Chapter 6: Trickery

“Ha, haha.”

It’s incredibly absurd, but also somewhat amusing.

Aria laughed and reached out her hand.

Grab-

For a moment, I was startled, thinking she was taking off my mask, but she grabbed my neck instead.

And slowly applied pressure.

Squeeze-

“Keoheok.”

An overwhelming force, contrasting with her slender arm, pressed down on my neck. I struggled to break free, but it was useless.

Rather, the more I resisted, the tighter the pressure on my neck became.

While choking me, Aria’s eyes sparkled, and she asked in a voice full of ecstasy.

“It’s strange. Aren’t you afraid of death?”

‘Of course, I’m scared.’

Having died once already, I knew the preciousness of life better than anyone.

Isn’t that why I’m trying so hard to prevent the destruction?

However, I shouldn’t express it honestly here.

If I said something like, ‘Please, spare me,’ Aria would definitely kill me.

This type of person extremely dislikes ordinary reactions.

I looked at Aria and forced the corners of my mouth to twist upwards.

“In the first place, keok. You weren’t even planning on listening to me. So what do you want me to do? If you’re going to kill me, then try it?”

As if daring her to try.

I had to keep resisting.

Because madmen need their own twisted logic.

Whether it’s pride, bravado, or arrogance.

One must ‘obsess’ over something and be able to discard their life like a piece of straw.

I think this is a rather impressive display of madness.

And anyway, since I’m currently the only one who can help Aria, she probably wouldn’t actually kill me.

However, I was underestimating Aria’s madness.

“It’s getting more and more interesting, isn’t it?”

Contrary to my expectations, Aria’s grip didn’t loosen.

No, it actually got stronger, squeezing my neck.

Squeeeeze-

‘Fck.’

“Keheuk. Keok.”

“Hehe, it was a rather impressive display of madness, but still a bit disappointing. Not quite up to his level, shall we say?”

My consciousness is gradually fading.

Am I going to die here?

“We’re ‘kindred spirits’ met in a different sense. But well, it can’t be helped.”

‘I don’t want to die so futilely.’

My consciousness is sinking to the bottom.

…

Snap-

***

Limp-

Seeing Ian, who had now completely stopped resisting, Aria couldn’t help but laugh.

Outwardly, it looked like he had died or fainted from lack of breath, but…

‘He’s not dead yet.’

There was no fooling Aria, who was already an expert on the human body.

His attempt to resist without losing hope until the very end was quite amusing, but she decided to play along a little longer.

His appearance was similar to ‘him’ whom she was looking for, and above all…

‘When hope is lost. What kind of expression will he make?’

Because she wanted to bestow despair upon him.

‘Shall I give him just a tiny bit of hope for escape?’

To amplify the despair that would follow, Aria slightly loosened the strength in her hand.

Right then.

Ptooey.

“…!”

Ian, who instantly opened his eyes, spat something at Aria’s eyes.

“…Blood?”

Sticky blood clung to her eyes, and Aria, momentarily flustered, completely lost her grip, letting Ian go.

As soon as Ian escaped her grasp, he kicked off the ground and started running immediately.

In that brief moment, with his last strength, he bit his tongue to draw blood.

Then spat it on her face to obstruct her vision.

It was a bold decision and good sense, but his opponent was too formidable.

“Interesting.”

Aria started running towards the exit immediately, without even wiping the blood from her eyes.

Her speed easily surpassed that of an ordinary person and was, of course, significantly faster than Ian’s.

Blocking his path to the exit, she wanted to quickly remove Ian’s mask.

His current predicament was literally a rat in a trap.

In this situation, what kind of expression would he make?

As she enjoyed the pleasant thought and wiped away the blood, she encountered an unexpected sight.

“Heok, heok.”

Ian was panting, but he didn’t let go of what he was holding in his hand.

The place he ran to was not the ‘exit’.

It was the dagger dropped by the assassin Aria had killed.

Holding the ‘Dagger of Distortion’ in his hand, Ian looked at Aria and smiled.

“How do you like my little trick, Saintess?”

Aria’s expression, which had been joyful until just a moment ago, instantly contorted.

***

‘Phew, I almost really died.’

It was literally a gamble, but thankfully, it succeeded.

Of course, as a price, my mouth is currently a mess, but it’s much better than dying right now.

In terms of physical strength, I’m no match for Aria.

How can I possibly fight her, whose physical abilities are superhuman?

Looking at it this way, running away was also meaningless.

‘Even if I run, I’ll definitely be caught quickly.’

If I had enough stamina, maybe, but if I tried to run desperately with a lack of oxygen to my brain, I wouldn’t get far.

Therefore, for me to survive, I needed a ‘weapon’ that could threaten her.

And the Dagger of Distortion, which inflicts a debuff just by ‘grazing’, was the best weapon in the current situation.

Of course, this was only possible if I managed to inflict even a slight wound, but compared to the previous situation where I was helplessly overpowered, it was a huge improvement.

And here, I provoked Aria even further.

“…Saintess? What’s wrong?”

The title ‘Saintess,’ spoken so openly.

Aria looked at me with cold eyes and then took off her mask.

Her unmasked appearance boasted a beauty so dazzling it was blinding.

Before her fall, true to her reputation as the ‘Saintess of Benevolence,’ her flawless appearance and clear features were as beautiful as if God himself had sculpted her face.

However, Aria’s expression immediately contorted into one of murderous rage, and she crushed the mask with one hand.

Crunch-

‘Fck.’

How is that the same as a human?

“How on earth did you know…?”

A killing intent that felt like it was piercing my body.

I could feel that she, who had been treating the whole situation like a joke until now, was ‘genuinely’ angry.

I knew she was a saintess from reading the original story, but I couldn’t say that, so I made up the most ‘plausible’ reason.

“…It’s quite famous that the Saintess of the Solennea Church has pure white hair.”

“No. It’s impossible to figure it out with just that.”

‘As expected, it’s not going to be this easy.’

Logically, no one would associate a crazy woman who desecrated a corpse with a saintess just because their hair color was the same. But…

“I just took a guess and got it right. My guessing skills aren’t too bad, it seems.”

Reason and logic were unnecessary for a madman.

If I was going to act like a crazy person, it was right to keep acting.

“Nonsense. You, what is your identity?”

To Aria, who was glaring fiercely, I raised my hands exaggeratedly and said.

“I’m just a victim who came to the ball to have fun and is being threatened by some crazy murderer?”

“…I think I’ll have to tear that mouth of yours apart.”

In front of Aria, who looked like she would charge at any moment, I shut my mouth and raised the dagger.

‘Just, one graze.’

Success.

Just as I was waiting for her to charge.

Voices were heard from near the exit.

–Search immediately! The Master is furious.

–Damn it, whoever those bastards are, if I catch them…

The guards who were outside.

They belatedly began to enter the ballroom.

***

Sensing the presence of the guards, Aria let out a hollow laugh.

“Heh, you’re lucky. Really.”

Killing all the guards coming now would be very easy for her, but if this many people died, she would definitely be traced.

At this point, she had to maintain her status as a saintess, so Aria decided to leave the ball.

‘I couldn’t find him, but it can’t be helped. We’ll surely meet in the end anyway…’

It would have been nice if he had been dyed in her color.

Suppressing her secret desire.

Aria smashed one of the ballroom walls in a single blow.

To Ian, who was staring blankly at the scene, she waved her hand playfully.

“Then, see you next time. Master Fox?”

She didn’t particularly care that Ian had discovered her identity.

Because she knew better than anyone the prestige she had ‘currently’ built.

No matter how much Ian talked, no one would believe him.

And even if someone did believe his words, if the ‘Church’ intervened, they would surely keep their mouths shut.

***

The Saintess of Apostasy could never forget that day.

The question and answer session with him, just before the desperate battle ended.

“…You’re choosing the path of defying heaven, not ascension?”

“Yes.”

That day.

She realized there was a madman even greater than herself.

The path of defying heaven did not end with simply hunting a few gods.

As a mere mortal, he had to face ‘all the gods’ in the heavens.

“You, you will die.”

“I suppose so.”

“Not even bones, nor a corpse, nor even a soul. You will vanish without leaving a single speck.”

“That might be so.”

“…How can you be so calm?”

At her words, the man smiled for the first time and opened his mouth.

…

Sometime later.

Left alone, he walked the path again.

The only thing remaining where he had passed was a charred black cross necklace.