Chapter 176
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 176
I herded Ernest into a deserted alleyway. Here, I could finish the job without a single soul knowing.
Perhaps feeling the creeping unease, Ernest kept stopping in his tracks to talk to me.
"Is it money you want?"
"For someone so highly educated, you sure talk nonsense. Is there anyone in this world who doesn't need money?"
"...That may be true, but if it's money you're after, targeting me isn't the right move."
Ernest tried to respond calmly. Even in a situation like this, he didn't panic.
He managed to commit all those murders without getting caught, after all. He must have a decent head on his shoulders.
I shrugged.
"I don't know about right moves. Aren't all you rich bastards the same anyway?"
"My family is in politics. We have influence, but not a lot of ready cash. If you need money, there are plenty of targets out there much easier and far more lucrative than me."
"So, long story short, you're saying you're a worthless hostage?"
"Compared to the risk of kidnapping me, yes. If you back off now, I'll give you all the cash I can get my hands on. Not a bad payday for a few minutes of work, is it?"
I swallowed a scoff and played along, hesitating as if I were a kidnapper genuinely motivated by cash.
"How do I know you won't come after me for revenge later?"
"If you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do. But you haven't harmed me yet. I have no reason to hold a grudge deep enough to hunt you down. Like you said, I was careless. Consider the money I pay you today a sort of tuition fee."
Ernest's response was actually quite impressive. A clueless kidnapper might have genuinely fallen for it.
"Hmm..."
I stroked my chin, pretending to think it over. As he walked, Ernest stole a quick glance back at me.
Crack!
As if waiting for that exact moment, I threw a punch straight into his face. His nasal bone collapsed.
"I told you to look straight ahead. Ah, my bad. I went and harmed you. Tsk, now that you have a grudge, you'll definitely hunt me down, won't you?"
Ernest groaned, clutching his bleeding nose and mouth. But rather than letting the pain fuel his anger, his mind worked furiously.
"Ugh, cough... No, this was my mistake. It's... fine. Cough!"
I slapped Ernest across the cheek and temple.
Thud!
The impact slammed his face right into the ground. His cheek swelled up instantly.
"Damn, my hand slipped again. Wow, at this rate, there's no way you aren't holding a grudge."
I sneered, stepping closer to his fallen figure.
Ernest covered his face with one hand, crimson blood dripping down his fingers. Through the gaps, his eyes glared with sheer venom.
"You... you bastard, who the hell are you?"
"A kidnapper."
"You're not after money."
"Shut up and walk. Keep making noise, and I'll shatter your jaw."
Ernest struggled to his feet. We walked out of the alleyway and under a gloomy underpass. With the sun setting, it was pitch-black here.
Gabriel should be waiting on the other side with the car.
All I had to do was toss Ernest into the prepared vehicle and move. Then, this job would be over. I had already mapped out the entire escape route.
Given the nature of Border City, once you lose someone's trail, they're impossible to find.
Today, in this very spot, Ernest Borel would vanish like a ghost.
"Are you planning to kill me?" Ernest asked.
The guy had good instincts and a sharp mind.
I remained silent and shoved him forward. He tried to walk slowly, clearly trying to buy time.
Thud!
I kicked him in the back, sending him stumbling five paces forward.
"Move. It's not like you have any right to complain. You've killed countless people weaker than you. Today is just the day you happen to be the weaker one."
I could feel Ernest's agitation. His emotions were laid bare. He had to be wondering just how much I knew about his dirty secrets.
You did well for an ordinary citizen, Ernest. But your armor was easily stripped away.
Ernest's legs were trembling.
My violence has driven a wedge of fear right through him.
My violence knew no hesitation. My entire body radiated a warning that I could kill my opponent at any given moment. Even thugs accustomed to aggressive bravado were terrified of me. Because for me, it was never a bluff—it was always real.
Ernest is no soldier or warrior. He has never had to resist another's violence. He's always been a one-sided perpetrator standing comfortably in a safe zone.
Take comfort in that, Luka. At least you're someone who seeks out the strong. You don't enjoy murdering people by wielding violence from a safe distance.
I am different from Ernest.
At least I'm a better person than this bastard. I don't cross the line just to satisfy my sick urges. I have my own line in the sand. I have to think this way to keep my sense of self anchored.
...Several Imperial Guardsmen came to mind. The Guardsmen who maintained their sanity for a long time all had their own absolute limits. That line is like an anchor in a raging storm. If you lose it, you get swept away by the current, losing track of even where you are.
Right now, I am actively searching for people who deserve to die. Back when I was a cadet, the Empire and the Imperial Guard designated who to kill under the guise of a "mission." The enemies of the Empire were targets I could slaughter without a sliver of mercy.
But now, there is no one to order me to kill.
Everything is driven by my own will. If I kill someone, it is entirely based on my own judgment and decision.
Be more careful. Even if I'm losing my mind, I can still control myself.
I thought of Gaya. I was glad we hadn't clashed. I had directed entirely unnecessary hostility and aggression toward him.
Good. It seems I'm recovering. My rational thinking is gradually clearing up.
"Ernest Borel. Why did you kill those people?"
"I don't know what you're talking abou—"
Revenge belonged to Gabriel, but I supposed I could take a finger or two.
Crack!
I flicked my finger, striking Ernest's index joint. His index finger snapped backwards, dangling uselessly.
"Argh, ugh!"
"Answer me properly."
I quickly drew my dagger and pressed it just beneath Ernest's eye. The tip of the blade pierced the skin, gently grazing the white of his eyeball.
"...Alright! S-stop! How did you know?"
I slowly sheathed the dagger.
"How else would I know? Even if it was a bit tricky to track, you're the one who kept uploading the evidence to the Net."
Hearing my words, Ernest's reaction was strange. Even as I spoke, a sudden sense of incongruity washed over me, and my eyes widened. My intuition had detected an anomaly.
Whine.
As if reality itself were slowing down, a high-pitched ringing echoed in my ears.
I'm missing something. Something is completely off.
Ernest stared up at me with his battered face. I read the complex signals written all over his features.
Confusion.
I frowned. The moment I grasped the situation, the scattered puzzle pieces fell into place in an instant.
"Damn it. You weren't the one who uploaded the murder photos to the Net. Who else knows you're a killer?"
"Photos were uploaded? That's impossible..."
"You idiot. There's someone who cleans up after your murders, right? That guy has been deliberately scattering your tracks all over the Net. If he hadn't, I wouldn't have even been able to find you."
I narrowed my eyes. Events that had seemed entirely unrelated were rapidly connecting.
"...There is no such person! I was always alone!" Ernest shouted, completely panic-stricken.
An unknown horizon.
With this single piece of information, a vast expanse of the unknown suddenly tore open.
Due to a sheer lack of information, I couldn't accurately grasp the current situation. This unknown variable, lying just beyond my perception, was incredibly dangerous. But it was also thrilling. All sorts of lethal dangers were currently taking shape, preparing to ambush me from the shadows. It was a deeply exhilarating sensation.
I had always lived with this exact feeling in the past. Finally, the boredom was fading.
Whoosh!
I grabbed Ernest's arm and violently flung him against the wall. I didn't even know why I did it. It was pure instinct bordering on absolute precognition.
Pfft!
A silenced bullet whizzed straight through the empty space where Ernest's head had been just a fraction of a second ago. If I hadn't thrown him, his brains would be painting the concrete right now.
Brilliant. The intuition of Akies Victima. It saved the day once again.
I snapped my gaze in the direction the shot had come from. A faint muzzle flash sparked at the corner at the far end of the underpass.
He's not showing himself.
I pulled out my Auto-Tracking Pistol. The heavy weapon, rigged with electronic equipment mounted beneath its barrel, slid perfectly into my hand.
Bang!
I aimed the muzzle in a completely different direction and pulled the trigger. It was to give the smart bullet enough room to properly curve its trajectory.
The bullet traced a sharp parabola and struck the blind spot squarely behind the corner. However, I didn't expect a hidden opponent to fall for such a simple trick.
"Stop playing cheap tricks and come out."
I blocked the line of fire, effectively shielding Ernest. The enemy had tried to kill him, after all.
"...Splendid judgment. You've probably never even used an Auto-Tracking Pistol as your primary weapon, yet you already know how to apply it like this. I can tell you've spent your entire life doing absolutely nothing but fighting and surviving."
Showering me with unexpected praise, the enemy finally revealed himself.
Ting.
He dropped the crushed bullet from my Auto-Tracking Pistol out of his palm. He had caught the incoming projectile with his bare hand.
I observed the newly appeared man. Dressed sharply in a suit, his eyes were permanently narrowed. He wasn't particularly glaring at me; it just seemed to be his natural, default expression.
A Full-Body Prosthetic. And a high-output combat model at that.
I was instantly certain he was a Full-Body Prosthetic. It wasn't just because the faint glow of sub-dermal electronic circuits was visible all over the backs of his hands and up his neck like cybernetic tattoos.
It was a feeling.
Biological bodies and full prosthetics are subtly different. It's hard to describe in words, but those minute differences accumulate to create a massive, glaring distinction to trained senses. Especially with combat prosthetics, their immense power output made that sense of incongruity even stronger.
He's no pushover.
The opponent standing before me wasn't someone I could handle while simultaneously babysitting Ernest. But I couldn't just let Ernest run away, either.
"Gabriel, we have a situation. Get over here and take Ernest Borel," I spoke quietly into my communicator, covering my mouth with my collar. Soon enough, Gabriel's chaotic reply came through. He was already heading this way, spewing all sorts of colorful curses.
"Y-you? Val-Valek? Why are you...?" Ernest, who had just recovered his senses after hitting the wall, muttered the suited man's name.
The man's name was Valek. The scattered information rapidly clicked together. That man and Ernest knew each other. As the remaining pieces in my head snapped into place, everything connected perfectly.
"I see. So Ernest was just bait to lure me out. You were the one who followed Ernest around in the shadows, taking photos of his murders and uploading them. Your public identity is probably a bodyguard or an attendant for the Borel family. That way, it wouldn't look suspicious for you to trail after him all day. And... you were also the one who subtly guided Ernest to kill Gabriel's girlfriend, weren't you?"
An adept of Akies Victima, and an acquaintance of Gabriel. Only when these two highly specific factors overlapped could someone trace the clues and reach Ernest. And I was the only person in the entire world who fit that exact description.
If I appeared in Border City, I would inevitably come looking for Ernest.
It was a trap designed precisely for that exact outcome.
"I'd love to give you a round of applause, but I'll hold back. Truly impressive. To gather clues and information so quickly and reach such a flawless conclusion."
And I was immediately certain once again.
An Akies Victima user.
It was blatantly evident in his way of speaking. He had a deep, fundamental understanding of Akies Victima, and he was a user himself.
Conversations between Akies Victima users often involved frequent, massive leaps in logic. They omitted tedious details, naturally assuming the other party would understand without needing everything painstakingly spelled out.
He knows me well, and he was even waiting for me.
Only one conclusion remained.
"Where is Kinuan?"
Of course, I didn't actually expect him to answer. It was merely a formality, a tactical probe to throw out the question and gauge his microscopic reactions.
"I've often heard a story from Master," Valek replied smoothly. "He said he had a disciple who was an unparalleled genius, far surpassing him in sheer natural talent. And he always praised how that particular disciple used his abilities to stir up the Empire even more than he had ever expected. That man's name is Lucaus Custoria."
"Thanks for explaining it for me, chatterbox."
I gripped the hilt of my sword. I was going to have to use it today.
Screeech!
Sparks flew wildly as the Hwagwang Yedo violently slid from its scabbard. The extremely high coefficient of friction built inside the scabbard made drawing it a rough, incredibly heavy task. An ordinary person wouldn't even have the physical strength to draw the blade properly.
Whine.
And the internal heating wire, glowing fiercely from the sudden friction, cast a faint crimson light along the length of the blade. The thermal amplification sequence was beginning.
Valek raised a single eyebrow.
"Hmm, Hwagwang? You must be completely out of your mind to use that."
"Surprised?" I sneered.
"No. I just think we have a lot more in common than I initially thought. I'm out of my mind, too."
Valek smoothly drew twin swords from his waist. The forearm-length blades were wickedly pointed, and above all...
Clang! Whine!
Valek scraped the twin swords against each other in a shower of sparks. The internal heating wires instantly reacted, beginning to emit a lethal crimson glow.
"What I use are the Hwagwang Magnetic Swords, No. 1 and No. 2."
Hmm. This fight was going to be incredibly difficult. I was going to have to fight a battle that was practically acrobatic in its precision.
...What I mean is, if our glowing blades so much as clash, we both die. A violent plasma explosion will instantly trigger, scattering superheated shrapnel in every possible direction.