Chapter 200
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 200
Several people in the Empire have influenced my life. One of them is Ilay Kartika.
Ilay was born into a military family and possessed outstanding talent. Yet, despite being born with every advantage, the boy had always looked upon the Empire and the Imperial Family with rebellious eyes. I wondered if he still did.
Psssssh.
Ilay took off his helmet. As the hydraulic pressure released, synthetic blonde hair spilled out. The blue eyes he closed and reopened were as clear as glass, his eyelashes curled with an unnatural perfection. Despite wearing a highly airtight combat suit, he wasn't sweating at all.
...A full-body prosthetic. I suppose that's only natural for a noble of the Empire and one of its elite soldiers.
I swallowed the words and simply stared at him.
Crackle, crackle.
The man who had died at Ilay's hands was still twitching, sparks of electricity flaring intermittently from his pierced jaw and crown. Seeing as he was traveling with Ilay, he must have been an elite soldier, at least at the Imperial Guard level.
"You're alive, Luka. Well, of course you are. Who in this world is as tenacious as you? I knew you'd be alive."
Ilay grinned. It was the same clear, bright smile as always.
"I came for Valek. What about you?"
Rather than exchanging pleasantries, I stated my purpose and assessed the situation. Judging by the way he’d killed his comrade on the spot, Ilay clearly had no intention of reporting my existence to the Empire.
"Valek? Ah, he's right here."
Ilay opened a metal box with a handle. Inside, Valek's head was submerged in a thick preservative fluid. Valek was dead, his eyes wide open. Blood, held in suspension by the dense liquid, drifted like a hazy mist.
As long as the brain isn't damaged or decayed, they can extract information from it.
For the Empire, that was entirely possible.
"I take it you came to catch Valek too?"
"Luka, I want to catch up, but we don't have much time. The rest of my team will be here soon. I can't go around killing all my subordinates."
I kept my grip on the Hwagwang Yedo, its faint heat-glow dimly illuminating the cave.
"Ilay. Fransek is imprisoned, and Giselle is missing. Meanwhile, you're out here on a vital mission. I assume you have the Emperor's trust? I entrusted you with helping Fransek. I thought you would protect Giselle as well. Did you sell Fransek out to Ivan?"
I didn't beat around the bush. I watched him quietly, but not a single trace of agitation, not a flicker of emotion, showed on his face.
Ilay maintained his dry smile, his expression as still as a frozen image. After a moment, he let out a sigh.
"Luka, the situation is too complicated to explain here. It would only lead to misunderstandings. You know how the Empire’s spiderweb works."
"Then let me ask you one thing. Are you certain you did your best?"
For now, I had to let it go. I wanted to hold a blade to his throat and demand answers, but that wasn't the smart move here. Above all, I wasn't even sure I could overpower Ilay.
Be smart. Suppress your emotions. If I want to find Giselle, this is the best way. I need Ilay's cooperation.
"Perhaps I could have done better," Ilay admitted. "But it was the best I could do. More importantly, have you and Valek crossed paths? Recently?"
"We had one hell of a fight. If they extract the memories from his head, my face will be in there, clear as day."
Ilay pinched the bridge of his nose as if a headache were setting in.
"Damn it. If the Empire finds out you're walking around in one piece, they'll come for you immediately. Ivan is strangely obsessed with you. We really don't have much time, Luka. Let me give you the short version."
I waited for him to speak.
"I received an imperial decree to form a Special Task Force and pursue Kinuan. I don't know what brought you here, but you must be chasing him too, right? This can't be a coincidence."
Kinuan again. I was losing my mind wondering what the hell that bastard was up to.
"And?"
"I'll give you Valek's head. You're staying in Border City, right? There should be plenty of ways to extract memories there. Let's meet in a month to share our findings. I'll look into the things you're curious about before then."
Ilay closed the box containing Valek's head and tossed it to me. We quickly agreed on a date and location.
Click.
Having said his piece, Ilay raised his gun and aimed it at Ragnata. I thrust the Hwagwang Yedo forward, blocking his line of fire.
"Ilay, what the hell do you think you're doing? Put the gun down."
I frowned.
"I'm taking a massive risk pretending I didn't see you. This needs to stay between us. I don't know who that old woman is to you, but she has to die here."
"She's under my control. She won't be talking to the Empire."
"Luka, your flaw is that you're too soft-hearted, which makes you hesitate. I like that about you, but that part of your personality is what ruined you. One nightmare like that is enough."
Ilay gave a bitter smile. My scowl deepened.
"I don't like repeating myself. Get your finger off the trigger."
"I killed my subordinate for you. He was a loyal man."
A smirk tugged at the corner of my mouth. "Haha, I just remembered. Killing your own subordinates when things get inconvenient was always your specialty, wasn't it?"
For the first time, Ilay's face contorted. Emotion finally seeped into his voice.
"Showing me hostility right now isn't very smart, is it? You have no other way of knowing what's happening inside the Empire without me. I want to help you. So trust me, like you used to. Once you hear the whole story, you'll understand."
"Ilay, I said no. You know how stubborn I am."
"This isn't something I can compromise on, Luka. It's been twelve years. You have no idea what I've been doing for the last twelve years. All of it could go down the drain. You are the only risk I'm willing to take. I don't give a damn about anyone else."
I stepped directly in front of his gun, completely blocking his aim.
"Same here. I don't give a damn what you've been doing for twelve years. All that matters is that the idiot who failed to protect Fransek and keep Giselle safe is standing right in front of me."
"Don't be a child. You're ruining my mood. Do you have any idea how happy I was the moment I saw you?"
"Me too. It was good to see you, Ilay Kartika. But I need that woman. It's not up for negotiation."
Ilay bit his lower lip, then scratched his head. Letting out a heavy sigh, he holstered his gun.
"I know it's hard to just trust me blindly. So, I'll let your stubbornness win this time. Consider it a token of my trust. In return... trust me next time. If you can't trust anyone else, trust your friend."
Ilay extended his fist toward me.
"I can't make any promises, but I'll try."
I sheathed my sword and bumped my fist against his.
"Seriously, that nasty temper of yours hasn't changed a bit. Anyway, like I said, we're out of time. Get out of here before my team arrives. I'll doctor the scene."
I took the box with Valek's head and turned to Ragnata. She silently glanced back and forth between me and Ilay.
"Ilay," I said, turning my back to him. "I believe you when you say you did your best. That, at least, I'll never doubt. I'm sure this really was the best you could do."
Whoosh!
Ilay threw something at me. I reached out and caught it. It fit into my palm with a strange familiarity.
Looking at the object, I burst into laughter.
The Grakken Boot.
It was the white dagger he had once given me as a gift. It seemed he had kept it as a lucky charm rather than actually using it. Then again, in terms of pure performance, plenty of weapons were better than the Grakken Boot.
"You've been carrying this around all this time? I thought this was mine."
"I pulled it out and kept it safe," Ilay said with a shrug. "If I'd left it, it would've been seized by the Custoria Family. Since you've miraculously returned from the dead, you can have it back. By the way, your stepbrother is carrying Crucis—uh, what was his name? Right, Jupe."
"Hmm, that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."
To Jupe... Crucis was a lady far too good for him. He wouldn't even be able to handle her properly.
Leaving Ilay behind, I retraced my steps out of the cave. After a long silence, Ragnata spoke up.
"You boys are always so dramatic."
"We're almost thirty. Isn't that a bit old to be called boys?"
"You're only thirty, so you're still boys to me. Anyway, I didn't expect you to save me, especially at the risk of falling out with your friend. If I were ten years younger, I might have fallen for you."
"Ten years? Don't you mean thirty? Besides, I didn't clash with him for your sake. I was just testing how far he was willing to compromise for me. He's been a devious bastard since we were young. It's hard to trust him blindly."
"But that devious friend of yours," she said, "...he would have done anything for you."
I didn't answer.
* * *
I left Valek's head with Japa. He could handle it much faster than I could by tracking down a Bio-Hacker myself; he was bound to have contacts.
Naturally, my encounter with Ilay remained a secret.
Ilay Kartika.
I recalled our plan. We had agreed to meet at a run-of-the-mill bar in Border City. It was a perfect spot for a natural rendezvous.
Before I meet Ilay, I need to extract the information from Valek's head.
A month was a tight window. If I had to do all the legwork myself, meeting the deadline would be difficult.
But if I can't even handle this, I have no right to pursue Kinuan. Ilay must have set the one-month deadline with that in mind.
Kinuan was a monster that changed by the second. The moment you took your eyes off him, he would appear in some entirely unexpected place.
In any case, I had a month. For now, rather than investigating Kinuan further, I needed to think about how to handle Ilay.
Assume the worst.
I wanted to trust him, but reality never rewards faith. Only fools believe they won't be betrayed. I had to consider the possibility of Ilay's betrayal, just as he would be preparing for any unexpected moves on my part.
Ilay gained experience during my absence. As one of the Empire's elite soldiers, he must have carried out countless dangerous missions.
He was what people called a genius. The power he must have built over twelve years of talent and effort would be immense.
Whirrrr.
In a windowless space, only a single ventilation fan spun.
I was in the training room of the company building. Though private, it was large and spacious. Above all, the facilities were excellent—the floor and walls were sturdy enough to withstand my maximum output without a scratch.
Creak.
With my prosthetic body's output dialed up, I slowly threw punches and swung my legs. I moved at a snail's pace, a single motion taking several minutes to complete. The force trying to burst outward was trapped, pounding against the inside of my own body.
Drip, drip.
Sweat poured like rain from my biological parts.
"Does this actually do anything? You're not a prosthetic body user. You don't understand the first thing about cybernetic combat," I grumbled.
"You're the one who asked for help with training, boy."
Ragnata was sipping tea from her wheelchair. I had freed her, but I had no intention of giving her a prosthetic leg just yet.
I can't trust her yet. But I need her. Keeping Ragnata close was a decision driven by pure intuition. I felt her presence would be necessary for my future goals. I hadn't saved her at the cost of clashing with Ilay for nothing.
She's right. I need a superior who can keep me in check.
Yes, I might as well admit it. I was unstable, and I needed a wise advisor. It had been the same when I was a cadet. Japa was a sponsor, not an advisor. The conditions for the advisor I needed were simple yet difficult to meet.
They had to be a powerhouse who surpassed me, or at least possessed equal combat ability. They had to have experience I lacked. And finally, they had to possess the mental fortitude to see their convictions through, even in the face of death.
People who met these conditions were rare. I had a twisted personality; if I didn't respect someone, I wouldn't listen to them even if they were right.
"Whether it's biological, prosthetic, or an exoskeleton," Ragnata said, "there is only one thing that never betrays a warrior: the basics, ingrained into the body through daily repetition. In fact, once people reach a certain level, they tend to overlook them. They only repeat the movements they use often and forget the ones they don't."
"In other words, optimization," I countered. "You keep the movements that suit your body and discard the rest. In a split-second battle between life and death, trying a move that doesn't fit you will get you killed."
Ragnata looked at me leisurely.
"That makes sense, especially in low-level combat. But in a high-level fight, our kind of fight, creativity is crucial. Since you've mastered Akies Victima, you must know this. But creativity isn't about inspiration; it's an extension of repetitive mastery. Only when you become a master of kicking can you slash with your toes. To put it simply, train yourself to be capable of anything. Turn your entire body into a weapon."
Ragnata bit the string off her tea bag and put it in her mouth. After chewing for a moment, she spat the string onto her palm, neatly tied into a bow.
"...What is that supposed to mean?" I asked after a pause. The sight was strangely unsettling.
"In my prime, I killed several men with my tongue. If you can use your tongue like a finger, you can do a lot of things."
"That's an assassin's technique."
"Are you really in a position to be picky? This is merely an example. Akies Victima is a technique for the weak. To put it nicely, it's a bag of tricks, a shortcut. To put it bluntly, it's nothing more than a gimmick. You can never become a true powerhouse with Akies Victima alone, kid."
If anyone else had said that, I would have grabbed their tongue and told them to cut the bullshit. But coming from Ragnata, the words carried weight.