Chapter 62: Compulsion
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: Compulsion
The Abyss, a land Mother Earth had declared she would no longer support. A hell that truly existed in the mortal world, where a single misstep would send one into an infinite fall.
An impenetrable darkness, a hope so distant it was all but invisible, a future that only grew further from the sky. At the bottom, which may or may not exist, the dregs of a thousand years, sunken without funeral rites, festered and stared up from below.
A terrible, bizarre land, hundreds of years removed from peace and stability. Such was the place known as the Abyss.
‘Why… why is nothing going wrong?’
She who had experienced regression, the sole traveler who climbed back through time by way of death.
Amidst the peace, Shei alone was consumed by anxiety.
‘According to the Undying, something definitely happened here. An incident where the warden tried to kill someone, where the Beast King howled, where the Undying’s flesh was cursed and scattered, an accident big enough to make the Abyss itself collapse.’
The future she came from was a cesspool fed by dozens of sewers. Even if she plugged one, untreated filth would burst out from another, staining the world.
Shei was alone, and there were too many variables. Even with a thousand hands, she could not have stopped it all. The world, unable to bear its shattered balance, had thrown open the floodgates to its own end.
Ominous events willingly served as harbingers of the horrific tragedies to come. Monsters appeared out of nowhere and devoured people; entire villages vanished without a single corpse left behind. The Beast King, facing the apocalypse, howled and rampaged in a frenzy.
At the edge of the end, rather than trying to stop it, Shei had striven to find its source.
The place she had traced it to was here, the Abyss.
And within it, she had found the Progenitor, the Dog King, and the Undying—the very seeds of future disaster.
But contrary to her expectations, they were at peace.
‘It’s not that nothing has happened. It’s just that, compared to what’s to come… the situation isn’t that bad. Is it because my presence has completely changed the past? Or is some massive event about to happen that will change everything in an instant?’
Shei sat perched on the prison rooftop, looking down at the yard below.
On the monochrome concrete ground, a girl with deep blonde hair was facing off against a man in a warden’s uniform.
The warden smiled, a displeased look on his face, as Azzy twitched, clearly uncomfortable about something.
“Heh heh. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”
“Grrrrrrrrr.”
“Gahahaha! That’s right! I’ve finally found a way, Azzy! You’re no match for me now!”
To hear him talk, he sounded no different from a master villain, but Shei no longer dwelled on such attitudes. She had been deceived far too many times for that.
What the shouting warden pulled from his coat was a thin disc, hammered and flattened from steel.
He held up the disc and wiped it under his nose.
“Ah, this is what you call a disc. A round, flat plate designed with air resistance in mind! Its airtime is several times that of a ball! Heheheh! With this, I no longer have to worry about my shoulder! One good throw, and it can fly for thirty seconds!”
“Grrrrr! Woof! Woof!”
“Alright, alright. Sheesh. So impatient. I just wanted to show off a little, but I guess I can’t even do that. Here, go fetch!”
“Woof!”
Winding his arm back, he threw the disc. The steel plate spun slowly as it flew into the distance. Azzy, who had been waiting eagerly, took off after it, her face bright.
The disc, cutting through the wind, did not come down easily. It rose gently, then descended even more slowly. Azzy, having caught up to it in an instant, hopped about below, just waiting for it to fall.
Meanwhile, the warden plopped down on the ground and laughed heartily.
“Heheheh. Which means I have plenty of time to recover my stamina! It’s a toy that practically lets me play on autopilot! Hehehe! I’m not afraid of you anymore!”
“Woof!”
At that moment, Azzy leaped high into the air and snatched the disc with her mouth. The warden’s face went slack-jawed as he watched.
“Hey, wait a minute. Azzy. Jumping to catch it is cheating. I’m talking about a fair and square fight in two dimensions. And what kind of dog has a three-meter vertical jump? I said give me some time to rest, didn’t I?”
“Woof!”
“No, ah.”
But Azzy brought the disc back again, and the warden sighed as he got to his feet.
Watching them made her feel foolish for being so tense. She would glare at them, only to see Azzy wagging her tail with joy and the warden, despite his annoyance, continuing to play along. A weary sigh was all that escaped her lips.
She wanted to sharpen her senses, to hone the blade of her hostility.
But she couldn’t even muster the will.
‘If I had to pick someone here with enough influence to cause something, it would be that warden, and only him.’
It didn’t seem likely that Azzy, with her bright smile, would emit such a baleful aura. Nor did it seem likely that the composed Tyrkanzyaka would suddenly go mad and rampage.
At the same time, that man… the warden whose name she still didn’t know, didn’t seem like he would cause any trouble either.
‘If only. If only nothing happens. If someone could just assure me of that.’
Then she, too, could lay down all her burdens and enjoy a brief respite.
But the Regressor had seen the future. She knew that some tragedy would unfold in this Abyss.
Therefore, she could not be at ease. She had to remain on edge. Even if everyone else was completely relaxed, she alone had to be vigilant.
For one who has seen a terrible future, there can be no rest. Even this isolated peace feels like a prelude to disaster.
‘Now that I’ve come this far, I have to gain something from this timeline….’
Drawing one knee to her chest, she sat alone on the edge of the rooftop, silently watching the disc fly below. The disc, growing larger and smaller in the distance with the dog in its wake, seemed to symbolize a peaceful, ordinary day. Rising and falling in accordance with nature.
It was then, as she sat quietly in the uneasy peace.
“Shei. Might I have a moment of your time?”
A calm voice spoke to her. Recognizing the speaker, Shei quickly stood up.
Atop an imperial juniper coffin shrouded in a dark red aura, the Progenitor Tyrkanzyaka sat demurely, holding a pitch-black parasol. As Shei faced her, Tyrkanzyaka floated gently down to the rooftop.
“Tyrkanzyaka! Uh, long time, no, see? Maybe? What about that guy you always have with you?”
“Finlay? I have left him by himself for a moment. Pay him no mind.”
A strange chill laced her indifferent tone. Shei swallowed hard. For the sake of the future, she needed to build a good relationship with the Progenitor, but for some reason, Tyrkanzyaka was always strangely cold whenever they met.
Feeling even more troubled, Shei spoke cautiously.
“What’s up? You don’t usually look for me. No, I don’t mean that in a resentful way. I’m just, uh, stating a fact… I’m just curious!”
Tyrkanzyaka cut through Shei’s rambling and replied.
“You told me before, did you not? That unique magic is more powerful than Standard Magic. You boasted for quite some time that a Unique Magic, which embodies one’s own mystery, is overwhelmingly superior to the Standard Magic anyone can use.”
“Uh. Yeah, I did.”
“And you said your magic reproduces the energy of the sky. An Arcane that uses the energy of that sword as a medium.”
“R-Right.”
“In that case.”
Tyrkanzyaka let go of her parasol. With a dry rustle, the darkness scattered for a moment, and Tyrkanzyaka revealed her pale form under the light.
“You should be able to use lightning as well. Is that correct?”
“I can. Why?”
“Use it on me.”
Even Shei, who had been through thick and thin, couldn’t help but question that.
“What? Why?”
“Do not ask the reason. Can you simply do it?”
“I need to know your intentions to help you.”
“…That is also true.”
Muttering something to herself, Tyrkanzyaka spoke candidly.
“Do you remember when the Earthener rose again?”
“Ah. Back then.”
When the Undying, Rasch, first opened his eyes. The warden had definitely applied an electric shock to his chest, and the Undying had risen.
“Yes. His heart was restarted with an electric shock. If it is possible for the Undying Earthener, it should be possible for me as well.”
“You want to restart your heart with an electric shock?”
Shei realized what Tyrkanzyaka was asking.
She wanted her to revive her own heart, just as the warden had made the Earthener’s heart beat by passing electricity through his chest.
It was surely a desperate wish she had harbored for a long time inside her coffin. Shei knew this, but she couldn’t help but show her reluctance.
“This is a bit difficult to say, but it will be hard with my power. The foundation of magic is the manifestation of a being’s Spiritual World. A single spell is a world unto itself. To invade and change someone else’s body with it is extremely difficult, and something that should not be done. It is an act that violates the sanctity of another.”
“The Earthener was revived by the magic he used, was he not?”
“That’s level 0, evocation-class magic. It’s an incredibly minor spell that only invokes phenomena that already exist in the world. If the true essence of magic is to change the world, then level 0 spells are the furthest thing from it. It can only revive those who are capable of being revived.”
Shei finished her explanation calmly, thinking that this would serve as a polite refusal.
No matter how mysterious magic seemed, its limits were clear. Shei hoped Tyrkanzyaka wouldn’t think her refusal was just an expression of annoyance.
Unfortunately, the vampire was all too familiar with such expressions. To her, this was practically a direct statement.
“I know that as well. It is nigh impossible for my heart to beat again. I understand your reluctance to involve yourself in a fruitless endeavor.”
Fearing a misunderstanding, the Regressor hastily protested.
“N-No! I’m just, worried you’ll get hurt!”
“Pain is of little consequence. I have experienced all manner of suffering in my 1,200 years of life… though, of course, none of that was likely real pain.”
Tyrkanzyaka smiled self-deprecatingly and approached Shei, spreading her arms and letting them hang limply, as if to show she would not resist.
“I ask of you, Shei. Even if your magic brings only pain, if it is real pain, I will gladly accept it. I, too, do not believe this will revive my heart. I merely wish to feel.”
Tyrkanzyaka was adamant, and Shei was perplexed.
She didn’t understand why she wanted to be struck by lightning of all things, but she couldn’t refuse such an earnest plea. Besides, wasn’t Tyrkanzyaka the one who would be enduring the pain?
It wasn’t even dangerous for Tyrkanzyaka. Shei’s magic was powerful, but only at the level of a spellblade. If this level of power were dangerous, Tyrkanzyaka would not have survived this long.
“Ugh. It doesn’t seem like there’ll be any major problems, but….”
After a long moment of deliberation, Shei took out Chun-aeng, which had been floating above her head.
Chun-aeng. Shei wielded it like a sword, but its essence was an extremely compressed space. That was why it had neither weight nor thickness. Slicing through space itself, Chun-aeng was sharper than any sword in the world.
Shei brandished Chun-aeng in the air, infusing it with mana as she explained.
“My magic uses Chun-aeng as a medium. The medium is so powerful that it has the drawback of having a distinct sky attribute, but since the sky itself contains countless phenomena, I can reproduce any of them with enough preparation.”
Wind flowed out from Chun-aeng. The compressed space began to unravel, expanding its presence. The rapidly swelling space caused the air to cool. Water vapor, shivering in the cold, clung to the warmth of skin upon contact.
Of course, a vampire’s skin was an exception. Their bodies were as cold as the expanding air.
“Wind, cloud, rain, and dew; frost, snow, thunder, and lightning. The wind creates clouds, the clouds bring rain, and dew rises from the earth to settle on blades of grass. An ordinary day, soaked by tiny, invisible water droplets.”
And after that.
The air began to stir ominously.
The wind vibrated as if seized by terror. Space, sensing the fiery omen, scattered in a frenzy.
Amidst it all, Shei’s hair stirred. Not from the wind, but from a thrilling, rhythmic pulse, like a heartbeat.
Shei gripped Chun-aeng tightly and released her mana. The mana surged from her entire body, flying into the air and gathering in one spot.
Its shape resembled a cloud. In the Abyss, where no sky existed, a single cloud floated like a still-life painting.
“Frost, snowflakes, and thunderbolts. They are twisted anomalies. When water droplets neglect their duty as messengers, the conflict between earth and sky reaches its peak, and twisted things fall. What I shall summon is rage. The sky’s magnificent rebuke of the world.”
Lightning flashed from the pitch-black storm cloud that had flowed from Chun-aeng. The cloud, pregnant with immense power, slowly moved to a position above Tyrkanzyaka’s head. As her clothes and hair rose in response to the ominous precursor, Tyrkanzyaka simply stared ahead without a word.
“Tell me if it hurts. I’ll stop.”
Tyrkanzyaka did not answer. Shei let out a deep sigh and inscribed her magic upon the world.
“Skyblade Art, Thunderbird.”
An instant later, lightning flashed.