EP.265 The Faceless Human
Historia and Siegclund threw punches at each other.
The control panel hit by a stray straight punch flew up, and the chair kicked away spun and aimed for Historia's head. Historia received it with a Qi-coated forehead, then hid a punch under the chair's shadow and thrust it out.
Siegclund flailed his limbs bizarrely and smoothly snatched that arm, but the revolver in Historia's hand was aiming its cold muzzle at him. Siegclund belatedly realized that what Historia truly intended to hide was not her fist, but the pistol. The Qi, on the verge of exploding, vibrated violently.
BANG! Along with the explosive sound, a deep blue light of Qi spewed from the muzzle. Almost simultaneously, Siegclund urgently leaned his waist back.
A paper-thin difference. The bullet fired with Qi grazed Siegclund by a paper-thin margin. Splattering blood drops traced the bullet's trajectory. The ricocheting bullet shattered the wall, and a thin, sliced wound appeared on Siegclund's skin.
However, it was only for a moment; Siegclund's wound healed in an instant. Historia faltered.
"Regeneration...?"
It could be seen as regeneration, but it was slightly different from the regenerative power of immortal races or vampires. It was because he used his mastered Cold Qigong to hold his blood and forcibly bind his skin tissue together to form a new face.
Of course, that too was appalling. It meant he could forcibly stitch even his own body together to continue fighting.
"An impressive ability."
Wow. The Yuk Jang-seong side is really... I could somehow buy time against the Jang-seong level, but at the Yuk Jang-seong level, it's just unmanageable. If not for Historia, I would have been slaughtered in a single breath.
Immersed in admiration, I obediently acknowledged his strength.
"For something achieved by a fake life, that is!"
"Hah! You shut your mouth!"
Historia screamed at the increasingly fierce attacks, but they say it's fun to tease someone who blows up at the slightest touch. And right now, my words are more effective than your attacks.
Siegclund pushed Historia aside again and targeted me. A change of position that was meaningless when fighting 1-on-1. However, as long as I was behind her, Historia had to block him by any means necessary.
Fortunately, this time she had the means to do so.
The maximally condensed Qi explodes. The gunshot rent the world, but this time Siegclund was not rent. Anticipating the gunshot, he agilely dodged the moment it was fired.
The shot missed in vain, but anyway, in that gap, Historia caught up to him again.
'He's aiming to deplete my bullets. Already two shots. Only one left... Just one. If only I had one more...!'
While furiously targeting me, his reason remains calm. That is the military nation's Yuk Jang-seong, Yinggui Siegclund.
He's cool-headed even while his ego is threatened. All Yuk Jang-seong are like that, but he's terrifyingly dangerous and strong. If Historia were targeting me... I would have been shot dead. It's a relief she's on my side.
I can't end it with just that. Historia is protecting me, but even amidst that, I must fight desperately to survive. This isn't a place easy enough to survive by just being carried.
What I, weak and ordinary, can do here is only a mental attack.
"Is Siegclund's life that attractive? Enough to stake your life to protect it? It wouldn't be. The life of Siegclund is merely an extension of what you used to do. Stealing others' faces, hiding in their lives, exposing and executing their corruption. A life premised on becoming someone else, right?"
With every word I said, Siegclund's attacks grew fiercer. Historia, who was blocking him diligently, was cursing me inwardly while blocking him. Now, every time they threw a punch, it sounded like a cannonball exploding.
It seems true that people get angrier when someone tries to stop them. Since he couldn't vent his anger directly on me, it just kept building up.
"Now. Siegclund! I can read your wish. Practically, I am the only human who can grant your wish! Because! Only that wish makes you truly you!"
"Cut the crap!!"
Siegclund struck Historia hard, and at the same time, threw a sharp object from his bosom at the exposed me. He had sharpened a clothing packet like a dagger. The material was cloth made by an alchemist, but thrown with Qi loaded into compressed alchemical substances, its momentum was terrifying.
Hmph, but to me who reads minds, its trajectory is clearly visible... Uh, wait. It's a bit too fast to dodge.
BANG.
At the moment of crisis, Historia shot down the clothing packet with a bullet. It was amazing accuracy even without using Zero-Sight. With that skill, don't you need that Ichi thing? You can just hit normally, why do you need to promise a sure hit with Zero-Sight? What a waste of Ichi.
'This is the last bullet...! What do I do. I have no more moves now...!'
Ah, come to think of it, from the regressor's thoughts, Historia awakens another ability in the future, right? A different Ichi from Zero-Sight, called Gun-Sword Gun-Intent. It looks like an incredibly strong technique, so why won't she awaken it right now?
I'm slowly getting dangerous too. Awaken it to overcome my crisis. So I can be carried comfortably.
Now Historia had no bullets left. To improvise with combat alchemy, the opponent was too strong, so she had no leeway. It was clearly a crisis situation.
However, Siegclund showed defensive movements even in a situation extremely favorable to him. Historia quickly realized the reason too.
'He knows my ability. Zero-Sight, a technique that promises a sure hit with one bullet if three are fired. To him, who doesn't know that I only had three bullets, this is the fourth bullet. Because he believes I have a bullet that has reached Ichi...!'
Having finished her judgment, Historia spun the cylinder. Even knowing there were no bullets in it, with the belief that the opponent wouldn't know that.
Realizing her advantage instinctively, Historia rushed in more aggressively than before. She aimed the muzzle at him but didn't fire. Full of Qi, keeping him in a position where she could shoot him at any time, she fought with her hands and feet.
Good. It's an opportunity. I also coached from behind, pretending Historia had bullets.
"Ria! That person can't dodge your next bullet. So he'll be thinking of taking it in the safest way! Even if his limbs are hit, he'll regenerate quickly. Aim for a vital point that can end it in one shot!"
"I'm aiming for it even without you telling me!"
'Only aiming, can't shoot though!'
Our breathing is perfectly in sync. As expected. They say those who have been deceived use deceptions better.
When the muzzle aimed toward his head, Siegclund moved closer and faster. Trying to drag it into close-quarters combat to snatch the gun... such an attempt was meaningless. To snatch the revolver, which was already firmly gripped and fully charged with Qi, would require much greater Qi. Instead of wasting strength on a futile act, he struck out her elbows and upper arms, deflecting the line of fire.
And Historia, without any bullets, kept fighting as if trying to keep him in her line of fire. In other words, Siegclund was fighting an imaginary bullet.
"The most terrifying bullet in the world is the one that hasn't been fired yet. Because you don't know when or how it will be fired."
If he moved away to attack me, his entire body would enter the line of fire. Because of a bullet that didn't even exist, Siegclund became entangled with Historia instead.
Phew. I'm glad I only gave her three bullets. Of all things, the revolver holds six.
The two continued their offense and defense for quite a while. Siegclund had a slight upper hand in close combat, but Historia used the gun as a weapon to fight on par—no, in a much more advantageous combat.
A stalemate, right? Now let's slowly continue the operation.
"The bullet called Siegclund is the same. You've already been used, too. It's already known that you go around transforming with Disguise Arts, and once something is known, it can no longer be a weapon. Your utility value ends here! You can no longer be Siegclund!"
"If only you weren't here...!"
"Haha. I have no intention of disappearing! So. This is an opportunity too. I will decide your next life. Exactly as you desire. With a name, face, and status where you can be the real you! How about it? Attractive, right?"
"I don't need it! I can decide that myself!"
Even while fighting Historia, Siegclund's face changed at random. His blank-slate face shifts this way and that. I looked at that face over Historia's shoulder and scoffed.
"That's Tir's face. I understand you're excited to have found a good model, but can you handle it? You're committing blasphemy against both the vampires and the Seonghwangcheong at the same time, you know?"
As soon as I finished speaking, it shifted again. His ears are open even amidst this. I coldly continued my evaluation.
"Siati? It looks much better since the right arm is intact. Still, could you stop using my friend's face? Our interpersonal relations will get tangled and become awkward, won't they?"
Next was the Princess's face. Seeing the Princess, with her newly innocent face, fighting Historia on par made me let out a dry laugh.
"If she were the real Princess, Historia attacking her in the first place would be impossible, you know?"
And the next face was... a considerably manly version of the regressor. I giggled and mocked.
"Ahaha. Too manly, isn't it? I'm sorry, but Shay isn't that manly. She's the person who acts the most feminine!"
Because cross-dressing is something only women can do. Maybe, in the sense that it's not a real person, it could be quite okay?
The next was... me. Because of her momentary panic, Historia's hands and feet stopped for a moment, and she allowed two hits straight on. But the shock wasn't that great, as Historia immediately fixed her posture.
"Seeing a being with my face push Ria into a corner, I secretly feel good. Is this vicarious satisfaction?"
Suddenly, Historia struck my cheek—no, the cheek of the person with my face. At the fierce impact, I flinched and rubbed my right cheek. Phew, my heart. I thought I was the one who got hit.
And the next face that followed was... the face of a woman, pale, gloomy, and with her mouth hanging open like an idiot.
Right. It was you. Found you.
The bastard who created the military nation.
Good. Confirmed.
"It's not bad, but I'd like to recommend a slightly different direction."
When he was very young, he was born as the child of a gisaeng. The child of a gisaeng, whose father is hard to identify, also grows up to be a gisaeng, and the more skills they learn, the better treatment they receive. At his mother's urging, he too learned all sorts of arts.
The gibang had many skilled performers, and he too learned all sorts of miscellaneous skills. With talent, he absorbed all the skills like cotton soaking up water. Around the time he gradually began to stand out, a visiting theatrical troupe wanted to take him away.
There is no gibang in the world that would sell a performer who would be responsible for its future earnings, but at that time, plays were in vogue in the Empire. The status of a vassal state changed depending on the quality of the play, so naturally, the influence of theatrical troupes was strong; a mere gibang operating under the state's tacit approval couldn't possibly resist.
The only problem was his will. His attachment to the gibang where he spent his childhood.
But a single word from the troupe leader changed him.
That if he stayed in the gibang, he could only be a gisaeng, but on stage, he could become anyone.
At that time, he discarded his original status and became an actor. Taking a new name as his stage name, he started his second life.
Probably, at that time, it must have been full of novel hope. But the result wasn't good.
"Now. Try changing as I dictate. It'll be better for me to decide than you, who has too many things you can do and can't decide."