EP.43 Even Extinguished Embers Can Reignite
The immortal's body was in a state no different from a corpse. Perhaps due to the characteristics of the immortal race, no blood flowed out, but with its bizarrely broken and severed limbs, and its motionless chest, no sign of life could be felt at all.
Its right arm is moving, but even I'm not sure about this. Why is the muscle moving autonomously?
I muttered as I looked at the corpse.
"Would it wake up if I splash water on it?"
The vampire pointed out.
"Stop it. Don't waste your effort. The lives of the natives are separate from yours. They possess infinite life when touching the ground, but precisely because of that, separated from the earth here, they will never open their eyes again."
However, according to the regressor's thoughts, that immortal witnessed what happened inside Tantalos. If they couldn't open their eyes, they couldn't have been a witness.
Hmm. Should I try that method?
If their vitality were completely depleted, there would be no point in trying. It's like trying to start a fire without firewood.
However, the amount of beans the immortal devoured over the past few days was at a level that would make even the logistics officers wonder if there was a hole in their supplies. If they still lacked vitality after receiving rations on the level of military embezzlement, then they didn't lack life, they lacked a conscience.
If I can just spark an ember, it seems like they would wake up.
"Now, everyone. I'm going to perform an amazing magic trick today."
"Magic?"
"Yes! That is, the magic of heart revival! I will resurrect this person!"
Ta-da! I spread both hands, but from over there, I heard a scoff of disbelief. Looking that way, the vampire was smiling as if it was absurd.
"Nonsense."
The vampire, who had been mocking me for a while, cut my words short.
"Are you a god? Or is the heart your plaything? How do you intend to make a stopped heart beat again?"
"The mystique that ordinary people with their lacking imaginations can never achieve. That is magic."
"If that were possible, you'd be raising the dead with magic."
As if there was no need to listen any further, the vampire rested her parasol on her shoulder and straightened her posture. It was a non-verbal expression indicating she was no longer paying attention.
At the same time, I felt an unusual sense of discomfort.
An alien sensation, like a bone stuck in the throat. It wasn't a sensation I was feeling, but an emotion the vampire was experiencing that was transmitted to me.
An unpleasantness felt alongside a stabbing pain from within. An irritation that, combined with annoyance, was hard to simply overlook.
Even when dealing with the regressor earlier, the vampire had been defensive but showed a somewhat accommodating attitude. But now she's showing hostility? That's strange. Honestly, from the perspective of someone from 1,200 years ago, wouldn't the idea of a man liking another man be more shocking than a heart beating again?
At times like this, I need to read their thoughts a bit. Let's see.
I narrowed my eyes and focused on the vampire's thoughts.
'Heart? Nonsense. If a heart could beat again so easily, vampires would all have their own hearts by now. Enough. No need to pay attention. That is an impossible thing.'
The conclusion that it's impossible. What is this? Petrified thinking? The stubbornness of an old fogy?
Or is it sour grapes? Blind anger toward a fruit they desperately wanted to grasp but failed to obtain countless times, eventually leading them to give up on it?
'Excluding the first two hundred years, I have wandered for a thousand years. Experienced countless lives, taken in everything in the world, uncovered the darkest secrets and noble truths, and seen gods and demons with my own two eyes. However, just as time passed cannot be reversed, none of those could give new life to those who have passed on.'
Or perhaps.
The feelings of a child who hates but still misses the parents who abandoned them at a young age, having lost something precious too early.
Hmm. This feeling, it's refreshing.
Usually, if there's a certain emotion, the background related to it is clear, but perhaps because her life has been too long, this incident and that incident are all tangled up, making it hard to pinpoint exactly.
True, a tower built over twelve centuries wouldn't be made of just one or two stones. Thousands, tens of thousands of tiny stones and sand would be sharing the load, big or small.
'Revive the heart? Outrageous. It's an impossible feat. Absolutely. No one has ever found it until now, and if some great existence had gifted such a method to humanity through some divine work... it wouldn't come this late. After all the good things have faded away with time, there's no way it would come so belatedly. It shouldn't, either.'
Still, one thing is certain.
The vampire—wishes for her own heart to beat again.
She is praying to regain the life she lost when she was far too young.
'...I got worked up. What lingering attachment is there after living for a thousand years. It's all just anguish and greed.'
Greed... can you really call it that? I cannot agree with that.
The desire for life is not called greed. It is instinct, or the law of nature. An underlying premise, or a foundation. It is the categorical imperative that supports people from beneath everything else.
I've read the vampire enough.
Perhaps because of that, a smile spills across my face.
A thing denied for a thousand years, something believed to be absolutely impossible.
What kind of face will the vampire make if it actually comes true? If right before her eyes, an ordinary person like me actually performs that miracle? Will a thousand years of failure be joyful in the face of a single success that came like a coincidence? Or will it be despair?
I'm curious. It's unbearably enjoyable.
So, I spread my arms and shouted.
"Alright! Achieving what everyone thinks is impossible is precisely the disposition of a magician! Since Trainee Tirkanjaka is denying it with all her might, I'm gaining strength too! Understood, if that is the trainee's will, as a magician, I will also do my utmost to make it happen!"
Hearing my words, the regressor furrowed his brow.
"Magician?"
"Ah, haha! My nickname in the Military Nation was Magician!"
"What did you do to get the nickname Magician?"
"Selling positions and working magic! It's the magic of making money from official hats! And so the concept just popped out!"
'It's... nonsense, right?'
Oops, I need to be careful. If I show too much emotion, I might arouse suspicion.
Ahem. Anyway.
"Now. First of all, anything that exists in this world, unless it just drops perfectly from the sky, is bound to have its corresponding origins and history, right? I'll explain it step by step from the very beginning."
I was about to take out the chalk, but then I realized I had completely forgotten about it while teasing the regressor earlier. It doesn't matter. The story is what's important.
I turned around and began the story.
"Lightning is the heavenly god's punishment and a pure power that descends from the sky! However, after that famous lightning theft incident, the heavenly god took pity on the humans who returned the lightning to the sky and allowed them to use its power. And this is it."
While speaking, I gathered magical power and raised my finger. At the end of people's gazes hung my finger, and beyond it, my grinning lips.
"Bolt."
Bzzt.
A yellow spark flashed. A highly volatile power spread into the air, disappearing quickly but striking with equal intensity.
I flicked my finger to scatter the remnants and said.
"The power to generate electricity. Since then, humans have been able to manipulate electricity... Though the power itself is so intense and brief, its applications are quite limited. Mainly, it's used to light lamps or start various devices, or to remove soot or rust from iron."
With that, I casually took out a skewer. Gripping the sharp skewer in my hand, I put on the most gentle expression possible to reassure everyone.
"...Or perhaps, to startle people who are pointlessly tight-lipped, giving a knock on their firmly shut lips? Well, it's similar in the sense that it removes the soot in their hearts and makes them honest, right?"
Even though I expressed it as euphemistically as possible, the trainees, who were uncannily good at recognizing bad deeds, caught my meaning.
'Torture...'
Both the regressor and the vampire frowned at the same time. The vampire softly scowled and lowered her parasol, and the regressor gripped the desk tightly. I could even hear the sound of the steel plate crumpling.
Ouch. I should skip this part quickly. I spoke rapidly.
"Now. During the process of the Military Nation's Public Safety Department conducting electrical torture... no, peaceful interrogation accompanied by electricity on a few people, a very peculiar fact was discovered! Would you believe it, when electrical shocks were applied once more to people whose hearts had stopped, cases of the heart beating again were frequently discovered!"
Disbelief radiated from the vampire, and pessimism from the regressor. Well, fine. It's better than feeling nothing.
Alright. I held the skewer in a reverse grip. And crouching next to the still coldly stiffened body of the immortal, I carefully aimed for the heart.
"I'll test that method on this immortal once. Now."
And without a sliver of hesitation, I thrust the skewer down near the immortal's heart.
Thud. Is this the tactile sensation of stabbing a bucket full of cement? It only made a draining sound, and my skewer couldn't even penetrate half a knuckle into the immortal's chest.
The body is weird? Why is it like hardened concrete? With my strength, it seems even stabbing the chest won't work with this skewer.
I put the skewer in my pocket and held out my hand to the regressor.
"...Ahem. If I do it with the skewer, the body will get damaged. Trainee Shay, could you perhaps lend me the sword you have hovering by your head?"
"Cheon-ang?"
"Cheon-ang, what a pretty name. Yes, I'll use it cleanly and return it."
The regressor narrowed his eyes and looked at me as if appraising me.
'That skewer doesn't seem to have an edge. That man wouldn't ask to borrow a sword just because he couldn't pierce a mere piece of flesh.'
No, it does. It had an edge. I sharpen it well so it can be used anytime, anywhere.
'He probably asked for my sword because he was afraid the immortal's body would be torn to pieces if he went all out? Either way, I'm also in a position where it would be good to know how he opens his eyes.'
No, it was my full power. Even when I thrust down with all my might, it only penetrated half a knuckle.
With this, I won't even be able to feign using my strength in front of the regressor. I might accidentally shatter the illusion he has of me.
'Giving my only weapon to a guy who might be an enemy is a foolish act... Hmph, but then again, refusing to lend it out of pointless caution is also ridiculous. Besides, I'm the only one who can wield Cheon-ang anyway.'
The regressor casually flicked his finger. Then, an invisible sword flew like an arrow and embedded itself at my feet. Cheon-ang dug about three inches into the concrete ground and trembled slightly.
"Alright. It seems your skewer isn't enough. Go ahead and try."
"Thank you. I'll use it well."
At the very least, it was a relief that Cheon-ang, the regressor's weapon, was outstanding enough to perform even when used by someone like me. It would have been a big problem if even this sword couldn't cut through.
"Now. Scalpel."
The blade smoothly parted the flesh. The immortal's blood was like a living mucus, so even when I sliced open the chest, the blood did not flow out. Rather, it seemed to hide deep into the body.
As I carefully pushed the flesh up like that, the heart could be seen deep inside the dark ribs. From here, instead of forcibly digging through the flesh, I wedged the skewer in. Until it reached the heart down there, right in the very center.
"They didn't take the electrical torture this far, but since I'm at it, it's better to be closer to the heart. If I cast it outside the body, there's a fear the magic will disperse. Anyway, like this, shall I apply electricity to the stopped heart?"
Tossing Cheon-ang aside, I performed the somatic components I had learned before exactly as they were. A formulaic magic that can forcibly extract the magical power within the body even if one has no magical aptitude. One of the few practical inventions created by the Military Nation.
"Set, Thema, Ket, Obeli."
And its improved version.
I extended the magical power that would normally be mediated at my fingertips a little further. I reached out so that magical power could condense at the tip of the skewer in my hand, a steel needle that was like my own limb. Like that, the magical field dug into the immortal's body along the tip of the skewer.
And when the magical power reached the heart, I burned the magical power and chanted the spell. A little stronger than usual.
"Bolt, Franklin."
Bzzzt!
The immortal's body jerked greatly. It was because the lightning magic, possessing a flowing attribute, ran along the whole body and stimulated the muscles.
Due to the repulsive force of the magical power, my hand bounced up significantly. I felt a numbing shock. The magic itself was a success. Now, I just needed the result.
And immediately after.
"Gasp!"
The immortal opened its eyes.