Chapter 60: The Villainous Aristocrat, Tension MAX

First, analyze the situation.

Me: One person. Mannequins controlled by Lynette: Many. That’s it.

By the way, I’ve lost my right arm, so in terms of combat capability, I’m pretty much useless.

However, my goal is solely to buy time.

Hagane and the others need to escape from the imperial capital and make it to the kingdom, so it’s crucial to hold back Lynette and his army of mannequins.

“…Are you planning to sacrifice yourself to let your comrades escape? How foolish.”

Lynette mocks me.

He probably doesn’t see me, without one arm, as a threat.

Don’t underestimate me; I’m the Kunou-san who made it to the second round of the main tournament in the fighting competition.

I take a magic sword from my magic bag.

“Prepare to meet your end.”

“No way!!”

Lynette manipulates threads of magic, and the mannequins move in unison.

I throw an explosive magic sword at the location where the mannequins are most densely packed.

Several dozen mannequins shatter into pieces.

I feel a bit sorry for them, considering they were once human, but they’re essentially like corpses now. I reluctantly accept it and throw the next explosive magic sword.

“Hmm. The sword exploded…? You handle quite unusual things, from the Juggernaut to the droid. Where did you get it?”

“I wouldn’t tell you.”

Even if I slip up, I won’t admit to making it myself.

Lynette was happily sharing the secrets of his magic, but I’m not as loose-lipped as he is.

Especially, I won’t do something as foolish as exposing my own hand.

“Heh, well, whatever. I’ll overwhelm you with quantity.”

Damn.

That’s the tactic I least want to deal with. It works against me, who is at a disadvantage in terms of sheer numbers due to its simplicity.

I take an ice-enchanted frozen magic sword from my magic bag and swing it horizontally.

The ice freezes the mannequins in the front row, preventing them from approaching.

“It’s useless. Your defeat is already decided.”

Countless mannequins leap and attack from above.

I can’t dodge this.

In that case, I should aim for Lynette, who controls the mannequins.

I have to charge straight through!!

“Here I go!!!!”

What I pulled out from my magic bag is a makeshift railgun.

Due to the lack of my right arm, I can’t support its weight or aim properly, but I can swing it using centrifugal force.

And at the moment the muzzle is directed at Lynette.

I pulled the trigger.

Crushing a large number of mannequins, a path is cleared to approach Lynette.

I stow the railgun, tighten my grip on the magic sword with one hand, and start running.

That was the plan.

“Ugh!!”

I collapse from my knees.

Feeling the delayed intense pain, I shift my gaze to my own legs, only to realize that everything below both my knees is gone.

“Ugh, ugh, ugh… Thread attack… No, that’s not it. It’s not a thread attack…”

I had been paying maximum attention to his thread attacks.

Thread attacks that are undefendable are a threat, but those are created with magic.

If I’m attentive, I can sense the attack in advance.

However, there was no such attack.

As if to confirm my speculation, Lynette nods.

“That’s correct. You catch on fast.”

Somehow, a small doll with a hand axe appeared on Lynette’s shoulder.

That doll…

“I turned a baby into a doll. Babies are unlike regular dolls—they’re light, fast, and easy to handle. They move quickly.”

I see.

The moment I started rushing toward Lynette, that baby mannequin must have severed both my knees.

“How twisted…”

“I’ll take it as a compliment. Well, it must be painful and distressing for you. I’ll let you die now.”

The mannequins surround me, each wielding their weapons, closing in.

Oh no.

“This is it.”

I’ve lost my right arm and everything below both knees.

There’s no way to escape; all I can do is wait for the moment of my death.

Ah, I don’t want this. I really don’t want this.

It’s terrifying to die helplessly. I want to scream that I still don’t want to die.

I don’t want to die. I’m scared. I hate it. I don’t want to feel pain.

An unimaginable fear of death overwhelms me, and my breathing becomes erratic.

Then, I suddenly think.

―Huh? Why am I so scared of dying?

Humans will eventually die.

I know that sudden death can happen to anyone at any time.

In fact, in my past life, I faced sudden death.

However, even though humans are mortal, they can’t accept their own death.

That’s why people fear death.

But well, in my case, I died in a way that I couldn’t just accept.

When you think about common causes of death, you might consider things like accidents or illness.

In my past life, I was attacked by a random assailant and died.

Even that alone is quite a rare case. The random assailant attacked me with a 90 cm-long tuna knife.

Why on earth?

I could have understood if it were a regular knife. Where did they even get a tuna knife?

However, even though I thought it was an unreasonable death, I couldn’t overturn that fate.

No matter how much I feared death, the result of dying remained unchanged.

So, fearing death is just a waste.

Besides, I remembered that dying isn’t as bad as it seems.

When you’re stabbed, your body inexplicably gets either very hot or very cold, and you struggle to breathe. It’s quite painful.

When you die, that pain disappears and fades away.

There’s no need to fear death. After experiencing death once, I know that.

With that in mind, the fear that gripped me moments ago is gone.

The fear of death that filled my mind has vanished, leaving it clear.

My head, which was filled with fear of death, feels refreshed.

“…Ah… I might be able to do it now…”

While I was constructing the Juggernaut, I observed my grandmother’s sculpting magic.

Occasionally, without kneading with her hands, she would change the shape of objects just by touching them.

I asked her what it was.

‘This is an application—or rather, an evolution—of sculpting magic.’

She said it with a sense of enjoyment, without particularly boasting.

I remember every word of her explanation.

‘Expanding the interpretation of magic. For example, fire magic. Fire emits heat, right? From that heat, wind is born. Wind stirs water, and waves sometimes swallow the earth.’

Expanding the interpretation of magic.

My grandmother said it with a cheerful smile, explaining that it’s something possible even in bloodline magic.

‘Being able to bestow other people with magic is also the result of expanding the interpretation of bestowal magic. And this is an expansion of sculpting magic. It transforms what you touch into the shape you imagine.’

‘How do you do that?’

‘It’s simple. Just picture what you want to create. Discard any unnecessary thoughts and focus solely on what you want to make.’

Instantly, my grandmother’s expression turned bitter.

‘But well, I can only do it occasionally. I can’t help but think about what to make for dinner.’

‘…Can I do it too?’

In response to my question, my grandmother answered.

‘You’ll surely be able to do it someday. You’re a child who enjoys creating things. That person was like that too. His sculpting magic and bestowal magic were amazing!’

‘Huh, Grandfather…?’

My grandfather was a user of the Andain Viscount’s bloodline magic…?

Huh, but my grandmother is also a user…

Perhaps my grandfather and grandmother were blood relatives.

Oh, it’s intriguing, but it doesn’t matter right now.

The fear of death has vanished, and I fill the emptiness in my head with a single emotion.

—I want to create.

Thinking that way,

I touched the ground with my left hand,

and activated the secret technique of sculpting magic.

“Sculpting of Alchemical Imagination.”

In an instant, the cobblestones covering the streets of the imperial capital changed their form.

Like a haystack of needles, the cobblestones turned into thousands of swords, impaling the approaching mannequins.

I looked up at the sky from where I stood.

The fog had cleared without my notice, and the full moon was looking down on me.

“…Fufu, hahaha.”

Someone is laughing. No, it’s not someone.

It’s me. I’m the one laughing.

“Fuhahahahahahahahhahaha!!!!!”

“What are you laughing at?”

“Eh!? Well, who knows!? I don’t know! But, you know!! Right now, I feel absolutely fantastic!! Ideas are bubbling up, one after another!! I feel like I can create anything right now!!”

My spirits are soaring.

It’s the best feeling, like I can create anything I couldn’t before.

“My excitement is at its MAX!! I’m on a super high!!”

I completely forgot about the enemies in front of me and started creating.

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