Chapter 32. Cold Reading (1)
“That unique colored mana on that sword.”
Persona, with luscious olive-green hair cascading down to her waist, spoke gently with a faint smile.
“Judging by the looks of it, you’re the kid that person mentioned last time?”
Enoch immediately tried to move, but Persona was already right behind him.
Looking back, her provocative eyes, slightly upturned, were watching him with interest.
‘Just now, I didn’t sense any presence.’
A sharp sense of tension flashed through Enoch’s mind.
To think he hadn't felt anything until she was right upon him.
Swish.
However, disregarding Enoch's agitation, she casually removed the hood he was wearing from behind.
As the boy’s black hair and jet-black eyes were revealed, Persona smiled slightly and said.
“……Rumors were rampant that you succeeded in your mission in Leopold last time.”
From behind, she pressed her body close, almost like an embrace. Through the thin blouse, the curves of a mature woman and her soft bosom were clearly felt against his back.
“I doubted it, but for Elsyde’s failure, as they called you, to come all this way. Surprising.”
Enoch took a short breath to compose himself, then lifted his sword, concentrating mana into his forearm and triggering it.
Enoch’s body spun half a circle in an instant, drawing a swift sword arc towards Persona behind him.
Whoosh!
But the blade futilely cut through empty air.
Her body had already shimmered and disappeared like an intangible shadow.
“It’s useless no matter how much we attack each other physically. This is my inner space, constructed with my mana.”
To Persona’s words, now coming from the side with a faint smile, Enoch first lowered his sword and glanced towards where she stood.
Long, flowing olive-green hair.
A white blouse revealing half her shoulders and voluptuous chest, and legs stretching out from under a short skirt.
Persona’s sharp eyes held a bewitching smile as she looked this way leisurely.
She lightly spread her arms and asked.
“How is it, do you like this place?”
Come to think of it, this was a space where olive-green mana swirled, haphazardly surrounding the area.
He had somewhat expected it already, but it was so different from his own inner world that he hadn't been certain.
Unlike Enoch's, this inner world seemed lacking in completion; clear senses didn't properly exist, and the surroundings also looked comparatively quite crude.
Still, having entered his inner world numerous times was an experience, and focusing on the feeling, it seemed this place was indeed an inner world of sorts.
Enoch finished his initial assessment.
‘…Then attacking here would be meaningless.’
Not only would he be unable to hit her like before, but even if he could cut her, there probably wouldn't be any real damage.
He had already learned that from dying countless times to the Sword Saint.
Events occurring in the inner world didn't significantly affect physical reality outside.
“Rumor had it the despised direct descendant might have manifested magic.”
Meanwhile, she was looking this way with considerable interest.
“I don’t know what kind of magic, but your movements are quite fast?”
Persona’s tone was close to pure admiration.
“If this weren’t an inner space, I might have really died from that strike just now. Did you truly manifest Unique Magic?”
However, contrary to such words, with an air of infinite leisure, she lightly brushed back her fallen hair and said.
“Anyway. Shall we chat for a bit? I happen to have something I’m curious about you.”
Instead of answering, Enoch silently pointed his sword at her.
First, he needed to buy time to find a way out of this situation. He had absolutely no intention of getting swept up in her desired pace.
“…How ill-mannered.”
Persona glanced at the sword and clicked her tongue briefly.
“First, I need to fix that attitude.”
And the next moment.
An intricate flow of mana draped over the surroundings.
Sensing the flow, Enoch unknowingly took a step back.
An overwhelming amount of mana visible through the Sense of Mana.
But it wasn’t forming any particular magic circle. Enoch briefly watched the flow of mana with a puzzled feeling.
‘Where on earth is such mana going……?’
But Enoch’s eyes, following the intense mana flow, suddenly spotted something.
Persona’s mana was heading towards the upper part of the inner space, which looked like patched-together rags.
And there, dozens of mages hung, wearing white masks with numerous expressions.
Creak.
They were fixed in mid-air in grotesque forms, like puppets controlled by strings.
Simultaneously, Omen’s words from last time flashed through Enoch’s mind.
[Persona has killed numerous mages so far. Among them, it’s said she killed not only those affiliated with Elsyde but also a considerable number of Rank 10 or higher mages in the past.]
He had chuckled dryly and said.
[Despite being a member of Vendetta in many ways, she's one with quite a bit of information available. But there's one strange thing.]
He had presented profiles of the deceased mages.
[All those killed by her vanished. Especially for some, detection artifacts confirmed their life signs ceased, but the reason their bodies disappeared without a trace hasn't been identified yet.]
‘Then the identity of those things is…….’
Enoch’s eyes wavered as he looked at them.
He wasn’t simply overwhelmed by the grotesque appearance of those being controlled like puppets before him.
The truly terrifying point was the identity of all those humans whose faces were covered by masks…….
‘All of them, the Rank 10 or higher mages who were killed!’
Swish.
Persona gestured lightly towards them.
Following Persona’s command, the puppets dropped from the darkness of the void all at once.
Thud.
Numerous mages landed, surrounding Enoch in a circle.
Dozens of pairs of gazes covered by those masks surrounded him in the darkness, glaring eerily this way.
‘Dealing with even one Rank 10 is tough…….’
Just as Enoch pointed his sword forward.
From behind them, Persona gave a short command.
“Make him kneel.”
At Persona’s single word, the magic gears the mages used in life were summoned simultaneously before their eyes.
They all gripped their magic gears at once.
Simultaneously. Enoch reacted by holding his sword slanted and immediately surged forward.
Sprinting towards one point to break the encirclement.
Srrng
Enoch’s blade, having closed the distance instantly, accurately tore through the space towards the opponent’s head.
But at that moment, the man’s head snapped back unnaturally, like a puppet’s.
Clang!
However, perhaps unable to dodge completely, the mask was struck glancingly by the sword face, knocked off, and sent flying.
The moment he saw the mage whose mask had come off.
Enoch’s eyes widened at the unbelievable sight.
On the mage's face revealed behind the mask, features like eyes, nose, and mouth didn't exist.
It was merely filled with teeming darkness, as if a child had scribbled all over it.
At the grotesque sight, Enoch unknowingly widened his eyes for a moment, his actions freezing.
And by the time he realized that such momentary hesitation was extremely fatal in this situation, it was already too late.
Wheeeing!
Several mages placed their hands on the ground and instantly formed magic circles, each glowing with its own color.
With a metallic noise, powerful mana chains shot up from beneath the ground towards Enoch like living snakes.
Chrarararak!
Without even a chance to react, Enoch was ensnared by the chains.
Translucent mana chains dragged him down to the floor, binding Enoch helplessly with both arms pressed to the ground.
Click.
Persona nonchalantly approached this way.
Then, she gently lifted the chin of Enoch, who was forced to kneel with his hands on the ground, using her fingertips.
She scanned his face thoroughly, then smiled sweetly and said.
“Well, your looks are quite my type? Once I’m done with you, I’ll make you like that and preserve you too.”
“Vile taste.”
“Is it worse than the Empire and the Main Houses?”
She lightly sat astride Enoch’s back as he knelt.
Then, sitting on Enoch’s back, she casually crossed her sensual legs revealed beneath her short skirt and looked down this way.
“Alright……. Seems like we have an environment to talk now.”
Her eyes, looking down at Enoch, shone clearly in the darkness.
“Answer me.”
She lightly traced Enoch’s back with her finger and said.
“How far is the Elsyde Main House interested? Seeing a direct descendant come all the way to find me, they must have roughly finished investigating Lord Tantalus too.”
Enoch didn’t answer.
Persona looked down this way with a bewitching smile and said contemptuously.
“Well, fine. Even if you don’t answer, you’ll talk eventually?”
Persona, still perched on his back, lightly patted Enoch’s head and spoke lowly.
“I just need to ask your mana directly.”
“…Mana?”
“Yes. After all, the mana you possess is your record.”
Mana as a record.
Enoch instantly felt a sense of déjà vu from her words.
The fact he heard when first inheriting the original Enoch’s memories. That unforgettable voice from the past flashed through his mind.
[…But you are different. You have the potential to understand the swordsmanship created by others, the unique mana contained within that swordsmanship.]
If mana truly was a record as Persona said, did the mana contained in the Sword Saint’s swordsmanship hold his memories from life?
Just then, she continued speaking with a delighted expression.
“The mana existing in this world is not just a power source for manifesting magic, but also ‘a type of record’. Because it contains everything about the existence it resides in. Even the past.”
It was indeed words that sparked a guess.
‘So that’s how I could see the Sword Saint’s past memories.’
Swordsmanship, he was told, were movements completed by their mana being projected onto the sword.
“But there’s one quite interesting fact.”
Persona tilted her head slightly.
“Among all things in the world, only humans are born without possessing unique mana. Everything else has its own unique mana.”
She stared this way with olive-green eyes shining clearly in the darkness.
“Only humans wear masks.”
Swish.
She gently stroked the cheek of a mage standing like a faithful puppet, wearing a mask, and said.
“Relationships with others. Social status. Everyone wears masks because they fear being disliked. Defining their own identity with the mask they created themselves. Because that’s something only humans can do.”
Persona looked down at Enoch.
“So I thought. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I could see the inner self hidden beneath that mask?”
She smiled slightly.
“I figured the memories and feelings that person has hidden away tightly would be in there, and I was always curious about that.”
Suddenly, listening up to that point, Enoch noticed the strange feeling he had been sensing from the start.
Why?
No matter how currently restrained and neutralized he was, why would Persona bother explaining her Unique Magic in such detail?
A conversation too lacking in rationality to be dismissed purely as the leisure of the strong.
“You heard me well, right?”
And just then, Persona smiled as if reading his thoughts and said.
“My magic, 「it uses exactly that point」.”
At her words, Enoch’s eyes widened momentarily.
The meaning implied by her words finally flashed through his mind.
‘…「Revelation Amplification」…!’
The ability of an ‘extremely small fraction of Unique Magic users’ among the Rank 10 or higher mages of the Atlas Empire.
Revelation Amplification, like Enoch’s <Sword Inheritance>, was a considerably rare concept corresponding to a person’s ‘Trait’.
That’s why he hadn't initially realized why she was explaining so kindly.
Even in the original work where numerous powerful mages existed, mages with this trait could be counted on one hand. Moreover, Persona was a Rank 10 mage who didn't even appear in the original work.
He hadn't thought she would possess such a rare trait.
「Revelation Amplification」 referred to deliberately revealing the concept of one’s own Unique Magic to the target, thereby strengthening its power specifically for targets who understood the magic cast upon them.
While general magic was a concrete technique researched and inherited over generations, a few special exceptions existed.
Especially ‘Unique Magic’, manifestable only by a few mages who reached the realm of Rank 10 or higher, was one of them.
As the effects and operating methods of Unique Magic varied greatly from mage to mage, they were often difficult for anyone other than their creator to easily understand.
To the extent that even the person affected by the magic might not clearly perceive what was happening.
‘So, it's a method of amplifying the effect by making the target directly understand what magic they are being subjected to.’
Even wounds on one’s own body hurt less until seen directly.
Naturally, he clearly remembered the related lore content.
「Depending on the type of Unique Magic. If the target of the magic is made to directly understand the magic's concept and operating principle, there are cases where its effect multiplies several tens of times, amplifying its power.」
In other words, it was a method akin to a self-buff, allowing one's own magic to exert a stronger effect.
Woooong.
As if proving Enoch’s prediction correct.
Due to the effect of Revelation Amplification, Persona’s mana was already growing denser around Enoch.
Watching the scene, Enoch felt cold sweat forming.
Revelation Amplification was absurdly powerful, but at the same time, it carried the risk of exposing one’s tactics to the opponent. Thus, it was also a rare trait with quite tricky usability.
‘But Persona is boldly revealing even the source of her magic like that.’
That very point implied that her Unique Magic was the type that couldn't be countered even if known.
Usually, even with Revelation Amplification, one wouldn't explain things in such detail to the enemy.
“As you’ve already realized, this is my inner world, which I manifested through magic.”
She calmly looked up at the inner world she had constructed and said.
“It might be slightly incomplete, but it’s sufficient as a place to peek into other people’s inner worlds. Isn't its appearance quite beautiful too?”
Persona glanced at Enoch, still unable to even twitch, and smiled.
“Are you ready? From now on, I’m going to scan through your past memories here, find out at which point to intervene. Then enter your inner world and change that part.”
She swirled mana in her hand and said.
“Your existing self, after all, exists as a continuity of memories experienced in the past.”
That was precisely the deployment method of Persona’s Unique Magic.
“In other words, through the laws of this inner world, it’s possible to ‘rewrite’ your inner records… that is, your mana. Naturally, most people’s inner selves are quite defenseless.”
She smiled slightly, like a predator before its prey.
Enoch knew intuitively. The masked mages currently being controlled like puppets were the very figures of those she had ‘rewritten’ with her magic so far.
If he fell victim to that magic like this, his own end was obvious.
‘I need to find a way to counter this.’
Enoch maintained his poker face and calmly analyzed the situation.
Her magic directly interfered with the opponent’s inner world. So, eventually, she would rummage through and enter his inner world and…
‘Wait a minute. [Enter this inner world]?’
Having thought that far, the 'existence he had seen tiresomely often in his own inner world' flashed through Enoch's mind.
If his guess was correct, then rather than trying to resist Persona's Unique Magic now…….
Just then, Persona spoke as if amused.
“Surprisingly, you’re not trying to resist? Usually, people struggle when caught in those chains.”
She looked down at Enoch and chuckled softly once.
“You don’t have to worry too much. Your body, having lost its self, will rot away before long, but your mind alone will remain forever in my inner world. Becoming my faithful servant, just like them.”
That was exactly why Persona could kill so many Rank 10 combat mages.
Unlike combat mages projecting immense firepower, her Unique Magic tampered with a person’s memories and subconscious.
Her unique combat style could neutralize even the most powerful mages, driving them to death.
Persona lightly extended one hand.
─Paaat!
Above her hand, a spherical magic circle emitting dazzling light appeared.
Around the sphere, numerous rings of light swirled chaotically.
A sight resembling an intricate astronomical observatory.
Persona smiled, watching the complex form of her Unique Magic begin to rotate.
The magic circle, already activated towards Enoch, began operating to project his inner world.
Soon, the inner world of the Elsyde Main House direct descendant would unfold before her eyes.
Imagining that unknown world, Persona muttered lowly.
“What kind of world lies behind your mask, you’ll soon find out too.”