Chapter 158
Chapter 158
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ace
Chapter: 158
Chapter Title: Clay Marsha (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The moment Amy's shout erupted, Tess's rapier pierced Falcoa's heart. Immediately after, Rian's eyes widened, and blood burst from his mouth.
Tess's swordsmanship was flawless. The rapier had pierced Falcoa's heart precisely, and its function would soon cease.
Falcoa sensed his death. He wasn't particularly afraid. Perhaps death was the drug closest to pleasure in this world.
“Marsha.”
The final word from the dying Falcoa's lips was, surprisingly, the name of his leader. As if seeing his life flash before his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifted faintly.
‘Take me to the battlefield.’
As Tess withdrew her rapier, Falcoa's body fell backward. He collapsed with a thud, and Rian, unable to bear the physical pain, dropped to his knees.
“Rian! Are you okay?”
Amy rushed over in a panic. Rian forced a smile and looked back at her.
“Hey, Amy. Did you take care of everyone?”
“Tell me. Where are you hurt? How bad is it? Tess! How could you just stab through him like that?”
Amy shouted at Tess, her voice full of resentment. But Tess was merely flicking the blood from her rapier. Then, she suddenly smiled and winked.
“Hehe, what are you talking about? What do you take me for? I may not look it, but I’m confident in my spacing. I only stabbed Falcoa's torso. Rian is fine.”
Amy stared at Tess with a dumbfounded expression.
“Um… Rian is bleeding from his chest.”
“What!”
Tess's eyes shot wide open as she examined Rian. Just as Amy said, a thin stream of blood was seeping out.
“Rian! Rian! Are you okay? Stay with me!”
As a pale-faced Tess buzzed in his ear, Rian, who had momentarily lost and regained consciousness, waved his hand in annoyance and pushed himself up.
“Don't make a fuss. It just nicked me a little.”
“I'm sorry, Rian. It's because I'm not skilled enough…”
“Don't say that. If it had been any shallower, Falcoa wouldn't have gone down. We both would have been in danger then. Your judgment was correct.”
“Hmph, but…”
Rian genuinely thought so. No matter how worried you were for a friend's safety, a deep thrust was better than a shallow one. That's why Tess was able to maintain peak concentration.
“Alright! A wound like this is nothing. Let's go. I'm worried about Shirone.”
Even while they were fighting, bizarre sounds and explosions had been coming from inside the building. He was clearly fighting the leader. It was bound to be a more dangerous situation than their fight with Falcoa.
At that moment, the building's wall exploded with a crash, and Shirone was thrown out.
“Shirone!”
Just before crashing into the ground, Shirone cast Blink and retreated ten meters. As his photonization faded, Shirone landed, his feet dragging as he skidded across the ground.
“Shirone, are you okay?”
“Stay back!”
Shirone shouted urgently. The fact that the always-calm Shirone was uncharacteristically agitated rooted his friends to the spot.
“It's not over yet. It’s sound magic. It's dangerous to come closer.”
Marsha's sonar could be freely used for both targeted and area-of-effect attacks. If the three of them, clearly exhausted from their own battle, came over, they would undoubtedly be caught in a powerful sound magic attack.
“Not bad. You’ve lasted a long time against me.”
Bending down to exit the building, Marsha approached with a smile. But her smile vanished before Falcoa's corpse.
Falcoa was dead.
He was a bit unhinged, but they were a group of misfits who had a truly fun time running wild together. His blood accounted for at least thirty percent of the fame of the Parrot Mercenaries across the continent.
‘You must have no regrets, Falcoa.’
Marsha knew without having to see. He was the kind of man who would have thought dying in a sword fight was a much cooler death than dying of a heart attack, strung out on drugs.
But that was the end of her sentimentality.
It was surprising that he'd been taken down by mere students, but considering the state of Falcoa's body after five years of drug addiction, it wasn't an extraordinary situation.
Marsha refocused on dealing with Shirone. She had suspected it when he broke through the first gate, but facing him directly confirmed it: his combination of magic was remarkably well-balanced.
His Blink was top-notch, and she was impressed by the power of his main offensive tool, the Photon Cannon.
The laser was perfect as a siege weapon, and while his defensive magic, Photon-Burst, had the drawback of requiring precise timing, it had the advantage of being convertible into an offensive spell when needed.
A balance achieved by a single mage through long contemplation and evolution.
What she liked most was that it was a unique magic that could only be used by Shirone, something that couldn't be learned from any other mage.
‘The magic of an Un-locker. Interesting. I want it.’
While Marsha was thinking this, Shirone was also analyzing the variables of the situation, now that they were in an open area.
He had suffered numerous penalties inside the building, so there wasn't any particular disadvantage now. Above all, without the risk of harming the hostage, he could unleash his full power.
“Things will be different from now on. I will never forgive you.”
“Hehe, Shirone, you will come to forgive me.”
“On what grounds? What you've done is beyond the pale of human decency.”
“Well, you see, the thing is…”
Marsha stuck out her tongue like a mischievous child and shouted.
“It was all a lie!”
Shirone and his friends couldn't comprehend her words and stared blankly. Then Marsha shouted towards the building.
“Yuna! You can come out now!”
Her voice, amplified, boomed out towards the sea.
A moment later, the building's door opened, and a pretty girl walked out.
“No way, is that girl Yuna?”
“That's right, it's Yuna. As you can see, she's been living here comfortably, completely unharmed. How about it, Shirone? Are you still angry?”
Shirone couldn't answer. Even with his outstanding insight, he couldn't even begin to guess what Marsha was thinking.
“Oh my, you still don't get it? Should you get so angry over big sis playing a little prank on her little bro? Everything I said was a lie. So forgive me. Okay?”
Yuna bowed her head to Shirone's group and said.
“She didn't do anything wrong. In fact, Marsha saved me.”
Rian spoke up, frustrated.
“What the hell is going on? Can someone explain it for my stupid self?”
But neither Amy nor Tess said a word.
It was blatant mockery. That much was clear. The problem was the motive. What on earth was Marsha's intention in orchestrating all this?
That was what Shirone was thinking about as well.
This wasn't something that could be dismissed as a mere prank. The Parrot Mercenary Corps was annihilated. Falcoa was dead. To think that all of this was a lie was inconceivable.
“If that's really the case… send Yuna over here.”
For now, rescuing Jis's little sister was the priority. But Marsha shook her head with that same playful smile.
“Yuna, go back inside. I'll send you to your brother later.”
Yuna nodded and went back into the building.
Shirone was thoroughly infuriated. What on earth did Marsha want to do with this situation?
He couldn't sense any purpose or meaning. It just seemed like she wanted to stir up trouble like a child.
“What is this? What in the world do you want?”
“Hehe, what's wrong? Yuna is safe, isn't she? Isn't that enough? Ah, or did you want to be the hero and rescue her yourself?”
“That's not it, but…”
“Now you get it, right? Big sis did nothing wrong. You're the bad one, Shirone. You're the one who made me sick. So I'm never, ever handing Yuna over to you.”
Shirone entered the Spirit Zone. Marsha's blade-sharp, offensive zone was already aimed between his eyes.
“Hmph! I won't fall for it again.”
Shirone shouted bravely, but in reality, his mind was in utter turmoil. Marsha had eliminated his motive to fight. And yet, she was still radiating a belligerent killing intent.
‘Calm down. She's directing hostility at me. That's reason enough to fight.’
If this was a tactic to deceive him, he couldn't just stand by and take it. Besides, with the hostage safe, once the battle began, he wouldn't be pushed back like he was inside the building.
However, shattering Shirone's expectations, Marsha released her Spirit Zone. And, as if disarming herself, she spread her arms wide and said to Shirone.
“You can kill me.”
Shirone's heart sank. He knew what those words meant.
It was the magic spell she said she chanted every time she was beaten by her stepfather.
Therefore, Marsha was being sincere. She was clearly, genuinely asking him to kill her.
‘What are you, Marsha? Who in the world are you?’
* * *
Magic Association Investigation Room.
Sakiri, a certified Class 5 Mage and investigator, wiped the sweat from his brow. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, and more than half the buttons on his shirt were undone.
He clearly had the look of an exhausted man. But the forearm gripping the iron club was still bulging with power.
“Hoo, we've had our break. Shall we start again?”
“Guuuhhh…”
Lucas, collapsed on the floor, let out a groan.
The vice-captain of the Parrot Bandits, who had raided the Magic Association with Arcane. However, his legs had been severed at the time, caught in Shina's ice magic, Absolute Zero.
He didn't know how many hours he'd been beaten.
If he hadn't protected his body with Schema, he would have been tormented enough to have died long ago.
“Here I come. Grit your teeth.”
Sakiri swung the iron club again. Under the barrage of blows, Lucas crawled on his hands before collapsing from exhaustion and rolling on the floor.
“Aaargh! Please stop! At least ask me something before you hit me! I told you I'd tell you everything!”
“Hold on. I have to get to a thousand hits.”
“You crazy bastard!”
Sakiri counted in his head. Five hits left. Now four. Three.
Finally, after delivering the last blow to his side, he threw the iron club down with a look of satisfaction.
The club rolled across the floor with a loud clatter.
“Hoo, that was refreshing. That’s my workout for the day.”
“Hhhh, why are you doing this…?”
Lucas clutched his aching stomach and wept.
He was recruited when the Parrot Mercenary Corps degenerated into a band of thieves, but his outstanding skills had allowed him to rise to the position of vice-captain in no time. A villain of the world who hadn't even flinched when facing Arcane.
But in front of Sakiri, he was no better than gum stuck to the pavement.
Sakiri grabbed Lucas by the hair and threw him toward a chair.
As the roughly thrown Lucas clung to the chair, Sakiri sat down on the opposite side of the desk and spoke.
“Sit down. Before I cut off your remaining arms too.”
Lucas used his two arms to push himself up and barely managed to sit in the chair. Then, Sakiri silently and meticulously reviewed the case file prepared by the investigators for a long time.
“Investigator, sir, please just send me back to my cell. I'll tell you where Marsha is.”
“Don't need it. What kind of woman do you think she is? You think she'd still be there?”
“Damn it! Then why the hell did you beat me up?”
After turning the last page of the file, Sakiri slammed his hand on the desk in irritation.
“You know what kind of criminal I hate the most? Murderers? Home-wreckers? No, prison escapees. Does the state look like a pushover to you? There's a limit to audacity, but a B-Class criminal escapes prison? Your life is over. You'll never see the sun again for the rest of your life.”
Lucas swallowed hard. Sakiri's words weren't a threat, but a statement of fact.
He could tell just from the disposition of an investigator who said he'd deliver a thousand blows and actually did it.
“Anyway, let's begin. You'd better cooperate. My daughter is four years old right now. The age where she's all cute and cuddly for her daddy. But I haven't been home in days! Let a man live, will you? Got it?”
“What do you want to know?”
“Forget everything else. The woman named Marsha. Confess everything you know about her.”
That was the only information Sakiri wanted.
Clay Marsha. As a political criminal, she hadn't caused any major disturbances for an A-Class criminal, but that very fact made her a difficult woman to catch.
The biggest problem was that the intelligence on her was all over the place. Sometimes she was reported as a fire mage, other times she was said to use ice magic.
From that perspective, she had a very meticulous and thorough personality. Even when they mobilized all available investigators for the search, they couldn't pin down her movements.
That's why Sakiri had summoned Lucas. He thought the operation had been flawed from the start.
What they really needed to know wasn't where Marsha was, but who Marsha *was*.