Chapter 173: I Won’t Allow Him
Cillian quickly assessed the situation as he saw Fergus dashing towards him.
’My flag is still white while his is still a Death Flag. Looking at the side of my screen, even though we’re about to start a fight, Fergus was keeping his composure and didn’t seem to intend to kill me. Hurting me should be the goal here.’
Fergus brought down his sword, which Cillian easily dodged.
’Even though Fergus was defeated by the main character, that didn’t mean he was weak. The munchkin is just really good with a sword, especially considering that most of his Pieces supported his skills, except for that Swindler, of course.’
Cillian dodges an attack coming from the side, followed by a vertical slash that he easily avoids by slightly ducking down.
’I’ll finish this easily.’
After dodging Fergus’s slashes with minimal movement, Cillian started returning the favor by going on the offensive.
He wanted to see if there had been any improvement in his swordsmanship and whether he could defeat Fergus using the sword style he had developed on his own.
But if there ever came a time when he lost this duel, Cillian would not hesitate to use his abundance of arsenals.
Swoosh!
Both of their blades soon met. Fergus couldn’t help but groan as he took the impact of Cillian’s simple attack, which was unlike anything he had seen in the past few months.
After all, his previous friend didn’t even wield a sword back then.
But the person Fergus was currently looking at was too different. There was no resemblance left to the previous Cillian.
That’s why...
’You should’ve died there at the ball!’
Fergus shouted inwardly as he continued defending himself against Cillian, whose sword didn’t stop hammering down on him.
His style was crude and clearly self-taught, unlike the usual style Fergus demonstrated, which mostly consisted of clean slashes and excellent footwork. Still, he was forced into a defensive stance by the sheer pressure of Cillian’s slashes.
One step, two steps.
Cillian tried to look for a gap at one point, but when it didn’t work, he moved on to the next and went for another opening he had created as he continued pounding his sword down.
Three step, four step.
Cillian didn’t waste a second as, slowly but surely, the situation started to change, and he began gaining the upper hand.
That was until Fergus started using his Piece.
A brush manifested in his other, less dominant hand before he started to ’paint’ into the real world while, at the same time, fighting Cillian, who was ecstatic to see Fergus’s ability right away.
’A freebie!’
Cillian smiled as he muttered under his breath.
"Mimicry..."
[Mimicry Activated]
[Mimicry Failed]
Fergus continued to ’paint’ in the real world, creating ’paintings’ as they continued fighting before shouting.
"Paint Appearance!"
Soon, these paintings came alive and started running toward Cillian, who was ready to fight the two ’paintings’.
Both were humanoid figures, but they didn’t look anything like humans. Probably because Fergus was a bad painter, or because he was too impatient to paint something properly due to the relentless pressure Cillian was putting on him. Still, he managed to do it.
Cillian became completely disinterested in the duel and merely focused on trying to copy the Piece Fergus was showing him, as if it were practically asking to be mimicked.
"Mimicry..."
[Mimicry Failed]
Soon, he fought the two deformed-looking humanoid figures, expecting it to be a tough battle from the get-go, only for that expectation to be cut in half when he landed a clean slash on one of them.
’Eh.’
Then, with quick footsteps, Cillian cut the head of the other humanoid figure and was left disappointed that these were nothing more than... weak paintings.
[Mimicry Success]
But Cillian didn’t fret about it after seeing the success icon appearing at the front.
[Reserved mimicked storage: Jack Trade’s voice... [Inkarnation[One]: [1:00]]
’Sweet.’
After just four failed attempts at activating his mimicry, Cillian was finally able to copy a [One] Piece on his fifth try. Information about the ability ran through his head before he smiled cheekily.
’Now then...’
Cillian darted his attention toward Fergus, who had managed to distance himself by a few meters as he continued painting figures into the real world with the use of his brush. However, they were nothing more than weak humanoid figures as of now.
’I get it. He just acquired the Piece, doesn’t know its strengths and weaknesses, and is crashing out after becoming more certain that I’m not really the real Cillian, but someone possessing his body, an imposter, just like he told me at the ball.’
If this ability were in the hands of someone more experienced, they might know when the right time to use it was. But Fergus had only just acquired it.
’All right, I should be able to use it.’
Cillian lowered his sword and swayed it around, preparing himself, as this was his first chance to use the ability in the open, with Fergus sitting in the front row to witness it.
’I don’t have to worry about exposing myself that I already have another Piece. After all, this ability isn’t as showy as the second one. If I base it on the description, of course.’
Cillian continued swaying his sword and kept his breathing stable.
’What is he doing?’
Fergus had already painted four humanoid figures and was ready to send them toward Cillian after being given enough time to create them.
He was given time to create it!
’What is he—’
Cillian took one step forward, and the last thing Fergus saw was his paintings being obliterated by a single sword stroke, which sent his own sword flying into the air as Cillian appeared right in front of him.
His paintings burst like popped bubbles before Fergus saw the tip of Cillian’s blade placed against his neck. Cillian had appeared right in front of him in an instant after an explosive movement.
The sword Fergus had wielded had fallen behind him.
Clang—!
"Enough of this bullshit."
Fergus looked at Cillian, who was staring down at him as if this child’s play should have been enough. Whether Fergus was entertained or not no longer mattered to Cillian.
Fergus dropped to his knees as he tried to process what had just happened, until he heard Cillian’s voice from above.
"Don’t pull that same shit again. I’m going to kill you if you do."
Fergus remained silent, his gaze still fixed on the floor, before saying something completely unrelated to Cillian’s statement.
"Is there no way for Cillian to return?"
’This shit again?’
Cillian clicked his tongue and stomped his foot onto Fergus’s shoulder, forcing him back down onto the floor. The brush in his hand immediately disappeared the moment it left his grasp.
"No. So leave me be."
Fergus listened carefully before deciding to look up and glare at Cillian as he retorted.
"What if Cillian wanted to return to us?"
What if the previous Cillian wanted to go back?
Do transmigrators usually wonder about what would happen if the original soul wanted to return to the body they possessed?
At least, some of the people contained in the books that Cillian read wondered about it, but he was different.
"Meh, I won’t allow him."
Cillian smiled.
"Why would I when I’m having in this world?"