Chapter 21 — Can You Not Just Self-Destruct, Then?!
Ever since her seal had been removed, Tomochika was able to smoothly transition into fighting without any hesitation or warning. The Dannoura family had spent its long history refining not only the body but also the mind for battle.
Her opponent was struck down in a single blow while casually conversing. That was possible for someone with the Dannoura spirit. On every battlefield there were those with the bare minimum of skill who would brag about being capable of such a feat, but the number of those truly capable of it was small. Not only would the person’s opponent be unable to predict that they would be struck while they were speaking, they would be taken down without so much as a chance of offering resistance.
The cutlass-wielding pirate likely hadn’t even realized he had been attacked. The strike to his jaw rattled his brain, and the strike to his chest disrupted his heartbeat. Accomplishing such things wasn’t merely a matter of striking hard enough—applying a precise amount of force, something the Dannoura were thoroughly trained in, was key.
That alone was enough to knock her target unconscious, but Tomochika had supplemented it with a third strike to the groin for insurance. No matter who her opponent was, the Dannoura techniques sought to inflict maximum damage.
As the pirate collapsed, Tomochika was already choosing her next target. There were two nearby: the older man wearing glasses and another rough-looking man in leather armor.
Tomochika lightly shoved the sagging pirate into the leather-armored man. As the first man tumbled into the second, the leather warrior grabbed him with both hands to hold him up. At the same time, Tomochika spun around behind him, striking him in the back of the head. The two collapsed in a tangled heap, but for good measure, she followed up with a stomp to the leathered man’s face.
The older man seemed unaccustomed to combat, as he appeared incapable of reacting to Tomochika’s sudden use of violence. As he opened his mouth to scream, she delivered a swift chop to his throat. He immediately passed out and fell to the floor.
Once the battle had begun, there was no room for mercy. Most martial arts taught that much, and the Dannoura School was no different.
“Hm. I suppose we have no choice but to bulldoze our way through now,” Mokomoko commented.
“Can’t you fight, Mokomoko?!” Tomochika asked. With two of them, their combat advantage would greatly improve, making it much easier to escape.
“Unfortunately not. I am moving this body with something like remote controls. I am not able to fight properly in this state.”
“Can you not just self-destruct, then?!”
Since she had cut off the man’s voice before he could cry out, they had some time before anyone noticed.
They were currently standing in the middle of the lounge. There was an exit on either side. Tomochika threw a nearby chair towards the front exit, immediately turning and running for the rear. At the moment, everyone’s Gifts were neutralized, so she didn’t think she’d have to worry about any sort of magic attack. The chair she had thrown would block the line of sight for other projectiles that might be heading her way.
The back exit was being guarded by two pirates. As she ran, Tomochika threw whatever was close at hand, from cups and ashtrays to chairs and tables. The ability to assess an object’s center of gravity at a touch and immediately use it as a throwing weapon was the core of the Dannoura School of Archery’s techniques.
Reaching the exit at the same time as a falling table, Tomochika delivered a knee to the head of one of the guards who was already crouched down, and he covered his face in pain. Her momentum carried her through the door and out into the hallway.
“This way!”
Looking for the source of the voice, she saw a familiar face. It was Hornet, the hero she had met at the port. It seemed he was planning on rescuing her, but Tomochika ran in the opposite direction. Maybe he was just trying to be nice, but something felt off. He was different from the last time she had seen him. She couldn’t help but remember Yogiri mentioning that people on the ship were being controlled by something. In short, she couldn’t trust him, so she decided not to get close.
“Hm. It looks like you’re not so great at making yourself attractive either,” Mokomoko commented as she ran alongside her. “Shouldn’t you have flung yourself into the handsome man’s arms, begging to be saved?”
“Do you really think that’s what I should have done?”
“Not at all!”
“Then shut up!”
I made it to the first floor of the living quarters, came Yogiri’s voice through the communicator.
“We’re heading your way!” Tomochika called out as they sprinted through the ship.
A few minutes earlier...
Immediately after Izelda had drained Hornet’s mother of her magical energy, he had searched for the man who had fled but had been unable to find him.
“Hmm. He shouldn’t have been able to get that far.”
The stranger’s abilities had been incredibly varied. It would be natural for him to have some sort of stealth technique. Izelda wouldn’t allow him to escape, but there was a limit to what he could do in his current state. He wanted to get some results before the boy’s body gave out.
He decided to use the insects. The bugs he had created out of his left arm earlier were essentially a part of him. He had since regenerated that arm, but the insects remained. He just had to send them out through the ship and he could use them to search the area. If they came across anyone, they could take control of those people.
Izelda’s descendants were many, so it was likely there were others on this ship. As part of him, the insects could activate his essence within any of those descendants and cause them to act as he wished, to a degree. Izelda had vessels throughout the world. They existed both as part of his pursuit of power and as insurance in case the worst were to happen. Even if his primary body at any given time was to perish, another would “activate” somewhere to carry out his goals. In a way, he was immortal.
Even so, he wasn’t satisfied with sitting around and waiting for his current form to die. He began collecting magical energy from his other activated bodies. With more magical energy, he could extend the lifespan of his current vessel. Once activated, the others wouldn’t be capable of complex thought right away, so he instructed them to attack anyone they found indiscriminately and steal their magical energy. That was something they could do without needing to think about it.
Glancing out the window, he saw tentacles wrapped around the ship. He’d felt the boat shaking right before his fight with the mysterious man, so it seemed that was the cause.
“Oh? I remember this ancient relic.”
While Izelda was, in some respects, an ancient ghost himself, back when he was truly still alive, there had been a number of relics that were already considered “ancient” at the time. He had come across an interesting artifact while researching magic but had been unable to get the device working. Apparently, someone had managed to awaken it in the years since.
Izelda searched for the presence of others. He couldn’t find the man from earlier, but he was able to detect everyone else without a problem.
Stairs extended from the relic’s tentacles, from which people began to descend before taking control of the ship. The hired mercenaries had been utterly useless. The Gift was failing to function, so those who relied on it were helpless in the face of the invaders.
“How could this be so convenient?”
Izelda’s interest was piqued. An ancient relic, a man with a mysterious Gift, and now someone who could neutralize that Gift. Each was enough to catch his interest, and yet they had all appeared at the same time. It almost made him think things were going too well, but during his long life, Izelda had experienced coincidence layered on coincidence many times. None of this was enough to arouse his suspicions.
Izelda once again considered his priorities. He put the search for the mysterious man aside for later, turning his attention to the guaranteed chance of contact with the ancient relic and searching for the person who was currently nullifying the Gift.
Pirates had confined the passengers to a number of areas, and a few of them were standing guard. A group was heading for the pilothouse, and the one with the nullifying power was likely with them. Izelda made his way out of the room through the window. Before the Gift had overtaken this world, he had been a famous High Wizard. Even without the Gift, flight was child’s play to him. The nullifying ability had some effect on powers beyond those of the Gift, but it was weak enough that he could ignore it.
Flying through the air, he entered the ship’s pilothouse. A woman clad in men’s clothes was threatening someone—presumably the captain—with a sword. She was recorded in Hornet’s memory as the casino guard, Degul. She must have infiltrated the ship to investigate it from the inside before leading the pirates straight to them.
“Just as I thought,” Izelda mused. “You look somewhat familiar. You belong to the royal family of Manii, don’t you?”
The Kingdom of Manii’s royal bloodline possessed a nullifying power. They had used it to suppress the Underworld beneath their kingdom, preventing the monsters inhabiting it from reaching the surface. The intensity of that power varied from individual to individual, but this woman seemed to possess it at great strength. It was capable of encompassing the entire ship and completely canceled out the abilities of everyone on board.
“With that much power, I would have expected the crown to fall at your feet whether you liked it or not. Why are you out here, playing pirate?”
“Who the hell are you?” Degul turned to glare at Izelda. Her power grew even stronger, dispersing the faint magical energy that was leaking out of him. It wasn’t enough to inhibit his true power, but it was still a considerable feat. It might well have been the strongest such power he had ever encountered.
“This is incredible. I will very much need to research it.”
The Kingdom of Manii was High Wizard Eglacia’s territory, so Izelda didn’t meddle with them. But if Degul was out here acting as a pirate, there would be no problem with striking her down or capturing her for studying...or forcing her to bear children for him.
“What does the kingdom have to do with it? Did that bastard send you?” Degul turned her sword from the captain to Izelda.
“Hm. Your strength is great but not enough to fight me.”
Degul suddenly slumped to the ground. The insects had infiltrated her body and paralyzed her.
“Oh. Perhaps I went too far.”
The royal had passed out. Maybe he hadn’t adjusted the strength of the insects quite right. But she wasn’t dead, so she would likely wake up sooner or later.
“Now then, I have acquired Manii’s bloodline, so mastery of the ancient relic should be no problem with her under my control. All that’s left is that man... No, before that, perhaps I should secure the other woman with the interesting body.”
He had no idea what was being done to the passengers where the girl was being held. Objectively, she possessed a body that would attract the attention of the men around her. It was possible it would stir up a sadistic streak in the pirates, and they might go too far and kill her after assaulting her. Izelda needed her to produce children, so he couldn’t allow her to die.
He headed for the lounge where she was being held.
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