The Forgotten Worshippers
The Forgotten Worshippers. A cult that venerates ancient dragons long extinct and erased from memory. By consuming the magical incantations left behind by those ancient dragons and mass-produced elixirs crafted from their corpses, they could temporarily wield tremendous power. In particular, the doping effects of elixirs enhanced by ancient spells or those made from a Dragon's Heart were potent enough to challenge even most Masters.
“Kuh-!”
“Overwhelm him all at once! There’s only one enemy!”
That was why the fact that these drug-enhanced special agents of the cult were struggling meant their opponent was a powerhouse on the level of a Master or higher.
A monster over two meters tall with six arms. Though created at the Academy, this chimera had slipped beyond control. Using its six arms, it unleashed swordsmanship impossible for any human. Watching blades arc through trajectories no human joint could achieve, the agents felt as though they were facing not a single monster, but an army of dozens.
—F-fun.
Hecate grinned and swung her sword. Six blades forged from her own extracted bones flew toward the agents. Attacks that no other monster or human could block were somehow being parried by the humans before her. Their secret was impossible to hide. Crimson Aura Blades, like fresh blood, erupted from their swords.
—Aura Blade……!
The sword of light wielded by the swordsman who was both her enemy and the murderer of her parents. A power Hecate had desperately researched and craved, yet still failed to obtain. Though she had clumsily imitated it, only a feeble black sword aura rippled across her blades—far too weak to be called an Aura Blade. Unlike the elegant, all-cutting Aura Blades of true Aura Masters that stood gracefully above the world, Hecate’s was purely violent.
BOOM-!
“Kuh!”
“Number 2!”
“This monstrous bitch……!”
Every time Hecate’s sword struck, a violent explosion followed. Shattering fragments and destruction. It was far from beautiful, yet brutally efficient in combat. Combined with her transcendent physical strength, it became a calamity for anyone facing her.
“Numbers 6 and 7. Die.”
“Yes, understood.”
“Acknowledged.”
Believing they could not escape unscathed, the squad leader issued orders to his subordinates. Hearing the command, the agents immediately lunged for Hecate’s openings. Watching them charge, Hecate sneered and swung her blade. Her strike was so swift that even Schwarz, once an Aura Master, would have marveled at it. The sword grazed past the agents.
—Kik, kihih.
A mocking laugh like a bug’s buzz echoed as Hecate moved past the agents she had cut down—or tried to. In reality, she couldn’t.
—Kik?
Hecate suddenly found herself bound by chains and let out a bewildered cry. Even with reflexes beyond human limits, she hadn’t noticed them. In an instant, she was restrained. With all six arms and her legs entangled, Hecate toppled forward before realizing the chains’ true nature. It wasn’t Aura like the humans had used. It was magic.
—Human. Spare me.
Rolling across the ground, Hecate immediately begged for her life. The agents burst into mocking laughter at the sight of a monster pleading.
“A mere beast worse than an animal, begging for its life?”
“What do you think, Captain? It seems to have some unusual abilities. If we bring it back to headquarters……”
“—Three of ours are dead. No mercy.”
While the agents laughed and dismissed Hecate, the captain coldly ordered her execution. His word was absolute. The agents cast aside their personal thoughts and slowly advanced on Hecate. Watching the sharp Aura Blades thrust toward her, the captain turned his back and swallowed a sedative.
‘Damn it, using the fruit here……’
Thump-! Thump-! Thump……!
The moment he took the sedative, his wildly rampaging Aura began to subside. The Fruit of Life granted superhuman strength to its consumer, but like all things in this world, it came with side effects. After a certain time, the user would die. Without taking a sedative-like antidote within that window, they would die. Overusing Aura after consumption would also kill them. Even after taking the sedative, they would be unable to draw out even a shred of Aura for a period. Considering that all the agents were experts who had reached at least the Expert rank, the side effects were far too severe for merely crossing one wall.
—Yet that was precisely what it meant to be a Master.
“Kek, kuh-!”
At the sound of choking groans, the captain turned his head and saw Hecate, who had already slain three agents in that brief moment and was rising to her feet. Wondering how she had escaped her bindings, he realized she hadn’t. She had simply grown new legs to walk and spat swords from her mouth to kill the agents. The ambush had been devastatingly effective—three agents near Master level had fallen in an instant.
“What the hell……”
Having just taken the sedative and unable to use Aura, the captain couldn’t even see what had happened with his own eyes. One thing was certain: the ancient spell, designed under the assumption that the body’s form wouldn’t change, was useless against a monster that could freely reshape itself. It was like trying to bind a slime with rope. The captain bit his lip hard, realizing his mistake.
“Kill her! No mercy!”
Before the captain’s words even finished, Hecate charged first. The drug-enhanced agents swung their Aura Blades in response, but Hecate tore through their defenses and began decapitating them one by one. A monster that ten agents couldn’t stop was now carving through half that number with ease.
“Number 2! Number 8! Use the spell scrolls—!”
“Hey, what the hell are these guys doing fighting each other?”
“—!?”
At that moment, an unfamiliar voice rang out. The captain turned and let out a horrified scream upon seeing a man resting an arm on his shoulder. It was Kyle Meyer, one of their targets. A face he had memorized from newspapers and wanted posters down to the smallest detail. The captain hesitated, glancing between the monster and their target. Kyle moved without a shred of hesitation.
“Aria, brainwash this guy first.”
“Yeah, got it. La, lalala~♬”
At the sudden song, the captain reflexively felt a surge of pleasure as his sense of self began sinking into the abyss. This wasn’t right—he was supposed to face the target, yet he was slowly slipping away……
Watching the captain collapse, Kyle turned his gaze to the remaining agents still fighting the monster.
“Hmm…… They look like bad guys at a glance. No need to hold back, right?”
Kyle smirked at the familiar-looking monster and the blood-red Aura Blades he recognized. Everyone standing here was a villain.
“—Then die.”
The sky was blotted out by countless Aura Blades. As Hecate and the agents looked up at the sudden shadow, dozens of Aura Blades rained down upon the earth.
* * *
Like a meteor shower crashing down in the early afternoon, Aria watched the Aura Blades plummet and issued a command to the nameless man she had brainwashed. Receiving the neural command, the man dropped to all fours. Aria climbed onto his back, grabbed his hair, and gave the order to move.
“Go, doggy.”
“Grrrr……”
With his hair gripped, the man sprinted forward as fast as possible while maintaining balance. He moved with the agility of someone who made running on all fours a hobby. Letting out a startled yelp at the speed, Aria directed him toward a safe location. Kyle chuckled at the sight of her fleeing while preserving her modesty as best she could, then turned his head.
—Aura Blade……!
“Still alive, huh.”
Kyle tilted his head at the small monster impaled on his Aura Blade yet clinging to life. The face seemed familiar, but it was strange—he had no reason to be friends with a monster. While he pondered with a puzzled expression, Hecate let out a low chuckle and stood up. The Aura Blade embedded in her torso had left a long gash from her abdomen to her shoulder, but the moment she pulled free, the wound sealed instantly.
“Oh, you……”
—K-Kyleeee……!
The name Hecate’s parents had heard last before their deaths. That name was etched into her genes, cells, and DNA. A mortal enemy that must be killed. To slay him, Hecate reached for an Aura Blade. Until now, it had been impossible. But now, right here, there were plenty to spare. Hecate grasped the Aura Blade that had pierced through her body. Since even the hilt was saturated with Kyle’s hostile Aura, her palm began to tear apart with crackling sounds. Yet she succeeded in gripping it and began overlaying her own Aura onto Kyle’s blade. If she had none of her own, she would simply steal someone else’s. Under that logic, the Aura Blade was completed.
—Die……!
Clutching the jet-black Aura Blade, Hecate charged toward her origin.