Whack-a-Mole (4)
"Yes. You have to use the arm you mainly rely on."
It was nonsense I couldn't make sense of, but I held out my arm anyway. At the same moment, something began to slither down from my forehead. The sensation crawled along until it revealed itself between my shoulder and elbow—a pitch-black serpent.
"Uh... Ser? What is this?"
Hush.
The thing looked incredibly ominous at a glance, so I immediately demanded an explanation from Ser. The creature responded with nothing but an irreverent "shh" before beginning to mutter something under its breath.
The serpent instantly slid past my elbow and down my forearm. When it reached my wrist, it burst apart with a sharp pop, dyeing my entire right arm below the elbow pitch black.
"My right wing is stained with infamy and disgrace. It cannot be grasped by hand, nor seen by the eye..."
As Ser continued her chant, the blackened arm began to tremble slightly, then gradually fade away. Fade? The word had slipped out unconsciously, but it was no mere metaphor—it described reality. The section below my elbow was slowly losing substance until it vanished entirely.
"Wha—...!"
At first I thought it was an illusion, but I quickly realized it wasn't. Right after, all sensation below the elbow disappeared.
"......"
It wasn't a pleasant experience. More importantly, would it return to normal? The sudden change had caught me completely off guard, and I was too afraid to move while Ser's incantation continued, lest I ruin whatever was happening. I could only pray silently that nothing went wrong once the spell ended.
Fortunately, my wish seemed to reach her. The chilling chant finally concluded.
"...Thus I vow. The black crow's wings shall reap the wandering souls between the underworld and the mortal realm."
The moment Ser's muttering ceased, my vanished arm slowly regained its form. With a faint tremor, sensation returned below the elbow, and the limb returned to its original state—except for the strange twin-headed serpent coiled around my forearm. That remained, still radiating an ominous aura.
"What the hell is this?"
First, I needed to confirm whether I could still use the arm. I flexed it. No problems. Next, I turned my attention to the twin serpent heads wrapped around my forearm.
"Having something like this makes me look like a villain."
Wondering if it could be erased, I rubbed the tattoo-like marking with force. Only some skin came off; the design itself stayed firmly in place.
"Doesn't look like I can remove it on my own."
Seemed I'd be stuck with it for a while. After finishing my self-check, it was time to verify with an outside source. As the subject of this procedure, I had every right to demand an explanation from the one who performed it—Ser.
She gave a brief answer.
"It is the second-stage ability of the Vampiric line: Vampiric Mist."
Vampiric Mist — Second-stage Vampiric ability. Area-of-effect life drain and mental manipulation through mist manifestation.
"I already know that part from earlier..."
"Or, as they say in that other neighborhood, Vampiric Mist."
She was repeating the same useless information without adding anything new. It was obvious she was deliberately dodging the question, so I cut straight to what I wanted to know.
"I don't need that incomprehensible nonsense. Tell me what this ability does, what the serpent is, and why my arm disappeared."
"Starting from there? I thought you'd figured most of it out just by watching."
This bastard. He acted all proper before the job and turned smug the moment it was done. I should've been more careful. I regretted it slightly, but Ser didn't play around any further. She gave a proper explanation.
"See the twin-headed serpent wrapped around your right forearm?"
"Yeah."
"When that serpent devours your right arm and turns into mist, it spreads through the air."
"Hold on—devours what?!"
"Ah, it's not that important. It returns to normal afterward."
She said something outrageous so casually that I had to ask again, but Ser continued as if it were nothing.
"The moment it devours everything below your forearm, it gains a physical body and descends into this world. Then, to maintain itself, it begins absorbing blood from its surroundings in its mist form. However, because the creature was born from your body, it is a subordinate existence. All the blood it drains returns to you. The only thing it takes is the desire to drink blood. Once that desire is satisfied, it reverts to its original form, and your arm—now filled with sufficient blood—regenerates through its remarkable healing ability. How about it? No problems, right? It's an upgraded version of your previous Vampirism ability."
It sounded plausible at first, but I knew Ser's nature: she never lied, yet she never told the whole truth either. Instead of being swayed by her "no problems" remark, I spoke briefly.
"Then tell me the drawbacks."
"Drawbacks... Sometimes it's better to maximize advantages rather than dwell on flaws. People waste time trying to fix every little defect without realizing that. It's truly unfortunate. This case is the same. The strengths of this technique are that it can be used against multiple targets, continuously drains the opponent's stamina, and—if prolonged—can strip them of reason and place them in a charmed state. Of course, the charm only lasts while the blood drain continues, and there's the risk of failing to maintain the minimum blood absorption... but given the advantages, isn't that level of risk worth taking?"
"So if the minimum blood absorption isn't met, something goes wrong? Also, while using this, I can't use my right arm. That seems dangerous on a battlefield. And it doesn't look like this technique can distinguish between friend and foe... nor can it be stopped midway. Are all these things really fine?"
"Whoa, I really can't win against you. Yes, those issues do exist. But as I've always said, there's no reward without cost. What comes easily has little value. And the fact that there are so many restrictions means, conversely, that it's an incredibly powerful ability. It all depends on how you use it, doesn't it?"
"Hmm..."
I still wanted to hit her for casually contradicting herself, but her words were convincing. In other words, this ability could become tremendously helpful depending on how it was developed. Thinking about it, Soul Bind had been similar, so it didn't seem like an unreasonable idea. However, there were many things to be cautious about. Before using it in actual battle, I wanted to test it in a more relaxed situation. Was there anything suitable for an experiment?
"—And that's how it happened."
Thus, the next morning. I changed the scheduled morning court session to arrange a special meeting. Normally, this would have been the time to prepare for discussing state affairs in the emperor's presence. After requesting a brief understanding, I announced that I had something to say before His Majesty arrived. All the officials who had come to court now had their eyes fixed on me.
"I don't understand what you're saying, but if you have something to convey, shouldn't you follow proper court procedure and wait your turn?"
Most of those gazes were far from friendly. They disliked anyone gaining more power, and they especially disliked me for recently seizing military authority. Even now, while maintaining a facade of courtesy, one official spoke with clear displeasure. I smiled at him and waved my hand.
"No, it won't take long."
In my hand was a single sheet of paper, folded several times.
"Just read the contents of this paper and confirm them. That's all."
How many of them would react to my words? In the next moment, I noticed the faces of several quick-witted individuals turning pale.
"What is that paper?"
Not everyone was quick on the uptake. Some still had no idea what the document was. One of them asked as if it were obvious, and I answered without hesitation.
"It's the joint petition of the traitor Dong Cheng's faction."