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105. Just Enough So He Doesn’t Die

 

Strength drained from Kirmiji’s body.

I couldn’t see his face, but the voice that had once brimmed with confidence now trembled pitifully.

「I… I’ve lost… everything…」

Kirmiji stopped moving, his head down. The Age of the Gods’ magic barrier crumbled with a sharp crack, and the multi-layered spells gathered in his hands dispersed into mist.

He hung his head, the crimson-armored knight clearly devoid of the will to resist.

「I’ll return the skill… just kill me… make it quick… it hurts, it hurts, it’s unbearable…!」

「I refuse. Killing you would be more trouble than it’s worth.」

「Th-then at least… at least take this pain away…!」

I heard the sound of something dragging across the ground. Kirmiji was crawling. His fingers reached for my foot—and just as they brushed against my shoe…

Kirmiji’s head suddenly snapped up.

「[Placebo Master’s Golden Spoon] Activate!」

「Tch—」

「Ha! Hahaha! I did it! I did it! Serves you right! I did it, I really did!」

His voice erupted in manic joy. A last-minute reversal, a comeback from the brink, a dramatic twist. Despite the pain surely still wracking his skull, he sounded like he could burst into song any moment now.

And once he’d had his fill of gloating, he barked out an order, panting between words.

「Marge Siu, I command you—heal me! No, lend me a healing skill—」

He hurled command after command at me.

My answer?

Just one word.

「No.」

「Wha—!?」

「You’ve truly sunk to rock bottom now, Kirmiji. Resorting to trickery like this.」

I realized it when I saw Azula’s condition. Kirmiji’s suggestion magic had several conditions, one of which was that both parties must be able to see each other.

So I used the same countermeasure Azula had.

「You… your eyes…! When did you—!?」

「Earlier. I sliced the back of my eyes with [Subspace Rupture」. I’m still tracking your movements using detection skills, so pulling something like this isn’t hard.」

I grabbed Kirmiji’s face with my right hand. He might have had above-average body enhancement skills—he was, after all, the head of the knight order. But right now, I was using the highest-tier evolution of Strength Enhancement—[Asura’s Six Arms]. There’s no way he could pry off my hand as his skull creaked under the pressure.

「Ghh… grgh… gah…!」

It was easy to predict that once his magic was neutralized, he’d fall back on his true specialty: suggestion. So during the chaos of battle, I severed my own optic nerves.

“Both parties must be able to see each other.”

As long as I don’t heal my own eyes, that condition will never be met.

And just to be thorough, I activated another skill through the hand gripping Kirmiji.

「This is the same method you used to bind the Dwarf Loyalty Corps, isn’t it? Human or demi-human, the fear of darkness is universal.」

「W-wait—」

「[Subspace Rupture」Activate.」

A spray of blood erupted from Kirmiji’s eye sockets.

The blade sliced through space itself, gouging out both of his eyes. Something warm and viscous splattered across the hand I pulled back.

「AAAAAAAAAH! MY EYES, MY EYES, MY EEEEEYEEEES!!」

Pain and the terror of sudden darkness—no one can endure that. Let alone now, when Kirmiji had been cornered and broken. He writhed in agony, squirming across the mud like a beast.

He could no longer use suggestion.

When Kirmiji said he lost, I’d almost believed he was surrendering.

But I knew better.

People who believe themselves to be the strongest, the best—when they’re finally cornered, they never surrender gracefully. They cling, claw, and scramble until the bitter end.

「…All the more reason I’m glad I didn’t have to see your face just now.」

The expression he’d worn as he looked up in false triumph was probably the same one Altora had that day on the plains.

「I’ll… I’ll return the skill… so…」

「Well, I’ve got bad news for you.」

「You… still won’t…!?」

「You first borrowed the skill from me the day we met, didn’t you? That means… today’s the ninth day.」

My Skill Lending ability doesn’t allow me to reclaim skills until ten days have passed. So even if Kirmiji had every intention of returning it, he physically couldn’t yet.

There wasn’t even half a day left—but for the next few bells, things would remain this way.

One of the dwarves who had been silently watching from behind finally spoke up, now that the outcome was clear.

「Why not just kill him already…?」

The dwarves still couldn’t kill Kirmiji or the other knights on their own—the hypnotism cast on them still bound them. Azula’s roundabout method of letting the wall consume them had probably been her way to work around the binding. So I understood why they wanted me to do it instead.

But I couldn’t oblige.

Partly for political reasons. But more importantly—

「That won’t do. [Song of the Age of Gods] is a skill I need.」

「Then carve him up and take it—」

「[Skill Lender」 only allows me to retrieve the lent skill and its interest starting from the tenth day. If the skill no longer exists—or if the borrower is gone—then the recovery fails.」

When I tried to reclaim [Sword Saint] from Altora, I couldn’t. The drug had altered the skill so much that it no longer existed in a recognizable form. It had changed so much that it was treated as if it had disappeared.

And when someone dies, that’s the end. Skill loss may be rare, but the borrower being dead is all too common.

「That’s why Kirmiji has to stay alive until the skill is returned. What happens after that… we’ll decide then.」

「H-huh…!?」

Kirmiji must have understood what I meant. Something erupted from his body—too murky to be called despair, too raw to be called anger. A dark, tongue-like mass extended from his back.

I braced myself, thinking it was an attack—but it slithered behind him.

Toward his knights.

The black tongue began to wrap itself around the crimson-armored soldiers.

「C-Captain!?」

「Aaaaah!!」

Their bodies shriveled in seconds, leaving only skin and bone. I’d heard of this technique before.

「A soul-draining spell that feeds off those without hostile intent… So now you’ve thrown away even your pride as a leader, Kirmiji.」

「BEG! FEED! TRANSCEND! DEVOUR! DEVOUR! DEVOUR! [Gluttonous Beast Behemoth」!」

「…If you hadn’t fought back, I might’ve let you sleep for a while.」

Soul-drain magic was incredibly powerful, but the cost was immense. Who knew how much damage it would wreak once activated? I was about to deploy [Asura’s Six Arms] again when I sensed a warm, dense mana flicker beside me.

『Marge-kun, were you maybe holding back on purpose? Just so we could land a blow of our own?』

The chains of Lord Emesmes chimed gently.

「I was just being careful not to accidentally kill him, that’s all. …So, are the family matters settled already?」

It seemed too quick for that. I glanced over, skeptical.

The golden chains gave a soft jingle, almost like a wry smile.

『Come on. We’re talking about a dad and his teenage daughter. No way that conversation was going to last long. Right, Geli? You’d rather be doing this than chatting, wouldn’t you?』

「Yup.」

Angelina stepped up beside me.

Her expression was that of a true alchemist now, calm and focused. Tremendous power flowed around the hands she held ready.

「Geli will pummel him—just enough so he doesn’t die.」