Semi-Coercive Imperialist

[Roderbach Casino, Basement]

An Izenheim member and Hailand's Black agent.

The two sat on stone chairs before a hastily assembled stone table and conversed.

"...That should do it."

Kaven nodded as though convinced.

"Yes. The Hailand Ministry of Finance will officially disclose the bearer bonds, though they will be recorded as bonds from several years ago."

The shell companies that had purchased the bonds would be presented as civilian victims whose bonds had been stolen years ago. In other words, they would breathe life into ghosts and retroactively give them names.

"Illich will become the culprit who stole them. To make it more convincing, it would be best if you could leave evidence that Illich belongs to the Revolutionary Faction. Can you contact the Veil?"

"...As expected of Hailand's Intelligence Bureau. Do you have agents inside the Revolutionary Faction as well?"

"At the very least, we need to understand your ideology."

Eastern thought and Western ideology were vastly different. If anything, the Empire served as a buffer between them.

Without the Empire, we would probably have fought them.

"You needn't worry about that."

Kaven smiled faintly.

"Our ideology is simply survival. What everyone desires..."

Thump. Thump. Thump.

A low vibration suddenly sank down from above. Just as Kaven and Blake looked up, one of Kaven's comrades rushed in.

"...Kaven! Illich has suddenly gone berserk!"

Kaven's expression changed. The two quickly rose to their feet.

"Ms. Blake, please get out first. We'll handle things here. At the far end on the right, there's a passage leading up."

"I'll stay too."

"No."

Blake tried to help, but Kaven shook his head.

"This is our cause. A cause only has value when we accomplish it with our own hands."

"..."

He would not burden Blake to the very end. Kaven knew that would be better for them. Accepting another's help would only mean taking on another debt.

In the Empire's eyes, Kaven was a criminal. Yet he possessed qualities that could make him a saint in many ways.

Kaven smiled softly and continued.

"Slaves don't need their masters to free them. They must break their own chains. Receiving help from someone else only means putting on another set of chains."

Blake understood. She respected the Izenheim.

"...Yes. If that is your cause."

She could not damage their pride.

"Ms. Blake! This way! I'll guide you!"

Blake left under the comrade's guidance, while Kaven slowly turned around.

"Let's go."

Kaven headed back through the mine shaft with his comrades, gripping the sword at his waist as he warmed up his mana.

There might be a fight...

Wheeeeeeng.

Before long, his steps came to a stop.

The other side had stopped as well.

The lamps in the shaft swayed in the blood-scented wind, and two shadows faced one another on the walls.

"Mr. Illich. What are you doing? Base establishment is still underway."

Kaven asked.

"Hm."

Illich muttered while tapping the shaft wall with his fist.

"You dug it deep."

Tap. Tap.

The punches gradually grew heavier.

Thump!

Stone dust trickled down from the ceiling in thin streams.

Thump!

The lamps fixed to the walls trembled. Clouds of dust puffed up.

Kaven clenched his teeth.

"Stop this."

"Go suck a dick."

Perfectly fluent Hailandian.

The reason Illich had used that language was probably...

"...Did you plant listening devices?"

Kaven's voice dropped.

"Your kind cannot be trusted, after all."

Illich slowly paced through the tunnel.

"Izenheim. A filthy, sly race of traitors. You fill your own bellies while stabbing everyone else in the back."

He passed support pillars and stacks of materials, pressing down with every step as though checking the ground beneath his feet.

"In the Empire, they call you traitors to your people."

"...Mr. Illich. You were the one who disrupted the plan in the first place."

Kaven already knew. Illich was positioning himself, measuring the pillars, allies, and enemies. With the face of someone out for a stroll, Illich was sizing up the most advantageous places to fight.

"I was never told you planned to dig a hole like this."

Mana gathered in Illich's hand. Steam hissed from every seam in the gauntlet, carrying the smell of heated iron.

"...Then let me ask you. When war breaks out, what do you want?"

"Slaughter."

Illich answered at once.

"Before long, there will be a stage where anyone can kill anyone. A time when no one is punished for killing."

The smile on Illich's lips was unnatural.

Lunatics like this were difficult to handle.

It had been a miscalculation.

"..."

Kaven closed his eyes.

A hair-trigger tension. The kind that could cut at a touch.

No one moved, yet the air was drawn taut. Both sides silently raised their guns halfway...

Someone disguised as one of Illich's subordinates pulled the trigger.

Bang!

A light gunshot.

No one knew who had fired.

The shot meant to silence the Izenheim became the signal for war.

Kuuung!

Illich kicked off the ground. His huge body flew like a bird.

Kwagwagwagwaang!

The gauntlet punched through the stone floor. The ground caved in radially, gouging out the entire space where Kaven had been standing.

"Hah!"

Kaven was already gone. He drew a weapon from his waist.

A thin rapier. Mana condensed over its undecorated blade, making its edge hum like heat haze as it caught the light.

A sword that held through sheer density.

Kwaaaak!

The charging fist met the blade.

Paaang!

A ring-shaped shockwave burst outward. Every lamp went out, then flickered back on.

Thump! Kwaaaang!

Each time Illich's fist passed, the entire passage exploded. Kaven's rapier split the force at its center like paper and redirected it.

A battle between strength and skill.

Like an excavator against a sewing needle.

With every clash, the mine shaft's lifespan visibly shortened.

Bang!

A gunfight broke out behind them.

Bang! Tatatatang!

Using pillars and piles of materials as cover, the Izenheim who had gathered and Illich's soldiers shot one another down.

Bangbang!

Whenever muzzle flashes blinked through the darkness, someone fell, and someone else dragged a corpse over as a shield.

Tatatatatang!

Countless gunshots echoed. In an instant, the shaft filled with the smell of gunpowder, mana, and blood.

"Urk!"

The person disguised as a subordinate took a bullet to the chest. Using the hit as an excuse, he performed a textbook fall and collapsed perfectly.

He quietly played dead.

Even then, in the heart of the mine shaft, the two monsters continued tearing each other apart.

Thump! Kwaang!

Kaven and Illich had already moved. Kaven led Illich away so the aftermath of the battle would not destroy or collapse the shaft.

Kwaaaak!

Illich's fist grazed a pillar. The fragments that bounced off rushed toward Kaven, but he split and redirected them with a stroke of the rapier.

Kaven pressed in, knocking aside every piece with his blade. The edge slashed across Illich's side, shoulder, thigh, and chest in turn.

Thin and precise.

A sword that felled a great tree not in one stroke, but by cutting it a hundred times.

Still, Illich smiled through the blood.

Thump. Thump.

Illich gave Kaven places to cut him, advancing half a step at a time in return.

A hundred wounds endured in pursuit of one chance.

Tuk!

At last, Kaven's rapier sank into Illich's pectoral muscle.

Kwak!

Illich's eyes flew open. He reached out as if wrenching every joint in his body. His hand closed around Kaven's neck.

He could have twisted it right then.

Shwaaaaaak!

A spear flew in from nowhere and buried itself in Illich's chest.

"...Kugh!"

Illich coughed up blood, and Kaven and the remaining comrades turned toward it.

"Sorry, but..."

Hailand's Black agent stepped out of the darkness, gripping a spear of blue mana.

"I forgot something."

Blake smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"I forgot to collect the promissory note for one hundred million imperial dollars."

"..."

Illich released Kaven and slowly collapsed.

Kaven brushed dust from his clothes and looked at Blake. Blake met his eyes.

Pfft.

Just as a smile crossed their faces, Illich rose again.

Kaven leveled his sword. Blake gripped her spear.

"Persistent...?"

Blake trailed off. Illich held a syringe.

Thud!

He plunged it into his carotid artery.

"...Khehehehe."

His pupils unfocused, and his veins turned black. His muscles swelled in an instant. All reason seemed to have left his face.

A body that beat with drugs instead of a heart.

With the smile of a dead man already on his face, he moved.

"Kaven! Run!"

The comrades stepped in front of Kaven, but...

Kwaaaaaa!

Illich crushed one person's head. He smashed another person's body like a doll. Kaven's blade was caught and pulverized.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every circuit for pain had burned out, yet the spear remained stuck through Illich's chest.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He charged like a tank.

Shwaaaaaak.

Blake hurriedly thrust out her spear of mana.

Thud!

The spearhead pierced Illich's heart. Even as it sank in, he stepped forward, forcing the shaft deeper into his body until its base was buried.

Crack!

Illich seized Blake's throat.

Krrrrrrk!

Her neck bones were crushed under the pressure, and her vision turned red.

Sound disappeared. As her consciousness seemed to drift away from the world...

...

Mana of unknown origin silently surged in.

Kwaaaak!

A longsword erupted from Illich's chest. The blade that had pierced through his heart from behind flashed white. No one saw when it flew in or where it had come from.

"..."

Illich's hand slowly loosened.

A smile spread across his lips as he died standing.

Cough.

Kaven and the comrades rushed over to Blake as she spat blood.

"Are you all right?"

"..."

Blake stared silently into the distance.

Not far away, in the darkness where the longsword had flown, then sailed back through the air like the wind and returned to its owner.

Kaven looked there as well.

Step. Step.

Footsteps approached.

Step. Step.

From beyond the reach of the lamps came steps that neither hurried nor concealed themselves.

As if entranced, the comrades raised their guns.

Step. Step.

Someone walked out, parting the texture of the darkness.

"...Who are you?"

At Kaven's question, the figure answered.

"A knight of the Empire."

Those words alone.

...

The longsword in the knight's hand flew through the air once more. The blade swept through the area like a whirlwind.

Kwaaaak!

The flying blade severed the comrades' necks. The man who called himself a knight of the Empire looked at the two who remained.

No, to be precise, he only stared at the Izenheim.

It was time to prove a hypothesis. To see the creature's reaction when he used the "language."

【Things didn't go well.】

The creature's gaze trembled. Its hair bristled faintly, then settled again.

The switch had turned on.

"...Run. I'll handle things here."

Unfortunately, that was all the reaction it gave.

"Now!"

There was nothing more to see.

Suppressing a sigh, the knight gathered mana in his feet.

Tap.

He stepped on moonlight and shot upward as if descending from above, cutting through Kaven's neck.

The bodies and mana abilities of Izenheim were not much different from those of humans. Unless they underwent a mutation like Jacob.

Therefore...

Crack.

It caught?

The sword blade had struck the creature's neck bone.

It failed to cut through, as though something foreign had blocked it.

Tick.

The knight's gaze tilted. The neck that should have been severed had turned black.

The cut was healing.

No, it was being rewoven.

Black threadlike things stitched the wound shut, while entirely different tissue swelled beneath it.

Prrrrrrk!

The creature's eyes became black and bloodshot, swallowing the whites. Muscles and blood vessels throughout its body twisted and mutated.

Krrrdrdr.

Countless things writhed beneath its skin, and its joints stretched in directions they should never have been able to go. Crackcrack. They bent grotesquely wide.

The shell of a human form was peeling away from the inside.

Tick.

Soul's Second Hand.

The knight smiled.

This was a sight worth seeing more of.

A most beautiful sight.

Yes. You are at your most beautiful when you reveal your true nature.

Tick.

Unfortunately, there was no time to watch for long. Fully mutated creatures were strong, strong enough that even I could not let my guard down.

Tick.

More importantly, the purpose of this mutation was easy to grasp.

Not to survive, but to kill.

Tick.

Self-destruction.

Tick.

The knight gathered mana into his sword. Moonlight pooled over the blade.

...!

Refined mana poured forth.

He cut through it cleanly, purely.

Kwaaaak!

The creature's head was completely severed. Just as silver-white mana was about to incinerate its remaining body, the knight looked at Blake.

Praying her eyes were open.

"..."

Good.

The creature's form was reflected in her retinas too.

Even if it lasted only an instant, she was certainly watching.

She was looking at what lay inside an Izenheim.

...

The Izenheim came apart. In less than a second, the knight unleashed dozens of strikes. Ebenholtz's Link. The creature was minced by the sword until not even fragments remained to self-destruct.

"..."

Afterward, a deep silence settled in.

The knight approached Blake without a word.

"Hm."

Kneeling down, he picked up the bearer bonds scattered across the floor.

Flicking them lightly, he spoke to Blake.

"You can leave through the passage."

The knight added calmly.

"I roughly understand the situation. You have now fulfilled a purpose for your country, the execution of a terrorist and recovery of the bonds."

They sounded like words meant for an official document.

"Rather than their false cause, take that achievement with you. From this point on, this is the Empire's business. The knight will take control."

"...False?"

Blake asked without thinking. The knight nodded as if it were obvious.

"Yes."

"Because Izenheim are traitors to their people?"

"You saw it."

"..."

Blake was briefly speechless at the knight's short answer.

She had certainly seen something too.

A form more horrifying than any magic beast she had ever seen in her life.

"What you just saw in that Izenheim was not an illusion. It was not mana reversal, nor a case of mana deviation."

Maximilian pointed the longsword at the remains of the thing that had been Kaven.

"Have you ever seen humans like that in the first place?"

The knight's voice was calm, as though delivering a lecture.

"Mana is human potential. It strengthens the body as it is or expands the vessel one is born with. It is something that happens within the form of a human."

With corpses at his feet, in the middle of a mine shaft thick with the smell of blood, he spoke as though discussing the weather.

"Mutation is not our power."

"..."

Blake looked at the traces of Kaven, scattered like dust.

The body of the man who had held scriptures to his chest only moments ago and asked that his comrades' sacrifice be kept secret.

For a moment, Kaven had taken on a grotesque form, then faded away as though it had all been an illusion.

"Therefore, abandoning that form means that something pretending to be human has stopped pretending."

The knight held something out to Blake.

The bearer bonds.

"This is why I am letting you live."

I had originally planned to kill you, despite how much help you could offer Hailand.

Someone who witnessed the same thing I did, if only for a moment.

Blake slowly looked up at him standing before her.

"You have become a very rare person."

The knight's image reflected in her darkened pupils.

Cold golden eyes. Not a single wrinkle in his clothes. A face she had already seen in hundreds of photographs.

The files described Maximilian as a knight and businessman, while the rumors called him a monster...

It seemed the real person was both.

"Consider yourself fortunate, Hailand's Black agent."

Maximilian Ebenholtz.

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