chase erupted around Delta headquarters.
"Yahoo! It's a hunt, a hunt!" A thug wearing a chicken-head mask chased Kashan's Empress, hooded, through the streets.
"Kahaha! Got you!"
"Kyaaa!"
When they toppled the target and pulled back the hood, a silver-haired woman was revealed.
"Damn it! Another dud! This kind of thing doesn't pay, does it?"
As a thug raised his blade to behead her, the leader shook his head.
"Don't kill her. There are important people around. It'll be hard to cover up later."
"Haha! Boss heard. Anyway, if Satan or whatever's going to take the blame—"
"Still, that one… huh?" The leader blinked.
"Who was she again?"
He couldn't recall the name Habitz.
Shirone, who had been racing toward the scene, suddenly frowned.
Something had just happened.
Habitz had vanished.
Shirone hated the feeling of his senses being skewed, but he caught the truth.
Vanishing—activated.
The murder game had started again.
Who was the target this time?
Whoever it was, Shirone had only one option.
"Mika."
- Yes.
"How long until Elikia completes?"
Mika's scan transcended space and time and detected the entire populace of the southern continent's tribes.
- Integrated brainwaves detected: 7,030,319. That's 99.8% of the whole. Estimated arrival time: 13 seconds.
Too late.
That was more than enough time to kill someone.
"Huff! Huff!"
Wuorin, who had spread dozens of shadow warriors, kept running alone.
"There! Go get her!"
Forces from multiple nations, tipped off by intelligence, were desperate to take Wuorin's head.
She activated Future Sight.
Not this way.
When the Law shuddered under the time wave led by Paras, a crushing headache hit her.
"Ugh!"
She collapsed as she rounded the corner and heard pursuit along the wall.
"Search! She can't have gotten out yet!"
She scraped the marble floor.
I won't die!
One hand pressed the hood deep over her face; she gritted her teeth and crawled.
Do you think I'm going to die? I'm Wuorin. By any means, even crawling through hell…
Once the headache eased, she ran again.
I will survive! Running down labyrinthine corridors, someone suddenly came up right beside her.
"Your Majesty!"
Wuorin's heart dropped—then she realized it was Gando and let out a breath.
"Lend me an arm. I'm so dizzy."
"You held on well. Leave the rest to me. I'll get you out of Delta."
Mirei said the same.
"All right. Let's go."
There was only one thing Mirei absolutely could not see.
"I've been waiting." Habitz spoke, but in Vanishing none of him could be perceived.
"I can read your heart perfectly."
The first murder was a setup—Wuorin, without Kido, was perfectly exposed to Satan.
"I'll take her."
He slit her throat and absorbed her history search.
Mika reported.
- Integrated brainwaves detected: 7,047,113. Elikia is complete.
Now!
The instant he said it, Shirone froze mid-step and activated Miracle Stream.
Light spurted from his eyes; alarmed by the output, Shirone clenched his teeth.
Krrrgh!
The power of seven million hearts was enough to alter the world's Laws.
Where are you hiding?
It was a force that could outright deny the cruel Law separated from Ultima.
"Habitz!"
Hexa's light formed a dome over Delta headquarters, spanning several kilometers in radius.
And in that instant—
"Die, Wuorin."
Habitz's Vanishing was lifted.
"What?"
At that moment, what Gando and Wuorin saw was a longsword mere paces away.
Why here?
Before Wuorin's thought could finish, Gando shoved her to the side.
In the instant Gando's neck was cut, they locked eyes.
Mother.
He seemed to be smiling, but as his head flew free, certainty dissolved.
Watching the gush of blood, she fell backward onto her butt without meaning to.
"What the—?"
Habitz looked toward the corridor.
"How did you know?"
Reading Shirone's heart at a divine frequency, he turned back to Wuorin.
"You were lucky."
Before they could process the situation, terror seized their brains.
This is Satan.
Even though his coup de grâce had failed, no emotion registered on him.
Hmm.
A fly circled Habitz's left pupil; then a tendril shot out like a proboscis and seized Gando's face, absorbing it.
Watching his face get consumed, Wuorin stifled a desperate moan.
It could have been her.
"That's two."
Habitz flicked blood from the longsword and turned.
"One hour from now."
Those fighting outside Delta were also washed by Shirone's light.
Through quantum transfer, they all felt like parts of a single vast organism.
When the light faded, everything snapped back.
What lingered in their memories was the current condition of Satan that Shirone had shown them.
"Habitz… killed Gando."
That meant any murders that happened in the next hour would be each nation's responsibility.
A ceasefire, then.
As the bloodstorm across the field subsided, Kashan's forces fell into thought.
This is dangerous.
Even if Habitz had withdrawn, Wuorin's defenselessness hadn't changed.
We must protect the Empress.
With Gando dead, the Kashan royal guards felt an almost primal urge to rush forward.
Krrrgh!
Kido—locked in combat with Kuan—felt that pain more than anyone.
Wuorin, do I have to keep going? You almost died.
Yula, leader of the Pungjang, said, "Capture Shiina."
The cold sword ghost had only one remaining duty: obey the Empress's order.
When a hundred Pungjang surged at Armin, Kido had no choice but to leave the fight.
"Tch!"
He spun his spear like a wheel; Kuan matched him with external gravity.
Strong.
As different gravities meshed, directionality in the area became scrambled.
"Armin! Watch out!" Keira shouted.
There might be nothing that could dodge a hundred Pungjang, not even Flicker magic.
Damn!
The instant the blade came—
Stop!
A decisive spell triggered; thirty people caught in the time field froze solid.
"That's enough. For now—"
As Armin wiped sweat from his chin, twelve black shadows were born at his feet.
Demonic time: 0.666 seconds.
Is it complete? "Yahweh," Habitz muttered.
"It's not fair for me to be the only one annoyed, right?"
"For Satan!"
Twelve Siok that rose from the ground spun rapidly and shredded the time field.
The Pungjang moved, and blades flew toward the arms that held Shiina.
"Danger!"
When Shiina pushed Armin away with air magic, a blade nicked his fingertips.
"Target acquired."
A Pungjang snatched her like a hawk and zipped back toward its formation at breakneck speed.
"Shiina!"
Kuan, eyes wild, launched from the ground; Kido drove his spear at the opening.
"It's over??????!"
A Hand of God that came in from the flank grabbed Kido and slammed him aside.
He bounced off the ground, regained his balance, lifted his head, and bit his lip.
"Shirone…"
"Kido."
The Pungjang and Kuan were nowhere to be seen.
"Shiina!"
Yula gave an order as Kuan's voice pursued the Pungjang at terrifying speed.
"Five squadrons, center advance."
"Yes."
Sixty Pungjang dispersed like smoke and spun into a storm in front of Kuan.
Amid countless linked strikes, Kuan's body was being whittled away.
I'll give you a round of applause.
A chilling voice whispered.
Thirty people were enough to cut your ankle. But now there are sixty.
"Shiina!"
Blood sprayed through the turbulence.
The outcome is the same. You're still a worm. Still a trivial thing. Crumble beneath our blades.
The Pungjang assault, accelerating each second, began to catch up to the initial movement.
As the blades closed by 0.1 millimeters, scabbed wounds started spreading over his body.
This is your limit. A candle before the wind.
Shiina.
Your swordsmanship was admirable.
O...O O O O I
A brittle laugh slipped from Kuan's lips, and the Pungjang's disgust seeped into the air.
Is that your epitaph?
Swordsmanship?
What kind of sword style destroys its user?
I'm a clown.
A fool who can't make the woman he loves happy, left only to dance with blades.
Still…
Kuan's eyes went distant.
I kept the gentle touch.
Sensing a change in Kuan, all sixty Pungjang thought the same thing.
What is this?
As if one eye had been covered, Kuan's image flashed in and out.
My final technique, though shabby…
Unable to boost his senses by any abnormality, Kuan chose one last thing—
Smile for me.
Half of everything that made him—half of his brain.
The ultimate asymmetry. Thought scattered, and the half of his schema that vanished felt nothing.
Heh heh. Heh heh heh.
A single tear slid down Kuan's cheek.
"I'll keep my promise… Shiina." Language itself had faded; this was the only thing left in his head.
The Pungjang shuddered.
"Kill!"
Not in an eerie whisper, but a raw shout—sixty Pungjang pounced.
And then…
What could hardly be called a single person erupted into an enormous storm of blood and flesh.
Pierrot—the White Sickness.