Crushing Those Who Recite Sins (3)

"Just do the damn dishes, you little shit!"

"...Yes, Coach."

I used to dream of going pro. I had the skill for it, too — I held a consistent spot inside the top hundred of the Asian server rankings. What I didn't have was talent. I spent my days as the second-string dishwasher, grinding through grunt work, until I finally quit without even getting paid.

"Guess I should enlist soon. Why don't they send the women too? They keep going on about the population collapse, don't they?"

Before shipping out, I jumped into the web novel industry with big ambitions. But here I didn't even have the bare minimum of aptitude, let alone talent. No matter what I wrote, I stayed stuck in the same place. No matter how many series I finished, not a single reader ever came back. I wrote until my wrists screamed and my shoulders locked up.

And I ended up alone.

I happened to be browsing a community when I caught authors from that platform chatting among themselves.

I didn't even have an assigned editor. And I'd finished plenty of series on that platform, too. I never pulled the bullshit of going on hiatus like those other idiots, then shamelessly crawling back with a new work and acting like the readers owed me something.

And yet this is how it ends. Haha. Fuck.

I was disappointed in the world. Disappointed in people. Especially in the readers.

I volunteered for the military.

"Just go to the army. I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠never going to make it at anything anyway. I'll sit in there for a while, and if it gets too fucked, I'll kill a senior and then myself. Whatever."

That was probably the lowest I had ever been — right before I came to this world. I literally had no courage left, no strength, no will to carry myself into any kind of future.

I know. In the end, my writing just wasn't fun. That's how this field works. If it isn't entertaining, it doesn't matter how decent or diligent you are. You get buried. But if you write something fun? Nobody cares if the guy's a pedophile or an ex-con. Even if he spits on his readers, plenty of them will still follow.

I knew that was how the industry worked. I just thought it might be a little different. No — I was hoping it would be.

In the end, reality crushed me. Flattened me. Completely, helplessly.

Huh...?

My mind came back. The oil-and-grease smell unique to the Weverpool Fief stabbed into my nose.

Only the Goddess's frantic voice reached me. I stood up again. Except I was already standing.

Wait. Why am I...?

She unleashed a barrage of questions the instant I was conscious, as if she had been holding them in the whole time. She must have been terrified. I felt guilty for no good reason.

I think I blacked out for a second.

This wasn't a world that bent itself to my convenience. I answered her anyway.

Yes, my Goddess.

I locked my eyes on what was in front of me. Lao lifted one eyebrow and sneered.

"You've lasted pretty well, but now I'm going all out! Heheheh!"

A high, keening whine built in the air — then another, and another — and beams of staggering firepower poured out of him without end. I held my breath and charged, sprinting straight at him, closing the distance. The instant I was about to raise my sword, the guards shoved themselves between us.

"Protect the Lord!"

"Protect him!"

Goddamn it.

I couldn't kill innocent people. The moment I tried to circle around, a beam came screaming in as if it had been waiting for exactly that.

A shriek of energy. An explosion. Smoke boiled up in lazy coils. This much smoke, at night, in a place this dark. I gasped for air and forced myself to keep moving, using the haze as cover to slip in behind him.

The fastest thrust I could throw!

But Lao's necklace turned toward me like it had a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠mind of its own and fired. It didn't just cancel my attack — it blasted me backward all over again.

"Heheheh, thank you. Really, thank you, Lashu! All that pressure you put on me must've awakened my talent, huh? I can see your thoughts crystal clear!"

Bullshit. What do you mean you can see my thoughts.

"Bullshit. What do you mean you can see my thoughts. I can see everything, okay? Heheheh!"

For a second I had nothing. He was actually reading my mind?

So that was why every opening I carved out got erased before it could land.

This... is the worst-case scenario.

Lao sprayed beams in every direction. Barely slipping past them, or barely dodging them, was the best I could do. Straight-on assaults didn't work. Feints didn't work. Even when I timed it and tried to throw his eyes off with Lin, it didn't land. I got wrecked for the attempt instead.

"Keeheehee!"

The moment Lin snapped back into the ring, Lao let out a whistle.

"Oho. You've got a pretty interesting ring there, don't you?"

I had nothing. I had never once taken on an enemy who could read my mind. Hell, that was just cheating, wasn't it? How was this any different from playing a strategy sim with the map hack turned on? And that necklace of his was broken as hell on top of it. This was like fighting someone who had the map hack and the resource hack running at the same time.

"Ahh, Lashu... please!"

"No, Hero!"

The women were already in the guards' grip. They looked at me with despair written across their faces, and something in my chest tore open. The Goddess pleaded with me.

I wanted to. I really did. But unlike every other time, using the Goddess's power right now was dangerous. Whenever she lent me her strength, it felt as if the two of us had almost become one. If I took a beam while that was happening...

If that dealt her serious damage? She already lost the power and the memories she had as a true goddess. Could she endure it? Could she really...?

If I took another hit like the last one, I wasn't confident I would survive either. Dying myself would have been fine. But if the Goddess died with me, that would be truly wretched.

So what the hell was I supposed to do?

A shard of the past surfaced. The thing I had said to myself after volunteering for the military.

Yeah. Nothing I can do. Just give up. Voting's the same — like my one vote was going to stop a feminist regime from taking over? It happened anyway.

I had given up. It had felt like a hell I never imagined had descended on the world.

"Haaah, fuck."

The curse came out on its own. I shook my head and locked my eyes on Lao.

No... this isn't like back then. I've got talent now. I'm not alone. What the hell are you giving up on, Rasiu, you piece of shit!

If there was no other way, the answer had always been a frontal assault. At least in this world!

I'm going to reach the life-severing technique of the Leonhart Severing Sword Style.

I charged Lao and poured every ounce of power I had into a relentless assault. Wind split. Impacts cracked. Blades hissed and tore the air. Lao slipped past all of it, as if he were putting on a demonstration of just how clearly he could read me.

"I see it, I see it! And then—!"

A deep thrum, a shriek of energy, another shriek, an explosion. He laughed in my face and counterattacked with beams. I emptied my mind as best I could and cut in from the side.

A single strike that needed only a sliver of an instant. Lao evaded it as if it were nothing.

But this was the real one!

A rush of air — then a rapid-fire storm of cuts!

Amazingly, he used the necklace to spawn multiple beams at once and canceled my attack on the spot.

"With the power of the mind — poof!"

And then a single beam came in over his shoulder, punched me in the chest, and vanished.

"Ghk...!"

"There's just one thing I genuinely want to ask. Do you actually think you can beat me? Like, for real...?"

He lifted his chin and looked down at me with naked arrogance. This son of a bitch had mind-controlled countless people, murdered the lord of this land, and worn the man's face.

Fine. Let's be honest.

Every fight I'd won until now had been a fight I could win. I'd had a plan, and the opponent had been the kind of opponent that plan would work on. This was the first time that wasn't true. This was a completely different kind of problem.

You can't beat someone who reads your mind. So then...?

I'm going to reach the peak of the Leonhart style.

I could fall here. I could die here! I was the kind of man who lived looking at today, not tomorrow. That was what a degenerate hero was. That was the kind of human being Rasiu had always been.

I'd opened my eyes in this world, found my talent, and decided to live that way, hadn't I?

So I would keep going exactly like that. I would see my path through, as a man.

"Haaaaah!"

I roared and threw myself at him. Lao sighed and fired. I slipped past the beams I could see by a hair, barely evaded the ones coming from my blind spots, and slid across the ground. I surged back to my feet, took his back, and heaved my sword up with everything I had left.

I'll stake everything I am — to protect the people I care about!

My heart hammered as if it would burst. As if it were warning me that this moment might be my last. I thought of the women I had bound myself to, the ones whose bodies I had shared.

Annie noona. Mom. Liza Maman. Dinora Mama. That rabbit-in-heat Lumina. The greatest mama of them all, Renata. My brilliant partner Jayla. That bitch-slave Anya. The lewd sister Laurel. That fun girl Fieri.

And... Goddess Isis, smiling at me with that shy little curve of her lips.

Their faces flashed past in a rapid sequence. I called up every burning moment I had spent with them, and I brought the sword down.

I don't care if I die, as long as I'm fighting to protect you. Show and prove!

A heavy, singing impact. The blade bounced off. Lao had already canceled it.

"That shit doesn't work, you piece of shiiiiit!"

He charged a beam. There was no dodging it now.

"Thanks for closing the distance for me. Goodbye, hypocrite!"

Up close, the energy felt even more overwhelming, even more inescapable. My whole body shuddered. My heart rattled as if it were about to tear itself apart. A direct hit from that would kill me.

The mana that had been swelling without limit finally gathered itself to fire — and even then, I felt a flicker of pity for him. If I had been him, I probably would have ended up somewhere similar.

Villains aren't born. They're made. I hope that in some other multiverse, you get to live like a person.

I smiled, just a little.

The sword was light. The hand holding it felt like a feather. The blade that had been knocked away trembled, impossibly, and began to fade — and then, as if causality itself had been rewritten, the tip turned. Not toward me. Toward Lao. As if time were rewinding. As if drawn by a magnet.

And the edge split, fracturing into two, then three.

Lao's face went white.

"What? What the hell is—!"

Shock ripped across his features. His eyes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bulged as if they would pop from his skull. The divided blades crashed over him in an instant, swallowing his entire upper body.

It sheared through his lower jaw, pierced his chest, and split his abdomen wide, spilling his guts. Even like that, Lao just stared at me, as if he still had no idea what had happened — this man who could read even my memories.

"Ueh? Uhhheh?!"

With his lower jaw cut away, he couldn't even form words. He collapsed in a spray of blood. I turned my back on him and slid the sword into its sheath, then sank down as if my soul had left my body. Behind me, I could hear him sobbing — something close to wailing.

Like most sword styles, the Leonhart Severing Sword Style has a technique that sits close to an ultimate. A life-severing technique. It was named that because it always cuts a life short. Using it on a person for the first time left a strange taste in my mouth.

"Lashu, are you okay? Lashu!"

"Hero Lashu! Uuuhhk!"

The women came running and threw their arms around me. The guards nearby blinked and looked around, dazed.

"What happened? Why were we...?"

"Something just went down here... right?"

"What's wrong with the manor? Wait. Isn't that the Hero?"

And then there was the Goddess, practically singing with relief.

At last, I could breathe out.

The guards' faces looked tangled, as if their memories were colliding with each other. I didn't care. I tipped my head back toward the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠night sky and collapsed spread-eagle on the ground.

I did it. That's all that matters. I did good, right? All of you.

I sent that thought to every woman I had pictured, and closed my eyes.