TBAGM Vol. 3 Chapter 2 Part 3

Rei was making her way toward the slums, where Lloyd was likely headed.

Along the way, she recalled the words she had said to Serina earlier.

(Noooooooo! Why did I say something like that!?)

As if trying to cool her flushed face, Rei fanned herself with both hands.

Until now, she had always been able to regain her composure immediately. Failing to control her own emotions was unworthy of an assassin.

(I-It’s not like I like him himself. I just like his personality…)

Rei tried to make excuses for her feelings.

Until now, Kyros had raised her as a spy and assassin.

She had been so alone that she believed she could trust no one, only the blade in her own hand.

No one saw her as a woman in her own right. Even the executives who knew of Rei’s existence only recognized her as the shadowy powerhouse supporting Incarnation of the Sun from behind the scenes.

Who could have imagined that someone like her would end up working as a maid at Veiled Moonrise?

(I think… I just wanted to be praised.)

When she cooked, he told her it was delicious. When she cleaned up, he praised her and said she had been a great help. He thanked her and told her he was glad she was there.

Those casual everyday exchanges gradually melted her frozen heart.

She had come to feel that someone needed her for something other than assassination.

(More importantly, how would he react if he found out I was Wraith?)

Right now, Rei belonged to Veiled Moonrise as a fifteen-year-old girl.

But that was only a false mask created by Serina.

The real her was a twenty-three-year-old assassin stained by crime.

Would Lloyd forgive someone like her? No, if he forgave her, Rei herself would no longer be able to forgive herself.

(I had already decided to become his shadow.)

Rei took pride in her current work, and she held deep respect for Serina.

If it was Lloyd, he would know how to use the information she gathered properly. He would use it for what was right. It was because she trusted that about him that Rei had thrown herself even more actively into intelligence work than she had during her days in Incarnation of the Sun.

If Lloyd forgave Rei, then he would no longer be the Lloyd she admired.

(The shadow that I am can remain a shadow forever…)

Rei told herself that and cast aside those distracting thoughts.

Keeping herself hidden in the shadows, she continued her duty of guarding Lloyd.

And then it happened.

“Composite Magic【Long-Distance Teleport】.”

As if cutting across all her intentions, something abnormal occurred right before her eyes.

“What!?”

Rei saw it clearly.

She saw the instant Lloyd vanished through a man’s magic.

If it had been ordinary 【Teleport】, he should still have been somewhere within a five-hundred-meter radius. But she had never even heard of the spell that man had used.

(Should I go back and report this to Elder Sister? But if I did, the mana residue, my only clue, would disappear… What should I…)

Rei touched the collar around her neck.

At a glance, it looked like nothing more than a cute choker, but it was actually a magitool imbued with Serina’s skill. By removing that choker, Rei could return to her original form as Wraith.

For some reason, Serina had made it so Rei could remove it herself.

Whether Serina felt safe because fear bound her, or whether she truly trusted her, Rei still did not know.

If she removed it here and now, Rei would regain the power of her prime and could bring forth the strength she had once possessed in her days in the shadows.

But doing that would be the same as revealing her true identity to Lloyd.

She would never be able to return to her disguised form again. The self known as Rei would die here.

For most people, it would have been a moment of hesitation.

But Rei made her decision in an instant.

“I already decided I would become his shadow! Disguise release【Discard】!”

Even if it meant she would never again be able to smile and speak with Lloyd, she was certain that if she did not act now, she would regret it forever.

Rei threw the choker to the ground, released her disguise, and followed the mana residue.

And that brought her to the present.

“Oh? So you’re planning to fight me?”

Once Wraith understood the situation from Lloyd’s mental state, veins stood out on her face.

“The crime of pushing Lord Lloyd to this extent is one worthy of ten thousand deaths. He is not someone who should be broken in a place like this.”

“Sounds like you’re head over heels for him. Hm? Don’t tell me you’re his girlfriend or something?”

“T-T-That is not the case! Lord Lloyd is…”

At those teasing words, Wraith flushed bright red in an instant.

Seizing the moment of her agitation, Noir unleashed magic.

“Ahaha. Don’t start acting all lovey-dovey in a situation like this. Composite Magic【Erebos Arrow】.”

It was a spell that combined magic that imbued the attribute of extinction with magic that manifested arrows.

In particular, imbuing something with the attribute of extinction was considered taboo in this kingdom, making it a forbidden art that ordinary people were not permitted to use. Merely touching it caused the cells in that area to die. It was magic created solely to kill living beings.

Wraith drew the dagger at her thigh and closed in while evading 【Erebos Arrow】.

“Was that supposed to be child’s play? Something like that means nothing if it doesn’t hit.”

“Oh? So you could dodge that. Have you dabbled in assassination techniques or something? You switch gears frighteningly fast.”

For Noir, who had thought he had successfully caught her off guard, the fact that Wraith evaded it was beyond expectation.

It was not as though he had underestimated her as merely a maid.

Even so, he clearly had not expected her to come straight at an arrow imbued with 【Extinction】.

“Composite Skill【Twin Blades of Judgment】!”

“What!? A Composite Skill!?”

Wraith heightened her guard and leapt back in an instant.

Setting aside whether anyone could actually use it, the concept of composite magic itself did exist. The name was different, but in essence it was the same idea as Mint’s fusion magic.

Talent was required to wield magic, but there were also people like Mint who could wield hundreds or even thousands of spells. And among them, the possibility was not zero that someone, like Mint, had succeeded in combining magic.

(Could it be… he combined 【Sword of Judgment】 with 【Twin Blades】?)

But when it came to skills, that was another matter entirely.

Skills were, in essence, talent. It was possible to acquire them later through effort, but unlike magic, one could not simply learn dozens or hundreds of them.

There should have been no one who could combine skills and fight that way.

From what Wraith could see, Noir himself was not actually that strong. Judging by ability values alone, he was around the level of a D-rank adventurer, or perhaps even E-rank.

There was no way Noir should have been able to defeat Wraith, whose true strength normally placed her in the upper tier of B-rank.

And yet Noir was abnormal.

His style of fighting was an unrelenting barrage of skills and magic.

“Take this, take this, take this!”

“Tch!”

Wraith’s face twisted at the heavy slashes unleashed by Noir.

It seemed Noir had combined the high-powered skill 【Sword of Judgment】 with the skill 【Twin Blades】, which split one sword into two.

The idea of the already powerful 【Sword of Judgment】 becoming two was no laughing matter.

“Composite Magic【Infernal Blizzard】!”

The instant Noir spoke those words, a scene like hell itself spread out before them.

From the right came pitch-black infernal flames. From the left came a pure white icy gale that froze all things solid, and both surged toward Wraith.

Even Wraith, who had built up experience through many battles against human opponents, had no way to properly deal with a situation like this.

(The difference in strength is far too great…!)

If she could only get close enough to Noir, Wraith would be able to take his head.

But Noir would never allow that.

The moment she tried to close the distance, his skills and magic would come flying at her.

(What should I do…?)

If it had been the usual Wraith, the moment things turned into a situation like this, she would have fled without a second thought.

Assassination required certainty. There was no need to recklessly challenge a fight she could not win.

But Lloyd was here now.

The Wraith of the present had no option of abandoning Lloyd.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Letting out a war cry, Wraith charged straight at Noir.

“Huh? Are you an idiot? Even if you rush me, you’ll just get crushed by my magic.”

Noir stared at Wraith with wide eyes.

He had clearly never expected her to charge directly at him.

If she got close, the odds of Wraith dealing damage to Noir would rise.

But at the same time, so would the odds of Wraith dying.

“Composite Magic【Tempest Rend】.”

Noir unleashed countless slashes at Wraith.

They were wrapped in raging wind, and the blades themselves spun within it. Mere contact would tear flesh apart and sever bone.

Even so, Wraith kept charging with a roar.

“Haaaaaaaaah!”

She was doing everything she could to avoid the slashes, but she could not evade them all. Her clothes were torn, and blood was already flowing from several places.

It was the kind of situation where it would not have been strange for the pain alone to stop her in her tracks.

And yet Wraith’s feet never stopped.

“No, seriously, were you trying to get yourself killed? Composite Magic【Tempest Surge】.”

From Noir’s hand, a bombardment of wind erupted forth, enough to fill the entire space in front of him.

Unlike the slashes from before, this one was impossible to dodge. As for this spell, it would not stop at merely tearing flesh. Every bone in her body would be crushed, leaving her crippled beyond recovery.

Even Wraith, faced with magic like this, should have fallen back…

But she did not.

(Heh… got you!)

This was exactly what she had been aiming for.

Unlike slashes, bombardment-type attacks took a brief moment to recharge the mana for the next strike.

That meant a fleeting opening would appear.

As if she had been waiting for that very instant, she activated her skill.

“【Ambush】!”

Wraith vanished from directly before Noir, as though diving into the shadows.

“What!?”

In an instant, she moved behind him, drove one dagger into his neck, and severed his cervical spine.

Then, with the other dagger, she lopped off his head.

Noir’s head spun through the air together with a crimson spray of blood before landing on the ground with a dull thud.

“I need to get Lord Lloyd out of here. Quickly…”

Wraith’s own injuries were far from minor. They were not fatal, but if she did not close the wounds soon, her life would be in danger.

She hoisted Lloyd over her shoulder and tried to leave.

But at that moment, a man’s voice rang out.

“Ow, ow… At least cut it off cleanly in one go. Spinal cords took time to fix, you know.”

“What!? H-How!?”

When Wraith turned around, her eyes widened.

It was rare for someone as calm and composed as her to be this shocked.

The sight before her was that abnormal.

“How… how are you still alive!?”

Yes, the Noir whose head she had just severed was standing there as if nothing had happened.

Above his shoulders there was nothing at all, while his head was tucked under his arm.

Everything about it was wrong. The head speaking on its own, the body standing despite having no head, all of it.

And more than anything else, what was most disturbing was the fact that the severed surface looked as though it had been coated in some kind of slime.

“There we go… just needed to fit this back on… and done.”

As casually as if he were assembling a doll, Noir set his own head back on his body.

“W-Why aren’t you dead…?”

Wraith could only stare blankly at the impossible sight.

The head she had cleanly severed had adhered back to the torso as though drawn there.

Watching him now, it almost felt as though cutting off his head had been nothing more than a dream.

“No… something like this shouldn’t be possible…”

“Well, you looked properly shocked. In that case, let’s hurry up and kill you.”

“…!?”

It was at that moment that Wraith, for the first time, felt fear toward Noir.

Even if she killed him, he came back to life. Even if she tried to flee, he would not let her escape. No matter what path she took, the place it led to in the end was always the same: death.

Noir snapped his fingers and activated a spell.

“Composite Magic【Gravity Cage】.”

“Gah!”

An unavoidable gravity spell activated around Wraith like a prison.

Unable to dodge, she was slammed into the ground. Even after that, the crushing force continued to press down on her, so overwhelming that it felt as if a giant were grinding her into the earth.

(This is bad…)

If she stayed still, she would be crushed to death. There was nowhere to run. More than that, she could not escape this pressure in the first place.

The only path left open was to kill the caster, Noir, who stood before her with that grotesque smile.

“Haaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Still pinned face-down, Wraith forced her right arm to move and hurled her dagger with all her strength.

Normally, it was a distance she absolutely could have reached.

But the crushing pressure got in the way.

“There’s no way something like that was going to reach me, right?”

The moment it left Wraith’s hand, the dagger dropped to the ground with a dull thud.

Watching her, Noir snapped his fingers once more.

“Second Phase.”

“Ugh… ahh…”

A crushing force far beyond the previous one descended upon her.

Her bones creaked and groaned, while her internal organs were gradually being compressed. At this rate, she truly was going to die.

“This is fascinating. I honestly didn’t think you’d still be alive after the second phase.”

Noir stared at Wraith up and down.

What shone in his eyes was not bloodlust.

It was simple curiosity.

Even the reason he was tormenting her like this was only to satisfy that curiosity.

Noir approached Wraith and began examining her in detail, even touching her skin.

Wraith bit down hard, enduring the humiliation.

As long as Noir did not release the spell, there was nothing she could do. He would inspect her body, and in the end she would be crushed flat and scattered apart.

“As I thought, B-rankers and A-rankers really did differ at the skeletal level—”

Noir touched Wraith’s body with open fascination.

Then a woman’s voice cut across him.

“Tell me, what exactly were you doing touching my property without permission?”

“What the hell was this now…? Who are you?”

As he turned, Noir glared at the woman.

But she only smiled, as though smothering him in killing intent.

“I’m Serina. We finally met at last… I’m going to torture you to death properly.”

Still dressed as a maid, Serina took the dagger hidden at her thigh and answered while twirling it around in her right hand like it was a toy.

“When Wraith removed her choker, I came after her, and to think I’d actually run into you here. Fate really did work in interesting ways.”

Serina had set it up so that she would be notified if Wraith ever removed the choker.

Outside of an emergency, there was no reason Wraith would ever do such a thing. In her own way, Serina had been keeping watch over her.

Even so, she clearly had not expected things to turn out like this.

“No, no, I don’t know anyone like y—”

Shaking his head from side to side, Noir denied her words.

But he never got to finish.

“Oh? I definitely felt myself cut through something. So what was it? Were you hiding some sort of core somewhere, like a monster?”

An attack without even the slightest trace of killing intent, and yet utterly merciless, bit into Noir’s neck.

It was a ruthless strike stripped of all emotion.

Even Wraith, who had once worked in the underworld herself, could not help but admire it.

Noir’s head spun through the air before landing some distance away.

At the same time, 【Gravity Cage】, which had been restraining Wraith, vanished.

“Wraith. If the spell’s gone, then take Lord Lloyd and leave.”

“B-But, Elder Sister…”

“Hehe. Do you really think I’d lose? It’s fine. I’ll be right behind you.”

Now able to move freely again, Wraith nodded, hoisted Lloyd onto her shoulder, and fled at full speed.

(So that girl was worried about me now…)

Feeling the weight of Wraith’s growth, Serina smiled with a trace of jealousy.

Then she mocked herself.

“And here I was, not acting for that girl’s sake at all, but for my own…”

The reason Serina sent Wraith away was not to protect her and Lloyd.

It was so she could indulge herself fully in torturing the enemy before her to death.

“Come on now. Was murder some kind of trend among maids these days? I didn’t sense even a millimeter of killing intent.”

Noir’s body busily retrieved its own head and fitted it back on.

“It had been a while, Father.”

“I told you, I don’t know you. I’ve never met someone like y—”

“Didn’t you even remember the person whose subordinate you killed?”

“…!?”

Cutting him off, Serina spoke.

At that instant, the ease in Noir’s expression clouded over.

“…What kind of joke was that? That girl should’ve been serving a life sentence in prison.”

“That was reduced due to extenuating circumstances. These days I go by Serina, not Seriana.”

The moment Serina spoke the truth, a flicker of anger finally crossed Noir’s face.

“Hehe. You must have thought you’d set me up nicely, but what a shame.”

“Reduced due to extenuating circumstances after killing twenty people?”

“I’ll return those words right back to you. But even I never thought I’d survive either.”

Serina and Noir’s first meeting dated back five years.

It was after Noir escaped the underground prison and restarted his life as a priest in another country.

Back then, Seriana had been living a happy life. She was the eldest daughter in a family of five with four younger sisters, and while that came with its share of burdens, she still lived each day with a smile.

But Noir shattered those days.

At the time, Noir had been gathering children from the slums with dozens of subordinates, deceiving them with honeyed words and collecting test subjects suitable for skill transfer.

Seriana’s younger sisters were tricked by them, and all of them were turned into test subjects.

Driven by revenge, Seriana stormed into the church with a single knife and killed everyone there except for Noir, who happened to be absent.

“If you hadn’t interfered back then, the plan would’ve been finished much sooner. And if that had happened, then she too…”

“I’ve no interest in listening to your excuses. You people have killed dozens of children. That is all.”

Serina had no intention of listening to anything Noir had to say.

She had waited for this day.

The day she would avenge her sisters.

“Now then! Let’s begin the killing!”

With a twisted smile on her lips, Serina raised her dagger.