1.
Inside the troupe.
People cheered as they watched the battle unfolding within.
"Waaah!!!"
"...Wasn’t this a circus troupe? Isn’t that an arena?"
"If it’s fun, who cares!"
"That guy looks familiar somehow."
A fierce battle raged inside, as if it were the real thing.
The troupe leader, handling floating islands in the air.
And even a swordsman standing against him, cutting down the earth as it surged upward.
People who knew nothing, cheering like they were watching a dogfight. Among them, the only two women shining like jewels turned their eyes to the stage.
"...It’s not very interesting. For a performance, it’s pretty low quality."
"Hmm... true enough. I heard they used to put on ordinary shows."
A wide-brimmed hat adorned with feathers.
A short outfit that hung like a snake’s tail.
And a boldly revealing neckline that showed off her figure.
Several men drooled as they stared at the woman, but none of them dared do anything else.
Everyone knew better than to lay a hand on a woman who looked luxurious and poisonous.
The battle continued.
Each side clashed, using the Path they possessed.
"Yelena."
"Yes, Lady Jade."
"This time, I’m placing a lot of hope in you and that child. If this goes well... you may be able to rise to one of the Ten Stonehearts."
Kyuing! Kyuiing!
A woman with white hair and a cute little creature in her arms.
She wore a crisp uniform, and after taking off her hat, she swept her hair back.
"Haha... that’s a lot of pressure. You still haven’t even told me who my support partner is."
"That’s the same for the child competing with you. At this point, she’s probably somewhere in a gambling den, making money multiply."
"...I can’t even begin to picture what kind of person she is."
"She has talent. That’s why I’m preparing her so she can at least take the lowest seat."
A purple snake slithered up the hand of the woman called Jade.
The purple snake flicked its tongue and watched the fierce battle raging on the stage.
"We need to find out what the Marketing Development Department is plotting."
"You dumped me here without even giving me any information."
"If I moved too openly, that man would naturally notice."
The woman called Yelena let out a sigh and stroked the cute pet in her arms.
She’d been thrown into a place with nothing in it, a place that was practically a frontier, and told to get the job done.
"Be careful. Lady Diamond has very high expectations for you."
"Are you going to keep putting that kind of pressure on me?"
Star Peace Company.
Shortened, it was simply called the Company.
Split into seven departments, this corporation had spread its influence across the cosmos and could be called the pinnacle of all businesses.
There was no comparison, no matter what group or company you tried to put beside it.
And climbing that high was just as difficult.
To rise to a high position, you had to be called a genius and have no weaknesses at all to even aim for it.
Yelena was aiming for that position.
One of the Ten Stonehearts, and one of the seven departments.
An executive in the Strategic Investment Department.
The woman in front of her was someone who had already claimed that seat.
A living witness who had climbed up by swallowing countless others like a snake.
The owner of the Bonajade Pawn Shop, the woman who claimed she could grant wishes.
One of the Ten Stonehearts and P46 of the Company.
A woman known as the Jade of the Pawnshop.
Yelena had a vague sense of admiration for her. She thought of her as a senior who had walked the same path before her. In truth, Jade also cared quite a bit for Yelena.
"Hey, girl. Why don’t you come have a good time with us...."
A man swaggered over.
His eyes gleamed with lust, as if he couldn’t hold it in anymore.
The way he reached out toward her was ridiculous.
When Yelena flinched and shut her eyes before opening them again—
Crunch
Along with the sound of a snake swallowing its prey.
The man who had reached out was nowhere to be seen.
"Hmm... ah, Yelena. Would you like a special mission, one that could earn you extra points?"
"Huh? A special mission? Wouldn’t that be cheating...?"
"No, it isn’t cheating. It’s a gift from me, given under my authority."
Whether it was a gift or poison, you had to hear the details first.
Yelena looked at Jade. Jade extended her slender white finger and pointed toward the stage.
At the end of that finger stood an unknown man.
A swordsman fighting desperately with his life on the line.
"Take that child under your wing and bring him to me."
"What!?"
"Isn’t it about time you had a loyal subordinate who follows only you?"
"That’s true, but... this is way too sudden."
"You can’t stand alone forever."
Everything Jade said was right.
No matter how quickly Yelena had risen and broken through every wall, there were almost no people she could truly call her own.
She had no loyal subordinate who would literally risk their life for her.
"This will be a good chance for you too. That boy standing over there... he seems special."
"Do you know him?"
"No. I don’t know him."
"Then why..."
Something even Yelena had failed to notice.
Something only Jade could see here.
A blue flash slicing across the sky.
An arrowhead of the Hunt piercing through an instant.
The god worshiped by the Xianzhou Alliance.
Lan, the Aeon of the Hunt.
Jade had seen that man receive the gaze of an Aeon.
To be seen by an Aeon was something any mortal could call the glory of a lifetime.
Concrete proof that he possessed something special, something different from everyone else.
"Instinct, and the gaze of a god."
When Jade said it with certainty, Yelena couldn’t argue back.
Her superior, and practically her idol, was saying so.
"Now then, watch closely with your own eyes. You might end up liking that sight over there."
Their gazes returned to the stage.
And so the two women silently began to watch the shape of the battle.
2.
Causality manipulation.
Just hearing the name makes it sound like some absurdly broken cheat, but.
In practice, it isn’t all-powerful.
A body that still can’t endure it.
The backlash that pours into the body because of that.
The more impossible the action, the greater the restriction and recoil. Since it had been completely impossible for me to even touch Zephiro once, I had died from the backlash.
"Hoo, hoo..."
I exhaled the breath that had risen to my chin and looked at the troupe leader.
What I had just wished for was a fixed dice roll.
I fixed the Hunt, and while I didn’t ask for a number, I got one higher than the middle.
Huh? Then isn’t this totally broken? The number was high too, so it canceled out the recoil, right?
You could say that.
But recoil doesn’t just go click and vanish.
If a low number had come up, I would’ve had to fight while enduring it with my body.
On top of that, the time limit had been cut down even further, from ten minutes to five.
I couldn’t spam it.
At most, I could use it one more time.
"Die."
"Hahaha! I don’t believe I’ve ever wronged you!"
"That’s just how the world works. You can get hit by a dump truck for no reason while walking down the street."
"That’s true enough!"
I shook out my feet and loosened up my body.
His attacks were being treated as an ability that controlled everything in this place.
From the moment I fell into this subspace, I had been fighting an uphill battle.
Golden blood flowed over the back of my slightly scraped hand.
Wait a second.
Golden blood?
"...What is this?"
Golden blood dripped from my right hand, the one holding the sword.
I was startled, but I immediately put on a poker face and looked at the troupe leader.
Whatever.
Whether my blood had turned into gold bars or not wasn’t important right now.
What mattered was bringing him down and finding out the truth.
First, subdue him!
I charged forward, not retreating, stabbing out with my sword sharply.
I couldn’t use techniques too aggressively if I wanted to figure out what cards my opponent had.
"How dangerous."
Crunch!
What the hell!!!
Why was there a sword hidden in the earth that was surging upward!?
A sword rose up mixed into the ground, as if the earth itself had been drained away.
At the same time, the surrounding area spread wide, creating a broad open space.
"Unfortunately, this space is my domain."
"..."
"Weapons for attack. Earth that responds to my thoughts. The moment you fell here, your defeat was already decided."
"This bastard is fighting with his mouth."
The earth moved like tentacles.
The surging ground stretched out and struck the spot where I had been standing.
It wasn’t so fast that I couldn’t react... but.
I had to use my mental force in a vague, uncertain way.
Just as I lightly kicked off the ground and moved forward—
With a beeping sound, I saw things hidden beneath the earth.
A countdown blinked with red lights.
The circus troupe had bombs too.
These bastards were actually a terrorist organization, I think.
Boom!!! Bang!!!
[Acrobatics] — Sky Leap
"Hup!"
I held my breath and responded with Sky Leap.
With a swift movement, I shot out of the smoke in an instant.
Enhanced movement.
Speed increased by the blessing of the Hunt.
Within the psychological warfare that the bastard had only just begun to adapt to.
The fragment bait responded to my will.
Three-minute time limit begins.
My body, now more than twice as fast in an instant, shot forward like a bullet.
"What the—!?"
Even he seemed flustered, his face twisting as he pressed a hand to the ground.
A wall surged up, forming a thick box that trapped him inside.
Zephiro-style swordsmanship — upward slash from below
My sword split the earth and shattered the wall.
Speed is force.
Even the wall wasn’t enough to block it, so the troupe leader’s arms were cut a little.
"Haha...! As expected, you’re even better than I hoped...!!"
"Shut your mouth."
One no-guard chance, made by all that noisy blabbering.
After letting go of my sword, I rotated my body deeply and drove my leg into the ground.
Asat-style martial arts — Kidney Blow
"Guh...!"
The bastard staggered after taking a hit to the vital point near his kidneys.
In boxing that’d be a foul, but is this a place for fair and square fighting?
We’re fighting with our lives on the line.
There are no fouls in a battle to the death.
Asat-style martial arts — Flying Kick
Every time I swung my sword, an opening would inevitably appear.
So I learned martial arts to fill those openings.
It was completely different from the half-assed stuff I learned in Korea.
I’d never forget something I learned by getting hit for real!!!
Thud!
The flying kick slammed into the troupe leader’s chest.
As he was knocked back and slammed into a wall, the troupe leader staggered.
"Why don’t you keep talking like you were earlier."
"Hah... hah... as expected, one who is loved by god..."
"I don’t need the love of that red clown!"
I ran forward with my sword drawn.
If he showed even the slightest opening, the earth would ripple and move.
Until I heard that one short word.
"Shiro."
Before that brief word could finish ringing out—
Twang!
Like the sound of a string being plucked.
I was shoved back in an instant and sent flying.
I looked around, thinking Hanabi might have attacked, but.
All I could see was the troupe leader.
"...It seems I can’t keep hiding my cards any longer."
The troupe leader looked at me, breathing hard.
At last, perhaps because he had felt fear, the smile vanished from his face.
Something identical to Hanabi’s shockwave.
"Damn it... that was something you taught me?"
Stop pulling out your trump cards and awakening against me.
You’re not the protagonist. I am.
I clenched my teeth and stood up.
It was certain now that the bastard standing there was the real body.
If I ended it here, I could definitely finish it.
[Acrobatics]——
——Shiro
The two techniques crossed.
And we both reached out toward each other.
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