C160
Now the students have become more serious. Everyone was staring intently at Sienna.
"But for that person to die, they would have to spend a night with me."
The faces of the male students turned red.
“Te- Teacher, that example is a bit….”
"There's no need to be embarrassed. Because I would never do such a thing. You gain powerful abilities by setting a price on something you absolutely do not want to do. It's equivalent exchange. Revealing the price can also be a price, but what is important is that the person that eats the rule really believes that. They are injecting their own very personal omniscience into others through the power of omnipotence."
The students finally understood.
An 'Rule Eater' was a type of person whose way of thinking was completely twisted compared to ordinary people.
"Just because you learn it doesn't mean you can do it. The peculiarity of the mind manifested through obsession and bias. 'Rule Eater' can be said to be the most frightening existence to a mage."
This was all Shirone knew about Rule Eater. At the time, he thought he had understood, but when he actually encountered it, it was the height of confusion.
Above all, he couldn't figure out why his Spirit Zone suddenly disappeared. Since when? Even if it was triggered by constraints and costs, Shirone hadn't done anything to her.
'No, there was! I definitely did...'
Shirone suddenly remembered the situation from a little while ago.
- You can kill me.
It was this very moment. A magic that only Marsha and him know.
The moment she uttered those words, Marsha's omnipotence penetrated his mind and activated the rule.
His heart pounded. He got caught by Rule Eater. What was going to happen to him now? He couldn't predict anything.
‘Let’s stay calm. My Spirit Zone just disappeared. If I just stay sharp, I can get out of this crisis.'
Rule Eater was like weighing the value of the possible and the impossible on a scale Therefore, the cost that had to be borne was inevitably as strange as the ability itself.
Perhaps when she said, 'You can kill me,' she had to risk being defenseless for quite a long time. If he had attacked her then, Marsha would be dead.
But why hadn't he attacked? Is it because of Yuna? No, Yuna is safe.
His thoughts weren't connecting. What on earth was happening to him right now?
'From the beginning. From the moment I met Marsha, I had already fallen into a trap.'
The moment Shirone realized that every event was scripted under Marsha's direction, he got chills.
Everything from taking him to the tavern, to provoking him using Yuna, to not harming Yuna.
"All for this moment?"
Marsha laughed cheerfully, as if she could see through Shirone’s thoughts. Seeing him so bewildered made her go crazy with joy.
“Hohoho! Of course, it is. Ah, meeting you was a coincidence. I'm a person who turns coincidences into fate. In any situation, there is no harm in laying down the groundwork. Maybe this thoroughness is my charm?”
Shirone had no choice but to admit it.
It wasn't that she had targeted him from the start. She had been laying plans for everyone she met throughout her life. Just on the small assumption that they might meet again someday.
This meticulousness was exactly why Marsha had been able to escape the Magic Association's encirclement.
“Then, shall we begin? I'm not sure what I can do."
Marsha approached Shirone with a confident smile. On the other hand, Shirone could not help but feel intimidated. He tried to cast Teleportation, but it still wouldn't activate.
Certainly, this condition will not last forever. However, the concept of stealing someone's mental strength was an exceedingly foreign rule to Shirone.
'This can't be. Where in the world does such magic exist?'
Shirone felt the greatest crisis of his life. Marsha's Rule Eater was clearly dangerous. This was because the Immortal Function itself, which could be said to be his last bastion, was sealed.
"Hoho! I'll gladly take your mental strength."
Tags:
Infinite Mage (Novel)