Episode 3: Stop, I Beg of You (7)

My body moved before my mind could think.

<Sensory Overclocking>.

Time dilated. The world turned monochrome as thousands of rain drops slowed in fall.

I saw the minute details of his movements, the angle of his wrist and motion of his hand. 

<Knight Magic: Limit break>.

I ripped my muscles apart and pushed my untrained body to the limits.

My arm broke launching my earthen sword at him. 

The blade moved at a speed hard to follow with my eyes. It pierced through his shoulder.

The hand holding onto that black object stopped. 

Moving from zero to hundred, I closed the few metre distance within the two seconds.

I grabbed Fabian’s squishy neck and ripped him away from her.

I slammed Fabian into the wet dirt. 

His body convulsed, and black blood trickled down his lips. The force of my grip broke his neck instantly.

‘Shit…’

But that ‘thing’ which should’ve never been in his hands was now impaled into my chest.

‘This fucker…’

My skin eroded black as if my muscles were mixing with acid, melting.

… Karien Copper. My name.

Copper—my bloodline.

It implied a metal with strong conductive properties. It granted the function to transmit and amplify stored energy.

The process of moving energy through the copper metal required a differential between two points. Where metaphorically, an ion moves from a higher concentration to a lesser concentration.

This was the concept of my bloodline ability.

So in a situation where one source’s concentration completely overwhelmed the other, the speed in which the perfusion happens accelerates just that much more.

I pulled the black thorn filled with blight essence out of my chest. 

The pain of the coursing blight came in waves, growing stronger with each pulsation.

There was a limit to how much blight I could contain within my own body. Exceed that limit, and I was no different than dead.

‘This wasn’t supposed to happen…’

I curled up on the ground as I struggled painfully to contain it.

“Kairen!” Tiffany’s voice, panicked and confused, resounded somewhere around me. 

She tried to reach out, but I pushed her away.

“Don’t… touch me!” I yelled.

“B-But…!”

I coughed up blood.

Unlike the normal red, its colour was black, and the consistency was like tar.

My body’s natural measure of fending off against the blight’s corruption. Focus on reabsorbing the blight from my flesh back into the blood. And condense any excess and discharge it through vomiting.

“What do I do… what do I do?!” Tiffany panicked.

The sound of my pounding heart was louder than the downpour.

“AGHHHHH!!!” I couldn’t help but scream.

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

She saw it all.

Kairen’s exploitation of blight in his magic.

The lives he killed with no shred of hesitation.

And now his dying presence laid before her.

Many stories have been told about the Exaltist—a cult of cryptic black magicians. The maraud, cruelty and twisted faith—they were the kind of people who enjoyed watching people suffer and die.

Everyone abhorred their ways. 

These people were cults that shied from the light and worshiped the darkness. 

They were masters of black magic.

And yet, the blackest of magic was not in their possession.

The taboo beyond taboo—it was blight. 

In every novel she read, every real life account, stories passed down from one generation to another, everytime… the very depiction of a black magician who wielded blight, was simply that—suicide.

In exchange for that little boost in power, they burn up their life.

Sacrifice after sacrifice; victim after victim. Everything they tried to harness this power only ended in vain.

For centuries, this hadn’t changed. 

And people hoped it would never come to change.

If anyone in this world could learn the secrets to make use of such calamitous magic then…

“Kairen!” Tiffany was left in disarray. 

Blight belonged to the realm of the untouchable.

None had come so far as to even understand it—

So how…

“What do I do… what do I do?!”

This wasn’t a fairytale.

“Don’t… touch me!” Kairen, hunched in pain, stopped her from coming any closer.

“B-But…!” Tiffany didn’t understand.

Who was the villain who was the hero?

Was Kairen a foe or friend?

Why did all of this happen? Who was the one at fault? What should she do? What can she do?

… Who the hell was Kairen?

“AGGHHH!!!” He screamed out in pain.

Rainwater soaking through her clothes, the bangs that clung stickily to her face disturbed her eyes. 

The light orbs he had been maintaining all disappeared.

Leaving only this one small area between them illuminated.

Tiffany hitched in breath.

The stench of blight… not even this pouring rain could block it out.

… What would Lowe do at this time? 

Tiffany knew no matter whoever it was, Lowe would save them—just like with that man.

She hesitated for a beat, then in one hard motion ripped his shirt apart.

<Water Magic: Tonic> 

She gathered water towards where the blight was darkest to cleanse the wound.

The blood which flowed out like tar… it kept being drained off by the flowing rain.

Bloodloss. In this kind of situation she didn’t know if it was a good thing or bad thing.

The tar flowed and diluted inside the blob of sparkling water on his chest.

“UGh…” He groaned, hunched over.

“...!” And then she felt it.

An indescribable pain tightening around her chest—her mana core.

What the hell was this? It hurt.

She bit her lips, struggling.

Each breath laboured.

Even so she tried… she tried as hard as she could.

Very quickly black had filled the entirety of the tonic water.

Tiffany had no choice but to throw it away.

She felt the pain disappear.

And then he threw up.

More black blood.

It was useless.

… Something… anything… a solution…

She shifted her attention towards Astraea who lay unconscious in the broken caravan.

Then very naturally, she turned to look at the corpse of the man who instigated this whole course of events.

Fabian.

That’s when she realised.

In any situation one foresees too big of a danger: activate the beacon and call for help.

After confiscating the emergency beacons, a device in the shape of an amulet,  where was the last place he kept it?

Tiffany quickly ran towards the carriage and turned everything inside upside down. All the boxes, crates, chest—

She found alcohol, rations, and… potions. Lots and lots of usable potions.

Yet nowhere was the amulet seen. 

Where else could it be?

“Ah…!” She recalled.

The amulet… it was on his body. 

With stiff movements, Tiffany turned to look at the oozing black corpse. 

Her entire body shuddered.

‘It’s normally scary the first time you do it. But you have to start somewhere.’

‘We don’t know what would happen later down the line if you hesitate like this.’

‘Come on.’

The angst in her mind which imagined all sorts of consequences that could happen if she touched a blight-burned corpse.

She was just a common girl you can find anywhere. 

She loved gossip, beautiful things and delicious food. 

Hated people that were selfish, and didn’t like to attend boring classes.

She also feared death.

Cry as she might. 

Weep, lament, groan, scream—

In the end she knew if she didn’t do something here…

Someone would die.

“No… I…” Tiffany stepped back out into the rain.

She grabbed the stained blanket which had been covering Astraea. One foot before the next, she approached the man who had instigated this. 

She bit her lips, the blanket wound around her hand.

… Tonight’s downpour was heavy and cold. 

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

I clung on to that strand of consciousness, refusing to die.

My body adapted. Containing the blight albeit barely, I had some time left to seek recovery before completely losing myself.

“...” I could still sense Tiffany’s presence.

‘She got caught up in something that she shouldn’t have.’

The rain had stopped, and somehow she had managed a fire. 

“...I’m sorry.” I exhaled. 

I tried to get up despite the pain, but very quickly noticed that my body’s left half had become paralyzed. 

“Lie down. I already called for help.” Tiffany pushed me back down. Her eyes looked different.

“Haha… really now…”

‘Why did things turn out this way…’

“Astraea. She’s safe.” She said, as if predicting that it would be my next question. “So you don’t need to worry.”

I tried turning my head to the carriage. The height difference impeded me from seeing her condition, so I could only trust that Tiffany’s words were true. 

“Kairen… I don’t know who that mad man was, but he’s definitely not on your side. So… can you answer just one question?” Tiffany sounded tired.

“...” I looked at her.

Her silver blue eyes bore deeply into mine. “...Are you going to die?” 

I wasn’t sure how long it would take for the lecturers to arrive. If it’d normally take this long, then it’s no wonder students die every year.  

Given my condition, I’d say I still probably have a couple hours.

So will I die? “No.” 

‘Definitely not.’

Her bangs shadowed over her face. Clothes translucent from the rain.  

“Don’t lie…” Her voice trembled.

“Tiffany... a favour…” I said.

“W-What is it?” She shivered.

“This… what you saw… keep it a secret.” I asked. “If people knew I… this… I think I'd be sent to the guillotine.”

She looked at me, tears glistening in her eyes.

“I… will… not tell a soul.”

“...Thank you.” My eyes began to close to my dying consciousness. “Seriously, thank…”

“...”

⌌✧ ⫺⪼▫◆▫⪻⫹ ✧⌍

Near the cavern entrance, Isodor watched as translucent drops of water traced the edges of stalactites. The weight of the combined droplets ever so gradually fell to form an expanding puddle on the ground.

There was a fire illuminateed deep inside, unaffected by the howling rainstorm happening outside. And Lowe, who was laying in her tent, could be heard tousling from side to side, struggling to sleep.

Meanwhile Glenn remained seated with his eyes studying the flame, as if trying to find a universe within the flickering orange tongues. Isodor had no idea what he was doing.

There was a flash of lighting. Then following quickly was the sound of rumbling thunder.

Astraea was right. It really did rain.

How did she know? And why did she tell them?

She also warned of something dangerous at night. Could it have to do with that Kairen guy she crushed underfoot?

Isodor didn’t know what the relationship was between the two, and he wasn’t sure why he felt bitter thinking that they somehow knew each other.

Was he plotting something? Is that the reason why Astraea warned them about it?

Clearly, Isodor wasn’t blind enough not to realise that Astraea’s manner of treating Lowe had changed. Even if she continued with her rude behaviour, there was definitely an underlying sense that she cared for Lowe, somehow.

“Oh.” Glenn, who had been completely silent all this time, enunciated. 

“What? Isodor turned to him, curious as to what he noticed.

“Someone left.” Glenn showed the beacon device which had just flashed.

“Is that so?” For some reason, the first person that he thought of was Astraea.

“The rain is too much for whoever gave up to handle, likely. We’re lucky the young duchess warned us beforehand.” Glenn said, nodding.

Isodor nodded slowly. He turned back to the cave’s entrance, the rain still pouring.

Unending… just like his ruminations.

“Glenn. Am I doing, wrong?” Isodor muttered.

“Pardon?” Glenn titled his head.

“...No, nothing.” He thought maybe the fatigue was messing with him. 

Yeah… that must be the reason.

The rain gradually began to lighten up. 

It was a sharp contrast to the heavy weight on his mind.