Surfacing Above the Water (1)

“Mmm.”

Titan was staring at the ground while being subdued by Edge Forys.

Unlike Allen Wise who was merely stopped by having a staff extended to block his sword, this treatment was on a different level. Though he might have felt disgruntled about it, Titan had no time to entertain such thoughts.

‘I’m rusty.’

The attack that had pierced through Allen Wise’s storm. That was a technique that could be called Titan’s trump card.

A technique of using his spear as an arrow and shooting it using a bowstring created from spirit magic.

It’s truly a technique aimed at taking down the opponent in one strike. That’s why if you fail to bring down the opponent in that single strike, you inevitably shoulder a huge risk.

The only spear that could be used as an arrow was the royal spear he just used.

Since it’s impossible to retrieve it during battle, it essentially means losing one weapon entirely.

‘I couldn’t even land that attack.’

Was it because Allen Wise’s storm of weapons was that fierce?

No, that’s not it. Earth spirit magic symbolizes unwavering strength.

He had imbued it with the maximum of that power.

No storm, no matter how fierce, could alter the trajectory of Titan’s arrow.

It was a technique premised on piercing through that storm in the first place.

This was purely due to lack of ability.

This was the natural price Titan had to pay for having turned his eyes away from his spirit magic for so long.

“How disappointing.”

“Are you really that disappointed about not completely destroying the arena?”

Edge Forys chided Titan as if disgusted.

He hadn’t realized that Titan hadn’t been listening to a single word of his scolding.

While frowning at Edge Forys’s magic constricting his body, Titan struggled with all his might to break free.

“Hmm, it’s no use.”

“Did you think I would let my authority be taken away so easily at my level?”

Spirit magic that controls the earth.

But even with such power, he couldn’t break free from the rocks manipulated by a 7th circle grand mage.

The world is vast. Isn’t it full of beings who can surpass even innate powers with artificially created techniques?

Indeed, he can’t move forward relying on spirit magic alone. He needs to obtain aura. Just a little. A little more to go.

Just a few more times. If he could observe and experience how strong individuals like Allen Wise manipulate mana.

Conviction that he could reach it. That’s what the current Titan had.

‘One more step forward.’

*     *      *

Wallace Hope, who had arrived at the entrance of House Spirin, didn’t enter immediately but first looked around the surroundings.

After moving along the building’s wall and entering an alley.

“Oh King of Darkness. Do you have something troubling you?”

As if she had been waiting, a woman approached him. A woman with red wavy hair covering one eye and purple irises.

Red light flickered where her covered eye was with each step she took.

Holding a parasol daintily in both hands despite weather not calling for one, she looked almost noble-like.

“Margaret.”

“Yes, I am here. Command me.”

Blade of Calamity, whom Belial takes pride in.

Known to the public as the Spore Witch, she was the key to this plan.

Though he used Another Hope to divert Lost’s attention, he couldn’t keep him distracted for long.

In the end, since Lost’s enemy is the demon Belial, he would inevitably have to trace Wallace Hope’s social position.

Then let him do so.

Leave traces that are suspicious, questionable, that the opponent can’t take their eyes off of.

“One. I’d like you to capture and kill a noble family’s daughter.”

“You mean House Spirin’s daughter? I’ll capture and present her immediately.”

“No, no. Don’t do that. Take her outside and kill her.”

Don’t act as the perpetrator.

If the opponent suspects you and follows your trail, it will simply lead in a direction unrelated to the original plan.

Belial was planning to use himself as bait.

“Ah! I see. Then may I kill her as painfully as possible?”

“Of course, that’s how it should be. Just do as you please.”

Belial smiled watching Margaret’s hideous appearance as she trembled as if unable to contain herself.

The true face of humans he had tainted. The result of having malice dwell in the body.

Isn’t it truly beautiful?

“Then let me explain the plan.”

Belial immediately led Margaret deeper into the alley.

As Margaret followed behind him as he ventured into an even more secluded location.

“But…”

Belial, who had stopped abruptly, muttered without turning around.

“We’ve got a tail.”

Slash!

Shadows rose up behind Belial and scratched Margaret’s cheek before piercing through to the other side.

Leaving Margaret frozen while bleeding black blood from her cheek, Belial immediately turned around.

“Seems you’re not just an ordinary rat.”

He couldn’t kill them.

The fact that he couldn’t kill them even though he had revealed his true nature meant the opponent was no ordinary being.

The opponent’s form wasn’t visible. Though the shadows that had shattered the building were undulating like living things while looking around the surroundings, there wasn’t even a trace let alone any hint of presence.

Advanced stealth techniques that could even disrupt a demon’s senses.

Belial knew of such a being.

“Shade?”

Belial immediately spread his wings and controlled the surroundings. If the opponent was truly Shade, he couldn’t let him escape.

He didn’t want a life of dealing with assassins every night.

Though other riffraff wouldn’t even be able to climb over the walls, he knew this assassin before him could come and go as he pleased.

An organization he had been putting his heart and soul into obtaining from long ago.

Among those who take killing people as their profession of assassination, he was overwhelmingly superior in skill.

“Hey.”

A middle-aged man appeared scratching his head. Just a single dagger in hand, somewhat scruffy-looking as if he hadn’t shaved in time.

Though he appeared unremarkable with such an appearance, just one step he took was enough to make one’s fingertips tingle from the killing intent.

“Let me ask one thing. Are you the one controlling that woman? Wallace Hope.”

The head of the former assassin guild, Shade.

That man who bore the guild’s name asked while playing with the dagger in his hand.

“Kekeke, well this is…”

Belial laughed.

That leisurely attitude made even their tension seem to loosen.

But the feeling of wrist stiffness from a mere human’s killing intent.

A monster who could kill even the thoroughly meticulous Edge Forys in terms of skill alone.

He could feel some kinship with such a being who had constantly hidden beneath the surface.

Isn’t it so from how they both take shadows as their symbol?

Such a vast country as the empire has so many places to hide.

“It would be hard to make excuses.”

An unexpected situation. No, this was clearly his own oversight.

From the moment he suspected Lost had come back through time, he should have realized something like this could happen.

Shade had uncovered who killed his wife. It was something done with the utmost caution.

A perfect and secretive plan that would never have leaked.

If something like that was discovered then isn’t it obvious?

“T-to think I was followed! This humiliation! I shall wash it away myself! So please have mercy!”

While Belial was watching Shade with interest while stroking his chin.

Margaret, who had realized she had been followed and ended up exposing Belial’s existence, moved.

And the moment she reached out to open the parasol in her hand.

“Ah. I’m glad I waited. Right?”

Shick!

Immediately her head flew into the sky. For a moment while her gaze touched the darkness Belial had cast and fell.

Crosswise, her limbs could be seen soaring into the sky in pieces. She hadn’t realized it.

Not just the moment she was struck, but even now with her limbs flying off.

‘Huh?’

She couldn’t feel her death.

Due to the thick killing intent Shade had released when appearing, her bodily sensations had slowed as if submerged in water.

An alien method of taking the opponent’s neck by revealing oneself. She could understand why he was called the king of assassins.

By revealing himself, he rather made himself unpredictable.

“I could have killed you anytime. The reason I didn’t was because looking at your usual appearance, you seemed too stupid? I was certain there had to be someone above.”

So he endured. He endured to the end even while looking at the one who killed his wife.

He couldn’t be satisfied with just dealing with the perpetrator.

As an assassin who carries out others’ work, he understood that better than anyone.

Unless you strike the head rather than the tool, it doesn’t end.

Tools can simply be replaced, you have to smash the head that has such wicked thoughts.

“My my.”

Belial didn’t break his composure even with the ominous Shade before him.

Rather, he even took his eyes off to catch Margaret’s falling head.

“This tool is a bit too precious to discard like this. Please understand.”

Grind!

Belial grabs Margaret’s fallen head and infuses power.

“Ahh…”

While Margaret, with only her head remaining, felt ecstasy from that energy.

Her flesh began connecting from her head like mycelium spreading, pulling and connecting her fallen body.

Shade clicked his tongue as if disgusted by that unpleasant sight.

“Well, just seeing that makes it certain.”

He already knew half-demons’ regeneration was troublesome.

That’s why he took the strong measure of getting holy water from the temple and completely separating the neck and limbs.

But what about the monster before him? A power somewhat different from the demonic energy usually seen in half-demons.

More sinister, more dangerous.

“Shade, shall I tell you your mistake? It’s that you simply revealed yourself upon finding the head.”

“No, that’s unfair to say. You think I came out because I wanted to? I’m more cautious than that.”

Thump. Thump.

Shade spoke while tapping the black curtain blocking his escape route.

From the moment he confirmed the head, he had planned to escape. He doesn’t let emotions ruin his work.

Otherwise, how could he have reached the position of leader in an organization like Shade that was no different from a cursed battlefield?

“What can I do when I’ve been discovered? I have to try what I can.”

Shade who had been playing with the dagger in his hand takes a serious stance. He doesn’t know what the opponent’s identity is.

Just that they’re clearly something different from half-demons or magical beasts.

‘A demon… is it.’

A being recorded in the final chapter of the trials. Human malice (Malice).

A monumental day of learning such an imaginary being actually existed.

Simultaneously his life’s greatest threat.

“Hey, this is quite valuable information, but there’s nowhere I can sell it.”

“How about the Pantheon Temple?”

“Well, those religious types have had a tendency to lowball prices from way back.”

While Shade shrugged his shoulders.

Belial revealed his true form and spread his massive wings.

This space was already within Belial’s attack range. Once he dominated the space with shadows, he could attack from any direction at any time.

That was the best attack method he could devise as Wallace Hope.

But there’s no need to be bound by it. The opponent will definitely dodge anyway.

“It’s been a while.”

So he unleashes the power he had been hiding until now for the day of execution.

Not just handling shadows, but giving meaning to darkness itself.

It’s been a while since he’s revealed his power as the demon Belial rather than Wallace Hope.

“It wouldn’t be bad to look back at myself.”

The domain of Belial, King of Darkness, began to strangle Shade’s windpipe.

*     *      *

Belial, no, Wallace Hope who had returned to being a duke of the empire, was standing in the dark alley in largely the same posture as before.

“Hmm…”

If anything had changed, it was that he held a human arm in his hand.

Checking that trophy, Wallace Hope burst into laughter.

“No, no, this is surprising.”

He had intended to kill. At least he hadn’t approached with thoughts of showing mercy.

Of course there was the restriction of having to use power within bounds that wouldn’t greatly affect the surroundings.

But he had accounted for that and still been confident.

Just as Shade had taken Margaret’s neck, he too had planned to take the neck.

But what’s this?

What Wallace Hope held in his hand was not the opponent’s neck, but their arm.

“That talent is so coveted it’s almost a shame to kill.”

“…”

This wasn’t mere luck. The opponent had succeeded in escaping his grasp while giving up just one arm.

Isn’t it talent too precious to kill?

“How about becoming a half-demon?”

“That recruitment offer is quite out of the blue. Isn’t it too late for that?”

“I suppose you’re right.”

It is rather shameless to make the offer after ripping off an arm.

Wallace Hope gave a grotesque smile watching Shade whose expression hadn’t changed at all from when he first appeared, showing no pain.

The opponent had caught an opportunity. At least they succeeded in escaping from his hand.

“I’ll let you live.”

“…What?”

Thump. Thump.

While rubbing his face with his hand, Wallace Hope lightly tapped the ground with his hoof to dispel the darkness enveloping the surroundings.

“I have to give you room like this for you to reconsider my offer.”

“There’s no end to crazy bastards. Is this what demons are like?”

“Of course not. This is an offer I’m making because it’s you. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have even had a form left by now.”

After massaging his face like that, Wallace Hope creates his usual gentle and soft smile.

“What are you doing? Not leaving?”

Shade realized those words weren’t lies. Then there was no need to associate further.

There will be plenty of opportunities. He can simply make him regret letting him go like this while falling asleep every night.

“He’s gone. Then… Margaret, how’s your body, can you move?”

“Ahh… Such generous words. Thank you, King of Darkness…”

“Enough. By the way, a good card has appeared so we can use this.”

Wallace Hope handed over the arm he was holding to Margaret.

Shade’s right arm.

On the wrist was a bracelet that looked like someone had woven it themselves.

A bracelet his beloved wife had made praying for his and their daughter’s wellbeing. It would become a symbol.

A symbol that people who knew Shade would recognize.

“We can’t get confused about our goal now. If you try to catch two rabbits at once, you’ll end up losing both.”

Anyway, Shade can’t expose Wallace Hope’s identity.

How could someone who doesn’t even have proper status as an assassin testify about something even the Pantheon Temple can’t do?

As long as he isn’t discovered by an unspecified majority, there’s no problem at all.

“Assassins all seem to be able to throw away their own lives so easily. What satisfaction would there be in killing such beings?”

Letting Shade go wasn’t really because he wanted to recruit him.

No matter how good his abilities, in the end he’s human. Just a being he hates.

He gave him a chance and disposed of any lingering attachments the moment he refused once.

So now he’ll just take the method that will make him despair most. He can’t make that assassin despair with death.

Then what method would be effective?

“I hear that kid called Mar has been frequenting the Pantheon Temple lately?”

For instance, what if he used his arm as bait to lure out and kill his daughter whom he cherishes more than his own life in a horrific way?

He knows about Shade.

How could Wallace Hope have overlooked an information organization that had settled in the Forys duchy?

He had been eating away at them from the inside over a long time.

So he easily obtained information about Shade’s daughter and wife too.

“Let’s deal with that child.”

“Ah… Ahahaha! As expected of the King of Darkness. How, how did you come up with such an idea?”

Since Shade wouldn’t be able to move due to his injury anyway, he would simply grant him despair by making him witness with his own eyes the aftermath of his mistake.

“Being human must be quite inconvenient.”

After all, you’re always led astray in judgment by such trivial emotions.