The Great Star Absorption Art
The most unprejudiced person in the world might well have been Stiyeon.
She was the king's only youngest daughter, princess of a realm, and she had lived her whole life with every ounce of love around her gathered into her hands. What she wanted? She didn't even have to want it. Whatever she said came true. And as if that were not enough, she had been given a dazzling face to match.
Everyone in the kingdom said it until their mouths ached. Princess Stiyeon looked as though a doll had drawn breath and come to life. It was a fact proven by people's eyes alone, quite apart from power.
Bored.
That, lately, was the thought that kept returning to her. She had everything. Set her mind to a thing, and she could do it. A life in which the world simply arranged itself to her will. Yes—at first it had been fun. It had been good. Now even that had gone stale.
And why was she out on the rear hill alone in the middle of her second brother's birthday party? Because staying down there was dull. Nobles of any note? Most of them were faces she already knew. They bent body and spirit to look well in her eyes, forced conversation, and prattled on about things she had no interest in hearing. They shifted to match her every movement and pressed gifts on her she didn't need.
I already own all of it anyway.
Better to amuse herself alone than waste the hour there.
Cheep! Cheep!
"A baby bird!"
She followed the cry and found a chick, barely hatched, peeping on the ground.
"Why are you all by yourself?"
From the look of it, the little thing had fallen from a nest built up in the tree.
"I'll help you!"
It was fair to say she had never known fear. In truth, not once since the day she was born had there been anything for her to be afraid of. She climbed without a moment's hesitation. Stiyeon turned out to have more of a gift for tree-climbing than she would have guessed, and she even managed to settle the chick back into its nest.
The trouble came after.
"Huh?"
Why was it so high? When had she climbed all the way up here? She looked down, and all at once she was afraid.
That was when she saw Lilith—a woman tall enough to stand out even from a distance.
She's pretty.
It was the first time. The first time she had looked at another noble's face and thought it beautiful. She had grown accustomed to beauty from seeing her own face every morning, and now a woman had appeared whose looks surpassed even that.
Why?
But the woman was strange. She had clearly heard the cry for help, and she was pretending she hadn't.
Does she not know my face?
Impossible. Someone in the Doerdom Kingdom who didn't know Stiyeon? Unless they were a spy, it couldn't happen. Her name was known even in other countries—no, even on other continents.
"Help me!"
The strength was leaving her hands, and desperation sharpened. She dug her nails into the bark and barely held on, but even that was failing. Scrape, scrape. As she clawed at the tree, her nails began to hurt.
The instant she thought it was the end, the woman saved her.
She's even prettier up close.
How had a face like that existed in the world without her knowing?
The way she talks is strange, too.
How to put it. It was an old man's manner of speech. No—even an uncle wouldn't talk like that. If she had to name it, it felt like a grandfather.
Stiyeon's mouth curved.
I don't know what this is, but it's fun!
Everything about her was wonderfully new.
She told me to hide in the bushes, so I hid, but...
With only her head poked out between the leaves, Stiyeon watched a pack of young ladies closing in on Lilith. Nothing in the air suggested a happy reunion. They looked like knights who had gathered for a fight.
Stiyeon tilted her head.
Why did she tell me to hide?
One word from her, and those girls would be on their knees. If she wished it, she could strip them of their titles and make commoners of them.
"Don't tell me..."
To protect me? Right now—me? That sister is shielding me from the likes of mere young ladies?
Giggle! Giggle! Whatever was so delightful, the laughter kept spilling out of her.
"Wow! She really is a fun sister."
She could have burst from the bushes that very moment and taken the fun sister's side. But the situation was too entertaining. She decided to watch a little longer.
"Ugh... This is miserably hard."
A small hill was still a hill. Climbing it in heels was no ordinary ordeal. Serna was so hot she kept flapping the skirt of her dress, and every time she hiked it up, a smooth thigh showed. They were well-tended legs, the skin as fair as white jade.
"Lady Serna, please take this handkerchief."
Serna snatched it and stuffed it down her cleavage. Her breasts were tiny, but she had scraped together everything, soul included, and forced a cleavage into being anyway. The sweat pooling there was unbearably uncomfortable. The handkerchief slid down between her breasts and drank up every drop on her upper chest. Only after she had wiped all the way to the undersides did she fling it to the ground.
"Oh!"
Twizen caught the handkerchief that had just mopped the sweat from that chest, and a lecherous smile spread across her face.
Heh heh. A handkerchief stained with Lady Serna's sweat... This will sell for a fortune.
"Hey! Lilith! Do you have any idea how much we suffered looking for you?"
Anger sharpened Serna's voice. She punctuated it by stamping the ground with her heel.
"I see."
As expected, the Heavenly Demon had no interest whatsoever. What did it matter if other people suffered?
"Did your manners fall off along with the weight? What kind of tone is that to take with your older sister?"
Serna clenched her fist and brandished it.
"Hah!"
And what does she mean to do with a fist that thin?
"Twizen! Make Lilith kneel before me this instant."
As if she had been waiting for the order, Twizen squared her shoulders and advanced on Lilith.
"You ran like a rat earlier, but you won't be doing that now."
Those thick eyebrows and heavy lips, seen again. Compact muscle packed her whole frame. She really did look like a man.
I think I see why this one steps forward more than the other young ladies.
She wasn't merely threatening. Her martial strength looked considerable as well.
"If you stand still and don't resist, I won't use violence either."
It was a threat dressed up as something else. She reached for Lilith's shoulder. Lilith turned that shoulder the slightest degree, and Twizen's hand cut nothing but air.
"Ha!"
Twizen laughed as if the attempt were laughable.
"You trying to take me on?"
Whoosh! This time her hand lashed out the instant the words ended, and once again it only stirred empty air.
"Y-you bitch!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Lilith was plainly within reach.
"Nnngh—!"
It wasn't even one hand. Twizen strained with both, trying to seize her, and couldn't catch her at all. Both hands at once, and still she only split the wind.
Why?
Lilith was standing perfectly still. She never lifted either foot. She dodged everything with nothing but her upper body.
Why won't you get caught!
Huff... huff... The hands that had been grasping for Lilith sank toward Twizen's knees. She had only been flailing her arms, and already she was gasping.
"Is that all?"
The Heavenly Demon's voice came flat, as if mocking her. There wasn't a trace of fatigue in it, nor any feeling at all.
"Fuck!"
Twizen, who had seemed to be doubling over, lunged one more time—and was caught. Fast, in Lilith's hand.
"You haven't a single fundamental. Have you not even learned Qinna?"
"You're not letting—aaaaagh!"
It wasn't as if Lilith had done anything grand. She had only taken the arm and bent it, just a little. Twizen's arm and wrist wrenched all the way around, and she screamed in a voice that didn't match her bulk.
"Let go, let gooo! It hurts!"
A moment ago the words had been vicious. Now she was begging to be released. The Heavenly Demon's gaze slid off her and settled on Serna.
"As you can see, if I apply even a little force, this wench's arm breaks."
Serna's face crumpled through every ugly shade of outrage at once. Desperate, Twizen looked to her and cried for help.
"L-Lady Serna! P-please save me first! My arm is really going to break—aaaaagh!"
"You saw. Move even a little, and she acts as if she's dying. What will you do? Withdraw now, and this seat will not press the offense."
It was magnanimity, broadly given.
Since coming here, I really have changed.
In the old days, a single stroke of the sword would have taken every head.
"D-don't give me that shit! Who do you think you are, making me an offer? You just take what's coming, get down, beg, and grovel—that's all! Everyone, forget about the likes of Twizen and attack Lilith!"
Twizen stared at Serna, stunned.
"L-Lady Serna...?"
She was loyal enough, and fond enough, to be called Serna's personal guard. From the beginning she had liked and respected Serna herself, quite apart from the woman's power, and that was why she remained at her side. Serna was someone who knew how to make a person shine. Sometimes power blinded her and she did wicked things, but deep down she was kind... or so Twizen had thought.
"But... why..."
The Heavenly Demon clicked her tongue and eased the grip on Twizen's arm.
"It seems you've been cast aside. Get out of my sight."
Thud! A kick caught her in the rear, and Twizen went sprawling, limp. It hadn't hurt. She was only reeling from Lady Serna's choice.
To send a frame as big as mine flying in a single blow...
And she was astonished by Lilith's monstrous strength.
So this is magic.
Spells came hurtling at the Heavenly Demon. Some were searing pits of flame. Others were crystals of bitter ice.
So they make use of the attributes of nature...
Well. There were martial arts like that, too—arts that called down lightning, or Samadhi True Fire, which kindled flame upon the hand.
Though the magic of this place is a little more detailed, one might say.
Not that it mattered. Before this seat, all things were equal.
It would be worth an experiment.
The infamous art of those heterodox wretches.