Slingshot Cycle
"This isn't the kind of problem we can just talk our way out of."
Snick—
The instant Simon snapped his fingers, bones erupted skyward from every direction.
The rising bones shoved the bandits' weapons aside—including the blade the bandit captain had been pointing at Simon's throat. Through that opening, Simon spun and drove his heel into the captain's head.
SLAAAM!
At the moment of impact, time stretched, and he could see it in vivid detail—the captain's face warping like liquid beneath his foot.
Then time snapped back. The captain's body shot away like a beam of light, smashed through a nearby stall, tore down the wall behind it, and was swallowed by a cloud of dust.
CRUMBLE-RUMBLE—!
Take out the leader right away, and the underlings' movements freeze. It was simple logic.
Simon planted both hands on the cargo wagon and vaulted over it like flying, kicking the first bandit square in the face.
Hopping to the opposite side in the same motion, he hammered a second bandit's ribs, then a third's jaw. An axe swung in counterattack—he tracked it perfectly with his eyes and bent backward at the waist.
Whooong!
The axe sailed past. His waist snapped upright, and in the same breath he coiled Cloud around the leg of the axe-wielder and yanked with tremendous force.
WHAM!
"Gahk!"
"Urgh!"
The sound of bandits colliding with each other filled the air.
Simon charged to the flank a half-beat ahead of their rhythm, kicked their knees and legs out from under them, braced a hand on the wagon, and slipped around to the other side once more.
"?!"
"Wh-what did I just see?"
All of it, in the span of a breath or two.
Simon gave the hem of his outer robe a light shake, then threw himself forward again.
WHAM! WHAM!
Each time something black flashed past, another bandit dropped helplessly. Over and over he vaulted the wagon, both legs spinning like pinwheels.
The bandits clutched broken bones, rolling on the ground and screaming curses.
"Get in there! Get in!"
"Don't give him room—collapse on him!"
A sword targeted Simon's back as he fought amid the chaos.
But as if he had eyes in the back of his head, he sent a skeleton's bone to block it—and then used that same bone to smash the bandit in the face.
⟨ Bone Armour ⟩
Hoooo—
Simon glanced back and curled three fingers into a pointing pose. Bone Armour snapped onto the bodies of the three chosen bandits—and the very next second, they began attacking their own comrades.
"Y-you bastard! What did you do?!"
"It wasn't me! My body won't listen!"
Each time Simon's fingers danced across an invisible keyboard, another bandit fell to a friendly hand.
Against a great necromancer this technique would be nearly useless—but against ordinary people, Simon couldn't think of anything more vicious than Bone Armour.
'!'
Simon, still puppeteering his marionettes, ducked his head in a flash. Arrows whistled past and buried themselves in the cargo wagon.
'Fast.'
At some point, bandit archers had climbed onto the rooftops and were drawing bows aimed at him.
"Nice shooting!"
"Keep it up!"
Thwack! Thwack!
As the arrows came in a steady stream, Simon hid himself behind the wagon. A moment later, bones flew onto his outstretched right arm, layering over it in smooth plates.
⟨ Bone Armour – Handgun Mode ⟩
Simon immediately revealed himself from behind the wagon, handgun raised. Every time a bone bullet fired from the launcher, a rooftop archer toppled off like a paper target—thwack! thwack!
He twisted at the waist to fire, fired again even mid-sprint, moving only his arm without properly aiming. His marksmanship bordered on the miraculous.
'Even for Kizen...!'
'He's THIS strong?'
Their fighting spirit broke in an instant.
Some bandits began preparing to flee, and Simon, reading their intent, spread his fingertips. The three bandits he'd outfitted with Bone Armour earlier flew in and blocked the escape route.
Crunch!
Crack!
The armored bandits began brutally flattening their fleeing comrades. The fled bandits swung their weapons back in fury, but the Bone Armour moved on its own to absorb every blow.
"Oh...!"
BLAAAM!
The hulking brute who usually threw his weight around got sent flying by his own fist, obliterating a wagon on the way—and Simon felt his shoulders square with pride.
"This suit is amazing! With this, even I...!"
Just then, two armored bandits found themselves facing each other. Their skull helmets tilted back to protect their heads, exposing their bare faces.
The weapons in their hands rose at the same time.
"N-no, wait—!"
The two brought their weapons down on each other and perished together. Only the Bone Armour returned to Simon's hands, only to be fitted onto yet another bandit, again and again.
"Hahahaha! Good work hanging in there, everyone!"
"?"
Simon's gaze lifted.
A bandit had climbed atop a wagon, both arms thrust skyward, grinning smugly—and above his head, a huge magic circle had unfolded.
'There was a necromancer among the bandits?'
"Farewell! This is the original dark magic I've poured my whole life into!"
⟨ Finral Original – Slingshot Cycle ⟩
Six black orbs descended from the magic circle with a metallic shriek.
Simon hastily backed away, and the orbs of Jet-Black came on, casually obliterating the wagon before him.
"He's running!"
"No escaping that one!"
The bandits cheered. Simon traced his fingers through the air a few times, then smiled faintly.
"Easy."
"?"
Simon stopped in place and spread his palm toward the incoming orbs. In an instant, a black circle unfolded, packed tight with formulas and symbols until it was complete.
⟨ Finral Original – Slingshot Cycle ⟩
Just like the original, six orbs whirled out of Simon's magic circle, collided with the incoming ones, and annihilated them. The bandit necromancer's jaw dropped.
"H-how?! My life's original work!"
"One look at the circle's structure and it was obvious."
"Impossible! I hid the core formulas in Jet-Black!"
"It was predictable. A circulation rune with a scatter formula, right?"
"Th-then how did you—!"
This time Simon spread his left hand and drew a new circle.
"If it were me, I'd do it like this."
⟨ Simon Remake – Slingshot Cycle ⟩
Six orbs—far larger and faster than before—shot out in a spinning arc. Finral hastily fired his own original, but Simon's orbs shattered every one of his and kept coming.
"That's impossibllllle!"
BA-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
His body struck the orbs and launched skyward. Simon lowered his arm and smiled, unbothered.
"That's enough."
Clank!
Simon turned his head. The bandit captain—the very one he'd sent flying at the start—was standing there, blood streaming from his pulverized nose.
In his hands was a horrific bioweapon that looked like it had been made from a corpse. Remnants of a monster's eyes and chunks of flesh were visible, with a launcher at its center.
The captain's arm muscles trembled violently—it was clearly immensely heavy.
"This was supposed to be delivered to a client, but no help for it! If you don't want to die, raise both arms NOW!"
Simon shrugged, as much as to say go ahead and try. Blood vessels bulged and knotted across the captain's forehead.
"I'll blow you to bits without leaving a single scrap of flesh!"
Veeeeeeen!
An engine-like roar spun up inside the bioweapon. Its mouth split wide open, revealing the cannon barrel. The very instant it was about to fire—
"[Der König ist Zurück――!!]"
A singing voice flowed from Simon's mouth.
The bioweapon shuddered, glitching wildly, and began moving on its own—firing its rounds off into the sky and empty air.
"Grrrrgh! What did you DO?!"
"It's a technique called Requiem. That aside—fascinating weapon you have there."
Simon appeared, his black robes billowing. Somewhere along the way, the sole of his shoe had come to rest right before the captain's eyes.
"I'll be putting this to good use."
BLAM!
The bandit captain's consciousness sailed away with the kick.
With the captain captured, every last bandit of the Ganes Guild surrendered.
Simon's skeletons bound them tight with rope and sat them down on the ground.
"You really do pick the most troublesome jobs, Simon."
Kajan, who'd been out of sight for a while, returned.
He had the heads of two bandits clamped under each arm. Behind the wailing bandits begging to be untied, several already-unconscious ones came dragging along the ground, tied to the rope running from Kajan's body.
"Good work, Kajan."
"Let me say this—fights are best held somewhere you can subdue every single person for certain. Let even one slip away and warn his friends, and things get ugly."
Simon smiled brightly.
"I trusted you'd cover for me, of course!"
"...You do talk a good game."
Kajan scratched his scar, looking a bit sheepish.
While he roped up even the ones who'd tried to run, Simon approached the box he'd seen at the very beginning.
It was locked with an old key, so he sliced the lock away with dark magic and lifted the lid.
Rustle-rustle!
At that moment, a human finger poked out through the gap in the box and jammed it shut. Simon flinched in surprise—then spoke in a gentle voice.
"It's all right. The bad men have all been arrested. You're free now."
"......"
At those words, he felt the pressure on the finger slowly ease. Simon opened the box.
Inside was a gaunt boy, his mouth gagged with cloth.
A surge of rage toward the bandits flared up in Simon for an instant, but he inhaled slowly and steadied himself.
Click! Click!
He opened the boxes on the other wagons as well. One by one, children packed tightly inside wooden crates revealed themselves.
They huddled together, clinging to one another and trembling, warily watching everything around them.
"Is everyone okay?"
Simon asked, gently stroking one boy's head.
"Where did you come from?"
"......"
They still just rolled their eyes back and forth, unable to open their mouths.
They flinched at every small gesture Simon made. Bruises from beatings showed across their skin.
Then one girl spoke in a tiny voice.
"Rendran."
So there was a territory called Rendran. Only then did the children begin to open up, one by one.
From territories he'd never heard of, all the way to great cities like Langestin. They'd been snatched from every corner of the Dark Alliance and brought here.
"Simon. There's more over here."
When Kajan tore away the canvas covering the back compartment of a wagon, iron bars were revealed. Behind them sat adults as well, mouths gagged.
"Get everyone out, please."
"Understood."
Kajan gripped the iron bars, raised his Jet-Black, and twisted them sideways apart. A large gap opened, and through it he brought the captives out one by one.
"Over there!"
"What's all this commotion?!"
City guards, responding to reports from the townsfolk, came running. At the sight of the captured bandits and the prisoners freed from the jail, their eyes went round.
"We'd appreciate your cooperation."
Simon and Kajan showed their 2nd-year student IDs.
The guards instantly became deferential, and Simon pocketed his ID as he continued.
"Regarding this incident—I'd like to speak with the highest authority in this city."
The investigation's findings.
Every one of the captives had been brought in from other regions. Mostly orphans who had lost their parents; among the adults, the homeless, those without families, and people with intellectual disabilities.
They then interrogated the Ganes Guild bandits, but the bandits claimed they were only transport—said they knew nothing, only shipped the cargo to the client and collected their payment.
"I'll contact the Dresden Kingdom."
Simon said it to the lord who governed Eprun.
"Once the abducted children and people recover, we'll help them either return home or settle somewhere new. And please escort the bandits we've captured to the capital, Langestin."
"...Ah, yes. Yes. Of course."
He was only complying because it was a Kizen order, but the lord of Eprun wore a strangely sour expression.
Simon understood.
He was afraid of retribution, no doubt.
Because the Tarados affair had been handled in Eprun, the lord now feared the consequences that would follow.
"Interesting."
Thud!
Just then, Kajan propped a leg up on the table.
"Why go out of your way to stir up trouble in our territory, hmm? That seems to be the shape of your grievance."
The lord flinched and stammered hurriedly.
"N-no, my lord! I would never presume!"
"The neighboring territory of Tarados ended up in that state partly because of Eprun's neglect and indifference. I did wonder how information this widespread never reached this place. Look into it, and every information guild that tried to set up here was ordered shut down. That's still only suspicion, but—"
Kajan's eyes gleamed.
"Could it be that Eprun is an accomplice too?"