In the Blink of an Eye (2)
Right now, the sub-dimensional space displacement using shadows—universally called Blink—had one colossal flaw.
“They’re literally waving a big red flag about where I’ll hit them.”
Both the starting point and the landing point demanded a full Shattenmädchen shadow, and the longer the fight dragged on, the more obvious their strategy became.
Of course I wasn’t stupid enough to gamble everything on the single ability I’d just awakened.
I’d have to unleash my full arsenal of mage spells and artifacts exactly where they’d do the most damage.
But.
“…”
Even one of my spells being readable by the opponent felt deeply irritating.
It wasn’t the mild annoyance of an attack simply being blocked by their defensive magic.
Because as soon as I Blinked, I would inevitably close the distance I’d just opened—and the opponent would be ready for me.
And the second I stepped out of nowhere, I’d gut them with Baramil.
They had no reason to limit themselves to that one move.
One thing was certain: the closer we got, the more I would know where the opponent was coming from. It was a two-way street.
The solution was simple.
“Isn’t it enough to just have multiple landing points?”
Displacement didn’t have to be one-to-one. When I materialized Shattenmädchen, I could divide the single shadow into separate pieces and spread them like separate footprints.
That way there was no problem with displacement.
As long as I didn’t open the sub-dimensional connection with Shattenmädchen’s mouth, the shadows would remain a blurry, half-formed mess of soul fragments.
Of course, if I scattered them properly, the sub-dimension would simply refuse to open there, and my soul would lose a tiny bit for a moment.
But that was the end of it. The shadows themselves weren’t destroyed, so as soon as I reconvened Shattenmädchen, my soul would be perfectly intact.
Even if I neutralized one clump of shadows, the battlefield was still covered in shadows I controlled—hellish voids flickering with ominous magic traces, each one a potential gateway for sub-dimensional travel.
I had already lightly scattered my shadows across the entire underground space, turning it into my private backyard.
“How is it? This time it’s not just my power—it’s the artifact’s leftover trick, right?”
“…”
Now Shattenmädchen could secure the minimum volume of space I needed with the slightest flicker of my will.
I only needed a fraction of a second. I could Blink wherever I wanted, as often as I wanted.
“No answer?”
“Why? What kind of answer were you hoping for?”
By now the other mage had no choice but to acknowledge my overwhelming superiority. The defensive posture they’d fallen into since the beginning was proof enough.
For them, this was the only way to guarantee survival.
As long as they could stall for time, the higher-ups waiting outside would be shocked by the lack of response from their radio—enough to send external reinforcements straight to this Pyongyang nuclear facility.
Of course, it was a desperately optimistic fantasy that would never come true.
The moment the South Korean leadership decided to send troops, Pavel would hear the transmission.
If that happened, I’d know the situation instantly. If the reinforcements were confirmed, I would simply grab the plutonium and crush them before they even set foot inside.
I Blinked no more. This time I walked slowly, closing the distance to the Korean mage.
“What kind of answer? Which part is strong, which part looks like it can sink its teeth into me, and so on. I’d like to hear your honest opinion.”
“Well, it makes sense. Fighting nothing but rat-like humans, you’d have no idea how deep my magic really goes.”
“You… I wish you’d come closer. Just how skilled a mage are you, really?”
It had been a long time since I felt that smug, cocky little thrill. The opponent would be on the defensive, but they’d probably loosen up enough to enjoy themselves a little.
After the bloodbath in Hong Kong with the Dragon Lord, and that brief encounter with the Nameless Soldier in full armor right after—it had been far too long since I’d had a real fight.
Clearly a lot of things had been going smoothly lately.
“Of course… it’s not exactly a good thing that I have to step in myself.”
Having taken Britain, the fact that I now had to step in meant the problem wasn’t small anymore.
If I was only trying to stabilize the organization and slowly expand my influence, smooth sailing was what I should aim for.
There was no need to steer the whole ship into a storm of uncertainty.
But as leader of the Northern Covenant Syndicate, sometimes I had no choice but to toss the organization into the eye of the storm.
“Time is the issue.”
Even while I was recruiting partners and sub-contractors around the world, plans were already being made on the other side of the secret barrier surrounding the entire communist bloc.
The very existence of the Nameless Soldier was proof of that.
The armored knight’s appearance had been the final wake-up call that made me realize how dangerously complacent I’d been.
I needed to grow the organization faster than the Soviet communists could come up with a way to kill witches.
Given the ultimate goal, a little risk was acceptable.
Clashing with any capable mage was just another kind of risk.
The enemy mage fired a spell at me as I slowly closed in.
“Don’t come any closer!”
“Even after I came all the way here myself, you’re still giving me that attitude. How sad.”
Despite how competitive my looks and body were, I actually thought it was kind of funny. I should be happy about it, right?
I pulled Shattenmädchen into existence at a size large enough to pass through it, the starting point.
Then I compacted shadows into five locations, each one a possible landing site.
“By now you know exactly what’s coming next, don’t you?”
I smiled wickedly and dove into Shattenmädchen, activating Blink.
The time it took to cast magic was the same as the time it took to leap—literally a blink of an eye.
Right after Blink, the world in front of me changed.
The underground space was still vast, but the Korean mage’s back was now completely exposed in front of me.
They were mid-swing, slashing at the shadow right in front of their nose.
It wasn’t crude physical force; the magic trace felt strong enough that it was probably some ability to scatter hostile magic traces on contact.
But the position was completely wrong. If you dived perfectly in a penalty kick, you’d hit something—but without knowing the direction, the goal was still open.
The moment Blink’s displacement finished, I surged forward and drew Baramil.
“It was from behind—!”
The wound was deeper than before. The moment the fresh blood touched the blade, Baramil seemed almost thrilled, drinking in the blood like it was candy.
Of course, the artifact had no self-awareness. It was just that its original magic activated more enthusiastically the more it cut.
Whoosh. Blood sprayed across not just the metal floor but my pristine white dress and face as well. The warm blood rush only heightened the battle excitement.
“…”
I didn’t need to get excited myself.
Close contact was useful for landing a solid hit, but I didn’t need to stand right next to them either.
I forced my inertia to overcome the recoil and retreated sharply with telekinesis the instant the silver trajectory of Baramil turned blood-red.
There was no need to worry about backlash. I’d already used a piece of Shattenmädchen to stabilize my own center of gravity.
The closer Shattenmädchen’s shadow was to me, the more effective it became.
The shadow hand I’d materialized moments ago had slithered out from under the hem of my dress and wrapped around my leg like a tentacle.
While I was pulling away, I carefully observed the opponent’s reaction.
The battlefield’s scales could tip with a single moment of hesitation—especially when fighting a mage.
“Not recovering the soul…?”
Their wound was still wide open from Baramil, the hole growing larger by the second.
If I didn’t close that hole in their soul and catch their breath, their magic would run out like an ebbing tide…
As I wondered, something glinted between the opponent’s sleeve.
“This bastard—!”
Projectiles flew straight toward me faster than sound—bullets based on rifle rounds, but the launch platform didn’t need to be a rifle.
In the split-second window where I could think, I acted.
I triggered only sub-dimensional displacement instead of Blink and sent part of my body into the pocket dimension.
Crack. Bullets sliced through the air, passing right through the space I’d vacated.
But the part of my waist that should have taken the hit had already been displaced only tens of milliseconds earlier.
The bullets whistled past, barely grazing the ends of my platinum hair.
Even at subsonic speed, they had enough energy to tear through strands of hair. A burning sensation spread across my scalp as several strands fell away.
At the same instant, a soul-alarm rang in my ears. The upgraded Rosetta Stone had been one heartbeat late in detecting the danger.
“Of all the times…”
It was a national artifact, but no artifact was perfect.
From the accuracy standpoint alone, the Rosetta Stone had served its purpose, but the speed was still off.
A flicker of anger rose in me.
If I wanted to erase the evidence, I’d have to get rid of all of it. And hair was harder to deal with than expected.
I quickly restored my waist to its original position. The body snapped back into place the moment the displacement ended.
From my perspective it was seamless—no sensation at all. Displacement merely moved the visible surface.
I ground my teeth and muttered.
“That was pretty threatening. I mean, if it wasn’t just me.”
“What kind of woman are you, anyway? You act like you own a single artifact.”
“No need to elaborate. Just call me an ordinary passing witch.”
They were that curious about what kind of person I was? Well, that was enough of an answer, wasn’t it?