The Tower
Mira spent a couple of minutes after that and finished the first-aid for the man.
“With this, his life is out of danger”
“Good work……now then, I wonder how I should get the information out of himーー”
The moment the sadistic Magician said and made a twisted smile,
Bouu
a blue flame from the man’s body engulfed him.
“No good, Mira!”
Asch shouts, and Mira immediately chants her magic.
＜＜Drown Out, The Blue Flame, Clad Him In, Holy Water＞＞ーーHoly Maiden’s Tear(Silvis・Tear)
A massive amount of water emerged from her palm and managed to extinguish the fire, but the man no longer had the shape of a person.
“……looks like they’re quite a meticulous organisation. To think that they actually cast a Contract Magic beforehand”
Asch, he stared at the charred lump that was once a human fascinatedly. Contract Magic; it’s a magic that manifests its effect through imposing a condition on oneself. This time around, it’s the type where he forms a contract with the organisation, and it activates in the case that he doesn’t fulfil the condition.
Worried of being held captive and having their goal seen through, it was a preventive measure the enemy had come up with beforehand.『Suffer a severe injury and recover』, that was the signal. It was likely a system where there exists a keyword on the enemy’s side, and if they don’t provide the code for the cancel, they’ll assume that they’ve been captured and activate the blue flame.
That organisation’s Contract Magic is flawless. They brilliantly silenced the white vestment wearing man and protected their secret……had the one over there, not been Asch＝Dahl.
“……it had ended up turning into a cruel situation for Cis-sama huh”
Mira mutters while carrying her.
“Well, it can’t be helped. No matter what happened, this man had no chance of surviving. It wasn’t her lack of strength, and neither is it her fault”
“……however, Cis-sama will probably be depressed”
“In that case, you can just lie and tell her that this man didn’t die. You can just do that if you that’s what you want to do. Such things don’t matter to me”
Asch mutters indifferently and places both hands on the object that was once a human.
“……it is getting increasingly fascinating. That organisation is likely not of a small scale. There’s nothing to criticise about their capability either. A secret that people like that are, going as far as to place their lives on the line to protect……huh”
It was a smile, one that was way too innocent. It isn’t the warm smile he showed Cis just now. It’s a smile driven by his unadulterated thirst for knowledge and the euphoria for being able to uncover it.
＜＜Oh Deceased, From The Abyss, Uncover, The Fake Saint＞＞ーーConfession Of The Deceased(Zeno・Ask)
A jet-black light emits from the seal Asch drew and enveloped the target’s vicinity.
It’s a Dark Magic that extracts just the consciousness from the corpse and makes it spew the information it knows. It has the aspect of being influenced by the condition of the corpse; the less damaged it is, the easier it is to extract information.
Dead Spirit User(Necromancer). That’s how an individual like him who uses the deceased to perform various things is generally addressed. Because it has a huge impression of being advanced, as well as despised, there’s pretty much nobody who uses it, but Asch is an exceptional user with few who rivals him even on the continent.
“……guaaaaaaaaaaah”
An agonising scream echoes in the entire vicinity. That object, it doesn’t even have a mouth anymore. However, that scream alone, it reverberates ever so loudly.
“The condition isn’t too good either……huh. Let’s keep it brief, firstly, what’s your name?”
When Asch asks,
“……Kelly＝Lark”
A voice can be heard somewhere from that object.
“I see, Kelly. What were you doing……no, what were you looking for?”
This man was changing his observation target one after another. Looking at it logically, Asch concluded that he’s looking for this Hogner Magic Academy’s something.
“……Holy Ark”
Indifferently, the object that was Kelly answered.
Holy Ark; it’s the box that preserves the immortal body of the Saint.
“Hmm……a code huh. Kelly, what does the Holy Ark refer to?”
“Holy……living key……goal’s finale……end offff theeee, darknesssssssssss”
“……his consciousness muddled up huh. Well, I guess it held up for quite a bit considering the condition of this corpse. I’ll ask one last thing. Anything you want to convey to anybody?”
Asch, he asks while sighing.
“Saaaaaaaaamooooonnnnnnnnn, sooooooooorruuurruurrrrrr……”
“……I got it. I shall convey it. Rest peacefully. Kelly＝Lark-kun”
Asch removed both hands and stood up.
Before long, the black light that was enveloping the man disappeared.
“How should we deal with the corpse?”
When Mira asks,
“Bring it back to my mansion. If we dissect it, we might find some clue. It’d be great if I can extract his thoughts, but well, I won’t have my hopes up for that”
The Dark Magician grinned and started walking.
He has cut open an uncountable number of corpses. At the Taboo Mansion, the gravestones as many as there are stars are the end for the corpses he dissected, researched and experimented. The second Kelly attempted to harm Asch’s life, Asch deemed that he forfeited his rights.
What he forfeited was, the right to die with dignity. An individual, who tries to bring about death to somebody, has no right to complain even if they themselves are killed, even if their corpses are meddled with. That is, the line this Dark Magician drew.
Asch confirms the last words of the one who died and does it as far as possible. That is, the compensation for having them provide him with the experiment material known as corpses. The corpses of course have no say. It’s something he decided on his whim and does on his whim.
However, Asch’s attention had long left that corpse. Holy Ark……Samon……those words were going around inside his head.
