Copy 14

Prev | TOC I Next

“…”  

While everyone around remained silent at the sight of the person who had suddenly fallen from the sky, Katia brushed her hair aside and looked at Noel.  

“Is this the person you were supposed to introduce me to?”  

Katia’s eyes sparkled with interest as she said this.  

The reason this person became notorious as “Deathwish” in the first place was simple: she shows interest in anyone who can kill her.  

And as Katia made that remark, Aiden was slowly edging closer to Noel.  

He had a nearly certain premonition about the “situation” that was about to unfold.  

It’s almost a fundamental rule in the game that main characters should avoid clashing with each other whenever possible.  

It’s something that must be adhered to.  

Each one of them is so distinctive that there are often clashes when they’re together.  

However, if you were to point out the two people who are the worst combination, it would undoubtedly be these two.  

Lionheart and Deathwish.  

The reason is simple: their “personalities” are completely incompatible.  

It’s like the meeting of a model student and a madman—they can never understand each other’s motives, no matter what.  

“Lionheart seems like someone worth having expectations for, though.”  

At those words, Noel tilted her head and responded.  

“Expectations? What are you talking about?”  

“Do you want to try killing me?”  

Noel glanced expressionlessly at Katia and then looked at Aiden’s desperate face, her eyebrows slightly raised.  

Fortunately, it seemed she had fully grasped the nature of the “dangerous element” that Aiden had summoned her to handle.  

After all, there’s only one person who could spout such insane nonsense so nonchalantly within the information she knew.  

“Katia Heinkel Craven, is that correct?”  

“Yeah, yeah.”  

“I don’t recall hearing that you were visiting the Empire.”  

“Hmm.”  

“I’ll hear the details from the Capital Headquarters. You should also follow proper entry procedures there—”  

“Let’s cut the pleasantries right here.”  

With a cracking sound, Katia loosened her knuckles.  

Even taking off the coat she always wore and carelessly throwing it to the ground showed that she was preparing herself thoroughly.  

“You’re not going to fight?”  

Noel’s mouth clamped shut like a clam.  

It was clear she was feeling dizzy from the opponent’s straightforward demeanor.  

“I need to give it my all before I die. Without a fight, the whole premise doesn’t even make sense.”  

However, the moment she heard Katia’s nonchalant words, her eyes sank heavily.  

“There are civilians nearby. Stop making unreasonable demands.”  

Putting aside the diplomatic and political problems that would arise from this fight…  

It would be a clash between one of the most monstrous beings in the Holy Kingdom and the strongest knight alive.  

The aftermath of the fight would be unavoidable, and everyone nearby would surely get caught in it.  

But as soon as Katia heard that, she let out a mocking laugh.  

“And?”  

“Why care about people who don’t even matter?”  

Noel’s face began to show a barely concealed fury.  

It’s a confrontation between someone who only cares about achieving their own desires, and someone who has devoted their life to morality and justice.  

There’s no way their conversation could flow well.  

Katia’s next words, uttered with an air of annoyance, made that even clearer.  

“Then how about this? If you don’t fight, I’ll just go around and kill everyone I see in this area.” 

“…..” 

“Then I’ll kill your husband in front of you next. That should give you a reason to fight.”  

At that moment, a fierce burst of pure white energy erupted from Noel’s body.  

For the first time since Aiden had known her, she was showing an unmistakable intent to kill, fully prepared for battle.  

“Fine.”  

Of course, the one person who smiled with satisfaction upon seeing that was the madwoman.  

“That’s the spirit.”  

And with those words, flames bright enough to illuminate the night sky flared up around Katia.  

Soon, the clash of their supernatural powers resulted in a blinding explosion, bright like the morning sun.  

He knew this would happen.  

It was a thought that came to him as he floated freely, as though gravity didn’t exist, in the aftermath of the explosion that had swept away everything around them the moment the two collided.  

Sure enough, just as he expected, the impact from their clash had caused everything nearby to be blown away.  

Even as he tumbled across the stone ground, pain flooding his entire body, Aiden’s mind was racing.  

Main Quest  

Act 1, Capital Crack  

– There is a group smuggling weapons into the capital. Arrest them all.  

– Clear Condition: Do not allow any civilian casualties.  

– If the quest fails, you die!  

The problem that had fallen into his lap now was entirely his responsibility to solve.  

It was originally the protagonist’s job.  

“This is the worst.”  

The situation he had desperately tried to avoid had now come crashing down right in front of him: being deeply involved in the main scenario.  

Even now, he wanted to run away, to leave all of this behind and escape to somewhere far beyond reach.  

But if he didn’t take action, then, most likely, everyone nearby would die.  

Even Noel, who had come here because he called her, would be in danger.  

And soon, he would die too.  

To prevent that, he had to somehow subdue Katia Heinkel Craven right now.  

The first thing to do was…  

“Huff!”  

Aiden sprang to his feet and looked at the people sprawled on the ground around him.  

All of them wore bewildered expressions, stunned by the clash between two of the most powerful beings.  

Amidst them, it didn’t take long to spot what he was looking for.  

“…”  

Aiden hurried over to a rough-looking man, who was holding a box tightly in his arms with a dazed expression.  

“Give me that.”  

The man, who was clutching the box as if it were a precious family heirloom, was holding a Hellfire Bomb, an incredibly powerful weapon that had even caught Katia’s interest.  

“Wh-why should I listen to you—”  

The man, trying to maintain a threatening air despite his fear, was abruptly cut off by Aiden’s grin.  

“Do you not see that?”  

Aiden pointed toward Katia, who was charging barehanded at Noel, who had drawn her sword.  

Flames clashed with energy, sparks flying.  

“Trust me, if you don’t help the knight over there right now, we’re all going to die.”  

“What are you talking about—”  

“The knight can’t go all out because she’s worried about us getting caught in the crossfire.”  

Of course, in terms of combat power, Katia and Noel were evenly matched.  

But the one who was shackled was clearly the latter.  

Unlike Katia, who didn’t care at all about collateral damage, Noel had to fight while worrying about the civilians and Aiden’s safety.  

And Katia was no fool—she was well aware of that.  

So naturally, the next thing Katia would do…  

“That madwoman over there can’t use her full strength because of the people around us. But she’s the type who wouldn’t hesitate to kill us all once she decides to stop holding back.”  

“……”

“If you don’t believe me, just sit there and suck your thumb while we all die together.”  

“……”

“Isn’t it strange how restrained the Lionheart is being?”  

Before the man could even respond, a piercing cackle erupted from Katia behind them.  

“Is it because of the distractions? Should I clear them out for you?”  

Noel answered coolly with an impassive expression.  

“Before we put you on trial, you should first learn some manners, Your Highness.”  

The pure white energy wrapped around Noel’s sword collided with Katia’s fist, which was imbued with a primordial vow.  

Another explosion lit up the night sky, and once again, the shockwave sent everyone flying to the ground with screams.  

Even at a considerable distance from where the deadly blows were being exchanged, people were being tossed around like paper.  

“Did you see that?”  

Covered in dust and dirt, Aiden added those words to the man lying on the ground beside him.  

The man, as if entranced, finally handed over the box.  

Aiden grabbed it, quickly rising to his feet and mentally calculating his next steps.  

This is all he needed.  

Now, he just needed the right tools to use it.  

Three things were necessary at this moment.  

System Message  

Copying ‘Qi Manipulation: Defense Field’.  

Copying ‘Divine Enhancement: Vow’.  

Copying ‘Magical Power Enhancement: Incantation’.  

These were skills assigned to Noel, Katia, and Dunadan, respectively, which Aiden had copied.  

And lastly, with a sickening feeling rising in his gut, Aiden clenched his teeth so hard that he was on the verge of drawing blood from his gums.  

What he was about to do was a path of no return. 

A one-way ticket to hell. 

There was no turning back, not until the main scenario was over. 

Even so, if he didn’t act, he would die. 

And there were people who would mourn his death. 

For a brief moment, the faces of his family flashed before his eyes. 

‘Dad. Sisella.’  

As expected, he couldn’t die here. 

He would rather fall into hell once than see those two cry. 

‘Looks like I’ll be coming home a little late.’  

Aiden took a deep breath and confirmed the feel of the revolver in his jacket. 

The coldness of it was chilling to the touch. 

If one were a seasoned knight who had gone through the historic event of the Allied War, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had seen every conceivable hell.  

And yet, Noel could only come to one conclusion in her assessment of the opponent.  

It was absurd.  

“Hah!”  

Katia rushed toward her, her entire body wrapped in divine energy.  

She was so fast that it felt like only the start and the result of her movements existed, with no in-between.  

The sheer speed was astonishing, but what was even more overwhelming was the divine pressure surrounding her, to the point where Noel herself felt dizzy.  

The dense flames radiating from her were so bright they confused her very eyesight, streaming outward like branches.  

“律 (Ritual). I vow.”  

She whispered a blessing quietly beneath her lips.  

Even with her overwhelming energy output, simply fending off Katia was difficult. She needed to strengthen herself.  

“For the safety of the innocent.”  

Her qi, which had clearly become stronger than before, imbued her ceremonial longsword.  

Soon, she swung a few times at the air.  

Though Katia wasn’t even within range, it might have seemed like a useless gesture, but suddenly, Katia’s body, which had been charging from a distance, was sliced apart.  

A slash that ‘transcended space.’  

With precise manipulation of the qi infused in her sword, such a seemingly impossible act became easy.  

It was a technique possible because of the unique nature of her qi, which excelled in output beyond other supernatural abilities.  

But then.  

“…!”  

Noel gritted her teeth and twisted her body.  

Katia, now a mass of flames, surged past the spot where she had just been.  

If she had been even a moment slower, she would have been caught in the attack.  

“Well done! I’ve never seen anything like that!”  

Katia’s appearance as she said this was horrifyingly grotesque.  

Broken ribs, muscles hanging from severed wounds.  

This woman had just ‘died’ once again.  

And yet, the smile on the princess’s face showed no signs of fading.  

The reason Noel found her absurd was because of this very thing.  

She made no effort to dodge any attack, pushing forward while taking every blow.  

Despite suffering countless fatal wounds, she showed no signs of exhaustion. She didn’t even bleed.  

“But you know…”  

No, it went beyond that.  

“I still… don’t feel a thing…”  

A sob-like wail burst out.  

Her scream was so mixed with maniacal laughter that it sounded like she was laughing and crying at the same time.  

“I still don’t feel anything!”  

As Katia charged once more, Noel sighed and raised her sword again.  

‘At this rate…’  

She wouldn’t be able to subdue her.  

In fact, Noel might even be defeated.  

Noel glanced around quickly.  

She still had plenty of cards she hadn’t played yet.  

But the safety of the people around her was a problem.  

If she fought seriously, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were casualties.  

It was around that moment when Noel noticed ‘something strange.’  

‘…Aiden?’  

She saw Aiden awkwardly lugging a box around.  

When their eyes briefly met, Aiden hurriedly waved his hands in a gesture that seemed to say, “Bring her over here.”  

There was clearly something up.  

Noel subtly nodded and threw herself in that direction.  

The opponent was someone who, as Aiden had said, simply repeated basic charges, as if her only goal was to ‘burn off’ her overwhelming power through combat.  

Drawing her toward a specific location wasn’t too difficult.  

Like a bullfighter, Noel sidestepped the charging Katia and led her toward Aiden’s designated spot.  

At the same time, Aiden detonated the bomb he had prepared in advance with a deafening roar.  

The Hellfire Bomb was a weapon originally used to demolish high-rise buildings. Normally, the entire area should have been blown away.  

But in an instant, a small dome formed around the explosion’s epicenter.  

It was similar to the dome Noel had created with her pure white qi previously.  

The difference was that this time, it was used to contain both the explosion and Katia within it.  

‘Impressive.’  

Noel wiped the sweat from her brow, inwardly impressed.  

She had never considered using a defensive barrier in such a way.  

Not only was the technique itself impressive, but what was even more astonishing was the dome’s durability, withstanding such an explosion.  

Even the purest qi would normally require a few conditions to contain an explosion of that magnitude in such a small area.  

Doing it without any preparation in such a short time was no small feat.  

It was likely because the ability used to form the dome was unfamiliar to her.  

She had seen it once before: a blend of qi and divinity.  

‘It has the output of qi and the firepower of divinity… a hybrid that takes the strengths of both abilities.’  

Thanks to that, Aiden could manipulate qi like she did, but its performance was almost a superior version.  

“Well, the attempt was good, but…”  

But, it was clear this wasn’t a moment for deep contemplation.  

Despite her body being torn apart by supersonic shrapnel, scorched by searing heat, and likely ‘dying’ dozens of times inside the explosion, Katia was still there, tearing at the barrier with a vicious gleam in her eyes.  

“It’s far from over with just this—”  

“I never expected it to be.”  

Aiden’s calm voice cut her off mid-sentence.  

“That was just to ‘strip it away.’ At the very least, I had to weaken you a bit before taking a shot.”  

At some point, Aiden was standing right next to Katia, holding his revolver.  

The divine power within Katia’s body acted as both her sword and shield.  

Its source was her heart—the origin of all supernatural abilities.  

That’s exactly what Aiden was aiming for.  

The Hellfire Bomb was meant to briefly weaken the divine protection that fiercely guarded it.  

Although Katia had regenerated her body dozens of times, the strain on her was evident, as the flames surrounding her had noticeably weakened.  

“You know…”  

Katia looked at Aiden with genuine disbelief in her voice.  

“You go through all that preparation, only to end it with a toy like that?”  

Even so, despite having taken a direct hit from the Hellfire Bomb without a scratch, no one would believe that a mere bullet would do any real damage to Katia.  

Compared to the massive explosion earlier, Aiden standing in front of her with a small firearm seemed utterly insignificant.  

But,  

“Well, we’ll see.”  

Aiden sighed as he pulled back the hammer of the revolver.  

“I think this will be enough.”  

Noel furrowed her brow, feeling an odd sense of déjà vu.  

She had seen something like this twice before, and the impression had been so strong it was easy to recall.  

This was the feeling she got just before something ‘absurd’ happened with Aiden.  

“律 (Ritual), I vow.”  

The first blessing was imbued into the trigger.  

Pure white qi flowed from his fingers into the mechanism.  

“This humble one offers a prayer.”  

The second vow was instilled into the barrel.  

It was a skill he had copied from Katia, a prayer vow he had never learned properly.  

Flames erupted from his body, coiling around the barrel like a serpent.  

And finally,  

“Orb of light, lotus of heaven, may you shine bright.”  

The third incantation was imbued into the bullet.  

This was a sacred technique he had recently acquired.  

It was the final condition to fully enchant the weapon.  

Of course, it was still incomplete since he couldn’t yet impose the ‘restriction.’  

‘What a hassle.’  

Because of that, he was about to do something rather risky.  

Restrictions strengthened the power of a skill the more difficult they were to fulfill.  

The intensity of qi, the heat of divine power, and the difficulty of the restriction determined the minimum output of any supernatural ability.  

Aiden’s pure white qi was indeed powerful.  

The primordial vow was an incredible ability.  

But that alone wasn’t enough to break through the seemingly endless source of supernatural power that was overwhelming Noel.  

Unless he could find another ability to match the two he had already copied.  

Of course, that was impossible.  

Compared to the unique skills drawn from the main scenario’s protagonist, Aiden’s sacred technique had no special traits.  

But,  

He knew of a way to make it special.  

※ Proficiency with the ‘Omniscient Skill’ rapidly increases. An alien attribute has been granted.  

※ Only ‘unique’ restrictions can be defined. Any other method is invalid. However, once the conditions are met, the skill will transform.  

There was one unique restriction no one else possessed, something that immediately came to mind.  

“And so, I…”  

In this situation, there was only one vow Aiden could make to the god of ascension.  

A vow unlike any other in the world.  

A vow only one person, in the ‘original story,’ had ever made to Urgan.  

“…will save the world.”  

The vow belonging to the protagonist, who wasn’t here.  

!! System Message !!  

[‘Universal Ability: Sacred Power’ has been transformed into ‘Savior’s Vow’!]  

[The enchantment has succeeded. Weapon power has increased!]  

As the message appeared, power surged into the bullet.  

The energy coursed through the entire revolver, fusing into a single force, and as it fully converged, Aiden pulled the trigger.  

“You’ve got to be kidding!”  

Even Noel, in a rare moment, cursed under her breath at the horrific force that shot out of the revolver, leaving a comet-like trail as it barreled toward Katia.  

The impact shattered her body into pieces.  

For the first time, blood, which had never flowed from her before, splattered in all directions.

Prev | TOC I Next