WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

Chapter 116: Today

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A demon.

The man who introduced himself that way did not look grotesque. He had no wings on his back, no horns, no tail. His handsome face was clean-cut, and he wore robes of the East.

Yet an ominous chill radiated from him, enough to make even the word demon feel insufficient. This space of flesh, the five trees that had once been human, shook violently at the man's appearance, as if they were dancing or trembling. Every time they swayed, dozens of branches collided with wet slapping sounds.

"Ah... ahh, aaaaaah..."

One agent's body had swollen and burst apart as soon as their equipment broke. Orban, who had shouted for Kyle to come over, lay on the floor wrapped in black feathers and the Holy Shroud.

Everyone else was still alive for now. Four agents, Layla, and Kyle.

Kyle and Layla only had nosebleeds, but the agents were pouring blood from their eyes, noses, mouths, and ears as they clutched their heads. The demon watched the staggering agents and let out a soft, amused laugh.

Trembling, the agents raised their guns at the demon. Their whole bodies shook, and so did their muzzles.

Still, their fingers pulled the triggers.

Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!

Gunfire erupted. The bullets that had turned the mutants into pulp converged on the demon. Their aim was a mess because their guns were shaking, but the wildly fired rounds still rushed toward him.

Every bullet stopped in midair before it could reach him.

Resting his chin on one hand, the demon looked at the suspended bullets as though they amused him. When he flicked a finger, the bullets slowly moved forward, drawing close to him.

"Hmm, what an unusual weapon."

He plucked one bullet from the air between his fingers.

"Is it fired by the power of gunpowder? Lead and silver make up its material... along with several other substances."

The bullet crumpled between his fingers. He brought it to his lips and licked it with his tongue.

"And there is a strange energy mixed in as well. An interesting and convenient weapon."

The demon chuckled and moved his fingers again. The machine guns slipped free from the agents' shaking hands and flew toward him.

"But weapons like these are cowardly and boring, aren't they? This is the return I have awaited. Try to entertain me more."

The agents' faces went pale.

"Per... permission..."

One agent gasped out the words. With eyes turned bright red from burst blood vessels, they looked toward Orban, but Orban was in no state to answer, wrapped in the Holy Shroud and feathers.

"Em... emergency... situation... situation, Black..."

Layla, clutching her head and gasping, barely managed to speak.

Authorization to use the artificial Boundary Realm required approval from an executive. If the executive who could grant it was unable to issue an order, the highest-ranking person on site could grant authorization at their discretion.

As the Central Branch Head's personal secretary, Layla was the highest-ranking person present.

At Layla's authorization, the agents clenched their teeth.

Crack. Crack-crack...!

Something twisted throughout the agents' bodies.

The Upper Dantian forcibly opened through the Crows' technology normally remained closed. It had not been opened through proper means. Since they had forcibly opened a realm that should have been reached step by step, it naturally placed an enormous burden on the user.

It was a realm attained by offering up one's Lifespan and future. Even brief activation shaved away great chunks of one's Lifespan. Prolonged use caused the body to collapse immediately.

Still, that was better than dying now.

The Upper Dantians that had been kept closed opened at the order authorizing their use.

Kuuuuung!

The agents' presence changed completely. Their shaking subsided, and their bloodshot eyes began turning pitch-black.

"Oh?"

The demon's eyes curved into crescents as he watched. Stroking his chin, he tapped his head with his folded fan.

"So this is interesting. I saw through that fellow that they had succeeded in handling an Ascendant's remnants, but to put them to use to this extent."

All four agents' Upper Dantians opened.

Kugugugung...!

The powerful will radiating from the unsteadily standing agents began to push back the demon's ominous mana.

The realms of this age were divided into four stages.

First Realm. The stage where one first awakened a Spirit Root, sensed mana, stored mana in the Lower Dantian beneath the navel through the Spirit Root, and circulated it through the body to create the first world.

Form Realm. The stage where one established that first world and emitted the mana from the Lower Dantian outside the body, creating an immature form like a small Aura.

Will Realm. The stage where one opened the Middle Dantian in the chest above the Lower Dantian, expanded the first world, and added one's will to that immature form to create Sword Force.

Boundary Realm. The stage where one opened the Upper Dantian in the head, completed the world of the self, and etched that world into reality through will.

The artificial Boundary Realm forcibly opened the Upper Dantian while skipping over the intermediate stages. It was riddled with flaws compared to the true Boundary Realm, but as Orban had said, authorization guaranteed firepower worthy of the Boundary Realm.

"Aaaaaah!"

Kugugung!

With the agents' shouts, the will they radiated focused on the demon. Power twisted the space itself as it crashed toward him.

"Ha ha ha..."

The demon laughed.

"How insolent, and how cute."

The bullets suspended in the air flew back in the direction from which they had been fired. The will released by the agents was pierced through with absurd ease by the returning bullets.

Pupupupup!

Bullets tore into the agents' bodies. The shields of their protective gear could not protect them. Blood burst from their bodies amid screams.

"When a sparrow spreads its legs to imitate a stork, it is bound to tear itself apart. Stop playing with intent that is beyond your station and come at me with your bare bodies instead."

The demon whispered in a voice full of laughter.

"I avoided inflicting fatal wounds. You should be able to move well enough. You know it too, don't you? If you do not move, you die. Even if I do nothing myself, you who have torn yourselves apart are fated to die in the end. Or you can become byproducts like those things."

The demon looked around at the swaying trees.

"If you want to live, your only choice is to kill me. What do you think? Easy, isn't it?"

"Graaaaaah!"

Bleeding heavily, the agents charged with desperate cries. Their intent concentrated into their bodies. The bullets lodged inside them were forced out, and their bleeding stopped.

It was a frantic, reckless attack, but the strength filling their bodies was real.

"Honestly..."

Chuckling, the demon clicked his tongue. The finger that had supported his chin flicked lightly.

Fwoooosh!

Flower buds bloomed in the air in an instant, and fluttering petals swallowed the agents whole.

That was the end.

There were no screams. The agents' bodies, covered in flowers, were sliced apart and spilled onto the floor as chunks of meat.

"I gave you permission three times, yet it was all so futile. Well, it could not be helped. You are artificial products with remnants of Ascension implanted inside you, after all."

Clicking his tongue, the demon turned his gaze. His pitch-black eyes looked at Kyle and Layla.

Layla, holding a sphere in her hand as she waited for an opening, froze at his gaze.

"Girl. At least you differ from the artificial products I just killed. You are next. I will permit you again, so attack me if you can."

"Y-youuu!"

Layla screamed and threw the sphere.

Pwahk!

The sphere, packed with intent, rushed toward the demon. Smiling, the demon flicked his finger once more.

Pung!

Blooming petals wrapped around the sphere. The sphere vanished, but Layla did not stop. She threw a second sphere, then kicked off the ground and leaped sideways.

[Master!]

Baal cried out.

The single eye on the blade glared at the demon, blood vessels bulging across it.

[Kill that bastard! He is worthy of this one's feast!]

Surprisingly, Baal was not afraid even after seeing the demon. If anything, she overflowed with the murderous intent to cut him down.

Kyle liked that.

He wanted to kill the demon too.

That arrogant attitude, the way he called himself a demon, his robes of the East.

None of that was especially important to Kyle right now.

What mattered was that he was strong.

If he had simply been strong, Kyle would have needed an excuse to pick a fight. But had he not said it himself?

If Kyle stood still, he would die anyway.

'Jor.'

Kyle gripped Baal in both hands and lowered his stance.

'If you're going to cower and shake in fear, I'll kill you before that bastard gets the chance.'

[Eek...]

'I'm serious. I don't need a coward in my heart.'

Kyle understood that Jor, as a Spirit, was sensitive to beings and power like that. But it pissed him off that she screamed and spewed negative words every time they encountered something like this.

Perhaps sensing his anger, Jor lifted her head.

[I-I'm not scared. I was only a little startled...!]

'Answer me. What do we do about that bastard?'

[W-we, we have to kill him.]

'Why?'

[W-why... why is that?]

'It's simple.'

Kyle twisted his lips into a grin.

'That bastard said he was going to kill me. If I don't want to die, I kill him first.'

[M-master is right.]

Kurururur...!

The mana of the Primordial Chaos Sword Canon began circulating fiercely through Kyle's body. Jor gritted her teeth and accelerated the flow of mana as well.

Crackle, crackle!

Purple currents wrapped around Kyle's entire body.

'Let's go kill him.'

Having made his decision, Kyle kicked off the ground.

Kwaang!

Layla charged from the left while Kyle came from the front.

The demon giggled and placed the hand that had supported his chin on his knee.

"Why don't you stay still?"

He whispered to Kyle.

The folded fan in his right hand opened wide. The fan moved very slowly.

Swoosh...

A gentle breeze rose with its movement.

Petals rode the faint wind.

Fwoooosh!

Fluttering petals spun through the wind. The sphere Layla had thrown as she leaped high was caught in the wind-borne petals and spun around.

Layla gritted her teeth, opened her hand, then clenched it.

Kwachik!

The sphere exploded at her will.

It was an explosion of Sword Force, but not one petal tore.

With a relaxed expression, the demon moved his left hand. His empty bare hand blocked Baal's path.

Kwaaaang!

A deafening crash shook the laboratory. Kyle's hair fluttered in the returning wind. Baal's blade, which had sliced through everything it touched, was stopped by a rippling force field before the demon's left hand.

"This is another unusual sword. To think a mere sword contains the authority of annihilation. What an impressive cursed blade."

The demon's eyes gleamed as he whispered.

"But boy. Is your realm not far too insignificant for you to challenge me? You neither possess Ascendant remnants nor have you opened your Upper Dantian..."

Creak...

The demon slowly pushed forward with his left hand.

Baal, and Kyle's body behind it, were forced backward.

"You are less than even a worm trying to imitate a stork."

The force field blocking Baal began to whirl.

"Worms should crawl on the ground."

Kuuuuung!

The returning force engulfed Kyle. He immediately covered his body in Aura, but a pain like his organs had been shaken apart and his bones shattered flooded through him.

Kyle spat blood and flew backward.

As he was hurled far away, Kyle could not help feeling something entirely unfamiliar.

This was a remarkable humiliation, one he had rarely felt even in his previous life.

'A worm?'

He had never heard a disparagement like that, not even in his previous life.

Splat!

Kyle's body landed on the laboratory floor covered in flesh, disgusting but soft like a cushion. He immediately sprang back to his feet.

"Aaaah!"

Layla screamed.

The demon stood with his hands behind his back before Layla, who had been caught in the swirling petals. He ran his eyes over her body as though appraising her, then smiled.

"I thought I would enjoy myself after achieving the return I had awaited, but you are too damaged."

He lightly tapped Layla's body with his folded fan. Each time the fan touched her, Layla twisted with a contorted expression, but no matter how hard she struggled, she could not escape the invisible restraint.

"You have opened your head, yet do you not know how to use it? What an ambiguous and bizarre age. Things without the qualifications to do so receive remnants of Ascension, open their heads, and use power. Yet you, who opened your own head, do not know how to wield that power."

The demon shook his head with a sneer.

"This must all be the original sin of Ascension. The world has become truly strange. It is not even turning backward, it simply does whatever it pleases. I am truly fortunate not to have been born in this age."

"Aaaah!"

Layla, writhing in place, suddenly lowered her head and opened her eyes wide.

At that moment, Layla's will was etched into the world.

It was like what Lizet had done on Beltua Island, though far weaker than Lizet's fist. Even so, what Layla had just accomplished was undeniably the power of the Boundary Realm.

Puk!

The demon's head moved back ever so slightly.

He blinked several times, then touched his nose. It did not bleed, but the tip had turned a little red.

"Huh."

Touching his nose with the hand that had been behind his back, the demon let out a deep sigh.

"So much was left behind... stolen from me. For such pathetic power to touch my jade body..."

"Ah! Aaaah!"

Layla screamed hoarsely and gathered her intent again, but she could not repeat that weak attack.

Martial arts at the Boundary Realm were extremely difficult to wield. At the stage of merely setting foot in that realm, it was impossible to use even a little of it. The only reason Layla, who had only set foot there, could etch her intent into the world was her desperate, fervent wish not to die.

"Hmm, still, I will praise you. Even in this chaotic world that does as it pleases, the potential of existence is brilliant. I meant to split you in half and kill you, but I will take your head instead."

The demon listened to Layla's hoarse screams for a moment, then twisted his lips.

His fan lightly tapped Layla's forehead.

The light vanished from Layla's eyes.

The fan slowly pushed into Layla's forehead for a moment, then pulled back out.

At its tip was a pineal gland the size of a grain of rice.

Layla had remained alive, her mouth opening and closing even as her head was pierced. The instant the pineal gland was removed, she died.

Smiling, the demon examined the pineal gland smeared with brain matter.

"Hmm, as expected, it is at a pathetic level. Still, it will do. One gets indigestion from eating too much on an empty stomach."

The demon opened his mouth and sucked the pineal gland down.

After savoring its taste for a moment, he sharply furrowed his brow and smacked his lips. He clearly was not satisfied.

"You."

The demon abruptly turned to look at Kyle.

"Are you still alive?"

Kyle gripped Baal with both hands and glared at him.

Drip. Drip. Drip.

Blood flowed from Kyle's nose and mouth, ran down his chin, and fell to the floor without stopping.

"Strange. Why are you still alive?"

"Your attack... probably wasn't enough to kill me."

Kyle bared his teeth in a grin.

The demon blinked, then shook his head with an incredulous laugh.

"Boy, worm. Must I personally exert myself to kill the likes of you? It is only natural that one whose head is closed cannot even breathe in this place."

The demon pointed at Kyle.

Woooooo!

Terribly ominous mana pressed down on him. The bracelets on both wrists and the helmet on his head began vibrating on their own.

"How wondrous. What an amusing toy. Worm, your cultivation is fairly deep. That must be why you have endured... but a toy remains a toy."

Kwachik!

The bracelets burst first, followed by the helmet.

All of the protective equipment shielding Kyle from the mana in this space was gone. The immense mana he had not felt until now crashed into him.

"Die, or become a byproduct. Those are your two choices. You cannot choose between them."

The demon sneered.

Thump. Thump. Thump!

Kyle's heart pounded as if it would burst. His mind went dizzy, and his vision shook. The being called Kyle Alastor was being eroded by mana.

Afterward would come the end the demon had described.

He could become a mutant, a monster that was no longer himself and only mimicked a personality. He could become something else entirely. Or he could become nothing at all and die.

It was only natural for a being without resistance to mana to end up that way.

"...?"

The demon's eyes narrowed.

Kyle had been exposed head-on to such dense mana, but he did not mutate. His mind was not consumed by madness, nor did he fail to endure it and die.

Kyle remained standing.

His dizziness and shaking vision slowly settled. His heart still beat as if it would burst, but that pounding was not caused by mana or madness.

It came from Kyle's own emotions.

Humiliation, rage, killing intent, and...

Exhilaration.

An emotion he had felt often in his previous life washed over him.

'If I can't kill that bastard, I die.'

Unlike with Lizet, something pure, instinctive, born from Kyle's own emotions and desire boiled within him.

'Today, I die.'

Kyle gritted his teeth, smiled, and took a long step forward.

'Not today.'

It went without saying, but Kyle had no intention of dying today.

Footnotes:

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