[Aaron Side Story Episode 31]
4. A person who longs for power (2)
* * *
“Ah, how are you?”
Gymnasium at the back of the cabin.
Aaron gulped and greeted a man.
Instead of the usual uniform, the man is wearing casual clothes with wide sleeves.
He was locked in thought with his eyes closed.
That man’s name is Lidegion.
I’ve seen it a few times at the training center in Niflheim.
Aaron remembered his first conversation with the man.
‘You’re that bastard’s successor?’
‘Yes…’
‘Do you want to die?’
bulging eyes.
Aaron had to shrink like a rabbit before a tiger.
To be honest, this guy is scary.
“I heard you were waiting for me.”
When Lydegion didn’t answer, Aaron hesitated and continued.
“Hmm.”
The man opened his eyes.
Would it be like that if you made a straight blade into an eyeball?
It was a gaze that seemed to be cut.
‘Are you spending it alone at times like this?!’
Aaron resented his teacher, but the boy pulled himself out.
You have to figure out how to deal with this situation.
“Right. Even if you didn’t have the talent of nothing, did you have the talent of karma? I know that you fought against the Master in that tournament and achieved the desired result.”
You seem to understand it.
Ridigion said in a hard tone.
“Show me that power.”
“What are you saying…”
“It’s asking me to show you the moon shadow of your teacher.”
“A moon shadow?”
“You don’t even know the name of the technology?”
moon shadow.
Was that the name of the stab that pierced Bifrost?
Aaron said, suppressing his anxiety.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not good enough, so I can’t use that skill as I please.”
“Was it a mere coincidence?”
“Perhaps.”
“That’s why he called me.”
Lydegion sneered.
Then he raised his lips and let out an evil smile.
“You can test it with your own body.”
“Oh!”
Aaron accidentally received the flying object.
A steel blade on a long pole.
It was a window.
However, it is not a wooden spear for practice.
It was a practical weapon for killing people.
sereung.
Lidigion drew the longsword from its scabbard.
A cold light seeped from the blade.
“Please wait a moment.”
“I’m sorry, but your master’s strength is not martial arts. I guess I can only help you this much.”
“Isn’t that a real sword?”
“Is that so?”
“If I do something wrong…”
“I will die.”
“yes?”
As soon as we met, it was a real sword sparring.
“I heard about your situation at that time. Please control it well.”
“Control?”
“Isn’t it okay to just do it right before you die?”
“…”
“Don’t worry about treatment. I brought in a professional therapist.”
Aaron’s mind went blank.
“Personally, I don’t like it, but since I was asked, I have no choice but to do it.”
Ridigion muttered and then said.
“Where to try?”
“What do you mean?”
“Moon Shadow.”
“At that time…”
“From now on, I will not speak.”
Shuk.
Lydigion lowered his longsword.
The tip of the sword glowed bright blue.
‘shit.’
Aaron closed his eyes tightly.
Whether it works or not, you just have to try it.
what did he do then
How did you pierce the window and cast the shadow?
Stay focused and focus.
Imagination is important.
to conjure up an image.
That deadly stab.
‘like this!’
Aaron threw the spear with all his might.
And I opened my eyes. There is no way to say
“It’s okay…”
.
Aaron was poking his spear into the air with a hesitant posture.
That moment.
“Big!”
My face turned red.
A thrilling sensation ran up his thighs.
A burning pain.
In an instant, Lidigion cut his thigh and passed by.
He was standing in the same place as if he had been there.
A drop of blood flowed from the tip of the sword.
Aaron looked down at the bridge.
The hem of the cracked trousers.
In the meantime, the cuts are soaking up red blood.
“again.”
Lidegion said in an emotionless tone.
Aaron gritted it.
‘It’s not necessary to say.’
Even if I open my mouth here, I will only be veiled again.
There is only one way to get through this hell.
It is to reproduce the ‘moon shadow’.
“…Whoa.”
Focus your mind.
Relive the senses of the time.
Take a stance in that state and stab.
Of course, the result was the same as before.
‘Damn it.’
Shuk.
The sound of air cracking.
This time the shoulder was torn.
“again.”
Aaron stabbed, imagining the image.
The calf was cut.
“again.”
This time it was the side.
Heat began to rise in the body.
“again.”
right forearm.
“again.”
left arm wrist.
cheek on the right side of the face.
behind the neck.
left scapula.
center of the spine.
right thigh.
The blade begins to carve Aaron’s body.
Every time he uses a pointless stab, an unavoidable wound is engraved one by one.
My whole body felt like it was burning.
“Kuk!”
Aaron stumbled as he tried to get into a stabbing position.
The amount of blood loss has reached a dangerous level.
It hurts more than anything.
It hurt and hurt so much that I wanted to scream.
“Ugh…”
Is it on purpose?
I guess so.
That man selects and cuts only the particularly painful parts where the nerves are concentrated.
Even the cuts do not go deep into the bones and muscles.
If so, it would have already been incapacitated.
like opening a bag.
The whole body is being cut in a line that does not interfere with movement.
It was a godly craft.
“again.”
But bleeding is unavoidable.
Aaron grabbed the spearhead with his blood-soaked hand.
‘It’s a little… dizzy.’
Aaron’s arm, which was about to stab the spear, was in vain.
The spearhead protruded downward and tumbled to the floor.
‘shit.’
Shuk.
creepy sound.
Just hearing this sound makes the hairs all over your body stand on end.
So was the result.
“Ugh!”
You mean there’s still a part left to hurt?
I don’t even know where the cut is.
It was just painful and dizzy.
If I continue like this, I wonder if my body will be torn to shreds alive.
“hmm.”
The person who drove Aaron to the brink of death said.
It was an analytical tone.
“I don’t think it’s just because you’re in an extreme situation. Are there other conditions required?”
Aaron’s knee naturally fell.
He was holding his breath while holding on to the thrown spear.
Blood dripped from all over his body.
“Today ends here. Do it again in three days.”
“Please wait a moment.”
“What.”
Ridigion said with a cool expression.
“You’re not saying you can’t do it any more, are you?”
Aaron, the young man in front of you, must be experiencing living hell.
Lydigion knew it too.
It was made that way on purpose.
Even people who are accustomed to pain choose to cut only the parts that will make them scream.
In addition, if the fear of being torn apart while the whole body is alive is added, it is not strange to let go of one’s mind.
‘This is excessive training.’
Lydegion looked Aaron up and down.
A body without a spot.
The eyes are extremely bloodshot.
Every time you breathe, saliva mixed with blood flows down.
My knees were trembling.
I tried to recreate the extreme situation that that guy wrote karma, but it’s similar to life torture.
There is no other way.
In the first place, this was the method suggested by the boy, and it wasn’t even training.
Training close to torture that puts the body and mind to extreme strain.
This method goes against the Ridigion’s convictions.
“Next time, I will change my method. Take a week off.”
“Not yet…”
“Hmm?”
Aaron said to Ridigion, who was about to turn his back.
“Not on the verge of death.”
“what?”
“Isn’t I standing there like this? Could it be that you just said that and looked at me in an appropriate line?”
Ridigion’s eyes lit up.
Aaron was glaring at him with red eyes.
“If you come and stop now, you will be neither this nor me. Are you forcing yourself to finish what you started?”
“From now on, I can’t guarantee my life either.”
“As expected… it wasn’t right before death.”
Aaron laughed.
‘are you okay.’
don’t die
don’t die like this
If the goal of training is to reproduce the situation of the final, it is a long way off.
“Stupid. You can’t even tell the difference between training and suicide? If you have the possibility, it is possible in other ways.”
“It is possible. For a genius like you.”
Ridigion’s brow narrowed.
Are you saying you can’t do anything like this?
“please.”
“…Don’t be resentful.”
Lidigion gripped the hilt vertically.
Seeing that, Aaron nodded and threw his spear into the air again.
result is failure.
Shuk.
The wind gently parted, spraying blood on the floor.
Aaron stumbled, but did not fall.
‘It’s not training, it’s suicide.’
Lydigion’s words.
that might be right
There may be other ways.
But this is most definitely.
Aaron can bet.
because it’s already showing
‘A kaleidoscope.’
It is said that many memories pass through your brain right before you die.
As the teacher said, if the power of karma is dormant in the memory, then there is no method as effective as this method.
“Whoa whoop…”
Seuk.
Every time the clumsy grooming is repeated, the blade cuts through the body.
The sense of death that I felt then came up slowly.
‘If I die here…’
Wouldn’t it be better.
It was a life without achievements anyway.
50 years, no, according to the teacher, more than that.
During that time, he swung his spear, but got nothing.
Nevertheless, the desire to move forward in anticipation of achievement remained, and it pierced and bruised Aaron’s heart like a wedge.
can’t even move forward
A life you can’t step back from.
Aaron can’t even go to heaven.
without even going to hell.
I am lost in the labyrinth of purgatory.
‘The difference between 0 and 1.’
But what if you could see a path in the maze?
Even if it is just a mirage, there is no choice but to go.
Even if it means being stabbed by a thornbush and tearing your whole body to pieces.
There is no path in the maze from the beginning, and what exists even though it is deeply hidden is the difference between heaven and earth.
Can’t miss it.
never.
I will never forget the sight I saw in that fantasy.
“…”
Aaron’s body staggered.
The amount of blood loss exceeded the permissible limit.
If action is not taken immediately, excessive blood loss will lead to death.
Sensing this, Lidigion tried to move.
“stop.”
A boy appeared before them and blocked them.
Aaron stumbled like he was drunk, but he managed to stand still, using his spear as a staff.
“It’s still Gion.”
“Are you going to kill the disciple?”
“It’s different from a genius like you. Aaron, who lacks talent, cannot move forward unless he risks his life.”
Lidigion and the boy’s eyes met.
“The wall you fell over like stepping on the stairs made me wonder whether I should risk my life for that idiot.”
“The opportunity is in the future. If you die, the opportunity is gone.”
“What are you talking about? It’s only guys like you who are full of opportunities. To our Aaron, an opportunity is lost forever if you miss it once. That’s how stupid you are.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Anyway, just keep watching.”
In the world of martial arts, it would have been Lidegion’s turn to protest.
However, this world is not their domain.
Aaron, who was staggering, stood upright in his place.
“oh! how is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Did you just see it? A kaleidoscope?”
Lidigion grabbed the back of his neck.
His disciple is dying, but the boy laughs brightly and makes noise.
“When you are about to die, your brain starts looking for all the memories and information you need to live. This is a kaleidoscope. Is it a scientific method?”
“Is that scientific method hurting you to the brink of death?”
“Aaron is so stupid that he can’t understand what he says!”
“I don’t know how you do it.”
Anyway, Aaron stands still and keeps his mouth shut.
A voice without language.
Neither knows what he is looking at.
The unfocused eyes were transparent like glass beads.
“Oohhhhhhhhhhhh!”
cried the boy, his eyes twinkling.
Something happened with him.
Ugh.
The blade of the spear Aaron was holding began to tremble.
Black shadows gathered at the tip of the spear and slowly began to gather.
Of course, this cannot be a martial art.
It was something like magic.
The shadow clinging to the tip of the spear swayed subtly, creating a translucent illusion.
But that’s for a while.
The shadow vanished like a candle extinguished.
thud.
Aaron’s body fell to the ground.
“What died?”
“…”
This is also a teacher.
Ridigion flew like the wind and picked up Aaron’s veins.
The pulse is feeble, but alive.
Lydegion slung Aaron’s body over his shoulder and brushed the ground.
In the cabin, a therapist called for this time is waiting.
There are plenty of blood transfusion packs prepared, so you will never die from excessive blood loss.
‘Did you say Aaron Delcurd?’
The man examines Aaron, who has lost his mind.
It reminded me of the black shadow I saw earlier.
‘I’m sure.’
can’t see it wrong
It was clearly the shadow of the boy’s karma.
As the teacher assured, this young man inherited his karma.
“…”
Lidigion’s eyes sank.
He accelerated his running speed.