Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Clay Marsha (5)
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"Touching the person you stole magic from undoes the theft?"
Marsha's silence was all the confirmation Shirone needed. He knew he was right.
Yet, a sense of unease lingered. If contact was the condition to break the theft, her keeping a distance made a certain amount of sense.
The problem, however, was that Marsha held a massive advantage. She had stolen countless spells that used the God Particle, while he had to fight relying on a single Wind Cutter.
Wasn't this a fight she could easily win? And yet, she had retreated dozens of meters away as if terrified.
'An Irregular...'
Shirone's eyes widened. Everything finally clicked into place.
'I've found it! A mental weakness. Marsha isn't perfect.'
It was a simple problem, when he thought about it. Touch undoes the theft. If she could steal magic with only that one condition, who in the world could ever defeat her? There had to be an additional price to pay.
He didn't know what that price was, but it had to be deeply connected to the trauma that had made her an Irregular.
'An Irregular is a being with a mental bias. To possess such a tremendous power, the user must wager the very trauma that gave birth to that power in the first place.'
That was why she couldn't get close. The moment Shirone figured out how to undo the theft, the probability of her having to pay the price skyrocketed.
She wasn't afraid of having her stolen magic taken back. What she truly feared was the horrific price that came with reversing the theft.
'But she must have stolen countless spells by now. How did she manage it back then?'
The answer came quickly. The moment Shirone found it, he charged at Marsha.
This was no time for contemplation. Marsha was stalling for reinforcements.
The power of deprivation, gained by wagering her most horrific pain.
As long as there was a risk of Shirone triggering that price, Marsha would never fight him.
Conversely, if the fear wasn't that great, a magic like theft could never have come into existence.
Shirone was no longer afraid. There was still time. He had to catch Marsha before her reinforcements arrived.
"Ugh!"
Marsha groaned and retreated. Her face grew pale whenever the distance between them narrowed even slightly. Her playful tone and charming expressions were gone.
'I can do this! I can get my magic back!'
Having found a glimmer of hope, Shirone relentlessly pursued Marsha. Of course, chasing a teleporting mage on foot was nearly impossible, but he couldn't stop with the thief who had stolen his entire life right before his eyes.
"Shirone! Watch out!"
At Tess's voice, Shirone looked up. A dozen flashes of light roared through the air, streaking downward.
Color finally returned to Marsha's face. In contrast, Shirone felt so defeated he lost the will to run.
He had thought there was enough time. But he had miscalculated. Her surviving subordinates had used a magic circle to arrive in an instant.
"Hahaha! You're finally here. It's over now!"
Twenty Schema users swarmed in, forming a protective circle around Marsha. Breaking through that wall to get to her was impossible.
"Sh-Shirone..."
Amy bit her lip, fighting back tears.
Was this really how it was going to end? Shirone might have to give up on his dream of becoming a mage.
'It can't be. I truly loved magic. I worked so hard for it.'
Shirone looked at Marsha as if he had given up everything. His face was the very picture of emptiness.
"Oh, Shirone? Why the long face? Ah, is it about the magic? It's fine. You're young, you can just learn everything again from scratch. Of course, you'll never be able to use the magic I took, not for the rest of your life."
"You stole your sound magic from someone else too, didn't you?"
"Hehe, you could say that. You know I have sticky fingers. You said you understood me, so why are you being so petty now? You happily gave me 50 silver for a piece of pottery, but you can't part with your magic? Why? After pretending to be so kind, is giving your magic to someone else just too much to bear?"
Amy shouted, filled with rage.
"Shut up! How can you say something like that? What did Shirone ever do to you!"
How could someone be so cruel? It seemed Marsha wasn't satisfied with just stealing Shirone's magic; she intended to crush his entire life.
"Hahaha! That's what I call hypocrisy. There are no good people in this world. They pretend to care while harboring all sorts of wicked thoughts. It's absolutely disgusting!"
Marsha was cursing the world, but to Shirone, it sounded like her words were aimed at just one person.
Her father.
He had taken in the orphaned Marsha and raised her until she was seventeen. But when she realized those long years were shaped by his vile desires, how utterly devastated must she have been?
That was why Irregulars were so terrifying. The very manifestation of their abilities was rooted in human trauma.
For an ordinary mage, omnipotence is a power that reinforces omniscience. But an Irregular uses omnipotence to distort omniscience itself.
'The pain is so immense that it twists their very ideology. That is the nature of an Irregular.'
That twisted humanity manifests in the world through the power of magic. He was finally beginning to understand why the Magic Association refused to recognize the abilities of Irregulars as magic.
"You're a pitiful person."
Marsha's eyes narrowed. Who was he to pity her?
Shirone, who had put on a facade of embracing the entire world only to have his magic snatched away, was the truly pitiful one.
"Hmph! Trying to appease me now? After you just tried to kill me. You think I'll go easy on you for that?"
"To be honest, I don't know anymore. How much pain you've lived with."
"Haha! So you finally admit it! Do you get it now? No one can understand another's pain! That's human nature! This world is filled with nothing but wicked people."
"That's why... I'm coming to you now."
Marsha's heart skipped a beat. He couldn't possibly reach her. Twenty of her subordinates were protecting her.
"Maybe you're right. Maybe it was all a facade. But I still believe there's a way to share pain. If you're willing to show me your true wounds. So please, show me. I need to see your real pain, not the lies."
"Don't be ridiculous. Who wants pity from the likes of you?"
"I'm going to shatter the shell that imprisons you. And I'll see for myself just how deep your wounds fester."
"Stay away! Stay away!"
Marsha screamed, her expression horrified. It was a wound so painful the slightest touch would feel like a scream. And he wanted to pry it open? Worse, he wanted to dig into it with his bare hands?
"In return, I promise I'll never give up on you. No matter what pain you have, I'll embrace it all."
The moment Shirone finished speaking, her subordinates drew their swords and stood in front of Marsha.
"Don't let him get close! Cut off his head."
Staring at the enemies arrayed before him like a net, Shirone turned his head and called to Rian.
"Rian, stay by my side."
Rian, the most severely injured of the four, could barely move. But he rose without a word of complaint and shouldered his straight sword.
Tess ran up behind Rian.
"Wait! I'll do it. I'm not as badly hurt as Rian."
"It's fine, Tess. This is an order from my master."
"But in your condition..."
Shirone turned to Tess and shook his head.
"Tess, it has to be Rian by my side. I can't ask anyone else to shed blood."
"S-shed blood?"
Shirone said to Rian as he started walking forward slowly.
"Rian, cut down anyone who comes at me."
Rian didn't understand. Shirone had lost his magic, and Rian himself could barely walk. If they walked into the enemy lines like this, death would be the only thing waiting for them.
"Alright. Leave it to me."
Yet, Rian obediently followed Shirone. A sword does not judge. When its master gives a command, it simply carries it out, even at the cost of its life.
Marsha couldn't contain her fury.
He wanted to see her wounds? Share her pain? What utter nonsense. It was all lies.
Shirone was just spewing whatever words he could, trying any means necessary to get his magic back.
That's what people were. No matter how kind they pretended to be, deep down, they were only trying to satisfy their own selfish desires.
"Kill him! Kill that brat right now!"
The moment Marsha screamed, her twenty subordinates charged forward. Empowered by Schema's body enhancement, they closed the distance in an instant and raised their menacing swords.
Rian gripped the hilt of his straight sword. He didn't know how long he could hold out, but he was determined to keep moving forward, even if it meant getting his head cut off.
The swordsman in the lead leaped into the air, bringing his longsword down toward the crown of Shirone's head. At the same instant, Rian gritted his teeth and prepared to swing.
But in that moment, the swordsman's body suddenly transformed into light and shot into the sky.
The sharp sound of teleportation tore through the air.
Marsha stared blankly at the scene. So did Amy and Tess, who were watching anxiously from the opposite side.
"What are you doing! Everyone, attack! We have the advantage!"
At their leader's command, three swordsmen attacked at once. But they too turned into light and vanished into the air before they could even swing their swords at Shirone.
Marsha's lips trembled.
Shirone was getting closer. With every step he took, her subordinates vanished with a deafening boom.
'What? What in the world is happening?'
The only one who understood what was happening was Amy, the mage. But even her voice trembled.
"Incredible. I knew his magical senses were exceptional, but I never imagined they were on this level."
How long had Shirone been planning for this moment?
From the moment Marsha's subordinates arrived? From when he figured out the condition of her theft? No, it was probably from the moment he heard Rian talk about Wind Cutter.
"What is it, Amy? What is Shirone doing?"
"That's magic. A Slow spell that decelerates time."
Instantly combining a theory that existed only in omniscience with omnipotence was something only Shirone could do. To be honest, even Amy hadn't expected him to pull it off.
That's why Marsha couldn't have predicted it. Shirone's insight, which had been weakened and clouded by lies and conspiracies, had finally surfaced to devour Marsha's calculations.
"Slow? That's a Slow spell?"
Tess looked forward again. From the outside, she couldn't perceive any change. All she saw was that the moment an enemy got close to Shirone, they would invariably be sent flying with a deafening roar.
But for Rian, who was inside Shirone's Spirit Zone, the view was entirely different.
The moment someone entered Shirone's Spirit Zone, their body would flash with light and begin to move at a mind-numbingly slow pace.
Those who reached the state of near-light speed could distort time within their zone. Of course, he wasn't at Alpheas's level of slowing time to an extreme degree, but stretching temporal relativity by a factor of two was well within Shirone's capabilities.
'What? So I just have to cut them?'
Rian prepared to swing his sword at the slowly approaching enemy. The man's eyes were wide with terror. At this rate, death was unavoidable. In the end, he activated the teleportation magic on his bracelet and vanished.
With the enemy fleeing before he could even engage, Rian snorted in disappointment and continued to follow Shirone.
*Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt!*
The distinct sound of teleportation echoed ceaselessly. Now, only three subordinates stood between him and Marsha. But even they fled as Shirone drew near.
Alone once more, Marsha trembled, her face pale. Horrific images replayed in her mind.
"Stay away! If you come any closer, I'll kill myself! If I die, you'll never get your magic back!"