The Back Alleys' People (6): The Soul's Fracture
“Ugh...”
It was before the Nightmare Lord’s final words pierced the air.
The sword beside his neck sliced through mercilessly, and his head rolled across the ground before falling.
The Nightmare Lord’s upper body lay sprawled on the floor, yet where blood should have sprayed, black flames and ash swirled violently.
“Puhah! Do you really think killing me will change anything?”
Even with his neck severed, his head still grinned in that eerie way as he spoke.
“You know this isn’t enough to stop it, right? The grand plan is already in motion, and Britannia has no power to halt it!”
“You die, you talk too much.”
“This body won’t enjoy for long… but let’s meet again. Hector! Black Flame Explosion!”
The body swelled grotesquely, mana surging visibly through its form.
The flickering was so intense it was visible to the naked eye, and black flames erupted, swallowing the surrounding space.
BOOM!
Black-red flesh and ash engulfed the back alleys, tearing through the barrier and spilling outward.
While the fog thinned and patches of blue sky appeared, some of the black flames raced toward me.
“Useless.”
Robert moved in an instant, pulling me and Edith into his arms.
The flames were blocked by his coat and died down, but one ember still reached me.
The fog lifted, the landscape collapsed, and a dizzying sensation of the world flipping over hit me.
When I regained consciousness, I was in the backyard where black flames still crackled.
“Back…”
Relief washed over me, but a crushing fatigue immediately followed.
Even if it had blocked the shock, enduring with this frail body had been impossible.
“Recovery… breathe…”
It choked me up.
Suddenly, consciousness was slowly severed by the hot blood flooding my throat.
I wiped my lips, and black blood oozed between my fingers.
“Insane. Was it a suicide curse?”
My vision spun, and my mind stopped as I tried to think of the next step.
Hot heat radiated inside my body, and I realized [Healing Water] was barely holding back the flames.
“Reduced healing or dot damage… either way, I need to regain consciousness…”
Edith’s blue eyes, fixed on me from the side, shook uncontrollably.
Robert-san was frantically inserting a probe into my body, trying to pull out something to feed me.
And then consciousness cut off.
***
“That guy… to the very end…!”
“Kane…!”
Black flames blazed, engulfing Kane’s body.
The curse of the Nightmare Cult I had seen countless times during my knight days.
A flame that refused to extinguish until life ended, roots growing and devouring the body, coldness freezing from the toes and shattering… one of the vicious curses was devouring Kane’s body.
Before transferring to Edith, I had hurriedly removed it and tried to sprinkle holy water.
Even knowing that even holy water—something obtainable only with billions of gold—could only reduce the pain a little, my body moved first.
“Uncle! Kane… Kane!”
Wasn’t the child who had already suffered enough from Nightmare Fever?
At least until the end…
In the brief moment I hesitated while gripping the probe handle.
The black flames subsided as if in vain.
***
Year 1509 of the Empire, back alleys of Britannia.
An unknown mana explosion had occurred in the backyard of the poorhouse.
Newspapers spread rumors that the knight order had intervened or that it was a terrorist incident beyond the police line.
And in the backyard of the poorhouse, the residue of black flames that even the guards refused to approach had been burning for three days.
The camera flash was focused solely on the backyard of the poorhouse, with no mention of the victim.
The victim, Kane, had remained in a coma for three days.
“Kane…”
He seemed to be sleeping soundly, but the doctor said he had barely survived the critical condition.
He had barely held on because he unconsciously performed the strange breathing method he always used.
“Wake up, you idiot Kane…”
Many people from the poorhouse, police officers, and various reporters had come and gone, but the ward was deathly quiet.
This world only focused on the accident.
“Ugh… oof…”
A groan escaped, and I looked up at Kane.
His brows were furrowed in obvious pain.
It might mean consciousness had returned.
“Doctor! Kane!”
Edith kicked her seat and dashed off to find the doctor.
***
“Huh?”
A mysterious voice echoed in the dark room with no light entering.
“[Black Flame] has been severed. Strange.”
I had expected the doll’s death, but I never imagined the curse would be cut.
The voice was sticky and dark, yet it was a beautiful girl’s voice that sent chills, though no one heard it.
Because only she was alive in this corpse mountain reeking of blood.
Focusing on the last sensory input, the rising memory was a silver ring.
Cold metal flowing, merging, disappearing, and being reborn again… mercury.
“Ah? Ah ha. So you were already a sacrifice. That’s why the effect was none.”
The curse cannot touch the flesh of the king who descends.
However, if something strange exists, it means no king who brought a sacrifice to this land exists.
“Lord Black Dust is searching for the promise child, Lord Tsunami is still deep in the depths of the sea, Lord Star Frost is at the north pole of the continent, Lord True Green is preparing for descent in the east… Lord Fearful Descent has not yet arrived.”
Strange.
If it wasn’t the sacrifice pointed out by the five kings…
“Ah ha.”
The fifth after the five, the sixth king.
“A new king has arrived. Rejoice.”
Black Dust, Perm.
Tsunami, Karnian.
Star Frost, Ordo.
True Green, Kelvaser.
Fearful Descent, Yucatan.
And the new master of the end.
Mercury.
***
“Kane! Kane? Are you awake?”
My head hurt. Or maybe it was just a bit hazy.
Through blurry vision, watery blue eyes appeared.
Swollen eyes and an expression full of worry.
She held my hand tightly, biting her lips as if about to cry.
Even with her golden hair disheveled, Edith remained as beautiful as ever.
“Look. The doctor said you wouldn’t die, but this little rascal cried non-stop for three days right next to you without sleeping. Kane, are you awake?”
Marigold, arms crossed at the door, teased while clicking her tongue.
Given her tired appearance, it seemed she had been nursing while going back and forth.
Edith’s face flushed red at that.
“You flower girl…! Who said I cried!”
“Without even putting saliva in your mouth, you’re lying? How do you handle those puffy eyes? I was crying all night, soaking three towels.”
“Puhah. Ah! No laughing. Marigold noona. My stomach still hurts.”
“Geez. The two of you are taking reunion time.”
“You flower girl really!”
“Even if I hear such words today, I feel like I won~”
Marigold laughed “puhaha” and left the ward, while Edith puffed out her chest as she looked this way.
“Edith. Your eyes are swollen a lot.”
“I know. Because of who.”
“Um… sorry. Ah, right. The kids?”
A sense of guilt rose up my back.
Women’s tears are biased… to ease the atmosphere, I mentioned the kids I had seen in the back alleys.
“If it’s them, they were safely rescued. It was only you who couldn’t do anything.”
“That’s good. Thanks for nursing.”
“It’s fine. Since you woke up. …I’m fine.”
“What?”
The voice was like something crawling in, so I couldn’t hear it.
“I’m fine! I was worried for three days, you know!”
“Violence ban! I’m a patient!”
Edith’s face reddened as she tried to raise her fist, so I hurriedly raised both hands to stop her.
Several transparent hoses plugged into my arm moved accordingly.
“Shut up. I’ll go wash my face. Rest well.”
“Uh. See you later. Thanks for worrying.”
“I didn’t say that to hear thanks! Lie down and rest!”
“Puhah. Okay.”
I waved my hand to see him off.
After leaning against the soft pillow, I looked at the many medicines plugged into my arm and connected.
“Lingga and medicine… must have been really critical.”
[Visual effect description]
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Even checking health, there was no [Black Flame] status, but it wasn’t completely empty.
Maybe there was some residue or something not critical.
“It feels uncomfortable for a status window.”
After Edith left, a while later, Hector—Robert-san—entered.
Actually, I still hadn’t decided what to call him.
“Robert… no, Sir Hector…?”
“Call me Robert-san. I’m not a knight anymore.”
“Yes. Robert-san.”
I let out a long sigh and pulled a chair to sit beside.
I carefully looked at the wrist and arm, then put it down again.
Then, without a word, we looked at each other in the eyes.
“Kane.”
“Yes.”
The deeply sunken gaze pierced my essence.
“It’s also something I said many times while training, but I don’t know what the root of your ability is yet.”
“You’re right. It’s too vast and mysterious to interpret…”
The low voice carried only deep concern.
Compared to the first day’s mixed caution, it felt warm like a real knight.
“Martial arts of the Labyrinth City, the secret of elemental magic… up to there, I thought it was just a fragment of talent and learned knowledge.”
Did you know?
It would be stranger if the knight didn’t know.
Robert who had collided several times in the duel.
“And even this eastern flame… it has depth that can’t be just learned knowledge, and it’s also surprisingly skilled, sometimes showing an immature side.”
“Yes…”
“Kane, I thought many things changed after you had Nightmare Fever.”
“Yes… right.”
“Kane, tell me honestly. What happened.”
Can I tell?
The ‘Kim San’ I reincarnated as, mixed with Kane’s memories.
This world is part of the game, and two years later you will die…
And if Robert’s actions knowing that fact twisted the timeline and other events happened…
Then I am—
“That is…”
The lips didn’t move.
The only ally I could lean on, but it’s a kind of truth I can’t tell.
Ability.
I need to find a way to explain even just a fragment of the ability.
First, I said the root of the ability is related to Nightmare Fever, and Robert listened quietly.
“Explaining the concept is the soul’s crack.”
I, Kane, saw a strange place with the sensation of the soul splitting.
A space like a record room with the world’s mysteries, countless heroes living in this world, forgotten techniques, knowledge from far away.
That is, the explanation of the [Agent List].
“If that’s true…”
“Yes, your information was also there, uncle. I couldn’t see many, but… Sir Hector Blackshuck, Knight of the Wolf… I couldn’t see deep, but I could see the surface of the information.”
“If I describe up to a point you can understand?”
“41 years old, dark knight, guardian’s…”
At the moment I was about to say age, job, and the content of the first trait, a thick hand covered my mouth.
“Enough. It’s not good for many people to know.”
“Are you believing me?”
“I have no choice but to believe. The people who know that… no longer exist in this world.”
Robert’s gaze sank deeper.
The face that was always expressionless looked like it was immersed in melancholy.
I still couldn’t read personal records, but it was an expression bearing heavy past.
“…I’m sorry.”
“You don’t need to apologize. I have no regrets for making a promise.”
It was an expression as if understood.
Although the cause and survival method of Nightmare Fever were unknown, the knights couldn’t not know that it was the actions of the [Nightmare Lords].
They probably thought it was enough for the power of [Nightmare] that insults the soul.
“The powers I handle seem to be a result of not being able to hold everything because the vessel is too small.”
“It did look like that. The power and depth seemed insufficient compared to the movement.”
It was a perfect explanation about the ability.
Honestly, that was all.
I saw the agent list, copied the skills, and used them.
“If seeing heroes’ information means normal people’s aren’t seen…”
I hid facts about the game, but I told the truth as far as possible.
After that sentence, Robert swept his chin with a rough hand and fell into thought.
“The soul’s crack…”
“I estimate yes. Like inserting into the broken parts…”
“In the end, it seems that growing the vessel is the way of growth.”
“Probably… training?”
What’s this, does training get harder?
Here more?
“That’s right. I’m grateful you told me something hard to take out easily. When your body recovers, we’ll talk more then.”
“Okay.”
The reason you were leaving was probably because of Edith, the golden horn visible outside the door.
It seemed like you were trying to dodge discreetly.
“Rest comfortably. Kane.”
Robert Grey's Personal Record has been opened.