Chapter 64
Chapter 64
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 64
Chapter Title: S2. Resentment Wished Upon the Stars -7
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People save people. That was truly a difficult thing.
From the perspective of a single living organism, reaching out to another at the cost of one's own harm was akin to madness. Life's purpose and duty is to pass on its genes to the next generation.
Somewhere in the empty void of the universe, a star was born by sheer chance. That star occupied the narrow gap between celestial bodies where life could emerge, and it enjoyed a prime era for flourishing. On such a star, you were born.
An infinitesimally slim probability. What you hold as if it's natural is the culmination of an astonishing coincidence. A life of being born human and dying as one, grasped only after breaking through countless fateful trials.
To throw away that miraculous luck for the sake of preserving another's genes? It would be an error, a flaw.
Whenever faced with this irony, Niore would repeat the same old refrain.
Yeah, blood's blood, right? Live as you were born.
Her father, who preached loving others; her grandfather, who valued people over lineage; distant ancestors who devoted their lives to saving the world—they all must have failed to overcome the voice in their hearts and leaped into danger.
Just as Niore always had.
So this time, too, she followed the voice of her heart.
[I saw it disappear around the right corner three blocks ahead.]
"Can you track it?"
Niore nodded. Compared to Bennett's traces, these were so sloppy it almost seemed like an invitation. She skipped the joke about being able to follow them blindfolded—there was no time for that.
The little detective jumped, hooked her hands on the wall, and climbed up. Then she dashed along a narrow path barely wide enough for one footfall.
As Tara ran alongside Niore, she tossed a quip at Bennett, who matched their pace.
"...What's this? Bennett, you got a crush on Niore or something?"
"Don't be ridiculous."
"You hate this kind of thing."
"I'm just thinking of it as a chance to interrogate Silver Twilight Order thugs."
Bennett turned his head sharply, avoiding her gaze. Tara smirked, traced a pattern in the air, and constructed her spell.
The mana bestowed by the goddess excelled in buffs and offered high stability. With lower concentration required for activation, it could be cast relatively freely even while running or fighting.
A burst of light erupted.
"Ferocious Beast's Blessing!"
This made twice now. Unlike chasing that mad sorceress, the influx of divine power felt rather pleasant. Sensing the mana urging him onward like Tara's personality itself, Bennett charged forward like a wolf.
[...!]
Thud thud thud!
Niore pointed ahead at the corner while smacking her whiteboard. Enemies up ahead, probably. Bennett prepared to draw his longsword, gripping the hilt firmly and steadying his breath. He judged the odds of resolving this through talk as extremely low.
[...!!]
They rounded the corner to find five cultists in white hoods. One carried a massive sack heavy enough for a whole person.
And the scrawny cultist was slicing his own wrist with a curved dagger, blood dripping. From the ominous bubbles boiling in the pooling blood on the ground, he'd already prepared his spell.
"O lurker in the shadows, fleeting yet great one, grant wisdom to burst this lowly worm. Wisdom, wisdomwisdomwisdom—."
Crunch, crackle.
A horrific scream echoed as bones and flesh twisted.
The scrawny cultist was crushed to death in an instant, like being squeezed by some enormous hand. Then, the space before him rippled.
Like viewing the world through a convex mirror, space bulged outward. Bubbling murmurs rang in his ears, and he felt chilling gazes upon him.
Bennett barely pieced it together. A projectile attack, he guessed. An invisible force distorting space hurtled toward him.
"That's what you meant by incoming attack...?!"
A communication mishap. Dealing with someone who couldn't speak created gaps in information.
A power he'd never encountered. With space warping as it approached, distance was hard to gauge. Could he slash it? If not certain...
As Bennett braced himself, channeling mana through his body, Tara hurled her goddess's holy emblem in front of him.
"Three Hounds Guarding the Goddess!"
Hummmm—!
A massive golden shield materialized, blocking the unseen projectile. Of the three hound heads embossed on it, two shattered and dispersed. It seemed a taxing spell even for Tara; she gritted her teeth and yelled.
"Can't take two hits!"
"I'll kill 'em first!"
The foes had struck first without hesitation, clearly intent on murder. In that case, he had to return the favor. That was Bennett's way, forged in his brutal life thus far.
Bennett kicked off the ground, shooting sideways. He used the alley wall as a springboard for another leap, zigzagging to disrupt their aim while closing in at high speed.
Precise body reinforcement amplifying strength and speed in balance. Mana radiating from his longsword. A sense for detecting it.
His eyes gleamed murderously—a rare third-star mastery even within the Academy.
Slash.
Bennett reached the cultists in a blur of afterimages, swinging his blade left and right once each. Light flashed, and two heads flew into the sky. Three down, two left.
One tossed the sack to the ground, shouting,
"G-Get closer and the woman di—Guh!"
Crack!
Niore approached from behind, smashing his temple with a spinning high kick. The cultist's eyes rolled back as he crumpled.
One remained.
"Devour me, devour me! I offer all my flesh to you—!!"
Slash.
Bennett slit his throat to silence the chant. But merely declaring his intent to self-immolate completed the spell. Pop! The cultist's head shriveled like a withered apple in an instant.
The wrinkled, shrunken head looked as if centuries had passed in a blink.
Ominous light began leaking from the corpse. A color with definite hue, yet imperceptible to human eyes. It spread in waves too sinister for words.
The cultist Niore had knocked out, swept by the light, rapidly mummified.
Bennett leaped back far.
"...Another new spell. Seems already activated. Summoning?"
"Feels nasty, but the mana is unbelievably refined. Like it's bestowed by some... divine... entity. Another god's holy power...?"
As Bennett and Tara pondered the magic manifesting despite the caster's death, Niore scribbled frantically on her whiteboard.
[Time bomb. Instantly ages anyone caught in the chromatic haze.]
"Eugh, aging?!"
"...Hold on, Niore. How do you know that spell?"
Niore pointed at the sack with the kidnapped person, waving dismissively as if explanations could wait.
[Please grab the sack and fall back. I'll handle it.]
"How are you supposed to block an isekai spell?! And it's holy power! Disrupting that's nearly impossible...!"
"...Ir, ...c'th, Ar'kla... ."
Niore pulled a sinister tome from her bosom and chanted. Mostly rasping breaths laced with metallic tones, evoking a warbler's cry. Her voice was nearly unintelligible, yet it formed a proper incantation.
Over the cracking corpse, some vast presence lingered.
Thud!
A colossal pillar of raw red flesh, studded with thousands of mouths, slammed into the ground and vanished. The pulverized remains, flattened beyond recognition, leaked no more ominous light.
Tara jumped, grabbing Niore's hand.
"...What was that power? Niore, you've been hiding your strength?! And you just... spoke... ."
"......"
Hehe. Niore beamed goofily. But her eyes were oddly unfocused.
Bennett, meanwhile, paled. If Niore were simply a genius mage, fine—but considering the gruesome visuals and the Silver Twilight cultists dying each time...
Her spell might not be normal. Whatever path she learned it through, it likely carried risks.
"Niore, you..."
[How about that? I helped! No one got hurt, and we saved her!]
"......"
Bennett studied Niore calmly. No visible wounds, no signs of fatigue. If it was just his imagination, good...
[Let's get the kidnapped lady out quick! She must be terrified.]
...He'd let it slide for now.
Opening the sack revealed a woman crawling out, face smeared with tears and snot. A camera hung around her neck, a crossbody bag slung over her shoulder.
"Wh-what happened...?"
"Ah, don't worry. We killed all the kidnappers."
"Killed... them?!"
She glanced around in shock.
Mummified corpses. Decapitated ones. Bodies flattened like they'd been run over by heavy machinery. Amid this nightmare scene, she clutched a streetlamp and vomited.
"Bleeegh...!"
"......"
"...I see. Ordinary isekai folk aren't used to blood, huh."
Trembling before the trio who casually slew five people, she pieced it together and looked up anxiously.
"Y-you did save me, right? You're not gonna wipe out the witness...?"
[Yes, rest easy! We helped out of the goodness of our hearts.]
"Phew... ."
She sniffled, pulled tissues from her bag to wipe her eyes, then introduced herself while avoiding the corpses.
"I'm Sally, reporter for the New Life Gazette."
"I'm Ta—"
"No need for you to know our names. How'd you end up kidnapped?"
"......"
Sally caught Bennett's curt interruption, figured hiding details might make it six bodies, and explained honestly.
"Lately, no scoops, so... I was digging into the infamous cult, Silver Twilight Order. Thought it'd be threatening letters at worst, not outright kidnapping."
Tara floated a question mark overhead.
"...Reporter?"
"Like an info guild investigator."
"I-I'll pay you! Our paper's on Carter Street? Come by later; can't offer much 'cause my salary's low, but... I can show you curios or unpublished materials unsuitable for print...!"
"No need. Go about your business."
"...Yessir!"
Sally saluted, hastily gathered her things, and bolted. Midway, she stopped, turned back, and waved frantically.
"...Sorry for the late thanks! You saved my life!"
"......"
[See?]
Niore held up her board proudly. She'd caught Bennett's lips twitch upward. He touched his mouth, then changed the subject.
"Abraham's waiting. Let's head back."
"Yeah, don't wanna have that... Isaac girl eat all our sausages!"
[I doubt Isaac would... ?]
How long had it been since he'd received thanks? Bennett felt oddly warmed. The Silver Twilight Order's magic was bizarre, and their growing numbers meant rising danger. Objectively, today's incident was a loss...
Yet it didn't feel bad.
Yeah, clashes were inevitable anyway. Good to learn their tricks early. Not a total loss...
A black mage had to react coldly to gains and losses.
"Why do you keep smiling?"
"Not smiling."
Back home, much to discuss. Ask Niore when she learned that spell. After this clash, predict the Order's response and countermeasures.
Might even need to leave to avoid burdening Abraham.
Still, for now, he wanted to savor this subtle feeling. Bennett walked with relaxed shoulders.
Because plenty of time remained—or so he thought.
"...Huh?"
The illusion shattered nearing the hill.
At twilight, as the sun sank and painted the sky blood-red. Beneath emerging stars, Abraham's mansion burned.
Licking flames, eerie yet pure white. Like devouring flesh.