How to Live as an Immortal - Chapter 257
Only Noblemtl
How to Live Immortally Episode 257
257 Khehehe, hehehehe
“Even if I meet a weird person, nothing will change.”
The attack and defense gradually accelerated. It was a foregone conclusion that the one who stopped would lose.
The moment the slot implanted in their bodies, Lagrange, was activated, the world surrounding the two of them began to slow down and stretch like a taffy.
A workshop where milliseconds are the standard.
An explosion was heard somewhere, and the ground of the supply ship seemed to tilt, but the two people’s performance did not end. They forgot about external factors and just focused on looking into each other’s eyes.
Boom!
The waves that spread out distorting the atmosphere overlap with the waves that were created afterward. As the concentric ripples explode with a loud noise, the entire area is plunged into a vacuum for a moment.
Even at the moment when their posture collapsed due to the extreme difference in pressure, the two used it as a springboard to aim at each other, aiming for each other’s shoulders in perfect symmetry.
A close combat where the striking area and the hit area are perfectly aligned.
Just before they were about to reach an eternal parallel, Vincent made a change. He grabbed Justin’s forearm with his sharp claws and slammed it down without mercy.
It’s only natural that the deronium would leak out through the gap in the armor.
As Justin lost his balance and lost his momentum, Vincent continued to aim for his chin.
A sharp collection of water droplets like spears.
That blow contained enough power to mark the spot, but it did not work on Justin, who had almost been killed in that manner by Quentin, the successor to FD Shielder.
Crunch.
The palm I reflexively extended was pierced.
It was a close call, but both of his arms were dripping with liquid metal.
The sacrifice made to gain the opportunity for a challenge was the beginning of a counterattack that was no different from a thousand gold coins. Vincent sneered at Justin, who made a hasty decision in his haste to save his own life.
If you can’t use the spear―
“There is no chance of you winning.”
[Taan Bigi Machang]
A stab so sharp and precise that it’s frightening. The water that pierces the collarbone also shatters the shoulder blade behind it.
It only takes a moment for the right arm, which has lost its link, to be amputated.
Justin, who lost his center of gravity and stumbled, cast the spear with his imperfect left arm, but Vincent destroyed it with one hand.
A beast that has lost the means to resist is no different from any other wild beast in the field—Vincent rushed forward to cut off Justin’s lifeline, and the propulsion device in Justin’s right leg ignited almost simultaneously.
The liquid metal ripples as the front kick is unintentionally thrown, and is focused on the front heel of the foot, which is raised like a blade.
[Taan Extra Secret Magic Sword]
Aiming for a moment of carelessness, a sword suddenly jumped out from a blind spot and slammed into Vincent’s abdomen with the momentum of piercing his back.
“Ugh.”
Just as Vincent knew Justin’s flaws, Justin also knew Vincent’s weaknesses.
That’s supremacy.
He despised and ignored those he felt were inferior to him, and even had a tendency to look down on them.
It was a naturally acquired trait that resulted from being born with innate talent and monopolizing everyone’s attention from a young age.
The reason it hasn’t been corrected until today is because it was accompanied by such great skill.
Justin, who was not a top student but merely a model student, had no choice but to constantly prepare in order to surpass Vincent.
The Demon Sword recognized that it could not win in a head-on fight, and sought other methods.
“This, here… … ?”
“I guess you knew that too, hyung.”
Taan is a degraded version of the original martial art created by the Black Sword Helix.
Since the highest state of Shingeom unification must be achieved in order to acquire it, Frauga abandoned the true intention and only took the superficial.
Justin, who happened to learn this fact while studying the history of Taan, designed a magic sword that could be cast with the legs rather than the arms.
But the knife I poured my heart and soul into will only work once. That’s why I deliberately sacrificed both my arms.
Because I was sure that Vincent would bite me without even thinking that it was a trap.
“If you had seen me as a soldier and not as a student who taught me, you wouldn’t have supported me.”
In other words, that’s the defeat.
Justin was able to stand in front of Vincent because he knew he couldn’t get rid of his preconceptions.
“Ugh.”
Vincent collapsed and covered his wounds with both arms, but blood continued to flow out from his sunken abdomen. As if to show that defeat was certain and could not be reversed.
“In the end, are you going to abandon me like your grandfather?”
It was a sympathetic remark, but Justin didn’t budge. Bringing it up now would have been nothing more than crocodile tears.
“There’s something I’ve always wanted to ask.”
“what?”
“Why did you use excessive force in front of Trian headquarters during the Cannibalism Gate?”
Vincent paused for a moment as if it was a completely unexpected question, and then gave his answer three beats later.
“I never thought about it.”
It was an extremely poor impression, making the time spent seem meaningless.
“Yes, there was no reason.”
It wasn’t something that Trian specifically requested, nor was it a directive from the Mars Defense Forces. That disaster was entirely a result of Vincent’s decision.
The result of dismissing citizens’ anger as nothing more than a nuisance.
Even when faced with a situation where history could change, he responded indifferently, saying that it was an incident that had nothing to do with him.
A response that came from viewing citizens, fellow human beings, as beings lower than oneself.
“If you had at least pretended to reflect after the disaster, your grandfather wouldn’t have punished your brother on behalf of Frauga.”
“… …Why are you so certain?”
It was a truly bewildered look.
Where had that brilliant mind gone that used to praise the scholars for following the path of a scholar? He was desperate for an answer, finding this simple logic completely difficult to understand.
“Surely you don’t know?”
The gap was sad and creepy for Justin. It was similar to today’s Mars Defense Forces, where people exercise their rights without any sense of guilt and disregard responsibility.
“Maybe my grandfather had something else he wanted to teach me.”
The milestone and goal you have been following is now a graduation, and the path you believe in is not always straight.
“I respected you, brother.”
Justin, with his eyes tightly shut, struck Vincent’s face as he fell. Until there was no trace of him left.
Vincent had committed a grave sin that could not be tolerated as a member of the Mars Defense Force. If he were to be transferred to his hometown, he would be dismembered to the bone.
So, this was Justin’s last act of mercy.
Boom, boom, boom!
Vincent, who was talking nonchalantly, falls limply.
A sordid end that does not befit his ambitions.
I killed my own flesh and blood with my own hands, but there was no entanglement in my heart. Of course, nothing was completely resolved.
Just accept this situation as it is.
The idols we worshipped are no longer there.
The only one here is a sheep that has realized that reality.
How should one live a life without anyone leading the way?
“I guess I’ll have to think about it from now on.”
Justin stood up and muttered softly.
* * *
How should I make an excuse?
I guess I’ll have to think about it from now on.
“Misunderstanding… … .”
The moment he opens his mouth to persuade Alice, who has become hostile after seeing only a fragmentary sight, a halo of light passes by his temple.
A response worthy of the phrase, “no questions asked, no answers.”
He cuts through the incoming plasma shells with his pyrotechnics, but the heat is not completely dissipated, as steam rises from the single-molecule blade.
Eventually, the blade that has passed the critical point loses its transparent light.
“I thought it was strange, that a prosecutor like you suddenly appeared and couldn’t find any information. But now it all fits together.”
“From the perspective of the person involved, it’s just a simple confirmation bias. Can you consider a few more aspects?”
“If you surrender, I will not take your life on humanitarian grounds. Of course, you will have to pay a price for it.”
“You may not know, but I was genetically modified when I was young… … .”
“Quiet.”
“Are you not even listening to my tearful personal story?”
It was a more hawkish attitude than Jin-Geon, the emergency disaster response team. Well, it wasn’t unreasonable. While he couldn’t witness the scene of regeneration, Alice witnessed it from beginning to end.
“The penal corps would be a perfect fit for you.”
It was an ominous name. Even without Alice telling me, I could guess what kind of place it was.
“You’re not going to do anything you want to do with me even though I’m a guarantor of my identity at Baekdu, are you?”
“Baekdu, yes, Baekdu. When you get off the supply ship, I’ll show them how dangerous it is to launder your identity.”
“… … .”
The situation was the worst. The opponent was an iron wall, and the location was space. Soon, they would arrive at Space Station 4. There would be a large number of soldiers lined up to receive the secured blobsieve.
No matter where or how I looked, there was no way to escape.
Even if he managed to escape, it would be a problem. He was living the most satisfying life he had ever lived in the past three hundred years.
I have regained my immortality and have figured out its mechanism to some extent, but now I have to find a new home―
“It’s unpleasant. I said no.”
“Are you still pretending not to know? Well, I’ll find out when I kill you. Whether you’re a good man or not.”
At that moment, a wave shoots out from Alice’s palm.
The projectile, resembling a lightning bolt, is a collection of plasma.
Just blocking it makes your whole body muscles contract as if you were shocked by an electric shock. You suppress your physiological response and counterattack, but Alice takes advantage of that momentary gap to gain distance and unleash a barrage of attacks.
She is a strong person with the spirit of a hunter, waiting leisurely until the noose is pulled.
He was a talented person who was fit for the punitive force that was praised as a one-man army.
However, Gaon wasn’t the only one who was being taken advantage of. He had been focusing on the feeling of awkwardness tickling the back of his head since the confrontation.
It is an extension of this that I discovered familiar movements in the midst of repeated cross-overs.
There were traces everywhere that seemed to indicate that the original martial art, swordsmanship, had been changed to martial arts, like Taan.
It seemed as if he had changed his breathing, gait, and even his posture to hide his identity, but Gaon was not one to be fooled by such tricks.
In a field related to martial arts, isn’t it the person who has the insight to see through even the very foundation?
In an instant, doubts turned into certainty.
Yes, it was a quality I had competed against.
That too, quite recently.
“Khuhhhh, huhhhh.”
“Are you out of your mind because your identity has been revealed?”
Alice criticizes Gaon for bursting out in rage instead of fighting. However, even that reaction is nothing more than a laughing stock to Gaon.
“No, I just thought it was annoying. We’ve met before.”
“Have we met before? You and I?”
“Yes, Alice. No, I should say Hiiragi Alice.”
Alice couldn’t help but pause at the added title.