Reflection and Nullification

After experiencing Physical Immunity firsthand, the very first ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thought that sprang to my mind was how it might combine with Acceleration.

If I could completely ignore physical damage, surely there was nothing stopping me from reaching the speed of light.

But the System was quick to advise me that I had misunderstood how Physical Immunity worked. The immunity didn't apply to my body itself — it only triggered against the specific target that had struck me.

Disappointing, yes — but if I looked at the concept from another angle, it meant that Physical Immunity wasn't limited to a "single target."

In other words, if I took hits from many opponents at once and the immunity activated, its effects ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would rebound endlessly against every one of the targets that had struck me first.

Not a bad mechanic, I had to admit.

'And only one slot is open right now.'

Because of its substitute effect, Physical Immunity had been consumed yesterday the moment I used it. It was a word that could be recombined, but with only one acquisition slot available at present, I needed to be careful about what I chose to learn.

'About time I changed my perspective, no?'

With Fairness and Swift Resolution, yesterday's 1-vs-1 sparring had been an overwhelming display of dominance. And once Initialization stripped away the minor skills and granted me words like Bullseye or One-Against-A-Thousand, there seemed to be little left to shore up…

Still, it would be wiser to acquire words capable of producing compound, synergistic effects.

'In that sense, wouldn't Reflection or Nullification be decent choices?'

There was no real need to pit a word of raw power like One-Against-A-Thousand or Reverse-Emitting Mastery head-on against an opponent's ability that operated outside the rules entirely. Meeting spear with spear was one way to fight, but the best answer was always to turn the opponent's own spear into my shield.

'Would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you tell me a bit about Reflection and Nullification?'

Before acquiring any word, seeking advice came first.

Which made sense — you couldn't exactly use Reflection on a rock just sitting there.

In other words, if mages cast their spells, if knights sheathed their bodies and weapons in mana, or if the Demon King someday exercised some power beyond common sense — Nullification could erase every last one of those phenomena.

'Hm? Wait. I remember Disabling being a one-use word, but Nullification is permanent?'

Granted, since Nullification was limited to phenomena, it was less versatile than Disabling, which could strip a target of its strength or render it completely nonfunctional. Even so, I couldn't help but question the System's sense of balance.

'Ah.'

That, I decided, was more than acceptable. After all, I intended to use it against abilities I couldn't possibly contend with on my own.

Unlike Nullification, Reflection could be empowered by Swift Resolution — probably because reflecting an attack on too vast a scale carried the risk of me taking damage from it myself. The closer a word came to flawlessness, the heavier its restrictions seemed to grow.

At any rate, the constraints governing words now numbered roughly three in all.

Words that vanished permanently after one use, and also locked their homophones from being recombined.

Words that simply vanished permanently after one use.

And words that were exempt from the influence of all other words.

I mused that I was slowly learning quite a lot, and set off down the corridor.

The most regrettable part was, of course, that Initialization fell into that second category.

'Huh?'

I stopped mid-stride.

Come to think of it, there were several words whose meanings weren't identical to Initialization but came close. Deletion and Removal, for instance?

I couldn't guarantee they would exert their power in exactly the direction I imagined — but that was what asking the System was for.

In a word: even without Initialization, I could erase two words on my own.

Granted, I had plenty of junk cluttering my slots, so Initialization would still be necessary. But the effects of Incremental Improvement meant I couldn't use Initialization until I had grown further — so being able to free up extra slots right away through Deletion and Removal was a definite plus.

That said, my stockpile of consonants and vowels was running thin. Tomorrow I would need to head out to the capital again — there was no one left in the Imperial Palace who had any to give.

The next day, once my usual schedule was finished, I went to find Sir Brand. My lessons were supposed to end at two in the afternoon, but because I'd been granted talents in so many fields as a jack-of-all-trades, the volume of education required to bring them to bloom had pushed the end of my day to five o'clock.

"I don't mind, of course, but aren't there others besides me you could ask for help, Your Highness?"

"I'd say you're simply the most comfortable company, Sir Brand."

Mary, my personal maid, could accompany me to the capital as a guardian too. But Sir Brand was the one who had spent the most time at my side over the years, and that made him the easiest to be around.

It occurred to me that I had never really drawn the people around me into my confidence. If there was time to be spent on such things, I'd always judged that growing myself was the better investment.

And when it came to winning people over, the one who tempted me was Sir Brand — but the imperial knights swore their loyalty to the imperial family itself. Even if I made no effort to court them, so long as I didn't commit some monstrous act of betrayal, they would show me unchanging fidelity.

"More to the point — you mean that hot spring we discovered, don't you?"

"Ah, right. Is it finished?"

What had surprised me most was that this world had no concept of hot springs at all. There was no volcanic region anywhere nearby, nor even a dormant one, so finding natural hot springs would have been difficult regardless. But I suspected the deeper reason was that bathing culture had flourished thanks to artifacts.

"It's far more refreshing than the ordinary artifact baths, I'll say that much."

"Glad to hear it. If it's done, I'll have to drop by when I find the time."

"Would you be comfortable bathing with us, Your Highness?"

"We're all people, aren't we?"

I smiled warmly. Watching me, Sir Brand scratched his cheek before speaking.

"…I do think, now and then, that your way of thinking is rather unusual, Your Highness."

"Does it bother you?"

"On the contrary — it feels familiar, and I like it. Though I do wonder whether it might wear away at the dignity befitting a sovereign."

As I answered, I kept my pace unhurried and gentle.

"Weighing one's words, solemnizing the atmosphere, deliberately maintaining distance — none of that is what creates a ruler's dignity. It may help establish a measure of charisma, I'll grant, but people tiptoeing around me and forcing themselves to accommodate me is not, and never will be, true loyalty."

"A conviction worthy of respect, Your Highness."

After that, I arrived in the capital and learned my consonants and vowels the same way as before — buying daily necessities and distributing them among the commoners. It killed two birds with one stone, building recognition while gathering letters, but I couldn't keep doing it often.

If I doled out charity at every turn, side effects would inevitably follow. Kindness is most dangerous the moment it hardens into a right.

「Shall we head back?」

"No experiments today, then, Your Highness?"

「Something came up.」

There was no reason to blurt out the existence of a hard cap on how many words I could learn. In other words, the revelation that my power had a ceiling. Sir Brand was a touch lighthearted and loose-lipped, perhaps — but I didn't take him for a man who would leak such information to others. Even so, a secret shared is a secret no longer.

So it was that I returned to the Imperial Palace and ate dinner in Aria's chambers. She had already dined earlier with Father and Mother, so eating alone was quietly unfamiliar to her.

"Why do you push yourself so hard?"

「At what?」

Aria, sprawled across her chaise, had fired the question out of nowhere. I answered by writing with the hand that wasn't holding my spoon.

It was vaguely inconvenient, admittedly — but having been forced into ambidexterity, at least it made moments like these easy.

"Your situation isn't the same as mine."

I had a fair idea of what she meant by that.

「I'm not calm about it either. Everyone has something snapping at their heels sooner or later.」

"…"

「I just don't want to sit still and let someone take hold of the back of my neck. That sort of thing… once is plenty.」

"Hmph."

Having brought up the heavy topic herself and received a lighter reply than expected, Aria turned her back on me. When dinner was done, I extinguished the artifact's light and lay down beside her beneath the covers.

I gently stroked the platinum hair of Aria, who lay facing away in silence. She flinched — but didn't pull away. Before long, her breathing softened into sleep, and watching her, I yawned drowsily myself.

Tomorrow's plan: create additional empty slots with Deletion and Removal, then combine and experiment with the word I hadn't been able to learn with only a single slot remaining.

One more thing nagged at me. If the Demonic Tree were eventually destroyed, humanity would inevitably turn its blades on one another. The two remaining kingdoms had been founded by royals who fled the nations that fell during the Third Emperor's campaigns of conquest. Even the proposal to destroy the Demonic Tree at all was bound to draw fierce resistance — and even if I succeeded in perpetuating artifacts and spreading the faith until I became Pope, that resistance would remain.

Which meant cowing them through displays of force would be a thoroughly exhausting affair.

Better to make them kneel of their own accord. What could be more convenient than bloodless conquest? Even the art of war teaches that the ideal victory is the one won without fighting. If I can fight when I wish to fight, and refrain when I wish to refrain, the battle is already won.

With that in mind, surely no word was better suited than Natural Calamity.

'May I ask why?'

'Imbalance?'

'So it's fine as long as I don't use it often?'

'One more question — and this is hypothetical, since it would be a phenomenon I caused by my own interference.'

Another thought had occurred to me, and I layered the question on top.

'Could I use Disabling to erase a Natural Calamity that I myself brought about?'

If so, perhaps I could erase the imbalance born of willful interference as well.

Using it once or twice was no problem — but repeated use that shattered the balance would be beyond mending. Was that what it meant?

'Oh, and by the way — I have Typhoon among my words too. How is it different from Natural Calamity?'

That much, I already knew.

A perfect upgrade in every sense. That settled it, then.

Tomorrow, the words to be erased through Deletion and Removal would be Voluntary Surrender and Typhoon.

With Confession in my arsenal, there was no need to keep Voluntary Surrender as well.

And a power that let me command every natural disaster through Natural Calamity — surely nothing could be more fitting for an apostle of God.

Truthfully, the most efficient scenario would have been a rampant plague, followed by my casting Widespread alongside Healing to save everyone at once…

But I had no desire to make a choice so profoundly unethical.