Messiah 18 : Zen

After a while, Roberia had finally regained control of her body, and stretched her arms and legs and re-accustomed to them.

She saw most of it.

Though her body could not obey, her mind did not yield. She saw everything - How the man brought her to the inn, how the lady emptied her pockets of any tool or gold before bringing her into the warehouse, how Katachi had barged in halfway while she was being undressed halfway, and how they had fought. How he read the situation well, and used the woman's psychology against her, to his advantage, and forcing her into an unfavorable position.

At that point, one of the other slave girls carried her up and ran off with her, so Roberia had actually missed anything after that. Halfway through the escape, the girl carrying her stopped, and put Roberia down before heading back into the warehouse, for some reason. Perhaps there had been something important and urgent, like saving her own little sister. In any case, Roberia had been left on that spot, standing alone in the alley.

*Cozy's Notes : A good demonstration of the weakness of the Words of Power - Roberia was made to cooperate with Wang Gu, staying in the warehouse, and then made to cooperate with Wang Gu to go back into the warehouse. They canceled each other out, and Wang Gu didn't know that. The other slave girls didn't have her precursor of the WoP being on their bodies, which is why Roberia was freed while the other slave girls were forced to return. That's what happened, in case you're confused. I don't put notes in the Wattpad compile, but I figured they were important.*

But she remembers. The skinny woman had carried her into the room, took the gold pouch they shared, and tossed it into a huge container of sorts. How could anyone possibly forget something like that? It filled to the brim with gold. She remembers the location of that container - In the office to the right upon entrance, shifting the bookcase to the right and opening the door with the braided pommel key in one of the drawers.

She didn't have much time. She needed to act quickly, while Katachi was fending them off, and take as much as she could. It was often wrong and dishonest to do so, but with how callous the couple had been, forcing young maidens like herself into such a lust-filled warehouse to service their customers, it was more than enough to piss her off. An appropriate vengeance such as repossession of their property is appropriate, just as how they claim the bodies of others as their own property. It ought to be suitable karmic justice, she thought.

With no time to waste, Roberia got to work. She took off in the opposite direction, and raced to the front of the warehouse, through the front door.

*** ***

It clinked noisily on her back. Roberia's face had an awkward grin, as she carried the huge sack on her back forward.

It wasn't all of it, but she had hauled a good deal of gold from the office - Enough gold to go by for a good while. She took care not to shake the burlap sack too much, as she had hidden the gold and coin in a couple of saucepans and kettles, to give it a disguised bulk and an excuse to walk about the town in broad daylight.

In the distance, she saw Katachi seated at where they had slept, with a strange, sullen look on his face. Her footsteps made Katachi turn his head, and he noticed that Roberia returned.

K : "... Roberia..."

R : "Katachi! Look, I hauled a good deal!"

Her enthusiastic face did little to Katachi's melancholic expression.

R : (What's wrong with him? Shouldn't he be happy that I brought gold back? Or, at least, happy that I got back safe and unharmed?) "What's wrong, Katachi? We have gold now! We can keep going without worrying about the issue of gold for a good while-"

K : "... I'm sorry..."

R : "?" (Sorry? Sorry for what?)

She could only ponder over what he vaguely meant. Perhaps he was referring to the fact that he had her worried by not being there soon enough? That was perfectly fine for her, Roberia thought. She had ended up unscathed after all that - A great blessing that calls for celebration.

R : "Were you sorry about letting me get caught? Don't be! Nobody could have guessed that! It's okay, Katachi. You're forgiven. Come on, let's enjoy ourselves and have a g-"

K : "Forgiven? FORGIVEN?!"

His sudden anger startled Roberia a bit. His face contorted into a confused and spiteful fury. It was a frightening one, but it wasn't threatening, at least, not to Roberia - If anything, it looked as if he was angry at himself, and nobody else.

K : "There's no way I am FORGIVEN! I MURDERED THAT FAT MAN AND SKINFLINT!!! I MURDERED THEM WITH THESE BARE HANDS!!! ME!!!... I... I could have just left them fixated in place, but... But..."

Katachi was clearly unsettled by the fact that they had died. His shoulders ached and his hands trembled ever so slightly as he stared at the tiny, red and white patches of flesh on his hands.

R : (He... He killed them?...)

K : "... But I killed them... I didn't mean to, but I did..."

He had been shaken by a strange, morbid fear - One Katachi himself couldn't quite explain, even if he wanted to. He wanted to tell Roberia that the Words of Power influenced him to do their bidding, and he didn't killed them by his own intent. He wanted to tell her, but something choked his throat. A strange, unseen force was restraining him, holding him back.

K : "... How many more lives must I take?..."

R : (He actually murdered...)

His voice croaked, and he felt his throat constrict just as it had before. That was when he noticed it - The constriction, his only safeguard back then that stopped the Words of Power from manipulating him, had been removed by his own hand. Even if he hadn't intended for the two to die, he had indirectly caused it by becoming a medium for the Words of Power to speak through, and taking away the only thing bordering their life from death.

K : "How...! HOW MANY MORE LIVES MUST I TAKE, BEFORE THIS IS ALL OVER?!... HOW many more, must I kill..."

His eyes teared profusely, and he inhaled hard to suck air into his lungs, blocked by the build-up of mucus in his nose. It was painful, but he shared his misery with someone else, and with that he felt slightly relieved - Enough to focus and see Roberia's shocked expression. He had been too harsh on her, and he spoiled the entire peppy mood she had before they started this conversation.

K : "! ... Roberia, I... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you."

She snapped back into her consciousness with that sentence, and tried her best to support and comfort him, as a wife ought to.

R : "I, I'm okay with it. I understand. Killing is indeed bad and wrong on your part. Make sure you don't do something like that again."

K : (How... How innocent...)

Katachi looked up at Roberia, and saw a pure, concerned look in her eyes. She was trying her best to provide the support that Katachi needs, but her eyes lacked the cloudy look that would have reassured him - The sort of darkness that would tell him that she's been through abuse as well, that she's understood the pain vivid enough to tell him that he can actually make it. It was as if she had been raised and pampered well, without actually committing a grave mistake or sinning before in her whole life. When she looked at him like that, it was as if she were a part of a noble household of sorts, an odd contrast to her background as a farm hand.

*Cozy's Notes : Warrior by body, princess by heart. Lol what. Also, yes - In two of the routes, Katachi doesn't know of Roberia's nobility until very late into the story, and in one of the routes, Roberia slips her mouth and tells him herself- OK, sorry. That's too big of a hint. Yeah, in Endus Reignum, she slips her mouth, in Messiah and Herald, Katachi discovers it himself the hard way.*

That look stabbed Katachi hard. He had dragged Roberia around him like an anklet, against her will, when she could be out adventuring and training herself to become strong, strong enough to repel the bandits who were harassing her family.

K : "... Roberia, can I... Can I take some time to myself? I... I need to think some things over."

R : (He wants some time for himself? Maybe I should help him...)

But something in Katachi's gaze told her otherwise.

R : (... But, then again, maybe I shouldn't. This is his pride at stake, and he ought to settle this himself.) "Sure. Take as long as you need, Katachi. I'm waiting."

The unwavering gaze ought to have been a pillar of support for him, but Katachi didn't really feel consoled by that act. Still, the goodwill was very much appreciated. Katachi left his bag and the accursed 1000-paged storage book on the ground neatly, and took off towards the woods to the east.

R : (He must have had it rough, though. Killing a person is considered an act of cowardice and a great shame for us believers of Ilpoh, but I guess it means something much more significant for Segus followers.)

Roberia could only stare as his small figure disappeared around the corner.

R : (... I've honestly never seen a person cry this hard for his enemy before.)

*Cozy's Notes : Another point to reinforce how deep a believer of Segus Katachi is, that he even adopts the mindset. He- Oh- I- Uh- Ah forget it. Enough of my silly comments.*

*** ***

Was this dream of his wrong, to begin with? Was it wrong for Katachi to want to become someone whom was respectable, someone whom could become the hero in a story?

Should Katachi not have played with something he shouldn't have? He pondered and pondered, and slanted his eyebrows. He had known that the Words of Power were dangerous, and he had known that they were able to influence and manipulate their users before - He had experienced this once, when he was younger. He clearly understood the dangers it brought, the potential for harm it had caused - The Magus Academy even prohibited it strictly. That was why he set forth on this journey, to collect them all, and to destroy them all.

*Cozy's Notes : If this isn't big enough of a spoiler, yes, he did kill another with his 定 when he was younger. There. The one thing in his childhood that made everyone in his village hate him. SPOILUHS-

I've honestly had enough of people asking me what, and what, and what, over and over again. So there. But the tale will only be told in Endus Reignum. In Messiah and Herald, Katachi hasn't opened himself up enough to say it out.*

But, for once, just for once, he yearned it. He wanted to see the faces of those whom have belittled him change into stupefaction, and he wanted to feel the sense of achievement, accomplishment, that he had become someone they could no longer look down upon - A righteous and proud hero, without anyone mocking or scorning him. He wanted to be the one whom was loved, not the one whom everyone loved to hate.

... To think, that two more lives were lost, just like that.

Katachi stared at his right palm, the hand that held the thousand-paged Words of Power storage book. It wasn't there right now, but he felt it - The weight of the thousand pages, the weight the words carried, the weight of the two killed, the burden of the responsibility accompanied with the power he sought, it all tugged and encumbered him.

To have killed another and defied one of Segus's precious and strictest rules was a direct defiance to his covenant altogether.

The price paid for that act of 'heroism' had been too great.

Perhaps it wasn't such a good idea after all. Perhaps... He ought to have settled down in Mother Rinnesfeld's church quietly. To watch the world around him crumble to ruin, knowing that something could have been done but not doing it... It was cruel, but maybe it had been a better fate for him.

He wouldn't have to go through all of this.

He wouldn't have to fight others, but simply accept their conditions humbly and let things stay they were - A hard life, but a happy life.

He wouldn't have to plan and strategize elaborate plans to take down his opponents.

He wouldn't have to touch these disgusting and vile Words of Power.

He wouldn't have to marry Roberia and hamper her.

*** ***

Roberia didn't know when she had stumbled upon this farm, but that didn't matter. There was something far more important than simply walking around aimlessly and waiting for Katachi to come back.

At one of its sheds, with a wooden plaque above a heap of junk, were some Anikan words she couldn't understand. But Roberia could roughly make out that the pile was supposed to be junk that should be discarded.

The junk had many sticks prodding out from a broken wooden drum, there was a metallic bucket with a hole at the bottom, there was something similar to broken glass about the ground, and broken farming tools lay about the ground, in disarray. From the looks of it, the place was used as a garbage collection point.

Her eyes sparkled at the sight of the scrap.

Wood was known to be a nefarious tool, often used for objects that wore and tore easily. Since the legend where Yvolki and Kafki searched for the Dream Poison, the trees have 'changed', according to their ancestors. Wood is a precious materiel, no matter how broken and worn out it seemed - It didn't take a magus to appreciate how important it is. Roberia has known of many warriors whom made their swords out of both wood and steel, using the wooden part primarily for attacking and the steel part for the finishing blow.

It was a different matter if they knew weaponsmithing, however - A weaponsmith could change how sharp, how durable they wanted their weapons to be. Smithing is a precious skill, and Rugnud's Pride, Pybuit once emphasized how important it was to her.

Roberia picked up a couple of strangely-shaped sticks used for scythes, and the broken bucket with her. She looked around the place and found a small building which smelled like metal - A forge, no less, and this close to her. The scent of fresh metal and coal, the cackling of the flames, and the numerous tools lined up along the racks - They had all been a familiar sight to her. Though smaller and inferior to the Radder Forge that Pybuit and Doresae built, it was still a forge, nonetheless, and the size didn't matter.

She immediately jogged inside to meet a grotty old man with a white beard and disheveled hair. His beard was white, but his hair black - Perplexing, but Roberia didn't mind. He had huge, bulging muscles, showing his lineage and position as the blacksmith. He was wearing only his pants, and he held a carving knife with some cloth in his hands, carefully smoothing out a stick to remove splinters.

R : "Excuse me, mister!"

"? 哈? 找我有何事?"

He spoke in a language she didn't recognize, but Roberia didn't mind neither. She walked towards a rack and stretched her hand out toward a hammer.

R : "May I borrow this?"

She withdrew her hand into her chest, from its outstretched position. Though they do not speak each others' tongues, they could understand each other from their body language.

"你要借我的锤? 拿那干啥?"

The blacksmith had a confused look on his face, then he looked at what Roberia was holding - A couple of scythe handles and a broken bucket. He wasn't quite sure yet, but he looked like he was beginning to get the rough idea. Roberia took the hammer, and placed the bucket onto the ground, and fished out a broken scythe. She adjusted the metal part towards the anvil as she walked towards it, and acted out a hammering action.

"! 你要再锻造那镰刀?... 随你随你, 尽管用吧."

The blacksmith probably noticed that Roberia's method of placing the scythe blade on the anvil was an appropriate method for striking out a curved blade, and assumed that Roberia knew how to reforge the weapon. With that, he simply nodded, and flicked his fingers outward with his left hand, as a gesture for her to go ahead.

She gave a huge grin, and got to work immediately.

*** ***

It had been a long time.

He walked and walked, and before he knew it, Katachi found an old, balding man on a rock.

K : (An old man...)

The old man was staring out into the distance, somewhere - Katachi couldn't tell, because it seemed as if he was simply blanking out against the forest. His hair was nearly gone, spare for a few clouds about the base, and he dressed in a strange, plain tunic.

As Katachi walked over in curiosity, something caught his eye.

Before the old man, lying on the rock, a small wooden tablet with the words 禅定 carved onto it.

K : "!!!" (That... That's 定! That's the same as the 定 I have!)

He walked to his front, and stared at the old man. His desire to ask burning, Katachi opened his mouth to speak, but froze.

The old man's eyes were shut, and he had a calm, peaceful demeanor about him. It seemed so serene that Katachi couldn't help but feel calmed by the sight of it alone. Where turmoil had once stormed and rumbled in his mind, it was now engulfed and soothed by an odd, subtle air of gentle, delicate mist. Katachi relaxed himself, and sat before the man in the exact same position, facing him.

"? 是哪位呀?"

The old man seemed to have sensed Katachi, and opened his eyes.

K : "! Ah, uhm... Good, good afternoon, uhm..."

Katachi nervously tried to communicate with the old man, but it struck him - How are they supposed to communicate? How could he tell the old man that he wanted to know what the words on the tablet? He didn't know how, and he didn't even know where to start from. Katachi knew there was no way for him to learn and understand Anikan immediately, and it would take a long time before it was feasible in common speech like theirs.

So Katachi did the only thing he knew how - He reached for a piece of charcoal in his pocket, and straightened his shirt. It was not glamorous in the least, but he could get off with drawing on a shirt that was worn out and rugged to begin with.

Then... A small piece of papyrus fell from his pocket.

It was the papyrus given by the border guard, from a while back.

"!... I take it that you are not from Anik?"

K : "!!!" (He... He can speak Findeli...)

Katachi nodded his head profusely.

"I see. Well, it must be hard on you, to walk all the way here just to show me that."

He pointed at the small piece of papyrus, and gently smiled at Katachi.

K : "! So, mister... Are you the man we are supposed to find?..."

"Well, that is my name there, isn't it? It says 沈光禅师, does it not?"

K : "!" (Ahh! So that's how you pronounce those words... Chen-gwung chensher...?)

Katachi wasn't sure what the papyrus said - He wasn't even sure how it was supposed to be read. From his own Word of Power, he can make out that each character could be pronounced in a certain way, and he's only faced characters which are one syllable long. He didn't know how long each word needs to be read, he didn't know whether the characters were read bottom up or top down, there were so many things strange and alien to him; Yet he didn't mind.

K : "... Yes..."

"So, what have you sought me for, child?"

K : "... Uh... May I ask a question?..."

The old man nodded calmly, and smiled at him.

"... Yes. Only one."

K : "!" (Only one question?... This is tough. I have to make this count.)

Katachi wanted to ask about the words on the tablet. But at the same time, he wanted to ask about the man's calmness. He also wanted to ask about Anikan, and how he can speak it properly and the like, and he wanted to ask a person such as himself if continuing his journey like so, chaining and dragging Roberia about against her will, killing others, continuing in this world was a good idea. He had so many questions to ask, that he could not decide.

K : "Uugh..."

He fretted. He panicked. He couldn't make a decision on which was the best choice - It ached and pained him, and he knew that the moment he spoke, his question will be answered. But which question to ask? Should he be selfish and choose the meaning of the words? Should he be more objective, and ask the man how he remains so very calm, even with such a cruel world that turns people like himself into murderers? Should he be far-sighted, and consider the problems they already have at hand, with being unable to speak in this foreign tongue?

He couldn't choose. If only there were some way to decide on one already.

"You seem to be troubled by this," the old man raised the tablet off the ground. "Would you like to know what the words here mean?"

His indecisiveness was leading him nowhere, so Katachi simply nodded his head. It was better than being unable to make a choice and overthinking things, he thought. If fate presents this to him, then so it shall be.

"This here is read as 禅chan2 定ding4. It means to meditate. That is all."

With that, the old man turned around, and began to leave.

K : "... 禅定?..." (What... To meditate? What does it do?)

Katachi was confused. He has never heard of the word 'meditate' before, let alone know what it meant. He pondered over it carefully, with everything he knew.

K : (... Maybe, maybe it's a phrase that is a good quality? As in, something for him to strive towards. Maybe it's good?...)

Katachi looked around for a target, and saw a little brown bird, silently observing the woods for its prey.

K : (I wonder if that's a good target- NO, NO, WAIT, what if... What if the word was something bad and evil, that the old man put before him, to remind himself never to fall victim to it?! I've read stories in Ohde where the warrior places a sword before him and trains his heart and body to be pure and unclouded, such that his will would not be corroded by the blade. What if this was something similar to that story?! Something like death, or destruction?!...)

His heart panged. A word and term alone was causing him so much grief. He couldn't decide whether it was a good or bad thing that he's gotten this Word of Power. He's not even certain if he wants to use it, with how little he knows of the power. For all he knows, it could make hearts stop or bodies burn.

K : (... I'm disgusting... To think, that I actually contemplated on using this against a helpless, innocent bird... What have I become?...)

He stared at his palm again, imagining the 定 above his palm.

K : (... If anything, whatever it is, I should become its target. Even if I die to this... Even if it means betraying Roberia's promise and Mother Rin's wishes...)

He withdrew his dagger from his pocket, and placed it onto his chest, with both hands holding the grip tight. He lay on the floor peacefully, and silently thought.

K : (... I'm sorry, Roberia. But, with this, you can be free and go back to training, to your parents... I'm sorry, Mother Rin... Life is precious, but I... I just can't take this...)

K : (... 禅定. Meditate - Self.)

*** ***

Wow damn, this is hard.

Aeeeyyyy. It's Cozy.

I have... A confession to make. I have no idea how to project the image I have for the characters in this next part, Messiah 18. I don't know how to picture Katachi in his despairing state, I don't know how to portray Roberia in her confused and helpless state, I... Am seriously stuck here, at a loss.

Not because I don't know what to write, but because I don't know the best way to write what I have in mind.

I'd... I'd like some time to myself, please. I want to take this time to a) focus on my exams which end officially on 3rd March (yay more time to type!), and b) read up sad works like Angel Beats! and Guilty Crown and tear-jerker stuff like that, get myself into the right mood for this part. I can't seem to get into the mood with everything around me so positive and bright. Might consider going through a marathon of depression to sullen and darken my mood for this next part.

As such, this will be held on an indefinite hiatus until I can pull my act together and actually work out how to depict this next part.

Terribly sorry for making everyone wait over this.

Deepest apologies,
Cozy

The projects just keep flooding

Yo, found time to type here, so may as well rush this entry a bit.

I am Cozy, and I'm arriving at the last chapter of my polytechnic life. Right now I'm rushing a project, one that affects 20% of my final score, so I am actually squeezing as much time as I can right now to type this.

After my exams, which should be 5th March 2013, I will become a free, NEET graduate. I have plans to find a job to start working, and I also have plans to exercise and work out to burn some of this fat on my body to reach a physique that's acceptable for an author, a writer.

Sad to say, my brain isn't working very well right now. This last push is important, and I know that subconsciously, but I just can't get my act together to push forward with all my might. Perhaps... Perhaps the lack of a motivation or drive to propel me is the main reason.

I mean, it's not the first time something like this has happened. When I was Primary 6, I also wronged a lot of questions that I shouldn't have wronged, I lost loads of marks during my secondary 4 O-Level examinations that I shouldn't have lost, and it's sort of happening all over again.

... This Loneliness I carry on my shoulders and back has numbed my senses thoroughly, and whenever it reaches a rather critical, pivotal point in life, this always happens to me. I'm not sure why. Maybe Loneliness wants to hang about me slightly longer.

Maybe she likes me. I honestly don't mind the presence of Loneliness. Its cold, tingling grasp on my throat, back and heart grows stronger with every passing hour I spend alone. But, in that cold, dark and dire situation, I felt warmth. As slight as it had been, I felt the little warmth generated within me pushing me, keeping me going. Loneliness may take that warmth from me, but it comes back every time, and she will come to take it once more, over and over again. (It's almost like I'm a Farmville resource and she's the nerd, lol)

... Look at me, referring to Loneliness, a phenomena, as an entity formed into some sort of human or raccoon dog that steals yo stuff. I even made Loneliness into a girl persona, too - Just shows how lonely and sort-of desperate I am. Ha. Self-pity feels really weird, especially on my own blog. But it's fine.

It's fine.

Because I don't think I've held expectations for girls before.

... I never have, actually. Even the persona that Loneliness takes can change drastically in character and physique and behaviour. It could be a huge woman with big, soft and icy-cold breasts, hugging onto me, it could be a small, young pre-adolescent girl who does the same, it could be a tsundere, yandere, kuudere, futsuudere, yankuu, aggressive, passive, couth, foul-mouthed, chaste, lewd, angelic, demonic, she could be in whichever shape and personality I want her to be.

Lust over older women, lust over younger women, lust over women of great physique, lust over women with frail figures, desire for interaction (or not), good/bad morality, none of that matters anymore. I don't find any of that interesting any longer, not with how omnipotent Loneliness appears to be.

Girls are just like guys, humans; We think, we feel, we share our experiences, we take joy in interaction, and try to maintain that to avoid feeling lonely. But when you reach the epitome of an experience, and walk back alive, that's when you become a true master in that field. To master this Loneliness, I must first tame and subdue its persona. To be forceful and throw her off my back, and to be indifferent and uncaring when it begs for more. Figuratively, of course - If I visualize one of my younger cousins as her, and fling him/her off, someone might get injured bad.

... My battle with loneliness continues.

I don't even know how the entire conversation spiraled to this point. In any case, here's praying that I conquer Loneliness successfully, and be triumphant in my studies! One more month awaits!

Signing off,
Cozy

Messiah 17 : Death_Unknown

He didn't know why. He wasn't very clear of what was happening, in exact.

But by the time he became remotely conscious of what he had been doing, Katachi had already leapt off in a flurry of rage, towards the tight-dress woman. His feet pushed against the cold, uneven stone, and his hand curled and clenched into a fist, flying towards her.

But the woman, nimble as she was, quickly reacted to his charge, and released a knot holding together the bottom sides of her long tight dress with her left hand. She then proceeded to bend herself around his punch, and using her left arm to intercept Katachi's hook and lock his right arm, she thrust her palm into Katachi's chest with a solid clap.

It was horrifying. Katachi experienced that fear once more, the true insignificance of his being wavering and quivering. He felt like a glass doll for that one moment, his entire body convulsing from the shockwave of the impact. It had been a solid hit to the center of his chest, but it felt like there was something... More, to that attack alone. It hurt way more than it seemed to have, with how the lady's arm was already outstretched fully when she struck his chest.

K : "Ukkkckkk, aah-..."

He fell backwards, and slid on his back. Katachi felt his entire body numbing. Getting up was hard, and painful. It ached and he felt his senses dulling, and he was afraid. Horrified. Katachi couldn't make out what to do at this point. He tried to breathe, but his lungs felt as though they had been paralyzed with the strike. They wouldn't take in any air, and he felt like straining his damaged diaphragm would be really bad.

His opponent is a powerful fighter whom delivered such a strong blow with graceful, unwasted movement. It was frightening how she managed to hurt him like this, when clad in that tight-fit dress. The Chinese frog that was near the bottom of her skirt was probably there in order to hold the dress together, to give a refined and modest appearance that had masked such strength, grace and ferocity perfectly.

K : "Kkk- acchkkk- *gulping air* HEERRRRHH Haa HEERRH Haa Heeerh... *muffled* Ooumph!"

He forced himself to breathe, and as the foul, miasmic air filled his lungs, he felt sick. He felt nauseous, and dizzy, and confused and disoriented, and his whole body went numb. He felt the juices in his stomach rumble and gather near the back of his throat. He was weak; Very, very weak. Katachi knew that, and even so, he struggled to get up. He forced his body to get up, because despite being weak, he had the Words of Power with him.

The event magic that could bring to reality anything it could represent. The magic, with its power increasing exponentially with its user's intelligence and knowledge, to defeat opponents that would normally be impossible to defeat for someone his stature. It was magic that could bend people to their knees, against their will. It was magic that could make absolutes possible.

He pumped strength into his legs. Though he had been physically weak, with the Words of Power, he could make a change. It was a magic that was essentially a wonder tool - If one knew how to use it, it would serve its purpose dutifully. He could make it so that none of this pain and misery would occur ever again. So that Roberia would not suffer the fate of the other women here. So that everyone here would escape from this cesspool of corruption and depravity, which was so similar to what he had faced in Mielfeud.

So that none may need to suffer for another, ever again.

(?! 那小家伙还站着?...)

He shifted his body mass about, and started heading towards the lady in a staggering, unguarded fashion. His feet, dragging and pushing against the caltrops on the floor, his right arm, clenched into a fist, and his injured left arm loose and dangling by the makeshift cast that stopped it from moving... It was clearly not a stance that someone fighting should use, for this was a stance that showed desperation and willpower.

Katachi knew. He waited patiently, and focused on the opponent. The surroundings didn't matter. The spiky traps and puddles of sweat and urine on the floor, the foul odor draped over the room, none of that mattered. He stopped his breathing altogether, and focused only on his opponent. As expected, her fear over his next action was putting her on an edge. It was reinforcing his own image power.

Even though he had been weak, it did not matter.

Even if he knew he had no way of defeating her head-on, it did not matter.

What mattered was using her actions to achieve his goal. He had to use his opponent's physical and mental strength against her, and he needed to make the opponent lose their sense of reason, their focused mindset. When she loses her composure, and starts becoming irrational herself, she would not be able to control herself. That was what he aimed at. To achieve that, he must begin with a logic-defying action that would throw her off completely.

*** ***

K : (I need to focus. First of all, I should start with something that won't accidentally injure or hurt the others whom are held captive here. 设定. Set body's flexibility - Extreme.)

A 定 glowed on his chest, and he straightened his back immediately, staring fiercely into her eyes.

(!! 金色的'定'?! 咒语?!?)

The lady seemed shocked at the sudden revelation of his Word of Power, and her eyes wavered. She began looking at her surroundings, and her eyes went everywhere, scanning and checking everything carefully. When nothing seemed to have happened, she finally exhaled, and locked her eyes onto Katachi. Though nothing seemed to have happened to her, her guard was up completely.

She stood in an odd battle stance, likely unique in Anik, and her legs wide apart, lowering herself to the ground such that she would not fall easily. *Cozy's Notes : With the wrinkled skin on her exposed thigh completely making this qi-pao wearing lady not-erotic. Rather disgusting, actually. Her skin is all cracked up and dry.* It seemed that she was experienced and well-versed with unfavorable situations like these, where her opponent was using something she didn't expect. Katachi couldn't take that lightly, and began by swaying his body left and right, to mesmerize her with a smooth, organic motion and lull her in a false rhythm.

She struck. She roused up a running start before pushing her feet against the floor, and sent a flying kick towards Katachi. Thanks to his flexibility, he was able to duck down and rotate her kick by pushing his right palm and left elbow up against her knee and thigh, spinning her about for a little and flinging her into one of the pillars nearby.

Her back rammed against the pillar head-on, and it shook the chains attached to it, creating a loud clatter of sounds. But, as expected, his opponent was tough. The lady caught herself on the pillar by using her arms to pivot herself, and pressed her feet against it, lunging herself forward.

His flexibility had become something completely amazing. If not for the 定 assisting him, Katachi didn't think he would stand a chance against the lady. He lied down on the floor quickly, and kicked her stomach with his soles, forcing her to raise her arms to guard her face from the crash.

She landed on a small puddle of urine, and slid against the cold, uneven and smooth stone floor. The lady widened her legs, and used the shift on momentum to swerve her body around to face Katachi. For an instant there, he saw in her eyes, an expectant light - Almost as if she had long predicted Katachi to run forward and attack her while she was down.

But Katachi was doing the exact opposite of what she had been thinking. He walked over to the support pillar with two people chained to it, and calmly grabbed at the chains.

And with his bare hand, he tore the chains apart from the pillar anchor, and lifted it with his right arm as if it were nothing. As he turned around, she saw on his chest, a second 定 had appeared somewhere beneath the first.

(!!) "哈啊!!"

She didn't have time to wait any longer. She knew what the boy was planning with that. By wielding a long mast-like weapon, he could distance himself from her, and attack her safely from mid-range and fend off her approach. But makeshift weapons like the pillar, unlike actual weapons, have more limitations to consider.

For instance, if the mast-like pillar was used as a stabbing weapon, dodging the thrust was easy.

K : (That's it. Come closer...)

For example, weapons this huge and bulky require a huge momentum to cause significant damage, but that momentum could only be built up at the end of the weapon's body facing outward during a swing.

"你真是太天真了!!!"

As the lady did an aerial dive to the side of the thrust, and rolled on the ground to cushion the impact, Katachi shot off the ground while pushing his full weight against the pillar with his right arm. With a loud slam, the pillar that was raised about a meter off the ground smashed downwards forcefully.

And it had done what Katachi intended for it to - It sandwiched the lady's ankle between the mast and the cold, slippery stone floor.

"呜哇啊啊啊啊!!!!!"

She screamed in agony as she tugged her now-limp left ankle out from under the pillar. The pain coursed through the nerves about the ankle, and she felt it swelling and bleeding internally. Strange, reddened spots began surfacing from the skin - A clear sign that the blood vessels within had ruptured and the wound was bruising. The pain was slightly dull, but any attempts to move the wound sent her nerves flaring with pain signals.

That was the price she paid for underestimating her opponent.

She quickly looked up from the wound. Katachi was picking up the pillar with his right arm, and raised it overhead, ready to slam another blow onto her other foot, ready to cripple both her feet. With all the strength she could muster, the lady pushed against the cold floor with her right, uninjured foot, and her hands supported her head and acted as a fulcrum to bring herself back up to a standing position.

Katachi's pose was weak and awkward, since he was holding a huge pillar above his head, and he wasn't using both hands to hold it because of his injured left arm. Taking advantage of that, she pushed against the stone floor, and glided across the floor quickly. She needed to stop him from attacking altogether, and she needed to end the battle fast, because delaying the treatment of her ankle is only going to make it worse.

So she started guessing. If he had began attacking because of the ladies around him being forced into prostitution, then surely using one of them as a hostage would stop his attack. She leapt to her right, reaching out to a random woman in hopes that the hostage would hold him back.

But she had not predicted for him to lose his focus on her completely.

Katachi smashed the pillar against another pillar, and uprooted the restraint on two more of the slaves.

(!!)

Katachi didn't even turn around to look at the freed prostitutes, and continued his rampage, completely focused on the enslaved. He seemed to have completely neglected the lady's potential to pose as a threat, with her ankle injured and her ability to dodge strikes safely, hampered drastically.

*** ***

Katachi is a frail boy.

He is by no means strong, and by no means courageous or smart. Being the bastard child of Mielfeud the adults had branded him as, he experienced first-hand the corruption in the town that was contagious to the point that even the children are affected to a degree. He took many beatings and scornful insults and prejudice by himself, and he never told Mother Rinnesfeld about his wounds. Though Mother Rinnesfeld is obviously not that clueless to the point that she wouldn't notice, he still tries his best to feign an innocent, serene atmosphere with her, so that she would not worry.

He was bullied frequently and repeatedly upon every trip to town and back, and he suffered the cruelty and malice of many. Children whom unknowingly broke something, say a fence door, pinned the blame unto him and disrespected him. Adults who realized how intelligent he actually was, to have seen past their guise and their misuse of the Trial of Sin with those cold, black and dull eyes of his all too well, made his life difficult on purpose. Hated by many and forced into a horrible fate, Katachi lived a life mainly of seclusion, hiding within the library of the church, away from the conniving eyes of the adults and the misguided anger of the children.

But the human's will to survive is strong. He never gave up on trying to make friends, even if they were to stab him with every approach. Katachi never gave up on that sliver of hope, even when he had been driven into a corner, even when he had been mocked and ridiculed and punished.

As the people in Mielfeud sought to make his life miserable, his will to live converted the adversary into his strength. He was never smart to begin with, but the circumstances forced Katachi to become observant. He had to pretend and imagine out their daily scenarios, and evaluated every little thing that happened - Their habits, their body language, their choices of answers, he memorized it and forced himself to master the art of predicting their behavior.

He forced himself to evaluate the situation quickly and determine the best outcome, and the actions that would lead to it.

The formidable will to improve himself and become someone capable of fending off this horrible fate of his own has tempered Katachi into a fine young man. Frail, perhaps, but a fine young man whom has mastered precognition.

*** ***

"你不理我!? 大胆的你, 你竟敢看扁我!?!"

She screamed, with a coarse croak and groan, and dragged the gagged slave girl along her side while hobbling closer and closer to Katachi, who wasn't paying attention to the whole process and was now rolling the mast on the floor to remove the caltrops. Some of the girls had begun running out of the warehouse-like area, with their bodies stark naked and truly free.

She hesitated for a bit, but the lady reaffirmed herself. Her tight dress, soaked with sweat and pee, tapered closely to her hostage. It had become extremely uncomfortable. It was a dress which served to bring out the femininity in women, and as such it restrained her mobility to some degree. She felt the problem getting tenser and more dire with each passing second, but she kept her guard up as she approached with the gagged hostage. With every leash he broke, a piece of her heart bled.

She wanted to release the hostage and start attacking him immediately. She wanted to stop the bleed in the business to recuperate the losses to some degree. But the lady knew that even a slight moment of letting up could be fatal. He could have been doing that action specifically to spite her to attack him carelessly, while playing a dangerous and careless game of temptation that challenged her very greed itself.

She had played into Katachi's trap perfectly, taking the safe moves to preserve her own life and painfully staring at the business go amok and wither away.

She could only stare painfully and etch closer and closer toward him, as he unbound another after another, prostitute by prostitute hanging on the stone wall. The foul odor in the air had been blown away by the full opening of the wide doors of the warehouse by the prostitutes, and in it fresh air flooded the room, making the air much clearer and more tolerable.

Gasping, the slave fled as fast as her bare feet could take her. Most of the girls in the area have already run off. She could only hold onto the one hostage, and pray that he would be forced to lay his weapon away. She knows that this is bad for the business, but she has deemed that the boy prioritizes the safety and freedom of the slaves dearly. With that threatened, she's convinced that he is bound to lay his weapon down.

Katachi walked towards the final slave girl trapped on a sort of humiliation tool - A sort of pillory designed for her lower torso and her butt, and stopped halfway when the lady's hostage stepped into a puddle of liquid on the floor. He turned his head toward the two, with the pillar still in his hand.

And just for an instant, she saw within him, a ferocious strength. The young, Ohdean boy had become someone completely different in an instant. She remembers something like that vaguely - Scholars mainly use their Words of Power to obtain a sort of edge over their opponent. And for the boy's case, his Word of Power granted him great power in many situations.

One word made him into a flexible dancer, whom delicately dodged and out-maneuvered her attacks. Another word turned him into a berserker of great strength, tearing apart everything in his way. The versatility granted by his Word of Power gave him the situational advantage he needed to play his plans out well.

*Cozy's Notes : Note that this applies only to normal humans whom do not use Words of Power, not Scholars. He can fight well against other human opponents - Most Scholars have little difficulty with that, but for battling other Scholars, it's a different story. A jack-of-all-trades may be good at many things, but he can never compete with an expert whom has delved deep into a specific field.*

She increased the chokehold on the hostage, and walked backwards as Katachi approached them slowly. It was certainly not going to be pleasant for her, but the lady tried her best not to separate herself from the hostage.

Then...

*** ***

"不错嘛, 小伙子. 你还真有一套."

A familiar sound rang from the outside. Katachi remembered that voice, because it had been the one that brought him here in the first place. He looked over to the entrance of the building, to see the fat man in another cloth vest and a different pair of pants.

"!! 旺估大人!!"

*Cozy's Notes : Yes. His name is Wang Gu. Better pronounced Wah-ng Goo by the lot of you who don't speak Chinese. And the girl's name is 梅兰. It could mean Merlin, but it's actually a feminine name. The flower of a plum tree and orchid... Very graceful, if not for her dried-up skinflint appearance.*

And close behind him were all the naked slaves, all of them with a 合 placed on their bodies. Their eyes were dilated, and they looked like lifeless dolls - They had the same sort of face as Roberia did just minutes before.

K : (!!! So that's the man responsible for this mess. He has a Word of Power too...)
WG : "怎么了? 没对梅兰下手吗? 你不肯下手, 就是说你是为了这个丫头而来的?"

And, with his hand outstretched, the girl in the lady's arms floated into the air, with a 合 on her body. She then flew towards the slave still stuck on the pillory, and something unbelievable happened.

The two slaves fused bodies.

Their bodies had literally melted off at an intersection, and the two separate people became a two-headed monster with half its skin in a different complexion than the other half.

WG : "死丫头, 真是个扫把星!"
K : "!! You... You fused them?..." (This is unheard of. They actually merged bodies? How are they to separate?)

*** ***

*Cozy's Notes : I'll be honest here. I'm not sure which term is the right one in Chinese - 扫把星, or 扫把鑫. I think it's the first one. The term's actual origin comes from people sweeping their yard and house during CNY, which is inauspicious as it rids good luck. In real life, this term refers to a jinx, a person plagued with misfortune and karma so deep that the people around them are affected. In this story, it has a symbolic, similar meaning - The jinx radiates his/her own image power out uncontrollably, and afflicts others with image power similar to the emitter. In the modern day, this person would be known as 'leader of the group'.

It's hard to explain with a small post, but just think of it as the person being so charismatic/influential that their image power makes others become similar to them, in terms of mentality, personality, morality, whichever. If there is a lustful jinx in the warehouse, the people in the warehouse would gradually become lustful. If there is a sane damsel in distress in the warehouse whom yearns for freedom, e.g. the last slave on the wall, people will approach her to resonate with her thought. In this story where image power is omnipresent and rampant, things like that do happen, much as how trees are extremely tough to cut down, and wood & paper are hard to harvest.

Many questions answered, many more to ask. Why did Wang Gu keep a slave that served as a damsel in distress in his brothel? Why would he go through all that trouble? Who, exactly, is Wang Gu? What is his purpose and role in the story? Is it solely to spite Katachi (implying that I'm a really lame author lol?) or was there another motive? Why did he capture foreign beauties from around the world and force them into prostitution? Well, it won't be answered in this route - Not when Katachi hasn't fallen into despair. He needs to view the world in a more negative light before he can uncover some of the uglier truths. Just know for now that Wang Gu is dealing in a really shady business.*

*** ***

Katachi gritted his teeth. He did not expect something along that nature to have happened. The fact that two people were fused together, and had half their bodies disappeared and spliced together like so, was enough to upset him greatly. They had lost their status as an individual, and two had become one. It was unnerving for him.

WG : "Ha, you, you you you you you, you no speak Anikan? It is okay. I speak Findeli."
K : (... !! He speaks Findeli... That makes him all the more dangerous. He's been to Findel for whatever reason he may have, and if he does have ties with the Findeli government, that would really be bad.)

There was an irritating smirk on the fat man's face, while the lady in the tight dress hobbled toward him quickly, out of harm's way.

WG : "You think you can come inside and ruin my blood hell is it? Don't think! I will... I will..."
K : (Blood hell? 'Don't think'? What blood hell?... Don't think what, exactly?... His speech is really flawed...)

*Cozy's Notes : I believe the term he was trying to convey is 'brothel'. But he spelled it wrongly.*

He was clearly not well-versed in speaking in Findeli, however. Katachi faced slight difficulty trying to understand what he was attempting to convey.

WG : "I will hit you! I hit you until you can not stand! Until your half strip grow road!"
K : (... What... What is he saying?... More importantly, he's the leader of this... This slave warehouse or whatever it is. He's holding people against their own will. Unless this is a, a sort of... A sort of prison made specifically for women criminals, I don't see why I shouldn't have freed them. And this clearly doesn't look like a prison, more of a torture chamber of sorts.)

*Cozy's Notes : Hahahahahahaha I'm dying. XD 打到你半条生路!! The sentence means beat you up till you're half-dead, but Wang Gu spelled out each word separately. 半 for half, 条 for strip, 生 for life/grow/birth, and 路 for road.*

Katachi clenched his fists.

K : (But, even if Roberia had dined and dashed, the charges should have stayed in Findel! The crimes do not carry over, not unless a specific report or decree is issued! He's clearly in the wrong, because he does not have the official decree for arresting her! This is definitely not a prison!)

*Cozy's Notes : Oh, but it is, young Katachi. This is a prison. Figuratively, at least.*

Katachi bent his body down, and the fat man took a couple of steps forward.

WG : "臭小子, 还欠打? 你们几个, 给我合群点, 围住他! 看他往哪跑!"

That one sentence mobilized all the slaves behind him into action. They all stepped forth and started heading towards Katachi in particular, with their hands outstretched.

K : (They're... They're like reanimated corpses...)

Katachi couldn't act. He couldn't hurt them, or the chances of them living a normal life would be severely affected. He looked past the front few and at the general mass of people surrounding him. People of many hair colors and complexions, from different lands and the like, were swarming him. If anything, he could say one thing for sure - He had to act fast, or they would seal his options completely.

K : (... Looks like I have to stop every single one of them in place. 固定! Fixate positions - Naked female! Naked female! Naked female! Naked female! Naked female! Naked female! Naked female!)

There were many targets to fixate, and he couldn't do it all at once. He had to do it progressively, one at a time, until they were all bound. The event magic he had didn't work as conveniently as a self-propagating curse that could afflict everyone with Pouchy Fingers on contact alone - He had to apply the effect onto each person personally.

It took a little over two seconds to have fixated everyone's positions.

ML : "旺估大人, 你可要当心! 那小伙子可是个学者!"

Katachi panted a bit. He was focusing so hard on fixating the women that he almost forgot to breathe. The air had been cleared, but the stinging numbness from the lady's palm strike has yet to fully fade away.

WG : "哦, 不错嘛! 他不说安妮话还会用咒语. 只可惜他他只会用, 不会说咒语."

It was cruel. Katachi didn't understand it fully, but he roughly knew what happened - The fat man had commanded the women to attack him. Katachi felt the rage that had been under his skin fluctuate and boil, and he started to clench his right fist very tightly.

K : (Unforgivable... He... He didn't even buy these women as slaves, but made them follow him on purpose?...)

So tight, that his right palm began oozing a thick, red blood.

K : (It's one thing to purchase a slave officially, and having them work like one. But to simply nab a person, without even telling their families where they are, or what have become of them, leaving them unaware of their plight and forcing them against their will... Absolutely unforgivable...)

The feeling of absolute disgust and pure hatred welled up behind his throat, and the blood from his hand dripped onto the floor.

For an instant, just for a brief moment...

*** ***

K : (... ? This feeling...)

Katachi felt something in him.

Something was clawing at him, wanting to escape, wanting him to do something.

He remembered this feeling - It was as if he was trying to cough something out of his mouth. He didn't know what, but something wavered and lingered at the back of his throat.

K : (... Hurts... My throat...)

It suffocated his throat. Just like it did that fateful day.

K : "Urrhh... Errrgghhhh..." (... Need to clear it... . 设定. Set displacement destination of storage book - From my bag onto my right hand.)

The book popped onto his right hand, and he held it gently.

WG ML : "?" (那是什么书?)
K : (解除. Remove obstruction - Throat.)

(Must punish...
Kill the fatso...
My daughter...
My beloved...
Vengeance...)

He hadn't notice the hoarse whispers by his ears because the irritation in his throat was very distracting. But, with a 解 placed onto it, his throat was cleared instantly, and with it, something escaped from his mouth.

K : "把他们的血凝华掉." (!? What... What did I just say?...)

*Cozy's Notes : Oh, shit. There's a lot of things to say here. First of all, yes, the Words of Power are alive. They are sentient, just like grimoires which seek to propagate themselves. They are created by 292 Great Sorcerors, but the process of creating them is an important lore I'm not spoiling so you'd have to read it yourself when the time comes. Secondly, the irritation in his throat is actually his body unconsciously struggling against the influence of the Words of Power. Clearing it meant that he was clearing his throat which blocked itself, letting the Words of Power manipulate him. Thirdly, HOLY SHIT, THE NEXT SCENE IS GOING TO BE HORRIFYING.*

The two of them stared at Katachi, in absolute horror. Katachi slapped his mouth shut with his right hand, in shock, but it was already too late.

It had begun.

*Cozy's Notes : The blood ritual. I have an excerpt, that happens to be the first draft of this part, called Death_Unknown as well, on my Wattpad and my Facebook. This is what I've derived at after working on it multiple times.*

The lady was the first to collapse. Her frail stature and her lethargy caused her to fall over quickly, and she frowned, feeling extremely uncomfortable. The fat man quickly ran to her, and squatted down to accompany her.

K : "!!" (Is... Is it me, or is there something around her?... Is she turning red?)

Around her, a red mist was gathering. It grew thicker and thicker, and she looked pale. Her cracked skin looked like the lands during a drought more than ever. Her eyes were fluttering between opening and closing, and she limply raised her hand out to the fat man, with all the strength she could muster.

WG : "不, 梅兰! 你可不能死! 我心爱的, 我的孩子呀, 梅兰! 我的孩儿不能比我早归!!"

ML : "... 旺估... 大人..."

She forced onto her lifeless face one last smile, and her head slowly drooped before giving way completely.

WG : "你不能死呀, 梅兰! 梅兰?!! 梅兰!!!!"

Katachi could only stare in horror, as the tight-dress lady saw the fat man off with a sad smile.

K : (... No... Not again... What-... What have I done?...)
WG : "你!! 你这个混蛋!!"

The fat man stared at him with anger, but he too began to feel funny.

WG : "凶手! 你连孕妇的性命都不留, 无情无义, 冷血杀手!! 你简直是个畜生!!"

Before he could take a step forward to vent his hatred on Katachi, he finally felt its effects. The fat man felt his entire body burning, engulfed in a searing pain from all sides. His scalp, his eyes, his ears, his arms, torso, soles, his body was covered in a pain, as if he had been thrown into a furnace.

WG : "!!"

It hurt. It hurt horribly. Every fiber of his being was coursing with pain. He struggled to open his eyes, only to see a strange, red mist about him.

K : "... I'm sorry..."

He heard the boy's apologetic voice ring soundly through the warehouse. It rang and rang inside his head, over and over again, like a broken record, and it only brought him to his boiling point.

K : "I'm really sorry... I... I didn't-"

WG : "你以为一个 "对不起" 就可以弥补你的过错吗?!"

The fat man took a couple of steps forward, then collapsed onto the floor, out of breath and out of energy.

WG : "把... 把孩子... 还给我... 我的梅兰... 我的... 孩儿..."

He felt it. Every inhale and exhale hurt his lungs. His body hurt so bad. The red mist had disappeared and gone when he walked, but it was coming back.

Or perhaps... The mist wasn't coming back. It never followed him. It was coming from his body all the long.

What they saw as a red mist...

... Was their blood, sublimated into a gas.

The expansion of volume from the blood all over the body punctured many tiny holes in every blood vessel. And so, the blood escapes the body ever so slowly. It was a fast process for his beloved, because she was skinny. He had been fortunate that he had more fat, so the blood took longer to escape his body entirely. But, alas, death is an inevitable outcome.

He looked up, and garbled something he himself couldn't quite make out. As his eyes began to close, the Ohdean boy walked toward him, with a horrified, pitiful look on his face.

K : "I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... If-... If only I knew how to stop the bleeding..."

WG : "... 孩儿..."

The whisper was all he could squeeze out from his lips, and he laid on the floor, motionless.

*** ***

M : "Ah, it's these two. Wang Gu and Mei Lan. I remember these two."

Mandred walked up to their dead corpses, and got a good look at them.

"Mandred! Get away from that corpse!"

M : "Nope. No can do, Troy. It's not coincidence that the Empress of Rugnud and that kid would travel here, and these two just happened to be dead, and their business shut down for good."

Mandred opened a small tin, and reached for its contents before popping one into its mouth.

T : "Show some respect, you moron! If there's any evidence missing because of you, you could be killed!"

His casual, carefree attitude towards the threat irked Troy a bit.

M : "Don't worry about it. I got this. You just sit your pretty ass down, and let me get to work."

Mandred stepped back for a bit, and began changing. His skin ripped open, and turned coarse, tough and turgid, just like wood. His body grew in size, and he had become something almost twice his actual size.

M : (I see... There's a sort of magical disturbance about their bodies. Their murderer used some sort of magic... But what kind of magic? I've never seen such weird-colored magic in my life before. Colorless and crystal clear, yet it causes a sort of distortion in the air...)

T : "If you destroy anything at all, so help me, I will rip out your Tafra oak arm from your body bare-handed. We can't compensate for any more damages."

M : "Get... Off... Back..." (What an annoyance. He should just shut up and let me do my job... Though, to be honest, if I had half the wisdom of Lotz, I'd be able to figure this out much faster. Other than that strange magical disturbance, there's nothing else to see.)

The Tafra oak treant raised its hand to its mouth, and spat something out. It cupped the object in its hand, and the treant shrunk and changed, and finally morphed back to the human known as Mandred.

T : "...So... What did you see?"

M : (Hmph. Trust him to be so eager for my results when he was yapping over how I shouldn't damage property. Transform yourself if you can, you idiot, or don't bother scolding me for it.) "Nothing. Just weird, distorted air."

T : "Again?... Hasn't that occurred enough times already?"

M : "Who knows. It only seems to happen in cases related to the Anikan. You don't think that means the Anikan actually project image power itself as a raw, physical force when they battle?"

T : "... Maybe..."

The two journalists could only ponder over the strange results they received.