[154] Second Encounter (2)
"Can you hold out? His Schema won't be at a cadet's level."
"Even so, we've got no choice, right? We just have to try."
Rian let the Ogent-symbol greatsword hang to the ground and advanced slowly. Tess, by contrast, slid sideways, slipping out of Falcoa's line of sight.
It was textbook two-person pincer deployment, but Falcoa didn't care.
If he, once called a demon of the battlefield, let himself be jerked around by brats like these, how the lives taken by his blade would mock him.
Rian thrust his greatsword forward in blunt, straightforward fashion and said,
"Come on. I'll take you head-on."
But before the words were even out, Falcoa was already at arm's length—an instantaneous burst of speed beyond imagination.
"Kahahahahahaha!"
Rian blocked the long sword that came stabbing straight down; the tip of his nose stung. It wasn't blades clashing—it was the shock of a hammer slamming down.
"What's this? Giving up already?"
Falcoa battered madly along the greatsword. Each impact bent Rian's knees. At last he couldn't endure and set a knee to the ground.
"Ggh!"
The muscles of the arm gripping his straight blade spasmed. In that instant, Falcoa's kick smashed into his solar plexus.
Rian's body tumbled away across the ground like a ball.
"Rian!"
Tess cried out in dismay. It already looked over. But against Falcoa's expectations, Rian sprang up to his feet.
Beyond his out-of-bounds physical power, toughness was also one of Rian's fortes.
"Hoo… I've got the idea. So that's about your level?"
Falcoa's brow twitched. But Rian didn't stop; he leveled the greatsword straight at him, goading him.
"Good. Now we begin. Come at me as much as you like."
"Heh heh heh… I'll kill you."
Falcoa's grin split to the ears.
He looked exactly as he had in the days when they called him a demon of the battlefield.
Sirone opened the building's door and stepped inside. For a place used by mercenaries, the living room was neat; flowerpots were lined as decorations beneath a sun-drenched window.
"Where is Jis's younger sister?"
Sirone went from room to room. When he opened the third door, his hand froze on the knob.
A pleasant scent came from the room. A red carpet was spread, and on it, bed and desk were arranged to spec.
Sirone looked at the woman sitting on the bed. When Tess had told him, he'd only vaguely pictured it, but face-to-face, the shock was immense.
"Oh my, you're here, Sirone. How have you been?"
"Marsha noona…"
Marsha was unquestionably the commander of the group that had kidnapped Yuna. Yet she was smiling so kindly he could barely hold that thought.
"Did you get home safely that day? Did you make up with your friend?"
Sirone swallowed the answer that had risen to his throat. Marsha must have known he was coming. Yet even so, she hadn't handed Yuna over.
"You already know, don't you? You must have heard everything."
"Oh my, what's this, Sirone—so scary. Are you mad at noona? I'm sorry I tricked you then."
When Marsha sashayed closer, Sirone stepped back, keeping the distance the same.
"Phew, you really are mad, huh? How can I get you to forgive me? Should I get on my knees and beg right here? If that's what you want, I will."
"Return Jis's younger sister. That's all I'm asking."
"Aha! So that's it? Oh my, you should've said so earlier. I misunderstood, thought you'd come to fight me. Well, a good boy like Sirone wouldn't do that sort of thing. What a relief."
Sirone was confused. Who even was this person? Her behavior was incomprehensible, as if she were experiencing a different situation in a different world.
"Where is Yuna?"
"On the second floor. If you want to take her, you can."
Sirone turned. He didn't want to think about Marsha anymore. He just wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.
"Oh, right. But shouldn't you bring something to cover her with?"
Sirone stopped dead. When he looked back, Marsha was smiling with a mischievous glint.
"It's a bit much to see a stranger naked, isn't it? That's why I'm telling you in advance. Try not to shock her too much. Her mind might be broken. My men were very rough with her."
The colder Sirone's eyes grew, the faster Marsha talked.
"I watched from the side—her screams were no joke. Honestly, even I wouldn't have endured that. When I think about it now, maybe we went too far. But Sirone, did you know? I ordered all of it. And I thought you'd understand—because you're a good boy. Right?"
Sirone kept his lips pressed tight. That alone brought Marsha a tremendous happiness.
"Well? How do you feel, Sirone?"
"What feeling? What is it you want to hear?"
Sirone no longer felt any value in treating Marsha with respect. And that, to Marsha, was deliciously satisfying.
"Hohoho! You really are angry, aren't you? Why are you angry at me? You said it yourself—someday my kleptomania would get better. But hasn't your thinking changed now? What if you'd scolded me hard back then? Maybe I wouldn't have kidnapped Yuna. Honestly, you were so damn smug."
Sirone turned fully to face her. Yuna was no longer the issue. Marsha had crossed a line that must never be crossed.
"Hm? I said answer me. How do you feel? Feel like you might go crazy? Is it miserable, when the noona you liked enough to die for suddenly acts like this? Are you thinking there's nothing in the world left you can trust?"
"Do you really have to… hear other people's feelings spelled out, to feel safe?"
Marsha's laughter cut off at Sirone's question.
"If that's truly what you wanted, you could have just done it. So why are you concerned about my feelings? Are you afraid I'll be disappointed?"
"Don't spout nonsense! I'm mocking you!"
"Really? Then should I tell you what I think of you right now?"
Marsha's face hardened. Like someone whose choice of words had been taken away, she waited only for Sirone's answer.
"I don't hate you. In my memory, you're still a good person."
Marsha's expression shifted in real time—surprise turning to growing disappointment, and at last to anger.
"Don't babble crap. If that's true, can you forgive me? Can you smile at me like before, me who trampled Jis's younger sister?"
"No. You've done something that mustn't be done. If you really did that, I'll never forgive you."
"Ha! You think I'm lying? Too bad—it's true. Go upstairs and check."
"Even if it's true, I don't hate you. It's just…"
Sirone bit his lip as he looked at her.
"It's just sad that you, of all people—who would know that pain better than anyone—did such a thing."
Sparks flew in Marsha's eyes. Her features twisted viciously; her clenched teeth ground audibly.
If she really had trampled Yuna, she wouldn't have felt wronged. But she couldn't stand this—Sirone speaking as if he knew everything about her.
"You! You are honestly disgusting!"
Sirone hastily withdrew. Marsha's Zone, invading with synesthetic sense, was so sharp it prickled.
A star-shaped Zone.
A unique sense belonging solely to the offensive type among the four-aspect system.
Preparing for Marsha's attack, Sirone answered with a defensive type. But Yuna on the second floor weighed on him.
Urban interiors were a tricky environment for mages. It wasn't simply a matter of shrinking the Spirit Zone's radius.
In swordsman's terms, it was like throwing away the longsword you favored and fighting with a dagger.
'What element of mage is she, really…?'
While observing Marsha, Sirone pre-cast his Photonization spell so he could evade instantly no matter what attack came.
But Marsha's magic exceeded his expectations. She threw her eyes wide and loosed a razor scream—an immense blast drilled his eardrums.
"Ugh!"
Hit with a shock to his mind, Sirone reeled. A stabbing pain ran through him as if a needle had pierced one ear and shot out the other.
'An Acoustic Cannon. So she's a sound mage. This is dangerous.'
Sound-element mages are those who study tone. It doesn't have to be the human voice; by vibrating the air they generate various sound waves, and a representative attack is the Acoustic Cannon Marsha had cast.
The Acoustic Cannon's sound pressure exceeds 150 decibels. At point-blank, it has force enough to tear the eardrum and leave you deaf.
Because it's a directional magic that amplifies the wave of sound, it doesn't spread over a wide radius like a laser, but being invisible makes it one of the tougher magics to counter.
'This favors her.'
Just as circumstances and environment split the efficiencies of Sirone and Amy to extremes, for Marsha—who wielded sound—combat in a confined space was home turf.
Sirone wracked his brain to break the current situation. The method he finally chose was ultra-high-speed teleportation in a tight space.
Mixing Patrol and Rainbow Drop as he circled the room, complex patterns of flashes disoriented Marsha.
The instant he took her back, Sirone fired a Photon Cannon. But Marsha, attacked from her blind spot, twisted her body and slipped it with ease.
'How?'
Without eyes in the back of her head, there's no way to sense an attack from a blind angle.
No—even with eyes, at this distance dodging a Photon Cannon should be impossible.
"Hehe, that's a shocked face. Don't tell me that was your whole bag of tricks?"
"No way… Sona?"
"Wow, that's the magic-school kid I expected. You study hard, huh?"
Sona is the ability to read sound. Though it's maximized underwater, mages can, through omnipotence, medium-ize their Zones however they like.
It's said a Sona adept's detection surpasses a Zoner's in density.
So of course she could react at the very instant Sirone cast his Photon Cannon.
"Amplification magic is annoying. It's so ugly."
Sirone tilted his head. Maybe it was something he could ignore, yet thinking it over, it was strange—no mage demeans the magic they've learned.
"But this—I like."
If she'd mastered Sona, she didn't even need to amplify sound. Marsha spread both arms; the air in front vibrated, and Acoustic Cannons came in from both sides.
Sirone hastily cast teleportation. But sound was faster than his reflexes.
High-decibel waves flipped his brain, and the spell unraveled. For a mage who must focus the mind, sound magic is indeed perilous.
Marsha cast a Side-Looking magic over the entire building.
Like a dolphin, she emitted her own sound waves and read the echoes—a powerful detection spell that could measure presence, direction, distance, and more with precision regardless of cover.
Sirone was cornered. Acoustic Cannons can't be blocked. And with Side-Looking's instantaneous detection, even the Photon Cannon was being evaded with ease.
'It's truly strange. Sound magic is highly specialized. How can Marsha, a mere mercenary by origin, wield sound magic?'
Sound-element mages spend their whole lives studying and collecting sound.
Even with some fateful opportunity, without academic knowledge, achieving the very power source would be impossible—such a demanding branch of magic.
"You're making quite the face. I can see it plain as day—'How could the likes of you?'"