“Huh?”
After a brief moment of daze, Iris clutched her stomach and burst out laughing, as if she’d just heard the funniest joke.
“Hey~ Yuuri-chan, you don’t actually think Flame Enchantment is a difficult spell, do you? At best, it’s entry-level magic.
And the only reason you’re able to use magic at all is because I released a bit of my soul’s power, helping you connect those broken mana pathways. Otherwise, even this basic magic would be impossible for you.”
As she spoke, as if to prove her point, Iris snapped her fingers, and the flames twining around Yuuri’s blade vanished instantly.
Darkness swallowed everything again, so deep you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face.
“Yuuri-chan, try again. Can you still use magic?”
Trying to recall the feeling she had when she’d cast magic before, this time, though Yuuri could sense the faint trace of mana slumbering within her body, no matter what she did, she simply couldn’t guide it to her palm.
That wisp of mana felt like it had run into a blocked passage—no matter how much she tugged or pulled, it refused to budge.
“Hmm hmm~ Well? How is it?”
Yuuri couldn’t see Iris’s expression in the darkness, but her tone was clearly smug.
Another crisp snap echoed in the pitch black, and suddenly, the blocked path cleared.
With a snap, flames bloomed once more in Yuuri’s palm, lighting up the darkness around her.
“Without me, Yuuri-chan, you wouldn’t be able to use magic at all.”
With congenital defects in her mana pathways, Yuuri was destined to have no connection with magic.
As for researching magic… she couldn’t even sense the most basic mana particles. She couldn’t even find the entry point, let alone conduct research.
But then again, she’d survived just fine all these years without magic. Magic wasn’t a necessity for her.
It was useful, sure, but if she couldn’t use it, it was just a shame—not something she absolutely couldn’t live without.
“Yuuri-chan?”
Not seeing the expression she wanted on Yuuri’s face, the Little Evil God floated right up to her, a puzzled look in her eyes.
“You don’t seem to care at all.”
“A door closed by nature, forced open by external power, will close again once that force disappears.” Yuuri’s tone was calm. “After all, it’s not power under my own control. Even if I lose it, it’s not so regrettable.”
On the contrary, if she allowed herself to become addicted to power that wasn’t her own, it was only a matter of time before she lost herself and fell into the other’s trap.
“Eh… tch, stubborn.”
The Little Evil God gave her a look of disdain. “If you hadn’t learned my magic just now, you’d have been finished.
Yuuri-chan~ your little mouth is as stubborn as ever. Clearly, you find magic useful, but you still say it’s no big deal if you lose it.
You, you’re just stubborn!”
Stubborn, huh?
Staring at the dagger wreathed in flame in her hand, Yuuri considered that if she’d returned to the total darkness of a moment ago, forced to face two Abyssal Beasts by only relying on sound to locate them…
Well… even if she could kill them, she’d have ended up badly injured herself.
Still, even without magic, she’d probably use her memory of the route to evade and stall, waiting for a chance to find some light before striking back.
Whether she could find it or not aside, one mistake in the darkness and she might well meet her end right there.
Magic really was even more useful than she’d thought.
As she was lost in thought for just a moment, Iris suddenly leaned in close, smiling as she pressed her.
“So, what do you think? Still feel it’s no big deal to lose the ability to use magic?”
“It is very useful—no, to me, it’s not something I absolutely can’t live without.”
“Tch… stubborn.”
Iris frowned slightly, a trace of annoyance flickering across her face.
“Just you wait, Yuuri-chan. We’re just getting started. Sooner or later, I’ll have you begging me to teach you.
And don’t blame me for not warning you.”
Suddenly, the Little Evil God’s voice turned cold. “With your current level, you’re nowhere near strong enough. You’ve only made it this far because you haven’t run into any real danger.
If you stay like this, you might not even survive long enough for me to step in. You could die from a crisis you can’t handle.
If you study magic with me, get a bit stronger, maybe your corpse won’t end up so miserable.”
Hearing Iris’s “kind” reminder, Yuuri understood all too well that if she wanted to survive in this world, her own strength was paramount.
She would find her own way to grow stronger, not lose her ability to think for herself, and become someone who relied solely on Iris.
Otherwise, putting all her trust in Iris would only pave the way for her to seize Yuuri’s body. When Iris acted again, everything Yuuri had done would just become a bridal gown for her enemy.
“Well, thank you for the warning, Miss Evil God. Don’t worry, I won’t die that easily.
As for magic, if the time comes, I’ll trouble you for it.”
As Yuuri finished and turned to leave, Iris curved her lips into a meaningful smile.
“You’d better keep your word, Yuuri-chan~ You’d better not die, okay?”
She continued searching through the sewers.
She found several more human corpses, but unfortunately, some had been dead for about a month, others for several days—none, however, had died yesterday.
She searched the entire sewer, but still couldn’t find Karf’s body.
As for living people, apart from Yuuri herself, there wasn’t another soul in the sewers. She didn’t even see a ghost—just Iris floating along behind her.
Having searched everywhere and still found no sign of Karf… Yuuri stopped walking, and began to consider a question.
Was Karf actually in the sewers?
If he was, why couldn’t she find his corpse?
If not, then why had Bror sent her here to find someone who didn’t exist?
It couldn’t be… a pre-arranged trap, could it?
He hired her to search for Karf, then she’d fall into a trap and be attacked by Abyssal creatures?
Sounded plausible… like hell it did.
This was the Abyss they were talking about—chaos, disorder, beings who only know how to devour and destroy. They have no rationality, can’t be controlled by people, and follow only their instincts to corrode and consume all in their path.
If he lured her here to be killed by the Abyss, what, did Bror think the Abyssal monsters would carefully deliver her belongings to him afterward?
What an utterly fantastical idea—impossible.
If not, then what was Bror trying to accomplish by setting this trap?
For money?
Yuuri was as poor as dirt—she hardly had a penny to her name.
For revenge?
So far, she’d only met Bror twice. The last time, she’d been a boy called Hilly; now, she was a girl named Yuuri. In other words, this was her first meeting with him as Yuuri.
Their first meeting, and she’d helped him with a troublesome problem. Why would he lure her into a trap and hope the Abyss would kill her? What would he gain?
If Bror wasn’t suspicious, then perhaps he really was just hiring her to find Karf.
So why couldn’t she find Karf’s body? Hm… she seemed to have missed something important.
The Abyss had the ability to corrode and assimilate. That thing she’d unconsciously assumed was “Karf” before—maybe that really had been Karf, after he’d been assimilated.
Before this, Yuuri had only heard that people corrupted by the Abyss might be assimilated, turning into monsters acting on the Abyss’s instincts. Such monsters retained some of their old instincts and would repeat familiar actions.
Compared to normal humans, though, these assimilated creatures moved in a stiff, awkward way.
A little caution made it easy to spot their disguise.
That would explain why Karf couldn’t be found anywhere. Because she’d already killed the assimilated Karf with her own hands.
Even his clothes, which could have served as proof, had disappeared with him—not even a scrap of fabric remained.
Now… what was she supposed to bring back as proof?
She was doomed.