Absorption (3)
Haah… Haah…
Christina was sprinting desperately toward the knight order headquarters.
I have to get there fast.
The headquarters sat between the Gawood family estate and Shahin. Using mana to run, the trip would take less than thirty minutes. Yet the reason she was gasping for breath like this was because Adel was in danger.
He wasn’t an ordinary criminal.
She had assumed Kali had fled to Shahin after committing crimes in another kingdom. Had it been a run-of-the-mill fugitive, she would have paced herself. But this was the woman who had detonated part of the city alongside Gilleon.
The revelation that Kali’s explosion had been a joint operation with the Jakshin Cult’s priest hit her while she ran. It meant the red-haired witch was connected to the very first—and so far only—priest the cult had ever revealed.
Gilleon might show up too.
If that happened, Adel could die.
With the thought burning in her mind, Christina’s expression darkened and she poured even more strength into her legs.
Almost there.
She could already see knights swinging swords in sparring matches. At the far end stood a single black building that radiated absolute authority simply by existing.
“Huff… Hoo…”
Stopping before the headquarters doors, Christina steadied her breathing.
Creak.
She pushed the door open.
The moment the woman inside saw Christina’s golden hair and academy uniform, she spoke.
“What brings the north’s treasured daughter all the way out here?”
The dignified, melodic voice instantly brightened Christina’s grim expression. The speaker was a woman whose defining feature was her perfectly blank face.
“Commander Rayrin.”
That expressionless woman was the leader of the Iron Blood Knights, one of the orders sworn to the Gawood family.
“Kali is in Shahin.”
Interest sparked in Rayrin’s eyes.
“Kali? The red-haired witch I’m thinking of?”
“Yes. The same Kali who blew up part of the city with Gilleon.”
“Hmm.”
Rayrin seemed to consider for only a moment before answering.
“Guide me.”
“…!”
Christina’s eyes flew wide.
“You’re going yourself?”
“Why? Is that a problem?”
Despite the teasing lilt in her voice as she reached for her sword, Rayrin looked more reassuring than anyone else in the world.
Gilleon will come.
A knight commander never moved for trivial reasons. They had to prepare for the worst of the worst. Yet the title of priest within the Jakshin Cult—especially one who had never been properly exposed—carried enough weight to make even the Iron Blood Knight Commander take the field.
“You two, follow us.”
If Gilleon appeared, Rayrin would handle him personally. She needed others to subdue Kali. She pointed at two knights who had been training at a moderate pace and spoke in a low voice.
“Let’s move.”
The words fell like a death sentence.
***
It was a strange sensation. When another person’s flames touched my own, something indescribable passed between them.
Is it always like this?
This was the first time my flames had ever come into contact with someone else’s. The training room did contain fire energy, but those flames were fundamentally Elena’s illusion magic. Even when fire energy was present, it was completely different from pure, untainted flames.
“So, what’s your name?”
Whoosh!
Kali intensified her flames, clearly threatening to attack if I stayed silent.
Vwoooong!
The resonance grew louder with them. Kali didn’t seem to hear it at all; she simply stared at me without a hint of suspicion.
We might actually be able to talk.
She didn’t look like she intended to attack right now. If I played this right, gathering information didn’t seem impossible.
“Adel Ifrit.”
“Hmmm…”
Hearing my answer, Kali pulled her flames back and stepped away.
Vwoong…
The resonance vanished along with them. I watched her with a faint pang of disappointment.
Scrape.
Kali sat down at a table that had somehow escaped the flames.
“Adel Ifrit… flames and Adel Ifrit…”
She muttered to herself, then suddenly brightened as if she’d realized something.
“Ah! You’re the one Lord Gilleon mentioned?”
“……”
An unexpected name had slipped out.
If it’s Gilleon…
The Jakshin Cult’s priest. The mad scientist I’d met once before.
Why him?
The honorific suggested Kali was subordinate to Gilleon.
She rummaged inside her clothes and pulled out a red orb, tossing it toward me.
Whoosh!
There was no time to dodge. The orb struck my body and unfolded with a metallic sound, chains of fire energy instantly binding me. I was restrained in a single instant.
Communicate? Yeah, right.
I’d let my guard down. Thinking we could talk, I had stood there thinking.
“This is a restraint device Lord Gilleon made for me.”
Kali smiled sweetly.
“He told me to kidnap you if we ever met.”
She seemed so composed it was hard to believe she was the same woman who had been mentally unhinged moments ago. It felt like I’d been tricked into thinking she was on some kind of drug.
“……”
I gave no reply. Instead, I focused on the changes happening inside my body.
Vwoooooong!!
The resonance was far stronger than before. I finally understood—this sound was produced when my flames touched Kali’s.
It’s almost like…
They feel like mine. The thought that Kali’s flames belong to me rises unbidden.
Can I control the mana?
I immediately activated both affinity and dominance.
Vwoong.
The mana in the air responded to my will. The fire energy inside my body reacted as well.
It works.
Then could I control Kali’s fire energy too? No one had probably ever tried. Absorbing another person’s power instead of neutralizing it.
If I hadn’t felt that her flames somehow belonged to me, I never would have attempted it.
Vwoooooong!
I closed my eyes and focused on the resonance.
They’re connected.
The flames touching my body felt like a single thread. If I pulled one end, it wasn’t a mutual tug-of-war. It felt like a one-way line that I could draw toward myself alone.
Whoosh.
Instead of trying to break the chains, I raised my own fire energy with the intent to absorb.
Whoosh.
I filtered out the impure energy and absorbed only the clean, perfectly pure flames.
“Wh-what?”
Kali’s flustered voice rang out.
“You broke the restraint…?”
She sounded almost despairing.
Swish.
“……”
Now free, I moved my body and felt the change.
Done.
Kali’s fire energy had become mine. It hadn’t scattered into the air—only the purest essence had been absorbed into my own flames.
“What do you mean? It’s exactly what it looks like.”
“That’s impossible… How could you undo Lord Gilleon’s technology…?”
Kali seemed unable to accept reality.
She’s been thoroughly brainwashed.
Her mind appeared intact, but her faith in Gilleon was absolute. The moment I broke the restraints and drew up the fire energy, the light in her eyes had died.
Whoosh.
I spread my flames throughout the entire tavern, slowly absorbing the pure fire energy. It felt like taking a heavenly elixir; my own reserves grew bit by bit. The quantity was small, but it felt like replenishing the fire jade I hadn’t been able to absorb before.
“Aah…”
Because Kali had lost all will to control her flames, I could absorb everything. If she had resisted, the situation would have been far more difficult.
Step.
I found an unburned rope and used it to bind Kali, whose eyes looked as though she had lost her entire world.
…How pitiful.
Did she want to end up like this? Or had Gilleon brainwashed her? Was the cult’s cultish nature the real problem?
…Maybe I’m overthinking this.
Tap. I sat down in a spot that had never caught fire, now cold and empty, and waited for the knights and inspectors who would soon arrive.
***
“How fascinating…”
Gilleon had already been present the entire time, quietly observing everything between Adel and Kali.
“What do you think?”
When he murmured into empty air with absolute confidence, a woman revealed herself.
“So you already knew.”
It was Rayrin, Commander of the Iron Blood Knights. After sensing Gilleon, she had hidden her presence and waited for the perfect moment to strike. That was why Gilleon had stayed out of the fight—he wanted to avoid being ambushed while trying to kidnap Adel.
“What are you talking about?”
Rayrin approached slowly, never lowering her guard.
There’s no telling what new toys he’s made.
She had been among the first to reach the city Gilleon attacked three years ago. The weapons she had seen then—guns the size of a human hand that could destroy an entire house, rifles that created massive craters with almost no mana expenditure—had been catastrophic.
Three years had passed. There was no telling what new horrors he had created.
I’ll wait for my chance.
Gilleon possessed a teleportation artifact. One press and he would instantly move to a pre-set coordinate. Every weapon and tool was his own creation.
The moment will come.
That was why Rayrin hadn’t attacked immediately.
“It’s nothing at all~”
Gilleon glanced at the hand Rayrin had resting on her sword sheath.
“By the way, is it really okay to be this obvious about an ambush?”
“……”
She didn’t respond, but Rayrin was clearly shaken.
Since it’s come to this, it’s do or die.
That was exactly what she had been thinking.
“‘Since it’s come to this, it’s do or die,’ right?”
“……”
Gilleon spoke as if he had read her mind. Though her face remained calm, she was undoubtedly rattled.
So predictable.
That was the problem with swordsmen. They were only fun when the opponent was the cult leader himself.
But Adel Ifrit…
He might prove entertaining. For the first time since meeting the cult leader, genuine interest stirred inside Gilleon.
“…Very well.”
With those quiet words, Rayrin drew her sword.
Vwoooooong!
A mana blade formed in less than a second.
Whoosh!
One step brought her directly in front of Gilleon. She brought the blade down. Her blue mana fell like the sky itself—heavy and crushing.
“……”
Rayrin didn’t waste breath saying “It’s over.” She had no idea whether he would teleport away or what countermeasures he might have.
“You’re pretty fast.”
“…!”
This time even Rayrin couldn’t hide her shock.
Death…?
The moment she heard Gilleon’s voice from behind her, the thought that she was about to die flashed through her mind. When she turned, she saw Gilleon holding a new rifle that looked like it had been pulled from subspace.
What is that…?
She had never seen this weapon before. Against a white frame that resembled a standard rifle, a fist-sized blue sphere rotated at its center, brimming with vast amounts of mana.
“Then.”
Vwoooooong!
When he pressed a button, an overwhelming wave of mana pulsed outward as the blue sphere began spinning at terrifying speed.
Click.
The instant he pulled the trigger.
Vwoooooooooong!
Mana spun violently and shot from the white rifle.
Clang!
What she had assumed would be nothing special made her sword arm tremble. It felt exactly like clashing mana blades.
This is supposed to be just a gun?
She looked at Gilleon’s face. His completely calm expression filled her with unease.
Click.
As if to confirm that unease, Gilleon pulled the trigger again.
Click. Click. Click.
Not once—multiple times.
He can fire that many shots?
No mana was leaving Gilleon’s body. The power came entirely from the weapon itself.
I have to kill him.
He was too dangerous. At the very least, she needed to subdue him.
Whoosh!
She could block mana blades with her own mana and charge straight in. With that thought, Rayrin prepared to leap into the air and rush him.
“Look behind you.”
“……”
Rayrin heard the words but didn’t turn her head. She sensed it with mana alone.
Damn it.
There was no one to stop them. If those bullets rained down on Shahin, innocent people would die.
No choice…
A knight’s highest priority was the safety of the citizens. Rayrin abandoned her charge, landed on the ground, poured mana into her blade, and swung.
Swoosh.
Instead of an explosion, there was only the clean sound of something being sliced apart.
“…He’s already gone.”
After one swing, Rayrin looked back at where Gilleon had stood, but he was nowhere to be seen.