The Use of Power
At some point, without so much as a flicker of presence, Pitasha had appeared beside us, staring at us with a frozen expression.
"We were just discussing how best to use the power I picked up this time."
"...Really?"
Pitasha answered Rune's words. But it might as well have been a question aimed at me.
"We were talking about command authority, too. Pitasha — how far does yours go?"
"Wh-what do you mean?"
"I mean, if I give you an order, how much of it will you obey?"
Caught off guard by my sudden question, Pitasha panicked.
"Wh-what are you saying—"
"Pitasha."
"Y-yes?"
"What am I to you?"
"M-my... Master."
"Right. Then you should answer."
"...I-I would... anything—"
"Master."
Swoosh.
Rune stepped up beside me, closing the distance to where Pitasha stood frozen.
"Didn't you say you had something you wished to test, my lord? Now is the time for us to be growing stronger."
"Hmm. True. Then let's go."
Tap.
When I gently touched Pitasha's stiffened jaw, the tension finally drained from her body. By the time Hyunwoo left the place—
"...Huh?"
Pitasha, who had been spacing out, snapped back to her senses. She looked around, but Hyunwoo and Rune were already gone. Yet she couldn't properly process what had just happened. And no wonder — she had always been the one pressing her attacks on Hyunwoo. Being pressed by a man was a first for her.
For someone who'd only ever been holed up in her own little corner of the world, that pressure from moments ago had been almost unbearable.
"Wait, but hold on. Why is Rune acting like that? Why... did she block me?"
Even someone as ignorant of these matters as she was could tell the scales had just tipped. But that was nothing like the Rune who usually just stood quietly, watching from the sidelines. Her expressions, her gestures... they were brimming with a liveliness they'd never had before.
Pitasha knew Rune. They weren't acquainted, but they were of the same lineage. Sharing the same roots, she could sense it at a glance. And when Rune had been summoned, Pitasha had thought: thank goodness.
Because Rune had shown no interest whatsoever in men. So she had relaxed. Surely, at least here, no one would stand in her way. And in truth, no one had.
"What is this? Why now, of all times? I was first... I was summoned first... I fell for him first..."
Thanks to Rune, I'd barely escaped.
"Phew, that was close. That could've gotten ugly. Right?"
"...Yes."
Her expression was as coldly composed as ever, but there was one thing she couldn't hide. Her reddened ears — all the more striking against her already pale skin. She had most certainly changed, drastically so, from before.
Theostras. His mere existence had done this. And it left me with a sense of helplessness — the realization that on my own, I still couldn't accomplish anything.
"Alright, then I'll show you what I had in mind. Stage 71, begin."
At my words, the Gate began to open. I watched a handful of Raptors among the machine legion as they started to move in sync with it.
"The power to annihilate the profane and unholy. If I can wield it, that must mean I can bestow it as well. Which means..."
Fwooooooosh!
An aura similar to the Saintess's. But different. If the Saintess's power was bright and brimming with life, this one carried a savage intent — a ferocious force that wanted to erase everything it touched. Like a vicious guard dog. And yet, to me, it was an immensely reassuring power.
When I bestowed the Twilight Light upon the Raptors, their appearance didn't change at all. But the aura radiating from them was completely transformed.
"Go."
"GRAAAAWR!"
At my command, the Raptors charged. And in step with them, the orcs came running as well.
The situation had changed — there were now five Tier-6 orcs. And not just ordinary orcs; a diverse spread from Tier 1 on up came pouring in.
The Raptors bared their fangs at the shrieking, charging orcs — and their teeth sank into an orc's flank.
Ssssshhh...
"GRAAAAAAAAAH!"
The flesh began to melt. Quite literally — wherever the Raptor's fangs touched began to dissolve, and as the orc collapsed, the Raptor climbed on top of it. Where the Raptor's feet landed on the fallen orc's body, the melting continued.
"Ugh... this won't do."
Sliide...
I had bestowed the Twilight Light on roughly ten Raptors, but it was far from easy. The reason was simple: my total mana reserves were pitifully small. Granting it to a mere ten Raptors and I couldn't even hold out past a minute.
"Master. What if you applied it only to their fangs and claws instead?"
"Yeah. That's what I'll do next time. He did say this power grows stronger the more enemies it kills, after all."
"Precisely. For now, allow me to handle them."
After seating my swaying body in a chair, Rune cut down the orcs with just a few strokes of her blade.
When she'd first been summoned, she couldn't kill a Tier-6 orc in a single stroke. To be precise, I mean the descendant of Pakuta, who had stood on the very threshold of Tier 7. But now she was strong enough to cleave one down with a single blow. Her restrictions had loosened, and Omnissiah's interference had lessened — that had to be why.
Having dispatched the orcs in an instant, Rune climbed back up to the command room. Despite no purification technique having been applied, not a drop of blood stained her, thanks to the protective barrier that had formed around her quite naturally of its own accord.
"Impressive. You're strong."
"I have spent my entire life doing nothing but this."
"I see... The restrictions are still in place, so I can't tell you about yourself yet. But when the day comes that I can... would you tell me?"
"If my lord wishes it. As much as he desires."
"No — I'm asking whether *you* want to tell me."
"...Yes. I... I wish to tell you. My... m-my... everything..."
Fwoosh.
...
In an instant, the command room fell silent.
"I-I shall go break through the stages now, Master. Please hurry and drink your elixirs. With your control as it is now, even the lowest grade should be well within your ability. Th-then, excuse me."
Whoosh.
Rune leapt down from the command room.
Scratch, scratch.
"Come on... you can't do this to me, this is hard on me too..."
Honestly, when a jaw-dropping beauty with skin that pale and eyes that large more or less confesses to you, indirectly or not — and on top of that, when it's someone who normally maintained that blunt, frozen expression of hers, changing so abruptly like this — what am I supposed to do? Pitasha had at least given me time to prepare my heart. Rune hit far too hard and far too fast.
Sinking into the chair in the command room, I gathered myself for a moment, then headed for the training room the girls had built for me separately.
"Oh, Master!"
"Hey. First, let me tell you what I was trying to do earlier."
"Hic... c-continue, then...?"
"Yeah. First, you know I signed a contract with a new sponsor — I made a point of telling you. So, the Twilight Light is a power that annihilates the profane and unholy, and..."
"Ah... about that..."
Something about Pitasha's reaction seemed off, but I continued my explanation anyway. I'd bestowed the Twilight Light on the Raptors, but my mana was too limited right now — not even ten units for a single minute. So Rune and I had come up with the idea of partial application, but we had no idea how to extend that bestowal across the entire Machine Legion. That was the gist of it.
"For full-legion bestowal, we'll need to do some research first. The other issue is your mana supply — and that's why you came here, isn't it?"
"Right. I'm here to use this training room you built."
I drew in the surrounding mana. Then, within this space, I performed in advance the work of converting that mana into magical power inside my body. All I had to do was gather up the magical power pooled here. On top of that, being drilled relentlessly by Rune was steadily raising my command over mana itself. I'd already consumed all the supply-grade elixirs, and here I had downed two additional lowest-grade elixirs.
"Pitasha, first — watch my condition from beside me. It's my first time doing this without Rune assisting."
"Yes, Master!"
"Hoooh..."
Gulp, gulp.
Vmmmmmmm.
"Mmm... still, you're growing along nicely."
Huaguoshan. More precisely, a divine domain modeled after the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. The reason he had shaped his domain after the place where he was born and raised was simple: he missed it. How good those days had been — the days when he knew nothing and did nothing but fight and cause trouble. Looking back now, he'd certainly been looked down on, and plenty of unpleasant things had happened... but if asked to name the happiest time of his life, would it not have been here, among his kin? And the beings of Huaguoshan worshipped him, striving with all their might to ensure he would never be forgotten.
"Hmhm... I don't recall inviting you here today."
"Look here. How long do you intend to live like some degenerate? Enough is enough — it's time to leave."
"Khh... KUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
This place was his domain. The domain of Sun Wukong himself, no less!
"What insolence — sneaking uninvited into my domain, of all places. What gibberish do you think you're spouting?"
"Now, now... I only said it out of concern for you, Sun Wukong."
"I heard. Belloc. They say you devoured an entire planet single-handedly."
"I did. So come over to our side. We can no longer allow you to run wild like this."
Hmhm... so he's quite desperate, it seems. Is that whelp really so precious to them? Or perhaps...
Grin.
"Tell me, Sephir. What is it about your god that tempts you so? Or perhaps... the problem is that those who ought to die are still breathing?"
Grrrk.
"Monkey. Close that mouth of yours."
CRACK.
Vmmmm.
In an instant, his beloved treasure — the Ruyi staff — flew to Sun Wukong's hand. Sephir dodged it simply as it came hurtling from behind. As Sun Wukong watched him calmly, the Somersault Cloud drew up beside him.
"Haha! So we're doing this, then?"
"I have never once lost a fight."
"A shame, truly. But that won't be possible right now—"
BOOM!
Without warning, the Clone Technique activated. A Ruyi staff appeared at Sephir's side out of nowhere, and his shoulder burst apart. He flung himself sideways and shrieked.
"Khagh! You damned beast!"
Grin.
Sprinting straight at him, Sun Wukong plucked hairs from his own head and flung them into the air. Around him, hundreds of Sun Wukongs charged in perfect unison.
"GYAHAHAHA! Come at me! It's been centuries since my last Divinity Plunder!"