Chapter 40: White (3)
"Done crying?"
I stroked Luna's back as she remained nestled in my arms.
In response to my question, her small head bobbed up and down.
"Then let's keep moving."
"Okay."
As I said that and took a step forward, a strange sensation crept through the terrain I had assimilated through my Authority.
"I sense enemies nearby. Three of them."
Luna's face turned serious as she spoke.
"Three?"
That was fewer than I expected. So far, the smallest group we'd fought was five in that first battle. Three was unusual.
"Guess the family's starting a proper pursuit."
"They're on a different level."
Judging by Luna's reaction, they'd dispatched Bishop-rank personnel. Ranks weren't absolute indicators of strength, but Bishop-rank fighters were definitely no pushovers.
Which also meant the power I could gain by absorbing them through my Authority would be substantial.
"I'm launching a preemptive strike. Mark their positions."
"Got it."
One vanguard, one archer, one mage.
All three were low-tier Bishop in combat ability.
Families didn't move unless they were certain. Their members were never weak—they'd received elite education their entire lives. By my age, most of them had already reached Rook-rank.
If they judged Bishop-rank as sufficient, they genuinely believed it would be enough to subdue me.
So I'd have to use some of the Authority applications I'd been holding back.
The reason I hadn't fully utilized my Authority was simple.
They didn't know.
They had no idea how versatile the White King's Authority could be.
In the original story, the White King was described as relying more on raw power than precise application. The reason the White Witch couldn't suppress him early on was precisely because her level of application was on a completely different tier.
Having studied the White Witch's methods, I was now operating far above their expectations.
Of course, they'd dispatched personnel who seemed strong enough to handle me with minimal losses, so I couldn't guarantee an easy victory.
"They're recording everything with recording magic and sending it back, right?"
If they discovered I was using the Authority at a level beyond King-rank, my threat level would skyrocket instantly.
The pursuers they sent next would be on an entirely different tier.
I nocked a white arrow onto my white bow.
I'd absorbed plenty of mana from the previous pursuers, so I had more than enough.
The most troublesome one was the mage.
The distance was considerable, but the best strategy was to take out the mage before they could pinpoint my location. So I needed to come out strong from the start.
An arrow radiating pure white light tore through the air with a destructive roar.
The mage reacted to my attack and hurriedly tried to deploy a defensive spell.
"Too late."
But even as I said that, light flowed from his Stigmata, and my arrow twisted at an impossible angle, veering off course.
I frowned, watching the scene unfold.
"Seonghwi?"
It was incomparably weaker than the Seonghwi Estelle used, but the sensation was similar.
He didn't look that old either. Too old to be an Academy student, but maybe mid-to-late twenties?
Probably one of those so-called family prodigies.
A rising star who had awakened his Seonghwi at a young age and stepped into the Bishop realm.
The situation wasn't great. I'd launched a preemptive strike but failed to deal meaningful damage, and my position was likely exposed now.
I'd traded my position for information about their Seonghwi.
"What about the other two?"
"I'll check."
I felt Luna using the Authority in ways I couldn't.
I couldn't deal significant damage to the mage right now.
I shifted the arrowhead from the mage to another target.
The archer moved behind the mage.
Even if the archer had Seonghwi, it wasn't the same type as the mage's.
Having gathered that information, I aimed at the warrior charging toward me and released the bowstring.
My arrow, which had drained a considerable amount of mana from the previous pursuers, flew toward the warrior with an even more threatening sound than my first shot.
"Kuh..."
The warrior blocked my arrow with the flat of his greatsword, grunting as he was pushed back. The arrow shattered and scattered, leaving a white mark on the blade.
A white arc streaked toward me.
The enemy archer had pinpointed my location and started firing.
I conjured a small shield in my right hand—the one not holding the bow—and blocked the incoming arrow.
They'd already seen me create a bow in our first exchange, so they must have expected I could make other weapons too.
"Ugh..."
The moment my shield met the arrow, it exploded, sending me skidding backward.
"Neither the archer nor the warrior has Seonghwi."
Luna looked at me, having apparently finished her analysis through the Authority.
"Right. Three people with Seonghwi would've been crossing the line."
If there were really three people in that age range who had awakened Seonghwi, I would've at least recognized their faces.
"The mage's Seonghwi is a Gust Barrier. While it's active, it deflects the trajectory of any projectile aimed at him."
"Got it."
Sounded like a Seonghwi from a pretty mediocre Constellation.
If it were from a superior Constellation, they wouldn't just block with wind—they'd use it for long-range attacks or even reflect projectiles outright.
At that level, I could've shown them a few tricks and easily suppressed them before moving on.
I manipulated the terrain through my Authority-enhanced senses.
The plan was to raise a massive wall between the front and back lines, take down the vanguard, and then hunt the rear before they could cross or destroy it.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
The terrain groaned as it shifted, and a colossal wall rose between the warrior and the rear line.
I lunged forward and swung my sword at the warrior.
"Kuh."
"Not much to write home about. Your arrow was a bit impressive, so I got my hopes up."
Contrary to my expectations, I was the one pushed back in the exchange.
Had I underestimated Bishop-rank too much?
Maybe my rapid growth had made me a little arrogant.
If he was Bishop-rank, that meant he'd been swinging a sword for a long time.
"If I'm not much to write home about, would you consider just letting me go?"
"Well now. Capturing or killing a Devil with an Authority is a pretty useful reputation to build."
He sneered at me as if the very idea was laughable.
Here I was, fighting with my own life and the lives of people I cared about on the line, and this bastard was talking about reputation. It made my brow furrow with irritation.
At least in the original story, Estelle always swung her sword based on conviction and justice. She fought for the benefit of others and the common good.
"Reputation... Yeah. Right."
I shouldn't have been surprised. If they didn't have a reason like that, they would have joined the pursuit from the start instead of scheming to squeeze every last drop they could from the Alchemist.
If anything, I was the anomaly for having met such decent people.
I wanted to finish this quickly and be on my way, but I wasn't dealing any meaningful damage—just shallow wounds.
"Wind Cutter."
I leaped sideways to dodge, and the spot where I'd been standing was carved up as if by a blade.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue at my failure to inflict any real damage.
"Dad, I'm ready."
"Good."
But with perfect timing, Luna's Authority finished its preparations.
I leaped back, putting distance between myself and the warrior.
Ignoring the warrior who was leaping toward me, I drew my bowstring and aimed at the mage.
"Complete."
The moment Luna spoke, my senses expanded and I felt my realm rise.
At the same time, I released the bowstring.
The arrow leaving my string split into two, and the mage activated his Seonghwi as if mocking the attack.
The warrior swung his greatsword at me, completely defenseless.
"Now."
At my word, the shallow wounds covering the warrior's body spread with a white glow, paralyzing him.
The arrow seemed to have its trajectory deflected by the wind, but then a light similar to his Seonghwi flared from the arrow itself, and wind flowed out from it. His wind and the arrow's wind collided, canceling each other out.
Only slightly shaken, the arrows continued toward their targets, piercing the mage's and archer's shoulders. The archer was immediately consumed by the white light and stopped moving.
"What... is this..."
The mage spoke, disbelief clear in his voice at what had just happened.
"I get your situation, but I think my desperation runs a little deeper."
"Shut up...! Do you have any idea how important this is?"
His mana began to surge wildly, and I could feel his Seonghwi struggling to suppress the rampage. Clearly, the Authority's influence wasn't as effective on someone who had awakened their Seonghwi.
"I don't care if I have to kill you!"
An imperfectly formed spell came into view.
I dyed that spell with white.
"I'm serious about this too, you know."
Having seized control of the spell through my Authority, I activated it against him.
He wouldn't die.
I'd lowered its power at the last moment.
He'd be spending some time in the hospital, though.
"That's... not my problem..."
He really was on another level, having awakened his Stigmata. In that brief moment, he saw the spell being cast on himself and activated his Seonghwi.
Since the activation point was too close, fully deflecting it was impossible, but he seemed to have succeeded in minimizing the damage.
He tried to deploy another spell, but—
"Freeze."
The moment I spoke, the mage's movements stopped.
"You okay with him dying?"
They were from the same family. In a way, you could even call them family.
The warrior in my grip was slowly being painted over in white. He groaned in pain.
"Let me go. If you don't... you know what happens, right?"
At my words, he dropped his staff. To be honest, even if they'd kept fighting, their odds weren't good from the moment their vanguard collapsed and I seized control of the spell he'd poured all his remaining mana into. This wasn't a struggle for victory—it was the stubbornness of someone who couldn't accept losing.
They had no grand cause to save anyone. They were here purely for their own reputation, so this outcome was only natural.
The fight had been quite useful.
I confiscated some of their belongings. A few expensive potions, and although I knew they already had recording magic on them, I took their phones too. I was trying to cut off their communication channels to slow down information flow, but it probably wouldn't make much difference.
Through my Authority, I could feel my senses expanding beyond the wall. And I could clearly feel the gap in technique. Our physical realms were similar, but I was noticeably inferior in technique. The truth was, I lacked both experience and technical skill compared to them.
I'd stolen some of that experience and technique through my Authority, but I couldn't afford to forget this fact.
Their actual realm wasn't that different from Estelle's, from what I'd seen during our sparring sessions. But I was able to win easily just by holding out a little longer.
"If it had been her instead..."
I would've needed to use everything my Authority could do. Even though her realm wasn't noticeably higher, during our sparring matches, she seemed to be deliberately restricting herself to practice specific movements. I still hadn't grasped her true skill level.
The equipment on their bodies had recording magic embedded to monitor the situation. The two new techniques I'd just used were probably already being sent up the chain, and my threat level would skyrocket as a result.
What about the Pendragon family?
It was always on my mind, but there was still no mention of her family at all. Given her personality, it wouldn't have been strange if she'd started pursuing me immediately, but the fact that I hadn't seen her yet made me think maybe that wasn't the case.
Even if Estelle was conflicted because of her feelings for me, her brother was still on the Ark right now. I didn't know exactly how strong he was, but from the brief glimpse I got the other day, he was at least stronger than the guys I'd just fought.
Now that I was capable enough to handle up to Bishop-rank, there were two people I needed to watch out for.
One was Estelle.
I didn't know where she was or what she was doing right now, but her Seonghwi was incredibly troublesome to deal with.
Instant teleportation that could never be chased and could never be escaped.
And she didn't even seem tired after using it dozens of times.
Her rate of skill growth was so fast that even I, using the Authority like a protagonist, could barely keep up. She identified problems in a single exchange and immediately applied feedback.
To the point where, during our sparring, Luna tried to analyze her patterns but ended up having her own patterns analyzed instead.
Could I win if I used all of my Authority?
It's possible. No matter how overpowered her Seonghwi was, she hadn't awakened something as broken as the original Seonghwi—the Crown.
From my observations, her physical abilities were still at Bishop-rank.
An overpowered Seonghwi.
Versus a bunch of overpowered Authorities.
If someone who'd read the original saw this, they'd say, "You have the White Witch's Authorities and you're only saying you might be able to beat someone with one Seonghwi?" But if that one Seonghwi belonged to Estelle, they'd nod and say, "Yeah, that checks out."
The other person was, of course, the Spirit King.
This one... there was nothing to analyze.
He was just strong.
Unbelievably strong.
Heroes were just fucking strong.
To beat him, I'd need to hand over control of my body to the King instead of using the Authority.
Of course, I had absolutely no intention of doing that.
After continuous movement, I noticed something strange.
The pursuit had stopped at some point.
They'd probably figured it out by now.
That my goal was to cross into the Demon Realm.
They must have selected only their highest-level personnel and stationed them at the border.
I pulled out the smartphone I'd stolen from them and started fiddling with it.
I bypassed the security locks like pattern passwords using my Authority.
The fact that even this worked just proved how utterly shameless this ability was.
There weren't any articles about me yet.
Maybe it was because I'd been moving discreetly except for the initial engagement, but it was more likely that the Alchemist was controlling the information flow.
Which also meant there was a high probability they hadn't secured government cooperation yet.
If they had, they would've written all kinds of hit pieces to expand their influence even a little.
I flipped my thinking.
If that was the case, the place where the Alchemist would have the hardest time deploying combat personnel was near the Entry Office.
They wouldn't be allowed to station their private army near a government facility, especially one as important as the Entry Office, without any justification.
I dropped the phone I'd been using onto the ground.
Some might consider it dangerous, but that's exactly why it was a safe place.
Enter the Demon Realm through the Entry Office.
My path was decided.
And at the place I arrived...
"Hey. Just as I thought, you were trying to get in through the border near the Demon Realm, weren't you?"
A familiar face was there.
I scrapped my plan to slip past the border guards and infiltrate the Demon Realm.
"Gonna answer me? You're making the person who greeted you feel awkward."
"You've gotten really pale."
The only way forward was through victory.
"So it's true, huh."
"Any chance you'll let me through?"
"It's not out of the question. But be honest with me. The Authority—can you hear the voice of its owner from the Starry Sea?"
"No."
I lied. I'd been able to hear it ever since I started using the Authority in earnest.
"You can hear it. How much can you hear?"
"Nothing."
I lied again. Even now, it was whispering like crazy. There were so many whispers that I couldn't even make them out anymore.
If it were someone else—if I hadn't been sharing the burden with Luna—I might have gone insane by now.
"I see."
She ignited her Seonghwi.
Still the same girl who never listened to a word anyone said.