Unique Magic (2)
Luna was looking at me with a flushed face, for reasons I couldn't begin to fathom.
I was the one whose sub-par unique magic made me want to crawl into a mousehole — so why on earth was Luna the one turning red?
"Hah... seriously, what am I supposed to do with this..."
She turned her gaze away, as if the whole thing were a burden to her.
Just give up on me already. I know. I *know* my unique magic is garbage.
While Luna stared at the floor, whether out of anger or disappointment I couldn't tell, my master stroked her chin and murmured.
"...Well now, that's a rather interesting magic... entirely different from what I expected..."
I couldn't quite make out her words, but at the very least, she hadn't said she'd never taken on such a hopeless student, so I figured she wasn't *too* upset.
Still, I cautiously approached her to make sure.
"Um... Master?"
My master, who had been gazing off at some distant mountain in her mind, shook her head slowly and turned to me.
"Sirius. Do you understand what kind of magic yours is now?"
Yes. A pathetic little wind magic.
Saying that out loud would have been too humiliating, so I simply gave a small nod.
"And what do you make of that magic?"
*I think it's an absolute joke* — the words rose all the way to my throat, but I forced out an awkward smile and tried to answer positively.
"...I believe it could be useful depending on the situation...?"
Trailing off ambiguously, I fidgeted and watched her face for a reaction.
"Exactly as you said. And perhaps, Sirius, it may be the very magic that elevates your worth above any other you could have possessed."
Huh? *This* one? Weaker than a run-of-the-mill Wind Arrow, and *this* is supposed to make me valuable?
I stared at her with a look of complete incomprehension.
"To anyone else, that magic might rank at the very bottom of what a unique magic can be. But for us — for those of us who must stop the Hero — this is a tremendous find. Sirius."
Judging from her words, my unique magic's true ability apparently wasn't what it appeared to be on the surface.
Not knowing my own power was embarrassing, but there was nothing to be done about it. This wasn't something I could just let slide.
"Master, I... what exactly is my magic's true ability?"
My master gave me a look that said *good grief, this idiot*, but she kindly began to answer.
"Listen carefully, Sirius. Your unique magic is—"
At the most infuriating possible moment, Luna barged into our conversation.
"Master. My unique magic. Just how long do you intend to keep me waiting?"
Seriously, Luna. What is your deal lately. You genuinely get on my nerves.
Ever since the unique magic manifested, she's been making these strange faces at me without even trying to hide it.
And now, just as I'm about to hear an explanation, she cuts it off at the most crucial moment. What reason could she possibly have to treat me like this?
Oblivious to my inner monologue, my master grinned with obvious amusement.
"Ahh~ there you are~ Luna. Yes, yes. How are you feeling?"
Her tone was clearly teasing, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out what there was to tease about.
And Luna, her face redder than before, glared daggers at our master.
Careful, Luna. I don't know what's going on, but it'll be *us* who dies for getting cheeky.
"I want to see it soon too, Master. It's obvious something even more spectacular than Sirius's will come out, though."
Wait — why does it sound like she's mad at the Master, yet I'm the one getting the knife twisted in my chest...
And I hated how I couldn't even bring myself to deny it.
Well... whatever comes out, it has to be better than mine...
Luna strode forward with a confident, imperious gait, taking the spot where I had stood.
Her attitude toward me irritated me to no end, but deep down, I'd become genuinely curious about her unique magic.
She was the Demon King's daughter. A child who had inherited the blood of the strongest man among demons.
There was every possibility that something beyond even my master's unique magic might emerge from her.
I swallowed hard and watched her ritual.
My master conducted the ceremony in exactly the same manner as she had for mine. A black magic circle glowed around her, and a storm of demonic energy soon swirled around her body.
And through the gaps in that storm, I could see it.
For reasons I couldn't begin to guess, she was surrounded by pillars of crimson blood.
Pillars of blood, maybe ten centimeters in radius, whirled around her, accelerating faster and faster in orbit around her body — then, as if nothing had happened, they flowed back into her.
And with that, the ritual seemed to be over.
Luna opened her eyes, which had always been red — and now burned a deeper crimson than ever.
My master, who had been watching the whole thing, offered exactly one remark.
"So it's true — blood will tell."
Today had been one long, continuous stretch of feeling like the odd one out.
We were all standing in the same room, yet Luna and my master kept exchanging words I couldn't understand, and I could feel myself wearing thin.
Luna approached us slowly, saying nothing.
Something about the atmosphere was different from before, and I felt almost crushed by it.
Nothing about her appearance had changed, and yet an overwhelming aura of *apex predator* radiated from her. That word — predator — seemed tailor-made to describe the look in her eyes.
What is with her?
Going by the Master's words, it was clearly some kind of impressive ability — so why was she looking at me like I was her next meal?
She stopped in front of me, and then did something I never could have predicted.
She raised one slender finger and bit down on her own index finger with all her strength.
"H-hey! What are you doing?!"
Blood began pouring from the tip of her finger.
She must have bitten down hard — like a wild beast had mauled her — because the blood showed no sign of stopping.
Panicked, I reached out to grab her hand and stop the bleeding.
The instant I did, she shook off my hand — and shoved her index finger into my mouth.
The fishy taste of blood flooded my mouth.
What...? What is this...? How am I supposed to process this?
There I stood, a finger in my mouth, eyes wide like an absolute fool.
Was I supposed to staunch the bleeding? I remembered how, back in my human days, I'd gently licked the wound when Seria had been cut. My brain having completely stalled, I rationalized it that much and simply stayed like that until the bleeding stopped.
Drinking blood — and demon blood at that — was a first for me, and an indescribable sensation coursed through my entire body.
When the blood finally slowed, I pulled her finger from my mouth and looked up at her face, ready to demand an explanation.
"Luna... what on earth was—"
I couldn't finish the sentence.
Luna was holding both hands to her cheeks, her face flushed scarlet.
A thin sheen of sweat had broken out too — I could see a bead of it trailing down the line of her neck.
But the decisive thing was her expression.
Of every face I had ever seen her make...
she was wearing the most rapturous expression of them all.
And what came out of her mouth next was beyond belief.
"Happy birthday~ Sirius~"
We'd clearly just performed the same unique-magic ritual, so what on earth had happened to make Luna come out of it completely scrambled — I was still wondering this when a wave of dizziness hit me like a hammer.
My head spun, and heat flooded through my whole body.
I lost my balance, crumpled to the floor, and my consciousness faded out.
Luna's delighted laughter echoed in my skull.
Something had definitely gone wrong.
I had no idea how long I'd been out.
When I woke, I was in my own bed.
My head throbbed dully.
Scratching my head as I hauled myself upright, I retraced my memories through the lingering haze.
We had definitely performed the ritual for unique magic.
I'd assumed my unique magic was pathetic, but apparently it had some separate purpose. I'd been about to ask my master what it was when Luna cut me off.
And then there was Luna.
Every single one of her actions defied explanation — especially what she did after the ritual.
Suddenly mutilating herself, then shoving her wounded finger into my mouth.
And the final mystery: why on earth had I collapsed?
After all my training, my body shrugged off just about any wound, internal or external. I'd stake my life on the claim that few humans alive possessed a healthier body than mine.
Me, passing out from a little blood? Absurd. I wasn't even the one who'd been bled.
As the questions piled up one after another, a knock sounded at the door.
"Sirius, are you awake?"
It was Yan's voice.
"Yes. Come in."
Yan entered and looked me up and down.
"How are you feeling?"
"Ah, fine... nothing feels wrong, exactly... How long was I asleep, by any chance?"
"About a week has passed."
...That's a long time to sleep.
And yet I felt no accumulated fatigue whatsoever.
As I ran a self-diagnostic over my body, something strange made me freeze.
What is this?
Inside my body, I could feel *another magic circuit*.
Humans normally store mana in their hearts and use it to construct spells. That was the way I'd been taught, and I'd heard it was true for most humans as well.
But this thing I felt in my heart — I knew exactly what it was. How could I not, when my master and Luna had shown it to me day after day?
The way demons cast their magic. The reason they could wield spells far more devastating than any human's with such ease.
Maryeok was flowing inside me.
I couldn't make sense of it at all.
While I was still reeling, another visitor arrived at my room.
It was Luna — grinning ear to ear, which was anything but normal.
Ordinarily I might have casually asked if something good had happened, but today, the situation was rather different.
This time, it was my turn to ask.
"You... what did you do to me?"