Chapter 265 Scheme to Divide -13
Chapter 265 Scheme to Divide -13
Night.
Jiha and Pairan left the barracks.
No one else accompanied them.
If Lowchen's Special Ability really did use the dead as sacrifices to summon Shades, then a smaller party was better.
'What a troublesome Special Ability.'
Mobilizing a Unique was also too risky a move.
Lowchen carried the aura of a master of reversals, a veteran presence that surpassed even Pairan's. He might well outclass anyone Jiha had ever fought.
Perhaps Asira had said something to her beforehand, for Pairan was silent.
Her face was haggard, and though she led the way, she was tight-lipped and unresponsive.
Walking through the deserted nighttime streets, Jiha had been enjoying the sight of Pairan's shapely rear when he suddenly spoke up.
"Do you want to sleep with Asira that badly?"
"......."
Pairan whipped her head around, indignant.
Did this bastard have no fear at all? No, where Asira was concerned, he was simply beyond the pale.
Jiha tsked and laid out the terms.
"I'm serious."
"My feelings aren't something for you to just—"
"Do you want to or not? Spit it out."
Pairan's face went through shades of red and blue, but she couldn't answer right away.
After confirming that no one was around to eavesdrop, she pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
"......It's not that kind of feeling."
"Do I need to know what they're like? I asked a simple question. Just answer."
"......."
"Depending on your behavior, I might consider it."
Pairan looked shocked and furious at the same time.
"Are you saying you'd sell Asira out right now?"
"I believe I said I have no interest in your delicate feelings. I merely said that if you want to touch Asira so badly, I might show some leniency."
Jiha snorted.
"In front of me. To a certain extent, I could let it slide."
"......."
Pairan's odd eyes trembled with bewilderment.
Jiha was talking about the three of them sleeping together. A threesome.
"You think I'm crazy enough to give you what's mine? But—"
"...Are you telling me to submit to you?"
A look of violent fury and revulsion crossed Pairan's face.
In her eyes, Jiha was nothing but a bastard, the wicked man who had taken the Asira she revered.
She knew it was unreasonable... and she knew it herself.
Regardless, Pairan had defected and left Asira behind, and Jiha had simply claimed her in the interim. That was all.
But rational judgment couldn't keep her emotions in check.
"That's the only way I'll allow it."
Jiha's voice was cold.
"If you crave Asira that desperately, you'll do it in front of me, with my permission. And you'll have to be under me as well."
"......."
"I'm saying this because Asira covers for you so damn much."
Pairan was appalled, but she still couldn't answer right away.
From her perspective, she was angry... but the offer Jiha dangled was undeniably sweet.
Asira was so utterly smitten with Jiha that she would never accept anyone else.
Much less someone of the same sex and a former subordinate. There was absolutely no chance Asira would ever return her feelings.
Pairan had already resigned herself, steeling her heart to accept it was an impossible relationship.
But now Jiha was tossing her a single lifeline.
"......I truly despise you."
"You're stating the obvious as if it's news."
Pairan bit her lip in chagrin.
If she could just somehow endure her feelings toward Jiha, she could have the person she'd so desperately longed for.
As Pairan struggled with herself, Jiha started walking.
"Time's passing. Hurry up and lead the way."
"......."
Staring at Pairan's back as she took the lead once more, Jiha narrowed his eyes.
'At least for tonight, she won't betray me.'
If the siblings joined forces and attacked while he was on his way to meet Lowchen alone, even Jiha would be cornered.
But if he dangled the hope of being with Asira, Pairan wouldn't be able to decide quickly.
'She might think that killing me lets her take Asira, but....'
Jiha kept his thoughts to himself, but the situation was highly dangerous.
He hadn't brought any other followers because Lowchen might detect them and slip away or things could go wrong. And the one guiding him, Pairan, was grinding her teeth at him.
Moreover, Lowchen and Pairan were siblings... it wouldn't be strange at all if the two of them saw eye to eye and attacked together.
That was precisely why he had laid this safety bait.
"Here."
Pairan stopped in front of a shabby two-story building in the back alley.
The lights were off. No sign of anyone inside.
"Here?"
"The scent of Shade is thick."
According to Pairan, she could detect Shades within a certain range.
That was how she had foreseen the Shades' ambush at Alex's party beforehand.
Jiha spoke flatly.
"If you and I combined forces to attack, could we kill Lowchen?"
"My brother isn't alone. Even when you can't see them, Shades are always guarding him. You absolutely cannot underestimate him."
Pairan's expression was dead serious.
She had answered properly, even though the question was meant to test her.
If she intended to harm Jiha, she would have concealed as much information about Lowchen as possible.
Emotions aside, she moved on the battlefield as a warrior.
"What's Lowchen's Special Ability?"
"......It used to be the same as mine. I form a gravity field centered on myself, but my brother is superior. He doesn't center it on himself; he can designate the range separately. And the pressure is far stronger."
If that was true, he was a truly formidable opponent.
He could place a gravity field at will, and with a slash, summon Shades from the corpse.
"You're spilling everything pretty freely, huh?"
"......Asira entrusted me with your safety. I don't want to betray her trust."
"After having already betrayed her once?"
"......."
Pairan's face stiffened, as if the words hit a sore spot.
Her dark-blue eyebrows trembled faintly before she closed her eyes and forced herself to speak.
"......That's exactly why I don't want to betray her again."
"So even if you can't stand the sight of me, you really can't bear to let me die?"
"......."
At her silence, Jiha let out a dry laugh.
If only the issue of Asira didn't exist, maybe his relationship with this woman wouldn't have gotten so twisted.
"Decide on my offer by tonight."
"......What."
Without waiting for Pairan's answer, Jiha opened the door and stepped inside first.
The door was unlocked.
The wooden floorboards were all rotting, making noise unavoidable with every step.
"......."
He hoped Lowchen wouldn't notice, but he probably did.
Jiha sharpened his senses and began his search, killing as much sound as possible.
A corner room on the second floor.
When he opened the door and entered, a figure leaning against the windowsill came into view.
A man with pale skin and odd eyes was drinking.
It was Lowchen Amaut.
"......."
Lowchen showed little reaction, as if he had known Jiha was coming.
He calmly set down the bottle while his other hand moved to grip his sword. An attitude that said words were unnecessary.
Reflexively, Jiha also grabbed his weapon.
"Brother."
As Pairan stood beside Jiha, Lowchen furrowed his brow.
Pairan accompanying him was not something he'd anticipated.
"What business do you have?"
Lowchen's voice was hoarse as he asked.
Jiha spoke calmly.
"I need to eliminate Alex. You do it."
"He is a comrade. There's no reason to."
"He told me to offer up Pairan."
"......."
"If I want to join Ouroboros."
Lowchen scowled.
A member of Ouroboros had to prove their loyalty to the organization by harming or offering up a high-ranking individual.
A Unique Grade target would serve as even greater proof.
"There are other Uniques. Find another."
"I don't have the skill for that. And besides... I doubt Alex would be satisfied with that. He'd end up demanding Pairan anyway. You know what kind of bastard he is, don't you?"
"......."
Lowchen agreed with his silence.
Alex would go berserk just hearing Gashiel's name, yet he never once considered that others could act the same way he did.
Every woman besides Gashiel was a disposable item to him, a consumable good to be enjoyed and tossed aside, and he firmly believed everyone else lived the same way.
"That's true. So... have you come to beg me for strength?"
"Or will you just stand by and watch? You're the one who's been secretly protecting Pairan all this time so Ouroboros wouldn't target her, aren't you?"
"What?"
Pairan looked considerably surprised; she evidently hadn't known this.
Lowchen looked only at Jiha as he spoke.
"You're an incompetent wretch."
"If I were truly incompetent, would I have come here to say this? I'm merely providing you with information."
"A man must protect what is his with his own hands. If he cannot protect it, he deserves to die."
Well, Jiha could agree with that sentiment.
"And if you cannot protect it, you have no right to possess it. You don't suit Pai. You have no right to be with my little sister."
"Brother."
As Lowchen's voice dropped, Pairan tensed up.
Lowchen merely shifted his gaze to his younger sister.
"Come back, Pai. With you here, my long-cherished wish can be fulfilled."
"......I don't want to."
"You and I are Yogwi, brought into being by the Night King's direct hand. If we combine our strength, the gate for the Night King to return to this land will open all the sooner."
"I don't want to."
As Pairan's expression hardened, Lowchen's face went blank.
Listening to them, Jiha shook his head.
"This is an incoherent mess of a conversation. So what are you going to do about Alex?"
"If you cannot protect her, then I must. I'll kill him for you."
Lowchen said it as if it were nothing.
Jiha laughed.
"That bastard won't be an easy mark. You confident?"
"He's siphoning and using Gashiel Remaker's Mana, but I just have to push through."
"......."
That was a new piece of information.
Jiha inwardly rejoiced but continued questioning.
Lowchen was no fool. On the contrary, he was the kind of man who ruthlessly killed people like flies and sought to overturn Warsland.
"What's the reason you're spilling this information so freely?"
"A man who fails to protect what he must protect deserves to die."
Lowchen slowly rose from the windowsill.
That meant he intended to kill Jiha before killing Alex.
Faced with the expected reply, Jiha asked another question.
"Siphoning Gashiel's Mana, what's the exact mechanism behind that?"
"A Unique's Mana recovers endlessly. To the point of infinity. There may be dead Uniques, but no Unique has ever run out of Mana while fighting."
Lowchen explained readily, even though he likely knew Jiha's ulterior motive.
His tone suggested it didn't matter since Jiha would die here anyway.
"So that's why you've avoided a head-on clash with Uniques."
No matter how great Lowchen's skill was, fighting a Unique with infinite Mana in a prolonged battle was a gamble.
Lowchen didn't answer and instead gave a scholarly explanation.
"That isn't the Unique's own innate Mana. It's merely left open."
"You mean some kind of passage is open where they receive Mana support from elsewhere?"
It was an intriguing concept.
Lowchen nodded while lowering his hand to his waist.
'So in the end, Alex is siphoning Gashiel's Mana... Which means his Mana also recovers infinitely? That's the reason he's so careless even though he's right in my front yard.'
If he was stealing a Unique's power, his arrogance wasn't unwarranted.
"Talk is over."
"......Brother."
It was clear that Lowchen would not let the two of them leave peacefully.
He intended to keep his word about killing Jiha the next time they met.
As Lowchen drew his sword, Jiha laughed.
"Yeah, the talk is over."
He had found out what he needed to find out.
Now it was time to fight.
If he crushed a bastard with a notorious reputation for strength, wouldn't that just prove he was stronger?