Chapter 116. Anomaly (1)
In the silent underground sector of the mine, his words echoed slowly.
Though his face was hidden behind the black glass of the plague doctor mask, I could tell he was staring straight at me.
I opened my mouth quietly.
“…What?”
“Exactly what I said, Enoch Elsyde. No metaphors, no figures of speech.”
Ixion shrugged nonchalantly. He stepped lightly off the pile of guards he’d been trampling and approached me.
I flinched instinctively, but Ixion didn’t care, advancing casually and continuing behind his mask.
“Won’t you join me, join Vendetta?”
He pointed at me with one hand.
“You and we aren’t so different at our core.”
He placed a hand on his plague doctor mask, tapping the black glass covering his eyes.
“Vendetta’s members, even the Annihilation Officer executives, may have their own goals and missions, but those gathered under its name share one cause and purpose.”
He lowered his voice, declaring.
“We’ll take back the dignity and rights of those oppressed and persecuted by the empire with force. We’ll correct the empire’s flawed order.”
“…”
I stared at him with expressionless blue-black eyes. In the darkness, the plague doctor mask seemed to quiver as if smiling.
“You must feel it too, Enoch Elsyde. Despite your strength and talent, how did your family treat you? Look at that.”
He glanced at the chimera lurking behind.
Following his gaze, I saw a long sword scar etched into the chimera’s flank from my earlier strike.
Though it wasn’t a perfect hit, the hide was split, with dark red mana particles rising like mist, staining the darkness like blood.
“The hide of a beast transcending life’s limits is prime material for a chimera. A mere blade shouldn’t even scratch it. Unless it’s exceptional magic or gear, destruction is impossible…”
He tilted his head, looking at me.
“That sword. Or perhaps you, wielding it, have something special?”
“…”
“Maybe something that transcends the current magical system.”
I stayed silent. Sensing he’d hit the mark, Ixion stepped over an unconscious guard, casually crushing their helmeted head underfoot as he spoke leisurely.
“That’s why you’re chosen, Enoch.”
He took a deep breath, as if intoxicated by the blood stench filling the sector, and spread his arms wide.
“You understand, don’t you? Society must be ruled by chosen ones like us, with power. Enoch Elsyde. Why should those with great strength submit to the order and rejection imposed by today’s society?”
Glancing at me, Ixion boldly approached without even bringing the chimera, his steps deliberate.
“Those who truly deserve respect. Outcasts like us, gaining rights in a new society. That’s the outcome of Vendetta’s revenge. No one can stop it.”
“You’re forgetting the heads of the Main Houses.”
“Khaha, Rank 1. The twelve heads of the Main Houses, reaching the demi-god realm beyond humanity?”
His masked face tilted like a crow, sneering.
“Their strength may touch the heavens, mocking even gods, but they’re just disgusting hypocrites who’ve ceased to be human!”
“Hypocrites?”
“The Main House heads have the power and legitimacy to rule over the empire’s masses, yet paradoxically, they care nothing for human society. Mere puppets obeying the empire and emperor’s will! Look at the society they’ve created. Non-mages are scorned, black mages are branded dangerous and rejected, but weak mages are protected, aren’t they?”
His gestures grew agitated, swinging one arm through the air.
“What standard or right divides that judgment? Black magic is just a label set by the empire. Isn’t it laughable, their contradictory behavior, discriminating based on arbitrary standards? It’s just an excuse for control!”
I was momentarily speechless.
Black magic, defined by the empire for control.
His words weren’t entirely wrong.
Persona, targeted and abandoned for manifesting unique magic mistaken for black magic in political feuds among noble houses.
In the distant past, when the empire’s last Sword Saint lived, I’d seen the empire predict beast appearances and ally with the very black mages they shunned to stop them.
And Sirocco’s beast-kin tribe wasn’t much different.
I knew well. The painful history of their long exclusion stemmed from the empire’s slander, linking all beast-kin to black mages.
I realized I’d been holding my breath, listening to him.
Cold sweat trickled down my cheek. I shook off the constricting feeling, breathing slowly. Oxygen filled my lungs.
Without using any magic, Ixion’s words carried an oppressive weight.
And for a moment, I thought I heard Sirocco, too far to hear, catch her breath beside me.
“So, do you understand, Enoch?”
Ixion stopped walking then, just a few steps away in the darkness. He gazed at me and declared softly.
“The human world must belong to us humans. Not to demi-gods who’ve transcended humanity and care nothing for the mortal realm.”
With exaggerated gestures, he spread his arms wide. Behind him, the chimera’s dark red glow pierced the darkness, backing his will.
“And in that new society, we need chosen warriors who truly understand the oppressed, not those who’ve conformed to the contradictory order.”
The black voids of his mask’s eyeholes stared at me.
My reflection glimmered in the dark glass.
“You, who’ve known the pain of being unrecognized, who’ve experienced injustice firsthand… I see the seed of strength in you to become a chosen warrior ruling the new society.”
Ixion spread his arms elegantly.
“Come with us, Enoch Elsyde. You, who’ve taken the heir of the beast-kin chieftain, rejected by the empire, as your follower family, must understand. You, they, we are chosen! If society once stole the rights you deserved, isn’t it justice to take them back by force?”
I glanced at the guards nearby, still bleeding, all unconscious.
“Building a mountain of corpses is justice.”
“Great change always comes at a cost. Regardless of means, our purpose is just.”
“I’m not claiming to be a saint.”
I tilted my head expressionlessly.
“But your means are utterly twisted.”
Coincidentally, I knew all too well.
The atrocities Vendetta committed in the original story. The horrors they wrought and the countless sacrifices that followed.
A sharp silence fell.
In the darkness, the blue-black eyes of Enoch, 9th rank of Elsyde, clashed with the dark red gaze of Vendetta’s 9th Annihilation Officer.
“…We will rise, Enoch.”
He urged in a slow, heavy tone.
“At a time neither too soon nor too late. Through the Book of Gnosis’s prophecies, we’ll exploit future calamities to gain overwhelming advantage and take revenge on the empire. Then, choosing your place wisely will matter.”
“I have my own plans.”
I stared at him coldly.
“Your means and purpose are too different from my path.”
“Is that so? Really?”
Ixion chuckled. Then, he pointed a finger at me, aiming at my heart.
“Then what are you fighting for? Just to complete missions and survive? So desperate to save your own skin?”
He laughed mockingly and added.
“I guarantee it. With such a hollow cause, just to survive, you’ll fail. Absolutely, Enoch.”
Negotiation broken.
Ixion slowly raised one arm.
“And this time, it seems I’ll make you realize that painfully.”
“Hmph, who says!”
The next instant, Sirocco kicked off the ground, hurtling through the air toward Ixion.
But as she passed his shoulder, the chimera’s massive, sharp horn intercepted her head-on.
In front of Ixion, her leg clashed with the horn, producing a sharp thang . The impact’s wind scattered debris across the mine floor.
Both were knocked back by the clash.
But unlike Sirocco, who landed lightly, the chimera’s horn shattered with a crack , its head snapping back.
“As expected, it breaks when hit like this!”
Seizing the moment, Sirocco pushed off again, dashing. At near-sonic speed, she spun, delivering five sharp kicks to the staggering chimera’s legs.
With a deafening roar filling the sector, the chimera stumbled, its legs giving out, collapsing to the ground.
Krkrrrrk!*
Its once-impenetrable armor was meaningless; the leg Sirocco struck was shredded, nearly torn off.
Glancing at it, Ixion tilted his head.
“Sirocco, was it? They said you’re just Rank 10. As expected of a beast-kin, your magic output is top-tier talent.”
“…Your praise just pisses me off.”
Sirocco lifted her chin, eyes glinting coldly. But Ixion casually extended an arm toward the chimera behind him.
“But talent, no matter how great, is just raw. You haven’t reached [Awakening], nor do you know how to efficiently wield or release mana.”
His hand glowed with dark red mana, deploying a magic circle toward the chimera.
“Hmph, think I’ll let you?”
Sirocco, closest, stomped the ground with superhuman reflexes, charging to deny him time to cast.
“Sirocco!”
I felt myself gripping my sword and rushing toward her.
Her footsteps gave me strength I didn’t realize I had. No specific orders or coordinated attack. But in that split second, Sirocco had already decided.
She didn’t fully understand the enemy’s magic, but one thing was clear: his greatest weapon and threat was that disgusting summoned creature.
The chimera was temporarily incapacitated by the frontal clash, but who knew what the summoner Ixion might do to it?
If she could subdue the master while the chimera was down—
The next moment,
A desperate voice, unlike anything I’d expect from myself, hit her ears.
“No! Sirocco, don’t charge him—!!”
“As expected.”
In a fleeting moment, as if time froze, Ixion sneered lowly behind his beak mask at the charging Sirocco.
“Still just a raw gem?”
Mocking her, he extended a hand toward her. A ring of dark red mana unfurled from his grip.
“First, one.”
Sirocco’s vision shook violently. As she hurtled toward the enemy, blood sprayed beside her.
“…?”
Unable to grasp what happened, she looked down with wide eyes. A flower of red blood bloomed at her waist.
Behind her.
A massive black harpoon, crafted from another beast’s carapace, had silently pierced her body.