Chapter 104
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 104
Chapter Title: Unique Domain
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"Hard to believe. Their project itself is practically a slaughterhouse at this point, and you're telling me the police actually sent a butcher to the Gulag?"
"Of course not."
Austin took a sip of his tea before continuing.
"Just that he won't be showing up on the front lines for a while... that's all they'll say."
"...Frankly speaking, I still can't trust you all from the Marshall Family. We've only ever dealt with Leverk."
Leverk had been the one to broker Akio's Torchlight and make the introductions.
The Marshalls had never once shown their faces to them before now.
On top of that, the Marshall Family was infamous for being pro-Luther.
It was suspicious from the start that people like them would try to interfere with the 8th Special District's project.
"Alliance Leader."
Austin spoke in a cold voice.
"Sometimes... ignorance is bliss."
"......"
"You have every reason to suspect us. But keep this one thing in mind."
He fixed the alliance leader with a piercing stare.
"Leverk has been wiped out, root and stem. We're the only sponsors left who can help you now."
"...!"
The alliance leader fell silent, unable to retort.
He had heard the rumors, after all.
Something ominous had gone down at the Magic Tower, and it had caused major problems for Leverk.
Indeed, all channels to Leverk had gone completely dark afterward.
"Al Kimia Alliance isn't what it used to be anymore."
Especially after the brutal siege at the snowfields in Quantitas.
The large-scale production facility hidden in District 14 had been neutralized, crippling their chimera supply lines.
If only the self-destruct sequence had activated, but even that had failed.
The police had preserved most of their forces intact.
Meanwhile, Al Kimia Alliance had lost the entire Quantitas faction and all its production facilities.
In this near-wartime situation, logistics were the most critical factor.
No other faction could match Quantitas in mass-producing chimeras.
"Surrender talks are already bubbling up within the alliance, aren't they?"
"Kuh...!"
Indeed, as the tide began to turn, anti-war voices had grown louder within the alliance.
It wasn't just because of the decisive defeat in the siege.
'...It's all because of that butcher.'
Countless alchemists had lost the will to fight after witnessing the butcher force even an ancient ice dragon to its knees.
On top of that, Akio's Torchlight had been hesitant to cooperate fully ever since that incident, for some reason.
The alliance leader slammed the table with a thud! without realizing it.
'These weak-willed fools...!'
They knew exactly what had happened to the Mafia Summit after their defeat!
After the don's death, the summit had completely disintegrated and fallen under strict police control.
The mafias could maintain their existing businesses, but that was it.
They had devolved into puppet forces, only able to operate within the limits permitted by the police.
'I won't let my alliance end up like that, not even if dirt fills these eyes...!'
Reading his mood, the Marshall man curled his lips into a smile.
"But think about it, Alliance Leader."
He lightly tapped the table to draw attention.
"The butcher isn't around right now, is he? If we seize the momentum here and regroup, we can mend the divisions in the alliance. Don't you think?"
"......"
That was certainly true.
The alliance was shaking precisely because of the butcher's existence.
Without him, even without Quantitas, they could hold their own—and public opinion leaned that way overwhelmingly.
"...Even so, who would believe it easily? That the police don't have the butcher anymore."
"Simple."
"Simple?"
"Start by spreading rumors about the butcher within the alliance."
And no matter how fractured the alliance, they could still muster one solid offensive.
"I'll pick out a suitable target for you. Hit that first."
"You're saying we launch a preemptive strike in this situation?"
Austin nodded.
"Think about it. If we score an overwhelming victory that way, wouldn't whispers start like this?"
Why hasn't the butcher shown up?
Could those rumors be true?
"Those subtle doubts will solidify into conviction through a string of big and small battles."
A smile played on his lips.
"And at some point, that conviction will unite the alliance once more."
After that, it would be straightforward.
"Mobilize the entire alliance to annihilate the 141 Unit without their butcher and indefinitely delay the Security Stabilization Project itself."
"...But if we go that far, won't the Investigation Bureau's Special Forces move?"
"Don't worry about that."
Austin Marshall gently stroked his teacup.
"The Investigation Bureau won't budge."
He had already prepared a convenient excuse to keep them pinned down.
"Excuse?"
"Yeah."
He nodded.
"Heard of Moonlit Path?"
"...? Moonlit Path... you mean..."
"Terrorists made up of heretical mages."
They were also the group that had once shelved their plans to enter the 8th Special District because of Kyle.
"The Special Forces will be deployed to stop their activities."
"That sounds almost like..."
...the Marshall Family could control Moonlit Path.
But the alliance leader kept it to himself.
Sometimes, ignorance was bliss.
"I'll paint the whole picture for you. Remember that."
Austin rose slowly from his seat, looking down at him.
"You and the Al Kimia Alliance just need to follow my lead."
"......"
The alliance leader let out a small groan.
'...No butcher.'
This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
The last chance for the alliance in crisis.
'If, by some miracle... things go just as Marshall says.'
It could overturn all their past mistakes in one fell swoop.
Austin glanced at the pondering alliance leader, his eyes hardening coldly.
'Butcher...'
The 'Herald' had only told him to leave it be, but he couldn't help considering the possibility that the butcher had survived the lower levels.
In that case, better to exploit the fact that the butcher was tied down below while they could.
'Yes. Stay there.'
But in exchange...
'Don't think the surface will remain unscathed, butcher...!'
Austin's eyes twisted ferociously.
Meanwhile, at the Conventus Hall in the neutral zone.
No one dared interrupt the fierce duel, staring blankly at the spectacle.
Boom! Kwakwakwa-boom!!
The rapier thrusts, faster than light, fired like machine-gun rounds.
Yet, unfit for such a slender blade, each strike packed the power of a cannon shell.
Clang! Chachachaclang!
But what was that man who blocked every one by a hair's breadth?
Hard to believe he'd just fought a demon knight—he maintained his speed, wielding his jian to deflect all attacks.
'Impressive.'
The count was purely admiring.
'I expected as much, but not to this degree.'
Was his instinct too sharp? Eyes too quick?
Or both?
The man before him reacted a step ahead of his strikes.
A movement beyond human limits.
'That interval... about 0.5 seconds.'
0.5 seconds.
'Yes.'
To Kyle Clark, it was as if he could see 0.5 seconds into the future.
The count barely suppressed his rising smile.
It was that astonishing.
'So young, yet already this accomplished...!'
Carelessness meant blades countering from all directions, bizarre punches swatting his sword, or high-speed magic flying in.
What was amazing was how it all flowed seamlessly together.
'Born for this.'
Using complex techniques like extensions of his body was impressive enough.
But their combinations were masterful.
Kyle Clark wielded swordsmanship, fist arts, magic—deploying them perfectly where needed.
Simply using this skill or that was clumsy, full of openings.
But blending them naturally...
'Creates a whole new irregular style.'
The rapier and jian, launched almost simultaneously, clashed head-on.
Kwaaaaaang-! With a deafening roar, both figures were repelled apart.
'Ha!'
The count couldn't hide the glee in his eyes.
'This guy's the one...!'
The onlookers swallowed hard.
"Why does it look to me like that guy's fighting the count on equal footing?"
"No way... impossible!"
"But shit, how is this even a fight?!"
At that moment, the on-site commander's earpiece buzzed with the deputy commander's voice.
[What's going on there?! Report the situation!]
"W-Well..."
The commander gulped.
"Not only did the intruder kill the demon knight... now he's fighting a great bloodkin...!"
[...What?]
"He's currently engaged with that count-level bloodkin!"
[!!]
The news reached District Chief Paul Ker Schleman immediately.
"What? The count stepped in?!"
He had just sent off the Kepler Corp executive and was rushing to the hall when he shouted involuntarily.
It was too unexpected.
The bloodkin of District 21 had always been indifferent to other districts' affairs.
'Didn't expect a count-level figure to intervene personally.'
But the real shocker was that butcher.
Absurd enough that he'd actually taken down a demon knight, as the executive said.
"Fighting a count on equal terms? You sure?!"
[Th-That's the report for now.]
"What nonsense...!"
The district chief was stunned.
Demon knights were strong, but their true terror came from their powerful 'Laws,' not raw class.
Those absurd rules that activated unconditionally under conditions, combined with resurrection as long as shadows existed—that made them horrifying.
In other words, without those 'Laws,' demon knights' raw classes varied greatly between individuals.
But great bloodkin were different.
They weren't feared just for one cheat ability like 'Laws.'
Raw class.
Bloodkin, honed over ages, were simply leagues above in pure class.
Plus hundreds, thousands of lives stacked up.
That's why they'd been objects of terror for so long.
And why the master of bloodsword arts, who could nullify that class, had once been revered.
'Taking down a demon knight? Fine! Say he had something to nullify their Laws or resurrection...!'
A pureblood count?
Fighting on equal terms meant his class wasn't far behind the count's to begin with.
'Where did this monster even come from...!'
He asked,
"...Where's Kurtz?"
[The chief was taken hostage by the demons...]
"That's why I told you to evacuate Kurtz to safety first, you idiot!"
[Sorry, sir!]
The district chief bit his lip.
'Damn it!'
A public official taken hostage was perfect justification for not aggressively resolving the situation.
But the problem was that official was his only son.
He couldn't help feeling anxious.
The district chief quickened his pace.
"Hurry up!"
"Yes, sir!!"
Meanwhile, at the Conventus Hall, unexpected laughter echoed.
"Hahahahaha!! Hahahaha!!"
It was the count facing off against Kyle.
He laughed until his stomach hurt, then wiped his eyes contentedly.
"It's been ages! A human who can keep up with this body to this extent! I can't even remember the last time. Is this the worth of slaying that demon knight?"
His voice, arrogant and haughty, boomed through the conference hall—completely different from when he'd spoken to Kyle.
Kyle looked utterly baffled.
'Whoa, the acting is top-tier.'
Aren't you an artist? You should've been on stage.
But the count continued nonchalantly.
"A warrior this fine deserves commensurate respect."
He elegantly raised his rapier with a whoosh!
"With pleasure, I, Massimo Dobinić, shall show you my essence."
The barons caught his intent, eyes widening.
"You mean..."
"No way?"
"You're going to use that...!"
The count smirked.
"Consider it an honor, human. I don't show this to just anyone."
Guen suddenly realized something, eyes bulging.
"Wait. Dobinić... Dobinić?!"
"W-What, Guen?"
Under Rnen's anxious gaze, he swallowed hard.
"I've heard that name before."
His eyes trembled.
"One of the duke's three knights... a monster among monsters who possesses the Unique Domain 'Duel Trial.'"
Rumors said 'Duel Trial' deployed a duel arena heavily favoring the count.
"And no one has survived that trial to this day...!"
"?!"
As if to prove it, the count spoke.
"In my homeland, the Dellar Principality, there was a custom called 'Duel Trial.'"
In those harsh badlands, only strength ruled all.
"Noble or commoner, anyone who wished to prove another's guilt or their own innocence had to settle it through duel, no matter what."
His eyes gleamed coldly.
"And I... was the proxy of that trial, the undefeated champion."
In that instant, immense mana crushed the entire conference hall.
"!?"
"...!!"
"What is this...!"
"The rules are simple."
The count smirked.
"My condition, your condition. We duel with them on the line. The loser is pronounced guilty and must unconditionally accept the winner's condition. That's it."
He chuckled.
"Fun, isn't it?"
Rnen paled, sensing the domain imminent.
"N-No...!"
She shouted at Kyle.
"Run! Now! Once a Unique Domain is complete, anyone caught in it...!"
Kyle raised his hand, cutting her off.
"!!"
Rnen flinched.
His eyes, looking back at her, were unnaturally calm.
He turned forward again.
"Don't worry about useless things. Just watch the hostages."
Kyle stepped toward the count.
"It'll be over soon."
At that moment.
[Duel Trial]
Ding-! With a bell toll, a barrier like shooting flames engulfed Kyle in an instant.
"......"
"......"
"......"
Countless gazes stared at the barrier, speechless.
They could only swallow at the ominous crimson-black domain.
Rumors of Dobinić's [Duel Trial] had trickled even to the defense forces.
Fragmentary tales, but one common thread: someone always got a guilty verdict.
So, who would stand when that barrier vanished?
At least until now, it had always been the count.
"No way... even the bloodkin loses?"
"D-Don't say that shit...!"
"How do you beat a monster like that inside...!"
Still, the defense soldiers whispered with faint hope.
But the baron-level bloodkin watched with unshaken expressions.
'If I know correctly, the count's Unique Domain flows time differently from reality.'
Probably 10 minutes inside equaled 1 minute here.
'Then.'
The baron muttered at the barrier.
"The outcome will come in a flash."
Of course.
'Though the result might as well be decided already.'
Impressive that a human kept up with the count's swordplay.
But to them, the count hadn't been serious yet.
Now he had unleashed his Unique Domain.
Meaning he would fight in earnest from here.
'No matter if he slew a demon knight, a human won't walk away innocent.'
From the start, the artist in bloodkin eyes had middling class without his powerful 'Laws.'
But the count was different.
A pureblood forged from progenitor blood.
So the barons knew.
A serious count was ridiculously strong.
Guen ground his teeth unconsciously.
'Damn it...!'
He'd never believed in old demon king prophecies his whole life.
Heroes? Ridiculous nonsense.
But right now was different.
'Please... previous Demon King!'
His fists trembled.
'Just one more time, grant us a miracle...!'
In the suffocating tension, demons, bloodkin, and defense soldiers—all watched with varied emotions from different standpoints.
Then.
Crack-!
Cracks spiderwebbed across the crimson-black barrier.
"...!"
Soon.
Kwaaaaaang-!
The count's Unique Domain shattered outward.
"!?"