"From this day, Silver Ventirose, I assign you the work of protecting the northern city from the escaped beasts from the north, who are now prowling at the cities and towns nearby, in order to keep the entire façade a secret among the few."
"I could—" It was a moment directly ripped from Silver's dreams, given a simple task of hunting beasts to get free cultivation, while also learning and forming new connections. He could win people's trust, and maybe, he could be helped in achieving his goal to save the world.
"No way! You're trying to separate me from my uncle." Sera quickly held Silver's sleeve tightly. "What do you want to do with me when he's gone?"
"You are a brilliantly smart child, Sera. I think even more than your uncle."
Shaska's eyes pierced into Silver's mind.
She had me, she had me where she wanted in a second. I was never the main part of this deal. The one Shaska is interested in is Sera, not me. All she wants is to get me to make Sera work for her.
"I don't think your uncle is a deserving or capable guardian. He left you alone for the night in a place you barely know. He refuses to work and asks you to discontinue your lavish life instead of working and making it easier for you to live. Much less, he seems to show any ability in trade or craft..."
The jabs came rapidly, each one precise and accurate. Silver was pushed to fewer words with each incoming statement. He was reminded of his thoughts just moments before... Shaska was correct.
"In any case, the work that suits him is the work of a warrior, one who works on the front lines. He will be away from you either way. Then why not choose someone like me, who is much more capable of taking care of you and making you a better warrior?"
The grip of Sera's hands on Silver's sleeve was lighter than before. She was a smart girl and more than capable of recognizing what was best for her. Silver moved his hand to let go of Sera's hand... but she suddenly grasped it harder than before.
"How do you know about all this? Were you spying on our every conversation? Are you a person who can see everywhere the sunlight falls?"
"..."There was a look of extreme dismay in Shaska's eyes, as if she had learned some eldritch truth. Her brain made millions of calculations in hopes of reaching a proper conclusion.
「The system had once again detected some words. Displaying them after translation.」"Uncle, someone is coming. I sense them right here."「Displaying Translated Words: kill... kill... control... hunger... child... save... war...」
Sera looked left and right for the person...
Ring
The bell rang to the visit of another guest."The door is already open," Silver spoke out of instinct.
"Sorry, I'm walking directly in—the door was open—" Lisa stepped into the room with her bag in her hands, dressed in her classic orange clothing from top to bottom. Her blue eyes were filled with worry instead of her usual calm spirit.
"Lisa! Run!"
"Arghhh..." A little gasp reached Silver's ears.
Before Silver's warning was finished, Shaska appeared right in front of Lisa, and the sound of blood splattering crossed the entire room.
In Silver's apartment, if you entered through the main door, there was a clock hanging beside the entry wall. At the moment, both Silver and Sera could see it through Lisa's missing heart and torso.
"Not a word."
There were no screams of terror and remorse, only a sentence of authority. It was a greater fear that stopped the lesser one from coming out. Glowing from the sheer power she was radiating, Shaska held the heart of her victim in her hand.
She was thinking... and thinking... while Silver knew he had to do something, but what could he do?
Lisa's lifeless body fell to the ground, and Silver didn't move to pick it up—but Sera did.
"Lisa!!!"She ran right to the friend she had made through the city. Now she lay lifeless and dead in front of her. Tears weren't through her eyes, but she wished they were.
Shaska, although not pleased by Sera's movement, had her anger brimming toward her."I told you not to move. Did you not hear that, Sera?"
"Argh..."Silver felt something soft in his stomach. When he looked down, his white clothes had turned red, and it was spreading. When he finished registering what had happened, the pain came...
"Agh... AAA!"
He fell to the floor. The glass hadn't just pierced him—it was expanding inside his intestines like a web.
"Uncle!—"When Sera said another word, she was smashed to the ground by Shaska.
「Activating Skills: Lightning and Thunder (Phase 3), Light of the Fireflies (Phase 2)」
Shaska looked down to see the girl had disappeared—and so had Silver.
"Trying to escape... You won't hurt my child."There was never an escape from her—the vision always knew where you were.
Silver was jumping, point to point, place to place, holding a fainted Sera on his shoulder. Surrounded by lightning as he moved. He pulled out the glass from his stomach, leaving behind extended fragments.
「Activating Skill: Healer Luck. You are recovered from all injuries. You cannot use this skill for the next two hours.」
"Thank god, Sera is alive. That attack would have killed any normal child, but she just fainted without injury. I can deal with the glass pieces later."
Silver finally reached the city walls, towering high above the nearby houses.
「Activating Skill: Strength of Minotaur (Phase 2).You have increased speed and the ability to store strength for one attack.」
Silver gathered all he had and readied his legs. The jump was quite high, considering the altitude difference, but if he gathered all this strength...
Reaching near the front of the wall, Silver put all his strength into his legs.
"Here goes everything."
Instead of reaching up, he moved forward and smashed through the wall with a single punch, reaching the other side.
"We've reached it!"
The screams and shouting of the guards were too faint to hear. Silver was much faster. The walls broke with a small hole that opened into the woods. Silver quickly moved inside the bushy trees and deactivated all his skills.
"I think we should be safe here."
"From whom?"
The uppercut that came didn't make it easy to keep your head on your neck, but it didn't decapitate Silver—instead, it sent him flying through the woods and into a lake, more than 1km away.
Shaska was standing on top of the water where Silver landed. She picked him up.
"You don't understand, do you? As long as you live, you won't understand."
The next attack would have surely lopped off Silver's disfigured head, but something stopped her hand.
"Stop right there."
Something had stopped Shaska's attack—
"I told you to stop talking!"The cryptic voice shouted aloud to Shaska—
"I'm not talking to her. I'm talking to you."
"Oh! I see, you're talking to me. Hello there. I didn't know you could see me, kid."
"Who are you talking to?!"
"Before Shaska could say anything, she was turned to dust by the hands of the mysterious entity that was Sera. Before Silver's body could touch the water, he turned to ash too. Then the world began to decay to ash, and soon there were only four left to see it." The entity narrated.
"See, I completed it for you. I don't know your name. But don't ever speak about this world ever again. Close your eyes and don't ever whisper into anyone's ears again."
"You surely have some power from the other world. Banish my eyes from this world now—but I will keep whispering into the ears of men, and soon we will meet. Then I'll make you my trophy."
Then, the mysterious entity with pure white eyes and leaking black energy blocked the outsider from reading what was happening in the world. Then it used its abilities to burn time itself into nothing, and soon everything turned to ash and time was reset to fifteen minutes ago.
「Skill Activated: Deus Ex Machina」
"Oh. That makes the five of us."