“What do you think of my work, Number One?”
A bizarre man gestured ahead of him.
Squirm, squirm.
The mother and daughter I had seen yesterday were there, fused together in a tangled mass.
Could that thing even be called human?
“S-Save me…….”
“M-Mom…… it hurts…….”
“Hmm, they still retain their self-awareness. It seems the adjustment was not done properly.”
The bizarre man’s name was Rasel.
A black mage and human scum who had carried out all manner of human experimentation.
“In any case, is it not rather impressive? Even after fusing a human with another human, they are still alive and moving perfectly well! And they are not merely moving. Their life energy has doubled.”
“…….”
“Think about it. If this technique is used properly, one could even attain ‘eternal life.’ Provided there are enough sacrifices, of course.”
His words were revolting beyond measure, but I could not object.
It was not because I agreed with him.
I had not been permitted to object.
“Was this what the First Young Master wanted?”
“Who in the world would dislike eternal life? In fact, he personally took the initiative in supplying me with materials like these.”
“…….”
“These materials…… Hmm, as I understand it, they are a mother and daughter from a family that dared oppose the First Young Master.”
“I know.”
I gritted my teeth.
How could I not know?
I had seen the mother and daughter beside the Commander while serving as her Vice Commander.
They were the lady of House Laviel, which served the Grand Duke’s daughter, and her child.
“Using them…… as materials was not part of the plan, as I recall.”
“Ah, I requested it.”
Rasel grinned.
“I saw them once before, and they looked like they would make rather good materials.”
-Thank you, mister!
I remembered the young voice I had heard only a few days earlier.
It belonged to the child who had now been reduced to one of Rasel’s experimental animals.
That child was staring at me with tears of blood streaming down her face.
Please. Please. Mister, please.
‘Ah, damn it.’
I could not even close my eyes or avert my gaze from them.
The reason was the same as before.
I had not been permitted to.
***
“Wh-Who…… are you?!”
Rasel shouted as he pulled the dagger from his shoulder.
His expression quickly settled.
‘Did he immediately block his sense of pain?’
He had clearly screamed, yet had calmed down almost instantly.
There was hardly any other explanation.
Especially since he had likely experimented on his own body as well.
“Who knows? Who do you think?”
“……Sigmund Messiah.”
“You know me well.”
At that, Rasel glared at me warily.
“No, no, that cannot be right. There is no way. You are not the Second Young Master. The Second Young Master does not have a body capable of doing something like this…….”
“Then let’s just say I’m something else wearing the Second Young Master’s shell.”
It was not entirely wrong.
After answering, I looked around.
It was still early in his career, so the workshop was not yet complete.
‘It’s just as disgusting, though.’
All manner of organs floated inside glass tubes scattered throughout the room.
And that was not all.
Incomplete chimeras assembled from those organs were chained in the corners of the room.
The chimeras did not move.
They were probably failures.
The entire room was filled with things like that.
“I thought I’d make the gentlemanly offer first. Any chance you’ll give all this up and leave?”
“Bullshit.”
“Hmm. As expected.”
It was such an obvious answer that I simply nodded.
Of course, I had only asked because I already knew he would answer that way.
“For a failure expelled from the Magic Tower for violating a taboo, you sure seem bitter about it.”
“Shut up!”
“Were you planning to succeed as a black mage and take revenge on the elders of the Magic Tower? Ah, judging by how quickly your expression changed, I guess I was right.”
I gave a hollow laugh as I looked at him.
Was it because this was still his immature period?
To think he could not even control his expression properly and was glaring at me with such obvious rage…….
“You’re terrible at controlling your expression.”
“I told you to shut up!”
With those words, Rasel irritably thrust out an arm.
“……!”
The moment he spoke, my vision went completely black.
‘He definitely has talent.’
He manifested black magic on the spot without any significant preparation.
I had felt the same in my previous life.
His talent for black magic was genuine.
That was exactly why I needed to eliminate him here.
‘A spell that blocks vision?’
It would not last long, but for the moment, I could not see anything.
Black magic was the kind of power that could catch you even when you knew it was coming.
I had not been caught because I was unaware.
“What an idiot. Did you come before me without even knowing what black magic is?!”
The moment Rasel became convinced that his black magic had worked, he spoke triumphantly.
But there was something he did not know.
‘The flow of mana.’
Losing my sight did not mean I could no longer perceive my surroundings.
The scent of blood brushed past my nose.
The mana used by black mages inevitably carried the smell of blood.
Tap, tap.
I lightly tapped the floor.
The vibrations spread outward like ripples.
‘The mana is fluctuating. Is he preparing his next spell?’
At the same time—
WHOOSH—!
Something shot toward me.
The instant I tilted my head back, a gust of wind grazed just above my head.
‘A Third-Circle sniping spell.’
As bitter as it was, the knowledge and experience I had gained as a Shadow were useful in many ways.
Especially when fighting a black mage like this.
“You dodged it?!”
‘Idiot.’
Why would he raise his voice like that?
He might as well have announced his position outright.
I had five daggers remaining.
Without hesitation, I threw one of them toward him.
This time, I aimed directly for a vital point.
“Ghk?!”
Rasel cried out and hurriedly cast a spell.
A , one of the defensive forms of black magic, immediately rose before him.
CLANG—!
The dagger bounced away with a dull impact.
I had never thrown it expecting to hit him in the first place.
‘Roughly eight paces.’
With my vision sealed, my hearing and sense of smell had sharpened by the same degree.
I moved again and threw another dagger at him.
“Ghk……?!”
This time, I wrapped it in Aura.
With Aura around it, he would have difficulty stopping it the same way.
The dagger pierced the Bone Shield, and Rasel recoiled in horror before throwing himself to the ground.
But I did not stop.
I hurled two more daggers in succession, continuously disrupting Rasel’s magic.
‘Magic is dangerous, but all I have to do is deny him the time to attack.’
“Ghh!”
Rasel exploded in frustration and raised Bone Shields all around himself.
“Damn it, how the hell are you dodging every one of my spells……?!”
‘Because I can see.’
I did not bother answering and ran my fingers over the dagger inside my clothes.
I had felt it while moving, but the Sacred Flame itself was simply absurd.
‘I still can’t even handle it properly, and it already has this much power.’
No wonder it created an insurmountable gap.
With talent this overwhelming from birth, it would have been stranger if there were no gap.
“Test Subject Number One! Number Two!! Damn it, why the hell aren’t the test subjects coming out?!”
Because Deckard had already hacked every last one of them to pieces outside.
“Guess they don’t trust their master.”
“You bastard!”
I mocked him as he hid behind his Bone Shields.
“So…… is this really all you’ve got? You’re even less impressive than I expected.”
“S-Shut up. Do you really think…… this is everything I have……?!”
Rasel trembled as he ground his teeth.
“I was supposed to save this…… but if you’re so desperate to die, then I’ll show you!”
“…….”
“Black Flame, answer my will!”
FWOOSH!
Heat burst outward as the thick stench of blood grew strong enough to sting my nose.
“Behold! This is the inverted Sacred Flame…… the Black Flame!”
“So it was this after all.”
Exactly what I had expected appeared before me.
The Black Flame that Rasel had bragged about endlessly in my previous life.
It was certainly dangerous.
But—
‘The best way to deal with a fake is to use the real thing.’
Rasel’s Black Flame was still far from complete.
‘It shouldn’t be able to break through my Sacred Flame, which is outside the norm.’
FWOOSH!
At that moment, I sensed an alien yet familiar presence.
‘……Noise?’
Noise’s flames shook violently, as though he were furious.
“Wh……? Wh-What is this? Why is my Black Flame……?”
Rasel’s previously confident expression filled with confusion.
Then—
FWOOSH!
The Black Flame began moving toward Rasel.
I could not help but be startled by the sight.
‘Noise is…… angry?’
***
‘Wh-What? Why the hell……?!’
Rasel could not understand.
This ‘Black Flame’ was unquestionably his creation.
Of course, he had drawn out some of the power of the land from Messiah’s Sanctuary during the process, and the First Young Master had supplied him with Sacred Flame, but…….
Regardless, control of the Black Flame created from those things belonged to him.
Yet that belief was now being denied completely.
‘It has escaped my control…….’
Magic that should never have escaped his control had done so of its own accord and was now turning against him.
Rasel was terrified.
For a mage, there was scarcely anything more frightening than being rejected by his own magic.
Especially when that magic was something he had personally created, almost like his own child.
“Why?! Why?! Was the very idea of creating the Sacred Flame so wrong?! Are you saying no one but Messiah may dare lay hands on the Sacred Flame?!”
Rasel screamed with bloodshot eyes.
As though affirming his words, the Black Flame burned his feet.
“Aaaaaagh!”
Rasel screamed and collapsed.
Then the Black Flame slithered toward the fallen man like a snake.
“D-Don’t come any closer…… I-I made you! I created you! How dare you turn against your creator……!”
Rasel desperately screamed and curled into himself, but it meant nothing.
Like a beast with prey before its eyes, the Black Flame lunged ferociously at him.
“A-Aaaaaagh!”
Rasel began burning alive.
But he could not resist.
A mage betrayed by his own magic was utterly powerless.
“S-S-Save…… me…….”
FWOOSH!
Even as he felt his entire body burning, Rasel desperately crawled across the floor.
He could not die like this.
Not before proving to those old bastards in the Magic Tower who had cast him out that he had been right…….
“H-Hrrgh…….”
After crawling for some time, Rasel saw something.
Beyond the Black Flame, an especially alien ‘something’ was stirring.
“Wh-What are you? You…… who the hell are you……?”
-■■…… ■
He heard something.
A voice.
But he could not make it out clearly.
Even so, he instinctively understood.
That unidentified being was an existence so great that under normal circumstances, he should not have been capable of seeing it at all.
If he could see something that should have been invisible to him, there could be only one conclusion.
That being had deliberately revealed itself to him.
“Y-You chose…… me? Have you chosen me……?! Then let us make a contract…… a contract! I swear, you will not regret choosing me!”
He had no idea what the being before him was.
But beings of such a high order often demanded contracts.
Hope bloomed inside Rasel.
‘Th-This is actually better! If it truly descended to form a contract with me…… then this could be an opportunity!’
He could feel his life force steadily weakening as the Black Flame consumed him.
The weaker he grew, the more desperate he became.
Please.
Please……!
The moment he desperately reached out, the unidentified being answered him.
-You blasphemous thing.
“……Ah?”
With that brief rebuke, the Black Flame engulfed Rasel as though it had been waiting for permission.