Where's Your Conscience?

In this world's system, level represents the rank of one's existence.

Whether it is martial arts, magic, or a unique ability—it makes no difference. Train your power, engrave your story into the Akashic Records, and your level rises. The amount of mana you can wield is determined by that level.

Special magic, martial techniques, broken items, or sheer personal talent can create some gap even between those of the same level, but the difference is never that large.

In that sense, my unique ability—Masochist—is something truly special.

For any ordinary living being, pain naturally weakens you. On the day Annie died, when I fought the monsters and my limbs were severed, I felt overwhelming agony—and at the same time my ability made me stronger. But with no hands or feet left to express that strength, I could only lie there helplessly and take the beating.

The System claimed that pain made me stronger, yet in that moment I was effectively weakened. That only happened because it was the very beginning of my transmigration—I still knew nothing about Masochist.

"Hoo..."

I drew a short breath and poured strength into my body all at once.

Crack.

The sound of bone shattering rang out as my severed left arm hit the ground.

Losing an arm would normally mean catastrophic loss of combat power. Not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠for me. On top of the sheer magnitude of the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pain, the combat power I had just forfeited flooded into my mana core as a vast quantity of mana no ordinary Level 5 could ever hope to handle.

Next—the eye.

I brought the edge of the dagger in front of my left eye. The cold metal brushed against my eyelashes with vivid clarity. The first time I tried stabbing my own eye I had stubbornly kept it open out of sheer spite. Closing the eye and driving the blade straight through the eyelid turned out to be far more convenient.

Thuck.

Losing one eye dulled my vision, depth perception, and reaction speed—and in exchange every other sense sharpened. The pain, of course, boosted my mana again as a free bonus.

Finally.

I slowly raised my hand, packed it with mana, and slammed my fist into my own mouth with everything I had.

Crunch.

Shards of teeth stabbed into the tip of my tongue. Broken fragments rolled around inside my mouth mixed with blood. My gums tore open; blood flooded every corner. The iron reek climbed up my nose.

"Ptoo."

I had repeated this countless times while training my unique ability, so I spat the teeth out cleanly without any fragments catching in my throat. Once more, a massive surge of mana poured into my core.

Before transmigrating I had started pulling healthy teeth after thinking about the pain of wisdom-tooth extraction. The results were excellent. I was never going to fight by biting people anyway—might as well use them as buff material.

"You crazy bitch."

Bella shook her head as if she had just witnessed something she never wanted to see.

"I warned you it wouldn't look pretty. Ptoo."

Blood kept welling up inside my mouth, mildly annoying. I had to pay attention to how slurred my pronunciation became every time I spoke.

"If it looks like you can't handle it, at least buy me some time. Your condition's already bad. I'll finish this as fast as I can and come help."

"Right now... you're worrying about my condition?"

Bella looked me up and down with an expression of pure disbelief.

"What's wrong with my condition? Right now my body is in peak form."

How much hell had I gone through to find the exact sweet spot where physical damage didn't hinder combat yet maximized Masochist?

"That mana volume... I get that you're stronger than me. But what kind of unique ability forces you to fight looking like that?"

"Unique abilities are all like that. Mine's just a little unusual."

Yeah. Absolutely not telling her. Too embarrassing...

"Grrrr."

The monsters' growls became unmistakably clear.

"Get ready. Their target is me anyway. I'll draw them; you just take one."

She answered with a quiet nod.

"They're coming."

I activated mana in my legs and instantly put maximum distance between myself and Bella. The upper-rank wolf-form monsters charged toward me without a single moment of hesitation. Bella used swift, precise swordsmanship to successfully pull the aggro of the rearmost one onto herself.

"She looks better than I expected."

Hadn't her mana core been injured, forcing her to the rear? Watching her handle an upper-rank monster so smoothly eased the faint anxiety I had been carrying.

This spot should do.

Since I had to face multiple opponents, I lured them into the narrowest terrain possible so nothing could get behind me. The moment I stopped moving, the monsters began circling me carefully, as if surrounding prey.

I tightened my grip on the dagger in my right hand.

The one at the front sprang at me in a blur. An ordinary Level 5 would have died without even reacting. To me—senses honed by the sacrifice of one eye—it was a clumsy attack.

Crack!

I ducked, twisted my waist, and drove the mana-packed dagger straight into its side. The monster that had allowed the blow staggered back, blood streaming, and reset its stance.

Yeah, that won't kill it.

The probing phase seemed over. The monsters started eyeing one another, timing a simultaneous rush. I deliberately lowered my right hand a fraction, offering an opening.

Whoosh—

In that instant they all lunged. Six sets of claws covered my body at once. I made no attempt to defend.

Crunch!

"Kh...!"

The sound of flesh being torn from my stomach rang out. At the same time something deep inside me began to boil and surge.

One first.

The same monster that had wounded me earlier. Ignoring the claws the others were driving into my body, I used the fresh wound as leverage and buried the dagger even deeper.

Crrrack.

I dealt heavy damage to its head, but as an upper-rank monster it still refused to die cleanly. Even so the damage was real; it used its companions as a shield and slipped back.

If I don't reduce their numbers here, this gets dangerous.

Without hesitation I swung my arm and smashed the nearest one's face.

Thud!

The monster reeled from the impact. Seizing the opening, I launched myself at the already critically wounded one. The others, of course, did not simply watch. One of them managed to sink its teeth into my thigh.

"Heuk...!"

The sensation of flesh ripping spread through my entire body. That pain converted instantly into power. I twisted my upper body and drove the dagger into its eye.

Thuck.

The monster screamed and thrashed. Had they recognized me as a strong opponent? They thoroughly protected the injured one while keeping me in check—proof they understood that once their numbers dropped they would be at a disadvantage.

Crunch!

Another one bit down on my remaining arm.

Haa... annoying.

Time for a small gamble. Ignoring the arm clamped in its jaws, I kept my speed and charged straight at the monster hanging back.

Riiip—

The vivid sensation of my arm being torn away. Muscle shredding, bone crushing. It didn't matter. The agony of losing my right arm converted directly into mana, and I poured every drop into the regeneration magic circle.

Sssrrk—

In an instant the right arm grew back. I clenched and opened the fingers once, then drove the tightly closed fist straight into the crack in the wounded monster's skull.

One down.

Splat.

Its head burst. Instant death.

Crunch! Crunch—

"Cough."

Sharp fangs sank deep into my shoulder. The sensation of blood and flesh being ripped away slammed into my brain. Bone crushed. Cold saliva and empty space where meat used to be let a creeping wind seep in. Extreme pleasure mixed with the feeling of my body locking up.

Crunch!

Another one slammed into my side from behind. My guts scattered.

"Kh... heuk... haa..."

I tried to swallow the blood pouring from my mouth, but my throat was already clogged. The breath that should have reached my lungs was blocked. Something thick with blood, saliva, and scraps of flesh slid down my esophagus. Air ran out.

I had succeeded in killing one, but the rest swarmed in and began tearing into my flesh.

Good. Just as calculated—right here...

The metallic stench of blood, searing pain, the feeling of nerves snapping—

Flash!

"Puhah!"

My body revived in a blaze of light, restored cleanly. And the pain I had felt in that death was converted into enormous power that now roared through every vein.

I grinned.

"Surprised?"

The prey they had been devouring had just come back to life; the monsters froze. I poured every ounce of strength into my fist and exploded another one's head.

"Haa, haa..."

Four left.

At last I had reduced them to the number I wanted. Three lives remaining. There was a way to wipe them all out at once, but the pain was still insufficient.

The remaining beasts snarled and fixed their eyes on me. I narrowed my eyes and smiled at them. They charged.

...

"Haa, fuck... they're disgustingly smart."

They had already adapted to my fighting style and no longer fell for the same tricks. Thorough defense, then a single strike aimed at my throat. It was a highly effective strategy.

With nothing to show for it, I had no choice but to surrender one more life. Balance, maybe? If someone who could already handle mana far beyond their level thanks to a unique ability also possessed even modest martial or magical talent, I could have swept them away already. If only I could shape my attacks properly instead of just wrapping mana around my body and swinging...

Still, I was not at a disadvantage. That latest death had gathered enough pain for me to use the Evil God's authority again.

"Ether, activate."

Just like when I dealt with mid- and lower-rank beasts, a blood-red halo rose above my head and black spots began covering my entire body. All I needed was the tiniest opening so the attack I was about to unleash could reach them.

"Grrrr—"

The four remaining monsters reacted simultaneously. Instinct told them the aura pouring from me was a chain meant to bind them.

Boom!

I swept my hand through the air. Crimson-black threads of mana unfurled in every direction and coiled around the monsters' limbs.

"KRAAAAH!!!"

They thrashed madly, but the darkness-soaked chains locked their movements completely.

Done. Now—

"Kh...!"

My heart constricted. Mana inside my veins felt like it was reversing. The backlash of the authority of malice—the price of wielding power far beyond my station—was arriving.

Crunch!

Strength left my legs; I could no longer breathe. My heart seemed to forget how to beat and simply stopped. My mind went white. Coldness ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠spread from my fingertips. Immense pain—no, pleasure—and then consciousness snapped.

Darkness crashed over me.

"Puhah—!"

The moment I sucked in air, the pain wrapping my entire body converted into overwhelming power. But it was not over. The price of the authority I had just used would not end with a single death.

One more time.

I die.

Immediately.

Crunch!

This time it was not the heart—my brain snapped.

Flash—!

The spare lives were all gone. One mistake here and I would truly die.

Two deaths. And the pain harvested from those deaths. Explosive mana erupted from every part of my body.

Now I could cast the one and only magic I had ever learned.

Long ago, during the war between gods and Transcendents—Ragnarok—there lived a witch who loved peace. Soft-hearted despite her immense talent, she could never properly use offensive magic, yet she still wanted to help in the war. The method she chose was extreme. She bargained with the scales inside the Akashic Records and placed a Geas upon herself: permanent renunciation of all offensive magic in exchange for maximizing every other field—defense, healing, and more.

As a Level 10 she began wielding defensive magic so powerful that even Level 11s could not casually pierce it. People came to call her the Witch of Protection.

The Witch of Protection—Dorothy Lightsheld.

Unlike the other Transcendents who shut themselves away in the Spiritual Realm, she alone descended to Tera, founded an academy to suppress the Evil God and train talent, and remained.

Even she possessed a single offensive spell. Its principle was so crude that this world barely recognized it as magic at all. Coincidentally, it was the perfect spell for someone like me who had no talent—only an absurd amount of mana.

"Overflow."

Mana inside me whipped into a storm. Limitless amplification. Uncontrollable, rampaging mana tore through my body with pain that felt like it would rip me apart. I pulled more mana than I could possibly contain. Whether my body shattered no longer mattered.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAH—!!!!"

My entire body felt like it was on fire. Explosive force gathered at the tips of my arms. The four monsters still bound by the chains of darkness thrashed in terror. I poured every last drop of that colossal mana onto them.

KWA—GAGAGAGAGAGANG!!!!

The world turned pure white.

"Haa... haa..."

Is it over?

My magic detonated like an explosion, and the upper-rank monsters evaporated without leaving even a shape. The thick stench of blood stabbed my nose. I closed my remaining eye and let my blood-soaked body collapse onto the ground. Strength drained from every limb; my arms and legs went limp.

I just want to rest a little...

My head was heavy. My eyelids kept sinking. I had used so much mana that I felt I might never rise again.

I still have to go help Bella...

"Grrrr..."

But an ominous growl dug into my ears.

What...?

I slowly lifted my head. One monster had survived the ashes. Deep wounds covered its body, yet it could still move. Its red eyes locked onto me.

Haa... tenacious bastards.

The remaining three had shielded one of their own. I instinctively tried to stand, but my exhausted body refused to obey. My legs would not take weight. If any mana had remained to activate the regeneration circle it would have been fine, but my mana core was completely empty.

"Grrrr...!"

It crouched low and leapt for the finishing blow. I tried to raise an arm to defend even a little, but not even my fingertips twitched.

Damn it...!

No lives left. This time I might actually die...

Somehow...

I desperately twisted my body, but the monster was already right in front of me.

Damn it, damn it, damn it!

I squeezed my eyes shut.

...And yet.

Ah, this is bad...

The worst possible outcome. The monster did not finish me. Instead it clamped its jaws around my body and lifted me into the air. I flailed helplessly, but all strength had already left me; I could not even struggle properly. It simply carried me in its mouth and began walking into the forest.

They were not trying to kill me.

I shook my body with everything I had left. Its fangs were lightly embedded to keep me secure.

If I can just use that...

Dying would have been better. If I was dragged off like this, the authority would return to the Evil God...

BOOM!

A tremendous impact rang out. Something flashed past me at high speed. I carefully opened my eyes.

Right in front of me stood Bella, covered in blood, sword in hand. She was breathing hard, staring down at the fallen monster. Its neck had been cleanly severed.

I stared at her blankly.

"You said you'd clean this up fast and come help me, putting on every air in the book..."

She looked down at me with a faintly mocking expression.

"What a pathetic sight."

I answered with a weak smile.

"Conscience... where... I... six of them..."