Masquerade (2)
Transcendent.
It was the word used to refer to those who had surpassed the limits that defined their very existence through the boundless karma they had accumulated.
It did not matter whether it was an ultimate body forged through training, enlightenment attained through mental cultivation, infinite mana, or a technique brought to its peak.
What mattered was breaking free of the framework, escaping existing restrictions, establishing one’s own definition, and pioneering a new path.
For that reason, the power they wielded was closer to authority than ordinary supernatural ability, and to those who had not crossed that wall, they could reign as beings no different from absolutes.
That was why they were called Transcendents.
They were those who stood at the summit of the world, having proven their qualification to move toward divinity.
“Kgh! Malfi! Hurry, over here too…!”
“Whew, An. Are you still all right?”
“…Not at all, but if I collapse here, I’ll die, so I don’t have a choice. We can’t just give up on everything like this, can we?”
“That’s a good mindset. If you can say that much, you still seem fine.”
“Malfi… An…!”
But as with all things in the world.
Even among those who had reached such a great realm, there were differences in superiority and inferiority.
Just as only the stronger side survived when conflicting definitions collided head-on.
Crossing the wall did not mean all Transcendents were equal.
“Jose! Are you all right? Can you hold out for about thirty more seconds?”
“…Don’t underestimate me. I still have about a minute to spare.”
“Really? Then make it one minute.”
“Still, I’d appreciate it if you finished as fast as possible. I can endure, but I feel like I’m going to lose an arm and a leg each.”
If one thought about it, the moment one crossed the wall of transcendence, it was no different from standing at the starting line of an unrestricted race where all limitations had vanished.
There were seniors already running far ahead, competitors armed to the teeth through all kinds of monstrous modifications, and plenty of anti-tank mines they had scattered behind them.
“Whew.”
An, who prided herself on having at least moved past the very beginning of that race, drew in a deep breath.
Then, as she slowly exhaled, she twisted the direction of the chakra flowing within her.
‘Now isn’t the time to worry about Oracle. The priority is minimizing damage and buying time. Until Malfi resolves the spatial blockade and secures an escape route.’
At first, rage had surged all the way to the top of her head at the fact that the Führer had been attacked, but after a little time passed, she was able to regain some composure.
In any case, revenge was something one could only take while alive.
Rather than clinging to a fight to the death in this infinitely disadvantageous place, it was far more rational to somehow escape and look for an opportunity afterward.
‘The one fortunate thing is that this place is a domain Malfi constructed. The escape route is blocked, but the other means are intact, so it won’t collapse easily.’
Since the gap in combat strength between the two sides was so vast, simply twisting space here and there and activating traps to somehow interfere with a direct confrontation was already a great help.
Another silver lining in this misfortune was that their helper, Ken, was holding back the Executioner, the strongest force on the Buncheonhoe side.
Though he was literally only holding him back, so the situation did not look very good…
Shwaaaak—!
Kwaaaang!
Ken, struck by a tail wreathed in flame and swung like a whip, scattered black energy from his entire body as he was smashed into the wall behind him.
[Indeed, you’re very sturdy. At this level, it’s a little lacking, but you’ll do well enough as a diversion.]
“Guuugh!”
Ken staggered out from the rubble of the collapsed wall and shook his head from side to side.
Power he had never possessed before was endlessly welling up from within him, but the demon called the Executioner was still overwhelmingly suppressing him without the slightest concern.
If he had not used “Thought Transfer” to forcibly raise his assimilation rate with the newly infused power, he would not even have been able to endure this much.
‘If only I could handle this power fully, I might have been able to put up a fight!’
For now, his opponent was showing interest in him, so he was somehow managing to stand against him, but it did not seem likely to last long.
And the moment that interest completely faded would surely be the moment the door to catastrophe opened.
‘That damned employer! I don’t know what you’re doing, but please hurry…!’
After checking on the situation between Ken and the Executioner, An focused her mind again.
It did not seem like things would collapse immediately, but the need for urgency was the same on both sides.
“An! Are you still not— kgh!”
“Hmm.”
Malfi moved space around to create favorable positions, and in situations where there was truly nothing else to be done, fighters including Jose stepped forward to buy time, but before the overwhelming gap in power, all of it was like trying to hold back the tide with too few hands.
As the executives who had stepped forward to help somehow were sacrificed one by one, the only possibility that remained for breaking through this crisis, which was worsening by the moment, lay in her ability.
Wooooong—!
The energy fiercely rotating within An’s body resonated with the world.
Chakra was a supernatural ability that interfered with concepts and phenomena through the microcosm within.
As her microcosm opened wide, her pure intent began to impose itself upon the surrounding phenomena.
The chakra An had opened was “Fate.”
As it harmonized with her unique skill, “Probability Manipulation,” the power that had allowed her to evade Oracle’s gaze all this time, and at the same time had allowed her to cross the wall of transcendence, manifested.
—Fate Manipulation.
One member of Buncheonhoe, who had been launching irritated attacks at the stubbornly enduring executives of the Burning Torch, frowned.
“Hmm? This is…”
Then, narrowing his eyes, he looked down at his own hand and slowly scanned his surroundings again.
He was not the only one to react that way.
Attacks that should have hit were not hitting.
Counterattacks he had thought meaningless suddenly came at him threateningly.
The terrain changes that had already been bothersome grew even more troublesome, and the process of breaking through that interference to reach them became more annoying.
“Tsk, this will take a little time.”
Leaving the task of cleaning up the Burning Torch to the others, Nagaraja, who had been watching anxiously in case the Executioner killed Ken, also grasped the situation and clicked his tongue.
But that was all.
Soon, he picked at his ear as if it were nothing and turned his gaze back toward the Executioner.
The fact that it could affect many powerful beings who had reached the realm of transcendence was certainly impressive, but there were clear limits to what could be done indirectly like this.
At best, all it could do was annoy them and buy time, as it was doing now.
“There’s no need for me to step in personally.”
If he moved himself, things would end faster, but he had no intention of doing so.
The result was already decided anyway, and the spatial blockade here was not something that would come undone just because some time passed.
His judgment was that it was better to remain prepared for any unforeseen circumstances, as he was doing now.
That thought was not particularly wrong.
‘What is this?’
Had a very special variable that no one could have predicted not occurred.
‘What in the world is it? What is it that fate is thrashing about this violently…?’
While helping her companions endure against Buncheonhoe and operating her chakra to raise the probability of breaking the blockade, a strange expression appeared on An’s face.
Some current of change that had begun outside was constantly stimulating her as she searched for “possibilities.”
At the same time that the numbers detected through “Probability Manipulation” were jumping wildly, a fate whose source she could not identify tempted her and beckoned.
What you desire is right here.
The only problem was that she could not even begin to guess what it was…
However, her hesitation, which had continued for a while, did not last long.
‘Whatever this is, the situation can’t get any worse than it is now.’
Her ability had bought them a little time, but it was not a fundamental solution.
Whatever this might lead to later, right now, they had to do anything they could to create a variable.
Wooooong—
In the end, she mobilized all the strength she had left and manifested “Fate Manipulation” as her intuition led her.
Praying that this unknown variable would help them.
The moment she seized one strand of fate knocking from outside and pulled it inward.
Paaaat—!
Along with a dazzling radiance that erupted at close range.
A beautifully shining blade pierced through space and shot out.
“…A sword?”
There was no time to be flustered by it.
The blade, which seemed to writhe in place for a moment, was drawn straight downward, creating a long crack in the air.
And from that gap.
“…Hm? What’s this? The resistance suddenly weakened. Thanks to that, I got through more easily than I expected. Is it a little weak against external intrusion?”
The voice of an unfamiliar man flowed in.
Clank— clack—!
Together with the heavy sound of metal colliding.
‘That’s…!’
An’s eyes slowly widened as she watched the situation.
A being had suddenly cut through this sealed space and intruded.
With his appearance, the surrounding brightness rose by several levels.
It was not simply her imagination.
After all, was he not openly scattering a halo like that?
At the same time, she realized.
A variable capable of overturning this situation in one stroke—
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter. I got in anyway.”
—No, a miracle had descended.
There was just one thing she had not been able to anticipate…
“Kahahaha! Who bullied our newbie?”
“Ah… the air is so murky I’m getting dizzy. Maybe I shouldn’t have come after all. I feel like I’m going to throw up, so let’s finish this quickly and go back…”
“Hooh, it’s been a while since I had a proper feast.”
The fact that there were quite a lot of them.
***
‘Let’s see, the situation is…’
Heinrich, fully armed in pure white armor without a single gap, slowly looked around.
Naturally, the fight had already entered a lull.
‘Of course it would.’
They had made such a flashy entrance, so it was only to be expected.
Moreover, was this not a zone thoroughly sealed off so that no one could enter or leave?
Though it had healed in an instant now, the fact that he had needed to exert himself even after using “Spatial Slash” with the holy sword said everything.
Since a group of people, each dressed in distinctly eccentric attire, had barged unannounced into such a place, it would have been stranger if they did not draw attention.
“…What are you? How did you get in?”
At that moment, Nagaraja, who had maintained a relaxed attitude all along, spoke in a low voice with a stiff expression.
Having already drawn a long spear and entered a battle-ready stance, not a trace of his previous leisure could be found no matter how hard one looked.
His two eyes, turned yellow like a snake’s, swept over the sudden outsiders in an instant.
“The saint from another world, Phantom, and…”
A white knight in pure white armor, wearing a helmet pulled low and radiating a halo from his entire body.
Phantom, dressed neatly in a black suit with a white half-mask on his face.
His gaze, having passed over the two people he already knew well, turned toward the remaining two.
‘So the saint was in league with them after all. But those two…’
A giant who was half-naked and wore a hideous beast mask over his head, and, in contrast, a strange man with baggy clothing, gloves, and a motorcycle helmet pulled on, without a single part of him exposed to the air.
The database in his head, which had encountered all kinds of information as the branch head of a district, spun rapidly.
‘That helmet’s appearance. It matches the one who appeared during the Seoul terror incident, carried out relief work, and disappeared. As for the other one…’
He had memorized the personal information of suspicious individuals while preparing the trap, but nothing in particular came to mind.
In truth, that one already had a grand history of activity as well, but because the Doctor’s memories had not been fully transmitted, the relevant information had been omitted.
But perhaps interpreting his reaction in some way, the half-naked giant, who had been stretching his body this way and that from the moment he appeared, stepped forward and shouted with majestic confidence.
“Kahahaha! If you ask who this body is! I am one of Masquerade’s Seats! Lord ‘Lion Mask’!”
“Ah… well… I don’t really care, so just call me whatever you want…”
Then came the voice of the helmeted man behind him, limp and utterly lacking motivation.
At that self-introduction, which did not contain even a speck of tension, Nagaraja’s eyebrow twitched.
Was that not proof that they looked down on them that much?
[Hrrr— well now, this is quite fascinating.]
Just as he, provoked, was about to say something, a voice cut in between them.
The demon who, as soon as the abnormality occurred, had sent Ken flying far away and then quietly watched the situation unfold.
The Executioner had come near to where he was at some point.
[To be honest, I had been looking forward to this a little on the way here… but this exceeds my expectations. To think fellows of this caliber would come all at once.]
The demon, baring his densely packed teeth with the corners of his mouth raised sharply, slowly looked over the intruders as if he had received an unexpected gift.
A heavy presence radiated from his opponents, enough to make his entire body tingle.
It was not a sensation that came from several auras merging into one.
Though they might fall short of the leader of Buncheonhoe, each and every one of them was a supreme powerhouse who had reached a realm even he could not disregard.
[Puhuhuhu!]
His body, steeped in struggle, twitched violently.
He had no fear of multiple strong enemies.
Only anticipation for a battle where blood and flesh would fly overflowed within him.
[Good, very good! A struggle with survival on the line! A battle with lives at stake is the highest value that living beings should pursue! I was feeling a little disappointed, but it seems coming all this way was worth it after all!]
“Pahah! Looks like you and I are on the same wavelength, my friend! All right, as a gesture that we should get along, I’ll give you a gift!”
[Hmm? A gift?]
“Of course. It’s something I like very much, you see? The taste is incredible.”
Harley grinned at his puzzled opponent and strode closer.
And when the distance between them had shortened to a certain degree.
“Kahahaha! Don’t leave any behind—take it all!”
Without a moment’s hesitation, he—
Kwaaaaang—!
“It’s our newbie’s share!”
Gifted his opponent an enormous first strike.