Chapter 88
Chapter 88
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Shattering the Blood Mist
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Dududududu!
Strike after strike after strike. Countless blows shot toward the blood mist.
Dududududu!
Hands, feet, shoulders, back, knees, elbows—even his head. Attacks using every part of the body.
Innumerable flurries unfolded with a single purpose: to shatter the blood mist.
Vladimir, who had been reshaping the blood mist to match his movements at first...
"Kraaaagh!"
Let out a scream soaked in agony.
Drip! Drip!
The blood mist began leaking droplets from the edges, which gradually increased until it spread uncontrollably.
How much time had passed?
Boom!
Finally, the blood mist enveloping him burst apart.
Shrrrr!
As Vladimir's body, which had been floating with only his upper half visible, returned to normal...
It was covered head to toe in blood.
"Hah, hah..."
No trace remained of the leisurely greeting from the man who now looked like a ragged beggar in tatters.
"Ha, haha... I thought it was just aura and Heterogenous Powers. To think you even have such clever techniques. No wonder the Shadow sees you as a threat."
To possess such power at an age that barely reached thirty.
Truly worthy of being the closest aide to the Black Wing, the one the Shadow had marked for death.
And judging by the nature of this power, he was no one who could blend into murky waters unnoticed.
"Heh heh! Next time... I'll make sure to kill you. Keep your neck clean until then."
Vladimir began dissolving into blood mist, preparing to slip away into the air.
"Who said you could leave?"
I had no intention of letting him off so easily.
"Where do you think you're going?"
I had mountains of questions to ask.
Kaboom!
With a stomp, I closed in on the blood mist scattering into the air in an instant.
I thrust out my aura-clad hand, but...
Whoooosh!
I was a step too late—my hand grasped only wind.
The empty sensation at my fingertips told me as much.
"Tch!"
Not just the Holy Empire, but now even the Dark Stream was stirring.
'Historically, this was around the time Karma vanished without a trace...'
Why was the Dark Stream suddenly targeting me?
I'd barely clashed with them even in my previous life.
The few times? Leading the Stigma Mercenary Corps and trading barbs now and then.
'And he said the Black Wing wants my head.'
The Dark Stream might be a rotten bunch, but they didn't kill without reason.
The Black Wing was their leader, one of the absolute powers seated boldly on the continent's throne.
'For such a figure to want me dead...'
Was it that single line Karma shared after teaching me Steel—had it altered history's flow once more?
'Looks like I'll need to investigate after Philador.'
The Black Wing targeting me was surely tied to Karma.
Rustle!
Once Vladimir's presence fully vanished, another approached from behind.
It was Aria and the attendant mages.
Miron was off in the distant tree shade, struggling to suppress his frenzy.
"...How did you know? How did you find us?"
Aria asked, avoiding my gaze.
"Even a makeshift magic circle shouldn't have let you catch up this fast. Unless you knew exactly where we were..."
Of course. It was natural to wonder. But...
"Isn't that the wrong first thing to say?"
"...!!"
Aria, who had been averting her eyes, glared at me sharply. But only for a moment—she bit her lip and bowed her head.
"...Thank you for saving me. I survived because of you."
'She's not bad at heart, that's for sure.'
Just narrow-minded.
Growing up in Fran Kingdom, where magic was everything—especially in a pinnacle mage family bathed in privileges—her faith in magic must be immense.
'I hope this changes something in Aria's mindset.'
Please, reconsider and develop a counter to anti-mage armor.
I prayed inwardly for her change of heart and spoke.
"No need to thank me. You asked how I tracked the makeshift circle, right?"
Aria stared at me silently.
I wasn't really expecting an answer anyway.
"Simple. Black Lions can use telepathy for communication. If we're close enough, we can talk mind to mind."
Her eyes filled with bewilderment at my response.
"Black Lions...? You've mastered a Heterogenous Power?"
"That's right. And that guy over there has too."
"H-How... A scion of the illustrious Shield Family wielding such filthy power..."
Aria seemed shocked that I, from a knightly lineage, had embraced a Heterogenous Power.
Well, Julius the prince had shifted our kingdom's views a bit, but most would react like this.
"That 'filthy power' saved you, didn't it?"
"...!!"
"Lady Aria. Cozied up studying magic in your family, it seems you know nothing of how the world turns."
"Young Master Jerome! How dare you be so rude to the lady...!"
The attendant mages bristled at my blunt words, but Aria stopped them.
"...Go on."
'Her eyes have changed.'
That madman Vladimir turning up seemed to have positively shaken her views.
"Our kingdom alliance's greatest foe is the Holy Empire—that insane bunch. And you're still caught in outdated logic against them."
I pointed at the mages, withered like mummies.
"That's the result of blindly trusting magic."
"......"
How long would we cling to aura and magic against a Holy Empire that's no longer holy?
They were already conquering the continent with monster legions and every tool at their disposal.
Even funnier: their knights outnumbered and outmatched ours.
"Black Lions aren't called that for nothing. They're anomalies themselves. Insisting on magic against them is like playing poker with all your cards face-up."
Aria recalled the finger Vladimir had left behind.
Without Knight Miron, she'd have died pointlessly—undoing all her family's efforts.
"I understand your pure faith in your family's power. But Lady Aria, as a direct heir to a great house..."
I spoke to her with sincerity. Her genius was vital, of course.
But I knew how she'd live with dead eyes in the past—no, the future.
'...Not sure.'
Aria pressed a hand to her forehead and sighed.
She'd lived labeled a magic genius, believing all truths stemmed from spells.
Yet that magic was toyed with by a Black Lion wielding bizarre Heterogenous Powers.
In crisis, a knight she'd dismissed as useless saved her.
And the one who felled the foe? A fellow direct heir from a glorious house.
Now speaking of powers beyond her family's craft.
Everything she believed in felt denied in an instant.
'...But still.'
At least his words rang with genuine intent to stop the Holy Empire—no malice denying her life's work.
"...I get what you're saying, Young Master. Let's... handle the attendant mages' bodies. Then head to Philador first."
Aria faltered mentioning the corpses—likely her first brush with death so close.
'To Philador, huh. No more fleeing with magic circles, at least.'
"Agreed."
As Aria moved with the survivors to tend the mummified remains, I approached Miron, who seemed calmer.
"You okay?"
"Yes, thanks to the bloodstone you gave me... Sorry for the ugly display."
Miron apologized, embarrassed at losing control of his frenzy.
"Why apologize? You protected the lady. Considering her value, what you did today might shift the continent's fate."
"...What do you mean...?"
"It's a thing. Good work."
I patted his shoulder again; his expression softened as he asked,
"Oh, that bloodsucker earlier spouted nonsense about 'refinement' and 'transformation'... What was that?"
"Ah, that."
I hadn't explained much before since Black Lion entanglements were rare even in my past life.
"Simply put... it's like physical enhancers versus transformers. Folks like you boosting natural body abilities are 'refinement' types. Those altering their body's nature to fight are 'transformation' types. Not a clean cut, though—like slicing cloth with a sword."
"Then where do you and Saladin fall?"
I scratched my head at Miron's question.
"As I said, it's not black-and-white. I transform my body somewhat, so transformation? But I fight with my body too—refinement. You're pure refinement, though."
Miron nodded, some doubt eased.
"Ah! He also said my hammer could wound him. What did that mean?"
Did that bastard just yap and run without fighting?
"Back in Jaun, we embedded your hammer with a bloodstone. Had budget left, so added extras."
I handed Miron a small stone lump.
"This is...?"
He took it reflexively and asked.
"Topaz-mithril alloy, 3.67 to 6.33 ratio. Mix it into weapons, and it hits transformation Black Lions—even without aura or magic."
I'd added it as insurance to the hammer, never expecting it'd pay off so soon.
"Topaz at 3.67...? As expected of you, Young Master. But how do you know all this?"
Miron asked earnestly.
Fair question.
Black Lions wielding perfect transformation powers were hard to damage without aura or magic.
Countless factions had researched counters over ages—all failed.
Obviously.
'Deviate by even 0.01 from that ratio, and no effect.'
Only Jaun's mining precision made it possible; elsewhere, even knowing it'd be tough.
Such finicky process kept it secret for so long.
The secret broke in the near future.
By an unexpected figure: the Black Wing himself.
'No idea how he learned it or why he revealed it.'
As Dark Stream leader, probably internal research—I could only guess.
At the site Vladimir fled...
"Hic!"
"Hic... Smith...!"
Only the bodies of Aria's attendants remained.
Some had been like family since her childhood.
"Hic... Dig...!"
The surviving mages choked back grief, chanting to carve a pit in the earth.
They wanted proper funerals, but hauling so many bodies was impossible.
Aria thought differently.
"Fly."
As the mages levitated the cooling corpses toward the pit, Aria cast another spell.
"Freezing."
Crack!
Her short incantation flash-froze the dead attendants.
"...I can't let our family sleep in some unknown hole."
Before anyone could stop her, she pulled out a pouch and stuffed the bodies in.
'Subspace artifact?'
I was quite surprised.
The coldly pragmatic Aria of my past life using a high-grade relic for corpses? Unthinkable.
Ignoring me, she persisted, storing every body in the subspace.
Only then did her gaze turn to me.
"...Let's go. We've delayed too long."
Her complicated grief was plain, but I didn't pry.
"Right."
No words could soothe losing family from the same house.
Setting aside the surging sorrow, we pressed toward Philador's northern border.