Chapter 26 - The Succession Match
The spy had melted away, leaving only his lower half in the front yard.
Beside it, the orb crouched, trembling apologetically.
"It's okay. What can you do?"
I'd simply miscalculated.
I had no idea how long it would last, but it was far less than the ten minutes I'd hoped for.
It was a shame, but the fun would have to wait.
Still, there was something left to do.
"Please, take care of the rest too."
I first asked the orb to absorb the spy's essence.
But instead of going for the spy's lower half, it approached me.
"Huh? Why?"
Wooong!
With the orb's intense vibration, the poison flowing through my body began to gather in one place: my left arm, then my left hand.
"Ah... right."
I had to extract the poison first.
I'd forgotten.
I held my palm up, controlling the flow of the poison.
A vibrant red ley line poison seeped out onto my palm, coalescing in the air.
Chiiik!
It looked like a small orb.
Wooong!
The true orb quickly swallowed the small orb.
My swollen body slowly began to deflate.
And with it, my power vanished.
It felt like sand slipping through my fingers.
A hollow feeling, and my heart grew heavy.
So... I'd just returned to normal.
Both my power and my mood.
Wooong!
Only then, seemingly satisfied, did the orb retreat and swallow the spy's lower half.
Pwah!
The remaining flesh quickly decomposed and dissolved.
I gazed for a moment at the orb, which was slightly larger than before.
"Hmm..."
There was a subtle, unfamiliar energy.
It was clearly the essence of the newly absorbed spy.
"...It's you. Could you come out for a moment?"
Suddenly, a hazy smoke seeped out of the orb.
Shhhk!
The smoke wandered aimlessly like a ghost, groaning.
"Ugh... Ugh... Where am I...?"
"Alright, let's start with your name."
"Re-Redin... Loca..."
Redin Loca.
That was the name of the spy who sat in the very front row of my class.
"It was you? Redin Loca of Class B, first year?"
"Ugh..."
The troubled expression of my homeroom professor flashed in my mind.
I'm sorry, Professor Totten.
It seems another student in our class has disappeared.
Anyway, Redin.
His real name was likely different.
But, as with the previous spy, I didn't want to waste time digging for it.
So, from now on, he was Spy No. 2.
I needed to extract some meaningful information before his spirit completely vanished.
I had prepared different questions depending on whether the opponent was from the Poison King Family or the Poison King Cult.
Judging by what he was saying earlier, he was clearly a spy from the Poison King Cult.
"First question. Who is the core target your Poison King Cult is focusing on at the Academy?"
If the Poison King Cult was paying attention, it must be an important figure.
Depending on the situation, I might need to warn them beforehand.
"Ugh... Co-core target? How do you know that...?"
"Spy No. 1 told me. You collect information, right? And if you see a dangerous sprout, you find an opportunity to assassinate them. Anyway, who is it?"
"The co-core target is... Di."
"Di?"
"Di."
"Is Di a name? Or an abbreviation?"
"Di... to monitor Di, assess the situation, and report... Ah, no..."
The smoke flickered like a candle in the wind.
Wait, no, right?
You're not about to vanish already, are you?
"I-I must carry out my mission... This can't be... I'm a secret agent of the cult..."
"Secret agent?"
"That's right."
"You just called yourself a minion earlier?"
"I am no minion!"
Suddenly, the fading smoke flared up like a raging flame.
"My name is Iterus! I am a proud secret agent of the cult's special unit, 'White Hand,' personally selected and trained by the Vice-Leader! Don't you dare call me a minion!"
"White Hand?"
"That's right!"
"Fancy. For someone who secretly kidnaps and kills helpless little girls at night."
"What?! Ugh, ugh..."
Had I hit a sore spot?
I quickly shook my head, seeing the smoke rapidly diminishing.
"No, no, that's just a figure of speech. Don't mind it. Spy No. 2. You're an excellent secret agent."
"Ugh..."
"Of course, you are. Have some confidence. Anyway, your rank is higher than Spy No. 1, right? I mean, Baldinger."
"Ba-Baldinger?"
"Yes. Baldinger."
"Baldinger is a low-level agent... my subordinate... assigned to guard a base in the field..."
"A base? Where is that?"
"The base... the base is..."
The smoke turned and pointed towards the dorm behind them.
"The base is here..."
"Here? The Highwind Dorm?"
"Ugh..."
So it was here.
Indeed, I wondered if there could be a more fitting place for a spy's base.
"Then, next question. Both Baldinger and you enrolled in the Academy, which means you can use aura. Right?"
"Ugh..."
"But Baldinger had poison in his body. You must have too, then. Aura and poison are antithetical, aren't they? How do you use aura and poison at the same time?"
Aura purifies surrounding poison just by its presence. The smoke, which had flared up for a moment, soon flickered weakly like a dying candle.
"That is... a secret technique to gather the poison within the body... and seal it in a poison organ..."
"Poison organ? What's that? Like an internal organ?"
"A poison organ is a specially made pouch... inserted into the body through surgery... to isolate it from the outside... preventing it from reacting with aura..."
"So that pouch in your body was that. That's amazing technology, isn't it?"
"Ugh..."
"Anyway, all the spies infiltrated in the Academy can use aura, right?"
"Th-that's right. It's a must for a secret agent..."
"Why?"
"...Why?"
"If you can use aura, couldn't you just come here and live? Over here?"
"What?"
"I mean, the Sword King family. You could come here and live a life of respect, so why do something like this, ruining your own body?"
That was the question.
Suddenly, his spirit went into a new seizure, raging.
"Don't make me laugh! You brat from the South!"
"What?"
"I am a proud, eternally Northern-born! I was born with the responsibility and duty to overthrow and purify this world according to the will of the first Poison King!"
"Is that so important?"
"You don't know! Our honor! Our duty! The anguish of one like me, born a Northerner, yet also born with ley line sensitivity!"
"Anguish?"
"That's right! There's a limit to the poison I can hold!"
The smoke clutched at its body, screaming.
"Damn it! I must never hold more poison than the poison organ can contain! Just to use this abominable aura! To deceive you bastards!"
"Aura is abominable? Why?"
"That's why you are corrupted! You who were merely born with it, you flaunt it without even knowing that aura is an abominable trap!"
No, actually, I understood a little.
But if I sympathized, he'd probably go off on another tangent, so I just stayed silent.
"I wanted to hold more poison! To wield more poison, to cast stronger Poison Arts, and even if I became a Poisoned Human, if I could kill even one more of you bastards, I'd have no regrets! But I gave up that glory just to deceive you! And now, in a place like this, in such a pathetic state... Ugh, ugh..."
That was the end.
Do they say a candle burns brightest just before it goes out?
He unleashed his last bit of strength and vanished without a trace.
"...What was that about?"
For someone who just kidnaps and kills children, why was he boasting so grandly?
Anyway, it was a good thing his end was pathetic.
It made me feel a little better.
But it wasn't enough.
I needed more misery.
I hoped their endless misery would pour down like a flood.
"How great would that be... Everyone thinks so, right?"
I asked, looking back at the orb.
But my family seemed to be distracted by something else.
Woong...
"What's wrong? Is someone coming here?"
—No.
—The building.
—The basement.
It wasn't a person coming, but something in the basement of the building?
I might have misheard.
This wasn't a clear form of communication like language.
But the intent was clear.
The orb had learned hidden information from the spy's essence it had just absorbed.
And the only building right next to it was the dorm itself.
Even looking at the entire graveyard mountain, it was the only one. So...
"You mean there's something in the basement of the Highwind Dorm?"
Woong!
A positive signal emanated from the orb.
But our dorm didn't have a basement, did it?
What could possibly be in a non-existent basement?
***
Elsewhere
The Poison King Cult's largest stronghold, Everlasting Snow Village, was immersed in a festive atmosphere.
"Ohh! O Poison King!"
Tens of thousands of people filled the streets, cheering, bowing, and shouting "Long live!" around a lone boy walking.
"You have finally returned!"
"Our King!"
"Savior! Purifier!"
"Long live! Long live Kainens!"
"Ah, that I should live to see this day... Sniffle."
"Long live the Poison King Cult! No, long live the Poison King!"
The chant had changed because their sole Poison King had truly resurrected.
Kainens, the first Poison King of the Poison King Family and a legendary being.
Although his appearance was a different, younger form than previously known, anyone familiar with poison couldn't help but marvel at the being walking before them.
From the aura of poison flowing within his eyes to the colorless, odorless toxicity that overwhelmed everything around him.
And most of the residents of Everlasting Snow Village had considerable knowledge of poison.
"O Poison King..."
The Vice-Leader, watching from afar, teared up in admiration.
The long-awaited day, the day everyone in the Poison King Cult had waited for, had finally arrived.
The true master of the Poison King Family had returned.
So everyone rejoiced.
The Poison King Family had fallen into corruption.
Everyone gathered here hated the fake Poison Kings who were desperate to fill their own pockets, as well as the elders who manipulated those kings like puppets.
And they sincerely wished for the destruction of the Sword King family, the root of all evil.
The old man wept continuously, empathizing with the hopes of everyone who had endured until now.
"That's right. He will do everything for us. Establish the Poison King Family anew, and bring down the Sword King family..."
But he only empathized.
Anyone can empathize with another's heart, even if it deviates from their own true feelings.
"...Vice-Leader."
A man in a snow-white coat appeared behind him.
The Vice-Leader wiped the frozen tears from his face and said, "For the leader of White Hand to report in person. It seems there's a problem, Pawel."
"My apologies, Vice-Leader." Pawel removed his hood, revealing a masked face.
"Bryce's new line has a problem. Both the lead and subordinate agents have gone silent."