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525 – 「Quit Screwin’ Around, Ya Bastard!」

 

Exhausted, all I wanted was to return to the Black Lotus and sleep—however, Krishna, which was our only means of transportation currently, couldn’t be moved due to various experiments and data observations. In fact, when I tried to move it, Buubo and the other researchers clung to me, almost in tears. On top of that, Tina and Wiska silently brandished space tools that looked like they could easily disassemble a human body. That was scary.

They’re probably rebuilding the maintenance procedures for the newly transformed Krishna. For now, it seems best to avoid touching Krishna.

The higher-ups of the Holy Empire secured a hotel a bit further away from the Sacred Relic Research Facility for us, so I tried to ask for transportation to go there. However, my hope of returning to rest was not to be fulfilled.

 

「My Lord, congratulations on awakening the dormant power within Krishna. However, the power that lies within you is not solely dependent on Krishna. In fact, your body and spirit are your true strengths and essence. Now is the time to unlock your latent abilities.」

When I tried to return to the hotel, Kugi stopped me, and I was dragged out to this vast, open training field.

「We humbly offer our assistance.」

「Prepare yourself.」

「I understand why Kugi brought me here, but ‘prepare yourself’? Isn’t that going too far?!」

Kugi pulled me out of the Sacred Relic Research Facility, and now I was being forced into a battle of supernatural abilities against experts on the ‘visitors’ and psionics—also known as Spiritual Power to the Holy Empire. The group included Fuguruma, who specialized in the study of both, her apprentice Inaba, who worked in a government agency of the Holy Vuelzarus Empire, and, even, military officers skilled in close combat, Moegi and Konoha where in the last group, so they must have been their coworkers. And here I am, confronting them. Barehanded.

「Time out! Time out! I demand to wear my ninja armor!」

「The likes of crude mechanical armor are unnecessary for one of your caliber, Visitor. It would only be a shackle.」

「Try to put yourself in my position! I’m going to be on the receiving end of a rain of attacks that can kill me if they hit head-on!」

The opponent standing before me was a hulking man with wolf-like ears, his body resembling a mountain of muscle. His entire physique was so muscular that it made his head look small in comparison… It was the kind of body that made you wonder if it wasn’t artificially enhanced. I’m pretty sure that’s all natural though.

「Hmph!」

「Kyaaah?!」

As if his already bulging muscles weren’t enough, the giant wolf-man flexed even further, letting out a battle cry as he hurled his fist toward me. I couldn’t help but let out a strange scream as I dodged out of the way. His punch landed on the ground where I had stood, causing the earth to crack and crumble as though a massive serpent had wriggled through, flinging dirt and pebbles everywhere. If I had taken that hit directly, I’m pretty sure every bone in my body would have shattered.

「Quit screwin’ around, ya bastard!」

I channeled psionic power into the wooden sword in my hand, ‘extending’ its blade so I could strike from outside his range. Though it wouldn’t slice cleanly through him, the attack had enough force to tear through skin and flesh, sending him flying. It was something similar to a telekinetic rod. However, the hulking wolf dodged my strike by leaping into the air.

「Gotcha, you idiot!」

I had been waiting for that. As he jumped, I poured more psionic power into the invisible rod, extending it even further.

「Nuugh!?」

The invisible rod—or rather, the whip that had extended far and now wriggled like a serpent—lashed out repeatedly at the muscle-bound giant who had foolishly leaped into the air. Hahaha! This is my latest technique, a sword that can freely extend and contract, invisible to the eye. I took inspiration from the fictional weapon called the snake sword, it worked similarly, the only difference was that this one was made of psionic power.

However, this guy is tough. I see now. He’s using psionic power to cover the surface of his body like armor—or rather, like a protective suit. He might also be reinforcing his strength.

「Haaah!」

But the muscle giant wasn’t just going to sit there and take it. He used his reinforced body to deflect the incoming invisible whip, striking it aside, and then he ‘kicked’ the air to close the distance between us at high speed.

In response, I retracted the psionic power from the whip back into the wooden sword in my hand, taking a stance as if I were in a baseball batter’s box, ready to swing. From the side, it probably looked like I was preparing to hit a home run.

「Take this! Fly out of the park!」

「Nughhh… whaaa…?!」

I condensed the psionic power that had been transformed into a long whip, gathering it into a single, enhanced swing. With a perfect angle, I struck the muscle-bound wolf-man with full force, sending him flying. Absolutely flawless. A clean shot straight toward the back screen.

「Next.」

A calm, emotionless voice called out. It came from the most prominent military officer among the group, an attractive man with horns on his head.

「Then, I’ll go next.」

The person stepping up before me was a small woman, also holding a wooden sword. She wore a short-sleeved kimono similar to Konoha’s, her hair a reddish-black color. The animal ears on top of her head were small, round ones. Her face was quite cute, but… huh? My body feels strange… a prickling sensation—what is this? My skin is tingling…

「I’m coming.」

The moment I saw a flash of white, a tremendous impact and deafening roar struck me. My body feels numb. I think I got blown away and am rolling across the ground, but my vision is scorched like I just took a flashbang grenade to the face. What just happened? I have no idea.

「Are you trying to kill me here…?」

Everything hurts. Especially my right side—it hurts so much I could cry. She probably hit me with her wooden sword, but on top of that, my whole body feels sore and tingling. I finally managed to get up and look at the woman who sent me flying. She was crackling with purple electricity, sparking off her body. Her reddish-black hair was standing on end, moving restlessly. So, she’s using psionic power to control lightning? Maybe she’s also using it for high-speed movement. After all, I got blown away in an instant earlier.

「They say the ‘visitors’ show their true strength the more they are pushed to their limits.」

「So you’re trying to push me to the brink of death, huh? Didn’t ask for that, though…」

Why do I have to be forced into this, getting beaten up like this? Isn’t this absurd? I was already exhausted and just wanted to rest. Ugh, I’m about to snap. Actually, you know what? I have snapped. Alright, fine. If that’s how you want to play it, I’m done holding back.

As I let go of my restraints, psionic power surged from my body, and a flame-like purple aura began to rise around me. The power I had been controlling and suppressing until now was finally unleashed.

「Hii…!!!」

The small, lightning-clad woman who had been confidently facing me just moments before turned pale and took a step back. Still, she strengthened the crackling electricity around her body and kept her wooden sword raised. Wonderful courage, I’ll give you credit for that at least. Somewhere in the background, I heard a sharp shattering sound as the instruments the researchers had been holding were obliterated.

「U-uhm, my Lord…?」

I can’t forgive the researchers who have been watching me suffer with curiosity, nor those who have been looking at me with arrogant gazes as if I’m nothing special. Even Kugi—the one who brought me here—is not going to be spared this time. It’s time for them all to feel a little of what I had gone through.

「I’ll make sure you all understand the pain and anger of being beaten senseless in a training session I never asked for.」

「W-wait, hold on—!」

My entire body aches, and the tingling sensation still courses through me. I might even have burns from all the electricity.

「Fly Away, Pain!」

A purple ripple spread out from me, radiating outward. The wave hit the small lightning woman first, then extended further, reaching the researchers, Fuguruma, Inaba, the officers, and even Kugi, who had been observing our ridiculous battle of supernatural abilities. A few of them, including Kugi, tried to raise mental barriers to defend themselves, but there was no way I was letting them off that easily. My fully unleashed psionic power—Second Spiritual Form, telepathic sensory sharing—smashed through their defenses and flooded everyone around me with my pain and seething anger.

「「Gwaaah!?」」

Without exception, everyone around me collapsed to the ground, clutching their right side in pain. I might have overdone it a bit with the level of pain I shared, but it’s probably within an acceptable margin. Probably. Even Kugi wasn’t spared—she, too, fell to the ground, clutching her right side and trembling.

「I appreciate your commitment to your oh-so-grand mission, but I don’t appreciate you pushing that kind of mindset on others so naturally. I’ll have to teach you guys a little lesson…」

I feel like I can do anything right now. Maybe I should try that—extracting information directly from someone’s mind. With that in mind, I grabbed the head of the small lightning girl, who was still curled up on the ground, and decided to see if I could use telepathy to forcibly extract her knowledge to reproduce the psionic technique she used to control electricity.

「Pi-! Ki… Hiii!?」

「Hmm? Is it like this? Or maybe this?」

After a few attempts, I successfully pulled the knowledge of how to control electric psionic power from the lightning girl’s mind. She seems to be in a rather rough state, but she’s probably fine. I don’t care either way, though.

I immediately tried out the newly acquired ability, and blue-white sparks began to crackle and leap from my body. Yep, this looks useful. Telekinesis is great for raw destruction, but electricity has a fantastic visual intimidation factor, and you can adjust its power output. Very versatile.

「So many choices for test subjects…」

When those around me heard my words, their faces twisted in fear. I suppose I should refrain from bullying the non-combatants too much. For now, I’ll make sure to discipline all the armed ones. I’ll start with the one who seems to be in charge—the horned guy who was acting all high and mighty.