Chapter 84

When she stepped out of the laboratory in the annex, Echidna leaned against the wall and let out a deep sigh.

"Being glared at by those eyes for a long time is exhausting."

She had been entrusted with the analysis of the hero's magic, "Return," and during that time, she had been under Kiril's intense gaze.

The murderous intent she harbored, having been taken hostage by Flamm, was so strong that it made her stomach constantly ache.

She wanted to immerse herself in her research, but Satuki did not hesitate to use her for his own ambitions.

Well, since Echidna had decided to follow such a man, it was her own doing, and she had no one to blame.

"Phew... When it comes to times like this, nothing soothes me better than looking at Chimera-chan."

She pushed off the wall with her body and started walking towards her laboratory.

But halfway there, a man stood in front of her.

They had almost run into each other a few times before, but this was the first time they were directly confronting each other.

"Oh, Gadio, what do you want with me?"

He looked down at Echidna with eyes full of murderous intent.

"Since we're living in the same place, I thought we should at least exchange greetings."

"How proper of you. Please, be my guest. Have a good day..."

As she tried to leave quickly, Gadio's hand landed on her shoulder.

It wasn't a strong grip, but it conveyed a strong will not to let her go.

"If you lay a hand on me, the lives of your beloved Kereina and Harom will be at risk. Are you going to make the same mistake twice?"

Echidna turned around, a twisted smile on her face, and taunted him.

She knew why Gadio hated her.

His wife, Tia, his best friend and Kereina's husband, Som, and his comrades, Jayne and Rau—everyone was killed by the Chimeras she created.

Their bodies were toyed with, causing them even more pain.

She wanted to kill her right there, but even Gadio knew that it wasn't allowed.

"I said I want to greet you. Can't you spare a little more time, Echidna?"

"What could I possibly want to talk about with you?"

"I have something to say."

Gadio was unusually smiling, but his eyes were not.

"There was something I wanted to tell you if I ever saw you again."

"How passionate of you."

"Yes, I've never forgotten this passion. I've lived thinking only about this until today."

Gadio approached Echidna.

She didn't look away but stepped back—until her back hit the wall.

He placed his hands on either side of her head and said with wide eyes at close range.

"I will definitely kill you. I will cut you down, stab you, beat you, crush you, crush you to death, destroy you, tear you apart until you're unrecognizable, and make you disappear from this world, soul and all. I will kill you again and again, no matter what happens, no matter what, I will use my life to kill you, absolutely, I will kill you!"

The overwhelming hatred that pressed down on her was so intense that it felt like she could be crushed by it alone, but Echidna still smiled.

"You can't escape, and you have no plan to save your hostages, yet you're this worked up over just four people dying—how childish and cute you are."

She trailed her fingers along Gadio's neck as she spoke.

Then, with a satisfied "huh," she flapped her lab coat and moved away from him.

Gadio glared at her back as she disappeared, waving her hand.

"...Is this the value of a woman who only sees people as experimental subjects?"

There was no point in being fierce.

It was just self-satisfaction.

In the end, it all came down to results.

Escaping from here and killing Echidna by any means necessary—

"Your face looks pretty scary, Gadio."

"Anriette, what do you want?"

Gadio looked a bit annoyed at her appearance from the opposite direction.

He didn't feel like talking to anyone right now.

"Bad timing, I guess. I had a question."

"I'll listen if it's not too much."

"That's a relief. I want to ask about that girl, Flamm Apricot. I remember she uses knight swordsmanship, right?"

"Yes, but what about it?"

"Where did she learn it?"

Anriette asked with a puzzled expression.

Gadio replied as if it were obvious.

"I taught her."

"That's strange. There wasn't enough time to train her during the journey. Didn't she already know knight swordsmanship before the journey?"

"Listen. Flamm's status was 0 the whole time she was with the party. She only realized that the negative enchantment could be reversed to positive after that."

"Then it's even stranger. That means she couldn't use it at all during the training, right?"

Compared to the Massacre Rule, there was no particular difference in the time it took to learn knight swordsmanship.

Both were equally difficult to master.

"Does that mean she could use it just because she gained a fighting status?"

Anriette's question was valid.

Even if it was due to Gadio's training, the period was only about two months, which was too short.

It was impossible, normally.

But, normally—

"She was an empty vessel."

Gadio seemed a bit more cheerful as he said this with a slight smile.

"Because her status was 0, she couldn't move as she wanted, but it wasn't to the point where she couldn't live daily life. However, compared to others of her age, she had far less experience."

"So, she can absorb techniques that surpass normal people? But that alone doesn't explain it."

"Of course, Flamm has talent too. She grasps things that are hard to explain in words with ease."

Even with magic.

She received some instruction from Eterna, but all the magic she used afterward was something she developed in battle.

Her learning speed was incredibly fast.

"But why do you care? Flamm can't do anything without her equipment."

"...No, I was just curious. Sorry for interrupting."

Anriette's expression darkened with worry as she left.

Gadio, left alone, stuck his hands in the pockets of his black coat and said to her back, which was no longer visible.

"Showing Flamm to you was a mistake, Anriette."

Then he turned and walked towards his room.

◇◇◇

Flamm asked Anriette if she could hold a sword.

Even if she, with a status of 0, held a sword, it might not mean anything.

But she felt like she could remember something, and perhaps grasp something.

Anriette agreed to Flamm's request but set one condition.

"...Is it not too heavy?"

Herman handed Flamm a sword and asked worriedly.

His treatment of her was somewhat like that of a brother to a sister.

"I'm fine. I think I can swing this one."

"...Then it's good."

He said this with relief and returned to his work, holding a hammer in one hand.

The condition Anriette set was that Flamm could only hold the sword in Herman's room.

He was one of the vice-generals, and though he seemed gentle, he was skilled in combat.

Of course, with Flamm's current status of 0, anyone could easily subdue her, and she had no intention of escaping.

"Hey!"

Flamm gripped a sword about fifty centimeters long with both hands, lifted it, and swung it down.

"...Phew."

Just that much made her breathe a little heavily.

It was impossible for her to handle a normal iron sword—she was holding a sword made of a light metal that Herman had prepared for her.

"Was I really using a sword...?"

Flamm muttered, looking at her already tired arms.

But indeed, her body remembered.

She had definitely wielded a sword, a much larger one, and the memory was ingrained in her.

Even if her brain sealed it, the experience accumulated in her body remained.

"Was I somehow raising my status, or something?"

Her status was 0 due to the Reversal attribute.

A method to raise a status that didn't change even with training or enchanted equipment.

She tilted her head in thought, but couldn't come up with any such method.

So she swung the sword again.

Her body moved naturally, but her brain remained silent.

As Flamm frowned in thought, she noticed a gaze directed at her.

"Herman?"

"...Don't mind it."

"But I can't. Do you have something you want to ask me?"

Smiling, Flamm asked, and Herman scratched his head awkwardly.

"...You remind me of my sister."

"My sister?"

"...My sister."

"Me?"

He nodded.

It seemed that Herman was kind to Flamm for this reason.

"How is your sister now?"

"...The capital."

"She lives nearby. By the way, the capital was in ruins, but did she get hurt?"

"...No problem."

"That's good. You're kind, and you must have a good relationship with your sister."

"...I haven't seen her."

"Really? But why... The capital is so close."

"...I'm busy."

As he said this, Herman stared at the flickering fire in the furnace.

"Oh, I see. Then maybe... Am I in the way?"

"...No, you're not."

"But... You're working, right?"

"...A change of pace is necessary."

He, too, would feel depressed if he stayed in this dark room all day.

Just because he was quiet didn't mean he wasn't a normal person.

For Herman, Flamm's presence was like a refreshing drink.

Anriette was one thing, but Otilie, Werner, and Hugo were not people he could talk to and feel at ease with, and the value of someone who could make him feel relaxed was immeasurable.

"Thank you. Then, I'll take you up on that."

Herman's lips relaxed, and he started swinging his hammer again.

Flamm observed him for a while.

The sparks flying and the high-pitched sound of metal being struck.

When she closed her eyes, the sound resonated in her body and stimulated her brain.

She should have found it "noisy" before, but now she could accept it naturally, probably because something unknown was etched in her memory.

"There's a part of me I don't know... here."

Certainly, her current self, from the perspective of her lost self, was someone else.

The mismatch between her head and body, the uncomfortable feeling, provoked frustration.

Lifting the sword in her right hand and bringing it in front of her, she looked at her reflection in the well-polished blade.

If she asked, "Who are you?" it would be answered, "Who are you?"

To confirm her identity, she traced her reflection with her left index finger.

Then, she slid it—cutting the pad of her finger with the blade.

"Ouch...!?"

She didn't understand what she was doing.

Staring at her bleeding index finger, she was stunned.

There was no fear.

She had injured her body with her own will, as if it were natural.

As if she were used to it.

"What was I doing?"

The blood formed a bead, fell due to gravity, and flowed onto her palm.

Flumm swallowed and smeared the blood on the sword's blade.

The beautiful silver was stained with a faint red.

She stared at it blankly and exhaled, "Huh," tightening her stomach.

A feeling as if she were not herself.

In a dream-like state, she muttered to herself.

"...Conduct my will through the blood."

She closed her eyes.

It was once a part of her.

Even though it had left her body, the connection remained.

It was invisible, impossible to find even if she tried, but it definitely existed.

She focused.

She reached out with invisible hands, careful not to break the thread finer than a spider's web.

She knew this feeling, had experienced it somewhere, so she wouldn't fail.

Tracing the thread, connecting to the body—complete.

'Inspire those who are dying as they are expelled from the body.'

They were no longer part of her.

This was the difference from '...'.

She had to inspire them.

Encourage them, give them the heat to fight again.

Thump, thump, thump.

Through the connected thread, something intangible, like blood, was sent out.

Can you hear my voice?

Can you feel my heart?

I will give you a more fitting death—she felt the power in the blood stir.

All that was left was to control them.

"Listen to me and follow my will...!"

The red stain on the blade wriggled.

They submitted.

Enraptured by her firm will, they trusted her with their lives.

Then, all that was left was to release them at the enemy.

"Release them at the enemy—oh."

Flamm tightened her grip, opened her eyes, and tried to swing the sword at the enemy in front of her, but there was no enemy.

The moment she remembered this, she felt a rapid cooling of her mood.

Her concentration broke, and the will connected to the blood was severed.

"Phew... No, I couldn't do it. Why am I disappointed?"

It was just the atmosphere.

In reality, even if she had swung the sword, she couldn't have released a blood blade—

"...Flamm."

At that moment, Herman, who had been watching the entire scene, called her.

Flumm looked at him and smiled shyly.

"Herman, were you watching?"

"...It was close."

"It's fine, don't worry. I can't handle such advanced techniques."

"..."

Flamm was being modest, but Herman stared at the blade of the sword she held, silent.

She looked too, but there was no particular change.

The thinly applied blood remained as it was.

"Sorry