Chapter 19
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 19
Chapter Title: Crushing the Impostor
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In the end, he collapsed without even mustering that final strike.
Before the words had even finished leaving their mouths, I kicked off the ground and shot forward.
My hand gripping the greatsword didn't need any strength at all.
Like sweeping dust with a broom, I just lightly swept it sideways once.
"Kill her! That arrogant bitch...!"
The moment one of his underlings bellowed and charged.
KABOOM!
His body flew up into the air.
His shield crumpled like a sheet of paper and tumbled across the ground far away.
"Guh... h-heh...?"
He wore an expression like he had no idea why he was airborne.
He probably never would figure it out in his lifetime.
His convulsing limbs soon went limp.
"You gonna come at me one by one?"
Their fear had turned them into mindless beasts.
"Kill that bitch!"
"If we all rush her together, she's nothing!"
"Yeah, it's just one person! One!"
WRRAAAH.
With their roars, they charged all at once.
"...!"
The instant Stella swallowed hard and squeezed her eyes shut, I readjusted my grip on the greatsword's hilt.
Shiiiing.
The massive blade slid forward, uncoiling like a serpent.
"Wha...?"
The first spear thrust came at me futilely, missing its mark.
I tapped the spearhead lightly with the flat of my blade.
Just a slight twist, and the attacker's balance crumbled.
The giant blade plunged straight into his exposed neck.
CRUNCH.
A dull crack of shattering bone rang out once, and his face lost all form.
I didn't stop. I twisted my body right then.
The greatsword followed like an extension of myself.
With every shift in my fingertips, the blade tip danced freely in any direction.
Clang! CLANG!
An axe bounced away, spinning through the air. A crude sword twisted and snap—broke clean off.
"Wh-what the hell is this?!"
"The sword... I can't see the sword!"
Even with that massive greatsword right in front of them, their eyes couldn't track it.
By the time they thought I'd stabbed, it was already buried deep. By the time they thought they'd blocked, chunks of flesh had already been shaved off from behind their shields.
It was a blade that carved itself into their very marrow.
"Gaaah!"
"My arm! My arm!"
A dozen or so fell.
I lightly flicked my wrist, shaking the blood from the gore-smeared greatsword.
Swish.
The blood droplets scattered in the air, drawing a long red line across the ground.
The survivors staggered back.
They hadn't even gotten close to me in the first place.
In a way, they were the smartest ones there.
"What the hell? How is she this strong...!"
"With skills like that... no way, right?"
"Impossible. There's no way that person would be here."
They whispered among themselves, voices hushed just enough to barely carry.
If you're gonna talk, just say it loud. Don't make things more frustrating.
"B-Boss!"
In the end, they clung to their so-called Axiom.
The boss is Axiom, so he can take her down easy.
That's what they wanted to believe.
I leisurely stood my greatsword upright and asked.
"Think you can handle it?"
Not sarcasm.
I was genuinely curious.
Tilting my head slightly, I peered into the terrified man's eyes.
Out of kindness, I even shared some useless info.
"Blackjack's a monster who wears countless skins."
"Huh?"
"She grows by devouring others' talents, others' power."
Though right now she's a whimpering mess after Esira took her sword away.
Who would've thought losing her sword meant she couldn't use her power either?
"That's Blackjack. Number 71."
"......"
"What about you? Got something like that inside you?"
Silence fell.
A moment later.
"Hahaha!"
The man suddenly burst into laughter.
Has he lost it?
I thought he had, but it wasn't the laugh of someone broken by fear.
It was the face of someone with an ace up his sleeve. A laugh laced with the certainty of now I turn the tables.
"Doubting my power? Ha. Miss, you must've been holed up at home your whole life. No street smarts at all."
Too good a fighter to have stayed home all her life, though.
He sneered, cocking his head mockingly.
"Know what real power is? Nothing complicated. Overwhelming force. That's all it takes."
The man pulled a red stone from his pocket.
A murky blood-red hue swirled on its surface. Ominous just to look at.
The color of rot eating away from the inside.
"Know what this is?"
Stella muttered from behind me.
"...Blood Cell?"
I shook my head.
"Nope."
A real Blood Cell isn't that murky.
Deeper. More alluring. More deadly.
The kind of color that dries your throat just gazing at it.
"...Probably some junk he picked up somewhere."
"Junk?! You ignorant bitch!"
The man's face flushed beet red. He raised his fist clutching the stone and growled.
"This is power itself! A blessing from the gods!"
He tightened his grip on the stone with one hand, beckoning me mockingly with the fingers of the other.
"Wasn't planning to use this much power, but consider it an honor!"
He crushed the stone in his palm.
Or more like ground it into his flesh and absorbed it.
Crunch, snap.
The stone shattered with a crack, followed by the grinding of twisting bones.
"Grrrrr. Ohhh!"
His body warped.
His armor tore off in shreds. His forearms swelled like thighs, veins writhing like worms beneath his skin.
Red steam rose from his flesh.
Like meat sizzling over a fire. An intense heat radiated outward.
"GRAAAAH!"
A hulking mass of muscle with glowing crimson eyes.
His lips curled back nearly to tearing.
"See this? This is Axiom power!"
That into Axiom, huh.
I wouldn't know.
Esira asked.
"A transformation?"
"More precisely, the stone's power."
This time Stella chimed in.
"What kind of stone...?"
"Someone must've made it."
The man scowled deeply, annoyed by the chatter.
"DIE!"
He charged. Shockingly fast for that bulky frame.
The axe blade flashed toward my neck.
He really loves showing off his strength. Fine, I'll indulge him.
I held my greatsword horizontally.
KABOOM!
The thunderous clash of steel on stone echoed as they met head-on.
Stella and her mother instinctively clapped their hands over their ears, while the shockwave made nearby trees sway.
I didn't budge an inch.
"...Huh?"
A full-weight overhead smash.
Enough power to pulverize rock.
Yet my blade didn't twitch. Like a steel pillar rooted in the earth.
Foolish man.
"Thought you get stronger just by bulking up?"
"Sh-shut up!"
He swung the axe wildly.
BOOM! BOOM! THUD!
I parried with the broad flat of my blade. Block, deflect, block again.
"No matter how much hot air you pump into a balloon—"
"RAAAAH!"
Foam dripped from his mouth as he rampaged. Muscles ballooned further, veins bulging on the verge of bursting.
Forcing out mana on top of it all.
"SHATTER!"
The instant he gripped the axe handle with both hands to drive it down.
I readjusted my own grip.
From below, upward.
The blade scraped along the ground before slamming straight into the falling axe.
CLANG.
The moment his arms met my greatsword, both shattered.
"Guh... h-hek..."
He crumpled to the ground.
The swollen muscles rapidly deflated. The crimson glow flickered out.
His body couldn't take it.
I rested my arm on the greatsword's hilt and looked down at him.
"Get up. You're Axiom, right?"
"Gr... grrr..."
Not even a finger could move.
"Come on, say it again."
I lifted the greatsword slightly, pressing the tip to his throat.
"Who's Axiom?"
I am.
I desperately wanted to say it, but held back.
From the direction of his underlings, murmurs rose.
"No way..."
"Th-the boss couldn't even land a hit..."
"What the hell is that woman?"
Hands trembling around their weapons, they backed away.
The absolute power they'd trusted had been crushed like twisting a child's wrist.
The shock planted deeper despair than fear ever could.
That's why they're extras.
Not knowing the gap in power isn't a sin. But prancing around believing fakes are real? That's blasphemy.
Then, the man pinned to the ground twisted his head up to glare at me.
His bloodshot eyes brimmed with venom.
"You... what the hell are you?"
Still trying to play Blackjack to the end?
"No ordinary mercenary riffraff."
Couldn't exactly introduce myself as "Axiom Number 4" here.
Not with Stella watching from behind.
I thought for a second and picked the most bland, clichéd response.
"Just a woman passing by."
His face twisted.
"Passing by... crazy bitch."
He cackled, then swallowed the red stone fragment whole.
What now. Round two?
This pattern was the worst in the original too.
"Die! All of you, die with me!"
Red energy poured out like water.
Not body enhancement.
Uncontrolled mana surged backward through his veins.
It pushed up from inside, tearing his skin.
"Gr... GRAAAAH!"
His facial skin split wide, crimson light leaking from the gashes.
Unable to bear the pain, he clawed at his own face.
"It hurts! It's burning! Get it out! GRAAH!"
His underlings panicked.
"B-Boss? What's wrong?!"
"Boss's body is swelling up!"
His form ballooned grotesquely like an inflating balloon.
Mana flashed brilliantly from every split in his skin. Blindingly intense.
Runaway overload.
The price of cramming in more energy than he could handle.
I called him a balloon as a joke... didn't think he'd literally turn into one.
At that concentration, the whole area might go up in smoke.
And honestly, this much was within expectations.
Stab.
I drove the greatsword deep into the center of the man's abdomen.
"Guhk...!"
In that instant, the overflowing red energy cut off like a burst dam.
The tip of the blade transmitted the sensation of something crumbling inside.
The stone.
The red stone he'd swallowed shattered within him.
"Guuuuuh..."
The man collapsed, unable to even muster that final strike.
It was a sight worth watching. Not much fun, though.
I've got original story knowledge.
Dealing with extras always followed predictable patterns.
Just remnants left now, huh.
The ones who'd lost their boss so anticlimactically stared daggers at me.
Eyes full of terror and dread.
I sent them one by one to meet their fates.
At first, I closed my eyes.
Too scared, wanting to pretend I wasn't seeing it.
I didn't cover my ears, though. Sounds poured in.
KABOOM.
BOOM.
Swish.
The clash of metal, flesh bursting, blood spraying—all at once.
My heart thudded in time with it.
The hand gripping Mother's had gone white. My palm slick with sweat.
People are dying.
My stomach churned. So different from the world I knew.
But I opened my eyes anyway.
To flee, I'd need to keep them shut. But my body reacted the opposite.
Could we really survive this?
What was happening?
The first thing filling my vision was the massive sword. Easily twice my height, that greatsword.
More like a lump of heavy iron than a blade.
She swung the giant thing effortlessly, almost unnaturally light.
As if the concept of weight didn't apply to her.
In the midst of blood spraying and flesh flying.
She stood there calmly.
...What is she?
I was scared. Honestly.
That power didn't seem like something to protect—it looked like something to erase.
Yet relief welled up from deep in my chest.
The reason I could still breathe right now.
And the one who'd saved Mother.
Because it was her.
"Kill that bitch!"
The thugs shouted.
Before the words finished, she kicked off and surged forward.
Too fast—my eyes couldn't follow.
Next instant, someone floated in the air.
The steel shield crumpled like paper and flew off; the man's body launched skyward. Before that "why?" could fully form on his face, it was over.
People die.
Blood spills everywhere.
And yet.
It was so beautiful, the dissonance confused me.
Then, the man who'd called himself Axiom stepped up.
Emitting a bizarre aura from his whole body, he charged like he'd awakened. Just as I thought we were all done for.
CRUNCH!
Her greatsword pierced the man's gut.
The roiling red energy cut off like a lie.
His body went limp like a puppet with cut strings.
My legs shook.
If not for Mother, I'd have collapsed.
She'd beaten an Axiom.
Admiration?
Too scary. Too brutal.
Awe, then.
Yeah, awe fits.
My lips parted without me realizing. No voice came out.
In my mind, a tiny whisper.
"...Thank you so much."