Chapter 33: The Resistance - 8
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 33: The Resistance - 8
Clothing Packets function based on the avatar data stored in a Bio-receptor. Therefore, when a Clothing Packet is inserted into a Bio-receptor, it forms perfectly to one’s body shape, height, and size, enveloping the wearer.
It’s convenient. There’s no need for the hassle of putting on or taking off clothes, and laundry is a breeze. You don’t have to buy new ones every time you grow or gain weight. Of course, they can wear out from overuse or become unusable if damaged, but that’s true of everything in the world.
The people of the Military State became addicted to this convenience. The reason there was so little opposition to the State’s policy of engraving every citizen with a Bio-receptor had less to do with the State’s power and more to do with that convenience. The vast majority of citizens, thinking the country was finally doing something useful for a change, willingly underwent the procedure.
The tacit consent of the majority naturally led to the persecution of the minority. At some point, not having a Bio-receptor engraved became a felony in the Military State.
Thanks to this, the State gained the ability to restrain most of its citizens with a single packet.
“No!”
Fibers wrapped around Kanysen’s body. He couldn’t tear them off, nor could he cut them. The fibers were materializing just above his skin, binding him.
Armor is also a form of clothing, and the State had weaponized Clothing Packets by creating combat arms. Naturally, they didn’t stop there.
When I fell into the Abyss, I was wearing a straitjacket.
A straitjacket is also a piece of clothing.
So how did I come to be wearing it?
That’s right.
The Military State had also abused Clothing Packets in other ways.
A Clothing Packet that, once inserted, cannot be removed at will. Living, breathing handcuffs. A straitjacket.
There’s a good reason the Regressor grits her teeth at the sight of a Bio-receptor. It might be a different story if you had a sword that floated around like Chun-aeng, or if you had reached a level where you could reinforce your body with Qi Art.
But even a beast that can shatter stone and chew a man to the bone is helpless once caught in a trap. For a human, well, it goes without saying.
Anyway.
“Thank you for your cooperation. You’ve been my best assistant of the day.”
It was a pretty good magic show.
Words are his weakness, but really, how easy is it to stick a packet into someone’s Bio-receptor in the middle of a fight? It’s easier to just slice their wrist with a blade. How are you supposed to rip open their sleeve and jam a packet in there while they’re staring right at you?
It would have been impossible for anyone but a magician of my caliber—and a legendary former pickpocket.
“Ghk! Gak! Mmph!”
Both his arms were bound behind his back and locked in place. His legs were also restrained, rendering him immobile. A sturdy belt bound each of his five fingers tightly, and steel handcuffs clasped his wrists, linked by a metal ring.
He couldn’t even move his lips. A custom-fitted gag formed automatically, digging mercilessly between his lower jaw and upper gums. A blindfold also materialized, blocking his vision.
It was a perfect restraint, designed to make the very word ‘resistance’ unthinkable. As expected of the Military State, its ergonomic design completely neutralized any attempt to struggle.
It’s a little embarrassing, but even a magician like me couldn’t escape it.
They say you blindfold a frenzied beast to calm it down. The same principle applied to humans.
Blindfolded and forced to look inward, Kanysen struggled for about a minute before he realized it. He couldn’t escape the straitjacket with his own power.
Closing one’s eyes and holding an uncomfortable posture has long been known as a way to calm the mind. Meditation, was it? Currently engaged in the finest form of meditation—in that he couldn’t stop on his own—Kanysen quickly calmed his agitation and regained his senses.
How? Since when? Where was he hiding that packet? No, I… why?
Good. Now you’re ready to accept the magic. With a soft smile, I moved behind him and removed the blindfold. The moment Kanysen saw my smiling face, he flinched, but then his body went limp. He had accepted defeat.
As I always say, you have to give something to get something. See? I give him the gift of a straitjacket, and he becomes so much more polite.
“Now, now. Watch closely. It’s not every day I reveal my tricks.”
Smiling, I held up the sharp skewer. I flipped it, transforming it into a card, then spread my hands open, the card now hidden in my palm. The long skewer had vanished into my hand in an instant.
Kanysen’s eyes widened.
What I thought I dropped was…!
“Correct! I pretended to drop it, but I actually turned it into a card and hid it! With this, I sliced open your clothes and ‘picksocketed’ it right in! I like how quick you are on the uptake!”
A sharp-edged skewer. A tool of the trade that most pickpockets carry.
With its finely honed tip, you could conceal it in your hand, give a bag a gentle caress, and spill all its hidden contents.
I didn’t notice. Dammit…!
“Don’t beat yourself up over it. I was once a very promising pickpocket. I’d slit open so many leather bags that, for a time, no one would buy them because of me. I washed my hands of it after that, but thankfully, it seems my skills haven’t rusted.”
Damn… it…. What the hell are you…!
“Ah, that.”
Just as I was about to say something, Gamma’s tearful voice echoed faintly from a distance.
“Captain? Captain? Are you all right?”
Kanysen’s eyes shot open.
No. Gamma! Shut up! Set the bomb and deal some damage, any damage!
But Kanysen’s thoughts were trapped by the gag. Unfortunately, Gamma was no mind reader and couldn’t hear his captain’s wish.
And so, his thoughts were heard only by me. The one person he least wanted to hear them.
“Ah. Right. There was that.”
No! Gamma, detonate the bomb! This is the last chance! Gamma!
“I should deal with that first.”
Please! Gamma!
I grabbed the straitjacket’s belt and dragged Kanysen along. He stumbled and tripped over the debris scattered on the ground. It was annoyingly strenuous, but I pulled with all my might, trusting that it was even more painful for him. Honestly, this was his fault. Who told him to wreck the place?
I returned to the passage leading underground. The rope tied to the pillar was swaying pathetically, like a fishing rod that had lost its owner.
The rope was draped deep into the chasm through the shattered fissure. Gamma, who had been tied to it to investigate the area below, was now pulling on it, searching for Kanysen.
Why isn’t the captain answering? I finally figured out the structure of Tantalus… If I don’t set the bomb soon…
The structure of Tantalus?
I paused, my hand ready to cut the rope, and read Gamma’s thoughts instead. Now, let’s see. What is this structure?
Oh.
Hmm.
Oh? Really?
After a moment of thought, I removed Kanysen’s gag instead of cutting the rope. With a click, the saliva-drenched gag fell to the ground. Kanysen, failing to grasp the situation for a second, immediately raised his voice and shouted.
Meanwhile, I sat down nearby and calmly continued to read Gamma’s thoughts.
“That’s an order! Gamma, detonate the bomb!”
“What? Sir?” Gamma shouted back, confused.
“Captain! Pull me up! There’s nothing to stand on down here! I can’t get up unless you pull the rope!”
“I have been defeated! There are no more chances. Detonate the bomb now, before the rope is cut!”
“B-but… if I set it off here…”
“There are no more chances! Detonate it right now!”
“Th-the bomb is on me.”
“Yes! The bomb on you! I’m telling you to detonate it right now!”
Gamma’s real name was Wikrol, and he was an engineer. He had dabbled in the Military State’s dark underbelly and had seen the tools of his own creation used to take human lives. Overcome with guilt, he couldn’t bear it and threw himself into the resistance. And so, the promising engineer Wikrol became the resistance fighter Gamma.
But even in the resistance, Gamma was still an engineer. No matter how much he respected his captain, he wouldn’t blindly obey an order if it was irrational.
“Detonating it here is meaningless! The blast will just vent downwards!”
Gamma recalled the scene he had witnessed below.
The control room was strewn with broken junk. Pushing aside a large desk with broken legs revealed a passage to the level below. The stairs had collapsed during the attack, so one had to rely on a rope to descend. Dangling from that single rope, Gamma had pushed through the debris, making his way lower and lower.
He arrived in a wide-open space that felt like looking at a plain while doing a handstand.
In that moment, Gamma understood the structure of Tantalus.
His first feeling was the pure pleasure of an engineer. The thrilling sensation of a complex mechanism of unknown design suddenly aligning under a single principle, everything clicking into place. That was followed by the exhilaration of knowing he would destroy this prison, a structure the Military State had painstakingly built.
A bomb, the size of a single case. With this alone, the astronomical cost the State had poured into building Tantalus would literally vanish into the Abyss. How efficient. An unbelievable exchange rate. If Gamma were a merchant, he would have been called the swindler of the century.
But now his captain, ignorant of technology, was forcing an order on him that he could never accept. Gamma shouted in exasperation.
“This Tantalus is built like a tray supported at both ends. It’s not at the bottom of the Abyss, it’s suspended in the middle of it!”
Breaking a suspended plate is simple. Remove the supports, and it will fall without you having to touch it. Mother Earth would take care of the rest.
“We have to split the explosives into three, detonate one here and one at each end! Then Tantalus will lose its balance and fall! That’s the only way to bring this massive structure down!”
There was only one right answer. The rest were meaningless. Gamma tried desperately to persuade his captain, but…
“How many times do I have to tell you that’s not an option! Didn’t you hear me order you to detonate it, Gamma! Set it off now!”
“If I do that, I’ll be the only one who dies!”
“That’s an order to die!”
“…What?”
Gamma’s thoughts came to a halt.
“He’s nearby! Detonate it now! It’s the only way to strike a blow against the wicked Military State and the man who killed our comrades!”
“B-but… this…”
“DE-TO-NATE-IT!”
Gamma looked around. He was currently dangling from the underside of Tantalus. An explosion radiates. Setting it off in such an open space would cause its force to dissipate uselessly into the depths below.
He would have to climb the rope, place the bomb inside a fissure, and then detonate it to inflict any real damage. Even that would be far from enough to bring down Tantalus.
But more importantly…
Gamma confronted the fear that enveloped him.
What if he made Tantalus fall? Gamma would die eventually, but it wouldn’t be very painful. Since it was the Abyss, the fall would be eternal, and he would have time to calmly accept his death. He might even meet his friends on the way down. Gamma would celebrate their success and share a reunion with them before crashing into something and dying instantly. He wouldn’t even have time to feel the pain. Mother Earth would embrace his body swiftly and gently.
Or perhaps, since it was the Abyss, the fall would continue forever. In that case, he would talk with his other friends, laugh until he was tired of it, and eventually fall asleep, exhausted. And he would never wake up again. He would meet a death that came like sleep in the darkness.
But what if he detonated the bomb? His body would be blown to pieces and scattered in every direction. The flash of light would blind him, the heat would sear his lungs, and the blast would tear his body to shreds, scattering the remains into the Abyss.
Gamma’s hands trembled.
He had been prepared to die the moment he came down here.
But he wasn’t ready yet.
Just as I finished reading his thoughts, I gripped the skewer tightly and stood up.
“Not ready? Then let me help you.”
“No!”
Kanysen’s roar and Gamma’s whimpers grew louder. I shrugged as if I had no choice and said:
“I’ll pay for this sin in hell.”
It was the most religious way of saying I’d do whatever the fuck I wanted, and with that, I sliced with the skewer. The rope snapped. A cry of anguish escaped the captain’s lips. From outside Tantalus, a distant, fading voice echoed back.
Gamma was now a lost child of the Abyss. In a place forsaken by Mother Earth, he would wander for an eternity before he died.
Until he finally accepted death and took his own life.
Kanysen sobbed. No one could make him succeed now. No one could stop me from carving out his ugly side and shoving it in his face.
“It’s ugly, isn’t it? The last thing you said was an order to throw away a life more quickly. Even while you were bound and pinned beneath me, all you did was hound someone else to die.”
“Kill me! Don’t insult me, just kill me!”
Truly great people are few and far between. The rest are just lost children of their time, pushed to the edge of a cliff, who leap as if it were their own choice. They are neither heroes nor common folk.
Unfortunately, Kanysen Riverwood was not one of those few. In the end, he too was just pushed into the Abyss.
“Self-justification, excuses. Meaningless repentance and confession. Self-contradiction. And hypocrisy. You poured manpower and resources into a useless operation just to masturbate to the idea that you did your best. What a lavish suicide. Four young men were sacrificed along with you, and the rebellion’s assets became your burial goods.”
“Just kill me!”
Kanysen slammed his face into the ground. He writhed like a worm, smashing his head against the floor again and again.
That wouldn’t be enough to kill him.
He put a stone in his mouth and chewed. The sharp fragments tore the inside of his mouth to ribbons. He swallowed the broken pieces, letting the sharp shards shred his insides.
That wouldn’t be enough to kill him.
He bit off his tongue. His teeth severed the soft flesh, and blood gushed out.
Even that wouldn’t be enough to kill him.
Wishing he were dead, wishing he could just be forgotten, Kanysen continued to harm himself.
However.
Even if he would not be recorded in the history books, even if his story could not be passed down and etched into the world…
Having read everything, I could not forget him.
“I know you. The life you’ve lived, what you’ve seen and felt. I’ve read everything about what you lived for and how. Because of that, and only because of that, I will not judge you.”
I read.
Thoughts.
Life.
Dreams.
That fleeting eternity before death, when a life is relived.
I read every thought that flashes through life’s final moments, weaving them into a single book.
“I am the world’s smallest ossuary. A library to commemorate those who will be forgotten. An ossuary does not judge the sins of the dead, and a library does not rank its collection. It merely remembers and preserves.”
The captain’s body tensed for a moment. He spat one of the stone fragments from his mouth at me. The piece of stone, stained with blood and bits of flesh, flew in an arc… and landed at my feet.
It wasn’t an attack. It was a protest.
A desperate plea for me to kill him now, to end this suffering.
If that’s what you want.
I gripped the skewer and moved behind him. I sat on his back, my rear against his, and raised the skewer high. The pointed tip was chillingly sharp. Perfect for piercing a person.
“Farewell, Kanysen Riverwood. The last knight, raised on the romance of a beautiful river. The whole world may forget you, and no one may ever know of your end. But I will remember you, and the four youths who followed you.”
When do you think a person dies?
Opinions on the matter may vary, but at the very least, Kanysen Riverwood’s death was decided now.
He had lost the will to live.
And I had no intention of letting him.
Kanysen Riverwood closed his eyes and lifted his head. He stretched his neck, hoping for a quick death.
He had always been prepared to die. He had been prepared to kill others, too. Whether he killed someone or was killed by someone, he would not have batted an eye.
He simply lacked the resolve to face his own ugliness.
There is no hell in this world. No heaven, either.
There is only a single, abandoned ossuary.
It’s not a comfortable place, but I hope you rest in peace.
I brought the skewer to his neck. And I pulled. The blade moved diagonally. In its path lay one man’s neck. The skin split, and from within, red life flowed out.
Whether he felt agony or found peace as he died…
No one in the world will ever know.
Except for me.
A brief moment of pain, and a lifetime flashing by like an eternity. Soon, his thoughts ceased. What was once Kanysen’s body became a corpse. Trivial and meaningless.
A small period was placed at the end of a book.