160. Upheaval
160. Upheaval
Watching Eliarnes begin to take in Mana, Leona narrowed her brow.
'A genius... no, is this level of talent... something I'm supposed to call genius?'
The Mana Veins created by a Dragon Heart carry the pressure emitted by a dragon and the oppressive force unique to its roar.
And on top of that, the Authority of Mana Suppression dwells within it.
Inside that, Eliarnes had controlled Mana in just ten minutes. And not only that—she had drawn it out to a visible range and wrapped it around both hands.
'Doesn't even the word genius undersell Eliarnes's talent?'
Eliarnes's Realm was the edge of Tier 5.
She still had not escaped the bounds of humanity.
But that did not mean Eliarnes's talent was lacking. She was only seventeen. How long had she spent taking in Mana and training? She'd heard it was roughly six years. In that time, she had climbed to Tier 5.
A broken genius. The eldest son of House van Chaser.
Hudd van Chaser had emitted Sword Aura in his fifth year of holding a sword. Eliarnes could be said to have reached Tier 5 at the same speed.
But that did not mean she could be called his equal.
The cohesion of the Mana Eliarnes possessed, her control, her usage, her output—all of it was on a different track from Hudd's, the man the whole world had proclaimed a genius.
This was not the work of a girl who had trained for a mere seven years.
It was the work of a Martial Artist who seemed to have rolled through decades of battlefields where the fighting never ceased, day after day.
But even so.
Overcoming a dragon's pressure and shaking off the Authority of Mana Suppression should be impossible.
No matter how much of a genius one was, one could not overcome the terror embedded in the genes of the human species. That was a domain sleeping in the unconscious—literally instinct.
But Eliarnes had brushed it off so easily, as if it were nothing.
'She's insane...'
Insane. There was no other word to explain Eliarnes's talent.
Even the Demons, who had now become the natural enemies of dragons, could not be faster than Eliarnes was right now. No existence in the world could surpass a dragon's power.
No.
'Well, that's not quite right either...'
A bitter smile crossed Leona's face.
An existence that had surpassed a dragon's power.
There was one.
There had been.
Among them, the one with the least talent, the foulest temper, the worst habit of using his fists, and the filthiest mouth.
And yet the one who was full of affection, who could not ignore the weak, who sacrificed himself even at his own expense.
The one who inspired fear in all Demons, who was called the star that brought calamity upon the Legion Commanders.
And the one who had found her when she was dying in a Demon human-experimentation site.
Ronan Luzarak.
He, too, had been like Eliarnes.
His adaptation to dragon Mana had been strangely fast.
While his comrades were still adapting to dragon Mana, he had been slaughtering Demons at the dragons' sides.
He had carved the light of the Calamity Star into the dark-red sky of the Demon World and butchered the Demons on the battlefield where the Dragon-Slaying War had begun.
'For a coincidence, it's really... remarkable.'
The Deceptive Body that had earned Ronan the name Calamity Star.
Eliarnes used it too.
The vulgar, low, filthy way of speaking.
And yet at times childish, at other times detached and reliable.
Eliarnes was like that too.
She resembled him. Resembled him far too much.
Looking at Eliarnes brought back memories from four hundred years ago.
The happiest moments of her life, memories she could never forget no matter how she tried. Even locked away in the deepest part of her unconscious, they kept surfacing—memories of him, of the time spent with them.
But did that mean Eliarnes was Ronan?
Reincarnation? That couldn't be. It was impossible.
That was the Principle of the world, the rule set by heaven.
And even if it were so... that man, Ronan.
That dark-skinned Ronan, who was more manly than anyone and often more beastly than the Beastkin—there was no way he had been reincarnated as this... this adorable girl.
The ability to use Deceptive Body... it was most likely that she had seen something Master had left behind in House Eustetia.
Her personality and way of speaking—she had simply... been raised that way.
Or perhaps she had been born with that disposition from the start...
No.
'She isn't a child with a bad nature from the start... Probably, that's how it is... It has to be...'
She didn't want to think that such a violent and bizarre disposition was innate to that small, lovely form...
Leona, unaware that the answer was right in front of her eyes, let out a small sigh and studied Eliarnes closely.
There was no time to admire her talent and sink into reverie. If anything went wrong, she would have to beat the Mana out of her if necessary.
With that thought, she focused her mind.
And Eliarnes.
'This... is this really okay?'
She was both horrified and amazed at her own body.
Did it hurt? Of course it hurt—pain was natural in the process of acupoints and Dantian tearing and expanding.
So did it hurt? It hurt. It hurt, but not that much. It was bearable.
On top of that, the dragon Mana was flowing in smoothly, without resistance.
It was actually easier than the process of taking in natural Mana. It wasn't just entering, either. Her acupoints and Dantian were gaining elasticity, expanding, becoming comfortable.
Innate talent? No... this was a newly opened acupoint.
That acupoint was open wider than before. It was wide open and writhing, as if it meant to devour all the Mana in this Mana Vein.
The acupoint she had opened following the book Arisa left behind was doing work here. Was that the intent? Had that bright, innocent Arisa drawn a grand design all the way to this point?
She didn't know. Time to think about such things was a luxury.
Right here, right now, she had to think about how to use this Mana for maximum efficiency.
So, could she use it?
Without stopping her breathing, she tried to control the Mana accumulated in her Dantian. She could feel signs of it moving. She could control it. But she didn't. Because the result of moving it was obvious.
'I'm seriously going to piss myself...'
Just giving it the slightest, faintest attention made her spine tingle. Nausea surged inside her, and her lower abdomen throbbed.
It was enough to know that she could control it.
Even if she couldn't do it right now, there would be plenty of opportunities.
Purgatory.
The gates from the first to the fifth.
Where among them should she shove it?
The first—too... excessive. The first had to be openable at any time. So the recoil had to be suppressed to a minimum.
And this dragon Mana.
She only knew she could control it; she didn't know the result. Leona, born a Beastkin with a naturally sturdy body and exceptionally tough even among Beastkin, had shuddered like that.
My human body could shatter to pieces.
Then the second? No, even the second and third were too precious to stake her life on.
So the fourth.
Before going to the fifth, the fourth was appropriate.
And anyway, let's stuff a ton into the fifth, which would be fucked the moment it opened.
Having finished her thoughts, Eliarnes opened her eyes to slits. She saw Leona directly in front of her, her vertically slit pupils gleaming.
Those predator's eyes that Leona opened could catch the flow of Mana with chilling precision.
Fortunately, she had hidden the existence of Purgatory well, but if she shoved dragon Mana into Purgatory in this situation, the chances of being caught were high.
So she needed to draw Leona's gaze away...
About two seconds—no, one second would be enough.
'Stab her in the eyeball?'
Impossible. Eliarnes had never once managed to stab Leona's eyeball.
'But what if I use Deceptive Body and seriously go for it?'
Stabbing was still impossible.
But there was a possible method.
Just smacking her right between the eyes with the palm of her hand.
Was it possible?
Mana—my Mana, with only a tiny scrap left.
With this, she could use Deceptive Body about once. If she snapped her elbow and focused Mana into her fingers at the same time, she might be able to stab the eyeball.
But after stabbing, not a single speck of Mana would remain. That meant she'd be unable to resist and would just have to get beaten.
Still... I'm not so lacking in greed that I'd waste this good opportunity. If anything, I'm overflowing with greed.
Let's do it.
Eliarnes's decision was quick.
Her action was even quicker. Her elbow had already risen before the decision was even made.
That was the vulgar habit of using her fists that she hadn't been able to fix since her Past Life.
It was the instinct of the human who had been Ronan in the past and was Eliarnes in the present.
Flash—cherry-blossom-colored Mana burst with light.
*****
Smack! A clear, crisp sound rang out from Leona's brow. At the same moment, I sucked in the dragon Mana spread through the air in a single breath.
The wide-open acupoint writhed. My heart pounded hard, and pain like my whole body being torn apart surged up.
I could endure it. I gritted my teeth and opened the acupoint even wider. Crrrrk—the sound of the acupoint twisting echoed in my head. The acupoint absorbing the dragon Mana. The acupoint opened following Arisa's book connected with Purgatory.
Up to here, 0.4 seconds.
Leona's brow twitched. Faster. Harder. Thump-thump—my heart pounded violently. Purgatory's furnace chewed and swallowed the dragon Mana greedily. In that process, I regulated it so that Origin True Energy wouldn't escape. I filtered it so no impurities mixed in.
0.7 seconds.
Leona's teeth ground together. The corners of her mouth trembled. Her open hand curled into a fist and rose.
0.9 seconds.
I closed Purgatory's gate. The dragon Mana lingering at Purgatory's entrance... remained at Purgatory's entrance.
Fuck... I didn't expect this. It seemed like it would take a long time to disperse it naturally. I had no choice but to send it somewhere else. How? By controlling it?
If I control it, right now... if I do... I shouldn't?
"Move your hand."
Human dignity, or having Purgatory's existence discovered.
Which of the two was more important?
In an extremely short time, in a moment that felt like a split second torn into dozens of strands, my head spun rapidly.
If Leona got suspicious once and examined that place, Purgatory's existence would definitely be discovered.
If it was discovered? Knowing Leona's personality, she would break my limbs if she had to, to keep me from fighting anything else.
And then... the possibility that she would learn I was Ronan—no, not just a high possibility—she would become certain that I was Ronan.
Considering the way I'd acted so far... that must not happen yet. I needed a little more... time for my atrocities to be forgotten.
But, but human dignity... I couldn't... throw it away...
Grab—Leona seized my arm. I felt an indescribable power in that hand. I could even feel the heavy anguish of someone who wanted to break my pale, slender arm but couldn't bring herself to do it.
...As long as she doesn't find out I'm Ronan... that's all that matters.
No, no. I could... put strength into my bladder and hold it. Then everything would be solved.
I could do it. In my Past Life, I'd often held it during battle. Holding it had been routine. So... I could do it.
It's fine. It's fine. Soothing myself internally, I controlled the dragon Mana.
"Ugh...!"
I felt a rough storm moving along my blood vessels.
The sensation of my whole body being torn in every direction. A bizarre feeling. Pain as if my muscles and bones were being rearranged.
My eyes flew open. My vision was red. Bloody tears poured out. Blood flowed back from my nose, my ears, my mouth.
Pain like a dragon's breath being fired into my body hammered my entire frame. I could endure it. I could endure this much. Enduring pain was what I did best. So, the other thing too, I could.
I could. I could.
I could endure it.
But my body.
"...Huh?"
Couldn't endure it.
Trrrrickle—