Chapter 107
Chapter 107
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 107
Chapter Title: Deconstruction of a Spell
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"Right. I could prove it if you want. But is there a reason to? It'd be my loss."
"..."
Loan continued in a cold tone, as if he truly wasn't interested.
"You seem to know well enough that the magic I used to cut off your arm wasn't ordinary. And you must also know that my mana is more than a match for yours. To be honest, I don't think I'll lose to you. So you'd be better off just believing me."
Boris's expression became incredibly complicated.
He probably wanted to know.
Whether Loan was just bluffing to test him, or if he had truly deciphered his magic after seeing it just once.
This question was likely more intriguing than his initial one.
Putting himself in Boris's shoes, it made sense.
Loan proposed with conviction.
"How about this? I ask what I'm curious about, and you answer. If your answers are satisfactory, I'll demonstrate it myself and explain how I did it."
Boris was so deep in thought that he began grinding his teeth.
A long contemplation, enough to break a tooth.
Finally, spitting a broken tooth onto the floor, he spoke.
"Fine. Ask away."
The demon straightened his posture and waited for Loan's question.
Perhaps because he'd heard that Loan had deciphered his magic just by seeing it, he didn't reattach his severed arm.
"Is there a gate to the human world and the demon world here?"
"A very long time ago, yes, but it's already closed. I don't know about now. It might be, or it might not."
"That's a pretty poor answer."
"Can't be helped. No one knows the gate's location. It's more like a phenomenon."
"It can appear suddenly?"
"Yes."
As if to spice up the Q&A, Loan floated fire, water, ice, and earth at his fingertips, repeatedly mixing and separating them.
Boris's eyes, watching this, filled with admiration and curiosity.
"Does someone create and open that gate?"
"Anyone with the proper ability can do so. As long as they have the key."
"Ah, so that key is written in some secret tome. That's why Bifrons was searching for it so desperately."
"..."
He seemed slightly surprised that Loan knew more than he expected.
Since Bifrons wouldn't be in Boris's memory.
"Next question, then. Why were you bound here?"
"I was held captive."
"By whom?"
"I don't know who they were. There were humans, elves, and dwarves. I think there were other non-human races, too. Well, probably something similar to those things called the Union."
He didn't seem to be lying.
Who they were wasn't really important.
He wanted to know why they had left him here for so long, instead of killing him or sealing him in a Stone of Goetia.
"The reason they kept you alive?"
Boris suddenly let out a deep sigh.
"Hey, friend. Are you going to keep asking questions endlessly like this?"
"If you don't want to, then don't. I clearly set the condition that I'd do it if your answers were satisfactory. Think about whether your answers were worth that much."
The demon fixed his gaze on a corner of the ceiling and pondered for a moment, as if truly recalling his own answers.
At last.
"They told me to teach them how to seal demons."
"To you, a demon?"
"Asking a skilled black magician would be more appropriate."
"So you're saying that's what you are. Did you teach them?"
"Aren't you holding the result of that?"
Loan followed Boris's gaze and glanced down at his jacket pocket.
The demon already knew about the Stone of Goetia inside.
The conclusion was that someone had sealed demons using the method he taught them.
"It's strange they didn't kill you even after succeeding."
"I feel the same way. From a certain day, they stopped coming. Maybe they died, or maybe they decided they didn't care whether I lived or died."
"When the gate opened back then, how many demons crossed over?"
"..."
For a moment, Boris wore a dumbfounded expression.
"You're even worse than those guys back then..."
Then he retorted sarcastically.
"How many people from other countries live in the country you live in?"
"..."
"It's the same. How would I know? Countless demons crossed over, and I don't know how many have remained here since. How could I, while hanging in this basement?"
"I see. Then I suppose only the rather well-known ones were sealed in the Stones of Goetia. About 72 of them, perhaps?"
"..."
He had just voiced a thought that came to him while piecing together previously obtained information like a puzzle during their Q&A.
It seemed he had hit the mark perfectly.
"Alright. Then the next question..."
"Enough."
"Hm?"
"I've done my part. Aren't you being too shameless?"
"Shameless? A demon is talking about shame?"
Boris looked genuinely angry. Pitch-black mana began to roil within his body.
But at the same time, he also looked incredibly sad.
The turmoil of his emotions flowed directly into his voice.
"I came here a very long time ago, and immediately ended up in this state, selling out the safety of my own kind. And I don't know how much time has passed. It feels like at least a thousand years."
"Hmm."
"Then the owner of this body came. He made me an offer. To give him great power. His desire was so deep it was like a sickness. He wanted it that desperately. I made a contract based on our agreement. They say to kill demons on sight, but why must I die? Setting aside the other demons. I've been like this my whole life. Have I done you any harm? I accepted your offer and am answering faithfully. Are you, as a human, naturally so cruel? Or are those Union folks like that? Or are all humans like that?"
It seemed he had a lot of pent-up feelings.
To some extent, it was understandable. Having been here for so long, he must have desperately wanted to talk to someone.
As for the rest of it...
If it had been anyone other than Loan, they might have been persuaded to some degree. No, it was more likely that they would have been.
A demon's words held a wicked power. Their vibrations created a strange resonance in one's heart.
But Loan had lost many precious people because of demons. He had just seen with his own eyes and experienced firsthand what demons were capable of.
According to Loan's conviction, beings dominated by dark mana would undoubtedly act in a manner befitting it.
He had already seen, through a vision of a future yet to come, how a world coexisting with demons would end.
So he remained unmoved.
"Then, next question."
"You crazy..."
Boris ground his teeth again, but Loan paid him no mind.
"Tell me what you know about Stolly and Asmo."
For a moment, Boris's crumpled face took on a strange luster.
"An interesting question. Indeed... I thought it was strange. You and Stolly. It seems you have a contract, but your relationship looks odd."
"Cut the crap."
"As for Asmo, well, she's the demon of lust, so I assume you two got together. I covet your face too, friend."
"Stop stating the obvious."
Boris chuckled for a moment before answering.
"Well, Stolly is a weird one. Doesn't talk much, only cares about eating, and has no special abilities. That's all. As for Asmo, you probably know her inside and out better than I do, so I'll skip that."
He said this with a very lecherous expression.
It was a truly detestable face, enough to make Loan barely suppress the urge to send his head flying.
The demon spoke.
"Now, now, friend. How about we stop here for real. I think I've answered quite faithfully."
Loan also thought that pushing any further would be impossible.
"Alright. Except for the last answer, I was generally satisfied. I should keep my promise, too."
Loan idly cracked his neck from side to side, making a popping sound.
In truth, it wouldn't matter if he broke his promise to the demon.
He was going to die anyway.
Nevertheless, the reason he intended to show what he'd realized was because it was a great opportunity to fulfill multiple objectives at once: reviewing the magic, experimenting through demonstration, establishing a theoretical framework, and directly implementing it in a practical situation.
"What you showed me was very interesting. In fact, it would be more accurate to say it was shocking."
"Was it that amazing?"
"Not you, the mana."
"The mana?"
"Until now, I simply thought it floated around, influenced by the atmosphere. But that wasn't it."
Loan smoothly pulled a necklace out from under his shirt. It was the one he had received as a reward from the Governor-General.
*Tok-*
He then detached the pendant, levitated it in the air, and lightly touched it with his fingertip.
The pendant, which had begun to spin in place, soon started rotating at an incredible speed.
"Outside, I don't think I was able to observe it properly because of the atmospheric currents. And because of the low concentration. Since it's here, I could see it a bit more clearly."
Boris listened quietly to Loan's words, his eyes never leaving the rotating pendant.
"Besides, if it weren't for the special trigger of your crude body-reattachment magic, it's highly likely I wouldn't have noticed it. That's how subtle the movement was."
In addition, the dense mana concentration, which had dramatically enhanced Loan's physical abilities by several levels, also played a part.
Because Loan's method of observing mana itself had deepened, he had managed to discover a certain secret hidden within it.
"What I realized today is that mana interacts with itself. You're the one who showed me."
"Me?"
"Yes. Judging by your reaction, you did it unknowingly... In that respect, demon magicians don't seem much different from human magicians."
"..."
Loan let the pendant continue to spin and continued his analysis.
"Going back. What I focused on wasn't you reattaching your arm, but the process of drawing in the energy needed for regeneration. You didn't adjust the mana density, change the air currents, or apply pressure to the space, so how did it gather so densely in a specific spot?"
"That's because the formula I intended was manifested without an incantation."
Boris answered, swallowing dryly.
He found it difficult to understand much of what was being said, but it was clear that his opponent was talking about the magic he himself had manifested.
He couldn't have said such things otherwise.
Though it was absurd that he spoke as if he had witnessed the process.
"So, rather than deciphering the formula, I approached it by understanding and reinterpreting the phenomenon."
"So you're saying you could see it?"
"To me, it feels like light, and light is an unbroken, continuous line—though lately, I've been entertaining the idea that it's overlapping waves—but anyway, I got the impression that those lines weren't flowing, but being drawn."
"Impression?"
It was a somewhat vague expression, but there was no need to explicitly state that he could see and control mana directly.
"The feeling of mana pulling on other mana. That's why it's an interaction. The problem is why it pulls, and how one can artificially create that effect. Fortunately, I was able to confirm the crucial point through your two demonstrations."
"..."
"One is that mana is not composed of a single entity. And that it possesses its own rotational force, which gives it the power to attract."
"What are you talking about?"
It was natural that his opponent didn't understand.
When the demon first demonstrated the magic, Loan had suspected he might also be able to see mana, but that wasn't the case.
He was just ordinary. He wouldn't understand even with a detailed explanation.
So Loan ignored him.
"The problem is how I can artificially impart rotational energy to mana to make it attract other mana. It might be possible if I put my mind to it, but it would be too delicate a task to be practical. So I thought of this."
Loan finally pointed to the rotating pendant.
What change had occurred after rotating at high speed for so long?
The pendant was emitting a faint haze, which looked somewhat like an aura.
"What was needed was a tool with magical power. One that wouldn't deform when spun. It had to be balanced and consistent. This necklace immediately came to mind."
As he spoke, he cupped his palm slightly beneath the pendant, leaving a small gap.
The pendant's rotation gradually slowed and then stopped.
The pendant remained floating in place, retaining a sort of humming sensation.
"Now. Watch this."
Loan scattered the countless traces of metal that had been circulating in the Convection around the pendant.
A moment later.
The metal fragments began to gather very slowly around the pendant.
There was no incantation, no magic circle, nothing.
It was an incredibly simple phenomenon, but it served as proof.
"Without any physical influence, the mana gathered on its own. Isn't that the same as what you showed me?"
"..."
The demon had just watched, in real time, the complete deconstruction of the Naberius-style mana manipulation method that formed the basis of his unique black magic.