Chapter 23
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: 7. Monster
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[A strange guy has come to the city.]
Broker controlled his puppets from outside. They were scattered everywhere.
Even the nation couldn't pinpoint every location of Broker's puppets.
"Who?"
[A man with disheveled hair like a lion's mane. He's alone. Carrying a greatsword on his back.]
'Leonidas. He's coming in strong.'
"You take Ella and get out of this city. The forest we used for training should work."
The wooden puppet nodded.
Broker left the room to find Ella. I walked to the window and looked down at the mansion's front gate.
A hulking man was approaching from afar. His hair was wild like a lion's mane.
Leonidas.
A level 7 Superhuman who had ascended to the ranks of heroes.
'Escaped the northern front and come to Eisenheim.'
If he'd come, then the initial goal of creating the cult was achieved.
All that remained was for Blue Moon to seize the opportunity and scout a path to escape.
'That's not my problem.'
Leonidas looked up. Our eyes met across the window as I watched him.
I descended the stairs slowly. Opened the front gate and stepped outside.
Leonidas stood before the gate. Up close, the difference in our builds was even more staggering than I'd imagined.
"You're the one running that religion that claims to save people?"
"Yes. Though my body is lowly, I am a servant who spreads God's will."
"God's will, huh. Then what's the name of the god you serve?"
I hadn't decided on a specific name for the god.
"God is God. Why would it need a name like that? Names are for distinguishing things. There's no need to distinguish the one and only existence."
"Sophistry."
Leonidas dismissed it curtly and entered through the gate. He glanced around, then bluntly shared his thoughts.
"Pretty ordinary mansion. Running a cult, you'd think you'd have collected donations or something. Right?"
"How could a servant of God indulge in luxury? Money is used only as much as needed to spread God's will."
Leonidas brushed the garden grass. Dirt clung to his hand.
Amid it, a single strand of hair caught my eye faintly. Far too long to be mine.
It was Ella's.
"Not your average cultist, it seems. From your reaction, you knew I was coming. Let me ask you straight."
He straightened up and fixed his gaze on me. Killing intent gleamed in his beast-like eyes.
"What's your purpose."
"Only to spread God's will far and wide."
"I see."
My vision began to sink.
Even without intending it, my view spun dizzily.
I was looking at what had been my body. The headless form was spurting a fountain of blood.
"You mentioned resurrection. Three possibilities."
Leonidas, who had just lopped off my head, continued while eyeing my severed head.
"A regenerator, or someone external controlling you. Or both."
Before his words finished, Leonidas's greatsword shredded my body.
Sliced, dismembered, carved.
Like mincing meat. Less than five seconds, and my body was reduced to powder.
"No external controller, then. Farewell."
Leonidas positioned his greatsword over my severed neck and tossed the words out casually.
I answered with a laugh.
"With pleasure."
"Madman."
Vision cut off.
Consciousness shifted. I awoke again in a corner of the mansion.
A spare body I'd prepared in advance. I cracked my neck and stepped into the corridor.
Just then, my eyes met Leonidas's as he entered the mansion.
"Didn't expect anyone inside. And it's not a woman. Who are you?"
"A servant of God."
"Another cultist."
As he spoke and raised his greatsword to swing again.
The instant his greatsword entered the Domain, I stepped into it as well.
The black-and-white world.
In this realm where only we two could move, I saw Leonidas's shocked expression.
"…!!"
I closed the gap in an instant and hammered his abdomen hard.
Thwack!!
Leonidas's body flew back. Flustered for a split second, he soon curled his lips into a grin.
"…So you're no ordinary cult follower."
I stared at him and drew a sword from my sub-space.
"For God. Offer the emperor's neck to God."
"Bullshit."
The moment the words ended, our figures vanished. We clashed in mid-air.
My sword and Leonidas's greatsword collided, unleashing an explosive shockwave.
BOOM!!
The mansion's large glass windows shattered all at once.
Sharp shards whirled into the air like a storm.
Swords clashed. Between their trajectories, strange gravitational pulls tugged at our clothes.
Hands moved. By the time the thought registered, they were already plunging toward the foe like beams of light.
Scraaaaaape!
With every step, every breath, dozens of exchanges unfolded.
A fierce barrage at speeds where hands were invisible.
The body began crumbling under the strain.
Crunch!
Ligaments tore from my arm, slowing my sword recovery for a split second.
Leonidas didn't miss it. He severed my right arm.
I moved before blood could even spurt from the stump.
Ran vertically along the wall. Leonidas swung his greatsword horizontally without turning his head.
Slaaaaaash!!
The blade carved through the wall, pursuing me.
Lime dust and wallpaper scraps flew like a blizzard.
I reached the ceiling, kicked off with my toes, and flipped through the air.
Leapt over the stair railing and dropped to the first-floor entrance.
Landed with bent knees, but the impact throbbed up to my ankles.
'That short clash wrecked my whole body. Right arm gone. Left arm and both legs' ligaments on the verge of tearing.'
Artisans don't blame their tools?
There's some truth to it.
But artisans only guarantee a baseline.
To reach the peak, even they need gear tailored perfectly to them.
"Where you headed? To your comrades?"
An untrained body was softer than a cookie.
Overcoming differences in physique and mana with skill had its limits.
I charged forward at full speed, crushing my right shoulder with my left hand.
The leaking blood stopped for the moment.
Leonidas ripped the entire door from its frame and pursued.
"Fleeing, of all things? Lacking faith. Don't they usually charge to the death?"
Rumble!!
The mansion collapsed from the battle's aftermath.
Dust billowed like a storm from the wreckage.
Leonidas and I locked eyes.
In that brief instant before our vision was obscured.
We read each other's intentions from our gazes alone.
'Whittle him down. Shake him psychologically. Make him deduce my abilities and sow confusion.'
'No one's left in the mansion. Means the external controller already fled. But this one's more dangerous.'
Dust clouded our sight.
Our figures shot forth faster than lightning.
I pushed for a quick escape. Leonidas moved to catch and kill me.
Our strides covered vast gaps. The surroundings blurred into compressed streaks at breakneck speed.
Thud thud thud!
We weaved through the crowd drawn by the commotion.
'Use civilians as shields. No time to pull a body from sub-space. Need to prepare one ahead.'
I adjusted my speed, slipping into the crowd's gaps, and swung my sword.
"Gaaaaah!!"
"Aaaack! Murder! Run!"
Amid the screams and spurting blood, Leonidas's blade flashed pinpoint-precise.
Leonidas slashed down the bystander blocking my path without hesitation.
His eyes were steely. Not a trace of doubt.
'Not even shaken by this. Of course. A Superhuman has to be like that.'
The distance between Leonidas and me closed.
I didn't slow, crashing straight into a nearby café.
BOOM!!
Glass exploded. Light glittered off the flying shards.
"Screeeeeam!!"
I tossed my sword into the air and kicked Leonidas as he charged.
His body split in two from the legs up. But he didn't stop.
I used the momentum of his greatsword slash to spin my body.
Twisted my left hand to grab the floating sword in reverse grip.
"…!!"
I warped the downward sword path, thrusting it right into Leonidas's face.
Stab!!
Leonidas blocked the thrust with his forearm, then twisted.
The blade snapped. My body turned to minced meat.
"Damn. Even with just the upper body left, you try a counter? You're out of your mind."
Leonidas spat on the floor.
Having possessed the café clerk's corpse inside, I charged forward.
Stab!!
This time it went in deeper. But not a fatal wound.
Because he'd twisted away at the moment of the thrust, it only gouged his shoulder slightly.
A flicker of confusion crossed Leonidas's face as he recognized me.
"…Weren't you killed by that other guy earlier?"