Chapter 89 : Chapter 89
Chapter 89 World of Art (9)
Seven shots of [Electric Bullet] hit Francis directly.
Electricity and shock exploded simultaneously.
WHOOSH!
Francis's body was violently pushed back.
However, unexpectedly, the damage she took was not that great.
'She blocked it with tentacles.'
A dozen tentacles that moved like her hands and feet.
Francis struck away the Electric Bullets with them.
Francis gritted her teeth and shouted.
"This bastard...!"
WHOOSH!
She extended her tentacles backward and wrapped them around the air conditioner unit.
The tentacles became taut, and the unit was pulled out and flung into the air.
WHOOOOSH!
And the air conditioner unit flew toward Riman drawing a long parabola.
However, Riman was faster than the speed at which it slammed down.
[Incision]
SLICE!
With a rebounding metallic sound, the air conditioner unit was split in half.
Through the gap revealed as it split in two, something flew in.
The sharply honed tips of the tentacles.
She intended to block his vision with the air conditioner unit and then stab him to death at once with the tentacles.
SWISH SWISH!
Those tentacles were masses of mana condensed around a concept as an axis.
Therefore, it was difficult to block them with a general barrier.
But it wasn't a problem for Riman.
TICK-
The moment the tips of the tentacles touched the barrier.
Riman extended his mana to erode and seize parts of the tentacles' surfaces, bending their trajectories.
The result.
The tentacles refracted in wrong directions and missed.
CRASH CRASH CRASH!
The tentacles that bounced off in all directions easily cut and smashed the concrete.
Terrifying destructive power.
Of course, it was useless if it didn't hit.
"What......?!"
Francis was flustered.
Because she had never seen her tentacles bend like that.
"Tsk...!"
WHIP!
Francis first pulled back and retrieved her tentacles.
However.
"...Where did he go?!"
Riman disappeared.
Riman, who was definitely in front of her eyes just a second ago.
She urgently looked around, but Riman was nowhere to be found.
It was inevitable.
Because where Riman was, was above her head.
ZZZT...-
A streak of pitch-black lightning was held in Riman's hand.
Floating in the air like that, Riman threw the lightning at Francis.
[Lightning Spear]
A bolt out of the blue struck down on the dry moonlit night.
BOOM!!
Electricity exploded with a fierce roar.
Direct hit.
And Riman landed lightly nearby.
Thanks to <Boots of the Pilgrim> absorbing the shock, no sound was made.
'It went in properly.'
Just a moment ago, when she shot her tentacles at Riman.
Immediately after refracting the tentacles, Riman released the shock from his boots and jumped into the air.
With this leap, he escaped Francis's line of sight, secured casting time, and then stuck a [Lightning Spear] into her by surprise.
The reason Francis failed to perceive this movement was Francis herself.
Because the bundle of tentacles she shot out rather obstructed her vision.
As a result, she ended up sitting in the middle of the rooftop in a sizzling, roasted state.
"Groan......"
A moan flowed from Francis's mouth.
Her skin, which used to be like white jade, was burnt black in places, and blood was bubbling up over the burns.
It was a serious injury.
But at the same time, it was amazing.
To think she didn't die even after getting hit directly by that lightning.
'Did she defend with tentacles in that split second?'
Is this what it means to be from Mugan, even if rotten?
Riman concentrated mana in both palms.
At that moment, Francis opened her mouth.
"...Do you know who is behind me?"
Is she threatening even after becoming like that?
No, is threatening the only means left because she became like that?
Riman decided to quietly listen to what she had to say for now out of curiosity.
"...The Mayor of this city is on my side. Is it just the Mayor? Tycoons and powerful people you can't even imagine are my patrons."
"It doesn't look like there's anything they can do for you right now."
"But they can ruin your future."
"......"
"Going against the powerful is like that. The powerful do not ruin this immediate moment. Instead, they ruin the remaining future."
"Hoh."
"What you are doing right now is exactly that. So stop. Killing me wouldn't be important enough to bet your future on, would it?"
"No, but wait a minute, why aren't you talking about the Red King?"
"...What?"
Red King.
The moment that word came out, Francis's eyes began to shake violently.
"The reason you and the other Mugan escapees are running wild freely is because of the Red King. But why don't you mention him? Ah, because it's a secret society, you thought I wouldn't know even if you mentioned it anyway?"
"How, how, how do you... know the Red King......?"
Red King.
The one who triggered the Great Breakout.
The main culprit who scattered the escapees of Mugan all over the world using space magic.
And the highest-ranking executive of the secret society 'Eclipse Hall'.
However, the Red King wasn't the head of Eclipse Hall.
Because the true head served by Eclipse Hall was an unidentified existence called the 'Great Mother'.
Even Riman didn't know who this Great Mother was.
Francis asked.
"What... what is your relationship with him......?"
"Should I say a very deep relationship?"
At Riman's sarcastically thrown words, Francis's eyes shook.
"What......?"
"Don't worry. After screwing you and the escapees, I'm going to kill him too. So you can all have a gathering in hell."
"This bastard...!"
Francis intuitively realized.
The guy in front of her was fundamentally not an opponent whom threats would work on.
In the end, the only option she could choose was resistance.
WHOOSH!
Francis's tentacles flew toward Riman all at once.
But this attack was different from before.
POOF!
Because the tentacles swelled up and exploded all at once.
WHOOOOSH!
Although they exploded, there was no physical explosive power.
They just became very fine powder and spread out like fog.
A fog of pitch-black powder filled Riman's vision.
That powder had neither toxicity nor physical force.
Therefore, one could scatter it just by waving a hand.
But Riman couldn't do that.
"...Oh no."
Because the thoughtography had begun.
SQUIRM-
The powder clumped and scattered, creating light, shade, and volume.
Soon, certain forms began to float above the surface of the powder.
It was 'pain'.
The pain Francis suffered, the pain Francis inflicted on victims.
All those pains began to be projected onto that surface as they were.
As abstract paintings, still lifes, or videos.
Well-made videos and images can manipulate the viewer's emotions.
The video unfolding before Riman's eyes right now was exactly that.
A vivid video of pain that forces empathy just by looking at it.
This is a technique that projects the thoughtography ability, which draws out the form of a concept into reality, onto space itself.
Canvas Terror.
Those exposed to this have their minds collapsed due to the pain forcibly injected into their brains.
Even a psychopath couldn't avoid this pain.
Because the brain reproduces every aspect of the projected pain as it is.
The pain exceeding the acceptance limit burns out the neural network, and the brain chooses silence for survival.
Therefore, although it cannot kill the opponent, it can certainly drive them to the brink of brain death.
Truly the ultimate attack skill utilizing thoughtography.
Any intelligent life form with intact senses could never break through this technique.
"Huff, huff......"
Of course, it was absolutely not an easy technique for Francis either.
Executing thoughtography in empty space was practically a stunt on the level of scattering paint in the air to draw a picture mid-air.
Therefore, a significant load was inevitably placed on Francis's brain as well.
DRIP-
Blood-mixed tears flowed down from both of Francis's eyes.
Her breath had already reached the level of hyperventilation.
Staring at the mass of fog enveloping Riman, she muttered.
"...With this, I definitely got him."
A smile of certainty appeared on her lips.
"I will specially play with you for a very long time. Mobilizing all the knowledge I possess, I will send you, and only you, to the limit of pain."
Just as she was painting her future in her head.
STEP.
A sound that shouldn't be heard came from within that fog.
STEP, STEP, STEP.
It was clearly the sound of footsteps.
The moment that sound reached her ears, cold sweat ran down Francis's spine.
"...No."
She denied the reality she faced.
"No, how, just how could my canvas......!"
SWISH!
The fog parted, and Riman walked out from within.
* * *
A few seconds ago.
When Francis's fog covered Riman.
All kinds of images of pain pierced into Riman's brain at once.
It was not of a nature that could be resisted.
Nor could it be overcome simply by having a strong mentality.
It was a technique that extracted concepts and emotions directly into reality and projected them onto the opponent.
Therefore, once seen, it was impossible to escape from it even by closing one's eyes.
Thus, Riman's consciousness sank into the swamp of pain Francis had laid in an instant.
However......
'...What is this?'
Strangely enough, he felt nothing.
Even though all kinds of pains were rampant before his eyes, and this situation itself was forcing empathy for them.
Riman felt nothing.
'...This is strange?'
This bizarre feeling like enjoying peace alone in the middle of a typhoon.
Riman thought about where this insensitivity originated from.
'This is......'
SPLASH.
At that moment, Riman felt stepping on something under his feet.
Riman looked down.
There lay an endless puddle of red water.
'...What?!'
As soon as he harbored a question, Riman could realize.
This scene he was seeing right now.
That this was the scene Riman Solaris had seen.
The 'real' Riman Solaris before the possession.
'Is this... an afterimage remaining in Riman Solaris's head?'
Endlessly spreading red puddles.
Thousands of clothes floating on that surface.
Although the context was unknown, one thing was certain.
That what pooled under his feet was human blood.
And that the one who killed the owners of those clothes was none other than Riman Solaris.
There was only one word to describe such a landscape.
Hell.
Riman asked Riman.
"...Just what did you do?"
He became increasingly curious.
Riman Solaris, what kind of person was this guy?
Just what did he commit?
'Just what reason was there for you to kill this many people with your own hands?'
Of course, no answer returned.
The question merely scattered emptily over this vast ocean of blood.
However, he could definitely know the answer to one doubt.
The answer to why Francis's mental attack didn't work at all.
The answer to why he felt nothing despite such vivid images of pain pouring in.
It was simple.
Because this body had already seen hell.
To one who has witnessed hell, pain was no longer shocking.
For one pain is covered by an even greater pain.
So Riman could take a step in that fog as if nothing happened.
STEP.
Like that, one step, two steps, three steps.
And finally.
SWISH!
Riman came out of the fog.
Francis froze in place.
Having witnessed her ultimate technique collapse in an instant.
"No, how, just how could my canvas......!"
"Is this all? The pain you can show?"
With those words, Riman took something out from his chest pocket.
An object with eleven black bells hanging at the end of a short brass rod.
It was the Black Seed Bell.
"You only gave pain all this time, right? Now it's your turn to feel it."
JINGLE-
The first bell of the Black Seed Bell rang.