Chapter 159
Chapter 159
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 159
Chapter Title: The Aberrant Mage
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“Anything is fine. Spill everything you know, and I'll send you back to prison in one piece.”
Lucas remained silent. His mind was racing.
Having joined back when they were the Parrot Bandit Gang, not the Parrot Mercenary Corps, Lucas felt no particular loyalty to Marsha. Therefore, confessing what he knew would be an easy task.
But if he confessed here, he would never see the outside of a deep, underground prison until he grew old and died.
“How about we make a deal?”
“A deal? What kind of deal?”
“I’ll tell you everything about Marsha. In exchange, reduce my sentence. Just let me get out before I die, and I’ll give you the information you want.”
“Hah…”
Sakiri stared at Lucas, dumbfounded. Then he suddenly burst into laughter, stamping his feet.
“Hahahaha!”
The desk crashed over onto its side. Sakiri shot to his feet and advanced, screaming.
“You crazy bastard! Do you have any idea where you are?”
He kicked out, sending Lucas and his chair toppling over. Still not satisfied, he began to stomp on the fallen Lucas.
But this time, Lucas was desperate.
He would die either way. If he didn't achieve his goal here, his life was over.
“Hit me! Go on, hit me all you want! I’ll never talk! So let's make a deal!”
Sakiri’s stomping came to an abrupt halt.
Why were all bad guys so damn shameless? If you don’t want to go to prison, don’t commit crimes in the first place.
“Ah, I’m seriously going crazy.”
Sakiri took a deep breath and turned away.
Even in his terrified state, Lucas observed him closely. The fact that he’d stopped kicking meant he was conflicted. If he held out just a little longer, a window for negotiation might open.
But contrary to his expectations, Sakiri opened the door to the interrogation room and gave a terrifying order.
“Hey, disable the magic restriction device in here.”
The magic restriction device was different from anti-magic. It was a technology that prevented the very activation of magic.
Of course, it was a type of magic itself, but there weren't many bandits in the world who could break through a magic circle designed by First-Class Archmages.
Lucas swallowed hard. He couldn't show fear. This had to be Sakiri's last-ditch effort. If he could just get through this crisis, he might one day be able to return to the world.
Sakiri waited calmly. A moment later, there was a low hum as the air seemed to settle.
Lucas couldn't tell what had changed, but Sakiri seemed much lighter as he cracked his neck and approached.
“Tell me everything you know about Marsha. If you remain silent or bear false witness, you will be overcome by an unbearable terror.”
“I-I won’t talk. I’ll never talk.”
Sakiri paid him no mind and extended a hand toward Lucas. He then calmly closed his eyes and chanted what sounded like a spell.
“As one who judges, I command you. A word shall answer a word. The scales of truth rest solely upon you.”
Lucas’s face turned deathly pale.
He had been mistaken to think this was an ordinary interrogator. Sakiri was one of the many people one should never, ever cross.
“Y-You son of a bitch!”
Ten minutes passed.
“Aaaaaaaargh!”
A piercing scream echoed through the interrogation room.
Lucas was on the verge of losing his mind. Not even the surgery to amputate his leg had been this painful.
“Alright! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything, just please make it stop!”
The moment he shouted, the pain vanished as if it had been a lie.
Crumpled in a corner of the room, Lucas curled up his body in fear and looked up at Sakiri.
“The choice is yours. If you want relief, then confess.”
Lucas gave up. Neither silence nor lies were permitted.
Before Sakiri’s magic, the ‘Scales of Truth,’ every criminal was forced to confess.
“Marsha is clever. And she makes no mistakes. She’ll pretend to be on the defensive at first, making her opponent reveal all their strengths. But she always lays a trick so you can never bring yourself to hate her.”
“The classic method of a con artist.”
“Heh, a con artist? No, she’s not a con artist. Do you know what makes her so scary? She doesn't lie to deceive someone. Her entire life is a lie. You won't be able to catch her with ordinary methods.”
“Hmm, I see what kind of person she is. But that alone wouldn't cause such chaos in our intelligence reports, would it?”
Sakiri rested his chin on his hand, lost in thought. Then, a possibility suddenly occurred to him.
Others might not, but he could be certain. He knew why the intel had been so inconsistent.
“Don't tell me. Could she be…”
“That's right. She's the same kind as you.”
Thinking that he wouldn't have to suffer anymore, Lucas spoke with renewed force in his voice.
“Marsha is… an Aberrant Mage.”
* * *
Shirone analyzed her with every method at his disposal. But he couldn't figure her out. She was of a completely different nature than anyone he had ever met.
“It’s… okay to kill you?”
“Heehee, yes. You hate me, don’t you? So feel free to kill me.”
Shirone stopped thinking. If he couldn't find an answer anyway, all he could do was stick to his convictions.
“If Yuna is safe, then I have no reason to fight you either.”
A faint smile, like a crack, formed on Marsha’s lips.
As her offensive Spirit Zone lunged forward, Shirone immediately cast Teleportation.
‘Huh?’
Shirone was bewildered. The Spirit Zone had suddenly vanished, and his teleportation was canceled.
In that instant, the roar of a sonic cannon blasted past him, and his eardrums felt like they were on fire.
Unable to withstand the shock, Shirone tumbled to the ground. Rian spoke with a look of surprise.
“What? What’s suddenly wrong with Shirone?”
A sonic cannon compresses sound waves, so the sound doesn't spread out widely. His friends, standing at a distance, had only heard a high-pitched scream.
“That’s a sonic cannon. A type of sound magic. But that’s not the problem.”
Tess chimed in, agreeing with Amy.
“Right. Shirone got hit.”
A dark shadow fell over Amy’s face. Shirone had clearly tried to evade with Teleportation. But just before the magic could activate, his photonization had been undone.
“It’s not that he was hit. It was stolen from him.”
“Stolen? What was stolen?”
Through her synesthesia, Amy could see it: the moment Marsha had sucked up Shirone’s Spirit Zone like a drop of dew.
“Probably… his mental energy.”
“No way. How can you steal someone else’s mental energy?”
Amy rushed toward Shirone.
Class-A criminal, Clay Marsha.
If her guess was correct, this woman was an extremely dangerous person.
“Shirone! Be careful! That woman, she’s an Aberrant Mage!”
Shirone’s head snapped up. Though his ears were damp, as if bleeding from the force of the sonic cannon, his adamantine mental fortitude was still intact.
“This… is Aberrant Magic?”
“Oh my, you know about Aberrant Magic? You all are really something. It just goes to show you, a good education is important.”
Mages developed countless new spells every single day, and the association registered them as standard magic.
But there were also spells in the world that could never be registered. This was Aberrant Magic.
The premise of Aberrant Magic is unique.
It isn't constructed from objective facts that everyone knows, but solely from an individual's blind ideology.
In short, they were mages who could create their own rules and force them upon others.
Shirone recalled what Shina had said about Aberrant Magic during her class.
“Omnipotence is belief. The reason the speed of photons can be classified into four types, the temperature of flames can be altered, and plasma can be created even at moderate temperatures is because a mage’s omnipotence supports the premise.”
Shina wrote the words ‘Aberrant Magic’ on the blackboard.
The students murmured at the appearance of the unfamiliar term, but she continued her explanation without pause.
“But there are those in the world who use omnipotence for their own ends. In other words, instead of supporting the premise, they twist the premise itself. The magic such people use is called Aberrant Magic.”
“Professor, I don’t quite understand.”
“I’ll explain now. Everyone, what is my profession?”
“You’re a teacher, of course.”
“Correct. I am a teacher. Now, shall we begin? Is there anyone among you who does not think of me as a teacher? Please raise your hand.”
Naturally, no student raised their hand. It was impossible. To deny the fact that she was a teacher while knowing it was a contradiction.
“This is the very nature of the mind. Unlike the body, when a concept enters the mind, it doesn't push it out. It simply absorbs it to form a new kind of mass.”
Shina raised a finger for emphasis.
“In other words, the thoughts of others can be applied to someone else, and in fact, all the thoughts that make us who we are have been acquired from others. Now, I will demonstrate Aberrant Magic.”
Shina stepped down from the platform and stared intently at the students.
“All those who think of me as a teacher will die.”
The students began to stir. Shina’s words were so serious that some tried to deny them, but in the end, it was impossible.
The mind cannot be denied. It can only be changed.
“Professor, is this… for real?”
“Don’t be alarmed. I was just explaining the mechanism. I am not an Aberrant Mage.”
Sighs of relief erupted from students all around.
Shina adjusted her glasses and returned to the platform.
“Of course, in reality, it isn't this simple. No Aberrant Mage can kill a person by implanting a fundamental concept. Aberrant Magic is, in the end, still magic. The principle of equivalent exchange always applies.”
A male student raised his hand.
“But there really could be someone like that, right? A crazy person who thinks the rule you just mentioned is valid for equivalent exchange.”
“Of course, it’s a possibility. But magic is a product of reason. A person that unhinged wouldn't be able to wield magic in the first place, and even if they could, it wouldn't work on you.”
“Because they couldn't even penetrate your mind.”
“Correct. Therefore, Aberrant Magic comes with significant constraints and costs. For example, a rule like this could be made: ‘Anyone who thinks of me as a teacher must use honorifics with me.’”
“Hey, that’s a given.”
“Exactly. And that is the frightening thing about Aberrant Magic. Just as this is a given to you, an Aberrant Mage injects their own rules into others and makes them a given. In that case, what about this? ‘Anyone who thinks of me as a teacher will fall for me.’”
“Haha! That’s a given, too!”
The children giggled and laughed. Shina continued, unconcerned.
“Anyone who falls for me must obey my every word.”
The children’s laughter gradually died down.
“Anyone who obeys my words must die before me.”
A hush fell over the classroom.
“This is one of the techniques of Aberrant Magic, known as a ‘Constraint.’ They apply several constraints to expand the rule. Any leaps in logic are bridged by their omnipotence. Because they truly believe it to be so, it happens. Therefore, once you're caught, you cannot escape.”
The sound of someone swallowing could be heard. Did such magic really exist in the world? If so, that was a mage one would never want to encounter.
“However, the truly tricky part of Aberrant Magic isn't the constraint, but the ‘Cost.’ I said before that you can't kill someone with a fundamental concept, but things are a bit different when a cost is introduced. I'll demonstrate right now. Anyone who does not think of me as a teacher will die.”