The Vain One (6)
Snowflakes danced beautifully in the air, carrying a somewhat alien black hue. Yet their beauty was so profound it rendered any such observation meaningless. It was a landscape born of paradox. The thickly falling frost held shadows within it. Even the fresh bloom of spring was buried beneath a winter night as if it had never existed. Those who witnessed this contradictory season found their gazes stolen by a terrible, intoxicating ecstasy.
On the other hand.
"Haa... haa..."
At the center of the circular arena, a girl was breathing harshly.
"Cough... ugh."
Her dry coughs sounded painful. The girl standing there, utterly exhausted, was none other than Emilia.
Her slender legs trembled. Crunch. Footprints pressed into the snow that had piled up like a blanket.
Faced with the surreal scenery unfolding before her, the girl muttered blankly to herself. A pure white breath bloomed from her lips.
"...Just what..."
What on earth had happened?
She sank into thought. The last thing the girl remembered was the sight of ten thousand spears raining down. And then, in the very next moment—
Shatter.
Winter had broken. In a single instant. The vivid landscape from just moments ago vanished like a lie, scattering into countless fragments.
"Ah."
It felt like being lost in a dream. If she simply closed her eyes and opened them again... wouldn't everything disappear, and wouldn't she wake up in a soft bed?
Of course, the delusion didn't last long. The snowflakes falling on her cheek and the cold seeping into her body proved this was reality.
Emilia lifted her head.
"......"
What appeared in her blurry vision was a golden snake. Narrow eyes curved in an ominous smile. The boy was full of composure. Unlike her own wretched, emaciated state, he looked refined.
Only then did Emilia realize it. The fact that she was weak.
She had deployed her magic just to reach the tip of the boy's toes, but even that had been utterly insufficient. It was an absurd, unreasonable gap.
"Do you still intend to continue?"
The polite, gentle tone of the question made her breath catch. A deep sense of exhaustion lingered throughout her body. Her drained legs shook. But—
"...Yes."
She did not fall. A venomous light still gleamed in her blue eyes. It was a horrifying tenacity.
Emilia bit her lip. She forced her breathing to steady. In her ears, auditory hallucinations rang out—words she had heard long ago.
Become strong, Emilia.
Her chest tightened.
Otherwise, you won't be able to survive.
A single memory forcibly lifted the girl to her feet. Of course, she wasn't expecting a reversal. She had already sensed it from the previous strike. It was an overwhelming gap—so vast it was difficult even to look up at him.
"It's not over yet."
Emilia simply didn't know how to kneel. In her life, defeat had always meant death, so she had never learned the way to submit. It was the path she had mastered to survive a cruel fate. This time was no different.
The girl clenched her fist tightly. Scraping together the last dregs of her depleted mana, she barely managed to create a single ice spear. It was her final, desperate struggle.
"I won't lose... Never."
Her demeanor was vicious. As she aimed the sharp tip of the spear at the boy, a sigh-tinged murmur reached her ears.
"Oh dear... I really didn't want to treat you so roughly."
The snake flicked its tongue as if delighted. Was it really that enjoyable? Well, it was the process of stepping on an insect that had been acting out of line.
'I suppose it's only natural.'
She didn't feel particularly wronged. After all, wasn't this what she had tried to do to him first? If one decided to stab their opponent, they had to be prepared to be stabbed in return.
The ominous narrow eyes smiled.
"It can't be helped! I wanted to end this as gentlemanly as possible, but..."
Grin.
The corners of the boy's mouth curved in a chilling arc. A powerful killing intent spread outward.
"This is the result of your own choice, my lady."
The snake brought his hands together. Black mist rippled around him. Sensing something ominous, Emilia tried to retreat, but the boy's next action was faster.
He clapped his hands lightly.
Clap!
A sharp rupture rang out. In the next instant—
"...Huh?"
The gravity surrounding the girl flipped upside down. Her body hung suspended in the air for a moment. It didn't last long.
"Aaaah... Kyaa, kyaaaaah!!"
Her blue hair shot upward toward the sky.
Lie — Gravity Inversion
Judah was portrayed as the strongest evil in the original work. He moved like an ally to the protagonist until the latter half, only to reveal his true colors at the most critical moment. He was the character responsible for the shocking twist.
The strategy guide video I had uploaded was also flooded with heated reactions. He had always been seen as a kind, sometimes clumsy comic relief character. A supporting character who had earned the players' favor—only for the story to reveal that he was actually the mastermind behind every tragedy. Because the foreshadowing had been so meticulously hidden, catching it on a first read was nearly impossible.
But the problems didn't end there. His ability was nothing short of a catastrophe. The protagonist's party had no time to recover from the shock of betrayal before they were forced to step forward to prevent the world's destruction. Judah's strength existed far beyond the bounds of common sense.
Because of that, many intense scenes had appeared. Among them, the most talked-about moment was the 'Continental Gravity Inversion' that appeared in the final battle.
It's starting to feel a little boring.
Shall we make this world a bit more interesting?
He denied the laws of nature. With a single clap of the boy's hands, the gravity of the entire continent was reversed. People fell toward the sky. A world helplessly marching toward destruction. The direction was still burned into my mind.
Of course, something like that was only possible because it was Judah from the original story. With the power I possessed, it was completely out of reach. Even after three years had passed since my possession, the ability called Lie was still incredibly difficult to handle. With my insufficient output, reaching that kind of peak was hard.
Reversing the gravity of an entire continent? How on earth would that even work? It was a level of power I simply couldn't comprehend.
'But.'
That didn't mean I couldn't do it at all. The ability to manipulate reality through lies. It was simply that my output was low; the nature of the ability itself hadn't changed. If I limited it to a narrow range that I could handle, defying the laws of the world was easy.
Clap!
This was exactly that moment.
"Aaaah... Kyaa, kyaaaaah!!"
The principle was the same 'Gravity Inversion,' but it was a drastically scaled-down version. If the original Judah had targeted the entire continent, the target I had chosen was merely a single girl.
A blurred afterimage shot vertically upward at high speed. Watching the form accelerate faster and faster, I wore a regretful smile.
I won't lose... Never.
Just as I had expected. Emilia showed no intention of surrendering. It was the fierce determination to fight until the very end. To break that spirit, I had no choice but to use somewhat violent methods.
If she planned to stand again even after knowing the difference in power, then I simply had to shake her so thoroughly that she could never stand again.
"Hehe."
The referee didn't seem inclined to intervene either. It probably meant the duel could continue. When the girl's head was about to touch the clouds, I clapped once more.
Clap.
Immediately after, the gravity surrounding the girl returned to normal. The blue hair that had been dangling at the edge of the sky floated for a moment as if swimming through the heavens, then began to plummet back toward the ground. A faint scream could be heard.
"U-uwaaaaah...!"
Emilia fell rapidly as acceleration took hold. No matter how sturdy her body was, falling from that height would cause serious injury. On top of that, she was suffering from mana exhaustion, fatigue, and total depletion. There was no way the girl could brace for impact before meeting the ground.
Of course—
"Let's go back up, shall we?"
Clap!
I wasn't about to let that happen. Just before her fluttering blue hair could touch the arena floor, I brought my hands together at the perfect timing. Emilia's face grew distant once again.
"For someone who spoke so solemnly... your screams are incredibly cute."
The little villainess launched skyward by the mastermind. I repeated the applause.
Clap!Clap!Clap!
When she reached the sky, I dropped her. When she came back down, I sent her right back up. Occasionally, I even switched the gravity horizontally for some curveballs.
"......!!"
For a while, only delicate screams echoed throughout the arena. How much time had passed like that?
I stopped clapping only after a system alert appeared.
Unique Ability Liar's output has been almost entirely exhausted.
Remaining Output: 4.7%
"Time to wrap this up, I suppose."
Clap!
I delivered the final clap and waited in place. Standing with both arms outstretched, I soon saw the girl plummeting at terrifying speed. Her blue hair left a long trail behind her.
"Whoops."
I lightly caught the falling girl. Using my ability to cancel out her acceleration, I gently embraced her powerless body.
"Are you thinking of giving up now?"
"......"
Emilia was completely out of it. I whispered deliberately into her ear, as if taunting her. It was a warning that if she didn't forfeit immediately, I would show her something even worse. Her slender shoulders trembled violently.
"Ahem."
I set the villainess down on the ground. The moment her feet touched the floor, her legs buckled. As expected, Emilia immediately collapsed on the spot. Her chin shook like a leaf in the wind.
"My lady."
"......"
"My lady?"
"......"
No answer came. I had been smiling brightly, but only then did I realize something was wrong. Had I taken the joke too far? She was still a fairly skilled student, so I had played with her without much worry. But her reaction was far from normal.
'Wait a second.'
As I pondered, a certain setting belatedly came to mind.
'Now that I think about it... I recall something about Emilia having severe acrophobia.'
It was a detail I had only vaguely remembered from an extra booklet that had been released sometime ago. A chill ran down my spine.
"Oh no."
I frantically examined Emilia. The villainess was kneeling with a vacant stare. It was already too late.
"My lady! Are you alri— huh?"
The girl's pants were soaked. A small puddle had formed where she sat. The black snowflakes that had accumulated from the previous attacks melted rapidly upon contact with the flowing liquid. At the same time, white steam rose.
"Uh."
My brain shut down. Yellow liquid. No matter how I looked at it, it had come from beneath the girl.
I quickly looked up and tried to pretend I hadn't seen anything, but my eyes unfortunately met her blue ones.
"......"
"......"
Her pupils shook as if they might shatter. Tears gradually welled up. The trembling grew worse and worse. And finally—
"Hic...! Uuu, huwaaaaang...!"
Emilia burst into tears.
Aigoo. I really messed up this time.