Shooting Sun
The maid who had been rolling on the floor rose to her feet and glared at me.
Gnashing.
She looked genuinely pissed. Her pupils slitted vertically, and I could hear her teeth grinding.
"You're too weak. Got nothing more?"
Despite my taunt, I didn't take my eyes off her. Even though I couldn't sense any mana, she was unbelievably fast. If I let my guard down for even a second, she might take my head off.
"Kyaaaaah!"
Not just her legs — her arms swelled up too. The maid's size shot past three meters in an instant. Her fingertips split open, and her nails stretched out long, like swords growing from her fingers. Watching her shed her human form more and more was a relief. I hated monsters pretending to be people.
BOOM!
A nail came crashing down like a thunderbolt, grazing right past me. The floor where the monster's hand struck caved in as if a bomb had gone off. Devastating power.
"Kyaaah! Kill that bastard!"
The people sitting slack-eyed in the steel chairs suddenly focused. All at once they stared at me, then raised their claws and charged.
"Uwaaah!"
"Die!"
'Hmm.'
No matter how many of them there were, they were just ordinary people. No threat at all. I hesitated for a moment, then just used Finger Wind to paralyze every single one of them.
BOOM!
As a bonus, I punched the maid in the face when she tried to ambush me through the opening.
"You... goddamn bastard!"
The monster-turned-maid glared at me like she wanted to kill me, then her thighs bulged. She launched herself forward — but not at me.
FWOOOOSH!
She leaped backward as if fleeing and started slaughtering the frozen people.
Turning your back on an enemy? That was insane. I drew my sword and fired a sword force.
SWISH!
SWISH!
"Kuaaaah!"
The sword force struck her clean. She didn't even try to dodge except for the vital spots. Her back was carved open to the point I could see her spine, and her left arm was severed.
'Huh...?'
But even so, she ignored me and focused on butchering the people. Her abnormal behavior put me on edge.
"Kuhah! Perfect!"
The monster, which hadn't radiated a shred of mana, suddenly swelled with presence. It was as if the deaths of those people had triggered something.
Demonic energy. The aura of the demons, the natural enemies of humanity, flooded the entire space.
ZIIIP!
The monster's slaughter continued before I could stop it. Her speed had increased so dramatically I could barely track her. All I caught was a flickering afterimage. By the time I noticed, she had yanked off another person's head and stuffed it into her mouth. Her tiny mouth stretched wide. She crunched and chewed it like it was a snack. Then she sank her sharp fangs into the neck of the headless corpse collapsing to the ground. Something was sucked out, and the monster shuddered.
"Kkeuheu...! So delicious it's almost a waste."
The bastard sneered at me. Between its sharp fangs, blood and bits of flesh were everywhere.
'Flesh Fire.'
WHOOOOSH.
My vision sharpened, and the world slowed down. The monster, which had killed everyone in an instant, wore a ghastly smile. A red haze rose from the claws on its one remaining right arm.
Fast. Even in this slowed world, it looked like it was moving normally.
"I wonder what you taste like."
SWOOOOSH!!
A whip-like sword force came flying. Each of her nails was coated in a red aura over ten meters long. I reflexively dodged the flickering attacks. The wall behind me shattered into dozens of pieces. Beyond it, I could clearly see the reed field outside the building.
CRRRACK!
The sound of something exploding echoed belatedly after the sword force had already passed by. As I dodged attacks too fast to perceive — only catching afterimages — my mind sharpened. This was why I came here. For real combat like this. I focused until my pupils dilated.
'Now.'
I brought the back of my right hand against the red sword force coming for my neck.
HUM.
Using the tiny bit of internal energy gathered on the back of my hand, I guided the red aura into my body. The moment it touched my skin, I could feel its hostile intent to cut and destroy my flesh. I let it burn away within the calmly flowing Mixed Energy. Just a tiny bit at a time. The attack, initially slightly off, smoothly traveled along my body, making a full circuit. I released the energy that had gathered at the tips of my other hand.
SWISH!
The monster stared wide-eyed at the red line that had appeared on its own cheek. It had realized its own attack had been turned back on it.
"You... you worthless vermin...!"
Whether it was thanks to all the people it had devoured, the monster's left arm regenerated. A sword force bloomed there as well. I could clearly sense the red whips, now doubled in number. The sensation of Flowing Clouds and Running Water, which had been tickling in my chest, now surged through my entire body.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
They were almost simultaneous, but there was definitely one that came first. I reached out my hand toward the earliest sword force to arrive. I simply turned my palm, and the bastard's sword force bounced back. Dozens of red sword forces collided and tangled with each other.
BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!
The red sword forces, having lost control, attacked each other. With the explosion, his attacks subsided. The monster's eyes bulged.
"Kuhah!"
The bastard swung its claws wildly through the air in desperation. The sword force filling the sky turned into blood and began to pour down like rain. Walls and pillars melted as if hit by hydrochloric acid. The first drop that touched my skin seared my flesh with pain. I immediately infused my internal energy with the property of Anti-Magic Power.
HUM.
The blood touching my Anti-Magic Power writhed violently. I could feel its desperate struggle to melt something. I gathered it all together, wrapped it in Mixed Energy, and threw it back.
SWISH!
Unable to control the energy mixed with my own, the monster was struck by its own blood. It let out a harsh sizzling sound as it melted its skin.
"Kkeuu...!"
The monster, revealing bright red muscle underneath, stared blankly at its own melting skin.
"Is that it?"
It wasn't quite enough. The Flowing Clouds and Running Water sensation still tickled in my chest. I was one step short.
"Kkeuheuheu... Unbelievable."
With the monster's quiet laughter, its body compressed with a series of cracking sounds. Its three-meter frame condensed down to the size of an average adult male.
"This body is about done too... Ptoo!"
Blood mixed with flesh chunks spat from its mouth, and it grinned at me grotesquely.
CRRRACK.
Without me doing anything, its flesh split open and blood sprayed out, as if it was being attacked by something.
"A shame I don't have time to toy with you slowly."
The red sword forces gathered on its right hand into one, transforming into a black blade. A chill ran down my neck.
SWISH.
A simple thrust. I barely twisted my body to dodge. My chest split open in a long gash, blood bursting out. If I'd been even a little slower, my heart would have been split. I could briefly glimpse my white ribs.
SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!
Invisible slashes continued one after another. That black blade was no joke.
'Is that even a sword force...?'
I cranked up my focus. Fortunately, the bastard's swordsmanship wasn't exceptional. I seized an opportunity at the cost of my left shoulder being nearly severed in half. I swung my sword toward its fully exposed neck.
THUD.
The sensation was strange. Alarm bells rang in my head. My sword, coated in sword force, had cut its neck — but the skin hadn't even split. It was just slightly reddened.
"Keukeu...!"
Its mockery was followed by a thunderous downward strike. A simple vertical slash, but too fast to dodge.
'Speed. Sharpness.'
I focused my mind. I ignited my sword force, pushing its sharpness to the limit. I met the black blade descending like a guillotine with my steel sword.
SHRRRK.
That was all the cutting sound there was. My sword force, and even the steel sword itself, were sliced through without any resistance. The black blade continued falling straight toward the top of my head.
'Ah...'
The sudden scent of death lingered at the tip of my nose. Only then did every cell in my body, from head to toe, violently awaken. Consciousness and unconsciousness merged into one, resisting death.
The black blade, falling like a thunderbolt, was cutting through a single strand of my front hair. It was right before touching my forehead.
'Flowing Clouds and Running Water... I should—'
I started to lift the back of my hand out of habit, then stopped. Even my vellus hair had already been shaved off. That chilling sharpness, born from gathered sword force, touched my skin.
In that fleeting moment, a thought crossed my mind.
Wasn't the back of my hand and my forehead the same thing, in the end? What mattered was mixing the opponent's energy with my Mixed Energy.
SHIIING.
The black blade swept past me as if to cleave through cleanly, but it didn't matter. I had already mixed the enemy's energy with my Mixed Energy. The monster's eyes widened. The black energy that had entered through my forehead rampaged wildly through my entire body. An energy a step above sword force. Like an incarnation born solely for destruction. I abandoned the idea of controlling it all at once. Like stacking pebbles in a violently flowing river. I subtly twisted the flow. The destructive energy tried to tear through my body as if it would explode. The eternal-seeming moment passed. The gradually twisted flow eventually came under control. I guided that current to the tips of my fingers. My right hand, extending slowly, touched the monster's abdomen.
CRRRACK!
Not only its abdomen but the wall behind it was pierced clean through. A massive hole opened in the hide that hadn't taken a scratch from sword force.
"Heok... What kind of technique is this? That's absurd."
The monster stared down at the hole in its stomach as if it couldn't believe it.
SHWIP! SHWIP! SHWIP!
Belatedly, its shoulder, side, shin, and other parts of its body split open, blood spraying out. Some of the energy I'd failed to fully control had cut my own body.
'Hurts like hell.'
Not only that, some of my meridians were damaged too. It felt like my whole body had been beaten with a hammer. But I didn't have the luxury to dwell on pain with an enemy in front of me.
SHRRK.
I pulled a new sword from my inventory and sliced off the limbs of the bastard staring blankly at me. Its power had been dropping sharply ever since its abdomen was pierced. As if its time limit had run out. Only its upper chest and head remained, like a bust. Even so, it didn't die and just stared at me.
That single use of Flowing Clouds and Running Water had burned through more than half my internal energy. Fatigue crashed over me in waves. I wanted to collapse and sleep right then and there, but I asked the bastard instead.
"What kind of scumbag is your father to make you do shit like this? Huh?"
No proper answer came. The monster just grinned slyly and sneered.
"Keuheu. An insolent little vermin... How dare you speak of Father with your filthy mouth. I'd love to teach you your place, but it's a damn shame I don't have time."
I sparked a sword force and stabbed its one remaining shoulder. Even as I twisted the blade, the bastard's expression didn't change.
"Heuheu... Still, you were fairly strong for livestock. This body, pretty as it is, just couldn't handle it... Don't waste your effort — just kill me quickly. We'll meet again."
My brow furrowed. I had no idea how to torture this thing. It clearly didn't care if it died. I frowned, then suddenly felt a flash of intuition.
'Shooting Sun.'
HUUUUM!
A sword force erupted from the ordinary steel sword. At first, just one. Then from one became two. Two became four. The sword force multiplied in an instant, swelling into dozens, hundreds. All the strength in my body was siphoned out. Thousands of tiny sword forces gathered together, emitting a brilliant light. The countless sword forces blooming from the blade all aimed at the monster. For a moment, the world expanded. As if looking down at the earth from the heavens, the surrounding scenery became perfectly clear. I felt an omnipotent sensation, as if I could cut through anything.
"What in the world is this monstrous...!"
Widening its eyes in shock at the Shooting Sun, I saw a faint thin line connected above the monster's head.
SHRRK.
So I cut it.