NOVEL NEXT Chapter 3: Chapter 3
I'm walking down the street; it must be between 9:00 and 10:00 at night. When everyone came out of the SpaceQuake shelters,
I went after some information. I've always been good at this. It wasn't hard to find what I was looking for.
So, I waited for nightfall and now I'm heading to where what I seek is.
I arrive in front of a mansion. It has a simple but extravagant style, three floors, and looks very well maintained.
Not that it matters much; I don't plan to stay for long.
According to the information I gathered in the last few hours, this house belongs to a local crime boss. Honestly,
it's somewhat ironic because this isn't presented in the work.
However, there are many criminal groups in Tengu City, and some of them don't even bother to hide much about it.
I thought it would take days to find someone like this.
I never imagined they'd be so blatant. And the police do nothing because they have no evidence and can't handle the consequences of challenging
them, so they have considerable freedom.
I suppose these criminals don't appear in the work because they aren't relevant to the story.
Well, at least that's convenient.
I arrive in the area around the mansion; there seem to be many guards patrolling. Not that they can stop me.
I activate my Astral Garment but reduce the energy to the minimum so that I'm not noticed by the AST. I'm not looking to fight them right now.
I fly above the mansion while searching for the owner's room.
For the next few minutes, I look through the windows of various rooms until I see a well-kept room with someone in a chair.
From the clothes and the room on the 3rd floor, it seems to be the owner's.
I tap on the window while hiding above it. He comes to see what it was but doesn't notice anything below, so he opens the window.
At that moment, I enter through the window, pushing him to the ground and raising a barrier so that we aren't disturbed.
I reduce the strength of the barrier so that my energy isn't detected.
"Who are you, SECURITY?" he shouts, looking irritated.
"No one is coming, no matter how much you shout," I say, ignoring his irritated shouting.
"Ah, you don't know who I am... HAAARG!" I step on his broken leg, instantly shattering it. I need this guy alive, but he doesn't need to be intact.
"AHAAHH my leg, my leg!" He screams in desperation.
"Be silent and listen, or I'll break more than just your leg," my voice is indifferent and cold as I say this. It seems to have frightened him a bit.
He tries to stay silent while desperately looking around for something.
He then drags himself to the bed and pulls a gun from under the pillow. "He seems prepared." He then shoots at me,
but the bullets do nothing. As I expected, regular weapons are useless; after all, my barrier has withstood missiles,
so a regular gun isn't going to get through my Astral Garment.
"Are you done?" I approach him while he tries to crawl away, but with his broken leg, he can't get very far.
I take the gun from his hand and break it, throwing the pieces on the floor.
"You monster... Someone help me, save me, security, anyone, anyone!" he shouts desperately.
"That's useless; I already told you that no one is coming," I say, breaking his other leg.
"AAAAAAHHA!"
"Now are you willing to listen to me in silence?" He nods while holding back his screams.
"Good."
"I need something from you. I want you to make me an ID with the specifications I'll give you, and I need money, a lot of money."
"Do you understand what I'm saying..." He nods his head, looking desperate, but I don't care.
"You know what will happen if you tell anyone about me, right?" I ask him with a threatening tone. He nods positively while holding back tears.
Breaking his legs might cause problems if others see, but it's also useful for me to test the
I find the name a bit... long, so I'll call it Reversal Technique, which is basically the same thing, simplifying it to Reversal.
I'll try to reverse his injury; if it works, it means that even if I'm injured, as long as I have Reiryoku and it's not a fatal blow, I'll be able to heal.
"Who are you... what are you?" he questions.
"You don't need to know. All you need to know is what you're going to put on my ID. Also, open a bank account using this ID and deposit all the money you can."
"But..." he says with a voice full of pain.
"That's the price of your life." I'm going to kill him anyway, but he doesn't need to know.
"I'll give you three days to do everything. Meanwhile, I'll live here in this mansion. Once you've made my ID,
bring all those who were involved in making it with you. If you try to ask for help from someone, I'll know, and you won't like the result.
" It's not like I can know if he decides to betray me, but it doesn't matter.
"Yes, I'll do it. Please don't kill me; I won't tell anyone," he says, his voice somewhat cut by the pain.
I try to use Reversal first on the gun I broke. It's difficult to do, but it's similar to using my ability as a spirit.
I guess it's because the Goddess said it uses Reiryoku.
I try to reverse its state for about half an hour while that guy is bandaging his legs with a medical kit he pulled from under the bed. "He's well-prepared."
After an hour of trying, I manage to fix it; it looks like it did before I broke it. That guy seems to be trying to rest,
but after seeing the gun repaired "out of nowhere," he looks surprised.
I break it again and fix it, doing this almost all night. That guy seems unable to sleep due to the pain, so he just watches me with fear in his eyes.
Now I can use Reversal on the gun almost instantly. The principle is somewhat complex. It seems that when I use Reversal,
it forces me to understand what I'm reversing.
I think I've tried enough now. I approach the bed, and the guy instinctively moves away,
looking scared. I try to use Reversal on his legs. After one minute, they are repaired. "Strange,
it was faster than with the gun... Could it be because it's less complex?"
With enough practice, I should be able to regenerate almost instantly. The guy looks extremely surprised;
I guess he didn't expect me to fix him, but it would be suspicious if he appeared in the morning with both legs broken.
"Keep quiet about tonight. When we leave this room, you say that I'm a business partner who came to spend some time with you."
"If you step out of line, I'll kill you." I bluff to him; after all, I still need him alive. Among the many criminals in the city,
he's the easiest to gather information from because he likes to show off, but he's just a coward.
That's why it will be harder for him to have the courage to reveal anything, and even if he does, it won't make a difference.
"Understood..."
An alarm goes off at 6:30 in the morning. He leaves the room, and I follow, not before turning my Spiritual Garment into a suit.
After all, I need to maintain an image. On the way, we encounter a guard.
"Good morning, chief... Who is this person next to you?" he questions with curiosity.
"He's a very important business partner, so inform the others that he can go wherever he wants."
"Chief, where did he enter? I was at the gate, and I didn't see anyone coming in."
"...That is... he entered through..."
"I entered through a secret passage." Before going outside, I asked about the mansion's layout.
It's a good thing that option existed; it would be hard to explain how I got in since I can't say I flew over the mansion and entered through the window.
"I see, sorry for taking your time. Breakfast is ready, chief." The guy seems good at hiding his nervousness, and the guard doesn't notice anything.
We head to the dining room, where I see he has a very extravagant breakfast. While we eat, I tell him the information about my ID.
I'm 17 years old since I need to be in the same class as Shido. I was born here in Tengu City, I have no parents, I'm an orphan, and I inherited a large sum of money from my parents who died when I was still a newborn. My name is Kuroiwa Aurélio.
Born on 11/07, which is actually my birthday.
I don't think there will be many people, other than those who know about Spirits, who will question this identity.
The guy, whose name I don't care to know, listens to everything attentively since his life depends on it.
I decide to spend the rest of the day exploring the mansion. At night, I go to my room, which, by the way, is quite nice.
As a Spirit, I don't need to eat or sleep, although I plan to do these things. I'll use these nights to train Reversal while also training my power as a Spirit,
I don't need to eat or sleep, although I plan to do these things. I'll use these nights to train Reversal while also honing my power as a Spirit.
Of course, there's a limit to what I can do, as I can't use too much energy. But it's still a valuable experience.
After three days of this same routine of exploring and training at night, I arrive at the office when summoned.
"I did what you asked," the guy says with a touch of fear in his voice.
I see my ID; it looks perfect. I could have asked him to buy me a house and enroll me in Raizen Academy, but if he's betrayed me,
I don't want too much information out there.
He also hands me a cell phone with all my details, including the bank account. I look at the amount and am surprised—2,577,199,974.23 yen.
It's more than I expected. Over 2 billion yen.
I knew he was rich, but this amount is more than I expected him to give for his life. Then I hear him speak.
"All those who participated in making your ID are in the waiting room," he says, his tone uneasy.
"Great, have them wait in the main hall and gather everyone else in the mansion with them," I instruct.
"Why?"
"Don't question me, just do it."
"YES, I'm going now." He runs out of the room. During the three days I spent in the mansion,
I noticed something curious: it seems my voice has some effect on others. It helps them hear and believe what I say,
but it can't go against what the person believes. In negotiations, it makes things easier, but I couldn't make someone give me something out of nowhere with it.
It's similar to the suggestions used in hypnosis, but in my case, it's much lighter, only slightly influencing others' choices.
At least with this, the chance of that guy betraying me is slightly reduced.
While he does that, I decide what I'm going to do. After half an hour,
everyone is in the hall. They seem restless; the guy used the excuse of having an important announcement.
Now that everyone is here, what I'm going to do is simple. I start by raising a strong barrier, quickly switching to my Astral Garment.
I'll kill everyone and start a fight with the AST. During my training, I discovered that I can reverse something specific about something,
which is easier, and I plan to test it now.
I'm sure the AST will notice me now that I'm using my power this way, but I don't care. I quickly begin altering their perceptions while advancing with simple attacks.
There seem to be more than 60 people in the hall, but since they don't have a Realizer, they die with a single hit.
Due to the forced perception change, they don't notice or can't react, so within one minute, I kill everyone in the hall.
Now that beautiful hall is painted with red walls and floor, with limbs and internal body parts scattered everywhere.
The scene is at least horrendous; the bodies are brutally mangled. Even I didn't expect this. It turns out my physical strength is greater than I anticipated, so when I hit them, the area struck was torn off or thrown away.
This created a strange crimson image with severed limbs flying around, easily suggesting that a monster passed through.
I suppose this will increase my Karma a bit, even if it's not much. I have to start somewhere.
After another minute, I hear the sound of the Realizers arriving.
"I wonder what their reaction will be when they enter this mansion," I say with a smile on my face.
I decide to leave the mansion; it's unlikely they'll enter now. It's private property, and as a Spirit,
I don't have a danger classification that allows them to cause destruction.
I quickly fly through the mansion's roof, creating a hole.
As soon as I'm in the air, I'm bombarded with missiles. Honestly, it's a bit annoying since they do nothing, so why use them?
I look around and see several AST members surrounding me. I don't see Origami; maybe she's injured or temporarily removed from the mission for disobeying orders.
I decide to try several new things in this fight. One of the best ways to learn is through practice.
I try to create a false Territory using my energy. It covers an area of 100 meters and has no real function.
Even though it doesn't do anything within this area, it gives me a better sense of what's happening inside it since it's made from my energy.
Thus, I can use Reversal without needing to calculate the range or even see what I'm affecting.
BOOM
Bang. Bang. Bang. Boom
The bombardment stops, and now Kusakabe advances with a sword. I dodge and strike; she tries to dodge,
but I use Reversal to change the direction of the air. This was one of the things I gained great understanding of in the last three days.
Thus, she can't completely dodge and is hit, flying several meters back.
I try to advance, but the gunfire resumes, forcing me to retreat. I try to reverse the bullets,
but due to my limited understanding of them, I don't have time. I keep dodging while trying to reverse them.
Even if it doesn't work now, I can simply increase my understanding of them for future use.
I've realized that once I reverse something once, I can understand it over time, but this time is long, and the more I use it, the faster the understanding.
Kusakabe appears, attacking me from behind with the sword. I dodge and strike. Due to the false Territory, it's hard for me to be caught off guard.
She is thrown again, but this time I quickly advance, grab her leg, and throw her toward another AST member.
She remains unresponsive, so I use Reversal on the air, accelerating her impact. The collision knocks both of them down.
Of course, although Reversal changes how something works, it doesn't increase the force of what's altered.
I'm just using the air generated by their attacks and movements. If they used the Territory, they could easily avoid this change in the air.
Other AST members surround me, but I use my spiritual power to alter their perceptions,
causing them to hit each other with their gunfire. It doesn't seem to work on everyone, and some defend with their Territory, but it's enough.
I advance on the nearest one; she tries to strike with a sword, but it's too slow and she receives a direct hit, breaking her arm instantly as she is knocked down.
My power as a Spirit might not cause damage, but I can compensate with physical strength, using Reiryoku to enhance my strikes.
That's why defending without using Territory is impossible for the common AST members.
However, I don't think it would work against experienced people like Ellen Mira Mathers or Origami.
Of course, the situation will change when I use
so I'll only need a bit of combat experience.
"I think it's time to end this, ladies." I leave for the day, activating the perception alteration within the area of the false Territory,
thus affecting all the AST members, leaving them confused, disoriented, and in pain.
I quickly lower my altitude and disappear through the city, hiding my power and location.
To them, it will be as if I had left.I leave the mansion and hide in the city.